[FM21] Chelsea Football Club - Time for glory

[MBJ96]

What an interesting squad. After some massive summer signings the base for bringing Chelsea back to best in England og Europe is there. 

World class players as Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kanté og Mateo Kovacic is accompanied by promising stars such as Reece James, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner. 

The board don't expect titles in the first season, which will give you some freedom to work with your squad. 

Let's go - it's time for glory. 

[MBJ96]

Just started a new save. Played two league games. Won 2-0 against Newcastle and lost 3-2 against Man Utd. 

I have sold Antonio Rüdiger for £29,5m to PSG and Baba Rahman to Southampton for £4,9m. Only signed Andrea Papetti on a free because Arsenal tried to sign him. 

This will be my main tactic. Players like Pulisic and Havertz will also play a lot. Like this I hope to get the best out of all players.

Which tactic do you use?

Edited November 28, 2020 by MBJ96

[essien_5]

Really looking forward to this year. Must admit it'll likely be easier than the last couple of seasons as the recruitment drive Super Frank did in the summer was pretty impressive, combined with a season of the youngsters proving themselves last season.

I think what @MBJ96has done in the transfer market looks correct in principle. There are 5 first team centre backs and 4 left backs in the squad. Baba Rahman definitely needs to be offloaded, although I'll probably look at whether Alonso can be moved on too. At the centre back spot, Thiago Silva is obviously short term but still comfortably the best at the club in that position. Tomori looks like he could develop into a very impressive centre back too. I am looking at whether Christensen could be developed into a defensive midfielder as backup to Kante but I think if push came to shove I'd likely revert to Jorginho there so one of the centre backs will likely need to be offloaded.

The age, talent, versatility and depth in the midfield and attack is what is the biggest plus point. Mount looks like he will develop into an incredible player and the likes of Ziyech, Werner and Havertz all look like they could be great additions.

I think I'll probably look at playing a 4-3-3 with a holding midfielder (Kante) but also look to adopt a 4-2-3-1 at times (possibly when chasing a game). There's some good work rate amongst the midfield and attacking players. Mount and Kante both have 20, Kovacic 15, Pulisic 17, Werner 16, Tammy 17, Ziyech 15 so a pressing style will likely be well suited to the team, possibly even the Gegenpress.

Only area I would be a little concerned with is the keeper position. Kepa looks to have had a large downgrade (rightly so) and Mendy doesn't look as good as his early season form at Chelsea would suggest. I won't be addressing this immediately as I want to play with the current squad in the first season, and hopefully Mendy will play better than his stats suggest but I think it will likely be a position that will need rectifying sooner than most. 

Maarten Vandevoordt looks a great prospect that I might make a move for as a long term option at goalkeeper.

[MBJ96]

2 hours ago, essien_5 said:

I think what @MBJ96has done in the transfer market looks correct in principle. There are 5 first team centre backs and 4 left backs in the squad. Baba Rahman definitely needs to be offloaded, although I'll probably look at whether Alonso can be moved on too.

Obviously trying to offload Alonso and Drinkwater too, but has turned out being difficult. 

[essien_5]

59 minutes ago, MBJ96 said:

Obviously trying to offload Alonso and Drinkwater too, but has turned out being difficult. 

Yeah I could see them being difficult to shift!

[MBJ96]

1 minute ago, essien_5 said:

Yeah I could see them being difficult to shift!

Just got rid of Alonso. £14m to Sociedad. Paying a tiny bit of his wages.

[essien_5]

Pretty decent start made to my save. I opted for the 'no opening transfer window' option so there have been no transfers in or out yet.

I drew away at Man City 1-1 in the first game of the season and have since won my next 4 games in the league and both Carabao Cup games. It's left me joint top after 5 games on 13 points with Leeds. United and Spurs are next with 10 points whilst Liverpool and City have both struggled somewhat and are sat in midtable so far.

Champions League group could be potentially tricky - Juventus, Ajax and Marseille.

I've started with the 4-3-3 DM wide tactic with a gegenpress style. Defensively I seem solid with 5 clean sheets from 7 games in all comps, but I don't seem to have clicked yet offensively with just 12 goals scored across those 7 games (5 of which were scored in one game against Sheffield United).

Werner and Havertz are two in particular I'm struggling with at the moment. Havertz is playing as one of the central midfielders as an advanced playmaker but hasn't done anything of note yet. Werner scored the equaliser against City but hasn't scored since. I can't seem to get him effective on that left wing and have tried both Raumdeuter and Inside Forward. Maybe it is simply that he'll be far more suited to playing as the central striker but at present Tammy has scored 5 goals in 5 games so it's difficult to drop him currently to try.

[tcoleman1]

Started my Chelsea save on Friday and went with no first window budgets so have the same squad.

I haven't had the greatest start drawing 1-1 at home to Southampton and 0-0 away to West Brom. Dominated both games and missed loads of chances so hopefully it will click soon!

I stupidly set my reputation as professional footballer (regional level) for a bit more of a challenge so you have to win round the players but about 10 of them oppose me and the board aren't happy about that. So I may have done myself over there!

[Phil930]

On 29/11/2020 at 06:30, tcoleman1 said:

Started my Chelsea save on Friday and went with no first window budgets so have the same squad.

I haven't had the greatest start drawing 1-1 at home to Southampton and 0-0 away to West Brom. Dominated both games and missed loads of chances so hopefully it will click soon!

I stupidly set my reputation as professional footballer (regional level) for a bit more of a challenge so you have to win round the players but about 10 of them oppose me and the board aren't happy about that. So I may have done myself over there!

Haha thats pretty funny.  

Anyone else think Timo is underrated and Tammy is overrated in the game?  Plan on starting my annual Chelsea career this evening, although would like to sign in first window.  Looks like a limited budget though so may be future deals.

What kind of DB size are you all playing on?

[essien_5]

3 hours ago, Phil930 said:

Haha thats pretty funny.  

Anyone else think Timo is underrated and Tammy is overrated in the game?  Plan on starting my annual Chelsea career this evening, although would like to sign in first window.  Looks like a limited budget though so may be future deals.

What kind of DB size are you all playing on?

I usually use a modified database with between 20,000 - 25,000 players. I prefer my game speed to stay in the 5 star range.

Yeah I'm surprised with Werner given the season he had last year. I'd have to have a proper look again, but he doesn't appear to be anything better to last year.

I just wonder with Tammy whether his whole skillset is just suited to people using - he's quick, he's tall, he has high work rate and good finishing so he offers a number of different positives.

[MBJ96]

Mid december 2020 in my save now. Got off to a pretty decent start. 

First in the league with 28 point. Only a loss to Man Utd and Fulham. Draw against Burnley. Scored 27 goals and conceded 6.

In the Champions League I got very lucky teaming up against Marseille, Celtic and Zenit. Won the group with the reserves. 

Hakim Ziyech, Kurt Zouma, Reece James and Tammy Abraham have been great. Haven't got Werner and Kovacic working yet, although Werner has scored some goals. 

Will be looking to sign a goalkeeper in the summer, because both Mendy and Kepa are not good enough. 

[PitchPosh]

Great to see a Chelsea thread! Used to do it myself, but took some time away from the game. Couldn't resist FM 21, especially with the squad we have this year. Finding some time for my save here after putting together my full save. Looking forward to see how you all get on

[BarstoolProphet]

Just got to March in my first season at Chelsea, top of the table 3 points ahead of Liverpool and 4 points ahead of Man Utd. Timo Werner is topping the goal scoring charts in the league, scored 28 league goals already, 10 more than the next closest player. 
 

Managed to sell Jorginho (36mil), Alonso (15mil), and Zouma (48mil) and loaned out Emerson because I bought Alphonso Davies in the first window. Also brought in Odegaard in the first window and Isak in January because all the forwards but Timo were on medium length injuries. Tammy for 3 months and Giroud for 2 months. 
 

Now playing a 4-4-2 diamond with Timo and Isak up top with Havertz just behind and it’s working a treat. Timo is on 41 goals across all comps and Isak already has 10 after arriving at the end of the transfer window.
 

Hopefully I can keep the good form up and hold off Liverpool on the run in. 

[essien_5]

How are people getting on so far, I've been very stop-start I must admit struggling to get out of the first month or so of the season before ripping things up and starting again.

Unlike Frank in real life at present, I'm struggling to be honest to find the right formation and style to suit everyone within the team. I've mainly been flipping between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. I'm particularly struggling to get the new boys (Havertz, Werner, Ziyech) clicking.

I'm sure I'll find what I want eventually and get stuck into a good game with the team but currently it's been very frustrating.

[wetfred]

59 minutes ago, essien_5 said:

How are people getting on so far, I've been very stop-start I must admit struggling to get out of the first month or so of the season before ripping things up and starting again.

Unlike Frank in real life at present, I'm struggling to be honest to find the right formation and style to suit everyone within the team. I've mainly been flipping between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. I'm particularly struggling to get the new boys (Havertz, Werner, Ziyech) clicking.

I'm sure I'll find what I want eventually and get stuck into a good game with the team but currently it's been very frustrating.

I started a Chels 433 save which I scrapped. I'm doing well so far with a 4231 Gegenpress ,I'm in December and only lost one game at Liverpool. Werner is leading the league in goals, Havertz has a lot of assists and Ziyech is doing good. I've been watching training vids from Foxinthebox and its helped a lot. I sold Emerson and bought Skriniar who was transfer listed for a decent amount. So far so good.

[essien_5]

15 minutes ago, wetfred said:

I started a Chels 433 save which I scrapped. I'm doing well so far with a 4231 Gegenpress ,I'm in December and only lost one game at Liverpool. Werner is leading the league in goals, Havertz has a lot of assists and Ziyech is doing good. I've been watching training vids from Foxinthebox and its helped a lot. I sold Emerson and bought Skriniar who was transfer listed for a decent amount. So far so good.

Cool, if everyone is available what is your strongest XI and their roles?

[wetfred]

44 minutes ago, essien_5 said:

Cool, if everyone is available what is your strongest XI and their roles?

 

[MBJ96]

End of february for me. 

It is a three horse race for the title with Liverpool, Manchester United and me. All teams within two points. 

I got one foot in the Champions League quaterfinal after a 3-2 victory away against Atalanta. Trailed 2-0 in that game. 

I'm playing 4-3-3 against tougher opponents and away. Against easier teams I tend to use 4-2-3-1. So far I have been scoring a lot of goals and my defense has been great. 

My top players are Tammy Abraham, who is the topscorer in Premier League, Kurt Zouma (what a beast in the air) and the wizard Hakim Ziyech. Unlike many others Kepa Arrizabalaga is my number one in goal as Mendy was bad. 

I have already signed two players of very high class for the next season. Both David Alaba and Gianluigi Donnarrumma will arrive on a free transfer. Alaba will probably replace Thiago Silva in central defense, although the brazilian's contract has been extended for one year. Donnarumma will be my keeper the next decade. 

Will give an update when the season is done. 

[essien_5]

49 minutes ago, MBJ96 said:

End of february for me. 

It is a three horse race for the title with Liverpool, Manchester United and me. All teams within two points. 

I got one foot in the Champions League quaterfinal after a 3-2 victory away against Atalanta. Trailed 2-0 in that game. 

I'm playing 4-3-3 against tougher opponents and away. Against easier teams I tend to use 4-2-3-1. So far I have been scoring a lot of goals and my defense has been great. 

My top players are Tammy Abraham, who is the topscorer in Premier League, Kurt Zouma (what a beast in the air) and the wizard Hakim Ziyech. Unlike many others Kepa Arrizabalaga is my number one in goal as Mendy was bad. 

I have already signed two players of very high class for the next season. Both David Alaba and Gianluigi Donnarrumma will arrive on a free transfer. Alaba will probably replace Thiago Silva in central defense, although the brazilian's contract has been extended for one year. Donnarumma will be my keeper the next decade. 

Will give an update when the season is done. 

That is two outstanding purchases on free transfers. Did you do anything to declare your interest or attempt to unsettle them prior to January as I would have assumed their clubs would look to get them signed up as a matter of urgency.

[MBJ96]

On 10/12/2020 at 12:55, essien_5 said:

That is two outstanding purchases on free transfers. Did you do anything to declare your interest or attempt to unsettle them prior to January as I would have assumed their clubs would look to get them signed up as a matter of urgency.

No, I did not do anything. I think I have read somewhere here on the forum that the players team could be offering a new contract as soon they heard about interest from another club. So just scouted both players, and they got amazing scouting reports - especially Alaba.

[Natedog17]

Great to see this thread up and running again! Use to get on here and discuss all things Chelsea and recognise some of the names like essien and Pitchposh.

Finished my first season and won the premier league and the Europa League. Played a 4-2-3-1 for most matches with a 4-3-3 dm wide in some tough must not lose matches.

Transfers out:

Ballo 450k, Brown 170k, Haigh 105k, Caballero 1 mill, Rahamn 6.75 mill, Bate 450k, Rudiger 31 mill, Zieger 120k, Emerson 10 mill, Jorginho 30.5 mill, Bergstrom 65k, Musonda 1 mill, Alonso loan to buy 20 mill, mcleland 8k, Azpi 30 mill, Christensen 27.5 mill, Broja 6 mill

End of first Season:
Drinkwater free (end of season), Teddy Sharman-Lowe 400k, Baxter 225k, Aleksi 9 mill (massive profit!), Mbuyamba 5 mill.

Transfers in:
First 2 Windows:
Andrea Papetti 1.8 mill, Draxler 15 mill, Arezo 2 mill, Alaba 30 mill (couldnt wait to next window), Wijnaldum 12.75 mill, Rasmus kristensen 10 mill

End of Season:
Fabio Silva 2.9 mill, Talles Magno 13 mill, Sammassekou 35 mill (40 mill) will be my kante replacement and rotate with Bakayouko (who i feel is a good holding mid).

Got rid of some of the players that just werent getting time to play and sold some players that offers were just too good to say no too (Aleksi & Mbuyamba for 14 mill) !!

Werner scored 44 goals, 7 penalties, 4 assists & 9 man of the matches!
Mount was a boss with 8 goals, 2 pens, 10 assists and 3 man of the matches!
Ziyech was the assist king with 15 and scored 7!!

In defence Zouma seemed to be the best player of season, with Tomori, Sivla, Chillwell, Alaba, James and Kristensen all being solid and being the best defence in the league!

Mendy kept 20 clean sheets and conceded 35 in 44 games. Keppa played 12, conceded 7 & kept 8 clean sheets. May play Mendy in the Prem and play Keppa in all cup games this season.

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Natedog17

[MBJ96]

Just had the youth intake and WOW. Got two players with five potential stars, and one of them has the beautiful name “James Essien”, who is a CM with the same caracteristica. Also got a third young talent with 4,5 potential stars. 
 

Think this is my best youth intake ever, and frem this is in the Chelsea spirit.

[Bracken]

Hi all, been a while since I've had any time with FM, but finally got to play a bit and am really enjoying this edition so far. Nice to see some familiar faces in the thread too! Thought I'd post a season review here if people are interested as it went startlingly well.

2020/2021 Review:

Transfers Out:

Kepa - £10.5m plus clauses to Shakhtar

Alonso - Loan to buy Leicester

Drinkwater - Loan to buy Brighton

Some development loans

Transfers in:

Nobody, I wanted to give the current squad time to gel and figured they were good enough for my ambitions this year. 

Premier League:

Spectacular result for the first season, absolutely didn't see it coming. While I would've liked to have scored more, we were absolutely rock solid at the back, and our only defeats were on the road to City and United. Also pleasing to see City and Tottenham out of the top four, both sacked their manages (Jose mid-season), and it looks like we'll have Sarri-ball at City next year which makes things interesting. 

FA Cup:

Used this competition mostly for rotation until he final, so delighted we got all the way there. Although it was only on penalties we absolutely deserved to win the final, out-created them 1.69xG to 0.66, but just didn't bring our scoring boots. The Double!

Champions League:

An insane run. Started with Turbo Timo showing Juve what's for in Turin and just carried on from there. This team, and the way I play them, is just built for playing away in Europe. The 4-0 in Madrid with a hat trick from Tammy is maybe one of the most satisfying results I've had in any FM. 

The Final:

Another final where we absolutely dominated but forgot how to finish, yet still came out on top in penalties. Couldn't ask from more for the lads, a sensational way to cap off the season, and a treble in my first year in charge. Can't complain really.

Performances:

Mason Mount player of the season, absolutely outstanding in the middle of the park alongside Havertz and Kante. Tammy was brilliant leading the line grabbing 35 goals, with Timo mostly playing from the left but still getting a huge haul on 28 - 12 of which were in the CL, making him the top scorer in the competition. Ziyech was a bit hit and miss - when he was on it he was fantastic, as demonstrated by 11 goals and 12 assists, but when he wasn't he stunk the place up which brought his average rating down, a similar story with Pulisic and CHO, though they had a tougher time as Timo quickly established himself as first choice in their preferred position. 

Conclusions and Next Season:

Really hard to complain about this season. We smashed every competition we were in and played some really lovely football doing it, which staying rock solid at the back. My main aim for this save is to turn the current crop of academy graduates into club legends, and try and get them more honours than anyone in British (ideally world) football history, so this is a fantastic start. I also want to bring through a real British and Irish core to the squad (ideally a British and Irish starting 11 in time), with a major focus on academy products (or players developed at the club since they were 16) and try and improve the success of the other home nations on the international scene. Oh, and it'd be nice to win the CL in regular time! 

For next season, I'm aiming to bring back some academy graduates who got away to provide some competition to the ones I have now, shift a lot of deadwood, and really focus on youth development.

I'll do a follow up post on my tactics and such as I know that's usually what people want to see, but I have to say I'm really enjoying this FM, the match engine seems massively improved so I can get them playing the way I want, and the game feels truly immersive. 

Come on the Chels!

[PitchPosh]

Great to see some more familiar faces popping up in here and some saves coming along nicely. Made it to the end of the transfer window and realized I hadn't really moved forward with a strategy in mind, tactical or transfer, so I'll probably be restarting my save.

Thinking that I'll probably follow suit with a 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 like others. Hoping I'll find some time for an update tomorrow!

[MBJ96]

2020/21 Review

Premier League:
What a drama. Thought I lost the title with a draw versus Fulham in game 37, but Liverpool lost the last game 5-1 against Wolves, and therefore I could lift the Premier League trophy.

FA Cup:
Made it all the way to the final, where I defeated Burnley in a high scoring game. Played the reserves a lot, and Giroud ended as topscorer.

Champions League:
Atalanta, Bayern Münich and Liverpool was sent out of the tournament, but in the final Lazio was the better opponent, when the game had to be decided on penalties. Damn you Jorginho and Giroud.

Performances:
Kepa Arrizabalaga pushed Edouard Mendy to the bench and he did quite alright. Unfortunately, Mason Mount was injured half of the season, because he was great. Timo Werner scored a satisfying number of goals as raumdeuter, but he did not perform that well. Tammy Abraham was magnificient, and so was Kurt Zouma, who scored seven goals from corners. What a beast in the air.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by MBJ96

[Bracken]

Great season @MBJ96, any particular transfer plans for next season? How did you play Havertz, 18 assists is a fantastic return from him

[MBJ96]

13 hours ago, Bracken said:

Great season @MBJ96, any particular transfer plans for next season? How did you play Havertz, 18 assists is a fantastic return from him

I have already signed Donnarumma and Alaba on free transfers. I’m letting Jorginho and Giroud go, so I will target a new CM (probably a long term replacement for Kanté) and a new backup striker. This will be Calvert-Lewin. Already had a £37m accepted.

Getting Loftus-Cheek back and he might be a backup player. 
 

Havertz played as box-box midfielder in my 4-3-3 formation and advanced playmaker as number 10 in my 4-2-3-1 formation. Will aim to get more goals from him next season. 

[bucket]

On 13/12/2020 at 22:32, Bracken said:

Hi all, been a while since I've had any time with FM, but finally got to play a bit and am really enjoying this edition so far. Nice to see some familiar faces in the thread too! Thought I'd post a season review here if people are interested as it went startlingly well.

2020/2021 Review:

Transfers Out:

Kepa - £10.5m plus clauses to Shakhtar

Alonso - Loan to buy Leicester

Drinkwater - Loan to buy Brighton

Some development loans

Transfers in:

Nobody, I wanted to give the current squad time to gel and figured they were good enough for my ambitions this year. 

Premier League:

Spectacular result for the first season, absolutely didn't see it coming. While I would've liked to have scored more, we were absolutely rock solid at the back, and our only defeats were on the road to City and United. Also pleasing to see City and Tottenham out of the top four, both sacked their manages (Jose mid-season), and it looks like we'll have Sarri-ball at City next year which makes things interesting. 

FA Cup:

Used this competition mostly for rotation until he final, so delighted we got all the way there. Although it was only on penalties we absolutely deserved to win the final, out-created them 1.69xG to 0.66, but just didn't bring our scoring boots. The Double!

Champions League:

An insane run. Started with Turbo Timo showing Juve what's for in Turin and just carried on from there. This team, and the way I play them, is just built for playing away in Europe. The 4-0 in Madrid with a hat trick from Tammy is maybe one of the most satisfying results I've had in any FM. 

The Final:

Another final where we absolutely dominated but forgot how to finish, yet still came out on top in penalties. Couldn't ask from more for the lads, a sensational way to cap off the season, and a treble in my first year in charge. Can't complain really.

Performances:

Mason Mount player of the season, absolutely outstanding in the middle of the park alongside Havertz and Kante. Tammy was brilliant leading the line grabbing 35 goals, with Timo mostly playing from the left but still getting a huge haul on 28 - 12 of which were in the CL, making him the top scorer in the competition. Ziyech was a bit hit and miss - when he was on it he was fantastic, as demonstrated by 11 goals and 12 assists, but when he wasn't he stunk the place up which brought his average rating down, a similar story with Pulisic and CHO, though they had a tougher time as Timo quickly established himself as first choice in their preferred position. 

Conclusions and Next Season:

Really hard to complain about this season. We smashed every competition we were in and played some really lovely football doing it, which staying rock solid at the back. My main aim for this save is to turn the current crop of academy graduates into club legends, and try and get them more honours than anyone in British (ideally world) football history, so this is a fantastic start. I also want to bring through a real British and Irish core to the squad (ideally a British and Irish starting 11 in time), with a major focus on academy products (or players developed at the club since they were 16) and try and improve the success of the other home nations on the international scene. Oh, and it'd be nice to win the CL in regular time! 

For next season, I'm aiming to bring back some academy graduates who got away to provide some competition to the ones I have now, shift a lot of deadwood, and really focus on youth development.

I'll do a follow up post on my tactics and such as I know that's usually what people want to see, but I have to say I'm really enjoying this FM, the match engine seems massively improved so I can get them playing the way I want, and the game feels truly immersive. 

Come on the Chels!

Fantastic season Bracken, any chance of posting you setup please. Thanks mate. 

[Bracken]

2 hours ago, bucket said:

Fantastic season Bracken, any chance of posting you setup please. Thanks mate. 

Bucket! Nice to see some of the old familiar names again 

9 hours ago, MBJ96 said:

I have already signed Donnarumma and Alaba on free transfers. I’m letting Jorginho and Giroud go, so I will target a new CM (probably a long term replacement for Kanté) and a new backup striker. This will be Calvert-Lewin. Already had a £37m accepted.

Getting Loftus-Cheek back and he might be a backup player. 
 

Havertz played as box-box midfielder in my 4-3-3 formation and advanced playmaker as number 10 in my 4-2-3-1 formation. Will aim to get more goals from him next season. 

Great signings! I've always used Mount as the BBM in mine, haven't quite managed to get Havertz firing as I'd like, but I'll keep experimenting.

My setup showing my first team second season, modestly named Brackenball, is:

It's a modified version of vertical tiki-take, and I love the football that's played. I'll upload some goals when I get the chance, but it's lovely fast short passing through the midfield, usually ending in a through ball to either Tammy or the wingers, or a cross from one of the full backs. I will say, I use a lot of Player Instructions to make this work the way I want it, things like:

Full backs: stay wide, run wider, shoot less often, close down more

MCL: Take more risks

MCR: More direct passes, roam from position

AMR/L: Get further forward, more direct passes, take more risks, roam from position. 

All together it works a treat. The most important player in the team is Mount, he's responsible for driving the team forward and starting the moves, followed by Kante, who offers the perfect option to recycle play and mops up everything on the counter attack.  One aspect I really like with this play is that often when we're pressing around their box, we move the ball back to Kante which brings their defenders out just enough for us to then find space in behind, particularly with the full backs in the wide areas. 

[essien_5]

On 13/12/2020 at 17:39, MBJ96 said:

Just had the youth intake and WOW. Got two players with five potential stars, and one of them has the beautiful name “James Essien”, who is a CM with the same caracteristica. Also got a third young talent with 4,5 potential stars. 
 

Think this is my best youth intake ever, and frem this is in the Chelsea spirit.

That is a beautiful name I agree haha

[essien_5]

Loving the saves above boys. 

I've finally started getting into a good save on the game. Just reached January and I've settled on a 4-2-3-1 in the Gegenpress style and haven't really moved away from that so far.

Currently 2nd in the league after 17 games with 36 points, 2 points behind Liverpool. Although City are one point behind with a game in hand, and Leeds are also level on points with me. United and Wolves are 5 and 6 points further back respectively and then there's quite a gap thereafter. Spurs are in a relegation battle in 17th, 1 point off the bottom three and Arsenal aren't much better in 15th.

We've been pretty free scoring with 40 goals so far, although could be better defensively conceding 18 although I've noticed we've conceded a few late goals when games have been won. Something to maybe think about with the Gegenpress knackering players out and maybe I need an alternative style to revert to in the last 20-30 minutes of games to see them out better.

I also won my Champions League group comfortably which included PSG and will play Dinamo Zagreb in the first knockout round, and in the Carabao Cup semi final against Brentford. 

Werner has played mostly central and usually only moved over to the left if I want to bring Tammy on as a sub. He's scored 15 in 17(5) so far and top goalscorer in the league with 12.

The wide men have also been scoring regularly - Ziyech 11 goals and 7 assists in 21(3). Pulisic 8 goals and 7 assists in 19(5). Hudson Odoi 8 goals and 4 assists in 10(9).

Mount, Kovacic and Kante have all been solid in midfield and the defence I've been able to rotate in and out with everyone playing fine. The only ones that haven't seen any real game time from that group is Alonso and Christensen who I'll probably look to move on.

Like @MBJ96 I've offered bosman contracts to Donnarumma and Alaba which I'm hoping both will sign as that would be two insane signings on a free. I probably won't make a move in January but in the summer I will look to bring in someone who can rotate with Kante who is the only player really in the squad who I don't have a viable alternative to.

The only player who I haven't really got going yet is Havertz. He has been playing in the '10' role and I've switched a couple of times between Attacking Midfielder and Advanced Playmaker in support and attack roles. So far he only has 1 goal and 1 assist in 18(6) with an average rating of 6.91. I'm trying to work out if his presence in the hole is what is helping my wide players put good numbers together so far.

[bucket]

Did anyone get any money to spend in January 1st season? I had the first window off, but haven’t been given any budget for Jan. Only £30m for the following! 

[essien_5]

7 hours ago, bucket said:

Did anyone get any money to spend in January 1st season? I had the first window off, but haven’t been given any budget for Jan. Only £30m for the following! 

I didn't disable first window so just had my summer budget rolled over which was about £12m. I'm not sure if there is a glitch of some sort when disabling first window that it leaves you with no money for January too.

[Bracken]

Nice work @essien_5, I'm in the same boat with Havertz, really haven't got him firing as I'd want. Halfway through the second season and he only has 1 assist so far this year for me... Eerily similar to real life...

I also didn't get much of a budget for the January window first season (I wasn't planning any signings anyway), but I got a much larger one in the summer, which I put to some use.

I'll do another review at the end of season two, currently my main challenge is that Real and Barca are after Tammy and Mount and doing everything they can to unsettle them. It's gonna be a fight to keep hold of them, but I signed them to new contracts in the summer and have no interest in letting either go, so we'll see

[essien_5]

Just finished my first season and what looked like petering out somewhat has ended up finishing excellently.

I finished (a distant) second to Liverpool in the league on 84 points. Liverpool finished 10 points ahead on 94 so was always going to be a tall order with that. My problem was drawing too many games (9). There was a period just when Champions League started back up and the team was jaded and struggling for form where in a 4 game stretch we lost to Liverpool, drew 0-0 at home to Brighton and then drew 2-2 with Arsenal where Tammy came off the bench to score 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to rescue a point, only to miss an 89th minute penalty winner! We lost ground on Liverpool at that point and never made it back.

FA Cup was a write off, losing 1-0 to Norwich in the fourth round when trying to rest a lot of the players.

We won the Carabao Cup with a penalty shootout win over Man City after a 0-0 draw.

But the big success came in Europe. After struggling past Dinamo Zagreb, we smashed Inter 3-0 at home to get past them before meeting City in the semi's. By this point I was struggling with a couple of key injuries. Ziyech broke his ankle at the start of April to finish his season and Pulisic was also out too. We lost at City 4-2 in the first leg before putting an incredible performance in at the Bridge in the second leg, winning 5-1 including a Hudson Odoi hat trick.

This all led us to the final and a showdown with Courtois, Hazard and Real Madrid. Pulisic just returned in time a week before and scored the opener before Werner scored a second and we managed to comfortably see the game out with a 2-0 win to finish Champions of Europe.

With regards to players, Werner finished 44 (7) games and 33 goals, 9 assists. He also finished the league top scorer on 26 goals and 7 clear of second placed Lacazette. Tammy ably supported with 17 goals but I felt that he was always better for me coming on in the last half hour rather than giving him starts.

The three wide men all produced very well.

Ziyech 38 (4) games, 16 goals, 16 assists

Pulisic 39 (7) games, 14 goals, 8 assists

Hudson Odoi 26 (19) games, 15 goals. 8 assists

 

And the final silver lining on the season, Spurs finished 18th and got relegated! Will be interesting to see what players aim to push a move out the club.

Transfer wise, I already have Donnarumma and Alaba joining on a free. I'll keep an eye on the Spurs situation but the season has shown to me that I probably at least need a ball winning alternative to Kante and a fourth winger so I'm not forced to play Werner on the left if a couple of players are out.

Any suggestions for players to look at?

[MBJ96]

The 2021/22 season has started.

FA Community Shield
Chelsea vs Liverpool 2-0 (Tammy Abraham x2)

Premier League
Liverpool vs Chelsea 2-1 (Tammy Abraham)
Chelsea vs Tottenham 4-0 (Timo Werner x2, Tammy Abraham, Kai Havertz)
Chelsea vs Brighton 4-1 (Tammy Abraham x2, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech)
Chelsea vs Newcastle 3-0 (Timo Werner x2, Tammy Abraham)

In
David Alaba (Free transfer)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Free transfer)
Gabriel Menino (£20m)
Eduardo Camavinga (£80m)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£36m)
Phil Foden (£63m)

Got Alaba and Donnarumma early. Bought Menino as backup for James. Hope he can develop. Camavinga is my long term replacement for Kanté, but he will be playing a lot from now on. Calvert-Lewin is my new backup striker and he is excellent. Thought the business was done, but Tottenham made a bid for Foden and I could not let that chance go by. What a player for such a good price.

Out
Cesar Azpilicueta (£28m)
Emerson (£27m)
Andreas Christensen (£18m)
Trevoh Chalobah (£6.5m)
Armando Broja (£5m)
Danny Drinkwater (£0.3m)
Tiémoué Bakayoko (Loan)
Billy Gilmour (Loan)
Andrea Papetti (Loan)
Ethan Ampadu (Loan)
Matt Miazga (Loan)
Jorginho (Loan)
Victor Moses (Loan)
Olivier Giroud (Free transfer)

Some good offers for Azpilicueta and Emerson came in and both had contracts running out after the season. Was not able to sell players as Jorginho, Moses and Bakyoko.

Team
GK: Donnarumma, Kepa
RB: James, Menino
CB: Alaba, Zouma, Tomori, Silva
LB: Chilwell, Sarr, Cox (regen)
CMd: Kanté, Camavinga, Essien (regen)
CMc: Mount, Kovacic
RW: Ziyech, Foden, Hudson-Odoi
OM: Havertz, Loftus-Cheek
LW: Werner, Pulisic
SS: Abraham, Calvert-Lewin

Alaba can cover the left back.
Foden can play central midfield and offensive midfielder.
Will try to give some playing time to my two 16 year olds (Cox and Essien), who seems to have excellent potential.

 

[bucket]

Just finished my first season....finally!

Quick Review:

League: Winners beating Liverpool by 2 points, won on final day of season.

FA Cup: Lost to Burnley in Quarter Final.

League Cup: Lost to Liverpool in 3rd round.

Champs League: Lost in semis to Real Madrid.

Transfers were disabled for first window, but signed Otavio from Porto in January.

Player Records:

Timo Werner: 21 goals in League - 34 in total. Brilliant first season.

Tammy Abraham: 11 goals in League - 15 in total. Poor season from him. 

Hakim Ziyech: 7 goals in League - 14 in total. 9 assists.

Kai Havertz - 6 goals in league - 6 in total. 5 assists - Poor season from him, struggled with staying fit. Unsure on best position. 

End of Season:

SOLD: £151m

Baba Rahman - £7.5m - Tigres.

Jorginho - £38.5m - Man Utd.

Christensen - £23m - Burnley (Was on loan to them for the 1st season)

Alonso - £24.5m - Bournemouth.

Emerson - £25.5m - Monaco

Rudiger - £21m - Valencia

Loftus Cheek - £32m - Valencia

Azpilicueta - £19.75 (£29m with add ons) - Juventus.

Arrizabalaga - £20m - West Ham

Zappacosta - £14.25m - Roma.

Batshuayi - £17.5m (£22m with add ons) - Napoli. - Had a fantastic season with Palace, finishing 2nd in goals scored!

INS: £205m (So far)!

Declan Rice - £50m - West Ham got relegated.

Lautaro Martinez - £63m (up to £76m with add ons) - Inter - the reason I sold Bats.

Donnarumma - Free. Couldn't say no!

Milan Skrinar - £45m - Inter.

Jack Grealish - £28m. Aston Villa got relegated, was looking at Foden, but priced out, wanted another English player - Thought it was a good price too.

Ben Mendy £19m (£23m with add ons) - Back up to Chilwell.

 

Just played Charity Shield against BRENTFORD. Managed to win 4-2.

Liverpool first game of season.

SETUP:

Donnarumma,

James, Zouma, Skrinar, Chilwell,

             Kante/Rice

  Kovacic/Havert, Mount

Hudson Odoi/Ziyech     Pulisic

                 Werner/Martinez.

 

 

 

 

[bucket]

GET IN - 3-1 winners, Werner with a hat trick. B E A Utiful.

 

NOOOO it crashed.

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by bucket

[PitchPosh]

Great looking squad you have there and nice winning the league, Bucket. Looking to build a squad with a similar English core, so I'll be hoping for a West Ham & Villa relegation, too!

I've finally gotten into January in my save. Having trouble settling on a tactic that I like, which also gets results, but things are going okay. Currently sitting in 3rd 7 points off of Man City in First. Hilariously, Arsenal just made it out of the relegation zone into 16th after sacking Arteta. A little disappointed I couldn't bring back a couple of players who were out on loan, Bakayoko and Sarr specifically, but I'll get to have a look at them next preseason. The only player I brought in was Asensio, while I shipped Rudiger off to PSG.

I'll write something more in-depth up when the season finishes. I've really enjoyed seeing everyone else's saves progressing! 

 

[jborges]

On 17/12/2020 at 17:36, Bracken said:

Bucket! Nice to see some of the old familiar names again 

Great signings! I've always used Mount as the BBM in mine, haven't quite managed to get Havertz firing as I'd like, but I'll keep experimenting.

My setup showing my first team second season, modestly named Brackenball, is:

It's a modified version of vertical tiki-take, and I love the football that's played. I'll upload some goals when I get the chance, but it's lovely fast short passing through the midfield, usually ending in a through ball to either Tammy or the wingers, or a cross from one of the full backs. I will say, I use a lot of Player Instructions to make this work the way I want it, things like:

Full backs: stay wide, run wider, shoot less often, close down more

MCL: Take more risks

MCR: More direct passes, roam from position

AMR/L: Get further forward, more direct passes, take more risks, roam from position. 

All together it works a treat. The most important player in the team is Mount, he's responsible for driving the team forward and starting the moves, followed by Kante, who offers the perfect option to recycle play and mops up everything on the counter attack.  One aspect I really like with this play is that often when we're pressing around their box, we move the ball back to Kante which brings their defenders out just enough for us to then find space in behind, particularly with the full backs in the wide areas. 

Can you put the complete PI for the positions?

Thank you.

[Natedog17]

Just an update on Havertz, I found he plays best as Mezzala attack on the left cm role of my 4-3-3 or in the trequarista role as a amc in the 4-2-3-1.

[essien_5]

35 minutes ago, Natedog17 said:

Just an update on Havertz, I found he plays best as Mezzala attack on the left cm role of my 4-3-3 or in the trequarista role as a amc in the 4-2-3-1.

Nice I'll try him as a trequartista in pre season.

[essien_5]

I'm still in the summer of 2021 at the moment. Really struggling to manage the wage bill, I'm currently £360k over it which is restricting my ability to bring new players in beyond Donnarumma and Alaba.

I have a bank balance of £360m and £175m transfer kitty with no means to use it!

In terms of the first team squad, I've so far managed to sell:

Giroud - Marseille (free)

Rudiger - Man Utd £38m (could rise to £51m)

Batshuayi - Arsenal £27.5m

jorginho - PSG £46.5m

Alonso - Sevilla £26m

Zappacosta - Ajax £7.75m (could rise to £10.25m)

 

I also have offers in currently and accepted for Moses, Drinkwater and Kenedy.

Christensen has interest but I'm trying to push an offer as close to £30m as possible.

Been unable to gain interest so far in Barkley, Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown, Musonda and Miazga. 

The other one to try and move on is Kepa. I am currently trying to do a deal with Spurs for Kepa + circa £20m for Son. Spurs are getting cherry picked at present for a number of their players having been relegated with Lloris already moved on. They seem interested in Kepa so will be interesting if I can pull something off.

 

Presently, I plan to keep Sarr and Bakayoko at the club, Bakayoko as the ball winning backup to Kante that I lacked last season and Sarr will be the 4th/5th choice centre back option.

[Bracken]

8 hours ago, jborges said:

Can you put the complete PI for the positions?

Thank you.

Sure no problem:

Gk (SK - Defend): None

RB (FB - attack): Shoot less often, stay wider, close down more

RCB (CD - Defend): None

LCB (CD - Defend): None

LB (FB - Attack): Shoot less often, stay wider, close down more

DM (BWM - Defend): None

MCR (AP - Attack): More direct passes, roam from position

MCL (B2B - Support): Take more risks

AMR (IW - Support): More direct passes, take more risks, get further forward

AML (IF - Support): More direct passes, roam from position

ST (PF - Attack): Take more risks

Also, all of the CMs and Ams have been / are being taught the preferred move of "Tries Killer Balls Often". 

I just wasted a whole 45 minutest trying and failing to upload some examples of the play this produces, for some reason my computer will not encode the video and all I get is the SI logo and the 15 seconds of blank screen. So that's fun. Finished second season though, so will upload a season review once I've done the Club World Cup.

 

[essien_5]

I've been able to drive the wage budget down to around break-even point and I have a couple more I'm trying to get rid of.

Updated Players Out :

Giroud - Marseille - Free

Rudiger - Man Utd - £38m (rising to £51m)

Jorginho - PSG - £46.5m

Alonso - Sevilla - £26m

Moses - Inter - £12.5m

Zappacosta - Ajax - £8.75m (rising to £11.5m)

Azpilicueta - PSG - £30m (didn't really want to sell him but for the fee, a near 32 year old with one year of contract left and £150k per week wages, it was too tempting)

Drinkwater - Galatasary - £1m (thank god)

Kenedy - Leipzig - £4.9m

Kepa is also awaiting a work permit before a £22.5m move to Bournemouth which will be amazing to get his wages off the books.

 

At present I just have Donnarumma and Alaba coming in. Any suggestions of players to look at? Wouldn't mind picking up a couple of young talents (I brought Papetti last season but needs to be loaned out as can't get a work permit).

Two main areas currently I would say is an improvement on Zouma to play alongside Tomori and a long term replacement for Kante (otherwise I'll keep Bakayoko to back him up this season).

One player I can buy if I want is Kane. Spurs got relegated so will accept a deal of £45m, rising to £75m with some fairly straightforward clauses. I'm just not sure whether I need him, after the season Werner just had and Tammy also on the books. I'm also not sure whether he'll suit my Gegenpress style. The deal seems attractive for a player that should be in his prime but I'm just not certain whether to rubber stamp it. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by essien_5

[Bracken]

@essien_5 I will say Rice has been great for me in backing up Kante, and I expect him to take over that role full time. I've got Adarabioyo alongside Tomori right now and his attributes look great on mine, with potential to grow, though his performances so far have only been ok. 

I'd be really interested to see how Kane performs for you if you do go for him, plus it's always good to deprive Spurs of their best players, though ideally without giving them £75m 

Hoping to post my season review soon, but am away from my laptop over the next few days for Christmas

[bucket]

Oh man.... 2nd season. Champions League group stages.... finished bottom without a win. First time in my whole FM career that’s ever happened. Felt numb. I did have Real Madrid, Inter and Monchengladbach in my group but still. Got smashed 5-0 by Inter, with my players refunding the supporters. 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️ .

 

On the other hand - I’m 5 points clear in the league and just been given a new 4 year deal. 

[hickmanrocks]

@essien_5 "One player I can buy if I want is Kane. Spurs got relegated"

Now I haven't switched to FM21 yet as I'm still enjoying FM20 too much, but the above makes me smile! So many questions -

• How did Spurs get relegated? Did they slip down the table or have a terrible start to the season that they couldn't recover from.
• Are any players transfer listed or asking for a move?
• Was Mou in charge when they went down? If not who?
• What version of the game are you running? (Sorry I haven't been following the game too closely but I'm guessing by now the beta can be replaced by version 1.0 or similar at the players choosing)

Thank you

[bucket]

Im on the second season and Spurs are fighting relegation in February. 3 points clear of 17th position. 26 games played. Kane sold to Barcelona at end of 1st season. Jose was sacked 23rd December, Michael Laudrup took over in Jan 21 and was sacked October that year. Luis Enrique now in charge. 

Notable signings: O Edouard - Celtic, M Aarons - Norwich, V Mykolenko - Kyiv, M Dembele - Lyon. 

[essien_5]

11 hours ago, hickmanrocks said:

@essien_5 "One player I can buy if I want is Kane. Spurs got relegated"

Now I haven't switched to FM21 yet as I'm still enjoying FM20 too much, but the above makes me smile! So many questions -

• How did Spurs get relegated? Did they slip down the table or have a terrible start to the season that they couldn't recover from.
• Are any players transfer listed or asking for a move?
• Was Mou in charge when they went down? If not who?
• What version of the game are you running? (Sorry I haven't been following the game too closely but I'm guessing by now the beta can be replaced by version 1.0 or similar at the players choosing)

Thank you

Not the beta, first proper version of the game.

They were in the relegation zone pretty much the whole season. Flittered between 17th and 18th and went down with a game to spare.

Mourinho was sacked after about 12-15 games and Laudrup took over.

Kane wants to leave, Son has put in a transfer request and teams are circling the rest of the group - Lloris, Moura, Alli, Dier, etc.