[FM21] Making Palace fun again

[Jaydenoren]

With 23 points after 25 matches, Palace decided it was best to part ways with Roy Hodgson, I came in and just about guided them to safety. But with the oldest squad in the league there is a lot of work to do. But I want to do this with style. Since winning promotion to the top flight in 2013 the culture of palace has always been a direct, counter attacking team which thrived on pace, flair and skill, with this being best represented by Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha. However with Bolasie leaving for Everton in 2016 and Zaha convercorting into more of a forward under Roy Hodgson (plus the drastic increase on reliance on him) Palace did become a little bit more pragmatic, and the vibe around the club has changed a bit. But with another near-miss on relegation and a rebuild desperately needed, I want to bring this culture back with my own tweaks.

Here are the three people key in this tactic:

The Main Man

 

Eberechi Eze's arrival in late August stands to be one of the most well received transfers of Palace's current premier league era. Not only a young attacking midfielder who lit up the championship with QPR in the 19/20 season, but also a local lad who oozes excitement with his dribbling and tendency to do the unexpected, it's a match made in heaven and this is who I want to build my tactic around.

The Ace 

 The man himself, Mr Crystal Palace, with the good news that he wasn't interested in Chelsea's offer, I have hope that he'll stay this season if a UCL team doesn't come knocking, so he'll be key in my plans. With his lacklustre 19/20 season I want him to be the man we'll look towards when we want goals, so he'll be playing up front this season.

 

The Wildcard

Nothing spells unexpectedness more than the French international Mamadou Sakho, with his passing it can add another dimension to the tactic.

The aims of the tactic is:

- To make sure Eze has as much space as possible

- To make sure Zaha has enough support

- Use Sakho to start attacks

- To let everyone express themselves.

Here's the tactic

 

This tactic makes me give some questions though:

- the two DMs are meant to be kept back to give Eze as much space as possible, but are they the right roles?

- Is a FB(s) too conservative considering the DM(s)?

- Should I consider using Eze as a Trequartista?

- Am I lacking a style of play?

They will be answered soon enough I guess. Next post will be my transfer business in the 2021 summer window.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Jaydenoren

[Experienced Defender]

I cannot open those links. Can you simply embed the screenshot(s) in the post?

[Jaydenoren]

30 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

I cannot open those links. Can you simply embed the screenshot(s) in the post?

That’s weird, they shouldn’t be links at all, is it all the pictures that are like that?

[Sinbad7104]

2 minutes ago, Jaydenoren said:

That’s weird, they shouldn’t be links at all, is it all the pictures that are like that?

All working fine for me.

[Experienced Defender]

I am referring only to the last 2 ones: 

3 hours ago, Jaydenoren said:

Pictures of Eze and Zaha as well as their player profiles are okay and I can see them. Only these 2 links are the problem (the second of which is supposed to be of your tactic, hence the most important one for me). 

[Jaydenoren]

2 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

I am referring only to the last 2 ones: 

Pictures of Eze and Zaha as well as their player profiles are okay and I can see them. Only these 2 links are the problem (the second of which is supposed to be of your tactic, hence the most important one for me). 

Should be fixed now 

[Experienced Defender]

33 minutes ago, Jaydenoren said:

Should be fixed now 

Yes, thanks  

Now let's take a look...

I don't see any glaring issues in your tactic and I like that you are keeping it relatively simple, both in terms of roles and instructions 

The only tweak I would suggest is swapping the duties of the attacking winger (AMR) and AP - the winger on support and the AP on attack. That would give you even better balance and even better support for the striker, while also making more sense in relation to the playing style.

On the left flank, you may try IF on support duty instead of winger to add some variety up front - especially if you change the AP's duty into attack following my suggestion - although that may not be necessary. 

Anyway, you have a good starting point to build upon 

 

[Jaydenoren]

23 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Yes, thanks  

Now let's take a look...

I don't see any glaring issues in your tactic and I like that you are keeping it relatively simple, both in terms of roles and instructions 

The only tweak I would suggest is swapping the duties of the attacking winger (AMR) and AP - the winger on support and the AP on attack. That would give you even better balance and even better support for the striker, while also making more sense in relation to the playing style.

On the left flank, you may try IF on support duty instead of winger to add some variety up front - especially if you change the AP's duty into attack following my suggestion - although that may not be necessary. 

Anyway, you have a good starting point to build upon 

 

An advanced playmaker on attack is a great suggestion, especially with the direct football I’ll be looking to play. Will definitely keep these two points in mind.

[Jaydenoren]

The Rebuild

The biggest thing which I'll prioritise the most in this save is rebuilding the the squad. Not only to not make it the oldest squad in the league but also get in players who'll fit that 'palace culture'.

The following players left the club over the course of the window:

Joel Ward, Andros Townsend, Christian Benteke, Patrick Van Aanholt, Gary Cahill, Scott Dann, Martin Kelly, Wayne Hennessey, Connor Wickham

As a palace fan it hurts to see a number of these players leave (I even tried to keep Benteke out of my biased love for him ) but what's done is done, not only it'll help that average age but really cleans up the wage budget, allowing me to go big in the window.

Now let's start off with the signing's shall we?

Signing #1 - Grady Diangana from West Brom for £16.5m

The quest in getting south Londoners to the club won't stop. As a mid table club you always want to pick up players from relegated teams, as we take Diangana who had 7 goals and 5 assists in a quite frankly dismal West Brom side, meaning that he was involved in more than a third of their goals. The 23 year old has pretty good stats and still has room to grow, and the Tries Tricks PPM means he definitely deserves a place in my team.

 

Signing #3 - Rico Henry from Brentford for £9m

With Van Aanholt leaving, Tyrick Mitchell is now undoubtedly my first choice left back going into the season, but in my squad, everyone needs to be challenged for their place, so in comes the young Rico Henry who was a part of a successful Brentford side, who finished 3rd (again) and failed in the playoff final (again). With blinding pace and good dribbling and flair for a defender, he is the 3rd signing (I know I skipped the second signing but I'm saving the best for last ).

 

Signing #4 - Eray Cömert from FC Basel for £8m

Our one and only incoming from abroad, the Swiss international, who's been linked with Arsenal in real life, adds in another excellent ball playing defender, at first all I needed was a young backup to Sakho, but Cömert is looking very good and will probably slot into the first XI alongside him. Plus he possesses a PPM which this team will love and I'm sure you can guess what it is.

 

Signing #5 - Jed Wallace from Millwall for £3.8m

Is he over 23? Yes. Was there U23 wingers available? Yes. Even then, I just couldn't stop myself. Unlike the club he plays for, I'm a big fan of the winger, and for me he is not just one of the most underrated players in the Championship, but also one of the best. A fantastic dribbler with good pace and great flair, an absolute workhorse and a set piece specialist, he simply has to make that short trip on the train from South Bermondsey to Selhurst.

 

The Big One - Ismaïla Sarr from Watford for £29m

The main event, the Senegalese international will undoubtedly become the most expensive Palace and Senegalese signing of all time (unless Koulibaly has something to say) as this will reach a massive £37m with addons. It took a while for Watford to budge but here we are, a humungous addition to our attack, this speed demon who we've been monitoring for a long time makes us mean business, and hopefully with Sarr and all the other signings, we can make some real noise in the league, and it's up to me to deliver it.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Jaydenoren

[w_x]

That's a very exciting front 4!

[Jaydenoren]

This is how our first match of the season went. A 2-0 defeat but with stats like those and Leno getting MOTM doesn't make me lose hope. Eze with a good performance getting a 7.2 rating with the most key chances and dribbles but Zaha's finishing and Sakho's big mistake means they get a 6.4 and 6.2 respectively.

 

And now the second match of the season against the European champions. We have gotten a result this time but this might be more frustrating, it says 1 CCC but I honestly struggle to believe it, so many good chances squandered in the second half to put the game to bed and Wilf will be wondering how he hasn't come away with the match ball, so it's obvious Aguero would punish us late into the game. Obviously a fantastic game from Zaha with both wingers Diangana and Sarr preforming also. Eze had a quiet (6.8) game but that's probably due to coming up against one of the best defensive midfielders in the world in Ndidi. But it's nice to see this tactic has us preforming. 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Jaydenoren

[Experienced Defender]

An away defeat against Arsenal and a draw against City are both good results, especially when match stats are taken into account. So your tactic definitely seems worth sticking to it (possibly) with small subtle tweaks to make it even better 

Let's see how it fares against not-so-strong opposition. Because when you play against top teams, you can lose even if you outperform them, simply due to the sheer (dis)advantage in players' quality. 

[Marki]

Intrigued by this thread not only as a Palace season ticket holder but as an annual manager of CPFC on each iteration of FM. It feels like I have managed the same group of players for a few years such has been the stagnation at Selhurst. That said I appreciate the signings of Eze and Ferguson’s an attempt to freshen the place up and can see where the sentiments in your save come from. 

 

I’m running my own Palace FM21 save but started with the demo and carrying that through so operating with a reduced database. Injuries at the start are borderline crippling. 

 

I’ve got 7 games left and I’m sitting 7th so quite happy with the first season, but the future is a bit scary. Benteke is off, Wickham, and ward will go. Have just agreed a deal for Chalov to arrive in July but need to strengthen defence and midfield. I think the 2 mc’s will have to go. 

 

By coincidence I seem to have settled on a similar looking formation to yourself, although the TI’s differ a little. 

 

Following your story with interest!