FM21 - Sheffield United with the Summer 2021/22 Database!

[LUKE!]

Hi all,

 

Much like I have done in the past with a few different saves - it has come to that time of year when I get that FM bug once again - luck would have it that the FM22 trailer was released and the game announced for November today too!

I have started a new save with newly relegated from the Premier League team Sheffield United - I will look to regain that top flight promotion and kick on from there with the idea of dominating europe - but, all in good time.

 

As usual, if anyone has any thoughts on the way I do things etc then please do get in touch and offer a helping hand or maybe even some hints and tips from time to time if you feel like they could help - I may take them, I may not.

 

I hope I can gather somewhat of a following for this and some regular interaction as the seasons begin to pass.

I'll begin by running through my formation and tactics on the next post.....

[LUKE!]

Firstly, see below for my starting tactic, I have opted to go for something a bit different as this is the first time I have played FM21 in quite some time and didn't want to go for the norm this time around if I could help it.

Off the back of this tactic also - I have identified who will be playing where and have assigned an individual training program specifically for that role to the respective players.

Hoping for this to speed up the cohesion side of things by doing this and start to create those 'chemistry lines'.

 

Next post I will take a brief look at what staff I have in which roles - as before I even kicked off pre-season I had a complete reshuffle of the backroom staff to give us the best chance to progress back up to the Premier League where a manager of my stature belongs 

[LUKE!]

Coaching Staff:

 

[LUKE!]

Medical Staff:

 

[LUKE!]

Recruitment Staff:

 

[LUKE!]

Transfers In: 

 

GK - Francis Uzoho - free

CB - Winston Reid - loan with option to buy for 1.5m

RWB - Rafael - free

CM - Jack Wilshere - free

AML - Robbie Brady - free

ST - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - free

 

Some nice business for the Championship especially considering that the summer update already gave us the following players:

 

GK - Robin Olsen - loan

CM - Conor Hourihane - loan

CM - Morgan Gibbs-White - loan

 

[LUKE!]

Transfers Out:

 

GK - Michael Verrips - 2.2M

AMR - Luke Freeman - 6.25M

ST - David McGoldrick - 7.75M

 

Along with a lot of youngsters going out on loan - considering I've gotten rid of a lot of dead wood here for over 16M and brought in the above newbies I would consider this transfer window a huge success! 

 

 

[LUKE!]

Taking one last look at our squad for the season before we delve into our pre-season results:

 

[LUKE!]

Pre-season 2020/21:

 

UN-BE-LIEVABLE TEKKERS!!!

 

 

Especially that final game vs Inter Milan because I fully expected a hammering in that game - to keep a clean sheet too with youngster Uzoho in the net was a thing of beauty!!

 

Over the course of pre-season we tried out a few players such as Branislav Ivanovic & Robbie Brady, we ended up signing the latter but Ivanovic wasn't able to gain a work permit unfortunately.

Well happy with that pre-season though and following on from this I will post a month at a time with any major team/competition news and my results.

 

LET'S GOOOOO!!!!!!

[LUKE!]

Opening month of the season filled September with 6 games, 3 in the Carabao Cup and 3 in the Championship.

We only conceded one goal all month with both keepers and a lot of defensive players chipping in to keep the goals conceded at bay.

 

On the other hand we had good returns from the likes of Oli McBurnie, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ben Osborn & Rhian Brewster amongst others.

We will play Spurs or Middlesbrough in the 4th round of the Carabao once the winner of their third round tie becomes known.

 

 

Great start to the season and as it stands we have another 6 Championship games to look forward to in October and potentially a Carabao Cup game too once we know our opponent.

That's all for tonight though so I will update this thread the next time I am able to get through a full month! 

[LUKE!]

Month number 2 done and dusted.

Only one goal conceded throughout the whole month which was a consolation for Millwall in our 5-1 win.

 

Again, plenty of input from a lot of different players and on top of that we had a huge win in the Carabao Cup 4th Round vs Tottenham!!

We have drawn Bournemouth in the quarter finals - the remaining fixtures for the Carabao Cup are as follows:

 

Arsenal v Blackpool

Blackburn v Leeds

Man Utd v Crystal Palace

 

During the month of October I have also been in negotiations with a 17 year old central defender from Norway named Max Normann Williamsen - looking to bring him in for just over 1m and plenty of time to develop the lad so worth a gamble.

If the work permit is accepted he will join the squad next summer (I delayed the transfer til then due to his age and think leaving him with his current team Levanger will be good to get the game time).

[LUKE!]

Disappointing first game as 1st (us) lose out to 2nd (Bournemouth) after a hat-trick from Emiliano Rigoni away from Home.

 

We bounced back with two big wins though, but for the first time this season, our game vs Birmingham ended in a loss without scoring even a consolation goal.

They had 9 shots and 6 on target for 2 goals, we had 14 shots and 8 on target for no goals - Huntelaar finishing the game with a 6.1 rating which wasn't great....

 

Ended the month with two wins and clean sheets though so hopefully back to previous months type of form moving forward.

 

This month we also opened talks with Hoffenheim for currently on loan striker David Otto who I am looking to bring in to fit my tactic as a pressing forward.

So far the 21 year old German forward has scored 4 goals in 12 games for Jahn Regensburg on loan from Hoffenheim - if we do sign him, again, it won't be completed until summer 2021.

 

Next time I play we go into an action packed December schedule as we have 8 games in the Championship and a Carabao Cup Quarter Final to look forward to against league contenders Bournemouth.

[LUKE!]

After a few days off - I have just completed the full month of December 2020!

A lot of fixtures throughout the month but again - we hold our own and remain top of the table at christmas/the new year!

 

We have drawn the easier tie of the 3 other remaining teams for the Carabao Cup Semi-Final also in Leeds Utd - the two other teams involved are Man Utd & Arsenal.

 

Transfer window coming up next month and I need to take a look at some outgoings first to identify who we need to bring in - I have sold Basham to Brentford so will need another DM 100%

 

League table at 30th December following the WBA Win below!

 

[LUKE!]

***TRANSFER WINDOW UPDATE***

 

Due to the sale of DM Chris Basham we have been scouting like mad to bring in a younger replacement.

Ultimately we have settled on a young Belgian who is currently playing for Anderlecht.

An 18 year old defensive midfielder we plan on moulding into a half-back to be another cog in our already quality tactic, in a deal worth a total of 12.5M over the next 2 years.

We are happy to announce the signing of .....

 

MARCO KANA!!!!

 

One quite clearly for the future given his age but it won't be long until he is chomping at the bit to compete for that DM spot with Ollie Norwood!

[LUKE!]

January is over.

 

We enter the tail end of the season after bringing in Marco Kana.

We are top of the league with an 11 point gap between ourselves and 2nd placed Bournemouth.

We have a Carabao Cup Final to look forward to - although we do have to overcome a Man Utd side.

We have just been drawn vs Man Utd in the FA Cup Fifth Round too!

 

A long way to go until we officially reach where we need to be but we are looking good on all fronts right now.

Our January results are below as well as our remaining fixtures as things stand:

 

 

Current League Table:

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by LUKE!

[LUKE!]

February is over and done with - a grueling fixture schedule throughout this month once again.

We took Man Utd to ET in the 5th round of the FA Cup but didnt have enough to hang in there for penalties as they beat us 2-1.

We also took a loss vs Huddersfield after Rafael got himself sent off early on leaving us with 10 men for the remainder of the game - never a good thing to do in what is a very lively Championship.

We ended the month on a high though by managing to beat Bournemouth who are our closest rivals although we now have a 13 point gap between 1st and 2nd after that win and we have a game in hand also - the title is all but ours!!!

 

 

[LUKE!]

The month of March is over and done with - we will be completing the season tonight!!!

3 wins and a draw has secured the league title for us!!!!

 

Incredible season which could still (although unlikely) result in a league and Carabao Cup double

 

Results below:

 

 

League Table below:

 

[LUKE!]

Season 1 completed!

 

I played a month and a bit as I didn't want to wait to just post the last two games of the season after April.

Unfortunate events in the Carabao Cup Final as we were 1-0 down, Rhian Brewster had his penalty saved so I went more attacking and we got punished by Man Utd.

 

Now to plan for next season, we need to replace or bring in our loan players as full time players. My plan is to look for youth with a high ceiling for improvement but will be taking my time to scout prospective new players before we delve into 2021/22 pre-season.

 

Results below for our final run in:

League Table below for the final League Table in the Championship:

Ourselves, Bournemouth and whoever wins the playoffs will replace Watford, Newcastle and either Norwich/Brentford/Crystal Palace in the premier league - there are currently 2 games left in the top division.

I will have to keep an eye on transfer listed players from these clubs and some of the youngsters that might want to move because of the relegation.

 

 

[LUKE!]

SEASON ONE REVIEW!!!!

TRANSFERS IN BY AVERAGE RATING OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEASON:

PT.2

SEASON RESULTS OVERVIEW:

MOMENTS TO REMEMBER:

FINANCES OVERVIEW:

HOW WE LINED UP/OVERALL BEST ELEVEN:

ACCOLADES/AWARDS:

PART 2 (PLAYER AWARDS):

HISTORY IN THE MAKING!!!:

[LUKE!]

SEASON 2 BEGINS.......

 

Transfers (so far) have come through as the below:

 

Incoming:

Karlo Letica - GK - 1M from Club Brugge NXT

Neraysho Kasanwirjo - CB - 3.5M from FC Groningen

Filip Benkovic - CB - 3M from Leicester City

Andrea Papetti - CB - loaned from Arsenal

Anel Ahmedhodzic - CB - loaned from Man City

Krystian Bielik - DM - 15M from Derby County

Charles De Ketelaere - CM - 16M from Club Brugge

Andreas Skov Olsen - AMR - 4M from Newcastle United

Thiago Almada - AML - 10M from Velez

David Otto - ST - 4.5M from Hoffenheim

 

Outgoing:

Max Lowe - LB - 1.7M to Nottm Forest

Jayden Bogle - RB - loaned to Ipswich

Ben Osborn - AML - 17M to Newcastle United

Antwoine Hackford - ST - loaned to Newport County

Lys Mousset - ST - 17.25M to Dinamo

David Otto - ST - loaned to Heracles Almelo

 

[LUKE!]

Pre-season results 2021/22

Our training camp saw us travel to Portugal where we played Pinhalnovense, Louletano and Olhanense.

We then played SV Werder at home and Havre AC in France to finish our pre-season schedule.

Plenty of goals and very few conceded - getting some cohesion between the team and with the new players learning the tactic etc should hopefully give us a strong leg to stand on once we enter our first season in the Premier League!

 

[LUKE!]

Didn't realise there was a 2 week gap between the Havre game and the season start so I arranged a game vs a local lower rep team, another clean sheet and 45 mins for 1st and 2nd stringers to get more minutes under belts!:

 

[LUKE!]

Some tough fixtures in our opening month of the season, as expected.

 

A draw vs Everton which was rescued by Huntelaar and Olsen who came on as subs in the second half.

A loss vs Tottenham was expected IMO purely because they still have Harry Kane and add Zapata to that, a 4-1 defeat was a tough one to take.

We did however, manage to keep Man Utd to a 0-0 which could end up being a big point later in the season.

An easy win in the Carabao Cup 2nd Round vs Walsall saw Huntelaar step up again with 4 goals, nice to keep a clean sheet too given that we used 'lacking match sharpness' players in this game to get them up to speed.

A nice victory then vs Aston Villa as Thiago Almada finally showed his talents with a goal and assist to secure our first 3 points of the season!

 

 

Three home games coming up in September with one being vs Birmingham (League One team) in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round.

We have Palace, Bournemouth and Brighton in the league so I'm hoping for some more 3 pointers going up on the board!

[LUKE!]

September saw us take in a mixed bag of results.

Special mention to Andreas Skov Olsen for bagging 4 goals in 4 games throughout the month.

 

Happy with the clean sheet and 1-0 win vs Palace in the league - especially after John Fleck got himself sent off on the 63rd minute.

 

The Bournemouth game was a bit harder to take as we came up with them so they are the games to win for us really.

1-0 down, 1-1, 2-1 up, 2-2, 3-2 up, 3-3 in the 87th minute - stings a bit, but we were away from home so hopefully we can get a better result in the return fixture.

 

We rested up a lot of players for the Carabao Cup once again and still managed a clean sheet and 2-0 win over League One side Birmingham.

 

Another late goal conceded against Brighton saw Yves Bissouma score in the 91st minute to cancel out a point for us too.