FM23: Manchester United The Ten Hag era

[sedge11]

Welcome to the Manchester United FM23 thread

A prestige club that has won: 3 Champions League titles, 1 Europa League, 20 Premiership titles and 12 F.A. Cup's. Most of these were under Sir Matt Busby (The Busby Years) and Sir Alex Ferguson. After the inevitable retirement of SAF, it's been all down hill with the club in constant transition and rebuilding and rebuilding again. Louis Van gaal and Mourinho had some success in the FA Cup, Carabao cup and Europa league. Last season was an utter disaster and embarrassment, with 2 managers in Ole and Rangnick failing to get the squad performing leading to our worst ever premier league season. Ten Hag now takes over the reins bringing in a new culture, new style of play and finally a manager that is brave enough to make the big decisions such as dropping Maguire and Ronaldo. A big summer has followed with 5 big signings and over 200 mil spent, with all 5 signings look very handy in particular Martinez. Will you carry on with Ten Hag's approach or bring your own way to bring the trophies and glory days back to Old Trafford?

Stadium: Old Trafford

Capactiy: 74,879

Training Facilities: Excellent

Youth Facilities: Superb

Junior Recruitment: Excellent

Youth Recruitment: Excellent

Finances: Rich

Transfer Budget: £20.6m

Wage Budget: £5.4m pw

Media Prediction: 4th

Supporters season objectives

Play entertaining football

Be competitive against Liverpool and Man city

Finish above Leeds

Qualify for the champions league

Develop players using the club's youth system

Board End of Season objectives

Challenge for the Europa league

Qualify for the europa league

Challenge for FA cup

Sign players to sell for a profit

Grow the clubs rep

New signings

Martinez, Malacia, Casemiro, Eriksen and Antony

 

A very good summer with 5 big name signings coming through the door, finally bringing in a world class DM. The summer window means the squad is in a much better place than it was last season and on FM22, however there is still alot of work to do though with a big chunk of the squad in their last year of their contracts including Ronaldo, Rashford, De Gea, Shaw and Dalot. There is also still big area's for concern mainly the striker position with Ronaldo on his way out and Martial and Rashford not consistent enough to lead the line. If you want to play with Ten Hag's style then the Goalkeeper is another position of priorty.

Some of the previous deadwood has been shifted with the likes of Pogba, Lingard, Mata and Bailly being moved on, but there is still work to done in this area with players such as Jones and Tuanzebe still here and start with long term injuries.

As always with Manchester United there is some great youth talent to pick from and develop, can you make them into superstars. The standouts being: Hannibal, Garnacho, Mainoo and Shoretire.

The staff under Ten Hag has also had a small revamp with Steve Mclaren and Mitchell van der Gaag as your assistant managers, and Benni McCarthy joining the coaching team

The squad is stacked with 26 players in the 1st team, with a number of players such as Williams, Tuanzebe, Pereria, Garner and Laird all out on loan.

What will you do with Ronaldo? De Gea? Will you carry on Ten Hag's philosophy? Can you stop the machine that is Haaland and stop Man City from dominating? 

Good luck guys, should be a good year on FM23.

Edited October 23, 2022 by sedge11

[Ronaldo Beckham]

If it is possible it might be worth playing Tom Huddlestone in the Carabo cup games with some of the youngsters.

 

[sedge11]

So I started by disabling the 1st transfer window, always like to start a save with the exact squads.

Now with Ten Hag's changes I didn't need to do as much with the staff but these are ones I brought in.

The formation I have set up is a 4-3-3.

We had a really tough start to the season playing Chelsea, Liverpool, Man city and spurs all in the 1st 7 games, and we did fairly well during that run.

I have now reached January and we currently sit in 4th, having drawn too many games, 8 in 21 league games. We just haven't scored enough goals with Martial my top scorer on 10 goals. Ronaldo I am fazing out as I will be letting him go at the end of the 1st season. Man City are cruising at the top with Haaland already on 28 league goals.

I have sold Jones and Tuanzebe for a combined 10.5 mil, with Wan Bissaka also on the transfer list but with no luck selling him so far. My striker search has been difficult, I looked at Ivan Toney but Brentford want deal totaling 69 mil, which is abit much and I think I can get him cheaper at the end of the season. So I may not buy anyone and just wait until the summer, focusing on the youth until then.

We got knocked straight out of the carabao cup, have drawn Liverpool in the FA cup 4th round, and finished top of our europa group.

 

[Zeonflux]

1 hour ago, sedge11 said:

Welcome to the Manchester United FM23 thread

A prestige club that has won: 3 Champions League titles, 1 Europa League, 20 Premiership titles and 12 F.A. Cup's. Most of these were under Sir Matt Busby (The Busby Years) and Sir Alex Ferguson. After the inevitable retirement of SAF, it's been all down hill with the club in constant transition and rebuilding and rebuilding again. Louis Van gaal and Mourinho had some success in the FA Cup, Carabao cup and Europa league. Last season was an utter disaster and embarrassment, with 2 managers in Ole and Rangnick failing to get the squad performing leading to our worst ever premier league season. Ten Hag now takes over the reins bringing in a new culture, new style of play and finally a manager that is brave enough to make the big decisions such as dropping Maguire and Ronaldo. A big summer has followed with 5 big signings and over 200 mil spent, with all 5 signings look very handy in particular Martinez. Will you carry on with Ten Hag's approach or bring your own way to bring the trophies and glory days back to Old Trafford?

Stadium: Old Trafford

Capactiy: 74,879

Training Facilities: Excellent

Youth Facilities: Superb

Junior Recruitment: Excellent

Youth Recruitment: Excellent

Finances: Rich

Transfer Budget: £20.6m

Wage Budget: £5.4m pw

Media Prediction: 4th

Supporters season objectives

Play entertaining football

Be competitive against Liverpool and Man city

Finish above Leeds

Qualify for the champions league

Develop players using the club's youth system

Board End of Season objectives

Challenge for the Europa league

Qualify for the europa league

Challenge for FA cup

Sign players to sell for a profit

Grow the clubs rep

New signings

Martinez, Malacia, Casemiro, Eriksen and Antony

 

A very good summer with 5 big name signings coming through the door, finally bringing in a world class DM. The summer window means the squad is in a much better place than it was last season and on FM22, however there is still alot of work to do though with a big chunk of the squad in their last year of their contracts including Ronaldo, Rashford, De Gea, Shaw and Dalot. There is also still big area's for concern mainly the striker position with Ronaldo on his way out and Martial and Rashford not consistent enough to lead the line. If you want to play with Ten Hag's style then the Goalkeeper is another position of priorty.

Some of the previous deadwood has been shifted with the likes of Pogba, Lingard, Mata and Bailly being moved on, but there is still work to done in this area with players such as Jones and Tuanzebe still here and start with long term injuries.

As always with Manchester United there is some great youth talent to pick from and develop, can you make them into superstars. The standouts being: Hannibal, Garnacho, Mainoo and Shoretire.

The staff under Ten Hag has also had a small revamp with Steve Mclaren and Mitchell van der Gaag as your assistant managers, and Benni McCarthy joining the coaching team

The squad is stacked with 26 players in the 1st team, with a number of players such as Williams, Tuanzebe, Pereria, Garner and Laird all out on loan.

What will you do with Ronaldo? De Gea? Will you carry on Ten Hag's philosophy? Can you stop the machine that is Haaland and stop Man City from dominating? 

Good luck guys, should be a good year on FM23.

Fantastic work as always fella but haven’t Pereria and Garner been sold?

[sedge11]

3 minutes ago, Zeonflux said:

Fantastic work as always fella but haven’t Pereria and Garner been sold?

Yea they were, don’t think mentioned them as was more about the 1st teamers involved in last seasons disaster haha.

[Sherkey]

Any thoughts about any potential first season transfers? I'm oscillating between Tielemans and Neves for an additional midfielder (need a DLP). That will mostly sort my midfield, before the second summer window (where the focus will be more on a striker and a GK).

[sedge11]

12 minutes ago, Sherkey said:

Any thoughts about any potential first season transfers? I'm oscillating between Tielemans and Neves for an additional midfielder (need a DLP). That will mostly sort my midfield, before the second summer window (where the focus will be more on a striker and a GK).

Well striker wise I am looking at Toney, Jonathan David and Cody Gakpo.

Gk wise I think Diogo Costa or Robert Sanchez are the main 2.

Neves is in the final year of his contract so could be fairly cheap, he went to Man City on mine in Jan for 22 mil.

[DominicForza]

@sedge11  thank you for making the Official Man Utd post.  And thanks for a simple title!  Thank you for your work creating last year's thread too.   Appreciate the work. 

 

Glory Glory

[martymcfly]

Can you add Lisandro profile, please?

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, martymcfly said:

Can you add Lisandro profile, please?

Spoiler

Don't think he's massively changed from fm22

 

 

 

[DominicForza]

25 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

  Hide contents

Don't think he's massively changed from fm22

 

 

 

I'm guessing he'll get a bump when full release data base is updated.  And Ronaldo will get nerfed.  

[bluehefner]

1 hour ago, DominicForza said:

I'm guessing he'll get a bump when full release data base is updated.  And Ronaldo will get nerfed.  

Do they often make changes to the data before the full release? I assumed players attributes pretty much stayed the same until the winter update.

[DominicForza]

3 minutes ago, bluehefner said:

Do they often make changes to the data before the full release? I assumed players attributes pretty much stayed the same until the winter update.

Historically they do make changes to database between Beta and Full Release and then again in mid-late February.   For instance last year they nerfed Ronaldo between Beta and Full Release.

[bluehefner]

30 minutes ago, DominicForza said:

Historically they do make changes to database between Beta and Full Release and then again in mid-late February.   For instance last year they nerfed Ronaldo between Beta and Full Release.

Ah interesting, i didn't see the nerf on full release because i started in Beta, saw it during the Feb update and assumed it was from that. Here's hoping Martinez and Dalot get an update!

[Nick OGS20]

Just FYI, there won't be significant changes to any first-team players for the full release - will be some minor tweaks and some bigger changes to academy players. 

[DominicForza]

12 minutes ago, Nick OGS20 said:

Just FYI, there won't be significant changes to any first-team players for the full release - will be some minor tweaks and some bigger changes to academy players. 

Thanks Nick, that qualifies as "straight from the horse's mouth" right there. 

[byang08]

 

7 hours ago, Nick OGS20 said:

Just FYI, there won't be significant changes to any first-team players for the full release - will be some minor tweaks and some bigger changes to academy players. 

Not even to Lisandro? He currently has lower CA/PA, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Positioning, and same Pace as Maguire. I know we're only two months into the season and Maguire's been injured but surely Lisandro Martinez's attributes should reflect he is the clear first choice CB?

[Zeonflux]

3 hours ago, byang08 said:

Not even to Lisandro? He currently has lower CA/PA, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Positioning, and same Pace as Maguire. I know we're only two months into the season and Maguire's been injured but surely Lisandro Martinez's attributes should reflect he is the clear first choice CB?

It’s an odd one as it should be changed as he’s been great and he should definitely have better scores for those attributes but I don’t know if those attributes are just taken from last season or if they’re done by either the Ajax or Man Utd scout that provides the attribute scores for FM

[tyro]

Nice to see these Team threads again beginning of the FM release

 

[trekman]

13 hours ago, DominicForza said:

Historically they do make changes to database between Beta and Full Release and then again in mid-late February.   For instance last year they nerfed Ronaldo between Beta and Full Release.

For me Ronaldo was immense in last years game scoring over 40 goals in all competitions. If anything he's been nerfed a bit for this beta but he's probably still too good considering his age and real life unhappiness which I'm guessing will be tweaked a bit before full release.

[Stevmon]

I also play with disabled for the first window for realism.

For January I’m looking to sell AWB and get a new RB to compete with Dalot (how good would Pavard be?).

For summer 2023 DDG and CR7 will be let go. I’ll give Henderson 1-2 years to prove himself and invest in an upgrade on Eriksen (Bellingham would be the dream) and a CF (tougher to find a stand out candidate…). Depending on how Rash/Martial perform maybe buy a rotating CF who’s good in the air (Toney, Calvert-Lewin etc) and wait for Sesko to be available and developed.

Don’t see the perfect no 9 to invest in for the next 12 months… Any ideas?

[Nick OGS20]

11 hours ago, Zeonflux said:

It’s an odd one as it should be changed as he’s been great and he should definitely have better scores for those attributes but I don’t know if those attributes are just taken from last season or if they’re done by either the Ajax or Man Utd scout that provides the attribute scores for FM

The main assessments in terms of CA/PA generally take place over the summer, and in the case of summer transfers the players are fully assessed by the researcher at the selling club before they're transferred over. Obviously there is scope for some changes to be made where there are obvious discrepancies but significant changes aren't advised as it's all too easy to jump to incorrect conclusions from the small sample-size of August/September football (especially if prior to that the player was at a different club, whose researcher will have been far better placed to rate them). 

With Martinez, I think there's a very small improvement that will be in the database for release, and I'd have probably improved him a little bit more with a few more weeks to assess him. Even so, I wouldn't be comfortable with major changes until we've seen form maintained over a longer spell - can be assured he'll be significantly improved in January if he keeps playing at his current level. The comparisons with Maguire are tricky because we're only just over a year on from United fans being gutted he missed the Europa League final and from him shining at the Euros - his issues are confidence/mental as much as anything, I don't think he's as bad as it has become popular to say, he's just properly in a slump.

Fwiw, based off the start to this season I'd have probably rated Martinez, Dalot and (particularly) Shaw a fair bit higher, and would be nerfing Sancho and Ronaldo some more. I'll probably make those changes in the pre-game editor for the United save I plan on starting on release day.

[DownTheFrank]

23 hours ago, Nick OGS20 said:

Just FYI, there won't be significant changes to any first-team players for the full release - will be some minor tweaks and some bigger changes to academy players. 

@ManUnitedYouth ?

 

fwiw having watched Lisandro all season i think his consistency, pace, concentration, marking and anticipation should be higher. Just my opinion. He's legitimately really good.

[Nick OGS20]

That's me yep. And I do tend to agree on Lisandro, I love him already - I've just seen numerous cases in the past where someone gets off to a flying start, they get a big bump in CA and then after six months or a year you realise that actually their previous researcher had a pretty good handle on them after all.

[tottivillarossi]

Just out of interest, how do you decide what players should be rated? Do you use the stats are out there? 

I think Dalot had 8 for Vision, despite visually and statistically being one of the best passing and progressive passing defenders in the league so I'm not sure how these numbers are arrived at? 

[Chetsfmfan]

Thanks for setting up the Utd thread.

Started my Utd save last night, managed to get Maguire (12.25m), AWB (16.75m), Fred (8.5m) and Heaton (free) out the door to free up some budget.

Replaced coaching team, gutted scouting team to below 15 scouts (anyone below 16 Judge CA/PA) and in the process of sorting out the medical team.

As for transfers in:

Managed to get Barella (£60m - £20m + £40m) , Bastoni (£65m - £25m + £40m) and Khellvan (£9m) in.

Must admit they’re unrealistic transfers but it’s the beta so just in the process of testing formations, players and having fun.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Chetsfmfan

[sedge11]

14 hours ago, Stevmon said:

Don’t see the perfect no 9 to invest in for the next 12 months… Any ideas?

I had a similar idea in waiting for Sesko. I have brought in Jonathan David in Jan, he works well as a pressing forward.

Otherwise its big money signings in Osimhen or Vlahovic if you can get them.

[DominicForza]

16 hours ago, Nick OGS20 said:

The main assessments in terms of CA/PA generally take place over the summer, and in the case of summer transfers the players are fully assessed by the researcher at the selling club before they're transferred over. Obviously there is scope for some changes to be made where there are obvious discrepancies but significant changes aren't advised as it's all too easy to jump to incorrect conclusions from the small sample-size of August/September football (especially if prior to that the player was at a different club, whose researcher will have been far better placed to rate them). 

With Martinez, I think there's a very small improvement that will be in the database for release, and I'd have probably improved him a little bit more with a few more weeks to assess him. Even so, I wouldn't be comfortable with major changes until we've seen form maintained over a longer spell - can be assured he'll be significantly improved in January if he keeps playing at his current level. The comparisons with Maguire are tricky because we're only just over a year on from United fans being gutted he missed the Europa League final and from him shining at the Euros - his issues are confidence/mental as much as anything, I don't think he's as bad as it has become popular to say, he's just properly in a slump.

Fwiw, based off the start to this season I'd have probably rated Martinez, Dalot and (particularly) Shaw a fair bit higher, and would be nerfing Sancho and Ronaldo some more. I'll probably make those changes in the pre-game editor for the United save I plan on starting on release day.

Thank you for the insight "behind the curtain."   I both appreciate it and enjoyed it.  Its the kind of thing I'd be interested in learning more about (and not from glossy SI PR videos).  I do get that FM deliberately wants to keep things mysterious, and I get the reasoning behind it.  I do wish there was more information about how the sausage is made, as well as insight into how match engine and attribute calculations work.  

It makes total sense to me to mostly defer to previous researcher and not "overreact" based on a limit sample size.  

I also agree with your view of Maguire form being mental/confidence...I am curious if that has been reflected in his hidden attributes (consistency, pressure, important match)

I'm sure you have guidelines/policies to follow, which again makes sense to have global balance of players ratings in game.  I do think FM as a whole and researchers in particular have done an excellent job in last 5 years or more to reduce the bloat of attribute inflation that used to plague FM (dating back to CM days).  Like many long time FM/CM players I long thought EPL (and to a lesser degree EFL) players were overrated.  That's improved.  In recent years I've thought the Bundesliga in particular was somewhat underrated (excluding Bayern) and, in my view, overly conservative in mid-seasons DB updates.  

And this is what the Pre and In-Game Editors are for!   

I found it amusing and gratifying that an FM ManUtd research plans on using Pre-Game Editor for ManUtd players!\.  I make liberal (excessive?) use of editor across the board.  It's become one of, if not my favorite part of the game.  Football IS about opinions after all! 

 

Thanks again for posting.   I'd like to here more on these topics.  

[axehan1]

I am struggling like mad to sell anyone in the 1st transfer window.

[DominicForza]

17 hours ago, Stevmon said:

I also play with disabled for the first window for realism.

For January I’m looking to sell AWB and get a new RB to compete with Dalot (how good would Pavard be?).

For summer 2023 DDG and CR7 will be let go. I’ll give Henderson 1-2 years to prove himself and invest in an upgrade on Eriksen (Bellingham would be the dream) and a CF (tougher to find a stand out candidate…). Depending on how Rash/Martial perform maybe buy a rotating CF who’s good in the air (Toney, Calvert-Lewin etc) and wait for Sesko to be available and developed.

Don’t see the perfect no 9 to invest in for the next 12 months… Any ideas?

 

3 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I had a similar idea in waiting for Sesko. I have brought in Jonathan David in Jan, he works well as a pressing forward.

Otherwise its big money signings in Osimhen or Vlahovic if you can get them.

@sedge11 what did you pay for David?

Can't go wrong with Osimhen or Vlahovic, although Osimhen's work rate is a little low for my tastes for that price range.  I'd prefer Vlahovic. They're both top class and should have significant room for improvement.  Definitely BIG MONEY targets.  I'd add Rafael Leao to the Big Money Target List.  He's not natural at ST but he's already an elite Attacking Advanced Forward and a counter-attacking BEAST. Shouldn't take long to become natural ST (I'd also put him on stamina training!)

Other initial thoughts on options - Lautaro Martinez, Raspadori (Napoli loan w buy in '23), Beto (Udinese), Tammy Abraham, Dybala (20m release clause), Calvert-Lewin, Evanilson (Porto), Patrick Schick, Memphis, Umar Sadiq (Real Sociedad), Ivan Toney, Maxi Gomez (just doesn't feel right him being at Trabzonspor!), Patson Daka, Goncalo Ramos (Benfica), En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Mitrovic, Adeyemi (Dortmund)

 

Other Veteran/Short-term options -  Ciro Immobile, Duvan Zapata, Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Mehdi Taremi (Porto), Belotti (looks a little nerfed this season), Borja Iglesias (Betis), Raul Jimenez,  Danny Ings

And of course look to pick the bones of any financially troubled clubs, or unsettled players.

Messi could be a viable option on a free if he doesn't extend with PSG (Barca will have hard time fitting him under their wage cap)

Calvert-Lewin, Beto, Mitrovic, Maxi Gomez and Sadiq are who I'm thinking about for a Target Man/Complete Forward type (I have a sentimental draw to Sadiq from when he was breaking in at Roma).   Roko Simic (Salzburg) as a future prospect interests me too (I'm guessing he'll have a variable PA)

Edited October 26, 2022 by DominicForza
added info

[sedge11]

32 minutes ago, DominicForza said:

 

@sedge11 what did you pay for David?

Can't go wrong with Osimhen or Vlahovic, although Osimhen's work rate is a little low for my tastes for that price range.  I'd prefer Vlahovic. They're both top class and should have significant room for improvement.  Definitely BIG MONEY targets.  I'd add Rafael Leao to the Big Money Target List.  He's not natural at ST but he's already an elite Attacking Advanced Forward and a counter-attacking BEAST. Shouldn't take long to become natural ST (I'd also put him on stamina training!)

Other initial thoughts on options - Lautaro Martinez, Raspadori (Napoli loan w buy in '23), Beto (Udinese), Tammy Abraham, Dybala (20m release clause), Calvert-Lewin, Evanilson (Porto), Patrick Schick, Memphis, Umar Sadiq (Real Sociedad), Ivan Toney, Maxi Gomez (just doesn't feel right him being at Trabzonspor!), Patson Daka, Goncalo Ramos (Benfica), En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Mitrovic, Adeyemi (Dortmund)

 

Other Veteran/Short-term options -  Ciro Immobile, Duvan Zapata, Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Mehdi Taremi (Porto), Belotti (looks a little nerfed this season), Borja Iglesias (Betis), Raul Jimenez,  Danny Ings

And of course look to pick the bones of any financially troubled clubs, or unsettled players.

Messi could be a viable option on a free if he doesn't extend with PSG (Barca will have hard time fitting him under their wage cap)

Calvert-Lewin, Beto, Mitrovic, Maxi Gomez and Sadiq are who I'm thinking about for a Target Man/Complete Forward type (I have a sentimental draw to Sadiq from when he was breaking in at Roma).   Roko Simic (Salzburg) as a future prospect interests me too (I'm guessing he'll have a variable PA)

I paid 53 mil for David, probably overpaid a little, but it was a Jan transfer so to be expected.

Edited October 26, 2022 by sedge11

[DominicForza]

13 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

I paid 53 mil for David, probably overpaid a little, but it was a Jan transfer so to be expected.

Hey, that's what the Beta is for!

[sedge11]

Season 1 is finished. It was a very up and down season, we were quite inconsistent.

So jan window we brought in Jonathan David for 53 mil, we managed to sell Jones and Tuanzebe, with Wan Bissaka going out on loan, and Williams agreeing to Join Celtic at the end of the season.

So lets start with the league.

11 draws really cost us because we just didn't score enough goals, but De Gea won the golden glove and we ended up with the best defence in the league. Man City kinda cruised to the title as no one else put a consistent run together to challenge them, also Haaland scoring 45 goals helped .

We did manage to get to 2 finals though, so 1st up the europa league.

We lost 3-1 to Napoli, Napoli absolutely dominated the europa league once they dropped down from the champs league. Osimhen just destroyed everyone and got 2 in the final.

Our next final was the fa cup where we faced Man City.

And sadly we lost again in an absolute thriller, where Man City scored twice in the last 10 mins. I was particularly annoyed about this one as Man City cleaned up and won everything also beating Arsenal in the carabao then RB Leipzig in the champs league final, and this was my chance to stop them.

What's annoying is we had the best defence all season, then in the 2 finals we fell apart. So a disappointing 1st season really, but a few tactical tweaks and the right signings should push us on.

Player stats for the 1st season for everyone above a 7 rating:

Martial was our best player, David had a decent impact joining halfway through the season. The Gk position is something I was looking to change but De Gea had a great season so its making me think twice, I might give him 1 more year and just let him leave for free at the end of season 2. Casemiro, Eriksen and Martinez all had good seasons but had ratings below 7.

I managed to develop a couple of youngsters with Bernard, Mainoo and Iqbal all getting plenty of games, and are 3 players I would like to keep around for next season.

So onwards to season 2 and we must stop Man City from creating more history, they have beaten the treble, but we must stop them winning 4 league titles in a row.

So transfer wise players I will be looking to get rid of are Maguire, Wan Bissaka, Fred and maybe Elanga and then Ronaldo will leave for free. Henderson and Telles will also be sold once back off loan. 

On the ins I want a new RB, another CM and probably another striker.

[DominicForza]

18 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

Season 1 is finished. It was a very up and down season, we were quite inconsistent.

So jan window we brought in Jonathan David for 53 mil, we managed to sell Jones and Tuanzebe, with Wan Bissaka going out on loan, and Williams agreeing to Join Celtic at the end of the season.

So lets start with the league.

On the ins I want a new RB, another CM and probably another striker.

Lamptey, Moises Caicedo and Calvert-Lewin make from an appealing trifecta of pickings from the carcasses of the relegated sides.   Brennan Johnson if ya wanna poach from all three relegated sides!

[danielfreyrg]

19 hours ago, Nick OGS20 said:

Fwiw, based off the start to this season I'd have probably rated Martinez, Dalot and (particularly) Shaw a fair bit higher, and would be nerfing Sancho and Ronaldo some more. I'll probably make those changes in the pre-game editor for the United save I plan on starting on release day.

Out of curiosity, what attribute changes would you make based on the start of this season for those players? would be nice to know what an official SI researcher would modify in case any one else wants to make those changes for themselves.

[Chapman7]

On 23/10/2022 at 17:54, Ronaldo Beckham said:

If it is possible it might be worth playing Tom Huddlestone in the Carabo cup games with some of the youngsters.

 

He's registerable so I'm confident its something you can do 

[McClane29]

Anyone had any success with Garnacho in game yet?

Not sure what his PA is, but his stats don't look anything special for one of our most exciting youth prospects.

[byang08]

Garnacho is -85.

I can't sell anyone without taking on a big chunk of their wages. I can't sell Maguire at all. On the bright side I managed to get Musiala, Camavinga, Bastoni, Lemar in the first window. Not the most realistic market but it definitely scratches the itch. 

[Nick OGS20]

9 hours ago, tottivillarossi said:

Just out of interest, how do you decide what players should be rated? Do you use the stats are out there? 

I think Dalot had 8 for Vision, despite visually and statistically being one of the best passing and progressive passing defenders in the league so I'm not sure how these numbers are arrived at? 

I do try and use stats, particularly over the last few years as analytics have become more prevalent and accessible. Got to be some nuance to how you apply them to attributes in the FM world though - I don't think it necessarily follows that high progressive passing stats means a player needs a high vision attribute, particularly when it's a defender (not saying it's the case here but can rack up big progressive passing numbers from playing balls into the channel for a forward to run onto, and that doesn't always require a huge amount of vision). Something I'll consider though definitely

[DominicForza]

1 hour ago, Nick OGS20 said:

I do try and use stats, particularly over the last few years as analytics have become more prevalent and accessible. Got to be some nuance to how you apply them to attributes in the FM world though - I don't think it necessarily follows that high progressive passing stats means a player needs a high vision attribute, particularly when it's a defender (not saying it's the case here but can rack up big progressive passing numbers from playing balls into the channel for a forward to run onto, and that doesn't always require a huge amount of vision). Something I'll consider though definitely

Its gotta be tricky converting stats and subjective evaluation into the game.   I was really struck by this watching a Hoffenheim game last season and hearing that David Raum's "successful crosses" wasn't really very high, it was the sheer VOLUME of crosses he played that was the exceptional statistic.  How does THAT get "realistically" depicted in the game?

 

Thanks for your work Nick.   Glory Glory

[Stevmon]

Anyone in here having any success using the Development list and Unwanted list in the game? I never seem to get that to work to my liking…

[axehan1]

So we've got to the World Cup break and we're sitting 2nd.

I think City are going to walk the league, i'll be happy if we stay 2nd, Chelsea and Arsenal are having a nightmare of a season both mid table and Potter has already been sacked.

We only made a few small transfers in the summer,Stanisic is a decent right back to challenge Dalot,Baturina was bought in as back up to Eriksen as playmaker,Mukhin is a dm on loan in the Championship and Diomande has been brought in and trained as AMR to challenge Antony.

Outgoing were minimal as i found selling to be a real struggle so Maguire left on loan to Milan.

We have topped the group in the Europa League and are just waiting for the draw for the next round, The Carabao Cup saw us beat Newcastle 4-3 away from home in round 3 and we have Arsenal at home in round 4.

Ronaldo and De Gea have both stated that they want to leave at the end of the season and i won't be offering Fred a new contract so that is a cool £1m off the wage bill.

 

In the summer i'll be going all out for the Porto keeper Costa and the Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez.

Below is our formation.

 

 

[Chapman7]

On 23/10/2022 at 17:56, sedge11 said:

So I started by disabling the 1st transfer window, always like to start a save with the exact squads.

Now with Ten Hag's changes I didn't need to do as much with the staff but these are ones I brought in.

You make my changes look brutal  to staff that is 

[sedge11]

5 minutes ago, Chapman7 said:

You make my changes look brutal  to staff that is 

Haha I have made a couple more since, the biggest being Monchi being the new director of football and Murtough has gone.

[sedge11]

So I still haven't got over losing 2 finals in the 1st season, but we move on and the transfers for season 2 are done.

So lets start with the outs - Lindelof was sold because he was in the final year of his contract and didn't want to renew, this meant Maguire has stayed. Ronaldo missing from this list as he was released, don't think I need to say anything about the others.

Now the ins - De Gea is in his final year and will leave at the end of season 2, Costa was going to be my new keeper next season, but as he has a release clause and I hadn't spent much so I thought why not just bring him in now. So he will rotate with De Gea for this season before taking the number 1 shirt. Am hoping to win a couple of trophies to send De Gea off in style.

Seiwald comes in as Casemiro's back up and considering we have been crying out for a dm for years and years, its great to have the present and future of this position set. Livramento comes in as Dalot's back up but has great potential and was a good price.

I didn't buy another striker as I just couldn't get the player I wanted. But I have made Osimhen my no1 target and have my new director of football Monchi scouting him for the next few months. Napoli have been great so far in my save so his value is incredibly high, I'm hoping this will help drive the price down a little.

We have had a great start to the season, only conceding 1 goal.

In our champs league group we have drawn Napoli, so I want revenge for that cup final, and also Celtic so a good group.

In another twist of this save, Haaland who was insane in the 1st season got injured for 7 months on the opening day of this season, and City are struggling without him, so this is a great chance to end their dominance.

 

[Chapman7]

17 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

Haha I have made a couple more since, the biggest being Monchi being the new director of football and Murtough has gone.

I've gotten rid of just about all the scouts as most are average at best lol. I even offered him a decent amount on top of what he asked for and still decided to stay at Sevilla for much lesser money -_-so currently got an add in the job centre hoping to find someone whos close to his level willing to come in 

[VDB34]

So do the new boys make much difference Antony , Casemiro Martinez etx? Disappointing to see Martinez ratings so low 

[Stevmon]

Been thinking about Ward-Prowse as an inverted wing back for Man United. Main issue is the high price tag, but thinking his attributes would fit perfectly into a re-modelled inverted wing back.

He can come inside to overload the midfield and his passing, set pieces and leadership should be a big bonus. Can also cover in midfield.

Thouguhts?

[Stevmon]

Pavard is probably my main target for RB. Better defensively than Dalot, good in the air and really good passing which would also fit for inverted wing back.

Should also be cheaper than JWP since his contract runs out in 2024.

[Sherkey]

I would still go Max Aarons, seems to still be good (although not an IWB).

BTW, within the squad, Fred is a decent shout for the same. He also is a pretty decent Inverted Winger.