FM23: Unofficial Chelsea Thread.

[bucket]

If so, how you getting on? I’m 2nd in the league, but players hate me, I’m trying to get rid of loads of players but literally have no transfer budget and am £90m in debt. This is after having the first window locked. Just got to 1st Jan 2023. 
 

how you getting on?

Edited December 16, 2022 by bucket

[Lesterfan_Cambiasso]

Ive never managed Chelsea, but what i DO notice is Potter tends to get sacked very early, and the team underperform massively, often battling relegation.

 

The Chelsea squad also looks very weak on the game.

[bucket]

1 hour ago, Lesterfan_Cambiasso said:

Ive never managed Chelsea, but what i DO notice is Potter tends to get sacked very early, and the team underperform massively, often battling relegation.

 

The Chelsea squad also looks very weak on the game.

Yep totally agree. I think the squad is weak too. The lack of cover is staggering. 
 

Maybe the game is just too advanced and knows what’s coming. 😫

[Cobblers]

4 hours ago, bucket said:

If so, how you getting on? I’m 2nd in the league, but players hate me....

I'd not worry, they tend to revolt against me whenever I've managed them. Potter also gets sacked early in my games.

[Blue Down Under]

I'm going well so far. Half way through first season and top of the league. Playing 4-3-3. Havertz is great as an AF, doesn't dominate the line but generally takes his chances. Brought in Bellingham and Fati (both fees based mostly on future payments) and sold Jorginho and Ziyech.

[bucket]

42 minutes ago, Blue Down Under said:

I'm going well so far. Half way through first season and top of the league. Playing 4-3-3. Havertz is great as an AF, doesn't dominate the line but generally takes his chances. Brought in Bellingham and Fati (both fees based mostly on future payments) and sold Jorginho and Ziyech.

How much were they? I thought you only get £15m to spend at the start? How’d you sell Ziyech, man won’t leave in my save!

[Blue Down Under]

Fati 65m, Bellingham 103m - both fees mostly in future instalments (think I paid no more than 5m up front in each deal).

Ziyech went to Juve for 13.25m, Jorginho 60m to PSG.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Blue Down Under

[essien_5]

Didn't play last year's game, but my son has the Gamepass now for his X Box so might as well have a go this year and see if I can get into it.

Just having a brief look, the financials look a bit worrying. Already in the overdraft, and some big wages now compared to previous years (Sterling, Koulibaly, Kante, James, Fofana, etc).

I agree with the initial comments on here, the squad overall looks weak as **** which probably runs in line with real life to be fair. Ironically though in game, our midfield looks the strongest position which needs a major revamp in real life. In game, I think goalkeeper, attack (probably a winger depending on formation) and maybe left back are the areas I may look at first. Will likely not bother buying anything first window for the realism factor though so will soon see who can and can't perform.

However, there are some excellent young players to build around - James, Fofana, Mount and Havertz in particular but there's also a number of other very promising players. I think Chelsea could be quite a difficult job short term, but potentially a very attractive job longer term. 

[essien_5]

Going to get into this save tonight.

I think on initial reflection with the squad at hand, my first thoughts are a 4-3-3 with a vertical tika-taka approach.

One of the harder aspects I think is finding the best role in the team for Havertz and Mount who are two players that I should be looking to somewhat build around long term but probably don't have obvious defined roles. The easy option would be to just try and fit all the best players into the team which would mean pushing Mount out to the left and Sterling subsequently to the right, with Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho in midfield.

But I think I'm going to look at a midfield initially of Jorginho or Kova as the deep playmaker, Kante as the ball winning midfielder and Mount as a box to box. Sterling I'd be looking at playing wide left in an inverted role and Havertz up front, probably initially just as an advanced forward. It does however mean the right-hand side is a weakness as realistically I'm looking at either Pulisic or Ziyech to fill it. If I'm looking for someone to play an inverted role then Ziyech on paper, probably looks the better option for now (god help me). It looks like Vale and Hudson-Odoi can both be recalled from their loans so I may look at recalling one of the two, just to give me an extra option in the wide areas over the course of the season.

In defence, realistically I need to look beyond Thiago Silva and start to phase him out over the season. The aim is to build around Fofana so if I can keep him fit I think I'll be looking at him + one of Silva or Koulibaly this season. James and Chilwell I'll look to operate as offensive full backs to provide the width for the wingers to cut inside.

Contracts are going to have to be a big consideration relatively early too. I want to see if Silva shows any early signs of decline before whether to keep him another season. Kante seems like he would be willing to take a bit of a wage drop on a 2 year deal, which seems like a decent deal to tie him down for a further year and allow surgery to be carried out in other areas of the squad. Jorginho on the other hand seems to want a sizeable bump in wages so would need to have more thought on this one. Perhaps it would be better to see whether I cash in immediately?

[Raymubdo21]

Looking at managing Chelsea today after work, gonna take my time and build this team out

[Phil930]

I will play as Chelsea.  Just been scanning the game for now, not really playing.  Completely agree on the team looking weak / imbalanced.  Fofana, James, Sterling, Kante and Havertz need to perform to get the current squad firing.  

Simply put they need a rebuild, which makes it fun.  I have no idea though why they start the game in debt - just does not align with the takeover and funds injected into the club.  There is no base for that.   I am pleased to see they tweaked the Lukaku loan terms to include a monthly payment, although the contract is off (70% of current rate, 100% paid by Inter).  Some may call it cheating, but I'm probably going to tweak the finances to be more reflective of real life (keep in mind they were willing to spend another £70M on Gvardiol or £40M+ on Gordon right on deadline day, so the money is there).

[essien_5]

2 hours ago, Phil930 said:

I will play as Chelsea.  Just been scanning the game for now, not really playing.  Completely agree on the team looking weak / imbalanced.  Fofana, James, Sterling, Kante and Havertz need to perform to get the current squad firing.  

Simply put they need a rebuild, which makes it fun.  I have no idea though why they start the game in debt - just does not align with the takeover and funds injected into the club.  There is no base for that.   I am pleased to see they tweaked the Lukaku loan terms to include a monthly payment, although the contract is off (70% of current rate, 100% paid by Inter).  Some may call it cheating, but I'm probably going to tweak the finances to be more reflective of real life (keep in mind they were willing to spend another £70M on Gvardiol or £40M+ on Gordon right on deadline day, so the money is there).

There was talk of the ownership taking a significant credit facility for cash flow in the summer so I wouldn't be surprised to a degree if the finances were reflective of that argument. 

The key, theoretically, would be whether the board during the game are keen to inject money at intervals into the club for transfers, infrastructure, etc as per what they are obligated to do in real life per the terms of the purchase of the club.

To be honest though, it just adds to the difficulty factor for me if this is not the case, as it might take a couple of years to get the books balanced for the club.

[wetfred]

To add to that the Coaches and Scouts are all horrible.

[Phil930]

1 hour ago, essien_5 said:

There was talk of the ownership taking a significant credit facility for cash flow in the summer so I wouldn't be surprised to a degree if the finances were reflective of that argument. 

The key, theoretically, would be whether the board during the game are keen to inject money at intervals into the club for transfers, infrastructure, etc as per what they are obligated to do in real life per the terms of the purchase of the club.

To be honest though, it just adds to the difficulty factor for me if this is not the case, as it might take a couple of years to get the books balanced for the club.

I may run the game on holiday mode for a few years to see how the finances shake out.  I'm curious - I do like the challenge you note, just doesn't necessarily fit the narrative of the owners wealth to me.  Plus I'm getting old and my escapism time is reducing yearly due to work, so I can make peace with that

[essien_5]

It looks like Jorginho can be sold for £60m at the start of the game. 

I usually like to start with the usual squad and go from there, but for someone 30 years old with one year left on their contract, it feels a move that probably needs to be made!

[bucket]

31 minutes ago, essien_5 said:

It looks like Jorginho can be sold for £60m at the start of the game. 

I usually like to start with the usual squad and go from there, but for someone 30 years old with one year left on their contract, it feels a move that probably needs to be made!

Ha snap. I signed Barella as his replacement! 

Edited November 8, 2022 by bucket

[essien_5]

5 minutes ago, bucket said:

Ha snap. I signed Barella as his replacement! 

Nice how much was he?

I like the look of Rice for a genuine defensive midfielder but he's going to cost a fortune.

[bucket]

7 hours ago, essien_5 said:

Nice how much was he?

I like the look of Rice for a genuine defensive midfielder but he's going to cost a fortune.

I paid £55m. £25m upfront, then rest in instalments.  

[Ivan787]

I'm thinking about starting a Chelsea save. I'm undecided between them and Arsenal.

They are a strange team, they have some very high value elements, on which to build a foundation for years and years (Havertz, Mount, James, Fofana). They have good reputation, probably it will be easy to attract key players.

But how many dead wood with high salary: Kantè (I really don't like this type of player), Lukaku, Jorginho, Ziyech, Cucurella....

[essien_5]

3 hours ago, Ivan787 said:

I'm thinking about starting a Chelsea save. I'm undecided between them and Arsenal.

They are a strange team, they have some very high value elements, on which to build a foundation for years and years (Havertz, Mount, James, Fofana). They have good reputation, probably it will be easy to attract key players.

But how many dead wood with high salary: Kantè (I really don't like this type of player), Lukaku, Jorginho, Ziyech, Cucurella....

Kante and Jorginho only have a year left, so at worst you can move them on in a year. As mentioned above, you should be able to sell Jorginho immediately for big money.

Lukaku is on loan so no idea how easy he is to shift the following season, I would assume it's doable though.

It's probably a save that will take a couple of seasons to shape the squad to your preference, but like you said there are some very good younger players that can act as a spine for the long term.

[essien_5]

So I've managed to get to the end of August (transfer window) and so far a bit of a mixed bag, albeit amongst a tough start with regards to fixtures.

Currently 5th (level on points with Arsenal in 4th) with 10 points from 6 games, but really should have been more.

So far beaten Spurs (H) 1-0, Villa (H) 3-1 and Arsenal (H) 3-1. Lost to City (A) 2-0 and admittedly well outplayed, drew with Leicester (A) 1-1 and lost to West Ham (A) 1-0. The latter two games we dominated and conceded late in both. Just writing this out now I realise all the dropped points have come away so far so this is definitely something that needs addressing.

Havertz got injured in pre season and has only just returned which I hope will help improve the attack. I'm not a fan of Aubameyang on the game and think I'll look to try and move him on in January or next summer. Broja is raw but I'm far more willing to sit him behind Havertz and get minutes to develop. In Havertz absence, Sterling and Ziyech have stepped up and carried the attacking workload. Sterling has 3 goals in 6 games so far with an AR of 7.43. Ziyech has 2 goals and 2 assists from 6 games with an AR of 7.27.

Champions League I've managed to draw Real Madrid, Napoli and Marseille so a tough group to try and progress out of.

Transfers ended up a bit of a disaster. I sold Jorginho to PSG for £60m, and in the meantime got Kante extended by another year with a £75k per week wage drop. My target was Bellingham who I finally managed to broker a deal for with the potential value just above £100m only for the owners to pull the plug as they weren't willing to pay that much (this would never happen under Roman!). His release clause is £88m which they won't let me go above so I'm going to wait to try and trigger that clause next summer when I hopefully have a bigger budget to work with. I looked at a couple of others, Caicedo in particular, but Bellingham is the one I really want to replace Kante long term. It does leave me a little thin for now though.

I also tried to bring Hazard back on a loan, but just couldn't quite get the numbers to work, especially with his wages. In the end I've had to settle with recalling Hudson Odoi back from his loan just to beef that area of the squad up a bit.

I did make one signing - Andreas Schjelderup from FC Nordsjaelland for around £7.5m, although he's been loaned back for this season (I can recall him if needed in January so we'll see). He does look a real talent though with very strong stats in some key areas already despite only just turning 18. The scouting reports had him as an A+ and priority signing for the future so happy with that one.

So far reasonable, but this side doesn't fill me with great confidence!

[essien_5]

Not been able to play too much so far but managed to get through to the World Cup break and it's carried on being a mixed bag.

We got knocked out the group of the Champions League which wasn't ideal. Beat Marseille twice, won and lost against Napoli and lost twice to Madrid, the second time playing with 10 men for an hour and losing 3-2 with a late goal. Napoli matched our results but managed a draw at home to Madrid to get a point more than us. So, we have a Europa League play off in February with Real Sociedad.

In the league, currently have 31 points from 16 games and sat in 4th. 3 points clear of Newcastle and 5 clear of Arsenal and Leeds. 1 point behind United, 6 behind Liverpool and 11 behind a rampant Man City. Haaland has 30 goals from his first 16 games. To put that into context, we've managed in total 20 goals from 16 games. That goalscoring is clearly the issue currently with the inconsistencies I feel I'm suffering and probably need to look to address for the second season. Broja and Sterling have the most goals so far for the team with 6 each in all comps - it's just not enough.

I'm likely going to recall Schjelderup from his loan spell in January as Hudson Odoi is out long term with an achilles injury.

I think this season is all about top 4. I'll be happy with that, and then the opportunity to start putting a stamp on the side.

[Nunnsy09]

After not playing for a couple of years decided to pick up the touch version on switch and start a Chelsea save. 

Reached the first international break and so far, it's going really well top of the table winning 7 from 8 and only losing to a Haaland inspired Man City, although did lose 2-1 away to Milan in europe to .

Decided to mix it up a bit tactically rather than my old go to 4-3-3/ 4-2-3-1 etc and gone with 3 at the back with wingbacks and two narrow 10's. Mount in particular is doing really well with 4 goals and 6 assists as one of the roaming 10,s and Broja has 7 goals so far.

Sold Jorginho, loftus cheek, zyiech and pulisic for about 140 mil combined, unfortunately  I decided to go all or nothing on Rice and managed to get him to hand in  a transfer request near the end of the window but west ham still wouldn't accept my bids ( assume because of the rivalry) so I'm holding out and hoping to get him in Jan. Only signing was young right wing back Scally as a Reece back up so squad is a little thin but hopefully we can avoid too many injuries.

[Tee2]

To my mind, Chelsea along with Liverpool and Manchester City should have one of the best squads in the English Premier League. Other sides, United, Arsenal and Spurs, aren’t far away, and then there’s the building capacity of Newcastle to bear in mind, but the Blues ought to be among the top three. Perennially there or thereabouts, most summers involve endless traffic in and out of Stamford Bridge as Chelsea roll the dice time and time again, their heavy turnover of managers producing a melting pot of signings that somehow need to coalesce into a fighting unit.

That’s the biggest difference between them and their two main rivals. While Guardiola and Klopp have had years to build their squads into reflections of their personal philosophies of how the game should be played, at Chelsea you have players who were brought in by Conte, Sarri, Lampard and Tuchel. Each man thinks differently, and to an extent the team reflects that clash in opinions. New arrivals from the 2022 intake rub shoulders with N’Golo Kante, their long-serving midfielder who arrived in 2016. There’s a good sprinkling of Academy graduates, but on the whole it’s an assortment of talents. A lot of players are out on loan. Many of these are youngsters from the bloat of Chelsea’s youth system, but there are also relics of past recruitment campaigns. Tiemoue Bakayoko is at Milan. Lukaku is with Inter. Reading is this year’s hat-hanging location for Baba Rahman.

The impression you get is that it’s all a bit of a mess, but at the same time it’s a team that’s expected to do well and at the heart of that is an expensively assembled and skilled clutch of playing personnel. The situation is bright enough to almost render as null the meagre £16 million transfer budget that you start with. It’s entirely possible to get a tune out of this lot without spending a groat, and if you do need to then there are some very generous buyouts available within departed players’ transfer clauses.

This isn’t to say that things are perfect at the Bridge. Chelsea showcase a number of aging players, and it will be the lot of the manager to replace them over time. For 2022/23, they should be just about okay, with those issues left to be addressed until after a successful season has concluded and you have kept your job at one of football’s more trigger-happy set-ups (the current boardroom is little different in attitude from Abramovich, if their treatment of Tuchel is anything to go by)…

Goalkeepers

For some years, this was a position of genuine strength with Peter Cech supposedly handing the reins over to Thibault Courtois. Then the latter was snapped up by Real Madrid and Chelsea went big in response, spending a record fee to draft in Kepa Arrizagabala. This was around the same time as City and Liverpool both spent heavily on a new keeper, but it was the Blues who came off worse, with their young, fitful, eccentric and hard-to-trust Spaniard. Kepa’s still here, now a back-up and sitting on uncomfortably high wages for someone who won’t play many games. He’s the Chelsea equivalent of Barcelona investing big wads into Neto.

With other teams hardly queuing up for his services, it might be best to keep him on roll for now, as a competent alternative to Edouard Mendy, the Senegalese, sure-handed default starter. Mendy’s good, and at 30 has plenty of miles left to cover on his clock. Third choice is Marcus Bettinelli, crazily enough at one point the starting keeper for Middlesbrough and here for his homegrown status. As someone who is happy with two goalies and using that precious squad place elsewhere, I might be tempted to sell or loan him out.

Right-Backs

Reece James has developed into one of Chelsea’s best players, a strong and attack-minded full-back who should be racking up multiple assists with some glee. He’s 22 and homegrown, therefore the best of all worlds and good to run for years. He should by now be effortlessly overshadowing Cesar Azpilicueta, a rarity at the Bridge thanks to having been around since 2012. At 33, the captain’s considerable powers are beginning to decline, though natural fitness levels continue to make him a reliable option, let alone his useful ability to be just as effective at left-back.

Left-Backs

Chelsea’s scattergun approach to signing players is never better expressed than here, where Marc Cucurella has been extravagantly purchased to complement Ben Chilwell, himself an expensive addition in 2020. The latter’s problems with injuries add some method to their madness. Ben’s a terrific player, fast, hard working and technical, yet fragile. The former Barcelona player is a very useful player to have around and can play just about anywhere on the left wing. More than £100 million has gone into bringing these two players to Stamford Bridge.

Central Defenders

Chelsea lost two first teamers in the summer when Rudiger and Christensen left on free transfers. The latter was homegrown, the former bloody brilliant, and they will both no doubt be missed. Their absence has been mitigated with the twin signings of Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana. The Senegalese Napoli centre-back was a Manchester United target for many years and at times was considered to be among the elite in his role. Now, 31 and costing £33 million, some of the shine has rubbed away, though there’s nothing at all wrong with his powers. The big guy remains a wall at the heart of defence. Fofana has been one of the potentially most exciting ball-playing defenders around for some time. Signed for nearly £70 million from Chelsea’s feeder club, Leicester, he’s only going to improve and the thought of rotating him with Koulibaly while he grows as a footballer is a mouth-watering one.

The new arrivals have the soft task of working alongside Thiago Silva, the illustrious Brazilian international who has added stability and class since joining from PSG in 2020. Now in the last year of his contract, choosing whether to extend it for a 37 year old player is more of a dilemma than it ought to be. Thiago oozes experienced talent, and though it’s likely that most people will look to replace him in 2023, he will leave a gap. Also here is Trevoh Chalobah, just 23 and an Academy graduate who has steadily worked his way into first team affairs. He’s a good guy to have on the team, and he can be re-trained as a natural defensive midfielder.

Defensive Midfielders

Chelsea’s options here make it possible to play with a dedicated DM. The obvious and most natural choice is Jorginho, a £50 million capture from Napoli who’s now entering his fifth season. The Italian, penalty extraordinaire is 30 and in his contract’s final year, so there’s a temptation to sell him that is understandable, however he does bring a lot to the cause. His vision is exceptional; he can read the game really well, so there are few better players to have patrolling that area betwixt defence and midfield. Getting a replacement for the monies raised from his sale won’t be easy. You want Declan Rice and you won’t get him, so perhaps it’s better to stick for now and enjoy Jorginho, occasionally resting him for Denis Zakaria, who’s here on loan. The Swiss midfielder from Juventus has a release fee inserted into his contract, which I see as more hopeful than realistic. It’s unlikely that he will either stay or even get much game-time, but as a back-up option he’s fine enough.

Central Midfielders

An eclectic group starts with N’Golo Kante, 31 and a Chelsea regular, though like Jorginho he’s into the last year of his contract. This is worth renewing, as he is likely to accept a substantial decrease on his £300k weekly spends. N’Golo is such an entertaining and effervescent midfield presence who seems born to win things, not least friends along the way, and he can be used just as effectively in defensive midfield.

Perhaps this is better. The Frenchman is one of several box-to-box midfielders, and it seems a shame to deny time to Mason Mount or Conor Gallagher because of him. Both are homegrown products of the Academy, the former maybe better deployed as an attacking midfielder, though this is a position I don’t normally use. In central midfield, Mason is a terrific baller, just 23 and already an important part of the England set-up. Possibly most valuable is his versatility, his ability to fill in on either wing, though he can be simply devastating in the middle. Conor was a very bright spot of Crystal Palace in 2021/22, and is now considered more than ready to do a job for Chelsea. He’s a very good example of the embarrassment of riches that is the production line from the club’s talent factory.

Mateo Kovacic has quietly been doing a good job as advanced playmaker in the three years since he signed from Real Madrid. Now 28, he’s at his playing peak, technically gifted with flair and the capacity to put on a good dribble. Then there’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, kind of the forgotten man and indeed transfer-listed. Finding Ruben not either up for sale or on loan elsewhere is a novelty, and for sure there’s an element to this deep-lying playmaker that suggests his career has kind of stalled over time. Personally, I think he’s worth removing from the list and giving him a chance, especially if he is realistically unlikely to leave for the sort of amount Chelsea would want to recoup. He’s another homegrown player.

Right Wingers

Chelsea have various people who can play in this position, but only one for whom it’s as effective as anything else, and that’s Moroccan international, Hakim Ziyech. Signed from Ajax in 2020, Hakim is one of those players you’re surprised to see is still around. The team seem to regard him as a squad player, an occasional presence, though there’s nothing especially wrong with this agile and technical forward with a neat line in free kick taking. If there is a gap in the side, then I think it’s here. Sterling, Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi can all do a good job on the right, however I have added Alexis Saelemaekers from AC Milan to boost the numbers. The Belgian is young, at 23, and more importantly cheap (I got him for £11 million, including clauses and bonuses).

Left Wingers

An area of strength. Chelsea can field Mount here, but in Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic they have two specialists, not forgetting Callum Hudson-Odoi, who can be recalled from loan at Bayer Leverkusen. Raheem was of course a high-profile summer signing, costing the best part £50 million for a well established 27 year old who is now with his third elite team. Increasingly marginalised at the Etihad, Chelsea have landed an England international, not to forget a favourite of the England manager. At his best on the left, Raheem is a ridiculously fast and dynamic presence, a supremely fit individual whose off the ball work is textbook material.  It’s between him and Christian, an American international who was signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2019, expensively acquired before their transfer ban kicked in. A fine footballer who loves dribbling, there’s the nagging sense that Chelsea don’t quite know what to do with him, suggesting a player already on the rocks at the ripe old age of 23.

Forwards

With Lukaku out on loan and Batshuayi finally put of his misery with a transfer to Fenerbahce, Chelsea are left with Kai Havertz, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and young Academy product, Armanda Broja. The former, a German international signed for megabucks back in 2020, is perfectly happy playing as an advanced forward. An attacking midfielder by trade, Kai has the finishing ability, along with the pace, technique and first touch, to be exactly right for this role. He can be given time to own it, in which case there’s a nice, veteran alternative in former Arsenal man, Pierre-Emerick. It’s doubtless that the Gabonese forward has been drafted in as a short-term fix, a panic buy for whom they overpaid Barcelona, but he should be good enough to help out, at least in his first season. Finally Broja, the 20 year old Albanian who has emerged from Chelsea’s Academy to challenge for his place. Mixing height with pace effectively, he has an opportunity to wipe Chelsea’s slate clean of what they thought they were getting when they re-signed Lukaku. And if that doesn’t work, then the big man will be back in 2023.

The temptation when looking at Chelsea is to decide that they aren’t very good, particularly when compared with recent seasons. Some of their attacking firepower has been lost, whilst elsewhere, City have acquired Haaland, Liverpool and Tottenham retain Salah and Kane, and so on. Age is an issue, with eight of the current first team on the wrong side of thirty, and some of these are well into their declining years – Azpilicueta, Silva and Aubameyang lead the way here.

At the same time, there are few obvious weaknesses in the short-term. Chelsea are very healthy in terms of homegrown players (six, or seven if Hudson-Odoi is recalled), and they have a good young core, around which to construct the side – James, Fofana, Mount, Gallagher, Broja and Havertz are all under 25, and could be strutting their funky stuff here for years. As always, Academy players are being honed and sharpened into first-team stars of the future, and it’s for sure that a good finish to the season will cascade into transfer riches for their successful manager.

And therein lies the challenge. Chelsea expects. At a club where the head coach is as expendable as toilet paper, it will take a rabid team builder who wins things to keep their job.

[masta p]

25th Nov 2022

3rd in Premier League with 41 points (Man City and Liverpool first and second with 43 points both)

Lost to Man City and drew with Liverpool and Fulham. Won all games in my CL group (Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen and FC Kobenhavn). Bayer finished second in the group. 

Going to play Barcelona in the CL round of 16 (I was hoping they will fail to get out of the group stage, but still happy I have a chance to throw them out).

 

Sold Kante and Jorginho to bring in Declan Rice. It was a really difficult week or two but managed to do it on deadline day for 204 million euro worth deal.

Brought in Andreas Schjelderup for 9m and Jose Angel Carmona for 8m. 

 

Mendy is sensational for me so far - 18 games / 14 clean sheets

Koulibaly is sharing the first place for tackles won ratio - 100% with Harry Maguire (wtf right?) in the EPL

Declan Rice is amazing as DM (Support) with 7.43 rating, 1 goal and 5 assists

Kai Havertz as Central Midfielder (Attack) - 6 goals / 9 assists

Mason Mount as Box to Box Midfielder (Support) mostly - 7 goals / 11 assists (first choice set piece taker)

Raheem Sterling has been playing for me as right Winger (Attack) and left Inside Forward (Attack) providing 6 goals and 7 assists so far

Hakim Ziyech is the real surprise here. Mostly playing as Winger (Attack) on the right with 12 goals / 5 assists.

Armando Broja has netted 7 goals and 2 assist in 4(6) games which is quite impressive as well

 

Real Madrid are interested in Cesar Azpilicueta and Inter are showing interest in Pulisic, but I am following PSG's scouting Kovacic (Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka are performing in similar level) who might bring in 90+ mln euro and solve my financial troubles for the moment (-63.7 mln balance and dropping)

I've been lucky so far when it comes to injuries with Bettinelli and Chalobah getting 2-3 weeks out and some 2-3 days injuries for Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Ziyech, Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Probably the constant squad rotation is helping. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by masta p

[Phil930]

Some great posts above @Tee2 @masta p @essien_5.  After some personal travel, I settled into my long term Chelsea save last night.  This is going to be fun!  Still in pre-season, but some plans/actions shared below.  Much of my approach is also shaped by real life needs and frustrations watching Chelsea!  Welcome feedback.

Trimming the Squad - there are too many average players in the Chelsea squad for my taste, and with very limited transfer funds players are going to have to move.  Sold Jorginho to PSG for £61M to fund a midfield rebuild.  Inter bid £11.5M for Ziyech, which is not a good deal at all but I accepted - while good in the game, I just can't pick him (kudos to FM for an Italian team once again mugging Chelsea!).  Finally Lazio came forward with a 1 year loan and mandatory $23M + $8M installments for Loftus Cheek, which I also accepted.   If all those go through some good funds, but may move Pulisic on as well.  Based on my transfers in I may send Zakoria back to Juventus.  I'll also sell a bunch of clauses for prior sales that players won't hit (e.g., Hazard has a tidy amount sitting there to cash in on)

Adding Quality Staff - this takes me a lot of time, but I am overhauling the first team coaching staff.  Need a decent Asst Mgr.  From there, a GM is joining, and I will move on to Data Analysts, Medical Team, and Youth Team coaches.  I'm rebuilding the lot for the long term

New Signings - I'm going for it with some long term deals.  Bellingham just signed - probably overpaid at £115M (25M upfront, rest over 3 installments) but he will shape my midfield for a decade.  He is ridiculously good (had a peak in the in-game editor at the PA that was generated in my save - won't give away but damn!).  Also adding Zakharyan for £13M (work permit pending) - while young and raw, he is also high potential and will exceed all my current other AMs and will fast become the West London Zidane!  With Ziyech departing, Zakharyan will be fast tracked into the first team squad.  My plan was to also add Rice, but West Ham won't budge and the fee is unreasonable.  Really just looking to add quality in midfield - contemplating Barella, but if I am patient Casadei will get there and Mount is more than capable in CM for me, along with getting Kovacic going again.  Torn here - thoughts?  Finally need to add some attacking depth - Nico Williams just looks solid and with a £43M release clause may be a good long term buy.

Build Around Youth - James, Fofana, Havertz, Bellingham, Zakharyan, plus whoever else we can add.  Casedei will likely hold down the midfield with Bellingham in 2 seasons time. 

Tactics - Going with a 4-3-3 Holding Midfielder, wide wingers.  Havertz will have to lead the line as an Advanced Forward - see how he does and if I can eventually convince Endrick to join the Blue revolution!  Current Starting XI  Mendy / James Fofana Silva Chilwell / Kante Bellingham Kova / Mount Sterling Havertz

First preseason game was a comfortable 3-0 HT lead away to Oxford - rotated the entire team and game finished 3-1 to me, but it was a reasonable start to an intense pre-season.  Only disappointment was Mount injured his foot after 16 mins and will be out for 3-4 weeks. 

Edit - left out a nice small detail.  First 5 fixtures include City (A), Arsenal (H) and Liverpool (H).  A challenge for sure - lets see how this shapes out!

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Phil930

[Phil930]

Time for a mid Feb season 1 update. 

• 2nd in PL, tied on points with City who have superior GD (and beat me in the only head to head meeting so far)
• Went out in the first round of both the Carabao and FA Cup!  Lost at home to Brentford in Carabao (heavily rotated my team), and away to Man Utd in 3rd round right after the World Cup
• In final 16 of CL, and just beat Napoli in first game.  Dominated the match, and confident of second leg, although likely facing PSG or Real next

After a solid preseason, my first match was away to Haaland, sorry City.  Honestly I didn't get a kick, losing 2-0.  Was slightly concerned, but then won the next 7 in a row, and thru end of Oct won 15 of 19 games.  A really strong start faded in Nov & Dec Oct as player fatigue really kicked in - during that period winning only 4 of 8, drawing 3, losing 1.  After a concerning WC restart winning narrowly to West Ham and losing to Utd in the FA Cup, the team is flying again, winning 7 in a row, scoring 15, conceding 1.  The players are fit again and what a difference.

I've overhauled the AM and all coaches for 4.5 - 5 star training, upgraded the recruitment and medical teams.  Transfer wise, spent pretty big bringing in Bellingham (£115M), Barella (£60M), Zakharyan (£13M) and Almada in Jan (£25M).   To partially fund I sold Jorginho in the summer for £61M, and sadly Kante in Jan to Real for £41M (6 months left on contract, wanted a raise and isn't in my future plans).

The push is on thru the end of the season now.  Havertz has been great up top, scoring 23 in 26 and Sterling is really finding his groove with 11 goals to date.  The summer will see me address the defence with a new CB for the long term to partner Fofana.  Silva is leaving for Juventus.

Side note - Chalobah is really effective.

I should have also noted I am £95M in debt.  End of season prize money and new season sponsor money will help here, but that is not small.  Expecting significant summer player sales to address wages and raise funds from the deadwood. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Phil930

[essien_5]

4 hours ago, Phil930 said:

Time for a mid Feb season 1 update. 

• 2nd in PL, tied on points with City who have superior GD (and beat me in the only head to head meeting so far)
• Went out in the first round of both the Carabao and FA Cup!  Lost at home to Brentford in Carabao (heavily rotated my team), and away to Man Utd in 3rd round right after the World Cup
• In final 16 of CL, and just beat Napoli in first game.  Dominated the match, and confident of second leg, although likely facing PSG or Real next

After a solid preseason, my first match was away to Haaland, sorry City.  Honestly I didn't get a kick, losing 2-0.  Was slightly concerned, but then won the next 7 in a row, and thru end of Oct won 15 of 19 games.  A really strong start faded in Nov & Dec Oct as player fatigue really kicked in - during that period winning only 4 of 8, drawing 3, losing 1.  After a concerning WC restart winning narrowly to West Ham and losing to Utd in the FA Cup, the team is flying again, winning 7 in a row, scoring 15, conceding 1.  The players are fit again and what a difference.

I've overhauled the AM and all coaches for 4.5 - 5 star training, upgraded the recruitment and medical teams.  Transfer wise, spent pretty big bringing in Bellingham (£115M), Barella (£60M), Zakharyan (£13M) and Almada in Jan (£25M).   To partially fund I sold Jorginho in the summer for £61M, and sadly Kante in Jan to Real for £41M (6 months left on contract, wanted a raise and isn't in my future plans).

The push is on thru the end of the season now.  Havertz has been great up top, scoring 23 in 26 and Sterling is really finding his groove with 11 goals to date.  The summer will see me address the defence with a new CB for the long term to partner Fofana.  Silva is leaving for Juventus.

Side note - Chalobah is really effective.

I should have also noted I am £95M in debt.  End of season prize money and new season sponsor money will help here, but that is not small.  Expecting significant summer player sales to address wages and raise funds from the deadwood. 

Very Nice! I'm hoping to give an end of season summary over the next couple of days as I'm now just into April but I'm doing nowhere near as well as you as I'm clinging on to 4th place with 8 games to go (Leeds of all teams pushing me all the way).

The budget issue as you alluded to is certainly a concern as I'm over £120m in the red currently. Although I bought Bellingham for £88m in January, I have sold Jorginho and Chalobah to pretty much fund that. The wage bill definitely needs to be brought down and for me, I have a number of players like CHO, RLC and Auba sat in the stands collecting huge wages.

There's a couple of areas in the team I could do with strengthening in the summer and I'm a little concerned due to the financial position that a transfer budget will be pretty scarce in the summer.

Who are some of the coaches you've found?

[Phil930]

41 minutes ago, essien_5 said:

Very Nice! I'm hoping to give an end of season summary over the next couple of days as I'm now just into April but I'm doing nowhere near as well as you as I'm clinging on to 4th place with 8 games to go (Leeds of all teams pushing me all the way).

The budget issue as you alluded to is certainly a concern as I'm over £120m in the red currently. Although I bought Bellingham for £88m in January, I have sold Jorginho and Chalobah to pretty much fund that. The wage bill definitely needs to be brought down and for me, I have a number of players like CHO, RLC and Auba sat in the stands collecting huge wages.

There's a couple of areas in the team I could do with strengthening in the summer and I'm a little concerned due to the financial position that a transfer budget will be pretty scarce in the summer.

Who are some of the coaches you've found?

Other than Neil Bath and Ben Roberts, all the below coaches are new.  I added all attributes, although may be tricky to read.

 

[Phil930]

Coming down to the wire now.  Reminder went out of both domestic cups in my first round.

- PL - been level on points for most of second half of the season.  They just don't stop winning - Haaland has 45 goals in 31 PL games, and 70 overall.  However, after my opening day defeat to City, I beat them 1-0 in the league late Feb.  After a great run, a disappointing 0-0 draw away to Villa and a 2-2 draw with Spurs saw me drop to 2nd.  That was, until City drew a game and then just lost 5-2 to 20th place Wolves away.  I find myself 5 points clear on 80 pts with 5 games to - City have a game in hand.  This will be close

- CL - dominated Napoli in round of 16, and drew City in quarters.  I was 3-0 away after 20 mins, then for City to come all the way back, before Kovacic bent it like Beckham in the 94th min into top corner.  4-3 away, and hammered them 3-0 at the Bridge.  Have Liverpool in semis

This season could be one for the ages, or a tough pill to swallow.

Edit - Also just received initial budgets for next season - £4.8M p/w wages (currently spending £4.5M p/w) and £81M transfer fees.  With sales I can easily push transfer kitty to £125M+

Edited November 24, 2022 by Phil930

[bucket]

First season finally finished and erm yeah.....

League; Finished 1st by 2 points.

Champions League: Lost in semi final Inter. 

Fa Cup: Lost in final to Liverpool on pens.

Carabao: Lost in 3rd round to Man City. 

 

Ins: Mikel Merino - £20m, Maxence Lacroix - £34.5m, Marcos Leonardo - £20m, Tobias Gulliksen - £2.5m, Arda Guler - £10m.

Outs: Jorginho - £60m, Thiago Silva - £3.4m, Cesar Azpilicueta - £12m, Reuben Loftus-Cheek - £33m. 

 

Completely changed back room staff as current ones are terrible. 

 

Second Season:

 

Ins: Pedro Porro - £39m, Josko Gvardiol - £35m, Kang In Lee - £7m (signed to boost commercial income - as required by board), Andreas Schjeldrup - £6.25m, Jude Bellingham - £90m. 

Outs: Aubameyang - £6m, Kovavic - £60m, Lukaku - £80m (to City!), Mikel Merino - £24m, Sarr - £7.5m, Rahman - £2m (finally!)

 

Just about to start the season. Trying to sign Rice but cannot afford the £104m please clause, so just about to complete the signing of Nicolas Seiwald. But Rice is my main target to complete the midfield. 

Havertz as a AF is immense - first season - 44 apps, 37 goals (27 in league).

[Phil930]

1 hour ago, bucket said:

First season finally finished and erm yeah.....

League; Finished 1st by 2 points.

Champions League: Lost in semi final Inter. 

Fa Cup: Lost in final to Liverpool on pens.

Carabao: Lost in 3rd round to Man City. 

 

Ins: Mikel Merino - £20m, Maxence Lacroix - £34.5m, Marcos Leonardo - £20m, Tobias Gulliksen - £2.5m, Arda Guler - £10m.

Outs: Jorginho - £60m, Thiago Silva - £3.4m, Cesar Azpilicueta - £12m, Reuben Loftus-Cheek - £33m. 

 

Completely changed back room staff as current ones are terrible. 

 

Second Season:

 

Ins: Pedro Porro - £39m, Josko Gvardiol - £35m, Kang In Lee - £7m (signed to boost commercial income - as required by board), Andreas Schjeldrup - £6.25m, Jude Bellingham - £90m. 

Outs: Aubameyang - £6m, Kovavic - £60m, Lukaku - £80m (to City!), Mikel Merino - £24m, Sarr - £7.5m, Rahman - £2m (finally!)

 

Just about to start the season. Trying to sign Rice but cannot afford the £104m please clause, so just about to complete the signing of Nicolas Seiwald. But Rice is my main target to complete the midfield. 

Havertz as a AF is immense - first season - 44 apps, 37 goals (27 in league).

Those second season transfers (in and out) are superb.  In season 1, I can't get near Gvardiol for less than £100M, but perhaps he has higher PA on my game.  I will flog Lukaku also and bring in a youngster.

With you on Havertz.  He has scored 39 in 40 appearances for me with two games to go this season.  Leading the line well. 

[essien_5]

Ha, just finished first season and not quite as impressive as some of you boys but considering I haven't played FM for a couple of years, I'll take it.

Finished 4th in the league on 71 points, 5 clear of Leeds with the position sewn up with 3 games to spare. Man City won with 93 points and Haaland scored 55 goals (80 overall)!

FA Cup I went out early, but managed to win the Carabao Cup in quite remarkable style. I lost the first leg of the semi 4-1 away to Newcastle, but beat them 7-1 after extra time in the second leg, before beating United on pens in the final after a 1-1 draw.

In Europe, as per an earlier post, I ended up third in a tight group so dropped down to the Europa League. However I ended up winning that too with a 3-1 win against Milan in the final. So not the biggest, but 2 trophies feels a reasonable starting point.

Goals proved a bit of an issue throughout the season, although Broja (20 in all comps) and Havertz (16) both had streaks at different times to help me cope. Besides them, Sterling got 16 in all comps and Mount from centre mid chipped in with a respectable 9 goals and 11 assists. Chilwell had the most assists with 13.

Transfers in the first season were Schjelderup for £7.5m, Bellingham for £88m and Hazard on loan all coming in January. Hazard was a huge disappointment unfortunately and I won't be looking to buy permanently.

Outgoings were Jorginho to PSG for £60m, Chalobah to United for £31.5m and a couple of younger players moving for insignificant fees.

Despite being £180m in the red (new season monies haven't come through yet), I have a £138m transfer budget for season 2. The current £4.9m wage budget is maxed so this is something that does need to be brought down and I'm hoping to do this by moving on fringe players like Auba and RLC. Kova doesn't seem to want to extend his contract so I'll probably look to sell him too for the right price and targets will likely be younger players to bring into the squad unless the right move falls into place. The new youth recruits overall got strong scout reports and the youth team won the academy league and europe so hopefully the future is bright.

For the second season already confirmed, Sarr is moving to Monaco permanently for £13m due to a contract clause and Thiago Silva is moving to Madrid on a free. In turn, I've agreed a deal for Marco Asensio on a free transfer.

One area I do particularly need to target in the summer is a centre back having sold Chalobah and now Silva. Fofana is a mainstay, and Koulibaly has done ok but does seem a little erratic at times and given his age I need to find a longer term option. I'll check Colwill in the summer, but will also likely need to target a transfer there too.

One problem I do have is Bellingham. He's playing as a ball winning midfielder in centre mid in a 4-3-3 as apparently was requested in his contract (I can't remember doing this but oh well). He's handed in a transfer request already though because he's not being played in the right role?! Is this a glitch? Or does it matter whether he's on a defend or support role alongside the ball winning midfielder? If so, is there somewhere I can see exactly what I've promised him? I'm hoping playing him in the right role early on next season will have him withdraw his request and get things back to normal rather than risk losing him 6 months after buying him!

[bucket]

9 hours ago, essien_5 said:

Ha, just finished first season and not quite as impressive as some of you boys but considering I haven't played FM for a couple of years, I'll take it.

Finished 4th in the league on 71 points, 5 clear of Leeds with the position sewn up with 3 games to spare. Man City won with 93 points and Haaland scored 55 goals (80 overall)!

FA Cup I went out early, but managed to win the Carabao Cup in quite remarkable style. I lost the first leg of the semi 4-1 away to Newcastle, but beat them 7-1 after extra time in the second leg, before beating United on pens in the final after a 1-1 draw.

In Europe, as per an earlier post, I ended up third in a tight group so dropped down to the Europa League. However I ended up winning that too with a 3-1 win against Milan in the final. So not the biggest, but 2 trophies feels a reasonable starting point.

Goals proved a bit of an issue throughout the season, although Broja (20 in all comps) and Havertz (16) both had streaks at different times to help me cope. Besides them, Sterling got 16 in all comps and Mount from centre mid chipped in with a respectable 9 goals and 11 assists. Chilwell had the most assists with 13.

Transfers in the first season were Schjelderup for £7.5m, Bellingham for £88m and Hazard on loan all coming in January. Hazard was a huge disappointment unfortunately and I won't be looking to buy permanently.

Outgoings were Jorginho to PSG for £60m, Chalobah to United for £31.5m and a couple of younger players moving for insignificant fees.

Despite being £180m in the red (new season monies haven't come through yet), I have a £138m transfer budget for season 2. The current £4.9m wage budget is maxed so this is something that does need to be brought down and I'm hoping to do this by moving on fringe players like Auba and RLC. Kova doesn't seem to want to extend his contract so I'll probably look to sell him too for the right price and targets will likely be younger players to bring into the squad unless the right move falls into place. The new youth recruits overall got strong scout reports and the youth team won the academy league and europe so hopefully the future is bright.

For the second season already confirmed, Sarr is moving to Monaco permanently for £13m due to a contract clause and Thiago Silva is moving to Madrid on a free. In turn, I've agreed a deal for Marco Asensio on a free transfer.

One area I do particularly need to target in the summer is a centre back having sold Chalobah and now Silva. Fofana is a mainstay, and Koulibaly has done ok but does seem a little erratic at times and given his age I need to find a longer term option. I'll check Colwill in the summer, but will also likely need to target a transfer there too.

One problem I do have is Bellingham. He's playing as a ball winning midfielder in centre mid in a 4-3-3 as apparently was requested in his contract (I can't remember doing this but oh well). He's handed in a transfer request already though because he's not being played in the right role?! Is this a glitch? Or does it matter whether he's on a defend or support role alongside the ball winning midfielder? If so, is there somewhere I can see exactly what I've promised him? I'm hoping playing him in the right role early on next season will have him withdraw his request and get things back to normal rather than risk losing him 6 months after buying him!

I think I have Mason playing IW on the left hand side and he’s been brilliant. Off top of my head he has 18 assists. I’ll check this evening! 
 

I found Silva and Koulibaly dreadful. Silva’s lack of pace doesn’t help and was often getting caught on the ball. My best partnership was Chalobah (who is quality!) and Fofana. Biggest issue was keeping players fit and the lack of depth/cover. U23’s and U18’s both won their leagues. U23’s won the Papa Johns or whatever it’s called now trophy. Under 18’s won in Europe too. Had a “golden generation” intake too. I’ll try and upload some of their profiles too. 

[essien_5]

Pushing on through the summer of 2023 trying to make some hopefully, positive changes.

As mentioned previously, I've brought Marco Asensio in on a free transfer and 150k per week. On paper looks like he should be good value as is natural across the attacking midfield spots to give me some flexibility, although I'm currently looking at him taking up that right wing spot to play opposite Sterling.

With this in mind, I'm trying to tie Pulisic down to a new contract as his is up in the summer. Not managed to yet, but will continue to push. If I don't manage to, I might look at cashing in later in the window. He would be the third choice winger behind the above two, which means I am looking to move Ziyech on this summer. He was unhappy however at being offered out and seems to be digging his heels in a bit so he might prove to be a struggle to sell.

Thiago Silva left on a free to Madrid and I sold Chalobah in January to Man United so I've bought Andre Amaro from Vit. Guimaraes for £23.5m (a release clause in his contract for Champions League clubs). Looks very promising and carried an 'A+' scouting grade but at only 20 I might need to lean on Koulibaly for a little while longer whilst blooding him in alongside Fofana who is now the lynchpin in the defence. 

I've managed to sell Kovacic to PSG for £60m and RLC to Bournemouth for £14.5m, and bought in Moises Caicedo from Brighton for £37.5m on a relegation release clause. Pleased with this buy and for the price too, and gives me a really good youthful midfield alongside Bellingham, Gallagher and Mount to complement Kante.

I've also signed Han-Noah Massengo from Bristol City on £1m compensation. Not sure he'll likely 'make it' at Chelsea but I'm looking to loan him out next season and try to make some good profit on him (a project so to speak!).

Auba was allowed to move to Bremen for free to get rid of the wages.

Still trying to move some players on. Hudson Odoi I'm hoping to sell, Bakayoko is a struggle, Kepa doesn't want to move, and Lukaku the best deal so far was £20m from PSG and he wants a £7.5m payoff to leave. Unfortunately, I'm thinking I might have to run with this as I really want to get this wage bill trimmed down significantly and some of these big undeserving earners out the club.

Incoming wise, unless some sort of deal pops up, I'll probably look to bring in a couple more top young players if I can.

[Phil930]

On 24/11/2022 at 19:39, essien_5 said:

Ha, just finished first season and not quite as impressive as some of you boys but considering I haven't played FM for a couple of years, I'll take it.

Finished 4th in the league on 71 points, 5 clear of Leeds with the position sewn up with 3 games to spare. Man City won with 93 points and Haaland scored 55 goals (80 overall)!

FA Cup I went out early, but managed to win the Carabao Cup in quite remarkable style. I lost the first leg of the semi 4-1 away to Newcastle, but beat them 7-1 after extra time in the second leg, before beating United on pens in the final after a 1-1 draw.

In Europe, as per an earlier post, I ended up third in a tight group so dropped down to the Europa League. However I ended up winning that too with a 3-1 win against Milan in the final. So not the biggest, but 2 trophies feels a reasonable starting point.

Goals proved a bit of an issue throughout the season, although Broja (20 in all comps) and Havertz (16) both had streaks at different times to help me cope. Besides them, Sterling got 16 in all comps and Mount from centre mid chipped in with a respectable 9 goals and 11 assists. Chilwell had the most assists with 13.

Transfers in the first season were Schjelderup for £7.5m, Bellingham for £88m and Hazard on loan all coming in January. Hazard was a huge disappointment unfortunately and I won't be looking to buy permanently.

Outgoings were Jorginho to PSG for £60m, Chalobah to United for £31.5m and a couple of younger players moving for insignificant fees.

Despite being £180m in the red (new season monies haven't come through yet), I have a £138m transfer budget for season 2. The current £4.9m wage budget is maxed so this is something that does need to be brought down and I'm hoping to do this by moving on fringe players like Auba and RLC. Kova doesn't seem to want to extend his contract so I'll probably look to sell him too for the right price and targets will likely be younger players to bring into the squad unless the right move falls into place. The new youth recruits overall got strong scout reports and the youth team won the academy league and europe so hopefully the future is bright.

For the second season already confirmed, Sarr is moving to Monaco permanently for £13m due to a contract clause and Thiago Silva is moving to Madrid on a free. In turn, I've agreed a deal for Marco Asensio on a free transfer.

One area I do particularly need to target in the summer is a centre back having sold Chalobah and now Silva. Fofana is a mainstay, and Koulibaly has done ok but does seem a little erratic at times and given his age I need to find a longer term option. I'll check Colwill in the summer, but will also likely need to target a transfer there too.

One problem I do have is Bellingham. He's playing as a ball winning midfielder in centre mid in a 4-3-3 as apparently was requested in his contract (I can't remember doing this but oh well). He's handed in a transfer request already though because he's not being played in the right role?! Is this a glitch? Or does it matter whether he's on a defend or support role alongside the ball winning midfielder? If so, is there somewhere I can see exactly what I've promised him? I'm hoping playing him in the right role early on next season will have him withdraw his request and get things back to normal rather than risk losing him 6 months after buying him!

I'm struggling with Bellingham as well.  Been playing him in CM in a 4-3-3 originally as a BBM, then as a CM Support, until he started complaining about not being a BWM.  This is a pain as doesn't really suit what I want from him, and anything else has him full on throwing his toys.  However, my pursuit of Rice is fruitless with West Ham not even listening to any offer, even £120M.  Therefore, I may just cave and play Bellingham in his natural DM in my 4-3-3 as a BWM.  From here, I will add a world class midfielder slightly ahead.....

....onto my next problem.  I would play Mount in the no.8 role in my 4-3-3, but he is also complaining about not playing in an attacking midfield centre role (a position I don't even use in my formation).  He's got so mad he wants to leave - a little ridiculous.  The agreed playing time part is a little frustrating.

My midfield shopping list includes Milinkovoc Savic (who I could have had for £45M in Jan but turned down as thought I had a plan), Tchouameni, Kimmich, De Jong - I don't think I'll get any of them though.  Casadei is looking very promising, but would be a bit too much too soon.  

[masta p]

03 Sep 2023

My first season was quite successful: 

Won the Premier League by managing to win in my last games of the season against Man City, West Ham and Liverpool. The whole season I was chasing Liverpool and Man City by a point or two, beating them in my final games for the season gave me the needed points to win the league.

Won the FA Cup by beating Man City in the final

Won the Carabao Cup facing Newcastle in the final

Won the UEFA Champions League

- Threw out Barca in the Round of 16 (Quite proud and happy of that) 

- Met Bayer Leverkusen in the Quarter Final who weren't much of a problem

- Real Madrid in the Semi Final were the first big challenge in the tournament. A hat-trick from Chalobah from corners in the second leg (the first one was a 0-0 game) sent us to the next round

- Won the final against Liverpool by two goals from Mount: one he scored himself and another one he assisted for from a free kick which Fofana headed in

 

Transfers IN: 

- Andreas Schjelderup - AML - €9m - Scored 10 goals and assisted for 11

- Jose Angel Carmona - DRC - €12.25m - Provided backup in the right side or the center of the defense (Will spend the second season at Fenerbahce and hopefully sell after that) 

- Declan Rice - DM/MC - €204m - 3 goals and 7 assists playing in the DM position as Defensive Midfielder (Support) and dominating in that position 

- Spent €17m for 4 young players who finished the season in their clubs and sent on loan to other clubs in the second season. Nothing spectacular and probably won't play for me, but should bring me some decent amount of money after 1-2 years

Transfers OUT: 

- Jorginho to PSG - €99m

- N'Golo Kante to Real Madrid - €120m

- Bashir Humphreys - €1m

- Cesar Azpilicueta in January to Juventus for €13.75m

Note: Jorginho and Kante started really strong for me in the season which raised their price a bit and attracted interest from PSG and Real Madrid. Some tough negotiations brought the needed money to get Declan Rice in the Deadline Day. And it was worth it. 

 

During the season I have used 35 or 36 players giving a chance to everybody, including players from the u21

The team played really well, some of the impressive stats: 

Mendy finished the season with 36 clean sheets

Fofana (15 goals, 3 assists), Koulibaly (8 goals, 1 assist) and Chalobah (5 goals, 3 of which against Real M in UCL) were quite impressive in defense

Chilwell - 2 goals, 15 assists. The new guy Cucurella had a fine season covering in left or center but nothing spectacular to talk about. 

Mateo Kovacic (5 goals, 17 assists) his runs through the center were a constant threat. My favourite Chelsea player IRL.

Mason Mount - 19 goals, 35 assists. My set pieces taker - penalty, corners, free kicks.

Raheem Sterling (20 goals, 18 assists), Hakim Ziyech (12 goals, 16 assists), Christian Pulisic (14 goals, 17 assists)

Kai Havertz (23 goals, 20 assists). Armando Broja (19 goals, 4 assists) 

 

My second season started with winning the FA Community Shield against Man City and UEFA Super Cup against Man Utd

Transfers IN: 

-  Arda Guler - AMC - €9.75m - Loaned out for the season, Guler is tipped to become a great playmaker and paying less than €10m for is a bargain even if he fails to realize his full potential.

- Takuhiro Nakai - AMC - €12.5m - Another one in the center of the field with a good potential. Most probably will be sold for a greater profit in a few seasons

- Diego Coppola - DC - €18.75m - Loaned back to his team Hellas Verona

- Tomas Esteves - DR (Training him for DL also) - €3.5m - Will provide backup on both sides of the defense and sell when his price increases. When the time comes some of the youngsters should be able to take his place. 

and the big names that came on deadline day (again  )

- Jude Bellingham - DM/MC - €123m - No promised positions, he will play mostly in Central Midfielder (Attack) or Box to Box Midfielder (Support). Fantastic debut against Man City with 2 goals. 

- Kim Min-Jae - DC - €45m

Transfers OUT: 

Note: Keep in mind most of these are with installments to bring maximum profit and provide stability in this season and next one or two

- Henry Lawrence - €3.5m, Dylan Williams - €2.6m, Nathan Baxter - €3m, Zak Sturge - €12m, Ethan Ampadu - €24m, Dujon Sterling - €25m

- Kalidou Koulibaly - €60m - A great first season caught the attention of Real Madrid, so I have decided to cash in

- Malang Sarr - €30m - Monaco did not pay the clause in his contract and Lyon brought him back to France

- Mateo Kovacic - €84m to PSG

- Thiago Silva - €5.75m to Palmeiras 

- Hakim Ziyech - €81m to Man Utd. This one caught me by surprise, but the money was too good to reject

 

EDIT: Apologies for the wall of text. Got carried away  

Edited November 29, 2022 by masta p

[aaaawren]

I rolled the dice and it landed in London after Potter got sacked for finishing 5th with the 5th best team in the league. It's almost as if Abramovic is still in charge.

Was about 10-15 million in debt when I joined, that's been fixed as has some of the stupid wages. Only players above 300k are probable first choice striker duo of Sterling and Lukaku, with only 5 more players 200k+ including the loaned in Upamecano. The goalkeepeing situation has also been overhauled, with Mendy and Kepa leaving for a combined 58 million to make way for Dominik Livakovic, with backup duty being given to the duo of Baxter and Cumming, with Bettineli there for emergencies. In the back three Nelson and Tobido came in to replace Koulibaly and Silva, the former getting shipped off to Milan where his 8 concentration will probably cost them the league and the latter retiring. Also leaving were Cucurella to PSG for 50 million and Chalobah to Arsenal for 30, getting replaced by Henry and Upamecano for a combined 25 million.

Right now Reece James is my starting right mid, although I'm looking to move him into midfield to make space for Pedro Porro as when you're the only dedicated wide man you have to be able to beat your man and he has 11 dribbling. Either him or Kanté will partner Eduardo Camavinga in midfield after Jorginho left to Madrid for 46 million, and I have Nico and Andre Santos coming in to shore up the middle for years to come. Attacking mid is fine, Havertz and Mount can handle it so the only thing that happened was selling Ziyech to Inter, while up top I am looking at converting young midfielder Cesare Casadei into a striker because if an actual 20 year old striker had his stats everyone would be raving over him. In the short term though, Thomas Henry will be backing up Lukaku as my target forward.

 

Not everything is perfect though. Not only will the game not let me reduce my wage budget, which I believe is because of a pending transfer that won't go through until January,  Bakayoko and Ampadu both turned down the only clubs to come in for them after asking to leave and I can't shift Aubameyang either. Also, I keep getting turned down when I ask to be allowed to pay the Physios more than 1.9k a week.

Edited December 2, 2022 by aaaawren

[mhaffy]

On 08/11/2022 at 00:39, Blue Down Under said:

Fati 65m, Bellingham 103m - both fees mostly in future instalments (think I paid no more than 5m up front in each deal).

Ziyech went to Juve for 13.25m, Jorginho 60m to PSG.

Now that the 23.2 update has been released I am about to start my main long term Chelsea save. I will be looking to refresh the squad and offload Ziyech , Jorginho and probably Kante as well due to his age and high wages. Did you receive offers for Ziyech and Jorginho or offer them out/ transfer list? Also wondering if you sold them in the initial summer window or January 23 window.

 

 

[holmazz]

Did a save with Chelsea during the Beta and started over again now with the new update. Wanted to try the 3-4-2-1 formation with 2 narrow 10's again since SI said they improved their defensive contriubtions, i.e. not staying so narrow but rather defending slightly wider. Found a lot of success with it so far and am very happy with how the 10's are operating. 

Did sell Jorginho to PSG for 60M£ like many others and shipped off Ziyech to Inter for 12M£. Brought in Bastoni for around 55M + bonuses, Zakharyen for 12M who is my backup to Mount and Singo for 17M as a backup to James. After about 10 games I'm third in the league with City topping the table. Played them away at the Etihad and we played a great game but lost 2-3 in the end but playing well at the Etihad gives me belief in the formation and tactics that I've set up. I'm excited to see out the season and see how the tactic plays out over the year.

 

[mhaffy]

Just set up long term career save …. Media prediction 5th…Board require top 2 finish…. Hopefully I will survive so that it really does become long term Chelsea save….

[Blue Down Under]

On 04/12/2022 at 23:03, mhaffy said:

Now that the 23.2 update has been released I am about to start my main long term Chelsea save. I will be looking to refresh the squad and offload Ziyech , Jorginho and probably Kante as well due to his age and high wages. Did you receive offers for Ziyech and Jorginho or offer them out/ transfer list? Also wondering if you sold them in the initial summer window or January 23 window.

 

 

Sorry about the late reply, been busy. Offered them both out. Jorginho was snapped up immediately, Ziyech took a bit lowering the asking price.

[mhaffy]

On 08/12/2022 at 21:47, Blue Down Under said:

Sorry about the late reply, been busy. Offered them both out. Jorginho was snapped up immediately, Ziyech took a bit lowering the asking price.

Many thanks for response. Slow progress here as I have spent ages overhauling the coaches and scouts… amazed at how poor the initial back room team set up was. I tend to micro manage career saves and have yet to play my opening league game. Squad didn’t seem to bad and I am starting with a 433DM tactic with Mount as CM(A). 
U21’s have some good potential with Soonsup-Bell, Casedei and Chukwuemeka all possibly 4.5 potential… which would be better thanMount, Pulisic, Kante, James etc. Planning on leaving them in U21’s ,where training schedule will be heavier than first team who will have higher number of matches, and giving them regular cameo game time to bring their development on. 
Sold Jorginho for £50m(£60m) and a few youngsters. Trying to offload Ruben too before contract runs down as high wage for his relative quality.  Managed to tie Kante down to cheaper 2 year deal and Mount to a long term contract. Recalled Choi from loan as cover for Ziyech if good bid received. However Ziyech playing well in pre season and contract negotiations with Choi broke down after he wanted more than Mount! He would be on more than Kante taking into account the huge appearance fee he wanted…… will play him and hope good bid comes in and then sell! May well keep Ziyech now if performances remain good. Hutchinson in U21’s may be long term Choi replacement/cover but currentLy only rated possibly 3.5 star potential..time will tell.

Only two signings so far - Okoli £17.5m(£22.5m) as young central defender to hopefully become long term Silva replacement and Scjelderup £6.5m(£8.5m). A little concerned about cover for Reece if injured long term as Azpi ageing and   Lacks speed now. Choi could provide cover as Wing Back but not in DR position…. Scouts looking but don’t want to make panic/expensive buy.

Time to get back to pre season now and complete staff recruitment … awaiting work permit clearance for the last 7…..

[nexting]

Just finished the 1st season with Chelsea, won the league and sod all else.

The club is in a real mess financially, so many players on absurd wages (Chukwuemeka being on 100k a week really shocked me).

Has anyone else noticed youth players wanting crazy wages, players signing their first professional contract asking for 5k upwards!

[masta p]

@nexting

Yeah, finances are really bad. I thought the youth players wanted so much money because they are rated 4-5 stars for potential and didn't really pay more attention to that. I'll try to keep that in mind when negotiating new contracts in the future. 

 

@mhaffy

Ziyech can be really useful in the first season. He could've been involved in more than 30 goals for me if it wasn't for a couple of injuries that ruled him out for a 2-3 weeks each. As you can see from my previous comment, I sold him for €81m after that, which is way better that €10-15m 

 

I see some of you are bringing CHO back. How does he perform for you? I have left him play in Bayer, making 47 apps with 17 goals and 11 assists. I haven't played much lately, so I am still in the beginning of the second season and he has provided 5 assists so far in 3(3) apps. 

 

EDIT: A little advice from me: Give the youth some game time. 15-20 minutes as a substitute in a match against a weak opponent 4-5 times in a season makes them develop a lot faster. And praise players with great training ratings - you'll become their favoured personnel in no time.

Edited December 11, 2022 by masta p

[mhaffy]

10 hours ago, masta p said:

EDIT: A little advice from me: Give the youth some game time. 15-20 minutes as a substitute in a match against a weak opponent 4-5 times in a season makes them develop a lot faster. And praise players with great training ratings - you'll become their favoured personnel in no time.

Excellent advice. I always create a note to remind me on 1st of every month to praise players with good training rating (I look for >= 8.0) and criticise those with <6.5. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by mhaffy

[bucket]

Will have to update you lot tonight, just started 3rd season. Had a great 2nd season. Winning the league, Champs League and FA Cup. Made some good signings! Had some brilliant newgens come through the academy!! Will post some of those tonight! 

[bucket]

2nd season review:

League: 1st, W 29, D 6, L 3. For 102 Against 31. Points 93.

Fa Cup: Winner, beating Liverpool 4-0.

Carabao: Lost in 3rd round on penalties to Brentford.

Champions League: Winner beating Liverpool, this time on penalties after a 3-3 draw. 

Players in:

Kang-In Lee - £7m.

Andreas Schjelderup - £6.25m,

Jude Bellingham - £90m,

Nicolas Seiwald - £28.5m (£34m)

Oscar Gloukh - £2.5m,

Arsen Zakharyan - £18m,

Youssoufa Zoukoko - £33m,

Federico Valverde - on loan,

Enzo Fernandez - £39.5m (signed at end of season).

TOTAL: £225m

Players Out:

Romelu Lukaku - £80m - Man City,

Mateo Kovacic - £60m - Inter,

Nikel Merino - £24m - Napoli, 

Christian Pulisic - £19.5m - Newcastle,

Koulibaly - £13.5m - Barcelona,

Sarr - £7m - Frankfurt,

Bakayoko - £6m - Osasuna,

Aubameyang - £6m - Sociedad.

Others went out too.

TOTAL: £226m

 

Players Details:

Top Scorer: Havertz - 33 apps 22 goals (League). 50 (4) apps - 34 goals.

Top Assists: Mount - 33 apps 10 assists (League). 45 (3) apps - 17 assists.

 

 

[bucket]

3rd Season: HERE WE GO.....

Players in:

Giorgi Mamardashvili - £15m

Malo Gusto - Free.

Endrick - £18.25m

Total: £33.5m

Players Out:

N Golo Kante - £30m - Real Madrid.

Kepa Arrizabalaga - £22m - West Ham,

Hakim Ziyech - £22m - Fiorentina.

Sterling - out on loan to PSG - Want to give Hutchinson more game time this season.

Others totalling to:

 £79m.

 

Current Squad:

Mendy, Mamardashvili, Slonina (out on loan).

 

Wes Fofana, Gvardiol, Colwill, Porro, Chalobah, James, Lacroix, Gusto, Chilwell, Cucarella.

 

Enzo Fernandez, Seiwald, Gallagher, Bellingham, Chukwuemeka, Gloukh, Mount, Lee, Hutchinson, Zakharyan, Schjeldrup, Nicholson (newgen). 

 

Havertz, Endrick, Broja, Moukoko.

 

[MBJ96]

Finished first season and what a challenge that is. I don't think the squad is strong at all. 

Started without any transfer budget, as I like it like that. Promoted Casadei (and trained him as a striker), Chukwuemeka and Hutchinson to the first team squad, while I fired old coaches and hired new ones. DAMN the old ones were bad...

Tried to play a 5-2-2-1 formation with the offensive wingbacks making the width. Kanté started out with a five month injury so Gallagher got a lot of playing time next to Kovacic and did OK. Havertz was great as AM or striker. Mount was also performing well. Unfortunately James did not produce as expected as wingback, and I might consider playing him as outside CB next season. His dribbling is to weak when being alone on the side, and he also not really quick. 

Premier League: Fouth - won the last game 4-3 against Liverpool who already was crowned champions and rested some players. Damn lucky, because both Arsenal and Newcastle could have taken my spot. 
FA Cup: Quaterfinal
Champions League: Group stage - So disappointing.. Reached the quater finals in Europa League afterwards. 
Carabao Cup: Quaterfinal

Sold Loftus-Cheek in january for £30m to Man City. Jorginho and Thiago Silva have signed contracts with other clubs and will leave. Will try to offload Aubameyang (almost did not play) and a lot of the loan players returning. 

Got Camavinga on loan in january and he was good. Will try to get him on a permanent, but I am also dreaming of Bellingham. Will also need to sign at least one new CB and an AM/striker.