Chef Raekwon
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Posts posted by Chef Raekwon
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Damn, amazing results! Second CL final is really special, extremely well done!
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19 hours ago, KlaaZ said:
Oh, also did some great outgoing transfers over the past seasons. Picked up Svetozar Markovic from Partizan for 1.6M and sold him for 43.5M to PSG 1,5 season later. Also sold Wöber to City for a deal totalling 65M, de Jong to Schalke for 33.5M (underpriced but he was very unhappy and disrupting the squad), van de Beek to PSG for 45M and de Ligt to Chelsea for 72M. Gave me a huge war chest.
Damn! Buying up all the newgens then?
Also, congrats on winning the CL, very well done! Looks like you'll have to work hard to consolidate your title, so good luck there!
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10 hours ago, HinchaBoy said:
Nice to see Eiting is devoloping well for you, I really like the guy IRL.
He is not that good in my save and has a different personality.
Shame! Nice capture of Cillessen by the way, attempted to get him in my save as well but he's asking for 110k/week wages which I can't (and won't!) afford right now.
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4 hours ago, Boss said:
Completely agree re Eiting. He's actually started more games for me so far in my first season than de Jong (mainly as de Jong has had a few injuries and has been rotated for Eiting for some of the games vs smaller Eredivisie teams)
I've seen IRL he has been helping out coaching the U9's side too, so potentially a future youth coach in-game
Sucks about De Jong. Did he improve at all as a player in your save game? Interested to see the results!
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So I finished my second season (had some time on my hands). Predictably won the Eredivisie (only 1 loss and 2 draws) and the cup (final against Feyenoord). Managed to make it to the Europa League final, which we lost 1-3 against Bayern Munich after a stupid red card from Wöber after 30 minutes with 0-0 on the score board. Quite disappointing and Wöber saw a hefty fine after the match as his reward. The most impressive thing was Feyenoord qualifying for the quarter finals of the Europa League before eventually falling against Bayern Munich as well.
The above means I came a bit closer to the end goal of this save, which is to lift the Eredivisie up as a whole. Holland rose 3 spots in the nation coefficient rankings (8th spot now, just behind Russia), Ajax is now the 16th club in Europe, right behind Chelsea and Shaktar, but edging out Borussia Dortmund, Napoli and Benfica. The Eredivisie is now a 3,5 star league instead of a 3 star league, so there's some signs of improvement there as well. Fairly happy with how my save is progressing.
I'm planning on overhauling part of my squad for next season. I'm selling Lamprou (doesn't get any play time and Onana has a good personality in my save, so no need to keep him on), Stengs (didn't improve at all this season and I can no longer justify to play him), Javorek (my Czech striker has stopped his progression and I now have better options for him) and possibly David Neres (he doesn't develop as much as I had hoped and his performances are consistantly worse compared to Cerny, who I'd like to keep as a backup to Tadic) and Viktor Fischer (already got a 30M bid for him in the winter transfer window, but his 'Perfectionist' personality makes me want to keep him on, although Marin is currently good enough to start as a inside foward on the left wing. I'm conflicted!). I'll also be looking to get rid of a lot of younger players who are good but won't cut it long term, either on a loan or permanently. I'll be looking to sell them domestically for a relatively low price, as they are good enough Eredivisie players and as such might help other teams improve the Eredivisie at a whole. Players I'm currently looking at are Lang, Sierhuis, Bandé (hasn't developed at all after his injury and his loan away to Portugal), Kotarski, De Wit, Ekkelenkamp, Bakker, Jensen, Nunnely (very sad to see he didn't develop as I had hoped), Johnsen and Kühn (could actually stay if I didn't have an ace striker waiting in the wings).
I do want to buy a new second or third backup goalkeeper to replace Lamprou. He has to be at least 25+ years old and have a good personality for mentoring incoming young goalies.
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12 hours ago, KlaaZ said:
Eiting looks surprisingly good in your save, he never made it in mine. I like that striker by the way, could be your new Dolberg!
RE: The striker, that's my hope as well.
Eiting is my favourite stand-in and as such gets like 30 games a season. His personality helped him out a lot as well, I believe he's 'Professional' in my save game.
How are you getting on?
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So I just finished the winter transfer window of 2020. Leading the league and winning almost everything domestically (2 draws), but sadly did not manage to make it out of my CL group (Real Madrid, PSG and Slavia Prague). Finished with 10 points (won against Madrid and drew PSG, both at home) but was still relegated to the Europa League, where I've drawn Besiktas. There's always next year, I suppose! I am happy that Heerenveen, PSV and Feyenoord managed to make it out of their Europa League groups and I hope at least one manages to qualify for the quarter finals.
My current talent development is a mixed bag. Remember that Czech striker newgen I posted earlier? He almost stopped developing completely, and his PA (according to my assistants) has decreased considerably. Even though he has a very good personality, gets plenty of game time (at both the Jong Ajax and Ajax 1 levels), puts in amazing training performances and is almost always perfectly motivated. I'm starting to suspect he's an early bloomer and I'm not expecting much further development. On the other hand, another young striker (a newgen) is developing spectacularly in my U19, so I promoted him to the first team and is starting in the absence of Dolberg, who's injured. He scored 2 and asissted once in 2 games, so I'm thinking he's on the right track. I guess you win some, you lose some!
I do have a few wonderkids under my wings. De Ligt has developed amazingly, but somewhat surprisingly, so did Schuurs. I opted to develop Pieri as a DL and is almost as good as Tagliafico, and I've already received a 37,5M bid from Barcelona for him. Which I promptly rejected, of course! Mazraoui is also developing a lot, probably because of the great amount of game time he's getting. Eiting is doing well and is contending van de Beek for a spot in my starting 11. Also found a good DL newgen from Mexico, rated as a wonderkid as well.
I'm happy with how my save game is progressing, hopefully I'll do better in the CL next season though. Need those points for the Eredivisie!
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1 hour ago, Gungner said:
Just bought FM19 a few days ago, and have been busy downloading kits, faces and logos since. I'm making Ajax my first save in FM19, since I need a somewhat "easy" start back into FM. (Haven't played any FM since January this year). This should be fun.
Have fun!
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16 hours ago, Boss said:
Looks good Chef
. How are you finding the difficulty level in the Eredivisie? I've actually been quite impressed with the performances of some of the smaller clubs this year. I've just had 2 difficult wins against Fortuna Sittard and Willem II, both of whom played good football and caused me some issues on the break. I always remember in years gone by that these sort of teams would regularly get rolled over 4/5-0, but seems a little more tricky this time around (ofcourse this may be down to the ME issue with lack of movement for attacking players causing us to create less opportunities than normal)
Lower table clubs rarely, if ever, give me trouble. I almost always win comfortably with a 2-5 goal margin, often being able to play without conceding. This will only get easier the more seasons have passed. The challenge is progressing in Europe and lifting up the Dutch league, which I view as a more long term goal, but it's fun to work on.
I do have to admit that Feyenoord especially overperforms and is able to keep up with me. I don't think I've won a game against them out of 3 played
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So I just finished my first season. Won the league with 2 defeats, Feyenoord runners up, Heerenveen third and PSV, even though they mirrored PSV's current unbeatable early season run, finished fourth. Went out in the second round of the CL against eventual cup winners Liverpool, although it was pretty close and both games were fantastic spectacles with many goals. Won the cup as well.
Big teams are sniffing around many players, but as I have de Jong, Dolberg and de Ligt on long term contracts (5+3), they aren't leaving. Somewhat surprisingly, many teams are offering for Wöber, Kristensen and Mazraoui as well, with fees around 10M. So far have opted to move Labyad (6M), van Leer (2M), Cassiera (4,6M) and de Jong (4M). This means Gravenberch will become Ziyech's standin next season and I maintain the rest of my first team.
Did manage to find some absolutely cracking regens. The best one is, by far, Josef Javorek. Found him early in the game, but could unfortunately only buy him after the first transfer window, which means he joined in january. At 16 years old, he's already good enough to start, though I'm currently starting him in Jong Ajax while giving him some first team playing time here and there. I've included a screenshot with his current attributes. He has already played a whopping 48 competitive games for Ajax, Jong Ajax and his former club Jablonec, scoring a total of 25 goals. Insane! Have included his history as well.
Other interesting regens I bought are included as well, as well as some screenshots of De Jong, Marin and Gravenberch.
Had a decent youth intake, with Dave Karelse being the best of the bunch. Already pretty well developed, but I'm keeping him in the U19's for the time.
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10 hours ago, bdixon said:
Sorry, but In my opinion I find the above post questionable. Yes Ajax have potentially a very good squad but nowhere near enough to win Champions League first season unless exploits have been used or the good 'ol' save and reload.
Can't speak for the guy, but in FM18 I did the same thing without cheating. You need to be extremely lucky and have a good tactic, but it's doable.
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17 hours ago, TheJanitor said:
So my mom got back from Holland and surprised me with two Ajax kits - last season's home and away. The blue away kit is beautiful
This inspired by to start again with Ajax after the last save didn't end so well for me. Last time, I tried to play the Vertical Tiki-Taka 4-1-2-3 and failed with it, so I'm trying now the Tiki-Taka presets the 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-3.
I think one of the major issues I had last time was the combination of Kasper Dolberg's starting injury and David Neres getting injured himself in pre-season. I replaced both with Huntelaar and Vaclav Cerny and it made my attack too slow and lacking quality. This time, I'm considering retraining Donny van de Beek to play up front. His attributes kinda remind me of a poor man's Roberto Firmino. I know irl Ajax played Dusan Tadic as a striker but I just can't really find a place for van de Beek in midfield but really want him on my team.
First thing I did was to activate Lasse Schone's contract extension. He's decent and way past his prime, but I'm keeping him around for his Model Citizen personality and because I want him to retire in the club. I also signed Noa Lang and Sebastian Pasquali on long terms contracts. I promoted John Heitinga and Rene Stam to Jong Ajax's coaches. Signed a bunch of physics as well as Christian Mockel, a perfectionist German scout Pim Koolwijk, a fitness coach for Jong Ajax.
A couple of questions about De Jong and de Ligt. Both are obviously head and shoulders above everyone else in their age bracket. How long can you keep them around? What would you say is a good offer for them?
Welcome! Sounds like you have a good handle on your team at the moment. Interesting move in sticking van de Beek up front, let us know how it turns out!
I have offered de Jong and de Ligt very good 5 years + 3 years option contract in the first half year, which they both accepted. I plan to keep them throughout the save, they're going nowhere!
That said, you can get 50M+ for them in the first season, if you play your cards right. Probably not in the first transfer window, but I have received offers in the first winter transfer window of 40M for De Jong, which I prompty declined.
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9 hours ago, KlaaZ said:
Don't forget the legend, Litmanen.
That's a given, he was my favourite player growing up. Was thinking of Finnish players that joined Ajax between ages 15-18 (ages at which we typically see newgens) in the past 5ish years.
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4 minutes ago, Messenjah1 said:
Couple of pretty decent Finns have played for Ajax in the past as well..
Agreed. Forgot Ylatupa is Finnish as well, last one before him was Toivomaki if I'm not mistaken, and he didn't turn out to be a success. So scouting youngsters (up to age 18-19) from Finland is realistic as well!
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4 hours ago, Boss said:
Out of interest Chef, where are you scouting your regens? I'm trying to keep it as realistic as possible so will only try and sign them from Belgium, Scandinavia and possibly South America too.
I try to emulate real life a bit. I'm always scouting Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway), Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Belgium, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Austria, Switzerland. With the exception of Mexico (I really like the market and with PSV there is precedent of young and talented Mexican players in the Eredivisie), Ajax has attracted young players from these countries in the past few years.
If you're feeling adventurous, you can also scout Romania, Hungary and Brazil. I personally opt to never scout Brazil and Argentina because it's too easy to get superstar youngsters.
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1 hour ago, westmarsh7 said:
Ive literally just bought FM19.... I always start in England but this game with Ajax seems different and exciting with the squad they have.
Can anyone give me a few hints and tips to get started when I get home this evening and start the game.Much appreciated people!
Good choice sir, they are an exciting team and building your reputation in Europe can be a very fun challenge.
What kind of info are you looking for? If you're looking for player feedback and possible transfer targets, I'd refer you to the first few posts of this topic with extended in-depth advice!
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I try to focus on scouting newgens and bringing young players to the first team. Already found an absolutely cracking new striker (16 year old and is already good enough for the first team!) and a good 16-year-old right winger. They cost me around 4M. I'll be selling off deadwood every year which will probably net me enough cash to keep bringing in top rated youngsters.
What am I going to do with 51M? I'll probably sell him for whatever I can get when Gravenberch is ready to step in as a first team starter, which is hopefully in 2020/2021.
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2 hours ago, KlaaZ said:
Might have had something to do with performances, as van de Beek did a lot Better than de Jong on the pitch (which means he played more games as a result as well). But yeah, it's a bit confusing. Most teams won't go over a total of 20M on de Jong so far, managed to push one to about 36M but it's still not enough to my liking. He wants to move to Atletico so I hope they'll come in with bigger money. I've got the replacements lined up already, especially with Gravenberch really coming through.
Had a busy january transfer window myself, with a 51M offer for Ziyech and a 40M one for De Jong. Declined both of course!
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6 minutes ago, wouterb said:
How do you fit Tadic and Ziyech in your teams? Both have only AM as natural position...
I play AML (Inside Forward Support), AMC (Attacking Midfield Attack) and AMR (Winger Attack).
I play Tadic preferably on either wing, competing with Fischer and Neres (who has been injured for like 3 months in my first half season though). Ziyech only as an AMC, Labyad as his backup. I give Gravenberch, Cerny, Marin and Stengs as much playtime as possible, fielding them in cup games or in easy league games.
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6 minutes ago, KlaaZ said:
I envy you. My two CL groups so far were Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig and Inter in the second season and Barcelona, Napoli and AEK in the first. I actually managed to win the latter group by drawing Barca home and away, drawing Napoli at home, stealing a win away and then beating AEK twice.
Ouch, that's tough! Great results in season 2 though, so I'm actually envious of you! I drew Liverpool as the first team in the knockout, so I'm probably doomed as well!
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58 minutes ago, Evanescent said:
How much did you pay for Stengs? In FM18, AZ never wanted to sell me Til, Stengs or Boadu. I got Wijndal but I think I paid some dumb amount.
Got him for 3,7M in the beta. AZ did quote me 98M for Boadu, so don't think that deal is happening anytime soon!
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I try to play Gravenberch as a rotation option in the first season to help his development, and so far, he hasn't done half bad in the first 6 months of my save. Nabbed youngest goalscorer for Ajax and in the Champions League, which is nice.
Cerny is a real revelation for my this season. His potential isn't all that, but his attribute spread is amazing and he's providing many goals and assists to the team, both as a left inside forward on support duty, or as a right winger on attack duty. Based on his performance, I could absolutely field him over Tadic or Neres any day, which is crazy, to say the least!
I'm doing well in the league, much like in real life, I only lost to PSV but I did manage to win all other games, which is nice. Drew a group in the Champions League consisting of AS Roma, Lokomotiv Moscow and AEK Athens, and am currently at 5 wins out of 5 games (only Roma away remaining). No restarts of course. Highlights of the season were the home game against Roma, in which Roma was leading 0-1 and Cerny scored twice from the bench in the final 5 minutes, and the game against Heerenveen. Heerenveen scored right from the kick-off without us having a single touch. Then we proceeded to score from our kick-off without them having a single touch. 1-1 after 1 minute. Crazy start to a good game, in which we played well.
Currently having a hard time deciding who to play: I have an abundance of talent on the flanks, with Tadic, Neres, Fischer, Cerny, Marin, Stengs, Nunnely and Johnsen all developing well. Playing with a slightly modified database, really wanted to get Fischer and Tremoulinas, so I made that happen. Couldn't hope for more from a Tagliafico backup in Tremoulinas, who's been challenging for a first team spot based on his good performances.
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2 hours ago, lblanc said:
Left back would be the only place they'd lack depth imo
I mean natural left backs I know Blind can play there too
Agreed. After Tagliafico, you only have Bakker as a pure left back, and he's still light years away from competing for a first team spot.
I personally use Wöber as a back-up to Tagliafico, and Blind if the need arises.
Haven't found a good option yet - Tremoulinas is a free agent at the start of the game and would be perfect for the spot, but at the moment, he's not interested to be contracted sadly. Kik Pierie could be an option, but you have to splash some cash to get him and he might be more of a CB. I'm also not really willing to break the bank for a second string left back at the start of the game though, so there's that.
What formations / tactics are you guys currently using?
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. How are you finding the difficulty level in the Eredivisie? I've actually been quite impressed with the performances of some of the smaller clubs this year. I've just had 2 difficult wins against Fortuna Sittard and Willem II, both of whom played good football and caused me some issues on the break. I always remember in years gone by that these sort of teams would regularly get rolled over 4/5-0, but seems a little more tricky this time around (ofcourse this may be down to the ME issue with lack of movement for attacking players causing us to create less opportunities than normal)
FM19: Ajax Amsterdam - Time to reap what has been sown
in Good Player & Team Guide
Posted
Yeah, no question there. Sign the French regen, ship off Gonzalez and make sure you find suitable tutors so he gets a professional / resolute / model citizen personality quickly. I suspect that might be one of the reasons why Gonzalez hasn't developed the way he should've.