[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

Season 4 is now coming towards March and I’m either 3 points clear of Liverpool with a game in hand or 6 points clear. (Can’t remember if I played the game in hand or not before I finished playing yesterday)

ive lost 3 times all season being community shield, super cup and my final CL group game and I’ve had 2 draws in the league.

I also managed to get the Norway job after the 2022 World Cup finished which I’m looking forward to what with them having Haaland, Odegaard and Berge as a strong core of players that all fit into the tactics I use.

So far this season couldn’t have gone any better, Hubbard is pushing for the first team and Weaver (a regen GK I nabbed from Arsenal a few days after and intake) is now my Second choice keeper and has had some great displays for me and De Gea has been back to his best as we were on a run of 10+ games without conceding and we have the lowest goals against and Haaland is doing his thing which sees us as the top goalscorers as well.

All I need now is for Hereford FC to make sure they don’t get relegated before the National League North/South become available and it’ll be a perfect season.

On a brief side note we beat City in the Carabao cup final to make it 4/4 wins since the save began and means were unbeaten in that competition since the save began as well

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

16 hours ago, Powello said:

I holidayed it to January then just applied for every available job lol

Hmm not sure on that one then, I know on older versions it was a thing that if you went too long without getting a job it basically made it easier to get one by apparently changing reputation behind the scenes but not sure on newer games 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

2 hours ago, Powello said:

Fair enough, makes it easier I guess.

Yeah it's not something I bet most people think about but it's definitely something needed.

I'm now on my long term save starting unemployed, I gave myself a very low rep and pretty bad attributes so I could start off low and work my way up to the United job. But somehow my first job is Napoli LOL. I have no idea how I got this job considering I was turned down for the cambridge job haha

Also being an international manager as well as a lower league manager will stop me from having to holiday through the international breaks all the time.

well that is odd, how long were you unemployed for?

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

48 minutes ago, Powello said:

That could be a big, lonf save with 3 jobs on the go.

be careful with teh world cup, make sure your player,s who aren't at the world cup, are given regular playing time, either through u23/u18s or try and get some friendlies going as I made the mistake on an old save of going on holiday till it was over and when I came back for the first match back, most of the players were unft and it almost destroyed my season

Yeah it’s gonna be a long save for sure. But the idea is to combine my 2 yearly saves into one rather than jumping between the two and getting nowhere with either.

ah I didn’t think of that. Think there’s 2 weeks left so I’ll organise some friendlies and get them all playing 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

So I’ve currently hit the World Cup 2022 and the seasons stopped to accommodate obviously and I must say I couldn’t be happier we’re undefeated in the league with 12 wins and a draw and we have a nice 6 point lead over Liverpool.

The medical department must have put Haaland on steroids during his recovery from injury over the summer as since he’s come back he’s got 13 goals in 7 games and is on fire.

On a side note this is normally around the time in the save where I’m happy with my tactics so I end up starting a new save with my hometown club and all my goals for this save goes out of the window, this year I’m gonna avoid that by combining the 2.

Basically I’ve added down to the National League North/South and when they become active at the end of the season I shall be adding a second manager to take over the mighty Hereford FC and will be aiming to lead them to PL and CL glory.

There will be some restrictions in place with this, I will allow some of my U18s and U23s to go on loan to Hereford once active but only 2 a season and that’s if they choose to go but other than that all potential transfers there must be legit. So if I have a player with a value of £2m then then I have to pay £2m to get him.

This way I get the best of both, I continue my united save and I can play as Hereford without having to choose between one or the other.

Oh I’m also hoping to get an international job to run along side being United boss

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

Season 4 continues to go well I’m undefeated in all comps so far (bar the Community shield and the super cup) winning my first 3 CL group games and winning all bar one league game which was a draw.

For the first time in the save I’ve been top of the league for more than one match and Haaland has come back from injury in fine form with 8 goals in 6 matches.

Hubbard his really knocking on the door for a starting position with only his pace and his acceleration stopping me from dropping him in along side De Ligt.

Still having trouble with the AML and the AMR but I’m currently switching between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-1-2 (wide) so the goals are still flowing due to the opposition not knowing which formation we’re going to use.

Also we beat Liverpool for the first time in the league with a 4-1 drumming and even with Mpabbe, Salah, Mane, Fermino, Tonoli, VVD and Upamencano.

This could be the year boys that we finally wrestle the League back to Old Trafford and start an era of domination!

[Fm17 2019/2020 season update]

Dang well it was worth a shot

[Fm17 2019/2020 season update]

As the title suggests I’m wondering if anyone knows if there is a transfer update to the 2019/2020 season for FM17

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

17 minutes ago, Powello said:

Extreme Youth Development Challenge Take 2 Season 1 Review

Firstly damn I need to shorten that title lol. So after my first attempt at this challenge, I am determined to complete it this time. I have taken my time on the first seaosn, focusing on player development, going way more indepth than I usually do, but with not being able to buy players and leanring from my last failure, it is what's needed.

You saw my youth intake preview abpve, I was right, it wasn't very accurate. But he did get one right, the striker looks vert promising and when the candidates came, I signed him up straight away and got him training with the first team. 

The CB they said was promising is non existent. The LB thats the 2nd highest potential in the list is ok, and will be retrained as a CB, but he will take a lot of work.

This is the Striker he's been raving about and you can see why, but he's no Mason haha

As far as the cups are concerned, I don't care at all about them for this challenge so I let Phelan take them. He managed to get to the 5th round of the FA Cup before being knocked out on penalties by Brighton after a 2-2 draw. In the Carabao Cup, he lost in the 2nd round  against Stoke.

The League

This is the one I care about and I learned a lot about tackling it form the last attempt at the challenge.I was determined to do much better than last time and get promoted first seaosns o I can have longer to tackle the Prem, I ran out of time to complete the last challenge attempt. 

I spent a lot of time creating a new tactic, trying to get the best I could out of this squad wuth an average age of 18. During games, I studied everything the opposition did, watched for weaknesses then changed the tactics to exploit them. Sounds exactly how a manager should work of course haha, but I usually just create the tactic, play the game and generally not pay much attention and just throw in a tweak or 2 and see what happens. Basically, I play to our strengths usually not try and counter the oppositions weaknesses.

Well  as you can see below, I definitely approached it right this time. The title racce came down to the final game, we Had to beat Charlton, anything less and Brentford could snatch it away from us. Brentfors won, but so did we 5-0! It was an impressive performance. Even Bishop, a player I have hated on the other save and not been shy to tell you all lol, he had a blinder, saving everything thrown at him.

I didn't expect to do so well, my targett was promotion through the playoffs, but we went on a long winning run. Between December and April, we won every game apart from 2 losses.

Greenwood, as per usual, was the standout performer scoring  39 goals in 45 games, 35 of them in the league to be top scorer. Not a surprise really, he's far too good on this version.

Aliou Traore was the guy who surprised me the most, I didn't really use him much on the last attempt, or any of my other United saves, but playing out on the left wing he was impressive most of the season. Seriously, develop him if you don't usually, he iis a lor better than you think, even if you don't play him much, you could fetch some money for him. Saying that he's only worth 975k at the moment, but another year performing like this, and in the prem, his value will rocket.

Squad Stats

Bring on the prem next season!!!!

Regarding your non existent CB months ago I read that players could be poached by other teams before your intake day but the game should tell you it happened.

if it does happen it should be in the players history that your one of his former clubs without you ever getting him.

having said that I saw this before the winter patch so it might have been removed

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

Mixed start to the 4 season.

Im 3 for 3 in the league beating Bournemouth, Tottenham and Chelsea but lost to Liverpool and Juventus in the Charity shield and the super cup.

I fell that both of those were winnable, we were Liverpool’s equal but lost to a 89th minute Origi 30 yarder and we had better and more chances than Juventus but couldn’t put them away, having said that both Haaland and Greenwood are out injured so we’re suffering up front as we only have Martial to play up front (I still have Rashford but he’s not delivered up top and martial currently has 8 in 6 only failing to score against Liverpool.

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

43 minutes ago, Powello said:

Well this intake definitely isn't a golden generation, I'll post them up later in my seaosn review when I have the time. But I htink it's the worst intake so far

Your HOYD clearly hates you and is trolling you into raising your hopes every year

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

3 hours ago, Powello said:

New HoYD, same outcome, golden generation mentioned again lol

No idea what to make of these any more

Yeah you are getting them on the reg.

By this point surely you can only classify it as a golden generation if you have 3/4 ready for immediate first team action

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

1 hour ago, Powello said:

Mason Marcus and Jadon you mean 

I’ve seen too many slip through to get too excited yet. I remember us nearly getting David Villa, Ronaldinho, Dybala, Haaland, Torres (way before he went to Liverpool) so I’ll start including Jadon if/when it happens

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

2 minutes ago, Powello said:

Yeah but so close to doing much better, I don't think I am going to be able to complete this challenge, 2 years to win the league and champions league with this squad is oushing it.

Greenwood is far too good, hope he becomes this good for real hahah

If he does then United are gonna be amazing. Mason, Marcus and Tony with Bruno is gonna be something to look forward to

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

4 minutes ago, Powello said:

Extreme Youth Decelopment Season 3 Review

So we are back in the Premier League, I was looking forward to this seaosn. Not many changeswere made, just a bit of tactical tweaking.

The Cups

Nothing special, but I don't reallt care about the doestic cups at the moment.

The League

A european spot came down to the last game of the season, we had to win and hope Sheff UTD and Spurs would slip up. Well those 2 both lost but so did we thanks to set pieces yet again. I swear I am close to stopping playing this game as literally 99% of the goals we concede are from set pieces and theres nothing I can do about it. It's ruining the fun for me. Set pieces have been a problem for so many years and still they can't fix it?

Anyway, finishing 8th is still a good finish for our first season back, just have to build on it next year. 2 seasons left of this challenge so we have to at least finish in the top 4 next season or we won't be able to win the champions league in time to complete it.

Once again Mason Greenwood was the leagues top scorer and I got him to sign a new long term contract

Squad Stats

Going to be a lot of prep work done in the summer, huge season ahead

That is a fantastic first season back in the PL especially with the squad you have.

Greenwood doing bits again

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

Well start of preseason for season 4 and i've managed to sell Lindlof. Sanchez has retired and hopefully Fred is going to accept a contract from Galatasaray.

Also this was the result from the first friendly.

Finally just a quick update on Chambers, Hubbard and Sarmiento.

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

7 minutes ago, Powello said:

Here, with me being the foreign one and most foreigners having already left, if I want people to move out of my way I just get close then start coughing as hard as I can.... they move pretty quickly after that lol

I thought about doing it at the start of all this but decided not as knowing my luck I’d terrify a pregnant lady or something like that

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

1 hour ago, Powello said:

Haha good work on the social distancing 😂

😂 I kept the required 2 meters away from everyone one, besides people tend to keep away from you when they can hear heavy metal music blasting from your headphones 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

4 minutes ago, Powello said:

Nooo Mcauley is definitely not a CB... He will be a mezzala or dlp, I'll train him for both

James and Lang will be CBS, well Lang will be CB, RB and Hb. He can play all 3.

Sorry fella I completely misread his profile, I was standing in the queue outside Sainsbury’s 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

1 hour ago, Powello said:

Yeah I was getting a bit boored of the rubbish intakes, was hoping it's not just a bug or something. Thankfully I am starting to see some good ones now.

Well I am 7 hours ahead of you, my girlfriends at work, I lost my job thanks to the virus and I am in lockdown. SO plenty of time on my hands hahaha.

Thanks man, it's a whole different ball game in the Prem, a lot harder than I though it would be.  Last seaosn I signed a few players like chong on new contracts but they had minimum release clauses which worried me, they were around 40-50m so nothing really high. Thankfully now we are in the prem they are happy to sign a new contract without any release clause

Good to see you finally got a decent intake McAuley looks like he could be the CB the club deserves.

yeah new contracts all round and don’t worry lads it’s club policy that it’s signed in blood and the small print contains references to never leaving. It’s by the same guy who did the signing in forms for the Hotel California 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

2 hours ago, Powello said:

Hmmmmmmm

Not sure what to male of this after what they said last season and was wrong about a few positions

I’d take it with a pinch of salt but think if it like this, if the previous intake was supposed to be ok at best but you got a few 4 1/2 star potential then this could be fantastic

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

48 minutes ago, StePratt said:

Youth intake day. Maybe the most important day in this save. Average, I would say. Ideally I wanted a keeper and a few centre backs but will make do with what I have.

 

Callery isn’t too bad and should be first team if your doing @Powellos youth database

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

Just now, Powello said:

I've seen it on saves where i've been relegated before. I shall be talking to them

Don’t blame ya, let them know who’s in charge and that youth is the key.......and watch them turn you down stating their happy with the direction their going regardless of the fact that they probably have you wanting to use youth

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

16 minutes ago, Powello said:

Well the board can sod off, they have just ruined my chances next season of getting some good youth players... They seem to have forgotten there a transfer embargo and lots of sponsorship o,mey coming ffs

Well I’ve never seen that before, having said that I’m either playing as United or teams that go up the leagues so it only ever gets improved 

[[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...]

7 minutes ago, Powello said:

I changed the balance but forgot to do sponsorship, I guess it will be a bit different at this level anyway maybe

Well by the sounds of it, it’s not changed the finances to the degree that the board would get involved so you should be sorted