tomzo_2

Following on from this post I have now hit January 2026. Things are again looking promising which I keep saying and bites me... The league is extremely tight: And remain in all the cups currently - Semi Final in the Carabao Cup, Top of the UCL, FA Cup has just started. So far so good. Interestingly my signings have been started to improve - Nketiah from last January has started scoring and Marcos Leonardo has come in and been great. Jamie Donley who was my top scorer last year and has been disappointing. Squad looks as follows: Not really looking to do any business in this window unless I get an offer I cant turn down and need to replace.

End of the Second season and ended 4th. Laptop nearly disappeared out the window as lost our way. Not sure if the updates had anything to do with it but my formations and tactics became very hit and miss. Ironically I ended the season with 2 more points than the previous campaign but 4th rather than 2nd. Lost in the Quarter Finals of the UCL to Arsenal. Dont... Lost in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup to Manchester United. Lost in the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup to Nottingham Forest. Summer Transfer window completed in my second season completed and started to get some more movement. Players Out and Ins Skipp was unhappy I wouldnt offer him a new contract and asked to be transfer listed for £52 million (Would propbably accepted half) but had interest with Everton agreeing to the full amount. Tanguy Ndombele Signed a new contract but had been wanted all season by a host of clubs and Real Madrid came in for £46.5 rising to 54million. As I wasnt planning to sell both felt I needed to bring in someone in the midfield I went to relegated Bournemouth and bought Alex Scott for 25 Million. A little more versatile and can plug the gap, certainly of Skipp. Brennan Johnson sold for £30 Million. A bit of an odd one as never really sure where to play him - either as a ST or as AMR. One that I decided to cash in on although his value was higher (60 Million) West Ham were happy to pay the money. Alejo Velez - Odd one as quite liked him and scored well as a substitute but Real Sebastian offered 19.5 million and are in the Champions League. Player wanted to leave so let him go. Small profit too. But this left me with the need of a 3rd good Striker alongside Donley & Nketiah with Will Lankshear as my fourth option. Brentford had been relegated and had paid 18 Million for Marcus Leonardo. On the transfer list for his release clause and worked all summer to see if I could get them to reduce this but couldnt so paid the 42 million. Will see how that goes for me. Djed Spence gone for 9.5 Million - never good enough. Reguilon left on a free as wouldnt agree to a new contract that wasn't ridiculous wages. Loans for: Tyrese Hall, Luka Vuskovic, David Martinez, Yago Santiago and Jude Soonsup-Bell. Squad is now at a desirable size and hope to keep it around this level going forward. Lets see what this season brings but keen to win something as only got the FA Cup to my name (First Season) after 2 promising season that didn't end how I wanted!! We go again...

Second Season January Update: Currently sat in fourth but some interesting league positions: Lacked consistency this year - comfortable controlling possession and XG but losing games and feeling like I am being FM'd a lot!! Seem to lose against the traditional top 5 a lot which is frustrating. Out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round. Still in the FA cup (Dumped Arsenal out..!) and qualifying round of the UCL after losing final game against Barcelona. Wanted to shift a load of players at the start of the season which just didnt happen, which stopped all of my incomings as I like to control the squad size: Biggest mistake was not replacing Son either as LW or as a Striker. Played Maddison (8G, 4A in 28 apps) and utilising Mickey Moore (1G, 1A in 20 Apps) off the bench but neither have assisted or scored enough and this was also the same with Richarlson (11G, 2A in 26 Appearances). Which is why I was surprised when I managed to sell him in January for 92Mill to City. Haaland is injured for 2 months and Alaverz has only managed 2 goals in 16 appearances. Now don't shoot me on the following as I am not a Spurs fan but: Hojbjerg was the reason we lost in the Carabao Cup to Forest with a stupid red card and I have been playing a 5 players ahead of him (Ndombele, Bentacur, Skipp, Sarr and Bajcetic) was an easy decision to sell. He wanted to leave due to lack of game time. I wanted Neves as think he is brilliant but needed to clear some slots so got rid of Giovanni as well, never really sure where to play him. And with Richarlson going, I needed a striker. Donley has top scored with 15 goals and Veliz has chipped in with 9 but I need to score more consistently. So I went shopping: Tried: Tels (Wage demands and Price tag ended up being ridiculous) Evan Ferguson (Same Issue) Osimhen got close with (300k and 40 Mill in Jan agreed only for him to choose Arsenal for free in the summer on 115k...) Viktor Gyokeres again wages were way to high for a player I didnt feel was that good (69 mill and 200k a week) So up popped Eddie Nketiah - Counts towards the Home Grown elgibility was transfer listed for 23 million and was demanding 140k which i managed to reduce to 110k. He is also close to his prime years. I know it wouldn't be pleasing for the fans but still scored a B+ with the caveat of needs to start scoring quickly! So January completed and into the business end of the season. I cant see much summer transfer business needing doing other than further players going either on free transfers (Rodon, Spence, Ndombele - not signing a new contract currently with Madrid lurking). Current first team squad is as follows:

Just looking at your tactic, id be tempted to change your AMR to something that isnt a winger as had the same issues early in the season with Kulusevski. As soon as I changed him to an IF he was much better. I also had issues getting Porro to play as an IWB and switched it to a WB overlapping with AMR cutting in resolved some of these issues. Maybe worth trialling?

Season 1 Finished! Not perfect but not a bad effort. We ended up 2nd behind Liverpool: Some good performances along the way but lost some games that I need to look closer at especially against Sheffield United and then the top six as lost to Chelsea (x2), City, United and Liverpool all away. Lost in the final of the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal on penalties after a 3-3 draw. But finally ended with an FA Cup win after winning 2:0 against Bournemouth: Team has shaped up well throughout the season and really bought through some of the youngsters especially Jamie Donley who ended up being top scorer and Ashley Phillips: Now lets see how the next transfer window shapes up. Looking at promoting Mickey Moore as I dont want him to lose potential ability in the U21's.

No both DM - supports. Allows a compact low block which means the full backs support the attacking 4. Ends up with the wingers behind the forwards in an attacking phase and a back six while out of possession. Anyway played the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal and was possibly the most Spursy result going...: And then lost on Penalties...

I only play two and normally 2 DM's so normally Bentancur and either Sarr, Skipp or Bajcetic. Its all very dependant upon who we are playing.

January transfer window completed and not what I wanted. Just an early caveat - the way that I play FM is to only sign under 21's or those that are transfer listed that I think have future value to turn a profit. With that in mind: Out: Bissouma out for 66Million - Didnt want to sell but wanted to leave - ended up at Liverpool. In: Stefan Bajcetic 27.5 Million Gianluca Prestianni 9 Mill Went after a few signings but some of the wages being asked for was madness. So before I signed Prestianni after I tried to buy Roony Bardghji was asking for wages of 110k at 18 and that was reduced from 150k. I also went after a few other transfer listed players: Scott McTominay - wanted 12 Million but in the summer only wanted 6.5million and wouldnt budge. Thiago Silva - Preferred less wages and a return to Brazil Have managed to make the final of the Carabao Cup against Arsenal...

He’s been better recently for me but 17 appearances 1 goal 5 assists.

So now in January 2024. After my two losses in the first two games managed a good run of 7 wins on the trot (2 in the Carabao Cup) before losing 1-0 to Chelsea away. Tight game where our XG was much higher so frustrating. Following was Man United and we went 2 nil down in the first 20 minutes but ended up 6-2. So pleased with that. Top scorer first half of the season was Richardson 10 goals in 20 appearances. Top Assists Son with 9 from 17 appearances. Great news is Jamie Donley has been really useful with 8 starts and 10 sub appearances and 8 goals and developing very nicely. Currently sat in 2nd although City a point behind with a game in hand. W13 D2 L5 Ideally would like to get rid of all: Son (18 months left on his contract), Richarlson (Not sure where to play him not a St & not a winger), Gil, Lo Celso, Hojbjerg, Johnson and replace the lot. Highly unlikely but we shall see but found the lot to be frustrating at times. 10 of my players are wanted so see what happens there. Chelsea seem to be the bogey team, lost to them twice in the league. Advice - use the kids!! Donley and Veliz have both scored 8 goals each. Ashley Philips has been solid when called upon (more than I wanted too!!) with 10 starts due to injuries and favourable cup games.

Not sure on this tactic.., But whatever works! Interesting you have mentioned Phillips scoring as he has been brilliant for me come up to Jan in my first season. I'm playing a 442 formation and barely played anybody other than 3 CM's (Bentacur, Bissouma, Sarr) - Maddison & Kulusevski off the flanks have been brilliant. Got a lot of players in the squad that I dont know what to do with - Namely Son, Richarlson, Johnson. Stats arent that good and also hit and miss when playing them in the preferred formation. Hopefully get to January over the weekend for a full overview!

West Ham manager, Moyes has just resigned to take over at Austria beginning of Dec 23 in my save. How random is that? Seen a few sackings already - Arteta has gone with Arsenal down in 12th. Howe from Newcastle 14th. Will do a bit of an update in Jan of my save.

I bought in Barco for 8 Million as back up LB and Todibo. That was it. Tried to buy Joe Gomez, Wan-Bissaka, McTominay (Listed) & Bajectic (Extortionate wages), Bardghji, Elliott (No Interest). Tried to buy Omishen, Sesko, Jota (No interest).

I didnt realise attracting talent/players to Spurs would be so difficult. Tried to buy a host of players in the last few days of the window and either being quoted large wages or not interested to move to Spurs. Didn't manage to shift any further players out and didnt get any in. And then a real poor start to the season. Lost to Liverpool away 2-1 and then blew a 2 nil lead at homes to Wolves to lose 2-3. Finally managed to see a small change as beat Brentford at home 2-1.

Half way through the first transfer window and cleaned out a lot of the first team and I currently have a lot of unhappy players that are left. I am aiming to have a squad of 25 players so had to bring the numbers down and not really invested to heavily either. First port of call was to reject Bissouma bids. Saudi offers came in at £55 million and didn’t allow any wiggle room so I rejected them. First unhappy player. Second one was Ryan Sessegnon who told me he would be considering his options. I was unable to sell him but had a few loan bids (Bournemouth and Newcastle) so accepted and spent 8 mill on Valentin Barco. With that I then put all the players I wanted to get rid of on the Transfer List: Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Hugo Lloris, Fraser Forster, Perisic, Solomon. And yet the next player out the door was Romero to Al-Hilal for 62 Mill. Although I didn’t want to sell him he wanted to go. Off the back of this sale I wanted to ensure I had correct defensive cover so spent the cash - 40 mill - on Jean-Clair Todibo. I want to blood Phillips and Dorrington so will be try to use them with these two as my starters but appreciate this may change in January if not going to plan. Then started to gather momentum with sales and recouped wages: Manor Solomon sold to Ajax 17.25 rising to 23.5mill Ben Davies for 12.25 although the board tried to block this sale as they felt the value was too far under his value. Eric Dier for 17mill and Perisic for 400k. Along with a few U21’s that aren’t good enough. Now just awaiting game to see what other bids I can get - ideally Emerson & Hojbjerg (although happy to keep) Bryan Gil and Richarlison.

Just setting up a Spurs save so see how it goes! Got some great young talent which is my aim to nurture through and only buy supporting players around this. Aim of the first season is to ensure I clear out as many of the squad that I don’t see a future for and ensure we hit Europe next year.

Signed Vitík as a young CB - brilliant! In terms of CM’s are you giving Bajcetic the opportunity. In my second season he was looking very tasty!

I’ve ended this FM journey in January. As a Liverpool fan I don’t like not utilising some of the youth players and getting rid of players that are arguing because they aren’t playing. Nunez has played 21 times and still wants to go over game time. I’ll start again on a long term save with a club I don’t mind ripping apart probably German league due to Work Permits

Very frustrating end to second season transfer window - was looking to shift players out but couldn’t get the sales and on top of that - had players claiming they were unhappy with game time even though they have played over 3/4’s of all fixtures. Included Alisson, Szbosolai, Nunez, MacAllister.

I played him in the majority of Europa league games and ratings were good - issue is his output in terms of goals/assists compared to Salah. I think I will try up until January and see how he performs.

First Season completed and to be honest was very straight forward. Won the league with 94 points - drew 4, lost 4. Won the Europa League, Won the Carabao Cup. Only disappointment was lost in the 3rd round of the FA cup 2-1 away to bloody United of all teams. No real complaints at all. Team is still very much as is now. Though managed to **** off Diaz and MacAllister in the last few games as rotated the squad ready for the finals and that went against there squad status - a little bizarre as both played well over 40 games... Starting transfer window now and interest in Salah and an offer for VVD (40 mill up front raising to 75mill). Trying to get as much as possible as neither are interested in renewing contracts. Will give Doak the game time and see how he develops. On developing players although I rotated for europa league games none of the young players have really grown that much in terms of attributes although performances were generally good. So need to keep an eye on training and try and trim the squad as loads of players in the U21s as well. So outs ideally are: Salah, VVD, Jota or Gakpo (Depends on offers but dont need both as blocking Leonardo's development and had a top notch regen named Kirk), Will look to take offers on: Fabio Carvalho Tsmikas (Beck is back of loan and could do a back up job) Bradley or Ramsey Purchases: Bought: Sverre Halseth Nypan - 4.5 million as A+ and at that price he's never going to lose me money. Scouts have been mentioning: Roony Bardghj as a Mid right but not sure i want to displace Doak's trajectory. But again release clause is only 12 million And then last is a new CB to replace VVD - Currently no idea as not massively sold on any.

Gone through January without any Saudi bids for either Mo or VVD - though both are wanted. VVD is my top scorer still with 13 goals. Thiago went to AS Roma by signing a pre-contract and then sold for 5.5mill as wanted to get him off the books and hadnt played a single game due to being injured all the time. Bobby Clark also sold as doesn't fit my system for 3.5mill rising to 7.5mill. A lot of interest in Koumas but have kept hold of currently as didnt think the offer was worth cashing in (Under 1 Mill). Issue I have is Connor Bradley not signing a new contract (Wants 27k a week) not sure if to just pay up... Feel the squad was overly big and now closer to a manageable size. Need to ensure that the U21's are looked at as a lot of players in there.

Interestingly I am in to December from the normal start and absolutely flying. Managed to sell Matip for 22.5Mill to PSG, Adrian for 3.4 Mil & Luke Chambers to West Ham for 3.5 Mill and a few of the other reserves including Cannonier with good potential future sell options. Bought a Striker Marcos Leonardo for 18.5 Mill as my main investment. Need to buy another GK ideally around 18 to support the Alisson and Kelleher in January I have learnt that in FM I have too many midfielders. Not used Thiago or Endo really at all - retrained Elliot and Jones into DM and DLP respectively. Bajcetic has only had substitute appearances so far. Both Endo and Thiago are unhappy and asking to leave which I will try and do and may recall Morton as not featured to heavily at Hull. Strikers havent hit the ground with Salah, Diaz (IF) and VVD top scoring. I think its more the tactic as getting a fair few assists - especially Jota. So will tweak the tactic until I get that correct - been rolling a 424 at home and away against anyone not a top 6 side and going to a 4231 away against strong opposition.

@knap Training Schedules - Are these still unable to upload? And is it a bug that is likely to be fixed on Monday (Full release) or is it file format due to the set piece/attacking movement selections and therefore needs a full rework? Is Cardoni working on one? Thanks in advance for any insider knowledge!!

No - tried this and I can see them in the folder but still wont load them into the game.