samba23

I have created an USA college league but am having some problems getting the champions playoff working as intended. The league is split into 4 groups (A, B, C & D) of 12 teams with the top 5 from each group qualifying for the champions playoff. I want to have it so that each group winner receives a bye to the quarter finals and the remaining 16 teams play two earlier rounds. I have included an image of how this looks in tree format. Currently the four teams receiving byes are chosen by league points rather than position (so two teams from the same group can receive a bye). How can I change this to the group winners? I also want to have it so that each separate four team bracket in the first round come from separate groups and that a 2nd placed group team plays a 5th placed group team and a 3rd placed team plays a 4th placed team. I.e A2vB5 and C3vB4 and so on. Is it possible to do this via the team indices for next stage page on advanced rules?

Rooney doesn't have the technical ability to control a football with one touch. Awful, awful midfield player.

There actually are tournaments that have the same 24 team format - the U20 and U17 World Cups. Below are all the 4th ranked 3rd placed teams that qualified from each tournament U20 WC 2015 - Hungary 3 points and +1 GD 2013 - Ghana 3 points and 0 GD 2011 - Guatemala 3 points and -10 GD 2009 - Costa Rica 3 points and -3 GD 2007 - Brazil 3 points and -1 GD 2005 - Chile 3 points and -1 GD 2003 - Canada 3 points and -2 GD 2001 - Australia 4 points and -1 GD 1999 - Costa Rica 4 points and -1 GD 1997 - UAE 3 points and -8 GD U17 WC 2015 - Australia 4 points and -2 GD 2013 - Russia 3 points and +2 GD 2011 - Argentina 3 points and -4 GD 2009 - UAE 3 points and -5 GD 2007 - Tajikistan 3 points and -1 GD So only three times in 15 tournaments has 4 points been necessary to qualify

With Dier in the middle of the 3? Playing more defensive than the other two? Dropping deeper when the full backs push forward? In other words a 4-4-2 diamond.

Payet will get all of the attention for his amazing goal but Kante is just incredible. We're all aware of his defensive ability, most tackles (three) and most interceptions (five) but his passing was almost faultless (91.9% completed), most passes completed (79 compared to Matuidi and Pogba with 52 and 50 respectively). However, his passing was almost always purposeful (39 passes forwards compared to 13 backwards). I can go further to highlight this by looking at who he passed to most. Sidebar - it really annoys me when people say Rooney is good in midfield because he's good at switching play. I am much more interested in a CM who can play short vertical passes that intersect two opposing midfielders, thus breaking the lines and finding an AMC in a pocket of space. Incidentally this is exactly what Kante did perfectly to assist Payet's goal today (although I doubt most people even noticed him playing the pass). To compare the two; for Man Utd v Aston Villa Rooney's most common passing options were Valencia and Borthwick-Jackson with 16 apiece, whereas he passed to Mata 11 times and Carrick 10 times. Suggesting that Rooney plays most passes to the full backs. Kante, however, today played 15 passes to Matuidi and 14 passes each to Payet and Pogba and only 7 to Evra and 6 to Sagna. Suggesting that Kante prompted France's attacking play by passing centrally to more advanced midfielders, rather than backwards or sideways, as perfectly illustrated by his assist for Payet's goal. To sum up - Kante is an extraordinary player and so much more than just a "defensive destroyer"

Agreed. Renato Sanches, William Carvalho and Ruben Neves have all been much more hyped but for me Joao Mario is Portugal's best young midfielder

Gabriel Jesus was excellent at the U20 World Cup. I've seen him a few times for Palmeiras' first team and he's played well without excellng. Joao Pedro was very good too but I'm not sure if he regularly starts for the first team. Would be happy with both of those, providing they don't cost too much.

It obvious isn't it? We weren't scouting Renato Sanches or Lindelof at Benfica, we were scouting Gaitan. This transfer window will be the one when we finally sign him.

Schweinsteiger Podolski Only one recognised full back Aside from that... quality squad

England's best player at the last World Cup

Do you watch Townsend play? He never passes, it's all cut inside and shoot from distance

You're basically describing Mourinho here

Striker going round the goalkeeper when 1v1. I really don't think I've ever seen this properly happen ever in FM. Very very rarely the striker might move the ball to the side of the goalkeeper and shoot but I don't think I've seen a striker do this properly, they usually just shoot. Also linked to this... Goalkeeper sent off for bringing down a striker when 1v1. This is not uncommon irl but I don't think I've ever seen a goalkeeper sent off at all

Is anyone else finding that their goalkeepers are completely useless? I'm managing Inter and Handanovic is awful. He barely saves anything and lets in so many soft goals. Here's my stats from my games so far Inter 2-1 Esbjerg - 4 shots on target Esbjerg 1-0 Inter - 3 shots on target Palermo 0-0 Inter - 4 shots on target Inter 3-2 Cagliari - 3 shots on target Fiorentina 2-3 Inter - 5 shots on target Inter 2-4 Lazio - 6 shots on target Sampdoria 3-2 - 6 shots on target So in 7 matches we've conceded 13 goals from 31 shots on target. Giving a save percentage of 58%. From what research I've done it seems that most PL goalkeepers save 70-80% of shots faced so 58% for me seems very low. Has anyone else noticed this?

I don't think I've seen this. Definitely haven't ever seen a striker attempt to round the keeper, get fouled by the keeper and have a pen plus red card for the keeper.