Gee_Simpson

I'll be following this with interest mate, nice OP. Honestly though, don't feel like you need to do scouting and training yourself if it's something you don't enjoy, there's no shame in delegating things to your staff. If you are enjoying it though, then that's great

Lol yeah I take a while to progress at the start also I was going to leave the staff for season 1 because I can't be bothered but I'll just go through with it, for the first team at least, better to get them in ASAP. The squads are massive, the biggest I've ever managed in a FM game, so it's quite overwhelming for me atm! 😬

How is your season going?

Thinking about it, I guess it just depends if it bothers you or not. I did test the pr0 update out and Benfica still have £30m to spend even though they have already bought Kokcu for €25m and Jurasek for €14m irl. I don't really have much use for Jurasek either tbh, he's not great in the game with random attributes which is surprising. The sortitoutsi update has Benfica with £12m to spend, which is probably more realistic. Both updates have their issues though, with no club really coming in for players because the wage budgets are all spent. Every time I try and sell a player with either update I get a message saying clubs can't afford the wages.

I'm actually going Benfica. Despite being a Hearts fan I rarely manage in the SPFL. What update do you use? Pr0 or sortitoutsi?

League double, nice one. Ramos on fire, I hope he can do the same for me. I was already planning on selling him after the 1st season also, no matter how well he does. Shame about the Champions League but that's the challenge I suppose. Would have been boring to win it in the 1st season!

Thanks. Would you recommend it? Seems most people don't bother. I'm not sure if me wanting things to be up to date is actually an OCD thing or just a general thing that other people get also.

Yeah I had therapy before but didn't stick with it. I will be getting it again soon and I'm determined to go through with it this time.

This is something I need to get used to and it has probably set back my recovery. I have never been able to endure the discomfort as it's pretty severe, but I'm trying to make sure I go through with it this time. It affects multiple things with me though, the subject isn't just related to FM. Currently though, because I'm starting a new save, the OCD is really bad. All of a sudden the OCD is saying the tactic I'm using is cheating for some weird reason. It stopped me from playing last night but I'm going to push through it tonight and start. Also, starting with the 22/23 squads is tough for me, but doing it will be beneficial for me too, so that's what I'm doing.

Ah yeah sorry, forgot you said he didn't have roam on. Yeah 12 goals and 16 assists, that's impressive. I'll keep an eye on the IF (S) and if he takes away from the striker then I'll switch to IW (A) on the right too. I did want to keep Grimaldo, but the fact you got £30m for him is tempting. Alternatively I could sell Joao Mario to raise the money for signings instead. I like Joao Mario on paper but his simple passes trait worries me a bit, plus he's older. It will be him or Grimaldo who goes. I was planning on bringing in Truffert to replace Grimaldo, he has 15 for crossing already and is only 20 years old. I noticed when testing my tactic that the WB (A) scores a few goals himself and Truffert has 12 for finishing so could easily get a couple. Grimaldo is pure quality though, not amazing defensively but has the DM on his side. How has Joao Mario performed for you?

Similar but some differences. I'm starting with short passing but might switch to standard passing also for more vertical passing, it's probably something I'll experiment with. Not sure about tempo so left it at standard for now. My press is even more intense, I'm slightly worried that it will leave me exposed but I like to see intense pressing irl, think Klopp's Dortmund, so that's why I have it maxed out. I have my AMC set to roam, just to give him a kind of free role, he's the main creator obviously because he's a playmaker role. Interesting that you have all the front 4 set to roam, I would imagine it can create some nice passages of play. The only role and duty I'm not set on is the AMR, I currently have him as a IF (S) but could potentially change him to IW (A) like you have him. I asked someone what they thought and they advised me to stick with the IF (S) because it offers more variety, I'll see how he performs. Obviously an IF is more of a goalscorer rather than a creator, even on support. One of my main aims is to get the striker to score as many as possible, and I think the IW (A) would offer more creativity. I plan to change the keeper to a SK (S) or SK (A) when I replace Vlachodimos, I'm looking at Alban Lafont.

@warlock Loving the update, great to see Leonardo do well because he's my main striker target. It used to be Vitor Roque as I mentioned before but he's more of a well rounded striker whereas Leonardo is more of a pure goalscorer, just what I like. The youth is what drew me to Benfica in the first place, everything is set up for it to be a wonderkid factory. They also have the most potential wonderkids in the entire game, I think it's around 25 players which is insane, even more than Ajax. Lopes looks amazing 😍 I'm definitely starting tonight haha, just been busy the past week. Nice to see @BadAss88 finally going with Benfica too 😊 Our tactics are very similar too, I'll post mine in a minute 👍🏻

Yeah, pretty much.

Nice to see Leonardo performing for you, he's my striker target for Benfica. He seems to do well for everyone, only heard good things about him.

I actually play an aggressive system out of possession, high lines, aggressive pressing etc, so that could come in useful, thanks.

@Cloud9 Similar to the above question, would the dribble less TI be beneficial for a kind of 1 touch type football? Pass and move basically, or is it unnecessary?

Lol nice one

I honestly never thought the SPFL could get like that, crazy I'm a Hearts fan but I don't usually like managing in Scotland for some reason, not played there for ages.

🤣 Fair enough 👍🏻

That's insane. How many CL spots does the SPFL get now? Those wages and values are mind boggling compared to real life 🤣

Btw how come you started the save in April 2023?

Brilliant results there. Obviously morale has a big impact in this game, so once you get into your stride the positive results just seem to keep coming. How has Fran Garcia performed for you in general? I really like the look of Adrien Truffert, he's even less developed than Garcia but has a lot of room to grow. I'll probably go for him in my save, he's a LB I've wanted to try for a while now. I see no goals from Marcos Leonardo there. Have you given him much game time or has he been kept out of the team so far?

Am I right in saying you've just signed 26 players in the summer window? 😅

Looking forward to it

That's a tough run of form there. I think he will turn things around for you though, as he has a great reputation in this years game. He seems to be a prolific goalscorer from what I've read.