brez22

I definitely agree a lot more can be done with tactical positioning especially with its growing importance in the game however it is possible to use individual instructions to do some of the things we see real teams do. For example you can set a CM to mark a winger and in defensive positions you will see them move into the wider area to close down and mark. I use this method sometimes with my players to change my defensive shape. I remember watching Man City early season and thinking it would be hard to replicate the positions that Silva and De Bruyne were playing in FM. But I found that if I selected a player as an AM-S and then changed their individual defensive closing down and marking settings that they would look more like Silva and De Bruyne did. At that time they were playing very advanced positions, beyond where a CM would with the ball but still operated like a CM without it. If you think outside the box you can get FM to be more flexible than you would automatically think.

I've managed top 4 in my first full season with Valencia. Timo Werner the hero scoring 34 goals in 35 games. A number of hat tricks. Just unbelievable. Hoping for a good budget for our first season back in the CL and the new stadium to make a real title challenge. Everyone else sells him but Aymen Abdennour has averaged 7.44 for me, been excellent.

Hopefully Espanyol slip up Danny. Keita is good but he doesn't make my top 10 on average rating with a 7.02. I think the role he plays for me is good for the team but not for his results individually. I've got the stadium move at the end of this season so it will be good to see how it boosts us.

Had a tough January with a few defeats and a cup exit. I had most of my defence away on international duty which meant I was playing Carlos Soler there in a few games. The transfer window didn't help too much either. Garay wanted to go to China and at his age I let him go for £3m but didn't manage to replace him(I did sign Emerson Santos but technically he replaced Aderllan Santos). I also sold Januzaj to Liverpool for £27m, a good profit in just half a season from a free transfer but then I panicked a little bit. I signed Pastore for £8m and although he's clearly my best in the position I wonder if his wage expense is too much. I also signed Iniesta who was transfer listed at Barcelona, not the player he was physically but technically still great and he's looking good but again expensive in terms of wages. Luckily I ended the month well, beating Sociedad my closest challenger to 3rd and Sevilla who are always a tough team to beat. Werner scored 5 across those two games and I am starting to see the best of Oliver.

Im currently 3rd in my save half way through the season. Was within touch of 1st but lost to Jurgen Klopp's Bilbao. My team is really shaping up and my tycoon owner backs me. I signed Emerson Santos in January. He looks like my best defender already. Trying to find a backup to Timo Werner although he's doing great with a goal a game ratio. Had a lot of good performers across the team so its a good position I think to make a stronger challenge next season.

I had a frustrating but decent start to the season last night. Played 6 games. Managed 2 5-0 wins, 2 defeats including 3-0 to Sevilla and another 2 smaller wins. So it is 4 wins from 6, playing attacking at home which is working. But away we look poor. I think I resolved it against Celta Vigo as we came back from 2-1 for a 3-2 win. Made my defense a little less aggressive and attack more possession focused by reducing closing down and stopping passing into space. Glad I am not in the FFP nightmare. Its tough but maintaining the league position should be priority over making the money back. Because if you focus on making money you might lose the league position anyway. Be patient with it Danny.

Yeah hopefully! Keita got 19 assists in 35 games for RB Salzburg so I am interested to see if I can find out how that happened and recreate it. Everybody I signed fits a role and the requirements of my tactic so im very hopeful of success. The only problem so far is that despite money not many players are that interested in joining but I think if I get a good season behind me I can change that.

In my save I got a tycoon takeover. I got a transfer budget of £100m and about £300k wage budget surplus to improve us for the beginning of the third in game season. I signed: Sergio Rico- £16m, Timo Werner- £23m, Oliver- free, Januzaj- free, Naby Keita- £32m, Douglas Santos- £7.5m, Allan Nyom- £1m, Pedro Marques - Loan(scored loads on loan in Portugal and made their WC winning team). Sold Bakkali for £12m as he was unhappy. Cancelo is kicking off but because of his low wages I am getting awful offers and I won't sell. Diego Alves left to go back to Brazil homesick. I have got improved training facilities, projected balances of £500m in two years, improved youth facilities and fully stocked staff. Friendly results are impressive and so I am ready to start the season. My preferred lineup is: Rico Cancelo, Garay, AA, Santos Keita Parejo Perez/Oliver Nani Cartabria Werner

If you carry on scoring and winning then no doubt keep it going but yeah if the goals dry up then a more defensive minded backup will help. Impressive result against RM that is!

You're gonna get mullered down the flanks Danny, especially your right side because you've got 3 attacking players. On the counter attack that will cause a heap of problems. I'd take Montoya off of attack and maybe swap Soler and Kessie's positions around so Kessie can cover the flank.

In my game I have inherited Valencia at the back end of season 2. The situation is even worse than normal due to mismanagement from the AI management. My squad is as small as this until the end of the season: Alves, Yoel Cancelo, Santos, Garay, AA(spelling eludes me), Vezo (Lato was on loan, recalled but can't register him) Parejo, Valderrama(Awful but its that desperate), Perez, Fajr, Medran(Soler is on loan as well as the good young AM) Nani, Bakkali, Piatti, Cartabria, Rodrigo That is all I have. I have one or two half decent at 16/17. B team has about four players with one star max. I've got £40m but we are 500k above the wage budget so I can't offer anybody anything. Nani is the only expensive player wages wise but I don't have enough players to sell anybody anyway. A tycoon is currently interested, if that happens it could be a game changer. If not this will become a huge challenge. Im focusing on finding young, low rep players that will cost little in both wages and fees. Ideally I need to keep Garay and Parejo at the minimum as I see them as the teams foundation.

There is a similar pic of Woodward pointing from inside OT. Wouldn't surprise me if he's arranged that shot in a Brent style bit of arrogance, probably thinks he looks dead cool.

I could see this being a fairly straight forward summer actually. No stupid wild goose chases, just signing a few good available players. Mourinho apparently wants to bring in the guy who negotiates transfers for Perez at Real so he's probably spotted the farce we've operated under the last 3 years.

Apparently when they were under attack most of the players hid in the isle, except CBJ who sat there like it was nothing. Not sure if that's cool as **** or just stupid Whoever allowed it to happen needs coming down on, West Ham should face punishment at least.

If we want to play a 3 man midfield I think he should play in there. His last few appearances for United there have been admittedly been quite good and I'm usually his first critic. His acceleration has gone but over a distance he still has the drive to cover ground and he looks like he's starting to understand the role rather than be a Scholes mimic playing daft switching high passes unnecessarily. The England team if I look at it has some good midfielders but none are really convincing they can mix it at the highest level. I think a Dier/Carrick, Alli, Rooney midfield 3 can be competitive. I've noticed he's played a clever PR move and said he wants to play there too, I think he knows he's not going to get in as striker. And nor should he, at United Rashford is genuinely a lot better than him in the striker's role. No need to even mention Kane, Welbeck, Vardy etc. Worse case is he ends up out wide due to the lack of quality wingers. Those days are gone.