Phil930

A relatively low sample in my first season, but finding many of my games are just Win or Loss, few Draws. In the League P11 W9 L2. Full view including Champions League and Preseason, P21 W18 D1 L2. In the Premier League, this is also pretty consistent across the top 7, however mid table is where there are more draws. Again low sample, but an early observation. The other top leagues loaded are similar to a degree, perhaps just a sign of early season and strong teams. Loving the game! Edit - Total commentators curse. Just drew my first game after posting 0-0 away to Leeds haha

Some great posts above @Tee2 @masta p @essien_5. After some personal travel, I settled into my long term Chelsea save last night. This is going to be fun! Still in pre-season, but some plans/actions shared below. Much of my approach is also shaped by real life needs and frustrations watching Chelsea! Welcome feedback. Trimming the Squad - there are too many average players in the Chelsea squad for my taste, and with very limited transfer funds players are going to have to move. Sold Jorginho to PSG for £61M to fund a midfield rebuild. Inter bid £11.5M for Ziyech, which is not a good deal at all but I accepted - while good in the game, I just can't pick him (kudos to FM for an Italian team once again mugging Chelsea!). Finally Lazio came forward with a 1 year loan and mandatory $23M + $8M installments for Loftus Cheek, which I also accepted. If all those go through some good funds, but may move Pulisic on as well. Based on my transfers in I may send Zakoria back to Juventus. I'll also sell a bunch of clauses for prior sales that players won't hit (e.g., Hazard has a tidy amount sitting there to cash in on) Adding Quality Staff - this takes me a lot of time, but I am overhauling the first team coaching staff. Need a decent Asst Mgr. From there, a GM is joining, and I will move on to Data Analysts, Medical Team, and Youth Team coaches. I'm rebuilding the lot for the long term New Signings - I'm going for it with some long term deals. Bellingham just signed - probably overpaid at £115M (25M upfront, rest over 3 installments) but he will shape my midfield for a decade. He is ridiculously good (had a peak in the in-game editor at the PA that was generated in my save - won't give away but damn!). Also adding Zakharyan for £13M (work permit pending) - while young and raw, he is also high potential and will exceed all my current other AMs and will fast become the West London Zidane! With Ziyech departing, Zakharyan will be fast tracked into the first team squad. My plan was to also add Rice, but West Ham won't budge and the fee is unreasonable. Really just looking to add quality in midfield - contemplating Barella, but if I am patient Casadei will get there and Mount is more than capable in CM for me, along with getting Kovacic going again. Torn here - thoughts? Finally need to add some attacking depth - Nico Williams just looks solid and with a £43M release clause may be a good long term buy. Build Around Youth - James, Fofana, Havertz, Bellingham, Zakharyan, plus whoever else we can add. Casedei will likely hold down the midfield with Bellingham in 2 seasons time. Tactics - Going with a 4-3-3 Holding Midfielder, wide wingers. Havertz will have to lead the line as an Advanced Forward - see how he does and if I can eventually convince Endrick to join the Blue revolution! Current Starting XI Mendy / James Fofana Silva Chilwell / Kante Bellingham Kova / Mount Sterling Havertz First preseason game was a comfortable 3-0 HT lead away to Oxford - rotated the entire team and game finished 3-1 to me, but it was a reasonable start to an intense pre-season. Only disappointment was Mount injured his foot after 16 mins and will be out for 3-4 weeks. Edit - left out a nice small detail. First 5 fixtures include City (A), Arsenal (H) and Liverpool (H). A challenge for sure - lets see how this shapes out!

Type: Desktop Model: Self build CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU Base Frequency: 3.70 GHz CPU Turbo Frequency: 4.80 GHz RAM: 32GB RAM Clockspeed: 3600Mhz GPU: EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Graphics Level in 3D: Very High Storage Type: SSD (game installed on C: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB NVMe) Benchmark A: 50 Secs Benchmark B: 01 min 45 Sec Benchmark C: xx min xx Sec Benchmark D: xx min xx Sec Both quicker than last year, although appreciate that's a little apples and oranges. Eager to see how a 7950X does here, although expect Intel to take the prize.

Does anyone have any experience with 23.1 on whether technical attribute development has been fixed/improved relative to beta?

I may run the game on holiday mode for a few years to see how the finances shake out. I'm curious - I do like the challenge you note, just doesn't necessarily fit the narrative of the owners wealth to me. Plus I'm getting old and my escapism time is reducing yearly due to work, so I can make peace with that

I will play as Chelsea. Just been scanning the game for now, not really playing. Completely agree on the team looking weak / imbalanced. Fofana, James, Sterling, Kante and Havertz need to perform to get the current squad firing. Simply put they need a rebuild, which makes it fun. I have no idea though why they start the game in debt - just does not align with the takeover and funds injected into the club. There is no base for that. I am pleased to see they tweaked the Lukaku loan terms to include a monthly payment, although the contract is off (70% of current rate, 100% paid by Inter). Some may call it cheating, but I'm probably going to tweak the finances to be more reflective of real life (keep in mind they were willing to spend another £70M on Gvardiol or £40M+ on Gordon right on deadline day, so the money is there).

Only one comment..... Those uni/college days when you could stay up all night on release day and adjust tomorrows schedule! Now its 9 hours of meetings thinking about FM, damn it!

Yes, exactly that. Ensure tools menu is visible. If it doesn't appear, simply exit Steam and restart (exit being right click taskbar icon near clock and properly exit). All shows then and works fine. Actually, better than fine, the editor is more snappy these days to use!

Congrats to all at SI! Can’t wait to download and start another year - 30 years into this problem now. Looking forward to a great game!

Am I missing something, as have not been able to locate the pre or in game editors. If I recall, the in game last year was available to buy on release day. Edit - pls disregard as just read on another thread about Nov 8 release.

A few comments on Chelsea - tried to remove my bias, but worth sharing: Club balance is negative. Just makes no sense when a multi-headed consortium has acquired the club for the sums we are led to believe (and they continue to invest) On a similar theme, transfer budget is too low at £13M. Appreciate across teams starting budgets appear lower this year, but keep in mind Chelsea had intentions of spending over £70M on Gvardiol at end of window, and supposedly have an agreement on Nkunku for over £60M Players Lukaku has a loan contract of £180K Chelsea and £170K Inter. The actual deal was a loan fee in £8M range, and Lukaku taking a pay cut to around £270K per week fully paid by Inter Reece James - I do not want a spoiler alert for others on his CA/PA values, but surely he has more than 1 point of growth to go to fulfil his potential? Considered by many as Chelsea's best player, and hard to believe someone like Trent AA has 14 points of ability growth vs Reece. I would also push for a higher PA I'd like Trevor Chalobah to be reviewed also. 30 games played for Chelsea across PL, FA Cup, CL and Carabao Cup - he has won 21 and drawn 9. This is no coincidence now, and think he is more in the Nathan Ake or Joe Gomez PA range Ziyech is overrated across a number of attributes imo. Liveramento and Guehi are supposed to have buy back clauses -

Stupid question, but do you have to create a new manager bio/image (body/head/attire/accessories)? I'd much rather import what I created from last year as find creating a profile a bit of a chore. Edit - disregard - the second screen when creating allows me to import an avatar.

39 now, been playing since I was 10 with Champ Manager Italia. While my time to play has reduced, it still offers a level of escapism for me. Look back at the 1998-2003 period with serious nostalgia that keeps me coming back every year.

Can't wait to see the new Intel core against this. Damn impressive

The Ryzen 9 7950X vs Intel i9-13900K. Wonder just how much of a lift in performance these will bring to FM.

Yes, every year. Birthdays, Christmas, Holidays, FM - annual event never to be missed - 30+ years into this problem!