FM11: Chelsea FC thread - Champions of England!

[joe__the__man]

As much as I dislike Chelsea, I'm tempted to start a save with them such is the quality of the squad review is the real life 4-5-1 the best way to play?

Aw, thanks. I would say 4-5-1 is the best with the starting squad yeah, due to a lack of strikers and attacking midfielders but very good central midfielders. It's really up to you though, you'll have enough transfer budget to change the squad to suit whatever you want to play.

[dburns647]

Aw, thanks. I would say 4-5-1 is the best with the starting squad yeah, due to a lack of strikers and attacking midfielders but very good central midfielders. It's really up to you though, you'll have enough transfer budget to change the squad to suit whatever you want to play.

Since I started with a 60m transfer budget I decided I'd ensure I had two good players for each position and mostly buy English players so i bought:

Andy Carroll for back-up to Drogba (7m), Gary Cahill so I now have four good centre backs (5.5m), Marouane Fellaini to rotate with Mikel at DMC (9m) and for back up to Frank Lampard is Leon Osman (6.25m). Osman may be a suprise buy but he can fill in all over midfield. Leaves the squad looking like this:

GK: Cech, Turnbull

RB: Boswinga, Ferreira

CB: Terry, Ivanovic

CB: Alex, Cahill

LB: Cole, Zhirkov

DMC: Mikel, Fellaini

CMa: Lampard, Osman

CMs: Essien, Ramires

AMR: Anelka, Benayoun

AML: Malouda, Kalou

ST: Drogba, Carroll

Just about to play the Community Shield now against Man Utd. What is the best role for Malouda?

[joe__the__man]

No place in the squad for Van Aanholt, McEachran, Kakuta or Sturridge dburns? Osman does seem like a strange buy, you've got plenty of quality midfielders. Also, hate to break it to you but Fellaini isn't English

I don't use roles, but the instructions I give Malouda are probably something close to an inside forward/attack.

[dburns647]

No place in the squad for Van Aanholt, McEachran, Kakuta or Sturridge dburns? Osman does seem like a strange buy, you've got plenty of quality midfielders. Also, hate to break it to you but Fellaini isn't English

I don't use roles, but the instructions I give Malouda are probably something close to an inside forward/attack.

Dont feel s if there is any point when its only a 6 month demo. Maybe he is but if Lampard gets injured I'm not sure Benayoun could fill in at CM. We'll see how he goes. Aww jeez, I could've sworn he was I meant mainly English signings

How does he perform cutting in onto his right foot then?

[joe__the__man]

Dont feel s if there is any point when its only a 6 month demo. Maybe he is but if Lampard gets injured I'm not sure Benayoun could fill in at CM. We'll see how he goes. Aww jeez, I could've sworn he was I meant mainly English signings

How does he perform cutting in onto his right foot then?

I'd rather have Yossi there than Osman, personally.

Malouda has a 'fairly strong' right foot anyway, so it doesn't impact him much on my game, particularly as I reduce his long shots to rarely. Generally he gets into very advanced positions and forms a narrow front three with Drogba and Anelka. Also, and I haven't had that many games to base this on, but one of the three generally drops deep into midfield.

[dburns647]

I'd rather have Yossi there than Osman, personally.

Malouda has a 'fairly strong' right foot anyway, so it doesn't impact him much on my game, particularly as I reduce his long shots to rarely. Generally he gets into very advanced positions and forms a narrow front three with Drogba and Anelka. Also, and I haven't had that many games to base this on, but one of the three generally drops deep into midfield.

Didnt think his right foot was as strong tbh. I cant get Anelka far enough forward so gonna play him as a right sided forward to see if he plays any closer to Drogba.

[el sid]

what is the formation

el sid

5-2-2-1, but the game calls it 5-4-1

[football_master_94]

Tactic that I used on the demo.

Full Backs - Automatic (Ivanovic, Cole, Bosingwa, Ferreira)

Centre Backs - Defend (Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Bruma)

MC's - One is a ball winning mid set to defend (Essien) the other a deep lying playmaker set to support (Lampard, Ramires or Mikel)

AMR - Winger, Attack w/ seperate instructions (Sanchez, Kalou)

AML - Malouda so put him as inside forward + seperate instructions, would be winger if Malouda isnt the AML

AMC - Attacking Mid, Support (Pjanic or Lampard)

FC - Complete Forward, Attack (Drogba) Poacher for Kadlec and Sturridge

[Evil]

5-2-2-1, but the game calls it 5-4-1

Nice i have always wanted to try 5 and 3 man back lines.

Never had the sqaud to do so.

Ok i am about to reinstall the demo asd there is a solution to my old problem with it

And whch should i get as a starting cam Aguero or Pastore would either play trequartista or advanced playmaker.

And football master those tactics look very much like mine exept my amc is a trequartista when aguero played there until my demo crashed

and essien is box to box when mikel plays there ball winning mid when he does not

[el sid]

Conceded my first goal against Wigan

[Evil]

Conceded my first goal against Wigan

Gutted.........

[el sid]

Table at the end of the demo:

Pretty happy with the defence, would like to score more though.

Goals conceded were against Wigan, Everton, Birmingham, Blackpool and Arsenal

[kamikaze_josh]

This thread seems to have gone quiet. Everybody must be too ingrossed in the demo to post!

After a few early 'skirmishes', I think I've now got an idea how the new game (agents etc) works. I'm ready to start a full 6 month save. Will post my thoughts as and when!

[football_master_94]

This thread seems to have gone quiet. Everybody must be too ingrossed in the demo to post!

After a few early 'skirmishes', I think I've now got an idea how the new game (agents etc) works. I'm ready to start a full 6 month save. Will post my thoughts as and when!

I've finished my 6 months So I'm waiting for the full release

[joe__the__man]

This thread seems to have gone quiet. Everybody must be too ingrossed in the demo to post!

Can't really get into the game atm, flitting about different saves. Tried Chelsea a couple of times, just not feeling it. I'll probably try them again when I get the game though.

[el sid]

Can't really get into the game atm, flitting about different saves. Tried Chelsea a couple of times, just not feeling it. I'll probably try them again when I get the game though.

Thread starter not feeling it

[joe__the__man]

I know, it's shocking. Think it's partly down to the (in my opinion) ****** match engine.

[crusader12]

So far, I've brought in Joe Hart and Jack Rodwell. I also had offers accepted for Jack Wilshere and Gareth Bale, but neither would even discuss a contract with me due to being a rival club. . Wayne Rooney is available, but at a stupid price. Hopefully that will reduce if a patch is introduced.

How much did you bid for jack wilshere ?

Or if somebody else knows can you tell me please?

[kamikaze_josh]

How much did you bid for jack wilshere ?

Or if somebody else knows can you tell me please?

Jack Wilshere is available for £31M, but you've got no chance of signing him (atleast not on the demo). I tried every trick in the book.

[kamikaze_josh]

Ok guys, I've completed pre-season. I'm using a narrow 4-3-2-1 system, with which I had great success with on FM10. I'm attempting to build a young squad, primarily filled with English talents. Because of this, I chose the 'challenge for the title' option in the first season.

Transfers:

In:

Jack Rodwell - £13.5M

Phil Jones - £9.5M

Paulo Henrique - £11M

Romelu Lukaku - £6M

Iker Muniain - £13.25M

Out:

Alex - £13.5M

Paulo Ferreira - £1.5M

Ross Turnbull - Free

I'd also like to send Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge on to pastures new, but haven't had any luck as yet. My main transfer targets are Joe Hart and Micah Richards, but again I'm not having much luck so far.

My team:

GK (Goalkeeper - Defend): Petr Cech - Hilario

DL (Fullback - Support): Ashley Cole - Yury Zhirkov

DCL (Central Defender - Stopper): John Terry

DCR (Central Defender - Cover): Phil Jones

DR (Fullback - Support): Jose Bosingwa - Branislav Ivanovic

MCL (Box to Box Midfielder - Support): Frank Lampard - Paulo Henrique

MC (Ball Winning Midfielder - Support): Jon Obi Mikel - Ramires

MCR (Box to Box Midfielder - Support): Michael Essien - Jack Rodwell

AMCL (Inside Forward - Attack): Nicolas Anelka - Iker Muniain

AMCR (Advanced Playmaker - Support): Florent Malouda - Yossi Benayoun

STC (Complete Forward - Attack): Didier Drogba - Romelu Lukaku

I think it's pretty clear from that, that I need atleast one centre back. A few of points that I'd like advice on, if possible: I'm tempted to put Lamps on to Central Midfielder - Attack, good idea?; Would you have Florent Malouda as an Advanced Playmaker, Attacking Midfielder or Inside Forward?; Would you have Jon Obi Mikel's duty as support or defend?; Finally, would you have your fullbacks' duties as support or attack?

These are my results from pre-season:

Chelsea 5 - 0 Chelsea Reserves (Malouda 2, Drogba, Anelka, Ramires)

Chelsea 2 - 0 Preston (Drogba, Anelka)

Chelsea 3 - 0 Bournemouth (Drogba, Essien, Lukaku)

Chelsea 3 - 0 Ipswich (Anelka, Lampard, Lukaku)

Chelsea 5 - 1 Notts Co (Essien, Anelka, Drogba, Jones, Lampard - Hollis)

Chelsea 3 - 1 Scunthorpe (Drogba 2, Muniain - Thompson)

Chelsea 4 - 0 Cesena (Drogba 2, Benayoun, Lampard)

Now on to the real thing. First up, Man Utd in the Community Shield!

[Blue Down Under]

I generally use the demo to get an idea of tactics and potentially good signings. So far I have bought:

Neymar from Santos for 15m (am training him to be a right winger - plays really well out there)

Hamsik from Napoli for 15m (see him as future replacement for Frank, surprised they sold him so cheaply)

Lukaku from Anderlect for 7m (looks a great prospect to replace Drogba)

Galeano from Independiente for 5m (absolute bargain young and already excellent at 18)

Aurier from Lens for 12m (a lot to pay for a 17 y/o right back but am paranoid about the home grown rule, so if he improves half as much as his potential he'll be very important)

I haven't sold anyone as I want to try all the players in the demo

Team(s) (I tend to rotate between weekend and mid week matches) look like

GK Cech

RB Bosingwa/Aurier

CB Alex/Galeano

CB Terry/Ivanovich

LB Cole/Van Aanholt

RW Neymar/Kakuta

CM/playmaker Lampard/Hamsik

CM/ballwinner Essien/Obi Mikel

LW Malouda/Zirkov

ST Anelka/Sturridge

ST Drogba/Lukaku

Subs:

Bruma

Ramires

Kalou

Benayoun

So far team seems to control games and win 2 - 0 comfortably, mainly courtesy of Frank and Drogs scoring for fun.

Malouda's stats seem awful, especially considering that in previous versions when he was shocking for Chelsea irl, his fm stats were great. Now we have vice-versa. Can anyone suggest a good young replacement.

Anelka doesn't seem to be able to finish for me and with an aging forward line was wondering if anyone knows of a suitable replacement, someone who can complement a bigger player by dropping deep and creating, Kalou isn't quite world class and has been poor and Sturridge's stats make him seem more like a powerful striker.

Any recommendations or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Keep the blue flag flying high!

[thegr8anand]

For the left side you should consider Fabio Contreo(sp), he is like Zhirkov and can be played either DL or left wing. I wasn't able to find any good buy for right wing. Though Alexis Sanchez is easily available, his crossing is very poor. I think Chelsea really need a first-team DC as Ivanovic is not a natural DC now. Chilleni(sp) can be bought for 29 million and he is one of the best DC in game. You already have 2 great young strikers.

[SSJ3-BROLLY]

Not a bad pass from Benayoun to Anelka :-P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA_Lt9NcWZk

[kamikaze_josh]

Blue Down Under, Malouda has been great for me so far. I would suggest that Iker Muniain is your man up front, he should develop into a world class striker and compliment Romelu very nicely!

[bucket]

Sturridge had a great pre season for me - would be one for the future I'm thinking!!

[kamikaze_josh]

Sturridge had a great pre season for me - would be one for the future I'm thinking!!

He's been disappointing for me so far, hence the purchase of Lukaku. What role/duty are you playing him in?

[bucket]

I've bought lukaku too! Complete striker with him on the left hand side in the striker role.

[thegr8anand]

Just wondering, has anybody tried to sell Drogba? He has interest at the start of the game..

[crusader12]

Can someone tell me a good young RB please?

[FloydRix]

I have got a very good balance, this is useful for people who do not know who to buy or want to try something different.

Signings:

This is how I signed them, you can probaly get some players a bit cheaper

Eden Hazard -

Up front - £8 Million

Over 30 months - £8 Million

Wage - £53k week

Signing fee - £2 Million

Agent - £625k

Gary Cahill

Up front - £3 Million

Over 18 months - £3.5 Million

Wage - £32k weekly

Signing fee - £1.2 Million

Agent fee - £1 million

Contact - 2015

Vaclav Kadlec

Up front - £1.5 Million

Wage - £12k weekly

Signing fee - £140k

Agent fee - £90k

£1.5 Million seems the default fee for him. I havn't tried any cheaper.

Romelu Lukaku

Up front - £7.75 Million (Default is probaly this)

Wage - £26k weekly.

Signing fee - £700k

Agent fee - £175k

Yearly wage - 25%

Contact - 2014

Sergio Aguero

Up front - £15 Million

Over 24 months - £37 Million

Wage - £190k weekly

Bonus - £6.25 million season landmark : 20 goals

Contract 2015

José Angel

Up front - £2 Million

Over 18 months - £5 Million

Wage - £12k weekly

Signing fee - £205k

Agent fee - £350k

Contract: 2015

Alexis Sanchez

Up front - £4 Million

Over 18 months - £7 Million

Wage - £57k weekly

Signing fee - £2 Million

Agent fee - £700k

Out

Gokhan Tore

Status - On loan

Josh McEachran

Status - On loan

Jeffrey Bruma

Status - On loan

Gael Kakuta

Status - On loan

Jacob Mellis

Status - On loan

Patrick van Annholt

Status - On loan

If you can try to sell Benayoun, however he will not leave until next season. Ferreira may aslo be another choice to sell, as Jose Angel can play right back if Bosingwa and Ivanovic ever get injured.

If you do follow this list, do not register Lukaku, Jose Angel or Kadlec as they are under 20, therefore do not need to be registered, for this to work in your 25 man squad you have to leave out Benayoun and Hilario.

After this go to the board room and request additional wage budget, they will allow you more funds, with more funds you can ask the board to expand the stadium and to upgrade youth facilities which is useful later in game and will be completed by next season.

Use "football_master_94's" tactic. This is a 4-2-3-1 and will enable you to get the best out of your new players. If you do sign all the above players I suggest the team to be

Cech

Ivanvoic Alex Terry Cole

Lampard Essien

Sanchez Aguero Malouda

Drogba

Bench: Ramires, Jose Angel, Bosingwa, Lukaku, Zhirvkov, Hazard and Cahill.

To start the season I recommend you change Match Preparation to "very high" on team blend. Keep this option until the first game of the season, after this change it to either Attacking play or Defensive play depending on the opposition. Remember to change it to Medium before/after the first game as the tactic blend should be 90/100% complete

[joe__the__man]

Can someone tell me a good young RB please?

Could try Serge Aurier, though I've heard he's expensive. Maybe Gregory van der Wiel, Cristian Ansaldi or Diego Renan, but I'm mostly going on FM10 experience here.

@FloydRix

I'm not sure some of those transfers are completely necessary. For example why would you need to sign both Lukaku and Kadlec? Also I see no need for Jose Angel as van Aanholt is a good prospect and Zhirkov is more than adequate cover in the short term. Hazard is also questionable, but I guess if you're using a 4-2-3-1 it's understandable. Aguero and Cahill look fine though, even though Aguero is still really expensive.

[Blue Down Under]

Thanks for the advice people!

[Evil]

mmm i am in two minds on which trequartista to get paulo henrique pastore or aguero

[SSJ3-BROLLY]

mmm i am in two minds on which trequartista to get paulo henrique pastore or aguero

Pastore or Aguero for me, both with flair rating of 20 you won't regret it.

[el sid]

Pastore

[bucket]

Just signed tevez for £11m!!

[kamikaze_josh]

Just signed tevez for £11m!!

Nice! How did you managed that one?! What happened?

[bucket]

Just kept praising him, had a few offers rejected. Then he slapped in a transfer request and they offered him to me for his market value - £11m. Even though only a few days before I offered £28m!!!!

[joe__the__man]

mmm i am in two minds on which trequartista to get paulo henrique pastore or aguero

Pastore for me, depending on price. Aguero is just a rip off tbh, also not natural at AMC iirc?

And nice work bucket

[kamikaze_josh]

Is anybody else finding that narrow formations aren't as succesful as on FM10? I'm finding that it's especially true against the better sides, particularly ones with good wingers.

[Evil]

Pastore for me, depending on price. Aguero is just a rip off tbh, also not natural at AMC iirc?

And nice work bucket

Thanks is what i thought

Just had good memories of aguero in past fms

[FloydRix]

Could try Serge Aurier, though I've heard he's expensive. Maybe Gregory van der Wiel, Cristian Ansaldi or Diego Renan, but I'm mostly going on FM10 experience here.

@FloydRix

I'm not sure some of those transfers are completely necessary. For example why would you need to sign both Lukaku and Kadlec? Also I see no need for Jose Angel as van Aanholt is a good prospect and Zhirkov is more than adequate cover in the short term. Hazard is also questionable, but I guess if you're using a 4-2-3-1 it's understandable. Aguero and Cahill look fine though, even though Aguero is still really expensive.

Interesting, any idea how Jose Angel compares to van Aanholt? I suppose you can try to get Aguero cheaper.

[Yaniv123]

for long term U shud get Lukaku,Very smiliar to drogba,very long term (17 age)

Very good but not very young squad,For the present they are amazing,but need more prospects

[Fraggle497]

Quality thread.

Usually I loathe chelsea on FM games due to the AI signing everyone half decent (donovan, suarez etc) but this years FM looks to me like chelsea could be a team i'd go, mainly because the squad does need an overhaul and a wage budget slashing.

[saemus]

A demo is best used for transfer scouting and tactical experimentation, and here's what I've got so far:

Chelsea's strike force is aging, and there is quality for sale in this position.

1. Dzeko (<20m)

2. Lukaku

these players are both perfect for the premier league, players who like Drogba can finish, head and hold the ball up.

Neymar is also available for about 13m, a great prospect, but weak in the air. He is accomplished LAM, CAM so it could be worth playing him here.

A right midfielder is a necessity.

1. Santi Cazorla

2. Alexis Sanchez

3. Jesus Navas

are the obvious targets.

A quality central midfielder is a long term target, as Lampard ages.

Toulalan?

A quality centre back because Alex is good but not brilliant.

1. Sakho

2. Chiellini (29m apparently)

For CAM,

Edin Hazard

Kaka is available for about 25m, but he wasn't interested...

Aguero (not a natural here any more, and expensive...)

Cassano

For sales,

I was planning on selling Malouda because he's not a lot better than Zhirkov (he should be fantastic given last season, but no...) and a lot older, as well as Anelka because with Dzeko and possibly Lukaku/Neymar he is not needed. I would probably keep Kalou for a season because there is so little cover for the right side.

Tactics:

I have always played a 4-2-3-1 Benitez style, but might go for the 4-4-2 (with attacking wingers) for most games because of the amount of quality in attack if I get Dzeko to play with Drogba. If Kaka changes his mind though... Offside traps I have never liked, and will need Essien to play fairly defensively to make up for Cole/Ivanovic/Bosingwa playing almost like wing-backs, like they do in reality.

A tactic that worked very very well in FM10 was a 4-2-3-1, but with 3 CAMs, rather than CAM, LAM, RAM, with the two of CAMs told 'hug touchline'. This is definitely an option given the talent available in CAM.

[joe__the__man]

Saemus ripping the heart out of the team. Sad to see even on a demo

[saemus]

Saemus ripping the heart out of the team. Sad to see even on a demo

My current first team has Dzeko and Cazorla as the only new signings, with Neymar on the bench. I wasn't planning on signing all of those players, just suggestions depending on what positions you particularly want to strengthen. There's not a lot of point keeping Anelka given that Lukaku is available very cheap, and Dzeko is a bargain and much younger and better.

Chelsea are an experienced team, and in reality this is fantastic but on games it always seems to mean that squads are old and need an overhaul because games never never give enough value to experience or rate old players well enough.

[bbuullddoogg]

This is a GREAT thread. I am a long time Chelsea fan (since 84) even though I now live in the States. Used to play CM/FM every year but have negelcted the PC version for the last few years - played the handheld version instead but now I'm coming back to the PC version so you'll probably see me on this thread now and then. Thanks to everyone for all the great contributions - I'm sure this will be invaluable for me as I learn the game again and learn how to be successful with my beloved blues.

I have the demo and will be getting the full game when it comes out but I have some questions. Last night I signed Lukaku, Neymar & Sanchez but I didn't seem to be able to sign 'em as cheap as you guys did. Am I missing some cunning player-buying strategy?

Also, in FM these days, how long does it take to get the stadium size increased to 50/60k? And is there any chance of getting a new stadium built and how long would it take to achieve that and what kind of capacity could you expect to get? I know we don't know exactly for FM11 yet but what about on FM 09/10?

Thanks and keep up the great work!

[kamikaze_josh]

This is a GREAT thread. I am a long time Chelsea fan (since 84) even though I now live in the States. Used to play CM/FM every year but have negelcted the PC version for the last few years - played the handheld version instead but now I'm coming back to the PC version so you'll probably see me on this thread now and then. Thanks to everyone for all the great contributions - I'm sure this will be invaluable for me as I learn the game again and learn how to be successful with my beloved blues.

I have the demo and will be getting the full game when it comes out but I have some questions. Last night I signed Lukaku, Neymar & Sanchez but I didn't seem to be able to sign 'em as cheap as you guys did. Am I missing some cunning player-buying strategy?

Also, in FM these days, how long does it take to get the stadium size increased to 50/60k? And is there any chance of getting a new stadium built and how long would it take to achieve that and what kind of capacity could you expect to get? I know we don't know exactly for FM11 yet but what about on FM 09/10?

Thanks and keep up the great work!

Hi Bulldog! Lukaku is available for £6M and Sanchez for £10.5M, I'm not sure about Neymar (Personally I would sign Iker Muniain for £13.25M anyway). As far as I'm aware, the best transfer strategy is to compliment the players in the media and put in a relatively low bid. Keep gradually upping the bid until negotiations begin, then try to get your man as cheaply as possible!

[el sid]

Also, in FM these days, how long does it take to get the stadium size increased to 50/60k? And is there any chance of getting a new stadium built and how long would it take to achieve that and what kind of capacity could you expect to get? I know we don't know exactly for FM11 yet but what about on FM 09/10?

Thanks and keep up the great work!

Don't know about the stadium info on FM11, but in 09 and 10, if you had reasonably successful 3 years in charge, the board generally rewards you with a new stadium. It might be similar in FM11