FM12 - Chelsea F.C. Thread - A Mix of Youth and Experience

[skeletore2002]

Evening, lads. I'm about to start my first Chelsea save ever in FM, and have a couple questions. First, what seems to be the best formation to use in the first season, assuming I don't sell or buy anyone? Second, what position/role gets the best out of Mata? Thanks in advance.

[tomtuck01]

skeletore2002

The general consensus seems to be that 4-2-3-1 is the best formatin to use. As for Juan Mata, I've got very good results from him playing at AML as an Inside Forward, with the "support" duty and the instruction to "cut inside".

[Protocol]

I also find Mata performs better cutting in from the wings rather than through the middle behind the striker(s).

[joe__the__man]

October '11 Update

Team of the Month

Cech

Ivanovic Luiz Terry Cole

Rambo Mikel Lamps

Mata

Torres Studge

A month where I was still trying to find the best players and the best formation, though the back 5, Mikel, Lampard and Mata were consistently played. Anelka, Drogba, Sturridge, Torres battle it out for the front two slots, with the former two playing poorly this month, and Ramires has been in good form.

Results

Premier League

Man United 3-3 Chelsea

Really exciting game, I went up early through an own goal but United scored three in half an hour to swing the game in their favour. I made some personnel and tactical changes though, and we dominated the majority of the second half, with Torres and typically Lampard scoring the crucial late goals.

Chelsea 2-0 Bolton

Comfortable home win, Drogba and Terry scored the goals.

Champions League Group F

Chelsea 2-0 Lyon

Dominated them entirely, but took ages to get the breakthough. Malouda and Torres scored the second half goals.

Premier League

Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea

Very poor game where I made an unwise choice of tactic. Have learnt my lesson now but I don't believe we deserved to lose the game, getting the better of them in terms of statistics. Torres scored the equaliser before losing out to a corner late on.

League Cup 4th Round

Chelsea 3-1 Liverpool

A very good game for the less-played players, defeating a full strength, in form side comfortably. Bruma, Meireles and Kalou scored the decisive goals.

Premier League

Chelsea 2-1 Everton

Another pretty easy win, they only scored late on with their first shot of the match. Late pressure had me worried though. Mata and Lampard scored.

League Table

Really tight at the top with no room to drop points, I would've expected to be higher than 4th with the way we've played this season.

In the Champions League we're top ahead of Lyon by 1 point, so my next game is a big one.

Statistics

Monthly Statistics:

63% of possession. (-2%)

14 shots taken per game.

6.2 on target per game.

2.7 clear cut chances per game.

2.2 goals per game.

85% avg. pass complete %. (-)

68% avg. tackles won %. (-)

Best Overall Performers:

Most goals: Nicolas Anelka (8)

Most assists: Juan Mata (6)

Best pass complete ratio: John Obi Mikel (94%)

Best headers won ratio: David Luiz (91%)

Best tackles won ratio: David Luiz (90%)

Most dribbles per 90 mins: Danny Sturridge (2.48)

Most distance run per 90 mins: Ramires (11.1km)

Most cards: Mikel + Anelka (3 Y)

Player of the Month

Frank Lampard was pretty exceptional this month, putting in great performances with and without the ball, so he gets my PotM. David Luiz and Juan Mata come second and third for their efforts.

Goal of the Month

No particularly good goals, but Torres' against United was good as much for its imprtance as its quality.

[video=youtube;dqxq57w3KBo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxq57w3KBo

[Rohkey]

Hmm, perhaps try for Romario at right back and shift Cesar Azpillicueta to Left Back?

However if you're in a financial position that you can afford Robinson for that price, go for it.

My finances are very good, I have $55M left in the kitty (only spent around $10M for the youth players I went after) and I'm $600K under payroll. Also I don't have any real pressing needs, squad depth is pretty good. I still need to phase out Cole, Drogs, and Lamps though...so I could go after both Robinson and Cavani, and use Ramires/Meireles/Lamps for my box-box role. Or maybe I could go after that Ramario fellow and sign Cavani/another midfielder. Any suggestions for a good box-box midfielder? Btw thanks for informing me of Romario, he looks good...for some reason he was listed as an unrealistic target so I didn't have a scouting report on him. Unfortunately at the moment he's on loan at Madrid, but I'll see what I can do.

Evening, lads. I'm about to start my first Chelsea save ever in FM, and have a couple questions. First, what seems to be the best formation to use in the first season, assuming I don't sell or buy anyone? Second, what position/role gets the best out of Mata? Thanks in advance.

I've never been a huge fan of using wingers for Chelsea, especially because we don't have great options on the right wing.

I have had a lot of success in past saves with the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond looking like this..

Poacher / Targetman

.......Trequarista......

Ball Winner / Box-Box

...Deep-Lying Playmaker....

WB / BPD / CB / WB

Rigid / Medium depth / Medium width

In FM11 I've had a different formation for 2 seasons and my most recent season went undefeated...

Poacher / Targetman / Trequarista

Ball-Winner / Box-Box / Deep Lying

Wingback / Ball-Playing / CB / Wingback

Fluid / Deep / Wide

This one allows for more of the attractive attacking football that AVB wants to employ, whereas the first formation was more suited to Ancelotti.

[TF]

Managed to get Essien to retire from internationals, which is best for him as it stops injuries from occuring while out on international duty. I'm ready to bring him back after his long injury in an FA Cup match against Millwall, think i'm gonna start him and see how he gets on.

[Rohkey]

Managed to get Essien to retire from internationals, which is best for him as it stops injuries from occuring while out on international duty. I'm ready to bring him back after his long injury in an FA Cup match against Millwall, think i'm gonna start him and see how he gets on.

Good luck, keep us updated. I know a lot of us gave up on Essien, but getting him to retire from Ghana might go a long way.

[ballinisahabit90]

First season wasnt great with us winning nothing, not a sausage: 2nd in the EPL 4 points behind winners Manchester United, Quarter-Finals of the League Cup, 6th round of the FA Cup and Semi-Finals of the Champions League. I made no transfers in the first season except to sell Connor Clifford to Aston Villa for £1m + add-ons.

Second season and i did make a few dealings in the transfer market, in came: Angel Di Maria £17m, Gary Cahill £13.5m, Sime Vrsjalko £3m, Gert-Jan van Lingen £2.5m and Fousseni Boukari £2.5m. Bosingwa, Hilario, Ferriera, Anelka and Kalou all left on frees, while i sold Micheal Essien £10m, Yossi Benayoun £2.5m, Alex £5m, Florent Malouda £7m and Ross Turnbull £2.5m. Im nearing the end of January now and ive just brung in Jack Robinson £10m and agreed a deal to sign Jack Rodwell £9m in the Summer.

Were plodding along nicely so far this season sitting top of the EPL 2 points ahead of Manchester City, in the League Cup Semi-Finals, the FA Cup 4th round and face Zenit in the 1st Knockout Round of the Champions League.

Sturridge, Torres and Mata have been unstoppable in a 3 man attack this season, Dannys leading the scoring charts with 20 goals and 9 assists in 24 games, Fernando isnt far behind with 18 goals and 11 assists in 24 games, Juan has 12 goals and 8 assists in 24 games.

[MattieCoopz]

Oh dear, Mata, Torres and Drogba all get injured conveniently before the game against Man U thus we lose 1-0, Drogba is the bigger issue though out for 7 weeks and has scored the majority of the goals this season. This has made me one disappointedLAD.

Injuries are a nightmare too, Torres regularly injured plus Meireles and Ivanovic out too isn't helping.

Quick Q guys, how well are/did L'pool perform first season for you guys, they're romping away on mine 6 points clear at the top, strange.

[joe__the__man]

They're doing well on mine as well Matt, as you can see in my league screenshot above and they've won 2/2 since then as well.

I've decided that in the January window I want to offload Drogba, Anelka, Malouda and Kalou, and just use Torres, Sturridge, Mata, Muniain, Lukaku and Kakuta as my front three. Got way to many attacking players in the team due to shifting from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 over the course of the last few months.

[TF]

Good luck, keep us updated. I know a lot of us gave up on Essien, but getting him to retire from Ghana might go a long way.

He played 45 minutes against Millwall and has since played 90 minutes in the carling cup final, and he's looking great. Just a shame we lost the final 2-1

[tomtuck01]

Season three of my Chelsea save has come to an end. As always before I post a full end of seasn review, here are my results since the start of February. The season review will be posted some time today.

February

FA Cup 4th Round - Norwich (H) 2-0 (Niang 2)

Premier League - West Ham (A) 0-3 (Sturridge, Lampard (p), Terry)

Premier League - Liverpool (H) 3-0 (Mata 2, Sturridge)

Premier League - Newcastle A) 0-3 (Terry, Lampard (p), Sturridge)

FA Cup 5th Round - Swansea (A) 1-1 (Lukaku)

Champs League 1st KO Round 1st Leg - Shakhtar (A) 0-6 (Mata 2, Willian 3, Sturridge)

Apart from the draw with Swansea in the FA Cup, it was a great month for us. We extended our lead at the top of the table, and barring an almighty disaster at Stamford Bridge, sealed our path into the quarter finals of the Champions League.

March

Carling Cup Final - Birmingham (N) 1-0 (Neymar)

Premier League - Wolves (A) 1-2 (Sturridge 2)

FA Cup 5th Round Replay - Swansea (H) 3-0 (Neymar, Lukaku 2 (1p))

Champs League 1st KO Round 2nd Leg - Shakhtar (H) 1-0 (Chygrynskyi (og) - 7-0 on aggregate

FA Cup 6th Round - Wolves (A) 1-3 (Neymar, Lukaku 2)

Premier League - Man United (H) 2-0 (Smalling (og), Willian)

Premier League - Arsenal (H) 2-0 (Kakuta, Terry)

Greta month for us, especially at the end when we basically sealed the title with wins over two of the big sides. Of course the month started excellently aswell as we lifed the Carling Cup for the secnd time in a row. Oh and if looks like Neymar is only scoring against lesser sides it's because he seems to keep getting injured or suspended for when we do play the likes of Arsenal and United!!

April

Champs League Qtr Final 1st Leg - Real Madrid (H) 1-1 (Neymar)

Premier League - Birmingham (A) 0-2 (Rodwell, Mikel)

Champs League Qtr Final 2nd Leag - Real Madrid (A) 3-1 (Lampard) - 2-4 on aggregate

Premier League - Everton (A) 0-3 (Mikel, Chalobah, Lukaku) - Chelsea are Champions

Premier League - Norwich (H) 3-1 (Mata, Neymar, Lukaku)

FA Cup Semi-Final - Sunderland (N) 3-2 (Essien, Neymar, Willian)

Premier League - Fulham (H) 2-0 (Lukaku 2)

Premier League - Sunderland (H) 3-0 (Luaku 2, Kakuta)

Premier League - Reading (A) 1-6 (Neymar, Ramires, Lampard (p), Niang, Willian, Romeu)

Dmestically we were excellent in April, winning all seven of our games, and wrapping up the title on April 13th. But once we again we suffered disappointment in the Champions League. If we had gt through aswell we would have faced PSG in the semi's, a team I would have been confident of beating.

May

Premier League - Man City (A) (Lampard)

Premier League - West Brom (H) 3-1 (Sturridge 2 (1p), Kakuta)

FA Cup Final - Huddersfield (N) 3-0 (Sturridge, Lampard (p), Willain)

Premier League - Blackburn (A) 1-2 (Sturridge, Neymar)

A solid draw at City, followed by victory in our final two league games of the season, and an FA Cup win was a fitting end to the season. Three trophies, lot of goals scored, and some lovely football.

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My full end of season update will follow later today.

[ballinisahabit90]

Season 2 wrapped up an it was one to remember winning the League Cup, FA Cup and Premier League we let ourselves down badly in the Champions League though, losing to Zenit in the 1st Knockout-Round!

Transfer wise Jack Rodwell and Jack Robinsons arrivals signal the end of Raul Meireless and Ryan Bertrands Chelsea careers. Didier will also be joining the backroom team, not sure on much else will update as and when...

EDIT - Ahhh im gutted, firstly i cant get anyone to tutor Jack Rodwell, secondly i signed Shinji Kagawa on a free and didnt notice his appeal for a work permit was turnt down, he wont even talk about a new one yet -__-

[tomtuck01]

Season three with Chelsea has come to an end, so it is time for my season review. This term we lifted all domestic trophies available to us, but again we came up short in the Champions League, losing to Spanish opposition for the third season in a row - though this time not Barcelona.

Please enjoy the read.

Premier League

After winning the Community Shield we started the league in good form, winning ten of our first twelve games. Having said that eight of those were either by a 1-0 or 2-1 scorelines, so we weren't exactly flying. After that though the goals started flowing and we just blew everyone away. We remained unbeaten throughout the whole season, banged in 93 goals, and conceded just 18. It was a frankly amazing league season.

Premier League Awards

Football Writers Footballer Of The Year; Willian - Chelsea

PFA Player Of The Year; Sergio Aguero - Man City

PFA Young Player Of The Year; Leroy Fer - Arsenal

Barclays Premier League Golden Boot; Marouane Chamakh - Arsenal (30 goals)

Barclays Manager Of The Year; Roy Hodgson

PFA Team Of The Year; John Terry, Willian, Juan Mata, Thibaut Courtois (Subs) and Daniel Sturridge (Subs)

Domestic Cups

This season we won both the domestic cups. The Carling Cup was our second in a row, and the FA Cup our first from three finals.

We won the Carling Cup in solid if not spectacular fashion. On the way we beat Stoke away in the third round (2-1), Wolves at home in the fourth (2-1), and Everton at home in the quarter finals (2-0). In the semi-finals we faced Arsenal, and after a 0-0 draw in the first leg at the Emirates, we ran out 2-1 winners at Stamford Bridge in the second, getting us through to our third Carling Cup final in a row.

For the final against Birmingham I used the players I had in the previous rounds with a couple of exceptions; Gary Cahill started, and so did Neymar, who was just coming back from injury. We won 1-0 and it was Neymar who got the goal with just 14mins remaining. The goals handed us our second Carling Cup in a row.

In the FA Cup we had a strange campaign really. The younger boys did well in the main, defeating Dagenham and Redbridge in the 3rd round (3-0), Norwich in the 4th (2-0), but then in the 5th round we went to Swansea and struggled to a 1-1 draw. In the replay a couple of the more recognised starting XI came into the side and we comfortably won 3-0 In the quarter finals we saw off Wolves comfortably (3-1), before the semi-final against Sunderland in which we struggled to victory (3-2).

Championship side Huddersield were our opponents in the final, and with it been the final I gave the competition the respect it deserves ad picked a more or less full strength side. We blew them away really, winning 3-0 with goals from Sturridge, Lampard, and Willian.

Very nice performances in both cup competitions from the team. Not spectacular, but we lifted the trophies nevertheless.

Champions League

We won our Champions League group very comfortably, winning five and drawing one of our games.

Ajax (H) 4-1

Villarreal (A) 1-3

Rangers (A) 0-2

Rangers (H) 3-0

Ajax (A) 0-0

Villarreal (H) 2-0

We were drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk in the 1st knockout round. The first leg was away from home, and we ripped them to shreds. 6-0 was the final score, but it could have been even more as the team gave their most complete performance of the season. In the second leg I rested alot of players, and we won 1-0, giving us a 7-0 aggregate win.

In the quarter finals we faced Real Madrid, and in the first leg we played really well. However we didn't take our chances, and they scored late on to make it 1-1. In the second leg the game was 0-0 at halftime, but straight after the restart Frank Lampard put us ahead. We couldn’t hold n though, and they soon equalised, and just a couple of minutes later made it 2-1 on the night. Late on as we went ore attacking they counter attacked and grabbed a third. 3-1 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate, and a quarter final exit.

Real Madrid went on to win the competition, beating Marseille 1-0 in the final thanks to a Karim Benzema strike.

Top Scorers And Other Info

Just one player got over 20 goals this season, but a further four players got into double figures. Once again it was Daniel Sturridge who was the teams top scorer.

Daniel Sturridge - 40 starts, 3 sub apps - 30 goals

Neymar - 29 starts, 5 sub apps - 18 goals

Romelu Lukaku - 17 starts, 7 sub apps - 17 goals

Willian - 39 starts, 4 sub apps - 17 goals

Juan Mata - 38 starts, 2 sub apps - 10 goals

Sturridge had another terrific season, sharing his goals evenly between league, cup competitions, and Champions League. He added 9 assists to his goals. Neymar had a good debut season, and it would have been much better had he not picked up a couple of knocks and suspensions throughout the course of the season. He also got 14 assists.

I thought Lukaku's tally was excellent, and come the end of the season he really stepped up when I was without Sturridge for a few games. Willian was great throughout the campaign, and also assisted 21 times.

Juan Mata was again the teams top assister, this season finishing with 22. As said above, Willian managed 21 assists, and Frank Lampard managed 14. Lampard also got nine goals this term. His powers maybe heading downhill, but he still puts in good performances when called upon.

Neymar had the teams top seasonal average rating, (7.61), from his 34 appearances. From 62 games over the course of the season the team scored 146 goals and conceded just 32. We collected 71 yellow cards, and 3 reds. The average attendance at Stamford Bridge was 42,707.

What Next?

In terms of players coming into the club, nothing much will be happening. With a new stadium on the way our balance isn't great, and in all honesty we have a very good young squad as it is. Loan players Seamus Coleman and Ulises Davilawill both more than likely be on their way.

From the the first team, I don't see any reason to offload anyone, maybe with the exception of Ashley Cole as I want to promote Patrick van Aanholt, who has had a decent season out on loan at Swansea.

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Comments and suggestions are welcome. And I'll be happy to upload any other screenshots you wish to see.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to read this.

[tyro]

Hi guys. I have been reading this thread for a while and had put my other saves on hold to start one with Chelsea. I seem to start having too many saves but I eventually come back to them. I really wanted to start one with Chelsea after reading this thread and due to the current status IRL.

My first impressions were of course that the squad is good but in need of soon replacements due to age. One problem I ran into this save is registration. They seem to have few home grown players, which forced me to leave empty spaces in the CL registration. Thus, I have been looking at 1) young talents to train at the club and 3) English replacements to be able to meet the 8 trained in nation rule.

As for tactic, I started out with a flat 4-3-3 which they had already set up in the beginning. It worked really well but then I realized I had so many "talented" players unused in forward positions. So I switched to a 4-4-2 with wingers. That worked out really well as well until Anelka and Sturrigde were injured and I had to rethink my subs. I then switched to a 4-5-1 which I have been using ever since and it has also been great. I believe I will settle for it but I have the other tactics available in any event.

As for transfers, I was looking to find a replacement in MC for Lampard as he is aging. I was also looking for a left back and a right winger, as well as a DC in case of injuries.

Here are the incoming transfers:

MC: Andre Ayew from OM for £10mn. He has been outstanding. Started him as a sub as AP support and then with Lampard not performing he moved into the starting 11. I then realized he likes to come into the box and I changed him to box to box. Since then he scored 5 with 1 assist. Great transfer.

DC: Nicolas Otamendi from FCP for £10mn. He has been a great sub and took Alex's place on the bench.

AMR: Nicolas Gaitan from SLB for £7.5mn. He was only rated as 2.5 stars with a 3 star potential but I knew he was quality from another save. I used him right away in the starting line up and he scored immediately. So far he has 6 goals and 5 assists. Great player and his creativity and flair complements Mata's on the other side. They are my creative work force.

GK: Steve Harper from Newcastle for £1.5mn. Well, this was more of a purchase to fit within the registration rules. He is English and thus trained in nation. Besides, he's better than either Hilario or Ross.

GK: Alphonse Areola from PSG for £5mn. He is 18. Has a 4.5 star potential according to my scouts and I brought him in to be trained at the club.

DR: Romario from Vitoria for £250k plus incentive (to reach the £2.7mn release clause). Joining in January but will be loaned out to gain work permit and citizenship. Also a future purchase.

I failed to find a decent left back in time so I have been trusting in Bertrand.

Out:

Hilario to FCP for £700k. I kept Ross as he has home grown status and as a 3rd keeper he's ok. I hope I never have to use him.

Paulo Ferreira to At. Madrid for £975k. Too old and not useful. Cashed in on him.

Contract renewals.

Drogba. Renewed till end of June 2013 but at £71k per week. He is still class, which you will see below and extending him at a lower wage was great.

Anelka. Wanted to do the same but his agent wouldn't even discuss. So, I will ship him out in January and hope for some cash and at least free £90k in wage bills. He has been injured for the past 6 weeks anyways so he dropped out of my plans.

Bosingwa. I thought about it but declined. He is too old and not that great. Looking at Micah Richards from ManCity or Kyle Walker from Tottenham as incoming buys. Both are 3 star, young and English for my registration.

Kalou. Extended. Can play as AML, AMR, ST. Good back up. Young.

Update up to December 1, 2011.

Premier League:

August 13 vs Swansea, A, 3-1 (Drogba, Gaitan, Anelka). Great start. We dominated from the start.

August 20 vs QPR, H, 2-0 (David Luiz, Gaitan). Yes. Gaitan again. Amazing way to introduce himself to the fans.

August 29 vs Norwich, A, 3-0 (Mata x2, Gaitan). There he was again. But even he was in the shadow of the brilliant Mata. All 3 promoted teams as a start. Good warm up.

September 10 vs Newcastle, H, 4-0 (Drogba, Mata, Torres, Ayew). Finally Torres scored. He had partnered with Drogba in my 4-4-2 wingers and kept missing all chances. Ayew introduced himself.

September 18 vs Tottenham, A, 3-1 (D. Luiz, Gaitan, Drogba). First real challenge as Tottenham was in good form. We disposed of them easily enough. Gaitan again.

September 24 vs Liverpool, H, 3-0 (Drogba, Mata x2). Another challenge brilliantly mastered. Where is Torres? Missing chances. Fortunately, Drogba and the wingers are on fire.

October 2 vs Stoke, H, 0-0. Our first draw. We had a lot of chances but this time no one managed. Sorensen kept it all and got man of the match.

October 15 vs Bolton, A, 2-0 (Gaitan x2). Back to winning ways with who else but Gaitan. I thought he'd never stop scoring. Hasn't scored since though.

October 22 vs Wolves, A, 2-0 (Meireles, Kalou). I rested Drogba and Gaitan but the rest got the job done.

October 29 vs Man City, H, 3-0 (Drogba x2, Ayew). This is when I started using 4-5-1. Mata assisted Drogba twice with amazing crosses and Drogba slid in twice for the goal. Ayew had a solo effort then beat Hart. I had expected a tough game. But both Aguero and Silva were out injured as well as Balotelli.

November 7 vs Wigam, H, 2-0 (D.Luiz, Torres). Torres can still score. At this point I had already expected some lower side to surprise us and make us lose but not so far.

November 19 vs Aston Villa, A, 0-0. Another draw. They went down to 10 man at 66th min but we couldn't find the net. Drogba had a horrible game for once. I had tested both Mata and Gaitan for the CL games a couple of days later.

November 26 vs Sunderland, H, 2-0. (Drogba x2). What a player. I am glad I extended his contract. He wins all headers, calms everything on the pitch and actually converts his one or two chances most of the time. Gaitan was the provider.

Arsenal is next which should be interesting as they are second in scoring after us.

League table after 13 games:

1. Chelsea, 35

2. Man U, 29 (game in hand)

3. Tottenham, 27

4. Arsenal, 25

5. Wolves, 25

9. Man City, 20

13. Liverpool, 15

Still early but so far unbeaten. And had 8 games in a row without conceding.

League Cup

September 21, 3rd round vs Middlesbrough 3-2e (Ayew, Malouda x2). I had rested most key players and Malouda gave us the win in extended time. Steve Harper was in goal and he is no Cech.

October 25, 4th round vs Hull 3-0 (Malouda, Torres, McShane o.g.). I started Torres to give him confidence as I hoped he would score. It took us forever but then we finally scored and Torres as well.

Qtr final will be December 21 vs Tottenham.

Champions League Group B (Villarreal, Rangers, APOEL). Pretty easy group.

September 13 vs Villarral, A, 0-1. We were even but they finally scored. Lampard with a terrible game. Our first and only loss in the season so far.

September 28 vs APOEL, H, 6-1. (Anelka, Drogba x3, Torres, Fabao o.g.). Somehow they managed to get one past Cech. Easy win as expected.

October 19 vs Rangers, A, 1-0. (Drogba). Fortunately he found the net. I thought it would be a draw. Torres had 6 missed chances. I do not understand why he is so inconsistent and misses so many. His finishing is 17. Composure a bit low at 13. But maybe it's his off the ball with 12.

November 1 vs Rangers, H, 4-0. (Ayew, Torres x3). Home game. And with my new formation. After Ayew scored Torres gained confidence.

November 23 vs Villareal, H, 3-3 (Meireles, Ayew, McEachran). We wanted to set the record straight and come out on top of the group. All looked set at 70th and 3-0 up. I had started McEachran ahead of Lampard! Because he had shown brilliance against Wigan by setting up Torres. He repaid my faith with his first goal. Ayew was outstanding. I had to sub both at 65th as their condition was low. Lampard came on and suddenly Nilmar had a hat-trick.

Current CL group B table after 5 games:

1. Villareal 11

2. Chelsea 10

3. APOEL 3

4. Rangers 2

What do the next few months bring? Plans? Concerns?

Transfer plans:

I talked to Roman and be gracefully gave us over £19mn to play with in January. My first signing was Romario which I mentioned above. I will ship out Anelka and Malouda.

Anelka because he refuses to extend the contract and I want to get some cash hopefully and free the wage budget. Malouda has been 2nd choice behind Mata and hasn't played that well. Kalou can easily fill his shoes and I have Kakuta coming back from loan next season. Best to cash in while he's hot and not needed.

I am also thinking of selling Alex and bringing in either Shawcross or Cahill to back up defense and to have more English players.

I already mentioned Micah Richards as a potential target or Kyle Walker for right back. As for left back I am looking at Sandro from FCP, Fuchs from Schalke, or Cissokho from Lyon. All good choices to replace Cole in the future and partner with Bertrand.

Finally, I have been looking at some AMR back ups for when Anelka leaves but I have Kalou and Sturridge.

Concerns:

Sturridge was out injured for 3 months and had some stats decline. I hope it doesn't hinder his development. I plan on using him and Lukaku second half of the season.

Lampard. What to do with him? I read from some of you he has been playing really well for you? How do you play him? I tried him as AP support/attack, DLP support, CM attack/support, box to box. He's been really I different. Best score was once 7.5. Rest is usually 6.7. Not even 6.9. Even when we win he is at 6.9 max. No assists. No goals. No presence. His attributes are still great but he isn't performing. Any tips?

Finally some stats:

Top scorers:

12 Drogba

7 Torres (doesn't look bad but there was one hattrick and then 1 goal each in 14 played)

6 Gaitan

5 Mata, Ayew

Top assists:

6 Meireles

5 Mata, Gaitan, Drogba

4 Malouda, Torres

Clean Sheets:

11 Cech

Next is Gomes with 6 from Tottenham.

We have conceded only 2 in the league so far and scored 29.

Key passes: Drogba 12, Gaitan 11, Mata 10

Avg. rating: 7.66 Mata, 7.57 Gaitan, D. Luiz, 7.42 Drogba

Let's see if we can keep it up.

[tyro]

Nice updates guys. Congratulations on the great seasons. I think you posted while I wrote my post.

It's interesting that you almost had the same CL group as me tomtuck01. I hope Sturridge can develop well as he has in your save. I have yet to test him after injury and Lukaku. I see Lampard is doing well for you. May I ask what your secret is?

[tomtuck01]

tyro

To be honest Sturridge hasn't developed that much. As a few have said in the thread, it's more abut finding the right way in which to use him as he doesn't develop that much from how he starts.

As for my "secret", do you mean with Lampard? I simply use him at AMC in a 4-2-3-1 system with the duty of support.

[tyro]

Aha. Well let's see how he continues to develop. I used him in another save as poacher and he did also well. As for Lampard, he actually scored his first after my post, a screamer from outside 30m. I hope this boosts his confidence. But he got injured for 2 weeks so lets see. I see he scores around 10 a season for many of you plus assists. I hope he can get the confidence to do that on my save.

[Rohkey]

My first impressions were of course that the squad is good but in need of soon replacements due to age. One problem I ran into this save is registration. They seem to have few home grown players, which forced me to leave empty spaces in the CL registration. Thus, I have been looking at 1) young talents to train at the club and 3) English replacements to be able to meet the 8 trained in nation rule.

Never really had an issue with registration, sometimes my CL squad is a bit limited, but leaving spots open isn't the worst thing. Developing youth is my favorite aspect of playing as Chelsea since U21s can play freely in the Prem too.

As for tactic, I started out with a flat 4-3-3 which they had already set up in the beginning. It worked really well but then I realized I had so many "talented" players unused in forward positions. So I switched to a 4-4-2 with wingers. That worked out really well as well until Anelka and Sturrigde were injured and I had to rethink my subs. I then switched to a 4-5-1 which I have been using ever since and it has also been great. I believe I will settle for it but I have the other tactics available in any event.

I favor formations without wingers, but in a 4-5-1 you should get great value out of Drogs your first season or two with Lukaku as a worldbeater by the time Drogs declines. Not sure how much you can get out of Torres/Sturridge with such a formation, though. When I did mess around with wingers I had Sturridge on the left and it wasn't too favorable, whereas as a poacher he is really good for me.

As for transfers, I was looking to find a replacement in MC for Lampard as he is aging. I was also looking for a left back and a right winger, as well as a DC in case of injuries.

[/Quote] Lamps and Meireles are very salvageable box-box midfielders. Meireles has performed brilliantly for me in this position, well beyond his attributes. He's also very versatile, I'd stick with him for a couple years and use him as a Lamps replacement if Frank isn't performing. Also Ramires can play box-box but is also versatile and very good at basically any midfield role.

MC: Andre Ayew

DC: Nicolas Otamendi

AMR: Nicolas Gaitan

GK: Steve Harper

GK: Alphonse Areola

DR: Romario

I failed to find a decent left back in time so I have been trusting in Bertrand.

Not sure I'd for for Areola with Delac/Courtois in the ranks. Even though Areola is one of the best goalkeeping prospects, our two are really good as well. But I always loved buying Alphonse in previous saves. Can't complain about any of the other signings though. For MC you can look at Arturo Vidal, for DC have a look at Salvatore Bocchetti. For DL have a look at Jack Robinson (he's English too) or Cesar Azpillicueta, who is a very similar player to Philip Lahm and loads of potential. He is a natural right back but can play left back quite easily.

Contract renewals.

Drogba

Anelka

Bosingwa

Kalou

Not a fan of Kalou, but if you're utilizing wingers he is a decent backup. I would recommend renewing Drogs until you have a good targetman other than Lukaku. I always have issues with Anelka, he performs real well but then goes on a dip in confidence, form, and attitude..so I always offload him. Bosingwa performs real well for me but I usually let him go after year 1 or 2 in favor of more promising prospects.

[tyro]

Thank you for the tips, Rohkey. I actually took a look at Azpilicueta.

Here's my update from December to end of January:

December games

PRM

December 3, vs Arsenal, A, 0-2. Villareal's Nilmar had pierced our defense with his hattrick and Arsenal's Vertonghen and Arteta cracked it open. Our first defeat in the league and that to Arsenal. A day to forget. Drogba was not playing well and Arsenal used their corner and then a screamer to win it.

CL

December 6, vs APOEL, A, 5-0. (Torres, Mata x2, Lampard, Drogba). I wanted a win to see if we can make the top spot in the group but Villareal won with a 1-0 to rangers. Lampard had his first and only goal for us so far this season. Both Ivanovic and Bosingwa were injured so D Luiz was playing DR for the rest of December.

PRM

December 11, vs Everton, H, 2-1. (Bilyaletdinov o.g., Gaitan). Gaitan finally scored again in a miserable game. We moved on with a lucky win.

PRM

December 18, vs Fulham, A, 2-2. (Otamendi, Mata). We gave away our 2-0 lead from the first half. Dempsey scored twice to equalize late in the game. Quite annoyed as I saw it coming but my guys left him unmarked.

League Cup Qtr Final

December 21, vs Tottenham, A, 1-2e (Otamendi). Howard Webb chalked off Drogba's goal as offside. Otamendi got one back but they got a penalty in the extended time which they converted. Wasn't our day.

PRM

December 26, vs Blackburn, H, 2-0. (Torres, Ramires). Back to winning ways and we dispatched them easily. Could have been more.

PRM

December 31, vs West Brom, H, 0-0. Drogba with another terrible game. I think his head was already with his national team. He had 3 clear cut chances.

January

PRM

January 2, vs Swansea, H, 1-0. (Sturridge). Sturridge was back from injury after a long time and I put him to use on the right wing. He scored right away.

FA Cup 3rd round

January 7, vs MK Dons, A, 2-0. (Romeu, Ayew). I played my B team with Lukaku spearheading and Sturridge and Kalou on wings. Worked out well. Great shot and positioning my Romeu for the first. Solo effort from Ayew for the second. He will be missed during the African Cup. Ayew, Drogba, Mikel, Kalou, and a still (yellow) injured Essien got called up.

PRM

January 18, vs QPR, A, 1-0. (Gaitan). This was the debut for the man that should solve my recent striker problem and instead of scoring he had an assist. Again many wasted chances. The same story continues.

PRM

January 21, vs Norwich, H, 4-0. (Cissokho, Meireles, Ramires, Sturridge). Easy win. My newest left back addition scored on his debut and instead of passing to Torres who was next to him he scored himself. Meireles added with a screamer then Ramires and Sturridge added more. Unfortunately, this game saw Torres out injured with a broken leg for 3 months. My new striker had 2 assists.

PRM

January 25, vs ManU, A, 2-2. (Ramires, Cavani). I expected a hard time at old trafford. They had been playing well lately. Ramires got us off to a good start in the 3rd minute with a nice tab in after Cole crosses it to him. Nani equalized in the 24th with a screamer. Rooney gave them the lead in the 45th. And finally, my new man, Cavani, scored with a screamer for the equalizer. 2-2. Tough game. I take the draw. Malouda was already playing for ManU in this game. More on that below.

FA cup 4th round

January 28, vs Newcastle, A, 0-1. Obertan was completely free in the 54th and somehow hit the net. Cole was to blame. Cavani had 4 clear cut chances. Either he is still gelling, nervous to prove himself, or all my strikers are cursed with bad luck. Out of the cup with a weak performance.

PRM

January 31, vs Newcastle, A, 0-1. Them again. Demba with a screamer. I had 6 offside decisions. My second loss in a row and my second loss in the league. I hope my guys aren't becoming too complacent.

League table after 23 games.

1. Chelsea 53

2. Arsenal 52, they've been on a winning streak, while we draw and lost

3. ManC 47

4. Tottenham 47, game in hand, they bought hulk for 23mn and he has already scored 3 for them.

5. ManU 44, game in hand

CL knock out.

Unfortunately, we have to play Barcelona. Dropping out of FA cup and probably the CL won't make Roman happy.

Transfers:

Roman had increased my budget to £30mn due to us doing well. The wage budget was increased by 200k leaving me enough room to play with.

I had my eyes on a right and left back and a center back. With Kakuta coming back I saw no reason to get another winger.

DC: Shawcross for £15mn. 3 star potential. Young and strong. Cahill was the other option but they wanted more and he was injured. Shawcross solved my 8 HG player problem.

DR: I went for Micah but ManC wanted more than £15mn and I refused. I then went for Azpilicueta for £7.5mn instead.

DL: I bid for Fuchs but Schalke wanted to hear none of it. In the end I got Cissokho for £8.5mn.

With those coming in I set out on selling Anelka, Malouda, and Alex.

Anelka: no takers. Not even for £0. Not even on loan. Nothing. He's in the reserves now because he misbehaved.

Malouda: I asked for £8mn, maybe I could have gotten more? But ManU bid and he accepted. Gone and not needed although he did cause troubles in our game vs ManU.

Alex: Funny story here. Napoli came in with a loan offer for £675k and an option to buy at £3.8mn. Others directly bid 4.5mn. He chose Napoli. I then looked at their players and saw Cavani for £24mn available according to my scouts. I thought, Drogba away, Torres not hitting it regularly might be a good buy. I talked to Roman but he didn't want to negotiate. Fortunately, he had given me enough cash so I went with Alex to Napoli and talked to them. I came back with Cavani and £26mn less in my pocket. He is supposed to be really good. Never managed him before. So far he has the same curse but maybe he needs to gel a bit. Or something is wrong with my tactics.

Piazon: the press asked me about this signing and I had to admire questions even though I didn't even initiate nor want him. Off with him to U18.

Romario came in and was shipped off to Wsterlo for his work permit.

Now with Drogba with his national squad, Torres out for 3 month, Cavani is my main man with Sturridge and Lukaku chipping in. Lampard, Ramires, Meireles rotate with McEachran having a couple of games. Romeu is used when I play 4-5-1 since Mikel is also away.

Next up Tottenham, then Stoke, then Barcelona. I hope we find our form till then.

Stats:

Top scorer: Drogba 13, Torres 9, Mata, Gaitan 8, Ayew 6

Top assists: Mata 10, Torres 8, Gaitan 7, Drogba, Meireles 6, cavani 3 (already, thought he was a striker not playmaker, oh well)

[silv3rf0xx]

[rubbersnot]

Alrite guys, loving this version

Im in my first season playing in a online league with a mate who has man city, ive had a poor start

just in january now and im 5th and mile back from the leaders and my mate. Under a bit pressure. I was expecting a bit money to play with and got nothing is this normal

Cheers

[silv3rf0xx]

ok its the first of September and this is how things look

which means im going with this squad :

GK- CECH, COURTOIS, DELAC(ON LOAN WITH RECALL)

RB- BOSINGWA, SANTON

RCB- CAHILL, IVANOVIC

LCB- TERRY, LUIZ

LB- COLE, PVA,

DM- MIKEL, ROMEU

MCR- ESSIEN, RAMIRES, MELLIS

MCL- MEIRELES, WITSEL, MCEACHRAN

AMR- HULK, STURRIDGE, KAKUTA

AML- MATA, PEROTTI, LALKOVIC

ST- TORRES, LUKAKU, WICKHAM

Starting with 4-5-1 formation with a 4-2-3-1 as another option they are the main tactics although i do have 3 others backing them up.

[HELP ME WITH FM PLS]

What do you guys do about the striker? I'm in november first season and brought in Ganso, Jadson, Shaqiri, and Tshabalala. I got this 4-3-2-1 formation going with Jadson, and Ganso forming an Iniesta-Xavi like duo, and a great group of speedy dynamic wingers creating chance after chance after chance for my striker, and despite Torres or Sturridge getting a ton of 1v1s every game IN THE BOX they are having trouble putting them away consistently. Drogba is decent but only when I can get him hyped up for the match otherwise he's moody and doesn't try, and Lukaku is just ok.

I mean some games Torres puts up 9s and hits amazing goals from outside the box but then most games he just keeps missing easy 1v1s that I feel like any decent striker would put away. I just need a poacher type like Inzaghi or Chicharito who is speedy, good off the ball, and can finish a simple 1v1 from an amazing position that Drogba, Lukaku, Torres and Sturridge seem unable to.

Ramires playing as a winger is getting more goals than my strikers.

[silv3rf0xx]

how many games you played because torres will come good he does start a little slow but he,ll start scoring

[HELP ME WITH FM PLS]

about 20 games in

[rubbersnot]

how much have people recieved in jan to spend in first season

[tyro]

Starting transfer budget was around £18mn. In January we for another £30mn due to being no.1 at the time.

My strikers, while still leading the scoring (Drogba 13, Torres 9) haven't been very consistent or dependable either as compared to other saves I have had. In the league, for example, Aguero has 18 and Dzeko 15 (I knew this because I just played ManC). Drogba has only 8 in league, 13 total.

It seems that many goals come from midfield or the wingers.

[tomtuck01]

tyro - I would get Sturridge upfront straight away. He's been great for me as an Advanced Forward in my 4-2-3-1 system.

[tyro]

Tomtuck01:

I definitely would, however, as I bought Cavani I am putting my hopes on him. However, I have used Sturridge as AMR lately due to Gaitan being injured. He scored 3 already.

[tomtuck01]

tyro - Yes sorry, I forgot that you had Cavani aswell. I would say you need to offload one of your strikers then if you are going to stick to 4-5-1 to be honest.

[TF]

Going to start investing alot into the youth team, found a bunch of young italian regens that all have around 4 star potential and i'm having to pay about £1.5 Million compensation for each of them, aswell as around £3000 p/w each in wages. But if your not willing to put the money in you won't get nowhere, and imo it will only benefit the club.

[lacoste8030]

I am upset, I just had a chance to sign players like Gerrard Pique but I could not sign him because of his bloody agent wanting nearly £40m as an agent fee. What can I do to reduce that.

[Phil930]

Evening all. Thought I'd bring you all an update of my first season with Chelsea. I've been away from the FM seen for a while, but have been trying to bring title after title to Chelsea since the days of Champ Man (took a break with FM 10 and FM 11, moved to USA, and thanks to Steam am able to download and bring back good old memories).

Well its March 7, 2012 and we're sitting pretty top of the league and in the final 8 of the Champions League. Unfortunately both domestic cups came to an early end, but the squad is looking good and at a minimum I expect to win the league. I should also point out that my severe transfer strategy is due in part to Chelsea's real world poor recent form - frustration has me cutting left, right and center!

Squad Status:

Wholesale changes were made to the team when I took over. 19 players were either sold or loaned out, which included the likes of Drogba, Anelka, Kalou, Alex, Mikel, Boswinga, Malouda, Meireles, Ferreira, and Ramires. In total, 53M GBP was raised from player sales. On the other side of the page I signed 14 players, which has set me back 207M GBP. Star signings included Cavani, Hamsik, M'Vila, Hazard, Sakho, and Willian (full list below). The squad and formation is pretty settled now, with great knowledge of three formations and good morale. The transfer spending is rather extravagant, with all deals over 48 months. However, with such major investment I will not sign over the next season or two (excluding Gotze who I would like, but for no more than 45M GBP). I also plan to phase out older players like Lampard, Terry (in 2/3 years), and possibly Torres (due to injuries and wage). While doing so, players like Kalas, Chalobah, Courtious, McEachran, and most importantly, Lukaku will be introduced to the senior squad (Lukaku is already doing this and will likely lead the line with Cavani).

Finances

Well the transfer spending has resulted in payments of 4.3M GBP per month. This is near impossible to cover, and the balance is falling quickly. My solution is year end prize money, sponsorship, and summer player sales from fringe, reserve, youth, and most importantly senior players. While not all at once, I also plan to phase out Lampard (140K p/w), Terry (175K p/w), and Torres (175K p/w) to reduce the wage bill by 2M GBP per month. This will help balance the books. If all else fails, I'll have to ask Roman to dig into those pockets, after all, this attacking football comes at a price!!

Performance

Unfortunately my strikers have stuttered for form all season, with no one setting the world alight with goals to game ratio. Out of all players, I would have to say Willian has been my best performer, and Mata has chipped in with many assists. M'Vila and Hamsik are really starting to control the midfield too.

Premier League - a slow start, with wins and many draws, before going on an eleven game winning streak. This opened up a nice lead at the top of the table. My undefeated streak came to an end at White Hart Lane of all places, where Spurs (with new signings Cordozo and Lavezzi) ran wild 4-0 winners. The team has since recovered with 3 wins and a draw. The best result was a 2-1 victory at City, where we dominated the game. The team seems to play better away from home too, with many of the draws coming at home.

Champions League - my premier league form did not carry over. Chelsea should not struggle in a group with Lille, CSKA, and Trabzonspor, but with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss in the first four games, pressure was on. We answered with 2 victories, winning the group and drawing Benfica, who were disposed of 6-2 over two legs. Hoping to avoid Madrid and Barcelona and get some much needed prize money from atleast a semi final.

FA Cup - all was ok, until you guess it, Spurs in the 5th round. We went down 3-1 (right after the league game). Needless to say I'm sick of Spurs and when they come to the Bridge plan on thumping them.

Carling Cup - over confidence in my youth players cost me as we lost in the quarter final to West Ham. Not a good result at all.

Summary

From this position I expect to win the league, then start working on next season, where I will really aim for the domestic double. Champions League remains the number one priority too, with this being the trophy that I've struggled to win over the years on CM/FM. Perhaps Gotze will arrive, but if not, we have more than enough quality to last for 7 seasons +. Now just fighting the emotional battle of phasing out Lamps, Terry and Torres (could be damaging to club morale an fans, so will likely do one per season).

[tomtuck01]

Phil930

In my opinion you went massively over the top on your spending. The squad is already very good and such huge changes aren't needed immediately. I know there are alot of older players who need phasing out, but this is better done gradually. By doing what you have, (paying transfer fee's over 48 months), you have ensured that you will have huge problems financially in the future and result you in being unable to spend much over the next few seasons. Unless of course the chairman pumps more money to help with the running of the club.

A couple of questions about your squad;

1. Where are Daniel Sturridge and Oriol Romeu? They are neither on your "Transfers Out" section, or mentioned at all in your post.

2. Why on earth are you thinking of signing Mario Gotze? You simply don't need another attacking midfielder.

[lacoste8030]

Hey Guys, I finished my Second season and have started my Third season but will give you a Season 2 update.

The Squad:

Cech/Courtois/Delac

Bosingwa/Ivanovic/Vrsaljko

Terry/David Luiz/Alex/Varane

Cole/Bertrand

Hamsik/Meireles/Lampard/Martinez/Collison/

Navas/Sturridge/J. Cole

Mata/Granero/Afellay

Hulk/Di Maria

Torres/Muniain/Cavani/Van Persie

I am so proud of my squad this season, they stuck together and won everything, Premiership, League Cup, Champions League, Fa Cup, Club World Championship, European Super Cup, Community Shield. Towards the of the season it started to take its toll on the players and in the league we go a few draws in the last couple of games but the team lasted well.

I finished like this in the league:

Played: 38 Won:34 Drawn: 4 Lost: 0 For: 91 Against: 15 Goal Difference: +76 Points: 106

Am very happy with our performance in the League this season as we had tremendous success against all of the big clubs beating them home and away apart from a draw against Liverpool and Tottenham. Our biggest win of the season came against Fulham away in the league where we won 5:0 with goals from Van Persie, Navas x2, Hulk and an own goal. Our stats in the league this season finished nearly exactly the same as last year, with the same points, same wins and same amount of draws and the same goal difference. The only difference was that we scored less but we also conceded less to so it added to the same as last season which is +76

Champions Cup

I was so happy to retain the trophy and defend it. This year one of the big two from Spain made it to the final and it was Real Madrid with our good old friend Jose Mourinho, even though Marek Hamsik missed a penalty we still won well with a 2:0 victory with goals from Terry and Torres. The quarter final and semi final were pretty tough with tight victories, Marseille in the quarter final put up ad tough fight and we only beat them 1:0 on aggregate with he goal coming from Di Maria 40 mins into the second leg. In the semis we face a team that wanted revenge against us for last years final, Bayern were unable to get the revenge they wanted as they went down 3:2 on aggregate.

Fa Cup

We did much better this year, going all the way to the final where we had to face Man City. The final was eventful as after half an hour we were down to 10 men with Navas having been sent off. We held off to half time and then in the second half the team played like champions and on the 70th minute Torres gave us the lead as he shot past Hart, it was short lived though as on 72 minutes City equalized through Adebayor. I thought that was it, but they did not let me down and 11 minutes later Torres was the man again as he slotted home the winner to bring the FA cup to Stamford Bridge.

League Cup

Again we faced a team that I did not expect in the final of this competition in West Brom. We took control early on with a goal from Navas to give us the lead and the team seemed to cruise the rest of the game and decided to add 2 more goals in the last 10 mins one from Luiz and one via an own goal.

Club World Championship

Teams sometimes fine this competition a nuisance with all the air milage that is racked up and jet lag but i find it a welcome break half way through the season away from the premiership and European competition and is good to see how we compare to teams on other continents. We face Morelia from Mexico in the final and we won 4:1 with a hat-trick from Edinson Cavani and a header from Raphael Varane. That means we are the best in the world.

Community Shield

After Aston Villa beat us in the Fa Cup and knocked us out they went on to win it and we wanted revenge and we got it when we won comfortably 4:0 a double from Navas and Torres helped us to win the shield.

European Super Cup

A double from Torres and an own goal from Bruno Alves helped us to win the cup so it was a complete sweep and we already had our second trophy of the season.

In the premiership Petr Cech won the golden glove for the most clean sheets which was 20 one more than last year. I won the manager of the year, Jesus Navas won English Footballer of the year and Cech, Terry, Luiz, Navas, A. Cole were in the Players' team of the year.

Now in the Champions Cup Hamsik won the Best player award with Meireles winning the competition best goal award. Again 7 of my players were in the dream team with Cech, A. Cole, Terry, Bosingwa, Hamsik, Mata and Torres.

Also the fans player of the year was Fernando Torres.

The top goalscorer in all competitions was: Fernando Torres with 37 in 44 starts.

Most Assists in all competitions was: Navas with 21 in 46 starts.

Most Man of the Matches in all competitions was: Terry with 10 from 58 starts.

All in all am very pleased with the season we had, What can i say we achieved everything we set out to achieve, the only thing we can do is continue with what we are doing.

[tyro]

Nice updates guys.

Tomtuck:

You are probably right. I might need to get rid of one. I will think about it at the end of the season. Torres right now is injured so it's Cavani and Drogba only. Lukaku as a back up. Sturridge is on the right sub for Gaitan. But I also play an attacking 4-2-4 with wingers. 8 games left. I will update soon. Am now beginning of April. Interestingly, I am actually almost finishing a season with the same team. Has kept me interested.

Lacoste:

I envy your success with Torres. He has 9 so far for me. In all competitions. And out for 3 months now. But he might have had 15 maybe if he was fit?

[tyro]

February and March update (almost there...)

January marked the month many players left for the African cup of nations (Drogba, Mikel, Kalou, Essien?, Ayew) and new signings and goodbyes for Chelsea players. Malouda is now enjoying playing for ManU and I am happy for him. Anelka is in my reserve team and I haven't heard from him since. Alex is on loan with Napoli and being quite successful.

And my new guys? All doing very well, especially Cavani (after a rough start), as well as Azpilicueta, Cissokho, and Shawcross.

End of January we suffered two defeats in a row to Newcastle and with it elimination from the FA cup.

Here is how February and March went:

PRM

February 2, vs Tottenham, H, 1-1. (Gaitan). Cavani continued his goal drought. I was still figuring out his best role and how to support him and he was gelling. He had shown his quality earlier with the important equalizer when playing ManU but he wasn't comfortable yet. Romeu became my primary DM with Mikel still away and he did well. Gaitan scored after Mata dribbled the ball all the way then hit Gomes directly, it rebounded, he hit him again, it rebounded, and Gaitan showed how it's done. Hulk scored the equalizer. It was a home game but Tottenham was playing well and in good form, especially with Bale, Hulk, and Adebayor hitting the net constantly.

PRM

February 11, vs Stoke, A, 3-1. (Luiz, Sturridge, Huth o.g.). We played really well with Sturridge playing brilliantly and being a great substitute for Gaitan.

CL 1st Knockout 1st leg

February 14, vs Barcelona, H, 2-1. (Mata, Shawcross). A home game. Against the strongest team in Europe. And with my main players either cup tied or away on international duty. My spearhead? Lukaku. Romeu was not registered so Meireles played as DM. Gaitan had picked up a two weeks injury, so one of my main threads was also out. Sturridge played for him. I really looked at this as a loss and played my substitute players mostly to rest the others for the premier league. And then, we won? David Villa scored for Barca within 40 seconds and I feared the worst. But then Mata showed his brilliance. He pecked them down. He scored. We dominated. Shawcross converted the corner. Lukaku had a brilliant shot hit the upper crossbar. It could have been 4-1. We won. But 2-1 at home is hardly enough to secure us a win. Barca at home was coming soon.

PRM

February 25, vs Liverpool, A, 1-1. (Terry). We had played well against them at home. 3-0. At Anfield they had the advantage. Gerrard scored in the 14th with a screamer from 30m out. They kept dominating until, Terry, not wanting to be outdone by Gerrard, scored his first goal of the season for the equalizer. Still nothing from Cavani. Over 400 min without a goal. Another flop?

PRM

March 3, vs Bolton, H, 2-0. (Mata, Cavani). We played well. Mata scored early on and we dominated but couldn't really find the net. Then, fortunately, we got a penalty and Cavani was designated and he converted. I hoped he would so he could gain confidence. And it worked.

CL 1st KnockOut 2nd leg

March 7, vs Barcelona, A, 0-5. Yes. 0-5. Drogba was back. Mikel was. Ayew. I played my best players. (cavani cup tied, Torres injured, although not really my best player this season). Gaitan was still injured. Well and then it happened. Villa. Villa again. And ... Villa. And Pedro. And messi. Boom. And out. 6-2 on aggregate. Done with champions league. Done with league cup. Done with FA cup. All that was left was the premier league and it was slipping away slowly due to our form. Arsenal, ManU, and ManC were closing in on us with winning streaks.

PRM

March 11, vs ManC, A, 3-0. (Mata, Ayew, Cavani). Morale was down and I wasn't looking forward to play ManC so close after Barca's thrashing. But we played brilliantly. Mata and Ayew (we had missed him) scored. Then Cavani with another penalty. An important win to keep 1st place and we derailed ManC hopes for a top finish. It was down to Arsenal, ManU, and us.

PRM

March 17, vs Wolves, H, 5-0. (Gaitan x2, Cavani x2, Meireles). Amazing game. Gaitan came back from injury and he showed how much we missed him. Cavani had gained confidence and started scoring. Meireles with one of his screamers added to Wolves' misery.

PRM

March 26, vs Wigan, A, 0-1. A very, very unfortunate game. We dominated till the 93rd minute but couldn't find the net. Well, mata did find the net but Dowd ruled it offside. Replays showed he wasn't. I was getting ready for my team talks as it was already 93rd and the game was supposed to go till 90+3 but Dowd kept it going. 94th and suddenly Wigan had the ball with some quick passes and Cech was beaten by Di Santo. We had only 1 point lead left to Arsenal and ManU (67 to their 66).

PRM

March 31, vs Aston Villa, H, 3-0. (Cavani, Mata, Gaitan). They had held us to a draw last time. Their team report revealed their weakness to a 4-4-2. I abandoned my 4-5-1 and went with my 4-4-2 with wingers and played Drogba next to Cavani. That formation was also attacking and I wanted to win. Drogba set Cavani up and he scored. Minutes later almost the same but Cavani missed. Then Mata with one of his famous dribbles and he finished. Towards the end, Gaitan, added a nice curling shot from the right. We won an important match, and even better, Tottenham beat Arsenal and Swansea! Beat ManU 3-1. Both stuck at 66 while we moved up to 70. 1 game buffer.

What games are left?

April 7 vs Sunderland, A

April 9 vs Everton, A

April 14 vs Arsenal, H

April 21 vs Fulham, H

April 28 vs Blackburn, A

May 5 vs ManU, H

May 13 vs WestBrom, A

Current league table after 31 games:

1. Chelsea 70, +47

2. Arsenal 66, +45

3. ManU 66, +29

4. Tottenham 60, +30

5. ManC, 58, +30

6. WestBrom, 51, +6

We have a tough month left to play with crucial games against Arsenal and ManU. Maybe they slip up again on the way to give us some breathing room.

Stats:

Top scorers:

Drogba 13

Mata, Gaitan 12

Torres 9

Ayew 7

Cavani 6 !!! (6 in the last 6 games)

Top assists:

Mata 14

Meireles 9

Cavani, Gaitan, Torres 8

Drogba 7

Avg Rating:

Cavani, Mata 7.48

Gaitan, Bertrand, Luiz 7.37

Torres 7.32

Clean sheets:

Cech 20

Joe Hart 16

Gomes 14

We have conceded only 14 goals in the league so far this season. The game against Barca almost doubled that

Let's see if we can keep top spot till the end.

[Phil930]

Tomtuck01

I agree with your thoughts - my transfer spending has been excessive. Big picture though, i prefer to acquire the players I want while they are young and mold a team that will play together for years. With that accomplished, a more exciting challenge for me now is balancing the books over the next 36 months, covering the 4.3M GBP outlay per month. I've already started planning for how this can be done, and have come up with the following:

- Meireles has a future fee agreed of 10M GBP

- Ramires has a future fee agreed of 7M GBP

- Premier League prize money, tv money, and Champions League prize money

- 2012 season ticket sales

- The sale of fringe players/aging players. This could well include Lampard, Torres, and Essien this summer (400K p/w, or 20M GBP per season, and transfer fees received)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't in bed last night thinking through how to balance the squad! I remember years back i was tight as a Scotsman when playing Champ Manager - not so much this time!

You're right - Gotze is not needed next season with the quality we have. However, I have been somewhat disappointed with Douglas Costa and could use 15M from him to fund a deal in the coming years.

[Ranbir]

Just need to quickly share, I've been gone a long time:

Lampard is 37(season 15/16) and still a force to be reckoned with (International retirement helps as well as focusing on stamina training)

He is now 4 goals away from being the club's all time league goal scorer! Four goals!!!

He'll break the 164, he'll break it!

[tomtuck01]

Ranbir - It's taken you a while to get Lampard there! I'm at the start of the 2014/15 season and he is just seven away from breaking the record now.

Phil930 - Is the £4.3million a month just what you are spending on transfer panyments? I'm losing around £3-4million per month without transfer payments! It is going to be a massive challenge for you to keep the finances under control.

Take into account aswell that there is no guarantee that you will get the agreed fee's for Raul Meireles and Ramires. And besides Torres you'll be doing well to get any meaningful money for players such as Lampard, Cole and Terry if you offload them.

[joe__the__man]

Ranbir - It's taken you a while to get Lampard there! I'm at the start of the 2014/15 season and he is just seven away from breaking the record now.

Most people don't play him at AMC though, personally I always use him in central midfield and it's more difficult to get a player goals from there.

[tomtuck01]

Most people don't play him at AMC though, personally I always use him in central midfield and it's more difficult to get a player goals from there.

Well yeah that's true. Maybe that is why he is still able to play so many games for me - he has less running to do playing in that position.

[MattieCoopz]

Lukaku injured for 3 months though leaves me without a target man to use up front. Sad times.

Interesting to see that Kean got sacked and AVB replaced him at Blackburn, will be interesting to see how things turn out from their 19th place they are currently at.

Quick Q, Busquets has been listed for loan from Barca and is available for under market value for around about £13million. Due to my personal RL convictions about him, would you lads say yay or nay to buying him in the January window? Cheers.

[tomtuck01]

MattieCoopz - Regarding Busquets, it depends what other options you've got? Personally, if you have all the DM and CM's that Chelsea start with, then even for £13million I'd have to say no.

[MattieCoopz]

Bought Emre Can in for the future and Mikel has been doing a very capable job whereas Romeu has not been impressing, most likely go with you recommendation though because my midfield is okay right now.

[tomtuck01]

Ramires, if you still have him, also performs very well in the Defensive Midield role.

[Rohkey]

Bought Emre Can in for the future and Mikel has been doing a very capable job whereas Romeu has not been impressing, most likely go with you recommendation though because my midfield is okay right now.

Let me know how that works out for you. I bought Emre my first year, but I didn't get him until after the year was over. Was a 3 or 3.5 star potential when I bought him, was excited about that...but when I finally got him he was dropped to 2 star, and I had better options for the reserves.

[tomtuck01]

The summer transfer has now closed at the start of the 2014/15 season, so it is time for my post summer transfer window update.

Please enjoy the read.

Transfer Activity

Just one player joined the club this summer, and even that was only on loan. The only other players that were added to the squad were players that were out on loan last season. Very few actually left the club aswell. Given the success of the last two seasons, I want to keep the squad as it is so it can grow together.

Players Out;

Michael Essien - £3.5million - Juventus

Seamus Coleman - £3.1million - Birmingham

Conor Clifford - £1.3million - Ipswich

Mohammed Abu - Loan (Loan fee of £1million) - Monaco

Mbaye Niang, Gerard Deulefou, and Dominik Masek - Loan - Swansea

Last season Essien found himself playing less and less due to the performances of Oriol Romeu, so at the age of 31 I thought the time was right to let him go. Seamus Coleman never performed as I had hoped in the 2011/12 and 2012.13 seasons. After a solid season last term on loan at Aston Villa, Birmingham came in for him. It wasn't a great fee, but was the best I could get. I wanted to keep hold of Clifford, but he never developed as I had hoped.

Players In;

Mario Balotelli - Loan (Loan fee of £1.1million, future fee of £3.3million) - Manchester City

A signing that could be prove to either be a masterstroke or a disaster, but when City offered him out for such a deal, (I only have to pay 30% of his wages aswell), I couldn't say no. He can play a variety of positions so could very much come in handy.

First Team Squad

The 4-3-1-2 has made a comeback during preseason with Neymar playing behind Lukaku and Sturridge. I'll have to see how it goes against a couple of the lesser teams so I can decide on any tweaks that are needed.

Goalkeepers;

13.Thibaut Courtois

29.Matej Delac

46.Jamal Blackman

Defenders;

2.Romario

3.Ashley Cole

4.David Luiz

17.Gary Cahill

26.John Terry - Captain

34.Ryan Bertrand

35.Tomas Kalas

38.Patrick van Aanholt

45.Nathaniel Chalobah

Midfielders;

6.Oriol Romeu

7.Ramires

8.Frank Lampard - Vice captain

10.Juan Mata

12.John Obi Mikel

16.Ross Barkely

19.Willian

20.Josh McEachran

28.Jack Rodwell

44.Gael Kakuta

Forwards;

11.Neymar

18.Romelu Lukaku

23.Daniel Sturridge

39.Mario Balotelli (On loan from Manchester City)

Reserves/Young Players;

25.Mohammed Abu

31.Lucas Piazon

48.Nathan Ake

47.Ulises Davila

52.Jacob Mellis

56.Islam Feruz

As I said before, the squad hasn't changed much this season, so it is still on the large side. This season Lampard and Cole have had their squad status set to "Back-up", and Terry to "Rotation" as I look the begin phasing them out. A bit late for Lampard some of you may think, but at 36 he is still performing when called upon.

The Season So Far

The season started with the traditional curtain raiser - the Community Shield. This season we faced Manchester United who finished second in the table last season. (We faced them because we wn the FA Cup aswell as the League). The game started disasterously when Ashely Cole was sent off after just seven minutes - this helped me decide that he was going to be a back-up player from now on. After that we went defensive and battled well, holding out until the end of the game and taking it to penalties, which we lost 4-3.

August

Premier League - Norwich (A) 0-1 (Neymar)

Premier League - Tottenham (H) 5-1 (Lampard 2 (1p), Sturridge 2, Terry)

Premier League - Blackburn (H) 2-1 (Willian, McEachran)

Nine points from our opening three games and a cracking performance against Tottenham represents a good start indeed. The Norwich game wasn't great, whereas the Blackburn game should have more like 5-1 than 2-1.

The group stages of the Champions League have been drawn and we have got what should be a fairly easy group; Chelsea, Benfica, AZ Alkmaar, Nurnberg. Besides the potentially tough trip to Benfica, the group should be comfortable enough. Our opening game is at home to Benfica.

After the 2014 World Cup I was appointed as England manager. I won't be posting updates on how my England career goes though. I just thought with it being in my Chelsea save I should inform you of that development.

------------------------------------------------

Any comments or suggestions are welcome, and I'll post any screenshots you want. Cheers to those of you who took the time to read this.

[Ranbir]

Well yeah that's true. Maybe that is why he is still able to play so many games for me - he has less running to do playing in that position.

His high mental stats will naturally control how much he'll run, he'll pick his moments. Infact, most of his goals are sweet strikes from outside the box. (So many times he'll lurk during corners. They play it short and send it directly to Lamps who smashes it in. Of course, as well as goals he's doing sweet sweet through balls for Aguero to pick up on. One was a side foot back heel sort of thing. Looked amazing.)

I do play him in MC. I'm still doing the classic 4-3-3 style, basically. It works. Aguero has been phenomenal as the spear head. Mata and Hamsik on either side. Of course Hamsik's injuries created an interesting development. He offered on contract renewal, himself, to be a squad rotation player. It was like, yeah, he knows he won't be playing much cause of his fitness levels.

I've only kept Lamps playing so long since my young newgen MCs are still taking time to find their feet and the likes of Asamoah and Lamps manage to still force themselves into the team. Plus of course he is Vice Captain. I might not renew Terry's contract though, I'm in a process of controlling wages under 100k and it is only the old guard players that really force that issue.

Lamps is immune to such limitations of course. He'll get whatever he wants.