FM13: Chelsea F.C – We’ve Got A Star On Our Shirts Now

[kamikaze_josh]

I'm dreading Mourinho coming back, both in terms of real life and what we'll have to work with on FM. Would much rather have a young, hungry side rather than a functional, confrontational short term team. It might be good for a year or two, but not sure it'll be good for Chelsea in the long term. Not what we need.

[NRH]

Finished my second season. Lost the league title to Man City on goal difference, but won the FA cup and Champions League.

Rooney with 20 goals after a slow start to his Chelsea career. The best thing, however, were to only concede 13 goals in 38 league games. Rock solid at the back!

Players out:

Marin 15 mill

Ramires 21 mill

Essien 7,5 mill

Cahill 15 mill

Kalas 4,5 mill

Javier Hernandez 20 mill

Turnbull 2,5 mill

Players in:

Suarez 21,5 mill

Papadopoulos 21,5 mill

I am also looking to bring in El-Shaarawy from A.C. Milan and a ballwinning midfielder. Any recomendations are very welcome!

Another fun fact is that I've brought in Rooney, Fabregas and Suarez who are all players that the supporters really hate. However there's been no complaints at all from them.

[Plainlayzee]

I've already started a new save with a Mourinho-looking approach to the save. I'm using the first season to evolve a relationship with the senior players, and making the squad fluid in the tactic I'll look to employ. Currently there are alot of young talent out on loan, which I'll be looking to get the best off in the coming season.

Bought three players in the first transfer window, bringing in Luke Shaw (long term replacement of Ashley), James Ward-Prowse (long term replacement of Frank) and bringing back Didier Drogba on a two-year contract to tutor the strikers and he's proved his worth.

Mata clinched us the first trophy, against City in the Community Shield, while Drogba secured the UEFA Super Cup trophy. 8 matches into the league, I'm third, one point behind league leaders Tottenham.

I've employed a 4-3-3 wide formation, which looks like this:

-----------Cech-----------

Azpi -- Iva -----Terry -- Cole

-----------Luiz------------

-----Ramires - Lampard ---

Mata ----------------Hazard

----------Torres-----------

Mata is playmaker in this formation, using his creativity to go inside or outside of the fullback, creating havoc, which have given Torres quite a few goals. Hazard started slowly, but is now starting to up his game as well from his inside forward position.

As I'm trying to emulate Mourinho, I'm looking to improve the determination to win, while creating a positive relationship with the players, and making small changes to the tactic, attempting to exploit any weaknesses.

I am liking the way you are playing your save game, very similar to how I am likely to play mine. I think first window I am likely to try and sign a quality CF and then maybe some youth, however, the main aim will be to get relationships built with the currant squad and to determine who is/isn't good enough going forward. Also, I plan on using that first season to build relationships with potential future signings. The second summer is where I would do most of the clear out/bring in the new squad.

[NRH]

Had the most amazing ending to season three (14/15). Last season (13/14) I lost the PL title to City on goal difference. This season it was set to happen again, but this time agains United. Level on points before the last game with United having a +6 goal advantage. However, in the last game we win 9-0 at home against WBA and clinch the title! Brilliant!

[ajeffreys0]

Just come to the end of my 2nd season. In the first season I won the league with 92 points, beating Utd to it by 2 points. I also won the FA cup beating Fulham 2-0, and the Club World Cup beating Corinthians 2-0. I got knocked out the Champions League at the semi-final stage by city, losing 5-1 on aggregate.

In the first season my transfers were:

IN: Falcao, 52 million OUT: Malouda, 1.3M

Chiellini, 37 million Torres, 10M

Will Hughes, 16 million Benayoun, 1.1M

Marc Muniesa, 1.1 Million Also sent out large number of players on loan

My main formation was:

-----------Cech-----------

Azpi -- Chiellini -----Terry -- Cole

-----Mikel- ----Lampard ---

Oscar-----Mata --------Hazard

----------Falcao-----------

As for the 2nd season my transfers were:

IN:

Cristian Cuevas 1.6M

J Zwanziger (DL Regen) 575K

D Anic (MC Regen) 625K

Wallace 4.3M

Arturo Vidal 40.5M

C Emig (AMC regen) 3.6M

TOTAL: 51M

OUT: Essien -> Schalke 8M

Ramires -> Man Utd 30M

Cech -> Dortmund 20M

Cahill -> Napoli 10.25M

Ba -> Barcelona 18.5M

Vidal (Jan transfer as too many red cards) -> R.Madrid 35M

Also large number of youth players on loan.

Total: 121M

During the 2nd season I tried to focus more on youth, selling off a number of players for high transfer fees. The main starting Xl was:

-----------Courtois/Delac-----------

Azpi/Wallace -- Chiellini/Luiz -----Terry/Chalobah -- Cole

-----Vidal/Romeu- ----Lampard/Curtis ---

Oscar/Moses-----Mata/Hughes --------Hazard/Marin

----------Falcao/Lukaku-----------

The two stand out players for me were Terry who average 7.93 in the league, also scoring 6 goals and Falcao who scored 33 goals in the season, averaging 7.56. I also had a youth player, Paul Curtis set the record for youngest player and goal scorer at Chelsea 16 years and 22 days. He's rated 5 stars for the future and has improved a huge amount in his first season of first team football.

During the season I again won the league, with 91 points beating City by 6 points. The only other competition I won was the League Cup, beating Sunderland 5-2. I made it to the quarter finals of the CL, losing to Utd on penalties.

My plan now is to consolidate my youth players and lower the average age even more for the team. I'm aiming to reduce the team wage and want the club to be making a profit over the next couple of years instead of losing a lot of money. If anybody has any ideas on how to improve the chances of the board agreeing to a new stadium that would be great too

[Plainlayzee]

Just come to the end of my 2nd season. In the first season I won the league with 92 points, beating Utd to it by 2 points. I also won the FA cup beating Fulham 2-0, and the Club World Cup beating Corinthians 2-0. I got knocked out the Champions League at the semi-final stage by city, losing 5-1 on aggregate.

In the first season my transfers were:

IN: Falcao, 52 million OUT: Malouda, 1.3M

Chiellini, 37 million Torres, 10M

Will Hughes, 16 million Benayoun, 1.1M

Marc Muniesa, 1.1 Million Also sent out large number of players on loan

My main formation was:

-----------Cech-----------

Azpi -- Chiellini -----Terry -- Cole

-----Mikel- ----Lampard ---

Oscar-----Mata --------Hazard

----------Falcao-----------

As for the 2nd season my transfers were:

IN:

Cristian Cuevas 1.6M

J Zwanziger (DL Regen) 575K

D Anic (MC Regen) 625K

Wallace 4.3M

Arturo Vidal 40.5M

C Emig (AMC regen) 3.6M

TOTAL: 51M

OUT: Essien -> Schalke 8M

Ramires -> Man Utd 30M

Cech -> Dortmund 20M

Cahill -> Napoli 10.25M

Ba -> Barcelona 18.5M

Vidal (Jan transfer as too many red cards) -> R.Madrid 35M

Also large number of youth players on loan.

Total: 121M

During the 2nd season I tried to focus more on youth, selling off a number of players for high transfer fees. The main starting Xl was:

-----------Courtois/Delac-----------

Azpi/Wallace -- Chiellini/Luiz -----Terry/Chalobah -- Cole

-----Vidal/Romeu- ----Lampard/Curtis ---

Oscar/Moses-----Mata/Hughes --------Hazard/Marin

----------Falcao/Lukaku-----------

The two stand out players for me were Terry who average 7.93 in the league, also scoring 6 goals and Falcao who scored 33 goals in the season, averaging 7.56. I also had a youth player, Paul Curtis set the record for youngest player and goal scorer at Chelsea 16 years and 22 days. He's rated 5 stars for the future and has improved a huge amount in his first season of first team football.

During the season I again won the league, with 91 points beating City by 6 points. The only other competition I won was the League Cup, beating Sunderland 5-2. I made it to the quarter finals of the CL, losing to Utd on penalties.

My plan now is to consolidate my youth players and lower the average age even more for the team. I'm aiming to reduce the team wage and want the club to be making a profit over the next couple of years instead of losing a lot of money. If anybody has any ideas on how to improve the chances of the board agreeing to a new stadium that would be great too

Very well done their on your season. Especially interested in Falcao, he is currently t/listed on my save for about 38m and I don't really know if he is worth it with his age and high wage demands? How much have you got him on p/week?

As for the new stadium, all you can do is keep the bank balance high, keep winning and therefore the attendances will be high. Eventually the board will agree, looking at previous threads you normally get the wonderfully names Zola Park Stadium.

[Plainlayzee]

Sorry to double post, I have now started my save.

I started in October first season so the computer generates the first few months of the season. Chelsea were sat in 18th with two draws and 4 defeats in 6, 2 defeats in the CL and out of the LC to Liverpool - what can I say, I like a club in a mini crises!

First things first I have cleared out some of the deadwood staff whos stats were awful and replaced them with my own (will come onto this in a sec) - also been smooth talking a few players such as Lawendowksi who I would like to sign in January as Torres hadn't at the time of me coming in, scored a goal.

First two games played, first I beat Reading away 2-0 - Torres scored both but had a rating of 6.8 so clearly did nothing else. Second game was a 1-0 win over West Ham (away from home) with Ashley Cole scoring a penalty in the last 5 minutes. Pretty pleased with the results however the performances haven't been great.

Now, I have made a few small edits before starting. First of all I made Mark Hughes want to be an assistant and also took the CL title of Chelsea. Reasons being I like having a former player as my assistant, also adds to the sad story that is going on in my head that the board have given me the job but on the basis a qualified manager overlooks what I am doing. Also I want to win Chelsea their first CL title, so I made history say they lost to Bayern instead.

Aim for now is to get back on track in the league, I have 4 games at home now, 3 in the league and 1 in the Champions League.

[ajeffreys0]

Very well done their on your season. Especially interested in Falcao, he is currently t/listed on my save for about 38m and I don't really know if he is worth it with his age and high wage demands? How much have you got him on p/week?

As for the new stadium, all you can do is keep the bank balance high, keep winning and therefore the attendances will be high. Eventually the board will agree, looking at previous threads you normally get the wonderfully names Zola Park Stadium.

I clicked the 'Make Transfer Target" button when looking at Falcao thinking it would just add him to my shortlist so in the end the club negotiated it all for me. Anyway he's on 180K per week, with 17K appearance fee, 17K Goal bonus, 675K team of year bonus and 850K top goalscorer bonus. I've played him as a poacher and so far touch wood no injury problems. I have been rotating him with Lukaku though to keep him fit for the big matches. He scored 31 in all comps first season (24 league) and 33 in all comps second season (19 league) so I would say worth the investment. Hopefully that helps

[Plainlayzee]

I clicked the 'Make Transfer Target" button when looking at Falcao thinking it would just add him to my shortlist so in the end the club negotiated it all for me. Anyway he's on 180K per week, with 17K appearance fee, 17K Goal bonus, 675K team of year bonus and 850K top goalscorer bonus. I've played him as a poacher and so far touch wood no injury problems. I have been rotating him with Lukaku though to keep him fit for the big matches. He scored 31 in all comps first season (24 league) and 33 in all comps second season (19 league) so I would say worth the investment. Hopefully that helps

Wow, very good stats there mate. I do love the way that if you press the 'Make Transfer Target' button, the club seem to pay double the transfer fee and double the wages than what you would normally have to pay. I read a post on the main forum the other day about someone having a bid of £27m accepted for Cavani but he wouldn't enter negotiations with them. He added as transfer target and the board proceeded to pay £43m for him and put him on 200k p/w....

Maybe with it being Chelsea it would be more realistic if we all allowed the board/director of football to make all our signings and handle all contract negotiations?

[Plainlayzee]

BUMP! Come on lads, gone quiet in here suddenly...

Update,

Now played 22 games in the league and I am 4th. After a run of 5 draws in a row we have won our last 5, including 1-0 at home against both City and Tottenham and a 2-1 win over Liverpool. Top of the league is Man UTD on 44 points (only played 21 games though). Next games are United away and Arsenal away, could be too tricky games, however, if I can win them I fancy my chances of a title shot. Tottenham were at one point 11 points clear and somehow blew it, AVB will be sacked soon I reckon. Liverpool just sacked BR and are meant to be getting Rafa back.

In the CL we got through after beating Olympiakos on the last game. Qualified second in the group behind Juventus and therefore got drawn against Bayern Munich....lets hope they aren't as good as in real life.

Starting to get some players back now from injuries. At one stage I had Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cech, Lampard, Raimares, Oscar, Ba and Torres injured. I actually had Benayoun and Malouda in the squad it was that bad.

In January at the moment, Thiago from Barca is t/listed by request (they are 6th in the league) - I have had 20m bill accepted and he only wants 50k p/w - thoughts?

[ajeffreys0]

BUMP! Come on lads, gone quiet in here suddenly...

Update,

Now played 22 games in the league and I am 4th. After a run of 5 draws in a row we have won our last 5, including 1-0 at home against both City and Tottenham and a 2-1 win over Liverpool. Top of the league is Man UTD on 44 points (only played 21 games though). Next games are United away and Arsenal away, could be too tricky games, however, if I can win them I fancy my chances of a title shot. Tottenham were at one point 11 points clear and somehow blew it, AVB will be sacked soon I reckon. Liverpool just sacked BR and are meant to be getting Rafa back.

In the CL we got through after beating Olympiakos on the last game. Qualified second in the group behind Juventus and therefore got drawn against Bayern Munich....lets hope they aren't as good as in real life.

Starting to get some players back now from injuries. At one stage I had Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cech, Lampard, Raimares, Oscar, Ba and Torres injured. I actually had Benayoun and Malouda in the squad it was that bad.

In January at the moment, Thiago from Barca is t/listed by request (they are 6th in the league) - I have had 20m bill accepted and he only wants 50k p/w - thoughts?

I've had similar problems with injurys too and at times had to include a couple of youth players on the bench. Good luck with the Bayern game! As for Thiago, you can't really go wrong wrong with getting him on a 50p/w contract

[Plainlayzee]

I've had similar problems with injurys too and at times had to include a couple of youth players on the bench. Good luck with the Bayern game! As for Thiago, you can't really go wrong wrong with getting him on a 50p/w contract

Completed the Thiago deal, 19m, 53k p/w and a few other bonus's but nothing too high. All part of the long term plan to reduce the clubs wage bill really.

I am currently 5th, 6 points behind Arsenal who are 4th. Had a shocker the last 3 games, first a 1-1 at Old Trafford but I was winning until the 92nd minute, then a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emerites and it could of been 5-0 to be fair. Then Port Vale at home in the cup, I mixed the team up a bit and drew 3-3!! Defence was appalling, Turnbull was at fault for every goal and the likes of Ake and Romeu got 5.8 ratings.

Malouda has agreed to sign for PSG in the summer, Beni I have set for release and he is likely to sign for Napoli shortly, let a few youngsters go on loan and will sold Paulo Ferriera to Stoke for 500k. Turnbull will be leaving in the summer when his contract expires. Unlikely to sign anyone else now as I only have 6m left and can't really afford to sell anyone due to the amount of injuries we have.

On a interesting note, I am currently having a war of words with Fernando Torres, my 1 and only striker. He has been awful in terms for form, he has scored 11 goals in 25 games but to be fair 2 were against Port Vale and 3 against Hull in an earlier round of the cup, plus 2 against Salzberg in the CL - against the bigger teams/in most league games he has been awful. I criticised his form and he responded by saying I was trying to force him out. Then he missed training, slagged me off to the media and then demanded another meeting and again told me I was forcing him out. I basically told him to put up and shut up or he will be transfer listed and he backed down, however, his morale is now very poor and he has the good old unh symbol by his name. If I can find a club for him in the summer, he is going!

[CrD]

Just started my first Chelsea save on this years edition and hoping to run it up to FM 14, if I can stick it out that long.

Only just done the Charity Shield match against Man City and the b@st@**S got lucky, they was winning 2-0 and I managed to bring it back to 2-2.

Was heading into penalties when in the 7th minute of 3 minutes stoppage time they scored!! It right did my head in, anyway only transfer I have made up to yet was to bring in Tim Krul (Well the Director did) for a massive £17.5m and when he signed my fans loved the fact I got him so cheaply...

Will keep updating when I get into it a bit further, just wanted to say that I now officially hate Man City because of that.

[Plainlayzee]

Your director signed Tim Krul? I presume you have got it set that he completes your deals? And 17.5m - you could of got ter Stegan!

[CrD]

Your director signed Tim Krul? I presume you have got it set that he completes your deals? And 17.5m - you could of got ter Stegan!

Yeah I must have. How do I sort this on the Staff Responsibilities list?

I just wanted a decent Keeper that I could use for back up and FA/League cup games but at £17.5 that's a bit much.

[CrD]

I started again, realising my mistakes, and this time I won the Charity Shield and Euro Super Cup. Brought in Jovetic for £19.5m. Will update later on today

[Plainlayzee]

Jovetic is a much better 19m than the 17 on tim krul mate

[koolaz]

Hello all, quick question is thiago from barcelona worth it? hes transfer listed for 22 mill Or wellington nem for 17.5. Lookin for replacement for lamps , Jan 2013

[Plainlayzee]

Hello all, quick question is thiago from barcelona worth it? hes transfer listed for 22 mill Or wellington nem for 17.5. Lookin for replacement for lamps , Jan 2013

I got thiago for 20m, low wages playing at attacking mid, 4 assists in 7 games and an av rating of 7.49

[Plainlayzee]

Quick update on my save,

I am currently 4th with just 3 games of the season left. 4 point advantage over Arsenal who are 5th. Very very tight at the top still though. Tottenham have gone from run away leaders to completely blowing it. Man UTD are top, 1 point clear of Man City. I am very confident of getting top 4, if not 3rd if Tottenham continue to falter. They are currently 7 games within a win.

CL I went out to Bayern 2-1 on agg, a 0-0 draw at home but we lost 2-1 away from home and to be fair never looked like winning. FA Cup we are in the final against Wolves. We beat Man UTD in the semi final 3-1.

All in all it has been a pretty mixed bag, it started off brilliantly winning 5 of my first 6, but then 11 draws out of my 42 games in charge have really stopped any great push for the league title. In the FA cup we have needed a reply and normally extra time in every single round except for the semi final. I think we have played 8 games in the cup so far which has really tired the players out as we are playing a game every 3 days.

Eden Hazard has really saved the season though. At 7 points behind Arsenal and out the CL I gave him a bit of a telling off for poor form, moved him to play slightly more inside and he has scored 10 goals and has 8 assists in his last 11 matches :-) World class form that I hope can continue into next season. I just need to get Mata playing well as well now as he has been very average.

I just got myself a new 5 year deal so I can make some big changes in the summer. It will be similar to mourinho really, new strike force needed as we don't score enough, re-evaluate all the players coming back from loans and cut a lot more of the deadwood.

Lawendowski, Falcao, Isco and Cavani are all currently t/listed by request so fingers crossed Mr Abromovich backs me in the summer and I can get a few world class players in.

[lacoste8030]

I have just been told I am going to get a new stadium name and they said it is going to be called Chelsea stadium which, I dnt like. I want something original even if it is Zola park arena. So will they change it before it opens?

[Bracken]

I have just been told I am going to get a new stadium name and they said it is going to be called Chelsea stadium which, I dnt like. I want something original even if it is Zola park arena. So will they change it before it opens?

Sadly not, you're stuck with it. Mine's called Chelsea Stadium too, awful name. I had Zola Park on a previous save, wish it was coded to that or at least had some more original options.

[Plainlayzee]

I wish the board offered a list of 3 names of something and you could pick one, similar to feeder clubs. I know IRL the manager wouldn't choose the name, but some of the names of stadiums are stupid. I saw 'Pullis Park' (stoke) on an old save and he was sacked about 2 months later!

Anyway, save game, I have now finished 3rd, Tottenham have imploded and are now left battling with Arsenal on the last day for 4th. They are level on points but Spurs GD is better. Man UTD have won the title, they are 4 pts clear at the moment with 1 game to play. I could finish second if City lose on the last day, however, I am due to play Southampton away and might give the kids a run out since there isn't a lot to play for.

Won the FA Cup in the final v Wolves. I was 1-0 up until the 94th minute when they equalised. 2 Demba Ba goals in extra time won it though. It actually means that bar the semi final, I went to either a reply or a reply and then extra time in every single round of the competition....worrying really!

Overall quite pleased, I am now starting to re-shape the squad and chat a few players up from other clubs. Lawendowski/Faclao are two big interests as well as Cavani. Also Malaga look like they are going to go down so Isco could be available quite cheap.

Big problem however, I arranged a team meeting which was going fine until Petr Cech told JT he didn't know what he was talking about, queue team argument and now JT has approached me saying he can't play with Cech, Cech on the other hand is unh/slt and doesn't want to be at the same club as Terry.....disaster. If either leave, it would have to be Cech probably as JT has an av rat of 7.92 compared to his 7.2....

Thoughts?

[koolaz]

For some reason both man utd and chelsea fixtures against each other have been moved towards the end of season isnt it meant to be one before january and one after jan or something like that??

heres a screenie

http://s1360.photobucket.com/user/5upmanu/media/Chelsea_FixturesSchedule_zps64de7468.png.html

[Plainlayzee]

Yeah you will probably find that one has been postponed on a number of occasions due to internationals/FA cup/European competitions. I have found that the game does sometimes reschedule matches for a date (what looks like a space in the fixtures) and then two weeks later has to move it again because that was actually FA cup weekend, it just wasn't in the fixtures at the time because the draw hadn't been made!

I have had a busy few weeks following the end of the season with a number of players leaving. Torres handed in a t/fer request due to be unhappy, so I flogged him to PSG for 15m - 185k off the wage bill so happy days. Also Ivanovic went to PSG for the same amount which I felt was a good price for someone who made a lot of mistakes last season. Marin has gone to Valencia for 10m, but I can buy back for 20m in the future (just encase he becomes world class). Bertand to Southampton for 5 and McEachran to Brighton for 4m are the other notable outgoings. Malouda, Benayoun and Turnbull all left on frees.

Incoming so far has been Falcao for 25m, 115k p/w which I thought was reasonable. He is younger than Torres and more powerful which suits my formation. Last season he scored 38 goals in 48 games or something. Also trying to get Lawendowski to partner him.

Who should I sign, Kurt Zouma or Palapadapoulis from Shalkhe? I feel like I need a CB since Ivanovic went.

O also, Petr Cech wants 145k per week on his new contract and Mata wants 135k, would you give it them? I think this might be Cech's last season to be honest, he hasn't been that good so far!

[DBurns]

Coming to the end of my sixth season in charge of Chelsea and what a title race we have with Liverpool. Both played 32 games and this is how the table looks:

And a look at the run-ins of both clubs with a potentially massive last game of the season:

Both clubs are also involved in European semi finals, us in the Champions League against Real Madrid with Liverpool in the Europa League against PSV.

[Plainlayzee]

Looking at your fixtures mate, bearing in mind I know very little about the teams and how they have signed/sold etc.

I would say you will get another 12 points, possibly 13 and Liverpool will get 9 or 10 points. It will go to the last day with them having to win or you win the title. That's my predication. Very good run in though.

[DBurns]

Looking at your fixtures mate, bearing in mind I know very little about the teams and how they have signed/sold etc.

I would say you will get another 12 points, possibly 13 and Liverpool will get 9 or 10 points. It will go to the last day with them having to win or you win the title. That's my predication. Very good run in though.

I will post up my squad at the end of the season with screenshots mate

Well I won my first four games of the six game run-in 3-1, 2-0, 2-1 and 8-1 before a 1-1 draw with Spurs put me one point ahead of Liverpool with the final game of the season to come at Zola Arena.

[Plainlayzee]

I will post up my squad at the end of the season with screenshots mate

Well I won my first four games of the six game run-in 3-1, 2-0, 2-1 and 8-1 before a 1-1 draw with Spurs put me one point ahead of Liverpool with the final game of the season to come at Zola Arena.

Exactly as I predicted then, they have to win or you win the league!

I would actually be interested in your second/third season transfers if you wouldn't mind, I am just in the summer at the end of season 1.

Cheers

[DBurns]

And the title is ours!

Always a nice message to receive!

[DBurns]

Exactly as I predicted then, they have to win or you win the league!

I would actually be interested in your second/third season transfers if you wouldn't mind, I am just in the summer at the end of season 1.

Cheers

Well as you'll see, we won it!

Yes no bother I'll post them for you soon, there are a lot of regen transfers so I'll screenshot them when I post up my squad at some stage.

How's your save going?

[DBurns]

So here are my transfers then:

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

[Plainlayzee]

The link won't work for some reason mate, it is likely to be my rubbish computer I assume.

No worries,

Anyway, my save, same as last post really. I always take 2/3 days to consider who to sign/sell. Clearly I have let a fair few go already and I am likely to let a few more of the youngsters go, Kakuta etc just aren't good enough IMO.

Signings I can't decide on, I think Luke Shaw would be great as a long term replacement for Ashley Cole, but Southampton want 18m which isn't going to happen. Also Andre Schurrle was a target (as in real life) however he is injured for 2 months at the mo so wouldn't pass a medical.

I might just clear out for now, let the market develop and keep an eye on these two.

Man Utd have just signed Gareth Bale for 40m though....

[DBurns]

The link won't work for some reason mate, it is likely to be my rubbish computer I assume.

No worries,

Anyway, my save, same as last post really. I always take 2/3 days to consider who to sign/sell. Clearly I have let a fair few go already and I am likely to let a few more of the youngsters go, Kakuta etc just aren't good enough IMO.

Signings I can't decide on, I think Luke Shaw would be great as a long term replacement for Ashley Cole, but Southampton want 18m which isn't going to happen. Also Andre Schurrle was a target (as in real life) however he is injured for 2 months at the mo so wouldn't pass a medical.

I might just clear out for now, let the market develop and keep an eye on these two.

Man Utd have just signed Gareth Bale for 40m though....

Check the links now mate

Luke Shaw would be a fantastic signing!

[Reloaded]

I started a game with Chelsea recently. Is it unusual to have a balance of about -£1m come end of January? This is without having had extra funds made available for signings. I think I spent £30m on transfers in the first window, and recouped about £5m.

[Bracken]

Check the links now mate

Luke Shaw would be a fantastic signing!

Luke Shaw is absolutely brilliant for me, took over full time from Ash in season 3 and he's been brilliant

[DBurns]

Luke Shaw is absolutely brilliant for me, took over full time from Ash in season 3 and he's been brilliant

Yes but get him in ASAP as this is how he looks in my save having stayed with Southampton (I took him on loan for half a season to see how he performed with a £3m future fee but he was so poor I terminated the loan early):

[koolaz]

6 - 0 demoliton of arsenal with terry as star striker (!)

http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/jmanhhd/media/ArsenalvChelsea_OverviewOverview_zpsac60c468.png.html

[Plainlayzee]

Luke Shaw looks really good. I still haven't managed to sign him though. I had a 13.5m bid accepted but his agent wanted 4m or something. Now Southampton want 16m again so I am hanging round waiting for them to drop the price. I have had one hell of a squad clear out..

In have come Falcao (27m), Cristian Cuevas (1.6 - pre arranged), Kryiakos Papdopoulos (13.5m), Andre Schurrle (20m) and Wallace (4.6 - pre arranged).

Outgoings I could be here forever so won't list every single one including their fees, but Torres, Malouda, Benayoun, Turnbull, Bertrand, Marin, Lucas Paizon, Bruma, Van Arnholt, Ivanovic, Essien, Kakuta and a hoast of youngsters have left.

I am really pleased with my deals. I spent 66m and brought in 58m, so we have effectively spent 8m which is brilliant. The wages are now down to 1.8m p/w and the budget is 2.4m, so that is very good. Also the squad seems to have more depth. Courtais (the GK), Kevin De Bruyne, Lukaka, Chabolah (Young CB), Nathan Ake and Aide Kirby (regen signed for 100k from Histon) are all in and around the first team squad. All have 5* potential.

First games, played Man Utd in the Charity Shield @ Wembley and it was the same score as the FA cup semi against them last year, a 3-1 win with Falcao, Hazard and Oscar getting the goals. First league game v Norwich (Away) also ended 3-1, Hazard getting 1 and Falcao scoring another two.

All in all a very good couple of performances. Slightly concerned that we really struggle to keep clean sheets, but that is likely to be down to the fact I only play 3 at the back. I think against the bigger teams I might have to put some wing backs in just to sure up the wings.

How's everyone else doing?

[b12taha]

Hey guys, I have just started my Chelsea save and I'm halfway through the first season. Although I'm 2nd in the league atm but I am a bit disappointed at Robert Lewandowski's performances. In the pre-season, he was baging goals for fun (scored 7 in 3 games) but since then he has only managed to score 5 goals in 5 months. I play a 4-2-3-1 and most of the goals are scored by the attacking trio of Hazard, Mata and Oscar. So, is there any way I can make Lewandowski score goals ?

Also, can anyone help me with individual player instructions ? This is my starting 11:

Cech

Azpilicueta, Luiz, Terry, Ashley Cole

Ramires/Lampard - Fellaini

Mata Oscar Hazard

Lewandowski

What roles should my players have ? And I also tend to concede goals every game. Can anyone help me with that as well ? Any help will be appreciated

[lacoste8030]

I use to play 4-2-3-1, played it in my first season and don't get me wrong we won the league and champions league but sometimes i saw we struggled and wasn't good defensively. So i changed to a 4-5-1. changing oscar to MC but an attacking one. has worked well. my strikers score, we keep the ball better and we are better defensively.

[Santa Claus]

Started a save a while ago, I'm currently in my second season, March just started. I'm trying to build young, cheap team, lowering wage bill as much as possible but also trying to compete for trophies. Trying to build self sustainable club, sell first team players if good offer comes in and replace them with younger, cheaper lads. In first season I won nothing major, finished fourth in league. In the second season I'm first at the moment, with City and Liverpool just behind. Beat Porto 3-1 at home in the CL first knockout round first leg, but dropped out of both domestic cups. Formation is 4-2-3-1 balanced control.

Transfers in (entire save):

Phil Jones (18m) - Long term replacement for Terry (whose contract I won't be extending at the end of season 2), and future captain.

Dede (26m) - Brought in as Luiz alternative, brilliant so far, regular first team player.

Luke Shaw (16m) - Long term replacement for Cole (won't extend his contract either after season 2), tutored him with Cole, increased his determination to 12, now I'm tutoring him with Dede, we will see what happens.

Mattia de Sciglio (19m) - Originally brought in as Azpi alternative, he took over first team duties when I sold Azpi in order to develop him and Wallace.

Kevin Strootman (16m) - Brought in as replacement for Lampard, great mental stats, great as both deep lying pm and box to box, brilliant player all around.

Carlos Fierro (don't remember price tag) - Future star striker.

Alex Song (28m) - Ball winning midfielder, Ramires alternative. My first choice was Lars Bender but was too expensive and eventually I settled with Song, great signing, does what he is payed for.

Thomas Müller (33m) - Worth every ****ing penny, brilliant, brilliant player.

Transfers out (entire save, can't remember exact fees):

Cahill

Ferreira

Azpi

Marin

Malouda

Benayoun

Essien

Ivanovic

Ba

Torres

Current first team:

Cech, Courtois, Cole, Shaw, Terry, Dede, Luiz, Ake, de Sciglio, Wallace, Ramires, Song, Lampard, Strootman, Hazard, Oscar, Müller, Mata, de Bruyne, Lukaku, Fierro.

Next season plans:

Release Cole and Terry, replace them with Shaw and Ake, transfer Lamps to reserves get Verratti in instead, sell first team player if great offer come in and promote youngster instead.

[Plainlayzee]

So I haven't updated for quite a while so this could be a long one I am afraid....

Firstly, I am just in January 2014. Top of the league and into the Knockout rounds of the CL.

We will start with the league. Currently sitting top, 7 points clear of Man City. I actually went top after the 3rd game and have stayed there ever since. The gap could of been bigger however I recently lost 3-2 at the Ethiad so they have slightly closed the gap. Man UTD on the other hand sit a whopping 11 points back with Arsenal/Tottenahm who are both join 4th 20 pts back! Something tells me I should achieve the board's request of a top 4 finish.

Our records stands as played 19, won 16, drew 2 and lost 1 and we have a +30 GD, winning the first 11 games of the season before we eventually dropped points at Old Trafford. There was a point when I honestly thought I was going to have the title won by February.

In the CL we are through the group again however we only managed to finish second. The group contained Dortmand, Atletico Madrid and Roma. Despite beating Madrid 5-0 away from home and Roma 4-0 at home, we failed to beat Dortmund at home and somehow managed to get hammered 3-0 in Germany. The CL 1st round knockout should be a belter as we have a re-match from last season against Bayern Munich. Bearing in mind we very nearly beat them last season, I am confident that my much improved side can do it this year. If we can then it could be a massive chance for us to go a long way due to the number of 'big' teams that have been drawn against each other. Real Madrid play Man UTD, Barcelona play Man City and PSG drew Tottenham. The other games in the draw see a lot of the smaller sides playing, i.e Galatasery v Porto and Shalke v Benfica.

League cup we are into the semis despite playing the kids in all the game so far. We have Liverpool to play which should be a good game.

Transfer wise, Demba Ba has now left the club for 4m, Victor Moses is due to follow for 10m. The board have changed my season expectations to 'Challenge for title' and increased by T/budget to 92m!! The wage budget is currently 2.6m and I am only spending 1.6 of that leaving me even more room for manoeuvre.

Targets at the moment include Robert Lawendowski who I can approach on a free due to his contract expiring in the summer and also Neymar who is currently T/Listed by request. I have offer 35m for Neymar which has been accepted, however, Barcelona and Real Madrid have also made offers. Ter Stagen is also currently t/listed however I have been playing Courtais (sp) in goal and he has been very reliable, not too sure if I want to spend 15m on another GK. Cech on the other hand will probably leave in the summer due to his constant fighting with John Terry.

Contracts, Lampard, Terry and Cole have all signed new deals for 1 extra year all reducing their wages but some way. Mata is mouthing off to the press about a new deal which he will probably get shortly, however, I hate giving in to player demands straight away.

Best players, David Luiz has been immense, JT was brilliant but has a broken leg and is out for 6 months. Falcao has scored nearly 1 a go and Eden Hazard has an av rating of 7.89, scoring for fun and was recently voted into the world team of the year :-)

The aim now is the win the league or at least finish very close, get past Bayern and win the league cup. Plus sign Luke Shaw (long term replacement for Cole), Neymar and Lawendowski! Not too much to ask....

[Natedog17]

I have enjoyed reading through the forum and thought it was time to start another Chelsea save.

First season has been completed and I decided to play 4-5-1 and 4-2-3-1 formations.

Transfers in:

First transfer window:

Adrian-£15.75 mill-Provides me with a forward that has bags of pace and technical ability. Also has the potential to improve

Cleverley- £11-The guy I have chosen to take over Lampards position in the midfield-I believe he could play in a similar way and hopefully chip in with some goals

Tello- £8.75 mill-Such a versatile player with awesome speed, technical ability and finishing from the wings. Can play as my inside forward on the left and winger on the right

Bakkali-£600k-Future prospect on the wings

Winter Transfer window:[/b]

Marquinhos-£6.75mill-A brilliant central defender from Roma who has taken the Italian league by storm this season. Will be going on loan to ADO den haag for the rest of the season

Allione-£4.8 mill-Right sided winger who has bags of pace, agility, technique and loads of potential

Tankovic-£675k-Signed by Emelano

Transfers out:

Benayoun-£1mill-He was sold to A.C Millan. Dont like the player and has done nothing special for the club.

Marin-£8.5 mill- He was sold to Valencia and just couldnt get into the team after some great performances from Tello

Torres-£10 mill- Sold to PSG as he just wasnt good enough and had to fight for a striking role with Adrian, Lukaku who I recalled immediately and Ba who has scored 19 goals this season.

Loans:

Load of players were sent out on loan. The main players being loaned out being Marquinhos, Allione and Victor Moses to Inter-Who I may look to sell but not decided yet. I decided to bring back Bruma and Lukaku from their loans and add some much needed depth.

The team looked like this:

GK-Cech/Blackman

DL-Bertrand/Cole

DC-Terry /Bruma

DC-Ivanovic/Cahill

DR-Azpilicueta/Paulo

DM-Luiz/Mikel/Romeuo

MCL-Lampard/Cleverley/Oscar

MCR-Mikel/Romeuo

AML-Hazard/Tello

AMR-Mata/Oscar

ST-Ba/Adrian/Lukaku

The season:

Super Cup:

We won 2-1 and played well deserving the win and making my mind up about Adrian who scored the goal against me.

Charity Shield:

What a match! We won 3-2 but at times we were extremely lucky!

Capital one cup:

We went out in the 4th round to United who beat us 2-1 in extra time.

FA Cup:

We won the cup against Everton 1-0 with a great goal from...wait for it...Jon Obi Mikel(4 goals this season!)

Champions League:

We played well but lost to Real Madrid on away goals in the quarter finals 3-3. I look forward to facing Mourinho again next season. May look at poaching Coentrao for left back selling cole and keeping Bertrand buying Shaw and loaning him out.

Premier League:

We had a good solid season but unfortunately finished behind Spurs by 1 point at the end of the season. I believe with my strengthened squad through the return of some of my loans will really push the team forward.

Awards:

Players Player of the year-Eden Hazard

Golden Glove winnder-Cech

Players in team of the year: Terry, Mata and Hazard

Dream Team: Terry

Loaned Players Feedback:

Courtois-42 games for Madrid played very well for them. Will have to decide if I give Cech another season and loan him out again or not.

Josh-He had a decent season at Middlesborough and will be looking to give him his chance. If he is not good enough this season he will be sold.

KDB-Good season at Bremen and will be competing with Josh for a spot in the squad. Game on.

Essien-Decent season-will be sold

Moses on loan at Inter had a decent season playing 22 games and winning the league with them.

Marquinhos and Kalas both had good season on loan and will be sent out on loan again. Along with Chalobah, Allione and Piazon.

Kenneth will get his chance to fight for a spot in the central of defence this season and in January I will decide whether to send him out on loan or keep him.

Hazard, Clifford, Kane, lalkovic, PVA will all be sold amongs a few others.

[Plainlayzee]

I have enjoyed reading through the forum and thought it was time to start another Chelsea save.

First season has been completed and I decided to play 4-5-1 and 4-2-3-1 formations.

Transfers in:

First transfer window:

Adrian-£15.75 mill-Provides me with a forward that has bags of pace and technical ability. Also has the potential to improve

Cleverley- £11-The guy I have chosen to take over Lampards position in the midfield-I believe he could play in a similar way and hopefully chip in with some goals

Tello- £8.75 mill-Such a versatile player with awesome speed, technical ability and finishing from the wings. Can play as my inside forward on the left and winger on the right

Bakkali-£600k-Future prospect on the wings

Winter Transfer window:[/b]

Marquinhos-£6.75mill-A brilliant central defender from Roma who has taken the Italian league by storm this season. Will be going on loan to ADO den haag for the rest of the season

Allione-£4.8 mill-Right sided winger who has bags of pace, agility, technique and loads of potential

Tankovic-£675k-Signed by Emelano

Transfers out:

Benayoun-£1mill-He was sold to A.C Millan. Dont like the player and has done nothing special for the club.

Marin-£8.5 mill- He was sold to Valencia and just couldnt get into the team after some great performances from Tello

Torres-£10 mill- Sold to PSG as he just wasnt good enough and had to fight for a striking role with Adrian, Lukaku who I recalled immediately and Ba who has scored 19 goals this season.

Loans:

Load of players were sent out on loan. The main players being loaned out being Marquinhos, Allione and Victor Moses to Inter-Who I may look to sell but not decided yet. I decided to bring back Bruma and Lukaku from their loans and add some much needed depth.

The team looked like this:

GK-Cech/Blackman

DL-Bertrand/Cole

DC-Terry /Bruma

DC-Ivanovic/Cahill

DR-Azpilicueta/Paulo

DM-Luiz/Mikel/Romeuo

MCL-Lampard/Cleverley/Oscar

MCR-Mikel/Romeuo

AML-Hazard/Tello

AMR-Mata/Oscar

ST-Ba/Adrian/Lukaku

The season:

Super Cup:

We won 2-1 and played well deserving the win and making my mind up about Adrian who scored the goal against me.

Charity Shield:

What a match! We won 3-2 but at times we were extremely lucky!

Capital one cup:

We went out in the 4th round to United who beat us 2-1 in extra time.

FA Cup:

We won the cup against Everton 1-0 with a great goal from...wait for it...Jon Obi Mikel(4 goals this season!)

Champions League:

We played well but lost to Real Madrid on away goals in the quarter finals 3-3. I look forward to facing Mourinho again next season. May look at poaching Coentrao for left back selling cole and keeping Bertrand buying Shaw and loaning him out.

Premier League:

We had a good solid season but unfortunately finished behind Spurs by 1 point at the end of the season. I believe with my strengthened squad through the return of some of my loans will really push the team forward.

Awards:

Players Player of the year-Eden Hazard

Golden Glove winnder-Cech

Players in team of the year: Terry, Mata and Hazard

Loaned Players Feedback:

Courtois-42 games for Madrid played very well for them. Will have to decide if I give Cech another season and loan him out again or not.

Josh-He had a decent season at Middlesborough and will be looking to give him his chance. If he is not good enough this season he will be sold.

KDB-Good season at Bremen and will be competing with Josh for a spot in the squad. Game on.

Essien-Decent season-will be sold

Moses on loan at Inter had a decent season playing 22 games and winning the league with them.

Marquinhos and Kalas both had good season on loan and will be sent out on loan again. Along with Chalobah, Allione and Piazon.

Kenneth will get his chance to fight for a spot in the central of defence this season and in January I will decide whether to send him out on loan or keep him.

Hazard, Clifford, Kane, lalkovic, PVA will all be sold amongs a few others.

Some good transfers/results there mate. At least you still have the league and CL to aim for next year as well. I can highly recommend Falcao up front and if you aren't already, play Hazard as an inside forward, the bloke is outscoring Messi at the minute.

What positions are you going to strengthen?

I have just reached an agreement for Lawendowski, just need to confirm the transfer shortly. 70k p/w, free transfer and he has scored 22 goals in 20 games or something for Dortmund this season, sounds like a great deal to me. If I can somehow get Neymar to join I might, just might, be tempted to let Mata leave. Maybe, just maybe....

[Natedog17]

Cheers mate. I dont think I am going to go for Falcao just because he has gone to Monaco in real life and we have no chance of signing him. Also I have Lukaku who is coming up and looking like he could be a force in the league soon. Adrian and Ba will have another season before I decide who I want to bring in. I always play Hazard as inside forward attack and he was doing very well until he got injured but luckly Tello is immense and filled his spot with ease.

I am looking to strengthen the left back position, bring in a right back as back up since I am letting Paulo go and the rest is still to be seen as I go through pre-season. Maybe a centre back since Terry will be playing more off the bench next year.

Sounds like a great signing there, especially for a free!! I have played with him when I bought him for my Bayern team save and he was immense scoring goals left, right and centre!

[Plainlayzee]

Luke Shaw has been my long term target as a LB, that way Cole can tutor him before he retired, however, I haven't been able to sign him for less than 15m yet so I am holding out and constantly telling him how wonderful I think he is in the media.

[tcoleman1]

Very tempted to start a new Chelsea save. Have a really good one going but it has been ruined by ridiculous wages. Pretty much all my players (who aren't over 30) want around £200k a week to stay and it just isn't right.

[Reloaded]

Let me preface this by firstly stating: I am not a fan of Chelsea and need help.

I have just completed the first season of an online game as Chelsea, with mixed success. The Champions League was a major disappointment, in that I got knocked out of it in the First Knockout Round by Valencia. Apart from not winning the CL or the Community shield, a major under-estimation of Leeds resulted in my exit from the FA Cup at the 5^th Round stage. However, I did win the Premiership, League Cup, Club World Championship and European Super Cup so it was not all doom and gloom.

First season transfers may have been a bit rushed (prices are approximate): Ben Arfa (11m) and Mamadou Sakho (£13m) were my major signings with Carlos Fierro as a young striker. Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda were the only sales of anything over £1m.

I’ve been playing an asymmetric 4-1-2-2-1 formation. It’s a regular flat back four, and then a bit funky. I had developed it prior to the most recent update and it was phenomenal in that career game; it is, however, not quite so prolific this time but working reasonably well.

GK: Cech (Turnbull as sub, rarely played)

DL: Cole/Bertrand

DC: Terry/Sakho

DC: David Luiz/Gary Cahill

DR: Azpilicueta/Ivanovic (largely dependent on whom I was playing)

DM: Mikel/Romeu

MC: Lampard/Ramires

MR [wide midfielder]: Ramires/Ben Arfa/Oscar/Moses

AMC [advanced playmaker]: Juan Mata

AML: Hazard

ST: [deep-lying forward] Torres/Lukaku/Ba

Juan Mata was my most prolific player from the AMC role, which I both love and loathe because my there is a flaw in my tactic which is evidently not making the most of the strikers.

For some reason, probably wages, the club stuttered to around £30 million debt and seemingly I have a budget of just £10m for the next season although I have not yet reached the new season date yet.

My plan is to keep a few of the youngsters that are out on loan, Courtois, McEchran and de Bruyne certainly. I will likely sell Moses and Turnbull and release Paulo Ferreira & Hilario. I wanted to bring in Papadopoulous as a long-term replacement to Terry, but I don’t think I will have the funds to do so unfortunately. I also will take a hard-look at the wages as some of the reserves are on ludicrous wages, in my opinion.

Any suggestions?

[Santa Claus]

Let me preface this by firstly stating: I am not a fan of Chelsea and need help.

I have just completed the first season of an online game as Chelsea, with mixed success. The Champions League was a major disappointment, in that I got knocked out of it in the First Knockout Round by Valencia. Apart from not winning the CL or the Community shield, a major under-estimation of Leeds resulted in my exit from the FA Cup at the 5^th Round stage. However, I did win the Premiership, League Cup, Club World Championship and European Super Cup so it was not all doom and gloom.

First season transfers may have been a bit rushed (prices are approximate): Ben Arfa (11m) and Mamadou Sakho (£13m) were my major signings with Carlos Fierro as a young striker. Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda were the only sales of anything over £1m.

I’ve been playing an asymmetric 4-1-2-2-1 formation. It’s a regular flat back four, and then a bit funky. I had developed it prior to the most recent update and it was phenomenal in that career game; it is, however, not quite so prolific this time but working reasonably well.

GK: Cech (Turnbull as sub, rarely played)

DL: Cole/Bertrand

DC: Terry/Sakho

DC: David Luiz/Gary Cahill

DR: Azpilicueta/Ivanovic (largely dependent on whom I was playing)

DM: Mikel/Romeu

MC: Lampard/Ramires

MR [wide midfielder]: Ramires/Ben Arfa/Oscar/Moses

AMC [advanced playmaker]: Juan Mata

AML: Hazard

ST: [deep-lying forward] Torres/Lukaku/Ba

Juan Mata was my most prolific player from the AMC role, which I both love and loathe because my there is a flaw in my tactic which is evidently not making the most of the strikers.

For some reason, probably wages, the club stuttered to around £30 million debt and seemingly I have a budget of just £10m for the next season although I have not yet reached the new season date yet.

My plan is to keep a few of the youngsters that are out on loan, Courtois, McEchran and de Bruyne certainly. I will likely sell Moses and Turnbull and release Paulo Ferreira & Hilario. I wanted to bring in Papadopoulous as a long-term replacement to Terry, but I don’t think I will have the funds to do so unfortunately. I also will take a hard-look at the wages as some of the reserves are on ludicrous wages, in my opinion.

Any suggestions?

Not sure what are your priorities, winning the league again or trying to decrease the debt and wage bill... anyway, you have great young prospects in Courtois, Ake, Chalobah, Wallace, de Bruyne and Lukaku, not mentioning Fierro. As you already have Wallace for RB alternative, sell one of the Ivanovic/Azpi. Sell Torres asap, as you have Lukaku and Ba, who both score for fun. Torres' wages are 175k per week that's around 9 mil a year. Sell both Marin and Moses, and finally, if you are not going for trophies next season, sell Cech and develop Courtois, he will concede some goals Cech wouldn't in first one or two seasons but later he becomes beast, and you can get nice fat check for Cech while je is still on top of the game. Also, look to tutor Ake with someone and get his determination up, then you can release one of the Terry or Cahill as they are the weakest links in defence and replace him with Ake.

That's what I would do at least, now that you're already in red.