[FM13] Turning the Roman Empire into Més que un Club

[davehibb]

Awesome thread mate.

I've followed it for a week or two now and like other careers on here it's astounding how much detail and effort you put in, not to mention how entertaining it is to follow your progress and to see the way you're running and transforming the club, given the way it's seemingly run irl.

[Lodda]

Thanks for sharing your latest tactic. Will try it out tonight on my save.

Fantastic and inspiring thread!

[Wonderkid36]

I love the development post's, will be watching out.

Took me about 7 hours to read through this lol.

You can get FMRTE for Mac, it's called iFMRTE. They've raised the price to £3.00 now though, but I dunno if the demo might work?

[Bracken]

Awesome thread mate.

I've followed it for a week or two now and like other careers on here it's astounding how much detail and effort you put in, not to mention how entertaining it is to follow your progress and to see the way you're running and transforming the club, given the way it's seemingly run irl.

Cheers mate, thanks very much, I tried to basically make the club as different from IRL as possible while retaining its' soul

Thanks for sharing your latest tactic. Will try it out tonight on my save.

Fantastic and inspiring thread!

Cheers mate, see my latest blog post for some help with how to use the tactic

I love the development post's, will be watching out.

Took me about 7 hours to read through this lol.

You can get FMRTE for Mac, it's called iFMRTE. They've raised the price to £3.00 now though, but I dunno if the demo might work?

Now that's dedication! Really appreciate reading it. I didn't know they did it for Mac (or that you had to pay haha) I'll consider it to change the name but I don't wanna corrupt the save so I'm not sure.

[Bracken]

For anyone who might want to try out my tactic, a key part of making it successful is how I use Opposition Instructions. For more info on that, I've got a new blog post up here for those who are interested: http://wp.me/p3kbcw-1G

[Wonderkid36]

Great blog, I used to leave them to my ass man but I think I'll work on them now.

Have followed.

[AK22]

Well done on such a tremendous season. Unbeaten in the league

[markyosullivan]

What a fitting way to end the season. Champions League win and the last match at Stamford Bridge against Zola's Norwich.

[Skuli]

but I don't wanna corrupt the save so I'm not sure.

This, its not just your save now

[Bracken]

Great blog, I used to leave them to my ass man but I think I'll work on them now.

Have followed.

Glad to help out mate, cheers for following

Well done on such a tremendous season. Unbeaten in the league

Thanks mate

What a fitting way to end the season. Champions League win and the last match at Stamford Bridge against Zola's Norwich.

Exactly what I thought, if I could've written a way to say goodbye to the Bridge, that's how I would've done it.

This, its not just your save now

Yeah I'm not going to risk it, it's a daft name but I can deal with it.

Working on the development post now, hoping to have it up later on

[Bracken]

Player Development Report – 2014/15

So here’s the final big post of this season and it’s a look at how the younger players in my squad have been developing this season. As usual, I’ll start with the First Team, then the Loanees and then the youngsters who remained at the club.

First Team Development

Jamal Blackman (Goalkeeper) has pushed on a bit this year though still hasn’t quite maxed out his potential. He’s at two out of his two and a half stars, and with his Model Pro personality I’m hoping he won’t be unhappy at being a backup and will be a great tutor in the future as well. His chances were limited by Selby’s presence in the squad this year, but he’ll get more opportunities in the future.

Our main young goalkeeper now is Niall Selby (Goalkeeper) and he’s looking like a real top prospect. He’s had quite a few first team games this year, playing all the cup games and some of the easier Champions League ties or Prem games. I’m not sure when he’ll topple Cech as number one, but the day probably isn’t long away. A great player already, and only at two and a half star of his five star potential. A bargain at just £450k from Nottingham Forrest in the summer of 2013

My backup to Azpi, Billy Britton (Right Back/DC) is developing fairly nicely. 4 caps to his name already, I expect him to become first choice Right Back for them in the coming years. At two stars of his four and a half star PA, he’ll be a great member of the squad and hopefully a long-term replacement for Azpi at some point. Very happy with his development so far.

Scott Devonshire (Centre Back/DR) had a stunning season and is definitely ready to takeover defensive duties from JT when he retires. He’s only at two and a half stars of his five star PA, so still has plenty of room to grow, but he’s already a truly great Centre Back who would definitely be first choice for most clubs in the world. He’s been one of my best players this year, and while he’s not technically outstanding, he’s a mental and physical beast and will be a superb player for the club for the next ten years I hope.

A less impressive but still useful young defender is Keiran Crossan (Centre Back/DL). My young Irishman has had a few loans in the first few years, but he was a part of the first team squad this year and was always solid, if not outstanding. He’s at two stars of his four star PA, and offers good cover for both Centre Back positions, his Concentration still worries me but other than that he’s got a lot of good attributes and he’s a good option to have in the squad.

A man who’s already first choice for Club and Country, Luke Shaw (Left Back) is coming along nicely as an excellent Full Back. Equally capable at defending and attacking, Shaw is at four stars of his five star PA, so doesn’t have too much more room to grow but he really doesn’t need it. He’s a fantastic footballer, and one I hope to keep hold of for many years to come.

With Bertrand leaving, Martin Smith (Left Back) stepped up to be Shaw’s backup. Smith is physically outstanding, but his technical and mental attributes definitely need work. He was okay in his few appearances, but I’m hoping he can really push on next year and give Shaw some good competition. He’s only two starts of a big four and a half star PA, so he should become a very good player with a bit of luck.

For me he was the standout story of this season,Nathaniel Chalobah (Central Midfield/DC) is now an absolutely beast of a player. He’s at four stars of his four and a half star PA, so he’s got very little room to grow, but he’s just a phenomenal footballer, his physical presence is something to behold, and he’s really improved the technical and mental side of his game this year too, making him a really complete footballer. Love the guy, possible he’ll have a captaincy role in the future.

With Mikel’s expected departure, Lea Ashton (Central Midfield/DM) will be Chalobah’s main backup. He’s coming along fairly well if not spectacularly. He’s at two stars of a four and a half star PA, so he’ll be fantastic when he gets there, but he’s not there yet. He’s a different kind of player to Chalobah, more reserved and composed, a good replacement for Mikel I think. Should come along well next season stepping out of Mikel’s shadow, and he’s a Model Pro so he’ll be a great tutor.

Josh McEachran (Central Midfield) really stepped it up this year, adding goals and assists to his game as well as improving his attributes across the board. His physical improvements have been incredibly across the years, and he’s now a really top quality Central Midfielder. He’s at three and a half stars of his four star PA, so not much room to grow, but I think he’s a great member of my first team, so I’m not worried if he doesn’t progress much more.

Still the most surprising level of development in my save goes to Lewis Baker (Central Midfield//AMLCR). He’s a full England international and he’s worth over £13.5m, yet he’s still go room to grow at two and a half stars of a four star PA! Love Baker, a great Deep Lying Playmaker who can offer cover in a number of other positions, Lewis is going nowhere and will continue to compete with Josh next year.

Now fully developed, Gael Kakuta (Attacking Midfielder/AML/R) is one who’s giving me a lot to think about. He’s got good attributes, had a solid season and has been at the club a while, but he’s one footed, has young players ready to push him out of the team, and most annoyingly, has the dreaded “Shoots from Distance” PPM. So it may be time to part company with Gael, I haven’t made a decision yet, he’s not a great tutor either, so it’s something I’m definitely considering.

My big disappointment this season has been Islam Feruz (Left Wing/ST). He just hasn’t improved at all this year, he hasn’t kicked on as he should and I worry he’s stuck in a rut. He’s never going to displace Hazard from the AML spot and he’s not the right kind of player for my Striker’s role, so I’m stumped really. He’s lucky in that I don’t have another youngster who can come in here, but he’ll need to do more to reach his three star PA, he’s currently at two stars.

Having been out on loan for the first few months of the season, Keith Derry (Right Winger/ST) has come back and performed pretty well in the second half of the season. He’s now got truly blistering pace, and his technical and mental attributes are really improving too. For some reason I really like Derry, he’s very different to my other AMR options, and I think he can be a great squad player in the years to come. He’s at two stars of a five star PA.

He had a less successful season this year, but Bryan Keast (Striker/AML) has become a fans favourite at the club since his £1.1m move from Linfield in Ireland. He’s almost maxed out his two and a half star PA, so not much more room to grow, but he always performs when called upon and I like Keasty. However, I’ve got Lewis Lincoln coming back from Loan, so that could give me a problem. I’m really not sure what to do with him yet, it could have an effect on Keasts place, but nothing is decided yet.

Here is Romelu Lukaku (Striker). I don’t think he’s going to improve any more, though he’s got half a star of his 4 and a half star PA left apparently, but really he doesn’t need to. He’s a fantastic, dominant, world class Centre Forward, capable of bettering any defence in the world. I love Rom, he’s a club Icon and I’m sure he’ll be a legend soon enough. Just a truly superb player.

So that’s all the first team development, next up here’s a selection of the Loanees.

Loanee Development

Celtic Boys

I had five players who had time on loan at Celtic this year. Martin Smith was there until Januaray when he was recalled to be backup to Shaw, but these four spent all year at the European Champions, and here’s how they got on.

Glenn Wakeford (Central Midfield)

Glenn had a great year out at Celtic, and he’s now ready for a first team role if I want him. He’d offer great cover in either of my CM roles, though he’s not good enough to start in either yet. I’m not sure whether he’ll get loaned out or promoted next year, either way, he’s a very good young player who I’m looking forward to pushing forward with. He’s at one and a half stars of his four and a half star PA.

Andreas Christensen (Centre Back/DM)

Christensen was Celtic’s rock a the back this year, and he’s developed into a good all-round defender. He needs to work on his heading, but I like his physicality and mental attributes, I think he could easily provide cover in either CB position, he’ll probably be promoted to being my 5th choice Centre Back next season. He’s at two stars of a three star PA, he’ll never be outstanding, but he’ll be good solid cover.

Peter Nixon (Striker/AML) and Jason Cathcart (Central Midfielder/DC/ST)

These two both did well for Celtic, but I can’t see either ever making it for my first team, so I’ll probably be letting both go in the summer. Nixon doesn’t have the physical presence or technical ability to be a striker for me, and his technical attributes are too poor to make him into an Inside Forward, while with Cathcart I just don’t like one-footted players, and I don’t see a natural role for him in my squad anywhere. Still, both are good youngsters and should fetch nice fees with good sell-on clauses.

Selection of Other Loans

Lewis Lincoln (Striker) – Season Long Loan to Reading

Gary Pettigrew (Attacking Midfielder) – Southampton – Season Long Loan

A bit disappointed with this one to be honest. I’ve got high hopes for Pettigrew, and he started off as a regular in the Saints team, but as the season wore on he was relegated to the reserves and didn’t make any league appearances after February. That was frustrating, but he showed enough in the first half of the season that he’s ready to be a squad member for me, which is what’s putting pressure on Kakuta. Definitely something to think about there. He’s on two stars of a four and a half star PA.

Richard Hendry (Central Midfield/DM) – Leeds – Season Long Loan

Lincoln had a really good experience in a tough team. Reading got relegated, but it wasn’t because of Lincoln who scored 12 goals in 32 games and got 5 assists. He’s definitely capable of playing a role in my first team, the only question is – which role? His jumping isn’t really good enough to be my striker yet, and he can play decently as an AML, AMC, MC or ML, so he could definitely fill some role in my team. I’m leaning towards making him an AML, but I haven’t decided yet, so any thoughts on this would be great.

Physically superb but lacking in technical and mental attributes. Hendry is possibly going to be re-trained as a right back, as was suggested on here, but I’m still nervous that he’s just not going to quite make the cut for me. Not sure what’s going to happen to him next year, it’s a big season for him whatever happens. He’s at one and a half stars of a four star PA

Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Central Midfield/DM/AMC) – Wigan – Season Long Loan

It’s RLC vs. Wakeford for the spot as fifth choice midfielder in my squad. I’ve really got four players who are perfectly suited to the two main roles, and they’re already in the first team squad, but RLC and Wakeford could each player either role, and it wouldn’t hurt to have that one extra backup, so those two are competing for that role. Wakeford has a higher PA (Four and a Half Star to Three and a half star) but RLC has been here longer. It’s a difficult decision which I’ll make probably this summer, though I could delay it for another year if I loan out Wakeford again.

Franco Conti (Left Inside Forward) – Villa – Second Half of Season Loan

Conti had a great loan out at Villa, ending with an average rating of 7.22 and creating 3 goals and scoring 3 in 15 appearances. He’s looking like he’ll be a very good Inside Forward if given time, another loan deal beckons for him next year.

Manfred Vermuelen and Bartomeu (Both Centre Backs) – Seas Long Loans[/i]

I’ve put these both together as they’re both Centre Backs who have a key flaw – Jumping. I need both my Centre Backs to be able to jump well (at least 14 in Jumping) and these two don’t have that and I don’t think they’ll get it. I was hoping they’d improve with a loan, but neither improved in this area at all. Vermeulen will probably get another year’s loan before I sell him, but Bartomeu is on big wages for a youngster who I don’t think will make it, so he may leave in the summer.

Other Loanees

Players like Rafael Goni (Right Wing), Tarek Azzouzi (Right Back), and Luca Fornasiero (Central Midfielder) all had good loan moves and will be loaned out again before I decide what to do with them. However, Dion Conroy (Centre Back), Jordan Houghton (Defensive Midfielder), John Swift (Central Midfielder), Alex Kiwomya (Striker/AMR), and others are all possibly going to be sold. This includes the likes of Nawaf Ghulam, Joe Harkin, Michael Mockler, Anto Donaghy, John Keefe and Giulio Ciabatti, as they either haven’t developed as I’d like or they just won’t have a place in my squad. I’ll make all these decisions, and show you the outcomes, in the pre-season update.

Now, the players who stayed at the club in the youth teams. Just a selection here.

Youth Team Development

Team Performances

English Reserves Group B

First Phase – 2nd

Secnd Phase – 2nd

English Under 18s Group 1

First Phase – 1st

Second Phase – 1st

Final:

Chelsea 3 – 1 Southampton

NextGen Series – Didn’t qualify

An exact carbon copy of last years performances, second in the reserves and running away with the U18’s league, so another very pleasing season for the youngsters this year.

Youth Intake

I complete forgot to mention this in my March update! It’s probably because it was an uneventful year, nobody above two and a half stars in PA, but still a couple of players who I’ve snapped up:

Ollie Batchford (Right Back/DC) – two and half star PA and some good mental attributes and personality

Bradley Douglas (Centre Back) – Also two and a half star PA, good in the air but needs some work.

Keiran Winstanley (Central Midfiedler) – two star PA, great longshots and decent physical attributes

Ken Knock (Striker/MR) – probably the pick of the bunch, two and a half star PA, a decent target man who needs to seriously work on his pace, but I like his work rate and he could be solid enough.

I was probably due a less successful year after having Devonshire, Lincoln and my son come through in successive years! Still, nothing to complain about as they’re players who will be able to grow at the club and hopefully become solid professional players in years to come.

Youth Player Development

Here’s just a quick look at a few of those who really stood out in the Under 18’s and Reserves this year

Rob Terrace (Goalkeeper)

Not quite as good as Selby, but still an excellent young British keeper. I wanted to loan him out this year but go no takers, he definitely needs a loan next year or he’s going to stagnate. I’m hoping I can get him a Premier League or upper Championship loan, but we’ll have to see. He’s currently at two stars of a four and a half star PA.

Jim Morrison (Central Midfielder/MR)

Signed in the summer, Morrison has come along well this season. I think by the time he’s ready for first team football at the club, I could well be dealing with a request for a new challenge from McEachran or Baker (just the way the game tends to go), so it’s always good to prepare in advance and in Morrison I’ve got a real gem. He’s at one star of a four and a half star PA, he might stay for the first half of next season for some more tutoring, then he’ll be moved out on loan.

Jamie Charles (Defensive Midfielder/MC)

Charles is coming along nicely. Very good mentally but with a few technical (Tackling) and physical (Strength and Acceleration) improvements needed, he’ll be at the club for the start of next year before a loan move in January. He’s also at one star out of a four and a half star PA.

Garry Macbeth (Right Winger)

Garry spent the first half of the season out on loan before returning when I couldn’t find a longer loan deal for him. He’s undoubtedly a solid winger, good Pace, Dribbling and Crossing, but I’m not sure he’ll make it past Derry for a chance at the first team. He’ll probably have another loan deal next season, but may instead be sold. It’s a shame, he’s at two stars of a four and a half star PA, so he’ll definitely become a good player, I juts don’t think it’ll be for me sadly.

And finally…

Son Update

Graeme is improving slowly but steadily. His Strength has been my main focus this year, Positioning will be next. He’s been Tutored by JT and is now nicely Determined and has a Professional personality, so that’s all good. He also got appearances in the cups, the League and the Champions League, so he should have a few more winners medals to his name. My aim of making him the most decorated British footballer in history is definitely achievable if I can maintain the team’s success.

But I’m not sure what to do next. I’ve got a lot of Centre Backs, none of whom I want to leave, so his playing time here may be limited. I’m considering a loan deal for him next season, but that will damage my control over his development. What do you guys think? If it was any other player, I’d almost certainly be going for the loan, so should I put aside my fatherly intstincts and loan him out? Or should I ignore that and keep him on and try and get him a few more medals next year? Any thoughts appreciated.

Next

Well I think that’s it for my end of season review, this post especially has been a monster. There are still more players I haven’t filled you in on completely, but to be honest it’s just so time consuming I can’t go through all of them. I’m back to my usual updates now, though I think I’ll switch to every two months rather than every month, simply as it’ll mean I can get through things a bit quicker without worrying I’m falling behind in my updates.

So, I’ll get playing again and the Pre-Season update will be with you before long. Come on the Chels!

[Wonderkid36]

Can you post an SS of Britton please?He doesn't seem to have a link.Same with Shaw

I would probably loan Graeme out, it's what's best for him;)

[Skuli]

Taking a look at the centre backs

Crossan because of his age I would make him 3rd choice this year. For me he needs a lot of work on his first touch, technique, passing and as you said would be nice if you could get his concentration up

Devonshire would be my 4th choice. Again first touch, passing and technique is what I would look too improve

Your boy would be my 5th choice

All three look like they will be beasts defensively but as I’m sure you will have lots of the ball during games I would want them to be comfortable with it

I know you said you didn’t want to sell any centre backs but I would get rid of Christensen his bravery would worry me

[DBurns]

Some fantastic development as always mate

Having a few problems loading the images for Britton, Shaw and Baker.

Selby looks fantastic, surely must be very close to replacing Cech as your number 1, Devonshire looks a physical beast! Chalobah looks unbelievably good, hopefully I can develop him as good on my save. McEachran looks like a quality playmaker. Derry looks an interesting player with his high Flair, Agility and Speed as well as decent dribbling reminds me a bit of Victor Moses.

Also, seeing as you have Crossan who is Irish, how are Ireland doing and have they any other quality regens?

[Bracken]

Can you post an SS of Britton please?He doesn't seem to have a link.Same with Shaw

I would probably loan Graeme out, it's what's best for him;)

I really can't decide, I'll probably offer him out and see what response I get, and make my mind up from there. Screenshots up now.

Some fantastic development as always mate

Having a few problems loading the images for Britton, Shaw and Baker.

Selby looks fantastic, surely must be very close to replacing Cech as your number 1, Devonshire looks a physical beast! Chalobah looks unbelievably good, hopefully I can develop him as good on my save. McEachran looks like a quality playmaker. Derry looks an interesting player with his high Flair, Agility and Speed as well as decent dribbling reminds me a bit of Victor Moses.

Also, seeing as you have Crossan who is Irish, how are Ireland doing and have they any other quality regens?

Screenshots should be up now, that's always the problem with doing this updates late at night

The Chelsea boys have definitely come along well, especially Chalobah, McEachran and Baker, I'm hoping they can remain my core for years to come.

Comparing Derry to VicMo is actually a very good shout, very similar players with their directness and phyiscality without the ability to do too much with it when they get there. I'm hoping Derry will turn out better for me than VicMo did, as I ended up selling him because his PPM's didn't fit into my system at all really.

Ireland are 48th in the world but do have a few interesting regens, two strikers in the Prem, one at United who's going to be very good and one at QPR who's interesting too. Other than that there aren't too many about yet, but I'm expecting them to improve as the years go on, their League has improved a little too.

[Bracken]

Taking a look at the centre backs

Crossan because of his age I would make him 3rd choice this year. For me he needs a lot of work on his first touch, technique, passing and as you said would be nice if you could get his concentration up

Devonshire would be my 4th choice. Again first touch, passing and technique is what I would look too improve

Your boy would be my 5th choice

All three look like they will be beasts defensively but as I’m sure you will have lots of the ball during games I would want them to be comfortable with it

I know you said you didn’t want to sell any centre backs but I would get rid of Christensen his bravery would worry me

I would say that Devonshire is definitely my third choice now, his performances last year were stunning for a youngster, with a rating of over 7.6 over the season he was one of my standout performers.

I'm not massively worried by the low Technique, First Touch or Passing as despite the fact I often dominate possession, my Centre Backs are never asked to do anything fancy at all. I'm more than happy with an 'if in doubt get it out' style of defending, I'm not looking for any sort of Barca-style building from the back. The Centre-backs job is just to keep things very, very simple, so those attributes aren't a big worry. I'd like to improve their First Touch a little, particularly Crossan as you say, but it's not my major concern, first and foremost the job is to just maximise their ability to defend solidly, which they did well last year and I'd love to replicate it.

As for Christensen, the low Bravery and Aggression are a worry, but his good Physical attributes and high Anticipation, along with his length of service at the club mean I think he deserves a shot at a first team spot, even if it's just as 5th choice. It'll probably be just the one year, but it should at least increase his market value and gain me a nice profit when I sell him in the summer.

[ShortSharpShock]

Really impressed with the development of Jamal Blackman, Luke Shaw and Lewis Baker. But the standout player for me has to be Nathaniel Chalobah, what a talent that boy is!!

[DBurns]

Screenshots should be up now, that's always the problem with doing this updates late at night

The Chelsea boys have definitely come along well, especially Chalobah, McEachran and Baker, I'm hoping they can remain my core for years to come.

Comparing Derry to VicMo is actually a very good shout, very similar players with their directness and phyiscality without the ability to do too much with it when they get there. I'm hoping Derry will turn out better for me than VicMo did, as I ended up selling him because his PPM's didn't fit into my system at all really.

Ireland are 48th in the world but do have a few interesting regens, two strikers in the Prem, one at United who's going to be very good and one at QPR who's interesting too. Other than that there aren't too many about yet, but I'm expecting them to improve as the years go on, their League has improved a little too.

Yea, agree with Moses - his Decisions and PPM's are annoying although he is a good alternative to Oscar for me at AMR and last season got 10 goals and 9 assists in 23(12) appearances.

Nice to hear about Ireland that as the game goes on they get some good regens

[Bracken]

So, despite not using FMRTE to edit the stadium name as I'd considered, I'm worry my save may be corrupted. I can't seem to continue past a certain point. I'm trying to reload a backup and holiday past it now, but I'm not confident.

[Bracken]

Well seems to be ok for the moment, hoping it's not an issue in the future again

[Skuli]

Well seems to be ok for the moment, hoping it's not an issue in the future again

Will keep my fingers crossed

[markyosullivan]

Nathaniel Chalobah looks great. Have high hopes for him in RL, really think he could be a great player for us.

[braddockmatt]

Looks like your having brilliant success. I am Chelsea in my save and implementing the same ethos as you have, however my team is set up exactly the same way as yours but im not getting the results. I have read your blog about opposition instructions which i found very helpful, however i noticed by showing them on to the strong foot and pushing them wide only works when i play against a simple 4-4-2, i played against Juventus (5-3-2), Man city (Narrow 4-2-3-1) and the ripped my defence to shreads. I understand this isnt the tactics area so i shouldnt be posting this, however i dont know how to get a reply from you elsewhere. Do you use shouts during the games ? if so what do you find that helps you?

[Bracken]

Looks like your having brilliant success. I am Chelsea in my save and implementing the same ethos as you have, however my team is set up exactly the same way as yours but im not getting the results. I have read your blog about opposition instructions which i found very helpful, however i noticed by showing them on to the strong foot and pushing them wide only works when i play against a simple 4-4-2, i played against Juventus (5-3-2), Man city (Narrow 4-2-3-1) and the ripped my defence to shreads. I understand this isnt the tactics area so i shouldnt be posting this, however i dont know how to get a reply from you elsewhere. Do you use shouts during the games ? if so what do you find that helps you?

No worries mate. Juve caused me a lot of problems until I figured out how to play against them (see seasons 1 and 2), and you're right Shouts are the key. Against Juve, or other teams that play with three Central defenders and Wing Backs, I go to an almost Stoke style of football, using the Shouts:

- Hit Early Crosses

- Get the Ball Forward

- Pump Balls Into The Box

- Exploit The Flanks

The key to breaking them down is about getting in behind them quickly and dominating them in the air, so you'll need a striker who's very good physically. I've found this strategy works really well against them and other teams that play that way. With City, I've found my usual instructions work, but you can also go into Player Instructions in the game and set your Full Backs to man-mark their wider Attacking Midfielders, and set your Ball Winning Midfielder to man-mark their Central Attacking Midfielder. This should help to reduce the time and space they get in the area outside your box.

Hope that helps mate

[Bracken]

Pre-Season 2016/17

A New Home to defend our Invincible Title

New Stadium

So the big news to start everything off is that we're in our new stadium. Chelsea Stadium (still hate the name) is a 58,000 seater stadium which should give us a nice boost in income, and will make up for the new contracts I'll have to dish out this year. It's a great new start for the club, and in some ways is the culmination of all the progress I've made on the financial front. Having really trimmed down the wage bill, made good profits in the transfer market and increased the overall value of the club, I can now enjoy the benefits of being a profitable club, meaning I don't need to worry quite so much about the wage bill or transfer spending, we're on good solid footing.

Tansfers

In:

Just youngsters as usual, nothing particularly special, I don't expect any of them to really become first teamers in the future, they're mainly here to either fill a space in the Youth team squads, gain squad player status some day, or be sold for big profits. Here are the best three:

James Egerton (Central Midfielder/DM) - £1.2m from Man United

Fabrice Redon (Attacking Midfielder/MC - Retraining to AMR) - £575k from Cannes

Uwe Schuster (Attacking Midfilder/MC) - £700k from St. Pauli

Total: 13 players for £10.25m

Out:

A lot of players here, so here we go:

John Obi Mikel - £14.5m to Monaco

Obi wanted a new challenge and it was just the right time for us to part ways. It is a real shame, I would've loved him to have stayed, but when players want a new challenge I have to let them go, and so off went Obi for a new French adventure.

Gael Kakuta - £12.5m plus clauses to Newcastle

It was time for Gael to move on. He'd performed pretty well in his two years in the first team, but his attitude wasn't great, he has awful PPMs, and he wanted a massive wage increase to renew his deal. All these together meant he had to go, again it was a shame to lose him, but it had to be done. He'll be a more important player for Newcastle, and I feel he's developed well and deserves a first team role somewhere, so I hope he does well there.

Islam Feruz - £11.5m plus clauses to Stoke

Islam wanted a massive, massive wage increase to stick around, and as he'd seemed to have plateaued in terms of development, I let him go. I felt the money was pretty great for a player who wasn't going to be first team and wasn't improving. I hope he does well there, and gets a big money move elsewhere, as then I'll get a nice big bonus from it, but at least he'll get more games for them. I didn't intent to sell him, but I wasn't going to give him anywhere near £100k p/w, so it was a good deal for both of us.

Nawaf Ghulam (Striker) - £11.5m plus clauses, with £18m buy-back clause, to Stoke

Ok, hear me out on this one. Ghulam is probably the best young striker in the game (after maybe Lewis Lincoln), he had 5 star potential and had done well out on loan. So I'd be crazy to sell him right? Well, here's the thing. He wanted £40k p/w to renew his deal which was expiring, and while that's not a huge wage issue, he's not exactly the right striker for me. He's not Strong enough or Brave enough, and I've got Lincoln and Keast who are both British and ahead of him in my pecking order. I've also got the opportunity to buy him back at just a small rise on what I paid which I can easily afford, so the way I see it, it's good money for a player I can't find a place for, and I can always have him back if I need to.

Bartomeu (Central Defender)] - £8m plus clauses to Sunderland

The boy can't jump. He's a great player, with a very good PA, but he can't jump, and I need that in my Centre Backs. I'd originally wanted him to be Devonshire's partner in defence, but with my son coming through he lost that role, and so this was a good deal. I get a nice chunk of any profits too. I'm sure he'll play for one of the top clubs in the world at some point, and when he does, I'll be ready to cash in. It's a shame as I had high hopes for him, but that's the way the game goes sometimes.

Garry Macbeth (Right Wing) - £7.5m plus clauses to Stoke (noticing a pattern?)

Garry is yet another player I really didn't want to lose but the money was just too good and I don't have a place for him in the team. For some reason (even though he's definitely got some poorer stats than Garry) I prefer Derry as my British right-wing option, and I've still got Oscar and Ramires who can play there, along with two Brazilian regens who will arrive in January and the end of the season who might eventually get games there too. So he just didn't have a space, and I know he'll do very well at Stoke (who I'll talk about in a moment) and hopefully he's another who can earn me a nice bonus at some point with a sell-on fee.

Peter Nixon (Striker/AML) - £5.75m plus clauses to Stoke

Another youngster, another Stoke deal. Nixon was never going to be technically good enough for my Inside Forward role, or physically good enough to be my Striker, so I let him go and hope he does well with the others at Stoke

Jason Cathcart (Central Midfielder/DC/ST) - £5.5m plus clauses to Huddersfield

Firstly, I don't like very one-footed players. Secondly, I just couldn't find a real place for him in the squad. While I do like versatility, Cathcart kind of suffered from having too much of it, he was okay in a number of positions but not great in any single one. So off he went, and again I hope he brings us a nice profit sometime in the future.

Joe Harkin (Goalkeeper) - £6m plus clauses to Norwich

I've got a good history of goalkeepers with Norwich, managed by Zola of course. With Selby, Blackman and young Rob Terrace on my books, my quota of good young British goalkeepers is pretty well filled, so I decided to let Joe go off and join Gianfranco. I'm hoping he'll work his magic and develop Harkin into something special who can earn a big money move sometime in the future.

Anto Donaghy (Central Defender) - £3.5m plus clauses to Rangers[/i]

He had a few injuries last season that really hampered his development and I don't think he'll ever be good enough for my squad, so it was time for him to move on and hopefully earn a nice big move from Rangers in a few years time.

John Swift, Calum Hardwick, Dion Conroy, Alex Kiwomya, Jordan Houghton, Tom Green, Tom Godfrey, Kieran Payne, Kevin Ryan, Martin Riley - Minimal fees (Under £1m) all with big sell on clauses

These were youngsters who sadly weren't going to make it for me, but they all got moves to either Premier League or Championship clubs and all with fees that will hopefully earn me more as the seasons go on. I was particularly sad to lose Kiwomya and Swift, as on another save they probably would've made it for me, but it's just the way the development has gone this season and the youngsters I've found and who've come through the academy who have taken their places. Still, I hope they'll do well elsewhere.

Total: £90m

A massive amount of cash to bring in, all over 48 month payments, so that should provide us with a nice financial basis for years to come.

Pre-Season Fixtures

I picked Norwich as our first home match at the new stadium, bringing Zola to the dugout again to be part of the atmosphere, and it didn't disappoint with us running out 5-1 winners. The other games were pretty straightforward until the Milan game, which was meant to be a tough test, and it proved so. They played an odd, narrow formation that I hadn't come up against before, and they troubled us at the back but luckily Mata was on form and bagged a hat trick to give us the win. A good few wins, few goals conceded, and so we've got a nice foundation to build from in the coming season.

The Squad

So here's my squad for the year ahead. No major changes from last year really, just three players coming in. Christensen gets a shot as my fifth choice Centre Back, as I think John Terry may not be able to cope with too many games any more. Then there's Garry Pettigrew as my new backup AMC to replace Kakuta and Lewis Lincoln will get chances at both Striker and Left-Wing as an Inside Forward to replace Feruz. Should give me a good few options, and I'm hopeful of a good season ahead.

Stoke - The Chelsea That Could've Been?

So here's an interesting thing. Stoke, still managed by Tony Pulis, now have 8 former Chelsea players. 8! It's crazy! That's including players who were at Chelsea before my reign (Huth and now Miroslav Stoch) but they've also signed 6 players from me on this save, which is a bit crazy. It's interesting as it'll be a great chance for me how they would've developed together had I held onto them. It also means they could well prove a challenge to me in the Premier League in the future...

An Interesting Offer

So this happened:

Brendan Rodgers' team crashed out in the group stage (there's no other way to go out in the group stage, you have to crash) and he resigned after the tournament. AVB was the favourite, but...

So, the real question is, do I take it? You'll find out soon...

Next

I'm going to be doing updates every two months or so this time rather than monthly, as with the blog and this career it's a lot of FM writing not that I mind of course. Anyway, we've got Southampton in the Community Shield before the big kick off. We've also got Barcelona in the Super Cup, so that'll be a big challenge, and the biggest Prem game in the next couple of months comes in the form of Tottenham visiting the Bridge at the end of September. So, that's my Pre-Season update, on with the season!

[Wonderkid36]

Wow, you made a hell of lot of money there!

You should definitely take the England job, as you can get your son to become captain and win the World Cup.

[crewe_york]

I'd wait until young Graeme is ready to step up into the England captains role and then take them to World Cup glory and not get to distracted from creating a Chelsea legacy trying to prematureley win it. I got a bit worried when I read about your save corrupting but very glad to see it working again. Great season Bracken, looking forward to the next one

[braddockmatt]

Just one quick questions, what instructions do you normally use ? for example, if you should dominate the opposition at home with the control tactic, compared to when you play against the city's and united's ? but thanks for the help so far mate.

[b101]

You're Stoke's feeder club

[hibees2]

Take the England job! In my Rangers save, I'm Scotland as well. Not wanting to brag but I led them to 3rd place in the World Cup and an all time high of 3rd in the World rankings. It's good combining the two, and especially with all the English players you have at the club, you'll have more control over them internationally and it will only help your Chelsea side.

[Bracken]

Well, to put you out of your misery:

A New Challenge

I couldn't turn it down really.The opportunity to get my son England caps was enough on its own, but I have other reasons too. it's going to be a heavily Chelsea inspired England squad no matter who the manager is, and I can supplement that with some other top talent, it's an exciting squad to work with and they really should've performed better at the Euros. I'd love to add a World Cup or Euro Championship to my CV, so I'll be doing my best to bring football home.

Also, take a look at Brendan Rodgers new job

Update on August and September is on the way soon

[Bracken]

Wow, you made a hell of lot of money there!

You should definitely take the England job, as you can get your son to become captain and win the World Cup.

I'd wait until young Graeme is ready to step up into the England captains role and then take them to World Cup glory and not get to distracted from creating a Chelsea legacy trying to prematureley win it. I got a bit worried when I read about your save corrupting but very glad to see it working again. Great season Bracken, looking forward to the next one

Take the England job! In my Rangers save, I'm Scotland as well. Not wanting to brag but I led them to 3rd place in the World Cup and an all time high of 3rd in the World rankings. It's good combining the two, and especially with all the English players you have at the club, you'll have more control over them internationally and it will only help your Chelsea side.

Well there are you answers. As for my son, he's not going to be England captain for a good few years, certainly not until he's Chelsea captain as well, but he will be getting caps, as many as possible. Hopefully the press won't get too annoyed. I'm going to be as realistic with him as I can at Chelsea, but I might take a few liberties with England

[Bracken]

You're Stoke's feeder club

That statement causes me great pain will be interesting to see how they get on though.

Just one quick questions, what instructions do you normally use ? for example, if you should dominate the opposition at home with the control tactic, compared to when you play against the city's and united's ? but thanks for the help so far mate.

Not sure I quite get what you mean, I usually don't change anything from my normal instructions unless I'm struggling in a game (when I might go Stoke-style or change to an Attacking strategy) or if I'm up against a formation I know I struggle against I'll go Stoke-style, and if it's a game I'm looking to hold the lead I'll switch to a Counter-style at the end of the match

[DBurns]

Good decision taking the England job, will only help to further develop your young English players and get you onto the favoured personnel of other teams young players hopefully!

Productive transfer window, quite a clear out you had. Good luck with the season

And suppose I may thank you for getting me into my own save with Chelsea!

[ShortSharpShock]

A solid pre-season and some serious money brought into the club from transfers.

Congratulations on the England job too!!

[Bracken]

August/September 2016

Chelsea Fixtures

Well, we started off with a nice solid win in the Community Shield to continue our run in that competition. The first two league games were decent enough though I would've liked clean sheets, then the Super Cup came along. Barca have a real dream team, they've added Neymar and Ter-Stegen to their ranks alongside all their already world class talent. We were missing Chalobah, Luiz and others, so it wasn't my strongest squad and to be honest they deserved to win it in normal time. We were really dominated but defended well, despite them having about 20 shots, only 4 were inside the area, and we did sometimes threaten on the counter. We went down to 10 men in extra-time and that basically ended our chances, they grabbed two goals before Oscar got a very late consolation, and that was that. Still, I was delighted with the response, not conceding in any of the rest of our games that month, a fantastic win over Spurs where we dominated every area, and the only disappointment being the draw with Derby. Overall, very pleased. With our progress.

The League Table

So both us and City have started very well and it looks like they'll again be the main threat to our title. They've got their perfect record so far, while we dropped those two annoying points away at Derby, but they've had a really easy run so far so I'm not too worried. We'll be playing them in December, and that comes at the end of a really tough run for them of Liverpool, Arsenal and United away from home, so hopefully we can get points in that one. Until then, I'm happy with how we're getting on. Huddersfield have started really poorly, as have West Ham and it looks like they could have long hard seasons ahead, while Stoke are again threatening to grab a top 4 spot.

England Fixtures

Taking the job I immediately set up a friendly with the auld enemy at Wembley, and the team played superbly in a dominating 3-0 win. As you can see I've given Lewis Lincoln a place in the side and he's doing excellently so far as our main striker. I play basically the same shape with England as I do at Chelsea, and I figured the Scotland game gave me a chance to see how Lincoln would play in the striking role and he did it very well. The San Marino game was as easy as they come, and you'll see by the scoresheet the team had a strong Chelsea flavour. I made Phil Jones my Captain but gave the Vice Captaincy to Chalobah as I felt he was ready, and both players have done very well and justified my decision. Then came the Wales game which was pretty tough, but we squeaked out a win thanks to Wilshere's winner, and we sit happily top of our group with two wins from two. I'll show you the group, and my Chelsea CL group, in the next update.

Next

Chelsea

October sees a few big games, Liverpool at home and Man United away in the League, and we face Arsenal at Chelsea Stadium at the end of November. We'll also play Galatasary twice and Rapid Wien again, two of the easier draws we could've got so we should get through pretty comfortably. Villa at home is out Capital One Cup draw.

England

Away at Belarus and Home to Scotland are our two qualifying matches, and then we end the year with a friendly at home against Algeria. I'm looking for three wins here, but the Scotland game could be tough, we walked over them in the Friendly but I don't expect to do the same in a qualifier.

[Bracken]

Good decision taking the England job, will only help to further develop your young English players and get you onto the favoured personnel of other teams young players hopefully!

Productive transfer window, quite a clear out you had. Good luck with the season

And suppose I may thank you for getting me into my own save with Chelsea!

A solid pre-season and some serious money brought into the club from transfers.

Congratulations on the England job too!!

Cheers lads, and great to see more people doing Chelsea saves, we always get neglected on FM

[hibees2]

Had a fairly successful short save with Derby so that draw against them is no surprise to me! You may not want to, but how are Will Hughes and Mason Bennett in-game? Both are pretty awesome youngsters, and Will Hughes definitely improves massively as the seasons go on...Did you consider bringing them into your Chelsea side at all?

[Bracken]

Had a fairly successful short save with Derby so that draw against them is no surprise to me! You may not want to, but how are Will Hughes and Mason Bennett in-game? Both are pretty awesome youngsters, and Will Hughes definitely improves massively as the seasons go on...Did you consider bringing them into your Chelsea side at all?

Bennett is decent but not outstanding on mine, but Hughes is a very good player. He's at Fulham now and I've just given him his first England cap, he's worth about £11m as well. I thought about bringing him in at the start of the save, but I already had McEachran and Baker for his role, so I just didn't need him and didn't want to bring him in and not be able to give him the game time he'd need to develop. Good player though

[hibees2]

Sounds about right. He seems to be one of the brightest prospects in the game, basically took me up single-handedly with Derby. You're quite right though, I tried to break him into the first team to not tire him out, but when he was my best player it was difficult not to play him!

Any news on a new update soon?

[Bracken]

Sounds about right. He seems to be one of the brightest prospects in the game, basically took me up single-handedly with Derby. You're quite right though, I tried to break him into the first team to not tire him out, but when he was my best player it was difficult not to play him!

Any news on a new update soon?

Yeah sorry, just haven't had any time to write yet, should be one up tomorrow taking you to the end of December

[Bracken]

Righty, sorry about the gap, here's the newest update:

October/November Fixtures

December Fixtures

Right so a lot to get through. The win over Liverpool was fantastic, Devonshire has become an incredibly powerful weapon from set pieces, grabbing a tap in from a corner and then a header from a free kick, before rounding out a hat trick with a penalty. It could've been even better against Liverpool as we missed another two penalties, but 6 goals will have to do. The draw away at United was a tough match, I felt we probably deserved a point but it was very difficult to break them down. The other wins in October and November were fairly routine, the only downer in the month was the Norwich game, our 4-0 win meant they sacked Zole

December saw us in fine goalscoring form, though we conceded more often than I would've liked. It also saw us rack up another Club World Cup, the games weren't easy but we just about squeezed out the wins. We were missing Hazard for part of this month, and although he returned at the end of the month he then got injured again and will be missing for all of January which is a real pain. Still, a lot of good wins this month, and we're in fine form heading into the new year. The big victory was obviously the win over City away, though they dominated possession and had a lot of shots, they were all from long range and we kept them away from the danger area very well and then hit them on the break, just how I wanted to play, and those three points are big, with the mental effect on them being even bigger.

The League Table

So we've opened up a very nice healthy 9 point gap a the top of the table, with it stretching to 12 if we win our game in hand. We're well on our way to our first title at Chelsea Stadium in our first season there, and right now we're even on track for another unbeaten season, but I can't see us maintaining that really. It's a good battle at the bottom to stay up, a lot of teams well in the fight, and another good challenge between Spurs and Stoke for the last Champions League place, I'm hoping Stoke can make it but we'll see.

UEFA Champions League

An easy group to be honest and we dominated it as I would've expected from this team. It's Sevilla in the next round, a tough team but one we should be winning really.

Awards

Not as dominant as last year here, Cristiano Ronaldo clearly had a great year, winning both the Ballon d'or and World Player of the Year, with Lukaku in the top three for both and Hazard making into Player of the Year. We did get one significant victory with Scott Devonshire (Centre Back/DR) getting the European Golden Boy Award. We also had a good few players in Team of the Year:

Next

The big thing this month is the final arrival of this boy:

Antonio (Attacking Midfielder/MC)

he's absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to mange him. I'm considering re-training him as a Right-winger, I feel he'd provide the perfect backup to Oscar as he's a very similar player, and if he can play both positions he'll get more game time. He's going to be a big asset into the future. Our big problem this month is going to be fixture congestion. The problems of FM scheduling are going to hit us hard in January, we've got three games in six days at one point and there will be a lot of matches to play. We've got United in the Capital One Cup Semi-final, and Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Third Round. In the League, the big games coming soon are Tottenham and Stoke away with United at home, tough matches and I'd like at least a win and two draws from those three. Other than that it should be plain sailing, but you really never know in this league, especially without Hazard it's going to be tough.

[Bracken]

England

Fixtures

The win against Belarus was tough but we ground it out. The Scotland game was a real roller-coaster, they gave us a much bigger challenge than in the friendly game. We were 2-0 down right up until 78 minutes, when the comeback began. Welbeck came off the bench with a fantastic effect as we somehow managed to steal a win. We were the poorer side on the day, but I'll happily take those three points. The Algeria game let me change a few things around and it was a decent performance and result.

World Cup Qualifying Group

A long way to go, but four wins from four is a great start. It's a very British qualifying group this one, and the games away at Wales and Scotland are going to be really big for the country, I'm desperate to win those two, I'd take a draw away, and even at home to Poland, and we should soundly thrash San Marino. Some big games coming up, but first Greece away in a friendly at the end of January.

[DBurns]

Fantastic updates as usual mate, keep it going!

Another unbeaten season looks on the cards, would be some achievement having two successive undefeated league campaigns.

Antonio looks quality! I have a player I bought at the start of season 3 who is very similar in ways to Antonio in that he is an MC/AMC who I'm retraining as a AMR. My AMR is highly reliant on PPM's as I use mixed on all the instructions meaning Ramires plays it differently to Oscar who played it differently to how Moses played it but Sawadogo is different in that he is explosive and a brilliant dribbler but a poor crosser with solid playmaking attributes and also good in the air (not quite Ronaldo good) plus he is only 16!

[B.W.G]

Going brilliantly so far and hopefully you will be able to carry on your brilliant form.Can't say I am too surprised that Sawadogo is French,they seem to produce a lot of quality players in other people's saves He will become a brilliant player for you in the future.

[jayahr]

Just read through all of this.

Very impressive , especially your tactical analysis.

Just wondering now for how long you will remain motivated to keep going. It seems you have already achieved all your goals before and now you have even managed to repeat your success while upkeeping the other stuff, plus a new stadium and so on... Guess by this time I would get bored.

[AcidBurn]

Going very well all round, any plans to move on in the near future or is the Chelsea job long term?

[Paolo Willenté]

Just read through the whole thing. Excellent career so far, I've actually started bringing some of your ideas to Spain in my save.

What is Roman's happiness like at the moment? Is he still enjoying it or showing any signs of wanting to sell up?

[Paolo Willenté]

Also, I don't suppose you know what the Orange square next to your name means? I've seen that a few times on various games...

[Lenzar]

The square is an irritating feature that appears if you use notes. It basically shows you have a note on someone.