FM14: Liverpool F.C Thread - This Year is our Year!

[WeSingForWanderers]

Ok, I'm posting from work again as I always forget at home (too busy playing!)

First season done. Won the league (by 12 points) thanks to teams 2-4 all dropping massive points over the last 6 games. Man U only won once and Arsenal twice in that period! Won the league cup 2-1 against Norwich after ET, won't the FA cup 3-1 against Man City after ET. Big shocks were Man City (8th) and Chelsea (10th). Relegated teams were: Crystal Palace, Fulham, and Southampton!

Decided to overhaul the squad for this season as a lot of players didn't fit my style so some had to play 45+ games, and with Europe next year I need a better squad. So, transfers I can remember are:

Out

Kelly - Newcastle - $7.5m

Borini - West Ham - $5m

Aspas - Norwich - $8.5m

Enrique - Shaktar - $30m -wasn't going to sell him, but couldn't resist that money!

Coates - Norwich -$3m

Sturridge - AC Milan - $35m - absolute pants for me. Only scored 7 times last season and 5 of those came in 2 cup games against league 1 teams!

In

Drogba - free -scored a hatrick in first friendly!

Valdes - free - win European GK of the year last year!

Balanta - $6m

Shaw -Southampton - $19m

Ward-Prowse - Southampton - $10m - loaned back

Sigurdson (spelt wrong) - Tottenham - $8.5m

2 Scottish regents from Dundee and Motherwell - $2m combined

And my new favourite signing:

Ramsey - Arsenal -$35m - put in a transfer request!! Oxlaide-Chamberlin (spelt wrong) has put one in too, don't think I have enough money left over to get him though!

Also have Will Hughes and Callum Chambers joining me this season after it loaned them back to Derby and Southampton respectively last season. Chambers will play this season, but Hughes might go back out for another season as I have quite a few CM/DM players competing for the 3 spots and he may not get enough game time.

Real Madrid are interested in Lucas, have a value of $85m on him and they are still listed as high interest (PSG vanished when I upped it from $55m) he's been fantastic for me so far, but have Gerrard and Honda in DM training to take over if I sell him.

Bring on the new season!

Oh, and England lost the World Cup 2-nil to France!

[DuncanJM]

That's some good signings there, and at good values as well. I agree about Lucas, he is my most important player!

[ADoubleK]

anyone had this before?playing home games in Manchester wouldn't go down well irl

Could be a bug? Lol.

[glenn28]

Could be a bug? Lol.

Was in FM 13 as well

[lfc7]

Alright lads long time no speak, been busy with my Shakhtar save and thread, might start a save with my beloved LFC but will have to be in FMC mode as it's taken me ages just to get to season 3 with Shakhtar, i plan to switch between the two saves.

Unsure what formation to use, may go with the 4-1-2-2-1 am using on my Shakhtar save although Sturridge would have to be shifted to the right and i can't improve his crossing on FMC mode. What formation is everyone else going with ?

[WeSingForWanderers]

Ok, understated what I paid for Ward-Prowse, it was $10m upfront and $15m over the next 48 months. I unsettled him a lot to make him want to leave Southampton.

Just received an offer out of nowhere for Coutinho. Real Madrid have offered $50m, I've countered with $100m, there is no way I'm turning down that money!

[Fancy Gaffot]

Starting third season, sold Sakho (35m), Agger (12m), Johnson (10m) and Enrique (10m). So going to have a new back four of Shaw - Balanta - Papadopoulos - Corchia.

Also got Hamsik for 27m and trying to get Ozil from Arsenal who finished 10th

[dangerpuss]

I'm tempted to get back into FM again. Is the game in a decent state yet?

It's a pity Sturridge still looks quite poor. Understandably Coates, Robinson and Kelly all look to have been significantly downgraded.

[glenn28]

Loading up for a bit

[eastley]

Starting third season, sold Sakho (35m), Agger (12m), Johnson (10m) and Enrique (10m). So going to have a new back four of Shaw - Balanta - Papadopoulos - Corchia.

Also got Hamsik for 27m and trying to get Ozil from Arsenal who finished 10th

Why sell Sakho? He turns out to be a more consistent and better performer than Balanta for me. I sold him for $50m when he turned 29 in my game.

[Fancy Gaffot]

Just decided to, 35m is a good chunk of money. Transfer window was busy:

out - Mignolet (15m), Agger (12m), Johnson (10m), Enrique (10m), Sturridge (40m), Sakho (35m), Ilori, Robinson, Coates, Wisdom (~10m combined)

in - Jackson Martinez (26m), Ozil (45m), Hamsik (27m), Indi (2.4m + Assaidi), Zieler (free), Stanciu (9m), couple of regens

Couldn't get Inigo Martinez and Courtois who were both sold for just 9m.

[Ifail]

Here is a list of my personal must buy after reaching third season ( i just went by and seehow the players go)

4-3-3

Werner (or cerri)

ibe,sterling,suso,coutinho,alberto, Ledson (from everton u18 u can get him 2nd season)

gaston gil romero (allen, hendo are quite good squad players after the first 2 season there stats are quite good) - rossiter chiverella are goof long term project

jonathan silva (robinson) sakho(balanta),papadopolous(kelly),de scilio(flanagan) defenders can get first season

for gk u can sell mignolet first season get sceny or terstegen deepends really but with good defenders im sure they get bored standing in goalie

[dangerpuss]

How do people play Suarez? I've been playing him as a Complete Forward and he's been awful. Missing one-on-ones and generally playing worse than Aspas.

[ADoubleK]

How do people play Suarez? I've been playing him as a Complete Forward and he's been awful. Missing one-on-ones and generally playing worse than Aspas.

Have you told him to learn to place shots? That should help. Also his composure is only 13, but should be higher imo, so that is what I get him to train on. Though, I've not seen if it works or not since I've not gotten past December yet!

[dangerpuss]

Have you told him to learn to place shots? That should help. Also his composure is only 13, but should be higher imo, so that is what I get him to train on. Though, I've not seen if it works or not since I've not gotten past December yet!

I'll try that, thanks. I played Aspas up front last game as an Advanced Forward and he scored two great goals.

[Fancy Gaffot]

Have you told him to learn to place shots? That should help. Also his composure is only 13, but should be higher imo, so that is what I get him to train on. Though, I've not seen if it works or not since I've not gotten past December yet!

tbf I buffed his finishing, composure and free kicks and he still got just 26 in 65 games for me.

[glenn28]

Hate it when your 1st & 2nd choice keepers are out injured

EDIT:Now my 3rd choice is injured great but only short term so ok

[Guest]

I think this is my first post in this thread for Fm2014. Anyhow, playing as Liverpool, I found that it was pretty much just being able to survive that first season and then pushing on from there. I'm in 2018 and only won my first trophy last season (League Cup), but it's finally starting to come together. Mainly because of this guy's progress:

Training him up to use either foot knocked a few attributes down, but it was definitely worth it. Rossiter is looking decent too, and Suso is playing well (for Norwich), but no one else has really come through. Oh, and I got 2 pretty amazing English newgens:

Had to ship out Sturridge (just awful with all those long shots) and Suarez (moaning far too much and not bagging enough goals), along with almost everyone else in the squad. It's a hard slog, playing as Liverpool, I'm only just starting to really enjoy it now I've got a tactic that seems to actually work consistently and the players to fit it.

[Ifail]

managed to snaged lukaku firs transfer window (but he will come at the end of season) for 41 mil @,@ 10upfront 21 mil for 48 months and some clauses

[ADoubleK]

tbf I buffed his finishing, composure and free kicks and he still got just 26 in 65 games for me.

Oh wow. Compared to how he's been in 2013, that's pretty bad. He should've had higher stats from the start, but yeah.

[ADoubleK]

Just lost my first match of the season. 2-0 away to Arsenal. Giroud with both. Played so badly.

Managed a last minute draw at HOME to S'ton. Hope the team doesn't start falling apart.

[Mogzilla86]

started with liverpool a couple of nights ago, currently 5th 7 points off the top, signed will hughes in the summer and sent him straight back to derby, now in jan and just signed lowendowski for 5.5m!!! Sturridge has 17 for me this season tho so gonna be hard to shove him on the right

[Mogzilla86]

playing rossiter a lot as well as it looks like he becomes awesome, hes played 7 games for me so far

[GR3NDAL]

Season 2 REVIEW

A slightly disappointing league campaign in which we for the second time finished adrift of Man U was offset by magnificent performances in the cups.

Premier League : 2nd Liverpool 75pts (Winner Man U 80pts)

FA CUP: Final WON vs Crystal Palace 3-0 (Coutinho, J.Sinclair, Paloschi)

Champion League: Final WON vs FCP 3-1 (Coutinho,Y.Toure, Paloschi)

Players

After giving Aspas and Borini chances up front I decided to give my only season 1 cash signing Alberto Paloschi the spot partnering Suarez up front. Paloschi cost 5m and I only bought him because he was a legend on previous versions of FM. He is never particulary rated by the scouts/coaches but it seems he still can score goals

Suarez had a good season again played mainly as a Trequartista.

Gerrard was still performing well though his injury proneness measns I will probably make Yaya captain next season.

Sakho proves to be the most consistant of the center backs so I turned down bids for him from Juventus.

I have high hopes for Rossiter and Sinclair who both got some first team action .

I am also happy with the performances of my FREE transfers Valdes and Candreva.

The only major transfer in during the season was Balanta for 5m and Alex for 1m.

Pre-season 3 transfer window

Splashed the cash on Axel Witsel for 20million as I am worried Gerrard may retire soon.

Got rid of some players who just wouldn't get in the team anymore such as Aspas,Borini,Johnson.

Also changed some staff around. I like to have ex-players on my staff and now have Mauro Tassotti as my Assman, Andreas Brehme as my Director. Also on the coaching staff are David Platt, Clive Allen, Marcel Daisally, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and Terry McDermott.

[Davey Boy]

Would you guys sell Daniel Sturridge for 46m pounds?

Im in June 2015, he's been playing decent enough but 46m??? should i sell?

[Ifail]

DId his teamwork increase? if it did il keep him if not sell him (are you using a edited db?)

[Fancy Gaffot]

Would you guys sell Daniel Sturridge for 46m pounds?

Im in June 2015, he's been playing decent enough but 46m??? should i sell?

Definitely, I sold for 40 also in June 2015. Again, I've slightly increased his stats but he was far from impressive. 11 goals in the first season and 10 in the second (27 games though each season and some on the right wing).

[Ifail]

greandal how u get yaya toure

[WI5ARD]

i sold sturridge 1st week of season 1 for 5m up front and 20m over 48 to BVD - couldnt say know to that. gve myself a 41m warchest 1st window with these offset sales

kelly 7.5 newcastle over 48

wisdom 2.1 celtic cash

lucas 40 man city over 48

agger 20 man city 5m upfront 15 over 48

sturridge 25 BVD 5m upfront 20 over 48

[GR3NDAL]

greandal how u get yaya toure

After the first season (city came 10th) he was unhappy and transfer listed by request. He was offered to me by his agent for 13m. Of course the catch is he demands 200k per week wages but it was a rare opportunity to get a player like that. He was top of my shirt sales too The only other player I have on more than 100k per week is Suarez who is on 150k/week and that is only because of the really annoying system that means that if a team makes a bid for one of your players (even a stupidly low bid) that you reject his agent comes running demanding an improved contract!

[caple10]

Is there any secret to getting Suarez and Sturridge scoring goals? They just seem to miss pretty much every chance they get.

At the moment, Sturridge has 5 in 21 and Suarez has 2 in 16. It's driving me crazy.

[glenn28]

Gee its dead bigtime here finally made it to January in my save in season 1

[Sabine]

I may as well join in with my game that I'm currently playing and since it's the October international break in my game, it seems to be the ideal time to do it.

I was very busy in the summer transfer window as I felt that the team needed a little shaking up.

Pugliese, Gauld, Souttar are very talented youngsters who I have loaned back out to give them some vital first team experience and all three seem to be developing very well.

Will Hughes is an old favourite of mine from FM13 and looks to be just as good in this game.

Timo Horn is a back up to Mignolet, but I will be giving him a lot more games than a backup normally has to keep him happy because I wanted to keep his wages low by putting him on rotation option.

Kyle Walker is a younger, better version of Glen Johnson, earning £10 million (after clauses) from selling Johnson and buying Walker. Walker has been consistent for me so far and is first choice for the national team now.

Eder Alvarez Balanta is incredible. Has amazing potential and is already good enough for the first team. I'm very excited about how he well he will develop - being tutored by Agger at the moment.

Lorenzo Insigne is young, has wonderful potential and can play on both wings and up front. Great all-round rotation option for the team.

Lucas was originally going to be in my plans but he started whining when I rejected a (ridiculous) £12 million offer from Man City. I decided to ship him off for as much as possible and happy with the results, despite around 40% of that transfer fee being over 48 months.

I have never liked Glen Johnson in Football manager. He hasn't been good for me for as long as I remember and John Flanagan used to always be better than him even in the first season. I saw Kyle Walker available for such a cheap price so I decided to get as much as possible for Johnson. All up front, which is awesome.

Reina and Skrtel were never going to be in my plans. Simply put really.

So far so good on the league front. Only conceded one goal so far and although not scoring a good amount, I would much rather have 6 1/2-0 victories than 5 3-1 victories and a loss.

Disappointed that we drew against Man City but it was lucky, Suarez scored a 90th minute penalty after Sturridge missed his on the 80th minute.

Here are the results in full.

As for tactics, I have spent around most of my play time getting these right. At least 70 hours has gone into getting something going, experimenting with all sorts of teams, players and everything like that and I have finally seemingly gotten something that can stick. The main aim of the tactic is to dominate by suffocating the opponent's midfield with quick tempo, high pressing football, with tight marking all across the board. The tight marking seems to work extremely well, because since the attacking three are also marking, they bring a centreback and the fullbacks out of position, giving plenty of space to attack on the counter.

I wish I could go into a lot more detail but I would be here all day. But all in all, I absolutely love what I have done with this tactic and it's really self fulfilling to finally have a tactic myself that works.

That's it for now.

[GR3NDAL]

DStart of the third season I though I would change captain. So I swapped the captain and vice-captain around so Yaya Toure is now captain and Gerrard vice captain. Stevie was unhappy about this and i failed to placate him and he won't even talk to me and his morale is abysmal. It does not seem to have affected the rest of the team however.

[Ifail]

I just found out you can buy drogba around 2-4 mil pounds at start of season ( this fixes i think most of the goal problem)

playing with SAS as attack winger my god the pace plus the movement they provide to get drogba the ball hes banging in every game

[Romers]

i have a question that i want peoples opinion on... I'm about to start season 3 and have signed luke shaw, enrique for me has been solid and is fine for now, I personally see luke shaw the same as gareth bale, when he was at southampton he was a left back, but shaw is very good going forward, do you think you could train shaw to be an AMR and train as an inside forward, so effectively he could be the next gareth bale???

thoughts please... and if yes, how long would it take for him to be effective in that position...

thanks guys

[glenn28]

Loading up in Feb of season 1 Cissokho asked for his loan to be terminated which ive done & recalled Robinson no in or outs in January will reshape my squad at seasons end & work on my defence

[dangerpuss]

I'm in Feb in Season 1 and I'm currently leading the league, 9 points clear of Man Utd in second place. I brought in Zivkovic, Will Hughes, Ben Davies and Sean Murray for a combined total of £25m. Davies is now a wonderkid and is outperforming Enrique, Hughes is also a wonderkid and has played very well when given the chance. Murray and Zivkovic are progressing slower but are coming along nicely. I cancelled the loans of Moses and Cissokho and I've not sold anyone. Illori went on loan to Celtic for half the season but wasn't playing enough so I recalled him and Jack Robinson too. Ibe, Luiz Alberto and Sterling have all gotten regular playing time and have progressed well but once again Sterling is developing slowly. Next season my targets are Adam Campbell, Alex McCarthy or Jack Butland and a promising young right back as McLaughlin looks rubbish.

[figano]

How does everyone get the best out of Coutinho? I play him as attacking midfielder left as an inside forward that supports. Is there a better way to make use of his talents?

[dangerpuss]

I was playing him as a Trequarista or Advanced Playmaker but I started playing him as an Enganche and his assist rate increased a lot. Luis Alberto is also great in this position. Make sure you have the Pass into Space instruction selected.

Jordan Rossiter just made his senior debut at 16 and played quite well alongside Will Hughes. He has 4 & 1/2 star potential and looks like a perfect understudy for Lucas.

[figano]

I was playing him as a Trequarista or Advanced Playmaker but I started playing him as an Enganche and his assist rate increased a lot. Luis Alberto is also great in this position. Make sure you have the Pass into Space instruction selected.

Jordan Rossiter just made his senior debut at 16 and played quite well alongside Will Hughes. He has 4 & 1/2 star potential and looks like a perfect understudy for Lucas.

Thank you for the help

[Sabine]

First Merseyside Derby went well.

[dangerpuss]

Sturridge is such an awful little sh*t in this game. He plays complacently and poorly and then gets very upset when I criticise him. Now I have to stroke his precious ego to get him to back down. I'm very tempted to sell him right now. I remember Suarez being like this last year. A low level of professionalism or temperament may be to blame. Watch out if he gets unhappy and save before you speak to him or your relationship with him could easily break down.

[GR3NDAL]

Start of third season has been tough. Had a run of 6 consective away games and lost 3 in a row (at Arsenal, Inter and Man U) but managed to get back on track. Now Yaya is out for six weeks so I am having to play youngsters in the DM position. Luckily my 38 year old Brazilian Alex has rolled back the years and put in some top performances in the Engance position that is normally held by Coutinho. Coutinho plays either AMC (Engance) or ML (winger) in my formation. As I now play 3 at the back I have also move Shaw to ML.

I have also bought in Nathan Redmond to share MR duties with Hendo . It seems to be hard to find many Natural ML or MR players for some reason.

[glenn28]

Loading up finally got a save going in April season 1 currently 4th with 4 games to go took me 6 weeks but finally got there

[glenn28]

Finally back in the top 4 so champions league next season & can keep Suarez as well hes been the standout 22 goals in all comps 1 game to play either 3rd or 4th ill finish

[glenn28]

Finished 4th means ill have to go in a play off to make the group stage of the champions league

[Generation-Next]

Starting a new game lads, going to try using something unprecedented. The WM formation with Liverpool. My first XI at the start of the game will be

-------------------- Mignolet

Johnson---------Agger -----------Enrique

---------------Lucas Allen

-------------Gerrard Coutinho

(not sure) ------Suarez -----------Sturridge

Might need to replace Johnson, and bring in someone who can defend and not just go forward because I'll be playing them as Limited Full backs so they're not going to be storming forward. Although when defending Lucas and Allen will drop in to Central Defense to make up 3CB's. So I'm not entirely sure at the moment. Maybe replace Allen, since he's not a brilliant Half Back, and doubt he'll become one. So, Allen, Johnson and a FWR needs to be brought in. Let the games begin.

[dangerpuss]

Won the league and league cup in first season. Only Man Utd kept pace but they had a bad run of form over the last two months and I secured the title with an away win against them with five games to go. We've only lost 2 and drawn 5 all season and the defense and Mignolet have been brilliant.

Agger and Skrtel are a terrific partnership in game and Sakho is also excellent especially against big, strong strikers like Crouch or Lukaku. Toure was average and I'll be selling or releasing him as his wages are far too high and he won't tutor either. I replaced Enrique with Ben Davies who's a much better performer and Johnson is being seriously challenged by Kelly who has improved immensely with some first team action. Illori and Robinson have both shown signs of progression and will be backups next season if I can't bring in Steven Caulker.

In midfield Gerrard was injured for about 4 months with a hamstring tear so Joe Allen, Lucas, Henderson and Will Hughes were the main starters. All have improved and I'm training up Lucas' leadership skill so I can make him the next captain. Allen has been converted to a great all rounder as his tackling and marking have improved and he can comfortably cover for Lucas when he inevitably gets suspended. Hughes has developed enormously this season and is already as good as Henderson and Allen. I'm trying to train him to use both feet as he's already fairly strong so he should be much more effective. Rossiter has made huge improvements too and looks like he'll be in the first team next season. He has 5 star potential and at 17 is already at 1 and 1/2 stars. He's also being trained to be two-footed so Hughes and Rossiter should dominate possession if this works out.

I've played Sturridge as an Inside Foward at AMR and Suarez at AML and both have performed well enough with each get over 7 goals and assists each. Countinho has played in the hole and has 9 goals and 14 assists. Luis Alberto was his backup and has performed very well indeed. Sterling and Ibe were the back up wingers and both did well and have developed but not as much as I would like. Murray is out on loan at Leeds and hasn't developed as much as I'd like. Zivkovic is also at Leeds and looks like developing into a great poacher. Jerome Sinclair will be in the first team next season as with a bit of first team football his development has exploded. Give a player with good potential some first team games against weak teams in the league or cup and they can improve very rapidly indeed.

Targets for next year are to get rid of the dead wood. Borini, Assaidi, Reina, Enrique, Toure etc. will all be sold. Flannagan, Wisdom, Suso and McLaughlin will all get a chance before I decide what to do with them. I'm looking at bringing in a young English keeper like Butland or McCarthy and a young English CB like Caulker.

[dangerpuss]

Has anyone managed to get Johnson or Henderson to sign new contracts with reasonable wages? Henderson wants £90k plus £30k in appearance fees which is ridiculous for a squad player.