FM14: Chelsea F.C. - The Happy Ones...We Hope

[joethequin]

I'm hoping to start a Chelsea save this afternoon with the new patch. Started two right when FM came out but struggled on the early patches so giving it another go now.

I'm trying to do the same and recreate some of Mourinho's tactics. Working in pre-season so far, but very shaky in the League.

[Santa Claus]

Was there a bug for that? :O

Not sure was it a bug or not, but he used to attract interest from Real Madrid both in the beginning of the game and after one season, and they are willing to pay £51M every single save. I mean seriously, would anyone pay £50M for him irl?

[Santa Claus]

Oh yeah, I'm doing Mourinho tactics save too. 4-4-1-1 with defensive wingers Hazard and Willian and defensive forward Schurrle, Oscar attacking midfielder. Everyone pressing the back line, forces opponents to send a long ball where Matic awaits and starts the attack. High defensive line / contracted pitch to cover up for any mistakes in midfield. Everyone working towards the greater good.

That's the plan at least, I'm yet to start a save.

[tcoleman1]

So just started the game, only annoying thing so far is I am trying to bring a few coaches in but have £0 transfer budget. Board won't let me move wages over to the transfer budget though as they say it is already high enough? A request for more transfer money has them telling me they don't trust me enough yet to give me more money.

[Santa Claus]

So just started the game, only annoying thing so far is I am trying to bring a few coaches in but have £0 transfer budget. Board won't let me move wages over to the transfer budget though as they say it is already high enough? A request for more transfer money has them telling me they don't trust me enough yet to give me more money.

Do you have "disable first window transfer budgets" activated?

[tcoleman1]

No I don't but I know what has happened now. It seems that all my buttons for those things have been flipped as when I untick use real players, it does use real players. So the fact I have ticked to enable first window budgets seems to mean that the game has decided to disable first window budgets. How annoying. That means they also won't have added players/staff to playable teams and whatever else.

That's annoyed me. Tbh I don't mind playing like that but I am gonna start a new save tomorrow as I have a couple of days off. Not being able to sign any staff is annoying plus I like having the budgets enabled in the first window so I can change things that we should have changed last season (a striker for example).

[Santa Claus]

No I don't but I know what has happened now. It seems that all my buttons for those things have been flipped as when I untick use real players, it does use real players. So the fact I have ticked to enable first window budgets seems to mean that the game has decided to disable first window budgets. How annoying. That means they also won't have added players/staff to playable teams and whatever else.

That's annoyed me. Tbh I don't mind playing like that but I am gonna start a new save tomorrow as I have a couple of days off. Not being able to sign any staff is annoying plus I like having the budgets enabled in the first window so I can change things that we should have changed last season (a striker for example).

It has been that way ever since FM 14 was introduced, they didn't flipped anything but they changed names to it so now the default game is when everything is unticked. It actually says "disable first window transfer budget", "use fake players", disable player attribute masking" etc. so when everything is unticked it's default game.

[Santa Claus]

Ok, first save after patch, and basically first "serious" CFC save on FM14. As I mentioned above, I will try to replicate Mourinho's this year tactics combined with Heynckes' last year's Bayern style. Priority is letting in as little as goals as possible, with creative players up front, floating in and out, trying to create chances.

Players in:

Shaw, £25M

Jonathan Silva, £5.25M

Players out:

Ba, £4.6M

some youth players out on loan.

Pre-season friendlies

Pre season went well, up until last game we let only one goal in, and that's against Bayern. In the last game it was basically third choice team as everyone went on international duty, thus defeat and two goals conceded.

Starting XI and tactics

Player instructions: BWM - Shoot less often

I also just played first game of the season, vs Stoke. I know, not the most glamorous opponent, but stats and overall flow of play made me, well, cautiously optimistic for this season.

[DH.]

I'm just about to start my fourth season with Chelsea, and have a few questions to ask regarding a few back up and reserve players, but first I'll fill you in on how my save is going.

Season 1

Finished 2nd in the league and won the Champions League, beating Napoli 1-0 in the final, and the FA Cup, beating Southampton 2-1.

I didn't really make any major signings that season, just picking up some younger players to use as back up/U21's, such as Jonathon Silva, Tielemans, Balanta, Allione and agreed to bring in Gabriel Barbosa when he turned 18.

There weren't any particularly notable sales, just sending a load of younger and fringe players out on loan.

Season 2

Finished 3rd in my 2nd season, only winning the Super Cup and Club World Championships.

Again, I mostly only signed younger players, including 12.5mil on a 16 year old regen centre back. However, with City finishing 5th a large number of their players were unhappy, and so I took Aguero off their hands for 30mil.

As I had played a tactic with no real strikers the previous season (I had Hazard in AM position as a SS), and planned on doing the same this season, I offloaded Ba for 17.5mil, Torres for 5.25mil and let Eto'o run down his deal. I also let Cole's contract expire, which was the only other notable exit other than loan deals.

Season 3

I won the league for the first time, as well as the League Cup, but got beat on pens by City in the Champions League final.

At this point, a number of the youth I'd invested in had started coming good, and so there were not many positions I felt I needed to invest in, and so it was just young players being brought in instead, although I did sign Caulker in January for cash + Cahill who wanted a move.

In terms of selling players, I let Oscar go for 36mil as he didn't really fit into my formation and was well down the pecking order. I also sold Schurrle for 15mil, as well as Moses, Thorgan Hazard and a number of other fringe players.

Season 4

So, just starting my fourth season now, and have let Marin go for 10mil, and offloaded Ramires for 25mil as he wouldn't sign a new deal and his contract was up at the end of the season. To replace him, I brought in Kondogbia for roughly the same price. The main question I wanted to ask was what you would do with the players now who are getting to the age of 22-23 who could be used as rotation, but would be 4th or 5thchoice. The likes of McEachran, Van Ginkel, Kakuta and Romeu etc?

[tcoleman1]

So my Chelsea save has finally kicked off and it is everything is right for once.

Currently having a bit of a choice about who I should pursue as a striker. Obviously Lukaku will be coming back next season so I have that in mind. Part of me wants to go for Diego Costa because he looks great but I may go for Mandzukic as he can have an impact now but will be more of a 2-3 year option with Lukaku taking over.

[tcoleman1]

So after much deliberation I decided to bring in Luke Shaw at lb. Cole is going to be first choice tutoring him so he will be ready to start from next season.

Up front was a different matter. I didn't have the money for Costa after Shaw and other targets weren't seeing bids accepted for what I thought was fair. I decided to bring in someone for 1 year who will hopefully lift the whole club. That man is.......Didier Drogba. The return of the king.

[Guest El Payaso]

Up front was a different matter. I didn't have the money for Costa after Shaw and other targets weren't seeing bids accepted for what I thought was fair.

I don't get it why people are replacing Torres: goal per game for as the lone forward and also getting fair amount of assists too. Eto'o and Ba are also good rotation options. Torres has always been performing for me in the game and always will.

[tcoleman1]

First game of the season home to Man City. Go 1-0 with an Oscar screamer only for Nasri to score in the 81st. Not bad but was all over the . Drogba, Willian and Ramires missed uncontested 1-on-1s so I presume that hasn't got any better since I last played

[Santa Claus]

The main question I wanted to ask was what you would do with the players now who are getting to the age of 22-23 who could be used as rotation, but would be 4th or 5thchoice. The likes of McEachran, Van Ginkel, Kakuta and Romeu etc?

Nice career so far. I usually get rid of McEachran and Romeu as they never develop enough, Kakuta can be useful as a game changer, at least he was useful for me. Van Ginkel usually develops nicely, not sure how you did it, but I have big plans for him, to be my first MC choice in a couple of seasons as I just started new save.

[DH.]

Nice career so far. I usually get rid of McEachran and Romeu as they never develop enough, Kakuta can be useful as a game changer, at least he was useful for me. Van Ginkel usually develops nicely, not sure how you did it, but I have big plans for him, to be my first MC choice in a couple of seasons as I just started new save.

I don't think I took enough time developing Kakuta, just shipped him out on loan a few times and he isn't really anything special. His contract runs out at the end of this season and I don't think I'm going to renew. Van Ginkel is starting to look good, he's been out on loan at Newcastle as a key player for the last two years as he didn't really fit into the 442 I'd been playing, but now I've switched to a 4231 I think he might get a look in next year.

Also, how did Omeruo develop for you? Just had 18mil offers from AC and Inter Milan for him, but rejected them as he seems really well rounded, but I feel I might regret it as he's struggling to get much of a game behind Luiz, Balanta, Bah (an excellent regen) and Caulker.

Good luck in your new save!

[Santa Claus]

Also, how did Omeruo develop for you? Just had 18mil offers from AC and Inter Milan for him, but rejected them as he seems really well rounded, but I feel I might regret it as he's struggling to get much of a game behind Luiz, Balanta, Bah (an excellent regen) and Caulker.

Good luck in your new save!

Thanks!

With Omeruo, I've always had the same problem like with Romeu - I never couldn't successfully tutor him and raise his determination no matter what. Both him and Romeu are always stuck at 10 determination in both FM 13 and 14, that's my experience at least. So I usually just give up and sell them for peanuts. I might try in this new patch to tutor Omeruo though, once he is back from his loan.

[Santa Claus]

Ok, first save after patch, and basically first "serious" CFC save on FM14. As I mentioned above, I will try to replicate Mourinho's this year tactics combined with Heynckes' last year's Bayern style. Priority is letting in as little as goals as possible, with creative players up front, floating in and out, trying to create chances.

**** this, I decided to scrap 4-2-3-1 altogether after heavy loss from Atletico in CL group phase and some other below par performances, and go back to the good old reliable 4-1-2-2-1, first season review coming up in a few days, as soon as it's finished.

[tcoleman1]

My laptop buggered up on my previous Chelsea game (even though I was only 2 games into it) and the save got corrupted.

Started again this morning and have bought Luke Shaw in again. Jackson Martinez was also on his way with Torres going the other way but he said no to Porto and I can't shift him to save my life. Demba Ba either. Bit ridiculous that nobody will go for them even for £0 but FM can sometimes be like that with some players. Will wait until Jan/summer and try again.

Won both my games to start the season 4-0 against Fulham/Stoke. Eto'o has scored 3 in that time with Mikel (), Luiz, Oscar, Willian and Ramires chipping in with goals as well.

Edit - then managed to totally outplay Swansea and win 3-0. Go on to play Bayern and get beat 3-0. Very harsh shoreline considering 2 of there goals were pure luck and we had the same amount of chances.

[joethequin]

What are the sorts of tactics everyone is using, trying to recreate a mix of Mourinho's disciplined defense, but using Pellegrini's free-roaming attack. Will post some of my results

[Cesc_cil]

Ever since the ME changes have come in i have been searching for a tactic that suit me and arsenal and that actually works.

I have found one which i thought was right and had potential and decided to test it with Chelsea to see if it would cut the mustard. Well i can tell you it has and so much so i can't quit this save.

i started the save with the transfer window disabled, the tactic in question is a narrow 4231.

i am currently in February sitting top of the league 4 points clear. i have a trip to wemberly to look forward to in a couple of weeks in the coc cup. sailed though my cl group and won the 1st leg of the next round 4-1 away at cska. unfortunately i had an embarrassing 5-0 defeat away to Southampton in the fa cup.

Transfers in January.

[Santa Claus]

Youngster I got in youth intake in March first season

I'm pretty excited for this one I must say, I got another two, one with 4 stars PA and one with 4.5, but this one seems like he has right attributes at just the rights places.

[essien_5]

Right just finished my first season with new update, and seem to have finally got myself into a Chelsea save I'm happy with this year.

Ended winning the League, FA Cup and Super Cup. We stormed the league for much of the season, but ran out of steam at the end of the season (mostly because I flogged to death quite a small pool of players who just lost form and fitness at the business end). This allowed United to take us to the last game of the season but we beat Norwich and ended up winning the title by 5 points. The FA Cup final we beat Stoke 3-0. We got to the champions league semi final (which included a 1-0 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the quarters!) but it came at a time when we were struggling and lost 6-2 on aggregate to Juventus.

I don't like to make too many changes in the first season and therefore sold nobody, and only brought in:

Zivkovic (Groningen) - £750k

Werner (Stuttgart) - £5m

Verratti (PSG) - loan

Ocampos (Monaco) - loan

Balanta (River) - £8m (loaned back to them for the season)

I particularly struggled up front. Eto'o scored 16 goals in 33 starts for me which wasn't bad but with about 10 league games to go I realised if he played again he'd trigger an extra year in his contract which I was reluctant to do. I therefore took the risk not to play him again in the league, just playing him in the Champions League and FA Cup. Luckily the rest of the team ground out results because Torres and Ba were awful!

Stand out player was definitely Hazard, scoring 14 goals and making 26 assists in all comps. Salah and Schurrle both surprised also, as Willian broke his leg and was out for a long stretch of the season and therefore I needed to use these two more.

I played a 4-2-3-1 with two central midfielders (not defensive) with a control mentality and fluid style and it seemed to work well. I don't think we ever had less possession than the opposition and much of the time we had 60% or over, therefore the board seemed very pleased.

Lots of decisions to make now this off-season. I'll probably let Eto'o leave, but still undecided over Lampard and Cole, particularly as both have performed well this season. Terry has signed a new 2 year contract at £100k per week.

[kamikaze_josh]

I've just played a season on the new patch. I thought that things had gone well, but somehow we contrived not to win a major trophy!

The only major transfers were, IN:

Diego Costa - £32M

Luke Shaw - £24M

OUT:

Demba Ba - £8M

Fernando Torres - £10M

I played a 4-1-1-3-1, with the DM (BWM) to the left and MC (BBM) to the right of centre to form a double pivot. Both wide players were inside forwards, the AM an AP and the striker a Complete Forward.

The season started well with a 1-0 victory over Bayern to win the Euro Super Cup. We went out away at Old Trafford after extra time in the first round of the league cup and began the league well, having only lost twice in the first half of the season. Liverpool and City were our main title rivals. We beat the reds 4-0 at home and drew 1-1 at Anfield. Against City, we drew 1-1 at the Bridge and dominated away without managing to score, including hitting the woodwork 3 times. Up pops Yaya with a 35 yard freekick in the 86th minute with their only shot on target to beat us 1-0. Annoyingly, we lost home and away to 4th placed Utd and away at Arsenal, but the two costly results were defeats against Newcastle and Hull. In the end, Liverpool held on to beat our PL points haul of 84 points by 2, with City third on 81.

In Europe, things were going well. We won a group consisting of Leverkusen, Atletico and M Tel Aviv and came back from a first leg defeat to smash Porto at home. In the quarters, the draw threw us in with City and we took revenge for the league defeat by winning 3-2 at the Etihad following a goalless draw at home. Another trip to Manchester awaited in the semis, but Utd again proved too good and we crashed out 3-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, back at home we'd reached the cup final and another encounter with City. They had Javi Garcia sent off in the 19th minute for ending Frank's world cup hopes, but it didn't seem to help. We couldn't muster a single highlight in the whole game, despite having an attacking line-up against 10 men and succumbed to a late header from a set piece.

All in all, not the most successful season but a lot of positives. Diego Costa (PL top scorer and European Golden Boot winner with 26) and Eden Hazard (PL top assist maker with 22) were particularly impressive. Here are a few quick player stats:

Ratings:

Diego Costa - 7.32

Eden Hazard - 7.21

John Terry - 7.09

Goals:

Diego Costa - 36

Eden Hazard - 14

Willian - 11

Assists:

Eden Hazard - 27

Diego Costa - 16

Oscar - 13

Goal Involvement (Goals & Assists) per 90 minutes:

Diego Costa - 1.10

Eden Hazard - 0.90

Samuel Eto'o - 0.82

Andre Schurrle - 0.61

van Ginkel - 0.54

Oscar - 0.49

Willian - 0.49

From this, I think that I could do with a quality option on the other wing to Hazard. Schurrle isn't good enough and Willian is a solid option, but not incredible. Potentially, I could push Diego Costa wide and play Lukaku up top, but that would mean changing the thing that worked best in the first season. Does anybody have any suggestions?

[mag man]

Currently playing my annual academy only game. Have had Lewis Baker and Patrick Bamford called up to the England squad

Hopefully Chalobah also makes it soon.

[Guest El Payaso]

The first season is almost played, only the Champions League final left for us where we will meet Barcelona.

The season has been kinda succesful, we did win the double in domestic competitions as we managed to win the Premier League and FA Cup. In League Cup we won the first game but then drew against Manchester United away; they played their best squad and we got hammered with our back-ups 3-1. Also the Super Cup wasn't a success for us, we were in control of the game but Bayern hit us with two goals inside 2 minutes: first Ribery after a long dribble and then Cech kicked the ball straight to Shaqiri who took a first time shot from 40 yards and scored a magnificent goal. We never really recovered from that one.

We were in control in the Premier League through the whole season and held the top spot from start to finish. Eventually we finished the season with 89 points and 5 points clear from Manchester United, City was third and Everton secured the last spot in the UCL. During the season we beat both Manchester's teams twice, lost twice to underachieving Liverpool, one draw and win against Arsenal and two wins over Tottenham and Everton. So I think that we deserved it.

Torres scored 18 in the league, Hazard and Lampard 13 and Willian 8. Oscar was the big disappointment for us as he broke his leg in the first game of the season and never really come back to form from that. Defence was decent: 16 goals conceded.

Hazard, Azpi, Terry and Willian made it to the team of the year, Lampard and Ramires were substitutes.

FA Cup run was lucky for us as we were always drawn against smaller sides. First MK Dons, then Brentford, Watford, Swansea and Cardiff at the semis. In the final we beat 9-man Tottenham 3-1. Two goals from Hazard and one from Oscar.

Champions League has been tough for us this season. We struggled with our finishing in the group stage but managed to pass Atletico Madrid in the final round and won the group. The other teams involved were Steaua and Olympiakos.

The first knock-out round was against Napoli. We were battered at the away tie but managed to score all important away goal through Torres and the game ended 1-1. The second leg was our domination but only managed to win 2-1.

Next up was PSG. We dominated the home tie but once again only won 2-1 as we were once again punished from a corner kick. Things didn't look good at Paris where Zlatan gave them the lead in 30th minute. In second half Torres equalized the game and Matuidi was soon sent off with a straight red, Willian scored soon after that and just two minutes later the Brazilian stroke again. The bad thing was that Cech broke his finger in this game and is only available for the last game of the season. Schwarzer did his job in the remaining games though, even though he can't kick the ball and that gave us some problems...

Arsenal was the last team standing between us and the final. The away game was one of the best performances in the season. Lampard gave us the lead in the first minute and Hazard scored soon after that, Ramsey pulled one back from a corner... but Oscar scored his first of the season in all important moment.

Home game wasn't that good, we only pulled a tie even though we were in control of the game. Arsenal took the lead in the first half and managed to get me a bit nervous as they did get few chances after that. Schürrle equalized in the second half and that was game over for Arsenal and Chelsea were through to the final.

The final is still ahead and I might post some screenies after that is played.

It's going to be an interesting summer as we have loads of players available when the loanees come back. Really need to think who I'm going to use next season. Might just sell Mikel to make room for Romeu. Eto'o and Ba will both be gone and I'm going to rotate between Torres and Lukaku in next season. My third choice might well be the regen I got from the intake; 4 and half star potential and already looking decent.

No real need to buy anyone; Shaw was already bought in first season but he spend the season on loan at Southampton. The second signing was in January when we brought in Javi Garcia on 6-month loan deal and it surely was worth it as Matic was out most of the spring time through injury.

[mag man]

Currently playing my annual academy only game. Have had Lewis Baker and Patrick Bamford called up to the England squad

Hopefully Chalobah also makes it soon.

Chalobah and McEachran join Baker, Bamford and Bertrand in the England squad

[Guest El Payaso]

There it is! Really frustrating match here as our defending was absolutely awful through the whole game... Especially inside the penalty area where we should dominate, we certainly didn't do the job at all. Chicharito's goal was an easy marking error after a slow build-up and Iniesta scored from a corner kick. Fabregas was able to put through balls in freely as Luiz really didn't do his job as anchor man. Cole and Azpi were in trouble with Neymar's and Alexis's runs with the ball and the crosses were always dangerous. Barcelona also dominated the game in set pieces and got to the end of every ball that was whipped inside the penalty area from set plays.

But we still managed to win it! Barcelona were missing Messi and that just might have been the decisive factor here: Torres got through from Hazard's pinpoint through ball and made no mistake in finishing. In the second half we were gifted a penalty when Alves made a stupid trip on Torres in no man's land, Lamps buried the penalty. The winning goal was a big mistake from Valdes. They were passing the ball at their own end and finally Valdes hoofed a 'long' ball straight at Mikel who was able to take a few steps with the ball and found in-cutting Hazard with an easy pass. Eden once again made no mistake in finishing. 'Great' performances from Alves and Valdes secured us the victory.

In the summer I made two signings which is quite a lot for me. Brought in some experience in form of Didier Drogba and Nemanja Vidic. Both will be good as rotation options.

[mag man]

About to start 2016/17 and playing a 3-6-1 my 25 man squad is as follows:

Courtois/Cech

Kalas/Christensen

Zouma/Omeruo/Conroy

Luiz/Terry

Azpilicuetta/Kane

Bertrand/van Aanholt

Baker/Loftus Cheek/Lampard

Chalobah/McEachran

Oscar/van Ginkel

Hazard/Boga

Lukaku/Bamford/Brown

Piazon, Traore and Hazard just missing out and will probably all have premier league loans. Might try and phase out Lukaku, Luiz and van Ginkel this season. Azpilicuetta stays as there are no decent RBs through yet and Hazard/Oscar just to good for me to let go yet. I also have a couple of average regens that could take a squad place but none through that are good enough to be stars.

[Guest El Payaso]

Didier Drogba made his return to the Stamford Bridge: subbed in on 68th minute and scored on 83rd minute. His 100th league goal for Chelsea.

[kamikaze_josh]

I've just finished my season. A huge improvement on the first, winning the PL, CL and COC.

Transfers, IN:

R-R Zieler - £4.3M

Marco Verratti - £9.5M

Edinson Cavani - £61M

Nicolas Nkoulou - £18.5M

Eder Alvarez Balanta - £8M

OUT:

Salah - £13M

Moses - £14.75M

David Luiz - £15M

Petr Cech - £18M

Marin - £10.75M

Various others totalling £30M

I played a completely different system to the first season, employing flexible players and always keeping a spare man at the back. Against 1 striker (and for most of the season), I played a back 2, against 2 strikers a back 3 and a back 4 against 3 striker systems. I always maintained one complete forward, two inside forwards and an advanced playmaker from central midfield. Whilst playing with 2 at the back, I also had 2 DMs - one as a DLP and the other as a BWM - and two CWBs attacking on the flanks. The other usual starting system was 3 at the back against two forwards, with the BWM dropping in as a third centre back.

There were plenty of goals at both ends for the most of the season, with 15 occasions where 5 or more goals were scored!

The most notable victories were:

4-2 v Arsenal

5-2 v Newcastle

4-0 v PSG

4-1 v Liverpool (COC final)

6-2 v Sunderland

4-2 v Man City (from 0-2 with 25 to play)

4-0 v Liverpool (CL QF 2nd leg)

7-2 v Real Madrid (CL SF 2nd leg after losing 0-4 away and being 1-2 down at half time. Diego Costa scored 5, including 3 penalties)

7-1 v Barnsley (last day of the season to win the league)

2-1 v Man Utd (CL final)

The most notable defeats were:

4-5 v Villa (from 4-1 up)

2-5 v Dortmund (from 2-0 up, the game after Villa)

0-4 v Real Madrid (but won on aggregate, as above)

We scored a total of 168 goals and conceded 69 in 63 games.

The best players were as follows:

Ratings:

Cesar Azpilicueta - 7.54

Diego Costa - 7.38

Luke Shaw - 7.37

Edinson Cavani - 7.34

Oscar - 7.34

Goals:

Diego Costa - 34

Edinson Cavani - 22

Eden Hazard - 16

Willian - 16

Andre Schurrle - 14

Romelu Lukaku - 12

Assists:

Cesar Azpilicueta - 24

Eden Hazard - 23

Diego Costa - 15

Edinson Cavani - 12

Goal Involvement (Goals & Assists) per 90 minutes:

Diego Costa - 1.22

Marco van Ginkel - 1.06

Eden Hazard - 1.03

Andre Schurrle - 0.94

Edinson Cavani - 0.93

Willian - 0.84

Frank Lampard - 0.73

Romelu Lukaku - 0.67

Oscar - 0.65

Cesar Azpilicueta - 0.64

The team all performed well, but if any improvements can be made, I think it's defensively among the solid 4. The other 6 outfield players all have fluid, attacking roles and interchanged beautifully no matter who played. The players recorded these numbers with heavy rotation.

[andrewfx]

When did you guys start to bring the likes of Zouma, Chalobah and Courtois into the first team? I'm coming to the end of my first season comfortably at the top of the League, in the COC Final and still in the FA Cup, but my defence could be improved next season, just wondering if I should bring in some experience as I start to phase Terry out or go with Zouma, and same with Lampard, Cole etc.

[suarez7carroll9]

When did you guys start to bring the likes of Zouma, Chalobah and Courtois into the first team? I'm coming to the end of my first season comfortably at the top of the League, in the COC Final and still in the FA Cup, but my defence could be improved next season, just wondering if I should bring in some experience as I start to phase Terry out or go with Zouma, and same with Lampard, Cole etc.

I finished my first season yesterday, only bringing in Diego Costa and sent Ake on loan. As you probably know, Chelsea is filled with bad players on high wages and your first priority should be to lower that wage bill and have a more economical squad. I sold around 20-30 players for around 200 million combined. Brought up a lot of young players like Zouma, Chalobah, Courtois, van Ginkel, Piazon and Hazard jr. They are more than capable for a lot less money than your current squad. Try to get rid of the older high wage players like Eto'o, Torres, Schurrle (skill doesn't represent wage), Cech (Courtois better, younger and cheaper) and try to get Lamps to sign a lesser wage contract.

[andrewfx]

Coming to the end of my first season... fair to say we're running away with the League

[Guest El Payaso]

When did you guys start to bring the likes of Zouma, Chalobah and Courtois into the first team?

I'm only on my second season but I'm now rotating between Cech and Courtois, Chabolah is also a rotation option for my midfield, Zouma is spending the second season on loan with Fiorentina as I was able to get Vidic to the team. I'm also using McEachran in first team and same goes with Oriol Romeu. Would have sold Mikel in the summer but didn't receive any bids for him. Bertrand did move to Everton and Ba did the same move.

[MeesterCat]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you'd be able to let me know how Romeu has been doing in your saves?

I've got the opportunity to bring him to Inter Milan in Winter 2015 for €725k as he's transfer listed and out of contract at the end of the season. He looks like he could be a decent Cambiasso replacement as he can play a variety of different DM roles and even drop into the defence if I switch to a back three mid-game.

I'm just wondering if he develops nicely, or if I'd be better off not being a cheapskate and splashing the cash on a more developed player.

[lacoste8030]

Hey, I am in January of my first season. I am second in the league 4 points behind Man City. I am happy with the team going forward and attacking but it is defensively my team struggles. In 32 games we have conceded 22 goals. In the league it is 17 goals in 20 games, which is ridiculous to quote mourinho.

Here is my tactics

http://imageshack.com/a/img203/7719/l9o9.png

If you know how I can improve defensively without taking away from my attacking ability.

[ballinisahabit90]

Try dropping your MC's back to the DM spots. I play with an Anchor Man and a Ball Winning Midfielder, sometimes switching the BWM to a Regista, and i conceded just 20 goals in my first season and currently 4 in 12 games in my 2nd

[benchester]

How have people got rid of Torres and Ba? Both useless for me and struggling to get rid of them.

[Santa Claus]

How have people got rid of Torres and Ba? Both useless for me and struggling to get rid of them.

Don't play them and eventually they will ask to leave themselves. I offered Torres for £0 and I can't remember what team signed him for £60k/w, in the second season.

[Jorgen]

Will there be updates to the OP about midfielders and attackers?

After last match (Chelsea - PSG), which I really enjoyed, I decided to start a save with them.

I don't follow English football however, so I can use a bit of in depth help with this very interesting team.

[georgey]

How have people got rid of Torres and Ba? Both useless for me and struggling to get rid of them.

I managed to sell BA for 14.75m to Monaco at the start of the game and Everton ( who came 2nd in 1st season) paid 3.5m for Torres at the start of the second. Not a big fee for Torres but at least it meant his wage was gone as well.

I signed Diego Costa right at the start of the game so i sold BA , finished the season and let Eto go for free , sold Torres then had Lukaku back and signed Diego Militio free from Inter who is a good tutor.

I usually play 1 striker , sometimes 2 so having 3 strikers was enough.

[georgey]

Just about to start the third season , i have only signed a handful of players since i started this Chelsea game but i counted through my transfer history , i have offloaded a whopping 51 players altogether since starting ( i am now in July 2015, about to start third season ) !

It just shows how many people are actually on the chelsea books eating into the wage budget !

[Jorgen]

I've send almost all youth and 2nd team players out on loan, to cut some wage budget.

As I have locked the 1st transfer window, I can't buy or sell anyone yet.

I am thinking of selling anyone above 19/20 that hasn't showed any improvement, or that will never be more than a backup in case of emergency.

I'll keep Schwarzer and Hilario for tutoring I guess.

I will use Lampard and Terry as long as possible and then try to make them staff member.

My line-up looks like this:

......................Eto'o.....................

Hazard..........Lampard...........Oscar

..................................................

..........Mikel.................Luiz...........

Cole....Terry...............Cahill....Ivanovic

....................Cech........................

[lacoste8030]

Well finally started a chelsea save and have finished my first season all ready. Seemed to fly by.

Well there was only 4 first-team transfers, 3 in and 1 out.

Transfers in:

Sami Khedira £15.25m

Davide Santon £12.5m

Jese £10m

Transfers out:

John Obi Mikel £11.5m

I am playing a 4-2-3-1. Here's my tactics: http://imageshack.com/a/img203/7719/l9o9.png

Well first competition to talk about I guess is the European super Cup where I beat Bayern 2:0, with goals from Fernando Torres and Mohamed Salah. Was surprised that I actually got a great performance from the team so quickly but It was a really good performance from the team.

Capital one cup next, well we made it to the final beating Arsenal 2:0 there after a massive 7:1 aggregate semi-final victory over Tottenham, Also along the way we knocked out Hull city, Manchester United and Norwich City.

The Fa cup, not that I want to talk about this but here goes. Going out in the 4th round to Burnley after a 1:0 defeat in the replay was the worst performance of the season from my boys in Blue, was so annoyed with the whole 4th round, drawing 2:2 at the bridge and then the poor 1:0 defeat at turf moor. That came after we beat Millwall at the den 4:0.So next season a big aim is to do a lot better in this competition.

Champions League was entertaining, for the squad I had I think the run to the semis was really good and pleasing for me even though the teams we faced along the way were not the best. We finished top of the group winning all 6 games ahead of Galatasaray, Schalke and Bate. Then benfica were dispatched of in the first knockout round with a 3:1 aggregate win and our quarter final was against Didier again in the form of Galatasaray who we beat 5:2 on aggregate before we face the might of Bayer again this season in the semis. After a 0:0 at stamford bridge in the first leg I was left wondering how many we would concede in Germany. The second leg was also 0:0 after 90 minutes which I was so proud about but in extra time we just fell asleep as Bayern scored 3 goals to go through to the final which they eventually won 1:0 against united.

Winning the premiership along with the Capital one cup in my first season reminded me of "the special ones" first season at stamford bridge. Heres how the table finished this season: http://imageshack.com/a/img822/7798/9jga.png

The titile race was a lot closer than it looked with 3 games left there was only 2 points between me and City but they out of there last 3 they drew 2 and lost 1. I was surprised that we ended up winning the title with the start we made to the season, draws against crystal palace and defeats to west brom and City left us off the pace and at one point we were some 7 points behind and in 4th place. We did recover and the middle part of the season we closed the gap up and overtook Liverpool and Everton who were amazing all season and had lost only one game all season until I played them on 16th February. The title was secured against stoke with a 1:0 win after a 3:1 win at Old Trafford.

My biggest victory for the season and best performance was against Man city and here is how it ended: http://imageshack.com/a/img811/8075/u3o3.png

The 3 players behind my striker were amazing for me and they are the reason I did so well, because the strikers were not upto the task and that will now be looked at for season 2 but back to season 1 and here are some of the stats for some players.

Appearances Goals Assists Average Rating

Mohamed Salah 46(3) 21 13 7.36

Eden Hazard 48(3) 19 20 7.39

Oscar 41(11) 17 12 7.20

Frank Lampard 42(6) 12 6 7.12

Fernando Torres 22(5) 9 8 6.93

Samuel Eto 31(6) 9 7 6.81

Jese 12(23) 8 4 6.93

Eden Hazard won the English footballer of the year award with Mohamed Salah getting the players' young player of the year award along with the fans player of the year.

After all this I am very happy with my first season in the job and can't wait for the second which will hopefully bring more success.

[joethequin]

Finally finished my first season at Chelsea, a pretty successful one as well.

Transfers In:

Rodrigo Gomez £3.5m

Jon Williams £10.75m

Nicusor Stanciu £8m

Will Hughes £10m

Diego Costa £32m (Jan)

Balanta £11.5m (Jan - loaned back out)

Transfers Out:

Mikel £30m

Torres £8.25m

Ba £8.25m

Matic £9m (Jan)

Played a 4-2-3-1, and sometimes a 2-3-2-2-1 (Wing backs, DM, 2x CM, 2x AM).

European Super Cup:

I won 3-2, surviving a late Bayern comeback from 3-0. Good performance and added to my good start.

League Cup:

Got to the Quarter Finals, after beating Crewe 2-0 and Everton 2-1 aet. Both were poor performances, but not as bad as the 0-2 loss to Crystal Palace. Newcastle went on to win the trophy.

FA Cup:

Very poor, and lost 2-0 to Newcastle in the the 3rd round. A quick exit unfortunately.

Champions League:

I think I did very well overall, considering I didn't have a striker to use (Stanciu played up front all tournament with Costa's cup-tie after I signed him). I was drawn with Dortmund, Milan and Anderlecht, beating Milan 2-1 and 5-0, Anderlecht 2-0 and 4-1, and drawing 2-2 and winning 4-0 versus Dortmund. Then I faced Atletico Madrid, winning 4-2 in Spain before a nervy 2-2 at home. Bayern Munich were next, and an Oscar double gave me a 2-0 home win, before a poor performance away saw me lose 1-0 but still make it through. The Semi-finals were all-English, with United vs City and Chelsea vs Arsenal. I lost 3-1 at the Emirates, but won 3-0 at home to go through to the final. United and City drew 1-1 at Old Trafford, before 3 goals in the last 10 minutes with 10 men at the Etihad saw a 4-4 finish, and United through on away goals. The final was a very poor match and finished 0-0 after extra time. Chelsea had received 8 yellow cards and a red (9 yellows because of a double yellow) and United received 6 yellow cards. Schurlle was saved early on, before Cech saved Buttner's penalty. And it would go on until Petr Cech had his penalty saved to end the shootout at 9-8 to United.

Premier League:

I won the League comfortably, and we had an excellent season. We dropped 2 points in the first 16 games, before a loss to Arsenal away. After that, we went 17 games unbeaten before losing again to Liverpool this time, and also on the last day to Cardiff (in my academy/youth match). We comfortably wrapped up the title by early March, and then we could focus on other competitions.

Best performers:

Hazard - 49 (2) games, 16 goals, 23 assists, 7.42

Azpilicueta - 54 (2), 3, 15, 7.40

Oscar - 50, 15, 21, 7.39

Willian - 46 (2), 19, 14, 7.27

Stanciu - 26 (8), 18, 6, 7.25

Costa - 19 (1), 11, 4, 7.08

My Aim:

Looking to focus on youth and the players already at Chelsea rather than bringing players in. So far looks like Tomas Kalas and Andreas Christensen will be in the first team squad next season.

[NRH]

Started a new Chelsea save yesterday. Going for a more direct and physical style this time. Playing 4-3-1-2 with two box-to-box midfielders, one ballwinning midfielder, advanced playmaker for the attacking midfield spot, one target man and one poacher.

Have brought in Lars Bender, Valon Behrami and Mandzukic. Mikel the only one leaving. After hopefully keeping my job after the season I will do a bigger revamp of the team, releasing the likes of Schwarzer, Etoo, Cole, Terry, Lampard and selling Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz and Salah. All these are good players, but they do not fit the hard working, physical, quick/pace, direct, high pressing style I am implementing.

Suggestions of suited players with high "scores" in stamina, tackling, work rate, aggresivity, pace and strenght are most welcome.

[MeesterCat]

Suggestions of suited players with high "scores" in stamina, tackling, work rate, aggresivity, pace and strenght are most welcome.

Alfred Duncan from Inter.

[NRH]

Started a new Chelsea save yesterday. Going for a more direct and physical style this time. Playing 4-3-1-2 with two box-to-box midfielders, one ballwinning midfielder, advanced playmaker for the attacking midfield spot, one target man and one poacher.

Have brought in Lars Bender, Valon Behrami and Mandzukic. Mikel the only one leaving. After hopefully keeping my job after the season I will do a bigger revamp of the team, releasing the likes of Schwarzer, Etoo, Cole, Terry, Lampard and selling Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz and Salah. All these are good players, but they do not fit the hard working, physical, quick/pace, direct, high pressing style I am implementing.

Suggestions of suited players with high "scores" in stamina, tackling, work rate, aggresivity, pace and strenght are most welcome.

Finished the league second behind Man Utd. Won the FA cup. Won the super cup. Went out of the Champions League in the quarter finals. Went out of the capitol one cup in the semi finals. Over all a decent season considering the massive changes I made to the playing style and the fact that halv the players weren't really suited for it.

Mandzukic showed to be a great buy. 19 league goals and 14 assists as targetman with support role. Torres came next with his 16 goals and 8 assists, with Hazard third on 14 goals and 10 assists.

I will now say goodbye to Hilario, Schwarzer, maybe Cech, Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Lampard, Moses, McEchran, Marin, Salah, Schurrle and Torres. If I am able to sell Torres it will be with a heavy heart, but his profile is full of red arrows showing that he's losing ability and his wages are criminal.

I've targeted Diego Costa, Pogba, Vidal, Alaba, Doria, Balanta, Marquinhos, Muller (to name a few). Time will show how many of them (if any) I am able to bring in. They are after all premium value.

[wuther1]

just starting my chelsea save, if you spend your budget in the first season, how much do you typically get season 2? and on average seasons after season?

[NRH]

just starting my chelsea save, if you spend your budget in the first season, how much do you typically get season 2? and on average seasons after season?

In my second season I was offered 35 million as title challenger and 55 if I promised to win the title