FM14: Tottenham Hotspur - "“ Sold Elvis and bought The Beatles..."

[R1ku]

Just beat City 1-0 at WHL and I'm about to win the league in season two. I have four matches left and City has five and I'm now 11 points clear at the top. Things have just clicked the season half of the season and I think I now have 11 wins on the trot in the league. I've had the chance to concentrate to the league due to no European matches for me and City knocking me out of the FA Cup in the 6th round (1-5 trashing away). Will post a season review later this week when I have the time to finish the season.. Only one guy has more than 10 goals this season for me at this point, so that tells you how tight my defence and especially Lloris has been. That one guys is the now 20-yo Januzaj who has been my go-to-guy as a F9 alongside Dongou/Fierro/Kane in the striker positions.

[enders357]

Just beat City 1-0 at WHL and I'm about to win the league in season two. I have four matches left and City has five and I'm now 11 points clear at the top. Things have just clicked the season half of the season and I think I now have 11 wins on the trot in the league. I've had the chance to concentrate to the league due to no European matches for me and City knocking me out of the FA Cup in the 6th round (1-5 trashing away). Will post a season review later this week when I have the time to finish the season.. Only one guy has more than 10 goals this season for me at this point, so that tells you how tight my defence and especially Lloris has been. That one guys is the now 20-yo Januzaj who has been my go-to-guy as a F9 alongside Dongou/Fierro/Kane in the striker positions.

Congrats! I won the league in season two last night too! I've also got the Champions League final coming up - after one of the most ridiculous games I've ever seen on FM in the semi-final. I was playing Man United and was 1-0 up early on and then in the 10 or 15 minutes either side of half-time they had three players sent off. Three! I decided to pour it on them and try and get a big lead for the second leg so went attacking. Incredibly Vertonghen scored 5, all from corners, as whoever was supposed to pick him up at the front post just wasn't there anymore. Clearly a bug and one that cheapened the win a little bit... but only a little bit

My MVP's this season have been Soldado (19 league goals, 32 in all comps), Lamela (16 league goals, 8 assists), Eriksen and Sigurdsson, Rotariu (this kid is incredible!), and Doria and Luke Shaw. Pirlo also proved a good signing, giving us a bit more defensive stability from the RGA spot and bringing on Bentaleb leaps and bounds as his tutor.

I picked up Alvarez-Balanta in January and am trying to shift Kaboul but struggling. Otherwise I'm so happy with my team I don't know whether I'll strengthen in the summer. With Shaw, Doria, Balanta, Bentaleb, Eriksen, Rotariu and Barbosa still improving it's maybe not necessary. If I get a huge budget I may go for Pogba or Strootman but other than that I feel pretty set with...

GK: Lloris / Steele

DR: Walker / Capoue

DL: Shaw / Rose

DC: Vertonghen / Chriches / Doria / Alavarez-Balanta

DMC: Sandro / Pirlo

MC: Dembele / Paulinho / Bentaleb

AMR: Lamela / Townsend

AMC: Eriksen / Sigurdsson

AML: Rotariu (cover from Eriksen or Townsend)

SC: Soldado / Barbosa / Kane

[enders357]

Did anyone else watch the Spurs v Benfica games and think "I bet Benfica would be fun to manage on FM"? I seem to think this at least once every couple of weeks while watching football. Maybe it's why my Spurs saves never last too long!

[JD nawrat]

Started a Spurs save just for something interesting. Really good squad, just lacking a good LB really.

Brought in:

Ben Davies for £9M.

Richairo Zivkovic for £750k.

John Souttar for £2M but loaned him back to Dundee United for a season.

Hakan Calhanoglu for £10M but loaned him back to Hamburg for a season.

I'm going to play a 433 so Calhanoglu will rotate with Paulinho when he returns next season. This season I'll play Sigurdsson at MC and probably sell next season. Not sure he has a future with me. Souttar is a future player for when Dawson is past it, so in another 2/3 years.

Think I'm finished with transfers for now (spent almost all of the budget but I still have some 200k spare wages).

Aiming for top 4 but have secret ambitions of winning the title first season Should be a good save, this.

GK - SK/D - Lloris (Friedel)

RB - WB/S - Walker (Naughton)

RCB - CD/D - Kaboul (Dawson)

LCB - CD/D - Vertonghen (Chiriches)

LB - FB/A - Davies (Rose)

DM - HB/D - Sandro (Capoue)

MCR - CM/A - Paulinho (Sigurdsson)

MCL - DLP/S - Dembélé (Bentaleb)

AMR - IF/A - Lamela (Townsend)

AML - IF/S - Eriksen (Chadli)

ST - CF/A - Soldado (Adebayor)

Not got any space for Lennon really, will just slot him in wherever and whenever I can. Kane is third choice striker, next season hopefully Kane will be good enough to start more and I can sell on Adebayor and promote Zivkovic to the first team (he's still only 16 so no rush).

[enders357]

Started a Spurs save just for something interesting. Really good squad, just lacking a good LB really.

Brought in:

Ben Davies for £9M.

Richairo Zivkovic for £750k.

John Souttar for £2M but loaned him back to Dundee United for a season.

Hakan Calhanoglu for £10M but loaned him back to Hamburg for a season.

I'm going to play a 433 so Calhanoglu will rotate with Paulinho when he returns next season. This season I'll play Sigurdsson at MC and probably sell next season. Not sure he has a future with me. Souttar is a future player for when Dawson is past it, so in another 2/3 years.

Think I'm finished with transfers for now (spent almost all of the budget but I still have some 200k spare wages).

Aiming for top 4 but have secret ambitions of winning the title first season Should be a good save, this.

GK - SK/D - Lloris (Friedel)

RB - WB/S - Walker (Naughton)

RCB - CD/D - Kaboul (Dawson)

LCB - CD/D - Vertonghen (Chiriches)

LB - FB/A - Davies (Rose)

DM - HB/D - Sandro (Capoue)

MCR - CM/A - Paulinho (Sigurdsson)

MCL - DLP/S - Dembélé (Bentaleb)

AMR - IF/A - Lamela (Townsend)

AML - IF/S - Eriksen (Chadli)

ST - CF/A - Soldado (Adebayor)

Not got any space for Lennon really, will just slot him in wherever and whenever I can. Kane is third choice striker, next season hopefully Kane will be good enough to start more and I can sell on Adebayor and promote Zivkovic to the first team (he's still only 16 so no rush).

Worth considering Eriksen as an AP-A in that midfield; worked a treat for me in my first season with a similar 4-3-3. Townsend also did very well for me as a W-S on the left wing, but if you're set on IF's on both sides you're best keeping him as Lamela's back up.

[DBurns]

I have also started a save with Spurs. Like JDownie, I'll be playing a 4-3-3 and my only real transfer target is a new left back. Only signing so far has been Luke Shaw for £17.25 million. Will be lining up something similar to JDownie:

GK - SK/D - Lloris/ Friedel / Gomes

RB - WB/S - Walker / Naughton

CB - CD/D - Kaboul / Dawson

CB - CD/D - Vertonghen / Chiriches

LB - FB/A - Shaw / Rose

DMC - HB/D - Sandro / Bentaleb

CM - DLP/S - Paulinho / Capoue

CM - CM/A - Dembele / Siggy or Chadli

AMR - IF/A - Lamela / Townsend

AML - IF/S - Eriksen / Chadli or Siggy

ST - Treq/A - Soldado / Adebayor

Like JDownie, no room for Lennon but unsure as to whether I'll sell him or not.

[enders357]

I have also started a save with Spurs. Like JDownie, I'll be playing a 4-3-3 and my only real transfer target is a new left back. Only signing so far has been Luke Shaw for £17.25 million. Will be lining up something similar to JDownie:

GK - SK/D - Lloris/ Friedel / Gomes

RB - WB/S - Walker / Naughton

CB - CD/D - Kaboul / Dawson

CB - CD/D - Vertonghen / Chiriches

LB - FB/A - Shaw / Rose

DMC - HB/D - Sandro / Bentaleb

CM - DLP/S - Paulinho / Capoue

CM - CM/A - Dembele / Siggy or Chadli

AMR - IF/A - Lamela / Townsend

AML - IF/S - Eriksen / Chadli or Siggy

ST - Treq/A - Soldado / Adebayor

Like JDownie, no room for Lennon but unsure as to whether I'll sell him or not.

I kept Lennon for the first season, but managed to get £10.5m from Liverpool for him so took that.

[DBurns]

I kept Lennon for the first season, but managed to get £10.5m from Liverpool for him so took that.

I would happily take £10.5 million for him as he's third choice on either wing, poor mental attributes and with his poor personality, he isn't a good tutor.

Possibly will look at bringing in a young centre back and goalkeeper to replace Dawson and Friedel / Gomes respectively in the next season or two.

[JD nawrat]

Worth considering Eriksen as an AP-A in that midfield; worked a treat for me in my first season with a similar 4-3-3. Townsend also did very well for me as a W-S on the left wing, but if you're set on IF's on both sides you're best keeping him as Lamela's back up.

I considered this but I don't like APs out wide and Paulinho/Dembélé/Sandro really has to be the central trio. Plus Eriksen is so creative that he'll give a much needed bright spark in the final third.

Won my first two games in charge, beating Norwich 1-0 and then beating Ejsberg 1-2 in Denmark. Decent start.

[smogfart]

How has bentaleb turned out for anyone? Looks like he could become world class with some developing.

[enders357]

How has bentaleb turned out for anyone? Looks like he could become world class with some developing.

He's getting there in my save. Here he is June 2015, CA up to 3* and PA still at 4*

[enders357]

Little update: I won the Champions League in May 2015 to add to my Europa League (1st season), European Super Cup and Premier League title (both second season).

I did it switching between a well discussed 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 and, for the tougher matches (including the CL final), this 4-2-3-1 with deeper midfielders. This really allowed me to get the best out of Sandro and Pirlo. Paulinho was also exceptional whenever playing RGA (actually much better than when used as a BBM in either of the other formations).

[enders357]

Anyone got any tips for forcing a club to sell? I'm only interested in adding an absolutely world class midfielder to my squad this summer and have my heart set on Paul Pogba. He wants to come, I've talked about in the press, made several bids (up to £75m - split half and half between an immediate payment and monthly payments over 48 months) and I just can't get Juve to budge.

[enders357]

I would happily take £10.5 million for him as he's third choice on either wing, poor mental attributes and with his poor personality, he isn't a good tutor.

Possibly will look at bringing in a young centre back and goalkeeper to replace Dawson and Friedel / Gomes respectively in the next season or two.

Doria and Balanta have both been affordable signings for me at centre back, and have quickly developed in to my first choice pairing (with Vertonghen rotating).

[Pantelas]

enders357 what other team instructions do u use for your 4-2-3-1? I'd like to try it out for my tottenham squad If you don't mind, I'm only struggling in matches against top 4

[enders357]

enders357 what other team instructions do u use for your 4-2-3-1? I'd like to try it out for my tottenham squad If you don't mind, I'm only struggling in matches against top 4

More direct passing

Play out of defence

Look for overlap

Hassle opponents

Tighter marking

Higher tempo

Any more and I think you over-complicate things.

I also make sure Lloris is set to distribute the ball to defenders.

The idea is to work the ball from back to front quickly and hit teams that way (without reverting to long ball). The Dortmund model. You should see a lot of vertical passes from your deep midfielders up to the wide players and attacking midfielder (Gylfi is brilliant in this role slipping balls through for Soldado and Lamela). The wing-backs will then charge up the pitch to support the attack and if they get the ball they'll look to get to the line and cross.

**NOTE: these are only my starting tactics and I'll adjust as I go. I like to change things up a couple of times during the match depending on how it's going. I tend to go more attacking just before and after half time (change mentality to attacking, use much higher tempo, play wider and higher defensive line, remove the tighter marking) and drop off late on in games I'm winning narrowly and need to hold. I usually do this incrementally; on 65/70 mins I'll drop the higher tempo, hassle opponents and tighter marking and change the mentality to counter, and on 82-87 mins I'll go defensive, tell them to waste time, play narrower, drop deeper and play a much lower tempo.

[Pantelas]

thanks, I'll try it out today and let you know

[Laker9]

Will be interested to see how you do JDownie and a more detailed set up of your instructions if possible? I'm a life long Spurs fan and since CM01/02 I've always played as Spurs, every year I say "I'm going to try someone else this year" but always end up going back. This year I've been struggling a bit in getting a good balance of tactics and philosophies and gave up in January. But then after reading your Modern 433 thread in the tactical section I started a save with Spurs (again) on the 14.3 update using your tips and approach.

I'm doing well at the moment coming up to Christmas and comfortably sitting 1st-3rd (all on same points and jumps around each week) using the 433 approach. The only thing I'm not too happy about is Soldado/Adebayors involvement and contribution so I don't think i've quite nailed them yet. It would be interesting to see how you set them up and what results you yield from them.

I'm at work at the moment so I can't elaborate on exactly the philosophy and strategy I'm using but my team lines up as:

GK: Lloris / Gomes

RB - WB/S - Walker / Naughton

CB - CD/D - Kaboul / Dawson / Souttar (back on Loan at Dundee)

CB - CD/D - Vertonghen / Chiriches

LB - FB/A - Davies / Rose

DMC - A/D - Sandro / Capoue / Bentaleb

CM - AP/A - Eriksen / Siggy / Paulinho

CM - BBM/S - Dembele / Paulinho / Bentaleb

AMR - IF/A - Lamela / Lennon

AML - IF/S - Townsend / Chadli

ST - Treq/A - Soldado / Adebayor

[DosSantosFC]

Anyone using McAvoy? Like I said before I will use him,Kane,Bentaleb and Milos as much as possible in order to get some quality stats out of them? I have started him 6 times since start of the season and im currently @ the start of November and he has been pretty dire tbh! Kane has started 6 games, 0 goals. Bentaleb has been solid and scored a couple but Milos was so so poor on his debut I took him off after 26 mins

[enders357]

Anyone using McAvoy? Like I said before I will use him,Kane,Bentaleb and Milos as much as possible in order to get some quality stats out of them? I have started him 6 times since start of the season and im currently @ the start of November and he has been pretty dire tbh! Kane has started 6 games, 0 goals. Bentaleb has been solid and scored a couple but Milos was so so poor on his debut I took him off after 26 mins

Nah, McEvoy's never been anywhere near good enough for the first team and doesn't seem to develop to fulfil his potential whatever I do. Veljkovic might get there but it'll take 4-5 seasons of tutoring and loans, I reckon.

[R1ku]

One kid at Spurs worth looking into is Alex Pritchard. He spends the first season on loan at Swindon and in the second season I loaned him out to Blackburn, who were promoted to the Premier League, and he had an excellent season there with about five goals and almost 20 assists in all competitions. Attribute-wise he looks more than decent, too, and I'll be giving him a go start of season three to see if he can do the same at Spurs.

Btw, never had this happen before, Januzaj scoring straight from the corner kick a couple of days ago:

[video=youtube;fGh-G7NfkEQ]

[enders357]

One kid at Spurs worth looking into is Alex Pritchard. He spends the first season on loan at Swindon and in the second season I loaned him out to Blackburn, who were promoted to the Premier League, and he had an excellent season there with about five goals and almost 20 assists in all competitions. Attribute-wise he looks more than decent, too, and I'll be giving him a go start of season three to see if he can do the same at Spurs.

Btw, never had this happen before, Januzaj scoring straight from the corner kick a couple of days ago:

[video=youtube;fGh-G7NfkEQ]

You recommend Januzaj highly?

It sounds ridiculous but I'm having real trouble signing anyone in summer 2015. After winning the league and CL double I wanted to strengthen with one major signing only, ideally Pogba or Toni Kroos. Turns out those were pipe dreams so I looked at strengthening my AM positions instead and went in for De Bruyne but PSG outbid me and added him to their ever-growing list of players they'll hardly ever play (am I bitter?!) and I'm not getting kind of desperate. I want to move Townsend on and have Lamela, Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Rotariu and one other rotating those three spots but I can't find the right guy - even though I have £44m to throw at it.

EDIT: I have made one signing - Diego Reyes from Porto for £9m. I like his versatility, being 3* CA in CD, DM and M roles so when Liverpool bid for Chiriches (my fourth choice CD) and I got them up to £26m I decided to cash in and sign Reyes.

[R1ku]

You recommend Januzaj highly?

He was my best player in the attacting part of the pitch last season, his first at the club. So yes, I think he's more than worth the £20M+ I paid for him and he's only getting better. I'm playing him as an F9 along-side an advanced forward in my weird looking formation. He had the most goals and most assists in my team, but they weren't that high numbers 'cause I play somewhat defensively and didn't have that many matches due to no European football and early exits in domestic cups.

Here's the weird formation I mentioned:

Bringing in at least a new WBL and a new striker to rotate with Dongou and Fierro. Thinking about Jordan Rhodes from Blackburn as he's ALWAYS been lethal against me on FM14 and he just topped the scoring chart in the PL in season two with 26(!) goals.

[enders357]

He was my best player in the attacting part of the pitch last season, his first at the club. So yes, I think he's more than worth the £20M+ I paid for him and he's only getting better. I'm playing him as an F9 along-side an advanced forward in my weird looking formation. He had the most goals and most assists in my team, but they weren't that high numbers 'cause I play somewhat defensively and didn't have that many matches due to no European football and early exits in domestic cups.

Thanks, if I can get him for <£30m I think I'll go for it.

Love seeing how many of the original team you still have in your squad. I'm going in to season three with a large amount of the originals left - Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Sandro, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen and Soldado are still first teamers, and I also have Paulinho, Capoue, Kane, Bentaleb, Townsend and Sigurdsson in the squad and Carroll and Veljkovic out on loan. Just makes it feel a bit more real for me - plus I'm trying to get out of the habit of buying players for the sake of it.

A lot of the time in the past I'll move loads on each summer and buy new players who are no better, so what's the point? I'm also letting a few youngsters stay at current clubs or make moves to smaller teams than me to get game time with an eye on buying them if they develop - where in the past I would have bought them all and been like Chelsea in real life, with a load of kids out on loan who never quite make it.

[R1ku]

Thanks, if I can get him for <£30m I think I'll go for it.

Love seeing how many of the original team you still have in your squad. I'm going in to season three with a large amount of the originals left - Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Sandro, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen and Soldado are still first teamers, and I also have Paulinho, Capoue, Kane, Bentaleb, Townsend and Sigurdsson in the squad and Carroll and Veljkovic out on loan. Just makes it feel a bit more real for me - plus I'm trying to get out of the habit of buying players for the sake of it.

A lot of the time in the past I'll move loads on each summer and buy new players who are no better, so what's the point? I'm also letting a few youngsters stay at current clubs or make moves to smaller teams than me to get game time with an eye on buying them if they develop - where in the past I would have bought them all and been like Chelsea in real life, with a load of kids out on loan who never quite make it.

I wanted to see if I could bring success to the club with mainly the players at the from the start. I did now buy some more new guys, but I need the players the cope with the CL football and I'm sure the domestic cup runs won't be as bad they were last season either. I brought in Jonathan Tah (£6.75M), Will Hughes (£3M), Ricardo Rodriguez (£12.5M) and then I went for Facundo Ferreyra (£13.5M) instead of Rhodes. I think I got nice deals for all four.

[egernunge]

I'm playing a Spurs save too and am now midway through the first season. Things are going well - the highlights so far have definitely been beating Man City at home and drawing with Man Utd away. The lowlights were getting beat by both Chelsea and Arsenal away, and getting knocked out of the League Cup by Charlton, away, in the 3rd round. In the 3rd round of the FA Cup we'll face... Charlton, away, so that should be interesting In the EL we were handed a very easy group with Sparta Prague, Slovak side Zilina and St. Gallen and won that with no problems.

The league at Jan 1st - I'm not sure which I enjoy more: us in 3rd or Arsenal in 8th

Transfer-wise I've only bought one player, Ben Davies from Swansea, and I've only sold one as well, Cameron Lancaster. I've also sent a lot of youth players out on loan. I'm hoping to sell Adebayor in the January window though. He has failed to score in the matches he's played and is now complaining about lack of football. So far Christian Eriksen has been the best player, even making it to the World Team of the Year:

This is the tactic I use the most. The only individual instructions are Lloris distributing to defenders, and Eriksen roaming from position.

[enders357]

Couldn't get Januzaj so went for Reus, utilising his £29.5m buy out clause. Pretty pleased with him and Diego Reyes being my only signings this summer (apart from a young keeper on a free).

[enders357]

@egernunge

Looks like you're doing really well! Do you always play Eriksen in that AP-A role or do you use him elsewhere too? Keen to see how you're getting the best out of him.

[egernunge]

@egernunge

Looks like you're doing really well! Do you always play Eriksen in that AP-A role or do you use him elsewhere too? Keen to see how you're getting the best out of him.

Yup, always in the AP-A role and in the AMC position.

[R1ku]

Couldn't get Januzaj so went for Reus, utilising his £29.5m buy out clause. Pretty pleased with him and Diego Reyes being my only signings this summer (apart from a young keeper on a free).

I'm sure Reus will be awesome as well. At start I think he'll do even better than Januzaj, before Januzaj develops fully. So a really nice signing for you!

I'm wondering how I'll do without FM from saturday onwards for ten days. Damn wedding and honeymoon in NYC for nine days getting in the way...

[enders357]

I'm sure Reus will be awesome as well. At start I think he'll do even better than Januzaj, before Januzaj develops fully. So a really nice signing for you!

I'm wondering how I'll do without FM from saturday onwards for ten days. Damn wedding and honeymoon in NYC for nine days getting in the way...

You've managed to hold down a relationship while playing FM this much???

Congrats mate, have a great couple of weeks.

[R1ku]

You've managed to hold down a relationship while playing FM this much???

Congrats mate, have a great couple of weeks.

Haha, yeah, I've managed.. don't know how, though. All kidding aside, she's cool with me playing, she knows it's my "own time". And we're in the same room when I play, she might be watching TV and I have my laptop on my lap at the same time. And she comes home from work a couple of hours after me, so that's not a bad thing either considering FM.. But thanks, it'll be a blast!

[DosSantosFC]

Haha, yeah, I've managed.. don't know how, though. All kidding aside, she's cool with me playing, she knows it's my "own time". And we're in the same room when I play, she might be watching TV and I have my laptop on my lap at the same time. And she comes home from work a couple of hours after me, so that's not a bad thing either considering FM.. But thanks, it'll be a blast!

Same thing applies here, she gets to watch what she wants on TV, I get the laptop!

[egernunge]

So now I've gone through the first season and I'm pleased with how it went. In the end we finished as runners-up in the league and quite comfortably at that (on the other hand, Man City won it even more comfortably).

Eriksen was chosen as English Footballer of the Year after finishing with an average rating of 7.44, 12 goals, and 19 assists. Lloris won the Golden Glove, having kept 17 clean sheets, and Soldado picked up the award for Goal of the Season.

Speaking of Soldado, while he was club top scorer with 29 goals in all competitions, he went through a couple of long goal droughts (luckily my midfielders knew how to score!) and I struggled a bit to find the best role for him. For now I've settled on DLF-A, which seems to be working.

In the FA Cup, Charlton replicated their performance from the League Cup and knocked us out in the 3rd round, so I'm hoping we'll get other opponents next season.

In the EL, we saw off Girondins Bordeaux, Dnipro, Braga, and Udinese before facing Lazio in the final, which we won 3-1. First piece of silverware, check.

I sold Adebayor in January and instead brought in Aleksandar Mitrovic from Anderlecht, who hasn't really impressed in his first few months at the club, but hopefully he'll develop nicely. Meanwhile, this guy was the most exciting prospect in the youth intake:

In other news, construction of New White Hart Lane has begun and I convinced the board to upgrade the youth recruitment network. Oh, and Wenger has retired and Roberto Mancini has taken over at the Emirates.

Now, onto next season!

[enders357]

My third season hasn't started particularly well. After winning the league and CL I saw a big boost in reputation and although I initially struggled to add the two world class players I wanted to I was finally able to do so, robbing Dortmund (who have been poor) of Reus and Gundogan for a combined fee of around £80m. The only other incoming transfer was Diego Reyes who I got for £9m as a replacement for Chiriches, who I had no intention of selling until Liverpool came in and I negotiated them up to £25.5m. Kaboul left for Reading for £4m and Paulinho went to PSG for £31m. They seem to be stockpiling midfielders.

Anyway, on the pitch it's been very so-so. I'm 5th after 10 league games, and have just 4 points from 3 games in the CL. I've had some big wins and some terrible defeats (5-1 away to Man Utd and 3-2 away to Porto after leading 2-1 until the 82nd minute stick out). It's disappointing considering how dominant I was last year and the fact the team has had only minor tweaks, but hopefully it'll come good. I usually have a strong run around December to February so I've got my fingers crossed for that period.

[DosSantosFC]

How the hell are people signing Januzaj? I tried @ the start of the 2nd season but utd want £80m for him!!!

[enders357]

How the hell are people signing Januzaj? I tried @ the start of the 2nd season but utd want £80m for him!!!

I got quoted the same kind of price. Save yourself £73m and sign Dorin Rotariu instead. You won't regret it.

[DosSantosFC]

Really? Never bought him before. I'm just starting my 2nd season, having real problems uploading screenshots onto here! 2nd season window has been insane. Sold Adebayor,Soldado,Vertonghen,Sandro and Paulinho and Holtby and signed Doria,Matic,Berardi,Barkley,Draxler,Kovacic. Cant remember if anymore (on works computer) City offered me £40 outright for Sandro and I think £28m for Vertonghen. I fancied a change as I normally keep Sandro till the bitter end but £40m and Matic for £13m made sense. Vertonghen annoys me IRL and Doria was going for £10 so again made sense. Berardi was signed for £20m,Draxler £28m,Barkley £25m, Kovacic £25m. Managed to get £15m for Soldado and £10m for Adebayor both to Monaco,Paulinho I think went to Milan for £20m and Holtby for £11m to Napoli. I have kept Siggy as when he did play he was amazing,better than Eriksen in the no.10 role!!

[kubo]

WARNING. Long post ahead. Read at own risk.

Great reading, this thread. Finally I can chip in with my relative success. To keep a long story short, FM2014 has been the hardest, most frustrating game ever for me. If you check my post history, it's basically moaning and whining about how difficult the game's become... :o But alas, in my umptieth try with Tottenham (72p and a league cup win are my best results previously) the pieces finally came together.

Tactically, I've never been a fan of possession for possession's sake. What you do with the ball when you have it is more important. So I wanted us to be a bit more mourinhoesque in our approach: defending deep and compact before launching ruthless counter attacks. However, many teams will sit back against us, so it can't be the only plan. With that being said, here's our basic set up. I used this, with slight variations, in probably 80% of our matches.

GK. Distribute to defenders (only told him to kick it long against good sides that were hassling our d-line).

DL/DR. Sit narrower, mark tighter (trying to keep track of opponents wingers/if's, while at the same time reducing the space for through balls between CD and full back).

CD. None.

CM/D. Pass shorter, fewer risky passes (K.I.S.S. I would add tight man marking against the opposite AMC when facing good sides, sometimes dropping him down into a 4-3-3 formation).

DLP/S. None.

IF/S. Dribble more.

AP/A and W/A. None.

TM/S. Move into channels (just to mess about some more with the DC's.)

Made two changes during the season. Our forward was originally an AF/A, but when Soldado ran offside NINE times in a single game early in the fall I went TM/S instead. Sounds like a limited role in a techically gifted side, but has worked brilliantly. Also, Walker started the season as a FB/A, but weren't getting the ratings. Changed him to CWB/A and he started scoring for fun.

The alternative tactic has basically the same shape and roles, but with a standard mentality and the TI's roam from positions and be more expressive. This is the starting tactic against inferior sides that we really need to lock up.

Normally, I would start games with no specific instructions regarding hassling/tackling/d-line level, but change it during the games as I saw fit. Sometimes based on a clear idea, sometimes more of a guesswork...

Anyway, over to the results.

PREMIER LEAGUE

The league campaign started so and so. Won some, lost some. Got thrashed at the Emirates and lost an awful game home against West Ham (1 shot at goal, 1 goal). 4 0 3 after seven games, but then we started scoring. Wins against teams like Everton, Villa and Newcastle saw us into the top four. A horrible 1-4 drubbing at Craven Cottage in early december had me worried, but the team responded wonderfully, keeping three straight clean sheets and winning 13 of the next 15 games. This included a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford, where Soldado scored from the penalty spot (KARMA baby!).

We kept grinding out results during the spring, including my greatest ever smash-and-grab win. A horribly congested fixture list saw us fall behind the teams around us in games played. After a thorougly deserved victory in the NLD we were equal on points with Arsenal, but having t-h-r-e-e games in hand. When Chelsea could only muster a draw at home against an overperforming Norwich side, the title was ours - with four games still to play. The day after, we lost 4-0 against West Ham with Carroll scoring all their goals. Celebration hangover? Well, I cound't care less. Victory against Cardiff and a hard fought point at the Bridge made sure we really deserved the title.

CAPITAL ONE CUP

The disappointment. Comfortable victories against Villa, Leyton Orient and Wolves saw us to the semis. Got pitted against Southampton, who had a bad season, and started at home. We were breezing, leading 2-0, when Friedel started to concede left, right and centre. Soton scored three goals from a grand total of two half chances (zero CCC's), and in the end went through on 5-4. But maybe that crash landing made us even more determinded to succed in other competitions.

THE FA CUP

The draw was pretty kind on us, almost all the way. After overcoming the big test that was Swansea away in the third round, we faced Mansfield, Wolves (again) and Leicester. Opponents we should just have steam rolled. Instead, all three took us to replays(!). 0-0 at home to Mansfield, and throwing away leads against Wolves and Leicester.

But me made our way to Wembley, facing Arsenal in the semis. Soldado gave us a great start, but Pastore found an imediate reply on a freaking corner. With both teams huffing and puffing without creating much the match was heading for penalties. At half time in the extra time I subbed in Adebayor to get him warm for the penalties. Three minutes from the end, he popped up at the first post and nicked the winner.

The final against Man Utd was eventful. To be fair, Utd was the better team and should've been ahead early on, but Lloris saved a weak Rooney penalty. However, our french super keeper could do nothing about a great cross that Rooney converted in the second half. With 20 minutes to go, I took off Dembele for Soldado and went for a more direct, hassling, in your face 4-4-2. Five minutes later Soldado nicked the ball from a cumbersome Vidic and found the net. I reverted to 4-2-3-1 again, with Soldado as a SS, and in stoppage time a great team move left Utd shell-shocked and Soldado the hero. A fantastic ending to a great season.

THE EUROPA LEAGUE

The FA cup final was actually our second final in four days. Before that, we had made the long hard road to Turin in the EL. The first half of the competition was easy peasy, we had more or less secured advancement from the group stage after the first match, an away victory against the only threat, Sociedad.

We advanced through the knock out stage by some extremely open and entertaining games, which didn't left me too thrilled about our defending. Thankfully, Soldado scored for fun in Europe (15 goals in total). We beat Feyenoord 2-0, PSV 7-5(!), Fiorentina 5-2 and Shaktar 5-4.

Final against Juventus, of course, at their own arena. My only aim was to keep it tight and hope for a lucky break, anything, and man, did we get it. With three minutes gone, Lennon scored a hilarious goal by more or less hiding behind their right back, and when Buffon hit an underhit pass towards on of their three CD's in that area, Lennon burst forward, intercepted the ball and finished as cool as you like. Just before half time, he skinned their wing back and found the net again. But the key to our victory was how we totally man marked their midfield and starved Tevez and Llorente from any decent service whatsoever. To be fair, Juve helped us a bit by not shaking things up, but still: playing a tight, disciplined defensive football away to an italian side, with shaky Tottenham no less. Mama mia, let's call it our fish and chips version of catenaccio.

So, quite a season. Doing the treble while having enough guts, stamina and concentration to fight our way through a total of 69 competitive matches (plus internationals for many of our players). And now a bunch of our guys are on their way to Brazil for the WC. Jeez, give 'em a break, will you.

To sum it up, the highs and lows of our season:

+ Attacking prowess. The plan was to keep it tight, be hard to break down and grind out results. Instead we scored for fun. 19 of our players found the net, five of those 10+ times.

+ The scandinavians. Eriksen was unstoppable in his AP/A role, scoring our setting up 30 league goals, winning the FWA Football of the year award and being named the European golden boy. When he needed rest, Gylfi was almost as lethal.

+ "The outcasts". Apparently, many in this thread don't have much time for players like Dawson, Lennon and Adebayor. I got great performances ouf of them. Ade in particular is a wonderful player, if you're lucky enough to keep him in a good mood.

+ Determination. We had to come from behind several times, and more importantly we scored some vital goals in the dying minutes of important matches. We very rarely stopped fighting.

+ Fair play. We won a lot, and we won clean, picking up an insanely low amounts of cards while often seeing our opponents committing +20 fouls against us.

- Set pieces. Aaaargh, where to start? Basically, if the opponents could force us to concede at least five-six corners, they were more or less guaranteed to score.

- Defending in general. Too many easy, sloppy goals conceded. Too many opponent teams having one or two shots at goal yet scoring. 40 conceded in the league is clearly worst of the top five teams.

- The brazilians. Paulinho was plagued by injuries. Sandro however played and played and played without ever impressing. (Then again, his role is not favoured by the ME. Only four DM/MC's in the PL got an AvR above 7.0).

STATS

Great season all around from our players.

Some statistics from the league stands out.

Goals

1. van Wolfsvinkel 29 (hmmm...)

2. Giroud 22

3. Fletcher 21

6. Adebayor 18

Assists

1. Eriksen 19

2. Silva 16

3. Johnson, A. 14

PoM

1. Eriksen 8

= Silva 8

3. Giroud 7

= Baines 7

AvR

1. Eriksen 7.44

2. Clichy 7.32

= Giroud 7.32

Distance covered / 90m

1. Eriksen 13.24km

2. Walker 12.95km

3. Michu 12.85km

= Barkley 12.85km

Key headers

1. Dawson 147

2. Olsson 125

3. Hangeland 124

Goals conceded from corners

1. Crystal Palace 11

= Sunderland 11

3. West Ham 10

4. Tottenham 8 (ouch)

Yellow cards

1. Crystal Palace 74

2. West Ham 73

3. Cardiff 71

20. Tottenham 14

Red cards

1. Hull 6

= Sunderland 6

3. CP, Pool, Utd, West Ham 5

17. Everton, Soton, Swansea, Tottenham 0

THE FUTURE

Honestly, I had almost given up hope to ever win anything major with Spurs in FM2014. Too achieve the league title in the first season, no less, is something to behold. Maybe the best idea now would be to take a break from the game and come back hungry, but then again, it's hard to staw away...

In any case, after some convincing the board agreed to expand WHL. With a larger stadium, good finances and a pretty young squad there's finally potential to build something great in north London. Defending the title (won't happen) and chasing the CL (who knows?) is the obvious goals, but how to achive them? The ambitious way would be to go after the absolute best talent that's out there and keep marching on. But I'm not sure this feels right, or realistic. According to my assistent, players like Falcao, Fabregas, Rooney, Higuain, etc are not unrealistic targets. IRL, however, those players would never join Spurs, not even after a one-off league title (unless there's Man City-type money on offer). In general I feel that Tottenham's player attraction in FM2014 is a bit high. For example, in the january window, just for testing I had a bid of 15m accepted for Koke. He happily agreed to a contract at less than 50k/w - which I swiftly canceled. See, I believe that he'd never leave Atletico for Spurs, at least not while they are playing CL footie under Simeone.

No, I'm more interested in trying to replicate the Spurs policy from the mid 00's, when the club signed loads of (but not exclusively) young, british players. Of course you will never win the CL (or anything but the league cup) with Jenas, Reid and Murphy as your midfield maestros, but the problem with too many sexy imports is that I simply feel disconnected from a team with eleven foreigners in the line up. Ideally, I'd like to emulate clubs like Dortmund, Juve and Lyon: a strong nucleus of domestic talent coupled with some high profile exotic names where needed.

Not sure if I'm going to set up some hard rules (i.e. max one foreign purchase per windows, no higher wage than 100k/w, etc.) or make it up as I go, but I will definitely not head into the transfer window and then the season with the attitude of "win everything, at all costs". Guess I'll have to mull over this one a bit.

And if you read all the way to the end: well done, sir.

[enders357]

...And if you read all the way to the end: well done, sir.

Well thank you

Interesting that you got more from Lennon than you did from Lamela. I've tried and tried on a couple of saves but I can't pull anything above average out of the wee man.

[DosSantosFC]

kubo- Simular fortunes to me in terms of player performance. Lennon and Siggy for me were hard to drop at times for Lamela and Eriksen. Everytime they played they were brilliant, same applies for Adebayor!!! Great report and interesting read, especially Top Scorer in the Prem!!!!!

[Hauler]

@egernunge That regen is amazing. Clement Grenier is such a quality player. Really has been great for my side in like my third season.

[egernunge]

@egernunge That regen is amazing.

Yeah, I hope he'll turn out great. There's something special about players that came through your academy. The only downside is that he's so short - he'll never get the chance to put his heading abilities to good use!

So, another midseason update:

Things are still going well. We're currently 3rd in the league, four points behind leaders Man Utd and one point behind Chelsea in 2nd place, and we have a game in hand.. In the League Cup we're through to the semis, where we'll face Swansea.

We've also progressed past the group stage in the CL, which is particularly pleasing since we were drawn in the group of death alongside Barcelona, Monaco and Rubin Kazan. In the end we only lost one of the group matches, though, to Barcelona at Camp Nou, and the other results included a 4-0 mauling of Monaco at WHL. Olympique Lyonnais waits in the 1st knock-out round.

Eriksen is still the best player, with 15 goals and 13 assists in 24 matches and an average rating of 7.82 so far this season. He also made the World Team of the Year again. Mitrovic has finally unpacked his scoring boots and has now racked up 13 goals in 17 matches. Soldado, on the other hand, has only scored three, and two of those were in the League Cup.

Transfers:

Out went Friedel, Gomes, BAE, Iago Falque, Naughton (he was unhappy at being a back-up), Vertonghen (Real Madrid - who else? - came in with an offer too good to turn down), and a bunch of youngsters who'd never make it to the first team.

In came:

Éder Álvarez Balanta - probably doesn't need further introduction

Kevin Trapp - a GK who joined on a free after he'd fallen out with his old club. He's really too good to be a back-up, but I've given him a fair amount of games and he seems happy for now.

Osman Hadzikic - another GK. I can't really claim responsibility for this transfer since it was McDermott who found and bid for him. Looks like a great prospect, though.

Callum Chambers - a right back who joined from relegated Southampton.

Thomas Pedersen - a young newgen defender who was strangely unattached and joined us on a free. That he's already been capped for the Denmark U21's says something about his potential!

[waitsfornone]

Hey everybody, after focusing on my Berwick save for a while, I am back at my no first window signings 3-5-2 Spurs experiment. I am looking for some player recommendations however.

AML -- taking a look at Insigne and Tello, but if there are other recommendations I am open. Right now when I play my standard 4-2-3-1 my best AM choices are Lamela (L) and Lennon ®. However, Lamela scores for fun from the right side (as opposed to an assist machine on the left) and I would like an upgrade over there. Chadli will stay as my backup, but Townsend and Lennon will probably be offloaded, especially if I sign a two sided player.

WBL -- Rose actually plays MUCH better pushed up into the actual WB position, but I am not sure Fryers will ever (even after positional training) fill in well in my 3-5-2. Looking for either a FB with the right attributes or an actual WB to put there. Will probably be a summer signing.

SW -- Anybody have experience with converting DCs to Sweepers? Think I am going to make the obvious signing and train Balanta, as well as Chiriches and Velkjovic to be sweepers. That should give me a 6 deep DC bench with 4 possible sweepers. This position is what is keeping me from going to 3-5-2 full time. The transitions are better in possession with the sweeper.

Last time I played the 3-5-2 I had my first failure, mainly caused by Sandro being sent off from the BWM(D) position in Midfield in the 28th minute. He has been sold to PSG for $26.5 in January, most of that over 48 months. Lucas Romero has been purchased as his replacement for $9.75 all-in (third party buying and whatnot)

Edit: Also looking at Otavio as a young striker prospect. If I don't buy an AM in January, I will probably pick him up and loan him back to his current club in Brazil for the rest of the season. Ade, Soldado, and Kane are performing pretty well for me.

[DosSantosFC]

Griezeman- always done a good job for me at AML but so did Draxler. Maybe out ur price range ATM though.

WBL- SHAW! All day, again maybe out of price range, I sign Oviedo from Everton,does OK!!!

[waitsfornone]

Griezeman- always done a good job for me at AML but so did Draxler. Maybe out ur price range ATM though.

WBL- SHAW! All day, again maybe out of price range, I sign Oviedo from Everton,does OK!!!

Griezmann is typically out of my price range, and he is currently out with a long-term injury. Draxler is definitely not affordable. However, I might try and grab Griezmann on the cheap while he is injured...

Shaw was listed as a FB only and the 3-5-2 sweeper really depends on good decisions by the WBs as they are the only width in the whole setup, so playing someone out of position there can be very bad, even if their attributes are correct the drop in Decisions can be disastrous.

I will look into Oviedo as he will probably be fairly inexpensive sitting behind Baines at Everton.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[DosSantosFC]

I think Jonathan Silva from Argentina possibly maybe a LWB?!?!?! Worth checking. Oviedo normally costs about £4-5m

[waitsfornone]

I think Jonathan Silva from Argentina possibly maybe a LWB?!?!?! Worth checking. Oviedo normally costs about £4-5m

I have him on my pre-14.3 Spurs save, and he can be a bit of a card magnet...

[enders357]

I think Jonathan Silva from Argentina possibly maybe a LWB?!?!?! Worth checking. Oviedo normally costs about £4-5m

Not sure Silva's suitable for the WB role - his stats are very defense orientated with pretty low crossing and dribbling.

[DosSantosFC]

Not sure Silva's suitable for the WB role - his stats are very defense orientated with pretty low crossing and dribbling.

Yeah I had a feeling he might of been, was just trying to think of LB's ive signed for LB role not LWB. I stick with Shaw if not I stick with Rose/Fryers first/second season. Both do a good job. Don't know about LWB though. Interesting though 3-5-2. We got enough midfielders to play that formation. Probaly just need to buy a striker and some defenders for depth