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FM15: Leeds United - Forza Leeds! The Managerial Merry-Go-Round


js150

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Leeds United - A brief history

After the 1970s era of Don Revie's Leeds United where the Leeds team would dominate the domestic game, winning the Top Division 2 times (runners up 5 times), FA Cup once (runners up 3 times), League Cup once and Charity Shield once, along with winning multiple European Honors (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (UEFA Cup) twice, European Cup and Cup Winners Cup runners up, Robbed!!!). There was a long period of decline throughout the 1980s.

The same could be said of now, after the high point of Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United winning the Top Division in 1992 and the Charity Shield the following year, along with the Champions League era of the young swashbuckling David O'Leary Leeds team of the early 2000s, financial ruin set in. Since relegation in 2004 Leeds have been fighting against further financial problems, further relegation, Chairmen and owners of the club along with the Football League, the 09/10 season under Simon Grayson seemed to bring the rebirth of Leeds United, beating Manchester United in their own backyard and wining promotion back to the Championship in the last game of the season with only 10 men. However the rebirth was short lived with the young exciting team that Grayson had built seemingly dismantled with Grayson's sacking following shortly thereafter.

Ken Bates finally "got out of our Club" and GFH have since come and gone, Massimo Cellino is now the man at the helm. His reputation of sacking managers has already been seen but he has also put his money where his mouth is. The new Chairman (or President as he likes to be known) has clearly caught the Leeds United bug, all that is needed now is a manager to get the best out of the squad that's been built.

Can you be the one to bring back the glory days to Leeds United?

Club Honors

First Division

Winners (3) 1968–69, 1973–74, 1991–92

Runners Up (5) 1964–65, 1965–66, 1969– 70, 1970–71, 1971–72

Second Division

Winners (3) 1923–24, 1963–64, 1989–90

Runners Up (3) 1927–28, 1931–32, 1955–56

Cups

FA Cup

Winners (1) 1972

Runners Up (3) 1965, 1970, 1973

League Cup

Winners (1) 1968

Runners Up (1) 1996

FA Charity Shield

Winners (2) 1969, 1992

Runners Up (1) 1974

European competition

European Cup

Runners Up (1) 1975

Cup Winners' Cup

Runners Up (1) 1973

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup

Winners (2) 1968, 1971

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The Squad

GK - Marco Silvestri - No.1 at the club at the moment not as good as expected going off performances so far this year and doesn't have as high potential as he should have. Ok No.1 for now but a new keeper should be high on your list with Silvestri dropping to No.2.

GK - Stuart Taylor - No.2 at the club, should be solid enough as long as Silvestri doesn't get injured for too long, getting on a bit so will need replacing/No.1 bringing in.

GK - Alex Cairns - Youth keeper, won't make it, can move on or leave playing in the u21 team.

RB - Sam Byram - Best full back at the club, solid in defense and attack, should be first choice at RB/RWB.

RB - Gaetano Berardi - Solid 2nd choice RB/RWB.

LB - Stephen Warnock - Solid at LB, on quite a big contract so could be moved on to free up some funds.

LB - Aidy White - Can still do a job, especially if playing with wing backs his attacking attributes suit that role.

LB - Charlie Taylor - Ok prospect, could turn into a solid LB/LWB. Can stay as backup or sent out on loan for experience.

CB - Giuseppe Bellusci - Premiership quality CB, captain material. Bit of a hot head but is a different class to the other defenders at the club.

CB - Jason Pearce - Solid championship defender, should make a soild defensive partnership with Bellusci.

CB - Scott Wootton - Looks ok, still has some promise. Good immediate backup.

CB - Dario Del Fabro (on loan from Cagliari) - One for the future, bags of potential, good enough as 4th choice and should move up that ranking with more game time. Option to buy for £750k which looks like it could be a steal.

CB - Liam Cooper - Again one for that should develop, not sure he will ever develop to be 1st choice but has some potential to get better.

CM - Tommaso Bianchi - Arguably the best CM at the club, I would suggest retraining to DM for some versatility, I play him at CM as a Deep Lying Play maker.

CM - Luke Murphy - Good enough to be 1st choice and still has potential to improve (nothing like real life then!).

CM - Rudy Austin - Solid championship midfield with the added bonus of being able to play at DM and CB. Unfortuanly can't play at ACM like he does sometime for Leeds irl.

CM - Casper Sloth - Again good enough to be 1st choice, adept at CM or ACM.

CM - Alex Mowatt - Only a year into his Leeds United career after breaking into the 1st team, looks to have a lot of potential to improve, should be in and around the team and become more important as the season go on.

CM - Lewis Cook - Argubly the brightest talent at the club (and to come through in recent years) unfortunalty they have his postions all wrong (should be natural at DM as well as CM and accomplished at ACM imo). Will become a good premiership midfielder if not more!

CM - Žan Benedicic (on loan from A.C. Milan) - A lot of potential but a long way off realizing that, they way I see it is you will find it hard to give him 1st team game time (cup games being the most ideal). £4m+ fee agreed, not sure if he will be worth signing for that large a fee.

CM - Michael Tonge - In last year of his contract, would move on if you can.

CM - David Norris - Again would move on if you can.

ACM - Adryan (on loan from Flamengo) - Different class and will only get better, not sure what else I can say. The best prospect to have been at Leeds in many years (Football Manager wise at least). Option to buy for £2.5m looks like a steal.

WM - Nicky Ajose - One of the only wide players at the club, even though that is the case I don't think he's good enough and would look to play a different formation rather than have to play him. Move on.

FW - Mirco Antenucci - Seasoned striker with all round qualities, I personally play him as a Complete Forward as for me he is just that. Lower Premiership Quality imo.

FW - Billy Sharp - Fox in the box, should get a fair few goals.

FW - Noel Hunt - Not up to the job imo, should move on.

FW - Steve Morison - Not up to the job imo, should move on.

FW - Brian Montenegro (on loan from Nacional Asunción) - Young striker on loan, a lot of potential but may not be ready for constant 1st team action yet. Option to buy for £440k but could struggle for a work permit.

FW - Souleymane Doukara - Again a lot of potential but may not be ready for constant 1st team action yet.

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Tactics & Summary

With the lack of wingers and the quantity of DM/CM/ACM in the squad I think a narrow 4-4-2 (diamond) or a 3-5-2/5-3-2 would be the best way to go (unless wingers are signed).I would personally go for the 3-5-2/5-3-2:

--------GK--------

---CB---CB---CB---

RWB------------LWB

-----CM----CM-----

-------ACM--------

-----ST----ST-----

The full backs in the squad are very adept at attacking so this formation addresses the issue of no wingers while still allowing 2 strikers in the team along with that all important ACM for Adyran. If you were to go with this formation I would suggest moving Warnock on as he may struggle to retrain the the wing back role. I'd assign retraining to the wing back position for all of Byram, Berardi, White and Taylor to help them adapt to the role better.

The areas I would look to improve would be the LB/LWB position, GK (Silvestri isn't as good as he is irl and Taylor getting on a bit) and ST (as your best strikers aren't exactly spring chickens) along with signing some wingers if that is how you want to play. Personally I have put off signing any wingers this season and will play 3-5-2/5-3-2 until I do sign any in coming seasons.

The No. 1 priority for me would be to get Adryan signed up permanently, he should be the No. 10 for years to come.

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Good stuff mate.

I've been playing with the Beta for a while...

One thing i would point out this year is re-training, I think it could be vital. Example being, I know we lack width (again) but we have some players who are young enough to be re-trained, even if (like me) you play in FMC.

I'm currently re-training Adryan to be an Inside Forward / Raumdeuter, Cook to be a DLP / Anchor / Ball Winner, Sloth & Mowatt to be Wingers / Wide Midfielders.

I think the massive bonus of having youth allows for this, I've had some sparkling performances from Adryan cutting in from out wide, and Doukara has looked good as an IF too.

Plenty to go at!

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js150, many thanks for producing the thread this year; this is a great start.

I've been playing around with the beta too, finding players in particular. I've found some good wingers and a very tidy Goalkeeper. I'll put them up later when I'm on the game.

Looking forward to that mate. I think the first 2 signings I have in mind are a quality left back (Mino, Planas no more this year), and a winger. If you come across a left back, let me know.

I need to check what has happened to Andre Hansen (GK), I signed him last year and he was very good.

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I finished the last game of my 1st season last night, playing the 3-5-2 I mention before mostly. I got promoted in 2nd place making no signing apart from making Adryan and Del Fabro permanent signings.

Now I do think we are a lot better than previous years and I do think I built a good tactic, however I think it being the beta had quite a bit to do with me finishing in 2nd, there seems to be a few things that still need ironing out, goalkeeping being one. There were so many high scoring games I was involved in.

I'll post more about my tactic etc when I get home.

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Looking forward to that mate. I think the first 2 signings I have in mind are a quality left back (Mino, Planas no more this year), and a winger. If you come across a left back, let me know.

I need to check what has happened to Andre Hansen (GK), I signed him last year and he was very good.

Back in on game :)

Hansen is running his contract down so, as Welshace says, he is cheap & awesome.

You may also want to look at Marco Amelia & Abdoulaye Keita who are both available on a free. But, if you can free up £425k, Fernando Pacheco is transfer listed at Madrid. I'm not sure you can find anyone better for that sort of money?

At DL? Lucas Mareque or Reto Ziegler on frees. For a small fee, Pierre Bengstsson. He'll come, just offer him a contract/don't talk to him, for 9/10k/week. But if you can find the money Daniel Holzer at Banik Ostrava looks very tidy. He'll run you to £500-700k though, depending on your negotiation. I've scouted him and he is well worth looking at.

Wingers? AMR - frees Keko, Banel Nicolita, Pasquale Foggia. For about £100k, Yann-Erick de Lanlay. But he wants good £ and Anderlecht usually come in for him so you would need to sweeten a deal.

AML - frees Ezequiel (quality), Yassine El Ghanassy, Xavier Annunziata. Pavel Savitsky can be signed on a free for 1.1.15. I doubt he'll get a w/p yet, but I'm planning to sign him anyway and then reapply, loan him out if necessary. Scout him and you'll see why :)

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How are people setting up their team?

I started a game as a little play around just to get used to the new layout ect but im going to start a proper game tonight and build a tactic, i had a 5-2-1-2 tactic in FM14 that im going to transfer over.

I also want to try a 4-3-1-2 sort of how we play in real life with the CM (changeable between bianchi, cook & austin) being the more defensive/deep lying to collect the ball and clean up between the midfield and defence then two creative midfielders moving the play forward to offload to adryan @ amc or straight to the two strikers

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How are people setting up their team?

I started a game as a little play around just to get used to the new layout ect but im going to start a proper game tonight and build a tactic, i had a 5-2-1-2 tactic in FM14 that im going to transfer over.

I also want to try a 4-3-1-2 sort of how we play in real life with the CM (changeable between bianchi, cook & austin) being the more defensive/deep lying to collect the ball and clean up between the midfield and defence then two creative midfielders moving the play forward to offload to adryan @ amc or straight to the two strikers

I tried the narrow 4-3-1-2 but I was getting too overrun down the wings. That's why I sacrificed a CM to CB to allow for attacking wing backs. Another option would be to sacrifice a striker to CB that would still allow the 3 and 1 in midfield.

Saying that other may get the narrow 4-3-1-2 working for them but I couldn't.

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I'm set up with a 4-3-3 wide and a 4-4-2 Diamond WB. Sometimes I interchange the 4-4-2 with a 4-2-3-1 if the opposition is of a higher caliber.

I play a controlled high tempo pressing game, here is a break down so far.

2014-10-27_00002_zps7ed7e918.jpg

2014-10-27_00001_zps02a8d17e.jpg

I offloaded Morrison and Hunt and brought in

Lewis MacLeod from Ranger for 240k

2014-10-27_00003_zps3e97f118.jpg

Stephen McLaughlin from Forest 250k

2014-10-27_00004_zpsde8b9ea6.jpg

Chris Eagles on a free transfer.

2014-10-27_00005_zpscf25b272.jpg

They may not be the best available, but they will sign for you and MacLeod is proving to be a match winner on the wings.

Still looking out for a out and out striker and more CB due to the heavy workload placed on Pearce who is a monster at this level.

M.O.T

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Back in on game :)

Hansen is running his contract down so, as Welshace says, he is cheap & awesome.

You may also want to look at Marco Amelia & Abdoulaye Keita who are both available on a free. But, if you can free up £425k, Fernando Pacheco is transfer listed at Madrid. I'm not sure you can find anyone better for that sort of money?

At DL? Lucas Mareque or Reto Ziegler on frees. For a small fee, Pierre Bengstsson. He'll come, just offer him a contract/don't talk to him, for 9/10k/week. But if you can find the money Daniel Holzer at Banik Ostrava looks very tidy. He'll run you to £500-700k though, depending on your negotiation. I've scouted him and he is well worth looking at.

Wingers? AMR - frees Keko, Banel Nicolita, Pasquale Foggia. For about £100k, Yann-Erick de Lanlay. But he wants good £ and Anderlecht usually come in for him so you would need to sweeten a deal.

AML - frees Ezequiel (quality), Yassine El Ghanassy, Xavier Annunziata. Pavel Savitsky can be signed on a free for 1.1.15. I doubt he'll get a w/p yet, but I'm planning to sign him anyway and then reapply, loan him out if necessary. Scout him and you'll see why :)

Perfect, cheers.

I'll be starting a save tonight (having run a couple of fact finding ones with no transfers) and will be looking in detail at a few of the above. I'll also be implementing some of my retraining regimes to see if I can keep the core of the squad together, but be warned you might see some players in odd positions!

:)

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Perfect, cheers.

I'll be starting a save tonight (having run a couple of fact finding ones with no transfers) and will be looking in detail at a few of the above. I'll also be implementing some of my retraining regimes to see if I can keep the core of the squad together, but be warned you might see some players in odd positions!

:)

Be interesting to see how you get on Macca.

I've just realised that you can actually loan out Warnock to Reading (they can't afford a fee to sign him), so Bengtsson might be a good option for DL. So I just tried signing him and he came for £11k/week. Good option for £80k and his signing fees.

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Great job on the thread js150, good to have it up and running. :thup:

Leeds United do look like a really good challenge this year, some quality players but a pretty unbalanced squad so it will be interesting to see how people approach it. Personally I think I will probably look to play my usual 4-4-2 which means getting some decent wide players in and offloading about half the current central midfielders, but I've not had the chance to play around with the beta yet so no real idea on potential signings yet. Plus I never usually play with an AMC but I've surely got to find a way of fitting Adryan in. :D

Looking forward to seeing how you guys all get on anyway!

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I'm set up with a 4-3-3 wide and a 4-4-2 Diamond WB. Sometimes I interchange the 4-4-2 with a 4-2-3-1 if the opposition is of a higher caliber.

I play a controlled high tempo pressing game, here is a break down so far.

2014-10-27_00002_zps7ed7e918.jpg

2014-10-27_00001_zps02a8d17e.jpg

I offloaded Morrison and Hunt and brought in

Lewis MacLeod from Ranger for 240k

2014-10-27_00003_zps3e97f118.jpg

Stephen McLaughlin from Forest 250k

2014-10-27_00004_zpsde8b9ea6.jpg

Chris Eagles on a free transfer.

2014-10-27_00005_zpscf25b272.jpg

They may not be the best available, but they will sign for you and MacLeod is proving to be a match winner on the wings.

Still looking out for a out and out striker and more CB due to the heavy workload placed on Pearce who is a monster at this level.

M.O.T

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Annoying that the budgets are so constrained in the beta (wages possibly fairly, transfers I suspect not) but I was able to shift Murphy (£2.4m), Pearce (£2.8m), Warnock (£165k) and, most surprisingly, Hunt (£195k) to free up some cash.

Picked up Ante Coric (AM £900k), Kristoffer Ajer (DM free), Sondre Rossbach (GK £650k) and Stefan Strandberg (DC £145k) in their place, with enough left to make the transfers of Adryan and Del Fabro permanent at the end of the season. Also signed Pavel Savitskiy (free) but he's stuck on loan at Dynamo Kiev until I can get a work permit.

Found I initially struggled playing narrow, but alternating between 4-1-2-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 (to accommodate Adryan) saw the team pick up pace around November and eventually win the league at a canter. Sharp top scored with 20, though Antenucci (largely playing AMR) chipped in with 13 goals and 11 assists and was the only one of my players to make it into team of the year. Nahki Wells scored 42 in 46 to take the Championship Golden Boot (!!)

Generally found Mowatt to be more effective than Cook at this stage; Austin's only really any use as a DM / Anchor Man, but *very* good there; Sloth's a decent wide AP when needed; and despite his attributes being poor and me trying to sell him all season, Aidan White was outstanding. Still letting his contract run down, mind.

Sealed promotion with an epic 4-3 against Blackburn - came back from 0-2 to lead 3-2, captain Bellusci concedes an 88th minute penalty then heads home the winner in the 92nd :D

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Now then, started up a save tonight, didn't get very far just a few friendlies, i'm going to start fresh tomorrow night.

I've always struggled with tactics so any advice on that front would be appreciated.

I signed Adam Campbell on loan from Newcastle and in the few games he played he was excellent.

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Now then, started up a save tonight, didn't get very far just a few friendlies, i'm going to start fresh tomorrow night.

I've always struggled with tactics so any advice on that front would be appreciated.

I signed Adam Campbell on loan from Newcastle and in the few games he played he was excellent.

There was a really good topic last year on building tactics, about how you need to think of players in pairs. So if you have a full back and a winger, you have to think, they will be playing in the same area of the pitch a lot. To get different movement from these players and to try and stop the players making the same run you want them to have a different selection when choosing from Defend, Support, Attack, Auto.

So if you have a winger on support you would want a full back on attack, that should help your players make different runs and protect from them occupying the same area of the pitch too much.

You apply the same rule to DM and CM grouped together, CM and ACM grouped together and ACM and ST grouped together (I don't really use this for CB, I just have them all set to CB's and Defend).

So at the moment I have the following:

Center Backs x 3 - Defend

Left Wing Back - Attack

Right Wing Back - Attack

Deep Lying Playmaker - Defend

Roaming Playmaker - Support

Trequartista - Attack

Deep Lying Forward - Support

Poacher - Attack

Using this formation:

--------GK--------

---CB---CB---CB---

RWB------------LWB

-----CM----CM-----

-------ACM--------

-----ST----ST-----

So you can see my two CM's have different roles (1 Defend, 1 Support) add in the ACM I then have 1 of each (adding in 1 Attack). The ACM then also has a difference to my Deep Lying Forward (1 Attack to 1 Support) and the two strikers have different roles (1 Support to 1 Attack).

This should help create movement in the team. This is what I built my tactic around.

I then also put in a lot of team instructions and player instructions. Because I want to play possession football with an emphases on a high tempo pressing game (win the ball back as soon as possible). I have set the team to Pass Shorter, Retain Possession, Pass into Space and Close Down More (along with a few less important ones). I also have short passing on every player instructions, along with close down more on most players (and again a few more less important player specific instructions).

Hope that helps you build a tactic a bit. Here's the topic from last year on it that goes into more detail:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/375632-Pairs-amp-Combinations-The-Complete-Series-*UPDATED*

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Started my save last night, couldn't really sign any of the players I wanted, so will keep scouting around for players.

I'm going to try and implement a 433, and I've decided that i'm retraining..

Long Term

Mowatt as a winger. His stats are already good, I'll retrain him to AML and role training as a winger.

Cook as a DLP(D). Could be moulded into anything, but I've always struggled to find players who can pass & tackle well, so he'll become this player. I'll train him as a B2B for a while, just to boost all stats, then switch him over. Will also retrain for DM.

Adryan as a Raumdeuter / Inside Forward - Again stats are already decent, just need to be careful I don't lose his playmaking stats, as these will be hugely useful

Montenegro as a F9 / DLF - He has huge potential in my save, so I need to get going training him up.

Dawson / Purver - Both have massive potential (4.5*) so will train both of these to be "complete" playmakers.

Short Term

Doukara as a IF / Raumdeuter - To cover for Adryan

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I think the role specific training is something I'm going to have to look at more. Defiantly needed to get Cook training as a a Deep Lying Playmaker as you are.

Just to add as, I think, the star rating and potential star rating are related somewhat to your squad so I would also make sure to take note of what your assistant says in their coach report of their potential playing level. After signing some more players and gaining promotion Dawson's potential has dropped a lot, I guess due to better players in the squad. Purver's potential is still pretty high though.

Edit. Just to add I believe Montenegro may struggle to gain a work permit.

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So as mentioned before I got promoted in 2nd place, this was without making any new signings, only outgoings of some deadwood. I would say this would have been my best starting 11 and subs last year:

---------------Silvestri---------------

-----Del Fabro---Bellusci---Pearce-----

Byram-----------------------------White

----------Bianchi-----Mowatt-----------

----------------Adryan-----------------

---------Antenucci-----Sharp-----------

S.Taylor | Cooper | Berardi | C.Taylor | Austin | Cook | Sloth | Doukara | Montenegro

Antenucci scored 31 goals, Adryan 26 and Sharp 16.

I've made a few signings and had my 1st fixture of the new season. I chose not to make Benedicic and Montenegro permanent signings. Adyran and Del Fabro had already been signed up last year.

I've become rather attached to the 3-5-2 formation and as such I've decided to put off signing any wingers for a bit. The main areas of the squad I've earmarked for improvement are GK, LWB and ST.

People may remember I like to build my teams on a base of young English/UK talent (I very rarely sign a player older than 24) and then bring in some foreign imports later in the game. My signings so far have been:

GK - Fernando Pacheco - 105k

GK - Angus Gunn - Free Transfer (may cost up to 200k)

LB - Matt Targett - 900k

CM - Dele Alli - 2.8m

ST - Patrick Bamford - 525k

ST - Sam Gallagher - 10.75m

Great bargain with Pacheco so thanks for that one guys! Gunn brought in as a u21 keeper that could progress well, has a high potential but is pretty poor at the moment. Targett to fight with C.Taylor for the LWB role (Taylor overtook White as 1st choice near the end of last season). Alli looks differnet class and for that price would recommend everyone to sign him, already at Premiership level. Great price for Bambford imo, not quite Premiership standard yet but has the required potential to get there. Gallagher was valued at 800k so yes I have over paid but I think he will defiantly be worth it, looks like he can become a very good all round striker.

I did give Cook a fair bit of game time last year and it's done wonders, his stats are very similar to Alli's and has the potential to be a quality Premiership midfielder.

Team as it looks now:

----------------Pacheco----------------

-----Del Fabro---Bellusci---Pearce-----

Byram---------------------------Targett

------------Cook-------Alli------------

----------------Adryan-----------------

--------Antenucci-----Gallagher--------

Silvestri | Cooper | Berardi | C.Taylor | White | Bianchi | Austin | Mowatt | Sloth | Bamford | Sharp | Doukara

Could do with moving on White & Doukara but struggling to. Think it will be a battle to stay up and could possible do with a new CB so I'll have to see what I can do there.

However my 1st game of the season was home to Sunderland where we won 6-0!!! I still think this could be down to some issues with the beta but promising signs none the less.

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js150 can you show the tactica that you used in the first year?

I'm having some trouble to make my attacking trio to work.

One thing to remember is even if you have a great tactic if your team isn't familiar enough with it (as they won't be when you make a new tactic) it won't perform as well as it should. One of the most important part of pre season is getting them familiar with the tactic. I make training pretty much 100% on the tactic until the familiarity bar is up near/ past half way.

3-5-2/5-3-2

Team Instructions:

Retain Possession, Shorter Passing, Pass Into Space, Play Out of Defense, Close Down More, Higher Tempo

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend - Roll It Out, Distribute to Specific Team-Mate (RWB)

CB x 3: Central Defender, Defend - Pass it Shorter

RWB: Complete Wing Back, Attack - Pass it Shorter, Close Down More

LWB: Wing Back, Attack - Pass it Shorter, Close Down More

CM: Deep Lying Playmaker, Defend - Pass it Shorter, Close Down More

CM: Box-to-Box Midfielder, Support - Pass it Shorter, Close Down More

ACM - Trequartista, Attack - Pass it Shorter

ST: Deep Lying Forward, Support - Pass it Shorter, Close Down More

ST: Poacher, Attack - Pass it Shorter, Move Into Channels

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After promotion I think I was given ~£15m transfer budget with £250k wage budget (hard to say exactly as you get an initial transfer budget early on then a different one later, I also adjusted the budget).

I was given an increase wage budget to ~£350k when I asked for it so could be worth trying to see if others can also get it. I've also noticed when you release players their cost of release isn't taken from you budget, was this always the case? I thought it was deducted. Anyway it helped me free up some more cash.

Although I really should have spent that extra cash on the defense I couldn't stop myself from buying Patrick Robert from Fulham for £10.25m (some upfront some over 24 months). Going to train him up as a striker and hopefully play him as a False 9.

Cook & Alli at CM (Deep Lying Playmaker & Roaming Playmaker), Adryan at ACM (Trequartista), Roberts & Gallagher at ST (False 9 & Advance Forward). That's how I hopefully see it working out.

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After promotion I think I was given ~£15m transfer budget with £250k wage budget (hard to say exactly as you get an initial transfer budget early on then a different one later, I also adjusted the budget).

I was given an increase wage budget to ~£350k when I asked for it so could be worth trying to see if others can also get it. I've also noticed when you release players their cost of release isn't taken from you budget, was this always the case? I thought it was deducted. Anyway it helped me free up some more cash.

Although I really should have spent that extra cash on the defense I couldn't stop myself from buying Patrick Robert from Fulham for £10.25m (some upfront some over 24 months). Going to train him up as a striker and hopefully play him as a False 9.

Cook & Alli at CM (Deep Lying Playmaker & Roaming Playmaker), Adryan at ACM (Trequartista), Roberts & Gallagher at ST (False 9 & Advance Forward). That's how I hopefully see it working out.

Roberts does look very good indeed. I know I can't post his PA here, but I entirely understand why you signed him. :)

I Have just kicked off my Championship season. I've taken a different approach this year from my usual sell everyone, as I wanted to use the basis of the Cellino signings. So I have looked to strengthen where there are weaknesses in the squad on the beta (GK, DL, AMR, AML), add some more depth in central midfield and another ST. I also added quality youngsters as, aside from Cook & the loanees, there isn't that much of a high enough quality. To do this I sold Murphy, Austin, Hunt, Morison & White & loaned out Warnock at 100 % wage contribution to Reading who don't have the cash to do a permanent deal. I also sold Mowatt :( Very reluctantly, but he paid for Ante Coric & co.

I'll put the squad up later.

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Roberts does look very good indeed. I know I can't post his PA here, but I entirely understand why you signed him. :)

I Have just kicked off my Championship season. I've taken a different approach this year from my usual sell everyone, as I wanted to use the basis of the Cellino signings. So I have looked to strengthen where there are weaknesses in the squad on the beta (GK, DL, AMR, AML), add some more depth in central midfield and another ST. I also added quality youngsters as, aside from Cook & the loanees, there isn't that much of a high enough quality. To do this I sold Murphy, Austin, Hunt, Morison & White & loaned out Warnock at 100 % wage contribution to Reading who don't have the cash to do a permanent deal. I also sold Mowatt :( Very reluctantly, but he paid for Ante Coric & co.

I'll put the squad up later.

Sacrilege Nicko!

Anyhow, I'm just through preseason, with a very nice 3-0 away win at Millwall. I haven't signed anyone at all yet, I've settled on a tactic that involves retraining Adryan as AML and Cook as a Half Back, he'll be amazing when he's finished I think.

My scouts have found some good looking players (Kubo, Declan John, Marco Burki, Enes Unai), but I really wanted Ajer and Oberlin, neither will come.

I still need an IF to cover for Doukara, and ideally an AML playmaker to cover for Adryan, but I might re-train Mowatt there, then he can play 2 roles.

Feels odd, no transfer activity, I need to buy someone...

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Sacrilege Nicko!

Anyhow, I'm just through preseason, with a very nice 3-0 away win at Millwall. I haven't signed anyone at all yet, I've settled on a tactic that involves retraining Adryan as AML and Cook as a Half Back, he'll be amazing when he's finished I think.

My scouts have found some good looking players (Kubo, Declan John, Marco Burki, Enes Unai), but I really wanted Ajer and Oberlin, neither will come.

I still need an IF to cover for Doukara, and ideally an AML playmaker to cover for Adryan, but I might re-train Mowatt there, then he can play 2 roles.

Feels odd, no transfer activity, I need to buy someone...

I know, but he went a long way towards paying for:

Coric, Cristian Manea, Jesus Vallejo, Humam Tariq & Luka Jovic :)

Is that Kristoffer Ajer?

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I know, but he went a long way towards paying for:

Coric, Cristian Manea, Jesus Vallejo, Humam Tariq & Luka Jovic :)

Is that Kristoffer Ajer?

Yeah that's him, looks immense and would have been great as long term prospect. Just couldn't get him.

One player who does look an absolute steal is a lad called Forsell, 23 (i think) 2 footed winger / inside forward. I snapped him up for 100k. His contract is running down so I probably paid over the odds for him, but either way he's an unbelievable bargain, I didn't scout him before hand and he's rated at 4* and a decent premier league player.

Well worth a look.

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Im Really having trouble with my 4-3-1-2 formation, ive based it on a thread i found on here, i think someone is using it as Man U. But its more with individual error more than the team play, from watching it looks like we play nice football but then we have crazy moments (i suppose its true to real life) one goal i conceded was a pass to pearce he did a becchio control and it went 10 yards infront of him right into the path of the oncoming boro player leaving him one on one. marking seems to be all over the place too. too many times they just seem to let the player break. i changed it to tighter marking but it seems more of a lapse in concentration.

Using the 4-3-1-2 (it had done well in pre season) 3w 1d 1L i think, one of the wins being 7-0 might have been against plymouth i cant remember. i had saved the game the week before the start of the season and have tried different philosophy's with the tactic and tweaking other little things, one being a 6-4 loss against millwall with an attacking philosophy, it was an exciting game but i didnt want to play like that, another i was 3-0 down after 30mins (this was the one with the pearce mistake) so i just quit it there.

So i moved onto the 5-2-1-2 as suggested above, i had them training this over pre season too but i want to play 4-3-1-2 as the 5-2-1-2 loses a CM and we have a lot of them, when i restarted with the 5-2-1-2 i lost to millwall 0-1 and beat scunny in the cup 1-0, i was quite happy with this maybe need to tweak the attacking positions a bit think im playing a AF & DLF

Lastly, that bloody Ranergie for millwall... hes like messi/ronaldo against me, cant touch him.

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Yeah that's him, looks immense and would have been great as long term prospect. Just couldn't get him.

One player who does look an absolute steal is a lad called Forsell, 23 (i think) 2 footed winger / inside forward. I snapped him up for 100k. His contract is running down so I probably paid over the odds for him, but either way he's an unbelievable bargain, I didn't scout him before hand and he's rated at 4* and a decent premier league player.

Well worth a look.

Nice find that Macca.

This reminds me that I picked up two Scandinavians who are also running down their contracts:

Simon Thern, MC (£100k). He is better than all existing central midfielders at the club at game start. But you need to move quickly or he signs a new contract.

Oscar Lewicki, DMC/MC (£100k) 4* potential.

Added to Keko & Ezequiel, the following are also good free signings:

Denis Stracqualursi, ST, wants tidy £ but demands will drop slightly if you tell him he'll be a legend.

Leonel Galeano, DC.

Sotiris Ninis, AMC.

Fran Merida, AMC.

Houssine Kharja (straight Prem quality).

Innocent Emeghara, ST.

The following are also worth looking at:

Yassin Mohamed, DC. Arnaud Souquet, MC. Stefan Mihajlovic, ST.

Additionally, Landry N'Guemo, MC is Prem quality but doesn't want to come. Yet. :)

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So i moved onto the 5-2-1-2 as suggested above, i had them training this over pre season too but i want to play 4-3-1-2 as the 5-2-1-2 loses a CM and we have a lot of them, when i restarted with the 5-2-1-2 i lost to millwall 0-1 and beat scunny in the cup 1-0, i was quite happy with this maybe need to tweak the attacking positions a bit think im playing a AF & DLF

Just to add on the 3-5-2/5-3-2 I've been playing. I've now tweaked it a bit, in theory I want to play Possession football with an emphysis on winning the ball back quickly when losing it, starving the opposition of possession. I also want the team to play with a fast tempo when in possesion, I think of this as being similar to how Southampton played under Pochettino.

Now in theory and in my head it seemed to work but I think in practise a couple of my instructions were contradictory.

The main ones being Retain Possesion and Higher Tempo, when I read the blurb about the different Tempos it mentions that a slower tempo will mean you retain possesion more and higher be more likley to lose it. That along with having Controling playing style meant that the higher tempo was contradictory to these instructions.

So I've changed to a slower tempo, although I do think in theory you should be able to play with a high tempo and still retain possesion I'm not sure it can be achieve in the was I was attempting.

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yeah id assume a higher tempo = more risk. tempo isnt really an issue for me and to an extent neither is possession, although you need possession to create goals, but i dont want to keep possession for the sake of keeping possession, no point having lots of possession if you dont make chances to score (the hockaday theory) i like to call that. im thinking if i play more direct but pass it short or would that contradict itself ?

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I think it would depend how you set it up. Off the top of my head, to try play more direct but pass it short, I would use pass it shorter but also use hit early crosses, in my mind that would have you playing short passing until further up the pitch where an opportunity presents itself to be more direct.

I would also have Higher Tempo even though you say tempo isn't an issue you also say possession isn't either so they wouldn't work against each other (as long as you don't select retain possession). The higher tempo could force a more direct style when further up the pitch.

You would just have to be careful with other instructions as to not contradict them.

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Good signs for Leeds...

I've played the first season through as various teams and almost everytime Leeds end up in a play off spot at the very least, so clearly some decent players in the original squad.

Interestingly though, Norwich always do rubbish, which is shocking with their team, and bournemouth do extremely well with their matty ritchie powered squad.

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My best CM/FM save ever was with Leeds back in the Kewell/Viduka/Bowyer/Woodgate era and I'm tempted to go again with them. My one question, are the board as totally mental as they are in real life, with regards to expectations/sackings etc?

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