FM17: Manchester United - The Special One Arrives

[sedge11]

3 hours ago, npjones88 said:

4 hours ago, npjones88 said:

I am managing ManUtd and 2 and a half seasons in. I have poured my time and devotion into this save and worked the transfer market masterfully (if I do say do myself) to accumulate the squad below. I have also swept away all before me using TFF Reaver V4 Tactic with the occasional tweak here and there. (Definitely worth a download if you're a powerhouse team.)  

So I am in Jan and Ronaldo is available on a pre-contract. I desperately want him in my team and can bring him in now for 2.4m. Home-grown and a legend for me, having grown up watching him develop into a superstar at my boyhood club.

However...

A random scout on Messi (I always periodically do this throughout any big team save in case his manager sleeps with his wife or something and he gets inexplicably unhappy) and Messi is AVAILABLE! 37m. 31 years old. 

Both players will come in on 300k p/w contracts with 50% yearly increases (note, I find this is the best way to get a superstar through the door, then offer him a slightly better contract ASAP with the 50% not included and they are always delighted to resign.)

Do I confirm both deals? I know Ronaldo will keep going forever and ever but Messi tends to fall to bits in his early 30's. I would probably end up moving on some of Martial, James, Hazard, Memphis to make room so could make back plenty of the money I fork out on these deals as I am already over-stocked on attackers. 

Feels silly to buy two ageing superstars on big, wage-structure-busting deals that I don't really need but the thought of watching Ronaldo cross for a Messi goal and vice versa gives me goosebumps.

TL;DR I can sign Ronaldo AND Messi in one window. Irresponsible or Irresistible?

Thanks for any feedback in advance!

Wow that is a massive squad, your wage budget must be through the roof.

[talhak]

3 hours ago, npjones88 said:

4 hours ago, npjones88 said:

I am managing ManUtd and 2 and a half seasons in. I have poured my time and devotion into this save and worked the transfer market masterfully (if I do say do myself) to accumulate the squad below. I have also swept away all before me using TFF Reaver V4 Tactic with the occasional tweak here and there. (Definitely worth a download if you're a powerhouse team.)  

So I am in Jan and Ronaldo is available on a pre-contract. I desperately want him in my team and can bring him in now for 2.4m. Home-grown and a legend for me, having grown up watching him develop into a superstar at my boyhood club.

However...

A random scout on Messi (I always periodically do this throughout any big team save in case his manager sleeps with his wife or something and he gets inexplicably unhappy) and Messi is AVAILABLE! 37m. 31 years old. 

Both players will come in on 300k p/w contracts with 50% yearly increases (note, I find this is the best way to get a superstar through the door, then offer him a slightly better contract ASAP with the 50% not included and they are always delighted to resign.)

Do I confirm both deals? I know Ronaldo will keep going forever and ever but Messi tends to fall to bits in his early 30's. I would probably end up moving on some of Martial, James, Hazard, Memphis to make room so could make back plenty of the money I fork out on these deals as I am already over-stocked on attackers. 

Feels silly to buy two ageing superstars on big, wage-structure-busting deals that I don't really need but the thought of watching Ronaldo cross for a Messi goal and vice versa gives me goosebumps.

TL;DR I can sign Ronaldo AND Messi in one window. Irresponsible or Irresistible?

Thanks for any feedback in advance!

 

 

Can you share your tactic in order to give us a chance to make recommendations?

[npjones88]

1 hour ago, sedge11 said:

Wow that is a massive squad, your wage budget must be through the roof.

Wage budget's not too bad. Although bigger than I've ever had before it's manageable for Utd. I'm strategically hardline with wages. Nobody gets any new contracts until I say so, usually in their final 18 months and then they're tied down for 5-8 years on the lowest wage they'll take. Wages are below. I've also done the Chelsea style talent farm thing so have a little coming in from that each month, plus a couple of very high sales. PSG came in with 80m for Micky after season 1 and I made sure to get good money for all the deadwood. 

Having looked t it now, those wages look ridiculous with Ronaldo/Messi at the top! :s

 

[npjones88]

42 minutes ago, talhak said:

Can you share your tactic in order to give us a chance to make recommendations?

Gotta say, Ronaldo bangs them in and dominates like a slightly superior Zlatan but Messi's not having a great first few weeks (by his/my standards). Surprised to see him complacent in matches, thought his hidden attributes would be golden!

Tactics:

 

[Sampa]

Finished my 5th season. Honestly thought I could have/should have won every game with the team I had and the way they play. Unfortunately had some issues with Dybala which then affected the whole team's morale in January which lead to a couple slip ups. In March they eventually got over it.

Annoyingly though I won the league really early, after the Bournemouth or City game which then lead to them not performing and taking the back seat in the rest of the games which almost ruined our chances in FA Cup and Champions League but thankfully managed to win both.

In the league went 19 wins out of 19 at home, scoring 87 goals in those 19 games. Played 32 competitive games at home in all competitions and won them all in fact. In 38 games scored 142 in total, conceded 37.

 

Now just at the transfer window and PSG have come in with a £110m bid for Andre Horta. 81m upfront, 29m over 48 months.

Annoying because I want to keep him but the last news item on PSG scouting him said he wants to go. Annoying.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Sampa

[stevemc]

Just coming up to January, first season, and looking for some players to fill my u18's and u23's, any cheap must buys?

[stevemc]

Manchester United 2016/17 (season 1) - Mid-Season

Enjoying a good start to the season, dominating matches and controlling the big games too. Zlatan is an animal, as summed up with with a brace at Anfield

 

Zlatan and Rooney suffered long injuries, 3 months each, so I promoted Tahith Chong, his first game was against Arsenal, which is promptly scored in, becoming our youngest ever scorer  Rashford mark two

 

Approaching January, Woodward came up with some money, which I invested in the first team:

I brought in Ryan Sessegnon as cover for Luke Shaw, Daniele Rugani came in to partner Eric Bailly and Bernardo Silva to be the creative force from midfield:

 

We are top of the league by four points:

 

As for the cups:

EFL Cup: We are in the final against Newcastle United, after knocking out Arsenal in the semi final.

FA Cup: We into the 5th round after knocking out Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic.

EUROPA League: Into the first round knockout phase, against Inter Milan.

[PaulC2K]

Finished my first season, went unbeaten in the league and ended 22pts clear, the rest were just dropping points all over the place.
Palace finished 5th, ahead of Liverpool (by 4pts) and City (10pts), they were a mess.

Got dumped out of the league cup at the first round vs Liverpool, the start of the season was a bit choppy for me, and that was one of 6 games without a win (4D, 2L) before going on a 20 game winning streak, 17 of those without conceding. Lost the Europa final on penalties, 1-1 after 90min, Bailey adds a deft touch on a free kick to guide the ball home, and then proceeds to score another at the other end to tie it up again. Zlatan stuffed the final pen, quiet trip home. Won the FA Cup though, had to do that on penalties too, against Stoke (!!).

I'd been scouting Dybala & Griezmann from around Feb & March respectively, definitely got at Dybala cos he spent the rest of the season sulking at the rejected offers (~130m, 80% future fees),  Griezmann wasnt as much trouble and he was sorted around April. Couldnt get Juve to settle for something i could offer, i'll keep hovering and try again next season if we have the funds.
With those plans changed, i went after both Alli (15m + 55m/4y) & Dier (15m + 30m/4y) which was pretty much the sum of what i'd planned for Dybala. That gives me Pogba, Alli & Dier as a midfield trio, Herrera as backup.
I pushed Mata out the door, too far down the order and not getting younger - Alli could play AM, Mkhi both central & right, and i've got Felipe Anderson killing it as a RW. I initiated the deal, 20m+15 over 3yr, something to balance out those future payments - they came back offering slightly less but up front.
Just as that was upsetting the changing room (me pushing Mata out), Juve offered an un-negotiable 14m, + 9m addons & 4m success based for Nacho (R.Mad) who i'd picked up to play RB for around 6.5m when i couldnt get Danilo and Fabinho was too expensive. Got Monaco to agree on 10m +20m/4y for Fabinho, so its worked out rather well, could have happily held onto him, but i think its worked out well. Still got some more deadwood to shift though; Rooney, Young & Bastian are a priority, with Fellaini & Morgan on the fringe.

Im not a big fan of big clean-outs, it feels too CM/FM-like, take a team, gut it, and replace with all new players etc. So im hoping that i can bring a few youngsters through and keep a decent amount of Utd in there somewhere.

[stevemc]

Manchester United 2016/17 (season 1) - End of Season

January came and went, with some big transfers, and Mancini replacing Klopp at Liverpool. Scholes also decided to leave us to take the Charlton job.

 

After winning the Community Shield, we added the League Cup with a straight forward win against Newcastle United:

 

We also dominated the league, winning by 10 points in the end:

I'm certain had Zlatan been fit all season, he'd have won the golden boot too:

 

We added the Europa League to our collection, after progressing through some tricky ties. Juan Mata was unbelievable.

 

Progressing to the FA Cup final gave us the opportunity to win 100% of the competitions that we entered, and 2-0 up at half time made it look like another was going to following. After half time, I don't know what happened, we've been ruthless all season, but in the second half, Wolves, managed by Ryan Giggs, played like peak Barcelona. Never experienced such a dominant half from a team in a division below, in all my time on FM. It was just weird. Anyway, we lost, which was gutting:

 

Overall, a great first season in charge. Board gave me a £90m starting budget, and I'm looking to increase that and make big changes this summer.

[Dale0718]

On 25/02/2017 at 13:13, stevemc said:

Sorry for the late reply, here it is:

 

Smalling usually partners Bailly, but he's injured.

Are you able to share your team instructions?

[stevemc]

11 hours ago, Dale0718 said:

Are you able to share your team instructions?

I use standard for home match, counter for away.

[Dale0718]

Cheers mate! Appreciate it!

[stevemc]

Manchester United 2017/18 (season 2) - Start of season

Decided on a bit of a overhaul in the summer, as a lot of money was spent in the Premier League. Manchester City broke the transfer record with £106m on Marco Verratti, shortly after I'd broken the record on David Alaba.

I received a £36m offer for Phil Jones, which I couldn't refuse, so sold him on to Tottenham, leaving more opportunities for Axel Tuanzebe. Similar to Daley Blind leaving for £34m to Barcelona, he was nothing more than a squad player for me, and the money was substantial. Romero also left, as I promoted Sam Johnstone in his place.  Decided on a few loans, to thin the squad out, most notably Rojo and Darmian, both with mandatory future fees set for next summer, £20m and £25m respectively (whilst also paying £100k p/m + 100% wages). Rooney also left to re-join boyhood club, Everton.

Sadly, also had to let Bastian Schweinsteiger leave on a free transfer by mutual agreement.

In came Fabinho, Griezmann, Alaba and Tiago Maia.

 

We started with revenge for our FA Cup final defeat to Wolves, by beating them in the Community Shield

 

Closely followed by a Super Cup victory against Champions League winners, Juventus, with a wonder goal from Bernardo Silva three minutes from time:

 

Now we are back in the Champions League, with ambitions of winning it, we drew an interesting group of Leverkusen, PSV and Red Bull Salzburg:

 

I made significant changes to the backroom staff, ensuring that our team is now the best in the country in all departments. I've also upgraded all facilities and started setting up new affiliates. The only job I've got left to do is overhaul the scouting network.

I've also renegotiated a number of key player contracts and triggered optional contract extensions on five first team players.

 

Finally, a couple of screenshots of two players I've been developing and hope to keep developing into top players:

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by stevemc

[axehan1]

On ‎06‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 18:26, stevemc said:

Manchester United 2017/18 (season 2) - Start of season

Decided on a bit of a overhaul in the summer, as a lot of money was spent in the Premier League. Manchester City broke the transfer record with £106m on Marco Verratti, shortly after I'd broken the record on David Alaba.

I received a £36m offer for Phil Jones, which I couldn't refuse, so sold him on to Tottenham, leaving more opportunities for Axel Tuanzebe. Similar to Daley Blind leaving for £34m to Barcelona, he was nothing more than a squad player for me, and the money was substantial. Romero also left, as I promoted Sam Johnstone in his place.  Decided on a few loans, to thin the squad out, most notably Rojo and Darmian, both with mandatory future fees set for next summer, £20m and £25m respectively (whilst also paying £100k p/m + 100% wages). Rooney also left to re-join boyhood club, Everton.

Sadly, also had to let Bastian Schweinsteiger leave on a free transfer by mutual agreement.

In came Fabinho, Griezmann, Alaba and Tiago Maia.

 

We started with revenge for our FA Cup final defeat to Wolves, by beating them in the Community Shield

 

Closely followed by a Super Cup victory against Champions League winners, Juventus, with a wonder goal from Bernardo Silva three minutes from time:

 

Now we are back in the Champions League, with ambitions of winning it, we drew an interesting group of Leverkusen, PSV and Red Bull Salzburg:

 

I made significant changes to the backroom staff, ensuring that our team is now the best in the country in all departments. I've also upgraded all facilities and started setting up new affiliates. The only job I've got left to do is overhaul the scouting network.

I've also renegotiated a number of key player contracts and triggered optional contract extensions on five first team players.

 

Finally, a couple of screenshots of two players I've been developing and hope to keep developing into top players:

 

Has Tuanzebe been modified since the update?Determination 19, on my save he starts off on about 6 determination.I'll load up my game later and post a screenshot of him, I sold him to PSG for about 25m.

[axehan1]

That's Tuanzebe April 2022

Determination pretty rubbish,well done for getting up to 19.

[sp3c]

It might be a random stat, this is him on my game (previous database):

 

[axehan1]

32 minutes ago, sp3c said:

It might be a random stat, this is him on my game (previous database):

 

Yeah I've just loaded up a new save and he has 14 as a starting attribute, where did you get those player faces mate, they look ace.

[sp3c]

That would be the DF11 Megapack

[stevemc]

On 3/8/2017 at 17:08, axehan1 said:

Has Tuanzebe been modified since the update?Determination 19, on my save he starts off on about 6 determination.I'll load up my game later and post a screenshot of him, I sold him to PSG for about 25m.

I'm not too sure mate, my save was pre-update.

[Harryseaess]

Did anybody else have this? I've had to pay Juventus and Villarreal when I won the league and I don't know why.

Is there a clause at the start of the game in Pogba and Bailly's transfers?

Edited March 10, 2017 by Harryseaess

[stevemc]

Yes, same goes if you win the Champions League.

[Harryseaess]

Has anybody had James Rodriguez? I'm in Summer 2018 and he is transfer listed for £18.5m. Seems like too good a deal to turn down.

[KingNikeo]

On 1/28/2017 at 05:04, Zachs60 said:

What formation and tactics and roles did you use to get Griezmann to do that well? Also whats a good striker to partner him??

Sorry mate, i have been away for a while, but if you're still interested I used Griezmann as a advanced forward with instuctions to play more risky passes . He played alongside Dybala as a Complete forward in a 3-1-2-4 DM Wide formation. Griezmann ended the season with 24 goals and 23 assists in 31 PL games and Dybala got 37 goals and 9 assists in 34 games.

[metal_guitarist]

Anyone got a decent 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 working with the default squad? Looking to start a new game but haven't had great luck with tactics so far

[manchester]

No matter what i try just cant get the team to take their chances we defend well enough create chances but when it comes to taking those chances we miss so many and its ends up costing us games so annoying

[Harryseaess]

7 hours ago, manchester said:

No matter what i try just cant get the team to take their chances we defend well enough create chances but when it comes to taking those chances we miss so many and its ends up costing us games so annoying

Sounds like your game is pretty realistic.

[jmallinder]

First time commenter here! I play on a rubbish laptop so it takes me ages to finish a season!

Just finished my first season as Manchester Utd, don't normally play as a team with the financial power bu it was fun to play around with this team.

Made just two signings in the summer prior to the season as I felt the team in place would suffice and I didn't want to introduce too many players.

Signed Andres Cubas & Thiago Maia. I loaned Cubas out as he failed his work permit. I also loaned out Fellaini for the season to Ajax (he played feasibly well for them tbf, 10 goals, 4 assists).

First things first, to any people unsure of Rashford as a CF. Give the kid a chance, I initially played him as an inside forward in a 4-2-3-1 to mixed results. I then toyed with a new formation and cut through lots and lots of teams just through attacking prowess and Rashford was at the forefront.

I started playing a 3-4-1-2 attacking. The sheer number of offensive players that Man Utd have made me lean more towards the best defence is a good offense rule.

To cut things short I won the League and the League cup. Was knocked out of the Euro Cup in the Qtr finals (Griezman obliterated us) and a shock loss to Watford in the FA Cup Qtr Finals.

About to begin my second season. I've jettisoned a lot of players (Blind, Rojo, Sneiderlin others I can't remember) who I just couldn't give time to in the interest of bringing through youth. My signings have been Dele Alli and Breel Embolo I don't plan on doing any more business apart from maybe bringing in a bargain versatile player to replace Blind (I didn't want to let him go but he was threatening mutiny after I told him he wouldn't get game time at Real Madrid).

Looking forward to seeing if I can get the best out of players like Fosu-Mensah and Angel Gomes. Had some good regens I'm looking to give some starts to toward the end of the season after some tutoring and training.

All in all an enjoyable save so far, it's an interesting team to manage, a lot of ego and world class players on montstrous wages. With some fantastic youth, if you can get a partnership between Martial and Rashford up front you're in for a lot of fun up front.

 

[manchester]

33 minutes ago, Harryseaess said:

Sounds like your game is pretty realistic.

lol true so annoting tho cant seem to get the shooting better

[jmallinder]

8 minutes ago, manchester said:

lol true so annoting tho cant seem to get the shooting better

What is your tactical set up currently?

[axehan1]

Crazy start to my Champions League campaign for season 22-23 season.Me and the Champions League don't get on, I've won it once in this save so far and 2 final defeats to Spurs and last season to PSG when we were leading into the final 15 minutes and then managed to concede 2 penalties in 3 minutes(the laptop almost flew across the living room).

 

This seasons first group fixture was away to Leverkusen.

This is without a doubt the best away performance I have ever had on any version of Champ Man/FM.

[stevemc]

1st vs 2nd:

 

No problem

[kozmik]

First 21 league games of the season unbeaten, conceding only 13 goals, then this happens...

[kozmik]

Pretty decent youth intake:

 

[manchester]

On 3/14/2017 at 20:06, stevemc said:

1st vs 2nd:

 

No problem

what skin and background pack is that

[axehan1]

Talk about the season of good cheer,consecutive home league games over the Christmas period.

 

followed by this on boxing day.

 

[warlock]

4 hours ago, axehan1 said:

Talk about the season of good cheer

A "double natural". And kudos to anyone who gets the reference .

[stevemc]

On 3/18/2017 at 16:43, manchester said:

what skin and background pack is that

Its the default skin with transparency. And my own background pack.

[Carefree_Since_1905]

Started a United game on the new patch. I managed to loan out Rooney for 100% of his wages and £300k a month fee to Spurs.

Then proceeded to have his testimonial v Everton without him playing. Anyone else had that?

Apologies if it has been brought up before, I am just making my way through all the pages on this thread!

 

 

[warlock]

22 minutes ago, Carefree_Since_1905 said:

Started a United game on the new patch. I managed to loan out Rooney for 100% of his wages and £300k a month fee to Spurs.

Then proceeded to have his testimonial v Everton without him playing. Anyone else had that?

Apologies if it has been brought up before, I am just making my way through all the pages on this thread!

 

 

Every save, since the first thing I do is get rid of Rooney. Well, almost every save because although the testimonial is usually set, I've had a couple of saves where I don't think it was scheduled.

[warlock]

On 28/02/2017 at 08:07, stevemc said:

Enjoying a good start to the season, dominating matches and controlling the big games too

Steve, just wondering what you do with Mata and Miki in your tactical setup. Play them as CM playmakers, or retrain to the F9 role?

I had a fun save back in November with a 4-1-3-2 narrow formation that worked very well, but it was difficult to accommodate all of United's wide and AM players in that setup.

[axehan1]

5 hours ago, stevemc said:

Its the default skin with transparency. And my own background pack.

Is that using the base skin? Also where would I find the transparency XML(is that what it is?) and where would I  put it?

[stevemc]

14 hours ago, warlock said:

Steve, just wondering what you do with Mata and Miki in your tactical setup. Play them as CM playmakers, or retrain to the F9 role?

I had a fun save back in November with a 4-1-3-2 narrow formation that worked very well, but it was difficult to accommodate all of United's wide and AM players in that setup.

I retrained Mata to a F9, and Miki plays as the highest CM in my team, occasionally filling in at F9.

 

14 hours ago, axehan1 said:

Is that using the base skin? Also where would I find the transparency XML(is that what it is?) and where would I  put it?

Yes, the default base skin, from here: 

Download the Base2017 Skin first:

https://sites.google.com/site/michaeltmurrayuk/Skins/fm17baseskins

and replace the files in that skin, with the two files below:

http://www.filedropper.com/paper_4

http://www.filedropper.com/paper2x

Put both those two files in this location (replace files that in there already):

 

Then in preferences, reload skin.

Edited March 21, 2017 by stevemc

[warlock]

3 hours ago, stevemc said:

I retrained Mata to a F9, and Miki plays as the highest CM in my team, occasionally filling in at F9.

 

Thanks Steve.

[Ben2007]

Started a new save on the new patch since I'm an easily bored creature, and at the end of the first season providing you are back in champions league and close to winning the league, you can sign likes of Lewandowski & Dybala for well below the asking price. Gone for Lewandowski & with youngsters coming back from loan next season, don't see myself making anymore signings. As much as having a transfer budget of over 200 million is quite nice, I really want to give youngsters a chance as opposed to buying talent.

[warlock]

Can we play you every week...

I'm eating humble pie. Having said just yesterday that I always sell Rooney, in this new save I decided not to (trying to keep new signings down for first season). His first game of the season, he does this - a 14-minute hat-trick, and five in total. I do expect a return to normal service, though.

[warlock]

And next game, away at Chelsea, we suffer a humbling 2-0 defeat. Don't think we threatened once and, to make matters worse, Ibra retires from the game with a concussion, Rooney comes off the bench and immediately does his hamstring. Out for a month.

You have to laugh, eh?

[Harryseaess]

19 hours ago, Ben2007 said:

Started a new save on the new patch since I'm an easily bored creature, and at the end of the first season providing you are back in champions league and close to winning the league, you can sign likes of Lewandowski & Dybala for well below the asking price. Gone for Lewandowski & with youngsters coming back from loan next season, don't see myself making anymore signings. As much as having a transfer budget of over 200 million is quite nice, I really want to give youngsters a chance as opposed to buying talent.

Going for Lewandoswki over Dybala is an awful decision IMO.

[Ben2007]

2 hours ago, Harryseaess said:

Going for Lewandoswki over Dybala is an awful decision IMO.

I like the look of Dybala but I noticed I tend to drop points either when I'm playing away or against the likes of Sunderland & Stoke who are more interested in stopping you playing & maybe grabbing a goal. Those games Griezmann, Martial etc struggle a little to get into games & whilst Zlatan's good he's not getting any younger so Lewandowski's really a replacement for those types of games & he does tend to bang the goals in.

[Harryseaess]

Just now, Ben2007 said:

I like the look of Dybala but I noticed I tend to drop points either when I'm playing away or against the likes of Sunderland & Stoke who are more interested in stopping you playing & maybe grabbing a goal. Those games Griezmann, Martial etc struggle a little to get into games & whilst Zlatan's good he's not getting any younger so Lewandowski's really a replacement for those types of games & he does tend to bang the goals in.

Dybala is a goal and assist machine though, and younger than Lewa by 5 years. Would have been a much better long term buy, but each to their own.

[Harryseaess]

Pretty special season: