FM17 - Sheffield Wednesday Thread - Carlos had a Dream

[rlipscombe]

 

Official Sheffield Wednesday Thread

 

Carlos had a Dream

 

 

Name: Sheffield Wednesday

Nickname: The Owls

Year Founded: 1867

Chariman: Dejphon Chansiri

Current Manager: Carlos Carvalhal

Club Captain: Glen Loovens

Country: England

League: Championship

Media Prediction: TBC

A bit of history

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England who play in the Championship, the second tier of the English leagues. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the third oldest club in the English football league.

"The Wednesday", as they were known until 1929, were founding members of The Football Alliance in 1889 and its first champions. They joined The Football League three years later and were also one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992. Since joining the Football League in 1892, the club has spent most of its history in the top flight of English football but have not played at this level since being relegated in 2000. The Owls have historically been one of England's more successful clubs, and have won four League titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup. Wednesday have also competed at European level, most notably in the UEFA Cup in 1992-93 where the Owls met German club Kaiserslautern amongst others.

The 2014–15 season saw Wednesday welcome a new owner, Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, who purchased the club from Milan Mandarić for £37.5m. Chansiri stated his aim to get Wednesday back in the Premier League by 2017, the year of the club's 150th anniversary. Along with replacing existing manager Stuart Gray with Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal, he invested heavily in the club's facilities and playing squad, with players such as Fernando Forestieri and Marco Matias arriving for seven-figure sums.

The 2015-16 season saw Wednesday reach the Championship play-off finals with a 6th place finish where they played Hull City at Wembley Stadium.  Unfortunately Hull were too strong for the Owls on the day and Hull were promoted at the Owls' expense.

Hillsborough

Since 1899, Sheffield Wednesday have played home matches at Hillsborough Stadium in the north-western suburb of Owlerton, hence their nickname The Owls. Hillsborough is currently an all-seater ground with a capacity of 39,812.
 

The Squad

Goalkeepers

Kieran Westwood, Joe Wildsmith, Jake Dean, Cameron Dawson

Right Backs

Jack Hunt, Liam Palmer

Left Backs

Daniel Pudil, 

Centre Backs

Tom Lees, Glen Loovens, Vincient Sasso, Sam Hutchinson

Right Midfielders and Right Wingers

Marco Matias, Modou Sougou, Will Buckley (loan)

Left Midfielders and Left Wingers

Ross Wallace, Urby Emmanuelson, Adam Reach

Central Midfielders

Kieran Lee Jose Semedo,  Felipe Melo, Barry Bannan, Almen Abdi, David Jones

Strikers

Fernando Forestieri, Lucas Joao, Atdhe Nuhiu, Gary Hooper, Steven Fletcher 

 

Why Sheffield Wednesday?

As with a lot of teams in the championship, Wednesday are a sleeping giant who have aspirations to be back in the Premier league. With a good sized stadium and a good base of loyal fans, this is a club that should be back in the Premier League (something a lot of clubs believe). The challenge is to get them there and reestablish the Owls as a premier league team.

Enjoy managing the Owls!

 

[easi]

You've missed out Adam Reach and Steven Fletcher lol , how can an Owl forget those signings?.

[rlipscombe]

On Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 22:25, easi said:

You've missed out Adam Reach and Steven Fletcher lol , how can an Owl forget those signings?.

You are very right... I don't know. I'll blame my brain tumour..... that or an oversight! Now amended 

[Stevarino]

First transfer window out the way, quite a few going with a couple coming in as well.. Hopefully they'll all work out well for me and I've not made any horrible moves, still one or two high earners in the reserves I'd like to get off the wage bill but hopefully that'll come in January / Mutual terminations... 

[Georgex]

Nobody playing as Wednesday then? 

Got FM17 for xmas, so just started my first save. Only signing is Distin so far. Forestieri had a strop because I wouldn't sell him to Marseille. 

Trying out a 5-3-2 for away games and a 4-4-2 for home. 

Currently top after 15 games but three points seperate the top six.

[DanielSwfc]

On 28/12/2016 at 10:59, Georgex said:

Nobody playing as Wednesday then? 

Got FM17 for xmas, so just started my first save. Only signing is Distin so far. Forestieri had a strop because I wouldn't sell him to Marseille. 

Trying out a 5-3-2 for away games and a 4-4-2 for home. 

Currently top after 15 games but three points seperate the top six.

 

I'm currently in my second season with Wednesday 6 months in sitting in 3rd couple of points behind top, first season finished 8th after coming into the final game in 6th and losing

 

Managed to sell Hooper for 7.5m after he bagged 25 goals and now I'm starting Joao and he's doing well for me

 

Also second season got Brunt in for 60k who was considered as "Sign at any cost" and he's been brilliant, First season I made a couple of loads and got Goldson in to replace Loovens who wanted to leave

[Georgex]

Hooper was hit and miss for me. Joao is always good on FM though. 

Funnily enough, after I posted that I lost Westwood, Wallace, Fletcher and Bannan all with injuries 6 months+, went on a six game run without winning (dropping to fourteenth), then lost to Reading 4-0 and got sacked the next day 😂

[Georgex]

Started again now. Using a structured 4-4-2 which works pretty well home and away. 

Only signings are Akpom and Haidara both on loan. 3rd going into December but still having trouble with injuries. Semedo, Wallace, Bannan and Reach all out for 5 months although the only one actually playing was Reach

[rlipscombe]

started a game again with the Owls...  Joao has just put 5 past QPR at Hillsborough....

[Georgex]

Joao is overpowered in this game. Maybe the Portugal call up that did it .

 

im top after 30 games, however forced into selling Loovens, Abdi and Forestieri in January. Promoted O'Grady and Hirst into starting team and only 15 fit senior players so I can't see me staying there too long. 

[BigLarusso]

I am with Wednesday I am a beginner and in my second season and I am pulling my hair out

Hooper and Lees are unhappy

already had to sell FF, Mattias and Fletcher 

i have all the players in the correct positions but I lose all the time 

 

please help me 

here is my team 

Any advice would help I just want to enjoy the game but I'm stuck 

[Georgex]

On 07/01/2017 at 14:45, BigLarusso said:

I am with Wednesday I am a beginner and in my second season and I am pulling my hair out

Hooper and Lees are unhappy

already had to sell FF, Mattias and Fletcher 

i have all the players in the correct positions but I lose all the time 

 

please help me 

here is my team 

Any advice would help I just want to enjoy the game but I'm stuck 

That's a lot of changes! 

However I set up pretty similar with the two big men up front. I would have one of the wingers on attack and the full backs on support, although I only do this because I play through the wings. Maybe switch the bbm and bwm (d) to a cm (d) and then one of the others, I personally have a bwm (s). 

I also find structured to work a lot better than fluid as well. 

[BigLarusso]

Thank you bro 

[pran1]

What I find with FM, 

Don't make a crazy amount of changes

Train/re-train each player - think about the skills and tactics - If you are whipping crosses in but your strikers can't head the ball well or are short with poor jumping reach, you will struggle

Apart from that, pulling hair is pretty much part of the game

Enjoy! 

[jonathan4444]

After not playing the last fm due to trying to finish a phd, I have picked this one up. New account but same team, the mighty Sheffield Wednesday! I'm a few seasons in but I'll go from the start.
So first season:

So I didn't want to change too much, you start with a great squad, bit short in CM and CB. I sold Nuhui, Sougou and Dielna, just to trim the huge squad down. Couldn't get rid of McGugan, Melo or Bus permenantly... They're a huge wage drain. Buying wise, I bough a lb for cover (who actually was better than Pudil...) got 1 free, a few loans for the back four as I got a few injuries. In January, I further strengthened with Azzaoui and Khedira (both HIGHLY recommended) who became first teamers and then due to injuries, bought Julian Green, who has dissapointed every game since he joined, he just doesn't play well. Sold Jones and Emanuelson and got rid of Matias on loan due to him being useless. and only capable of playing rw. Sent Buckley back to Sunderland to save another 25k per week.

 

Up to Christmas I was average at best average (5-10th) and really struggled to find a good formation to fit Forestieri in, so switched alot between these two. 

 

Eventually, I realised that the two wingers were offering nothing, leaving poor Pudil and then Hermoso out of place and under pressure. Switched to the more defensive 442 diamond with Hutchinson and then later Khedira in CDM with a very structured approach. Went on a great run, going into the final game of the season in 3rd, needing one of Huddersfield and Wolves to drop points, which they didn't...

The playoffs were not to be, Norwich were like me, very hit and miss but when it came to the final game, they thrashed me. The board offered me an extension thankfully.

 

Best players:

Forestieri - Top scorer and tbh, plays like a man possessed as a F9 or AP in CAM - 17 goals and 11 assists.

Joao and Hooper - Initially didn't play together but after they got going, wow! 13 and 23 goals and I was impressed.

Azzaoui and Khedira - Both loans but were exceptional for the final 6 months of the year. I managed to get Khedira on a free transfer and Azzaoui on a 2 year loan.

Worst (Where to start...)
Fletcher - Whether I didn't play to his strengths or not I have no idea but he was terrible. Later replaced by the Joao and Hooper partnership. 2 goals in 20 games.

Matias - Waste of space.

Reach and Bannan - Couldn't keep fit and struggled when fit.

[FMJourneyman]

On 1/7/2017 at 09:45, BigLarusso said:

I am with Wednesday I am a beginner and in my second season and I am pulling my hair out

Hooper and Lees are unhappy

already had to sell FF, Mattias and Fletcher 

i have all the players in the correct positions but I lose all the time 

 

please help me 

here is my team 

Any advice would help I just want to enjoy the game but I'm stuck 

It looks you are trying to use the BWM as a protector for the backline. IMHO that normally doesn't go over well as BWM's are prone to stray from position because their primary goal is to pressure and win the ball back, by having him as the only protector you leave you center backs exposed. Having Defensive full backs at this level don't offer you anything either. 

I personally would have my BWM as support and Change the box to box guy to a CM (D) Or DLP (D). Also switch the FB to support, just to give you another outlet when attacking.

What instructions do you have on and what are you goals for this tactic?

[jonathan4444]

Second Season - Transfers

The start of the summer went fairly well and then took a cliff jump.... 4 Good solid free transfers, Khedira was the best of the four, Hunou was a odd one as I brought him in as cover for Foresteiri, but that went south quickly. He asked for a new contract demanding 55 k per week, he was on 15 k and my board max was 40 k. I offered and he said no, refused to play and asked for a transfer. Out of spite, I turned down most bids, excepting one for 20 million, but it fell through. Then West Brom swooped in for Tom Lees and the board sold him without consulting me, so I had to replace him and quickly, bringing in Tom Kalas, Arturo Calabresi (who my scouts loved) and Guillermo Varela. Also, due to Foresteiri wanting to leave, I signed Drmic on loan with the option for a £2 million future fee. In January I signed Didiba Joss and Flanagan, as the board pumped more money into the club.

Outgoing, Lees went for £14 million after a great first season. Abdi wanted to go and at 31, £3.7 million was well worth it. Somehow sold Fletcher and Matias for good money aswell despite them being crap. I let Labyad and Hutchinson leave in January alongside a number of others to trim the budget further.

Tactics wise, I still used the 442 diamond, however with Foresteiri missing training every other week and being on very low morale all year, I moved gradually to a standard highly structured, possession hungry 442. Hooper and Joao as advanced forward and target man was a great combo until Joao's injury issues, in which Drmic stepped up and hit 20 goals for the season. Varela was a huge upgrade on Jack Hunt at RB and after bringing in Flanagan in January, I had the tightest back 4 in the league. I also started playing Wildsmith more in goal due to Westwoods bad form. Finished the season in 2nd place, 2 points above 3rd.

Best players

Drmic - Took a while to get going but 20 goals as non-first choice was very good.

Varela - Kalas - Calabresi - Flanagan - Just wow, 30 goals conceeded all year and tbh, after a porous defence in 16-17, I was impressed.

Khedira - Brought in as cover for Hutchinson, went on to replace him and was first name on the teamsheet. Stepped into the vice captains shoes after Hutchinsons departure.

Bannan - After an injury hit first year, he stepped up and made lm his own and I rewarded him with a new contract.

 

Worse players

The Manager aka Me - I should've sold Foresteiri. I had numerous bids for 15-19 million and made a mess out of the entire situation.

Foresteiri - Massive let down when on the pitch, few goals and assists whilst putting in half assed performances. Highlight of the season was fining him 2 weeks wages when he missed training.

Reach - 5 injuries in a year, I'll try again next year.

Pudil and Hermoso - Neither were good enough at LB, and most goals conceeded before January were from the left. Flanagan playing inverted wing back was the best business I did in January

 

[Georgex]

Into the third season (lost in the playoffs first two) and in third after ten games.

Board keep selling my best players. They let Forestieri go for 10m to Malaga and Hooper for 9m to Middlesbrough. This led to a switch from two strikers and a panic buying of Vydra who hadn't really performed in the first season and half at Derby. He's currently 18 in 23 for me 😀 

The other two standout players for me are Stanislas who I got on a free (8 assists, 7 goals in 14 games) and Jack Lee. After tutoring Lee with Lees, Loovens and Curtis Davies, he has turned into my best defender and Davies can't get anywhere near the team. 

[rlipscombe]

decided that i am going to start a new save with the Owls now that the transfer window has closed and with an updated database.  will post something in the next couple of days.  Nearing the end of the August transfer window.

[scott-h22]

I purchased this game and started a save with Sheffield Wednesday last week, as the usual first save being the club I love it generally turns into a very long save.  

I had updated the transfers so Jordan Rhodes was with us.

Started off trying to play something similar to Carlos Carvalhal's 442 system from last season and had varied results so changed to a 343 heavily based on the way Chelsea play (This was all to try and get the best out of Fernando Forestieri and Jordan Rhodes)  that started off well winning a few games but I wasn't convinced by it and injuries to key players forced me (and a terrible performance against Derby) to change once again this time to a 4231 formation and instantly we started playing how I wanted us to.  Almen Abdi shone in the AM(a) role, which saw him finish the season with 10+ goals and 8+ assists, Forestieri wide left as an AP(a) with free roam and Rhodes or Hooper as a DLF(s) we went on a superb run which included an FA cup run (which was ended by Arsenal 3-2 loss at Hillsborough in the 6th round) scoring for fun and playing great football that led us to the top of the Championship for a few weeks. But then the injury curse happened again and despite my best attempts at rotation with the packed FA Cup and Championship schedule we dropped off and went through a run of poor performances and results losing 2-0 away at Rotherham and 1-0 away at Barnsley before getting beaten 2-1 by Ipswich in the second last game of the season which forced us to finish 4th after looking like we'd get automatic promotion. Now i'm about to play the playoffs with the teams in them being QPR vs. Sheffield Wednesday & Leeds United vs. Fulham I am not hugely confident with winning them as we seem to not be able to score goals as freely as before but have just got Forestieri, Matias, Kieran Lee, Ross Wallace and Tom Lees all back fit again so hopefully they'll make the difference for us in the playoffs and help us go up. I'll update later.

The only signings I made were in January bringing in Tyrone Mings from Bournemouth, Conor Goldson from Brighton & Stuart Armstrong from Celtic, sold Pudil and some other fringe players who were eating up wages despite not being involved.

[rlipscombe]

Finally made it to the end of the first season... after a seventeen match unbeaten run at the end of the season we managed to secure promotion on the final day finishing in 2nd. 

 

I will post a season review in the next few days all being well if I get a bit of time. For now I am going to enjoy the moment and begin planning for next season...

[rlipscombe]

End of Season 2016-2017

 

A great first season with me exceeding our chairmans expectations in achieving automatic promotion as runners up to QPR.  It might have even been the title had we turned a few of our draws into wins.  Still we will be playing in the Premier League next season.

 

As the league graph below shows, we really hit our stride in the second half of the season and our 17-match unbeaten run pushed us in the automatic places with a few games to go:

 

 

In terms of transfers we relied primarily on the existing squad with a few additions, mainly on loan.  Indeed Thomas Rogne was the only player signed for a fee.

 

As for the squad, we played with a large number of players this season, as i tried to decide on a tactic and also the main players for the season.  

 

 

As for key players, Fernando Forestieri was our main striker supported by either Jordan Rhodes or Gary Hooper.

 

As for the new season, i will no doubt need to strengthen the squad.  Survival will be my aim (and hopefully the Chairman's) and anything else will be a bonus.

[nextqprmanager]

Does Lucas Joao turn out any good ?, since he is a CF

thx in adv

[rlipscombe]

He only scored 1 goal in 25 appearances for Blackburn last season @nextqprmanager  -  Still early days for me in the Premier League.  My coaches think he has the potential to be a decent premier League player in the future.  He seems to have been scaled down a bit on this update - He was better when the game was first released.

[rlipscombe]

little update as we have made it to mid-October and 10 league games...  we sit in 11th with a record of 4-1-5, 6 points above the relegation places.  goals are proving a little tricky so far, as is consistency.  top goalscorer so far is Forestieri with a miserly 3 goals.  Fliting between 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 asymetrical formations.  i will do an update when i make it to January.

[rlipscombe]

so i have now reached 1st February so another update.  After 26 games we sit 14th on 27 points, 3 above the drop zone and 7 above 20th.  goals scored is an issue with none of our strikers being prolific.  As a result, i have splashed £3.2m on Josip Drmic, a Swiss striker, from Borussia Monchengladbach.  I also signed a fellow Swiss, Steven Zuber from Hoffenheim for £3.6m.  Zuber is a left sided player, another area where we lack a bit of class.  We reached the quarter finals of the EFL cup and we are into the 5th round of the FA Cup.  Financially we are fine, as a result of being in the Premier League.

 

As for the run-in, i will be happy to achieve survial and anything else from here is a bonus.

[Georgex]

Got sacked after 6 years at Wednesday. Never got promoted and lost in the play offs three times. Chairman kept selling my best players and I was always struggling with recruiting. 

 

Think im going to start over again though and see what I can do this time. Any tips? 

[rlipscombe]

that's tough going @Georgex.  The Chairman does seem to have high ambitions in the first season, which i thankfully met.  Financially it can be a bit tough too with the high wages at the club already.  

 

As for advice, try and find a settled formation.  I tried a large number of players and only once i found a settled team we went on a good run that led to promotion.  Forestieri was key for me - keep him happy and also at the club if possible.  good luck with it.

[Georgex]

I had the wage budget go from the initial budget (which I don't remember but I know it was high) to 200k. 

I had rough starts every season but finished well. In the first season of my new save I am 1-0-2 and through to the second round of the cup. 

[Ben Heppenstall]

Check out my progress with Wednesday here http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2017-manager-stories/365737-rise-sheffield-wednesday.html

[rlipscombe]

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 19:34, Ben Heppenstall said:

Check out my progress with Wednesday here http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2017-manager-stories/365737-rise-sheffield-wednesday.html

Doing pretty well there so far Ben. Keep it up. I have actually done a couple more seasons but haven't updated - shame on me.

 

Will try and do an update at some point

[Erith22]

I'm wondering if I do something wrong when I set up my save.  I cannot for the life of me sell Nuhiu, and I've seen two recaps online where people have gotten decent money for him.  I can't give him away, or loan him out at %50, or anything.

 

By  the time I get to the holiday break I'm broke, my transfer % is down to %10, this despite selling Hopper for 4M.  So much dead weight and can't move any of it.

 

Is this because I play with a ton of available leagues and a large DB?  Is there too much talent around?

[rlipscombe]

@Erith22 - i didn't manage to see lhim either.  He went out on loan in the second season and was subsequently released on a free at the end of the 2017-18 season.  As an Owls fan myself, i have a bit of a (some might say misguided) soft spot for Adthe so it was a bit of a shame that i couldn't make him perform but that's the way it goes sometimes.

 

There is a lot of deadwood around at the start of the game and it can be a bit of a financial drain which can be a challenge to clear.  It took me a couple of seasons to clear some of the high earners.

[YeltoSWFC]

Hi, I've only recently bought this version having also just bought a new laptop that could actually run it. Biggest thing I was wondering is how you guys get such good goal scoring tallies from the strikers, I am in late October and my top scorer is Forestieri with 7. My strikers get lots of shots but lots are off target and the ones that are seem to go tamely to the keeper. Having said that my defence is playing well so I am at least winning games just with low scores.

Also has anyone successfully got rid of Mcgugan, I got rid of all the other dead wood fairly easily but I can't even loan him out with me paying half his wage. I've resorted to putting him in the first team squad so he isn't getting any game time even in the U23's to try and make him more unhappy and force him out the club

[rlipscombe]

@YeltoSWFC  -  I have had major issues in getting a prolific striker season on season.  As for Mcgugan he was impossible to shift and i was only able to move him when his contract expired in June 2018.  i tried everything but no one was willing to take him.  I only managed to get him out on loan once, to Bolton.  Good luck with the save

[YeltoSWFC]

@rlipscombe Its going ok in the first season. Forestieri threw a strop and wanted to leave so I let him go having scored 12 but Hooper has stepped up and is now on 18 goals, and i've still got a good defensive record so lack of goals isn't hurting me too much. With 9 games left i'm in the playoffs with an outside chance of automatic promotion. 

[rlipscombe]

i have just realised that i haven't updated my progress in a while.  i will try and do a little mini update in the next few days but i am into September 2021 and we are still in the Premier League having finished 14th, 16th, 11th and most recently 10th.  We have been FA cup finalists and have gone close a couple of times as well.  Only Joe Wildsmith, Tom Lees and Jordan Rhodes remain in the first team squad with George Hirst on the fringes and out on loan for first team experience.

[rlipscombe]

really being quite poor with my updates but the save is pulling me in and i am currently moving on with the save.  I am now into July 2022 and am planning for my first season in Europe after having won the League Cup and also finishing the Premier League season in 6th.  It is only early July but i am already extremely excited by my new arrivals, most notably Granit Xhaha, Romelu Lukaku and also Gabriel Jesus.  There is also a little more money left in the pot for maybe one more signing or two.  I am hopeful of doing a little update in the next week to show the progress i have been making.