FM17: Chelsea F.C.

[bucket]

Back 4 for me, seemed i was letting too many goals in.

BIG transfer window for me... Nearly at Community Shield now. 

Ins: 

Callum Patterson (Hearts) - Free.

Ruben Neves (Porto) - £28m.

Mauro Icardi (Inter) - £74m

Djibril Sidibe (Monaco) - £27m

Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina) - £30m

John Ruddy (Norwich) - £4.1m

 

Outs:

Atsu - £8.5m

Piazon - £2.8m

Pedro - £22m

Matic - £25m

Cahill - £3.5m

Van Ginkel - £13m

Kane - £1.9m

Wallace - £2m

Begovic - £12.5m

[bucket]

Anybody still playing as Chelsea? 🤔🤔

 

this place is 😴😴😴😴

[mhaffy]

Yes........but progressing slowly due to lack of time. Had to change what had been a successful tactic due to early season results and new tactic working well......top of league again. Will post update when I get a chance.......

[bucket]

12 minutes ago, mhaffy said:

Yes........but progressing slowly due to lack of time. Had to change what had been a successful tactic due to early season results and new tactic working well......top of league again. Will post update when I get a chance.......

Nice one mate. I'm just going into my 3rd season. Won the league 1st season along with League cup and full sweep in the 2nd. Beating Bayern in the champs league final (again!). 

Will too, give a full report. Nice to know someone is reading them! 😁

[mhaffy]

Only 29 league games in to the 18/19 season, chasing 3rd Premier League title....

Update 18/19 Season

 

I had not planned to do much in the summer transfer window. Pedro’s contract was due to expire in 2019, so I started negotiations. The salary demands were ridiculously high and soon broke down. I tried to sell him but, after failing to find a buyer, ended up loaning him out to PSG. Loans were also sorted for numerous other players that were unlikely to get first team football. FCP (Porto) came in with a £25m offer for Alonso, rising to £35m, which I immediately accepted. Looking at my squad, I determined that I needed to bring in replacements for Pedro and Alonso as none of my promising youngsters were sufficiently developed. With plenty of cash in my transfer kitty,I decided to go for quality and bought Alaba (an upgrade on Alonso and versatile as well) for £65m (£65m) and Embolo for £60m (£65m). A few other youngsters with potential were identified and signed but Alaba and Embolo were the only ones going in to the first team squad. Juventus came in for “Dave” but this was rejected.

As my “Regista” tactic, detailed in earlier posts, had delivered back to back Premier League wins, I entered 18/19 season planning to deploy the same tactic with a good, maturing squad.

The season started well with a comfortable win in the Community Shield and a 3-0 away win at Middlesborough in the Premier League. We then lost twice, despite going ahead, and after steadying the ship, lost 1-0 at home to Man Utd in the League Cup. Despite dominating possession, opposing teams were becoming harder to break down and catching us on counter attack. After a 2-0 defeat at Basel in the Champions League I decided that it was time to change my tactic.

Results with "Regista" tactic

Rather than performing “minor surgery” on my existing main tactic, I wanted to be more radical. My “Regista” tactic had wing backs staying wide, with my wide attacking midfielders sitting narrower and cutting in to support my striker. It was based upon a “Control” mentality with a lower tempo – possession orientated.

For my new tactic I went for Attacking mentality, with a fluid structure (rather than the structured approach previously used). Rather than having wing backs staying wide, I decided to focus on controlling the middle of the pitch and use a short passing game.  Instead of wing backs, I moved to Inverted wing backs; instead of a Regista in front of my centre backs, I deployed a ball winning midfielder – Luiz has been superb in this position, often joining attacks (one of his traits is get forward whenever possible) and scoring goals. In midfield I retained a box to box midfielder, but paired him with a DLP on support instead of CM on defend. In attack I decided to go strikerless with an Advanced Playmaker (Hazard), flanked by two shadow striker – Willian and Griezmann. The set up and team instructions are detailed below. The only player instructions were given to B2B – get further forward, and Griezemann – roam from position.

Our next match was away to Man City…..do I try my new tactic……..or stick with Regista one and delay the switch until we have an easier game at home…. I decided to give the new tactic a try. We won 4-0, with my three “forwards” carving City, playing a high defensive line,  apart time and again. Luiz also grabbed a good goal from his defensive midfield position. Encouraged by this resounding success . I have stuck with this tactic ever since, occasionally changing defensive line/width depending upon how a match is going. Possession stats still good and the short passing game is a joy to watch. Defence is  more solid and more good chances are being created since the switch of tactic:

                                                Played For         Against                 Points

“Regista”tactic                   8              16           8                              18

Strikerless                           21           41           10                           48

Total to date                      29           57           18                           66

Results since tactic switch

Player ratings are much improved since the switch with 5 Chelsea players in the top 16. In several games all players have had ratings over 7.

Fingers crossed re Champions League return Leg at Juventus after a 2-2 home draw and for the Premier League run in…..

There is plenty of potential in the U23/U18 squad for the future....

Looking forward to completing 18/19 season....only problem is finding enough spare time to do it!

[PitchPosh]

Hey all, glad some of you are keeping the thread alive! I haven't been playing much at all lately, but made it through the second season of my Chelsea save. Won the league with ease and lost in the Champions League final. I think I'll probably start a fresh save once the January update comes through. Hopefully it doesn't take too much longer!

[Carefree_Since_1905]

Did any players get a boost for the January update?

 

 

[bucket]

What's the new starting budget?

[dino]

On 03/03/2017 at 22:34, bucket said:

What's the new starting budget?

£60m or £70m. I can't remember but one of those two. 

[georgey]

On 05/03/2017 at 15:46, dino said:

£60m or £70m. I can't remember but one of those two. 

I am just starting a Chelsea game , it is £70m UK pounds i got.

 

Just sorting out my staff but i was looking through the squad , there is plenty money and room for signings but while it is not the Chelsea way really there is quite a lot of good youth prospects and im really tempted to sign nobody until at least January.

[Carefree_Since_1905]

I've started my Chelsea game again. He's been a revelation in real life but Moses went to Everton for £22m which is just crazy money.

Desperately need cover at RB so looking to bring in Henrichs from Leverkusen. Real shortage of quality RBs about.

[Raymubdo21]

I won the league and FA Cup first season, pretty chuffed. Although D.Costa is giving me a headache to the point where I've sold him for £38.5m

But now, I can't find a suitable replacement and barring the obvious ones, I can't seem to sign a decent striker! I'm running out of time and options with the window.

Any suggestions?? 

[dino]

On 5/13/2017 at 11:50, Raymubdo21 said:

I won the league and FA Cup first season, pretty chuffed. Although D.Costa is giving me a headache to the point where I've sold him for £38.5m

But now, I can't find a suitable replacement and barring the obvious ones, I can't seem to sign a decent striker! I'm running out of time and options with the window.

Any suggestions?? 

May you explain the logic behind signing Yaya Toure?

[Raymubdo21]

@dino I did a City file before and Yaya scored 26 goals in all comps within my tactic and he was unwanted at City, so I knew I could trust him

[silv3rf0xx]

hey bucket remember me i aint been on forums much in ages im really interested in your thoughts of how you would go about recreating the good old golden team tactic, players to sign etc i.e cech, ferriera, carvalho,terry cole, essien, makelele,lampard, malouda, j.cole, drogba

[avonseller]

Should be an interesting save with the updates considering how thin the squad is now!

[silv3rf0xx]

Thats what i was thinking which led me to wonder if its pos to get a squad to resemble that one

[avonseller]

8 minutes ago, silv3rf0xx said:

Thats what i was thinking which led me to wonder if its pos to get a squad to resemble that one

Well for a Cech replacement you already have Courtois who has the position locked down and should become a club legend in time.

 

RB there's plenty of options like Aurier, Pereira from Nice/Porto and Cancelo from Valencia, all capable of bursting forward with technical skills although Cancelo shies away from his defensive duties and would be a better wingback.

 

The arrival of Rudiger bodes well in game and you've already got Christensen too who should be kept till he retires as he could mirror Terry I believe if given the chance. Van Dijk is another option to bring in.

 

Left back for me personally is a big hole as I don't think Marcos Alonso is quite up to stretch and he also isn't pacey either, Alex Sandro is a world class LB/LWB and should slot in nicely, you can also look at the likes of Grimaldo and Gaya who are both younger and though not quite world class yet but have the potential to be.

 

Pretty sure everyone knows by now how much Kante resembles Makelele. I rate Bakayoko and he's a fantastic addition to the squad, in a similar mold to Essien too. You've still got the likes of Fabregas, Baker and Pasalic who can turn out to be really good if developed. To fill the goalscoring gap in MF left by Lampard I think few fill it better than Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio, I've used him before this year and he's a monster. 6'3" and just destroys everyone in sight, great goalscoring ability too and can also play AM.

 

Hazard is pretty similar to Joe Cole back in the day so I think you're covered there.

 

Morata is another great addition and Batshuayi has shown real quality in real life and is already a fan favourite, and he also came from Marseille just like Drogs. Don't really think you'd desperately need another addition in this area, Pedro can cover too if required.

[silv3rf0xx]

so mostly buy who we have in real life and strengthen lb i think dave might be fine as rb as he is more def focused like ferriera but better but a back up will be needed i think you are right in general about the rest tho just need to figure out a tactic clearly its 4-1-2-2-1 but my initial thoughts on the base roles are standard gk full backs are support standard centre backs on def anchorman box2box cm attack two wingers and complete forward support

[PitchPosh]

I've been thinking about firing up a new save here soon with how the squad has been trimmed down. I had a good one going that I haven't gotten back to playing since I've been so busy with work. I'm interested to see if the boards gain any traction once the coming season kicks off.

[silv3rf0xx]

well im back i got into reading stuff from fm11 forum and it brought me back i think me moving off the forum was about the time of fm 14 dont know why might be i lost the fun of being chelsea intead went to villa as it was a huge challenge been doing saves with them ever since

[silv3rf0xx]

i was thinking that Marcelo Brozović in the lampard role what do you guys think any one had any experience with him at all?

[PitchPosh]

I know the real football talk is supposed to take place in another forum, but I'm quite excited to play as Chelsea in FM18. I think I'll take a break from playing until it comes out, but the squad is extremely versatile and should be a lot of fun to play with!

[mhaffy]

I too am looking forward to playing Chelsea in FM18 and am starting to think about tactics. How will Costa react to a new manager... will he stay after all? Wondering about trying a 3-5-2 like Conte at Juve. Maybe short of midfield numbers to allow rotation in long season though. Currently using a 4-3-1-2 Attacking,Fluid tactic with great success and will be "keeping"/modifying for FM18 ... roll on November beta and full release.

[NRH]

Hi all. Just started as Chelsea this weekend.

Playing the conte 3-4-3 with promising results so far having come to mid-October. Brought in Asensio £40M (huge talent) from Real Madrid and Zappacosta £9M as cover on the right wing back spot. When playing the 3-4-3 the most advanced sentral midfielder is much more involved in the offensive part of the game than it could seem he is in real life. Kantè is covering that position for me now, but his skills on the final 3rd of the pitch could be better. Therefore I will be looking to add an athletic midfielder with good all round skills in the next transfer window, and let Kantè take the more defensive position from Matic. Possibly Naby Keita could be on his way in.

Having played this formation on FM I can fully understand why Fabregas' gametime is so limited in real life. There's huge areas to be covered by the two central midfielders and he simply isn't up to the job (at least on FM), so I will be looking to offload him in the coming window.

Costa is playing as a deep-lying forward and performing magnificently. Batman is however struggling and I do not believe he has the attributes to play in that role, so he is likely to go next summer to be replaced by someone similar to Costa. If any of you have suggestions that'd be great.

I also plan to nurse Christensen into the ball-playing defender role that Luiz currently occupy. He should have all the attributes needed for that.

[PitchPosh]

20 hours ago, mhaffy said:

I too am looking forward to playing Chelsea in FM18 and am starting to think about tactics. How will Costa react to a new manager... will he stay after all? Wondering about trying a 3-5-2 like Conte at Juve. Maybe short of midfield numbers to allow rotation in long season though. Currently using a 4-3-1-2 Attacking,Fluid tactic with great success and will be "keeping"/modifying for FM18 ... roll on November beta and full release.

Yeah, I've started thinking about how I want to set up, but I'm not completely sure. I played most of FM17 with a high-pressure 4-2-3-1, but would love to get away from it in FM18 and try something new. I definitely think having a 3 man midfield will be the way to go. The thought of Bakayoko, Kanté, and Fabregas is making me drool! 

1 hour ago, NRH said:

Hi all. Just started as Chelsea this weekend.

Playing the conte 3-4-3 with promising results so far having come to mid-October. Brought in Asensio £40M (huge talent) from Real Madrid and Zappacosta £9M as cover on the right wing back spot. When playing the 3-4-3 the most advanced sentral midfielder is much more involved in the offensive part of the game than it could seem he is in real life. Kantè is covering that position for me now, but his skills on the final 3rd of the pitch could be better. Therefore I will be looking to add an athletic midfielder with good all round skills in the next transfer window, and let Kantè take the more defensive position from Matic. Possibly Naby Keita could be on his way in.

Having played this formation on FM I can fully understand why Fabregas' gametime is so limited in real life. There's huge areas to be covered by the two central midfielders and he simply isn't up to the job (at least on FM), so I will be looking to offload him in the coming window.

Costa is playing as a deep-lying forward and performing magnificently. Batman is however struggling and I do not believe he has the attributes to play in that role, so he is likely to go next summer to be replaced by someone similar to Costa. If any of you have suggestions that'd be great.

I also plan to nurse Christensen into the ball-playing defender role that Luiz currently occupy. He should have all the attributes needed for that.

I always end up selling Costa, as he usually gets a big-money move to PSG, and usually replace him with Morata or Lacazette. I've played with both of them in the DLF role with success, but they aren't quite the same player as Costa.

[bucket]

Here is my current squad.. Any ideas on improving the squad??

[PitchPosh]

Wow, that's a lot of business you've done there, Bucket! I feel like your squad is in great shape. When you get to that point, only top, top players like a Dybala will improve it. What are your finances looking like?

[bucket]

Thing is, I'm not dominating the league and only won the Champs League once I think. 

Dybala I had he opportunity to sign but he chose City instead. Probably because I wouldn't pay his agents high fees. But now made him my top target after 1 season and should be able to upset him!! 

 

I have £200m in the bank and £71m budget. 

[poma]

On 9/4/2017 at 13:56, NRH said:

Hi all. Just started as Chelsea this weekend.

Playing the conte 3-4-3 with promising results so far having come to mid-October. Brought in Asensio £40M (huge talent) from Real Madrid and Zappacosta £9M as cover on the right wing back spot. When playing the 3-4-3 the most advanced sentral midfielder is much more involved in the offensive part of the game than it could seem he is in real life. Kantè is covering that position for me now, but his skills on the final 3rd of the pitch could be better. Therefore I will be looking to add an athletic midfielder with good all round skills in the next transfer window, and let Kantè take the more defensive position from Matic. Possibly Naby Keita could be on his way in.

Having played this formation on FM I can fully understand why Fabregas' gametime is so limited in real life. There's huge areas to be covered by the two central midfielders and he simply isn't up to the job (at least on FM), so I will be looking to offload him in the coming window.

Costa is playing as a deep-lying forward and performing magnificently. Batman is however struggling and I do not believe he has the attributes to play in that role, so he is likely to go next summer to be replaced by someone similar to Costa. If any of you have suggestions that'd be great.

I also plan to nurse Christensen into the ball-playing defender role that Luiz currently occupy. He should have all the attributes needed for that.

Mind share some info of how you play?

[NRH]

3 hours ago, poma said:

Mind share some info of how you play?

Curtois as a normal goalkeeper.

Three central defenders where the left and right one are default. The central one is a ball playing defender with stopper duty. That means that he pushes up to stop attackers.

Two wing backs with attacking duty.

Two central midfielders. One central midfielder with defensive duty, told to hold position. The other midfielder with support duty, told to move further forward and move into channels. As I mentioned these cover a lot of ground, so in my opinion they should be athletic.

Left attacking midfield (Hazard) as advanced playmaker with attack duty. Told to play more narrow and roam from position. Similar to what he is doing in real life. Right attacking midfielder as inside forward with support duty.

The forward as deep-lying forward with support duty. This to get him involved in the play.

The team is instructed to play out from the back through the ball playing defender, take advantage of the wings and look for overlaps. The wing backs are therefore key in this formation. The idea is to let Hazard and Pedro/Willian move inwards to create space for the wing backs on the outside.

PS! Because of how the match engine is built you have to put our AML and AMR to man mark the oposition winger if you want them to track back to create a 5-4-1 in defence. If you dont do that you will most likely see yourself defending with a 5-2-3 and that leaves way to much room in midfield.

[poma]

14 hours ago, NRH said:

Curtois as a normal goalkeeper.

Three central defenders where the left and right one are default. The central one is a ball playing defender with stopper duty. That means that he pushes up to stop attackers.

Two wing backs with attacking duty.

Two central midfielders. One central midfielder with defensive duty, told to hold position. The other midfielder with support duty, told to move further forward and move into channels. As I mentioned these cover a lot of ground, so in my opinion they should be athletic.

Left attacking midfield (Hazard) as advanced playmaker with attack duty. Told to play more narrow and roam from position. Similar to what he is doing in real life. Right attacking midfielder as inside forward with support duty.

The forward as deep-lying forward with support duty. This to get him involved in the play.

The team is instructed to play out from the back through the ball playing defender, take advantage of the wings and look for overlaps. The wing backs are therefore key in this formation. The idea is to let Hazard and Pedro/Willian move inwards to create space for the wing backs on the outside.

PS! Because of how the match engine is built you have to put our AML and AMR to man mark the oposition winger if you want them to track back to create a 5-4-1 in defence. If you dont do that you will most likely see yourself defending with a 5-2-3 and that leaves way to much room in midfield.

Mentality and shape? Just two TI's?

[NRH]

44 minutes ago, poma said:

Mentality and shape? Just two TI's?

I'll upload a screenshot later

[NRH]

7 hours ago, poma said:

Mentality and shape? Just two TI's?

Here you go

[poma]

41 minutes ago, NRH said:

Here you go

Thanx! No other PI's?

[NRH]

42 minutes ago, poma said:

Thanx! No other PI's?

Fabregas told to hold position. Matic told to move into space and move further forward. Assensio told to play narrower. Curtois distributing ball to central backs. That's it

[PitchPosh]

It looks like FM18 should be a pretty good iteration, barring any massive ME flaws. Does anyone feel up to creating the Chelsea thread for this year's game? I just don't know if I'll have time to do it, as I didn't even finish this thread. I hope everyone is looking forward to managing Chels!

[bucket]

Just ran a quick 9 season sim on FM18 and pleased to say that there have been a few gems come through our youth system! Finally half decent players coming through after years of frustration! If you wanna see them, let me know and I'll post some screenshots. I'm not the manager, just unemployed and holidayed.

[CFC Mensa]

Yes please Bucket, would be good to see how they develop 

[bucket]

Sam Smith - 2017/18

Jake Weston - 2017/18

Ian Bell - 2018/19

Ashley Gayle - 2019/20

Mario Sari - 2020/21

 

Talent seems to have dried up since then.

[PitchPosh]

Ashley Gayle seems to be the second coming of Dave! I'd be delighted to have any of them come through for my side. Still trying to peg down a tactic at the moment. Really trying to get away from the 4-3-2-1 I've used the past couple of FMs. The quality of central defenders may convince me to finally move to a formation with 3 at the back. 

[bucket]

14 hours ago, PitchPosh said:

Ashley Gayle seems to be the second coming of Dave! I'd be delighted to have any of them come through for my side. Still trying to peg down a tactic at the moment. Really trying to get away from the 4-3-2-1 I've used the past couple of FMs. The quality of central defenders may convince me to finally move to a formation with 3 at the back. 

You and me both PitchPosh. I use the same tactic every year since it became FM. 4-2-2 wingers - 2 strikers. And never failed me. But I really wanna try the 3 at the back too, but fear I’ll get exposed down the wings all the time. Started a quick save last night and signed Icardi and Tierney. £51m for Icardi, £19m for Tierney. Had agreed a deal for Alex Sandro but was asking too much money. I did ask Roman for some more cash and he duly obligied. First taking it up to £131m and then after agreeing the seasons objectives to £232m. Not sure if it’s a bug or not! But starting with Continental C badge and Professional Regional experience. Not sure if that helped or not! But just using this a getting used to things before the full game comes out. 

[PitchPosh]

Wow, that's a nice chunk to have added to the budget! Glad to see old Roman isn't afraid to open up his checkbook still   Been messing around in the preseason trying to fine-tune my 4-2-3-1 formation. Having some trouble getting the squad to play the what I'd like, but I guess that's what this game is all about. Hopefully I'll have something tied down once the full game comes out. 

Some side notes: You're able to get Pedro's full £52m player value out of City at the beginning of the season. Also, Nabil Fekir was available for me from Lyon for £22.5m and 10% of sale profit. A tidy player for a relatively low fee.

[bucket]

Blimey, City have bloody millions to spend!!! You can sign some good players for ok-ish money. I signed Berardi for £24m could have been even less, I was contemplating resigning Schurrle as loved the player when he was at Chelsea. A proper winner. Would love to sign the "next Ballack" anyone know of any one whose up and coming like him?

[Otis]

51 minutes ago, bucket said:

Blimey, City have bloody millions to spend!!! You can sign some good players for ok-ish money. I signed Berardi for £24m could have been even less, I was contemplating resigning Schurrle as loved the player when he was at Chelsea. A proper winner. Would love to sign the "next Ballack" anyone know of any one whose up and coming like him?

Definitely Goretzka, plays for Schalke. You can get him on a free at the end of the first season. 

[bucket]

39 minutes ago, Otis said:

Definitely Goretzka, plays for Schalke. You can get him on a free at the end of the first season. 

Thanks dude

[PitchPosh]

3 hours ago, Otis said:

Definitely Goretzka, plays for Schalke. You can get him on a free at the end of the first season. 

Yep, Goretzka is the perfect recommendation. I'll definitely be in line to sign him up once January rolls around. Should be a perfect addition to the squad! 

Edit: I want to play with wing backs in whatever formation I send out, but Dave doesn't really fit the bill. Anyone ever sell him on? He's probably my favorite Chelsea player IRL, but doesn't do a whole lot for me in game. I can never seem to get a good dribble or cross out of him, which makes sense due to his attributes. 

[bucket]

Oh man... I just cannot get in to a save at the moment. No idea why though. Hoping when the full game comes out I will!

[mhaffy]

1 hour ago, bucket said:

Oh man... I just cannot get in to a save at the moment. No idea why though. Hoping when the full game comes out I will!

Same here....won community shield and first two league games but don't seem to have desire to continue it! Spent most of time sorting out backroom team to improve things. Reported various bugs.....and hoping to get underway on long term save when full game released.

Currently looking at forums, trying to decide on transfer targets and using beta to see how much I can get targets for at start of a game!

Definitely after another striker and thinking of Belotti. Others possible targets are good young prospects for GK, DC. May well be playing three in midfield and thinking that additional cover/quality may be needed in MC but not sure "budget" will be sufficient after Belotti.....

[PitchPosh]

1 hour ago, bucket said:

Oh man... I just cannot get in to a save at the moment. No idea why though. Hoping when the full game comes out I will!

I hear that. I've been in and out of my save tinkering with things and trying to figure out what I'm going to do come full release. Hopefully something will get me motivated!