[FM 18] Olympique de Marseille: "OM Champions Project"

[gipsy]

I finally managed to complete season 1 (can’t play as much as I used too)

It was a joyful season that somehow exceeded my expectations.

In Ligue 1, the tension was high between Monaco, PSG and Marseille, OL kept the distance for most of the season but a string of bad results in March made them drop to the 4^th place.

On the last day, the situation was the following: Monaco 1^st with 77 points, PSG second with 77 point and OM third with 76 points. PSG, who was having a bad run, lost away to Caen 2-1, OM won 3-0 against Amiens and were virtually champions for 5 seconds until Monaco won 3-2 at the 93^rd minute against Troyes… gutted ! Let’s see what next season will be like

In UEFA cup OM crashed against Leipzig in ¼ finals (3-3 at home but 2-6 away…)

In the French cup OM managed to reach the final but lost a tough battle against PSG 1-0.

Coupe de la Ligue: nothing to see here, move along… got beaten by Sochaux in the 4^th round.

 

In terms of transfers, I played with 1^st window disabled and got rid of Evra. During the winter season, I brought Dembele from Celtic for 20 M € and Appiah from Anderlecht for 7.5 M €.

What I am trying this time is to only sign French or former OM players keeping the foreigners that are already at the club and only looking for non-French in case I wouldn’t find the player I need.   

 

Line up for season 2 looks like this:

GK: Mandanda-Escales (Lafont is joining next season for 25 M €)

DR: Appiah-Sakai

DC: Rami-Rolando (wil try to bring Diop at some point)

DC: Abdennour-Doria (Kamara is playing cup games and less important UEFA/L1 games)

DL: Amavi-Hernandez (on loan from Real)

DMC: Gustavo-Sertic

MC: Sanson-Anguissa

MC: Lopez-? (target is to try to sign Lemina, or a loan for this season)

AMR: Sarr (absolutely on fire last season with 20 goals)-Thauvin

AML: Payet-Ocampos

ST: Dembele-Germain

 

Sold Mitroglu to Sporting Lisbon for 9 M €, Bedimo to Lens for 185 K, Cabella to Saint-Etienne for 7 M € and N’jie to Alaves for 9 M €.

Targets for this year are to win the L1 and reach the knock-out phase of the Champions League; national cups are extras…

Lest see what this season will bring J  

[nico_france]

@gipsy

Really good season here !

Was completely unable my self to compete that much for the first spots !

Did i read well regardin Sarr ? He fired 20 goals for you ? Really ? You can definitely feel as a top manager if so

French players price, especially youngsters, can be really huge in this version, and you're not given tons of money from the board

How much did you get for your transfers btw ? quite curious

[Gungner]

I've restarted my Marseille adventure... Signings so far are Predrag Rajkovic for £6 million and Lucas Romero for £2 million. My shortlist consists of Jonathan Bamba, Stefan Sturaro, Ezequiel Barco, Joris Gnagnon, Xadas, Jonathan Calleri (I've stolen a few from your save  ) ... Haven't played any friendlies yet or had my Euro League opponent announced. 

I've loaned out Sarr and Doria to Nantes and Nice respectively... 

[Gungner]

And Morgan Sanson gets injured for two months during the first friendly... Yay!

[Romano338]

I started with Marseille to since it's my favorite team for like 20 years.

As usual I struggle tactic-wise. I didn't buy anybody, I only programmed the tranfer of De Ligt for next summer to renew that defense. In the winter I want a midfielder and a right back but so far I couldn't really decide who.

I'm only late spetember, and it's... mixed. In the league, I don't really lose but I don't win either, so I'm 9th after 7 games. In EL, it's better, first of my group with 2 wins in 2 games. Thauvin seems to start being after being atrocious for like 10 games. Mitroglou starts scoring after a few below average games. Payet is getting a bit better too, still not amazing.
I play 4-3-3, like Garcia wanted to play at the start of the season.

[gipsy]

On 11/21/2017 at 09:48, nico_france said:

@gipsy

Really good season here !

Was completely unable my self to compete that much for the first spots !

Did i read well regardin Sarr ? He fired 20 goals for you ? Really ? You can definitely feel as a top manager if so

French players price, especially youngsters, can be really huge in this version, and you're not given tons of money from the board

How much did you get for your transfers btw ? quite curious

Yeah, it was a really good season indeed  

Yup, you read well about M. Sarr hehe, actually 19 goals and 9 assists, I play him in the AMR position (IF,attack)

How much I got for the players I sold? Mitroglu to Sporting Lisbon for 9 M €, Bedimo to Lens for 185 K, Cabella to Saint-Etienne for 7 M € and N’jie to Alaves for 9 M €.

 

[Romano338]

Somebody really manages to do something with OM?! I'm struggling quite hard.

Thauvin is atrovious. He had 3 consecutive games, and nothing since or before. Payet is very inconsistent. Germain and Mitroglou are dreadful. Mitroglou, as a target man, supposed to stay on top, spend a lot of time on the wings. His shots are literally 10 to 15 meters off from the goal. Germain has scored his first goal after 14 games and brings nothing.
The rest is decent (although Amavi is bad), but I still struggle and conceed bad goals. I lost against Nice (16th), Strasbourg (19th), Caen (20th) recently. I tried 442, 433, 523, many different tactics, some self made and some downloaded (like Goals Galore). I just can't get anything. The first game after I change the system is always good and then it crumbles.

I mean, on paper, having Mandanda in the net, Rami - Abdennour in defense (both are good IG), Amavi and Sakai who have good stats and can bring forward, Gustavo as a DM, Lopez - Sanson in the midfield, Payet and Thauvin as inside forwards and Mitrgolou as target man, that seems perfect for those players. And most importantly, better than most Ligue 1 teams.

PS: weird thing is, I beat PSG 4-2... crushed them... only took 2 goals because I got an early red card

EDIT: take 2, I start over. I was doing better, I had a tactic that was decent (not sure it was better than decent), but it was just too late, I was close to getting fired and 7-8 players told me they weren't trusting my abilities

[Gungner]

Just finished September, and I'm 3rd in the league with 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss... I'm lying 1st in my Europa League Group with Fenerbache, APOEL FC and Sturm Graz (beat Fenerbache 2-0 away and APOEL 4-0 at home). I'm happy with the results, but the team is very inconsistent, playing dream-ball one week, and barely winning 1-0 do to an own goal the next... Mitroglu broke his leg in the season opener, and is out for 4 months.

Transfers so far: Predrag Rajkovic £6 million, Lucas Romero £1,8 million, Anthony Lozano £1,6 million, Joris Gnagnon £9,25 million. 

[Romano338]

Second time I'm sacked with Marseille  (well technically the first I stopped before being sacked)

I don't know, there must be something I really don't understand with that game. I bought Sturaro and Nissen, and it started well. Even beat Monaco 1-0. And then, without really any obvious reason, I started to lose every single game. Gustavo was bad, Thauvin was bad, Amavi was really bad, both my strikers couldn't score at all. I don't know, two saves with Marseille, and the exact same things happens. Even the games are almost all the same. I'm just really bad at this game I guess.

EDIT: 3rd attempt, I change things though: I sart the game in India, so we're october 30th. Marseille is 12th, so it's realistic that they change the coach, and the expectations are lower.

[gipsy]

lol, not lucky... what tactic are you using?

 

[Gungner]

I can get Fellaini on a free, but I think he's a bit too expensive, wage wise, for a back-up 

He would be a great player to have though. 

[DKB]

2 hours ago, Gungner said:

I can get Fellaini on a free, but I think he's a bit too expensive, wage wise, for a back-up 

He would be a great player to have though. 

if no other clubs are interested, then try to see if he is willing to join on trial, in previous version of the game that has sometimes lowered the players wage demands 

[Romano338]

Le 28/11/2017 à 20:37, gipsy a dit :

lol, not lucky... what tactic are you using?

 

All of them. I tried 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 5-2-3, 4-4-2. Offensive, defensive, counter-attack, possession. Self-made, downloaded.

Couldn't even get first half of the league in my 3rd attempt (board wanted that because I arrived after 11 games and the club was 12th). No matter what I do I feel like it's the same. I played like 70 games total, all have been the same.

[nico_france]

Tough starts @Romano338 !!!

i think you already tried to, but definitely try to do the more friendly game in pre season to stick with a tactic;

Marseille squad is built for the formations you just mentionned, might consider tweaking the duties of the players ( try to use more support duties may be?)

@Gungner Fellaini doesn't worth it imo, i was following his situation as well, but his demands were too important for his level, glad to see that some of the players i mentionned before Gnagnon, Calleri are popular over here

Done with my 3rd season indeed, will try to post a recap asap

[Gungner]

Calleri signed a new contract with Las Palmas though in October, so no chance for me... He has a release fee of around £7 million though. I did sign Fellaini anyway... In late April, his demands had lowered greatly and no one else was interested. I'm getting in Fellaini and Jonathan Bamba on free's on July 1st, so that's good. 

I'm in late April with 6 league games to go. I'm leading the Ligue 1, same number of points as PSG and 3 points clear of Monaco, but one game less played than both of them. I've won the Coupe de la Ligue by beating Caen 3-1 in the final, and I'm in the Semifinal of the Europa League, where Arsenal awaits. Got knocked out by Lyon in the Coupe de France in the 10th round. So that's my story so far... 

[Romano338]

Sounds like you're doing good! Arsenal won't be easy though.

On my side, I start my 4th save... I learned a bit more about tactic and I spent some time setting it up.
On FMT I can't disable transfers, but I won't take anybody in the first summer.
I've had a crazy offer for Bouna Sarr from Nantes (well, crazy considering it's Bouna Sarr):

So I make 110k a month, and 1.8M if he plays 15 games. Hopefully AI won't play him 14 games 

[Gungner]

I got the same offer for him in my save... off he went  

[Gungner]

So this is how 1st season ended for me:

In the second season, I'm current at the halfway point, leading the league by seven points to number two, PSG. I went through the CL group stage and have been drawn against Juventus in the Round of 16. 

Transfers before the season was the following:

[john1]

Decent signings there @Gungner  Congrats on winning the league in first season! Any decent players in youth intakes?

[Gungner]

Well, there's a few, but none that's really ready for 1st team football. Boubacar Kamara is getting a few games here and there, and scored his first goal against AEK Athens in the Champions League. But I am looking out for the future, and do plan on giving a select few the chance in not so long... 

[Romano338]

How were you playing during first season? 2 strikers?

And wow, you got Dubois after 1 season from Nantes?! In my saves he always, always, always joins Monaco.

[Gungner]

This was my tactic during season 1, and still is:

Regarding Dubois, no one else bid for him and I negotiated Nantes down to the £5 million, which I think is a fair price. 

[Romano338]

Yeah Monaco always gets him for 5M too. I offered him more money twice, like WAY more money, but he always end up in Monaco!

Pretty classic tactic for Marseille. I was hoping you weren't playing with it because it just confirms how bad I am  With a target man too? Man... how did Mitro do? (or the striker who played TM)

[Gungner]

Mitroglu got injured in the season premiere against Nantes for 4 months. Germain took his place and ended up the topscorer (for the team, not in the league), while Mitroglu was benched do to Germains good form. But the goals where nicely spread out amongst the team, with Payet and Thauvin scoring plenty. Mitroglu did chip in with some goals though, when Germain was injured. (Everyone was injured atleast once...). 

[Romano338]

Well congrats. I could never get Germain and/or Mitroglou to score anything for me.

[BadAss88]

Gonna take on the challenge with PSG, Monaco and Lyon with L'OM!

[Balotelli]

Second game in and I'm in love already. 4-1 down away at Nantes until the 78th miute. We go on to win 5-4 thanks to mainly Ocampos, who looks a real player in place of the injured Payet.

[nico_france]

I'm waiting for the winter update to start over with my a new Marseille save !

Would really like to replicate their current set up IRL in order to succeed, but i really like to play with 2 strikers upfront

[Ninza]

This is the only team that I continued playing in this game even though i'm a psg fan. Such a fantastic team to play and really appreciated your guide. Will the winter update change the team much?

[nico_france]

Il y a 14 heures, Ninza a dit :

This is the only team that I continued playing in this game even though i'm a psg fan. Such a fantastic team to play and really appreciated your guide. Will the winter update change the team much?

Appreciate your kind words for the guide

As far as you should know Marseille did not sign anybody during the winter window, but some players are now off (Evra and Fanni)

Some players should have received some significant boosts as they perform very well IRL (Thauvin)

[nico_france]

Hi guys,

Started over a new career with Marseille, will post more details shortly

The starting team is really tight in quality, and back up options are even less present, so the challenge is really interesting

Some players received an interesting and deserved boost (Thauvin ) , so you'll be able to accomplish major sucess hopefully !

I tried to replicate Garcia's set up, and i played this way for a half season and then switch for my past 4-2-4 that i tweaked even more in this update

 

[Banks_87]

Hi Nico

 

I've just started a OM save myself, I was watching Footballs Greatest, Desailly, I was fully inspired to take on the challenge of returning them to the pinnacle of both French and European football!

Never managed in France but I'm expecting it be a challenge because as you say the squad is light in terms of quality in depth and the budget only allows for minimal changes!

[YouriD]

 

After reading the topic, this is the first time in 3 years of FM that I don't choose the Red Star FC to start a game...

And the least we can say is that I'm really not disappointed. First season, no transfer, except the sale of Rolando to make room for Kamara who progressing at a blazing speed (thanks to the tutoring of Rami). And this 2 unreal games .. 

My end of season will be exciting for sure.

[nico_france]

Woauw @YouriD

How the hell did you manage to get something from Bouna Sarr ?!!

Really impressive season so far especially with transfers disabled

Kamara is outstanding for me as well, tutored by Rami too, now a french full international for quite a long time (currently in seaon 4), he must be played and not send on loan at all

Hope you'll make it for the title

[nico_france]

Started again which might be my last long term save for FM 18 with Marseille

I'm still in the first season, where i just went threw Europa League 1/4 final against Hoffeneim, beat them away 3-1 and then this happened for the second leg...

May be the largest score for an european game in my whole FM career

Let's see who we got in the semis now

[nico_france]

Another Breaking score during my CL campaign facing Ajax, i first lost 3-0 away, then this happened, always the same 4-2-4 with offensive mentality for tjis game, otherwise i always start with normal