FM18: Man Utd - Awaken the Sleeping Devil 👹 !

[sedge11]

Right lads see what you guys think.

In the summer after the 1st season and Dortmund are willing to give me 95mil straight up for Martial, on top of this, I have had an offer of 82mil accepted for Dybala, who I would bring in to replace martial.

I love martial and he had a good 1st season but that’s big money, and I’ve had Dybala before and as much as I said I wouldn’t buy the same players, I know how immense he is.

Surely it’s a no brainer right?

[rstebbing1709]

On 17/03/2018 at 21:56, sedge11 said:

So to the 2nd season and we need a big and good summer, Ibra and Carrick are retiring, Young wants to leave and I'm also going to sell Jones and Rojo. I'm not sure what to do with Pogba and Sanchez, as neither did as well as I would want, especially Pogba, kind of tempted to sell one or both.

I've not had Sanchez as my game is pre January update but in regards to Pogba I had similar issues with him first season. I then switched him to Segundo Volante (A) left side with Matic  (Now Neves, who if you can get from Wolves if he is still there is a  beast signing) as DLP (D) Right side and he has completely dominated teams from then on his average rating has been no lower than 7.6 in any of the 6 seasons since and he has contributed with a number of assists/goals.

Edited March 19, 2018 by rstebbing1709
Added

[rstebbing1709]

8 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Right lads see what you guys think.

In the summer after the 1st season and Dortmund are willing to give me 95mil straight up for Martial, on top of this, I have had an offer of 82mil accepted for Dybala, who I would bring in to replace martial.

I love martial and he had a good 1st season but that’s big money, and I’ve had Dybala before and as much as I said I wouldn’t buy the same players, I know how immense he is.

Surely it’s a no brainer right?

Martial won the world player of the year for me twice in seasons three and four in season 7 PSG offered £127m for him. Though Dybala is an excellent signing if you can afford to get him in without selling Martial I would highly recommend keeping him.

[sedge11]

3 hours ago, rstebbing1709 said:

Martial won the world player of the year for me twice in seasons three and four in season 7 PSG offered £127m for him. Though Dybala is an excellent signing if you can afford to get him in without selling Martial I would highly recommend keeping him.

Yea in my previous Man Utd save martial was quality, and I brought dybala in the same save for 120 mil and he was a beast, easily one of best if not the best player on the game, had a front 3 of martial, dybala and Rashford.

As much as I want and plan to buy different players to my previous save, the chance to get him for 82mil is abit of a bargain.

But if I get him someone needs to go, and getting 95mil for martial is a great deal, unless I can sell Sanchez and get his 350,000 a week wages off the wage bill.

[Sherkey]

On 3/19/2018 at 03:32, sedge11 said:

Right lads see what you guys think.

In the summer after the 1st season and Dortmund are willing to give me 95mil straight up for Martial, on top of this, I have had an offer of 82mil accepted for Dybala, who I would bring in to replace martial.

I love martial and he had a good 1st season but that’s big money, and I’ve had Dybala before and as much as I said I wouldn’t buy the same players, I know how immense he is.

Surely it’s a no brainer right?

Don't. Martial is a beast. Ballon d'OR, World Player of the Year, etc etc for all three seasons I've had him. Beast at scoring and assisting, does both for fun, is just behind Dybala in goals. Basically turning down offers of about 130 Millions for him, because there is no adequate replacement for him on the left. Coman comes close, but isn't good enough. 

Dybala upfront, Martial on the left, Mbappe on the right and that's the most lethal front three in FM. Pace, Skill, Finishing - it's beastly.

[milan_manutd]

Start of season 3 and still can't find right back. Valencia leave on free and I want to sell Darmian. If I play Jones or Lindelof on RB they are to defensively. On left side I have Shaw and Zeca and they work just fine.  Also I was thinking about putting Tuanzebe or Fosu Mensah on Right Back.

Felix Passlack for example?

[dido53]

please help me ı am big fan of english premier league and ı done amazıng achievements ın game until this year.ı chose man utd ı faıl faıl faıl faıl faıl faıl every tıme.ı play sımple 4231 ı faıl ı play 4123 faıl 442 faıl wıth or wıthout ınstructıons ı dont know why and how thıs happends to me for the fırst tıme can somebody help and maybe telll me what ıs the problem ı am doıng wrong

[zlatanera]

8 minutes ago, milan_manutd said:

Start of season 3 and still can't find right back. Valencia leave on free and I want to sell Darmian. If I play Jones or Lindelof on RB they are to defensively. On left side I have Shaw and Zeca and they work just fine.  Also I was thinking about putting Tuanzebe or Fosu Mensah on Right Back.

Felix Passlack for example?

Zeca is two-footed right? At least he was on FM17 when I signed him for United. So I have two recommendations:

1) If Zeca is two-footed, retrain him and make him your No. 1 RB, sign Tierney as he can fill in across the back line but you would mainly use him as a full back on either side. 

2) Mario Gaspar - starts the game at Villarreal and is good at pretty much everything you can want from a full back. I had him and only sold him as it was my 2nd season and Valencia was averaging 7.7 so he wasn't getting a game and asked to leave. 

Of my two recommendations, given you're a couple of seasons in I'd imagine its more likely Gaspar is still available than Tierney who often goes to City on my saves. A further option would be Alvaro Odriozola - a very technical Spanish full back at Real Sociedad, or perhaps Kenny Tete from Lyon if you want a more defensive option. Davide Calabria might be good as well, depending on if he got game time, think he may be two-footed also. 

[milan_manutd]

15 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Zeca is two-footed right? At least he was on FM17 when I signed him for United. So I have two recommendations:

1) If Zeca is two-footed, retrain him and make him your No. 1 RB, sign Tierney as he can fill in across the back line but you would mainly use him as a full back on either side. 

2) Mario Gaspar - starts the game at Villarreal and is good at pretty much everything you can want from a full back. I had him and only sold him as it was my 2nd season and Valencia was averaging 7.7 so he wasn't getting a game and asked to leave. 

Of my two recommendations, given you're a couple of seasons in I'd imagine its more likely Gaspar is still available than Tierney who often goes to City on my saves. A further option would be Alvaro Odriozola - a very technical Spanish full back at Real Sociedad, or perhaps Kenny Tete from Lyon if you want a more defensive option. Davide Calabria might be good as well, depending on if he got game time, think he may be two-footed also. 

First, thanks for quick answer.

You are totally right. Zeca is right footed and he is accomplished on DR. And I'm an idiot not to check that out .

Pogba is very good and playing safe ahead of Matic but bid from Real, Barsa and PSG is making a lot of problem to me, so I consider to bring Sergej Milinkovic Savic to replace Pogba (also have Wendel and Arthur playing on loan or in U23).

Mario Gaspar is already in Juve, Alvaro Odriozola in BVB, Tete in Leicester (poor Crossing and Dribbling though).

Even if play with UTD (and that's my tradition for over 20 years to play first save with UTD) I hate to spend to much money. It's ridiculous to me to spend 60mil£ for full back .

[zlatanera]

48 minutes ago, milan_manutd said:

First, thanks for quick answer.

You are totally right. Zeca is right footed and he is accomplished on DR. And I'm an idiot not to check that out .

Pogba is very good and playing safe ahead of Matic but bid from Real, Barsa and PSG is making a lot of problem to me, so I consider to bring Sergej Milinkovic Savic to replace Pogba (also have Wendel and Arthur playing on loan or in U23).

Mario Gaspar is already in Juve, Alvaro Odriozola in BVB, Tete in Leicester (poor Crossing and Dribbling though).

Even if play with UTD (and that's my tradition for over 20 years to play first save with UTD) I hate to spend to much money. It's ridiculous to me to spend 60mil£ for full back .

Thought he was - its like V. Strong Right, F. Strong Left isn't it? I would be personally loath to get rid of Pogba but Arthur is outstanding. As is Sergej if you're wanting to go all Mourinho and have a team of giants.

You got any good regen right backs? If Zeca's fitness and stamina are high I guess you could just rotate Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe in when needed. Also - check portugal. Diogo Dalot at Porto is an outstanding prospect from memory, and Portugal on this game is just a ridiculous source of young players. To be honest, after what PSG did to the transfer market £60 million is pretty standard for a United-quality player. 

[milan_manutd]

This one regen may be next first choice.

Dalot was under my radar but Porto is asking 80mil£. Maybe Alex Pinto from Benfica?

[Smaldini]

 

Just played this, it's my biggest win on FM18 so far. I was quite surprised at how bad they were, because in the first leg we only had 6 shots (2 on target) and came away with a 1-1 draw. This would've been perfect if Babel hadn't scored a jammy header from a corner at the end .  

[zlatanera]

4 hours ago, milan_manutd said:

This one regen may be next first choice.

Dalot was under my radar but Porto is asking 80mil£. Maybe Alex Pinto from Benfica?

Yeah I think Pinto was one of the ones I just couldn't remember when I was writing that last post.

Not impressed with that 5 technique but if he's got high potential that level of fitness means he's good to have - do you use a defensive midfielder? could see him growing into a destroyer.

[Trent71]

Just finished my 1st season with Man Utd, been using TFFs Demolisher tactic - got the Premiership and that FA Cup (6:0 trashing of Liverpool in the final) but lost the CL semis to Bayern and Carabao cup final to Arsenal (1:2). Most notable experiment was the inclusion of Fellaini as Defensive Forward and he did splendidly - with about 20 goals in 30 or so apps during the season. Though I'll likely cash in on him after the campaign.

 

I enjoying this a lot, trying to not only sign good English talents (Sessegnon brothers, Styles, O'Riley), but also develop my own (O'Connor, Gomes, McTominay, etc).Special mentions to go Ethan Hamilton, who fit quite well in the WBL slot (racked up some assists to - and no wonder with that vision of his!) and also the duo Rashford/Martial, who were deadly throughout the whole season!

 

I combined that with signing veterans - Aritz Arudiz for 2m from Bilbao (has been in mental form!), Arjen Robben in the winter (has been a moaning bitch about selling a player he didn't even know! - Blind, at the beginning of the save). Also Danielle de Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Jeremy Toulalan - all taking up key tutouring roles for the youth.

 

Now before the 2nd season starts, I'm doing a little experiment - signing Dier, Alli and Kane from Tottenham for a combined fee of about 250m euro - half of them in installments. They would not only be great British inclusions to the too-foreign squad, but a question rises - how and will Tottenham cope without that top trio? Surely doom awaits them?

[sedge11]

13 hours ago, milan_manutd said:

Start of season 3 and still can't find right back. Valencia leave on free and I want to sell Darmian. If I play Jones or Lindelof on RB they are to defensively. On left side I have Shaw and Zeca and they work just fine.  Also I was thinking about putting Tuanzebe or Fosu Mensah on Right Back.

Felix Passlack for example?

I know what you mean finding a great fullback is difficult especially right back, at least left back there are some great options like Sandro, Gaya or Digne. But doesn’t seem to be many good right backs around at the moment.

I’m in the summer after the 1st season and have brought trippier from spurs, did overpay abit at 40mil, but he’s got all the right attributes and with 16 crossing should provide a few assists too.

If you were to train Fosu mensah it tuanzebe for right back, I reckon Fosu mensah would be the better option for that.

[zlatanera]

2 hours ago, Trent71 said:

I combined that with signing veterans - Aritz Arudiz for 2m from Bilbao (has been in mental form!), Arjen Robben in the winter (has been a moaning bitch about selling a player he didn't even know! - Blind, at the beginning of the save). Also Danielle de Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Jeremy Toulalan - all taking up key tutouring roles for the youth.

 

Now before the 2nd season starts, I'm doing a little experiment - signing Dier, Alli and Kane from Tottenham for a combined fee of about 250m euro - half of them in installments. They would not only be great British inclusions to the too-foreign squad, but a question rises - how and will Tottenham cope without that top trio? Surely doom awaits them?

Aduriz!!!!!!! Also clearly Robben is outraged at the denial of the opportunity to replicate his Blind-passing-enabled demolition of Spain in the derby.

I signed Kane off them and only didn't get Alli because he was out for 7 months and they actually did better, but so did we. They have so much money on FM...but then again Southampton finished fourth in my first season.

What sort of Brexit are you getting, do you know? I got one where Bosman transfers were no longer an option, which was intriguing. 

[Trent71]

@zlatanera 90% of my games I get a "17 foreigner rule" which banishes the work permits and makes it actually easier - as you can finally sign the 18yo gem Brazilian you noticed without waiting for him to be picked up first by the u20 

 

Still haven't heard in this save, though, but I expect something similiar.

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, Trent71 said:

@zlatanera 90% of my games I get a "17 foreigner rule" which banishes the work permits and makes it actually easier - as you can finally sign the 18yo gem Brazilian you noticed without waiting for him to be picked up first by the u20 

 

Still haven't heard in this save, though, but I expect something similiar.

Never seen that on its own actually, I've got a Championship save where its so strict its impossible to get anyone foreign in the championship any more, in my United save I got Bosman and the 17 foreigner rule, and with maximum irony in my now-deleted saves at Lyon and Hamburg there were absolutely no changes from the current work permit system. Its amazing the amount of thought they put into it - and also really irritating that its actually happening in real life.

[milan_manutd]

Just can't believe that no one want this kid to loan?!?!? Most asist in SPAL which was relegated. I didn't demand no money for wage or even insist on position or squad status but still I reach deadline day and to have Paulinho without WP.

edit: Most asist in SERIA A

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by milan_manutd

[Trent71]

@milan_manutd Usually helps to have feeders? Currently I have Middlesbrough and Crewe, so that's both two great options for loaning out better youth players (Championship) and still not that good (League Two).

 

Anyway, someone's career just ended...

 

 

When I tried speaking him about it, he just said "Leave me to my recovery"

[milan_manutd]

@Trent71

It was long ago when we start with Royal Antwerp, Bury, Walsall, Fluminense or my favorite Twentte and Sporting Lisbon. I ask for feeder club right on start of save but they didn't manage to find one. Also Japan and USA was very good soil for money and tour, but I need feeder club for fast getting WP or second nationality (think that in POR or HOL it takes 3 years for gaining, I must look for that list).

 

 

[zlatanera]

25 minutes ago, milan_manutd said:

@Trent71

It was long ago when we start with Royal Antwerp, Bury, Walsall, Fluminense or my favorite Twentte and Sporting Lisbon. I ask for feeder club right on start of save but they didn't manage to find one. Also Japan and USA was very good soil for money and tour, but I need feeder club for fast getting WP or second nationality (think that in POR or HOL it takes 3 years for gaining, I must look for that list).

 

 

If you're mainly wanting South Americans get Spain - I think its only two years for most of them. Plus most Spanish clubs' finances go to **** within 5 years so they'll be more in need of your players anyway so they should get playing time. 

[milan_manutd]

1 hour ago, zlatanera said:

If you're mainly wanting South Americans get Spain - I think its only two years for most of them. Plus most Spanish clubs' finances go to **** within 5 years so they'll be more in need of your players anyway so they should get playing time. 

Yes, in Spain you need 730 days continuously, but also I think if they make national caps you can apply for WP earlier and they make decision.

 

I'm in start of season 3 and will give a try Pogba on SecVolante. Many of you mention that he is better and more offensive in that role.
Quick recap of previous 2 season:

In first I bought Rajkovic (7.5mil£), Rugani (25mil potential 30mil£), De Light (17mil potential 19.5mil£), Wendel 13mil (18), Arthur 19mil£ (24), and sold Smalling 17.5mil£ (pot. 23.5), Herrera 18mil£. Maybe I was wrong about Ander Herrera but he wasn't play as much as he like and he's contract was running out, also he was concern about not getting enough first team football (only 6 games in all competition).  Start with 2:0 victory over Real in Super Cup. We finished first in PL in thriller finish with Chelsea (since we lost 3:2 at Stamford UTD played last 9 games without losing and Chelsea lost 2 games at the end vs Spurs and C.Palace) , in League Cup we lost in 3rd round vs Chelsea and FA cup also vs Chelsea in 4th round, Champions League lost vs City in 1/4final. I played DDG: Valencia, Baily, Jones, Shaw: Matic:Pogba: Mata (IF) Mikhi (AMC) Marsial (IF): Lukaku (TM). Mata and Mikhi was beyond every expectation-Mata 41games 13goals and 17asist, Mikhi 42games  17goals and 13asist. Star of the season was Marsial with 21goals and 22asist in 42 games. Lukaku played very well 22goals and 10asist, but Willson have better goal ratio 14 goals in 7 starts and 26times coming of the bench.

 

In second season I didn't sold anyone and I didn't spend to much money; Alexis and Ozil on free, Barco 4.5mil £, Paulinho 4mil£ and Zeca was 20mil£. It was very boring season because I was on good run and easily first in PL, but I again play youngster in League Cup and drooped out vs Leicester in 3rd round. FA Cup lost in 6th round vs Live. But I did my job in Champions League and win it against Arsena in final, Gribin was the MOM scoring one goal and asist Lukaku for 2:0 (2:1 FT). Mikhi was injured and I want to put Gribbin in fire and he respond very well. In best 11 Rugani and Zeca jump in, everything was the same like in first season. Lukaku show no mercy 41 games 40 goals, 30 in PL, he was European Golden Boot. Mata was PFA player of the year and let me just say that Marisal in first season won Ballon d'Or. Mata 19goals and 17asist, Mikhi was over 3months injured, Alexis have 16goals and 10asist, but Ozil was pretty weak. Lingard and Rashford play greater part in second season mainly because of injuries.

 

Plans for season 3 was to sold Ozil and Darmian and there is still few days in transfer window (is very annoying that in PL transfer window end on 15.8.) and to bring one RB and one B2B or Mezzala. Only Alex Pinto come from Benfica for 15mil£ and I sold James Willson to S'ton for 18mil£ which is OK amount of money for my 3rd striker. I also want to let him play bigger part in some other club. It's time for Rashford, Gribbin, Angel Gomez, Tuanzebe, Wendel, Arthur... Expanding Old Trafford and developing young talents is goal for season 3.

[milan_manutd]

First of all they need almost 3 weeks to decide and second they make decision between 4 domestic clubs, although I insist on foreign clubs because we need WP.

 

[MAECK]

lol

[zlatanera]

5 hours ago, milan_manutd said:

First of all they need almost 3 weeks to decide and second they make decision between 4 domestic clubs, although I insist on foreign clubs because we need WP.

 

Hate that, but love you choosing Preston! I had them as well, there seems to be a connection there anyway with the likes of Pearson and Harrop rocking up at Deepdale so why not formalise it?

[milan_manutd]

29 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Hate that, but love you choosing Preston! I had them as well, there seems to be a connection there anyway with the likes of Pearson and Harrop rocking up at Deepdale so why not formalise it?

Beckham was in Preston on loan and Ser Alex son Darren was manager few years ago.

Start of season 3 is brilliant 4 games 4 wins 0 goals conceded but only 5 scored. Try Pogba od sec.volante and him and Matic is more deeper so I will return Pogba to MC/AP. Alexis out for 5 monts

[MAECK]

[sedge11]

Right well I finally got round to doing the summer and transfers for the 2nd season. Didn't quite go to plan as I couldn't get my 1st choice targets of Dier, Varane and Nainggolan but am happy with the business I did. I was going to buy Dybala as well but I'm holding off on that until next season, got him constantly scouted and being talked about in the media, just to make it easier to get him.

This is my best 11 at the moment.

We have had a great start to the season winning 4 games out of 4 without conceding a goal. Sanchez got injured before the start of the season, so meant Lingard has started and has scored in all 4 games, I've also started playing Pogba has a Mezzala which has worked wonders so far, as he has a good start to the season as well.

 

 

[akash777]

On 2/4/2018 at 01:24, torehj said:

At the start of season 4, this is my first and second team (John/Nelson regens).

Still no signings, but nice results every Seasons. We won the PL 3 times, CL 2 times (+finale loss to L'pool season 1), 2 FA-Cup wins and 2 wins in the Carabao Cup. This is fun  

I pretty much play the same way every match, but sometimes move the mentality to Control when we are ahead away from home to the big Clubs.

 

 

Do you have any player instructions?

[torehj]

1 hour ago, akash777 said:

 

 

Do you have any player instructions?

No

[Trent71]

@sedge11 considering Strootman's injury proness, I wouldn't go near him even if they payed me for it! Interested to see how he'll cope in the physically draining Premiership.

[sedge11]

43 minutes ago, Trent71 said:

@sedge11 considering Strootman's injury proness, I wouldn't go near him even if they payed me for it! Interested to see how he'll cope in the physically draining Premiership.

So far so good, of the 20 games we have played in all comps, he has played 14 of them. The 6 he has missed has been down to rotation, not had an injury so far, so fingers crossed.

[sedge11]

Anyone tell me what kind of brexit this is:

Just wondering it's a more difficult one or not as I don't recall having this one yet, on my previous save I had the easiest brexit. Doesn't bother me if it's a harder one as I've got alot of youngsters I'm developing and would be a good challenge.

[zlatanera]

7 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Anyone tell me what kind of brexit this is:

Just wondering it's a more difficult one or not as I don't recall having this one yet, on my previous save I had the easiest brexit. Doesn't bother me if it's a harder one as I've got alot of youngsters I'm developing and would be a good challenge.

I so rarely manage in the UK I haven't had the second screen with the nitty gritty very often. I'd say that's a medium-hard one? Looks very similar to mine, although I had abolition of Bosman transfers - didn't play long enough to find out if foreign clubs could still swoop in or if it was EU-wide.

The softest one I believe is that there are absolutely no changes to the work permit rules. You can also have Scotland, Gibraltar and/or possibly even Northern Ireland leave the UK (not sure on the latter though). So I guess if Scotland leaves that's probably one of the hardest ones as your player pool gets even smaller in terms of signings without work permits.

[sedge11]

So halfway through the 2nd season and De Gea has won world goalkeeper of the year.

24 clean sheets in 38 games is brilliant, the average rating does annoy me though, and has been something that has bugged me on this years fm. Other keepers who play for top clubs get ratings of 7.2-7.4 when their teams win a game 1-0 or 2-0 and de gea will only get a 6.8-6.9. And if we win 4-0 or 4-1 de gea would max get a 7.0-7.1 where as others would get 7.6-7.8. Not sure if anyone else has noticed something similar, its only a minor thing but is a little annoying. Anyway De Gea has been brilliant and I'm very happy that he has won it, he's a clean sheet machine.

Half way through the season and the table looks like this:

So far so good, all 3 of my signings have been excellent especially Danny Rose, he does pick up alot of bookings but has been getting assists and even scored a couple. De Gea would of had more clean sheets but missed a few games due to injury. We weren't scoring many at the start of the season, but we stayed at the top due to just not conceding many goals but more recently we have been starting to score 3-4 a game regularly as well.

Also Pogba has been excellent since I started playing him as a mezzala at the beginning of the 2nd season as well, already bettered his goals and assists compared to season 1.

[warlock]

Keeper ratings have been troublesome for as long as I can remember... at least 20 years or more. Just one of those things that SI don't seem interested in.

[milan_manutd]

I'm at the end of november 2019. and Bailly contract is expiring in 2020. and he want 9.75mil£ for loyalty bonus?!?! His manager want 6.75mil£?! This is totally stupid and I'm on the verge of let him free in june (or put on transfer list in january and sell below price). Neymar have 11mil, Hazard less then 10, Griezman 8.75mil...

Btw he is first team regular with 7.15 average and just don't know were this thing come from.

[scott MUFC]

lingard is a beast.. first league match, getting Fmed

[Smaldini]

Look at that for a final four. Does seem like big teams underperform in the CL quite a lot on FM18. City and Bayern finished third in their respective groups (and neither of those groups looked too difficult), now the Spanish giants are being eliminated by lesser teams and then to top it off PSG are eliminated by Porto...

 

Once again we struggled to a draw in the first leg (this time at Home which was a surprise) only to thrash our opponents in the second leg. 

[zlatanera]

41 minutes ago, Smaldini said:

Look at that for a final four. Does seem like big teams underperform in the CL quite a lot on FM18. City and Bayern finished third in their respective groups (and neither of those groups looked too difficult), now the Spanish giants are being eliminated by lesser teams and then to top it off PSG are eliminated by Porto...

 

I think you may be onto something. Here is a screenshot from one of my old saves:

Nothing unusual about that, right? Except its the semi-finals of the Europa League not the CL. I regularly spot on of Madrid, Manchester United, or Barcelona in the EL on FM18. Obviously England has a top 6 so it's not necessarily unusual to see United in the EL, except that usually they've won the title the previous season and are clear at the top in the current one whilst also failing to get out of their CL group.

[sedge11]

So with 2 games to go in the 2nd season the table looks like this:

And my final 2 games are Man city at home and Liverpool at home. I have a poor record against city losing all 3 games, but a good record against Liverpool winning 2 and drawing 1. So should be an interesting and exciting last 2 games, 4 points will do it with my goal difference.

We also have an fa cup final against Leicester to look forward to.

We may not have any players in the top 2 of each stat but Lukaku, Pogba and Lingard have been quality, along with Romagnoli and the clean sheet machine De Gea.

[Smaldini]

 

Arsenal's Europa League final (which they won) took place just three days before the FA Cup final, so maybe fatigue played a part, but we were absolutely sensational. Martial came on and scored the fifth goal, then he got injured which ruled him out of the CL final.

The CL final was classic Football Manager. We dominated the first half, but the lack of a second goal did give me that feeling we were going to throw it away. Rashford had started off well with a brilliant lobbed ball assist for Lukaku, however, he had three 1v1 opportunities himself in just that half and all three shots were straight at Casillas. In the second half we still had most of the attacking highlights, even after they drew level. Then in the 80th minute they get a random freekick and of course they score from it. I brought Alexis on (I hadn't started him because he'd been injured for 2 weeks) and moved him & Rashford up front with Lukaku, but we didn't really create anymore chances in the last few minutes, it was just constant highlights of Porto getting corners & throw-ins. 

So no Continental trophies, but domestically we were dominant. The only loss was 1-0 to West Ham away on matchday 31, at the time they were 18th in the table so it turned out to be an important victory for them. We also beat Wolves 3-2 on penalties in the Carabao Cup final after a 2-2 draw. I'll post some stats and my transfers tomorrow.

[axehan1]

@Smaldini that is a very low goals for,not something you see very often, what formation/mentality are you using?

[sedge11]

So after a trophyless 1st season we needed a response this season, with 2 games left it was tight with games against man city and liverpool left to decide the title.

Well we beat man cirty 1-0 thanks to Sanchez so it was me vs Liverpool for the title.

As you can see we won 4-2 and did it, we won the title.

Then we had the fa cup final against leicester, which we won 3-1, Mctominay who had barely played in the second half of the season came on and got a vital goal, and Lingard was excellent as he has been all season.

So we put behind the demons of season 1 losing out to Man city on the final day of the league and Chelsea in the fa cup final to win the league and cup double in the 2nd season, so I'm very happy.

Champs league we lost out to Barca in the quarter final, we beat them 2-1 at home but lost 4-0 away. So thats 2 quarter final losses in 2 seasons. Annoyingly Man city won the champs league.

League cup we got knocked out by Bristol city in the early rounds. Bournemouth won the league cup.

Stats for all comps in season 2:

Lukaku had a great season, almost as many assists as goals, Lingard was also another star player and both them players formed a great partnership with Lingard playing as a no10 behind Lukaku. Pogba had a much better season playing as a mezzala. All 3 signings of Rose, Romagnoli and Strootman had good seasons, especially Rose. And of course can't forget about our clean sheet machine De Gea, who won the golden glove in the prem along with world keeper of the year.

Also to note De Gea, Rose, Bailly, Pogba and Lingard got in the prem team of the year.

Sanchez had an injury hit season but scored some vital goals in the title run in, with 2 late winners against Wolves and Brighton in April proving crucial.

So plans for season 3:

Shaw will leave on a free, Romero is going to be sold. A couple of the younger players who haven't cut it such as Poole, Willock and sadly Gribbin will go. Some question marks remain over Herrera and Martial so will see what happens with them.

Incomings will probably only be 1 or 2 players, not sure who yet though, as I want to continue to allow the youngsters Gomes, Geubbels, Fosu Mensah and Tuanzebe to get games. Parkinson a regen left back will be promoted to the 1st team to be back up to Rose, and to eventually take over that spot. Henderson will be back off loan and will join the 1st team to be no 2 behind De Gea.

Edited March 31, 2018 by sedge11

[milan_manutd]

I decided to reject this offer, which is more than generous on first look, but some of yours post where very affirmative about Lindelof. On my save he is average and most of the time Rugani and Bailly is in start 11 (also have De Light and Jones). Probably will try with 80mil £ so if Chelsea want, then OK, I will let him for that money. 

[warlock]

In June 2019 in my save, Lindelhof is valued at £65m. Have a little faith, the boy's a good 'un!

 

[Smaldini]

That's ^ the formation I usually use @axehan1 but sometimes I play 4-2-3-1. Most of the time I start with the Control mentality.

Lingard was my only player in the PFA Team of the Year which is pretty hilarious. At the very least De Gea should've been in too considering he had 24 clean sheets.

And these were my transfers :

I've got Robben and Maresic arriving on free transfers, Konrad Laimer was transfer listed for £4.2m so I thought I'd pick him up (I'm obsessed with signing midfielders tbh), Udinese were relegated & I saw that Scuffet was available for £1.1m so I grabbed him too. City have been winning the summer so far, they've splashed out on Son, Raphael Guerreiro and the most expensive at £75m, Casemiro. I did try to hijack the Casemiro transfer and even though I offered him higher weekly wages, he still picked City. Then Chelsea accepted a bid from Monaco for Hazard, but refused to accept my bid which was higher, so he's gone back to Ligue 1. The squad is looking stacked with all the new arrivals and players returning from loan though, so I should probably focus on selling players before I bring anymore in. 

[zlatanera]

I've decided to return to my United save after a month's hiatus, and unusally for me I'm going to give a pre-season update because I've been a bit daft.

So when I last left off I'd just completed 2nd season - winning the PL, reaching the semis of the CL and FA Cup and 4th round of Carabao Cup. My 442 with Kane and Lukaku up top smashed 140 goals in all competitions whilst conceding only 46. So presumably I'll stick with it right? Wrong? It was just a slight tweak to a downloaded tactic with my own set pieces, so I've tore it all up and started again. But first, my transfers:

Mkhitaryan was always intended to be moved on to make room for Pulisic, Lingard and Gomes to get more playing time, Goretzka wanted to go to Bayern (in his information screen it says "preference to play for Bayern" so that's £78m of pure profit on him. Controversially signed Raheem Sterling as he's about maxxed out his potential (I expect he'll get a bump in the next FM), allowing me room to loan out Pulisic for more regular playing time. Then I did a stupid thing. Rather than buying another central midfielder (only McTominay, Matic and Pogba can actually tackle out of my CM options) I brought back Cristiano!

At 34 he's still good for his two year contract I reckon, although we are now failing PL FFP regulations for wage rise - to be honest I reckon I can take the 5 point hit and still get CL at the very worst next season though. Irritatingly there isn't anything in the game warning you that a contract is going to do that. Anyway, because I've been a bit stupid we now line up like this:

With Sterling, Rashford and Kane as offensive options on the bench. Fluid mentality splits the team into broad offensive and defensive units and well, 5 attack-minded players and 5 defensive players about fits that. I played a heavily rotated side against City in the Community Shield including Callum Gribbin's debut and we only lost on penalties whilst conceding possession and creating plenty of chances, so looks like its going to be an exciting season!

 

EDIT: Squaring it from here, at full speed, against a league one keeper, to Sterling (furthest right red shirt)...has anyone ever seen a more unselfish bit of play on FM?

Edited April 1, 2018 by zlatanera

[axehan1]

14 hours ago, milan_manutd said:

I decided to reject this offer, which is more than generous on first look, but some of yours post where very affirmative about Lindelof. On my save he is average and most of the time Rugani and Bailly is in start 11 (also have De Light and Jones). Probably will try with 80mil £ so if Chelsea want, then OK, I will let him for that money. 

Lindelof has been a beast for me for 10 seasons now

33 now and has lost a yard of pace but he's a proper ball playing defender and with "brings the ball out of defence" trait, he's fantastic when he takes the ball into midfield and starts attacking moves.

Just one major injury in al that time, super reliable defender, him and Tuanzebe have been my best ever centre-back pairing in all my FM saves.