FM18: The English Football League Thread - EFL in FM18

[kozmik]

@john1 Thanks, and good luck at Shrewsbury!

@Jogo Bonito Thanks! He played as a striker yes, mainly as a lone striker in the 4123dm with the CF/S role. CF/S, F9 or AF on the rare occasion I played with 2 strikers.

[smplfc123]

Amazing scenes @kozmik well done mate!

@john1 Good luck with Shrewsbury.

I think it is going to be Portman Road @Jogo Bonito 

[john1]

Thanks guys!  Media predicted to finish 13th, I am aiming for top 10 finish this season.

[Jogo Bonito]

@smplfc123 The Tractor Boys are about to get revved up! It's a really decent club, with some nice history particularly in the 70's and 80's. These days there are low expectations to match their budget, but they do still have a good youth system. Looking at their other squads, if you stay in the second tier for a couple of years, I think there are quite a few you could use in the first team. They also still have reasonable facilities, stadium etc.

I had the misfortune of watching Preston a few weeks back, they played like thugs to be honest. I'm still quite keen (though I did manage them a few versions ago when in L1 so no new-appeal factor for me) but I haven't quite decided yet.

@john1 That's a sensible target, best of luck. Don't worry if it takes a while to get them sorted either. That's a big part of the challenge at a club like that, and it will make any success feel well deserved if it takes a few seasons to get there.

[Welshace]

On 02/05/2018 at 22:18, john1 said:

Cracking season there @kozmik I have finally picked a team to go with;

 

Something made me pick them  Been busy revamping up the backroom staff. Will do monthly update.

My local team, good luck!

[duds]

NOTTINGHAM FOREST SEASON ONE (2017-18) COMPLETED - SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

[duds]

NOTTINGHAM FOREST SEASON ONE (2017-18) COMPLETED - SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

 

COMPETITIONS:-

Championship - Football and Football Manager is a funny old game. In my Sunderland save (with a better squad than Forest), I finished runners-up to Wolves but in this save I won the Championship with 97 points, finishing fifteen points ahead of them - used same tactic in both saves. Aston Villa (finished 5th) will face Reading (finished 6th) in the play-off final.

FA Cup - expectation was reach fourth round but I made it to the semi-finals before losing to Burnley 3-2 AET, I had led 2-0 at one point. Burnley lost in the final to Southampton who finished bottom of the Premiership and are relegated along with Hudderfield and Swansea.

Carabao Cup - expection was reach third round and duly knocked out in third round losing to Man City.

 

TRANSFERS

@Jogo Bonito was right about the dross at Forest and needless to say I struggled to sell any players.  With five players already on loan and wanting to bring more in, I kept Costil Pantillimon and Tobias Figueirodo but ended the other three loans - Jack Colback, Kieran Dowell and the third one escapes me.

As with my Sunderland save, both Ricardo Carvalho and Andrea Pirlo joined me on free transfers and I tried to get Pirlo to reconsider retirement but he duly retired on 31st December 2017 regardless.

I needed a striker and a wide player so loan bids were made for Shani Tarashaj and Jon Bautista for the striker position and Hernani and Diego Goncalves for the wide position. All four were accepted buy Tarashaj and Goncalves chose elsewhere so I was grateful to secure the other two.

A few staff changes with Phil Neville joining my coaching team, Derek Langley joining as scout and David Moss as Director of Football (made the same three moves on my Sunderland save). Rafael Alkorta joined as assistant manager.

 

TACTICS

One of Knap's 4-1-2-3 tactics so my best eleven was:

GK: Costil Pantillimon (sweeper keeper)

 

DR: Eric Lichaj (wing-back)

DC: Ricardo Carvalho (BPD)

DC: Tobias Figueirodo (BPD)

DL: Juan Fuentes (wing-back)

 

DM: Andrea Pirlo (DLP) - when Pirlo retired I played Liam Bridcutt as a DM role.

MC: Ben Watson (BBM)

MC: Ben Osborn (mezzala)

 

AMR: Hernani (inside-forward)

AML: Ashkan Dejagah (inside-forward)

ST: Jon Bautista (DLF)

 

Bautista fired in 34 goals from 50 appearances in all comps and won Championship golden boot whilst Hernani was Championship Player of the Year.

 

PLANS

I don't think any of the on loan players will return so I have already scouted and in process of scouting players from relegated clubs. Sadly I tried to renew Fuentes contract but couldn't afford the signing on fee and agent fee so he's leaving on a free transfer, already agreed to join Espanyol. He had the highest average rating at 7.44 so that's a big blow.

I was given a rather generous £43.45M transfer budget but I realistically need an entire new starting eleven for Premiership football. 

I have managed to renew Ben Brereton's contract with a £20M release clause so that's a massive positive. Had seen him sold for £20M on another save hence the release clause.

Currently I have bids in for lots of players but it's going to be very tough in the Premiership, especially as not one single player has any club or clubs after them.  I really need to shift some of the dross but it's hard work.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

@duds Congratulations on your promotion. Did you feel there was too much dross to try your own tactics and formation? In any case, well done and best of luck in your second season. I guess the aim is survival with hopes of mid-table?

[Jogo Bonito]

OK, it looks like I have found myself some new challenges here. I think my next EFL club will see me make a first return to somewhere that I enjoyed immensely in FM14 (that story began on page 23).

I've also created a new set up (by adding in Ireland as playable) which allows me to take over managing some EFL clubs in January 2018. It's good because it gets you to that point without anyone having made any transfers, your unwanted/older players are closer to having contracts expire, and you get some surprisingly good random situations to inherit. For example, I could take on QPR who are 24th in the Championship and fighting to survive. I could take Wigan (12th in League 1), Oxford (in the L1 relegation zone), Swindon (12th in League 2), Stevenage (23rd in League 2) etc. I like that all the squads at that point are original, but you still have a transfer window to tweak one or two things before your ultimate challenge which begins in season 2. 

[Adzke]

@Jogo Bonito

Do you know if the late start still prohibits clubs from getting regens during the first season? It's actually a really fun idea for a save!

[Jogo Bonito]

4 minutes ago, Adzke said:

@Jogo Bonito

Do you know if the late start still prohibits clubs from getting regens during the first season? It's actually a really fun idea for a save!

Sorry, not sure on the regens as I don't use them myself. I did try this set up in a previous FM, taking over at AFC Wimbledon one January and it really does give some fresh challenges. The authenticity of real squads that are not contaminated by any transfers is a big plus for me. If you try, just go through and check the league tables before picking your team and see if there are any options that really stand out. You can pick various other starting dates (including January 2017) if you wanted to, but I would go for the first available date in January 2018.

[Adzke]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Sorry, not sure on the regens as I don't use them myself. I did try this set up in a previous FM, taking over at AFC Wimbledon one January and it really does give some fresh challenges. The authenticity of real squads that are not contaminated by any transfers is a big plus for me. If you try, just go through and check the league tables before picking your team and see if there are any options that really stand out. You can pick various other starting dates (including January 2017) if you wanted to, but I would go for the first available date in January 2018.

It will be either that or a spanking new Brentford save!

[Jogo Bonito]

It should be enjoyable either way!

I'm going to be juggling a regular new start with Preston North End alongside some on this alternative EFL set up, plus I have my Peterborough game on the back burner. I'm nearly entering the winter transfer window of season 1 with them, and if I can do a couple of deals I have planned, I might also continue that one. I'm also starting up at a couple of European clubs

[Adzke]

2 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

It should be enjoyable either way!

I'm going to be juggling a regular new start with Preston North End alongside some on this alternative EFL set up, plus I have my Peterborough game on the back burner. I'm nearly entering the winter transfer window of season 1 with them, and if I can do a couple of deals I have planned, I might also continue that one. I'm also starting up at a couple of European clubs

I had a really enjoyable Peterborough save on FM17!

 

Brentford actually have a really nice set of players on this game. Quite a good mixture of talents from abroad and the UK. I might give them a go afterall

[Jogo Bonito]

Just now, Adzke said:

I had a really enjoyable Peterborough save on FM17!

 

Brentford actually have a really nice set of players on this game. Quite a good mixture of talents from abroad and the UK. I might give them a go afterall

I agree, Brentford and Cardiff really appealed to me as I never managed either of them. Both have some very good players. But Preston won me over as they have no loan players, a squad entirely of UK & Ireland nationality except for Daniel Johnson (Jamaica) who has been playing in UK for more than 10 years, and no player earning more than £8k per week. The squad is also really well balanced with only a couple of new players needed and no obviously overloaded areas of the team.

I've managed Peterborough a lot over the years too, so it took me some convincing to go back to them again. They do have some great L1 players though!

[Adzke]

22 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I agree, Brentford and Cardiff really appealed to me as I never managed either of them. Both have some very good players. But Preston won me over as they have no loan players, a squad entirely of UK & Ireland nationality except for Daniel Johnson (Jamaica) who has been playing in UK for more than 10 years, and no player earning more than £8k per week. The squad is also really well balanced with only a couple of new players needed and no obviously overloaded areas of the team.

I've managed Peterborough a lot over the years too, so it took me some convincing to go back to them again. They do have some great L1 players though!

The one drawback with Brentford seems to be that their youth setup isn't all that good, so I will likely have to buy players in order to field a competetive side over the years, but that's alright.  Money shouldn't be too hard to come by playing in England, I guess. 

 

I will post some updates on my adventures in West London.

[Jogo Bonito]

2 minutes ago, Adzke said:

The one drawback with Brentford seems to be that their youth setup isn't all that good, so I will likely have to buy players in order to field a competetive side over the years, but that's alright.  Money shouldn't be too hard to come by playing in England, I guess. 

 

I will post some updates on my adventures in West London.

@Adzke Best of luck with Brentford, I think it will be very enjoyable and I may even get to them myself one day!

[john1]

Kicked off the season with 1-0 win over Northampton  

Have that Forest!! Was saying they could easily beat us  Started the game with 4-4-2 and played well, so I switched to 4-2-3-1 in extra time and beat them  

Pretty happy to get Premier League team at home  

[Jogo Bonito]

A very good start @john1, something to build on.

I've started at Preston, but have only played one pre-season friendly and now I'm off on a pre-season tour to Portugal. I think I might need these  

[Dong21]

@Jogo Bonito Congrats on keeping Fulham up - I look forward to hearing about your next set of saves!

[smplfc123]

Right I've had some time away from the game for a few days and realised what I want from my next save. I think that was my problem, I didn't know what I wanted from the save long term.

I've decided I want to go a League 1 team who I can mould in to a long term save playing the way I want.

I need a team who aren't going to be expected to be in the top 6 to start. I'm willing to change it to transfers on from the start on this one, but will continue with my low reputation.

Any of you guys have any suggestions?

My initial thoughts are AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers. I'm assuming Peterbrough would demand top 6?

[Jogo Bonito]

5 hours ago, Dong21 said:

@Jogo Bonito Congrats on keeping Fulham up - I look forward to hearing about your next set of saves!

Thanks for that. How are you doing with Fulham?

@smplfc123 I know they aren't back at Plough Lane yet, but Wimbledon is pretty much a London club. I thought you weren't keen managing there, or is Surrey just about acceptable? I've had great fun with them in the last few years though, and that new stadium is a real incentive down the line even if it is in London

Bristol Rovers won't have big expectations and I think they're a great choice for a low-pressure long term effort. It's a club waiting to be woken up, and if they do ever get success their support could be pretty decent. I know Peterborough's media prediction is about 10th, but I can't remember if the board wanted top-half or a top-six finish.

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I can't remember if the board wanted top-half or a top-six finish.

If I remember from my Posh save, the board expects playoffs so, yeah, there's pressure.

Just back from a long weekend away (daughter's birthday) but glad to see continued action in this thread. My current plan is to put in a good couple of weeks in Elite: Dangerous - my other gaming addiction - which will, hopefully, give me the time to figure out what I want to do next. Brentford is still a possibility, but I'm a bit nervous given the injuries in the starting squad. In the meantime, KUTGW everyone - it's very inspiring!

[AccyScott]

I've promised to get a save going on here before and that failed, however this time I'm determined to change that. 

Obviously as an Accrington fan I loved League Two and so want to start a save there. A couple of clubs take my fancy but I'm just interested to who people would recommend? I tend to like to avoid teams that are popular (Coventry, Forest Green, Lincoln.)

[kozmik]

Here's something you don't see every day:

Our new season is underway. So far we're top of the league with 10 points from 4 games, although early fixtures have been easyish, City at home being the only tough one. We've also added a trophy in the collection:

Didn't manage to win the community shield though, lost 2-3 to United after a tight game.

Drew a fairly tough champions league group, but had a promising start as we beat Barca at home.

Here are our transfers:

Excellent signings. I wasn't going to sign a CB but when I saw that Tah had an active release clause for 46,5 million I just couldn't pass up on it. I sent Powell on loan which will hopefully help him develop. Dvorak is another regen, an 18-year old from Prague who is basically first team material already with hopefully plenty of room to develop.

I did make a bit of a blunder though with the transfers. I didn't pay close enough attention to the home grown registration rules for the league and as a result had to leave one player out, which is why I sent third choice striker Carabina on loan. Next year two first team players will become home grown so that will help a bit. Carabina would've been too, but of course it won't happen now he's not here.

Against my better judgement I've also taken up a national team job:

Thought it would be a great way to do some tactical experimenting. If I manage to win a trophy or two then that's a great bonus.

My club contract ends next summer. I had negotiations for an extension but demanding a 30k wage resulted in the orange "we can't possibly accept that" reaction. I know it doesn't make a difference really but it's still really annoying that when you stay at a single club for a long time and make great progress you don't get the wages to match. I mean, we have 80 mill in the bank, our weekly wage budget is 1,67 mill and it's all down to me. And then a 30k per week wage request is way too much? I hope they fix this one day.

[smplfc123]

@Jogo Bonito Cheers mate, Bristol Rovers it is!

[Dong21]

On 5/6/2018 at 20:37, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks for that. How are you doing with Fulham?

@smplfc123 I know they aren't back at Plough Lane yet, but Wimbledon is pretty much a London club. I thought you weren't keen managing there, or is Surrey just about acceptable? I've had great fun with them in the last few years though, and that new stadium is a real incentive down the line even if it is in London

Bristol Rovers won't have big expectations and I think they're a great choice for a low-pressure long term effort. It's a club waiting to be woken up, and if they do ever get success their support could be pretty decent. I know Peterborough's media prediction is about 10th, but I can't remember if the board wanted top-half or a top-six finish.

@Jogo Bonito I'm only 7 games in to the league season (and hesitant to jinx things!) but so far so good. 4x 1-0 wins, one 0-0 we dominated and narrow defeats to City and Tottenham. Playing the same tactics as from my previous season except going counter attacking against the top teams. Been defensively solid just need to be more clinical in front of goal.

[Jogo Bonito]

On ‎07‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 12:49, AccyScott said:

I've promised to get a save going on here before and that failed, however this time I'm determined to change that. 

Obviously as an Accrington fan I loved League Two and so want to start a save there. A couple of clubs take my fancy but I'm just interested to who people would recommend? I tend to like to avoid teams that are popular (Coventry, Forest Green, Lincoln.)

Welcome. And congratulations of course on a very well deserved promotion. You might consider Exeter or Stevenage?

@kozmik Wow at Barcelona not being able to see off Barnsley. Great signings and already unrecognisable to where you started out. Keep up the good work.

@smplfc123 I hope you get settled at Bristol Rovers, best of luck.

@Dong21 Putting me to shame already. Well done with Fulham.

@warlock I trust you had a good long weekend and that your daughter enjoyed her birthday. Now that's over you may hopefully get back to the serious business of FM soon 

I've set up at Preston and BSC Young Boys in Switzerland. My PNE update will follow at the end of the first transfer window. I'm going for a hard-working philosophy for this team, in keeping with their real life 'get suck in' approach. All I really want is to keep a solid defensive record and to be competitive, so there shouldn't be much pressure at all really.

My three signings so far are an odd mixture of a young Premier League central midfielder on loan for a bit of depth and quality (just as well because Ben Pearson has just got injured for two months), a teenage central defender from League 2 for £110k who I have loaned back to his original club, and a 32 year old striker with more than 80 international caps on a free transfer. He's been added for depth and can help when Plan B might be called for. I'm expecting he'll mainly be a bench option for one year until he retires, but his physical stats are still fairly decent and he fits the wage structure that I want to keep in place (£6k per week). Any guesses who this mystery striker might be? A little clue: He needed (and obtained) a WP, is not European, and this is probably the first time his name has appeared in the EFL thread for a few years. Whilst you give that some thought, I'm seeing if I can get two more players - a centre-back (ideally a loan for five months until Tom Clarke is fit) and another striker capable of starting games and scoring goals. Neither is essential, so that £5m transfer fund might not be used if I can't do the right deals. 

[warlock]

41 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

 I trust you had a good long weekend and that your daughter enjoyed her birthday. Now that's over you may hopefully get back to the serious business of FM soon 

Excellent weekend, thanks. I've been looking at Sheff Utd this evening. Have a desire to play a 343 and they look like candidates. Not sure, but I'll let you know.

[superbowl145]

Could You reccomend me any Championship Team?

Edit: Im thinking taking over Cardiff 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@superbowl145 The 2 Sheffield teams, Norwich or Notts Forest would be decent saves in my opinion.

[Dong21]

12 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Welcome. And congratulations of course on a very well deserved promotion. You might consider Exeter or Stevenage?

@kozmik Wow at Barcelona not being able to see off Barnsley. Great signings and already unrecognisable to where you started out. Keep up the good work.

@smplfc123 I hope you get settled at Bristol Rovers, best of luck.

@Dong21 Putting me to shame already. Well done with Fulham.

@warlock I trust you had a good long weekend and that your daughter enjoyed her birthday. Now that's over you may hopefully get back to the serious business of FM soon 

I've set up at Preston and BSC Young Boys in Switzerland. My PNE update will follow at the end of the first transfer window. I'm going for a hard-working philosophy for this team, in keeping with their real life 'get suck in' approach. All I really want is to keep a solid defensive record and to be competitive, so there shouldn't be much pressure at all really.

My three signings so far are an odd mixture of a young Premier League central midfielder on loan for a bit of depth and quality (just as well because Ben Pearson has just got injured for two months), a teenage central defender from League 2 for £110k who I have loaned back to his original club, and a 32 year old striker with more than 80 international caps on a free transfer. He's been added for depth and can help when Plan B might be called for. I'm expecting he'll mainly be a bench option for one year until he retires, but his physical stats are still fairly decent and he fits the wage structure that I want to keep in place (£6k per week). Any guesses who this mystery striker might be? A little clue: He needed (and obtained) a WP, is not European, and this is probably the first time his name has appeared in the EFL thread for a few years. Whilst you give that some thought, I'm seeing if I can get two more players - a centre-back (ideally a loan for five months until Tom Clarke is fit) and another striker capable of starting games and scoring goals. Neither is essential, so that £5m transfer fund might not be used if I can't do the right deals. 

Paulo Guerrero? Fits the bill as non-European and for number of caps, but doubting myself due to his suspension...

[smplfc123]

Guerrero or Pizarro were my guesses...

[Welshace]

I'm gonna go leftfield and say Kenwyne Jones  (who incidently, i've shared a few beers with in days gone by.

[smplfc123]

That is a cracking shout @Welshace

[Jogo Bonito]

3 hours ago, Welshace said:

I'm gonna go leftfield and say Kenwyne Jones  (who incidently, i've shared a few beers with in days gone by.

Spot on sir, Kenwyne Jones it is! A player I have never managed and he fills the bench-striker slot perfectly.

[smplfc123]

Could be a handy signing that @Jogo Bonito

I'm still in the early pre-season days with Bristol Rovers. I've decided to go with my usual low reputation and experience but I've turned transfers on, mainly so that I could make a bit of money.

So far it looks like I'm going to either be playing with a 4-4-2 or a 4-1-2-3 (DM). Will post a proper update later in the week.

[Jogo Bonito]

@smplfc123 Good luck with that, I think their reputation and yours will be well matched. I'll get my first update from Deepdale done this weekend too.

 

[Armistice]

I will start with Hull City, I looked briefly at their squad but it looks poor, could you recommend any good loans?

[Jogo Bonito]

I was very happy to inherit a well-balanced squad with no major weaknesses.

I had cover in all positions, but equally there were no areas where I felt there were simply too many players.

I like to run a first team squad of 24/25 anyway, but Preston have no U23 team so it was crucial to keep the numbers down as the U18 team couldn't offer much use.

Transfer activity

The two areas that I wanted a bit more depth were centre-back and striker, perhaps one more in central midfield. I didn't even look at full-back or wing positions.

Central defence had the right numbers, but Tom Clarke had a long-term injury when I took over (he is expected back in December) so I was one short.

With two of my central defenders left-sided (Ben Davies & Tommy Spurr), I wanted a right-sided option to cover Paul Huntington until Clarke returned.

Whilst I wanted a right-footer specifically, I also wanted this man to be comfortable as a left-centre back if needed.

A loan until January was the plan, and Declan Rice was quickly identified as the man I wanted.

However, West Ham wouldn't agree to my loan terms (100% of his £6,750 per week wages) despite my repeated efforts until the final day of the window.

I considered some other targets, but deals couldn't be done for any of them either. In the end I decided full-back Calum Woods could be used as my fourth option.

With the club historically giving a good educational experience for Man Utd youngsters, my first signing saw Scott McTominay added to the midfield pool.

I wanted lots of energy and bite in the midfield and he was a good supplement to the players already at the club. We are paying his £5,000 per week wage.

The second arrival was 17 year old Stevenage centre-back Ben Wilmot. He joined for £110,000 as one for the future.

At that point I was confident of getting Rice in, so was happy to agree a loan-back until the summer. In hindsight, I shouldn't have allowed that.     

I knew from the outset that I would want to play with just one striker, and I was happy with Sean Maguire for this position.

But I had doubts about my only other natural striker (Louis Moult was unproven in England), and I wanted a reliable option here for the bench/injuries.

Recalling the days when Preston had Jamaican handful Ricardo Fuller, I decided that 32 year-old Kenwyne Jones would be the solution.

The 32 year old free agent had 88 caps for Trinidad & Tobago, but still had great physical stats and could obtain a WP easily enough.

He's marked down as due to retire on 1st January 2018, but with wages of only £6,000 per week, he was my ideal back-up option.

With an initial transfer budget of nearly £5m, I also had the opportunity to bring in one more striker.

I wanted to be careful with my spending though, and most of the players considered were too costly for my liking or would be unable to get a WP issued.

Typical Preston-type signings would have been Will Grigg or Jack Marriott, both from League 1 clubs.

However, I have tentative plans to manage the former elsewhere, and I've managed the latter at Peterborough already.

I did also look at PNE old boys Jordan Hugill and Joe Garner on loans, but their clubs weren't cooperative.

 In fact, I checked out around 40 options either for loan or transfer, but there was always an obstacle of varying degrees placed in my way.

I thought I had cracked it with a loan move for young Anderlecht striker Silvere Ganvoula, until he became the latest WP refusal victim for me.

So I decided that £1.1 million for Lee Gregory was going to give me the best value for money. I was sure he would have the ideal work ethic for this club.

His £6,000 per week wage was in keeping with all of my other men, and as a bench option I didn't feel I needed to be spending more than that. 

Goalkeepers: Chris Maxwell (22), Declan Rudd (1)

Full-backs: Darnell Fisher (14), Calum Woods (15), Greg Cunningham (3), Josh Earl (32)

Centre-backs: Tom Clarke (5), Paul Huntington (23), Ben Davies (20), Tommy Spurr (17)

Central midfielders: Ben Pearson (4), Alan Browne (8), Daniel Johnson (11), Scott McTominay (6), John Welsh (19), Paul Gallagher (12), Josh Harrop (10)

Wide midfielders: Callum Robinson (37), Tom Barkhuizen (29), Daryl Horgan (7), Billy Bodin  (39)

Strikers: Sean Maguire (24), Lee Gregory (9), Kenwyne Jones (18), Louis Moult (21)

Pre-season

Pre-season couldn't have gone any better. But I find that usually sets me up for a heavy fall.

Competitive fixtures

I was targeting a top-half finish, and under no pressure to achieve anything better than that.

But anything I did do was going to be done the Preston way. That meant being hard to break down, hard to beat, energetic, competitive and determined.

I put a lot more (than normal) focus on the defensive shape and training for this was crucial. Our work ethic had to be spot on.

Results have been delightful as you can see. So far, we have lost just twice in the league, and once in the Carabao Cup.

The games have mainly been tight, and we have sometimes rescued ourselves late on, or thanks to a penalty. We have rarely blown teams away.

But this is Preston. And so far, a very well-drilled Preston.

Sean Maguire has been in excellent form, in fact so far Jones and Gregory have only had one start each.

I've coped well with injuries to Pearson and Cunningham (the latter has only played twice so far), and I couldn't be happier.

The minor blips saw Sunderland shock us (they're well down the league) and Fulham score two late goals to dump us out of the cup.

The latest fixture at Norwich was disappointing only in the manner of defeat. It was one of those really quirky FM moments in fact.

Comfortable at 0-0, and with just a few minutes to go, Spurr had come on for the injured Davies to make his second appearance of the season.

The Norwich keeper hoofed the ball up-field, and their forward watched it sail over his head.

Spurr had all the time in the world to control it and turn, or safely guide it back to Maxwell, who has been in fine form.

As Maxwell edged to the side of goal, Spurr instead rolled it tamely in to the other side of the empty net. Oomph.

It was too late in the game to recover, and that was that. Don't expect to be back on the pitch anytime soon Tommy.

Tactics and formation

As I mentioned earlier, the attention to defensive training has been very important to how our season has gone.

Sometimes the opposition get no shots on target. I see crosses blocked, I see more tackling in the deep midfield areas, and we seem in control.

I've discovered that paying attention to this can reap real rewards, it's been a long time since I saw a side defend how I want them to.

And below is the tactic I use, showing my usual first team line up and duties. I do rotate the bench a little bit but that is often the choices I have made.

No players have any specific individual instructions except for the two wide men who are both told to shoot less.

If Jones or Gregory come on, their role is set as target man and defensive forward respectively, but other than that it's pretty consistent.

 

 

 

[Blue 4 Life]

On 11/13/2017 at 13:13, Marc.Foster050 said:

Started a save as Cardiff. Usually hate being my team as I end up keeping players I shouldn't solely because I like them IRL.

Not a very busy summer as I like the squad and doing well IRL so thought would give everyone a chance. Just signed Skalak from Brighton and Grujic from Liverpool (both on loan) as I needed numbers and a bit of creativity. Sent Feeney back to Blackburn to as not a fan on the game or in reality!

Seems to be working so far. 11 games in top of the league by a point having won 7, drawn 2, lost 2. As in reality the league is very tight though and am always a couple of losses away from mid table!

Zehore has been a beast so far as well with 8 goals (including a 4 game dry spell when west brom came sniffing) and Lee Tomlin has been brilliant! Trying to build systems like Warnock so solid at the back first which has created a lot of wins by 1 goal.

Long way to go but delighted with the start!

 

Can't believe I've only just discovered this thread! Great to see lots of people choosing the lower leagues!

I'm a very happy Cardiff fan for obvious reasons. How's your save with Cardiff going mate? I'm in my third season, currently top of the Premiership and in the quarter final of the Champions League, which is where I expect my run to end as I've been drawn against Real Madrid.

First season I won the Championship title by a point. Second season in the Premiership, I started well and kept in the top 6. I gambled on playing the reserves in the cups and got knocked out early, but this enabled me to keep my first team fresh for challenging for Europe. I managed to sneak 4th place and got into the Champions League.

Third season, I've used the additional funds and raised profile from the Champions League qualification to sign good young players like Dolberg, Sisto and Pavon. I got Cuisance on loan who has been superb and I signed Dourado who has been a quality holding midfielder.

I play a 4-1-2-3 wide system with short passing, retaining possesson, high tempo, playing narrow and closing down often, which obviously requires my centre midfielders to have high work rate and stamina stats. I have 9 games remaining in the Premiership, hopefully I will hold on to win the title.

[superbowl145]

hace 49 minutos, Blue 4 Life dijo:

 

Can't believe I've only just discovered this thread! Great to see lots of people choosing the lower leagues!

I'm a very happy Cardiff fan for obvious reasons. How's your save with Cardiff going mate? I'm in my third season, currently top of the Premiership and in the quarter final of the Champions League, which is where I expect my run to end as I've been drawn against Real Madrid.

First season I won the Championship title by a point. Second season in the Premiership, I started well and kept in the top 6. I gambled on playing the reserves in the cups and got knocked out early, but this enabled me to keep my first team fresh for challenging for Europe. I managed to sneak 4th place and got into the Champions League.

Third season, I've used the additional funds and raised profile from the Champions League qualification to sign good young players like Dolberg, Sisto and Pavon. I got Cuisance on loan who has been superb and I signed Dourado who has been a quality holding midfielder.

I play a 4-1-2-3 wide system with short passing, retaining possesson, high tempo, playing narrow and closing down often, which obviously requires my centre midfielders to have high work rate and stamina stats. I have 9 games remaining in the Premiership, hopefully I will hold on to win the title.

Can You share your transfers?

[Blue 4 Life]

32 minutes ago, superbowl145 said:

Can You share your transfers?

 

First season:

 

Second season:

 

Third season:

[superbowl145]

hace 4 minutos, Blue 4 Life dijo:

 

First season:

 

Second season:

 

Third season:

Thanks

[Blue 4 Life]

9 minutes ago, superbowl145 said:

Thanks

 

Every transfer I've done has been 50% up front and the other 50% in installments, to make my budget last.

Also, I switch my tempo from high to normal for some games, especially when playing against a good team away. I find this makes my team take a bit more time and care on the ball, slow the game down and not give possession away so easily. I usually play a high tempo to move the ball around quickly to break teams down when I'm at home and think I'm the superior team, then when I take the lead I might switch the tempo to normal. It depends who I play against and how the game is going really.

[superbowl145]

hace 13 minutos, Blue 4 Life dijo:

 

Every transfer I've done has been 50% up front and the other 50% in installments, to make my budget last.

Also, I switch my tempo from high to normal for some games, especially when playing against a good team away. I find this makes my team take a bit more time and care on the ball, slow the game down and not give possession away so easily. I usually play a high tempo to move the ball around quickly to break teams down when I'm at home and think I'm the superior team, then when I take the lead I might switch the tempo to normal. It depends who I play against and how the game is going really.

I been willing to choose cardiff or other team, just set up my DB and then choose a team 

[Blue 4 Life]

1 hour ago, superbowl145 said:

I been willing to choose cardiff or other team, just set up my DB and then choose a team 

I really didn't have to do too much with Cardiff  in my first season. I brought in a couple of new left backs, as Joe Bennett is criminally underrated in the game. The rest of the defence is solid, the middle 3 of Gunnarsson, Ralls and Bryson were superb and I added Flamini on a free and Grujic on loan as well. Hoilett and Mendez-Laing were great on the wings and Zohore was fine up front. The rest of my signings were just to add numbers to the squad really because of the hectic schedule of fixtures.

[duds]

Been a bit pre-occupied as I’ve been ordering lots of beer and cider for a festival I am organising.

Hopefully I can pick up my Nottingham Forest save and update tomorrow.

I’ve picked out Southend United for one of my first FM19 saves.

Sam Barratt (22) formerly of my club Bracknell Town has just joined them from Maidenhead United and signed his first pro contract.

From Non League Step 5 and 6 with Bracknell to step 2 and then step 1 with Maidenhead following their promotion to Conference Premier now to League One. 

So happy for him. Great talent and great attitude.

[Blue 4 Life]

Not bad for my third season, I can't believe it! Bizarre end to the season as well as my final 3 games were all against Chelsea. I had already secured the title, so I played my reserves in my final league game and lost 3-0, but this enabled me to keep my first team fresh for the FA Cup final and Champions League final games. It couldn't have worked out any better/luckier, as both Hazard and Morata were out injured and this severely reduced their attacking threat, allowing me to win both finals with my fresher team and secure the treble!

I have already secured the signings of Benjamin Mendy, Malinkovic-Savic and Dele Alli for my next season, which I'm very excited about! This has blown my budget already however, to the extent where I can't even renew contracts as the board don't want to break financial fair play. I'm going to have to sell a few players and hopefully, this treble will give the additional funds required to renew the contracts I want.

[YoungHoss]

Struggling to get into a save at the moment but I like the look of a Chesterfield save after them just getting relegated irl and they are a local club to me being from Sheffield. 

I will be aiming to build up a squad of up and coming English talents probably on loan in season 1 and then hopefully sign them either full time or on loan again for season 2

I will be spending a lot of time to develop this save and get a more in depth knowledge of tactics training etc from this forum and try and take the club up to the championship before taking stock of where I go from there