FM18: FC Schalke 04 - Closing the Loop

[Ji-Sung Park]

Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V

Club details:
Nickname: Die Königsblauen
Founded: 1904
Stadium: Arena AufSchalke
Capacity: 62,271
Rivalry: Dortmund (Revierderby)

History: Letting their best players leave for free and sacking managers and then re-hire them.

 

In terms of dynasty building you'll do well to find a better platform than that of S04. We'll get more into the finer details later, but looking at the recent history we know they have supplied the greatest clubs in Europe with some excellent talent. To take one concrete example; for the 2013/14 second round match against Real Madrid in the Champions League they fielded 8 players from their own academy. These were: Ralf Fährmann, Tim Hoogland, Benedikt Höwedes, Sead Kolasinac, Kaan Ayhan, Joel Matip, Max Meyer and Julian Draxler. A few years earlier Manuel Neuer left to join gigantoids Bayern München on a free transfer. Matip joined LFC on a free. They also sold Leroy Sané to City a few years back and now they are giving away Leon Goretzka to Bayern. 

The beauty of FM is that we can create an alternative timeline, or a parallel universe where this doesn't happen anymore. In my current save I will build a money making monstrosity where players leave on our terms, not the other way around. We need to build something that will make the players want to stay and the ones we sell we will make a killing. 

It will take time to build this though, you will not have Leipzig or Bayern money and the club is in debt by €130m when you start the game. I found the board to be more than accommodating in terms of granting facilities requests, but more stingy on wage and transfer budgets, not to mention retention of funds in terms of selling players, often as low as 35% in the first two years.

 

THE SQUAD AND OVERALL INFO

As you can see I've circled the 'Squad Personality' info. We have an 'Ambitious' squad and as you know this is a reflection of the club as a whole. Over time I will change this to reach the end goal of 'Professional', by doing so we need to revamp the club from A to Z. More on that later. Furthermore, having an 'Ambitious' squad isn't necessarily a good thing, as this will more often than not lead to unrest and unhappy players if things aren't working the way they want. For instance, I would rather have a professional backup player than an ambitious one. Media Prediction works in our favor as we want to exceed expectations and finish within the top four.

The first team squad at the start of the game:
(NOTE: I had not updated the latest transfer before starting my game, so only Goretzka to Bayern is put in. Since this Baba Rahman and Marko Pjaca have joined on loan deals)

GKs
Ralf Fährmann ***
Michael Langer *

Right backs:
Sascha Riether *
Coke *** (left for Spain this window IRL)

Left backs:
Bastian Oczipka **

Central defenders:
Naldo ***
Matija Nastasic ****
Pablo Insua **
Thilo Kehrer ****

Central midfielders:
Benjamin Stambouli ***
Weston McKennie *****
Nabil Bentaleb ****
Leon Goretzka
Jonas Strifler *

Attacking midfielders:
Max Meyer ****
Amine Harit ****
Donis Avdijaj **

Wingers:
Eugene Konoplyanka ***
Guido Burgstaller ***
Alessandro Schöpf (3 months injury at the start) ***
Daniel Caligiuri **

Strikers:
Breel Embolo *****
Fabian Reese **
Franco di Santo **

Out on loan: Benedict Höwedes and Johannes Geis. Höwedes has a €13m optional clause to join Juve permanently, which he did in my save.

The players in bold are guys you want to keep around. My rating in * behind their names. I got lucky with Weston McKennie on my save, he is tremendous, but from past saves he's also been average. I used Schöpf in season one on my save and managed to sell him for €20m to Spurs, but he's not that important for this team. He can easily be replaced, more on that when we dive into the tactics part.

Right off the bat you can go ahead and move Langer down to the U23s and promote Alexander Nübel in his place. He is a wonderful talent and will one day pip Ralf Fährmann as #1 goalie. Jonas Strifler is just not good enough for BL football, he can be transfer listed and moved down to the U23s. 

Unfortunately, as you start there are very few bright talents in the U23/U19 setup. This is part of the long terms goals; to improve the intake and facilities and continue to produce future world beaters.

Up next we'll look into the club facilities and how to go about improving our setup, including the all important financial aspect.

 

 

 

[Ji-Sung Park]

CLUB FACILITIES AND YOUTH SETUP

(Schalke youth system alumni)

Maybe the most important aspects of dynasty building and right from the start you have a good platform to start. Like I mentioned in the OP, my experience with Tönnies (the chairman) is that as long as you do well you'll get all requests granted as far as facilities goes. Right away you should ask for improvement of both 'training facilities' and 'youth facilities', as they can be improved a notch or two:

If you like this part of the game you should also improve 'youth recruitment' and part of the goals will be to hire better coaches for the youth teams. This is something that completely slipped my mind for the first two seasons, so I have just now requested this from the board (October 2019).

Speaking of youth recruitment, the current HOYD is Max Balster. He is not worst, but not the best either:

We need someone with something in the professional range in terms of personality, so Balster will either be sacked or hired as a scout. In my case his contract ran out and I hired Andries Jonker in his place. Bernhard Peters of Hamburg was not interested in joining due to a strong relationship with the Hamburg manager. You can also try to persuade Norbert Engel, who is already a youth coach at S04, to take this job.

All of the above correlates with your financial situation at Schalke. If the bank is empty you'll have problems getting the board to accept these requests. Fortunately, or unfortunately in some's case, the club is frugal to say the least when it comes to transfer and wage budgets. So you'll have a nice reserve in the bank to build your facilities. Here is the financial projection chart from the start of the game:

Note: This projection is based on the staff/player wages staying the same. Which we know they won't. But still, we have to do our best to stay within reason. This chart tells us what to expect over the next three seasons. It's not a very pretty sight in terms of constantly improving the squad, but future sales are not taken into account here.

Looking at this chart at the current date, October of 2019, it tells a different story. Next season the budget should be around €120m and then just increase as the years go by. But, up until now the above chart has been spot on, my spending power has been limited even though I won the Bundesliga and made some big player sales.

Your 3 major sources of income will be:

1. TV revenue (end of season lump sum payment in the €70m to €100m region, based on end table finish)
2. Player sales
3. Champions League TV and prize money inshallah

There are some sponsorship deals in place, but not enough to have a major impact on your managerial experience.

[Ji-Sung Park]

KEY PLAYERS AND TACTICAL SCHEME

I started save by going unemployed and then taking over S04 when they sacked Tedesco in December 2017. I basically always start games like that as I really don't like first season pre-season. A quick glance at the squad told me that 4-2-3-1 is the way to go. I had some excellent reads over at teaandbusquets.com and after reading @Cleons great articles on the 4-2-3-1 systems and mentalities I basically made two tactics off what I read there. Here are some key players' attributes at the very beginning of the game:

Nastasic:

Naldo:

Coke:

Bentaleb:


Meyer:


Harit:

Embolo:

 

If you're playing a game now without any updates you have to get a left back really quick, as Bastian Oczikpa is no good. He works as a backup, but a starter for a team pushing for CL he is not. I picked up Gabriel Rojas for 1.5m with future payments from Argentina, a great player with potential. He is also only 20-21 years old. That also cleaned out my 2017/18 transfer budget, so you have to make do and assemble a potent team with what you got.

So with this in mind we made two different tactics to suit the squad we have:

Primary tactic:

Secondary:

The secondary is only used when facing 4-4-2 teams or when the players needed for the primary tactic needs rest. They are very similar though, in terms of shape and mentality.

Next up we will make a summary thus far and have a look at the coming and goings up until 2019.

[Ji-Sung Park]

Season 1 was basically revolved around making the tactics work with the current squad. I offloaded di Santo to Hull and Pablo Insua to Villarreal for a combined €12m in January. di Santo was on a €77k package and absolutely HAD TO go and with Stambouli capable of playing as CD I opted to cash in on Insua at the same time. I only got to spend 40% of that though, so I decided to bring in aforementioned Rojas and Babacarr Sarr from Molde FK for a combined roughly €2m. I agreed a contract Dominik Kaiser from Leipzig on a free. He is a versatile midfielder with excellent backup potential, and he only wanted €16k per week and no agent fee. Every bit counts at this point. From the start of the game S04 already has a deal in place for Phillip Bargfrede of Werder Bremen (free), but he won't feature that much for me.

We sell for €11.75m and buy for €2.0m.

I saw very early on that the RMD role was extremely efficient, as both Schöpf and Burgstaller turned in some stellar performances and regularly scoring and assisting goals. The defense was also very solid and we managed to climb from 11th to 4th, only losing once. Before long Nastasic and Schöpf were wanted by several clubs and at this point it was just a matter of securing the best deals. I tied Nastasic down to a new contract with a €40m release clause to maximize profit and sure enough both PSG and Real came in for him and he opted for Paris at the end. Schöpf went berserk after I rejected the inital €10-12m bids from Spurs, but once they met my €20m price tag he was off too. Höwedes went to Juve for €13m, Caligiuri to Frankfurt for €4m and Johannes Geis to Leipzig for €7.5m*.

In comes Antonio Rüdiger, Eliaquim Mangala, Florinel Coman, Cristian Pavon, José Luis Gomez and Luciano Abecasis for a combined €43m. I also loan Goncalo Guedes for 60% of wages. 
(Coman, Pavon, Rudiger are all signed with profits in mind. All of these players can be sold for great profits and I expect to break the club record when Florinel Coman leaves.

We sell for €88m and buy for €43m.

*I know a lot FMers like Geis, but he just does not fit in with our philosophy and his contract is very lucrative. He had to go.

Season 2 went a lot better and we won the league comfortably in the end. We had a controversial second round match against Tottenham where we lost narrowly on away goals, but all in all it was a great season. The new signings paid off and I was hopeful that Man Utd would pay the €55m release clause of Rudiger, but that never happened. He even submitted a transfer request, but we never received a bid good enough to sell him. We sold Konoplyanka to Valencia for €19m (last year of contract) and Breel Embolo went to Real for €60m. Unfortunately we had no option to buy Guedes, as he ripped the Bundesliga a new one as the RMD, averaging 8.06 and scoring nearly 20 goals. So he needed to be replaced, although Burgstaller performs well there with 20 goals over 2 seasons.

I find Roger Guedes in Brazil, Cesar Montes in Mexico, Ben Davies in England, Thiago Almada in Argentina and an old familiar face in Julian Draxler. I also have to replace Coke, who wanted to move back to Spain, with Mario from Villarreal and Rui Pedro from Porto, as a replacement for Embolo.

We sell for €79m and buy for €90m. Julian Draxler cost us a pretty penny, but he's worth it as he is home grown at club and a very good IF.

That leaves us currently with this squad:

The major goals for this season is:

• Make it to the quarter finals of the CL
• Retain the Bundesliga
• Develop the final parts of the facilities
• Rape the transfer market by August next year

Let me know if you want any screenies or input on training. I have yet to revamp the coaching team, this will take another year or so.

[tyro]

Nice thread. Almost always have a save with Schalke. 

Almost every year they have a completely different squad. 

 

[Ji-Sung Park]

1 hour ago, tyro said:

Nice thread. Almost always have a save with Schalke. 

Almost every year they have a completely different squad. 

Hehe, do you mean turnover of players or randomization of attributes/ability?

I am really enjoying my current save, although having to deal with an upset group of players every time I make a sale is getting boring long term.

[TheJanitor]

Great guide mate, Schalke is definitely a club I'll start with when the next update comes out. The perfect sleeping giant in my opinion.

I recommened reading this: https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/10/05/the-transfer-policy-stopping-schalke-from-becoming-a-major-power/

[Daws88]

Great thread this. I have just started with RBL but can see it getting boring with no restrictions of transfer spendings. Will be starting a Schalke save myself now. 

 

Who would you recommend too replace Goretzka who has his pre arranged transfer on a custom transfer database. Geiger adequate enough? 

[Ji-Sung Park]

18 minutes ago, Daws88 said:

Who would you recommend too replace Goretzka who has his pre arranged transfer on a custom transfer database. Geiger adequate enough? 

Depending on system, but in my case I continued to develop Weston McKennie and he is now in beast mode in all comps:

I will say this though, having only Bentaleb, Stambouli and McKennie is thin. I will look for another DM/CM in the January window.

Geiger seems on the light side physically, but I have never had him in FM (yet). My scouts love him, but his physical game has turned me off. The perfect replacement for Leon would be Milinkovic-Savic, but he is expensive...

[Ji-Sung Park]

31 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

Great guide mate, Schalke is definitely a club I'll start with when the next update comes out. The perfect sleeping giant in my opinion.

I recommened reading this: https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/10/05/the-transfer-policy-stopping-schalke-from-becoming-a-major-power/

Thanks for that link TheJanitor.

It really is crazy to think of all the talent they have given away over the years. Good thing we can turn that ship around on FM 

[Ji-Sung Park]

I forgot to mention one key piece of info. After season 2 there'll be a re-election of chairman as Tönnies decides to retire. I was apparently really unlucky with my new guy (regen), as he refuses just about any request, even with 200m in the bank. So you'll do good if you get all the requests in before summer of 2019.

[TheJanitor]

1 hour ago, Daws88 said:

Great thread this. I have just started with RBL but can see it getting boring with no restrictions of transfer spendings. Will be starting a Schalke save myself now. 

 

Who would you recommend too replace Goretzka who has his pre arranged transfer on a custom transfer database. Geiger adequate enough? 

Take a look at Kai Havertz, Elias Abouchabaka and Carles Alena (signed him in the second season for a stupid 12.5).

Say @Ji-Sung Park, how does Fabian Reese getting along for you? Looking like a great Raumdeuter potential.

[Ji-Sung Park]

5 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

Say @Ji-Sung Park, how does Fabian Reese getting along for you? Looking like a great Raumdeuter potential.

He has all the mental and physical attributes, but can't perform over time. I was forced to recall him from loan when both Embolo and Coman was out injured, but sadly he produced below average. Even in the 2. BL he is performing poorly.

[Ji-Sung Park]

A look at the development of four players who I paid extra attention to from day 1.

Thilo Kehrer - June 2017:

He was eventually tutored by Naldo and currently looks like this in 2019:

As you can see his personality changed for the better and he added a PPM off Naldo's tutoring. To add versatility I trained him in the RB position - he caught on in a matter of days.

Max Meyer - June 2017:

Sadly, his attributes remain almost identical in 2019:

A slight increase in composure and decisions, nothing more to note really. He still is my key AMC, but disappointed in the development.

Amine Harit - June 2017:

Very similar player to that of Meyer, same personality and little progress overall in 2019:

Also performing well, but there's a chance we'll cash in on him if the money is right. Almada looks to become much better.

Alexander Nübel - June 2017:

Better progression and development, due to good GK coaches and tutoring by Fährmann:


He changed from fairly professional to professional after one round with Ralf. I am playing him regularly in cup games and the easy CL group matches, basically to give him game time and to keep him happy for at least two more seasons.

I think both Kehrer and Nübel can become important players for the future in the sense that they'll play off and on. Neither will become Ballon D'Or winners, but as squad players they'll do well.

My youth intakes have been decent, except for the last one - where the words golden generation was mentioned in the report. The standout talent of the group is Lukas Derksen;

I'm still undecided on who's to tutor him. I will not use Meyer/Harit, so I'll wait until after the January window to decide. I need to change his personality and determination, pluss get some nice AMC/Striker PPMs. He's being retrained in the AM position now, but I will also add a forward role in there eventually.

[tyro]

2 hours ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

Hehe, do you mean turnover of players or randomization of attributes/ability?

I am really enjoying my current save, although having to deal with an upset group of players every time I make a sale is getting boring long term.

Turnover. Quite few players left from 3 years ago. 

[nico_france]

Nice thread there !!

Weirdly i just started a schalke save just before you created this one, it's kind of a test save for me as i will start over with Marseille after the winter update and wanted a squad where i could set up an efficient 4-2-3-1 tactic that i want to use in my new Marseille save to try to replicate the current tactic IRL

Started with transfers disabled and currently sitting 3rd in March, Bayern is already a bit far away, but Dortmund is really near

It's always funny to see that from save to save the original players used can be completely different

I almost get rid of all your top performers in January 😁

Only few additions:

Barco, argentinian #10 and can be useful everywhere in the middle

Tremoulinas on a free for the LB position, short term, cheap option but reliable so far

Deloufeu on loan to bring depth on my sides

Coman (thanks for this one) 😏to provide competition for a good Di Santo so far in my save

Tried to set up an asymetric 4-2-3-1

Works pretty well so far, Embolo and Konoplyanka are absolutely lethal weapons for me on the wings

On a side note, i renewed Goretzka contract, 8 months injury 😬

Karma may be 😂

[Ji-Sung Park]

This post will detail the role of the raumdeuter in this team, our deadliest attacking weapon and key creator. If setup right, he will unlock even the sturdiest defenses and often find the necessary space to either score himself or put in a cross through the area. If setup wrong, he'll be pretty useless. 

In my setup I think we can safely say the RMD will be among the goals all the time. We just need to make sure we have a steady supply of players constantly on the shortlist. I made a huge mistake in not securing a future fee for Goncalo Guedes last season, I had to settle for another Guedes and hope he was up to the task. I do already have a true RMD in the ranks already, in Guido Burgstaller. Many Schalke FM'ers will probably offload him at the earliest opportunity, especially if you don't play with a RMD, but just have a look at his profile for a sec:

His role familiarity is natural as a RMD and he has all the mental attributes to go with it, except for decisions. I have learned over these two and a half seasons that the key attributes you should be looking for are:

• Off the ball
• Anticipation
• Finishing

Any good attributes in addition to this is just gravy IMO. The icing on the cake are the PPMs. Burgstaller is able to perform above expectations partly because he explores the half space (see the circle in the pic), or halbraum as they say in Germany. The Germans love the half space and the raumdeuter will often drift into these spaces as he attempts to get on to balls hoisted in behind the defense. Goncalo Guedes is lightning quick and has tremendous work rate, so he was a real threat all season long.

Let's see how his replacement and namesake Roger is faring:

There are areas he can improve, especially in the mental department. So from day 1 he has been on a heavy regime, but he doesn't seem to mind - which will of course help him in the end.

In the German league system you'll find a lot of players capable of playing as a RMD as well. I tried to sign Marcel Sabitzer, who was transfer listed at Bayern, but his wage demands were out of reach so we went for Roger Guedes instead. Other, cheaper players include Marcel Risse, Daniel Caligiuri, Lars Stindl, Patrick Herrmann, André Hahn, Nico Müller and Steven Skrzybski to name a few. Kevin Volland will probably be very good there, but he's expensive and left footed.

[Ji-Sung Park]

I see in other threads that guys posts seasonal reviews. Season 3 key highlights:

• Retained the league, but lost the second round match vs Arsenal in the CL 3-2 on aggregate. So my goals for the season are only halfway completed.
• Bayern improved a lot and it went down to the wire, I lost two away matches in a row and eventually won the league by 1 point.
• Rüdiger left in January as Man City triggered his BO clause of €54 million.
• Sold a youth player to a random team in January and Bentaleb started complaining. He was about to cause huge problems, so I shipped him to the second team and eventually sold him to Chelsea for a discount 30 mill.
• Florentin Coman is becoming a star striker, valued at €59 million, his BO clause is €111m. 

I can add that the club will get a new sponsorship deal end of season 3. This amounted to €86 million lump sum payment, the overall balance is now €315m and transfer budget €140m.

The only problem I am having on the pitch is the goalies. It has become obvious over two CL campaigns that Fährmann is not good enough, too many costly mistakes. Nübel is a great talent, but he also makes too many mistakes in big matches. So priority number is a new GK and a few wingbacks. 

[TheJanitor]

Unlucky about the CL, but great job on winning the Bundesliga back to back, not an easy task given how much Bayern are better in game start.

[Ji-Sung Park]

35 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

Unlucky about the CL, but great job on winning the Bundesliga back to back, not an easy task given how much Bayern are better in game start.

Yeah, not bad at all.

The thing though, that really annoys me, is the AI squad building/transfer policy. It becomes very transparent when a club like Bayern does this:

End of season 1 they buy Sabitzer, Inaki Williams, Danilo (City), Kevin Volland, Emre Can, Schürrle, Rashica plus two youth players for a combined 218 million. One season later Sabitzer, Volland, Schürrle and Danilo are transfer listed.

Then they buy Bellarabi for 35 million, next season he's transfer listed for 10.750.000. It's just insane, no club behaves like this IRL. 

[TheJanitor]

1 hour ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

Yeah, not bad at all.

The thing though, that really annoys me, is the AI squad building/transfer policy. It becomes very transparent when a club like Bayern does this:

End of season 1 they buy Sabitzer, Inaki Williams, Danilo (City), Kevin Volland, Emre Can, Schürrle, Rashica plus two youth players for a combined 218 million. One season later Sabitzer, Volland, Schürrle and Danilo are transfer listed.

Then they buy Bellarabi for 35 million, next season he's transfer listed for 10.750.000. It's just insane, no club behaves like this IRL. 

Agree that it's exaggerated, and that AI team building is pretty bad, but in a a way it slightly similar to what Bayern are doing irl. Signing a lot of talent, mostly from Bundesliga rivals or German talent, and not all make it.

[ChrisBones1990]

Been looking at using a RMD in my 4 2 3 1 does it matter if they play inverted or better on the side of there preferred foot. Looking at using salah at liverpool as one

[Cal585]

Interesting that you went with a 4-2-3-1. In my save I'm trying a 4-1-2-3. Looking through the midfielders, I just felt like they were too offensive for a 2 man base. Stambouli makes a good holding midfielder and McKennie can do a job but is still young. Otherwise you've got Bentaleb who is a decent allrounder but he seems slightly more geared towards attacking. Goretzka is too attacking, as is Meyer (despite him being played as DM IRL). Could also make a good 5-3-2 except then you're missing out on Konoplyanka.

Personally I'm also disappointed with Kehrer's concentration stats for a defender. He has good potential but this holds him back too much for me.

[Ji-Sung Park]

On 6.2.2018 at 08:23, ChrisBones1990 said:

Been looking at using a RMD in my 4 2 3 1 does it matter if they play inverted or better on the side of there preferred foot. Looking at using salah at liverpool as one

I prefer them to be right footed on the right side and vice versa, but never really had any substantial proof to back that up. The one thing that will happen a fair bit is that the RMD will have to do first time shots from relatively acute angles, then it's a big advantage to get it on the proper foot.

17 hours ago, Cal585 said:

nteresting that you went with a 4-2-3-1. In my save I'm trying a 4-1-2-3. Looking through the midfielders, I just felt like they were too offensive for a 2 man base. Stambouli makes a good holding midfielder and McKennie can do a job but is still young. Otherwise you've got Bentaleb who is a decent allrounder but he seems slightly more geared towards attacking. Goretzka is too attacking, as is Meyer (despite him being played as DM IRL). Could also make a good 5-3-2 except then you're missing out on Konoplyanka.

Personally I'm also disappointed with Kehrer's concentration stats for a defender. He has good potential but this holds him back too much for me.

Either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-2-3 will rely heavily on the setup of your midfield trio. For me, over time, McKennie has developed into a beast of midfielder, but not an attack kind of midfielder. He can play as DM and CM, both he will do well if given roles that fits his physical and mental stats. As a Segundo Volante he will get some tap ins and dangerous runs, but by far best as a DM(s).

The negatives by using a 4-2-3-1 is the fact that the AM(s) (Meyer/Harit) will get lackluster ratings. They will get the odd assist/goal, but not very involved and are basically just there to create space for others. The other factor is that the two players in the CM strata can be overrun, yes. For me the better formation is the 4-2-3-1 DM Wide. 

I will make a post on how this tactic has evolved slightly, since we've been using it for almost 3 years and the opposition are plugging some leaks in their system.

[jckstevens]

How well do the u23 squads develop considering they aren’t in a league on the game?

[TheJanitor]

Wanted to bump this thread as I finaly got around to playing with Schalke. Not a whole lot changed since the first update, but some did. First off, the loans of Baba Rahman and Marco Pijaca, then also the future transfer out of Goretzka and transfer in of Mark Uth and finally, a change in players attributes, like Max Meyer who is made to be more of a DLP then a classic 10 and Amine Harit who's been bumped and looks like a real talent.

First thing I did was to cancel Rahman loan. He's decent, but injured for 6-7 months, has no clause and his wages are a whopping £86 p/w, so it was a no-brainer for me. Would have cancel Pijaca as well, but I don't have the option. At least he is injured for 4-5 months so maybe he'll have some impact in the latter stages. Used the money freed up by Rahman leaving to renew some contracts. Max Meyer and Thilo Kehrer have both signed long-term contracts with massive release clauses (£70m and £32.5m respectively). This is a main concern for me - making sure the club operates the right way in terms of transfers & contracts.

I really recommed this club for someone who wants to build a dynasty. You have some good established players and a host of highly promising youngsters, a squad that is versatile enough to play different tactics, good facilites and rich history, but the league is a challenge as Bayern are light-years ahead of you and clubs like Dortmund and RB Leipzig are probably in a better starting position. I want to take the Monaco approach to this. I don't mind selling players, but only for a rich profit so I could improve the squad as a whole.

[Daws88]

Did you sign another left back? They only have 1 other dont they? I'm going too head into Germany, dortmund could be a possibility but schalke seems more of a challenge. 

[TheJanitor]

12 minutes ago, Daws88 said:

Did you sign another left back? They only have 1 other dont they? I'm going too head into Germany, dortmund could be a possibility but schalke seems more of a challenge. 

I'm starting w/o the first window, so no, but if you start with one than a LB is definitely your first priority. Only really got Oczipka (and Rahman, but again, injured for up to 7 months) who is a decent FB. I'm considering retraining Bentaleb as a worst-case scenario back-up until January.

[WillyBroadband]

@Ji-Sung Park 10/10 thread man! 

I always enjoy a Schalke save each year, I feel like this one is the toughest with S04 so far.. I saw you managed to get rid of di Santo in the January window, I'm trying to sell him before then but can't get anyone interested, even on a free transfer. 

I've signed Jérémy Toulalan & Benoît Trémoulinas on freebies & Joquín Correa on loan from Sevilla so far. Nothing exciting. 

Somehow I've managed to get the squad personality to Professional already 

[Ji-Sung Park]

On 13.2.2018 at 14:15, jckstevens said:

How well do the u23 squads develop considering they aren’t in a league on the game?

I all but ignored the U23 team really. 

To develop the youngster I did the following:

1. Immediately after the youth intake I assigned tutoring for the promising prospects. 
2. Once that was completed (their mentalities changed) I loaned them out to BL2/3 sides.
3. After the loan was over I kept them at the club for training purposes, cup games etc. Then I promoted them to the first team.

When I started the save, with dynasty building in mind, the goal was to be self sufficient over time. No need to splash millions each window, and you get players you can rely on.

[Ji-Sung Park]

On 9.3.2018 at 09:40, TheJanitor said:

I really recommed this club for someone who wants to build a dynasty. You have some good established players and a host of highly promising youngsters, a squad that is versatile enough to play different tactics, good facilites and rich history, but the league is a challenge as Bayern are light-years ahead of you and clubs like Dortmund and RB Leipzig are probably in a better starting position. I want to take the Monaco approach to this. I don't mind selling players, but only for a rich profit so I could improve the squad as a whole.

This. I found it very easy to deal with the board and get most of the requests approved, but not immediately. Chairman Tönnies was great, his regen successor not so much. Over time the setup became top notch and every youth intake was good to excellent, it became easy to sell players for insane profits and keep the ones I wanted to keep.

After 4 seasons or so Bayern were hovering around 4th or 5th place in the league, Leipzig became my biggest rival in the league.

[WillyBroadband]

@Ji-Sung Parkhello mate, how did you manage to get Thilo Kehrer tutored? He isn't interested in anyone I suggest at all. 

[WillyBroadband]

So far so good, fingers crossed I can keep up my cracking start. Also, a screenshot of my transfers. I'm quite chuffed with them so far tbh. Hassan has been superb as a DLF/Attack. 

[Ji-Sung Park]

2 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

@Ji-Sung Parkhello mate, how did you manage to get Thilo Kehrer tutored? He isn't interested in anyone I suggest at all. 

Hi Willy,

Yes, he was tutored by Naldo season 1. Try selecting Naldo and then go to his tutoring screen.

[WillyBroadband]

16 hours ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

Hi Willy,

Yes, he was tutored by Naldo season 1. Try selecting Naldo and then go to his tutoring screen.

Ah, he had no interest in having Naldo as a tutor on my save. Strange! I will try again though. Thanks for getting back to me. 

[Ji-Sung Park]

10 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

Ah, he had no interest in having Naldo as a tutor on my save. Strange! I will try again though. Thanks for getting back to me. 

One thing that might help is to lower his squad status (Kehrer I mean). Lower it to backup and I think he will agree to tutoring.

[WillyBroadband]

10 hours ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

One thing that might help is to lower his squad status (Kehrer I mean). Lower it to backup and I think he will agree to tutoring.

Good idea man, I'll give it a go thanks. 

[WillyBroadband]

Gave it a go, I think he hates me, it didn't work, oh well. 

[WillyBroadband]

Have also suddenly just really dipped in form & lost 3 in a row. 

[WillyBroadband]

On 30/03/2018 at 03:33, Ji-Sung Park said:

One thing that might help is to lower his squad status (Kehrer I mean). Lower it to backup and I think he will agree to tutoring.

This may be why! Will look to sell him in the summer, I think. 

[Ji-Sung Park]

3 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

This may be why! Will look to sell him in the summer, I think. 

 

You'll be fine without Kehrer. His ability isn't all that good - I wanted to keep him for home grown purposes. Just try to find someone of similar mold. In my save Rudiger became transfer listed for like 15 million in season 2 or 3.

[WillyBroadband]

1 hour ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

You'll be fine without Kehrer. His ability isn't all that good - I wanted to keep him for home grown purposes. Just try to find someone of similar mold. In my save Rudiger became transfer listed for like 15 million in season 2 or 3.

I agree, its a shame as I've never got him playing this well on any Schalke save before. 

Zappacosta is transfer listed and also Coke could be a viable option I think. 

I'm currently £16M in the red, fingers crossed I can hold onto 2nd place, that will net me over £80M and also I hope some of the loaned out players sign permanent deals. 

[Cal585]

I somehow managed to win the Bundesliga in my 2nd season. Bayern had a terrible start which led to their manager being sacked and Dortmund took an extensive lead, leaving me to fight Leverkusen for 2nd place. Then at the end of the season Dortmund imploded and I snuck past with 2 games to go (they ended up finishing 3rd behind Bayern). Seems to have been the perfect storm.  Played most of the season with a 4-1-2-3, though I tried the 4-2-3-1 a bit more towards the end (same basic set-up as OP). Brought in Angel Correa, Lucas Vazquez and Rodri who were all transfer listed and have given me good options. Kehrer has actually turned into a handy player for me, though it's still a shame losing Howedes for 11 mill. Geis returned to me but I finally managed to sell him. I wanted to use him, and he has great free kicks but he's on high wages and behind Meyer and Harit which is a shame. Goretzka, Correa and Embolo probably my most important players (this is obviously initial database, updated one almost forces you to play 5 at the back).

[WillyBroadband]

Just finished first season & it went pretty well. With two games left I was still within a chance of wining the title. 

My transfers, highlighted on the left were superb. I didn't really want to sell Nastasic but needed the ££. 

My tactics. A tweaked version of a FuSS marvel. Although I finished 2nd my away record was frustrating at times. Looking at replacing Goretzka with Camacho as Wolfsburg have been relegated. 

[WillyBroadband]

This is one table I'm really proud of, too. Especially considering Wolfsburg were relegated & Gladbach finished in the bottom half. Only slight possible snag is, I'm screwed if di Santo, Konoplyanka, Caligiuri & Geis don't sign for the loan clubs permanently. 

Fingers crossed I can get Höwedes back. 

[WillyBroadband]

@Ji-Sung Park hello mate, I was wondering if this happened on your save at all.. I can see Man City won the Premier League but I didn't receive the £2M for the Sané clause. They won the Champions League also which I got £3M from, no problem. Quite odd. I may raise it in the bugs forum. 

[Ji-Sung Park]

2 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

@Ji-Sung Park hello mate, I was wondering if this happened on your save at all.. I can see Man City won the Premier League but I didn't receive the £2M for the Sané clause. They won the Champions League also which I got £3M from, no problem. Quite odd. I may raise it in the bugs forum. 

 

Can't remember that one, sorry. Probably a bug.

[Cal585]

If anyone is interested, the Bundesliga channel (by Tifo Football) made a nice analysis a little while back on Tedesco's tactics this season. Seems to be a lot more long ball orientated than I thought (I haven't seen a full game in a while). According to the video their tactics would probably look something like:

Tactic 1 - Drop Much Deeper, More Direct, Normal/Higher Tempo and maybe Close Down Less and Pass Into Space?

Tactic 2 - More Direct, Close Down More (or maybe it's just the midfield closing down?), Lower/Normal Tempo and Pass Into Space

Quite interesting that he bypasses the midfield so much when there are some really good midfielders at the club (Goretzka, Meyer, Harit, McKennie).

 

[WillyBroadband]

Pretty happy with my 2nd season. Finished 2nd in the league again, lost to Bayern in the DFB-Pokal & won the Europa League, beating Dortmund on the way & Leverkusen in the final. 

Am really enjoying this save. I signed Mandzukic for my 3rd season. I'm not feeling too positive about toppling Bayern tbh - they've had Simeone take over & they've signed Pogba among others. 

[FMbeginner]

@WillyBroadband Can I see your Schalke squad please? Also, how are your club finances?