FM18: France

[zlatanera]

So I noticed that there's only one thread pertaining to French football and the activity isn't great, therefore I decided that if I want to talk about my save in charge of Lyon I should just make a general French football thread as I don't have the patience to form a full team thread. In lieu of a common club I'm assuming anyone posting here will either hate PSG in FM18 or be playing as them. 

So please, SI community, prove to me I'm not the only one managing a French team and lets get some discussions going!

Flag_of_France.svg

[zlatanera]

On FM16 I had a magical save with Lyon, stretching over 15 years peaking with an entirely homegrown from the Lyon academy squad defeating Manchester United in the Champions League final. I skipped them on the last version and then had a save when I first got FM18, but it just didn't stick. Neither did a second go. So in lieu of doing my uni work I decided to start up again on the new database!

There were only a couple of changes - I don't think anyone's had their PA / CA significantly altered, but in terms of transfers Leo Dubois comes in on a free at the end of the 2017/18 season from Nantes to add yet another RB, Martin Terrier is on loan at Strasbourg as in rl Lyon bought him but allowed him to continue his loan, and Oumar Solet is on loan with an option to buy.

I've set myself a couple of philosophies - always promote from within before buying, and when buying attempt to buy young; don't pay anyone over £100k per week until the finances are better - they're not bad but until I establish us as CL regulars I can't afford to break the bank and keep up with the terrorists in Paris, neither the tax-dodgers nor the American to the South. 

So summer wasn't very busy - Yanga Mbiwa had a Concentration stat of 10 which is abysmal for a centre back, especially one of my top earners, and the option to sign my LCB for the next 10 years in Malang Sarr was not to be passed up. Cornet was loaned first to Hoffenheim, then Sampdoria in order to get playing time as my tactic (further down) allows for only 2 strikers and no wingers, and so he would be competing with at least 5 players for game time. Solet was performing outstandingly for the reserves so I used my Joker to acquire him permanently in order to increase the time to tutor him as 8 determination is not ok, and Ndombele was not doing anything outstanding but is just such a good option I had to sign him ASAP. 

My previous saves featured a downloaded strikerless tactic which worked outstandingly in the first one, then less so in the second - I assume due to ME changes as Moussa Dembele is not that critical. I was initially planning to finally get a 4231 working and use Ndombele as a Segundo Volante but some inspiration from Cleon and Guido led me to this:

Initially I used Mariano as a Poacher but he was blowing hot and cold so I decided to try him in his natural role. He responded with 7 goals in 9, including a Coupe de France winner, to get him to 21 goals in 36 starts in all competitions. Not bad for someone who was previously shipped out as soon as possible. In Europe we came 2nd in a very even group finishing behind Real Sociedad and ahead of PSV and Cologne, before going out to Zenit with a 2-0 home loss (shocking finishing and a second goal when we had a man sent off in the 93rd minute) and a 2-1 away win. Coupe de la Ligue we went down 2-1 in the final against PSG, Memphis blowing cold up front on the wrong day as Mariano was suspended.

In Ligue 1 PSG ran away with it, finishing with 89 points, and our 15 draws (many 0-0) dragged us down to 4th behind Lille and Montpellier as we joined Monaco and Marseille in the Europa League spots, which may make for a fun knockout stage next year. We were unbeaten at home until the final day of the season as I sent out a reserve team against Nice in order to rest for the Coupe de France final only 4 days later. Only PSG (22) conceded less than the 31 we let in, with Anthony Lopes keeping 19 clean sheets, the highest in the league. However our 14th best 41 goals scored shows great room for improvement - in attempting to produce a magic box I have inadvertently produced a bus of such stopping power Mourinho will be ordering a fleet next year. Drawing away to PSG and beating them at home was a proud moment - in fact the only "big" game we lost was the derby at St. Etienne - 2 nil, a screamer and a move that reminded me of when English football pundits referred to "Swansealona", with Nabil Fekir missing 2 penalties! to leave me close to throwing my laptop out the window. 

Finally, we come to the Coupe de France. After overcoming Monaco in the quarter final on penalties after Falcao of all people scored a last-minute Pirlo-esque free kick to hold us, we defeated Reims in the semis to meet, I presumed, PSG in the final. But no! Lowly Le Puy Football 43 Auvergne, who finished 20 points behind our reserve team in the National-B, defeated PSG 3-1 as the only recognisable names Emery inexplicably sent out were Hatem Ben Arfa and (Timothy) Weah. 

"quality was in short supply, with both teams hardly managing a shot on target between them"  but who cares! (I do, actually, but this was a case of immovable object versus routemaster so a win will do for now). A Mariano header gave us the win and our first trophy since 2012.

 

Going forward, Fekir has been unhappy all season wanting to move to a bigger club, and I can't get anyone other than Jeremy Morel to speak to him. I may offer him out, allow Aouar to step up and make Terrier his understudy. Mariano, Memphis and Bertrand Traore will be allowed to leave for suitable amounts as well - between Geubbels, Gouiri, Maolida, Mateta, and two oustanding newgens I should not have to buy a forward for the duration of this save. If I structure the deal right we could have a steady source of roughly £10m annual income for 3-5 years. Our defence needs strengthening as well - Marcal and Mendy both have their flaws at left-back but now Tierney has been boosted he was completely out of reach so I don't know what I'll do there, and despite his high level of performance I'm looking for someone more technical than Marcelo and Diakhaby in the centre, and the best youth prospect I have in the position won't be 16 until April 2019. 

Tactically, this is the soundest defence I've had without first establishing on-and-off-pitch dominance in my league, and I won't be changing much. My strikers do seem a little un-supported though so perhaps my AP or CM will become an Attack rather than support duty. 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent stuff. I'd done a French football thread in here for the last couple of years, but couldn't do it for FM18.

I've never managed Lyon and haven't yet gone to France in this version, but they stand out as the team I would go with - especially after the winter update with Terrier joining. I see that Ndombele has a future fee set in game under the loan option, but I thought that was an agreed transfer. In any event, I would have been doing the same as you in converting it to a permanent deal.

I really enjoyed your write up on OL. I am also a defence-first kind of manager who likes to make use of the youth players in the squad, and to sign promising young players from other clubs. You might even inspire me to add OL to my list of active adventures! 

[zlatanera]

Yeah Lyon are great if you like to develop youth. Also their starting squad is really versatile - all of your attacking players bar Mariano can play at least 2 out of AM (RLC) and ST, all of your midfielders can play CM and at least one of AM / DM and also perform most roles well. Hell, the best player Fekir just spent a season with me playing CM so is now natural at CM, AM, ST and competent on the flanks. DIdn't see a stat drop either, it was just in his PA. I got really lucky with some of the variable PAs but you're the youth ranks are still some of the best in the game - every position bar CB has someone of four gold star potential one all three of my saves.

To be honest most teams in France are good for young players in the game - PSG's academy is prolific - but Lyon definitely have the best.

[Evanescent]

Got a Lyon save going too. Started it in mid Feb with a siosi data update. In my 4th season (Nov 2020), playing with a few self-imposed transfer rules to force myself to buy different players/focus more on development. Only allowing myself to sign a) French 1st nationality players transfer listed or available on a free and b) French U21 players in a Ligue 2/National first team squad (got the idea from real life Tousart/Ndombele/F.Mendy signings). Has resulted in the longevity I desired. Usually when I get to the 3rd/4th season I either stop the save or change teams within the save but I am still really enjoying managing Lyon.

Using a downloaded 523 tactic and we all know how effective they are. Highlight result being winning the Champions League 3rd season, 3-1 over Chelsea! PSG and Monaco are insanely good and rarely drop points so the league hasn't been a complete cakewalk. Usually win the league with a couple of games to spare. This is the first save I've consistently experienced this, usually even the big AI clubs slip up a lot with draws and losses.

Current Squad:

GK - Prevot (Bertaud)

DC - Kimpembe, Boly, Mangala (A.Diallo/Lucas/M.Diakhaby/Moukoudi)

WB - T.Bakayoko, B.Mendy (Dubois/Fuchs/Kurzawa)

MC - Ndombele, Tousart (Kondogbia/Darder/Marchetti/Kemen)

ST - Maolida, Ben Yedder, Geubbels (A.Diakhaby/Crivelli/Gouiri)

Also 3x 16-17yo academy regen fwds (the new Maolida/Geubbels/Gouiri?) and a 17yo LWB regen from Nancy on the fringes of the 1st team. Happy with the squad with the exception of GK. Due to the transfer rules I've placed upon myself, I can't really go out and buy a top GK. Lopes left after the 3rd season as I had 'broken' a promise...he couldn't wait any longer on the youth players to develop (even though we just won our 3rd successive league title and our first Champions League). Prevot, a 'French U21 in Ligue 2' signing 2nd season, is decent but nowhere near Lopes' level. Best hope for a world-class/potential world-class French GK would be Monaco transfer listing Areola or Badiashile. Areola signed from PSG 3rd season but they just added Rui Patricio 4th season.

Took over the vacant France job in July 2020 too. Will be trying to pick squads based on merit. Only 2 or 3 of my Lyon players make a full strength 23 man squad...shows how many great French players are around.

Major sales by fee: Fekir to Man City (£83m), B.Traore to Zenit (£64m), Mariano to PSG (£53m), Rafael to Ath Madrid (£49.5m), Lopes to Man Utd (£49m), Depay to City (£37.5m), Aouar to PSG (£31m rising to £40m).

Some screens:

19/20 Champions League Final vs Chelsea

Willem Geubbels

Amine Gouiri

Myziane Maolida

Tanguy Ndombele

Captain Lucas Tousart

1st season transfers (saw zlatanera's and wanted to post mine)

[sedge11]

I'm glad you set this up Zlatanera.

I did a small Lyon save whilst I was waiting for the winter update, I only did 3 seasons and even though it wasn't very successful I really enjoyed it.

We didn't win the title but here's how the tables finished. Getting 90 and 91 points and not winning the league was disappointing, but as one of you guys said PSG just don't drop many points.

We did however have a great run in the champs league in the 3rd season, sadly ended in disappointed again.

This was my best team after 3 years.

Lyon do have some great youngsters with Geubbels being the best, he went straight into the 1st team in the 1st season after Mariano had a shocker and was sold, I brought Batshuayi, so they were rotated and both banged in the goals. But here was Geubbels progress, with the 3rd season being his best goal scoring season. 

I have even brought Geubbels in my Man utd save which I haven't long started, brought him in January of the 1st season. Going into the 2nd season he is in the 1st team and is going to be tutored and developed so I can have him, Lukaku and Rashford in a deadly front 3.

 

[Daws88]

Lyon definitely look like a good choice in this year's version. Will be starting a save with them soon. Reading these posts make me want too load it up sooner rather than carry on with my Dortmund save. 

[zlatanera]

3 hours ago, Evanescent said:

Took over the vacant France job in July 2020 too. Will be trying to pick squads based on merit. Only 2 or 3 of my Lyon players make a full strength 23 man squad...shows how many great French players are around.

Major sales by fee: Fekir to Man City (£83m), B.Traore to Zenit (£64m), Mariano to PSG (£53m), Rafael to Ath Madrid (£49.5m), Lopes to Man Utd (£49m), Depay to City (£37.5m), Aouar to PSG (£31m rising to £40m).

1st season transfers (saw zlatanera's and wanted to post mine)

Not sure I agree with your use of those tactics but nice job getting £83 million for Fekir! It appears unhappiness doesn't disappear on this game like it used to, but I can't get anyone to even offer his £59m value at the end of the first season (I try to give Dortmund clauses and the pricks just come back non-negotiable). It's irritating as with Terrier and Balhouli I have so many replacements ready and I don't like loaning players, unless you're the Manchester Uniteds of the world and you're loaning out the next Neymar they just don't seem to develop as well, only like 1/10 make significant progress.

I think in my 15 year save my peak was the entire starting 11 for a WC game was from Lyon - a mixture of old heads like Lacazette and a lot of newgens - with something ridiculous like 16/23 of the squad at my club and another 4 who were developed by me then sold (I bought up a load of French youth then noticed they were blocking progression of the clubs' own newgens and let them go for exorbitant fees), but yeah French players are rated even better now. 

Love that you got Jeando Fuchs and Axel Aktas, I had them both on my FM16 save as well! Might give them a look up on this game.

2 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I'm glad you set this up Zlatanera.

I did a small Lyon save whilst I was waiting for the winter update, I only did 3 seasons and even though it wasn't very successful I really enjoyed it.

We didn't win the title but here's how the tables finished. Getting 90 and 91 points and not winning the league was disappointing, but as one of you guys said PSG just don't drop many points.

This was my best team after 3 years.

 

Yeah PSG can be impossible - I failed at creating my own exploit tactic (didn't realise full backs had to be in the wing back strata) but my three false nines up top got us to club record points, wins and goals yet in the same season I scored 8/9 of the goals PSG conceded as they only lost one and finished with over 100 points. They're definitely far more of an obstacle than they were a couple of years ago but that's what makes the save more challenging right? 

Also how does Caqueret work for you? Never played long enough to integrate him.  

[Evanescent]

11 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Not sure I agree with your use of those tactics but nice job getting £83 million for Fekir! It appears unhappiness doesn't disappear on this game like it used to, but I can't get anyone to even offer his £59m value at the end of the first season (I try to give Dortmund clauses and the pricks just come back non-negotiable). It's irritating as with Terrier and Balhouli I have so many replacements ready and I don't like loaning players, unless you're the Manchester Uniteds of the world and you're loaning out the next Neymar they just don't seem to develop as well, only like 1/10 make significant progress.

I think in my 15 year save my peak was the entire starting 11 for a WC game was from Lyon - a mixture of old heads like Lacazette and a lot of newgens - with something ridiculous like 16/23 of the squad at my club and another 4 who were developed by me then sold (I bought up a load of French youth then noticed they were blocking progression of the clubs' own newgens and let them go for exorbitant fees), but yeah French players are rated even better now. 

Love that you got Jeando Fuchs and Axel Aktas, I had them both on my FM16 save as well! Might give them a look up on this game.

Yeah, I've just gotten so used to the 5-2-3, no going back now...my own tactics just feel so inferior lol. Luckily, most of my joy comes from seeing players develop and in this save, seeing how my team changes with the transfer constraints. It's kinda refreshing that I'm forced to use someone like Prevot as 1st choice.

Similar to your save, Fekir angled for the move to a bigger team 1st season. I kept the asking price on unspecified and hoped they came in with a negotiable bid. For every Fekir or Traore where I got good value, there's an Aouar, Memphis or Tete where they wished to leave and I couldn't get anything above market value.

One of the reasons I had to put rules on my game is because I love to hoard youth players. I would literally sign every promising regen and loan them out. The development is slow but occasionally the loan system works well and it is so much better than keeping them in the reserves. Fuchs and Kemen have come back from loans as squad players, while I was happy to sell Aouar because I had a ready-made replacement in A.Diakhaby (developed big time on loan in the Bundesliga). When I started this save, I didn't realise how many good French players get transfer listed. There has been some good players listed I didn't even go for like Payet, M'Vila, Gameiro, Guilavogui and Matuidi. The amount of French talent has caused some players that I thought by now would be squad players to be send out on repeated loans instead (mainly fwds...Lyon are overloaded with talented fwds). On the flip side, I'm going through a good moment...there will be a rainy day where Geubbels, Gouiri, Maolida all wanna leave, no one is available on the trasnfer list and I might desperately need a Terrier, Mateta or Aktas to come back from loan and step in.

[zlatanera]

24 minutes ago, Evanescent said:

Yeah, I've just gotten so used to the 5-2-3, no going back now...my own tactics just feel so inferior lol. Luckily, most of my joy comes from seeing players develop and in this save, seeing how my team changes with the transfer constraints. It's kinda refreshing that I'm forced to use someone like Prevot as 1st choice.

One of the reasons I had to put rules on my game is because I love to hoard youth players. I would literally sign every promising regen and loan them out. The development is slow but occasionally the loan system works well and it is so much better than keeping them in the reserves. Fuchs and Kemen have come back from loans as squad players, while I was happy to sell Aouar because I had a ready-made replacement in A.Diakhaby (developed big time on loan in the Bundesliga). When I started this save, I didn't realise how many good French players get transfer listed. There has been some good players listed I didn't even go for like Payet, M'Vila, Gameiro, Guilavogui and Matuidi. 

Yeah I had to put increasing restrictions on myself in my FM16 save and now its been what I do in all saves - I started out only buying u21s, then only French u18s, then just didn't sign anyone for about 5 years until my academy stopped producing right backs. In this save I'm just saying I won't sign anyone if there's someone already in the academy - so I've signed De Ligt and Sarr so far as there aren't any outstanding academy centre back prospects but that's it. Going to give Prevot a look as Gorgelinzola always gets angry about first team football even though prior to the start of the save he had only 4 first team league appearances. 

Is that Diakhaby from Monaco? On my last go I ended up with him and Adama Traore but couldn't find loans - Monaco in particular seem to be poor at developing youth on this game. One thing I find frustrating about France is that 7 domestic loans thing - unless I can get a bunch of players out to Belgium it just harms all the young talent. 

[FlairRA]

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Monaco in particular seem to be poor at developing youth on this game. 

Monaco are pretty amazing on my save for youth products, in FM17 and FM18. I might begin a save with them soon, after Roma!

[sedge11]

5 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Also how does Caqueret work for you? Never played long enough to integrate him.  

He has done alright, only started playing him in the 3rd season, so he hadn't developed massively but this is how he looked.

[john1]

I am going to give a go in France, maybe start with Auxerre

[zlatanera]

3 hours ago, FlairRA said:

Monaco are pretty amazing on my save for youth products, in FM17 and FM18. I might begin a save with them soon, after Roma!

Yeah no they're great in terms of producing them in their youth system - I've always thought it might be interesting to see FM make some reference to the fact that they don't have any teams for under 16s in real life as they can't bring anyone younger than that into the club due to the legal status of Monaco or something (remember reading a Guardian article about it around the time Mbappé was emerging) - but they don't seem to be good at developing them beyond that, or at least with the ones they already have. 

1 hour ago, sedge11 said:

He has done alright, only started playing him in the 3rd season, so he hadn't developed massively but this is how he looked.

Mine in the 2nd season - I guess this is the difference in training showing through - I've been training mine as Roaming Playmaker, looking at your tactic I'm guessing you've done more work as BBM?

@john1 fancying yourself the next Guy Roux? Always fancied an Auxerre save but I usually settle for poaching their best youngsters. 

[Evanescent]

8 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Is that Diakhaby from Monaco? On my last go I ended up with him and Adama Traore but couldn't find loans - Monaco in particular seem to be poor at developing youth on this game. One thing I find frustrating about France is that 7 domestic loans thing - unless I can get a bunch of players out to Belgium it just harms all the young talent. 

It is. Never got the opportunity with all the big money signings they make, one of those guys PSG/Monaco transfer list when they hit the 21/22yo range (who I basically always snap up lol). Been great so far, I was looking for a left footed option up front and he has played well when called upon.

Yes, the loan situation in France! To be limited to only 7 loans to Ligue 2 is frustrating. I would far prefer loaning to Ligue 2 than some top divisions around the world. All my Ligue 2 loanees play regularly, I can't say the same for the guys I've loaned elsewhere. In terms of other leagues, the country that seems to come in a lot for my players is Greece. Got 6 in Greece this season and it is real hit and miss. Thank goodness I can re-assess in January and see which loans need to be cut short.

[zlatanera]

2018/19 - Progress without Reward

So after a decent but unspectacular first season - winning the Coupe de France but doing so by struggling against a lower league team in the final, and narrowly missing out on a CL spot as PSG ran away with the league, I started out making only minor tweaks. My existing tactic:

Had proved defensively solid but I felt the strikers weren't getting enough support. So I changed Fekir's role to AP-Attack but otherwise left it was it was, hoping my developing players and slight tweaks would make it a world-beater in time.

As you can see transfers were minimal - Fekir quietened down about leaving and was rewarded with a new £100k / week contract, and although initially I planned on Nkoulou playing, once the opportunity to get De Ligt arose he was outta here in a flash. Marcelo was loaned out for a fee too as nobody would bid high enough for him (despite being valued over £10m I couldn't get the £6.75m Lyon had paid in the first place). Dubois was pre-arranged from the start of the save. Other than that it was merely a cause of selling a few surplus to requirements players, using my 7 domestic loans for prospects and promoting Amine Gouiri to the first team.

Come late December (29th, my oldest auto-save) things were going reasonably well! We had beaten PSG in the Trophée des Champions, topped our Europa League group unbeaten and were 2nd in the league, 6 points behind PSG (who had two games in hand). One of two black marks, the 6-0 loss to PSG in the Coupe de la Ligue can be explained as it was my reserve lineup against a surprisingly full-strength PSG side.

The other, however was more worrying - in 19 games in the league we had scored only 31 goals, second-most in the league admittedly but PSG had 52. I compared this to the current table and realised I'd have to average over 3 goals a game to match the current real life team. All the old clichés about Italian football could be applied to the 19 teams below PSG (with the notable exception of Brest - 19th with 25 goals scored and 42 conceded). Although the tactic had been developing well as I changed some instructions, I hadn't seen enough of an increase in attacking prowess to make the loss of so many of last season's clean sheets acceptable so I went drastic, with a change of mentality necessitating some changed player roles and duties, giving us this:

In the Europa League we thrashed Roma in the style of Manchester United circa 2006-9 - a narrow 2-1 loss at the Olimpico setting us up to hammer than 4-0 at home, then dismissed Olympiakos 2-2 on away goals before drawing Marseille in the quarter finals! We dominated them in both legs but just couldn't score, a 34th second goal in the first leg from Valère Germain deciding it. Taken in isolation this would be incredibly frustrating, but after the powers that be had kept scheduling our cup tie with QRM in the international break leading to two postponements meaning that the first leg against Marseille was our 4th game in 9 days, and that we would play another 3 before the month was out (with another game on 1st May) its hardly surprising there was a lapse in concentration. Despite repeatedly changing my entire outfield 10 my entire squad was in the red zone when we finally got a break in mid May. 

In the Coupe de France we went to extra time at QRM, then less than 72 hours later dismissed Vendee Herbiers 1-0 at their own ground courtesy of a lot of sterile (by design for once) dominance and an own goal, before succumbing to Bordeaux in extra time - on 1st May towards the end of that ridiculous run of games.

From first glances it might seem like my new tactic had made the goals further dry up - and indeed we had scored fewer in the 2nd half of the season than the 1st. However, with 5 games to go we were within touching distance of PSG, having hit 24 goals in 14 games - not that much of an improvement (from 1.63 to 1.72 goals per game) in results but the performances were getting there. We then promptly gave up the ghost; 0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1 leaving us a lot further back than might have been. Clearly the tactics are still a work in progress but also I think Mariano's time might be up - 25 goals (4 penalties) in 39 starts is not bad, but he seems to be in the Rooney mould of needing to play every game or he'll lose his hot streak, and as we tend to compete on multiple fronts he just lets us down too often when he's in and out of the team. Oh, and I almost forgot this

 

Yeah...well I know exactly how I'm solving that as my two top earners, Fekir and Lopes, are tied down for a long time and have performed well all season, but my inconsistent set of overpaid attackers - Memphis (72k / week), Mariano (77k / week) and Bertrand Traore (62k / week) - are all available for the right price as I can then replace them by pushing Fekir into a more advanced role and truly giving Geubbels and Gouiri time to shine. 

So yeah, going forward the main objectives are: pass FFP, blood more youth, and try to get us scoring without completely sacrificing defensive solidity. 

 

[Evanescent]

Always a good read @zlatanera In that FFP situation, would sell a couple of attackers without hesitation. I assume guys like Mateta and Maolida are on the 1st team fringe too?

Just got past the Winter deadline day, where the fax machine with PSG got a workout:

Firstly, they shocked me with a bid for Prevot.

Suffice to say, I priced them out. I'm not about to further downgrade my keeper!

So I do my due diligence and see if any decent French players were transfer listed on deadline day. A certain Houssem Aouar tops the list. Next thing you know, Aouar's 6 month stint in Paris ends. He couldn't dislodge Bruno Fernandes from the AMC position or Mbappe as striker.

Then PSG come in for VC Ndombele. I wasn't selling for anything under Fekir's 83m and after a few negotiations led to a non-negotiable bid, I rejected. They got to around 75m but a high portion of it was in league/international app add-ons. 

Then PSG must have realised they should probably replace Aouar! They came in for Adama Diakhaby, the guy who replaced Aouar in my first team squad 6 months ago. They weren't serious about it and their derisory bid was dismissed without a thought (this bid was well below his market value).

However! ... A couple hours later then came back in for Diakhaby with an much improved 20.5m bid. One negotiation later and Diakhaby was Paris bound for his 31.5m market value.

And that concluded 'all-day long negotiations with PSG day'. Cannot wait for Diakhaby to be transfer listed in 6 months time.

[KF1990]

Pretty Lyon heavy in this thread so i'll switch it up.

Currently in my 7th season with Sochaux. They have a great youth set up and i've had some fantastic youngsters coming through,. Currently have 6 of them hovering around my 1st team squad as rotational players. Mainly down to their ages so with time this will change. Bullet points as to how my save has gone:

• 1st season - Finished 3rd and lost playoff final.
• 2nd season - Finished 2nd (Promotion)
• 3rd Season - 5th Place finish and Lost in Coupe de Ligue final. 
• 4th Season - Finished 8th (Actually qualified for Europa League due to Lyon failing the financial targets)
• 5th Season - Finished 4th qualified for Champions League.
• 6th Season - Finished 5th. Won Coupe de Ligue and Europa League (Qualified for champs League). Took the France job also as it was the 4th time they offered me the job. Lost in QF of Euro's and thought the squad really lacked depth in cm position so decided to resign.
• 7th Seasons - Currently at winter break and sitting in 1st place 6 points ahead of PSG and Monaco. Just qualified out of my champions league group in 1st place without losing. Had Barca, Man City and Galatasary in my group. 

Something Amazing did happen during my 5th season though and that is that Lyon got relegated!!. Managed to buy their best young player which was a 19 year old CB regen. They did come straight back up though and are currently a mid table team. 

Really enjoying this save and seeing how some of my youth players pan out. Sold quite a lot of good youth players also to very big teams so the anticipation of seeing how they develop and if i get a return on my 50% of next sale keeps me going too. I usually get bored of saves if things dont go my way and this one has taken me 6 seasons to win some silverware and was soo satisfying. Players i have that are not regens are:

Achraf (Real Madrid RB), De Ligt, Kik Pierie, Andrea Cubas, Caral Eiting, Aksal Aktas (Originally in the team from the very start and still very much my 1st option for AMC although i have a regen who is close to replacing him), Marcus Coco, Francisco Trincao (My favorite player, sold him to Man City at start of season for £55m after buying him at the start for 100k, 1.5 seasons at Man City and he wasn't really playing. Brought him back for £15m and still one of the best players in the league). 

Rest of the squad is regens. Other notable players i've had at the team are Sergio Diaz (Got for 4m from Real Madrid, sold to Man City for 66M), Lucas Tousart (Brought in on a free, sold after 1 season to Arsenal for 38M), Marco Cuccarella (Brought in for 10m, sold to PSG for 44M), Ben Chilwell (Came in on a free, sold to Newcastle for 20m). 

I'd highly recommend start with FSCM, especially if you wanted to do a youth only save. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent updates in here, very enjoyable reading.

[zlatanera]

5 hours ago, Evanescent said:

Always a good read @zlatanera In that FFP situation, would sell a couple of attackers without hesitation. I assume guys like Mateta and Maolida are on the 1st team fringe too?

Cannot wait for Diakhaby to be transfer listed in 6 months time.

Yeah, Maolida was on fire in Ligue 2 with Strasbourg - I'll have to check but I believe he got them promoted. Mateta gave a decent return at Toulouse as well - didn't hit double figures but also didn't hit double figures for starts and they were hovering around relegation for a lot of the season. Got a bunch of youth prospects so I doubt he's ever going to get a look in.

Deleted it to shorten the post but you have got to love how the top clubs always waste players like that - its a habit I often fall into when I manage a bigger club, although I never make losses on players of the calibre of Aouar. 

1 hour ago, KF1990 said:

Pretty Lyon heavy in this thread so i'll switch it up.

Currently in my 7th season with Sochaux. They have a great youth set up and i've had some fantastic youngsters coming through,. Currently have 6 of them hovering around my 1st team squad as rotational players. Mainly down to their ages so with time this will change. Bullet points as to how my save has gone:

• 1st season - Finished 3rd and lost playoff final.
• 2nd season - Finished 2nd (Promotion)
• 3rd Season - 5th Place finish and Lost in Coupe de Ligue final. 
• 4th Season - Finished 8th (Actually qualified for Europa League due to Lyon failing the financial targets)
• 5th Season - Finished 4th qualified for Champions League.
• 6th Season - Finished 5th. Won Coupe de Ligue and Europa League (Qualified for champs League). Took the France job also as it was the 4th time they offered me the job. Lost in QF of Euro's and thought the squad really lacked depth in cm position so decided to resign.
• 7th Seasons - Currently at winter break and sitting in 1st place 6 points ahead of PSG and Monaco. Just qualified out of my champions league group in 1st place without losing. Had Barca, Man City and Galatasary in my group. 

Something Amazing did happen during my 5th season though and that is that Lyon got relegated!!. Managed to buy their best young player which was a 19 year old CB regen. They did come straight back up though and are currently a mid table team. 

Really enjoying this save and seeing how some of my youth players pan out. Sold quite a lot of good youth players also to very big teams so the anticipation of seeing how they develop and if i get a return on my 50% of next sale keeps me going too. I usually get bored of saves if things dont go my way and this one has taken me 6 seasons to win some silverware and was soo satisfying. Players i have that are not regens are:

Achraf (Real Madrid RB), De Ligt, Kik Pierie, Andrea Cubas, Caral Eiting, Aksal Aktas (Originally in the team from the very start and still very much my 1st option for AMC although i have a regen who is close to replacing him), Marcus Coco, Francisco Trincao (My favorite player, sold him to Man City at start of season for £55m after buying him at the start for 100k, 1.5 seasons at Man City and he wasn't really playing. Brought him back for £15m and still one of the best players in the league). 

I'd highly recommend start with FSCM, especially if you wanted to do a youth only save. 

Haha I was wondering if perhaps I should have just gone all out and made this a Lyon thread, good to see someone mixing it up! Those are some really impressive results, what are your tactics like? 

That's actually amazing that Lyon went down - sounds like it was because of finances? Or did you beat them so hard the squad lost the will to live? A lot of Spanish clubs have financial problems but I've not seen any big clubs go down in FM18 before - in FM17 Roma or Lazio usually went down in the first couple of seasons in Italy. 

What's Aktas like with all that top level experience? I've had him before at bigger clubs but he never broke into my first team and so constant loans limited his development somewhat. 

Also, well done on sticking it out that long without a trophy - I'm far more of a quitter, I subscribe to the "it takes 3 seasons to build a team" philosophy so if I'm still not winning anything by then I'm usually done, so its nice to see someone playing the long game. 

[KF1990]

5 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Haha I was wondering if perhaps I should have just gone all out and made this a Lyon thread, good to see someone mixing it up! Those are some really impressive results, what are your tactics like? 

That's actually amazing that Lyon went down - sounds like it was because of finances? Or did you beat them so hard the squad lost the will to live? A lot of Spanish clubs have financial problems but I've not seen any big clubs go down in FM18 before - in FM17 Roma or Lazio usually went down in the first couple of seasons in Italy. 

What's Aktas like with all that top level experience? I've had him before at bigger clubs but he never broke into my first team and so constant loans limited his development somewhat. 

Also, well done on sticking it out that long without a trophy - I'm far more of a quitter, I subscribe to the "it takes 3 seasons to build a team" philosophy so if I'm still not winning anything by then I'm usually done, so its nice to see someone playing the long game. 

Tactics haven't varied at all really. I play a 4-2-3-1(Control & Flexible) but one of my cm is actually a DM (anchorman) on the right hand side.  Issue i have is finding players that can actually play that role, especially french players. Sometimes i've switched it to have 2 central midfielders but that's only when form is dipping. Tbh only really used that formation at the start as defense was not strong at all so tried to offer more cover and worked really well. Only major changes i've made tactically throughout the save is with team instructions and player instructions. 

It does seem to be solely down to finances, quite odd really as they did have some good expensive players in their team when they went down such as Depay, Kenny Tete, Anthony Lopes, Jordan Ferri, Sergi Darder & Diego Bendetto (probably the biggest signing they made and was such a prolific goalscorer for them). Off the top of my head i'm not sure who they managed to keep in their team once they were in Ligue 2, think it was only 2 or 3 players out of them. 

Aktas is just solid, has really good all around stats. Only issue is that he's never like the main guy for the assists or goals, will pop up here and there but every season he's just been average in his contributions to goals and assists. I'll try get a screenshot up later of his stats. I'll also try get one up of the regen/youth academy player i've got to replace him with. Possibly the best regen i've had come through a club i manage on any FM series. 

 

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, KF1990 said:

Tactics haven't varied at all really. I play a 4-2-3-1(Control & Flexible) but one of my cm is actually a DM (anchorman) on the right hand side.  Issue i have is finding players that can actually play that role, especially french players. Sometimes i've switched it to have 2 central midfielders but that's only when form is dipping. Tbh only really used that formation at the start as defense was not strong at all so tried to offer more cover and worked really well. Only major changes i've made tactically throughout the save is with team instructions and player instructions. 

It does seem to be solely down to finances, quite odd really as they did have some good expensive players in their team when they went down such as Depay, Kenny Tete, Anthony Lopes, Jordan Ferri, Sergi Darder & Diego Bendetto (probably the biggest signing they made and was such a prolific goalscorer for them). Off the top of my head i'm not sure who they managed to keep in their team once they were in Ligue 2, think it was only 2 or 3 players out of them. 

Aktas is just solid, has really good all around stats. Only issue is that he's never like the main guy for the assists or goals, will pop up here and there but every season he's just been average in his contributions to goals and assists. I'll try get a screenshot up later of his stats. I'll also try get one up of the regen/youth academy player i've got to replace him with. Possibly the best regen i've had come through a club i manage on any FM series. 

 

That's cool, I haven't been able to get 4-2-3-1 firing consistently on this game. 

Is Aktas one of those that just always gets a good rating? I love those guys - you're never actually sure what they're doing but you know its got to be something right. Kinda like when I used to not have any idea what Sergio Busquets did other than fall over a lot. 

Also, Jean-Michel Aulas just pulled a rabbit that ***** gold out of his hat:

Still hoping to offload those misfiring attackers though - I know they'll all want to break my £100k wage ceiling for their next contracts. 

 

EDIT: Spoke too soon. Traore and Memphis are only valued around £10m so may have to make losses to sort this:

[FMbeginner]

@KF1990 Great progression with Sochaux!

I've never had a save in France and Sochaux look like a decent team to start with. Aksel Aktas, Jeando Fuchs, Maxence Prevot and Jean Ruiz look like solid players right from the off. Which players developed well?

[KF1990]

Aksel is probably the best one to develop. Fuchs was a great player for me but had to sell him 2 seasons in as got offered 7m from Nice and couldnt pass on the money. He then went to Newcastle but went a bit downhill from there and has played out in Mexico for the last few seasons. Prevot was decent for me but let him go in my 4th season as got a better keeper in. Had a spell at Real Sociedad and is no 1st choice at St Etienne. Jean Ruiz is a player i like was nothing more than a rotational option after the first 2 seasons. Only just let him go at the beginning of the 7th season as was no longer needed. 

Theres 2 other youngsters in the team that seem to have carved a career out in ligue 1. The cb Mathys Kunts is a regular starter for a mid table team and Lacroix (Can't remember how it's spelt). He left me in the 1st season to go Sporting Lisbon and is now a regular starter at a ligue 1 team battling relegation. 

[steakfaced]

19 hours ago, FMbeginner said:

@KF1990 Great progression with Sochaux!

I've never had a save in France and Sochaux look like a decent team to start with. Aksel Aktas, Jeando Fuchs, Maxence Prevot and Jean Ruiz look like solid players right from the off. Which players developed well?

I bought Fuchs on FM2017 for Monaco and he was . a BTB legend. REtrained him to play RWB also, and he had a long illustrious career for me also as French manager. Fun player.

[KF1990]

 

Aktas stats for me halfway through my 7th Season.

As I said doesn't contribute a lot but as is spells and decent averages.

Youth intake player that could replace him soon. Probably my favourite and best youth intake player I've had come through for me on all fm's

[zlatanera]

December 2019 - domestic regression, continental dominance?

So when I last posted, I had been slowly making progress with my Brazilian box tactic, but was having to make cuts to fend off the lords of FFP (who live to punish clubs the size of Lyon whilst ignoring the PSGs of the world with their dodgy sponsorships).

 

Amazingly the board never cut my transfer revenue % so all the money from selling Darder, Mariano etc. and the loan fees for Traore, Cheikh and Dubois (the latter has a mandatory ~£8m fee in his loan deal) went into my transfer budget allowing me to finance a potentially ludicrously expensive deal for Barco - but I'll get to why I felt he was essential in a minute. All you guys praising Aktas made me feel I had to get him when Nantes went for him - so far he's only made one start but he is developing so if I can get his PPMs sorted he'll become a useful option - although weirdly whilst one of my contract promises was to loan him, he was reluctant to move and it got cancelled. 

So this is my tactic from last season. In this great thread by O-zil to the Arsenal you will see that he uses the exact same mentality, shape and instructions. Some of my roles were similar as well. So I looked at that thread, looked at how my squad was actually far better suited to some form of 4-3-3 than my current formation, and decided a change was in order, so I went for this:

If I'd done a straight copy of Ozil's tactic I would have had to strand Geubbels on the flanks so I decided to make a couple of slight adjustments - putting Fekir on the right akin to the 2008-09 Barca vintage where Eto'o was in the centre and Messi on the right. Barco is at right wing back as my own version of Ozil's Coutinho experiment - he has outstanding technicals and had the best defensive attributes out of all the playmakers I found (10 Marking, 9 Tackling, 8 Positioning) and high stamina and natural fitness. He's accomplished at RWB already despite missing quite a few games through injuries. Tete doesn't really have anything to offer going forward so this allowed me to more accurately imitate the the Abidal role. So, how is it all working out? Well:

Domestically we've been a bit of a shambles - we've only scored 15 goals despite being ranked 3rd in the league for chance creation, which is to be expected with an 18 year old striker and an IF-At, Memphis, who has low mentals. Whenever Jordan Ferri plays his "shoots from distance" trait increases our wastefulness (29% shot accuracy, 29!) so much he's getting sold in January. The board gave me a month to save my job - a month, December, in which I would only play 2 league games, a dead rubber in the Champions League and two cup games which are in the early rounds they expect me to get through so...yeah, I may be getting sacked. Our poor defensive record weirdly isn't down to playing a £40m playmaker as a wing back, but rather due to atrocious defending around set pieces, in particular indirect free kicks, which doesn't show up in the stats and the occasional idiotic decision from one of my many young players trying to play out from the back. I would have changed tactics, however we topped a tough CL group - the highlight being defeating reigning champions Man City 4-2 at home and 1-0 away - playing Pep's expensively assembled squad off the park in their own stadium shows what we have the potential to be. Of course our reward for topping the group was to play Bayern in the next round  

So yeah, I'm really turning into Arsene Wenger - always just about near to achieving a total football nirvana, only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Who knows, maybe I can become the first club to win the CL whilst getting relegated?

 

EDIT: I was sacked. 4 wins and a draw, but only two league games meant I couldn't improve board confidence - because we're expected to get far in the Coupe de France and they don't care about the other one, wins in them didn't count. I have an autosave going back to 1st December that I might go back to eventually, but I think I'm going for a Serie A save now. Got to get out of my habit of abandoning my principles a couple of seasons in. Be interested to see how you guys all get on with your French saves though! 

[Evanescent]

Wow @zlatanera that is really unfortunate. The tactic looks interesting and in theory it should perform well. 3rd in chance creation leads me to wonder what the table would look like with a more clinical finisher. Maybe Fekir as the fwd? Or Mariano being kept around? With not many league fixtures in December, that's a harsh sacking imo...what can you really do in that space of games. Italy is interesting but I prefer France as it's a greater challenge (have a Milan save with the same transfer premise as my Lyon save and Juventus are no PSG/Monaco when it comes to refreshing their squads). Maybe another French team within the save? 

[zlatanera]

@Evanescent yeah, I considered perhaps just changing Geubbels' role to CF-A as both him and Gouiri and dropping the left wing back to IF-S but I worried if he'd become isolated from the team and harm our build-up. Mariano just wasn't technical enough and although I don't think its an attribute in the game he seemed "streaky" - if I rested him he might lose form and take 10 games before he scored again. Fekir as a forward was going to be an idea in January - I'd loaned out Bertrand Traore for a fee in order to help with fair play so my only left-footed attackers were Fekir (best player) and Cornet just isn't good enough to be a starter, so I was going to bring in Thauvin. 

I've started with Milan - going to try and get it to only three foreigners in the squad and win the CL - but I've kept this save to go back to, a couple of games before I had the crisis meeting. A lot of my longest saves I've abandoned for a little while and gone back to. 

Have been considering a Marseille save though - try play some Bielsa / Klopp-style insanity. That or Auxerre - try be the next Guy Roux - or Red Star Paris - raging against the Qatari machine. 

[wpmk]

Personally I think system isn’t suitable for a team like Lyon. IIRC Ozil clearly pointed out that you need elite players to make it work, hence why he decided to manage Barcelona and bring in “complete” players like Coutinho. Not just complete in their stage of ability, but also in their range of skills to fit within the “very fluid” philosophy. 

With Lyon you’re always going to be playing future prospects, which means making mistakes in a high risk system. Personally I think you’d need to drop the wing backs into the full back positions and change the role of the half back. I think it’s a popular tactic because of these positions, but Ozil was actually forced into these decisions because the half back role is broken without the DL/DRs being in the wing back strata. 

I think to make this system work you need a good understanding of the mechanics. Even changing the wing backs and half back will require changes to other roles. For example, the attack and deep lying playmakers become too static, where originally Ozil may have wanted stability in the middle and attack down the sides. I would like to see both of those roles be more dynamic in a more standard 4–3-3.

Hope that helps to analyse where things may have gone wrong and good luck in your Milan save. Lots of great youngsters to bring through to the first team, just like Lyon, which I always think makes the save more interesting. 

[zlatanera]

@wpmk yes you may be right, although I had a lot of complete players though with the likes of Fekir, Aouar, Ndombele, De Ligt being standouts and a lot of the others rarely having a key attribute below 13. I was hoping for EL at the worst in the league. I knew it was a gamble - like I said, I shouldn't have moved away from my original idea so much. The Barco at RWB experiment was actually working quite well but I wouldn't have liked to put him back into the full back strata. I understand how the tactic works (mostly), it was things like improving my shooting inside the box where I was like "well now what the hell do I do?". The main frustration was that it was actually beginning to work, just the game doesn't take into account a winter break when you make promises to keep your job - those 4 wins and a draw I mentioned in the big update that led up to me being sacked, we only conceded 1 goal and that was a direct free kick. The players were finally getting the right PPMs and Thauvin was in contract negotiations which would have allowed me to put Fekir central to ease the pressure on Geubbels (who scored like 60% of our goals but didn't have enough stamina yet). 

Like I said, I'll probably return to it at some point. Sadly Milan's youngsters have nothing on Lyon, bar the three (Calabria, Cutrone and Locatelli) in the first team already. 

[wpmk]

It’s a shame you never got a chance to get the system working and you’re right to be frustrated at mathematically impossible challenges to turn things around. I guess that’s the difference between humans and algorithms making decisions.

It sounds like you were on the right track but perhaps lacked the balance to get any consistency in results; having lots of potentially complete players but few at the level to maintain high performances. I still think you’ll get too many mistakes from an inexperienced team to match the board’s ambitions and you’d have to manage that by gradually working towards an ideal system or bringing in personnel to bridge the gap.

[Muttley84]

Been thinking myself about starting a save in France as i haven't played there in ages (certainly not since the Paris monster emerged in the landscape). A bit of a Lyon fan here, but that would seem a bit easy and not really a big fan of saves starting in the first division. I was thinking about a Youth only career  and a club without major trophies in their cabinet (no Ligue 1, Coupe de France or Coupe de la Ligue, so that would rule out clubs like Auxerre, Sochaux, Le Havre or Lens). So after applying all of the above criteria (adding color schemes into the equation too as i simple hate to much red or yellow) I came up with a shortlist containing in order of preferences:

- 3rd league: (i) Laval, (ii) Grenoble, (iii) Creteil

- 2nd league: (i) Tours, (ii) Niort, (iii) AC Ajaccio

Any suggestions at this point will be welcomed as I feel can't really decide. If not will probably make it a random[dot]org decision in the end. Which of the teams would your recommend for building up a dynasty of youth graduates and having the time to give them playing spaces without to much pressure from the board until we are ready for the big boys? I know it can be a very long journey, but they are still over 200 days till FM19 comes out so a lot of time for that (probably going to play this on FMT also so might speed things up a bit, although not enough control for youth development).  Thanks in advance for any help.

[zlatanera]

6 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

Been thinking myself about starting a save in France as i haven't played there in ages (certainly not since the Paris monster emerged in the landscape). A bit of a Lyon fan here, but that would seem a bit easy and not really a big fan of saves starting in the first division. I was thinking about a Youth only career  and a club without major trophies in their cabinet (no Ligue 1, Coupe de France or Coupe de la Ligue, so that would rule out clubs like Auxerre, Sochaux, Le Havre or Lens). So after applying all of the above criteria (adding color schemes into the equation too as i simple hate to much red or yellow) I came up with a shortlist containing in order of preferences:

- 3rd league: (i) Laval, (ii) Grenoble, (iii) Creteil

- 2nd league: (i) Tours, (ii) Niort, (iii) AC Ajaccio

Any suggestions at this point will be welcomed as I feel can't really decide. If not will probably make it a random[dot]org decision in the end. Which of the teams would your recommend for building up a dynasty of youth graduates and having the time to give them playing spaces without to much pressure from the board until we are ready for the big boys? I know it can be a very long journey, but they are still over 200 days till FM19 comes out so a lot of time for that (probably going to play this on FMT also so might speed things up a bit, although not enough control for youth development).  Thanks in advance for any help.

If you're Laval either Lyon give you £800k or Oumar Solet comes back and is your best CB all the way up to Ligue 1. Also Alexy Bosetti always ends up scoring a hatful in Ligue 1 with or withour his original club (Laval) in all of my saves. 

[KF1990]

Second the comment about Bosetti. Scored against me many times. Won top scorer in Ligue 2 and was like 3rd overall top scorer in Ligue 1. 

[Moelyn5]

Need a CB for my Lyon save.. Currently in Jan of first season and 2nd in the league 10 points behind PSG.. Have made no signings up to now but feel that I need a young CB from the French league or one of the lesser league.

Thanks

[zlatanera]

2 hours ago, KF1990 said:

Second the comment about Bosetti. Scored against me many times. Won top scorer in Ligue 2 and was like 3rd overall top scorer in Ligue 1. 

He got top scorer and was relegated on one of my saves, then signed for another ligue 1 team and top-scored again, despite PSG hitting like 120. 

53 minutes ago, Moelyn5 said:

Need a CB for my Lyon save.. Currently in Jan of first season and 2nd in the league 10 points behind PSG.. Have made no signings up to now but feel that I need a young CB from the French league or one of the lesser league.

Thanks

Malang Sarr - got him in the first summer, had to put a ton of installments in i.e. after games, goals, winning the CL but he was outstanding for the 2.5 seasons I played. 

[Evanescent]

I'm surprised Bosetti is playing 3rd tier football. I had a short 2 season OGC Nice save in FM17 where he was my best performing player.

He basically has the same stats as above in FM18 (5th season of my Lyon save, the only significant difference is 2 lower acceleration).

1 hour ago, Moelyn5 said:

Need a CB for my Lyon save.. Currently in Jan of first season and 2nd in the league 10 points behind PSG.. Have made no signings up to now but feel that I need a young CB from the French league or one of the lesser league.

Thanks

If you're looking for a cheap, young French option from a lower league, I would recommend Harold Moukoudi from Le Havre. Signed him first season for £2.3m. Still part of my Lyon squad in Jan 2022.

Also, Kevin N'Doram from Monaco...a natural DM but has the stats to play CB. Good squad option as he can play CB/DM/CM. Signed 2nd season for 600k off the transfer list, sold 2 seasons later for 12.5m. 

[Jogo Bonito]

5 hours ago, Moelyn5 said:

Need a CB for my Lyon save.. Currently in Jan of first season and 2nd in the league 10 points behind PSG.. Have made no signings up to now but feel that I need a young CB from the French league or one of the lesser league.

Thanks

Can you get Nordi Mukiele at Montpellier?

[Muttley84]

Finally decided to give Chamois Niortais a go. Despite Tours real life terrible season for my aim of basing only on youths Niort seems like a bigger challenge. And from what I've read over they only have a single presence in the top-league and a pretty small fanbase from the small city of Niort which will make it even challenging to fight (hopefully at some point) with the big boys. If I make it till the end of the season I will update on here if that's ok. Fingers crossed and Allez Niort!

[Moelyn5]

22 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Can you get Nordi Mukiele at Montpellier?

 

22 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Can you get Nordi Mukiele at Montpellier?

Signed him in Jan and loaned him out till the summer..

Thanks for recommendation. 

[Jogo Bonito]

@Moelyn5 You're welcome. I hope he does well for you.

[BadAss88]

I'm considering a Saint-Etienne save myself, does anyone have experience with them? Not quite sure, which tactic to use and there squad is quite small, but I like the challenge..

[FMbeginner]

FInally starting a game with Sochaux. I've set the first transfer window to closed so will be hoping to secure some of my better players and youth prospects on new contracts and loaning a few experienced in on loan. Same as always when in a lower league, I will aiming for promotion... but it may be beyond the squad for this season. However, if I can get promoted, it makes it easier to keep hold of my better players or at least get more money for them!

[KF1990]

On 4/7/2018 at 18:03, FMbeginner said:

FInally starting a game with Sochaux. I've set the first transfer window to closed so will be hoping to secure some of my better players and youth prospects on new contracts and loaning a few experienced in on loan. Same as always when in a lower league, I will aiming for promotion... but it may be beyond the squad for this season. However, if I can get promoted, it makes it easier to keep hold of my better players or at least get more money for them!

Keep Aktas whatever you do! 

[BadAss88]

Gonna try to get the fun back rolling in FM18 as I'm gonna play as Kim Källström as coach of Olympique Lyon trying to implement a 3-4-1-2

[aloshajeffers]

I am currently absorbed in a fun save with PSG, i've never managed them and they have a pretty fun squad. Won the champions League in my second season, after being knocked out in the first knockout round the season before to Atletico madrid. This prompted me to bring in Koke, Saul, and Jan Oblak from them haha. The money is pretty over whelming but I am trying to stay smart with it. Mbappe and Cavani have been immense for me, with Neymar being fairly underwhelming in Goals/assists, but decent in average rating. Overall pretty fun, i highly recommend bringing in Geubbels from Lyon, he's been insane for me

[Liamgannon]

I’m having fun with PSG too. Not keen on a tactic with IF’s as I prefer m’bappe and Neymar to play more centrally. So it has to be a a 3 forwards up top formation. Absolutely love rabiot. Guy is immense for me. Going into my 4th season now. 

1st season: league win, CL and cup win

2nd season, league win, lost CL final, won world club championship, lost super cup, won both domestic cups 

3rd season. League win, won back the CL, and won both domestic cups. Clean sweep. 

Next challenge is rying to go undefeated in the league but I often rest key players for the latter end of the CL so will need youth prospects to step up, e.g Weah, Gomes etc 

Special mention to M’babbe though. Guy gets me 40ish goals per season and about 25 assists. Works really well in advanced forward position. Neymar plays in the middle of the three in a treq role. And then I use dolberg on the left as another advanced forward. 

Love the football I’ve produced, bit like the invincibles, albeit in a different formation, so fast and direct, lots of forward balls and not afraid to bypass the midfield if it puts an attacker one on one with a defender. 

[Liamgannon]

The only thing I will say though, being a big fan of serie A where you get lots of competition, juve, both Milan’s, Roma, Napoli, Lazio, Etc - in France it doesn’t seem to offer the same excitement. Yes Monaco are there, you have Lyon, Marseille and maybe Bordeaux - but that’s about it.

but as I said earlier, it does allow you to concentrate on Europe, which is an advantage in itself. 

[aloshajeffers]

7 hours ago, Liamgannon said:

I’m having fun with PSG too. Not keen on a tactic with IF’s as I prefer m’bappe and Neymar to play more centrally. So it has to be a a 3 forwards up top formation. Absolutely love rabiot. Guy is immense for me. Going into my 4th season now. 

1st season: league win, CL and cup win

2nd season, league win, lost CL final, won world club championship, lost super cup, won both domestic cups 

3rd season. League win, won back the CL, and won both domestic cups. Clean sweep. 

Next challenge is rying to go undefeated in the league but I often rest key players for the latter end of the CL so will need youth prospects to step up, e.g Weah, Gomes etc 

Special mention to M’babbe though. Guy gets me 40ish goals per season and about 25 assists. Works really well in advanced forward position. Neymar plays in the middle of the three in a treq role. And then I use dolberg on the left as another advanced forward. 

Love the football I’ve produced, bit like the invincibles, albeit in a different formation, so fast and direct, lots of forward balls and not afraid to bypass the midfield if it puts an attacker one on one with a defender. 

Sounds like you are doing incredibly well! I agree there about about Rabiot, I really like homegrown talent. I had the chance to sell him for around $75 mil. or so to chelsea/arsenal but i turned down both. Ive been training Claudio Gomes as a right back and left back and rotating him in the midfield. He looks amazing on my game. I wish weah was good in my save, but he only had about 2.5 star potential. There is a guy named yacine adli (i think) who has around 4-4.5 potential. I actually sold Verratti to man U. He was immense for me but I just wanted to switch things up and use a few regens. I got a golden generation intake in my first season!

I play a 433 system with an AM on the left(Neymar), Mbappe in the center and Cavani playing on the right side as a striker(usually AF, sometime poacher if i find he is dribbling too much). I was so impressed with Cavani that I have extended his contract(high natural fitness means he is still in good physical shape even at 33) by another year, and may do so again. my tactic plays some good ball too, my wingbacks get involved alot. Neymar as an AP on the left means he gets the ball early in transitions and can really dictate the way my side plays.

Thiago Silva will sadly be let go at the season end, as his stats are going down very fast. I am giving the youth a lot of chances, and Kimpembe will become the main rotation option for me in CB. Currently my backline is Grimaldo, De ligt, Marquinhos and Bellerin. So far going well in the new season!