FM18: France

[zlatanera]

lol at the last screenshot

r.e. Fekir - play him to the end of the season then see if you like him, unless he's averaging 5s his value will go up again and you'll at least make more money than if you sell him straight off the back of a large injury. I've had great success with him on my most recent save, but I've also had fun without him. 

[john1]

2 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

lol at the last screenshot

r.e. Fekir - play him to the end of the season then see if you like him, unless he's averaging 5s his value will go up again and you'll at least make more money than if you sell him straight off the back of a large injury. I've had great success with him on my most recent save, but I've also had fun without him. 

Might offload him in the summer. What role did you play him as? @zlatanera? I played him as winger, struggled. False 9, again struggled. I don't want to risk it by playing 4-2-3-1 tactic to just suit Fekir. Team are more settled with 4-1-2-3.

[zlatanera]

2 hours ago, john1 said:

Might offload him in the summer. What role did you play him as? @zlatanera? I played him as winger, struggled. False 9, again struggled. I don't want to risk it by playing 4-2-3-1 tactic to just suit Fekir. Team are more settled with 4-1-2-3.

Currently use him as an Advanced Forward - you'll see the tactic a couple of pages back, a few people are using it because its Rashidi's. He's outstanding, but it is specifically designed to get goals from that position. Previously I retrained him as an Advanced Playmaker in the CM strata and he also worked well, or I played him as an Enganche flanked by two SS in a strikerless setup. The fastest way to make him come good would probably be to either play with an AM (Which you don't want to do) or try him as an IF-Su on the right wing. 

[john1]

YESSSSSS! Sitting top by 3 points, unfortunately PSG, got game in hand  Neymar had a shocker, PSG took him off at half time  

[john1]

 

Just won Europa League  Was tough match and happy we managed to contain Griezmann  Decided to play slow tempo first 90 minutes, then after full time, I went higher tempo which paid off in the end with Gouiri, getting the winner  We was also missing Cornet and Depay through injury  

Speaking of Cornet, just won player of the season award \o/

Europa League Team of the season
 
 

Just one more game to go with Coupe de Ligue France Final against Amiens, then I will do full update  
 

[john1]

Season one

Ligue one

 

What a fantastic season for us, we went to the distance with PSG til 6 games left, our wheels fell off over with lost to Dijon and Monaco (which led them confirmed as champions after Monaco beat us)

Coupe de France - We won after beating Amiens, 3-1 in the final.

Coupe de la Ligue - Knocked out by Monaco, 3-2 in Quarter Final.

Europa League - Winners.
 
 

You could say luck was on my side especially our match against Nice which saw us go through on away goals! We was really poor against Eddie Howe's Everton in first leg, which prompt me to switch to 4-2-3-1 in 2nd leg, which was we absolutely battered them from first minute to 90th.

Players stats

 

Next season - I have already got few players lined up to join us next season  

[john1]

I am very surprised Aquar, sold the most  Nice to see money are rolling in  

[john1]

Not surprised Cornet won this award  Surprised to see Tanguy took 3rd place!

Brilliant for him  

Not surprised to see him winning another award

 

Team of the season was dominated by PSG as usual  

[john1]

Second season about to start, here is my transfers dealing;

 

As you can see I have invested heavily on our defence this season as Marcelo, is 32 and Yanga-Mbiwa, is 30. Kind of looking ahead to the future. Delighted to snap up Pavard  Spent all summer trying to sign Lafont, managed to get him for 5M with 30% next transfer, he was unsettled cos they rejected our bid for him.

Guendouzi - Purely cos Arsenal signed him in real life, so I signed him up, he played well against us in the league. Was transfer arranged last season.

Palomino - Was recommend by Tanguy, as we was short on cover in defence.

Costas - Again for cover in defence and will play in cup games.

Pavard - Looked at him when I first took over Lyon, but held off til this summer and he was unsettled there so I swoop in and signed him.

Babic - back up signing again for cover.

Ulloa and Dembele was signed for tutoring purpose.

OUT

Fekir - Was a tough one for me, was going to keep him but I felt he didn't really perform for me so Newcastle took him off me.

Tete - Was moaning all season over lack of game time so I sold him to Newcastle!

Cheikh - Decided to cash him in as he wasn't playing as much I hope so off he went to Everton.

 

 

Was recommended by our newly appointed scout, Aurélio Pereira, Looks pretty good.

 

Definitely a gamble signing, was recommend by my scouts.

Pre season

 

Thought we had a decent pre season, delighted to see Geubbels, banging goals in \o/ especially his 4 goals against Newcastle  

 

So unlucky to lose on penalties  Admittedly they was better side.

[john1]

 

 

Got those two through our youth intakes  Got few good ones as well but I personally think they will be decent. I am not sure who is better  Thinking about re-training Laporte as AMC? Any advice?

[zlatanera]

@john1 those are some low transfer fees on both sides - Pavard and Lafont look absolute bargains, you've got the latter for even less than Pantaleo-the-real-art-of-the-deal-Corvino managed for Fiorentina irl, but I'd have hoped for more for Fekir. Did he get a big injury? I've never even had a bid come close to Cheikh's initial transfer into Lyon so you've done well there also.

r.e. Laporte, what's your tactic? As much as young players are mouldable, he looks like he'd only really be suited to the Shadow Striker role so if you don't play one of them I wouldn't bother. Just stick him on "Complete Forward" until he's well-rounded enough for your liking then go back to AF / Poacher if you need him to be an out-and-out goalscorer. If you use an Inside Forward (especially on attack duty) you could train him for that, so in his case as IF AMR to cut in onto his preferred left foot.

Also for your older post, those are some impressive numbers from Cornet! I've not got much out of him on FM18, but I don't think I ever cracked 20 goals in the league on my FM16 odyssey (admittedly he was a False Nine, but still that role tended to be the main goalscorer).

[john1]

@zlatanera  Spent all summer negotiating bid for Lafont, which seems to be at 5M after declaring interest in him and hell broke loose at Toulouse  Unfortunately Fekir, didn't really perform well for me and his value was dropping alot, I admit he did play 2 to 4 games brilliantly. Other guys was playing much better than him which why I sold him in the end, 40M was the best offer I could get for him  

My tactic is 4-1-2-3 but might go back to 4-2-3-1. Laporte natural position is striker as poacher but I got too many forwards at the club with Geubbels and Gouiri at the club. The club is currently looking for feeder club so I can send players out on loan to. Already got Willem II but hopefully I can get one in another league.

Cornet, was insane for me as right winger even tho he play as left winger which Depay is currently occupying.

I got to admit, I am starting to lose interest in this  Might start a quick save with Napoli and see if that will help me enjoy my Lyon save again in near future.

[zlatanera]

@john1 Ah yeah, that sucks - I had four saves with Lyon on this one, in the ones where he got injured he usually didn't come good until the last couple of games of the season but my last one he was great. As you pointed out, you have great attacking options though. 

Maybe I should have given Cornet more of a chance, he never started more than two in a row for me.

Yeah everyone loses interest in saves at some point, I noticed it says you managed Real Sociedad. How did that go for you? I found they were one of my best saves this version. 

 

[john1]

Just now, zlatanera said:

@john1 Ah yeah, that sucks - I had four saves with Lyon on this one, in the ones where he got injured he usually didn't come good until the last couple of games of the season but my last one he was great. As you pointed out, you have great attacking options though. 

Maybe I should have given Cornet more of a chance, he never started more than two in a row for me.

Yeah everyone loses interest in saves at some point, I noticed it says you managed Real Sociedad. How did that go for you? I found they were one of my best saves this version. 

 

I started with them when I lost everything on my laptop and haven't played it since May, might fire that up  

Just loaded it up currently 8th and now 1st October 2017, about to play Malaga. I enjoyed it with them on FM17.

[BadAss88]

Joined Monaco for the second season after 3rd place finish with Belgium at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and leading CSKA Moscow to a 3rd place finish as well! I also became the coach of France after the World Cup!

Bought Alderweireld, Zivkovic, Rulli, Digne, Diakhaby and Sallai.

[xavierm]

Bump. Just upped this thread to boast : I've been able to win the title with Nice in 2019/2020 and I'm on the verge on winning it again in 2020/2021. I'll post some screenshots tonight.

[axelmuller]

Started a new game with Chateauroux in ligue2. The ultimate challenge, so it seems . Media prediction 19, squad is unbelievably ****. Nobody has any strengths, almost everyone has Balanced personality, the only semi ok player in the squad is Alexandre Raineau. And no transfer budget.

What kind of football would you play when the players arent capable of playing football in the first place ?

[User0912]

I started a game with Lyon the other week, I'm on the look out for a tactic although I suspect it wont solve the underlying problem of not keeping a lead when I have 1 even if its just 1 goal.

[zlatanera]

@User0912 what is your current setup? A lot of us have played with Lyon, so you can go back through the thread and see some tactics that have worked, but if you post yours in here help might be forthcoming as well.

[User0912]

52 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

@User0912 what is your current setup? A lot of us have played with Lyon, so you can go back through the thread and see some tactics that have worked, but if you post yours in here help might be forthcoming as well.

Current setup

 

Well Ive changed tactics 3 maybe 4 times. Current 1 is 5 2 3 Neville wears Prada The Reckonist 1.0 (got it via Steam).

Im playing Fekir Mariano, Depay as deep lying forwards      Depay is played out of position, dont have anyone else to play.

Jordan Ferri and Tousart in middle of the park

2 wing backs Ferland Mendy/Marcal and Tete/Rafael

Marcelo, Denswil and Yanga Mbiwa as defnders

Bought 1 defender in Denswil.

Ill have a re read of the thread.

I can confortably win 1 game and the next I lose.

[zlatanera]

22 minutes ago, User0912 said:

Current setup

 

Well Ive changed tactics 3 maybe 4 times. Current 1 is 5 2 3 Neville wears Prada The Reckonist 1.0 (got it via Steam).

Im playing Fekir Mariano, Depay as deep lying forwards      Depay is played out of position, dont have anyone else to play.

Jordan Ferri and Tousart in middle of the park

2 wing backs Ferland Mendy/Marcal and Tete/Rafael

Marcelo, Denswil and Yanga Mbiwa as defnders

Bought 1 defender in Denswil.

Ill have a re read of the thread.

I can confortably win 1 game and the next I lose.

Okay yeah I can't help you at all with that - never used those three strikers tactics. I would advise go back and re-read the thread where you found them, see if they mention any specific types of players i.e. do you need faster defenders, are some of your players' traits conflicting with how its meant to play etc.

[User0912]

23 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Okay yeah I can't help you at all with that - never used those three strikers tactics. I would advise go back and re-read the thread where you found them, see if they mention any specific types of players i.e. do you need faster defenders, are some of your players' traits conflicting with how its meant to play etc.

 

I didn't find the tactic I'm using mentioned on the forums.

Ill have a read of the thread.

[zlatanera]

I'd been considering restarting yet again with Lyon, but too much staring at my current save led me to decide to continue it once more. And...

Nothing like a derby demolition to seal your 15th win in a row, breaking Bordeaux' 14 game win streak record from 2008-09 season! We changed to a different tactic as well (also a Liverpool tactic, this time Ö-zil's Overload tactic) which seemed to lead to a lot of long shots from Gelson Martins, so probably going to stick to the Rashidi one for this season.

Also:

Myziane Maolida to Benfica is so far turning out to be possibly the greatest loan deal I've ever had on FM, he's developing well and performing outstandingly. No doubt he'll break his leg in the next match though.

[User0912]

Well my save is going terrible, Fekir was unhappy and was wanting a move away and since then he hasn't scored (has been injured) and the players I've played up front have missed absolute sitters.

What hasn't helped is Mariano is also injured so Ive had to play Traore or Geubbels up front but it still hasn't resulted in goals, despite all that I haven't conceded many goals (in last 5 games scored 5 and conceded 2), Im out of Europe but it was to be expected with Fekir not scoring. I am 4th with 10 games left, in the final of the league cup and q/ final of French cup.

Have also noticed some of the passes being made have been to an opposing player so that's something I need to correct if I can. My depth is a little poor but luckily I managed to get Barkley on loan so I stuck him in an AP position as part of a 4 2 3 1.

3 out of my last 4 games the team have left it late to either get a goal to win the game or score a second to seal the game eg 2 game the only goal came at the 90th minute and another the 2nd goal came at 70th min which sealed the win.

So in summary

Lack of squad depth

Possibly changed tactics too many times.

Made a mistake recruiting 1 too many G/keeping coaches which meant Coupet left, will aim to get him back as better than the replacement.

If I can I must put a stop to shots being made from outside of the opponents box.

Any future players I buy need to be good at taking pentalies (corners and free kicks are ok) as Fekir is my top player in that regard.

Players who could play either side of the pitch would be ideal.

 

Ok so its not terrible as Im still 4th, a possibility of winning 2 cups, Im just annoyed re the passing and lack of squad depth.

 

[john1]

Have been playing my Lyon save for while now Currently in April 2020  Currently sitting top of the league by a point Few games left to finish the season Also beat PSG in Coupe de Ligue Final, 3-1, was heading for extra time before my Japanese regen striker, banged 2 goals in I have also brought in Felice D'Amico, and been excellent for me, forcing me to move Cornet to AML and drop Depay, on the bench.

Currently don't have FM loaded up, which I will post up shortly, when i get to finish the season  

[john1]

37 minutes ago, User0912 said:

Well my save is going terrible, Fekir was unhappy and was wanting a move away and since then he hasn't scored (has been injured) and the players I've played up front have missed absolute sitters.

What hasn't helped is Mariano is also injured so Ive had to play Traore or Geubbels up front but it still hasn't resulted in goals, despite all that I haven't conceded many goals (in last 5 games scored 5 and conceded 2), Im out of Europe but it was to be expected with Fekir not scoring. I am 4th with 10 games left, in the final of the league cup and q/ final of French cup.

Have also noticed some of the passes being made have been to an opposing player so that's something I need to correct if I can. My depth is a little poor but luckily I managed to get Barkley on loan so I stuck him in an AP position as part of a 4 2 3 1.

So in summary

Lack of squad depth

Possibly changed tactics too many times.

Made a mistake recruiting 1 too many G/keeping coaches which meant Coupet left, will aim to get him back as better than the replacement.

 

Ok so its not terrible as Im still 4th, a possibility of winning 2 cups, Im just annoyed re the passing and lack of squad depth.

 

You should promote Gouiri  He is a beast! Geubbels is brilliant for me, currently got 30 goals in my save so far I play him as CF- Support

[User0912]

11 minutes ago, john1 said:

You should promote Gouiri  He is a beast! Geubbels is brilliant for me, currently got 30 goals in my save so far I play him as CF- Support

Is that Anime Gouiri ?

He looks ok if that's the guy.

How have I not seen him before lol.

[john1]

4 minutes ago, User0912 said:

Is that Anime Gouiri ?

He looks ok if that's the guy.

How have I not seen him before lol.

Yes  He tends to start in reserves/U's19 at the start of the game.

He's struggling with his form at the moment so I sent him out on loan in January. I will post screenshot of him when FM loaded up.

[zlatanera]

I nicknamed Gouiri "Amine Gouiri Solskjaer" due to his habit of scoring late goals off the bench - I keep periodically coming back to my Lyon save and despite Gelson Martinez, Geubbels and Fekir being my starting front three in the majority of games (I've dialed down my rotation policy a bit) Gouiri and Paulinho (from Vasco Da Gama) both have more goals than apps. Admittedly part of this is due to the Rashidi tactic but still Gouiri has a knack for the spectacular - this in spite of a 6 months injury with a leg break when I was told he'll never reach his full potential.

@User0912 what season are you in? Lyon have a lot of potential you just need to keep in a job a couple of seasons to allow the players to develop (with game time). For example when I first blooded Geubbels in my current save his end product just wasn't there for about 10 games then suddenly it clicked and he was on fire, nearly hit 40 goals in his first full season as a professional. You say Barkley is your AP, what are you doing with Aouar?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am going to do another Lyon save after I have completed the Ultimate Manager challenge on the challenge forum, I enjoyed my save with Lyon so much last time, I am also going to do alot more French team saves for FM 2019.

[User0912]

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I nicknamed Gouiri "Amine Gouiri Solskjaer" due to his habit of scoring late goals off the bench - I keep periodically coming back to my Lyon save and despite Gelson Martinez, Geubbels and Fekir being my starting front three in the majority of games (I've dialed down my rotation policy a bit) Gouiri and Paulinho (from Vasco Da Gama) both have more goals than apps. Admittedly part of this is due to the Rashidi tactic but still Gouiri has a knack for the spectacular - this in spite of a 6 months injury with a leg break when I was told he'll never reach his full potential.

@User0912 what season are you in? Lyon have a lot of potential you just need to keep in a job a couple of seasons to allow the players to develop (with game time). For example when I first blooded Geubbels in my current save his end product just wasn't there for about 10 games then suddenly it clicked and he was on fire, nearly hit 40 goals in his first full season as a professional. You say Barkley is your AP, what are you doing with Aouar?

I'm in season 2017/18

Guebbels has got 6 in 8 games for me, he got off to a flyer but lately hes gone off the boil.

Ive used Aouar in a variety of roles in various tactics, mainly used in a central midfield role (as an advanced playmaker), hes done well, scored some goals too.

 

[zlatanera]

7 minutes ago, User0912 said:

I'm in season 2017/18

Guebbels has got 6 in 8 games for me, he got off to a flyer but lately hes gone off the boil.

Ive used Aouar in a variety of roles in various tactics, mainly used in a central midfield role (as an advanced playmaker), hes done well, scored some goals too.

 

Ah right, so you're blooding him really young. Inconsistency is to be expected, even in 2020/21 he started the season slowly - kinda like a huge black French Harry Kane (before he broke the duck this season).

With the passing you talked about, are you using Pass Into Space? Also looking back at your original post you're really not doing badly - are you far off 2nd and 3rd?

[karanhsingh]

@zlatanera - which Rashidi tactic are you using?

[User0912]

11 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Ah right, so you're blooding him really young. Inconsistency is to be expected, even in 2020/21 he started the season slowly - kinda like a huge black French Harry Kane (before he broke the duck this season).

With the passing you talked about, are you using Pass Into Space? Also looking back at your original post you're really not doing badly - are you far off 2nd and 3rd?

Well I decided to play him as Fekir was both injured and not scoring and Mariano is also injured so I felt I didn't have much choice to play Geubbels.

Yes I'm using pass into space, should I not be using that ?

Hi I am currently 21 points of top spot which PSG has in the bag.

Can't get second spot but I could get 3rd spot if I were to win a couple more matches.

 

Well I decided to play him as Fekir was both injured and not scoring and Mariano is also injured so I felt I didn't have much choice to play Geubbels

 

[zlatanera]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

@zlatanera - which Rashidi tactic are you using?

His Salah one, I think the YouTube series is called Kop diaries. A few guys on this thread used it after I did, you can see the basic formation in some of my posts but I deliberately left off all the instructions because he did when he posted about it.

2 hours ago, User0912 said:

Well I decided to play him as Fekir was both injured and not scoring and Mariano is also injured so I felt I didn't have much choice to play Geubbels.

Yes I'm using pass into space, should I not be using that ?

Hi I am currently 21 points of top spot which PSG has in the bag.

Can't get second spot but I could get 3rd spot if I were to win a couple more matches.

 

Well I decided to play him as Fekir was both injured and not scoring and Mariano is also injured so I felt I didn't have much choice to play Geubbels

 

Fair enough, unlucky with the injuries.

Pass Into Space is going to lead to more turnovers, but can also lead to some thrilling football - I had a Manchester United tactic that used Play Out Of Defence and Pass Into Space and combined with playing a Target Man we had some great counter-attacking reminiscent of the best of Mourinho's Madrid (possibly as I also had Cristiano Ronaldo). But you did see us giving the ball away quite a bit as well, we almost operated like that joke I heard a while back about Klopp teams giving the ball away so they can win it back in a better position. There's no reason not to use it, but just try not to get frustrated as much with misplaced passes if you do.

As to your league placing yeah you're really doing fine, particularly if you have't had much use of Fekir, so just try to get yourself a settled tactic and then build your squad for it.

[User0912]

8 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Fair enough, unlucky with the injuries.

Pass Into Space is going to lead to more turnovers, but can also lead to some thrilling football - I had a Manchester United tactic that used Play Out Of Defence and Pass Into Space and combined with playing a Target Man we had some great counter-attacking reminiscent of the best of Mourinho's Madrid (possibly as I also had Cristiano Ronaldo). But you did see us giving the ball away quite a bit as well, we almost operated like that joke I heard a while back about Klopp teams giving the ball away so they can win it back in a better position. There's no reason not to use it, but just try not to get frustrated as much with misplaced passes if you do.

As to your league placing yeah you're really doing fine, particularly if you have't had much use of Fekir, so just try to get yourself a settled tactic and then build your squad for it.

I have an idea or 2 for what tactic to use for the new season.

Having shots isn't a problem, recent game against Ameins OL had 17 to Ameins 9, on target OL 6 to Ameins 3.

Looking at the past games it looks like whoever is having a shot isnt the person it should be eg Fekir, wonder if I can chnage it so Fekir is the 1 receiving the ball.

training is also something I need to get right as various players have complained about the extra training they were asked to do yet it wasn't me who set the training.

I must have changed the tactic 5 or 6 times in my debut season.

Unfortunately I lost against Dijon who really I should have beaten and with the cup game with Monaco up next I decided to change to a 5 2 1 2 with Geubbels up front with Fekir in support, Barkley just in behind, I won 4 - 1 so in the final (front 2 plus Barkley and Mariano all scored 1 each).

[DefinitelyTaylor]

I have enjoyed many saves in France in the past, in fact one of my favourites was with En Avant de Guingamp on FM16. I haven't given France a go this year, but I want to change that and allow myself to have my last save in Ligue 1. I'm looking at a few teams; Metz, Montpellier, Amiens and Dijon catch my eye in particular. Another I am considering are Strasbourg - who would you recommend to take on? 

[zlatanera]

@DefinitelyTaylor Most of us manage the bigger teams, bar at least one guy who took on Sochaux so I can't really look back and see any real info to help you with your choice. But I'll say this - Montpellier are the biggest club there, so probably the easiest save. Metz massively overachieved in one of my saves, getting Europa finishes for 2nd and 3rd seasons after bumping up against CL spots all year long, but I'm not really sure why. One thing they do have going for them is a loan agreement with River Plate - if you loaded the Argentine Superliga you could potentially fill your 4 nEU spots with some of the best Argentine wonderkids on loan with no fees, should they be willing to move to you. AI never seems to use the link much though. At Amiens if for some reason they don't activate the loan option then after a year at Lyon you'll have Ndombele, one of the best young CMs in the game.

[john1]

On 02/09/2018 at 22:42, User0912 said:

I'm in season 2017/18

Guebbels has got 6 in 8 games for me, he got off to a flyer but lately hes gone off the boil.

Ive used Aouar in a variety of roles in various tactics, mainly used in a central midfield role (as an advanced playmaker), hes done well, scored some goals too.

 

I would pick Aouar any day! He been absolutely fantastic for me and just been capped by France!  I will upload screenshot of him when I get a chance to fire up FM. In my first season, he did struggle to get going, then been amazing from second season onwards. I play him as AP-Support. And I am in 2019/20 season.

[john1]

5 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

I have enjoyed many saves in France in the past, in fact one of my favourites was with En Avant de Guingamp on FM16. I haven't given France a go this year, but I want to change that and allow myself to have my last save in Ligue 1. I'm looking at a few teams; Metz, Montpellier, Amiens and Dijon catch my eye in particular. Another I am considering are Strasbourg - who would you recommend to take on? 

I find Dijon, very decent team on my save. I would recommend Sochaux, if you are focusing on youth players.

[Jogo Bonito]

@DefinitelyTaylor Montpellier have a real favourite of mine in Casimir Ninga, and also Nordi Mukiele (unless you're on a data update) so will definitely be the easiest. I'd say Amiens would be a really good challenge and they have some decent squad members, but Montpellier are well placed for a fun season or two and watch Ninga tear it up if you play him effectively.

[dothestrand]

Even though this is a French thread, I was hoping there were some Lyon players on the forum

I'll post an update of where I am later on. Third season (or maybe fourth) at the moment. We're still the third best team, but developing a nice set of young players. I have a French only squad (basically I apply a Bilbao-esque policy to whichever team I manage in FM) so no Depay, Mariano, etc. 

Update to come!

[john1]

@User0912

 

 

 

[john1]

If anyone managing Lyon, I would definitely get Tanguy Ndombele on permanent deal. Been superb for me since I started with Lyon. Here is his attributes

 

I'm disappointed he haven't been capped by France yet   

[dothestrand]

Ndombele has a 7.25m fixed transfer at the end of the first season - unless that's just in the update. By the end of the third season, he wants to leave.

Good to see that Geubbels' low stamina comes across in other games. It's this that has stopped me using him so far. His technical skill is on par with @john1

[john1]

1 minute ago, dothestrand said:

Ndombele has a 7.25m fixed transfer at the end of the first season - unless that's just in the update. By the end of the third season, he wants to leave.

Good to see that Geubbels' low stamina comes across in other games. It's this that has stopped me using him so far. His technical skill is on par with @john1

You can either make it permanent or not  

Yeah, he can be hit or miss in most games due to his low stamina  

[zlatanera]

Guys, quit worrying about Geubbels' low Stamina. Get him chances and playing time and he'll come good

He's played 2 and a half seasons for me (up to late January as the screenshot shows). His stats:

apps(sub) - goals - assists - pom - rating

32(1) - 20 - 13 - 4 - 7.55

37(1) - 31 - 14 - 6 - 7.66

22(1) - 18 - 8 - 5 - 7.82

He's on a support duty, in a formation serving primarily to get the best out of another role in the team (Fekir as AF right now). He's also gained 4.2 in Stamina despite rarely being trained in it as Complete Forward (his training for the pretty much the entire time) doesn't cover it.

[dothestrand]

So I'm at the end of the third season with Lyon. Finished third each time. Monaco won 17-18 and 18-19 and PSG won 19-20. Given that in 18-19, PSG spent £423m and a relatively austere £200m in 19-20, maybe there wasn't more that could be done. Monaco have also spent £300m in the last two seasons.

In terms of our spending, nothing in 17-18. Then £112m spent and £140m received (selling all my non-French players) in 18-19, followed by £61m spent and £74m received in 19-20. So a net spend of -£41m or so.

In terms of the bigger names in:

• Ndombele (Amiens) 7.25m
• Nardi (Monaco) 5.75m
• Kurzawa (PSG) 19.5m (sold to Monaco for 40m the next season)
• Cardona (Monaco) 10m
• Ntcham (Celtic) 16.75m
• Diop (Toulouse) 7.5m
• Foulquier (Watford) 8m
• Corchia (Seville) 7m

Otherwise, it's a series of young players. I'll post some screenshots.

[Jogo Bonito]

@dothestrand Great philosophy on the French players and some nice transfer deals. You're making money for them and one day, when you crack the big two, you'll be a very satisfied manager!

[dothestrand]

Loic Francois came from St Etienne for 8.25m. Although he's a DM, I don't tend to play with one (I use a Christmas tree formation) so I'll retrain him as a ball playing defender. 

Yohan Cesaire-Gedeon is the new Didier Deschamps according to the press. Signed from Troyes for 6.75m. Even though he's 16 he gets arsey about a lack of first team football and I've had to bring him in earlier than I'd like just to get him to sign a new contract.

Jocelyn Fevre was at Dijon, signed for 7.5m. He slipped through the radar and is ready for first team football already.

Melvin Roy was signed from Metz for 2.3m. Probably a year or two off the first team.

Daniel Belet was signed from Lille for 1.2m. We have plenty of CB options so no rush bringing him through.

Paul Huber also came from Troyes for 5m. We don't play wingers so I'll have to think how I use him. It might take work to retrain as an AM.

We do actually produce some of our own youth players though. In the last intake, it was 'whispered quietly' that we had a Golden Generation coming through, with four five star potential players.