FM18: France

[zlatanera]

8 hours ago, Liamgannon said:

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. 

I have to agree with this. Especially as unlike the last couple of FMs I haven't yet seen one / both of Roma and Lazio get relegated in the first couple of seasons (happened on literally every one of my like 20 saves over FM16 and 17). 

One of Monaco and Marseille often seems to drop out of the European spots when I play as Lyon as well. 

[Liamgannon]

20 hours ago, aloshajeffers said:

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!

yep i sold Thiago SIlva too, wages were crazy and i agree his physical stats drop rapidly. 

Lassanna Diarra is also on crazy wages, 350k a week is pure madness. 

I'm currently spending 4.2 million a week on wages which i would like to get down to 2m. 

barely breaking even at the end of each season atm, but did just get a nice new 50m per year sponsorship deal. 

[aloshajeffers]

7 hours ago, Liamgannon said:

yep i sold Thiago SIlva too, wages were crazy and i agree his physical stats drop rapidly. 

Lassanna Diarra is also on crazy wages, 350k a week is pure madness. 

I'm currently spending 4.2 million a week on wages which i would like to get down to 2m. 

barely breaking even at the end of each season atm, but did just get a nice new 50m per year sponsorship deal. 

yeah I usually have $250 plus million  or so in transfer budgets, I wish it could be transferred to the clubs finances. I was able to sell Diarra but i agreed to  pay 100 thousand per week. Better then spending 400 thousand a week. I wish I could save on wages but it seems like every week one of my players wants a new contract. I sadly have not had much time to play FM, I have quite a bit of studying to do. I should have time to play later this week

[SwedenYid]

On 2018-03-24 at 11:09, Evanescent said:

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)

Which downloaded 523 tactic did you use? Well done btw. Lyon looks like lots of fun!

[TottenhamBoi90]

I’m currently managing Paris FC

Won Ligue 2 first season, only signed Wallace Olivera on loan from Chelsea and used my simple 442. I also overachieved in the cups, 11th round of the French cup and 4th round of th Coupe De La Ligue. 

A quick overview of the team

GK - ovono, dilo, demmaconnay, audit, wernt really sure who was best so they all got 12 games except audit played only 2. 15 clean sheets overall.

Dr - Wallace Olivera, sidibe, Wallace played 32 games and sidibe only 6. Really strong in the full back support role. 

Dc - bong, lybohy, lallemant,youhou, solid experience from bong and lybohy played 32 games good partnership. Youhou is dm but comfortable cb, he played 6 there and 6 in midfield lallemant only 6 but not bad cover

dl - delaine, karamoko, same again solid, not much attack wise, karamoko played 6 again is actually a rb but comfortable lb, delaine played 32,

I kept my back 4 pretty much all season and just gave the others games when suspended or injured or after the title was won

mr - lavigne, alami bazza played about half season starts and half season subs each, good starters chipped in a few goals and made match changing impacts off the bench when required

mc - bougrine, akici, bougrine played most games and chipped in a few goals and assists, decent passer

mc - kerrouche, mandouki, kerrouche played most games, he was my deep midfielder again was very good 

ml - mimoun, chergui played between 6 and 12, actually left footed cams but couldn’t fit them in my 442. 

Lopez, cisse, same again between 6 and 12 actually right footed inside forwards but couldn’t fit them in my 442

lalaina and robail fit the position best but only between 6 and 12 games, this was very much my experiment position 

st - tchokounte played nearly all season but for injury at the end and got 17 goals 13 assists in 36 games, alou diarra scored 3 in 3 in his absence 

Saint-Louis probably best player, 17 goals 11 assists in 26 games played some on the right wing as well. Top assister in the league and 2nd top scorer, Scooped up a few awards as did tchokounte

meye got 11 goals 4 assists in 20 games

overall a very pleasing season, lots of contracts expiring so need to decide on who to keep and who to let go. 

Team stats best hitting target, most goals, most passes complete, best avg possession, joint most clean sheets and 2nd in goals conceded. 

I will update after next season let you know how I get on. Also some advise if anyone wants to manage Paris there is not a lot of money or depth to the team so I’d probably get gk, dr, dc, dl, ml and possibly mc and st cover 😂 the current crop is good but most of it is old or not my style, it was a season of consolidation for the newly promoted side, getting the title was an absolute dream

[zlatanera]

Nice to see someone managing a somewhat different French save to the majority!

In other news, I've started a new one with Lyon. I noticed a resemblance between Bertrand Traore and pre-winter update Mo Salah so I'm committing a cardinal sin for a United fan and imitating Liverpool (Well, Rashidi's Liverpool tactic). Will provide a more detailed update when I get to 1st January. 

[aloshajeffers]

10 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Nice to see someone managing a somewhat different French save to the majority!

In other news, I've started a new one with Lyon. I noticed a resemblance between Bertrand Traore and pre-winter update Mo Salah so I'm committing a cardinal sin for a United fan and imitating Liverpool (Well, Rashidi's Liverpool tactic). Will provide a more detailed update when I get to 1st January. 

I have been using a similar 433 (AM-L, a STC and an STCR). I am interested to hear about your experience! I've incorporated some of Rashidi's roles and instructions into my own tactic. Good Luck, I had a good save with Lyon in fm 2017. Side note, in my PSG save Fekir went to Leverkusen. That seems like such a side ways move to me haha

[zlatanera]

@aloshajeffers Lyon's finances tend to require sales in 2019. I'm imagining Leverkusen offered him a lot more money. But still, yeah I don't see that in real life. 

 

Did you use Mariano much? I'm thinking I'll be making a loss on him just to get his 72k / week off the wage bill. 

[Evanescent]

Haven't posted in a while but the Lyon save is still going on, albeit at a slower pace (juggling multiple saves + work getting in the way).

 Lyon save update (only transfers allowed: French players from the transfer list + French players U21 from Ligue 2)

S4 (20/21) - Couldn't retain my S3 Champions League trophy, losing in the SF to Man Utd. Got played off the park both legs, 0-4 on agg. They went on to win the UCL over rivals Man City 2 nil, both goals via Lyon academy graduate Anthony Martial. Won the league on 105 pts, PSG pushing me all the way finishing on 100pts.

S5 (21/22) - Lost on away goals in the Champions League QF to Monaco (5-5 on agg), really disappointing to be eliminated by a Ligue 1 team. Won the league by 24 points. This was the first season where the league was won with plenty of games to spare.

2022 World Cup managing France - 3-1 victory in the final vs England. Goals via Pogba, Varane and Lyon's own Amine Gouiri. Rashford with a consolation penalty for England. 5/11 of the starting lineup were Lyon players (Tousart, Ndombele, B.Mendy, Gouiri, Geubbels). Got a huge slice of luck in the QFs with a 2-2 draw with Italy that ended 5-4 on penalties.

Transfers - Not many French players on the transfer list of a sufficient standard. Morgan Sanson joined from Napoli (had my eye on him for a while but like all Marseille players, he wasn't interested in joining when transfer listed by Marseille) while Adama Diakhaby returned. He suffered the same fate as Aouar (sold for big money to PSG before coming back to Lyon for a fraction of the price). Major transfers out: £48.5m Kondogbia (Juventus), 37 Kurzawa (Real Madrid), 35.5 Debois (Monaco), 33.5 Ben Yedder (Spartak), 20.5 Prevot (Real Madrid). Prvot just got sold at the start of S6 and there is every chance he'll be 1st choice for Real Madrid, which is mindblowing. Picked up Didillon off the transfer list as backup for Prevot but will be my first choice in S6. He's slightly worse than Prevot but has a lot of untapped potential thanks to bench warming at Arsenal for a couple of seasons.

On 24/04/2018 at 20:51, SwedenYid said:

Which downloaded 523 tactic did you use? Well done btw. Lyon looks like lots of fun!

FM18 TFF Demolisher v7 

[zlatanera]

@Evanescent Any chances of a screenshot for Prevot? In my two saves since you mentioned him on this thread my scouts have only ever rated him as having potential of 2 gold 1 black star so  I've never bothered investing. 

[TottenhamBoi90]

Paris F.C. - Season 2 (Ligue 1)

Finished 14th in my first season in Ligue 1. 11th round of French Cup and 4th Round id the Coupe De La Ligue again. 

After releasing 20+ players, my focus was still on bringing in quality players and by the end of the season I only had used 21 players. 

Team and Transfers carrying on with my 442

GK - decided not to make a signing as Dilo shown enough potential to put some faith in him so he played most the season, Ovono had a shorter stint in goal before I gave Godefroy the last couple of games. 

RB - Wallace Olivera renewed his loan after being one of my best players last season, had a frustrating year and couldn’t really rotate as I let Sidibe and Karamoko go on bosmans 

DC - Bong lead Ligue 1 in key tackles before injury lead me to signing Bielik on Loan from Arsenal in January. Bielik did well but Lybohy had a bad injury first half of the season and then was terrible second half of the season. Another loan Martins Pereira from Lyon filled in despite largely being a Deep playmaker he did alrite.

DL - Delaine was joined by record transfer 150k Moustapha Seck from Roma. Both played 22 games as I experimented with Seck at left wing but nothing notable to report.

Overall clean sheets were few and far between as I conceded 19th most goals in Ligue 1.

MR - Saint-Louis and Lavigne shined in this position with goals and assists and game changing impacts from Lavigne lead me signing him in January permanently for another club record 600k. Alami Bazza was uninspiring. 

MC AVP - Bongiovanni from Monaco on loan was my main man, chipped in around 5 goals and 5 assists, Bougrine didn’t really kick on as id have liked from his season before.

MC DLP - Kerrouche was very solid again but he and Wallace have problems with bookings which was frustrating. Martins Pereira showed great potential here too.

ML - Decided Mimoun and Lopez were my best options to keep around but both were pretty poor at this level.

ST DLF - Tchoukounte managed 10 goals but considering he scored 5 goals against Bordeaux in a 7-4 win second to last game of the season and a hat trick early season Just shows how fruitless the rest of his campaign was. Meye was frustrating

ST AF - Ambrose joined on loan from Man City and scored well early on but didn’t really kick on from there, He did a lot better than Alou Diarra though. 

Overall a pleasing season, A good platform to build from and made a lot of decisions for me and where to buy for next season. This season though was focused on staying up and building finances.

Fellow promoted sides Le Harve finished in 12th which was where I occupied most of the season and where I hoped I’d finish. Reims had an astoning season just missing out on Europe in the last couple of games dropped to 7th. These have become competitive rivals somewhat.

Talking of rivals I lost 4-0 to PSG away but gave them a fright at our place leading 1-0 for most of the match but 2 quick goals in the last 20 minutes sealed my fate. 

[aloshajeffers]

18 hours ago, zlatanera said:

@aloshajeffers Lyon's finances tend to require sales in 2019. I'm imagining Leverkusen offered him a lot more money. But still, yeah I don't see that in real life. 

 

Did you use Mariano much? I'm thinking I'll be making a loss on him just to get his 72k / week off the wage bill. 

Mariano can be good in the right setup. I would actually consider playing him in the right striker role in your tactic. I'm pretty sure his dribbling is bad, so you could endeavor to play him as a poacher on the right, but his finishing and pace can be useful. I have Cavani playing as a right sided AF and he's been incredible, even at 33 and with 11 dribbling! I'd try playing him and if he does well then sell him for good money otherwise you will probably make a loss on him. And that makes sense about Fekir. He is an awesome player though, in my game is linked to a few prem clubs now.

[zlatanera]

I've played about 15 games and Mariano is barely getting in...his rating and goal return look okay (maybe 3 starts and 4 goals, 1 assist) but all the goals were at the end of games when people were already beaten and I'm pretty sure any of my players could have scored them. His assist was a backheel which was cool, but definitely looking to get rid in January. I hoped to use him as DLF but he just offers nothing in that role. 

[aloshajeffers]

Yeah I found  play off the shoulder ppm to be not good for the DLF. I wanted to play Cavani as the DLF but he was awful, so i moved Mbappe into the center and haven't looked back since. The tactic can take a bit for the player to get used to. If you use Depay as the Left AP then his shoot from distance ppm and low teamwork can cause problems for your teams build up. He will ALWAYS get the ball and probably shoot it. I would maybe try playing Fekir Left-ap, Depay in the middle and Mariano on the right until you can swap for different players. Geubbels is great on the right or the center, and I assume Gouirri(I think is his name) to be the same. Start giving them games early. If your midfield has shoot from distance that can cause some problems as well. The CM-d will always get pretty terrible ratings. I would also recommend giving one of your CM's try risky passes. Hope some of this helps. 

[zlatanera]

Didn't think about his PPMs...I was more surprised by his inability to simply lay it off to nearby team-mates and instead allow himself to get tackled. 

Interestingly, Memphis has been by far my most consistent player - the worst rating he's had is a 6.80 and in spite of his low teamwork and work rate he performs better in the high block than the low block. His high wages mean I'm hoping to lose him for a significant fee by the end of the season, then I probably would move Fekir out there to allow Traore in as the "Salah" role. I'm intrigued to see how Gouiri's 16 crossing might work in an AP. 

Ferri's "Shoots From Distance" is why he's no more than a rotation option. I'm trying to give them all the PPMs of Rashidi's preferred Liverpool line up (although I imagine I'll struggle to get a RB to have both "runs down right" and "cuts in from right" like TAA). Aouar and Terrier when he returns have such high Vision I'm expecting they'll play the killer ball because the movement ahead of them makes it the most logical option even if they don't have the move. 

Spot on about the CM-D though. Tousart usually gets over 7.00 because we're scoring 4 in so many games, but nobody else in that position gets a good rating even though the unit performs the same. 

[aloshajeffers]

That's awesome about Memphis! And yeah just do the PPMs that makes sense. Shoots from distance is just so terrible, like in theory it should be amazing on good players but the shooting in fm 18 can be vey frustrating at times. Gouiri seems superb, I was going to buy him for my team but he had a 3.5 potential rating so I snagged Geubbels instead. I've actually used Geubbels as an AP and he does okay there. His low passing can be frustrating but he's good for cover out wide. And I completely forgot about Traore. Give him similar ppm's to Salah and I could see him being devastating. Fekir in the DLF role could also work out if you do find a good wide AP. With the PPM's regarding the RB, cuts inside is not very important! I have Bellerin is my RB and I think he has an 8.4 season rating or something like that, he's getting close to 30 assists, Rafael should be SUPERB. Spoiler (maybe) but Martial got put up for sale for around 30-ish million $ on my save. He is quite good as an AP despite his low vision, but would probably make for a better striker. Dani Ceballos also goes for sale pretty cheaply and he has given me a huge selection headache for a CM spot where he consistently outperforms Rabiot and sometimes even Saul. The killer balls PPM is probably my favorite in the game and it never hurts to have it on the two CM's and wide AP!

[zlatanera]

Oh that's good to know about cutting inside. Rafael has been performing well so far - my full backs are all doing great although they nearly always have to get subbed around 70 minutes - Rafael 7.65 5 assists, Marcal 7.42 5 assists, Mendy 7.05 1 assist, Tete 7.37 2 goals 5 assists. Tete in particular seems to pop up where you'd expect a wide attacker with "Moves Into Channels" to appear, which is what got him 2 goals from tight angle finishes despite only have a 5 in the Finishing attribute. I'd be interested to see the movement from TAA but I refuse to manage Liverpool and don't see them selling him on this save (he was often available on the original databse but seems to be more valuable to them on the update despite no noticeable stats bump). 

I'm trying to put constraints on myself - I'll sign French players, Africans, Brazilians and Portuguese players, and the odd regen from a neighbour country if my scouts bring him to me, so Ceballos would never be an option for me, but I've always been tempted.

Have you ever had luck with a Defensive Centre Back? I'm guessing with PSG you always have defenders who are better suited for BPD or just very technical CD but I'm considering playing Diakhaby in his natural role to see if we get a few goals from long punts over the top, particularly on the low block where we'll have more space for the attackers to sprint into.

I forgot about Traore when I was looking at who to do a new save with - almost went Marseille because of Thauvin, but Traore is so incredibly similar to pre-update Salah it seemed an ideal opportunity. He's only out of the team because Lisandro Lopez started out so well and I know I'll only get to enjoy him for one season if that. 

[aloshajeffers]

Lisandro Lopez is such a  legend for me. my first Fm was 2012(got it like 2 or 3 years ago) and I managed Lyon then too and he killed it as a poacher for me. I'm actually a huge 'pool fan but I just can't bring myself to play them either-I always feel pressured to get my fav players to perform and they don't do as well as I like.

That's a good idea with the constraints, I chose PSG to dominate and have some fun before I do a long save in Germany or Italy. Rodrygo is a pretty great brazillian IF/striker. He is at Bayern in my save and looks solid.

And in regards to the center back I personally really only use CD-d. I would say a DCB is perfectly good for this kind of tactic. I am playing one BPD to try it and I found he gets a slight bit better rating then the CD-d partner. I have had a few assists from CB I think, most of them just a long punt for Mbappe to chase. I tend to play with the basic roles tbh.

 

[zlatanera]

I had a 15 year Lyon save on FM16, what made me come back to them on this one was that other than Lopes (who I sold on that one), Ferri and Fekir there's barely any of the same players left. I keep signing Rodrygo right before I get bored of a save haha, but he's definitely one of my top targets. Slightly worried about his work rate and teamwork though. Lisandro currently has 13 starts (3 sub) with 13 goals and 5 assists. A couple of penalties but still, I don't have to add the qualifier "for his age..." or "for £1.1m...", he's just been outstanding. 

[aloshajeffers]

Thats incredible about Lopez, he's gotta be pretty old by now but i'm sure if he has the right lads around him he will be great for a few seasons. Moving forward my goals will be to get Mbappe to become the club record scorer at PSG (Rn its Cavani with like 175 goals, mbappe around 75).  One of them was to get Neymar playing better but he has been very good in this third season, sitting at about 18 league goals and assists. The previous two season he got inured a lot and only had about 10 goals and 15 assists. I have some regens coming through that I am developing. Claudio Gomes starts at PSG and at 19 he's already played about 50 senior games in the league. His stats are super solid with room to grow still. Thiago silva will be leaving and Cavani will probably be given contracts on a yearly basis. I may try to bring in Ronaldo or Messi just for fun. 

Lyon's youth facilities will ensure you always bring though amazing regens. My longest save was a 10 year one last FM with Wolfsburg.  I actually played Lyon in the Champions league final in about 2021 or so. I may pick up another save to play alongside my PSG one. 

[zlatanera]

I always scout Claudio Gomes, he looks really great! Highly unlikely that he'll ever play for the club irl given their youth policy appears to be "keep enough for the CL squad registration, play them if you're desperate". Highly recommend that Ronaldo / Messi idea - I brought Ronaldo back to United in 3rd season so he still had some pace and he was outstanding, its great fun. I always like to have one save with lots of money where you just go mad like that. 

I almost got one of my regens to become Lyon's record goalscorer on 16 (Fleury di Nallo, 182) - he was on about 140 but was only 23 at the time. Nestor Combin's 41 goals in a season fell by the wayside as well. On that save I managed to stop buying players for five years and then won the Champions League with a team entirely from my own academy, doubt I have the patience to do that again though. Although if I get another "Golden Generation" youth intake with good players for the right positions (i.e. anywhere except attack) could probably speed the process up. 

Lopez is 34 and only needs to score 8 in the next 24 league games to equal his personal best from when he joined at his peak. Worryingly he lost a couple of pace and acceleration over an international break and hasn't scored from open play since though. 

[aloshajeffers]

He is incredible! At 19 he is a top RB,LB and CM for me. Tbh I am not a fan of PSG in real life. Their youth policy is pretty crap but it is nice to see players like Kimpembe and Lo Celso getting games. always a fan of youth. Those are some crazy scoring records! In my wolfsburg save My three forwards(i played a 433 with 3 AM's, best tactic i've ever made haha) would get about 25-38 goals a season. The best moment was getting a message saying that something crazy like 45 of my homegrown players were playing in the top leagues!

With this tactic Mbappe should be close to 140 by 23! But thats awesome, maybe I can try doing that with psg, as I think I have regens to play in every position except striker. I actually had a golden generation for my first youth intake at psg. one of the midfielders is starting games at 16, he just learned Try killers balls and is two footed as well. Sadly shoots from distance.

[zlatanera]

I'm a fan of retraining CMs to be full backs - on 16 Tolisso played as a CWB-Su for a decade. Don't suppose you read strikerless if you were using 3 AMs? I've tried some of the tactics on there and had great fun. 

I got a Golden Generation with Bilbao and Fiorentina but for some reason at both clubs my tactics, which had been sound for multiple seasons, just stopped working. No big injuries to key players or anything. I got bored. 

I somehow had 26 players in the national team and over 60 playing in top leagues...had to sell off a ton of youth because I just couldn't find room for them - our recruitment was so good they were all too good for reserve football (got the "development has slowed" message) at age 14 sometimes. That was actually my main reason for stopping signing players - not any dogmatic principles (well, a bit of that) but because I simply couldn't be bothered to find loan moves for them all. 

[aloshajeffers]

Actually I have read striker-less and thats what got me to try it. I had a decent 433 wide but I absolutely hated how the IF's played in fm 17. I scoured the internet and found out that the 3 AM's played exactly how I wanted a standard 433 to play. I almost did a write up on my tactic last year because I was so pleased with the results. Im also a huge fan of player versatility, Gomes learned the Full back position very quickly and because he did I didn't have to spend money on new fullbacks. He gets loads of playing time rotating in the fb slots and CM. Thats impressive though with how many players you brought through your academy!  I agree, it kinda sucks a few years down in FM because you bring through these players when they are 16,17 and then a few seasons later they're regular starters at 21-22 but then you have a new batch of 16-17 year olds who are just as good but they can't get much playing time. I've actually wanted to do a save with Bilbao but idk, something about Spain just doesn't appeal to me. I had a 2 season gig with Valencia but ran out of steam. 

[zlatanera]

Yeah I used to do a lot more of that, but I'm worried that with a lot of these guys I'm preventing them from reaching their fullest potential as learning new positions takes up PA. 

My first ever long-term one-team save was in Spain, but recently I just find it hard to keep going - if I hadn't gotten that "golden generation" in my first intake (when I didn't even know it was a thing) I doubt I would have kept going - the January schedule killed my title challenge every season, two legs for the entire cup is insane. If you survive the boxing day-new years period England is actually one of the more reasonable ones (with Germany being perhaps the most reasonable schedule due to a winter break, shorter cup competition and fewer teams). I think I've had a Bilbao save on the last three versions of FM and never won anything. Tend to have my best saves in Italy, France, England and Scandinavia (done Denmark and Norway, considering trying Sweden this time, or doing South America).

It got to the stage I was being funded by all the 50% of next sale clauses I put in when I started accepting those bids when Barcelona etc. try to snap them up when they're 16. I also had £400million transfer budget and a wage budget that would allow me to pay Messi-level wages, but we didn't have enough non-transfer income to actually sustain anyone on that. My 140 goal striker was on £40k / week for 8 years haha.

 

Ferland Mendy has thrown his toys out of the pram - demanding more playing time (I don't think a backup player starting 6 / 22 games so far is that bad?) and then demanding a move to Valencia, even though they hadn't made a bid. So now I'm scouring Ligue 1 for a replacement - I bought a young guy Hakim Guenouche from Nancy but he doesn't seem ready yet. Mariano hasn't played in 7, we've scored 15 goals in those games so he's definitely going to be on his way. 

 

 

[aloshajeffers]

Yeah i think Gomes is good enough that his the PA hit he's taken form learning the position wont bother me much, his physicals are great as well as his mentals. The technicals are all adequate, but he still has about a star and a half of potential left. That sucks about Mendy though, I hate when back up players get fussy. They're back up for a reason haha. In this years game the squad building is still quite bad. 3.5 seasons in and there are a lot of quality players available for transfer and no one is buying them. Im considering signing a bunch of them and just loaning them out for 100% wages and high monthly fees.

I think at this point you should sell Mariano haha. I do like his high determination for tutoring but 75k for a tutor isn't worth it if he isn't scoring goals. Marquinhos kicked up a fuss about wanting to join Barcelona(they were in about 9th place at the, currently third now) to play in a higher division even though I beat them the season before in the champions league final 4-1! He's fine with staying now but it is still annoying.

Nice locations for saves though. I had a west ham save going but Javier Hernandez got injured for 9 months and he was basically who I had built my team around. I also had a really fun save with RBL this year but I uninstalled fm 18 for a bit and reinstalled it and forgot to clear the fake names file so the Germany national team went back to being fake players and I deleted that save. My first save this year was with AS Monaco and it was very fun, but using a 3 up top 433 got real old real quick. This 433 with 2 strikers and a wide AM has honestly been my favorite tactic in a long time and I am enjoying playing the game again. Im wondering who to play as next and I am thinking Lazio or maybe even Wolfsburg again. School doesn't allow me much time to play haha so I never have much patience for a lower league team, although I would love to play as Paris FC. I enjoy starting with decent teams and having money in a  few season to buy good players.

[zlatanera]

I always have to restrain myself from buying all those players, I end up being so conflicted about who to loan out and who to play that it kills any momentum my save has. 

Yeah, definitely going to sell him. Manchester City are circling Memphis (he's already fell out with me over their hypothetical wages) so I could potentially be shaving £150k off my wage budget whilst simultaneously turning a profit on transfer fees and freeing up space for my wonderkids to thrive in. Sadly Lisandro Lopez scored 2 games in a row then got a 5 week injury, seriously worried for him. Bayern are after Bertrand Traore already too, but I'll play hard-ball for him as I have an obvious place for him to go in my setup with no clearly superior options available. 

Your West Ham save sounds like my first Barcelona save - Messi wasn't going to appear for the whole of 2017/18 so I just wrote off the multiple hours devoted to pre-season. I love exploiting the German national team situation! I just check for dual nationality and if they don't have it I stick something stupid like £100m for 1 international appearance in for the player (because odds are even if they decided to gain the nationality of my club, I'd have given up on the save by then). Yeah I'm a fan of clubs who are predicted to finish 3rd-7th in their league - Lazio look good, I've had fun with Fiorentina as well and a lot of the guys on the Serie A thread seem to be loving Inter and Roma. Hamburg are surprisingly good given their real-life struggles, I was odds-on to win the title with 5 games to go in my first season despite making only one transfer. We bottled it, but still was a laugh.

[aloshajeffers]

That sounds like a great deal for Depay. Honestly i would probably take it. Flip Depay and Mariano and you should have a decent budget. Luan from Gremio is a nice little Brazilian you could buy for the DLF role. Not particularly quick but he has nice ppms as a DLF and could also play out wide as an AP! Thats a shame about Lopez, when older players get injured like that. It usually dents stats quite a bit and they seem to become more prone to that kind of injury. In my saves a usually purchase of mine, Florenzi from AS roma has had 5 or 6 Cruciate ligament injuries and he's only 28 or so. I usually love buying him for a top team becasue of his Model citizen personailty and 18 determination. He is available on a free but I am going to have to pass.

i didn't know you could do that with the Germany national team thing tho! thats funny haha. And hamburg have a pretty decent squad tbh. Fiete-Arp is wonderful on this last update. I was going to get him but I opted for Geubbels instead.

[aloshajeffers]

He scores against them every time...

[zlatanera]

Manchester City appear to be just taunting me...their interest in Depay has only ever been "minor", the same with Maxwel Cornet who is now also upset. I appear to be getting barely over Mariano's £9.25m worth but that'll do. Got a loan bid in for Theo Hernandez - if it goes through Mendy is dumped. I have a feeling Marcal is more professional and will be ok if I demote him somewhat. Florenzi is one of those players on FM I've always wanted to manage but never either managed Roma or signed him.

That screenshot brings me pain...

 

EDIT: So I loaned Theo Hernández for 18 months, two days later Mendy declared himself happy to stay! So now I'm going to loan him out for 18 months as well.

[aloshajeffers]

Wow great pick up on Theo Hernandez! I ended up going with Grimaldo. I was going to get Digne(18 determination and driven) but Grimaldo ended up being cheaper. And that always happens to me, with the Mendy situation. I have Daley Blind as a tutor and he wanted to leave due to lack of play time so I put him on the transfer list. I play him for like 10 minutes in one game and he is happy to stay. 

I made it to my second champions league final in a row. I will be facing tottenham, I'll come back with good news hopefully! I think this transfer window will be pretty mild unless I can bring in a Messi or Ronaldo or if a key player of mine leaves. I might try and sell Martial. I have Jean-Kevin Augustin(homegrown player, bought him back from RBL in my first season). I like having small squads and i figure it would be better to loan him since Napoli came in with 100 percent wage leverage and a couple thousand a month for a loan spell. Not sure what other moves will be needed!

[zlatanera]

Yeah small squad is generally the way to go - I try to have 22 players in my first team squad and make sure I have a versatile youth defender, midfielder and attacker in the reserves just in case. Had to give Gédéon Kalulu his debut against PSG, amazed we got the 1-1. Drew them in the 10th round of the Coupe de France sadly, and Arsenal in Europa 1st KO round so this season is going to go one of two ways fairly fast. Also Maxwel Cornet is low key my most valuable player:

He just can't be stopped! The 94th minute winner against Guingamp was outstanding - just an outstanding game really. Cornet scored in the 6th minute, they scored in the 84th. We ran straight up the other end and scored a free kick, thinking it was over. Then one of their guys with 10 long shots hits a Coutinho-esque effort, then in the 94th minute Ndombele gets it just inside our own half, pings it over the top and Cornet scores a volley inside the box with his weak foot! He's currently averaging an 8.23 in all appearances - even if its helped by him rarely ever making substitute appearances, that's still outstanding considering he's often played as part of the weakest lineup we put out. 

[aloshajeffers]

Absolute scenes!! He looks a beast. He was very good in last years game. I think his stats might have been a bit decreased in this games. That sounds amazing tho, maybe he can take up the Salah role?

I had a great end to the season tho. Won the champs league. Cavani scored a tap in after a wonderful piece of dribbling by Neymar. a 50th minute free kick by Eriksen rattled the bar and that was the only scare we faced. A lovely Geubbels finish cleaned things up for the 7th trophy of the season. A nice farewell for Captain Thiago Silva, who came on in the 88th minute or so. 7 trophies in one season though, cannot complain with that. What a season, I have never had this much success!

 

Heres the average rating of lads. if you want screens of anything else let me know!

[zlatanera]

That is one hell of a season! In my 16 save I managed to coincide my most successful year with Lyon's 75th anniversary but I think it was only 6 trophies tops. Yeah Cornet used to be outstanding, not sure how he'll turn out on this one - on my previous tries I always ended up ditching him. 

You couldn't post a screenshot of Gomes or Geubbels could you? Be interested to see how they turned out. 

[Evanescent]

22 hours ago, zlatanera said:

@Evanescent Any chances of a screenshot for Prevot? In my two saves since you mentioned him on this thread my scouts have only ever rated him as having potential of 2 gold 1 black star so  I've never bothered investing. 

I think it's fair to say he's a fairly average keeper, which is why Real Madrid's 20.5m offer blew me away. Ideally he would be a backup keeper but the transfer constraints forced me to use him after selling Lopes. Being 1st choice for 2 seasons for a fairly successful team must have enhanced his reputation. Given that backup keepers are fairly common to come across, I wouldn't invest unless you're running a narrow set of transfer parameters.

He's a 50/50 shot at being 1st choice for Real Madrid, his competition is a 20yo Brazilian regen. Regen has the better squad status and physicals but Prevot has better mentals (and arguably goalkeeping).

[aloshajeffers]

12 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

That is one hell of a season! In my 16 save I managed to coincide my most successful year with Lyon's 75th anniversary but I think it was only 6 trophies tops. Yeah Cornet used to be outstanding, not sure how he'll turn out on this one - on my previous tries I always ended up ditching him. 

You couldn't post a screenshot of Gomes or Geubbels could you? Be interested to see how they turned out. 

I accidentally turned off my computer walking upstairs and forgot to save the cup and  champs league win. I just had to replay it and had a much hairier game(won 3-2) but i will take it. Sadly that leaves Geubbels on 29 goals instead of 30. Oh well.

[zlatanera]

32 minutes ago, Evanescent said:

I think it's fair to say he's a fairly average keeper, which is why Real Madrid's 20.5m offer blew me away. Ideally he would be a backup keeper but the transfer constraints forced me to use him after selling Lopes. Being 1st choice for 2 seasons for a fairly successful team must have enhanced his reputation. Given that backup keepers are fairly common to come across, I wouldn't invest unless you're running a narrow set of transfer parameters.

He's a 50/50 shot at being 1st choice for Real Madrid, his competition is a 20yo Brazilian regen. Regen has the better squad status and physicals but Prevot has better mentals (and arguably goalkeeping).

Thanks! Something tells me he won't get that good on my save, but if he did could be a successor to Gorgelin - I don't have anything like the narrow transfer settings you gave yourself. 

21 minutes ago, aloshajeffers said:

I accidentally turned off my computer walking upstairs and forgot to save the cup and  champs league win. I just had to replay it and had a much hairier game(won 3-2) but i will take it. Sadly that leaves Geubbels on 29 goals instead of 30. Oh well.

Well that looks promising for Geubbels! I wish I had someone who could tutor him to curl the ball, never get players with that move for some reason. Gomes is definitely remaining a target too. 

So I just got to the end of January! Really angry, even though we just knocked PSG out of the Coupe de France. I currently have three unhappy players - Memphis and Cornet who both wanted to go to Manchester City, who just never bid for them, and Mariano, who apparently "wants to leave for first team football" yet turned down at least four moves (I lost count) then scared everyone off on deadline day with his wage demands - I even offered him at a loss. So presumably the only way to cheer him up will be to drop someone more deserving, and his value is only going to decrease...I really need to beat Arsenal to give myself enough fixtures to keep all my strikers fit and firing then. 

Bringing in Theo Hernandez on loan for 18 months whilst sending out Mendy for the same period is quite a good deal - Lyon signed Mendy for £4.5m, the loan fees will bring us in £4.3m. So if he ends up sold we definitely make a profit, if he stays we've nearly recouped our money and got a good player. 

Lisandro Lopez is on the decline but has 18 goals for the season, 13 in the league with 4/5 in Europe being penalties. Because apparently only the French know how to defend. I'm hoping I can get him to 18 in the league as that would be his best total since 2008, then I'll drop him in hope that a lack of games will make him retire and join my backroom staff.  

[zlatanera]

It happened again! The future is bright, although I'm worried that the player singled out - Aymeric Guinchard - is a striker given I play to have Gouiri, Geubbels and Maolida leading the line for a decade. Can't hurt to have more depth though!

[aloshajeffers]

1 hour ago, zlatanera said:

It happened again! The future is bright, although I'm worried that the player singled out - Aymeric Guinchard - is a striker given I play to have Gouiri, Geubbels and Maolida leading the line for a decade. Can't hurt to have more depth though!

Whoa a golden generation thats awesome man. The future is looking very bright for you! And in my game Lyon brought in Eduardo Vargas and I think Geubbels inherited his ppm's. Yeah just give Geubbels plenty of game time and he well def. develop. I am jealous of that youth intake tho, my first season as a golden generation but my last two intakes were pretty un-exciting. A shame you couldn't get rid of those players though, hopefully the summer will allow you to make the changes you want. 

[aloshajeffers]

Hmm this is interesting.

 

[john1]

1 minute ago, aloshajeffers said:

Hmm this is interesting.

Interesting offer  I would sell him.

 

Currently loading up FM to start in France, still unsure who to be with, Thinking about St Etienne, Bordeaux or Lyon. Any advice?

 

[aloshajeffers]

I am torn right now haha. He has been great at fullback but is my longterm option for the midfield and maybe even captaincy. Maybe i can sell him for a few seasons then buy him back haha. I will probably go play another save for a few hours and contemplate if I should sell or not.

Lyon is an awesome choice, several others have posted their experience. They have a lot of history to them. Their veteran players are good and there are loads of youngsters to develop. Not a hundred percent sure how finances are but there are plenty of sellable assets on the team, and Im sure competing in Europe will give you a steady cashflow. The other teams seem like good longer term projects, Bordeaux certainly has some nice talents(Malcom) and you can probably compete for silverware in the first few seasons. A good country to start in without a doubt. I think St. Etienne used to be a top team in France, I am sure it would be very fun to get them back to the top! 

[john1]

I personally think Lyon will be too easy. As I am looking to build a team up with young players, in this case I have gone Stade Rennais  

[Robusted]

20 hours ago, aloshajeffers said:

Absolute scenes!! He looks a beast. He was very good in last years game. I think his stats might have been a bit decreased in this games. That sounds amazing tho, maybe he can take up the Salah role?

I had a great end to the season tho. Won the champs league. Cavani scored a tap in after a wonderful piece of dribbling by Neymar. a 50th minute free kick by Eriksen rattled the bar and that was the only scare we faced. A lovely Geubbels finish cleaned things up for the 7th trophy of the season. A nice farewell for Captain Thiago Silva, who came on in the 88th minute or so. 7 trophies in one season though, cannot complain with that. What a season, I have never had this much success!

 

Heres the average rating of lads. if you want screens of anything else let me know!

very cool mate. can i see your transfers. i want to start a psg game like this and bring together all the best young french talent. well done 7 trophys is amazing even with a great squad. 

[aloshajeffers]

32 minutes ago, Robusted said:

very cool mate. can i see your transfers. i want to start a psg game like this and bring together all the best young french talent. well done 7 trophys is amazing even with a great squad. 

It is certainly a very fun game! I am having fun developing the talents. I brought back Jean-Kevin Augustin from RBL for an expensive fee, but he is quite a good homegrown talent. In my 4th season I have a 345 milllion dollar budget. here is the transfers tho mate.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Been inspired to start a new save on here with Lyon, I first of all got all of my best current and future players to sign new contracts, I then went for a decent right back so I bought in Dennis Appiah from Anderlecht, I wanted to also bring in Vincent Manceau from Angers but didn't have enough money, I did manage to sign Claudio Gomes from PSG for 10m as an investment signing, stuck him the under 19's for now and got him on my development list as I want to loan him out but to a club willing to play him.

[zlatanera]

Glad to see a few more people joining the French save club! @aloshajeffers that is an outstanding offer, but you're PSG - you have so much money you can use sentiment as an excuse not to earn more. 

I saw someone asking about Lyon's finances - they're ok, usually get around £20million transfer budget before sales the first few seasons, and I've never had the board go lower than 90% of sales, which you can always ask back up pretty easily. We sometimes flirted with FFP issues on my older saves but if you get a decent price for 2/3 of Mariano, Memphis and Bertrand Traore over the first 3 years you'll be fine and able to offer the likes of Fekir higher wages. 

So I just finished my first season! 

As you can see PSG were in a league of their own, we were in our own tier, then the rest were all playing in Ligue 1. Dijon and Metz were real surprises, the latter only missed out on Europe on the last day of the season, but then gained a spot due to Dijon defeating Marseille in the Coupe de France final. We did equal team records for points (84 - 05/06) and wins (25 - 53/54) whilst scoring more goals (89) than any Lyon side in history so definitely some positives there. Also, 35 year old 'favoured personnel' Lisandro Lopez hit 21 in the league, behind only Edinson Cavani (31) which was something. 

In the Coupe de France we dispatched Ajaccio (2-0) and PSG (2-0) before going down on penalties at Guingamp - very disappointing, mitigated by my having to give debuts to Gédéon Kalulu (RB) and Mohamed Bahlouli (MEZ) due to injuries and fatigue, with this being one very rare occasion where the AI had players in better condition than mine. 

We also reached the final of the Coupe de la Ligue before throwing away a 1-0 lead in the space of 3 minutes to lose to Monaco. 

Europa League - a phenomenal comeback at home from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Arsenal gave me hope for the second leg, which a 17 second goal from Mariano only burnished. We then shipped three as dropping deeper to counter the pace of Aubameyang doesn't work if your defenders forget how to tackle, mark or head the ball. 

Tactically, I've been using Rashidi's tactic designed to get the best out of Mo Salah for Liverpool - due to rotation and injuries meaning we didn't have anyone as a regular in that role none of my Salah stand-ins were our top scorer, but overall I'm very happy with the tactic. Our losses at Arsenal and Monaco can be put down to my own stupid decisions tactically in terms of timing when to play a high block and when to play a low block. Our cup game against PSG, which came after our two league fixtures, shows we have a chance to take at least 3 points off their total next year. 

Some player stats:

Maxwel Cornet: 12(8) apps, 11 goals

Nabil Fekir: 32(4) apps, 17 goals, 18 assists

Lisandro Lopez: 36(4) apps, 28 goals, 8 assists

Memphis: 36(2) apps, 6 goals, 13 assists

Bertrand Traore: 23(9) apps, 18 goals, 8 assists

Honourable shoutout to our full backs: between Theo Hernández, Gédéon Kalulu, Marcal, Ferland Mendy, Rafael and Kenny Tete 33 assists were contributed. Possibly the most important role 

in the tactic. 

One game which was a highlight was the day we officially conceded the league title:

 

I started Bahlouli, Geubbels, Kalulu and Maolida, with Gouiri replacing the latter due to injury. Ratings of 8.5 (1 assist), 8.2, 7.5, 6.8 and 8.2 (1 goal, 1 assist) show great promise for the future!

Going forward I aim to shift Mariano - his goals-to-games ratio is great which has kept up his value, but he just doesn't justify his wages as he'll never be a regular. If offers come in for Memphis (high wages, desire to give Maolida first-team football asap) or Ferri (irritating 'shoots from distance' trait, 'competitive streak' and cheap replacement - Pedrinho at Pacos Ferreira) I'll consider them too. Other than Leo Dubois (pre-arranged at the save's start) and Egyptian wonderkid midfielder Marwan Ahmed whom I've agreed to sign I doubt there will be any incomings without sales - I have the budget but I quite like the team. 

The one big question mark is Lisandro Lopez. Yes, he scored a ton of goals but just look at his physicals:

His good form meant I didn't phase him out so I doubt he'll retire, I might try to use the "reduce squad status" conversation then open talks on a significantly cheaper deal and just have him tutor. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@zlatanara who would you recommend selling in first season for Lyon, I got given 12m transfer budget in first season but after signing  Appiah and Gomes I aint got any cash left, I want to try sign Lisandro Lopez back to the club, any players who are worth getting rid of?

[zlatanera]

@Ronaldo Beckham Depends on what style of football you're playing. I would definitely recommend getting rid of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa as 8 Concentration is terrible for a defender, especially on his wages. You will struggle to get rid of him for what they brought him in for if you don't want to pay his wages but get rid. After that its the simple question of "can I get someone better in with the money I'm making, or promote a youth player?". 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cheers for the advice mate, was Rafael any good for you, I am thinking of selling him ?

I managed to bring Lopez back to Lyon for 1m after clicking low bonuses on all the competitions.

My formation I am using is 4-5-1 utilizing wingers and having a striker in a poacher role, got one centre midfielder as a BWM and the other as a DLP.