FM18: France

[aloshajeffers]

@zlatanera Great season there man! A couple more games for the youth and players getting used to the tactic I can see you challenging or maybe even winning the league next year! Are you going to focus on the league or try to be competitive in Europe and the league? Congrats though, certainly something to build upon

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

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.

Mariano should be outstanding in the Poacher role if you provide him with the right service. He has all the right attributes to succeed. All of your wingers are better as inside forwards incidentally. But yeah, other than MY-B, I don't have a hard recommendation on a sale.

1 hour ago, aloshajeffers said:

@zlatanera Great season there man! A couple more games for the youth and players getting used to the tactic I can see you challenging or maybe even winning the league next year! Are you going to focus on the league or try to be competitive in Europe and the league? Congrats though, certainly something to build upon

My priorities depend entirely on my CL draw. If I think it's achievable I'll aim for 2nd (No way I don't get at least one team that is better than me) and then see where I get. Otherwise I aim for 3rd and prioritise trying to win Europa and the league over the domestic cups. I think on top of the 'golden generation' I got quite lucky with the variable PAs of a lot of youth players - normally after about 6 months the likes of Alexis Martial don't look like amounting to anything, but here I've got quite a few youngsters who I expect to end up playing for me or an upper-mid table Ligue 1 team.

[aloshajeffers]

Good luck man. This transfer window has been pretty queit. I am brining in some players for cheap and loaning them out for profit. Oblak was wanted by Real but I was able to get him to sign a new contract for only 70k more. I've brought up a midfield and CB regen from my youth ranks, each with 4.5-5 star of potential. Both should be able to get some minutes. I also sold Martial for profit. Jean-Kevin Augustin comes back from a decent loan spell at Napoli and will cover up top or out wide. This could be Cavani's last season, although he does still have pretty decent physicals despite being 33, and will turn 34 in Feb. He may get an extension but he will slowly get phased out

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON MID SEASON UPDATE 

I am currently 4th in the league with 35 points, I had a bad start but been in good form since October, Mariano banging in the goals has helped, Depay has the best average rating and also has 11 assists so far, he has asked to leave as he thinks Bayern are interested in him but I lied to him told him he could leave and then didn't offer him out on transfer.

Talking of transfers I sold Fekir and Depay after both asked to leave, I managed to get 17m for Depay but with extras it will come up to 28m, that ontop of getting rid of his high wages is a bonus. I got 37.5m for Fekir with extra clauses included as well.

Other transfers out was Kenny Tete due to his moaning, I sold him for 6.5m, I got rid of Rafael for 7m, Marcal for 6m, Marcelo for 6.75m, Jeremy Morel for 750k, I also sold Lisandro Lopez as he couldn't get in my team and wanted first team football, he went to Real Socidad for 500k. Overall I managed to get 82m from player sales.

I managed to bring in Vincent Manceau in the end, him and Appiah will rotate for right back position in my starting 11, I bought in Nordi Mukele for 7.5m as he looks like a beast of a player, decent attributes and only 20 so can improve as well. Birger Melling come in for 1m, bargain for a player as good as him. I bought in Samuel Gigot for 8.5m, he also looks good and hoping to form a good partnership with Mukele. 

I just bought in Billy Ketkeo for 10.5m and Benjamin Leroy for decent back up for my players, I also have a deal going through for Baptiste Reynet for 2.7m.

I have 30m left to spend, any suggestions who to bring in, I am trying to get young French or African players so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[TottenhamBoi90]

Paris FC - Season 3 (Ligue 1 2019/2020)

Finished 12th in Ligue 1, Coupe De La Ligue Qtr Final, French Cup 11th Round. 

My aims for the season was to get in the top 10 or maybe push Reims for Europe but that ended up not being the case. A good start and finish with a poor middle was the same as last season except i jumped to 12th this season instead of dropping to 14th. Overall i managed 11 wins 11 draws and 16 defeats, which was 1 loss turned to draw better than last season. Baby steps, To the team...

GK - Paulo Gazzaniga came in for record fee 1.5m from Tottenham, He was my main keeper and wasnt a massive improvement on Dilo who only played 8 games whilst Gazzaniga had 30.

DR - Wallace Olivera made his loan permanent and was joined by loanee Pedro Pereira from Benfica. Both were great when i was winning and terrible when i was losing.

DC - Flor Van Den Eynden joined on loan from Inter to partner Bielik who renewed his loan to form a better partnership than Bong and Lybohy could ever be at this level but still the worst defence in the league. Better on the ball though which i am building towards.

DL - Seck and Delaine meant no new additions arrived in this position. Much the same as the RBs ,hot n cold.

MR - Saint-Louis and Lavigne continued to be amazing. 10 assists 8 goals for Saint-Louis. 

AVP - Bongiovanni renewed his loan and had a fantastic season 2 goals 7 assists. I will try and loan him again next season as i sent Bougrine out on loan and will probably sell him. I did spend 1.8m in January on Dresden playmaker Aias Aoman to push Bongiovanni but chances to play were limited as Bongiovanni was pretty much unrestable undroppable and brilliant.

DLP - Martins Periera renewed his loan then in jan signed perm for next season and had a great season. Kerrouche pretty much lost his place now and will probably move on.

ML - Fousseni Diabate arrived for 1m from Leicester after they transfer listed him and i can see why. Didnt have the best of seasons but can play upfront as well so good for versatility. Timothy Tillman also arrived on loan from Bayern and started off looking unplayable before having a largely steady campaign.

DLF - Theirry Ambrose made his loan permanent and showed some encouraging improvement with 10 goals 5 assists. Tchokounte is another 1 i am looking to move on.

AF - Record broken again for Marc Cardona from Girona. 2.5m well spent as he was fantastic, 22 goals and 4 assists, Ligue 1 Top Scorer award. 

Youth Development side of things 5 regens from my academy 16/17 year olds were handed debuts this year. 

Yann Albert (DC), Nicolas Poulain (DLP), Salim Chaib (ML), Pedro Soares (ST), Anthane Chenine (ST)

My main objective of PSGs noisy neighbour was a little better this year. I was leading 2-0 at home before a collapse in stoppage time meant i got my first point against them. I also lead 1-0 away before another collapse ended with a 2-1 defeat. 

If you take the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes out of all 38 games i would have probably won the league, I was so poor starting and finishing games. Some runs without defeat were better and some runs without winning were worse than last season. I hope to renew my loan players contracts and hopefully find a few more quality additions. I at least now have 2 players in each position, Next season is just going to be about keeping the upward trend going, more baby steps i imagine.  

[zlatanera]

So I've got to my first game in 2018/19, as I refuse to do transfers between the first day of the season and deadline day unless a truly stupendous deal comes along, its safe to say that my transfer business is done so why not give everyone an update?

Incoming

Léo Dubois was pre-arranged at the start of the game, he's a solid enough defender but I don't see him getting ahead of Rafael, Tete, Hernández or Marçal. He apparently put off all loan suitors so he stays for now, although I imagine he'll be out in January either on loan or permanently. 

Matheusinho wanted out of America Mineiro and all the justification for the transfer can be found below:

A tidy £3.6m and reasonable wages, he's now on loan at Toulouse for 2 years to gain Ligue 1 experience, with the option of a recall should I need it. 

Finally, I spotted that Aurélien Nguiamba was transfer-listed at Nancy, so I snapped him up for a tidy £165k, he'll remain in the reserves until he's tutored then get loaned out. I have enough good youth its doubtful he'll be a starter but I can definitely make a profit. It appears that signing a young player from Nancy may become a tradition of this save if they keep producing them. 

Outgoing

Espanyol declined to take up their option on Sergi Darder, so he's been shipped off to Hull for £13.75m with 30% of his next transfer. 

Marcelo is on loan at Inter with a mandatory £6.75m fee - I had hoped to make more but he kept scaring people off with his wage demands so breaking even on a player who will be 32 by the time he's officially gone will have to do.

Mariano's tidy goal return from limited playing time allowed me to make a small profit, he's now at Huddersfield with £10.5m coming the other way.

Spurs came out of nowhere for Memphis - £20.5m rising to £24m plus 30% of the profit on his future sale was enough to part ways with him.

Olivier Kemen and a bunch of youth who weren't going to make it have also been shown the door, and a further 8 players have been loaned out, most notably Pape Cheikh to reinforce Dijon's European adventures and gain experience as Martin Terrier has taken his spot as backup MEZZ. 

 

I had planned to sign a left-footed centre back, ideally one of Malang Sarr or Presnel Kimpembe but both of their clubs were asking ~£80m for them and even though I'm sure I could have argued them down to within my £50m transfer budget, I declined to do so. That leaves us lining up like this:

As you may be able to tell, I had numbered the squad to have an ideal 1-11 but the lack of a signing means the No. 5 shirt goes free for now. One final dilemma to end on:

As you can see, Louiserre has great potential with all the makings of a great BPD except for his height (179cm), with a lower jumping reach and heading than the smaller Jeremy Morel. Do I see him as an eventual inhabitor of the No. 5 shirt? Do I retrain him for the CM-De role in my tactic? Opinions are welcome.

[Evanescent]

@Ronaldo Beckham Wow, big clearance in January! Interesting ins, only one I have had experience with is Meling in a couple of saves. Won't let you down and can be sold for a huge profit if needed.

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

As you can see, Louiserre has great potential with all the makings of a great BPD except for his height (179cm), with a lower jumping reach and heading than the smaller Jeremy Morel. Do I see him as an eventual inhabitor of the No. 5 shirt? Do I retrain him for the CM-De role in my tactic? Opinions are welcome.

I would retrain, height is not ideal but I can live with it...however the low jumping and heading is a deal breaker for me. In my experience, it is extremely difficult to get a meaningful increase in jumping with individual training and it has put me off trying to pigeonhole players into being a centre back.

 

So I'm in December 2022 in my Lyon save. The majority of the teams in Ligue 1 don't seem to have the financial power or acumen to improve their squads. PSG and Monaco do a great job of replenishing their squads while Marseille and Bordeaux do a decent job.

Thinking of adding a transfer rule to help inject some funds into some of these Ligue 1 teams (my financial position is ridiculously healthy fwiw). The rule being: allowing myself to sign players >22yo from non Champions League Ligue 1 clubs, for at least double their value. For example, my scouts say that Elie Youan (23yo, Nantes, £8.25m value) can be purchased for £6.5-9.25m. I would pay £16.5m. The aim would be for Nantes to spend that money 16.5 to improve their squad.

The most interesting candidate for this is Giovani Lo Celso at OGC Nice. Double his value would mean that I would pay a minimum £38.5m (scout report says between 31.5-43.5, so theoretically more) and he would actually step into my 1st XI. I will see how I feel about enacting this rule when the Jan 2023 transfer window opens.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON END OF SEASON UPDATE

I forgot to take screenshots sorry but basically I finished 2nd with PSG having an 18 point difference on me, I don't think I will be winning the title anytime soon.

Mariano got 28 goals in 36 games for me, he was the key for me in getting 2nd.

At the end of January in my first season I decided to splash some of that 30m I had spare on Jean Michael Seri for 15m and Christopher Julien for 5m.

The only signing I have made in my 2nd season is signing Tanguy Ndombele who was really good for me on loan, I signed him for 7.5m and his value is already 25m.

I got 25m to spend, I am going to try sign some more young French players.

[zlatanera]

This save is so stressful, as epitomised by this match:

The biggest surprise about this match is that neither Klopp nor Bielsa were involved. 

 

[aloshajeffers]

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

This save is so stressful, as epitomised by this match:

The biggest surprise about this match is that neither Klopp nor Bielsa were involved. 

 

I had a 4-4 vs Atletico Madrid in the super cup. We won 3-2 on penalties. Close high scoring games take it out of me haha

[TottenhamBoi90]

Paris FC - Season 4 (Ligue 1 2020/21)

7th in Ligue 1, Qtr Finals French Cup, 3rd Round Coupe De La Ligue

WOW! What a season, bursting with my pride i have taken Paris into Europe. It all started so badly as Monaco decided to take Bongiovanni back. Hammered 5-1 in my first game but my little team made some massive strides this season. 

GK - Gazzaniga was immense, 10 clean sheets in a much improved back line. Dilo rotated and added another 2 to that figure so very pleased overall with the distributors. I would like to add an aggresive keeper but would die for a shot stopper. 

DR - Wallace Olivera and Pedro Pereira (loan) had an average season at right back, Pedro pushed more for a first team place this season but i think having 2 attacking right backs is useless in a support role. I need a different option here so Pedro wont be made perm. 

DC - Where do i start, The good, Axel Tuanzebe (loan) played had a solid 32 games. The bad, Bong left, Lybohy retired leaving Youth prospect Yann Albert as my only fully owned CB. The ugly, Van Eynden (loan) got injured after 5 games and missed the entire season. Bielik (loan) was solid for a good 30 games before he suffered the same fate as Van Eynden but to add insult to injury Arsenal also recalled him. Tuanzebe also rejected my approach to sign and will not be here next season also so i am gonna be desperate for a CB in the summer. 

DL - Robert Mazan arrived for 600k from Slovan Bratislava and had a solid first season. Seck seems to be of a quality like Bougrine and Axel Meye who have potential but never improve. Id like a bit more cover here if possible next year.

MR - Saint-Louis, Im running out of superlatives for this guy. 11 goals 13 assists. Lavigne as well chipped in 4 goals and countless match changing impact appearances but he wants more starts which i cannot provide ahead of Saint-Louis so hes been a good servant but im finally going into the transfer market in right midfield next season.

AVP - I went all out with a record 3m for Frosinone midfielder Samuel Gustafson who was in the end ok. 1 goal 1 assist is not Bongiovanni standard neither is Aias Aosman's 3 assists but they do make some key passes and generally put a shift in so not sure what to make of this campaign.

DLP - Martins Periera was solid again and was also pushed well by freebie signing from SV Reid Daniel Raischl. A ball winner by trade adds some tackles to the DLP role which i like.

ML - Hallelujah, Finally after 4 years someone has nailed down this spot. Ruben Vinagre (Loan) got 3 goals 9 assists and he only really got going after the new year. Timothy Tillman (loan) started the season with 6 goals 1 assists and come january i was straight in to approach to sign but he rejected me for Lille and i was devastated.

DLF - Borja Mayoral (loan) owned this position, 12 goals 11 assists was probably the single biggest reason for my massive leap forward this season, His passing and vision was big reason why i signed him but he also rejected me on approach to sign. Ambrose did get some gametime but was largely dissapointing.

AF - Marc Cardona smashed in 21 goals which got him 3rd Top Scorer in Ligue 1 this time round. Hes abit of a streaky scorer and doesnt add alot to the team other than goals so would like to try and imrpove this position as well. 

Youth Development 

Yann Albert, Nicolas Poulain, Said Chaibi and Anthmane Chenine all got more gametime mainly off the bench. Pedro Soares had a season on loan at Ajaccio but only got 5 goals. 

As you can tell by how quick my update is, I basically smashed a season off in a day, i absolutely loved it. I aimed for top half and landed in Europe. My squad will be absolutely barebones this summer so i have alot of work ahead to even be competitive next season but a good 40 youth players are now contracted so i will use them if need be. Learnt a few lessons in the loan market this season, Id love to buy more players but money is so tight. 

[zlatanera]

So Nabil Fekir declared his intention to sign for Manchester United in January and Bertrand Traore wants to go to Atletico. So, I decided to pre-empt Fekir's leaving by splashing out!

One week later United signed Juan Cuadrado and Fekir piped down! So now we have an embarrassment of riches, or what I like to call "Gylfi Syndrome" after Everton's stockpiling of attacking midfielders last summer. I've promised Traore can leave to Atletico for £21m which will then allow me to put Fekir into the 'Salah role'. 

[Evanescent]

Amine Gouiri: Ballon d'Or.

[zlatanera]

Starting to feel like Ajax in the late 80s / early 90s or Barcelona circa 2004-08 here, two 'golden generation' intakes in a row!

[zlatanera]

Also, definitely going to have to sell all the Africans. I've got two games before the next international break - Away to Liverpool with a 2-1 lead in the CL 1st knockout round, and Away at Marseille where a loss would leave us 7 points behind PSG - and two of my key players, Bertrand Traore and Nicolas Nkoulou, have been called up for international duty! We get £5k from them being called up, which is ridiculous given how much more we would earn by winning those games. We'll see how it turns out I guess, but not putting up with this crap in my third season. 

EDIT: Went down 3-1 to Liverpool, Rodrigo running rings around Nkoulou's replacement, Diakhaby, who got a 5.9. So that's £5.79m minimum Cameroon have cost us given that's the appearance fee for the next round (possibly Burkina Faso as well given how many chances we didn't finish that we may have done had Traore been available).

At least we defeated Marseille 3-1 otherwise I may have just quit the save there and then. Midfield was gassed so I put both Issa Diop and Mouctar Diakhaby as DCB, 2 goals game from their long punts over the top for one striker to assist the other, and one was off a corner. The midfield all got 6.50s because they were basically just jogging around watching the ball fly over their heads. Certainly not pretty, but effective. 

[aloshajeffers]

Lucky on the intake! Are your current regens in or around the first team? And the international breaks always suck. Sounds intense vs. Marseille though, good work. Keep the faith in your youngsters

[zlatanera]

@aloshajeffers No none of my regens have even made the reserves - they all came in super young, for example the best of the first bunch is a forward who doesn't turn 16 until April of this, my 2nd season, and I believe there's an age limit for the professional leagues in France. Irritatingly said forward has low Finishing, but was also 193cm at 14 and physically would have bene able to compete. If both Bertrand Traore and Fekir go I'm probably bringing in Thauvin and then looking for a 2nd left-footer in the youth ranks. 

I'm used to getting players back from international breaks tired / injured, but not having them taken away from me a week early. Happened a lot in Norway when I managed a team there because of fixture pileup due to European commitments, but there I usually got offered a postponement. No such luck with the CL or Ligue 1. Quite often I lose quite a few players for the last game of the season as well because I tend to have such young teams - between youth internationals and Africa I could easily see us going into the final game of the season with only 1 senior forward available. 

[zlatanera]

Am I becoming Arsene Wenger? All the 'proper football man' journos were presumably having a field day in the alternate reality that is this save. 

EDIT: A more detailed breakdown of the season will be forthcoming in the next couple of days, but I'll just leave Lisandro Lopez' retirement game here...

 

[Evanescent]

One day I will be trying out that Rashidi tactic...because a) I'm a Liverpool fan and the scorelines look like even crazier versions of real life and b) any tactic that can get Lisandro Lopez banging in hat-tricks in 2019 is worth a look at.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON SEASON 2 UPDATE

My 2nd season with Lyon was a lot harder then the first season, I struggled big time, lack of goals and drawing too many games cost me, I ended up 3rd in the league, Monaco had a 9 point more then me and PSG had a massive 20 points more then me.

I did win the Coupe de la Ligue though so at least there was that. My best players were Bertrand Traore who played a lot of the season up front, I got bored of Mariano and he is going in the summer. Other stand out players were Jean Michael Seri and Oghenekaro Etbo.

I played a regen called Tom Deschamps a lot, I am pretending he is Didier Deschamps son lol. I played Claudio Gomes a fair bit as well, I gave him 20 games this season, I am also going to play Greubels more and Nouri as well. I am hoping some of my big players ask to leave or big offers come for them to balance the books and finances are rubbish for Lyon and also gives me chance to bed in new young players.

I am hoping for a better season next season and bridge the gap, 

[zlatanera]

2018/19 - When we begin to resemble all of the North London clubs at once

After offloading Memphis and a bunch of squad players in pre-season, I gambled and decided to go into the new season arguably weaker at the back and with a front three whose ages were 16 (Geubbels), 18 (Gouiri), 19 (Maolida), 21 (Cornet), 22 (Traore), and 25 (Fekir). 10 games into the season, it was not looking good, as poor finishing and two absolutely shocking defensive displays against Monaco and Troyes saw us lagging far off the top in 9th. Bertrand Traore was a particular disappointment, playing in the 'Salah role' he had decided to be like Harry Kane but have his drought in September instead of August - he was our joint scorer with 2, equal to Léo Dubois and Own Goal. 

At this point we were already something ridiculous like 12 points behind PSG and Monaco at the top and I was preparing to battle Metz for a Europa League. A hat-trick from WIllem Geubbels kick-started a good run that put us back on track, and we only finished behind Arsenal in our CL group on head-to-head, before a dreadful 4-1 loss away to Strasbourg had me minutes away from throwing my laptop out of the window. My exploits in the various cup competitions were outlined in my previous posts so I'll just bullet them here:

- Coupe de la Ligue: 4th round 

- Coupe de France: Quarter Final bottle job against Nantes, conceding three goals in the last ten minutes then out on penalties.

- Champions League: Liverpool bribed the football associations of Cameroon and Burkina Faso to rob us of two key players so they could overturn their first leg defeat in the 1st Knockout Round.

These tumultuous events, and 'big' clubs' pulling out of transfers after I had doubled our record transfer to pay £53m for Gelson Martins distracted me from the fact that I had quietly not lost since the Strasbourg game and was reeling PSG in at the top. Alas, despite breaking our historic records for wins (28), points (90), goals (90) things were just not to be. A late equaliser from the impressive Metz in the penultimate game of the season surrendered the title to PSG for the 2nd year in the row, although we would go out on a high with the ridiculous 8-3 away at Toulouse to secure a 24 match unbeaten streak. St. Etienne fell into the relegation zone on the same day, finishing below Pape Cheikh's Dijon FCO on goal difference did make me smile though. Further happiness came when Amiens defeated them 3-0 in the playoff. Final standings:

Metz have been the real surprise of this save, really hoping they keep it up just not at the extent of our chasing a first title in a decade! 

Going forward there are some dilemmas - do I sell both of Fekir and Traore? Do I spend £18m on Arthur from Gremio and ship out a central midfielder? If one of the left-footed players goes, do I bring in Thauvin, or put all my trust in Cornet and promote a 16 year old as his backup? 

Finances may dictate that - the board had to inject £40m into the club, partially to help with FFP, although they'll get that back over a 9 year continental sponsorship deal.  

I'm expecting major changes regardless:

- Lisandro Lopez celebrated that hat-trick by securing a new contract as a reserves coach. He will not be replaced. 

- Jeremy Morel is out of contract, and will either retire or become a backup option / reserves coach. 

- Nicolas Nkoulou and Bertrand Traore will leave, the former transfer-listed and the latter has a lot of suitors, as I don't want a repeat of the Liverpool debacle again. 

- Theo Hernández will cross the Pyrenees back to Madrid, who intend to play him, with Ferland Mendy returning from Real Sociedad to take his place.

- One of Kenny Tete, Rafael or Léo Dubois may leave as I struggle to keep them all happy without the assistance of Fekir, who can't necessarily be relied upon forever. 

Some player stats: 

Nabil Fekir - 32(8) apps - 19 goals - 11 assists - 7.55

Willem Geubbels - 32(1) apps - 20 goals - 13 assists - 7.55

Amine Gouiri - 18(4) apps - 11 goals - 5 assists - 7.22

Gelson Martins - 18 apps - 8 goals - 4 assists - 7.46

Kenny tete - 21(10) apps - 2 goals - 11 assists - 7.51

Bertrand Traore - 26(8) apps - 21 goals - 14 assists - 7.57

I truly believe I could have had Salah-esque stats from one of Traore or Fekir if there hadn't been all the transfer madness in January - Gelson Martins coming in as AP meant Fekir took Traore's starting berth in the 'Salah' role relegating him to an impact sub. Geubbels was brilliant and will only improve further, likewise with Gouiri, and Maolida performed well but didn't rack up many goals / assists so is not listed.  

 

[Robusted]

On 01/05/2018 at 09:03, Evanescent said:

Amine Gouiri: Ballon d'Or.

amazing. can we see some screenshots of squad and transfers and maybe Geubbels also. thanks 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON TRANSFER UPDATE SEASON 3

Main Transfers out for me were Anthony Lopes to Monaco for 30m, he wanted to leave and I bought in Alban Lafont as his replacement for 20m. I sold Houssem Aaour to Spurs for 16m but rises up to 20m with add ons, I liked Aaour but I wanted to bed in a few of my youngsters.

I managed to loan out Mariano after nobody made an offer to buy him, I managed to get Bordeaux to pay me 100k per month fee and 70% of his wages, other transfers out include Dennis Appiah leaving for 2.5m, Leo Dubois going for 12m, Christopher Julien going for 2m and Sam Johnstone who I got on a free the year before going for 1m to Rennes. I also loaned out Claudio Gomes to Lens so he can get regular first team football.

The only player I paid money for was Lafont, I also signed Doria, Bahbeck and Edouard on frees as back ups to my other players.

My bank balance is 100m now, I made 48m profit from the transfer window, my aim is to have Lyon as the main team to produce future international players especially for France and keep adding silverware on the way, especially Ligue 1 and Champions League if possible.

[Evanescent]

1 hour ago, Robusted said:

amazing. can we see some screenshots of squad and transfers and maybe Geubbels also. thanks 

Sure.

Willem Geubbels

Amine Gouiri

Squad pt1 / Squad pt2

Transfers S1-S6

 

[Evanescent]

On 30/04/2018 at 11:40, Evanescent said:

So I'm in December 2022 in my Lyon save. The majority of the teams in Ligue 1 don't seem to have the financial power or acumen to improve their squads. PSG and Monaco do a great job of replenishing their squads while Marseille and Bordeaux do a decent job.

Thinking of adding a transfer rule to help inject some funds into some of these Ligue 1 teams (my financial position is ridiculously healthy fwiw). The rule being: allowing myself to sign players >22yo from non Champions League Ligue 1 clubs, for at least double their value. For example, my scouts say that Elie Youan (23yo, Nantes, £8.25m value) can be purchased for £6.5-9.25m. I would pay £16.5m. The aim would be for Nantes to spend that money 16.5 to improve their squad.

The most interesting candidate for this is Giovani Lo Celso at OGC Nice. Double his value would mean that I would pay a minimum £38.5m (scout report says between 31.5-43.5, so theoretically more) and he would actually step into my 1st XI. I will see how I feel about enacting this rule when the Jan 2023 transfer window opens.

Well I am in 2023 and I've decided to do this. Hopefully the money is put to good use.

[zlatanera]

14 hours ago, Evanescent said:

One day I will be trying out that Rashidi tactic...because a) I'm a Liverpool fan and the scorelines look like even crazier versions of real life and b) any tactic that can get Lisandro Lopez banging in hat-tricks in 2019 is worth a look at.

It's really a wonderful tactic. Like I outlined in my big post - if it wasn't for Bertrand Traore (and to a lesser extent Geubbels and Fekir) going off the boil for an entire month I would have hit 100 points with minimal reinforcements in my 2nd season. Definitely needs a certain set of players to do it though - Liverpool obviously are ideal, with the boost Salah in particular got in the update. Lyon have all the right ingredients - in particular Bertrand Traore is very close to Salah pre-update - but I'm not sure who else I would try it with. Lopez was truly one of the revelations of my entire time on FM18 so far. He seemed greatly diminished when his Pace, Acceleration and Stamina all dropped to 8, yet still came up with the goods in that (admittedly nuts) game after not playing for almost an entire season. Being penalty taker helps - he had 2-3 hat-tricks for me over 2 years and always scored a penalty in them. 

1 hour ago, Evanescent said:

Well I am in 2023 and I've decided to do this. Hopefully the money is put to good use.

Will be very interested to see how this goes! 

Also, a question to everyone managing in France - what are Rennes doing finances-wise? I've seen them on some save making ~£10million transfers and putting players on £80k a week yet in others like my current one their ceiling is ~£20k/week. I know they've had a bit of money pumped in irl but its just interesting to see the disparities in how they act on different saves. 

[aloshajeffers]

@zlatanera Looks like you had another nice season! As much as I hate it I really thing the AF needs looks to beat off side trap, or at least get into opp. area. I really wanted Neymar to play the AF role in my save but he barely got chances. Even Mbappe is limited in effectiveness there, but Cavani is amazing. It seems with the Beat offside trap that the AF regularly will get space in the channel to exploit and will always be a step or so ahead of the defense to get goals/assists. Side note in my save Mbappe at DLF has beens struggling at the beginning of the new season, only 1 league goal in about 7 apps. Cavaniu has stepped up and provided 12 or so in the last 5 games, I guess he wants a new contract!

[zlatanera]

@aloshajeffers yeah Likes To Beat Offside Trap is essential. Traore really came alive once he learned it, we start getting assists from our centre backs (DCB and BPD) and goalkeeper as he'd be making brilliantly timed curving runs in from the right.

I'd probably rank Salah's traits like this in terms of the role: 1. Likes To Beat Offside Trap 2. Places Shots 3. Cuts Inside From Right / Both Wings 4. and 5. Runs With Ball Often and Knocks Ball Past Opponent. 1. is essential, 2. seemed needed as we could easily have scored twice as many if whoever played the position just thought about it a little more, 3. works in tandem with 1. to get the movement I mentioned above. 

I'm hoping I can get Fekir to play this role well for a few years as Traore has gone and Cornet is never going to be good enough for my ambitions, although he is a serviceable squad member. 

[aloshajeffers]

I absolutely love places shots, that and try killer balls are my favorite ppms. So useful. The thing with beat offside trap is that its a massive commitment. While i'm sure having a DLF/F9 with plays offside trap is doable, it basically cuts off the possibility of being a support-type striker. I may try to get Geubbels to learn beat offside trap

[zlatanera]

Yeah I'm being really careful about giving players PPMs in case I need to change their role later on. I'm playing Geubbels as DLF-Su with Moves Into Channels, Cuts Inside From Both Wings and Places Shots (the last one still being trained) as that's Firmino's moves. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Is this Rashidi tactic in the tactics forum on here?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Can someone post the link to the Rashidi tactic in here please, I just looked in the tactics forum and I can't find it.

[aloshajeffers]

I am thinking about starting a save with Marseille. I would aim to dominate France. They’re squad looks decent and has a lot of room to grow. I imagine a decent budget will come soon enough. Maxime Lopez is a great talent(bought him in a West ham game) and he was one of my best players in the short time I had him. I’ll statt a game when I get home and let you know what I think of the squad

[zlatanera]

5 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Is this Rashidi tactic in the tactics forum on here?

 

5 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Can someone post the link to the Rashidi tactic in here please, I just looked in the tactics forum and I can't find it.

So you'll find the base setup and some of the TIs in his posts in the "The Egyptian King" thread in Tactics, Training & Strategies Discussion. Then if you go on his YouTube you can find the rest - I only skimmed through a couple of videos so I don't necessarily have it down fully. He doesn't post full tactics on here so I don't feel like I can. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

 

30 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

 

So you'll find the base setup and some of the TIs in his posts in the "The Egyptian King" thread in Tactics, Training & Strategies Discussion. Then if you go on his YouTube you can find the rest - I only skimmed through a couple of videos so I don't necessarily have it down fully. He doesn't post full tactics on here so I don't feel like I can. 

Ok thank you buddy.

[Evanescent]

That's interesting with the PPMs. I'd rather not train PPMs but if it's necessary I will do it. @zlatanera @aloshajeffers are the Mane/Firmino PPMs a must for AP/DLF? If I were to use this tactic in France, I might try Bordeaux. It would be fun to reach past heights and perhaps Malcom could be a good approximation for Salah.

@Ronaldo Beckham To add onto zlatanera, bustthenet is the YT account, Kop Diaries is the series. Worth watching the whole thing to see how it plays on the match engine and his thoughts/mentality but if you want to grab the tactic quick just watch the last few minutes of the last vid posted (Salah vs Neymar Part 2). He goes through all the Player Instructions quickly and you can grab the team instructions off the screen (team instructions also available in the Egyptian King thread).

[zlatanera]

@Evanescent I don't know how essential they are for AP / DLF - certainly the two players who have performed best in the AP role are Memphis and Gelson Martins who have some ppms in common with Sadio Mane, whilst Fekir was still pretty damn good his traits (Runs With Ball Through Centre & Runs With Ball Often) are not possessed by Mane. Lisandro Lopez performed great as a DLF - his traits were Comes Deep To Get Ball and Plays One-Twos. He's an incredibly intelligent player. Geubbels meanwhile didn't kick on until he'd already gotten Moves Into Channels. But he's also still only 17 as I come to the start of my second season, so it could be because he's improving all the time. 

But as we've mentioned, for the AF role they're really important, as is footedness. You really need a brilliant Inside Forward for the AF role. Footedness may play a part with the AP role - the two best performers have been right-v.strong left-reasonable and right-v.strong left-f.strong whilst Fekir is right-weak left-v.strong. 

[zlatanera]

So I've reached the first game of the 2019/20 season - the glorified pre-season friendly that is the Trophee des Champions! This year taking place at Stade du 4 Août in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso. Ironic venue given I've just sold the most expensive Burkinabe player of all time! 

So since my last update Lisandro López and Jérémy Morel have both retired and joined our backroom staff as Reserves Coach and u19s Assistant Manager, respectively. Our transfers were as follows:

Quite a few outgoings - Marcelo was a fee agreed from last year, Nkoulou and Traore left as I'm refusing to undergo a repeat of the debacle that was missing two starters for a Champions League match due to international games, the latter becoming the most expensive Burkinabe player of all time with the potential to make us more money as he has a percentage of next sale profit clause. Those c.£1000 transfers were youth players with only 1 year on their contracts who will not make the grade. Rafael (29) and Marcal (31) were moved on in order to make space for members of my 'Golden Generation'(s) coming through. Parting with Rafael in particular was tough as he's one of my favourite players, but I remain one of his favoured personnel and if this save goes on long enough I'll bring him onto the coaching staff upon retirement.

Two incomings: RIchard from Internacional, £4.7m for a natural AM(LC) with 5 star potential is not to be sniffed at, he's now been sent on loan to Metz for two years as they seek to qualify for Europe for the third season in a row. 

As I refuse to buy Africans now, my transfer targets have become even more limited, and I had just lost two centre backs. Thus Ruben Dias, with 18 caps by age 22 (he made his international debut before playing for the Benfica first team according to FM, like former Lyon boy Mammana in Argentina) became our 2nd high profile signing from Portugal in 6 months. He has the "Brings Ball Out Of Defence" PPM too which means I finally have my Van Dijk proxy.

Two real life wonderkids (Maxence Caqueret, CM/DM, Oumar Solet, CB/DM) and two 'golden generation' players (Tony Lecarpentier, RB, Thibaut Pagis, LB) step up to be rotation options in the first team. Thus our new ideal 1st eleven is this:

Will this be our year? Or will a slow start rob us again? I can only hope it is the former. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Is there no way of downloading the Rashidi tactic or do we have to do it all ourselves ?

[john1]

43 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Is there no way of downloading the Rashidi tactic or do we have to do it all ourselves ?

If you go to his youtube videos, he posted a 'public tactic' link in the descriptions, you could try that  

[aloshajeffers]

I have started a career mode with Olympique Marseille. They're a team with a lot of History, and getting them back to the pinnacle of Frenceh football will be my goal for the save. I do not plan on instilling any transfer restrictions, however I will be focusing on purchasing players from smaller nations, from france, and developing my own tactic. I have started my season incredibly well with them, and I am surprised just how solid the squad is already. I am using a tactic similar to the Rashidi's, however I do tweak it fairly regularly.

  

SQUAD

Goalkeepers -Mandanda is the definite starter here. at 32 he has some time left at the top. I've been in an Rok Vodisek, an 18 yr old Slovenian for about 500k and he looks like he could potentially be the next Jan Oblak. A verteran Pele and a few decent youth GK round out this area of the team. 

Center Backs - An area of the team that I am not very thrilled about. Quite a few of the options lack in pace and are getting on a bit. Adil Rami is the star here, however he is getting on a bit and already losing some of his pace. Rolando Featured a few times but his 8 acceleration and 10 pace means he kept getting burned in our highl ine system. He will certainly be getting let go of. Abdennour featured once, got a red card, and then I ended his loan. I never really liked hime, and he is incredibly slow. I brought in Ragnar Klavan from liverppol for a cheap loan fee with an option to buy. He has been pretty good. I also purchased Maresic from Storm Gruz. He looks to be an excellent CB prospect. I have loaned him back to them for the year. Homegrown youngster Boubacar Kamara looks set to become a star. He has already featured several times this season, and at 17 he will only improve.  Overall I am happy with choices at CB

Full Backs- An area that we are lacking in depth a bit. Hiroki Sakai has been incredible at RB, and is probably the first name on the team sheet. Past that there is not much RB depth. Boubacar Kamara has had to featured  at RB a few times. At left back there is Jordan Amavi. He will hopefully hold down that flank for years to come. Youngster Rocchia is the back up option. He is homegrown, 19, and already has solid LB stats. Bedimo is the verteran at LB, nothing more than a back up option. In his limited gametime he has been quite good. The fullbacks are solid. I may need some more depth at RB.

Midfield- The heart of our team. Luis Gustavo has been excellent in his defensive midfield role. he is not asked to do anything outrageous. He recycles possession and wins the ball back. Nothing less, nothing more. I am actually pretty fond of him, I managed him in a Wolfsburg save I did last year. Maxime Lopez and Morgan Sanson occupy the more offensive mid roles. They get heavily involved in buildup and chip in with goals/assists. I will hopeully be able to keep them for the next ten years or so. Back up us a bit light. Seritic is a slow, more playmaker type. I have utilized him at CB a few times. Anguissa is a decent rotation option for Gustavo. he has poor vision but makes up for it by being a tough tackler. I bought Xadas from Braga for about $750k and loaned him back. He will be a good rotation option next year. overall I am happy with the midfield.

Attack - Initially I thought my attacking options were limited. The AF role in the tactical setup requires beats offiside trap, and I thought no one had it. I decided to train Thauvin and N'jie the ppm. However after playing a few games, I realized Valere Germain had beats offside trap! So in attack, Florian Thauvin is my DLF(I stopped training beat offside trap). He has been quite decent, but his shoots with power ppm can be frustrating at times. Valere Germain is the first choice for the AF role. He has been immense, and has already scored 11 goals in 12 appearances. Payet has been in great form out wide at AP. The front three have been lethal for me. Mitroglu kicked up a fuss about playing time, so naturally I sold him to stoke for $11 million. N'jie can rotate in attack or AP for now, but once he learns Beat offisde trap he will rotate with Germain. Bounna Sarr will probably be sold, his stats suck and he doesn't make for a good RB option, either. I like having an option for each role, so we are a bit light on DLF support(after mitroglu leaves) and AP. 

Overall I am pleased with the squad. A couple of decent prospects in the Reserves, but nothing to write home about. I will be looking to strengthen the squad via transfer list and maybe even loans(if needed). A new forward will probably necessary for rotation options. I would be willing to sell most players in the squad if the price is right, but i'm not really looking to offload anyone. 

 

 

[Muttley84]

After lurking for a while around the forum, and even starting a career with Niort (getting sacked soon), now I am back and picked Red Star FC. Things are looking a lot better as in December we are second in the National and in the 10th round of the Cup. The only problem is that we are losing money fast. Even though I have kept the wage budget under the max, we are now after 6 months around 1.7 million in the red. Wonder is that is specific to the 3rd league of France or we are doing something wrong? We have the 3rd attendance in the league (around 3k).

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON END OF SEASON 3 UPDATE

So I finished 2nd again, PSG having a massive 26 points gap between Lyon and PSG. I think I will need Neymar to leave them before I win the Ligue 1. 

My best players were again Traore, Etebo and my new signing Malcom from Bordeaux who I bought for a bargain 24m spread over 48 months.

Surprise signing of the season was when my DOF decided to buy Brazilian striker William Pottker for 8.75m and his value went up to 30m straight away, he scored 5 goals in 12 games for me.

I am looking forward to another busy summer, I might try that Rashidi tactic as well and tweak it a bit.

[zlatanera]

3 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

After lurking for a while around the forum, and even starting a career with Niort (getting sacked soon), now I am back and picked Red Star FC. Things are looking a lot better as in December we are second in the National and in the 10th round of the Cup. The only problem is that we are losing money fast. Even though I have kept the wage budget under the max, we are now after 6 months around 1.7 million in the red. Wonder is that is specific to the 3rd league of France or we are doing something wrong? We have the 3rd attendance in the league (around 3k).

Look at your outgoings. Are paying a lot of debt off? Does your club own that 3k attendance stadium? I've never noticed it in France but a lot of European leagues have teams who pay a proportion of gate receipts and/or an annual rent to their stadium's owners, often the local government. 

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

LYON END OF SEASON 3 UPDATE

So I finished 2nd again, PSG having a massive 26 points gap between Lyon and PSG. I think I will need Neymar to leave them before I win the Ligue 1. 

My best players were again Traore, Etebo and my new signing Malcom from Bordeaux who I bought for a bargain 24m spread over 48 months.

Surprise signing of the season was when my DOF decided to buy Brazilian striker William Pottker for 8.75m and his value went up to 30m straight away, he scored 5 goals in 12 games for me.

I am looking forward to another busy summer, I might try that Rashidi tactic as well and tweak it a bit.

What face pack is that you're using? I have so many of my players with faces it frustrates me when I have the occasional one who is blacked out.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I can't remember which pack I am using mate, I just found it on the steam workshop download section.

[zlatanera]

Needless to say the big signing of the summer is performing well so far. We've had our best start yet: 2-0 away at Nice, 5-1 at home vs Amiens, 2-0 away at Niort, 3-1 at home vs Caen. PSG lost on opening day to Rennes as well, but I'm feeling like I may have to be perfect this season if I want to win the league. So I've brought back Abdou Diallo to France from Mainz to partner Dias. 

EDIT: When the board respond to a dreadful loss to Reims (3-1 at home) which ended your 31 game unbeaten run by offering more money  

And then we only went and did this:

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

LYON UPDATE

I finally got round to trying out that Rashidi tactic and it really is worth the hype.

@zlatanera I would look at buying Noah Okafor and have him in the Salah role as he is awesome for me, gets a goal or 2 every game.

Transfers wise it was a quiet pre season for me, I signed Okafor for 10m, a regen for 8m and signed Jesus Valejo on loan.

Outgoings were Mariano, Ketkeo,Farland Mendy, Ellyes Skhiri and Maolida.

22M spent and 30M recouped.

I also got offered the France national team job and I accepted, I drew 1-1 with England in my first game, I am going to use that Rashidi tactic for France as well as Lyon.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@zlatanera  Have you tried Traore in the role Firmino plays for Liverpool as the DLF, he has been amazing for me.

Look at the increase of his attributes in a short period of time.

[TottenhamBoi90]

Paris FC - Season 5 (2021/22)

Ligue 1 - 5th
Europa League - Qtr Finals
French Cup - 9th Round
Coupe De La Ligue - 4th Round

What an adventure! My main aim for this season was to retain European football for a 2nd season either by league qualification or winning a cup but as i drew PSG and Monaco in the first rounds of the domestic cups, my focus was on the league and just to enjoy Europa League. I had to go through 6 qualifying rounds to get into the group stage but i strolled all the way through to the Quarter Finals until Tottenham beat me on away goals. Overall a 58 game season with many ups and downs, twists and turns. I kept winning enough in the league to keep me in European contention but after falling to 9th and losing my game in hand i eventually won my last game to seal 5th so ill go straight into the group stage next season. Im so happy with this season. 

*** Previous season stats were league only, this year is overall.

GK - Gazzaniga was sold for 5m to Everton and Stefanos Kapino was signed for 500k from Atromitos. 7 clean sheets in the league, 14 overall as he beat Gazzaniga's clean sheet record of 11 last season. Conceded 54 in a much improved defence even last seasons 7th place had me nearly bottom in goals conceded but 13th worse this time around much improved. Dilo also left and Lillian Ferrer a youth aggresive style keeper provided the cover. Ferrer had the cup games so only 2 appearances but did quite well considering. 

DR - Wallace was sold for 500k, Pedro Periera returned to Benfica so Petar Golubovic came in for 750k from Vojvodina and also Borja San Emeterio from Sevilla for 1.2m. Both averaged almost a 7 rating at right full back support, quite solid.

DC - Van Den Eynden (Loan) is back after 11 months out and joined by Napoli loanee David Subias who both averaged nearly a 7 rating as well. 2.5m signing from Osmanlispor Atinc Nukan a big 6 ft 5 defender was signed who did rate a 7 was the most impressive signing. 

DL - Mazan had a good season getting 5 assists. Joined by freebie from Braga Pedro Rebocho who provided great cover.

MR - Saint-Louis 12 goals 14 assists, enough said. Lavigne sadly let go and Enoch Mwepu arrived from FC Liefering for 750k and was amazingly Lavigne like. 8 goals 6 assists, Hes a pass master who cant cross and misses quite a few chances as a far post warrior for balls in off the left but considering making him my main winger next season.

AVP - Marc Stendera arrived from Mainz for 750k and got 2 goals 13 assists. He started off so well but i think eventually Gustafson was the better option even though he only returned 1 goal 3 assists. Its my problem position since Bongiovanni left. Issouf Yao a youth prospect played 9 games scoring 1 and creating 1 shown great pace trickery and potential but still only young.

DLP - Josep Calavera signed from Marsielle on loan with an option to buy for 5m. He was amazingly comfortable under pressure, His combination play with left wing and Stendera was immense at time, Iniesta like but i still dont know if i want to pay a record fee for him. Martins Periera was found out abit this season but Daniel Raischl had another productive campaign, A 30 yard volley in April was my goal of the season and he also got player of the month. He also scored 2 on the last day to secure Europa League qualification. Causing me a problem.

ML - Ruben Vinagre (loan) will be permanent next season after securing a move in january. 6 goals 4 assists was unfavoured largely due to freebie signing Georges-Kevin Nkoudou from Tottenham who got 4 goals 9 assists. 

DLF - Julio Villalba (loan) was immense until about january. Linking with Stendera and putting some great balls through for Saint-Louis and Cardona. I went in for him approach to sign only to be stung again as Gladbach triggered a contract extension clause so i think it is unlikely theyll want to loan him again next year but what a season for him. 25 goals in 51 games 8 assists. Talismanic, Theirry Ambrose on the other hand was terrible, cant even get rid of him but Pedro Soares my youth prospect had a loan last season so i gave him some games in Europe off the bench and he played so well i gave him a further 9 appearances in the league. 5 goals 1 assist, Benfica and Porto want him so may look to sell.

AF - Marc Cardona is definately on the decline. 24 goals in 50 with 9 assists doesnt begin to tell you the hole story. Terrible passing and rubbish running behind lead me to panic and sign Ricardo Campos on loan from Juventus who it turns out is much better. Very similar to Saint-Louis preffered striker but best position reccomended is right wing 9 goals 4 assists so i may consider renewing his loan and moving him right for next season as his weak heading ability will i think be expossed with further games upfront. 

Youth Development
Axel Bouchet (AMR) Alban Joly (AML) got a couple of sub appearances.
Anthane Chenine (ST), Diakairdia Fall (ST) Nicolas Poulain (MC) Yann Albert (DC) Salim Chaib (ML) Mohammed Soumah (AMR) all went out on loan, 3 of them to Mirandes a spanish 2nd division side came in for 3 loan signings in january so must love what i am doing. My first season intakes will all be 19/20 next season and alot of them with loan football and some Paris minutes under there belts so will be moved to reserves proper for next season. I am going to keep some spaces open for them as i barely have any french players i am hoping a conveyor belt will start rolling now so by the time they hit 20/21 ill make my decisions on them. 

Next season will see me play 6 games less of European qualifcation so i hope to turn those games into Domestic Cup runs. I believe with a few additions i now have the ability and squad depth so challenge Lyon for 3rd. I finally beat Monaco this season but PSG under Wenger are untouchable. They were unbeaten last year and most of this year which saw them go on a 66 game unbeaten run. I also have a massive bumper 16m transfer budget and 30m in the bank so hopefully can make some long term improvements to club facilities. 

[TottenhamBoi90]

@Muttley84 Boo Red Star lol. Finances need to be so micro managed in the lower leagues in France. Some mistakes i made in Ligue 2 was sacking staff which cost me a bunch of cash just so i could bring in my own proved not needed. In pre-season you could play some matches against larger rep opposition to bring in around 100k a game? Exploit the loop hole of the loan market. 5 loans per season which means that if you renew a loan from last season he doesnt count towards your current allocation enabling you to have 5,10,15 even 20 loans eventually and then try to sign them on frees after, sell and make money. Really just think about how you can generate your own cash and try and blast through to Ligue 1 as quickly as possible.