I called it first -Tottenham Hotspur is going to be OP in FM19

[SD]

So my first save is obviously Spurs and I expected some boosts here and there.

I love Spurs and what they stand for, but the upgrades are just obscene. I played them so much in FM18 I know every player by heart.

Dele, Kane and Eriksen are all world class players now. Eriksen is now a Model Citizen. Dele is a Perfectionist.

Son and Vertonghen got decent CA boosts as well and are now 4 star players. Lloris is pretty much the same CA wise but he is a Model Citizen as well - I expect that will change next update

Trippier and Sanchez got smaller boosts than I expected. Tripper is still not long term 1st team material, despite his last season and the stellar performance at the World Cup.

Winks got a small boost too, but his injury proneness is now deservedly Very High.

Toby had some attributes redistributed, but overall I think he has the same CA - less effective defensively, but better rounded as a player.

Lucas Moura had some attributes rework done as well. His off-foot changed from weak to reasonable, so I'm thinking the CA stayed the same, just some attributes went down to make up for it.

Lamela, Rose, Davies,  Wanyama, Sissoko and Llorente stayed more or less the same. I expected Rose to be nerfed hard, but judging by his recent matches it seems the Spurs researcher predicted well last season was just a slump in form after his long term injury.

Reserves-wise there's nothing spectacular. Jack Roles seems to have gotten a PA downgrade. Janssen was changed little compared to what I expected. Onomah, Edwards, Walker-Peters I expect them to have similar potential to FM18.

Youth team has plenty of new names. Oliver Skipp is still the most promising talent, but overall there's better talent than last year. Obviously these players have variable PA and some I reckon some blank attribute fields so your mileage may vary.

 

Overall Spurs look much better this FM and they will probably be a forum favorite to play an academy challenge. A couple of elite first teamers who are also amazing tutors, superb facilities, enough money to keep your players and decent talent in the youth squads to get started(no world class potential, though, by the looks of it)

[treble_yell_:-)]

I couldn't get Kane to perform at all last year , his 2 ppms are problematic to how I want to play.

 

Eriksen looks ridiculousy good this year though.

[SD]

1 hour ago, treble_yell_:-) said:

I couldn't get Kane to perform at all last year , his 2 ppms are problematic to how I want to play.

 

Eriksen looks ridiculousy good this year though.

He's done well for me in FM18. I mostly played him as DLF, either alone on attack duty or on support duty partnered with Dele playing SS from behind.

But he can play just about anything in the right setup, he did well as a Poacher when up against a box four defence, as a F9 up against big, static defenders.

It's very tempting to use him as a lone CF and it's a trap I fell into myself, but roaming instructions are terrible for key roles such as a lone forward.

[SD]

In other news, the City/Roma monopoly on Model Citizens has been broken, and a few dozen players are rated as such.

I'm curious to see how the new mentoring system works, I'm thinking it has to be less effective than tutoring otherwise the glut of model citizens would break the game in the hands of the human player.

[SwedenYid]

How has the game interpreted this summer's transfer window? Is there loads of cash to splash or are they considered 'broke'? 

[Lambo95]

2 hours ago, SwedenYid said:

How has the game interpreted this summer's transfer window? Is there loads of cash to splash or are they considered 'broke'? 

I got £27m to spend, not really enough to bring in anybody of note 

[SwedenYid]

1 hour ago, Lambo95 said:

I got £27m to spend, not really enough to bring in anybody of note 

Cheers 

[SupraFlush]

5 hours ago, Lambo95 said:

I got £27m to spend, not really enough to bring in anybody of note 

There are plenty of players you could buy for that. Lucas Paqueta, Sandro Tonali or Antonio Marin all look like they have great potential and all cheaper than £27m

[Lambo95]

16 minutes ago, SupraFlush said:

There are plenty of players you could buy for that. Lucas Paqueta, Sandro Tonali or Antonio Marin all look like they have great potential and all cheaper than £27m

My scouts didn’t do a great job of finding players like that. Ended up signing Kramer from Gladbach as midfield cover and have Marin coming in January. 

[SupraFlush]

53 minutes ago, Lambo95 said:

My scouts didn’t do a great job of finding players like that. Ended up signing Kramer from Gladbach as midfield cover and have Marin coming in January. 

Fair enough. Kramer looks decent so i doubt you will be too disappointed with him.

[SD]

One of the downsides to this update is that unless you're willing to pay £9.5m, you'll be stuck with Jesus Perez as your assistant manager for the next 5 years. But at least his attributes are decent and his tactical preferences and tendencies are a good match for the possession tactics I'm thinking everyone will use with Spurs.

 

[mrhmw2]

Perez salary (and Toni Jiminez) are being fixed in a update so you will be able to get rid for a more reasonable amount :) 

[plcarlos]

Paqueta is good, and in range of what you can buy. I also got Dennis Man cheap. I got a backup striker from Atlanta, His name evades me though at the moment.

It remains to be seen what happens with Injuries, at the moment, but could need some big depth for this year:

Dembele\Winks\Lamela\Rose are all injury prone, so when i hit long term save, i'll be looking to factor this in.

I sold Sissoko (Never have rated him), who goes for very little, but want him off the wage bill. This leads to pre-concern over midfield depth - Probably a big part of this is Winks\Dembele\Wanyama starting injured.

I got close to asking prices for Llorente, Gazzaniga, GKN to fund a few more signings

Upgrading the staff is tricky, as despite agreeing terms\comp, coaches seem more loyal to their clubs this version. I'm still to finish U23\U18 staff with this.

I always sell a few players at Spurs - Aurier (I swear this guy is sleep walking at times), Wanyama - BWM who gets too many bookings\suspensions.

I don't know if world cup players being out of match practice is a bug yet (I've asked this a few times in the beta feedback thread - should they not be fatigued? They played during summer, so should not be the same level of match sharpness that the rested players are IMHO), but that also plays a part in a poor pre-season training camp, as it's got to be filled with Youth\U23 players....

[SD]

On 22/10/2018 at 07:32, plcarlos said:

Dembele\Winks\Lamela\Rose are all injury prone, so when i hit long term save, i'll be looking to factor this in.

You can add Vertonghen and Wanyama to the list - Spurs have quite a few injury prone players, but it didn't seem to be a problem in FM18 and so far I've been lucky in FM19 as well.

On 22/10/2018 at 07:32, plcarlos said:

I sold Sissoko (Never have rated him), who goes for very little, but want him off the wage bill.

In FM18 I played with first window budgets turned off so i was stuck with him for half a season and he did surprisingly well.

Depends how little was very little, but instead of selling him for nothing I loaned him out to Wolves for the season for 100% wages and 200k p/m fee. He'll be third choice behind Neves and Moutinho, so ideally he'll get some game time enough to spark more interest next summer window.

On 22/10/2018 at 07:32, plcarlos said:

I got close to asking prices for Llorente, Gazzaniga, GKN to fund a few more signings

Sold Llorente to Newcastle for 3.6m, but with a 26k p/w wage contribution. Gazzaniga went to Torino for 3m. GKN went to Blackburn for 7.5m and 10k p/w wage contribution.

On 22/10/2018 at 07:32, plcarlos said:

Aurier (I swear this guy is sleep walking at times)

He was nerfed a bit this update, he's still a good player in FM. I did end up selling him so I can give Walker-Peters more game time, we went to Barcelona for 17.5m upfront plus 5m after 20 int caps.

On 22/10/2018 at 07:32, plcarlos said:

Wanyama - BWM who gets too many bookings\suspensions

His injury proneness is very high now and that's really bad for a midfield destroyer who's supposed to get stuck in, but I still find him a useful player to have around. You can't go wrong if you sell him, either.

[D_Walcott14]

On 19/10/2018 at 11:56, Lambo95 said:

I got £27m to spend, not really enough to bring in anybody of note 

Yeah I agree its not such, but I still managed to buy some quality players:

Pavon(10mil) rw/lw

almiron (5mil) cm/cam

rajkovic(4mil)-I only bought him as a back up gk, as I sold vorm

markovic(2mil)cb-I only really bought him as a back up, but hes got decent PA.

 

I was hoping to try and get either joao felix, gedson fernandes or ruben dias next year from benfica, but all of benficas players are SO overpriced!

Gedson requested to leave, but they put his asking price at 60mil! Stupid!

[SD]

4 minutes ago, D_Walcott14 said:

I was hoping to try and get either joao felix, gedson fernandes or ruben dias next year from benfica, but all of benficas players are SO overpriced!

Gedson requested to leave, but they put his asking price at 60mil! Stupid!

Yeah, I'm also keeping tabs on Joao Felix, but it's unlikely I'd get him for less than the 54m clause he has.

It's frustrating, but AI's strategy makes sense and the prices are well in line with real life.

[plcarlos]

Some good options here - So on a long term, could well be worth selling Vorm\Gaz, buying a replacement backup as well (Rajkovic has always been a good option). there is a free young goalkeeper floating round call Rus  - He's one to develop, but a decent shot stopper (13) - He'd get loaned out once ready for me, and sold on for a profit later on.

In the Beta, Vorm is Declining already (Partly due to Lloris playing all the time, but still...)

@SD Aurier will always be on my sell list - This guy makes costly mistakes in FM consistently for me, and I'm waiting for the next one IRL as well.

Jan's not been so Injury-prone for me, so I'm Lucky on that front - Toby and Jan have played most, with rotation, and rotation of Subs allowing me to get away with both being paired up so far.

I forgot - I got Ntcham to replace Sissoko - Young box-box, and also Home-Grown, He's done well for me, mainly as Dembele\Winks\Wanyama have been crocked from the start.

The Striker i got was Joseff Martinez £4.5M, although high wages. Has scored a few so far, and i'm not getting Kane firing that much so far.

Wages and finances may be an issue, with so many who will be asking for a rise, especially factoring how FM likes to have players ask every 8 months or so... I've only made the one promise so far to Toby.

 

[SD]

1 hour ago, plcarlos said:

there is a free young goalkeeper floating round call Rus  - He's one to develop, but a decent shot stopper (13) - He'd get loaned out once ready for me, and sold on for a profit later on.

One thing to keep in mind is that development is a lot slower and less sure-fire in FM19. I'd be more wary about replacing first-teamers with young prospects, as it may be years before these prospects reach the same level, if they do at all.

1 hour ago, plcarlos said:

I forgot - I got Ntcham to replace Sissoko - Young box-box, and also Home-Grown, He's done well for me, mainly as Dembele\Winks\Wanyama have been crocked from the start.

I myself got Lucas Paqueta, he's this year's Arthur. Young cheap Brazilian wizard, first team ability and lots of potential, you can get him for around 17-18m inc agent's fee.

1 hour ago, plcarlos said:

The Striker i got was Joseff Martinez £4.5M, although high wages. Has scored a few so far, and i'm not getting Kane firing that much so far.

If you're going to restart your save for the full release, take a look at Viktor Fischer - his attributes are very well rounded and you can get him for about 4.5m and 60k p/w wages. As soon as I signed him his value shot up to 26m, so even if he flops you can still turn a nice profit on him. And he's mutual friends with Eriksen(that's how I found him).

1 hour ago, plcarlos said:

Jan's not been so Injury-prone for me, so I'm Lucky on that front - Toby and Jan have played most, with rotation, and rotation of Subs allowing me to get away with both being paired up so far.

Last, if you can raise some cash by selling some unwanted players, you can sign de Ligt for about 30m and solve your defence problems for the next decade.

[Farcas80]

 

My first season transfers. Seems like I am not alone in wanting to get rid of Sissoki as soon as possible.....

Lamela played really well for me up until the second transfer window. Wanted to keep him but had no chance when Real Madrid came knocking on Levy`s door (again)

[plcarlos]

Yeah, Lamela plays well for me in most saves. I think it was 17 where I had the 20+ goals from alll of the front 3.

Sissoko is a player we'd like to get rid of IRL as well, so no wonder we all get rid... He's also on 80K, At the start of the game, wages are a limiting factor, so it's an easy win.

@SD - That keeper is know-where near, it's partly for me to test out Mentoring, to see how it impacts. He's free, and on a low wage, not expecting game time, so a good win. He's settled in now, so I'm hoping to see how it all pans out later.

Fischer is a good shout, cheap, and will be good to rotate - As you say, easy to turn a profit.

De Ligt needs to be picked ASAP, as someone comes in for him at the start.

@Farcas80 - Your screen gives me some good hope - They are a lot of the players I'm looking to move on. I just need to refine my targets (November in game for me so far)

[pauly15]

Lamela is king:  

 

[artemshitov]

Sissoko had played surprisingly well for me before he got sold - 7.47 on average in 11 games. I also keep Wanyama as a rotational BBM/BWM in my third season, use him when I need that extra muscle in midfield (rated 7.07 in 25 games in 2019/20).

I had success with signing Rugani to replace ageing Vertonghen: he consistently scores goals from corners. Missed on De Ligt transfer. I also used to sign Jesus Vallejo in FM18, but it seems he has been nerfed.

Had to say goodbye to Dele. I loved the guy in FM18, but he was bitching about wanting a new contract to the press. No problem, Man City paid me €95M (€105M) for him, and I signed James Rodriguez on a free transfer in 2020 instead. The guy is a beast, with 17-19 in corners, crossing, first touch, long shots, technique, anticipation, composure, decisions, flair, and vision. My best free signing in a long time. Seems like he just goes from loan to loan every year until Real just releases him.

As many people here, I got Antonio Marin and even started him often but then realised he doesn't have useful attribute distribution for me. A good dribbler, but with mediocre crossing, finishing, passing, decisions and vision. Can run with the ball but not create anything or finish.

Lucas Paqueta turned out solid for the money he costs.

[SD]

31 minutes ago, artemshitov said:

Sissoko had played surprisingly well for me before he got sold - 7.47 on average in 11 games. I also keep Wanyama as a rotational BBM/BWM in my third season, use him when I need that extra muscle in midfield (rated 7.07 in 25 games in 2019/20).

I had success with signing Rugani to replace ageing Vertonghen: he consistently scores goals from corners. Missed on De Ligt transfer. I also used to sign Jesus Vallejo in FM18, but it seems he has been nerfed.

Had to say goodbye to Dele. I loved the guy in FM18, but he was bitching about wanting a new contract to the press. No problem, Man City paid me €95M (€105M) for him, and I signed James Rodriguez on a free transfer in 2020 instead. The guy is a beast, with 17-19 in corners, crossing, first touch, long shots, technique, anticipation, composure, decisions, flair, and vision. My best free signing in a long time. Seems like he just goes from loan to loan every year until Real just releases him.

As many people here, I got Antonio Marin and even started him often but then realised he doesn't have useful attribute distribution for me. A good dribbler, but with mediocre crossing, finishing, passing, decisions and vision. Can run with the ball but not create anything or finish.

Lucas Paqueta turned out solid for the money he costs.

FM Sissoko gets a lot bad rep from RL Sissoko.

RL Sissoko keeps getting a lot of bad rep from 1st season RL Sissoko.

[Farcas80]

RL Sissoko have actually played decent the last few games. Too bad we`ve got nothing to show for it though..

[tobybilton1]

De Ligt and Pablo Fornals my first signings with Spurs all with the challenging £27m.

That does get a boost from the board come December and finally struck out a deal for Paqueta after numerous disagreements with his agent. Think he cost me around 25m inc agent fees. 

Agreed to sell Lamela to Napoli at end of season and got the £22m immediately, allowing me to sign Everton. Loaned Fornals to Everton for game time second half of season.

Bit of a nuisance Son misses so much time with the Asian games both at start of season and in Jan. Heavy rotation also necessary with the intense tactics. Second in the league in Feb and still in UCL and FA Cup. COYS.

[CaptainSa]

Can't get Paqueta now - his confirmed transfer to AC Milan is now in the game.

Also I kind of disagree with the OPs assertion. You don't have enough money to strengthen without selling and for the AI at least, Spurs under perform just as much as Arsenal do - in both played saves and saves started in mid december using the Brazil start date, Spurs never seem to challenge for the title and often are out of the top 6 entirely.