[FM19] Manchester United

[stevemc]

Is this the worst type of Brexit?

[zlatanera]

24 minutes ago, stevemc said:

Is this the worst type of Brexit?

Wait until it gives all the formal details.

Interestingly, on my save Brexit isn't happening until 24/6/2020

[stevemc]

Just now, zlatanera said:

Wait until it gives all the formal details.

Interestingly, on my save Brexit isn't happening until 24/6/2020

is there a chance that report can change then? As the news item said it was just a "report".

[zlatanera]

12 minutes ago, stevemc said:

is there a chance that report can change then? As the news item said it was just a "report".

No there'll definitely be some sort of work permit system, but the full breakdown will tell you the more precise details which lets you know how bad of a Brexit it is.

[stevemc]

Beat City away in the EFL cup; enjoyed it so much we went back and did them in the league too

 

God bless Lukaku

[sedge11]

In the summer for the 3rd season, and I have struck up a deal for this man.

He would cost 300k a week in wages for 2-3 year contract.

I wasn't planning on buying a striker as I'm quite happy with Rashford and Belotti, but tried a cheeky bid. I don't like buying old players, he will be 32 by start of season but he's quality.

What to do????

[zlatanera]

@sedge11

[scott MUFC]

well. picking up where I left off....

[MINTED BLOB]

It's been a hugely successful second season for me at United. Managed not only to beat arch rivals Liverpool in the final to win the club's fourth Champions League title but also became only the second team ever to take home a golden Premier League trophy, having finished the season unbeaten. 

As can be seen, we also took home the Community Shield with a 2-1 victory over Tottenham. Meanwhile, we suffered an extremely disappointing defeats to Hull City and Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup respectively. Still, a fantastic season all round for the club. 

It was a largely successful season for me as far as transfers were concerned. Having had a fairly frugal 2018/19 season, I decided to invest fairly heavily in order to bolster my title winning squad from the previous season and all three of the big money signings (Sancho, Jorginho and Fernandes) enjoyed terrific first seasons at the club. Erling Haland's talents are yet to be tested properly at the club, having made only 5 substitute appearances this season, whilst Tammy Abraham was really only loaned to further bolster my striking options following Sandro Wagner's departure, meaning that his performances were generally of little concern to me. 

Undoubtedly, though, the star of the show this season was midfield superstar Paul Pogba. The Frenchman netted a stunning 19 goals for the club including 17 in the league (5 of which were penalties but still), topping that off with 4 assists. It was perhaps the most dominant performance from a central midfielder since Yaya Toure's 2013/14 season, and now I hope to fend off interest from Real Madrid and tie him down to a new contract. 

Tactically I made very few changes from last season. In fact, the only alterations came not in formation or player roles but in team instructions. Following two rocky months in September and October, in which the club won just twice in ten attempts, I decided to instruct my players to counter press when out of possession, and for the tactic utilised against weaker opposition I further instructed them to pass it shorter whilst in possession. Both of these switches seemed to bring about fantastic results. 

TACTIC FOR WEAKER SIDES:

TACTIC FOR STRONGER SIDES: 

It's now quite tricky to decide what to do next summer. I'm considering investing heavily in a new attacking midfielder, with Sanchez's powers having dwindled significantly this season and Lingard performing fairly poorly in the role as well. A replacement for Nemanja Matic might also be required, with any further transfers being heavily dependant on any offers I might receive for some of my players and further on whether or not any players decide they want to leave the club. 

[stevemc]

Literally thought the goal was never coming...

[b101]

Ended up winning the treble of Prem, CL (and Carabao Cup) after a great showing in the CL semis, beating Barca in both legs and the final, dispatching Real 2-0 with goals from two of our main men this season in Pogba and Lukaku. Sanchez came properly good over the course of the season, keeping Martial and Rashford out of the side pretty easily. Both CB signings (Dias and Kimpembe) were also utterly outstanding and well worth the purchases. I'd recommend Kimpembe if you can only go for one, but both have potential left to fill out . Otherwise, most of the youngsters got a good number of games - Greenwood, Chong and Gomes all got between 20 and 30 with equal numbers of starts and sub appearances. I think I will try to retrain Fred to a RB/LB as he's not going to get a game in midfield and I'll accept any good offers coming in for Herrera/Mata/maybe even Sanchez, who are blocking off a few of the youngsters.

Kimpembe:

Ruben Dias:

Sanchez:

Pogba: 

Lukaku:

 

[stevemc]

Sold Fellaini to Newcastle United.

Fellaini's debut:

[sedge11]

So the summer is done and here are my transfers for the 3rd season.

So yes I signed Lewandowski on a 2 year deal with the option of a 3rd. I probably could of got more for the players I sold, but it's hardly like the club needs the money so I weren't too bothered.

We are still abit light in the fullback area but couldn't find anyone I wanted just to use as a back up so Lee O'Connor is the back up, plus Ethan Laird will probably get used as well as and when needed. With Lewandowski signing, I sent Greenwood back out on loan for 1 more season, plus I also sent my regen Jake Ellis out on loan and they will both be in the 1st team from the 4th season.

So I have 2 tactics for this season. The 1st one has been my main one throughout the save. I did have a 4-2-3-1 as my 2nd formation but with Lewandowski signing, I changed it to a 2 up front.

 

We have had a good start, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the community shield with Lewandowski scoring a late winner.

[BigV]

1 hour ago, sedge11 said:

So I have 2 tactics for this season. The 1st one has been my main one throughout the save

How is your right side doing in terms of the role of winger? I've tried using lingard there but doesn't do great as a winger, but as an inside forward he's fairly decent. Got mata doing mad passes as an IF on the right like a similar role to david silva/Bernardo silva. How does the lower defensive line work against opposition in comparison to the engagement line as mine on higher would result in more possession but less shots and long periods of game being too forward but on standard they work like forwards and do their stuff as the opposition forces their defensive line forward. 

Skriniar and koulibaliy omg, that solid defence reminds me of vidic and rio aggression and composure. 

[scott MUFC]

seriously?

 

[axehan1]

I've started a new save after 5 seasons.I do the same every year,give it a few seasons and then this will see me through till FM20.

First season transfers in/out.

The big standout obviously is Asensio,£30m upfront and 6 yearly instalments of £20m.Chiesa slots straight in on the right wing,De Light will rotate during this first season and then be no.1 choice thereafter, the same for Tonali, he'll get regular game time this season and then he should push for a regular 1st team slot from next season.Kevin Mbabu from Young Boys is a great signing for such a low fee,only 23 and he has good attributes, he'll rotate with Dalot.

The aim is to bring Gomes,Chong and Greenwood through and get them playing regular first team football in the hope they'll be 1st team regulars, I've had Greenwood in all the 1st team squads for the first 8 games of the season and he's getting minutes here and there.

First save,I didn't use Sanchez,loaned him out and then eventually sold him to an American club, this time round he's going to be rotated with Martial on the left and they have both started well with goals already, Sanchez has 7 in 8 and Martial has 6 in 7.Rashford is the main striker,Lukaku will get enough minutes so that he doesn't complain but he'll be gone in the summer.

In midfield,Pogba plays in the DLP position(Matic sots in when I want to rest him), Ander is the main B2B(Fred plays when he needs a rest).

In defence Lindelöf and Bailly are the starters for the season(de Light getting decent game time),Smalling was the first person to complain about game time and he has a transfer arranged to Monaco in Jan for £10.25m.Luke Shaw is my LB with Young slotting in and Mbabu and Dalot will rotate on the right.

A strong start to the season, 23 goals scored and 7 against(3 of those against Chelsea in a ding dong 4-3 win).

I got lucky in the Champions League with Lokomotiv Moscow(top seeds),Roma and Hoffenheim.

We went to Roma and won 2-0 in game 1 and beat Moscow at home 6-1 in game 2.

One more thing, Marco Asensio is an absolute beast,7 goals in 8 premier league games with 3 assists,his long range shooting is devastating, if you can afford him then get him.

 

[axehan1]

[b101]

9 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

And I can't get him to score any   

[BigV]

3 hours ago, axehan1 said:

How does one go attacking and play at lower tempo, I don't get this game sometimes. They claim it to wanting to be more realistic but shouldn't playing attacking football be played at a "good" pace and not something "lvg's united" did... I'm guessing this is a form of possession football? Also what are your passing ranges? because the descriptions states there's more "direct balls" which I assume is to do with more long balls rather than through balls which would focus on your right side heavily due to the winger role. 

 

1 hour ago, b101 said:

And I can't get him to score any

Same, for some reason he's my assister on attack duty, he literally just cuts across the byline and creates tap ins for likes of rashford and mata, his dribbling at 19 is unreal but quite useless in this ME

Edited December 29, 2018 by BigV

[b101]

End of season one and on the same day, I get offers for PSG (£69m) for De Gea and Barca (£78m) for Pogba. Both players want to have the bids accepted - Pog still wants to leave and De Gea won't renew his contract beyond the 2020 extension... Eepa. Really stupid of me not locking De Gea down earlier but I just totally forgot.

[sedge11]

11 hours ago, BigV said:

How is your right side doing in terms of the role of winger? I've tried using lingard there but doesn't do great as a winger, but as an inside forward he's fairly decent. Got mata doing mad passes as an IF on the right like a similar role to david silva/Bernardo silva. How does the lower defensive line work against opposition in comparison to the engagement line as mine on higher would result in more possession but less shots and long periods of game being too forward but on standard they work like forwards and do their stuff as the opposition forces their defensive line forward. 

Skriniar and koulibaliy omg, that solid defence reminds me of vidic and rio aggression and composure. 

The winger role has been doing great. In the 1st season it was abit hit and miss but Lingard did well, Sanchez and Mata were ok but struggled at times, but brought in Leon Bailey for that role and he had a great season in season 2 as you can see below.

He also won young player of the year in the prem. Angel Gomes has also performed well in that role or as a Trequartista on the right.

The lower defensive line and higher engagement seems to work well from what I can tell, we keep a fair amount of clean sheets and always have plenty of shots, the only thing is we pretty much always lose the possession stat and against some of the bigger teams we concede quite a few chances, so has been something I looking at maybe altering.

Yea very happy with that defence, I brought Koulibaly in season 2 and he was brilliant and it was a toss up between them two on who I brought at the time, and I wanted another centre half for season 3 and looked at players like Sule and Upamecano but thought why not just combine Skriniar with Koulibaly. Hopefully be an incredible partnership.

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, b101 said:

End of season one and on the same day, I get offers for PSG (£69m) for De Gea and Barca (£78m) for Pogba. Both players want to have the bids accepted - Pog still wants to leave and De Gea won't renew his contract beyond the 2020 extension... Eepa. Really stupid of me not locking De Gea down earlier but I just totally forgot.

I just always say to both of them that they are leaders and can't afford to lose them, works every time.

[b101]

2 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I just always say to both of them that they are leaders and can't afford to lose them, works every time.

Thankfully, both did renew their contracts in any case - cost a fair bit, but they are two of the very few players I absolutely can't afford to lose. Squad now looking perhaps over-stocked at certain positions (backups in brackets):

GK: De Gea (Henderson/Pereira)

DR: Dalot (Valencia for now, then Fosu-Mensah)
DC: Kimpembe (Bailly)
DC: Dias (Bailly) - perhaps need one more CB
DL: Shaw (Tymon)

MC: Milinkovic-Savic (Florentino Luis / Tonali)
MC: Pogba (Herrera)
AMR: Mata (Chong/Greenwood)
AMC: Asensio (Gomes / Joao Felix - loaned to Bournemouth for one season)
AML: Alexis (Martial)

ST: Lukaku (Rashford/Fabio Silva)

---

Joao Felix going on loan is purely because I think he needs to play every game if possible and I'm hoping Bournemouth will give him that. I'm trying to sell off Fred as well. I think we'll see Sanchez, Mata and Lukaku head off in the next few seasons, which should open up spots for the youngsters to start getting more game time. Also spent this summer scouting just about every new young player, before buying in the following prospects, all of whom look pretty awesome:

AMC - Josep Maria Alvarez - Barcelona (£22m - release clause). Highest scout rating I've ever seen at 94 and he just looks immense.

GK - Anthony Owino - £7.75m from Genk. Long term replacement for De Gea.

DC - Yassine Jelassi - £7.25m from Lyon. Hard to find any DCs on this save and it'll be good to have a developmental prospect to rotate behind Dias and Kimpembe. And he's just 15!

ST - Mickael Theys - £6.5m from Anderlecht. Good looking Deep Lying Forward type, which we just don't have in our squad. Need to develop his Passing and Vision though.

AMR - Tim Mulder - £5.25m from Willem II. Pretty much just bought because I rarely find wingers with high potential. Lots to develop, but decent raw pace, flair and dribbling are good to work with.

---

So, yeah, we're looking good!

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by b101

[axehan1]

How do you find the regens mate?a particular filter system or do you just go through all the clubs until you find someone?

[b101]

39 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

How do you find the regens mate?a particular filter system or do you just go through all the clubs until you find someone?

Go through all clubs in the top leagues, basically (I do England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland and then a few major clubs like Dinamo, Hajduk etc). It takes a lot less time than you'd think after the game has made it easier to scout lots of players quickly. Easy steps to follow:

1. Go to transfer centre for any team in the league you choose (e.g. Newcastle below) and change the filter to 'Youth' at the top
2. Click one player then press CTRL + A to highlight them all, and scout.
3. Then just cycle through the teams using the up/down arrow to the right of the team badge and repeat. 

After that, scouts come back with loads of reports and I just discard anyone under 50 until they have finished scouting those to give us a selection. One suggestion is not just to buy based on the scout's rating, as they rate a few players ridiculously high in spite of their poor attributes. I try to find a mix of the two - there were a few better striker options on potential than Theys, but his attribute spread mean that he would complement Greenwood/Fabio Silva better than some of the other players the scouts found.

Happy hunting!

[Smaldini]

First season I've actually completed on FM19, having started then restarted several times since the beta. After struggling in early Autumn (which included three straight league losses & League Cup elimination via penalty shootout at the hands of Liverpool) we ended up winning the title fairly comfortably. To my surprise, we won the treble, beating Bournemouth in the FA Cup & Liverpool in the Champions League finals. 

We were very busy in the transfer windows, signing players for the first team & some talented youngsters, including a couple of really good newgens that spawned at the start of the save (will post screens later). Unfortunately my boy Gronli appears to have low potential on this file so I didn't bring him in. It was difficult to attract decent offers for Darmian too so I ended up chucking him into the deal for Milenkovic.

Didn't want to sell Lingard but that offer was too good to turn down. I wasn't planning on signing Tierney in the first season, but a couple of our rivals had bids accepted for him and I got jealous. Worth pointing out that they were bidding £30m up front with £12m in add-ons; so when I left Orlandelli to handle the transfer you can understand why I was fuming with the offer he made. 

I'm guessing Mata's inclusion in the TOTS is based on his form on loan at Madrid, because he was useless for us. Lukaku missed 5 months with a broken leg, so I was pleased that Martial and Rashford could both reach 20 goals, I think Memphis chipped in with 15 give or take too. Despite Smalling making that lineup I prefer Lindelof alongside Milenkovic. Smalling's agent has been really greedy in contract negotiations & also demanding I make him a key player, so it looks like Chris will be leaving on a free. I do have Pavard arriving, Tuanzebe is back and I really want him to be a success after failing to do so on FM18; and RoShaun Williams averaged 7.10 in about 17 appearances (including starting every FA Cup game)...so Smalling won't be missed, but I think I might have to switch to a back three if I'm going to keep everyone happy.

My other plans for next season are to loan out Gomes who made about 20 appearances but only averaged 6.60, I want to strengthen the right flank some more because Berardi hasn't been too impressive since he arrived and Sanchez is too injury prone. I know I have a decent amount of talented wingers/inside forwards at the club, but after the way Gomes struggled I don't think I want to rush the likes of Chong, Marin, Kaastrup etc. I'm going to try and get Rojo, Mata, Matic & McTominay off the wage bill, and I'm open to selling Bailly, Fred, Alexis and Lukaku if I get any decent offers. 

[Chapman7]

On 28/12/2018 at 19:34, b101 said:

Pogba: 

 

How you playing Pogba that's some goals return!

[stevemc]

EFL cup in the bag...

[zlatanera]

All you guys selling Lingard are mugs...one of most reliable performers I've had across the past 3 versions of FM. 

This was my reward for playing in the Club World Cup - 3 games in 6 days at the end of the season. Luckily we'd clinched the title on the previous Sunday (a reserve team demolishing Fulham). Which meant we clinched it whilst we had 3 games left and every team who isn't in the above graphic had played 37 games.

[BigV]

10 hours ago, sedge11 said:

The winger role has been doing great. In the 1st season it was abit hit and miss but Lingard did well, Sanchez and Mata were ok but struggled at times, but brought in Leon Bailey for that role and he had a great season in season 2 as you can see below.

He also won young player of the year in the prem. Angel Gomes has also performed well in that role or as a Trequartista on the right.

The lower defensive line and higher engagement seems to work well from what I can tell, we keep a fair amount of clean sheets and always have plenty of shots, the only thing is we pretty much always lose the possession stat and against some of the bigger teams we concede quite a few chances, so has been something I looking at maybe altering.

Yea very happy with that defence, I brought Koulibaly in season 2 and he was brilliant and it was a toss up between them two on who I brought at the time, and I wanted another centre half for season 3 and looked at players like Sule and Upamecano but thought why not just combine Skriniar with Koulibaly. Hopefully be an incredible partnership.

Ahhh cool, I think inside forwards are somewhat ishy rn for me anyway, they don't seem to perform and my CM's are ones dictating the games outcome. I've trained gomes on the left you see and he's brilliant, in cup games he's an absolute machine for some reason. Ahaha well that partnership is unreal and would be amazing to see in reality at United

@Smaldini could you post your tactics please, would love to see how you're playing

34 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

All you guys selling Lingard are mugs

Seriously?!?! you can sell him for like 70 mill and sort the whole team out, suso/thauvin is miles better than lingard, if you're going winger role chiesa is unreal for 20/21 yrs old. 

[zlatanera]

49 minutes ago, BigV said:

Seriously?!?! you can sell him for like 70 mill and sort the whole team out, suso/thauvin is miles better than lingard, if you're going winger role chiesa is unreal for 20/21 yrs old. 

Not disputing the thing about Chiesa, or Thauvin - Suso seems a different type of player though. But where are you going to find a guy who can play anywhere on the wings, AM, or even ST / CM when re-trained, is highly professional, homegrown at the club and neither injury prone or card-happy? Nowhere, and certainly not for £70m. 

I don't tell other people how to play the game, but that's my opinion. 

[zlatanera]

2019/20 Season!

Fernandes came in as my 5th DM (3rd choice), he's incredibly versatile - can also slot in at DR/AMR competently and is yellow in a bunch of other positions, and Memphis came in to be 3rd striker, although Lukaku staying meant he saw more time at LM: ghosts of peak Cristiano  Ronaldo when he would cut in and blast it from the edge of the box. Rulli is an ideal backup GK as he's a Model Professional, and I knew I could get him for half of Romero's value. Semedo replaced Valencia to rotate with Dalot, he came cheap and is only on £80k/week. Havertz backs up Mata (a really frivolous purchase given how Mata isn't slowing down and Pereira is outstanding, but with 105 apps to his name aged 20 he's proven quality and can make the position his own for a decade). Marin was an impulse buy - I've kept him for 6 months so hopefully his welcoming period will help his personality, then he'll be loaned out to make money (not that we need any with £247m for transfers and £638k for wages). 

Villarreal didn't activate their £32.5m option on Bailly and we managed to get much more from Benfica, so that worked out. I posted about it before but getting rid of Sanchez for £64m after a season with £200k/month payments for the loan, even with us on the hook for £245k/week wages for the loan season, was a great deal. He played great for Napoli, but Memphis, Thomas and Lingard were much better for much less money. Jones went to Inter for £160k/month plus 100% of wages then £20m at the end of the season - given his contract expires then, and he missed around 4 months with injuries this was an even better deal than Sanchez.

An outstanding season in which we were only shut out once (1-0 away loss to Liverpool) saw us break our own points record, and fall short of Aston Villa's 1930/31 goal record by only 6 strikes. Man City's points record eludes us - a project for next year, perhaps. Our goal difference of 104 has got to be a record though, and De Gea managed to keep 25 clean sheets whilst Martial topped the goal charts with 24 of his 33 coming in the league. We lost away to Newcastle, 3-1, which is an exact halting of the goals on both sides from last season - Lee Johnson took over from Rafa this season and I dread what he'd too to me with a good team.

As with last season I played reserve lineups throughout the League Cup. I was surprised at our dominance over Chelsea and Spurs (we played Southampton in January due to the Club World Cup), 8 days after beating us in the league Liverpool again got the win, this time in heartbreaking fashion as Isco won it in the 88th minute.

We definitely had an easy set of draws, but winning the F.A. Cup whilst only conceding 1 goal is nothing to be sniffed at. Weirdly some of my players didn't get medals - Lukaku made 3 starts and 1 sub appearance yet didn't get one because he wasn't in the squad for the final, which seems weird.

After destroying both Milan teams on our way to the QFs (that Dynamo game was the reserves playing having already qualified) I was feeling hopeful that we could retain the title. Sadly, Atletico proved to be one of the few teams in Europe capable of defending (Guardiola's Liverpool and Zidane's Arsenal seemingly being two of the others) and a screamer from Thomas Partey sent them through. They then went out to Real Madrid on away goals in the semis setting up the insult to morality that is a Real Madrid-PSG CL final. 

Finally, we won all three 'Super Cup' tournaments we were in - I count the Club World Cup as a super cup when I'm managing a club of this stature - it only counts if you're a non-European team (although I guess if Ajax were to manage to win the CL again they'd think it was important).

MVPs

Juan Mata was still our standout in terms of rating - despite rotating heavily with Havertz he still contributed 13 goals and 14 assists in 34 apps for an 8.18 overall.

Daniele Rugani again was the defensive MVP - with 44 only De Gea and Martial made more appearances and he averaged 7.87 with 7 goals and 5 assists when he ventured forwards too. He is now a club icon.

Anthony Martial was our top scorer again, despite a slow start he hit 33 goals with 12 assists in 46 starts and 1 sub app, including 5 hat-tricks, for a 7.72. He is now a club icon.

So many players got incredibly high ratings I'm only doing a top 3, I wanted to show everyone who averaged 7.5 plus so...

Tierney (7.71 in 33(6)), Lukaku (7.64 in 32(5)), Havertz (7.56 in 29(7), Dalot (7.56 in 30(5)), Shaw (7.55 in 31(6)) and Memphis (7.50 in 30(7)).

 

Wonderkid Watch

Although he doesn't seem to have visibly improved too much, Michael Thomas has had one hell of a young career so far:

32 (6) appearances, 11 goals, 13 assists and 5 PoM for an average rating of 7.70 over 14 months. Youngest player to score for Manchester United, youngest player to score in the Premier League, youngest player to appear in the Champions League, youngest player to score in the Champions League, and has so far won: Premier League, Club World Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, F.A. Cup and Community Shield. He's not even gone pro yet!

Future Plans

I have a ton of money but probably don't need / don't want any of the players available - Mata could possibly leave to make way for Havertz and allow Gomes to move up, similar Lukaku for Rashford. Thomas should continue to improve, Shaw has been lucky with injuries so far - if he hadn't I may have moved for Alaba. I don't think there's any RB improvements out there who aren't injury prone or card happy. Pogba has been unwilling to sign a contract all year due to interest in him - I may have to drive up his price as high as possible and then sell whilst he still has two years remaining.  Lucas Paqueta looks a viable option, as does Atletico's Saul, or perhaps Ruben Neves. Alternately I could buy and retrain Coutinho (11 tackling), or retrain Pereira and promote Gedson Fernandes to first choice, but none of them are the complete package that Pogba is, and none are homegrown either. Although, ever since he accidentally picked up "plays one-twos" from a team-mate Pogba hasn't been the same. 

Edited December 30, 2018 by zlatanera

[PaulC2K]

3 hours ago, zlatanera said:

All you guys selling Lingard are mugs...one of most reliable performers I've had across the past 3 versions of FM. 

This was my reward for playing in the Club World Cup - 3 games in 6 days at the end of the season. Luckily we'd clinched the title on the previous Sunday (a reserve team demolishing Fulham). Which meant we clinched it whilst we had 3 games left and every team who isn't in the above graphic had played 37 games.

Had similar my 2nd season - 7 games in 19 days, a quick break, and then straight into another 7 games in 16 days. 
5 games in 9 days, which includes 3 against Arsenal, just 1 day between them all. I dunno if FM fully simulates travel, but had that CL game been oversees instead of in London, it could have been so much worse. Imagine playing some Russian side or something.

@b101 Thanks for posting that explanation on scouting NewGens, i created assignments for different regions, looking for U-18 and at least 4* PA, but it looks like they've stopped (it was supposed to be 'ongoing'), and i was somewhat concerned that they werent particularly thorough or efficient with how they did it, like they'd randomly bounce from kid to kid, rather than cover a team at a time. Originally i went to the Youth Intake screen, and added them 30-50 at a time, but mid-way through realised theres no way im doing that every time. Your way seems like a better solution, a reasonable compromise.

@zlatanera I completely agree on Lingard, but i think the problem is he's one of the few players who isnt indispensable and can be quickly sold at the start for a lot of money, and that money goes a long way. He was great on my practice season on the wing or shadow AM, but i sold him in my proper save because i didnt want other clubs to snatch players like de Ligt & de Jong while they're priced fairly low, still wanted to fix other areas too, and forcing the bad players out for chump-change can leave you exposed for squad depth if your selling 5-6 players and only getting 2 in with that money.
I think its the 3rd season when you've shed 2/3 of the original squad, brought in a younger & superior foreigners, and then start having issues with CL selection (and the issues that occur when you leave ppl out) that you realise how important the English/HG core are.

[xenqi]

hold on to your Pogba, people. 
4 years in a row. 

[xenqi]

1 hour ago, PaulC2K said:

I think its the 3rd season when you've shed 2/3 of the original squad, brought in a younger & superior foreigners, and then start having issues with CL selection (and the issues that occur when you leave ppl out) that you realise how important the English/HG core are.

this is the biggest reason why you scout and buy regens (or young players) early so they have time to become "homegrown".
for e.g., my Tonali, de Ligt, Sergio Gomez, etc are all considered HG (I'm in Jan 2024)

Edited December 30, 2018 by xenqi

[PaulC2K]

Is there somewhere that'll tell me how long until each of your players will be considered home grown? I cant find anything too helpful, even on the individual page. It tells you how long till they gain nationality, but that doesnt say if they'd qualify for HG status or not. 

I just looked up what qualifies for homegrown:
"UEFA defines locally-trained or 'homegrown' players as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21.^"

So the player needs to be signed before their 19th birthday. Fine for the NewGens, but while it wasnt something i'd actually considered, the only (IRL) players ive signed who'll qualify are de Ligt & Vagnoman. Even Dalot was 19 when we signed him. 

[xenqi]

17 minutes ago, PaulC2K said:

So the player needs to be signed before their 19th birthday. Fine for the NewGens, but while it wasnt something i'd actually considered, the only (IRL) players ive signed who'll qualify are de Ligt & Vagnoman. Even Dalot was 19 when we signed him. 

Hence de Ligt, Tonali and Gomez are HG for me now

[b101]

8 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

How you playing Pogba that's some goals return!

Box-to-box midfielder with get further forward and take more risks. He gets a lot of long shot opportunities in this version of the Match Engine, and he's pretty good with them!

6 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Not disputing the thing about Chiesa, or Thauvin - Suso seems a different type of player though. But where are you going to find a guy who can play anywhere on the wings, AM, or even ST / CM when re-trained, is highly professional, homegrown at the club and neither injury prone or card-happy? Nowhere, and certainly not for £70m. 

Fair point. I'd counter that you can get potentially far better players for way less than the £55m I sold him for though - and you have Angel Gomes, who could be better, already at the club. I love playing FM for developing youngsters rather than necessarily using already developed players; hence the regens and lots of signings of U21s. Asensio cost me £80m and Joao Felix cost £38m - IMO, both have far better potential than Jesse, much as I love what he gives us in real life.

3 hours ago, PaulC2K said:

@b101 Thanks for posting that explanation on scouting NewGens, i created assignments for different regions, looking for U-18 and at least 4* PA, but it looks like they've stopped (it was supposed to be 'ongoing'), and i was somewhat concerned that they werent particularly thorough or efficient with how they did it, like they'd randomly bounce from kid to kid, rather than cover a team at a time. Originally i went to the Youth Intake screen, and added them 30-50 at a time, but mid-way through realised theres no way im doing that every time. Your way seems like a better solution, a reasonable compromise.

It's a bit of a shame that this is still the best way and it does mean you have to click through a lot of scout reports, but at least I know this way that if anyone slips through the net, it'll be because they've come through a tiny club/nation. It's the most effective way I've found.

[Myswikner]

Finished the first season unbeaten in the league for the first time ever on any FM game! but i failed to win the games that really mattered in the FA Cup, Caraboa and CL. Devastating 2-0 loss to Man City in the Semis of the FA Cup after Herrera toke a red card early on... then after beating them 1-0 away the team choked at home and lost 2-0 to Juve in the quarter.

Abit disappointed i failed when it really mattered the most but i made some key signings to fix some areas that i thought needed strengthening. Bought in Milinkovic-Savic and Goretzka to fix my midfield, Matic and Fellaini was just not good enough. Managed to get Mbappé for 75 upfront and another 70 over 3 years becuse i threw in a 40% on the next sale (figured i would never sell him anyway, and dont really need the money as MU anyway)

The new signings have really made an impact so far after 4 games aswell with the highlight being 8-0 vs Tottenham where Savic,Goretzka and Mbappé all scored!

[Myswikner]

[axehan1]

Having a great battle in the premier League, our last game was a hard fought 1-0 at the Arsenal which took us back to the top of the table

We lost to Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup and got thrashed by 16th in the Championship Derby 1-4 in the FA Cup.

Last 16 of the Champions League has been kind and we've been drawn against Club Brugge.

 

Meanwhile, it's the January transfer window and we've done a bit of business

Sergej Milinkovic Savic joined for £80m, much to the disappointment of Herrera which then led to a team meeting with a few players unhappy with my treatment oh him.Luckily they all saw sense and are now happy. Luke Shaw, as much as I like him  has rubbish natural fitness and has to be subbed in just about every game so I have submitted a transfer bid for Kieran Tierney for £50m(£15m upfront and the rest in instalments).

Outgoings were

I wasn't prepared to offer Mata a new contract and with a few clubs circling for a free transfer he went for a reduced fee, the rest left to reduce the wage bill.

[zlatanera]

11 hours ago, PaulC2K said:

Had similar my 2nd season - 7 games in 19 days, a quick break, and then straight into another 7 games in 16 days. 
5 games in 9 days, which includes 3 against Arsenal, just 1 day between them all. I dunno if FM fully simulates travel, but had that CL game been oversees instead of in London, it could have been so much worse. Imagine playing some Russian side or something.

@zlatanera I completely agree on Lingard, but i think the problem is he's one of the few players who isnt indispensable and can be quickly sold at the start for a lot of money, and that money goes a long way. He was great on my practice season on the wing or shadow AM, but i sold him in my proper save because i didnt want other clubs to snatch players like de Ligt & de Jong while they're priced fairly low, still wanted to fix other areas too, and forcing the bad players out for chump-change can leave you exposed for squad depth if your selling 5-6 players and only getting 2 in with that money.
I think its the 3rd season when you've shed 2/3 of the original squad, brought in a younger & superior foreigners, and then start having issues with CL selection (and the issues that occur when you leave ppl out) that you realise how important the English/HG core are.

Can't wait to see what it does to us in 2022/23...I think the worst I've ever had is February-March in Argentina on FM18 - it was a 44 game season, plus I was in Recopa and Copa Libertadores, and had some games delayed for the Club World Cup. It was like game - 1 day - game - 2 day - game - 1 day cycle for 2 months. Luckily in that league your youth players reach the standard required for the top level pretty quickly.

r.e. Lingard yeah I can see why people do it, was just saying why I wouldn't. He's a completely different player to every one people are replacing him with - his attributes are a bit odd, making him perfectly suited as a Shadow Striker (which barely anyone uses unless they're doing strikerless) and good, but with it easy to find guys with better spreads of attributes, for any wide role. I try not to do that whole "buy a million 16 year olds so they get homegrown status" thing - I don't like it IRL, and I feel I have enough money at United to not do it (if I'm Ajax, for example, I'll happily do it) so HG players take on added importance for me.

8 hours ago, b101 said:

Fair point. I'd counter that you can get potentially far better players for way less than the £55m I sold him for though - and you have Angel Gomes, who could be better, already at the club. I love playing FM for developing youngsters rather than necessarily using already developed players; hence the regens and lots of signings of U21s. Asensio cost me £80m and Joao Felix cost £38m - IMO, both have far better potential than Jesse, much as I love what he gives us in real life.

I'm eyeing up Joao Felix, but more as a Pogba replacement (necessitating a switch of role, but Fred would be a good backup to him). As I said above, I think a lot of you guys issue with him is the distribution of his attributes - for a specialist its pretty easy to find someone better to use that money on, whereas I'm loving him precisely because he's not a standout in any role. I was going to get Asensio to replace Mata but Madrid rejected my bid, two days later he complained about it but in between those two events he broke his leg and I got Havertz instead. 

[b101]

42 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

I'm eyeing up Joao Felix, but more as a Pogba replacement (necessitating a switch of role, but Fred would be a good backup to him). As I said above, I think a lot of you guys issue with him is the distribution of his attributes - for a specialist its pretty easy to find someone better to use that money on, whereas I'm loving him precisely because he's not a standout in any role. I was going to get Asensio to replace Mata but Madrid rejected my bid, two days later he complained about it but in between those two events he broke his leg and I got Havertz instead. 

I have to say I've not been massively impressed with Asensio - blows quite hot and cold for me. Joao Felix could be the one longer term though, as he plays much better than his attributes suggest - currently ripping things up for Bournemouth out on loan.

[axehan1]

1 hour ago, b101 said:

I have to say I've not been massively impressed with Asensio - blows quite hot and cold for me. Joao Felix could be the one longer term though, as he plays much better than his attributes suggest - currently ripping things up for Bournemouth out on loan.

Asensio is tearing it up for me, I couldn't be happier with him.

[b101]

I see your Asensio and raise you a Pogba   

In fairness, Asensio has hardly been bad, just not ripping it up like Pog is. I think a large part of the issue is that I want to see him looking to play through balls to the striker, but with the current match engine, neither striker makes runs in behind... 

Rashford is comfortably my worst performer. 4 goals in 28 league games last season (17 starts) and 1 in 5 so far. Have had a chat to warn him, but I just can't work out why he's this poor.

[zlatanera]

@b101 Might be tactical r.e. strikers runs in behind. A lot of my goals come from my Wide Playmaker getting the ball either side of halfway, cutting In and unleashing a ball over the top either for the near-side striker to finish or the far-side striker to play a cross from near the byline for his strike partner.  

Also where has Joao Felix been playing for you / Bournemouth? I'd be signing him to play as a DLP-Su at CM (going to change my double Segundo Volante's into a DLP and BBM combo). 

Edited December 30, 2018 by zlatanera

[billysafc]

Booted up a new save with man utd today, never managed them (but I went to Uni there and love the place) but I love Rashford and Lingard so I want to get a chance to manage them both with the ultimate aim of having a predominantly HG first 11 and squad. Ideally to emulate the class of 92

Here is my chosen 11 and tactic to match. 

Pre-season is going well, played 3 and won 3 so far.

 I have turned off transfer budgets in the first window (I always do - added realism).

Any tips for me, please?

 

Thank you 

 

My chosen tactic, I want to play controlling passing football

 - Inside forward PI

 - AM PI

 

I've got no other PI's

Edited December 30, 2018 by billysafc
Added info

[axehan1]

2 hours ago, b101 said:

I see your Asensio and raise you a Pogba   

In fairness, Asensio has hardly been bad, just not ripping it up like Pog is. I think a large part of the issue is that I want to see him looking to play through balls to the striker, but with the current match engine, neither striker makes runs in behind... 

Rashford is comfortably my worst performer. 4 goals in 28 league games last season (17 starts) and 1 in 5 so far. Have had a chat to warn him, but I just can't work out why he's this poor.

What's the name of your skin?

[b101]

41 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

@b101 Might be tactical r.e. strikers runs in behind. A lot of my goals come from my Wide Playmaker getting the ball either side of halfway, cutting In and unleashing a ball over the top either for the near-side striker to finish or the far-side striker to play a cross from near the byline for his strike partner.  

Also where has Joao Felix been playing for you / Bournemouth? I'd be signing him to play as a DLP-Su at CM (going to change my double Segundo Volante's into a DLP and BBM combo). 

Possibly, mostly just him bottling every single one on one though... We have low crosses in, which he can score from, but any through ball that he gets onto he hits straight at the keeper. He did at least score two against Chelsea in the EFL Cup after me having a go at him, but then back to a standard 6.4, missing a sitter against Bournemouth. I really want to play him, but Lukaku is just so much better for me

Regarding Joao Felix, he's backup to Asensio at AMC (Attacking Mid (S)), but his versatility was one of the major reasons for getting him. Bournemouth play him at AM in games where they are favourites and CM otherwise - he's scored 4 in 6 so far with two pens.

4 minutes ago, billysafc said:

Booted up a new save with man utd today, never managed them (but I went to Uni there and love the place) but I love Rashford and Lingard so I want to get a chance to manage them both with the ultimate aim of having a predominantly HG first 11 and squad. Ideally to emulate the class of 92

Here is my chosen 11 and tactic to match. 

Pre-season is going well, played 3 and won 3 so far.

 I have turned off transfer budgets in the first window (I always do - added realism).

Any tips for me, please?

 

Thank you 

 

My chosen tactic, I want to play controlling passing football

 - Inside forward PI

 - AM PI

 

I've got no other PI's

Let us know how you get on - my gut instinct is that you may want to change the DLP role in CM to something that might support the attack a bit more, but depends what you see.

[b101]

4 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

What's the name of your skin?

TCS 19 - from sortitoutsi