FM 19- Oh When The Spurs.. (Tottenham Hotspur)

[SD]

3 minutes ago, Dwells2015 said:

Holy Cow!!!!!! How did you get the board to give you that much more money???

Other than agreeing to bring in Asensio, they didn't give any additional money.

Installments are not deducted from the current budged, so I raised the funds by negotiating upfront fees for outgoing transfers(Toby, Davies, Lucas), while paying only a third upfront and rest in installments for all incoming transfers(with the exception of Pavard and Montiveros where I activated their release clauses).

Of course, this can backfire as you still need to pay up in the following seasons, but you can get away with that since Spurs start with a 350m bank balance despite their meager transfer budget.

Personally I think this is a borderline exploit. First, transfer budgets and fees should be balanced with the assumption all transfers are going to be in installments, like it happens IRL. Right now, figures are balanced around lump sum payments. And even so, the board should keep track of long term commitments a transaction imposes on a club and actively block a transfer even if the momentary transfer budget allows it. Never in a million years would Levy allow that kind of spending from anyone, even less so a newly appointed manager.

[Dwells2015]

I can’t get anyone to bid on Davies or Moura. Or basically any of the team that people aren’t WNT to start. 

 

Any tips??

[SD]

11 hours ago, Dwells2015 said:

I can’t get anyone to bid on Davies or Moura. Or basically any of the team that people aren’t WNT to start. 

 

Any tips??

Of course, this is bound to change as the save progresses, but at the start of the game I transfer and loan listed Davies realistically hoping to find him a loan move to a mid-Prem team, when I noticed Bayern were interested in a transfer move.

I wasn't planning to sell Lucas, especially since he's been made much more versatile in FM19, but after managing to sign Asensio and Lozano I listed him and that peaked the interest of Milan, Schalke and Monaco, only for Chelsea to come in and hijack the deal. I would have preferred he didn't go to a rival, but once Chelsea got on the line he wouldn't even consider any of the other options.

[Dwells2015]

Anyone had luck getting the best out of Alli/ Eriksen.... or the hero of the moment Sissoko?

[Carlf788]

I have started a Spurs save. I sold alderweired for 30m as he wouldn't sign a new deal. Sissoko, llorente, aurier for 30m. 

 

I signed fiete arp for 18m. Almiron for a bargain 7m. Marin for 7m. Sandro tonalli 8m. Got a great squad now. I use eriksen as the deep lying playmaker and almiron and alli switching as number 10. Sometimes play Kane and arp up front together. The best team to be potential wise in England Tottenham i reckon so hopefully this can finally be my long term save! Also Lucas moura is outstanding on that right wing 

[Carlf788]

On 03/11/2018 at 02:08, Dwells2015 said:

Anyone bought a backup for Kane yet? I’m almost to the deadline, trying to find a good option. 

Fiete arp 18m

[SD]

Stay away from installment payments, kids, the game is balanced around lump sum payments for transfers.

It quickly becomes boring when you can already bring in most players in the game first season.

[Jp724]

Has anyone gone striker-less with Spurs ? 

I sold Llorente and being left with only Kane I eventually moved towards it in the middle of November. I'm unbeaten for the season but without really being very good. Early on it was the usual Full back get's the ball in the opposition half in loads of space,crosses and the striker or wide player at the back post heads it home. 

I don't mind scoring from crosses but it just wasn't the type of football I was after, What I'm looking to get is combinations between the 3 amc's. I was hoping a shadow striker starting deeper would move forward far better than a support striker currently does at dropping deep in the match engine. I've altered the controlled-possession tactical set up, but the title is what I want, I want us to have most of the ball and I think the team is technically capable of doing that. What I'm also looking for is plenty of assists/ key passes/ chances created from not only the 3 amc's but the 2 box to box midfielders. 

I suppose what I'm trying to do is decrease the goal scoring/ assisting impact of the fullbacks.

 I make alterations sometimes, maybe a little too much by making too many changes I don't get too see which instructional change is making the difference. 

Just wondered if anyone else has tried it, too see if there set up can help mine at all ? 

[plcarlos]

1 hour ago, Jp724 said:

Has anyone gone striker-less with Spurs ? 

I sold Llorente and being left with only Kane I eventually moved towards it in the middle of November. I'm unbeaten for the season but without really being very good. Early on it was the usual Full back get's the ball in the opposition half in loads of space,crosses and the striker or wide player at the back post heads it home. 

I don't mind scoring from crosses but it just wasn't the type of football I was after, What I'm looking to get is combinations between the 3 amc's. I was hoping a shadow striker starting deeper would move forward far better than a support striker currently does at dropping deep in the match engine. I've altered the controlled-possession tactical set up, but the title is what I want, I want us to have most of the ball and I think the team is technically capable of doing that. What I'm also looking for is plenty of assists/ key passes/ chances created from not only the 3 amc's but the 2 box to box midfielders. 

I suppose what I'm trying to do is decrease the goal scoring/ assisting impact of the fullbacks.

 I make alterations sometimes, maybe a little too much by making too many changes I don't get too see which instructional change is making the difference. 

Just wondered if anyone else has tried it, too see if there set up can help mine at all ? 

This is a known limitation in the Match engine currently:

It's caused by lack of movement from the front 3, especially strikers. It leads to the only passing option being out wide, and so that's how a lot of goals are scored. the other option can be counter attacks, as the opposition comes forward as they leave space in behind to exploit. One of the others is apparently BBM's arriving late, and having space to hit a long shot.

This has a huge knock-on effect to the AMC role as well, as the lack of movement around them gives no reason to pass into space, or into a player that is normally surrounded.

They are working on it, and I'm on the Public Beta release, but i'm in pre-season, and have not played enough games to see how it's playing out since the last update. (I've had 2 updates to it during pre-season - Just my luck)

The public beta will have a newer match engine (It's a Beta, so if you did look at it, be aware there could well be bugs! - I work as an IT tech, so i fully understand Beta play risks). The main, full release will require much more testing before release - from what I've seen\read, it's not quite there yet so it's not likely to be imminent.

 

Regarding changes, it's rarely going to take affect over 1 match, or 20 mins. The changes take time to develop and learn\adapt over a few games (Games always trump training for these effects to show), so take it slow on changes, maybe 1-2, leave it for 4-5 matches, then again.

Specifically regarding the current retail engine and tactic, I'd advise to post it here for more specific advice but:

IF we consider the lack of movement issue combine that with work ball into box, and shorter passing (Both on control tactic), then there will be no-one running into space\moving enough to create passing options for those key\passes\combinations to work as we'd like.

 

Finally - If you are noticing the lack of movement is an issue, the ultimate best place, is to log it in the bugs forum, and to upload PKM's to provide the evidence - Not fobbing anyone off, but the only real way it can be sorted is if SI look at the code, which is in a PKM. It's also something i will look at doing myself If i get time to play this week.

[Jp724]

On 05/12/2018 at 17:13, plcarlos said:

This is a known limitation in the Match engine currently:

It's caused by lack of movement from the front 3, especially strikers. It leads to the only passing option being out wide, and so that's how a lot of goals are scored. the other option can be counter attacks, as the opposition comes forward as they leave space in behind to exploit. One of the others is apparently BBM's arriving late, and having space to hit a long shot.

This has a huge knock-on effect to the AMC role as well, as the lack of movement around them gives no reason to pass into space, or into a player that is normally surrounded.

They are working on it, and I'm on the Public Beta release, but i'm in pre-season, and have not played enough games to see how it's playing out since the last update. (I've had 2 updates to it during pre-season - Just my luck)

The public beta will have a newer match engine (It's a Beta, so if you did look at it, be aware there could well be bugs! - I work as an IT tech, so i fully understand Beta play risks). The main, full release will require much more testing before release - from what I've seen\read, it's not quite there yet so it's not likely to be imminent.

 

Regarding changes, it's rarely going to take affect over 1 match, or 20 mins. The changes take time to develop and learn\adapt over a few games (Games always trump training for these effects to show), so take it slow on changes, maybe 1-2, leave it for 4-5 matches, then again.

Specifically regarding the current retail engine and tactic, I'd advise to post it here for more specific advice but:

IF we consider the lack of movement issue combine that with work ball into box, and shorter passing (Both on control tactic), then there will be no-one running into space\moving enough to create passing options for those key\passes\combinations to work as we'd like.

 

Finally - If you are noticing the lack of movement is an issue, the ultimate best place, is to log it in the bugs forum, and to upload PKM's to provide the evidence - Not fobbing anyone off, but the only real way it can be sorted is if SI look at the code, which is in a PKM. It's also something i will look at doing myself If i get time to play this week.

Thanks for getting back to me, yeah I've noticed a lot of what you've mentioned in the bugs forums as well as through when I've played myself.

I'm sure they will fix it in the next main patch, maybe I should try the strikerless then when it's a little more consistent. 

[Sophos]

Anyone had any success with Spurs?

For me, no matter what I try, I just can't get it to 'click'. Nothing I try seems to create chances, and what chances I do create, my players don't seem all that keen to convert - Kane and Son in particular are useless in front of goal.

I just don't know what to do.

[knap]

 

Just testing a 442

Final

[Dwells2015]

What roles did you use Knap?

[Jamesbfc1887]

On 28/11/2018 at 02:32, SD said:

Personally I think this is a borderline exploit

I used to abuse this a couple of years ago, regularly spending almost £500mil on a £100mil budget,  up until FM18 where I thought it had be fixed. Teams seem a lot less willing to take your money over instalments than they used to.

Didn't really know it was a "thing" still, I still avoid paying all of it upfront but don't use the times instalments anymore, it used to ruin the game for me, I knew I shouldn't do it but I always did it anyway . If I start doing it now I'm holding  you responsible 

[SD]

On 17/12/2018 at 02:28, Jamesbfc1887 said:

I used to abuse this a couple of years ago, regularly spending almost £500mil on a £100mil budget,  up until FM18 where I thought it had be fixed. Teams seem a lot less willing to take your money over instalments than they used to.

Didn't really know it was a "thing" still, I still avoid paying all of it upfront but don't use the times instalments anymore, it used to ruin the game for me, I knew I shouldn't do it but I always did it anyway . If I start doing it now I'm holding  you responsible 

It's a slightly higher minimum for the upfront amount(around 33%) before the AI starts demanding a premium, but the method is still there alright.

And thing is, you cannot even rule it out as an abuse, since this is the way most transfers happen in real life.

This one is on the devs to program the AI to use installments and then balance the budgets with the expectation that the player is going to do the same. Also have the board step in when the manager is making too many long term commitments with club finances.

[Jamesbfc1887]

50 minutes ago, SD said:

Also have the board step in when the manager is making too many long term commitments with club finances.

This is why I believe it is an exploit though, you can commit to spending £500m in a window, which would never happen irl despite it being in instalments.

Also if someone offered me £60m for a player with £20m upfront i'd politely tell them to do one.

Do instalments go into your transfer budget or not? , I've never checked because I never accept them unless it's peanuts for a player I don't want.

[SD]

31 minutes ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

This is why I believe it is an exploit though, you can commit to spending £500m in a window, which would never happen irl despite it being in instalments.

Also if someone offered me £60m for a player with £20m upfront i'd politely tell them to do one.

Do instalments go into your transfer budget or not? , I've never checked because I never accept them unless it's peanuts for a player I don't want.

That's a fair point, and exploit or not, it made me lose all interest in the save after just a couple of months.

[knap]

Best result with Spurs but still feel we should have a better FM squad.

 

[Dwells2015]

On 28/12/2018 at 18:37, knap said:

Best result with Spurs but still feel we should have a better FM squad.

 

Signings? Tactics??

[knap]

I don't sign anybody but holiday to 1st game of season. ARGUS 343 IF

[Codename47]

On ‎28‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 23:37, knap said:

Best result with Spurs but still feel we should have a better FM squad.

 

Personally, I think you have cheated looking at your first season with Spurs, most probably exploiting the game and with no explanation whatsoever but just to show off.  Winning the EPL (by a 24 pt margin!) , ECL, FA & LC. I simply don't believe you and to the other forum users, watch out for people like these who gloat!

[dothestrand]

TBF Newcastle finishing 7th is the most unbelievable thing about that table.

[SD]

23 hours ago, Codename47 said:

Personally, I think you have cheated looking at your first season with Spurs, most probably exploiting the game and with no explanation whatsoever but just to show off.  Winning the EPL (by a 24 pt margin!) , ECL, FA & LC. I simply don't believe you and to the other forum users, watch out for people like these who gloat!

The guy is a very active contributor to the Tactics Sharing forum where most tactics are variations of exploits, but this particular tactic of his looks legit and is in fact surprisingly similar to what I use myself. The TIs are what you'd expect for a possession style, the formation is reasonably common in contemporary football, while the roles and duties are well balanced and actually make some sense.

On the offence it's straight forward, it works by overloading the flanks. It defends with a flat 5 man def line plus 2 midfielders right in front, it's what FM Antonio Conte uses and while it can be countered it requires non-standard adjustments that I don't think the AI is capable of making.

[Codename47]

On ‎05‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 15:03, SD said:

The guy is a very active contributor to the Tactics Sharing forum where most tactics are variations of exploits, but this particular tactic of his looks legit and is in fact surprisingly similar to what I use myself. The TIs are what you'd expect for a possession style, the formation is reasonably common in contemporary football, while the roles and duties are well balanced and actually make some sense.

On the offence it's straight forward, it works by overloading the flanks. It defends with a flat 5 man def line plus 2 midfielders right in front, it's what FM Antonio Conte uses and while it can be countered it requires non-standard adjustments that I don't think the AI is capable of making.

Completely understood SD.

I wasn't referring to the tactics, player roles/duties etc, I was implying a potential save and reload aspect in conjunction with his history on the 'tactics sharing' forum which is renoun for plug n play tactics/exploits etc.  If he is winning (albeit with Spurs) in his first season without purchasing any player(s) and scooping all the four major trophies and winning the league by 24 points then either he is cheating or there is something completely and utterly wrong with the game.  Now, I know FM is not perfect, I have played it since its inception, but the game (ME) is not that completely fubar for his outrageous claims.  

I am unsure whether even Cleon, Rashidi & co could manage this (apologies guys if you can).

[Codename47]

On ‎05‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 15:03, SD said:

The guy is a very active contributor to the Tactics Sharing forum where most tactics are variations of exploits, but this particular tactic of his looks legit and is in fact surprisingly similar to what I use myself. The TIs are what you'd expect for a possession style, the formation is reasonably common in contemporary football, while the roles and duties are well balanced and actually make some sense.

On the offence it's straight forward, it works by overloading the flanks. It defends with a flat 5 man def line plus 2 midfielders right in front, it's what FM Antonio Conte uses and while it can be countered it requires non-standard adjustments that I don't think the AI is capable of making.

Are we still talking about his 'ARGUS 3-4-3' here:

Yeah, this tactic looks like real life to me! I see RL managers like Conte using this.  3 x CD on stopper duty.  2 x WB on attack, both CM on BWM/B2B support and 3 strikers - 2 on AF and 1 x poacher, very realistic !!!

Together with attacking mentality, high DL and high LOE with counter and counter press.  This is simply ridiculous, him, the tactic and the game.  Choose one, all of them are fubar in that case.

[SD]

1 hour ago, Codename47 said:

Are we still talking about his 'ARGUS 3-4-3' here:

Yeah, this tactic looks like real life to me! I see RL managers like Conte using this.  3 x CD on stopper duty.  2 x WB on attack, both CM on BWM/B2B support and 3 strikers - 2 on AF and 1 x poacher, very realistic !!!

Together with attacking mentality, high DL and high LOE with counter and counter press.  This is simply ridiculous, him, the tactic and the game.  Choose one, all of them are fubar in that case.

The narrow 343s setups are ridiculous, I don't dispute that.

This is why I was surprised about the wide IF variant, it's a lot more balanced and plausible than the others. One attacking forward plus two supporting wide players is not anywhere near as absurd as three attacking central forwards.

[lblanc]

I was looking at Spurs last night. That lack of depth in CF, wings and CM is a real issue given they only have 30m. (Obviously you can buy young and probably raise about another 20m from Sales but seems a challenge indeed.

[Dwells2015]

On 09/01/2019 at 08:58, lblanc said:

I was looking at Spurs last night. That lack of depth in CF, wings and CM is a real issue given they only have 30m. (Obviously you can buy young and probably raise about another 20m from Sales but seems a challenge indeed.

It truly is an interesting challenge! Just like the one facing Poch in real life!!

[christrott79]

Has anyone had any joy getting Dele Alli to go natural in position as a CM?

Can get him to go natural as AML when training and playing him there but never as a centre mid or striker!

[Mharkd]

On 07/11/2018 at 05:53, Dwells2015 said:

I’m not gonna lie, I’m finding Tottenham a challenge in the full game. The heightened expectations with low resources is a unique challenge...

 

how are you guys getting on? Any tactic system you find is working better than others

Yea my first spurs season was so good.. came second in the prem and won the champs league due to big teams like madrid, barcelona, psg and others performed badly and as such it was almost an all english semi-finals in the ucl so i got lucky to get a mancity finals and i won due to city performing really bad through out the season. Am in my second season now and i am currently try to hold onto a 3rd or 4th. Liverpool won the league first season and right now in the second season liverpool still topping in match day 23 and they currently remain unbeatable 19-3-0.. 

man u activated Eriksen’s release clause of 120m even without me trying to sell him. Wanted getting sergej milinkovic-savic who is almost better than eriksen in the game but psg stole him so i compensated myself with Saul,  though he isnt balling well

i also got Pavard for cb in the second season now. Man is really balling so damn well alongside Davinson sanchez. S

[chris.tan__]

On 02/11/2018 at 08:21, SD said:

Going to restart my beta save since didn’t even finish 1st season. A couple of observations so far.

Transfer budget is low, but you can sell or loan out every single unwanted player so it’s pretty easy to raise some cash. Llorente, Vorm, GNK, Gazzaniga all go for value or more. Sissoko and Lamela don’t get any bids worth accepting, but there’s plenty of loan interest to get them off your wage bill. I also sold Aurier so I can give Walker-Peters the game time he needs.

But most importantly, the bank balance is healthy so you can get your budget to go a long way by paying 35% of the fee upfront and the rest in yearly installments.

In my third season, I was managing at Spurs and I got a whopping USD180 Million for my transfer budget.

[KevMS84]

For the life of me, I can't seem to get Harry Kane to consistently score goals or come close to his real life performances.  Season 1 he ended 21 PL goals and 28 overall.  This season he has 18 with just a couple of matches to go and 27 overall...but, I don't know, it just seems like he's not doing as well as he should be.  I feel like I could easily put in a much lesser striker and get similar enough results.  In fact Troy Parrott has done extremely well in his few appearances.  I guess it's good that I've been spreading goals around pretty well.  Kane still leads the way with 27 and Sonny has 18.  Eriksen, Marcus Edwards and Dele have 10 each and there are several in the 5 to 9 range (Mbappe, Lucas, Gedson Fernandes, Myron Boadu, Parrott)  Maybe the match engine is just better and making it a little more realistic and I'm used to previous versions where it was easy to get a striker of his caliber scoring 50+ a season.

 

Mostly played him as an Advanced Forward this season, come Complete Striker too.  Play a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide with Son/Mbappe as Inside Forwards (Attack) and Dele/Eriksen as Mezzala (Support) with Dier as DM (Defend).  Trips/Tierney as CWB (Support) and Toby/Jan as BPD (Stopper) with Lloris as SK (Attack).

 

EDIT:  Also, has anybody else had a club come in with a silly money bid for Josh Onomah?  Deadline day before the second season Brighton came in offering around £30m for him, but I'd been planning to bring him into the team this year since I was a bit light at CM after getting rid of Dembele and Wanyama, and sending Skipp and Oakley-Boothe out on loan.  So I decide to ask for more figuring they'd say no...asked for £55m...they accepted.  No clauses or anything like that.  I think it was £20m up front and £35m in installments.  Seemed a bit crazy, though I did rate the fellow.  Especially considering I'd just brought in Gedson Fernandes for £50m.

 

With all the money I'd brought in I decided to go after Mbappe in January to give me a little something more to win the league.  I had previously sold Davies (£35m to United), Wanyama (£46m to PSG), Nkoudou (£12m to Koln), Janssen (£10m to Cardiff), Dembele (£30m to Lazio) in addition to getting rid of Aurier (£22m to Barca) and Sissoko (£11m  to Lyon) the previous year.  Only real purchases had been Tierney (£30m), Myron Boadu (£6m), Dael Fry (£10m) and Gedson Fernandes (£50m).  Along with winning the CL in my first season, I'm pretty flush with cash.  Got him for a stupidly high fee of £250m spread out over four years, but he's been worth it.  Lost first leg of 1st Knockout Round of CL 4-1 at Valencia...second leg won 7-2 and Mbappe had 5 assists.  He has 6 goals and 13 assists in 20 matches so fa for me, not too shabby.

[ahmed.sg]

Red: sold

Green: bought

Yellow: asking if should buy

Bold: promoted youth player

Blue: out on loan

Have completed my first season with Spurs and am halfway through the second. The squad is quite strong, I have found. I turned off the first transfer window and bought only one player (a left back) in January and still managed to win the league and the FA cup double. Lost the EFL cup during the semi-final to Chelsea (like real life) and exited the Champion's League during the semi-final to Man Utd. In both semi-final exits I won the first match 1-0 only to lose 2-0 in the return leg.

Harry Kane scored 40 goals, including 32 in the league to get the PL golden boot.

I mostly played the game's default 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress tactic with some tweaks to player roles and duties (and one player instruction) but not to team instructions. I use a 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond frequently as well, mostly in cup games or when injuries force me. Less frequently I sometimes go 3-4-3 with either two strikers and a man behind or one striker and two men behind.

In January 2019 I bought Kieran Tierney from Celtic for 46 million pounds and sold Ben Davies to Man Utd for 40 million to almost break even on that. Furthermore sold Dembele to Monaco for 10 million, Jansen for 15 million to Newcastle, and GKN to Spartak Moscow for 7 million that could rise to 8.5 million.

I decided to stick to a youth policy stronger than Poch's and so other than promoting Luke Amos and Oliver Skipp to the first team from day one, and playing often, I also handed cup debuts to a few others.

During the second (current) season, Josh Onomah, Marcus Edwards, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alfie Whitman, Kazaiah Sterling, and Troy Parrott were all promoted to the first team squad, with a couple (CCV, Onomah) going out on loan to premiership sides that promised to play them as first teamers in January 2020 as that's more game time than I could have provided.

Vorm left on a free and Llorente retired in June 2019, hence the promotion of Whitman, Parrot, and Sterling. I sold Sissoko for 30 million in January 2020 with some regret as he's been playing amazingly, but I decided to cash in because of his age as he had turned 30.

My director of football bought me Matthijs de Ligt for 29 million all on his own (I didn't even ask) during the summer of 2019. We also added Ryan Sessegnon for 15.25 million that window and sent Serge Aurier out on loan with an option to buy for 35 million to Inter Milan. Juan Foyth went on loan to HSV who promised to play him as a regular and lied to me, and was promptly recalled in January when CCV was sent out. Sessegnon was also sent out on loan in January but I might regret it as Danny Rose wants to leave to seek a new challenge.

I replaced Sissoko with Tanguy Ndombele for 47.5 million which I personally find expensive but I have a director of football and don't personally negotiate transfers. Not sure I should have done that as not replacing him would have meant more games for the promoted youth players and Amos specifically will start complaining soon. David Brooks is coming in next summer on 29 million as he is currently on loan to Fiorentina and so couldn't come in January despite us concluding the deal. Again bit of a luxury buy that I am already regretting because I didn't really need him but he was available.

I've tried and failed to buy some others, most notably James Madison who Leicester simply won't let go of.

It's currently Jan. 25, 2020 and I'm second in the league and still in the CL and both cups.

Finally, my DOF has concluded a couple of deals on his own that I am unsure whether or not to accept.

The first deal is for Wílmar Barrios. I have enough midfielders already but I was thinking of approving the deal and selling Wanyama (28) who is a couple of years older, on more money, and wants a new contract. Wanyama has better stats has better stats, however. Barrios is 26 so he's not that young. Wanyama is on 65,000 a week and wants to be on 82,000. Barrios would come in on 50,000 a week. What to people think?

The second deal is 22 million pounds for Xadas who plays as a number 10 naturally but can also play across the attacking midfield line, in central midfield, and striker. If I sanction this transfer I'd have to let go of my James Madison dream, though. Thoughts?

[lgkeeper]

I'm trying Spurs in my first save.  I took Origi on loan and he fits really well as a backup for Kane and for very little money.

Bough Lucas Tousart from OM and he does really well, especially with Dembele/Wanyama/Dier/Sissoko all wanted and some potentially leaving during the summer.  

I'm trying a Gigenpress 4231 with them, though it's not very realistic, it's fun to watch.

[ahmed.sg]

1 hour ago, lgkeeper said:

I'm trying Spurs in my first save.  I took Origi on loan and he fits really well as a backup for Kane and for very little money.

Bough Lucas Tousart from OM and he does really well, especially with Dembele/Wanyama/Dier/Sissoko all wanted and some potentially leaving during the summer.  

I'm trying a Gigenpress 4231 with them, though it's not very realistic, it's fun to watch.

Why do you think it's unrealistic?

[enders357]

On 23/02/2019 at 22:44, ahmed.sg said:

The second deal is 22 million pounds for Xadas who plays as a number 10 naturally but can also play across the attacking midfield line, in central midfield, and striker. If I sanction this transfer I'd have to let go of my James Madison dream, though. Thoughts?

22 million! He must have progressed well - I bought him for £800k in the first window on a save with Lyon. I haven't got past November in that first season or I'd tell you how he was doing.

[plcarlos]

So - Post winter update, I decided to restart. TBH, i always do this, mainly the reason I tend to only buy every other FM.

Lloris got a handling upgrade i think - I'd have to compare. Kane I think has increased mentals, which I've spent season trying to train. I'll do a better comparison once i find the old versions stats...

 

Post update is hard - Demebele is gone. GKN is on loan. Vorm's in the U23's, Gazzaniga is Upgraded a touch (I think).  Worryingly - Toby has a new contract - £50k, and the £25M release clause. We have £15M to spend

Wanyama\Winks\Rose are injured at the start, and Pre-Season is playing kids\singings. SI seem to have tranlated the World cup as a Rest again (Yet the players are fit and need a rest after the Euro's)

Sissoko's Tech appears to be downgraded, but I always sell him anyway.

Simliar start - Sells for me are - Vorm (£2.5M-£3.1), Sissoko (£15M to Monaco), Lloriente(£2.9M), Aurier(£12.5-20M), and Davies(£35-48M). Davies I tend to scam Man Utd for as much as (Shaw getting Injured helped a lot) - I Debate this a lot now, as Rose is controversial (6.1 rating and gave away a goal - Shocked to be warned?!) and injury-prone.

Wanyama will probably go soon for me as well later on - I do need to identify a DM to replace him though.

In's - Limited to 4 - Paid mainly in Installments, so low offers got me these Players - Tierney (£15-25M), Tonali (£6M), De Light (£20M-£32M), Gedson Fernandes (£20-49M)

I've gone 4-2-3-1 control posession and Lowered the Defensive line, as we do not have super quick defenders.

2nd in league so far, as Liverpool are smashing it so far, but we are only a few games in.

 

A notable upgrade - Troy Parrot - Date of game for this is 21 Sept 2018. (Remind me to re-enable the steam screenshot feature - I think i disabled this due to issues a while back). Along with Kane's Boost

 

 

 

[Phil Dunphy]

Finished yesterday my fourth season with the mighty spurs. Finally won the league after finishing 5, 6 and 4th by this order. After spending seasons trying to create a good tactic for the league as I was good in the cups and Europe but obviously not good enough in the league. 

I play a 4231 high pression and quick football. I can post the tactic here if you want 

my most used team (buys in euros)

Lloris 

ricardo(30M) Toby Sanchez tierney (26M)

dier cook(52M)

dele/pavon(65) eriksen Sancho(9M)

kane

 

first season: finished 5th, semi of the champions league 

second season: finished 6th, won the Europa league 

third season: finished 4th, won the fa cup and league cup 

fourth season: won the league, the fa cup and league cup. Went 37 games unbeaten in the league and lost in the final match day against Southampton away. Broke premier record points with 103 

[plcarlos]

@Phil Dunphy - Sancho for 9M Euro's? Is that typo, or last 6 months of contract? 

 

I'm about to hit the first Jan window of the Post update Save - MC and Wing are main issues, But i have just £17M. and hope to raise more by selling - Ideally Wanyama\Jansen (Wanyama is not even training well, let alone the 15 times he lost possession i noticed - that's in 6 games). 2 player I'd look at are Pelegrini (£27M release clause) and Everton (£18.5M transfer listed) to cover the MC\Wing.

Tempted to Sell Jan - He's injured in mine, and has taken a big decline, so is 4+ games to get fit, is 31 and I have Toby, Sanchez, De Ligt, Dier for DC. I gave Toby a new contract to get rid of that £25M release clause.

If i could replace Lamela, I would but funds this season will probably not allow that, selling would leave me light there as well.

I'm still playing my usual style - Heavily focused on youth - Skipp has been called up, as temp relief for Gedson (after a run of 4/5 games). But the others a not really ready to push on yet,

My plans for a 4-2-3-1 went out the window when Lamala\Son got injured leaving me with Moura only for the wing.. So I went to a 4-5-1 Control Possession (But Higher tempo vs slow). It needs a lot of work, and I may well post that here later.

                                 LLoris

Trip\KWP, Toby\De Ligt Jan\Sanchez, Tierney\Rose

                                   Dier\Tonali

                   Gedson\Dele       Winks\Eriksen

Moura\Lamela                                        Dele\Son

                               Kane\Son\Dele

 

Son has been poor, as a Winger, or an IF (Which i play him as) Dele did surprisingly well as a Makeshift Striker. Kane now has the build-up\link play I've always wanted from him, but not enough Goals. Only a few so far, half way though, but a few more tweaks will help. 

Gedson\Dele Score a few in the BBM role from outside the box. I'm not worried about that, as it's not long shots, it's player running onto the ball after it's played into space for them.

Dele Causes a nice bit of Chaos as a RDM on the Left wing fed by Trip\Moura (Of course, that CM side will be set to Def when i do that).

Eriksen has the wrong PPM's for this system, Hence wanting a more forward thinking MC, and He'll go out to the Left wing. Or AMC if i go back to the 4-2-3-1.

So Far, I've lost 1 game (Bournemouth), and sit 2 points clear. I got some lucky draws vs City\Liverpool\Man Utd.

 

 

[Phil Dunphy]

19 hours ago, plcarlos said:

@Phil Dunphy - Sancho for 9M Euro's? Is that typo, or last 6 months of contract? 

 

I'm about to hit the first Jan window of the Post update Save - MC and Wing are main issues, But i have just £17M. and hope to raise more by selling - Ideally Wanyama\Jansen (Wanyama is not even training well, let alone the 15 times he lost possession i noticed - that's in 6 games). 2 player I'd look at are Pelegrini (£27M release clause) and Everton (£18.5M transfer listed) to cover the MC\Wing.

Tempted to Sell Jan - He's injured in mine, and has taken a big decline, so is 4+ games to get fit, is 31 and I have Toby, Sanchez, De Ligt, Dier for DC. I gave Toby a new contract to get rid of that £25M release clause.

If i could replace Lamela, I would but funds this season will probably not allow that, selling would leave me light there as well.

I'm still playing my usual style - Heavily focused on youth - Skipp has been called up, as temp relief for Gedson (after a run of 4/5 games). But the others a not really ready to push on yet,

My plans for a 4-2-3-1 went out the window when Lamala\Son got injured leaving me with Moura only for the wing.. So I went to a 4-5-1 Control Possession (But Higher tempo vs slow). It needs a lot of work, and I may well post that here later.

                                 LLoris

Trip\KWP, Toby\De Ligt Jan\Sanchez, Tierney\Rose

                                   Dier\Tonali

                   Gedson\Dele       Winks\Eriksen

Moura\Lamela                                        Dele\Son

                               Kane\Son\Dele

 

Son has been poor, as a Winger, or an IF (Which i play him as) Dele did surprisingly well as a Makeshift Striker. Kane now has the build-up\link play I've always wanted from him, but not enough Goals. Only a few so far, half way though, but a few more tweaks will help. 

Gedson\Dele Score a few in the BBM role from outside the box. I'm not worried about that, as it's not long shots, it's player running onto the ball after it's played into space for them.

Dele Causes a nice bit of Chaos as a RDM on the Left wing fed by Trip\Moura (Of course, that CM side will be set to Def when i do that).

Eriksen has the wrong PPM's for this system, Hence wanting a more forward thinking MC, and He'll go out to the Left wing. Or AMC if i go back to the 4-2-3-1.

So Far, I've lost 1 game (Bournemouth), and sit 2 points clear. I got some lucky draws vs City\Liverpool\Man Utd.

 

 

Benched in dortmund, was my top transfer target and was entering the last year of contract mate. 9M euros. Bargain of the decade. Just won the league again and the champions league in my fifth season! 

[plcarlos]

On 08/03/2019 at 12:47, Phil Dunphy said:

Benched in dortmund, was my top transfer target and was entering the last year of contract mate. 9M euros. Bargain of the decade. Just won the league again and the champions league in my fifth season! 

Very nice!

So, I play mainly a youth save - Still in my first season:

This guy came through:

Although, I've never dealt with a  Mecenary before:

[plcarlos]

End of Season 1 Post update part 1 - I need to edit\clarify a few things later:

January saw a few sales - Jan went in a transfer that took 2 weeks to negotiate for Value (£40M + i think) to Juve, which caught me off-guard But 32 and declining post injury - Lamela went, as did Wanyama (To China) Jansen, - I'll edit with prices tonight.

In came Pellegrini - £27M, and Zivkovic (£20 - Installments TBC), Everton (£18.5M)

For the future, Max Aarons - KWP has a few down sides, and Aarons was higher rated, He's done well, and I got him cheap (£10M + installments) and Clarke (£7.5M + Loan-back). 

Skipp went to Brighton for game time, which kicked him on a lot... (I'll Post later)

The control possession i was not happy with, so tweaked a Tiki-Taka 4-2-3-1

Won the league by 4 points. the competitiveness of the league won me this, I was able to not lose and beat most of the rivals, whilst not dropping points against the lower teams who they all dropped points to.

Won the FA cup after countering Man City!

Went out in the Champions League to Bayern on away Goals 0-0 away, 1-1 Home - Gutted on this, as I played this really well, and Kane spurned 2 Clear chances to score in each game. 

 

Pre season So far - Rose has gone for £30M rising to £40M... Dier went for £54M to PSG. Gazzaniga went for £2.5M + the Board gave me £50M = a nice amount for me to spend for once:

Pau Lopez (£16.5M) - Needed a better backup Keeper, Also Lloris is 32 now, so just in case for now...

Rabiot - FREE! An upgrade on Winks in the DLP role + Stronger Depth

Jovic - Release of £40,5M - High Potential Rotation Striker

I still have £60M and Just got £31 upfront rising to £51M for Chiesa - Just waiting time now.

 

PSG came after Kane with £154M, but of course no... I had to promise Champions League. 

Plans - Sell Moura... as i need the money, and With Chiesa, He'll not play, and I have players after contracts.

If i could, I'd like Sancho and Militao But i wont have the funds (Dear Mr Levy time...).

If I sell anyone else, Maybe Winks - which i'd like to avoid - But Skipp played 15 games and has Kicked on Massively, and Rabiot\Tonali can fill in that role. Again - Just so i can get some funds in

 

I tweaked the 4-2-3-1 Tiki Taka further to increase passing range and tempo a touch higher - working well so far, and a few goals have gone in playing better.

 

[Kodies]

Playing my first game after the January update, I've used TTF's Gladiator tactic to win the Champions League in the first season and lose by 1 point to Arsenal in the Premier League (absolute nightmare) the primary first squad was:-

GK - Lloris

DL - Davies

DC - Vertonghen/Alderweirald

DR - Trippier

DMC - Dier

MC - Eriksen

ML - Pelayo Murillo

MR - Lamela

ST - Kane/Son

Biggest challenges for the season were a lack of cover on the wings and upfront. I eventually promoted Parrott/Jannsen who did a decent job, with Kyle-Walkers Peters filling in for Lamela. Alli was a rotation player, I just couldn't find a good use for him in the tactic. I sold Aurier (15m) Sissoko (20m) and Llorente (1m) and brought in De Ligt (25m) / a range of younger talents to fill in for the main team when fitness became an issue.

Transitioning into season 2 now, kicked off with Vertonghen going to Man Utd for 40m (I couldn't reject that for a 32 year old) and Alderweiralds increased buy-out clause of 51m being activated. Lamela went to Barcelona for 40m. Rejected an offer of 150m for Harry Kane. Accepted an offer of 50m for Trippier from PSG, but for some reason he didn't want to leave.

A little worried going into the new season with critically bad cover at CB, issues on the wings and a couple of young strikers to rotate learning from Kane. Hopefully I'll be able to beat last season but the amount of change in the squad is worrying for stability, with another 100m left to spend.

Any suggestions for some world class ball playing CBs (sub-40m), with the right mentals and personality to mentor the young talent of De Ligt / Sanchez?

 

[plcarlos]

19 hours ago, Kodies said:

Playing my first game after the January update, I've used TTF's Gladiator tactic to win the Champions League in the first season and lose by 1 point to Arsenal in the Premier League (absolute nightmare) the primary first squad was:-

GK - Lloris

DL - Davies

DC - Vertonghen/Alderweirald

DR - Trippier

DMC - Dier

MC - Eriksen

ML - Pelayo Murillo

MR - Lamela

ST - Kane/Son

Biggest challenges for the season were a lack of cover on the wings and upfront. I eventually promoted Parrott/Jannsen who did a decent job, with Kyle-Walkers Peters filling in for Lamela. Alli was a rotation player, I just couldn't find a good use for him in the tactic. I sold Aurier (15m) Sissoko (20m) and Llorente (1m) and brought in De Ligt (25m) / a range of younger talents to fill in for the main team when fitness became an issue.

Transitioning into season 2 now, kicked off with Vertonghen going to Man Utd for 40m (I couldn't reject that for a 32 year old) and Alderweiralds increased buy-out clause of 51m being activated. Lamela went to Barcelona for 40m. Rejected an offer of 150m for Harry Kane. Accepted an offer of 50m for Trippier from PSG, but for some reason he didn't want to leave.

A little worried going into the new season with critically bad cover at CB, issues on the wings and a couple of young strikers to rotate learning from Kane. Hopefully I'll be able to beat last season but the amount of change in the squad is worrying for stability, with another 100m left to spend.

Any suggestions for some world class ball playing CBs (sub-40m), with the right mentals and personality to mentor the young talent of De Ligt / Sanchez?

 

Ruban Diaz cost me a touch over that (£47M), but has been awesome.

I've had a few saves where i've failed to Tutor Sanchez, so He's one I sell. I've noted bad trainer\complains over contracts a lot.

Lenglet got unhappy with game time, and I picked him up for £17.5M second season (Jan Window).

If he's not picked up yet - Pavard (£31.5M release Clause)

Or

 

 

[Mredd]

On 18/03/2019 at 18:36, Kodies said:

Playing my first game after the January update, I've used TTF's Gladiator tactic to win the Champions League in the first season and lose by 1 point to Arsenal in the Premier League (absolute nightmare) the primary first squad was:-

GK - Lloris

DL - Davies

DC - Vertonghen/Alderweirald

DR - Trippier

DMC - Dier

MC - Eriksen

ML - Pelayo Murillo

MR - Lamela

ST - Kane/Son

Biggest challenges for the season were a lack of cover on the wings and upfront. I eventually promoted Parrott/Jannsen who did a decent job, with Kyle-Walkers Peters filling in for Lamela. Alli was a rotation player, I just couldn't find a good use for him in the tactic. I sold Aurier (15m) Sissoko (20m) and Llorente (1m) and brought in De Ligt (25m) / a range of younger talents to fill in for the main team when fitness became an issue.

Transitioning into season 2 now, kicked off with Vertonghen going to Man Utd for 40m (I couldn't reject that for a 32 year old) and Alderweiralds increased buy-out clause of 51m being activated. Lamela went to Barcelona for 40m. Rejected an offer of 150m for Harry Kane. Accepted an offer of 50m for Trippier from PSG, but for some reason he didn't want to leave.

A little worried going into the new season with critically bad cover at CB, issues on the wings and a couple of young strikers to rotate learning from Kane. Hopefully I'll be able to beat last season but the amount of change in the squad is worrying for stability, with another 100m left to spend.

Any suggestions for some world class ball playing CBs (sub-40m), with the right mentals and personality to mentor the young talent of De Ligt / Sanchez?

 

I'm just about to start my 3rd season now, like the above suggestion Ruben Dias  (approx £45m) he has great stats and is young. Maybe check out Wallace from Lazio (no-nonsense big, tall, strong, aggressive but not a ball player) or Luiz Felipe also at Lazio, both would be well below your budget i'd estimate £15- 30m depends on how they are on your save.  Eder Militao (Porto) can play RB or CB, was too expensive at the time for me (£40m ish) or another decent RB Alamany Traore (Monaco) would be cheaper and help fill out the squad. Not the best for mentoring as all pretty young so might not be exactly what you're after.

I play 4- flat 3-2-1, wide, gegen-press and full-backs and wingers attacking..have done pretty well so far. 

                                             Lloris,

Davies/Rose, Sanchez/Wallace, Aldewei/Dias, Tripps/Toure

Ndombele/Winks/Dier/Eriksen/Fernandes/Alli

Son/Sancho/Kean                                            Lucas/Bailey

                                Kane/Belotti 

[Mcfc1894]

What budget do spurs get 3rd season

[plcarlos]

Militao has a release clause of £45M

Third season, I got £78M - Sold Pau Lopez, Pellegrini, and Jovic for an extra £100M. I'll add I've sold a LOT of the dead wood in the youth team as well, most with sell on % as well Probably raise me £15M each season on this. I've also brought a lot of youth,

I also had a Left back and a Right back come through the intake at League one\Championship level - 10 games in the U23's they were good enough to "rest" my top players. I'll attach those here tonight, and hide the Potential stars - more to highlight my learning that i don't need to hunt for 3.5/4 star players every time, and base stats are much better. I focus on youth heavily, so I invest in there, and manage the training for all 3 teams myself, based on what i want the team to develop as, and the better individuals

Got Laturo Martinez for £32M rising to £48M after weeks of haggling (They wanted £100). Lafont after Unsettling int he Previous Jan window (Hugo's Declineing in game now).

[Mredd]

3rd season budget for me £100m..

[Kodies]

End of Season 2

I managed to win the premier league just short of 100 points and devastatingly lost in the CL Semis to a very average Valencia side.

GK: Lloris / Donnarumma

DL: Tierney / Miranda

DC: Rugani / Foyth

DC: De Ligt / Sanchez

DR: Tripper / Aarons

DMC: Dier / Tonali

MC: Eriksen / Alli

ML: Son / Sergio Gomez

MR: Felix / KWP

ST: Kane / Lincoln

ST: Pellegri / Parrott

Squad Players : Plizaari (GK), Milenkovic (CB), Rose (DL/ML), Skipp (DM), Morilla (ML), Samardzic (MC), Silva (ST)

---

Trippier averaged around 7.8 for the season and won the league player of the year award.

Season 3

Transfers Out - Sold Lloris to OL for 40m, Rose to Inter for 37m, KWP to Brighton 25m, Eggestein to Newcastle 22m, Foyth to Stoke for 25m
It was hard selling Lloris, especially as a Model Citizen. But 40m was a good offer for a 32 year old, he was keen to return to France and Donnarumma is a ready made replacement for the first team.  Rose/KWP/Foyth were all squad players, I was happy to move them on for decent money. Strangely big teams like Bayern Munich/PSG came in for KWP so no idea why he went off to Brighton!

Transfers In - Markovic 2m (CB), Joveljic 3m (ST), Pedrinho 18m (MR), 16yr Regen 6m (GK) 

I've got 160m to spend, probably going to invest in some world class wingers and build a strong U18 team. I had Asensio lined up for 80m, but Chelsea managed to get him and were willing to pay 300k in wages so I lost out there.

Any thoughts where the team could improve, but still allow the youth in the team the time they need to grow?

[Kodies]

Decent season so far, hopefully I can keep it going.

SI Games caught me with their April Fools joke...