FM19: Liverpool - Success Has Many Fathers

[dannysheard]

16 minutes ago, bar333 said:

With Liverpool I always go into the editor and make changes prior to starting the game. I don't cheat by buffing players significantly but stuff like positions, PPM's that I feel are inaccurate, etc. I remember for years, every year I went and nerfed Lucas hard because he was always insanely overrated in the game and would be considered a key player by my coaches and the fans and I'd get crazy offers for him. When I started my LFC save this year I nerfed Lallana pretty badly, I actually really struggled to sell him, eventually managed to flog him off to Villareal for 5M with a 30k p\w wage contribution. Might have nerfed him too hard...

Utd just bought Lucas from Lazio for £32m. Just silly 😂

[joekim87]

Anyone else struggling to get the forwards into the game? Mane and Salah doing pretty decently well for me in a basic gegenpress tactic but Firmino is doing nothing... He is never in any highlights even... Anyone getting some good performances from their forwards/Firmino?

[Siven]

Firminos been iffy for me, but it seems to be more of a match engine issue. 

Forwards on support are bugged atm, they are making too many forward runs so are not dropping deep to use the space and thread balls through.

 

[dannysheard]

11 minutes ago, Siven said:

Firminos been iffy for me, but it seems to be more of a match engine issue. 

Forwards on support are bugged atm, they are making too many forward runs so are not dropping deep to use the space and thread balls through.

 

If it's a lone striker, I always go with attack duty, otherwise I can't get them involved.

[Siven]

12 minutes ago, dannysheard said:

If it's a lone striker, I always go with attack duty, otherwise I can't get them involved.

 See i always go for dlf support as my lone striker role when i play with 2 Inside forwards. Worked wonders for me in FM18, with Firmino setting Mane and Salah through, and also running in late to score from passes/crosses from out wide.

[IMT]

2 hours ago, joekim87 said:

Anyone else struggling to get the forwards into the game? Mane and Salah doing pretty decently well for me in a basic gegenpress tactic but Firmino is doing nothing... He is never in any highlights even... Anyone getting some good performances from their forwards/Firmino?

I signed Timo Werner, he bangs them in for me in either a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 gegenpress tactic

[Staf9]

started my save, have transfers on as i want to get rid of Lallana, Solanke, markovic, clyne and Matip. 

 

looking only at players under 21 for this window as its just to fill up the squad places. will also promote curtis Jones to first team. 

 

targets are

Szedovar Markovic, Tonali, Marin, Peyalo Morilla & Dominic Szobozlai 

 

if he's available De Ligt and possibly a GK

[glenn28]

Gonna start my new save & play Shaqiri in my team will use 4-2-3-1 as my main tactic 

[eastley]

Did sumfin stupid, maybe,

I loaded up the game, new save, and using editor I terminated most of the teams contracts, lol.

Added up the cost of every terminated player, added that to funds, and got a new team.

Kept Robertson, TAA, Fabinho, Keita, VVD, Becker, WIlson, Woodburn, Solanke, Gomez, Brewster, Jones and most under 23 and 18 team players.

Signed loads

[mersk]

Just finished the 2019 transfer window. First season went a little too well, the game feels easier than before despite the match engine being very... underwhelming. I'm considering starting a new save, either focusing on bringing a low league team through the ranks or a journeyman one. I don't think this one is gonna keep my interest in the long run.

 

First season transfers:

Gave Sturridge a new contract at the start, he barely played at all yet Arsenal were happy to overpay for him in January. He played 9 games for them and scored 2 goals, before recently moving on to Chelsea for £30m.

de Ligt was the biggest signing, and I was mostly rotating de Ligt/van Dijk/Gomez in the 2 CB spots, so Lovren and Matip weren't getting much playing time. Still, £50m for Matip in January.

Sold Milner and Lallana, but brought in Felix and Lozano as cover for midfield and wingers. Arp replacing Origi as backup striker.

 

Second season transfers:

Barcelona came along for Mané and broke my record for highest transfer fee ever received. £60m up front and £50m in instalments. Brought Sancho in as replacement for a bargain £30m fee.

City were desperate for Henderson, got £70m up front and £20m in instalments. Also sold Gini and Ox, which left me thin in midfield. Brought in Milinkovic-Savic, Pellegrini, and de Jong.

Replaced Moreno with Tierney and made a £23m profit at the same time.

Sold Lozano for twice what I paid, he wasn't really performing well anyway and I was happy to let him go. Same with Shaqiri, I'm gonna use Harry Wilson as backup for Salah instead, and I'm also keeping Woodburn in the squad for attacking depth.

Sold Mignolet and brought in Martin Hansen as backup keeper. It's a massive downgrade, but Alisson is never injured anyway and Hansen is home grown at the club.

Brighton had a fantastic season and snatched 4th place, so they splashed out on Lovren. That left me thin at CB, so I managed to get Gimenez from Atletico for Clyne + £3m. One of the few exchange deals I've ever done, but it's a pretty good one. Clyne only had 1 year left on his contract, and Gimenez' value shot up to £64m after I signed him. To replace Clyne I brought in Mbabu from Young Boys on the cheap. He's home grown (nation) and a good backup for Trent at RB.

 

Transfer window just closed, about to get into the second season. Using two different formations, a 4-3-3 narrow and a 4-1-4-1 DM wide. Will look to sell van Dijk next season, he'll be 29 and have only 2 years left on his contract. Gonna keep Firmino and Salah at least another year, but after that it depends on how they perform and what kind of offers I get. Already pointed out Pietro Pellegri as a long-term replacement for Firmino. Considering Malcom as replacement for Salah, but not quite sure yet.

 

Definitely pleased with my coaching team so far:

 

Had to offer Peters monster wages to get him to take the Assman position, but it's worth it. Got Galli as HOYD, but still trying to convince Pablo Blanco to sign. Also got my eyes set on Maurizio Trombetta, but luring him away from Allegri seems nigh impossible. Gonna have to hope Allegri gets sacked, but that's unlikely as he signed for Real Madrid and they won the league. Other than Trombetta there aren't really anyone who would improve the staff much. Still annoys me how coaches seem to mysteriously lose attributes after signing for you... the latest example being Tony Colbert, who over night lost 3 points in Motivating, dropping him to 4.5 stars. Flavio Tenius also dropped 2 points in Motivating with the same result. I guess Pedro Jaro is next on the list, he already lost 1 point in two of his GK coaching categories and 1 in Motivating.

By the way, if anyone's looking for good staff members and are tired of filtering searches, just go check out Juventus. Assuming Allegri hasn't left then neither have other staff members, and they're always very highly rated.

[Siven]

Thats some great transfers, i like the Sturridge one

 

How did you get Oliver Bartlett? I got him in Fm18 but couldnt find him in FM19, guess its to do with the leagues i have loaded.

[mersk]

3 minutes ago, Siven said:

How did you get Oliver Bartlett? I got him in Fm18 but couldnt find him in FM19, guess its to do with the leagues i have loaded.

Yeah you need to load up China, he's at Beijing Guo'an.

[redsforever24]

On 14/11/2018 at 10:58, joekim87 said:

Anyone else struggling to get the forwards into the game? Mane and Salah doing pretty decently well for me in a basic gegenpress tactic but Firmino is doing nothing... He is never in any highlights even... Anyone getting some good performances from their forwards/Firmino?

Yeah it's out of line.  He has 1 goal in 14 appearances for me.  

[salkster2102]

10 hours ago, mersk said:

Just finished the 2019 transfer window. First season went a little too well, the game feels easier than before despite the match engine being very... underwhelming. I'm considering starting a new save, either focusing on bringing a low league team through the ranks or a journeyman one. I don't think this one is gonna keep my interest in the long run.

 

First season transfers:

Gave Sturridge a new contract at the start, he barely played at all yet Arsenal were happy to overpay for him in January. He played 9 games for them and scored 2 goals, before recently moving on to Chelsea for £30m.

de Ligt was the biggest signing, and I was mostly rotating de Ligt/van Dijk/Gomez in the 2 CB spots, so Lovren and Matip weren't getting much playing time. Still, £50m for Matip in January.

Sold Milner and Lallana, but brought in Felix and Lozano as cover for midfield and wingers. Arp replacing Origi as backup striker.

 

Second season transfers:

Barcelona came along for Mané and broke my record for highest transfer fee ever received. £60m up front and £50m in instalments. Brought Sancho in as replacement for a bargain £30m fee.

City were desperate for Henderson, got £70m up front and £20m in instalments. Also sold Gini and Ox, which left me thin in midfield. Brought in Milinkovic-Savic, Pellegrini, and de Jong.

Replaced Moreno with Tierney and made a £23m profit at the same time.

Sold Lozano for twice what I paid, he wasn't really performing well anyway and I was happy to let him go. Same with Shaqiri, I'm gonna use Harry Wilson as backup for Salah instead, and I'm also keeping Woodburn in the squad for attacking depth.

Sold Mignolet and brought in Martin Hansen as backup keeper. It's a massive downgrade, but Alisson is never injured anyway and Hansen is home grown at the club.

Brighton had a fantastic season and snatched 4th place, so they splashed out on Lovren. That left me thin at CB, so I managed to get Gimenez from Atletico for Clyne + £3m. One of the few exchange deals I've ever done, but it's a pretty good one. Clyne only had 1 year left on his contract, and Gimenez' value shot up to £64m after I signed him. To replace Clyne I brought in Mbabu from Young Boys on the cheap. He's home grown (nation) and a good backup for Trent at RB.

 

Transfer window just closed, about to get into the second season. Using two different formations, a 4-3-3 narrow and a 4-1-4-1 DM wide. Will look to sell van Dijk next season, he'll be 29 and have only 2 years left on his contract. Gonna keep Firmino and Salah at least another year, but after that it depends on how they perform and what kind of offers I get. Already pointed out Pietro Pellegri as a long-term replacement for Firmino. Considering Malcom as replacement for Salah, but not quite sure yet. 

 

 

 

The money for those outgoings are outrageous

[womble248]

On 15/11/2018 at 04:32, eastley said:

Did sumfin stupid, maybe,

I loaded up the game, new save, and using editor I terminated most of the teams contracts, lol.

Added up the cost of every terminated player, added that to funds, and got a new team.

Kept Robertson, TAA, Fabinho, Keita, VVD, Becker, WIlson, Woodburn, Solanke, Gomez, Brewster, Jones and most under 23 and 18 team players.

Signed loads

I'm very curious to see what you ended up with. Hahaha.

Edited November 16, 2018 by womble248
Grammar

[Siven]

Anyone able to offer our HOYD Inglethorpe a new contract?  His current secondary job of u18 coach is redundant and is lowering his training quality

[mersk]

17 minutes ago, Siven said:

Anyone able to offer our HOYD Inglethorpe a new contract?  His current secondary job of u18 coach is redundant and is lowering his training quality

As a workaround you could hire new U18 coaches (which is needed anyway), eventually you'll fill the 6 (I think) slots and can then replace Inglethorpe as U18 coach. That way he'll keep his HOYD position.

[Siven]

32 minutes ago, mersk said:

As a workaround you could hire new U18 coaches (which is needed anyway), eventually you'll fill the 6 (I think) slots and can then replace Inglethorpe as U18 coach. That way he'll keep his HOYD position.

Unfortunately doesnt work, Probably because the secondary jobs dont count towards staff numbers  

 

Just have to wait till last year of contract i guess.

[joekim87]

I haven't had much time to play so still only in November but top of the league. Struggling to score but the team just does not concede. I think 15 or so games in I have only conceded 6 goals but 4 were away to Juventus in a weird weird game. So only 2 goals Conceded in 14 games. 

 

Gonna try Firmino on an attack duty to see if I can get the team to score more goals. We seem to work the ball into the box, free up space to shoot then almost always pass it back to a player on the edge of the box. So my midfielders have lots of goals and my front three have lots of assists. It's so weird... They play amazingly to get into a great position and then just lay it off... So frustrating... 

[eastley]

Don't forget to hunt English talent, as you will be restricted to 16 foreign players soon.

[joekim87]

I usually find Liverpool saves far too easy so I set myself three objectives that once I achieve I will consider it a completion of the save. 

 

1. Become the richest club in the world. 

2. Win the league three times. 

3. Win the champions league and in the final I need to field 18 players who have an Irish or UK nationality. 

 

Setting myself these goals it makes the save more interesting and more challenging because I need to find a way to sign the best like Kane, Bale etc. Or really develop the best regens and play ten seasons plus to achieve my goals. 

 

Apart from Bale the non English teams from the UK and Ireland aren't that good... The likes of Wilson and Woodburn are awesome squad players but they will never be super stars... Anyone turned an Irish or Scottish player into a global superstar? 

[dothestrand]

58 minutes ago, joekim87 said:

I usually find Liverpool saves far too easy so I set myself three objectives that once I achieve I will consider it a completion of the save. 

 

1. Become the richest club in the world. 

2. Win the league three times. 

3. Win the champions league and in the final I need to field 18 players who have an Irish or UK nationality. 

 

Setting myself these goals it makes the save more interesting and more challenging because I need to find a way to sign the best like Kane, Bale etc. Or really develop the best regens and play ten seasons plus to achieve my goals. 

 

Apart from Bale the non English teams from the UK and Ireland aren't that good... The likes of Wilson and Woodburn are awesome squad players but they will never be super stars... Anyone turned an Irish or Scottish player into a global superstar? 

Tierney at Celtic? I've seen McKenna at Aberdeen go to Man Utd. There are some very talented young Scottish players - Lewis Ferguson, Kyle Magennis.

[Siven]

I've stopped playing for now.

I have been winning, and top of the league, but been hating the football that was being played.

I was getting annoyed at how bad my Inside fowards and strikers gave been playing, along with virtually no through balls in the game, so i looked at the match engine bugs forum.

 

Seems there is indeed match engine issues with strikers and inside forwards just running to the penalty area and standing still making very very few runs to make space. This makes your players always pass to your fullbacks out wide and is why theres little to no central play.

Along with no through balls, too many long direct passing no matter your instructions it has made me stop playing until the issues have been addressed.

 

I think the introduction of the transition and out of possession instructions along with how they changed how the PPMs work may have impacted the match engine a lot.

 

Think i may go back to FM18 for now where my tactic plays wonderful football.

[jmc1980]

Anyone find a good assistant manager? Suggestions?

[mersk]

3 hours ago, Siven said:

I have been winning, and top of the league, but been hating the football that was being played.

I was getting annoyed at how bad my Inside fowards and strikers gave been playing, along with virtually no through balls in the game, so i looked at the match engine bugs forum.

The match engine is indeed bad, in fact it's actually horrible. There are so many issues with it. Pressing is completely broken, which means defending in huge parts is broken. The offensive play is extremely one-dimensional, they're just crosses after crosses after crosses. Corners are for some reason too many and far too overpowered. Passing instructions aren't being followed, and trying to play short passes is nearly impossible. All of this is reflected through the match engine bug forum.

Not only that, but defending on an individual basis is also really bad. Look at this match report from my last match:

Just errors after errors all day long. Players passing straight to opposition players, defenders stopping their runs and letting attackers get an easy 1v1 (which they miss 4 out of 5 times btw).

 

I'm having the same issue as you, I'm winning but every match tests my patience. The football is straight up boring, and I'm not just talking about my side. Every team plays boring, direct football. It's like a Tony Pulis simulator.

[mersk]

Just to emphasise how one-dimensional this match engine is:

Andy Robertson IRL so far this season, numbers taken from premierleague.com:

11 PL games played

31 crosses

Andy Robertson so far in my second season:

7 PL games played

150 crosses (that's 21 crosses per game, and 1 cross every 4 minutes played)

 

And I have Team Instructions like WBIB and Focus Play Through The Middle, but frankly that's irrelevant: Even if I tried to get as many crosses as possible, 150 after 7 games is insane. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Edited November 17, 2018 by mersk

[joekim87]

This is all music to my ears. I am also winning everything but my forwards and wingers do nothing but I scire exclusively through corners. Glad to hear it's not a problem with my tactics. 

 

Hopefully they patch it up soon. Enjoying the save none the less. 

[redsforever24]

14 hours ago, mersk said:

The match engine is indeed bad, in fact it's actually horrible. There are so many issues with it. Pressing is completely broken, which means defending in huge parts is broken. The offensive play is extremely one-dimensional, they're just crosses after crosses after crosses. Corners are for some reason too many and far too overpowered. Passing instructions aren't being followed, and trying to play short passes is nearly impossible. All of this is reflected through the match engine bug forum.

Not only that, but defending on an individual basis is also really bad. Look at this match report from my last match:

Just errors after errors all day long. Players passing straight to opposition players, defenders stopping their runs and letting attackers get an easy 1v1 (which they miss 4 out of 5 times btw).

 

I'm having the same issue as you, I'm winning but every match tests my patience. The football is straight up boring, and I'm not just talking about my side. Every team plays boring, direct football. It's like a Tony Pulis simulator.

I'm having the same experience.  I'm putting it on hold until its fixed up.  

[dannysheard]

4 hours ago, redsforever24 said:

I'm having the same experience.  I'm putting it on hold until its fixed up.  

The quality of football sometimes is very poor, particularly players that have time on the ball but instead of taking their time, they just smack it 60 yards cross field in the air and it gets swallowed up by the full back.

[redsforever24]

Just now, dannysheard said:

The quality of football sometimes is very poor, particularly players that have time on the ball but instead of taking their time, they just smack it 60 yards cross field in the air and it gets swallowed up by the full back.

Don't get me wrong it's fun to have a defense as good as mine seems to be, but it's drastically unrealistic.  Teams aren't coming within a prayer of scoring against me unless it's Man City or I've had a player sent off. 

[ckny]

Carabao Cup Thriller.  

Salah scored four before I saved his legs in the 60-ish minute.

Here's my tactic, roughly...

[MontyOnTheRun]

1st season with Liverpool. Set my rep as "sunday league footballer (with no badges), and the dressing room was in an uproar because of this. Imagine losing Klopp to a complete nobody! 

 

Milner the snitch claiming I had lost the dressing room (and 15 of his teammates agreed), so my only choice in the team meeting was to remain humble and promise I would turn the situation around. Milner gave me 90 days to improve managerial support and already after 30 days he is very pleased with our progress:

 

 

Everything looking rosey so far (even with Salah out for 7 weeks in the early parts of the season).

 

I find that it really helps to rotate the team to keep everyone's legs fresh and prevent underrated players like Matip from moaning. Out of my 8 victories so far,  in 4 of those games we've scored the winner in the +90th minute. I attribute this to decent morale (everyone are happy about playing time), and of course being much higher condition than the opposition.  It certainly isn't because of my manager rep, because they won't listen to a word I say!

 

Becker, VVD, Salah, Mane, and Firmino my only guaranteed starters - and I rest those guys whenever we have a comfortable lead. The key is to keep VVD healthy throughout the season it looks like, because we become a shambles once he's substituted.

 

For the staff I've tried to keep a little bit of realism by adding only English personell. You might notice I managed to get Carragher as an assistant - this is because I went into the editor and changed his staff role to 'coach' and preference 'to be a coach for Liverpool'. I know if I ever managed Liverpool, then I would want Carra as my assistant. I've also removed Krawietz and Rohrbeck from the payroll in the editor, because I figured if Klopp ever leaves Liverpool then he would take those two with him. Hopefully they follow Klopp to his next destination in my game:

 

 

Interestingly we drew Real Madrid in our Champions League group. After a narrow home win against Dortmund and a bore draw away against Club Brugge (hate their formation), the group was wide open for our home leg against Real. And what a game it was! In a repeat from 2009 we absolutly trashed them 4-0. Only this time we only needed 31 minutes to reach the same score. 

 

Both teams fielded their strongest line-ups:

 

 

 

But in the game we produced an astonishing 25 attempts on goal. I attribute this to playing my standard normal balanced tactic, without trying to press high and take the ball off such technically superior players.  Ramos scored an own goal, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. The highlight of the match came 6 minutes later however, when Salah surged past Ramos and connected with a thunderous volley on the far post that nearly broke the net in half! What a way to mark his return from injury! 

 

 

The way our Champions League group is shaping up, we now have a chance of knocking Real out of the competition in the away leg in 13 days time. Wouldn't that be some revenge.

 

 

I've also used the editor to enforce a global transfer ban until the end of season 1. I want to keep everything as realistic as possible for the first season. My future transfer plans include finding a proper creative playmaker. Lallana produce nothing as an AMC for me (even though his passing accuracy is outstanding). My preferred choices would be 1. Coutinho 2. De Bruyne (closet LFC fan), and 3. Neymar. We'll see if I can afford any of them. The idea is to keep the squad as much intact as possible and only add 1-2 signings each season (on this version the team is good enough for that too). When Clyne's contract runs out I'm retraining Fabinho to play as DR on wingback duty, as he's already accomplished in that position and should have an awesome physical presence in the backline. Haven't decided if I should keep Moreno. Want to give Adam Lewis a try (local lad), but not sure if I've been lucky enough with his PA to where he can make it as a decent backup. At some point I'm also going to try for Messi (just because I've never managed him), even though that would make no sense with relates to the realism I was talking about earlier. Let me know if any of you manage to sign him!

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by MontyOnTheRun

[joekim87]

Has there been an update? The ME seems much better. Seeing a lot more variety in the play and a lot less corners.

Sold Firmino for 120m pounds in January (started with transfers off) to Real Madrid. He is on fire for them with 5 goals and 5 assists in 6 games or something. I tried to sign Kane but they wouldn't let him or Ali go for even 150m pounds... They won't make Champions League so I am hoping to sign one or both of them next season. I managed to make quite a bit of money through sales so I made two big purchases.

Out (all pounds)

Firmino 120m

Lallana 55m

Lovren 37m

Moreno 37m

Sturridge 35m

Origi 29m

Wijnaldum 25m

Mignolet 20m

Markovic 10m

 

In

Tierney 23m

Butland 22m

Rice 77m

Gerard Moreno 38m

Sancho 65m (start of next season)

 

I thought I could go the rest of the season with just Solanke up front but he was just not scoring... After trying all month to get Ali or Kane, i gave up and took a punt on Gerard Moreno for 38m release clause. Never heard of the lad and was really unsure but has 7 goals in 8 games... He has some of the best finishing I have ever seen in an FM game. The chips and the finishes into the corner are just amazing to watch. It's so much fun. I wanted to sign Stones but City were having none of it so I just paid the release clause for Rice. He is going to be my long term defensive midfielder but is covering at the back since I sold Lovren. I bought in Oxford for cover as well and trying to groom him before I buy him (hopefully West Ham sell...). 

 

Fullback positions are set for years with TAA, Robertson, Tierney and Clyne. I might look for a younger replacement for Clyne but not sure yet. He is doing quite well. Mane and Salah are being watched very carefully but the big Spanish duo. I might sell them next season or the season after that if I get offers for near 200m. Mane is easily covered by Sancho who will go on to become world class I'm sure but not sure who to bring on for the right inside forward position if Salah is sold... I am only signing UK and Irish players. Wilson is on fire on loan and so is Woodburn. I think Woodburn and Solanke will be good enough to start in a couple of years time but I want Kane or Ali playing the pressing forward role from next season. Do you guys think Ali will do well in a pressing foward attack? Anyone got suggestions for a right inside forward better than Wilson who is UK or Irish? 

 

Curtis Jones has been amazing for me this season. Playing him in a midfield centre role as an advanced playmaker and he is killing it. Fabinho is my starter in that role as is the top score in the league with 20 plus goals in March 2019. Scored half of them through penalties. Very happy with my squad and Brewster as recovered from injury and is doing okay in a limited role and has already gotten his first goal. Hopefully AOC is okay to be a good squad player from next season.

 

Hopefully I can win the Champions League with only UK and Irish players in the next 5 or 6 years! 

[mersk]

33 minutes ago, joekim87 said:

Has there been an update? The ME seems much better. Seeing a lot more variety in the play and a lot less corners. 

Only a minor update with some stability fixes and the inclusion of VAR for the PL, but the latter requires starting a new game.

If there are any ME changes they're unannounced.

[joekim87]

12 hours ago, mersk said:

Only a minor update with some stability fixes and the inclusion of VAR for the PL, but the latter requires starting a new game.

If there are any ME changes they're unannounced.

Must be placebo.... The matches seem so much more realistic at the moment for me. I have gotten 12 or 13 penalties in the league so far and it's just April. Is that too many or is it in the range of normal?

 

No suggestions for world class right wing forwards who are from the UK or Ireland?

[Siven]

Might be ME changes next week apparently. 

Until then, still waiting .

[redsforever24]

2 hours ago, Siven said:

Might be ME changes next week apparently. 

Until then, still waiting .

Looking forward to those changes. 

[glenn28]

Got drawn in the group of death in the champions league with Fc Porto,Real Madrid & Inter  

[baros2011]

I posted a week or two ago about the game being a little too easily this time around but, having just finished my first season, I’m starting to re-think that!

I started the league campaign with 10 wins out of 11 and didn’t concede a single goal, but after a ropey second half of the season, I only won the league on goal difference - by three goals - over Manchester City.

My gegenpressing 4-1-2-3 tactic got found out a little in second half of season and I went out of the cups/CL relatively early, so even though I’ve a title win under my belt, I feel as if there is major work to do if I’m going to sustain a challenge next year.

One problem in second half of season was Firmino missing last three months due to injury - Studge and Solanke just didn’t cut it in his place so I’m on the verge of bringing in Fekir as first summer signing to cover the three up top and also give me the option of playing a 4-2-3-1. Have people any experience of Fekir? If I sign him, it feels like I can let go Sturridge and Lallana as he’ll do both of their roles, plus I want to give likes of Wilson, Brewster and Woodbury a fair crack in second season.

 

 

[dannysheard]

10 hours ago, baros2011 said:

I posted a week or two ago about the game being a little too easily this time around but, having just finished my first season, I’m starting to re-think that!

I started the league campaign with 10 wins out of 11 and didn’t concede a single goal, but after a ropey second half of the season, I only won the league on goal difference - by three goals - over Manchester City.

My gegenpressing 4-1-2-3 tactic got found out a little in second half of season and I went out of the cups/CL relatively early, so even though I’ve a title win under my belt, I feel as if there is major work to do if I’m going to sustain a challenge next year.

One problem in second half of season was Firmino missing last three months due to injury - Studge and Solanke just didn’t cut it in his place so I’m on the verge of bringing in Fekir as first summer signing to cover the three up top and also give me the option of playing a 4-2-3-1. Have people any experience of Fekir? If I sign him, it feels like I can let go Sturridge and Lallana as he’ll do both of their roles, plus I want to give likes of Wilson, Brewster and Woodbury a fair crack in second season.

 

 

Not signed Fekir, but the one player i regret not buying (Chelsea beat me to it) is Milinkovic-Savic, who looks an absolute monster.

He did the annoying thing of wanting £325k a week for, but then signed for Chelsea for £195k.

I'd replace Keita with him! He's been garbage for me and is behind Henderson, Fabinho, Ox, Milner and Lallana in the pecking order. He keeps asking for a pay rise as well. Knob.

[BoobyBlah]

I signed Akinfenwa as an u/18 coach. Tempted to put him as a fitness coach in charge of strength. Figured he's always been a massive red why not bring him in. Trying to bring in other staff as well like Kuyt, Meijer, etc

[Siven]

It's so hard having to wait for the patch, all i want to do is play!

[IMT]

Not getting people having problems getting strikers to score, I signed Timo Werner, I use him as a pressing forward and so far has 43 in 55 games in all competitions.  

[dannysheard]

9 hours ago, IMT said:

Not getting people having problems getting strikers to score, I signed Timo Werner, I use him as a pressing forward and so far has 43 in 55 games in all competitions.  

What tactics are you using? I'm winning pretty much everything, but strikers aren't doing that great.

And Werner doesn't look that great from my scouting...although he is two-footed.

[IMT]

7 minutes ago, dannysheard said:

What tactics are you using? I'm winning pretty much everything, but strikers aren't doing that great.

And Werner doesn't look that great from my scouting...although he is two-footed.

I pretty much use a 4-2-3-1 gegenpress, on attack (4-1-4-1 if playing another top 4 side away).  I change the duties of my midfielders and wingers though depending on who I'm using there.  My striker is always on pressing forward and this seems to suit Werner, although when Origi has to step in he does a job, I sold Sturridge as he was hopeless. 

[redsforever24]

5 hours ago, IMT said:

I pretty much use a 4-2-3-1 gegenpress, on attack (4-1-4-1 if playing another top 4 side away).  I change the duties of my midfielders and wingers though depending on who I'm using there.  My striker is always on pressing forward and this seems to suit Werner, although when Origi has to step in he does a job, I sold Sturridge as he was hopeless. 

I'm starting to wonder if the strikers not scoring is an issue partially related to formation.  Teams that play 4-2-3-1 seem to have much more success with their strikers than teams that play 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1).  I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not but in my saves the 4-2-3-1 teams are usually dominating their leagues and their strikers are usually toward the top of the charts in goals.  Man Utd. is sadly an example of this.  I think they are insanely over rated in the game, staff and players alike, while in a bunch of saves teams like Barcelona struggle to get into the top two.   Obviously it's related to the ME as well, but maybe it's a formation thing too?  If it is I would still consider it a bug. 

[dannysheard]

9 hours ago, redsforever24 said:

I'm starting to wonder if the strikers not scoring is an issue partially related to formation.  Teams that play 4-2-3-1 seem to have much more success with their strikers than teams that play 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1).  I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not but in my saves the 4-2-3-1 teams are usually dominating their leagues and their strikers are usually toward the top of the charts in goals.  Man Utd. is sadly an example of this.  I think they are insanely over rated in the game, staff and players alike, while in a bunch of saves teams like Barcelona struggle to get into the top two.   Obviously it's related to the ME as well, but maybe it's a formation thing too?  If it is I would still consider it a bug. 

I'm switching formations each season to try and keep it interesting and a bit more challenging.

I'm using a 32212 at the moment with Origi and Salah up top. Origi is scoring twice as many as Salah, even though I switch their roles around a bit.

I always feel like the finishing is slightly off in FM with an average finisher just as likely to take a chance with their weaker foot ad an amazing finisher is to take the same chance with their stronger foot.

Salah misses loads of simple finishes for me, on his left foot with the whole of the goal to aim at.

[joekim87]

17 hours ago, dannysheard said:

I'm switching formations each season to try and keep it interesting and a bit more challenging.

I'm using a 32212 at the moment with Origi and Salah up top. Origi is scoring twice as many as Salah, even though I switch their roles around a bit.

I always feel like the finishing is slightly off in FM with an average finisher just as likely to take a chance with their weaker foot ad an amazing finisher is to take the same chance with their stronger foot.

Salah misses loads of simple finishes for me, on his left foot with the whole of the goal to aim at.

Mane and Salah both make amazing zigzag runs beating multiple defenders and cut inside the box at a great angle, match engine looks amazing then they either sky it or miss just by the post. I don't think I've seen them score... Frustating but looks great before they shoot. 

[dannysheard]

6 hours ago, joekim87 said:

Mane and Salah both make amazing zigzag runs beating multiple defenders and cut inside the box at a great angle, match engine looks amazing then they either sky it or miss just by the post. I don't think I've seen them score... Frustating but looks great before they shoot. 

Yeah, I couldn't get anything out of them as IF. I ended up playing them as wingers on their natural sides and they were much better (at exploiting crosses).

[mersk]

4 hours ago, dannysheard said:

Yeah, I couldn't get anything out of them as IF. I ended up playing them as wingers on their natural sides and they were much better (at exploiting crosses).

Yeah but that's incredibly boring football though... in my opinion anyway.