FM19 - The Community Formation Experiment

[Armistice]

Armistice - 4-2-2-2 DM AM Narrow

So this is what the standard formation looks like. A heavy burden on the fullbacks who are expected to get up and down the pitch as they're the only source of width, and the two DMs who are supposed to protect the back four and help transition the ball up field. Will be interesting to see how I can balance things out because from what I've seen last night while I looked briefly at the squad, Betis do not have excellent fullbacks, they're decent and the DMs/CMs are not very athletic and only Carvalho is a bit more defensive oriented out of them. I'll probably look to build around Do Celso, who seems to be the best all rounder player in the team. Also Canales (I think it is) looks decent too. Strikers are poor.

 

For the style of play I'm still undecided what to try and implement, probably a possession based style of play combined with some sort of counter-press, since we have 4 players high up the pitch. It's a bit concerning that the CB Sidney has poor acceleration so a very high line that should complement the counter-press is risky unless I get some transfers in. 

[ElCuriosoJr]

I really like the 4-3-1-2 Narrow Formation. Hopefully it fits perfeclty to the squad. 

[Jambo98]

@Jommelb - 424 DM Wide

[Jommelb]

On 01/04/2019 at 03:15, Jambo98 said:

Everyone has to use the same database (19.3.4 i think we are on now?) - with no database edits

@Jambo98, how do I know I have the right one. When I start a new save it says: update 19.3.0. 
I can't choose 19.3.4 or anything like that. I'm using steam so it should be updated right?

[Jambo98]

3 minutes ago, Jommelb said:

@Jambo98, how do I know I have the right one. When I start a new save it says: update 19.3.0. 
I can't choose 19.3.4 or anything like that. I'm using steam so it should be updated right?

Yeha thats my bad - just the current one which i believe is 19.3.0. I think i looked at the game version (which is 19.3.4) not the DB version - so just go with what you have 

[kun^^]

Count me in   

[RPM_01]

I'm in too!

[s3lby]

433 Narrow

That's unfortunate, only one decent striker in the squad and Tello, Joaquin, and Lainez can't play any of the positions so are probably going to have to be sold/loaned. Should be a challenge 😁

[MadOnion]

For the 3 or 5 at the back systems, does it matter if the midfield is in the DM/MF strata (Perhaps a mix of both)?

[Deisler26]

Go on then, @Jambo98

[Jambo98]

13 minutes ago, s3lby said:

433 Narrow

That's unfortunate, only one decent striker in the squad and Tello, Joaquin, and Lainez can't play any of the positions so are probably going to have to be sold/loaned. Should be a challenge 😁

Quick question. I know it says no editor data, but are we allowed to use edited database just to fix the licensing/naming? Some of the fake names drive me crazy haha

I believe you might want to edit out the last line of that due to forum rules, but you can do as you wish with regards to that point in terms of this challenge

[warlock]

8 minutes ago, MadOnion said:

For the 3 or 5 at the back systems, does it matter if the midfield is in the DM/MF strata (Perhaps a mix of both)?

You need to choose the preset formation, and you can't change any of the positions. Which is giving me initial problems - the 352 uses a flat-five in midfield, so fullbacks, wingbacks and AMs have no place in the tactic. So of the 24-man squad, about 11 of them will not be in natural positions . I originally misread my formations as a 532, which would have been easier, but it's all part of the challenge.

[Jambo98]

@kun^^ 3421 DM 

@RPM_01 - 4221 Narrow 

@Deisler26 - 4222 DM 

 

[Jambo98]

Just now, warlock said:

You need to choose the preset formation, and you can't change any of the positions. Which is giving me initial problems - the 352 uses a flat-five in midfield, so fullbacks, wingbacks and AMs have no place in the tactic. So of the 24-man squad, about 11 of them will not be in natural positions . I originally misread my formations as a 532, which would have been easier, but it's all part of the challenge.

Yup correct. 

To be fair, the AM's in the squad could mostly be fitted in there, and Firpo can play LM no problem.  You aint missnig much on the RB side of things, although the Loan one can also play RM pretty easily. 

Some of the guys with 3 at the back could have good fun recreating similar things to how Quique has Betis set up in IRL. 

[Deego619]

Ah the 4-2-3-1 DM, an old favourite of mine from many years back. When I think of this system I always think of late 00s Liverpool under Rafa Benitez.

This is what I'm thinking so far. The squad has very good depth for this system, especially at center back and the attacking four. Just love that Joaquin is still a viable winger in 2019! Used to buy him all the time in like FIFA 06.

[Chevie]

Count me in!

[Deego619]

[jc577]

33 minutes ago, JDeeguain said:

I’d start again 😂

[Jambo98]

@Chevie - 3142 DM 

[jaxika]

Please pick for me a formation

[scratchmonkey]

@Klfh Very interesting! I like the use of an Enganche as a fulcrum and I'm intrigued because we're setting up to use players in very different ways in our very similar formations. Here's what I've come up with so far:

I decided that since the 5-2-2-1 DM is so incredibly bottom-heavy, that the best approach would be an aggressive-counter attacking one that concentrated on getting players making attacking movements from...unconventional positions with the hope that this would make it difficult for the other team to track our runners. (Also, if you're going to be playing an incredibly awkward formation, why not shoehorn in some of the more unusual roles while you're at it?)

With that in mind, we're going to set up with a vertically compact mid-block with an aggressive SK behind the backline. I may drop the More Urgent pressing and instead rely on PIs on everybody except the 3 CBs to press more than usual. When we win the ball back, Lo Celso and Mandi should break aggressively through the middle, with the WBs providing width, and the two nominal wide midfielders tucking in and along with the CF, looking to play in the 4 runners. The goal that I'm particularly looking to score is on the break, with one of the WBs playing a quick low ball to the far post to the other WB/CF/winger/possibly the SV to tuck away.

There are some pretty obvious problems with this approach (wiser heads than mine probably saw a dozen immediately with that screenshot), the biggest in my mind is that we're going to be giving possession away very cheaply, so there's a real chance that games will turn into an endless cycle of us being pinned back, trying to play an aggressive pass upfield, the other team collecting and then restarting the attack, etc. Playing on Attacking should mitigate this to some extent, as will playing Joaquin as a WP, since they should look for him and he should be fairly good at not turning the ball over immediately.

Another is that I'm not actually sure at how well an attacking Librero will work out, since this is something that you usually want to spend seasons building up to. We don't have time to really mold anybody to that role and we're kind of just hoping Mandi will perform as well as he's potentially capable of. I also have no idea whether playing a HB in front of a Librero will do what I'm predicting it will, which is to have the HB 'plug' the gap that the Librero will leave -- if he doesn't, then we're going to likely have a gaping hole between the two BPDs (who will likely change their roles once I realize that they're just giving away the ball for naught all the time).

I'm also not entirely sold on playing Guardado as a IW(A), that position could easily wind up being a WM just to provide some extra connective tissue during that initial quick transition. And of course all of this could fall apart like a house of cards as soon as the first couple preseason games, we'll just have to see!

[kun^^]

3 horas atrás, Jambo98 disse:

@kun^^ 3421 DM 

@RPM_01 - 4221 Narrow 

@Deisler26 - 4222 DM 

 

Nice 💪 new formation for me, never used it. 

[RPM_01]

16 hours ago, Jambo98 said:

@kun^^ 3421 DM 

@RPM_01 - 4221 Narrow 

@Deisler26 - 4222 DM 

 

How come I get one less player?!

 

@Jambo98 am I using the 4321 Narrow or 4231 Narrow?

[Egecann]

This is one of the weirdest formations i've ever used. It is great for possesion but not enough penetration we will see what happens. I can change the mentality to attacking at some point

[dazza11]

@Jambo98 id like to sign up too pls! 

[sporadicsmiles]

The 4123 DM AM Narrow.

Well, I guess this formation is what happens when you want to play a 4123 without any wingers! However, to me it more resembles a weird 442 narrow diamond, with one striker dropped deep. I think I will initially treat it as such. Here is how I initially see the tactic. 

Let's talk a bit about the roles. GK and CBs are standard, nothing mysterious there. I will actually discuss the left and right side of the team rather than strata by strata too. Since this was how my thought process worked. First though, the two players not on the left or the right. 

HB(D). The DMC is a weird position in this formation. I do not need him offensively at all. 5 central players is more than enough, and I will have creativity higher up. Which is a shame with William Carvalho in the squad, but he can be a pretty decent HB, and will be more than comfortable to play the ball out from the back (hence the instruction). The HB is my defensive cover. He allows me to push wingbacks forward by dropping back when we attack. 

AF(A). This role is obvious. I really, really do not need another player dropping into the midfield. I do need space for the midfielders to operate. He will try to provide that by always being on the shoulder of the last defender, keeping them as deep as possible. Also, looking to get on to longer balls, and score goals. 

Now let's examine the left and right hand side of the team (not that I may end up switching these sides, perhaps fluidly, depends on the way I find the players to play).

The Left. We have a CWB(A), a BWM(D) and an AP(S). Of these, I expect the BWM(D) to be more fluid, it will depend on what I need from the role. Right now, I need him not to get in the way of the AP(S), so he gets a defend duty. I need to watch how this works. The BWM is selected over a carrilero because it has a defend duty. He needs to provide defensive support to the left flank, and will be one of my midfield anchors. The player he is covering is the CWB(A). Whose job it is to bomb down the flanks and give some width. He is on the same side as the AP(S) for two reasons. Two provide a passing option, and also to try to make sure at least one player stays wider to deal with him. That can keep a player away from the playmaker. Now, the playmaker should be the fulcrum of the attack. He will hopefully drift around looking for space. He should link everything together. The attack duties around and ahead of him should help clear him some space to work in.

The Right. FB(S), Mez(S) and SS(A). These roles will almost certainly change depending on the situation. I am not sure what the final role of the SS will be, and I have to see what the Mezzala is doing. The idea here is that width is provided by the mezzala, with the FB supporting him. If he and the FB are side together, this will draw defenders from the middle, which can give the AP room to work, and may also make like easier for the SS (or whatever role we end up with there). The SS(A) will provide late runs to get onto through balls and crosses. He may also provide assists to the AF, we will see. I would also like him to drift wide and act like an IF at times. I need to play with working this out.

Bringing it all together, this is my initial vision for this tactic, with arrows indicating the movements I want to see. 

Thus far, I have managed to defeat my own U18 side very comfortably, which either means I am doing something okay, or they are just terrible. We have a lot of friendlies to come.

In terms of transfers, I will be looking to strengthen the central midfield, which is weak (and I just had an injury, so I am all out of CMs). There is almost no transfer budget or wage budget to be had though. Also, why do Betis has 4 right backs in the squad? That is such overkill. I will also try to retrain the wingers to be able to play in the AMC or STC slots, if possible. There are some pretty good wingers at the club. 

Oh, and I haven't even started to think about PIs and TIs so much yet. The ones I have added are to encourage playing the ball from the back (get Carvalho involved, when he is back) and to stretch the midfield out so everyone is not super bunched all the time. This will evolve. 

 

[BlueScreen]

5 horas atrás, JDeeguain disse:

Ah the 4-2-3-1 DM, an old favourite of mine from many years back. When I think of this system I always think of late 00s Liverpool under Rafa Benitez.

This is what I'm thinking so far. The squad has very good depth for this system, especially at center back and the attacking four. Just love that Joaquin is still a viable winger in 2019! Used to buy him all the time in like FIFA 06.

Don't get me wrong, but you're not using the correct formation, I was the one to get that one 

[Deego619]

4 minutes ago, BlueScreen said:

Don't get me wrong, but you're not using the correct formation, I was the one to get that one 

D'oh I forgot that 4-2-3-1 DM wide was a completely separate thing.

I'm on a great run and all. 

 

 

[BlueScreen]

If Jambo doesn´t mind, we can trade, there´s no point in you starting again. For me it´s completly fine if we change.

[Jambo98]

Yeah that makes no difference to me lads - go for it. 

[Fosse]

12 hours ago, Jambo98 said:

@Fosse - 5122 DM WB

 

@JDeeguain - 4231 DM 

 

@Pattric_b - 4123 DM Narrow 

 

@bibird. - 4141 DM Asymettric AML 

 

@ElCuriosoJr - 4312 Narrow 

 

@MadOnion - 3412 

 

@Egecann - 4231 DM Narrow 

I had that on one of these challenges previously, I don't mind using that but would prefer a different one 

[Jambo98]

@jaxika 5221 WB 

@dazza11 - 541 WB wide 

[Jean0987654321]

Put me in...

[SetUpMan50]

Count me in for this. I'm looking for a new challenge! 

[Jambo98]

@Jean0987654321 - 4141 DM 

@SetUpMan50 - 523 Narrow

 

[Jambo98]

4 hours ago, Fosse said:

I had that on one of these challenges previously, I don't mind using that but would prefer a different one 

Yeah fair enough, if you already did it on the challenge can see its not ideal. So....

@Fosse - 31312 DM 

[Jean0987654321]

4 hours ago, Jambo98 said:

@Jean0987654321 - 4141 DM 

@SetUpMan50 - 523 Narrow

 

Finally, for the first time in a while, I get a normal formation

[Klfh]

@scratchmonkey That looks more sensible than my attempt! A proper striker up top would probably make the world of difference for me... good luck to you!

I'm through pre season and the first three games now. I haven't changed anything in the tactic for these games in order to have a good foundation for analysis. Results have been varied; one win, one loss and one draw in the competitive games. We won all pre season games, but i would not take anything from that... I have some conclusions son far though:

- Our possession is dangerously low, between 20 and 30 %. While I was expecting low possession stats, this is a bit extreme... I will monitor this and see if I need to make any alterations.

- Defensively we are looking seriously strong. So far only one goal conceded- from a direct free kick. This might indicate that there is room to be more adventurous with the mentality though.

- We have some nice combinations of attacking play, but the ENG is too far down in his positioning to make those true killer passes. This might be related to my previous points of our low possession, being on a support duty he is involved defensively and have a low starting position. 

- the goalkeeper is throwing rhe ball away. His best completed pass percentage is 28 %, and in the last game he misplaced all his passes! Not good enough, and he is punting the ball long every single time...

From theese observations I will make two alterations and monitor the results for a couple of games to see if it gets any effect:

- adding distribution instructions for the keeper. With five players in the backline, and all of them reasonably comfortable on the ball he should distribute to them rather then sending the ball into orbit... Hopefully this will help a little bit with the possession and allow my attacking players to move upfield.

- adding the "Get further forward" PI to the ENG to encourage a bit more proactive positioning in the attacking transitions.

In the loss and the draw we faced formations with two DM:s. This seems to be a problem for us since they practically mark the ENG completely out of the game. I might have too look at a role change for those games going forward, but I'm gonna hold that thought for a while. A roaming treq might be the answer though...

[Armistice]

14 hours ago, sporadicsmiles said:

These narrow formations are so difficult to balance in FM imo. I watched a friendly last night (I have a formation similar to yours) and basically the four midfielders are stacking in the same space despite having different roles and duties. I'll try a slightly different setup tonight to see if it works better. Also imo the Betis fullbacks are not good enough to do a dual job of going high up the pitch to provide wdith and drop back to defend.

[herne79]

Clearly I'm going blind and I've missed this .  Pick me a formation please @Jambo98 .

[kun^^]

 

Gonna start the season like this, it's a good formation with a obvious hole on the AMC spot.

I will start with a MEZ(a) and a CM(a) and the Defensive MDF duo on support just to give the team a extra step foward .

Let's see if it works

 

Edit:

First two games, with good win's .

Defensively strong as the stas show, offensively a little short , low possession, maybe i'll tick exploit the midle TI on the next game and see how it goes.

Game 1 :

Game 2 :

[sporadicsmiles]

2 hours ago, Armistice said:

These narrow formations are so difficult to balance in FM imo. I watched a friendly last night (I have a formation similar to yours) and basically the four midfielders are stacking in the same space despite having different roles and duties. I'll try a slightly different setup tonight to see if it works better. Also imo the Betis fullbacks are not good enough to do a dual job of going high up the pitch to provide wdith and drop back to defend.

Agreed. The general impression I got is that my midfielders like to sit in similar positions. There is a lot of experimentation to be done. Perhaps an Enganche rather than an AP might be the way to go for me. The enganche should not normally roam around as much (I think, I have never used one).

True about the fullbacks too. They have a lot of them, but they are not all that good. Mandi can do a job as a defense minded fullback on the right for sure. The first signing I will make will be Aleno (I think it is his name) on loan from Barcelona to give more midfield options. The second will likely be to try to find someone on the left (or right) of defense who can really work up and down the field all day long.

I guess the key for us narrow folk is to find a way to exploit the ungodly number of central midfielders we have. I am going to experiment with the "wider" attacking option to try and spread everyone out horizontally a bit. Likewise, I need to find a good way to spread the team out vertically.

[kun^^]

11 minutos atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

Agreed. The general impression I got is that my midfielders like to sit in similar positions. There is a lot of experimentation to be done. Perhaps an Enganche rather than an AP might be the way to go for me. The enganche should not normally roam around as much (I think, I have never used one).

True about the fullbacks too. They have a lot of them, but they are not all that good. Mandi can do a job as a defense minded fullback on the right for sure. The first signing I will make will be Aleña (I think it is his name) on loan from Barcelona to give more midfield options. The second will likely be to try to find someone on the left (or right) of defense who can really work up and down the field all day long.

I guess the key for us narrow folk is to find a way to exploit the ungodly number of central midfielders we have. I am going to experiment with the "wider" attacking option to try and spread everyone out horizontally a bit. Likewise, I need to find a good way to spread the team out vertically.

It was my first signing on Loan, as you can see on my Screenshots . Well rounded player.

On the left wing i'm going to use Tello , even with the rigth foot, is drible , pace and player traits can give  a good variation to my system

Joaquin is going to be trained as MEZ , he have such good attributes its a shame if i can't play him.

 

[Egecann]

4-2-3-1 DM Narrow

So we ended up with this formation. St was dlf-S but with three cm's on attack they were stacking up so i changed it to af-a. Narrow formations is so hard to build (for me at least) because cm's and dm's are stacking up. Even though the mezzala's staying wide. Would like to see what can be done by other players. I should've tried 2 vol 2 mez and cm-d because there isn't any penetration

We overachieved by finishing 7th but only scoring 34 goals  Also we got knocked out on qfinals on Euro cup .We won 1-0 most of the games. Not much open play goals mostly from corners or rebounds.

[jc577]

2 hours ago, sporadicsmiles said:

I guess the key for us narrow folk is to find a way to exploit the ungodly number of central midfielders we have. I am going to experiment with the "wider" attacking option to try and spread everyone out horizontally a bit. Likewise, I need to find a good way to spread the team out vertically.

This is the key, I’m trying to find ways to achieve this, but it’s proving difficult so far. Working with the 4-1-3-1-1 DM AM,  but I’m still torn between using the abundance of players centrally to dominate possession, or play more defensively and shun the opposition out wide before counter-attacking. This issue with the latter is that we usually defend with 10 men behind the ball, so with only the striker being advanced, breaking out is quite difficult. In terms of spreading the team out horizontally, using a higher mentality could be the key, which could push the outer CM’s to defend almost as wide-midfielders. Naturally this formation leads to using at least one Mezzala, but I don’t think this is enough to provide the width we need (as the FB on that side would have to be conservative). Still plenty of work to be done. 

[sporadicsmiles]

51 minutes ago, jc577 said:

This is the key, I’m trying to find ways to achieve this, but it’s proving difficult so far. Working with the 4-1-3-1-1 DM AM,  but I’m still torn between using the abundance of players centrally to dominate possession, or play more defensively and shun the opposition out wide before counter-attacking. This issue with the latter is that we usually defend with 10 men behind the ball, so with only the striker being advanced, breaking out is quite difficult. In terms of spreading the team out horizontally, using a higher mentality could be the key, which could push the outer CM’s to defend almost as wide-midfielders. Naturally this formation leads to using at least one Mezzala, but I don’t think this is enough to provide the width we need (as the FB on that side would have to be conservative). Still plenty of work to be done. 

Nice ideas there. I am not going to be working base on possession, but try to counter at least a little bit. If I have possession, it will be a by product, rather than a goal. What I really want to do is to create a crap load of movement with the midfield players. I should always have someone who has a little pocket of space. I do not really want to be too wide, and higher mentalities have their own drawbacks. We will have to wait and see. I am also going to need my CBs to be good in the air, because we are going to be attacked down the flanks hugely. I have a couple of hours tonight to work on things a bit, I will keep the thread updated. 

[Chevie]

Formation: 3-1-4-2 DM

Player Roles

- The right and left sided midfielders are the only wide players in the formation so they are tasked with providing all the width.

- The back three and Deep Lying Playmaker should enough defensive cover for me to allow my Wingers to focus on attacking.

- Ball Playing Defender sweeps up any balls that are played in behind my other two centerbacks.

- This also means I do not need to use a Sweeper Keeper and can instead stick with a normal Goalkeeper.

- Right and left sided Central Defenders step out to close down the wings when the opposition attack in behind my Wingers.

- Advanced Forward pushes back opposition defenders to create room for the False 9 and Roaming Playmaker.

- False 9 drops deep to help link the midfield and attack since this is quite a big gap in the formation.

- Box-To-Box Midfielder moves forwards into the space vacated by the False 9.

- Roaming Playmaker knits everything together, always being an option for a pass.

- Advanced Forward, Box-To-Box Midfielder and opposite Winger should be in the box for cross with the Roaming Playmaker waiting outside the area.

Team Instructions

- Mentality: I want my team to be on the front in games, taking the match to the opposition.

- In Possession: Try to look after the ball when we've got it, the opposition can't hurt us if we're in possession (hopefully).

- In Transition: Get the ball back when we loose it, and don't throw it away when we've got it.

- Out Of Possession: Try to win the ball back as soon as possible.

Current Squad - Do they fit the tactic?

I used an Excel document and the HARMEAN function to see which players had attributes to fit the positions. I used this to assign players to each position who have the attributes play that particular position rather than just using their role familiarity. This has lead to me using the following left back as my Box-To-Box Midfielder:

So, to show why, here's the Excel document for the Betis players. I have bolded the positions I am going to play them in:

From this, I got the following first XI:

I also used this to see which weaknesses I had in the squad, I realised that because I was using midfield players in defence (Javi Garcia) and in attack (Sergio Canales) I need to use the limited transfer budget to bring in depth for my three central midfield positions, more on that next.

What this also shows me, is that Loren is worth keeping around the squad to provide cover for a lot of different positions in the team even though he isn't quite good enough to be a first or second choice.

Transfers

So with this challenge, we're allowed 2 permanent signings and 1 loan signing. With very little room to manouvre in the finances, I decided to use the free transfer market for my 2 permanent signings. I came Hallfredsson (12.6 using the HARMEAN calculation as a Box-To-Box Midfielder) and Gago (14.8 as a Deep Lying Playmaker). There was very little to choose from in terms of Box-To-Box players since poor physicals for the older free agents meant that they were not always very suited to playing that role.

My loan was between Hyndman and Alena from Barcelona since both them were equally suited to being a Roaming Playmaker (13.2). I decided on Hyndman because his attributes meant that he was able to provide cover for more positions in the tactic than Alena.

My second string now looks likes this:

Early Pre-Season Form

A solid start in the first four matches. I would have liked to have kept at least ONE clean sheet but hopefully as my team get more used to the tactic then this will improve. An average of 56% possession so far is pleasing since my team instructions are designed to have more possession than the opposition. 7 clear cut chances to 2 is also a good sign even with the lack of a clean sheet so far.

Further updates soon!

[Lambo95]

I've had a good start to the season. In my first few games I was struggling defesnively but setting the two wide players to DW(s) has worked a treat. We keep the ball very well and have played lovely stuff at times. Also that sole defeat for Barca came at our hands. Its going to be a long season if Léon continues to be so profligate in front of goal tho, hes missed so many big chances already despite being our top scorer with 5 goals. Been impressed with Canales but the other AMs have struggled to perform mostly.

[s3lby]

End of preseason update (4-3-3 Narrow)

First off, the transfers:

Unfortunately, Joaquín had to go due to having no ability to play CM or STR.

Sergio Reguilón came in on loan as LB cover.

I needed some more quality in midfield (I am playing Canales as a Striker) so i brought in Matías Zaracho from Racing. Never used him before but he looks a talent.

Finally, I sent my scouts out all over the world with the task of finding a cheap striker and my scout in Africa comes back with this gem:

Never heard of Ali Bounadir before, and I can't even find a picture of him on google but hes a quality backup for the price I paid for him.

On to the tactics, I'm starting off pretty simple. Only a few team instructions away from the default tactic the game generates when you choose 4-3-3 narrow.

On balanced, the wide strikers on support duties defend very similarly to how players at AML and AMR do. This will help keep our fullbacks from getting too overrun. Also the fullbacks on support still get forward plenty due to all the open space in front of them. I originally thought I would need to put them on wingback or complete wingback roles, but they seem to be providing plenty of support in the final third without leaving us too vulnerable to the counter. I'm sure I will make changes as the season progresses, but for now I'm going to see how this fairs. I know friendlies don't mean anything but good showings against Valencia and Dortmund have me cautiously optimistic.

[Jean0987654321]

This is what I have going for now

 

My only transfers in respects to the rules were

Mathias Olivera from Getafe for 1.5M

Needed a backup LB in there as Firpo was the only LB we got

David Merola from Inter (1M + bonuses tribunal)

Needed a backup ST but I wanted someone with a bit of upside

Kenny Tete from Lyon on loan

Versatile player with loads of pace. Exactly the player I need in order to play a high line. Sidnei is a bit slow compared to him so it made sense to get another CB in after I sold Feddal for 3.5M + 50% sell on