[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...

[Gee_Simpson]

36 minutes ago, Spiegel said:

Only brought in as a backup option, but yeah he's reliable when he's played. Solid defensively and capable on the ball. Left footed aswell which is nice. Pereira coming back so have even more of Hearts connection there!

Nice one, I'll probably bring him in then. I'm guessing his report said he was injury prone? As he definitely is irl. I was going to try my hardest to have Pereira involved in my Utd save but unfortunately he's been poor for us so far, lol. We have a history of having brilliant keepers and unfortunately he's not one of them. I expected him to be better tbh. 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Gee_Simpson

[PaulC2K]

'tis the season to be jolly! Just gone top on boxing day and holding on into the new year. City 3pts behind, Liverpool 6pts but 2 games in hand and +8gd on me... so not great.
Went unbeated in December, 8 wins & 2 draws. Didnt even take manager of the month, Silva got it, with 6/6 wins including Arsenal, City, Liverpool! Yeah, I'll settle for that.

I somehow had the board agree to sign for £55m Haaland with only £9.5m available in my budget. I'd had a bid of 25m accepted at the start of the season but he wasnt interested, so i was just thinking i'd offload a couple (Mata, Bailly & Jones), but they wouldnt take 25+20/3yr, so i asked the board to step in and 2 days later its all agreed and contract was offered. I was also tempted to go for Werner, i like the idea of having a pressing forward, with Rashford & Martial on the left, then Greenwood and hopefully Sancho for the right side in the summer. So far ive been fortunate that Martial has been fit and performing (11 in 20), with Greenwood rotated in league cup & Europe. So it gives me a little security as well as options.

Next up is Norwich in League Semi (1st leg) with Chelsea or Oxford the other semi. In the Europa League i got Lazio, and my hopes of that being an easy way into the CL was knocked when i saw Madrid in there. They had Juve, Lyon and Young Boys, and won only 1 game. They're top of La Liga, and 10pts clear of Barca, so not sure what went wrong for them, but it seems likely our paths will meet in the Europa.

Huh, i started the Norwich game before submitting, Rashford got injured after 15min, Martial came on and then scored an own goal, we came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with a 94th minute equaliser, and im told Rashford is out for 5-6wks. So much for options! Haaland did smash in a nice header to get us back in it, though.

[Extra Time FM]

Greenwood is on fire for me in the first season. Playing him either has a winger or inside forward at AML. 19 goals in all comps. He's a superstar and has easily surpassed Danial James out on the right. 

[tomb173]

Hi guys,

Anyone had a takeover yet? Currently I'm in season 1 and four games in.

There is talk about it in the press.  

[PaulC2K]

Only in January, but had that sort of message come up twice, no idea what sort of chance there is of a takeover happening.

[Sherkey]

It may happen a few years down the line. Nearly finishing S1, and nothing as of yet, despite a couple of rumours in the press. In FM19, i remember it happening in the fourth year or so in my save//

[tomb173]

ill have to screen shot and post it as im at work atm.  On the about the club page where it says chairman its got in talks of a take over never had it before.

  

[Spiegel]

Seen it a few times on mine aswell. Even City've been linked with a takeover?

[chapperz92]

Zoran Tosic led a consortium to takeover on mine. Assume he feels this is the only way he’ll play

[Shanksie1975]

10 hours ago, Extra Time FM said:

Greenwood is on fire for me in the first season. Playing him either has a winger or inside forward at AML. 19 goals in all comps. He's a superstar and has easily surpassed Danial James out on the right. 

I'm finding the same, Mason is a beast on the right

[Sherkey]

2 hours ago, Shanksie1975 said:

I'm finding the same, Mason is a beast on the right

That, he is. 22 or so goals playing as an Advanced Forward for me. And he still has room to grow. It's terrifying.

[Indrid Cold]

Just passed the January window. Still 1st in the league, with only two losses (Arsenal, West Ham) and two draws (Norwich, Chelsea). I was able to bring Haaland in for £40m and so far he's been worth every penny. As a CF(a) in 4-1-4-1 DM, he's on 3 goals in 4 games. I'm excited to watch him develop. 

Has anybody been able to get anything out of Martial? He started injured in my save and was out three months. Since his return he's been terrible. 1 goal in 10 games as an AF(s) and completely useless from the left. I want to stick with him, but it's not looking good. 

[skog]

I haven't done a Man Utd save for years but I have a deep seated hatred of Phil Jones and after watching him get torn apart against Sheff Utd, I decided to start a save just so I could get rid of him.

I went about overhauling the squad, shipping out players who I felt I could get some return on and didn't want to use anyway:

Fred went to Beijing Guo'an for £19m, Matic followed to Ghangzhou Evergrande for £13.5m, Ashley Young and Phil Jones went to clubs in Qatar for £2.5m and nowt respectively. Rojo spent the first half of the season on loan at Everton before making a permanent move for £6m in January. 

The spending spree began with Sandro Tonali from Brescia for £46.5m followed by Arkadiusz Milik from Napoli for £54m. I continued to get a bit carried away and bought in Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic for £23.5m, Ludwig Augustinsson Werder Bremen for £10m and Federico Chiesa from Fiorentina for £59m. 

I then shifted my focus to the future and bought in a couple of youngsters, Jude Bellingham from Birmingham for £25.5m(!) and Jens Petter Hauge from Bodø/Glimt for £2.8m.

January was mostly about building for the future, signing a handful of youngsters and increasing my Norwegian contingent with Patrick Berg from Bodø/Glimt for £6m. I had been disappointed with Milik, who I signed as Haaland wasn't interested in the summer, so I revisited the deal and signed Erling for £51m before loaning him back to RB Salzburg for the rest of the year. 

Tonali was the signing of the season with Chiesa contributing significantly, a small dip in form coinciding with his absence from injury for a month in February. 

I managed to win the league with a couple of games to spare but missed out on the Europa League by losing to Arsenal in the final. FA Cup run ended early by Liverpool. In all honesty, I am slightly disappointed.

Here's some screenshots!

 

[Sherkey]

Got this offer from Chelsea for Rashford. It's true - after the ban, they really do get a lot of money.

To be fair, he has been beasting it.

Gonna turn it down anyway. Don't need the money, my team is good right now, and I still 190 Mn in the bank. The player I'm interested in (Mbappe) wouldn't be interested in United right now, so no point. Plus, Rashford is developed at the club, quite like playing with him.

[milan_manutd]

Laird is very good, even have Bisaka on the bench and Dalot playing LB.

[Chapman7]

2 hours ago, milan_manutd said:

Laird is very good, even have Bisaka on the bench and Dalot playing LB.

 

3 goals in 21 :o What you got him playing! He's certainly well on your save! Now starting my proper United save since full release so will hopefully get him playing just aswell too 

[Indrid Cold]

16 hours ago, Sherkey said:

Got this offer from Chelsea for Rashford. It's true - after the ban, they really do get a lot of money.

Good lord! That's insane money. Good on you for turning it down though. Rashford should never leave United IMO.

[Marc Lister]

On 20/11/2019 at 16:01, Champ15 said:

I tried replicating the same tactics from FM19 that worked a charm with my strikers using  Rashford as a poacher and he scored 30 odd goals every season though doesn't seem to yielding any success this year, well in the Beta anyway. I may have to rethink my roles to get the strikers scoring. Looking forward to getting stuck into it

Finding that Martial up front and Rashford on the left works very well compared to the other way round.

[milan_manutd]

14 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

 

3 goals in 21 :o What you got him playing! He's certainly well on your save! Now starting my proper United save since full release so will hopefully get him playing just aswell too 

WB (ATT) but not for long

f*ck off injury on February 1st

 

[PaulC2K]

F*CK VAR!!! 
Not even 9min in and 3 goals disallowed  (ended 1-0 with 89th min winner, no VAR to save them that time!)

Currently in March, next game is Europa Quarters vs Wolfsberg. Havent lost since late November, and havent even dropped a point since the first week of Feb. I have a 3pt gap to Liverpool (played 1 extra) and 8pts to City on equal games. They've continued to squander points throughout the season, while i started sloppy but once we got a bit of a run, we've been unstoppable. 

Pogba has been unbelieveable since January, scoring in the last 6 games. 11 in our 14 games in 2020, he didnt play in 2 of those matches (kept the first team fresh for consecutive games before playing City), and another match he came on at the 81st minute and still scored the winner on the very same minute he came on!  He's not even the penalty taker. 

Haaland has been impressove, too. 5 in 10, and he's starting the key games. I started him as pressing forward, then tried complete, before going back to pressing. Pressing is his preference, but I suspect that unless the 2 wingers are playing a similar pressing game, he's just chasing his tail. If anyone fancies providing some thoughts on whether i should persist with 'complete' and mould him that way, or continue with pressing and what i'd need to achieve that (presumably wide players with stamina, anticipation & work rate, and maybe pace, teamwork & concentration?), it'd certainly be appreciated. I've always just let them play in their preferred role, rather than sent them out playing my way.

[Indrid Cold]

I just finished my first season. I never would have thought this team would be so successful right off the bat. Needless to say, the board is pretty damn happy. 

The win of the season went to the 6-1 thumping of Liverpool at home early on. It was at this point I realized this team was something special. My signings were all immense. Bruno had 15 goals and 12 assists in 33 league appearances. Bernardeschi set a team record of 17 assists in 35 appearances. Haaland came in in January and scored 11 in 15 appearances. Goretzka was less successful, mainly due to injury. When he was fit, he killed it as a BBM. 

Rashford went on to win the Golden Boot with 24 goals in 36 appearances, all from the left wing. Bruno won player Player of the Year for both the club and league. Wan-Bissaka was the Young Player of the Year. Greenwood had a breakthrough season with 17 goals in 42 appearances (21 of these were from the bench).

Season 2 - 2020/21

Right off the bat, PSG came in strong for Pogba. There was nothing I could do. He put in a request and would only stay if I could promise winning the Champions League, which seemed ridiculous. Oh well, £100m in the bank. With a total of £330m in the transfer kitty, I went on a bit of a spending spree:

Brescia got relegated so I was able to get Tonalli for peanuts. Milinkovic-Savic was a legend for me in 19, and the scouts gave him a 100 rating. Hopefully he fills Pogba's shoes. I opted to buy Bernardeschi after his fantastic season. Antony, Vanhuesden, and Gravenberch were all bought for the future. Reguillon was a no brainer on a free. I now have the depth to cover every position and have a great batch of young talent for the future.  

On ward to more silverware!

[MatthewS17]

4 hours ago, Indrid Cold said:

I just finished my first season. I never would have thought this team would be so successful right off the bat. Needless to say, the board is pretty damn happy. 

The win of the season went to the 6-1 thumping of Liverpool at home early on. It was at this point I realized this team was something special. My signings were all immense. Bruno had 15 goals and 12 assists in 33 league appearances. Bernardeschi set a team record of 17 assists in 35 appearances. Haaland came in in January and scored 11 in 15 appearances. Goretzka was less successful, mainly due to injury. When he was fit, he killed it as a BBM. 

Rashford went on to win the Golden Boot with 24 goals in 36 appearances, all from the left wing. Bruno won player Player of the Year for both the club and league. Wan-Bissaka was the Young Player of the Year. Greenwood had a breakthrough season with 17 goals in 42 appearances (21 of these were from the bench).

Season 2 - 2020/21

Right off the bat, PSG came in strong for Pogba. There was nothing I could do. He put in a request and would only stay if I could promise winning the Champions League, which seemed ridiculous. Oh well, £100m in the bank. With a total of £330m in the transfer kitty, I went on a bit of a spending spree:

Brescia got relegated so I was able to get Tonalli for peanuts. Milinkovic-Savic was a legend for me in 19, and the scouts gave him a 100 rating. Hopefully he fills Pogba's shoes. I opted to buy Bernardeschi after his fantastic season. Antony, Vanhuesden, and Gravenberch were all bought for the future. Reguillon was a no brainer on a free. I now have the depth to cover every position and have a great batch of young talent for the future.  

On ward to more silverware!

Funny. PSG offered me 60 million and thought I would accept. -_-

[sean_oc16]

September 2020

Finally got around to playing through the summer and into season 2.

Notable outs: Greenwood (loan), Fosu-Mensah, Romero, Joel Pereira, Jones, Rojo, Smalling, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka (loan), Williams (loan), Sanchez, Garner (loan), Meling (loan), Andreas Pereira. Total sales about £135m.

Ins: Sergio Reguilon (free), Dusan Vlahovic (£5m), Emre Can (£45m), Elseid Hysaj (£6.5m), Jadon Sancho (£79m), Ruben Dias (£54m), plus a few youngsters.

So I guess the sale that stands out most is Lindelof. I didn't want to sell but some big clubs were circling and he wanted to go so off he went to Barcelona for £54m rising to £60m. Similar to what others have had, PSG came looking at Pogba at the start of the summer, upset him and never came back and that upset a lot of the squad, didn't want to deal with Lindelof on top of that.

For the buys, Can was the big early window signing, wanted another option in the middle that could allow the playmakers we already had do their thing. He's very good physically, mentally and well rounded to play a few roles and positions. Hit his release clause to get him in but he's yet to play because of injury. With Hysaj I needed an option to replace Wan-Bissaka who was being out-performed by Dalot last season, he and Reguilon are a cheap pair that give us a small improvement at both wing back spots. These next two were deadline day deals that I could have gone without, but Jadon Sancho had a release fee in his contract and had been unhappy at Dortmund, His talent at 20 years old and English was too good to pass on. and Ruben Dias just replaces Lindelof as another BPD, well known in FM terms for a few years and his minimum release fee was still there. Very expensive deadline day, was also looking at Kessie who was listed by request at Milan but couldn't move on Fred to free up money and squad space so may be one we look at again in the future.

Onto the season, played 5 won 5 so far, 0 conceded but only 8 scored. Man City and Liverpool who have also won 5 from 5 have both scored 18, including 7 and 8 in one game respectively. Big problem contributing to that is top scorer from last season Belotti has yet to score in the league despite starting all 5 games. Having to change system slightly too to fit Sancho in better, looking something like this.

GK: De Gea, Henderson
DC: Dias, Maguire, Rugani, Tuanzebe, Bailly
WBR: Hysaj, Dalot
WBL: Reguilon, Shaw
MC: Can, Tousart, Pogba, Eriksen, Fred
AMR: James, Lingaard
AML: Sancho, Rashford
ST: Belotti, Martial, Rashford.

Thinking I might have to change things up slightly to help us going forward, I do have a 4-2-3-1 I used at times last season that I may give another chance.

[Zeonflux]

How is everyone getting on with a Lone Striker? Ive currently got a 4-1-2-3 wide working (to some extent) got some ideas on how to get the wide men involved a bit more and the wing backs to stop shooting but the Striker is the pain in the proverbial.

Got Haaland playing there (found that you can sign him at the start of the game if you wait until the last 3-4 days of the first window. He currently has something like 13 in 20 odd which is very good but my issue has been that the striker is either really good (Haaland got 4 in one game for me) or he’s getting a 6.5 rating and barely touches the ball. I’ve tried AF, CF, PF and DLF and nothing ever seems to be different in what I’m seeing 

[Zeonflux]

Oh in regards to signing in the first window I also got Jadon Sancho with 3/4 days of the first transfer window remaining as well

[PaulC2K]

Is Pogba still an issue even after some silverware? League or Europa.

I suspect everyone has him with promised CL football, but it'd be annoying if we give him that and he then sulks if he isnt allowed to leave anyway. If we failed, then fair enough. We promise him CL football or he can leave, he promises if we get CL football he'll find a different reason he wants to leave. Pretty accurate, really.

Maybe Havertz could be a good replacement. I wanted to bring in Sancho and a DLP/CDM/DM like Tonali or Luis. That was going to be it for my 2nd summer. I think i'll also try and offer Pogba a new contract as soon as a CL spot is guaranteed. The question is whether he'd still want to leave right after signing a new contract, or i'll end up paying him bonus payments for renewing then watch him go to PSG anyway.

@Zeonflux Yeah im finding pretty much the same. Like they're isolated most of the game. Im not really sure which page would be the best way to analyse it besides of watching the full match, but his recent form might be best.
I'd say he has avg 10 passes, and 3-4 shots per 90min. What that doesnt include is how many times he gets the ball but is tackled, and i dont see a way to add it, if its even a measured stat.

As mentioned in my previous post, im not entirely sure how to send him out. Ive been going back n forth between Pressing (his preferred) and Complete which i think he could excel at, Letting him drop deeper and get involved and play in the wide players, as well as being available further up the pitch to put it away. It could also lead to him being in the wrong place when needed. Too deep when crossed come in, Alone and unavailable when trying to build up play. Presumably a better ability/understanding to play those roles helps him make the right decisions on where he needs to be.

I had no idea Sancho & Haaland would change their stance in the first summer. I had a handful of targets who just flat out said nah right at the beginning, and i left it there and got on with finding someone else, and going back when things looked better at the club.

[Zeonflux]

To be fair I didn’t know they would either. Both players rejected me outright at the start of the game and I happened to scout them both as well as Florentino Luis towards the end of the window and all 3 had a ‘slight interest’ so I immediately offered for all 3 and all 3 accepted the contracts but I only had enough budget to get Haaland and Sancho.

Well I made some changes to my system and immediately Haaland was involved in the game getting 2 goals but it could have been 4 or 5 and that was against Arsenal. Played a second game against Villa in the cup using a rotated team and just made them look like 2011 Barca

[PaulC2K]

Ugh, Luis too!?
Any specific changes you made which you feel were responsible for getting him more involved?

I just got my youth intake, and theres a cracking keeper in there. Beyond that, 3-4 star CD, 2-3 star CM, and the rest are lower. Sadly i dont think ive ever even started a 5th season in any game, and ive played since CM93-94, possibly earlier. I usually buy too many player and find it doesnt feel like Utd any more, and lose interest. Thats why i'd kinda like to reign things in a little this year. Last year i tried to, and failed (Mbappe, Kane, Savic, de Ligt, de Jong etc). Im already tempted to sell vdBeek as a stop-gap buy, but he's been solid and at 'regular starter' should be fine rotated more so than an important/star player.

[Indrid Cold]

4 hours ago, Zeonflux said:

How is everyone getting on with a Lone Striker? Ive currently got a 4-1-2-3 wide working (to some extent) got some ideas on how to get the wide men involved a bit more and the wing backs to stop shooting but the Striker is the pain in the proverbial.

Got Haaland playing there (found that you can sign him at the start of the game if you wait until the last 3-4 days of the first window. He currently has something like 13 in 20 odd which is very good but my issue has been that the striker is either really good (Haaland got 4 in one game for me) or he’s getting a 6.5 rating and barely touches the ball. I’ve tried AF, CF, PF and DLF and nothing ever seems to be different in what I’m seeing 

I use the same formation with Haaland and have the same results. Still a great goal to game ratio, but he goes missing a lot of games as well. I seem to find that TM and CF work best. I'm also still working out final third tactics. I typically use work into the box, but I've thought about trying first time crosses due to his height and speed. 

@PaulC2K Yeah Pogba still left after we won the league, FA Cup and EL. He wanted to win the CL and I couldn't promise him that. Plus I knew PSG would cough up enough for his replacement and then some. I bought Milinkovic-Savic as he is the highest rated (100 with a "godlike" tag) CM on my save. Even Neymar and Messi are only rated 98. The nice thing about SMS is he's likely to put in a transfer request after the first season (my buddy saw this in his save too). Lazio was asking £75m, but I had to go to £90m to beat out Barca and Madrid. Havertz would be a good shout too.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Indrid Cold
grammar

[Zeonflux]

Well I upped the level of engagement and line of defence and set the ST, AML and AMR to More Pressing and that seemed to do the job.

im still trying to work out how much it’s helped him and whether it’s going to work long term or just against more attacking teams and the ST was kinda out of the game against Villa

[B Sharples]

So here's an interesting variation I've not seen before. 'No BREXIT.'

[Gee_Simpson]

5 hours ago, Zeonflux said:

Played a second game against Villa in the cup using a rotated team and just made them look like 2011 Barca

You made them look like Barca or your Man Utd team looked like Barca?

Unrelated, how many of you in here leave attribute masking on? I've never played with it on before but I reckon it would be more realistic and it will be easy scouting with Man Utd anyway. 

[Zeonflux]

6 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

You made them look like Barca or your Man Utd team looked like Barca?

Unrelated, how many of you in here leave attribute masking on? I've never played with it on before but I reckon it would be more realistic and it will be easy scouting with Man Utd anyway. 

I made them look like Barca.

Also following the 4-0 win at Arsenal my tactic or my teams ability to play football fell off a cliff and we lost the next 3 games before I called it a night.

The last game of the night I changed to my other tactic of a 4-2-3-1 and after being 3-0 up on 55 minutes we valiantly lost 4-3 to Sevilla and at that point I finished the game and quietly turned it off for the night.

inconsistent is how I’d describe my team at the moment

[PaulC2K]

9 hours ago, Zeonflux said:

The last game of the night I changed to my other tactic of a 4-2-3-1 and after being 3-0 up on 55 minutes we valiantly lost 4-3 to Sevilla and at that point I finished the game and quietly turned it off for the night.

We play FM very differently
The room goes dark, clouds form and start to rumble...

Just got the achievement for scoring in 20 consecutive games, in my first loss in 26 games, first points dropped in 14. Stupidly forgot to double-check the teams fitness before starting the game, and most of them finished in the 60's, Pogba got a knock early on to make matters worse, and in my attempts to go more attacking and make something of a 1-1 game at Chelsea with 80min left, they scored twice. Im following stupid mistakes with stupid decision.

Im still 2pts clear with a game in hand over Liverpool, 9 games left. So its still looking pretty good, but i have Europa games, City in FAC Q's, and both Liverpool & Arsenal away in the final 4 league games. Its all the games that arent on the calendar yet that are going to make things worse. 

[Zeonflux]

😂😂 to be fair I mainly play FM after work as my laptop fan is broke and that wakes the Missus up if I’m at home but as I’m a carer and sleep ins are part of the job I normally get and hour or 2 after work to play before i need to sleep, it was soon bedtime after that result.

good luck with your run in

[sedge11]

So I have finally got my annual Man utd save started. As a Man utd fan this year is going to be quite the rebuild, probably more so than previous years. Ole had made a good start with the 3 he brought in, plus the few he got out, but the squad is still very unbalanced.

I decided to start with the 1st transfer window disabled, just to start with the squad as it is, and to see how I do, it also gives me that little extra time to decide on targets to rebuild this squad.

One thing I did do was sort the backroom staff, had abit of a clear out of the 1st team staff.

Typically following how Man utd have done in real life, I instantly got injuries in midfield (the weakest area) with Pogba and Matic getting injured before the start of the season and Fred getting injured after the 1st game.

I don't expect to challenge in the 1st season, especially with the 1st window disabled, but top 4 and a trophy I will be very  happy with.

 

[Indrid Cold]

How have people been handling Sanchez? Continue to loan him out? He's on double the wage of my star players Rashford and SMS and at this rate he's my third string LW. 

[Tummyowl]

Have not crossed that bridge yet, however, I will want to either move him (remove wages) on or lower his wages.

[Sherkey]

4 hours ago, Indrid Cold said:

How have people been handling Sanchez? Continue to loan him out? He's on double the wage of my star players Rashford and SMS and at this rate he's my third string LW. 

Offered him a contract in March, the first season. He was on 525k, got his overall wages to 275k ($), but until 2023. Had to give him an Important Player status. Then, once his loan got over and he came back, I transfer listed him and offered him out. Aston Villa made an offer 12 Mn, which I was able to negotiate to 21, but I'm still paying 80k of his wages till 2023 (which is still okay compared to 575k or even 275k).

He has rightfully been downgraded. He could easily start and play well last FM, not so much so in this one, so selling him is a better all-round option.

[MatthewS17]

6 hours ago, Sherkey said:

Offered him a contract in March, the first season. He was on 525k, got his overall wages to 275k ($), but until 2023. Had to give him an Important Player status. Then, once his loan got over and he came back, I transfer listed him and offered him out. Aston Villa made an offer 12 Mn, which I was able to negotiate to 21, but I'm still paying 80k of his wages till 2023 (which is still okay compared to 575k or even 275k).

He has rightfully been downgraded. He could easily start and play well last FM, not so much so in this one, so selling him is a better all-round option.

How? With me, he's just refusing to leave. I received a 25m offer from West Ham for him. Would pay 100k in wages, but as long as he's out the door. He said no, questioned my listing of him, and tells me he won't be forced out. 

[Sherkey]

23 minutes ago, MatthewS17 said:

How? With me, he's just refusing to leave. I received a 25m offer from West Ham for him. Would pay 100k in wages, but as long as he's out the door. He said no, questioned my listing of him, and tells me he won't be forced out. 

I reckon it depends on the wages. I offered him a new contract, so he is on a lesser wage. It becomes easier to convince him to move out when he is on 275k (and then gets 190k at Villa), as opposed to being on 575k and then maybe getting half that at his new club.

I guess FM is being realistic this scenario in that he has more to lose, so refuses to move.

[MatthewS17]

11 minutes ago, Sherkey said:

I reckon it depends on the wages. I offered him a new contract, so he is on a lesser wage. It becomes easier to convince him to move out when he is on 275k (and then gets 190k at Villa), as opposed to being on 575k and then maybe getting half that at his new club.

I guess FM is being realistic this scenario in that he has more to lose, so refuses to move.

Actually, I got him down to 200k, was willing to pay 100k, just to ship him out. Man just doesn't want to leave. Hope he knows I'm dumping him in the reserves for not respecting my authoritah!

[MatthewS17]

So, after the update, I had to restart, and did things a bit differently.

So, probably my most tumultuous season as a United manager, and the first where I didn't win the league. I must admit, I was trying to actively not win the league. Started off with the zero first window transfers activated, set up three tactics:
Two were 4-1-4-1 DM Wide:
Parking the bus(Literally), A change from my usual style to a more vertical Tiki-Taka, emphasising the roles of Pogba and the Inverted winger who basically played as an attacking central midfielder(Dan James) while Rashford basically sat as a Striker, so it was more like 4-4-2 in reality. 
The third was a 5 at the back, and I just considered it parking the bus as deep as humanely possible. 

The Vertical Tiki-Taka being a tactic for playing at home against the smaller teams. The 4 at the back park the bus, which involved a bit of counter attacking, and was for all games away from home, and big teams at home(Yes, I parked at home). The final super defensive tactic was for the top 3 away, and was highly successful. Over the season, I drew with Chelsea 1-1 away, 0-0 at home, and played Man City 3 times, drawing all three 0-0(Won FA Cup quarter final on penalties). I may have used this against them at home as well as.

Once the January window came, I brought in Emre Can for 43m, and usually opted for the V. Tiki-Taka away from home some more as well, giving the license to be more expansive. Also bought Camavinga for 13m, and loaned him back to Rennes for another season and a half. Will probably extend that even further.

And so, table is as follows: 

My December period hit a bit of a bad patch, where I couldn't pull out a win for 5 games running, but once Can signed, my team roared back to life. That table is severely misleading though. Up until my bad patch in December, I was top of the league, Chelsea were chasing, Wolves were third, and City were fourth. Liverpool were eighth! They came roaring back, beat me at home 2-0, and floored their way up the table. Wolves collapsed a bit at the end. Should have finished second, but Watford drove a stake in after I was 2-0 up and they came back to draw 2-2 in the 37th match. 
As for the other competitions. Leicester were my problem team, as I lost 1-0 to them away in the league, and another 1-0 loss at home in the Carabao Cup. Roared back to win the FA Cup. Was a 0-0 shootout, with Martial missing about 7 chances throughout the match, and then proceeded to win the Europa, with a team that was absolutely shattered. Made it very dramatic!

 

So, all in all, quite a successful season! Transfers will play a big part in my approach to next season, as this squad is just dreadful. For the first time, it's lack of depth is problematic.

My best performers:

 

 

And a bit of a run for an up and coming superstar!

 

 

Onto the second season now, and I've already shipped out Rojo to Wolves for 18m and Jones for a whopping 34m! Who would pay that? You guessed it. Arsenal. If only I could ship off Sanchez, I'd be delighted. So far, that's given me a budget of 152 million, which isn't bad when you factor in that Bailly, Fosu-Mensah and Young have left the club and Sanchez got reduced by 250k. To be fair, I still need more, I think. I actually want to sell off Chong as well for 9m, as he's 20 and not good enough.

So far, I have plans not just for the upcoming season, but for a complete rebuild. Right now, I need a partner/10 in my midfield, and I can't choose between Maddison and Havertz. Maddison is integral as a set piece taker, but Havertz would be just so good as a playmaker. I should mention they would cost the same this season, as Leverkusen are willing to accept 60m up front and 32m in instalments. Maddison is available for 60m straight. My eye was originally on Tielemans for his great all round ability, but he rejected me, so, moving on...

I already have a pending deal for Ben Godfrey at 25m(15m up front) in place, as he will be a future replacement to finally fix that defence with top class players. The other deal, is of course, Jadon Sancho, however I have to pay his full 97m release clause. The final deal I'm going for this season is Exequiel Palacios, who will come into a squad role to bolster the creative output. His total cost will be about 7m so its pretty small in comparison to the others. My biggest issue is choosing between Maddison and Havertz, and I can't make up my mind. 

 

Like I said, I'm thinking long-term, and this means the whole squad will revamp. Romero, Fred, Pereira and Sanchez are first and foremost who I want to ship out. Matic will leave once I figure out a younger replacement. Smalling and Lindelof will leave once the youth make the step up, or I sign more suitable replacements. I imagine I'll keep Lindelof as a backup though. 
Lingard is one I'm still indecisive about. He does great for me as a sub and is really versatile, but I have Gomes, Greenwood, James and probably Sancho who will do that already. 
Rashford is nailed down in that left-wing spot, and Sancho on the right. Potential for Greenwood in these areas though, as I'm not seeing him as my Centre Forward(Controversial, I know).
There's also a case to be made for players on massive wages. Maguire, in the future, will be a squad player if I get my way, and should not be anywhere near a 180k contract. Martial is on mammoth sums as well, and I don't see him as any more than a backup in the future, even though he did really well.

So, with all these players going out, who's coming in? 

Well, it's still a work in progress, but alongside Godfrey, I really really want Skriniar. That would be a monstrous partnership if I can pull it off. Although it wasn't what I was aiming for, that is probably as close as you get to a Vidic, Ferdinand partnership. On the left, I need Chilwell. His crossing may be a bit suspect, but I want to keep the English contingent in certain places. I like to have at least 5 British players in my starting XI. If not Chilwell, I've not got any idea. Can't trust Shaw. He spent 3 months injured, came back, 6 weeks injured, came back, 10 days injured, came back 2 weeks injured. It's frankly drove me insane relying on Young, and I conceded several goals through that area. 
In Defensive midfield I would love Ndidi, as his perfect to play the role I envision in the future. However, I don't want this to become Leicester City F.C, so unless I find an alternative to Chilwell, I'll look at Florentino Luis or Declan Rice as potential options. 
If Pogba leaves, which is unclear, as he's refusing a new deal, so I triggered his extension for now. We did attempt negotiation once, but his demands and promises were far too over the top. And I was actually willing to sell for 100 - 120m. However, PSG and Barca only offered 46 and 60m. Yeah, insulting much? If he has to go, I'll probably go all out for Verratti or Arthur. If I fail, then probably Lorenzo Pellegrini, but failure is doubtful. Not SMS, as I like to think of reality, and in reality SMS is really not anywhere near that good. On top of that, I still have Camaving coming through, but would prefer more experience here. 

Up ahead, in the wide and centre roles, we just need more depth. Academy or some English talent like Grealish could provide that. 

And now, finally, onto Centre Forward. Martial did a fantastic job, but for me, I want someone better. I would prefer a player with more aerial ability, playmaking skills, movement and finishing. While Greenwood will be top class at some of these, he won't be at all. So, unless Kane suddenly becomes available at a cut price, my options are Lautaro Martinez(96m release clause) and uh, that's it. Erling Haland is probably the next best option, but I don't feel like following the trend, and he's lacking in technique, first touch, etc. May not bother you, but it REALLY bothers me. But if I can't get Martinez, I imagine I'll move for him. City, Barca and Madrid are all after Martinez so there's big competition at  a time when I'm not really looking to sign him. So the chance of me getting him is unlikely, as he's already throwing his toys out at Inter.

I imagine I plan too far ahead, but I cannot stand this Man United squad. Reality makes it worse, and that means I want some semblance of this club back where it belongs, even if it is in my own little world.

 

[sedge11]

2 hours ago, MatthewS17 said:

I imagine I plan too far ahead, but I cannot stand this Man United squad. Reality makes it worse, and that means I want some semblance of this club back where it belongs, even if it is in my own little world.

 

I do exactly the same to be fair, and agree the reality makes it worse especially being a fan, want to get the club back on top and plan long term. I’m already trying to plan out my transfers and the rebuilding of this squad and I’m only 7 games into the 1st season.

How was Emre Can? As he is on my shortlist.

Edited December 4, 2019 by sedge11

[Tummyowl]

On 27/11/2019 at 22:12, Tummyowl said:

I think I've settled on my transfers... I have spent a lot and moved out a lot. It's weird, having such a huge transfer budget but finding it does not actually go far... I have had to do almost all my deals over three seasons.

Update incoming...

I think I have settled on my transfers finally, I have spent so much time scouting and looking at players. As incredible as this sounds, 100,00,000 £ does not go as far as I thought!

So, Manchester United are in desperate need of a total overhaul of the first team, and first team coaches. I play four at the back, with a three midfield (one holding), two wide men and one up top.

I am actually happy with up top, Martial and Greenwood are my forwards, I only play one striker. I have players to cover the forward position if both forwards get injured. On the wings I am fairly happy with too, Rashford one side and Lingard on the other. James, Gomes, Chong are all back up to those positions. The only player I'm still debating is Sancho, I really like him but he will cost 100,000,000 + and I really struggle to justify that to myself. Cherki is a young option to bring in for the future but would need to retrained for the right side.

Midfield is the biggest area to rebuild. Pogba is the strongest player (possibly in the squad), and needs better around him. Along side him I am set on Tolisso from Bayern (60,000,000) as an upgrade over McTominay. In the holding role (deep lying play maker), I have Garner coming through and it was a choice between Cook (Bournemouth, 70,000,000) or Tonali (Brescia, ~30,000,000). Having Pogba, McTominay, and Garner all home grown I'm more than happy to pick Tonali as he should develop in to a better player than Cook. There has been no mention of Matic, Fred and Pereira so far and that is because they are all free to leave and usually bring back in ~50,000,000~ (or cover the cost of Tonali and some youth players). Mejbri is already at the club and looks a fantastic young player, and to develop along side him I moved for Bellingham. Midfield is still light, and Mata will spend the majority of this season covering for Pogba giving me two options in each position with two talented young players coming through.

Defence is better, but still poor. Shaw is a solid left back, however, will spend time injured. A new left back seemed a massive priority until I saw Williams who while young can easily be the back up to that position. Even so, a long term upgrade is due for Shaw so De la Vibora from Real Madrid is my long term choice at left back (15-20,000,000) and will only be used as cover if all else fails. Right back is excellent, with Wan-Bissaka as the first choice and Dalot pushing him for that spot. Laird is a good long term replacement for one if I decide to move one on too.

The middle of defence is still an issue, and the gaping hole is not filled by Maguire. While I do like Maguire, I need a ball playing defender to play with him (both need to be ball players), and Rice from West Ham is really my first and only choice. It does mean retraining him from a holding midfield role but he has stacks of ability and potential (75,000,000). Furthermore, Kana (Anderlecht, 12,500,000) is a young prospect that I could go for as along term replacement for Maguire, getting him early means he can become home grown. That leaves; Smalling on loan (though will be open to him moving on after his loan), Bailly, Rojo who are free to a good home (40-50,000,000). Leaving Maguire and Rice first choice, Lindelof and Tuanzebe back ups and Jones able to cover across the back (and if desperate Jones or Rice and cover holding midfield). Kana, Bejger and Mengi in the youth side. Laird and Vibora young full backs. Young is free to leave, his wages are astronomical for a player of his ability and his wages can be used for contracts for Vibora, Williams, Kana, Bejger, and at a squeeze Rice.

Goalkeeper is fine, I love De Gea though I am trying to get him to play more as a sweeper keeper. Romero is excellent back up, and Grant is completely irrelevant but on high wages (30,000) which I would rather spend elsewhere. Grant is free to leave (or if someone wants him that would be excellent) and the young keepers do not appeal to me. Gasparini at 17 and already a natural sweeper keeper is the long term De Gea replacement and for 13,000,000 it is hard to disagree with.

Potential transfers in;

James 15,000,000

Maguire 80,000,000

Wan-Bissaka 45,000,000

Hardley 200,000

Mejia 600,000

Hoogewerf 0

Mejbri 9,000,000

De la Vibroa 20,000,000

Tonali 32,000,000

Bellingham 5,000,000

Tolisso 60,000,000

Rice 75,000,000

Gasparini 13,000,000

Total 355,000,000

(potentially) Kana 12,500,000

Transfers out;

Darmian 1,300,000

Lukaku 58,000,000

Matic 10,000,000

Rojo 15,000,000

Fred 15,000,000

Bailly 23,000,000

Young 2,500,000

Total 125,000

 

That's a total spend of ~230,000,000~ which is comfortably the highest I have ever spent on any Football Manager game (played since '97).

The majority of my incoming deals are spread over three years too and I have a surprising amount left in the transfer budget (and wage budget) with the only high earner coming in being Tolisso (and Rice after appearances).

[Tummyowl]

Forgot to mention staff changes!

Mike 'more than a' Phelan is kept, but the other first team coaches are let go.

Bettinelli and Woods have come in as goalkeeping coaches.

Neville as a fitness coach (need to find another one maybe two).

McGrain, Speakman, Hunter as coaches.

Peters as my Head of Youth Development.

[Tummyowl]

Reunited Park and Evra as youth coaches though.

[MatthewS17]

3 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I do exactly the same to be fair, and agree the reality makes it worse especially being a fan, want to get the club back on top and plan long term. I’m already trying to plan out my transfers and the rebuilding of this squad and I’m only 7 games into the 1st season.

How was Emre Can? As he is on my shortlist.

For me he's great. It just depends on the role you're going for. He plugged a terrible gap in defensive midfield where Fred and Matic just weren't cutting it. 

In truth, he's been really good. His traits means he likes to bring the ball forward, and I'm in no way joking when I say he gave Pogba a free run forward and he seemed to become more involved, almost like a 10, banging in goals towards the season's end. 

Can himself has been up there as well. He's scored twice, and assisted three from a deep defensive midfield, which is not bad at all. It's actually very good, especially since I've not used him as a playmaker. 

He makes a healthy amount of tackles every game(average around 3.94), 90% pass completion and he's made 32 key passes in just 20 games, with 41 interceptions and 76 tackles(90% success) and I should mention he never had a single bad game yet. Not one. 

He would possible do a lot better for you as well if you're playing to his strengths, but I imagine even for me, he will be superb next season. 

Only two things to bear in mind. 

1. He will demand a high wage and a lot of bonuses. I've got him on 170k a week. But I wanted experience and he was well worth it in the end, else I probably would not have made top 4.

2. He gets a lot of bookings. In those 20 games, he was booked 8 times. Missed the first Europe League Semi because of it. 

But it really depends what you're looking for here. 

Hope this helps. :)) 

[MatthewS17]

2 hours ago, Tummyowl said:

Forgot to mention staff changes!

Mike 'more than a' Phelan is kept, but the other first team coaches are let go.

Bettinelli and Woods have come in as goalkeeping coaches.

Neville as a fitness coach (need to find another one maybe two).

McGrain, Speakman, Hunter as coaches.

Peters as my Head of Youth Development.

Really? You let go of McKenna? I like him as his attacking and technical stats are really good. Promoted Tony Whelan to first team duty as well. Kept Carrick to see how he will improve over time, and got ride of the rest, bar Phelan. 

I want to get rid of Phelan, but I can't find a reasonable replacement. 

Also brought in Martin Hunter and Danny McGrain as coaches, as well as Hugo Oliveira as a GK Coach, and Steve Weaver as HOYD. 

Fired the lot of scouts as well, and replaced the Physios. 

[Indrid Cold]

I think it's been mentioned on here before, but for those looking for a solid young LB, Reguilon seems to always move on a free after the first season from Real Madrid. I'm only a few games in, but he's been excellent. 

I'm tinkering with the idea of developing a 4-2-4, but I've literally never used a two striker formation in any FM. I feel like Haaland and Greenwood would be insane together, but I seem to struggle any time I venture outside of my 4-1-4-1.