[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...

[Gee_Simpson]

15 hours ago, Gungner said:

But isn't that part of the game though? What's the fun in starting over, everytime something doesn't go your way?

I'm not starting over every time something doesn't go my way? I wasn't happy with the choices I made in the save, I wanted to try again, that's it. 

[muhaimin]

NOVEMBER

 

Premier League : 2nd currently. 10 matches played. So far so good, 7 wins 3 draws. Wins include home to Chelsea and Spurs. We grinded for a 1-0 wins with average possession of 56% and 10 shots on goal.

Carabao Cup : Defeat to Watford in the 3rd round. We had 60% possession and 19 shots on goal and none went in. It was disappointing but not a priority for me.

Euro Cup : 3 group stage matches played all resulted in wins, I am aiming to get the champions league at the end of the season by lifting the Euro Cup. So far so good here.

Best Player : At 7.53 avg rating, Pogba came tops. 11 games played. 4 goals and 0 assists. Not a great number though. 
Special Mentions : Bruno Fernandes, 12 games 5 assists, his passing a joy
                                  Anthony Martial, 12 games, 4 goals 3 assists. 7.17 avg rating. His inconsistency at times caused the reduction in rating.

[Conor O'Hare]

Anybody managed to make a veritical tiki taka or fluid counter attack work with United....My result so far has been blocked crossess/shots/offsides and lots of 0-0s.....First time since FM09 I've struggled with tactics this badly....On the verge of quitting the game as nothing seems to work

[Spiegel]

Anyone used Troy Parrott? Have the opportunity to get him for £89 mill.

[Chapman7]

On 04/07/2020 at 00:15, Gee_Simpson said:

Could this actually be a thing? Because I've nearly played through a whole season with him as a right sided BBM and he was pretty poor in all honesty. Now whether he suits BBM in a 4231 is another thing entirely but your experience of this has me questioning it now. I was told elsewhere on these forums that it definitely does not have an effect though, strange one. Who could we tag for an answer?

Yeah I had played him for several games there and he just was a mediocre player instead of the class player he should be. When Bruno got injured he played in the Mezzela role which is on the right but couldn't perform there even with the training for the role and being familiar with the role too, put him on the left and hes averaging mid-high 7's as the least 

[Spiegel]

Sod it, I've gone for it. How good does he look though?!

He'll join a forward line of Kane, Sancho (not shown below as he's got a knock), Greenwood, Rashford and James. I have a couple of promising forwards coming through the academy aswell. 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Spiegel

[Gee_Simpson]

4 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

Yeah I had played him for several games there and he just was a mediocre player instead of the class player he should be. When Bruno got injured he played in the Mezzela role which is on the right but couldn't perform there even with the training for the role and being familiar with the role too, put him on the left and hes averaging mid-high 7's as the least 

Looks like it's placebo mate. I asked again and this was the response: 

Basically it's only for AI use. 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[stevemc]

Season 2027/28: Start of Season

After a brilliant season, I didn't really need to change much, just a couple of tweaks to the first team squad.

 

I trimmed the first team squad down a bit by selling Marcos Vinícius (£80m) and Ilaix Moriba (£76m) both to PSG, whom were squad players for me and dropped further down the pecking order, although still brilliant players. Michael Sant also left for £48m. My superb young goalkeeper, Yannick Becic, who will probably replace Gianluigi Donnarumma at some point in the future, was ready for a first team loan so off he's gone to Burnley for a season, allowing me to bring back Dean Henderson on a free (who I sold for £25m in 2023), which was a no brainer really and takes up a HG spot too and second choice goalkeeper. 

The big signing this window was Abel Ferri. This guy is someone I'd been trying to sign since 2020/21 season, he initially rejected me for Chelsea, after a couple of loans I went in for him again in 2024/25 but Chelsea wouldn't sell him to me and sold him to Benfica for £101m, however after 3 seasons at Benfica, he decided to leave and I fended off interest from Manchester City, Real Madrid and Juventus to finally land my man for £70m. 101 goals in 208 careers games so far.

 

I also brought in Elia De Falco for £34m, just because he's a player I really like the look of:

 

All in all, I sold £727m worth of players, some first team most reserves, that I'd been stock piling and loaning over a number of seasons, decided this was the summer to clear out. Our transfers budget stands at a massive £1.4BN, and the board have already taken £900m out of the club into investment funds over the last 3 seasons.

 

In terms of the Premier League manager merry-go-round, Chris Wilder is now Brighton manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær took the Burnley job, Graham Potter is at Fulham, Nuno Espírito Santo is now Leicester City's gaffer, Sean Dyche is at Newcastle United, Jorge Sampaoli took over at Watford and Maurizio Sarri returned to London the manage Tottenham. Lionel Messi was sacked as Brighton manager in the summer, but is now at Nice.

 

Community Shield: 

Buried last season's runners-up Arsenal, with a simple 4-0 win in Patrick Vieira's first competitive game as Gunners boss:

 

 

My Squad:

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma,  Dean Henderson(HG), Igor Arsenijevic(HG)

RB: Francisco García, Reece James(HG)

LB: Cizão, Daniel Atkins(HG)

CB: Matthijs de Ligt, Léo Guerreiro, Rúben Dias, Declan Rice(HG)

DM: Eduardo Camavinga, Thiago Hurtado, Federico Polito

CM/AM: Jude Bellingham(HG), Federico Polito,  José Molina, Hannibal Mejbri(HG), Yassine Hamzaoui

IF: Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Rashford(HG), Mason Greenwood(HG), Ansu Fati

STRIKER: Erling Haaland, Sebastiano Esposito, Abel Ferri, Elia De Falco

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: Darwin Caicedo (GK)(HG), Thiago Poma (LB), Dan Bordei (AM R), Waldemar (AMC), Sean Llewellyn (AM R/L)(HG), Dejan Bozovic (AMC)

*regen/newgen

Edited July 18, 2020 by stevemc

[Gee_Simpson]

Any feedback on my tactic? This is what I have came up with:

I also have 'More Urgent' for pressing now. 

[Spiegel]

10 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Any feedback on my tactic? This is what I have came up with:

I also have 'More Urgent' for pressing now. 

Looks like you're on the right track to me. How's the False Nine working out for you? 

Quite similar to my set up; here it is for reference; 

[Gee_Simpson]

48 minutes ago, Spiegel said:

Looks like you're on the right track to me. How's the False Nine working out for you? 

Quite similar to my set up; here it is for reference; 

Thanks. 

From initial testing during my last save, it was working pretty well. Obviously he won't be really prolific but he helps bring others into play. Greenwood was regularly scoring as a IF (A) on the right. 

How's Skriniar been for you? He was a disaster for me, he made so many individual errors. I made too many mistakes in the market, just felt like I needed to start over again. 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[Spiegel]

15 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Thanks. 

From initial testing during my last save, it was working pretty well. Obviously he won't be really prolific but he helps bring others into play. Greenwood was regularly scoring as a IF (A) on the right. 

How's Skriniar been for you? He was a disaster for me, he made so many individual errors. I made too many mistakes in the market, just felt like I needed to start over again. 

I tried using a False Nine when I was struggling to get the ball to Kane when I first signed him. Worked fairly well, but as he was dropping deep it impacted his scoring. Martial should do well there as it should open up space for him to run at people. 

Skriniar's been pretty good for me. I'm begrudgingly using him as he was one of the new Chairman's 'big signings' following the takeover. I don't think he's been considerably more impressive than my existing options though. 

 

[Gee_Simpson]

42 minutes ago, Spiegel said:

I tried using a False Nine when I was struggling to get the ball to Kane when I first signed him. Worked fairly well, but as he was dropping deep it impacted his scoring. Martial should do well there as it should open up space for him to run at people. 

Skriniar's been pretty good for me. I'm begrudgingly using him as he was one of the new Chairman's 'big signings' following the takeover. I don't think he's been considerably more impressive than my existing options though. 

 

Yeah I don't think the F9 will be a prolific scorer but I do think he'll help others score a large amount. I've always been obsessed with getting my striker to score all the goals but have decided to change my approach and try to spread the goals across the team. If I decide I want to switch back to making my striker the main goalscorer then I'll most likely change back to an attack duty for him, probably either a CF (A), PF (A) or a DLF (A) like you're using. Do your other players score many outwith your striker? That's what made me switch my approach, I didn't feel like the others were contributing enough in my 4231.

It seems Skriniar is generally solid for most people, he wasn't for me but that could easily have been due to my tactics. I don't think I'll go out of my way to sign him for 65m like I did last time though, I don't think he's worth that. I'll try and make sure I go for Dias this time, or maybe someone like Godfrey or Todibo/Upamecano.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[Spiegel]

17 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah I don't think the F9 will be a prolific scorer but I do think he'll help others score a large amount. I've always been obsessed with getting my striker to score all the goals but have decided to change my approach and try to spread the goals across the team. If I decide I want to switch back to making my striker the main goalscorer then I'll most likely change back to an attack duty for him, probably either a CF (A), PF (A) or a DLF (A) like you're using. Do your other players score many outwith your striker? That's what made me switch my approach, I didn't feel like the others were contributing enough in my 4231.

It seems Skriniar is generally solid for most people, he wasn't for me but that could easily have been due to my tactics. I don't think I'll go out of my way to sign him for 65m like I did last time though, I don't think he's worth that. I'll try and make sure I go for Dias this time, or maybe someone like Godfrey or Todibo/Upamecano.

DLF(A) has become my favourite role for a lone centre forward. Just does everything I want it to do. 

In terms of other players scoring. I get good contributions throughout the team to be honest. I currently have:
Kane - 46 appearances, 36 goals (DLF-A)
Rashford - 29 appearances, 22 goals (IW-S, Left)
Greenwood - 43 appearances, 19 goals (IW-S, Right. Also played DLF-A if Kane was unavailable)
Sancho - 38 appearances, 18 goals (IW-S, Left or Right)
James - 20 appearances, 12 goals (IW-S, Left or Right)
Pogba - 35 appearances, 9 goals (MEZ(S))

There's another 7 players with 4-7 goals in there aswell.

I wouldn't rule out the Maguire/Tuanzebe partnership - it's been outstanding for me over the last five seasons.

.

Here's one I don't understand. West Ham, Norwich and Spurs are obsessively scouting some of my regular players - particularly Laird, Greenwood, Bellingham and Kenneh. In five seasons, we've won the last three league titles and come 2nd twice.  We've lifted the Champions League twice. 

West Ham have typically floated around 7th each year. Spurs typically 4th/5th, and Norwich firmly mid-table. 

Yet, I'm getting this; 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Spiegel

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, Spiegel said:

DLF(A) has become my favourite role for a lone centre forward. Just does everything I want it to do. 

Interesting. I may give that role a try if I don't like the F9.

1 hour ago, Spiegel said:

In terms of other players scoring. I get good contributions throughout the team to be honest. I currently have:
Kane - 46 appearances, 36 goals (DLF-A)
Rashford - 29 appearances, 22 goals (IW-S, Left)
Greenwood - 43 appearances, 19 goals (IW-S, Right. Also played DLF-A if Kane was unavailable)
Sancho - 38 appearances, 18 goals (IW-S, Left or Right)
James - 20 appearances, 12 goals (IW-S, Left or Right)
Pogba - 35 appearances, 9 goals (MEZ(S))

There's another 7 players with 4-7 goals in there aswell.

Yeah that's a good output from the others tbf, especially Rashford and surprisingly in James' case, considering his low finishing. Although he does tend to cause the smaller sides nightmares with his pace. 

1 hour ago, Spiegel said:

I wouldn't rule out the Maguire/Tuanzebe partnership - it's been outstanding for me over the last five seasons.

I'll keep that in mind. Milenkovic may be a decent choice if I'm looking to spend less, I know @sedge11 has recommended him before in here.

1 hour ago, Spiegel said:

Here's one I don't understand. West Ham, Norwich and Spurs are obsessively scouting some of my regular players - particularly Laird, Greenwood, Bellingham and Kenneh. In five seasons, we've won the last three league titles and come 2nd twice.  We've lifted the Champions League twice. 

West Ham have typically floated around 7th each year. Spurs typically 4th/5th, and Norwich firmly mid-table. 

Yet, I'm getting this; 

 

That's bizarre  

That comment as well 

[Spiegel]

9 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Interesting. I may give that role a try if I don't like the F9.

Yeah that's a good output from the others tbf, especially Rashford and surprisingly in James' case, considering his low finishing. Although he does tend to cause the smaller sides nightmares with his pace. 

I'll keep that in mind. Milenkovic may be a decent choice if I'm looking to spend less, I know @sedge11 has recommended him before in here.

That's bizarre  

That comment as well 

I've found the IW-S to be my favourite wide man role in a 4-3-3. They'll still cut inside and offer goal threat, but they actually look up and play Kane in. I find the IF spaffs shots against the near post all too often. I love Dan James - he's very much a rotation player but he's excellent despite his attributes. He reminds me of Freddie Ljungberg in terms of his darting off-the-ball runs. Oddly scores his fair share of headers!

Yeah, I held a press conference where I just slated Spurs for the duration. "Sancho's playing well" "Don't tell Spurs or they'll start scouting him". 

Just finished my fifth season with a domestic treble. The summer will be interesting - Parrott joining the forward rotation. Pogba, Eriksen and Aké have one year left on their existing deals. I'm at a point where I need to start clearing a path for some of the academy guys I've been developing. 

[muhaimin]

February

Premier League : 2nd currently. 25 matches played. Some great results along the way, with Wins against Chelsea, Liverpoool and Arsenal. But inconsistency against teams like Everton and Sheffield United which resulted in a lost and draw respectively. These inconsistency might bite me at the end of the season. Even though we are on track to a Champions League place but results like those are not what one can let it pass just like that. We could have trimmed the difference with City who currently lies in 1st to just 3 points.

FA Cup : In the 5th Round, will meet Milwall. We defeated Chelsea 4-0 to get to the 5th round.

Euro Cup : Group stage done and dusted. We topped our group and now awaiting us in the 1st knockout round is LASK.

Best Player : At 7.66 avg rating, Pogba came tops. 28 games played. 10 goals and 11 assists. Played him as AP Support role predominantly. But at times will put him as Mezzaia. Along side Bruno, they are a pair to be reckoned with while Scott act as their Defensive machine.
Special Mentions : Bruno Fernandes, 26 games 14 assists and 4 goals, his passing as usual is a joy for all. Top assists count for the team. A beast alongside Pogba.
                                  Ryan Gravenberch, 3 games, 0 goals 3 assists. A new January signing, this youngster when thrown into the foray, never disappoints. Nice vision nice technique great passing, a star in the making.

In addition I added 3 more singnings apart from Gravenberch, all upcoming players. And let Mata, Perreira and Romero to go out on loan. Using some of these young devils as a cover.

[Spiegel]

Well, pre-season's done and we're ready to go into the 2024/25 season. 

Signings

Transfer window was fairly tame compared to the heavy spending of the previous season.

Obviously the big signing is Troy Parrott. The Spurs striker follows in Eriksen and Kane's footsteps, and will hopefully live up to the price-tag.
His dribbling ability and physicality strikes a happy medium between Kane, and the likes of Rashford, Sancho and Greenwood so I'm confident he will add another dimension to our attack.

 

Troy Parrott - That dribbling's just ridiculous, really.

I also added two backup goalkeepers to the first team. Mike Cooper had moved from Plymouth to Maurizio Pochettino's Porto side the previous summer. He didn't make the grade there, but he still looks fairly promising. Has a cannon of a throw which should be interesting to watch. 
German veteran Ron Robert Zieler adds experience, and being a former United academy player, helps with the homegrown quota.

 

Mike Cooper - "Hold the phone he has a cannon!"

The academy is strengthened with the additions of Stuart Barr, Andrew Hulme and Danny Gormley. Barr and Gormley are decent, three star players that i'd expect to turn a profit on, while Andrew Hulme has the potential to be an elite player - if I can iron out his one-footedness and crap personality. U18 Manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is on the case.

 

Andrew Hulme - needs a lot of work.

Hannibal Mejbri will also be involved with the squad this year, following four years of successful loans in Spain, France and Germany.

Hannibal Mejbri - Well travelled.

In terms of outgoings, there's a few sad losses. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Sergio Romero all retire. While considerably far from their best, Ronaldo and Messi proved to be useful squad contributors. Ronaldo in particular scored 17 goals in 78 outings. Ronaldo will remain at the club, joining the U18 coaching staff.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Can't imagine him doing this in real life.

The big transfer out, was Nathan Ake, who after a tremendous 4 seasons with the club, joins Crystal Palace. He had one year left on his deal and I felt the need to clear a CB slot, with Buckle and Roberts seen as long term options.

 

Nathan Ake - Gutted to lose this guy!

Jake Warren, Joe Lamptey and Robbie Jack all leave for fees. Reports suggest these are all high potential players, who went on successful loans last season, but lack the technical ability to make it here.

Jake Warren - didn't quite work out following his move from Brighton. Still turned a profit though.

Joe Lamptey - runs about a lot.

Robbie Jack - The game loves regen DC/ST guys. 

First Team Squad 2024/25

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Spiegel

[krisdonna]

Unlucky, we won the Europa League and the Carabao cup though.

 

[krisdonna]

Best performers.

- Fernandes really made the difference with his passing skills.

- Martial was outstanding, never saw him score this much goals, very satisfied.

- Pogba just being Pogba, PSG sniffing hard but can you blame them?

- Greenwood was a real joy to watch, he will be defo a player that can score +40 goals a season.

 

[Gee_Simpson]

@krisdonna What formation are you using?

[krisdonna]

6 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

@krisdonna What formation are you using?

Playing with 3 cm's, somtimes  i change the BBM to a AP, specially against smaller teams. Also dare to change the DLP to a CM on defend against the bigger teams.

Sometimes little tweaks can make a big difference.

[Conor O'Hare]

Officially done with this game - Can't get any tactics to work.  I've even set up a test game and tried 6 months using various tactics and allowing my team to get fluid....All I manage is to win odd game 1-0 usually from a set piece.  Guess I'll be waiting for FM21.  Gutted as there's a lot of young potential in this team I was wanting to develop

[Zeonflux]

Can anyone help me out with some tactical knowledge please.

I wanna try and recreate Uniteds current free flowing attacking style but I’m unsure how to fully set up as in the build up phase i see it as a 4-1-2-3 wide but in the attacking 3rd it’s a 4-2-3-1.

I did try and initially set up as a 4-1-2-3 with the DM as a HB due to having Matic/McTominay down between the CBS to receive the ball but then I can’t really get a player to take up the AM slot when I’m attacking.

Anyways this is how I’m currently set up (not at my laptop sorry so no SS)

GK
WB, BCB, BCB, WB

HB

CMa (modified to get further forward and roam from position) DLPs

IWs, IWs

AF

TI: play wider, pass into space, more direct passing, higher tempo, Higher DL and LoE, prevent GK kicks, counter and counter press

[sedge11]

2 hours ago, krisdonna said:

Unlucky, we won the Europa League and the Carabao cup though.

 

What were the results for the final game?

[krisdonna]

20 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

What were the results for the final game?

Me and city were on 85 points and Liverpool on 86, nothing changed as Liverpool won their last game with 0-1 at Bournemouth while we had a secure 2-0 win over Sheffield at home.

Kinda threw it away at home against Leicester(0-0). After that we won 4 in a row but that wasnt enough.

 

[Gee_Simpson]

@sedge11 I was about to ask if you had the file from the start of your save but it doesn't matter now, as I can start from January 20th 2020 with the table EXACTLY as it was after 23 games played in real life, so Utd are on 34 points after 23 games, Chelsea are on 39 points.

If anyone else is interested in doing the same, you can download AML's Real Fixtures and Results from sortitoutsi. You can even edit the date as you wish in the editor and the results basically match up to real life, not sure how far you can go but the table is 100% correct if starting from game 23 which is really cool. Means I can forget about my previous save and get back to season 2 pretty quickly  Also like you said, it means the transfers are accurate if you disable the Jnauary window. I wanted Bellingham but I'm going to give him a future transfer to Dortmund as I would feel bad taking him now when it's all but confirmed in real life.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[D'TripleA]

Anyone know how to make martial or greenwood become a good goalscorer? I struggle to make this two striker look like a beast in 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formation with role a Deep Lying Forward and Advance Forward. Any solutions?

[BigV]

3 minutes ago, D'TripleA said:

Anyone know how to make martial or greenwood become a good goalscorer? I struggle to make this two striker look like a beast in 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formation with role a Deep Lying Forward and Advance Forward. Any solutions?

What are your tactics like? formation? what style do you have?

DLF doesnt bold well for greenwood, as for martial it's useful but only certain games. AF martial or as a poacher works well. 433 DLF is best suited to him imo, greenwood did fine for me upfront as an AF, coming off the bench and starting some games. 

[Gee_Simpson]

17 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

@sedge11 I was about to ask if you had the file from the start of your save but it doesn't matter now, as I can start from January 20th 2020 with the table EXACTLY as it was after 23 games played in real life, so Utd are on 34 points after 23 games, Chelsea are on 39 points.

If anyone else is interested in doing the same, you can download AML's Real Fixtures and Results from sortitoutsi. You can even edit the date as you wish in the editor and the results basically match up to real life, not sure how far you can go but the table is 100% correct if starting from game 23 which is really cool. Means I can forget about my previous save and get back to season 2 pretty quickly  Also like you said, it means the transfers are accurate if you disable the Jnauary window. I wanted Bellingham but I'm going to give him a future transfer to Dortmund as I would feel bad taking him now when it's all but confirmed in real life.

Only issue I have with this is, it automatically puts me 5th after 23 games when things could potentially go wrong if you started from the start of season 19/20, you may not even be as high as 5th although tbf that's very unlikely, and it does match real life completely after 23 games so I suppose it's fair enough. 

[Chapman7]

On 18/07/2020 at 03:21, Gee_Simpson said:

Looks like it's placebo mate. I asked again and this was the response: 

Basically it's only for AI use. 

Strange how he just wouldn't perform in a role on the right for me then lol 

[Chapman7]

7 hours ago, D'TripleA said:

Anyone know how to make martial or greenwood become a good goalscorer? I struggle to make this two striker look like a beast in 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formation with role a Deep Lying Forward and Advance Forward. Any solutions?

Just finished my first season with United in a while and Martial just ended up with 29 goals all competitions with Europa League final to play still as an Complete Forward - Attack. Greenwood on the other hand struggled more in that role so I used him more of a Inside Forward and ended with 6 goals I think after not featuring for good amount of time in first half of the season

[sedge11]

4 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Only issue I have with this is, it automatically puts me 5th after 23 games when things could potentially go wrong if you started from the start of season 19/20, you may not even be as high as 5th although tbf that's very unlikely, and it does match real life completely after 23 games so I suppose it's fair enough. 

Adds to the challenge to not mess up and get them into top 4.

I have done similar to you and kind of messed up transfers and now can’t get into the save or like the team I’ve built, and on Man Utd saves that’s really important for me, that I like the team. So even after winning the league I’m probably going to restart, I’m going restart in January again as I liked the challenge, will probably download the start you have to save time as well.

[Gee_Simpson]

15 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

Adds to the challenge to not mess up and get them into top 4.

I have done similar to you and kind of messed up transfers and now can’t get into the save or like the team I’ve built, and on Man Utd saves that’s really important for me, that I like the team. So even after winning the league I’m probably going to restart, I’m going restart in January again as I liked the challenge, will probably download the start you have to save time as well.

Yeah that's true. I'll get up and running tomorrow with that file I mentioned 

What transfers have you been unhappy with? 

[Gee_Simpson]

43 minutes ago, Chapman7 said:

Strange how he just wouldn't perform in a role on the right for me then lol 

Yeah I actually thought it made a difference too but apparently not, lol. 

Regarding the striker scoring goals, I agree that Greenwood just straight up doesn't perform as a Complete Forward, I think it's because of his low strength. I will be using a F9 in my save but may change to an attack duty for season 2 if I'm not happy with the F9. My plan is to get Greenwood prolific like Salah (eww) is for the scum cutting in from the right. The F9 should help play him in as a IF (A). 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[sedge11]

Just now, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah that's true. I'll get up and running tomorrow with that file I mentioned 

What transfers have you been unhappy with? 

Can’t particularly put my finger on it. I had signed Ndidi which I was happy with, but wanted another attacker and possibly cb and I had already signed one of each in season 2, so just couldn’t quite get it right in my view of the team.

I don’t think it helps that have already done a long Man Utd save, and have played a lot of fm this year, so think a small break was needed really before I got stuck into another one, it’s already been a couple day’s so will leave it till the weekend now I think before start again.

[Chapman7]

10 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah I actually thought it made a difference too but apparently not, lol. 

Regarding the striker scoring goals, I agree that Greenwood just straight up doesn't perform as a Complete Forward, I think it's because of his low strength. I will be using a F9 in my save but may change to an attack duty for season 2 if I'm not happy with the F9. My plan is to get Greenwood prolific like Salah (eww) is for the scum cutting in from the right. The F9 should help play him in as a IF (A). 

Yeah. Maybe it does make a difference but it's not meant to maybe the coding for it has a bit of complications within it lol. Who knows.

 

Yeah I did try him in a vary of roles think Deep-Lying Forward as I play possession football was one that had him do well but I also wanted the striker to be high scoring along with the wide players. My second highest scoring player was Bruno and Pogba on 11 and 9 respectively lol. Rashford had a good start then slowed down and started performing performing poorly, then when I got some more better performances and some more goals he then gets injured and wasn't back until i brought him on for second half of Europa League final due to him being so unfit due to being out for a couple months lol sods law I guess lol.

 

Am debating restarting again as I done far much better in the first season than I was expecting/Wanted to do lol. May just stick with it and see how I go with the save as a whole. Now need to trim the squad to sign some young players and promote youth if any that are good enough.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Chapman7

[D'TripleA]

9 hours ago, BigV said:

What are your tactics like? formation? what style do you have?

DLF doesnt bold well for greenwood, as for martial it's useful but only certain games. AF martial or as a poacher works well. 433 DLF is best suited to him imo, greenwood did fine for me upfront as an AF, coming off the bench and starting some games. 

I'm using this vertical tiki taka in 4-1-2-3 dm

                   Sk(s)

Fb(a) BPD(d) BPD(d) wb(s)

                 DLP(d)

             Mez(A) B2B

           IW(s) P(a) IF(a)

And I using control possesion 4-2-3-1

                  Sk(s)

Fb(s) BPD(d) BPD(d) WB(s)

            B2B DLP(d)

         IW(s) E(s) IF(a)

                DLF(a)

[D'TripleA]

3 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

Just finished my first season with United in a while and Martial just ended up with 29 goals all competitions with Europa League final to play still as an Complete Forward - Attack. Greenwood on the other hand struggled more in that role so I used him more of a Inside Forward and ended with 6 goals I think after not featuring for good amount of time in first half of the season

I've already use Complete Forward in 4-3-3 but martial still struggle to score

[Gee_Simpson]

2 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Can’t particularly put my finger on it. I had signed Ndidi which I was happy with, but wanted another attacker and possibly cb and I had already signed one of each in season 2, so just couldn’t quite get it right in my view of the team.

I don’t think it helps that have already done a long Man Utd save, and have played a lot of fm this year, so think a small break was needed really before I got stuck into another one, it’s already been a couple day’s so will leave it till the weekend now I think before start again.

Fair enough. I haven't played much of FM20 at all so looking forward to getting this started, I will be starting with that file I mentioned. Gives me 15 games to make sure we finish top 4.

2 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

Yeah. Maybe it does make a difference but it's not meant to maybe the coding for it has a bit of complications within it lol. Who knows.

 

Yeah I did try him in a vary of roles think Deep-Lying Forward as I play possession football was one that had him do well but I also wanted the striker to be high scoring along with the wide players. My second highest scoring player was Bruno and Pogba on 11 and 9 respectively lol. Rashford had a good start then slowed down and started performing performing poorly, then when I got some more better performances and some more goals he then gets injured and wasn't back until i brought him on for second half of Europa League final due to him being so unfit due to being out for a couple months lol sods law I guess lol.

 

Am debating restarting again as I done far much better in the first season than I was expecting/Wanted to do lol. May just stick with it and see how I go with the save as a whole. Now need to trim the squad to sign some young players and promote youth if any that are good enough.

Lol, who knows.

Frustrating thing for me was my 4231 worked 1st season, I won the league and Greenwood scored 26 in 28 but 2nd season teams adapted and it fell apart, Greenwood went 8 hours without scoring! I actually wasn't happy with Bruno and Pogba's contribution in the 4231 which is why I'm switching to the 4123 as I know that gets more out of those two vs the 4231. I usually always want to make my striker the main goalscorer but I'm focusing on the Inside Forwards being goalscorers this time with the striker being an F9. If I decide I actually do want my striker scoring more, then I will tweak things. It seems @Spiegel has a setup where the goals are shared among the team but the striker still scores lots, so that's maybe something I will look at doing if I'm not happy with the F9.

If you feel like restarting and don't want to achieve anything more than top 4 in the 1st season then you can always try out that file I mentioned: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/50904/amls-real-fixtures-and-results-custom-start-date

That's what I'll be doing, I actually didn't want to win the league in the first season in some ways last time as I wanted to build up to it, lol. It didn't feel right winning it.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[BigV]

9 hours ago, D'TripleA said:

I'm using this vertical tiki taka in 4-1-2-3 dm

                   Sk(s)

Fb(a) BPD(d) BPD(d) wb(s)

                 DLP(d)

             Mez(A) B2B

           IW(s) P(a) IF(a)

And I using control possesion 4-2-3-1

                  Sk(s)

Fb(s) BPD(d) BPD(d) WB(s)

            B2B DLP(d)

         IW(s) E(s) IF(a)

                DLF(a)

For your 4123 I suggest using a more supporting striker than one that does nothing as he needs to cover both the CAM spot and striker spot, martial is good on the ball so DLF-A or Complete forward/pressing forward can do the trick. With the poacher role as a default, he wont move into the channels where he's most effective coming in on the right or left as you can pull defenders and use him as a counter attacking force as his pace and dribbling is very useful. 

Your 4231 i'd suggest using AF, PF, CF for martial, greenwood suits the AF role or poachers role much more, Again he would move into the channels and run directly at players which he's good at, same goes for greenwood. I'd also suggest switching your wide players to winger or having 2 IF as you already have a pivot of creation through your enganche. Having a runner on both sides allows more creative freedom for your enganche which in turn create more for your forward. 

DLF for martial works against teams that sit back or in games where he's no performing, a simple change during the game can drag defenders so do use it occassionally, apart from that I dont see much. Maybe up the tempo during games too see how that fits. 

[D'TripleA]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

For your 4123 I suggest using a more supporting striker than one that does nothing as he needs to cover both the CAM spot and striker spot, martial is good on the ball so DLF-A or Complete forward/pressing forward can do the trick. With the poacher role as a default, he wont move into the channels where he's most effective coming in on the right or left as you can pull defenders and use him as a counter attacking force as his pace and dribbling is very useful. 

Your 4231 i'd suggest using AF, PF, CF for martial, greenwood suits the AF role or poachers role much more, Again he would move into the channels and run directly at players which he's good at, same goes for greenwood. I'd also suggest switching your wide players to winger or having 2 IF as you already have a pivot of creation through your enganche. Having a runner on both sides allows more creative freedom for your enganche which in turn create more for your forward. 

DLF for martial works against teams that sit back or in games where he's no performing, a simple change during the game can drag defenders so do use it occassionally, apart from that I dont see much. Maybe up the tempo during games too see how that fits. 

for greenwood what role that suitable for him in 4-1-2-3 tactic? 

[Sherkey]

So, longish post, but yeah.

In 2024-25 season, in March, and have just been having an incredible run. The attacking has gone out of control. I already have 5 players who have crossed 20 goals in the season, and this is the first time this has happened for me (last time was another landmark, in having three players cross the 20 goal a season barrier).

This is a look at my first team squad this season. The squad looks threadbare because I trimmed it at the end of last season - sold Haaland, Luke Shaw, Maguire, Henderson (among players who were in the first team). Didn't really buy anyone as the players coming up were good/better.

In terms of my star players, Dybala is one of the best players I've ever managed in the game, and is just a beast. I play him in a two striker system as a Trequarista.

 

He is atrocious. He perfectly fits my tactic, in terms of his creativity and PPMs. Honestly, one of the best strikers I've managed in-game.

Esposito, Greenwood, Bellingham and Mejbri are the other standouts.

 

  

Mejbri has been the only one who was loaned to develop, as he was stagnating here. But man oh man, that loan to Caen made him an excellent midfielder. Training him to be my B2B now, selling McTominay at the end of the season, to add in Mejbri for the role.

 

In terms of regens over the five odd years, I've picked up a few good ones. I tend to carefully pick my regens basis positions I'm gonna need in the future, as I don't want to overload them. Here are the crowning jewels

Nestor Salome Garcia - in all honesty, was not expecting him to become this good, he is a beast. He could have easily taken over DDG this season, but I still have a soft spot for DDG. He will be the Number 1 from next season onwards. His development has purely been through loans.

 

Morris Zeyer - This is the kid who took over from Shaw, and he is a beast. Developed in my reserves for a bit, before going out on loan helped.

 

Jean Carlos - Had signed him originally as a striker, but he wasn't improving his finishing, so retrained him as a AMR. He is already in the first team, competing with Bellingham on the right. A bit injury prone, but beastly.

 

Said Ahmad - This kid was a steal. I purchased him because he was two-footed, and wanted someone to cover the right back position. He looks like a beast, although may need a season more out on loan before I sell either AwB or Dalot.

 

Flor Velest - This guy came through my youth intake in the second year. Oddly enough, loans and international callups - he was used as a RB, making him a natural there, which I hate.

 

Rui Villas Boas - This is the kid who I'm hoping will become Dybala's successor as a Trequarista. He has the right attributes, just need to get him playing there regularly, and then think about the PPMs to train him in.

There are a few more, but these are the ones I'm most excited about. 

 

Overall, I'm quite excited about how the season is going, basis the current crop and youngsters present. Kicked about this save. I haven't been this excited about a save and youth development since Southampton in FM15 (the only time I've played a team other than United).

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Sherkey

[Spiegel]

2 hours ago, Sherkey said:

So, longish post, but yeah.

In 2024-25 season, in March, and have just been having an incredible run. The attacking has gone out of control. I already have 5 players who have crossed 20 goals in the season, and this is the first time this has happened for me (last time was another landmark, in having three players cross the 20 goal a season barrier).

This is a look at my first team squad this season. The squad looks threadbare because I trimmed it at the end of last season - sold Haaland, Luke Shaw, Maguire, Henderson (among players who were in the first team). Didn't really buy anyone as the players coming up were good/better.

Looks like you're on a great run at the minute!

Squad looks fine size-wise to me - think mine's roughly the same size. Having the left and right foot in your squad page is a great idea. I'm always looking for two-footed players so might have to rob that.
Mejbri and that Mexican GK regen look incredible! Have you used Mejbri from the start?

Bellingham's getting good numbers for you, but his skillset looks quite different to mine. How're you using him?

[Sherkey]

51 minutes ago, Spiegel said:

Looks like you're on a great run at the minute!

Squad looks fine size-wise to me - think mine's roughly the same size. Having the left and right foot in your squad page is a great idea. I'm always looking for two-footed players so might have to rob that.
Mejbri and that Mexican GK regen look incredible! Have you used Mejbri from the start?

Bellingham's getting good numbers for you, but his skillset looks quite different to mine. How're you using him?

Mejbri, nah. This and the last season were the first times I used him, and this season, he has the highest number of games played for me, which is still a pittance. He was in the reserves for a couple of years, but then stopped developing. One loan to Caen in 21-22 boosted him drastically, after which, I've had him as an emergency impact. He will be a first teamer next season.

For Bellingham, from the outset when I got him, I've trained him as an AMR. With that passing, he was never going to displace anyone in CM, and I don't use an ACM. So, he plays as a Winger on the right, on Support duty.

[Spiegel]

Figured you were using him out wide as he's a bit quicker than my version. I've moulded mine into more of a Roaming Playmaker type. Here he is at the same age. 

[Chapman7]

18 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Fair enough. I haven't played much of FM20 at all so looking forward to getting this started, I will be starting with that file I mentioned. Gives me 15 games to make sure we finish top 4.

Lol, who knows.

Frustrating thing for me was my 4231 worked 1st season, I won the league and Greenwood scored 26 in 28 but 2nd season teams adapted and it fell apart, Greenwood went 8 hours without scoring! I actually wasn't happy with Bruno and Pogba's contribution in the 4231 which is why I'm switching to the 4123 as I know that gets more out of those two vs the 4231. I usually always want to make my striker the main goalscorer but I'm focusing on the Inside Forwards being goalscorers this time with the striker being an F9. If I decide I actually do want my striker scoring more, then I will tweak things. It seems @Spiegel has a setup where the goals are shared among the team but the striker still scores lots, so that's maybe something I will look at doing if I'm not happy with the F9.

If you feel like restarting and don't want to achieve anything more than top 4 in the 1st season then you can always try out that file I mentioned: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/50904/amls-real-fixtures-and-results-custom-start-date

That's what I'll be doing, I actually didn't want to win the league in the first season in some ways last time as I wanted to build up to it, lol. It didn't feel right winning it.

Yeah mine is a a 4-1-4-1 as they have it in the game, Pogba and Bruno do contribute more than I expected but unfortunately wide players don't seem to do alot of goal/ assists to what I would like. 

I may continue with it see if if can trim the squad down and bleed in some 16-18 years old players I have about and I can find at some teams to get rid of the dead wood players too. Might see if I can get rid of Scotty as he don't really suit my style of play being a more creative midfield 3 and only role I can really see him filling in still like first season is the Half Back which I ain't sure if I will be using again going forward.

I did see you mention that above which would be a decent way to start off the save

[Chapman7]

Who do people replace Pogba with? He's making noises of wanting to leave for PSG and think £120-£150 million is too much to ask for 

[Sherkey]

8 hours ago, Spiegel said:

Figured you were using him out wide as he's a bit quicker than my version. I've moulded mine into more of a Roaming Playmaker type. Here he is at the same age. 

Ooh, yeah. But for me, getting him to that passing was a bit of a stretch, and I needed a good RW anyhow, so he was shifted out wide. No complaints though, he is a beast.

I use a DLP and a B2B, and currently Pogba/Tonali fill the DLP and Bruno/Mejbri/Mctominay fill the B2B role. He wasn't going to displace any of them, so for me, much better he is my primary RW.

[Sherkey]

6 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

Who do people replace Pogba with? He's making noises of wanting to leave for PSG and think £120-£150 million is too much to ask for 

I wouldn't. As United, you don't really need the money, and Pogba is Home Grown at Club, and genuinely WC. Depends on which year, though. For me, I didn't even consider until the fourth year, and even now, in 24-25, he is still bossing the midfield.