FM20 - Bundesliga(s) Thread

[Stu_UBJ]

Yeah I had issues gettin gplayers through the door. Managed to sign Joshua Zirkzee, Yacine Adli and Simone Asta on loan, so they may be worth a look.
-----

Made a major signing in anticipation for next season - 




He asked for £3k wages and squad player status, however after seeing the long list of bigger clubs, I made him important player and £5k wages! In the end only Gladbach made a move, so he is on his way to the Fritz-Walter Stadion  

[Pavi]

2 hours ago, Stu_UBJ said:

Yeah I had issues gettin gplayers through the door. Managed to sign Joshua Zirkzee, Yacine Adli and Simone Asta on loan, so they may be worth a look.
-----

Made a major signing in anticipation for next season - 




He asked for £3k wages and squad player status, however after seeing the long list of bigger clubs, I made him important player and £5k wages! In the end only Gladbach made a move, so he is on his way to the Fritz-Walter Stadion  

Eyibil seems to be "hard-coded" to be put in the transfer list as he refuses any contract renewal offer from Mainz. Signed him in my Werder Bremen save as well, for that amount of money, he is a steal really.

[Pavi]

SV Werder Bremen

First season already finished as I embark into the second season. I can say I am pretty satisfied with how things went. Finished thirds behinf Bayern and Dortmund, only two points from the top spot. Though this flatters us a little as we never been title contenders, Bayern dropped points at the end of the season - including a sounding defeat against us! The board is delighted as I achieved Champions League qualification four years ahead their plan. Pizarro became the oldest goal-scorer in the Bundesliga in his last appearance for the club, what a player! I have signed him as a U19 coach even if his attributes are subpar.

By the end of the season I had changed my tactical approach and transitioned into a counter-attacking 442 that is working well also during the first match of the new season - managed to beat Bayern again 3-1! With that in mind, I did my transfers dealing accordingly, in order to have players fitting our system. But with only EUR 12.5M to spend, I had to make my dealings smartly - hence all of the transfers were made with various installments not to burden the entire budget on a couple of players.

To boost my defence I activated the option-fee we had for Toprak and I bought Kaan Ayhan from relegated Fortuna Duesseldorf. From Dresden came our third Swedish fullbacks along with Bejimo and Augustinsson, Linus Wahlqvist. I like his defensive attributes and in my tactic the right FB is asked to stay behind and help the CDs.

On the left wing, we secure the signing of Batista Meier (incredible Bayern let him go) and Robin Hack, both young talented and German! As a final bargain, transfer-listed from Dortmund came Dzenis Burnic, who will rotate along another former BVB player, Sahin, in the DLP role. 

So my First XI and tactic now look like this. I am pretty excited by the number of young promising player we have. Besides the new ones, we can also count with Sargent, Schmid (both on loan last year), and Daramy (bought back in January) rotating during the season. Only few game in, but things are working well.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Pavi

[Stu_UBJ]

2 hours ago, Pavi said:

Eyibil seems to be "hard-coded" to be put in the transfer list as he refuses any contract renewal offer from Mainz. Signed him in my Werder Bremen save as well, for that amount of money, he is a steal really.

Yeah, I believe he was transfer listed when I moved. Seems crazy as he has very good potential

[Stu_UBJ]

It's been a cracking season. Still got 5 games to go!

[Stu_UBJ]

 

[Gee_Simpson]

30 minutes ago, Stu_UBJ said:

 

Nice. What formation are you using?

[Stu_UBJ]

I think the loan signings of Adli, Asta and Zirkzee meant we were a class above almost everyone. So much so, we're predictde 3rd place in 2. Bundesliga!

[Pavi]

A piece of advice regarding staff. Take a look at Philip Laux, he starts as unemployed and the game doesn't rate him as an Ass.Man., but look at those attributes! Oh, I cut it out from the screenshot, but he has a driven personality.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Pavi

[Stu_UBJ]

Good shout regarding Laux. I signed him up as a coach for my Kaiserslautern team. 

[Stu_UBJ]

So, we have finished the 2nd season. After a storming promotion campaign, we found ourselves in the 2. Bundesliga, looking to push for back to back promotions. We were listed as 3rd favourites to go up, and the board just wanted us to survive...so whatever happens, my job should be safe.



Erkan Eyibil is touted as the next Mesut Ozil, and will be big competition for Adli this season. Felix Kroos strengthens the midfield nicely. Kenny Nagera provides an extra option on the flank, as none of our current backup players will cut it in the next division. Troy Parrott will give Zirkzee some stiff competition up top. Lukas Mai and Zoran Arsenic will battle it out for the starting DC berth. Maximilian Wittek is our new DL, an area we were weak. Final signing (for now) is Kaká, who will be our first choice AML this season, and will hopefully add an extra dimension to our frontline. Final signing of the summer was Christian Fruchtl, having not been entirely convinced that my 2 GK options were anywhere near 2BL level. Only incoming in January was Vágner Pereira Costa, who looks awesome for his age, and I am sure will sell for big bucks in the future.

Our crap clearout raised around £2.1m in transfer fees, however we didn't really see a lot of that. Notable exits are Lukas Spalvis (Chaves, £750k), Andri Runar Bjarnason (IFK Goteborg, £275k) and Timmy Thiele (Wehen, £225k). Also sold a lot of my previous years intake. My coaches reckon they'll be 4* or 4.5*, but the stats they had they looked 2* at best. However I've got some tasty sell-on clauses for all of them should they prove me wrong. This netted me just over £1m up front, with possibly another £1m to come.

And it's back to back promotions!! And comfortably, too. We had sealed promotion with 8 games to play, and then the title looked all but a formality. I was hoping we would compete well, but I did not expect to storm to the title for a second straight season. We were fortunate that some of the division's big hitters underperformed massively (Nurnberg, Union Berlin, Bochum, Hannover) but the players really are excelling as a group, and we head into the 1. Bundesliga for the first time since 2012!



Another outstanding season for us, every player was exceptional throughout. Strangely Yacine Adli is missing from the screenshot, who was easily the best player in the division for a second season running.



Have to say that every player performed when called upon, but yet again, Yacine Adli is the player of the season, closely followed by young Joshua Zirkzee.

---

Having breezed through the lower divisons in Germany (I've earned National Hero on Steam  ) we find ourselves against the giants. Next season, we will be travelling to Dortmund, Munich, Leverkusen and er....Furth. We will be against it in the upcoming season, and we will need to strengthen massively to stand a chance of staying up. I'd like 8 or 9 new faces in to make sure we have the best chance of staying up.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@Pavi How much did you pay for Daramy and how is he doing for you?

[Lewis007]

Not a bad first season incharge of 1860 Munich...

 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Lewis007

[Pavi]

5 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

@Pavi How much did you pay for Daramy and how is he doing for you?

@Ronaldo Beckham Here you have the screenshots. Bought him in January 2020 for EUR 2.3M - though I am sure you can snatch him at a cheaper price if you buy him in the first transfer window or with a harder negotiation. My first season I was playing with a one striker formation so I loaned him out and he scored 7 in 19 La Liga matches. A decent tally considered the League. Now, he is part of my back-up pair and he is doing really well, scored 4 in 6.

[Pavi]

@Stu_UBJ Kudos!!! Welcome to the Bundesliga!! Pretty impressive how you dominated the league and some pretty smart business there.

[Pavi]

We weren't great, but this group gifted some surprises!

[Stu_UBJ]

So, managed to bring in a few players in summer market, optimistic about my chances to stay up.



Fabrice Hartmann will strengthen our right wing. Dario Sarmiento is a good option behind Zirkzee and Parrott, and will potentially be quality in the future. Ubiraci looks decent, and will surely sell for a profit if he doesn't make it in the first team. We manage to get Yacine Adli to return for a third season, however I think this will be his last. Kaká returns as well to hopefully continue his great form from last season. Ole Kauper signs on a free and will hopefully be able to make an impact over the next season or two. Almamy Touré is probably our biggest signing, replacing Simon Asta, who wasn't available to us. Tiago Banega looks a real prospect, whilst our final signing, Lucas Orellano looks a star in the making.

 

Let's hope these signings will help us stay up!

[Pavi]

16 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

@Pavi How much did you pay for Daramy and how is he doing for you?

Well, I might downplayed how well Daramy has been

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Good signing in Daramy.

[Pavi]

Little over half-season and it is quite a tight race for the title and UCL qualifications!

[Knox316]

First Season

 

Cup Final 

http://i.imgur.com/Q7oBTiM.png

Second in the league. Go Schalke Go!

 

[Chrismatthews16]

On 27/11/2019 at 17:27, Lewis007 said:

Not a bad first season incharge of 1860 Munich...

 

 

I'm just starting a save with 1860 and  will have a real struggle on my hands to match your achievement! What a season. What tactics are you playing?

[Pavi]

On to the quarter finals!!

[Knox316]

Second Season so far:

 

Squad:

 

Anyone with Schalke was able to keep Miranda?

[Duckelfsc]

On 28/11/2019 at 07:04, Pavi said:

Well, I might downplayed how well Daramy has been

How far in is that? End of second season?

[Duckelfsc]

Played some more last night. Currently still unbeaten so far in my first season with Koln. 7 wins and 7 draws in the league. Sitting 3rd and I'm 2 points behind Bayern and 1 behind Schalke. Hopefully should be able to qualify for European competition of some sort.

Kainz, Shkiri and Horn been my best performers so far. Behrens has started playing more recently too and is making the B2B role in midfield his own.

[BanOly]

Having great success with this Roger Schmidt inspired tactic 😁 check out our progress on the Leverkusen Thread!

[Stu_UBJ]

1st season back in the BL for Kaiserslautern - 


 

[MarvBAFC]

Really itching to get a Hamburger SV game started. Hoping to have similar success as FM19. Going up we champions and winning the bundesliga in the 3rd Season (Bayern were shocking) 

Only thing holding me back is the data issues reported already (Vagnoman being left footed when he’s right footed and Hamburger SV III should be another U21 development squad for HSV)

When do we normally get the 1st data update? 
 

Hamburg have a very interesting squad this year, looking forward to developing Vagnoman, Van Drongelen and David again. 

[DirtyJoe]

14 hours ago, MarvBAFC said:

 

Only thing holding me back is the data issues reported already (Vagnoman being left footed when he’s right footed and Hamburger SV III should be another U21 development squad for HSV)

 

I am glad its been reported. He is a right footed player, who can play Left back.

[Stu_UBJ]

Anyone recommend any German Wünderkids? 

I'm in 4th season with Kaiserslautern, already got Christian Früchtl, Lukas Mai, Erkan Eyibil, and Fabrice Hartmann in squad. 

[User0912]

Would I be able to ask advice here regarding a FM19 save I have ?

Thanks

Edited December 11, 2019 by User0912

[DirtyJoe]

2 hours ago, User0912 said:

Would be able to ask advice here regarding a FM19 save I have ?

Thanks

of course?

[DirtyJoe]

11 hours ago, Stu_UBJ said:

Anyone recommend any German Wünderkids? 

I'm in 4th season with Kaiserslautern, already got Christian Früchtl, Lukas Mai, Erkan Eyibil, and Fabrice Hartmann in squad. 

Kevin Ehlers DC $2M
Armel Bella-Kotchap DC - $5M
Marco Friedl - D.WBL (Austrian)

Oliver Bastista Meier MR/L
Simon Asta DR
Giani -Luca Itter DL
Felix Uduokhai

 

 

 

[User0912]

On 09/12/2019 at 23:58, DirtyJoe said:

of course?

Im looking for some second opinions on where I could reinforce my team.

Just won the Bundesliga and would like to reinforce certain areas.

1. A new right back to replace Hakimi as no guarantee I could get him back on loan

2. Not sure if Ortega is decent enough so a new left back

3. Possibly a new striker, a backup to the 2 in the screenshot and Dejan Loveljic

4. Maybe a new keeper, even if its as a backup to Burki.

Just finished the 2018/2019 season.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[CapaJr]

On 20/11/2019 at 18:37, Duckelfsc said:

Gladbach, Leverkusen or Frankfurt would be good choices imo.

which save would be slightly more challenging would you say, Leverkusen or Leipzig?

[DirtyJoe]

Frankfurt, ....

Leverkusen & Leipzig have great squads.

[Liamgannon]

Having an amazing season with RB Leipzig after many failed saved as i just could't get into it. Playing a counter attacking 5-1-2-2. Trying to build for the future so my average age of my first XI is 21. 

Finished 2nd first season, not far behind Bayerm, only 8 or so points, mainly due to the inexperience of my team i think. I did also win our first European trophy, having been knocked out the CL group stages, going straight into the Europa. Hard to take at the time but a blessing in disguise i think. 

Started second season well, smashing Bayern 4-1 in the super cup. Looking forward to the season ahead and finally a save i can get into. 

My formation also seem like its a good fit for the gegenpress style I've been trying to implement, only slight tweak is a slightly reduce high line. Never been a big fan of that in this game with balls over the top so prevalent in leading to goals conceded. will post tactic later. 

[Stu_UBJ]

4th season is over - 2nd season for us in the Bundesliga.  


 

[Goretzka]

I'm managing my local team Holstein Kiel and somehow I promoted to Bundesliga in my first season. I'll make an edit about my first season. For now I just wanted to say that Mason Greenwood is hell of a player so far for my 2nd season.

 

He scored a goal in his first Bundesliga game and didn't score for 3 games in a row and played really bad. Then I changed my formation from 4-3-2-1 to Diamond 4-4-2 and he started banging. He scored 2 goals against Bayern and keep that in mind I'm a newcomer to this Bundesliga!

 

[Stu_UBJ]

So a quiet transfer window for once for me.



Fernando Corteggiano, Jean-Christophe Fradin and Joel Pollock are players for the future, although Corteggiano will be 4th choice for the first team. Dan-Axel Zagadou signs for £3.6m, after our first choice Chevalier-Perrot broke his leg, which means he'll be out for up to 6 months. Either way, when we sell him, we'll certainly make a profit. Tomás Belmonte will provide strength for DM and MC to make sure we don't fall short should we have some injuries.  Final signing is Lars Bor, who looks to be a world-class winger in the making, and just £8m (release clause).

We did try to re-sign Zirkzee this summer as well, after a very fruitful 4 year partnership. However, it didn't happen, so we will go with Sergio Santa Cruz and Dario Sarmiento. We still have 11 days to find a ST, but I will still be looking for Sergio to do the job, with 8 in 14 apps last season, a very respectable return.

[Martin93]

Started my new save with a team I see severall other people here have done, Kaiserslautern. Done first half season, did no signings in the summer and it has all gone fine so far.

 

Been a good first half off the season, playing good football just dropped a few unnecessary points here and there in games we should had full controll, but overall ok. First signs off problems has been January so far, some teams came after my players, like Monaco for Grill, so I thought either sell pretty cheap, have him unhappy or sign a new contract. So I did give a few players new contract, and now we are over wage budget(and I HATE that...) so trying to sell off some players in January but noone wants them, well atleast lets hope get promotion...

Edited January 12, 2020 by Martin93

[Stu_UBJ]

Heading into the business end of season 5 with Kaiserslautern. We're currently 9 clear, which seems crazy. 



Sergio Santa Cruz has taken the mantle as our main ST, with 18 goals in 29 apps so far. Still, our best player is the one who's been at the club since those dull 2.BL days. Erkan Eyibil continues to astound with 8 goals and 7 assists so far this season. Although to be fair, everyone in the squad has done a cracking job thus far.

We had a nightmare CL group, with Manchester City, Sevilla and Marseille. We managed to finish 3rd, meaning we get another crack at the Europa League, where we face LASK Linz.

3 players moved out in January, as some really good offers coming in - 



Wittek is a long-serving player, but a £9m offer from China for a player who I was looking to upgrade on anyway. Nkunku has been in and out of the side this season, so an offer which bags us £10m profit. Darío Sarmiento had not ever settled into our side, so when Arsenal came in with that money, I couldn't refuse. The rest are youngsters off on loans. Towards the end of August, we did sell Almamy Touréto Milan (£14.75m), and replaced with Emerson from Barcelona B (£7m).



Gastón Politano looks a decent youngster, who will at least make me a profit, same goes for Richie Knight. Ludger Schade has enough potential to be our DL in a few seasons, however he will require some work. Borna Sosa comes in to replace the outgoing Wittek, an upgrade in my opinion. Stanislav Maksimovic could be a top forward in the seasons to come, but he will require some work.

Our final January signing is a replacement for Sarmiento, even an upgrade! Sander Wijsbroek has been on our radar for a season or two, but has never been interested. But, a change of manager and a poor European showing saw him unhappy, with a release clause of £5.5m, and I still don't know why the big clubs haven't already snapped him up. He already looks the part, and there is no question he will at the least make us a very healthy profit in the future. The fact he's got 20 u21 goals in 12 apps says a lot.

We also agreed the signing of Brandon Cortés from Spurs on a free, he will join in July, and gives us three top class ST to choose from. 
 

[Stu_UBJ]

It looks like we'll get a second crack at winning the Europa League this season. 5-1 win v LASK Linz, then 3-1 v Valencia. Shakhtar or Man United await us in the next round, if we can beat them, I reckon we'll be favourites. 

Also 10 points clear at the top of the BL - a solitary defeat the only blemish on our season so far. 



This could be the first since 1998 for the club, with Sergio Santa Cruz leading the way 

[Stu_UBJ]

Season is over, and we are champions of Germany!



We finished 5 points clear, with a poor last 5 games or so cutting our lead from 12 points.

Sergio Santa Cruz has turned  into our talismanic ST, 28 goals, 9 assists in 43 games. It'll be a long summer for us, with Real Madrid, PSG and Chelsea very interested indeed. He claims Player of the Year, Player's Player of the Year, Players' Newcomer of the Year,  top scorer in the 1.BL, along with a place in the team of the year.

It's heartbreak for Eyibil, who was dropped from Euro 2024 squad in place of a 34 year old Toni Kroos, despite being arguably the best German MC this season (11goals, 12 assists). Fruchtl, Lukas Mai and Fabrice Hartmann also missed the cut.

Next Season...

Our 6th season at Kaiserslautern could be one of change. Certain players will leave (Lennart Grill, Kevin Kraus), and some still undecided (Tiago Banega, Emerson), along with the big performers now attracting big-money interest (Santa Cruz, Erkan Eyibil, Lucas Orellano, Yannick Chevalier-Perrot). Luckily, the latter players are ones we no longer need to sell, with the club on solid financial footing, thanks to Champions League revenue, previous big sales, along with clever transfers and wage control (highest earner is Eyibil on £62k). 

[jwalker1993]

Anyone got any advice for managing Shalke?

Me and four of my friends have just started a network game in the Bundlesiga and I randomly drew them, so far brought in Davie Selke from Hertha and Alan Franco CB from Independiente. No budget to sign anyone else unless players go out. Looking at playing an 4-3-3 formation with an aggressive press, Harit and Schopf as inverted wingers and the full backs overlapping. We usually only get through one season on it so not bothered about building any sort of project, just need short term success haha.

[Stu_UBJ]

Just four incoming signings for the upcoming season, with a £58m layout;



Brandon Cortés on a free will give us a third quality forward. Jens Dinkelmann is a huge £35m signing, however the signing shores up our DL position for the next 10 seasons at least. Pedro Joao comes in to improve our DC options at £20m. Final signing is Jeronimo Cacciabue, who will improve our midfield options at £3m.



Outgoing of £58m means we have a net spend of £0! Borna Sosa had not really got going for us, so a £6m offer from Mainz was an easy option. Tiago Banega had never quite forced his way into the first team, so we sell to Saint-Etienne. Andreas Dimosthenous didn't look ready to get into the first team, so he's gone for a fantastic fee, with a 40% sell on fee. Yannick Chevalier-Perrot started wonderfully, but a long term injury saw him drop to third choice, so the £18.5m from Napoli was enough to see him leave. Our final major outgoing was that of Fabrice Hartmann, who despite being a really good squad player, was never going to be first choice, so the £15m profit on a free transfer was too good to turn down.

Our CL group is Lyon, FC Kobenhavn and Shakhtar Donetsk. Tricky, but I reckon we have a good chance of progressing.

[Knox316]

 

Hamburg first season.

Having alot of fun with this squad. Got André Almeida for the midfield and Gouiri coming in January.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Knox316

[JWHv2]

I have just finished my first season in the 3rd German Division with the club Jena. As a photography enthousiast this team attracts me as Carl Zeiss / Jena is a prominent camera and lens brand :).

First season went extremely well and on the second last play date we clinched the first place finish. I also got Bayer 04 as Senior Affiliate and they signed the wonderkid Gonzalo Villar which I could immediatly loan for free.

The absolute stars were the (already) loaned Ole Kauper and the free signing Dejan Janjatovic:

Right now in the 2nd Bundesliga leading the bunch after 5 games! Just beating title favourites Hannover 96. It's incredible how things are going! Can't wait for this season to finish as, whatever the outcome, we will get atleast 7 Million Euro for avoid relegation. This will boost my budget from literally 0!

The star in the 2nd season so far is the Gambian from Werder Ousman Manneh who, with his incredible physics, is on a 5 goals in 5 matches run. Curious to see where this season will end.

[Muttley84]

Been considering heading to Bundesliga and choosing one of the teams in the Rhine-Ruhr metro area. I've narrowed it down to the following (as I feel Dortmund and Leverkusen might be a little to easy) but can't really make up my mind:

1. Fc Koln - Newly promoted side but actually pretty solid from infrastructure to playing squad for a mid-table position. I have seen a lot of people in here picked them.

Borussia Mönchengladbach - A club dominant in the 70s, but with now great prospects of finishing in the Champions League spots. Cool kits, but a little to many foreign players for my liking (especially swiss and french). 

 Schalke 04 - Great youth facilities and players at the club but actually performing subpar for a few seasons now. Bringing back the glory days of the 30-40s might be a little difficult but the great rivalry with Dortmund might keep things interesting.

Fortuna Düsseldorf - The worst of the bunch so could be a great job in becoming the best club in the region. In real life they are not doing that good and are fighting relegation so could be an extra challenge.

I consider Bundesliga a fun league to play, but not being German not really sure what to go with, I would appreciate any suggestions and reasons for picking one of the above clubs.