[FM20] Getting the Red Devils back on track with higher risk passing

[MFollin]

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/roy-keane-man-united-ireland-162781

Quote

"I got the ball and passed to Gary [Neville], who was on my team. In a normal game that was a great ball - pass to your teammate, go up the pitch. And then Keane turned round and just started going,

"Pass the ****ing ball forward, take risks, you're not at Leeds or West Ham now, you're at Manchester United!' 

"I got home later that day and thought, 'This guy is nuts, how am I going to deal with him on a daily basis?'

"And then I realised that you've got to take chances and that's how I ended up playing my career. Not just passing the simple ball to Gary, but into the strikers to make a difference."

With the recent Match Engine update to FM20, I've decided to have a quick go at Manchester United, with focus on more risky passes to open up the opposition. Additionally, I'll be working on current squad rather than using the rather massive transfer budget to fix the team, so far selling Matic and buying Rayan Cherki in Jan 2020.

For starters, I went with the Vertical Tiki-Taka setup with the 4-1-4-1 DM Wide formation using Tactic Creator. I then changed a couple roles:

The AML and AMR have been changed to more offensive roles, IF-A and RMD-A. Other roles such as BBM had Take more Risks added to them to keep in line with my overall goal. As I (and the players) get more used to the tactic, I intend to increase the passing directness and possibly tempo as well.

The biggest change from my point of view has been forcing both Mata and Pogba to retrain into Registas (Mata being backup for Pogba). I have done this to put them in a position, where they can ignite attacks with a lot of key passes. An example of this is the 4-0 preseason friendly against Burnley:

That said, it's been a few other players who have outshined Pogba in the first month of this playthrough with games against Crystal Palace (Home, 3-0), Sheff Utd (Away, 5-1), Tottenham (Home, 4-0) and Everton (Away,3-0):

I imagine it will take some time for Pogba (and Mata) to get used to the new role, though so far Pogba has 4.34 key chances per game and 7.78 AvR.

Edited February 11, 2020 by MFollin

[MFollin]

Season 1 overview

PL: 2nd, 80points

CC: Knocked out by City in the semis

FA: Won vs Arsenal

EL: Won vs FCP

 

Tactical changes during the season

I didn't really get to use Greenwood despite his talent, and neither James or Lingard were performing on the AMR. I therefore changed the AMR role to Inside Forward(A) and made Greenwood my first choice here. His performances are quite inconsistent, but he's generally doing better than both James and Lingard, who are now being used as backup for AMR/AML/ST along with Chong.

Pogba and Mata generally got a decent rating playing as Regista, never going below a 7.0 rating and with an average of 7.9 and 7.7 respectively. Pogba earned English Footballer of the Year. However, the amount of goals and assists was really low, with Pogba only scoring 6 and 4 assists in the league (Mata 2g 5a).

At the end of the season, I created a Gegenpress tactic with the Tactics Creator using the same formation and basically same roles as well. I'm mostly using this tactic when playing away/neutral games, as a lot of the away games have been problematic.

Transfers during summer

In:

Jude Bellingham(£22.5m) and Bafode Diakite (£6m) - both offers initiated by my DoF Ariedo Braida, who's been given responsibility of signing players for u18 and u23.

Out:

Matic (£15m), Barlow, Romero(£10m], Rojo(£10m), Alexis (£10m), Fred (£30m), Jones (£20m), James(loan) and Pogba (€159m)

Aiming to sell Smalling and Bailly as well, possibly Dalot too to make room for Laird.

 

I would have kept Pogba, however, he started throwing a fit and £159m is a pretty decent offer. I've moved Angel Gomes to the regista role with Mata as backup. Jude basically went straight into the Mezzala (A), pushing Pereira to the bench.

 

Goals for 20/21

At least 2nd in the league

Reaching the semis in CL

Get Gomes used to the Regista role

 

Player Promotions

Diakite, Mejbri and Mengi moved to the first team roster. Cherki possibly following soon.

Laird and Williams got about 15 games each in 19/20, and I expect them to get even more this season.

Henderson should be getting a fair amount of games as well with Romero sold and Grant retired.

 

Squad 20/21

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by MFollin

[xray1324]

Nice start, following. 

[MFollin]

Overview of Season 2

The start of the season was a disaster (which is to be expected with the amount of players sold I guess) and it took several months to get stable performances again. Sadly, this meant that CL was a complete disaster.

PL: Finished 3rd (below expectations, yet Arsenal got Guardiola and basically tore the league apart until Feb 2021...), 86 points

CL: Finished 3rd in the group vs Real Madrid and Bayer 04, 9 points

EL: Won

CC: Won

FAC: Lost in semis vs West Ham (who beat us every game this season...

Tactical changes

As the team was pretty much completely revamped with about 10 players sold, I kept the tactics as is for this season. I didn't really use the Gegenpress and Counterattack tactics, but rather relied on my Vertical Tiki Taki tactic.

Garner was given an individual role of CM(S) when playing MC next to a Mezzala.

Transfers during summer

Out: Smalling (£12m), possibly Chong and James as well.

In: 16y English newgen striker from Watford, £2.1m (only got 2 strikers in u23 and u18 atm)

Player status

AMR, AML and ST: Attack has been really solid with Greenwood, Rashford and Martial as first choices and Noam Emeran, Lingard and Pereira as backup. Goals per 90 isn't impressive, but will hopefully improve as especially Greenwood gets older.

MC, Mezzala: Mejbri and Bellingham are doing a great job as Mezzala, and basically pushed Pereira off that position.

MC: BBM/CM: McTominay and Garner are doing well, just about 7.0 in AvR

Angel Gomes did really well in the Regista role, AvR 7.72, 9 goals and 12 assists in 29 PL games. Overall 42 apps, 12gls, 19asts and AvR 7.74. It earned him PL's Young Player of the Year award. Mata did fine as well, but will be getting fewer and fewer games as he ages.

DL/DR: Shaw and AWB are obvious first choices so far, but as the tactic is taxing on the wingbacks, Laird and Williams have been getting a lot of games too (about 25 games each)

DC: Maguire, Lindelöf and Tuanzebe have been sharing the two spots with Mengi getting a handful of games. Diakite got a Serious Viral Infection and lost out on most of the season.

GK: I didn't use Henderson enough, but at the same time he's not really good enough either.

Goals for season 3

Challenge for the title

Actually reach CL Semi finals this time

Find longer term replacements for Mata (possibly Pereira) and De Gea

Handle the Training schedules on my own rather than letting assman do it

[MFollin]

Overview of Season 3

Generally a much better start apart from a couple annoying losses in PL (1-2 vs Chelsea and Newcastle). Winning Champions League is hopefully a great boost for the coming season

PL: Finished 2nd, 87 points

CL: Won

CC: Lost 4th round vs Arsenal

FAC: Lost in 4th round vs Chelsea

Player status

I'm generally happy with most positions. My main issue atm is how my 2 CDs tend to lose against just 1 striker and open up for a CCC in counterattacks. I wonder if it's a speed issue (as Maguire is really slow) or something to do with my tactics.

Transfers during summer

De Gea was throwing a fit like Pogba earlier. As he is 31 and PSG offered £91m (which is ridiculous IMO), I chose to sell him and replace him with Donnarumma. Bought a couple of newgens for positions where youth intake has disappointed me the most. My youth intake has generally been terrible in all three seasons, only one player with 3G+1B, rest are 2½G or lower...

Out: De Gea (£91m), Chong (£14m), James(£32m)

In: Donnarumma(£59m), 17y regen GK(£40m), 17y newgen CM/DM, (£20m)

Goals for season 4

Win PL and CL

Get reinforcements for CD, preferably through own youth intake

Edited February 20, 2020 by MFollin