Football Manager 2020 Discussion Thread

[LFCMike]

So here's the results from the three cup ties.

First leg v PSG. They were all over us early on and I thought it was only a matter of time before they took the lead and then the tie away from us. We held in there though and were the better team second half and scraped a 1-0 to take to Paris.

The Scottish Cup semi v Celtic. Dominated from start to finish. I feel we have the upper hand against them now in the head to heads. 

Second leg v PSG. When they went ahead early I thought the game would be over quite quickly. But again we held in there. Didn't really create anything though. Going to extra time I tried to change things to push for a goal but we just couldn't create anything of note. A good performance for our first campaign in the Champions League though.

Also found out my group in the Euro's with Scotland. Not bad, one that we could qualify from. Belgium are the current world champions if I remember rightly so we'll have to make sure we pick up points in the other two games.

[LFCMike]

So this result means we need to avoid defeat on the last day to win the title. We play Celtic at home...

[LFCMike]

Thank fuck for that. Now to complete the domestic treble

[DeadLinesman]

Fuck PSG

[LFCMike]

Won the Scottish Cup final v Dunfermline 3-0. Treble complete!

Onto the Euro's with Scotland.

Opening game was v Belgium. Not ideal as it puts more pressure on the other two group games. Started badly as we went down early on. Responded straight away though. Belgium were always on top however and took the lead again before half time. And that was how it ended, 2-1.

Next game v Austria was so frustrating. Had a number of chances, completely dominated but ended 0-0. 

So we went into the game v Israel needing a win and Austria to lose v Belgium. Belgium did their bit for us, winning 2-0. We were in control v Israel but just couldn't put them to bed. Twice they came back and the second time it was too late.

Out with two frustrating draws

[Mpache]

Ok

So I've won Serie A with Sassuolo, taken them to the CL semi-final, won the Europa league and brought some outright world class footballers.

This season I'm slightly underachieving. I'm 2 points behind first in 6th, and the board randomly decide they want me out. 10 points from 5 games.

If I get sacked from this nonsense, I will never play with sackings turned on again. Too unrealistic and could ruin the game.

[Mpache]

Right, I lost to Lazio and dropped to 7th. Suddenly my rank goes from an E to a C+.

Sackings are off. Call me a cheater if you want but this isn't enjoyable. Not even Florentino Perez or Roman Abramovich would sack you if you're 2 points behind 1st and on course for a treble. Then suddenly they are happy with you after losing but still want you out.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

@LFCMike, I doubt it'll help much as Scotland have Andy Robertson and Tierney as left backs but I have a player called Aaron Hickey who I signed in the Championship at 18 and he's basically been a regular starter ever since, even in the prem. He can now play right back and even competent in midfield. 

Not sure how good he is on your save though, if he even exists (he should do as he does have a picture in the game). 

[LFCMike]

3 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

@LFCMike, I doubt it'll help much as Scotland have Andy Robertson and Tierney as left backs but I have a player called Aaron Hickey who I signed in the Championship at 18 and he's basically been a regular starter ever since, even in the prem. He can now play right back and even competent in midfield. 

Not sure how good he is on your save though, if he even exists (he should do as he does have a picture in the game). 

Cheers, I'll check him out. Robertson is now 33/34 and I've been using Tierney at CB. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Following last season's finish in the Europa League qualification spot, the board expected cup success and a mid table finish and gave me a budget of £60m or so to achieve this. A decent budget but with a glaring lack of depth in the likes of central midfield, central defence and in goals, as well as the general lack of quality, the Europa League to contend with and the prices being asked for players, finding the players that improved the squad, were cheap and wanted to come was difficult. The main choice was to either get a couple of star players or to get an overall squad to compete on all fronts. Considering the amount of games we'll likely play and the general lack of depth and quality, the latter option would be better. 

While I mentioned the window briefly above, we've now had the summer window and this is what we signed. 

Overall, I'm happy with what we got in the window and still have some money left over of necessary for the January window (though had to adjust the wage budget as I did go over). There is a youngster on loan underneath Ginter but in all honesty, he's there mainly as backup in midfield if needs be. 

Matthias Ginter

While he's an improvement on what I have, Man City were asking far too much money for him, especially at his age (29). However, they were happy enough to let me have him on loan without paying any wages so took the opportunity. He'll mainly be backup. 

Ademipo Odubeko

Admittedly I wouldn't normally have bothered too much as overall, he's actually not that good. However, in the key areas he's very good and at the age of 20 (as well as being free) and needing a little bit of depth up front, I thought I'd take a gamble. 

Patrick Roberts

I had him on loan in the Championship and he was too good, but couldn't sign him last season when we were promoted as Man City were asking for too much and the wings were not a priority area. However, when Lamela picked up an injury, it was no surprise that we started to struggle and the lack of depth started to show. Now that Man City want shot of him for next to nothing and he was good enough for depth on the wings. Bit of a no brainer really for £1.9m.

Steve Colback

More of a signing made on potential as at present, he isn't good enough for the first team. However, he is tipped to be a quality player (four stars) in the future so worth the gamble.

Conor Coventry

I had him on loan in the January transfer window and while he was mainly more for depth, he was an improvement on what I had in midfield. For the money being asked and for a player that is good enough to play in the prem, this was a very good deal. 

Mason Holgate

A surprising one this as he is much better than what I had and there was a big hole left in Central defence when Garcia's loan finished. Again, more than good enough for me and the price was a steal. 

Gary Orellana

An interesting one this. With Albrighton retiring this season and Roberts signed (who can play as a left winger), this was more of a signing based on potential. However, he is tipped to be world class and Albrighton is currently mentoring him. He already has good stats at the age of 17 and could be Albrighton's replacement next season. 

Sam Johnstone

Admittedly a bit more of a panic buy as I was approaching the end of the window without much depth for goalkeepers. Gazzanigga will be number one again, but Johnstone will be a more than capable number two. Walton will be sold to Barnsley in the January window for roughly the same price so that basically covers the fee. 

Ainsley Maitland-Niles

A good upgrade on my midfield and has versatility in that he can also play on the left and right defensively as well. An astute signing for that money and he starts without hesitation. 

Aleksander Mitrovic

A bit of a surprise one this. While Gelhardt and Grot did very well last season (both hit 20 goals each), it was clear that my depth and general quality was lacking up front. While scouting other strikers, I noticed that Norwich had put a bid in of around £11m for Mitrovic, which looked cheap for someone of that quality. Following a scout that mentioned he would be an important member of the team, I offered Fulham a little bit less but with a random reserve player in part exchange. In the end, I got him for a £10m part exchange. He's already worth double the amount.

Georgy Djikia

If you want a definition of a panic buy, this was it. Compared to other signings, this was notably more costly than anyone else. While he'll easily compete with Holgate for the other spot alongside Mavrapanos (and most likely be the one starting ahead), I feel like I overpaid for him when I could of got someone slightly worse but with the potential for less. However, there was very little time to scout more players so this had to do. 

And with that, my signings for the summer are complete at a total cost of £59m. Now for those who we sold.

George Honeyman

A good player in the Championship and was useful when needed. However, he's not good enough for the prem and considering that I paid less than a million for him in the Championship, this was a very good deal for me. 

Tashan Oakley-Boothe

Like Honeyman, a good Championship player but not good enough for the prem. Also a pissy wankstain when he wasn't selected and when I did to make him happy, he did fuck all so squeezed more money from Pompey to sell him. Won't be a huge loss. 

Jake Doyle-Hayes

A tad bit of a shame this. Was too good for League One but surprisingly struggled in the Championship, despite his stats being pretty decent. Barely played a game in the prem and was simply surplus to requirements. Pompey clearly have a boner for centre mids from us, so squeezed yet more money from them. 

£14.5m for players that weren't going to play was very good in that respect. 

Josh Emmanuel

A player that had been with me since the very beginning, it was a shame to sell him but with Aaron De Paula (a youth player I signed from Barca for £1.8m the previous season) already surpassing Emmanuel despite being a good 5 years younger, as well as having Janssen and Hickey being trained to play at right back as well, he was simply surplus to requirements and sold to Fulham. 

The rest I can't be arsed to go into as they were shite and simply not good enough. I was surprised to get £1m for Courtnage as he was never going to break into the first team. 

We started the season superbly with a 3-0 away win at Huddersfield, but have a big test with Man U at home next, which is where we currently are. 

[Mpache]

Sorry for the ignorance @LFCMike, do you play the phone version or just regular touch?

[LFCMike]

1 minute ago, Inti Brian said:

Sorry for the ignorance @LFCMike, do you play the phone version or just regular touch?

Phone

[Mpache]

Just now, LFCMike said:

Phone

Ah bugger, I was hoping we could do an FM cup. I'd guess you play on the iPad?

[LFCMike]

Just now, Inti Brian said:

Ah bugger, I was hoping we could do an FM cup. I'd guess you play on the iPad?

No I just use my phone. I think touch is a completely different version to the mobile version (and more expensive)?

[Mpache]

1 minute ago, LFCMike said:

No I just use my phone. I think touch is a completely different version to the mobile version (and more expensive)?

Fair play, I could tolerate the iPad but not the Phone just cos of its size 

Touch you get along with the full version and it's simpler.

[LFCMike]

So I said I'd do a post showing some of my squad. So here's the four players I'd say are undroppable.

Waldemar Kruppe - signed for £2,000 in 23/24. Plays from the right. Excellent on set pieces.

Arthur Haslam - signed from Bournemouth for £4m. Key player in central midfield.

Ricky McGregor - signed for £210,000 from St Mirren. Another central midfielder who's made himself key over the last season.

Callum Allen - signed for £8.5m from Bournemouth. Still only 20 and after a season as second choice striker made himself first choice last season. 

[LFCMike]

There wasn't any need for us to add any players to the first eleven this summer. Added a couple of squad players but the transfers you see below are largely teenagers for the reserves. Had a transfer budget of about £70m without any sales so I've just started buying the best youngsters my scouts find. Trying to stick to buying largely UK based players too. Plan is to replace any players we inevitably lose with players we've already signed for the reserves. We had one more from our youth set up good enough to be kept on so that's slowly starting to pay off.

Made a great start to the league season winning four from four, including a 4-0 home win over Celtic on the opening day.

We qualified directly for the group stages of the Champions League, no need to go through any qualifiers this time. Assuming as a result of ours and Celtic's runs in Europe Scotland's co-efficient has risen.  Look at that group!

Made a great start to our Nations League campaign with Scotland. A 1-5 away win v Czech Republic and 3-0 win at home to Finland

[Smiley Culture]

Not played this for a few weeks. I’ve just looked at the Bolton side, specifically the players in their U23 and U18 sides and there’s bags of potential there. Might dive in and start a save with them in the morning. With the young players and points deduction, it could be a good one. 

[Dan+]

FC Andorra 2025/26 (Part one)

Here we are again. The latest edition. I am flying through this save like no other, although it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. Andorra were now to enter their 4th season in La Liga and by this point, you would like to think, we should be pretty clear of any relegation danger - though yet another miserable transfer budget left me depressingly telling the squad that we should be aiming for survival again. It's fair enough really in a way, we still ultimately have one of the lowest transfer and wage budgets in the division and you can't really make too many over the top demands - we came 11th last year, but it is worth pointing out that in the six years this save has taken place, that was comfortably the lowest points tally an 11th placed side had got and that realistically we were probably a little bit worse than that suggests in a normal season. Not to talk it down of course, it's a superb achievement given we played third tier football five years ago.

As stated, the transfer budget was meagre again, and this time I decided I would finally start to move a few players on. I have held onto quite a few players for a while who have been on the journey, but really aren't up to the level anymore and the calibre of clubs coming in for them proved that. They departed with their heads held high, though I will start with August's fixtures first and there is a reason for this. Our opening day was a grudge match against Alaves - the club our great escape sunk two seasons ago.

 

 

It looked a very decent opening month on paper but what was served up wasn't too promising. Our first ever game at the brand new stadium resulted in a frustrating defeat but the second at least made up for it as we produced some of our finest shithouse football, amassing just 31% possession at home to Leganes but sending them packing anyway. The true Andorra way.

On deadline day however, something quite interesting happened - wantaway midfielder Oihan Sancet was given a route out of the club by Alaves and I accepted it. In came Filippo Ranocchia.

 

 

The reason I mixed this up a little bit was because the Sancet / Ranocchia thing has proven to be crucial, in my opinion. So what I felt I needed this summer was a proper natural box to box midfielder. We played two of them - but didn't own a single midfielder who's most natural role was this so I forever felt I was forcing players into quite a demanding, unsuitable role and the result of this was pretty chaotic, disorganised football. The signing of Chancel Tsouka, a signing we were so close to bodging up, was the tonic to this and the 20 year old is a real bargain in my eyes. The sale of Sancet however and signing of Ranocchia, the player I wanted if I didn't get Tsouka, meant we had two proper BBMs and ultimately we looked a lot healthier a team for it. As for the others - Cioce is a really highly rated young defender I've gotten on loan, hopefully to be made permanent in the summer as his deal is up (as is Ranocchia's, hence why I went for the loan), Dani Calderon is a promising young defender who I've shipped straight to Logrones (and I intend to make many more signings like this). Max Christoffel replaces the outgoing Jose Martinez, good riddance to the training missing, whinging letdown. The other signing was one I really didn't expect to land - financially struggling Crystal Palace think loaning out their most promising player is going to fix their problems, somehow. I'll have to break the £3.8mil club record if I want to bring Kevin Mutanda to the club permanently, but it's a move I intend to make.

It was sad to wave goodbye to certain members - particularly Waldo & Manu Appeh, two of the players signed in that second summer who've been with us since, but we'd simply outgrown them - they are forever icons to me even if they aren't all that anymore, and both are big reasons we made it to La Liga.

Onto September.

 

 

Barcelona was genuinely one of the best performances we've turned in in my tenure. A club that scored 126 goals last season in the league were limited to one Youri Tielemans rocket as we pissed chances up the wall ourselves. Frustrating, but that was a level of performance I was amazed by from us, and we then kept that up with yet another win over Sevilla at home, and a seriously impressive victory at Celta Vigo - who up until that point were unbeaten. We collapsed at Bilbao although the result was a slight farce, we legitimately had the better of the game, but our set piece deficiency wasn't merely exposed, but publicly undressed, as we let in four goals from corners. Worrying and it needs fixing. I really feel the signings are working though.

 

 

Sometimes on FM, you just get that feeling when you know things have clicked and your team has hit a level that is wasn't once capable of. Simply remarkable to take maximum points from that month, another superb away win at Villarreal and we showed we could do it the other way with a dramatic late turnaround at Eibar. The really notable thing was that the chaos seemed to have been put behind us, and we were conceding so few goals. We were creating chances. It's all going so well. We finished this month in an astounding 4th place, though the next game was a real test, and one we never pass.

 

 

The run of wins was over but a draw against this Valencia side is very respectable - our first ever against them. They are ranked higher than Atletico on this game now for some context. Espanyol was slightly frustrating but they're no mugs. We made hard work of a Zaragoza side we battered before then failing to complete the task in a similar natured game at Rayo Vallecano. We slipped to 5th but we were unbeaten in 8, and again, the defensive record is just so impressive. I genuinely think the midfield was the root of our issues and that signing proper fits really has fixed them. The only downer about this month was that Cioce signed a new contract with Lazio so the permanent summer move was off - a shame but to be honest I don't blame Lazio at all, he is a really good defender and is another part of the reason we're improving. Next up, managerless, 19th placed Levante at home. What possibly could go wrong?

 

 

You all knew what was coming. We lost our unbeaten run in the most FM style you could imagine, Magnani clearing a cross into his own net in the first half and we never really got going. I expected us to slump and lose our next two but what happened was pretty special. We trailed for nearly the entire game at Sociedad but a Tsouka belter, his first for the club, got us out of jail, before league leaders Atletico Madrid fell here in a sensational game, in what has to be just about our most remarkable result yet. We topped the month off with a win at Tudelano - a club we lost at in the third tier five years ago, through young Andorran striker Jose Acedo, the brightest prospect to come through our academy yet.

 

 

There is no way else to put it other than saying we are defying all odds at the minute. To be sat in genuine European contention is astounding and vindicated my belief that the midfield was the problem. Tsouka has been well worth it and Ranocchia has been brilliant - thank you must go to Alaves for signing the peripheral Sancet which forced me to make this move in the first place. They've manufactured a beast. The next job is to get Ranocchia signed permanently and unlike Cioce, I don't see Juventus extending his contract as he's 24 and just simply not as high a calibre, he's not good enough for them. Mutanda has also been a huge bright spark and has actually benched Mereles completely. Even the likes of Sam Hughes and Javi Hernandez, the next players on the list to upgrade on, have performed. Dionkou has been a revelation this year and is attracting interest. Gyokeres, Piazza and Kladar are all still wasteful but they're getting a bit better. It's all just 'clicked' and I've hit the point where I would be disappointed to have no European football to show for it.

The truth is however, it's all on a bit of a knife edge. I feel like one big injury to a Tsouka or Ranocchia and the whole thing tumbles like a pack of cards, and I intend to bring in another midfielder - Fofana wants out, Alvarez is finished and Zebli just isn't good enough anymore. @Inti Brian exposed this weakness massively in a friendly season in quite terrifying fashion, as the Tsouka loss saw us go from winning fairly comfortably to being thrashed twice. All in all though, what an unbelievable season, even with those signings I didn't expect anything quite like this. The only drawback is we still play Real Madrid twice, and the first one will be done without a suspended Ranocchia.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

9 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

Not played this for a few weeks. I’ve just looked at the Bolton side, specifically the players in their U23 and U18 sides and there’s bags of potential there. Might dive in and start a save with them in the morning. With the young players and points deduction, it could be a good one. 

I'd imagine that'll be quite a challenge on the main version. I ended up having to sell the younger players on my save as I simply needed the money and wgae budget for signings. 

[Smiley Culture]

Bolton Wanderers - 2019/20 

Bolton, then. We all know what they've been through over the past few years and the scars are still visible, in the form of a twelve point deduction for the coming League One season after suffering the indignity of relegation from the Championship the previous season. 

The positives outweigh the negatives though. The club is no longer shackled by Ken Anderson, he's gone and the club's financial position is better, with £970,000 in the bank, however, the new chairman did take out a £41m loan when buying the club. That's not great but it could have been worse with Anderson still involved. As I've mentioned, the club has a plethora of talent at it's disposal in the U23 and U18 set-ups, with eight four star potential players in the ranks, alongside a small handful that have already been promoted to my first-team for the forthcoming season. 

Survival is the bare minimum I want this season. I'm undecided on the cups yet. The deduction is going to leave us playing catch-up for a decent chunk of the season, so do I really want the distraction of the Checkatrade Trophy and early rounds of the FA Cup? I want to say yes, partly because it's a potential money-spinner and because we have local rivals Wigan Athletic in the Carabao Cup 1st Round. 

The only signing I've made is Yves Ma Kalambay, a 33 year-old Congolese 'keeper, who will be my number two, playing in cup games, while the seventeen year-old Matthew Alexander develops in the U23 squad. I was thinking of signing a right winger but with a good youth set-up, I decided it would be unfair to push these talented kids further down the pecking order. 

Pre-season, on the whole, went well, with wins against Southport (3-0), Atherton Collieries (1-0), Ashton Athletic (5-0), Warrington Town (2-0), FC United of Manchester (3-0) and Sheffield Wednesday (3-2) before we rounded it off with a poor performance and a defeat at Wrexham (0-1). 

 

[Mpache]

@Dan its the child!!!

[Mpache]

5 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

Bolton Wanderers - 2019/20 

Bolton, then. We all know what they've been through over the past few years and the scars are still visible, in the form of a twelve point deduction for the coming League One season after suffering the indignity of relegation from the Championship the previous season. 

The positives outweigh the negatives though. The club is no longer shackled by Ken Anderson, he's gone and the club's financial position is better, with £970,000 in the bank, however, the new chairman did take out a £41m loan when buying the club. That's not great but it could have been worse with Anderson still involved. As I've mentioned, the club has a plethora of talent at it's disposal in the U23 and U18 set-ups, with eight four star potential players in the ranks, alongside a small handful that have already been promoted to my first-team for the forthcoming season. 

Survival is the bare minimum I want this season. I'm undecided on the cups yet. The deduction is going to leave us playing catch-up for a decent chunk of the season, so do I really want the distraction of the Checkatrade Trophy and early rounds of the FA Cup? I want to say yes, partly because it's a potential money-spinner and because we have local rivals Wigan Athletic in the Carabao Cup 1st Round. 

The only signing I've made is Yves Ma Kalambay, a 33 year-old Congolese 'keeper, who will be my number two, playing in cup games, while the seventeen year-old Matthew Alexander develops in the U23 squad. I was thinking of signing a right winger but with a good youth set-up, I decided it would be unfair to push these talented kids further down the pecking order. 

Pre-season, on the whole, went well, with wins against Southport (3-0), Atherton Collieries (1-0), Ashton Athletic (5-0), Warrington Town (2-0), FC United of Manchester (3-0) and Sheffield Wednesday (3-2) before we rounded it off with a poor performance and a defeat at Wrexham (0-1). 

 

Oi join the FM Cup you bread eater  

[Smiley Culture]

16 minutes ago, Inti Brian said:

Oi join the FM Cup you bread eater  

Bread Eater is a fantastic insult but nah, far too early into this save. 

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, Inti Brian said:

@Dan its the child!!!

Oh for fuck sake