Football Manager 2019

AEK put me out in the play off

 

“Pretty good” teams don’t win the Champions League

 

Young Boys put me out

 

I played Ajax, Leipzig, Monaco, Schalke, Spurs, Liverpool and Napoli to win it. Only Liverpool were anything more than decent. Not my fault if the likes of Barca, Bayern and Real aren’t up to much in my save

 

With back to back CL titles in the bag I think I need to mix it up a bit to keep the save fresh. I plan on implementing 2 new ‘throwback’ tactics and have 2 strikers in each of my 3 tactics (keeping the 3-4-1-2 that I already use). As far as I remember the last team to win the CL playing 2 up front were Inter in 2010 (Eto’o and Milito) so its unusual these days for big teams to go with 2 up top. So that’s the aim. Retain all my trophies with 2 strikers in the team.


As you’d expect, I’ll need to rejig the squad a bit. Transfer plans are:


GK - Horn, Bain, Robert


No changes. Will try and give Robert more gametime.


RB - Norrestrand, Varela


Norrestrand is now first choice. Time for Varela to go. Given the brexit rules it would be ideal if I could find a british player to replace him


LB - KT, Taylor


No changes. KT is probably the best left back in the game in my save. Irreplaceable. Taylor is a good back up and can play left mid too which has proven useful


CB - Ajer, Markovic, McKenna, Franco


Ajer and Markovic were amazing last season. My CB pair for the rest of the save. McKenna and Franco have both been great rotation players. I may sell Franco though if a good British centre half becomes available. A british defender who can play RB and CB would be ideal! Got plenty cover anyway with Gbamin and Soucek both able to play centre half and Gbamin able to play RB too


DM/CM/CAM - Ntcham, Gbamin, Soucek, Gronli, McGregor, Kitolano, Rogic, Cardozo


No changes planned here. A great mix of players who offer me different things, with many being able to play more than one position. CalMac is a great utility man but wants £62k a week to stay past 2023! Can hopefully get him to lower his demands


RW - Lozano, Forrest, Man


I will look to sell Man as he only has a year left on his deal and didn’t play well last season. Forrest was brilliant again as back up to Lozano so gave him a new deal


LW - Vargas, Johnston


No changes planned.


ST - Edouard, Joveljic, Da Graca, Griffiths


Eddy and Joveljic were both immense last season. This meant Griffiths didn’t get much of a look in. Will look to move him on. Given I’ll be playing 2 up front all the time I may even buy 2 replacements for him

 

Another easy treble for season 3, this time we only lost 2 and drew 2 in the league, so I've still to have an invincible season.

I finally made it past the CL group stages, topping my group containing Juve, Leverkusen and Ajax.

I coasted past Inter 5-2 in the first knockout round, and drew Madrid in the last 16, but a late goal in both ties put us out 3-3 on away goals.

No major transfers planned, just trying to keep a wanted squad happy, lets see how the summer window goes!

 

It's much harder this year and definitely more realistic.

 

Aye I’ve gone two season with Celtic and I’ve not won the treble once. Doing a wee Sunderland sage even though I hate them and it’s pretty fun.

 

I'd say it's still quite unrealistic and, if anything, it's more so.

I've just won the Champions League in my second season (Beat Leipzig 6-1 in the final), which i'm a bit disappointed with as it means I probably won't stay long at this save.

The team that won the Final was:

Livakovic
Dalot Ajer Markovic Tierney
McGregor Ntcham
Roberts Rogic Marin
Edouard

The player attributes are a bit absurd in all honesty:
Ajer:



Markovic:

Tierney:


Throw in Dalot, who would never be loaned to Celtic, and i probably had the best defence in the game.

A few selected other players:

Ntcham:


Marin:


Edouard:




They are just ridiculous. Ntcham (World Class Midfielder) starts for France and won the Euros with them. Eddy (Elite Striker) comes off the bench. Tierney is comfortable the best left back in the World.

I'm normally sceptical of anyone winning the Champions league with Celtic that early (It took me five seasons last year with a Dembele, Martinez and Romero forward line) but the player ratings mean it's a lot easier than it probably should be.

Anyway, I won the quadruple last season. Won the league cup on penalties against Rangers, finished 19 points clear of Aberdeen and hammered Dundee 4 nil in the league Cup. Demolished Leipzig in the final as mentioned above. Eddy got 40 goals last season with Marin getting 25.

I'm midway through my third August transfer and this is the business i've done so far:



Rogic is a beast attribute wise, but it never translated to performances and was by far the lowest performer in the first 11. Replaced him with Rafinha from Barca. Rajkovic has got a work permit and so Livakovic was moved on. Really struggling to get a top class RB or CB. Cesar Montes and Senesi have both turned me down.

The squad has loads of talent in it, probably the best I've ever had at this stage of a save:

 

Aye it’s unreal the squad we have and how well it Develops. About * time too

 

Heres how this monster is developing.

 

Trincao is my best signing this year;

 

Season 6 going smashingly well so far. 19 games into the league campaign and we've conceded just the 2 goals, scoring 37. Lead Real by 8 points and Barca by 9. CL campaign going well, lost the opening group game away to Schalke but bounced back by winning the remaining games (Inter and RB Salzburg being the other teams in the group). Exacted a bit of revenge on Inter by demoting them to the Europa League. Porto in the Round of 16, second season in a row with beatable Portuguese opposition for that stage.

League unbeaten run currently stands at 60 games. Not everything is rosy though, as we've just been dumped out in the Copa del Rey quarters. Lost the first leg against Valencia at home, 0-1. Went all guns blazing for the second leg, going with my first choice team, but comprehensively lost 6-3 for a 7-3 agg. defeat overall. No chance to defend the cup but we at least get the benefit of 2-3 less fixtures on the schedule.

Only taken the 5 and a bit seasons but I've finally managed the 'comeback king' achievement (down 2-0 at HT, come back to win).



Proper end of an era stuff here. Shame there's no fairy tale return to *.



Barca let him go for a mere £800k. Boca are paying him a mere £39k p/w. They've only given him a 6-month contract so he could be on the move again quite soon.

There's a weird bug with the club stature section of the board's performance appraisals. It's at a mere 38% and the board are "concerned that the club's stature is being tarnished by the team's performances on the pitch since you took charge." Absolute muppets. Every season a new chairman seems to get elected so I have to suffer through a month of my job security being precarious for no good reason.

 

I’ve entered a bit of a rubbish patch, far too many draws in the league with about 1 win in the last 4 games from memory. Barca have whittled my lead down to just 3 points, so the title is far from a fait acomplit at this point. Have to play Barca and Real away in the second half of the season, with Real away being the final fixture.

Having a tough time getting my regen strikers to score. The top scorer has about 16 in all comps but only 4 in the league, and the other chap has just broken a lengthy drought. Our excellent first-choice back four (regen LB Pena-Martinez-Nunez-Odriozola) is papering over the stuttering attack a bit.

Drew 0-0 away to Porto in the first CL leg, though I did rotate a fair bit. May come back to haunt me in the return leg.

 

Heartbreak. Despair. Sorrow. The great unbeaten league run has finally come to an end.



At least it went down in flames against a worthy adversary, as we lost 2-0 away to Barca. 73 games without defeat, not too * shabby. The title is the most important thing though and we've now got a proper fight on our hands. We lead Barca by 8 points currently but we've got 5 league games remaining to their 6 (they've got a game in hand due to reaching the Copa del Rey final), so I'm treating it as a de facto 5 point lead.



On the European front we've finally broken through to the promised land of the Champions League semis. Porto proved * tough but we broke them down late on, winning 2-0. Had the misfortune of drawing PSG for the quarters. Tuchel is still holding down the fort there, thankfully we dodged facing Neymar as he was injured but we still had to deal with the likes of Ederson in goal, a handy Mukiele-Kimpembe-Romagnoli-Grimaldo back four, a midfield featuring Ndidi, Rabiot and Havertz, and the very formidable Rodrygo and Barrow partnering Mbappe up front.




Won the first leg at home 2-0, keeping a crucial clean sheet. Away leg was tougher, we conceded early on but fought our way back to net the vital away goal soon after. Held out for the bulk of the rest of the match, conceding a second late on, but safe in the knowledge that we had that a.g. buffer.



Have drawn Barca for the semi final, with Liverpool and Milan being paired for the other one.

edit: What a stitch-up.




I feel numb.

 

Still a bit to go of the transfer window in the summer of season 4 but don’t think any more business will be done:

Outs

Griffiths - Milwall - £2.8m
Morgan - Villa - £1.6m
Varela - Vigo - £10.5m
Man - Sevilla - £5.5m
Franco - Schalke - £5.25m
Charlie Taylor - Arsenal - £19m

Ins

Joe Gomez - Liverpool - £24m



Said I wanted a british player who could play centre half and right back and couldn’t have got anyone better than Gomez! Couldn’t believe it when I seen he was transfer listed. Big fee and wage but he’s replacing 2 players rather than 1

Brenner - £9.25m - Sao Paulo



Cracking prospect. Good all rounder

Erling Haland - Salzburg - £7.5m



Technicals need a bit of work but he looks a beast physically. Looking forward to developing him

Greg Taylor - £1.8m - Watford



Taylor out and Taylor in at left back. Wasn’t planning on selling Charlie but when Arsenal enquired and were willing to pay £19m I couldn’t say no. Especially when he is nothing more than back up to KT. Greg now comes in for that role. He was cheap, is younger than Charlie, is home grown and is better defensively.

 

Won the second CL leg away to Barca 0-2, restoring some credibility. But we couldn't muster the full remontada.
Back in La Liga land there was a scenario where we'd end up level on points with Barca. A rather plausible one, given that our last fixture was away to Real at the Bernabeu. We'd split the season's league games completely evenly with a 2-0 home win apiece, so the tie breaker would have gone down to goal difference. Thankfully I was spared the angst of having to go to the Bernabeu with the title on the line as Barca drew 1-1 away to lowly Las Palmas in their penultimate league fixture, gift wrapping us the title. Ended up winning 2-1 at the Bernabeu regardless, but the result meant very little sans jeopardy (did mean a bit to Antonio Conte, however, as Real sacked him afterwards).



When all is said and done this is a very satisfying title win, perhaps slightly moreso than last season when the 16-point gap to 2nd made it look a bit too easy. But Barca have been with us every step of the way this time. Defence was the most impressive string to our bow as we recorded 30 clean sheets, conceding just 10 goals across the 38 matches.
Been some proper narrative going on with Arsene Wenger's Napoli defeating Zinedine Zidane's Arsenal in the Europa League final. Guardiola claimed his second CL title with Liverpool in the past three seasons, beating Barca 2-1 in Amsterdam.



My two regen strikers ended up with 20 apiece in all comps. Making steady progress with their development, but have a couple of better youngsters on the production line so they won't be resting on their laurels as I'll require little convincing to bin them if necessary. Inaki Williams had a stellar year, missed a handful of weeks through injury but is still the undisputed king of our right wing. Rivero was crowned player of the season in the league awards, belated individual recognition that should have gone to Roberto Lopez last season (as opposed to Sergei Milenkovic-Savic who missed the bulk of the campaign with a broken leg yet still won the award... but I'm not still angry about it - honestly).

Contemplating a pause on this save rather than jumping straight into season 7. It's probably about time for me to launch my first post-Beta save.

Not entirely sure which direction to go in an English save just yet, so that's on the back-burner. I'm thinking Bundesliga and rather than my typical Schalke save I'm thinking Hertha, because who doesn't want to manage such luminaries as Kalou and Leckie, vintage FM08 era wunderkind Per Ciljan Skjelbred and contemporary actual wunderkind Valentino Lazaro. Plus their Tedi-sponsored shirts look great.

 

Decided to start a Koln save. Slightly tougher than Hertha I guess, in the sense there are less future gems on the books. Beating up on zweite liga teams should be a fun introduction to things... *crosses fingers*

Squad looks built for 4-4-2 as my primary formation, with wing play as the philosophy. Secondary formation is a 5-3-2 based on fluid counter-attacking. Can't remember the last time I built a team around a two-up-top formation, but with four strikers on the books there's no real choice in the matter so off we go.

Very excited about Yann-Aurel Bisseck, he looks a proper cornerstone for the future.

 

My 2. liga season, broken up into four distinct phases.

Part 1: Wahey, this is easy, we are the Bayern of the second tier.

Made a few signings to kick things off. One was the seemingly mandatory-on-FM19 unattatched regen magicked up by the DOF who has stellar potential. A centre forward, in this instance. My squad lacked LW backup so I identified some random Spanish lad at Malaga called Alex Mula, liked the look of his potential so promptly forked out an initial 3m rising to 6m for him. Final buy was a 750k goalkeeper, the young Daniel Antosch from FC Liefering: the lesser-known outpost in Red Bull's Austrian armada of clubs. Quite why I needed him I'm not sure, I forgot that Timo Horn is only 25 (the beard adds at least 3 years to my impression of him) and there's already a high potential young keeper on the books who looks a prospect. But oh well, he may come in handy one day.

The opening phase of the season was a dream, in our first 11 league fixtures we won 8 and drew 3 to set the early pace at the top of the table. Had the odd injury here or there but everything was gelling. Got our first Pokal game out of the way by swatting aside some Oberliga outfit 8-0. It was all going well. Too well...

Part 2: FM18 Gladbach nightmare save redux - AKA oh * they're going to sack me

Things started to go awry at the back end of October. Our Pokal draw for the second round was reasonably easy as we had a trip to play Bochum. Seemed the right sort of game to rotate for, adopting the Arsene Wenger doctrine re: cup minutes for younger player development. Salih Ozcan decided to earn himself a straight red when we were 1-0 up. Ended up losing 2-1.

There was no time to mull over our cup exit as next up was the toughest league fixture of the entire season, our trip to Hamburg to duke it out with HSV. This would be the match to decide which of us were the true front-runners for the title. Rather than describing the encounter at length I'll let an image do the talking for me. Because it's too depressing a match to re-live in any great detail.



Yep. *.

We followed this maiden defeat of the campaign by being held to a draw at home against Dresden, losing away to Darmstadt, scraping a win away to Regensburg and then losing at home in the league for the very first time, going down 1-2 to Magdeburg.

This run caused me to question my faith in the entire project. The knives were being sharpened in the press, with the first murmurings of board discontent starting to trickle out. I very nearly threw our 4-4-2 on the scrapheap, pondering a change to something more possession-based. But I persevered. I decided to call up Bisseck from the U19s early and throw him into the starting lineup. Sink or swim time.

We wrapped up the calendar year in slightly better fashion, with Terodde deciding to carry the team on his back in the manner of Atlas shouldering the globe.



I entered the long, cold winter pause plotting ways to blow the team up in the January market and spark some sort of return to our early season form.

Part 3: Wheeling, dealing

Made a play for Leipzig's Klostermann when the window opened, noticing that he was on the market and unhappy with being stuck on the bench. Wasn't cheap at 4.3m, and I had to battle with Frankfurt for his signature, but I ended up getting him. He brings a big pace upgrade to my right fullback slot, and has a reasonable amount of potential for growth. Loaned out my previous first-choice Benno Schmitz to PSV.

Wanted to shake things up among my strikers as Zoller had missed the first two months of the season with a torn hamstring, losing a whole point of acceleration in the process and not really having any impact when I tried to reintegrate him into the side. Couldn't muster any interest for a permanent sale but I at least managed to shift him out on loan to Braunschweig, with them agreeing to cover 100% of his wages.

Leverkusen's Pohjanpalo was the standout option available to me, with a very tempting 2.2m price tag. Thought he'd mesh well with Terodde as a poacher/target man combo. Only downside was he'd be unavailable for a few weeks as he was recovering from a hernia. Took a while to coax him back to full match sharpness.

Wanted Hauptman to get some more game time but couldn't justify starting him at the moment, so loaned him out to Ingolstadt who promised to use him as a key player. In his stead I loaned in Benfica's Keaton Parks for the depth. Feel a lot less guilty about parking him on the bench and not using him, mainly because I don't foresee Benfica ever letting him go cheaply. But he's nice to have around as injury cover for 6 months.Very cheap too at just 50% of wages (1.4k) and no monthly fee.

Final bit of business was forced upon me, with Stuttgart coming in for Drexler. Didn't want to let him go but he wanted the move, and I couldn't be bothered dealing with the hassle of managing an unhappy player. At least managed to get a good deal for him, with 5m up front and a 1.7m installment in a year's time. Frees up the starting LM spot for young Mula who will benefit from the dev. minutes. All things considered it's probably a good thing to have a 28-year-old with no upside depart.

Part 4: Billy Goats' bluff, AKA we're still quite good actually

I'm starting to think that our poor run of form was merely a blip, because we're well and truly back into the swing of things now. Had a few friendly commitments in Jan to get the lads ready for the return of competitive fixtures. Accepted a testimonial invite for St Johnstone's Steven Anderson, visited Mallorca and thrashed Genk.

Long story short we then won seven league games on the spin, or eight in total counting the Terodde quintuple game before the winter break. What was I ever worried about.

 

Party time.



The 18-team league schedule coupled with the early Pokal exit ensured that the season passed by pleasantly quickly. Most interesting thing was monitoring HSV's form to see if they would stutter in the race for promotion. Ultimately they just scraped into the second automatic place. Darmstadt lost to Hertha in the releg/promotion playoff.



Terodde and Cordoba were the linchpins behind the vast majority of our goals. Was surprised by Cordoba scoring as many as he did given his rather poor finishing, and Terodde did especially well given that he was usually playing a target man-support role. I don't think those numbers will translate to the top flight so I've been on the lookout for strikers.

Ended up snaring Johannes Eggestein on a Bosman, not quite sure if he's still as highly rated as he has been on the past couple of FMs but I couldn't pass up a freebie of his caliber. Considering selling Cordoba as he's reasonably valuable at £7.5m, and I don't anticipate playing with two up top in the Bundesliga very often. Speaking of which...

Reached the conclusion that whilst coming 18th in the 2. liga average possession stakes was absolutely fine, repeating it in the top tier would be utterly negligent. I'm not going to abandon the 4-4-2 entirely as I think it can be a useful alternate formation, but I want to transition the team to more of a controlling 4-2-3-1. My wide men could tear up the 2. liga but by Bundesliga standards they're mediocre, so it makes sense to abandon the focus on wing play and take our game to the centre.

I'm now on the hunt for a shiny new #10, I've already got Schaub to play there but need more depth. Quintero is tempting but expensive, and I'm not sure committing my entire transfer budget to getting him is the best idea. I was on the verge of snapping up Ryan Christie on a free transfer, muscling in on Aberdeen's negotiations for him, but then I was muscled out of the conversation by newly-promoted Middlesbrough who blew our offer out of the water by handing him a £55k contract.

Board expectations for the season are a top half finish and reaching the Pokal quarters, so we're obviously expected to hit the ground running and not be involved in a relegation scrap. Fixtures have just dropped and our first 5 are rather daunting: BVB at home on the opening day, Bremen away, HSV home, Leverkusen away, Hannover home... and then the small matter of a trip to Leipzig to round off September.