Football Manager 2020 & FM Touch

[Dan2501]

Get Filip Stevanovic in if you need a new winger (if he's in your DB). He now has 22 goals in 20 in the Eredivisie, he's absolutely insane. I thought I'd miss Malen, but Stevanovic has stepped up and exceeded even what Malen achieved, and he only cost me £9m.

Played a few games last night. Way ahead in the league now, booked place in the Dutch Cup final and should definitely be winnable seeing as we knocked Ajax out early, so should be back to back wins in that competition. Looks like we'll be out of the CL though. 1-1 home draw with PSG so we go to Paris with them already having an away goal, need a miracle.

 

[Papas1982]

Well I was right. 4th place secured. Lost in semis to spurs in europa.

Budget went to hell and only stayed even after TV money. Secured a few freebie signings. Unfortunately the big boys have come sniffing and I can't refuse 100m for some of my stars....

Rebuild time. I'm off to scout Brazil....

 

[Orikoru]

Well I was right. 4th place secured. Lost in semis to spurs in europa.

Budget went to hell and only stayed even after TV money. Secured a few freebie signings. Unfortunately the big boys have come sniffing and I can't refuse 100m for some of my stars....

Rebuild time. I'm off to scout Brazil....

No one ever bids 100m for any of my players in this game. All I get is 70 mil "non-negotiable" when their value is 70 mil, and I tell them to sling their hook and they're never seen again. I have no idea how you sell anyone for a decent whack. Even the ones I'm allowed to negotiate they just back out every time.

 

[Papas1982]

No one ever bids 100m for any of my players in this game. All I get is 70 mil "non-negotiable" when their value is 70 mil, and I tell them to sling their hook and they're never seen again. I have no idea how you sell anyone for a decent whack. Even the ones I'm allowed to negotiate they just back out every time.

Tbf it is a wonderkid.

I somehow got a non negotiable £115m for him and he had a 113 buyout.

Signed Dybala on a free. So that helps.

 

[Dan2501]

CL KO 2nd leg in Paris went well. 6-0 win for PSG 2 of them were own goals plus a penalty, was a quality performance all round. 3rd straight title is wrapped up though with 4 games to go but for the first time it doesn't feel like job done. There's a long-term goal here to win the CL as PSV for the first time since 1988. It's not going to be easy though, we're going to have to invest really smartly and keep our key players.

Filip Stevanovic is absolutely key to our future success. Top scorer in the Eredivisie with 24 goals in 24 starts, most MOTM awards in the league, 2nd best average rating behind Marco Kana, we have to keep him for at least another 3 seasons if we're going to win the CL. I can see us receiving some massive bids for our other big name players in the summer window. There's interest in Farinez, Kenny, Solet, Omeragic, Gravenberch, Gomez, Ihattaren, Gutierrez, Vignato (who has also been fantastic), Gakpo and Gouiri so going to have to stave off some bids if we're going to keep the core of our squad together. Solet's almost certainly going as he's already unsettled and think we'll see one or two more leave but that should give us room to build. I already have 3 regens coming in - 2 16 year old CBs who have huge potential and then a 17 year old Colombian CM who isn't far off ready for first-team football already, so give those guys a couple of seasons to develop and we should have some serious talent.

LB is my main target position for improvement in the summer. Owen Wijnal is the top target. He has interest from Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Real though so gonna be tough to pick him up, wish I'd got in earlier, but hopefully we can get a deal sorted for him early before the other teams have chance to make an offer. As soon as I get my initial budget for next season I'm moving in.

So glad I've gone back to this save, still the most fun I've had with a save in FM this year. Love PSV.

 

[Orikoru]

We seem to be over our shocking start. I figured maybe the other sides were going more defensive given that we've won the league the last two seasons now, so I went from Positive to Attacking mentality against the likely 'park the bus' suspects, and that's doing the job. Most notably in the Champion's League group where we've smashed Besiktas 5-1 and 8-0 (seriously) and Anderlecht 5-0 both times. We even beat Man City 4-2 in the home game, but lost 3-1 in the away leg, which means we only get 2nd in the group, despite having 15 points and 28 goals. Bit unlucky! We also managed to beat Juve in our last league game to crawl back up to 7th, with a game in hand that would take us to 4th.

Several of my players are begging for new deals though which is souring the save a bit, since our budgets are always really low and I can't afford to keep boosting these guys' paypackets. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Kluivert both want crazy money, and they are incredible players, but part of me thinks selling them both for huge fees will make this save fun for much longer as we do a massive rebuild. Even Bukayo Saka asked for like 165k and he's only back-up to Kluivert! Told him to whistle for that so he's not happy.

I was really confused to see that we have four friendlies lined up in December, then I realised it must be the Qatari world cup season, so that's annoying given that we're playing really well at the moment. Sure we'll go back to losing stupidly by the time that ends.

I'm ending this post with a screenshot of that wonderkid centre back I have, because I can scarcely believe I stumbled across this guy and signed him for a mere £18mil...

 

[Dan2501]

He looks very good, he's not particularly tall and doesn't have great jumping but other than that he's very well rounded and only 18, nice find!

Played through half of my summer transfer window this morning. Started off bad - United activated Sergio Gomez's release clause so he left for £80m Had a little look around to see who's available and noticed Milinkovic Savic was transfer listed by request with no bids yet, so jumped in and offered the asking price £58m and then expected him to want absolutely crazy wages, but he didn't, he's far and away our most paid player but £86k a week for a guy of his quality is nothing. Need to make sure we keep Ihattaren to play alongside him now.

Also managed to secure Owen Wijnal as I said before. As soon as the initial budget came in I went in for him. Cost me £57m but should be worth every penny, defence looking very strong with Militao on the right and Wijnal on the left.

 

[Papas1982]

Made a school boy in the summer.

I nabbed Dybala but completely forgot Havertz had a wages clause. So now both on 300k!

Tbf Dybala is purely for profit. He's worth 85m and I'll sell him for 50m next season. Having lost one 20yr old Brazilian I went on a spree and signed 4! All for around 20m each. Worth 40m each now purely because they're in a CL team.

Squad finally improving too. Now have a solid 18 outfield players I can rely on as well as 3 great keepers all with good age gap too. First choice 29.sub 22 and loaned out 18yr old.

Squad a little top heavy and need to shift a few on. Signed Greenwood for 30m last year after 2 seasons on loan where he scored 20 goals. Last season 3 goals! That being said I regretted purchasing him as I got Haaland on deadline day and he's basically just a cheat player.

Hoping for a serious tilt at title this season, but think realistically it's top 4 again.

Re the cb. Have you guys noticed how all defenders seem to prefer to be ball players now....

 

[Orikoru]

He looks very good, he's not particularly tall and doesn't have great jumping but other than that he's very well rounded and only 18, nice find!
...
Played through half of my summer transfer window this morning. Started off bad - United activated Sergio Gomez's release clause so he left for £80m Had a little look around to see who's available and noticed Milinkovic Savic was transfer listed by request with no bids yet, so jumped in and offered the asking price £58m and then expected him to want absolutely crazy wages, but he didn't, he's far and away our most paid player but £86k a week for a guy of his quality is nothing. Need to make sure we keep Ihattaren to play alongside him now.

Yeah, on his development page I've set it to focus on strength (which is actually jumping reach + strength) so if they go up a few points he should be pretty much perfect.

Milinkovic-Savic playing in Holland!? That's mad. On my saves he normally goes to Liverpool, Man Utd, etc. Except on the current one where he remains at Lazio to torment us three times a season of course. (I say three times because we always seem to get them in the cup somehow.)

Made a school boy in the summer.

I nabbed Dybala but completely forgot Havertz had a wages clause. So now both on 300k!
...
Squad a little top heavy and need to shift a few on. Signed Greenwood for 30m last year after 2 seasons on loan where he scored 20 goals. Last season 3 goals! That being said I regretted purchasing him as I got Haaland on deadline day and he's basically just a cheat player.
...
Re the cb. Have you guys noticed how all defenders seem to prefer to be ball players now....

Man the clauses always kill me, I never spend long enough looking at them. I signed Vlahovic at the start of this save but accidentally gave him a clause that almost doubled his wages after he played only 20 games or something. He ended up on near enough 80k a week and he was rubbish. I've sold him now though luckily. I don't know why Roma are so poor, I've been steadily getting players off the wage bill so I can pay my top players what they want to stay, but that's leaving us in a situation where our squad is getting smaller and smaller. I think there's only around 20 in the first team squad now!

I don't understand why players suddenly drastically underperform. In season 2 Patrik Schick scored me 24 league goals, the following season playing the same tactics and in the same position, he only managed 10. Greenwood and Haaland are like the top two wonderkid strikers so you should be all set there!

In real life the focus on ball playing defenders is a bug bear of mine, but in the game I use two BPDs so that suits me fine. I think they just recommend that role because he has 17 passing pretty much.

 

[Dan2501]

@Papas1982 Sounds like you've got an insane team - what's your strongest XI?

Mine going into Season 4 is;

-------------------Farinez-----------------
-Militao-----Solet----Omeragic---Wijnal
--------------------Kana--------------------
--------------Ihattaren--SMS--------------
--Vignato----------------------Stevanovic--
-------------------Gouiri----------------------

Just so good for the Eredivisie, that midfield 3 of Kana, Ihattaren and SMS is going to be fun.

@Orikoru I know. I couldn't believe I managed to sign him either, think I just timed it perfectly and got in before the big boys made offers as they were interested. Thought his wage demands would be mental as well, but £86k a week really isn't bad. He's going to be ridiculously good in the Eredivisie

 

[Papas1982]

Ideally I'll bench both Laporte (who's on loan) and Dybala but I've found that I need a few older heads through the squad.

Average age I've the players I see with me long term is currently 21.

 

[Orikoru]

Ah, another 4-4-2 man, excellent. Formation of kings.

 

[Dan2501]

Season 4 started nicely. 3-0 win over Ajax in the Johan Cruijff Schaal, the Dutch version of the Community Shield, and SMS scored an absolute banger, can't wait to see what he does this season.

Also sold Bruma as he was our 3rd highest paid player on £56k a week so sold him and replaced him with Renyer who looks crazy good and also picked up Trincao on loan from Barcelona. Squad is mega stacked going into the season, just need to pick up another backup CB before the end of the window.

 

[Wolf]

Got bored of my Italian save already, doesn't seem any real need to do much to keep winning due to the incredible budget I got for winning league.

Have gone back to my Ajax save, @Dan2501 is right it probably is the most fun league and its good trying to build a team that can show progression year on year in the CL. Having signed Adama Traore in pre season, I've just added Edouard to my attacking line up.

So my attacking options are now, Promes, Boadu, Antony, Adama Traore, Lassina Traore & Edouard. We've played 3 League games and 3 European qualifiers yet between those players alone we've got 19 goals..

Also got Matty Longstaff for long term development as well as Havard Njordvedt to sure up midfield, which with all the quality that have developed through last 2 seasons as well means my midfield options are hugely varied depending who i play against and able to control games against bigger teams.

Definitely the most fun save by far.

 

[Orikoru]

Managed to get Kluivert and Pellegrini to sign new deals so they're satisfied for now. In the January window I finally offloaded Spinazzola, then noticed Florenzi has lost a lot of pace (he's 32 and this is FM) so I signed Hakimi as full back cover. He was still at Real Madrid and not too expensive (20m up front another 20 odd over 3 seasons). The biggest coup was when I was having a look at contracts due to expire at the end of the season - a certain Mr. Camavinga, still at Rennes with six months to go. I don't know how they've not cashed in, he always moves to a massive club normally, but I figured it would be rude not to sign him, so he's arriving next season! Ramsey only had one good season in him anyway so that's a great addition.

Results-wise not too bad, we did lose a league game to Napoli but otherwise it's been mostly wins. Knocked Lazio out of the cup semi-final which is always nice. Smashed Parma 6-1. We got Dortmund in the Champs Lg last 16, I thought we were going to get smashed because they still had Haaland & Sancho, plus they'd added Cherki and Olmo. However, they had a propensity for silly fouls - gave us a penalty after 9 minutes, then Witsel picked up a straight red after 19 mins. We've done them 5-0 in the end so the second leg should be a doddle!

Edit: Just got a mail saying we've set a new record for number of goals in a champions league campaign with 33. Previous best was 28. We've only played the last 16 first leg!

 

[Wolf]

Am so glad I went back to my Ajax save, really enjoying the Eredivsie and challenge of building a team that has progression each year in the CL.

Its mid February we've played 26 League Games and are still unbeaten in all competitions yet only have a 3 point lead at top of table as PSV are having a storming season and we play them next. We won CL group with 4 wins & 2 draws, also drew 1st leg of last 16 game away to Atletico 1-1. Had a touch with cup as well we're in the Semi Final but have a KKC division team to play.

Literally fighting on all fronts, if we can make the CL semis at least that will be big progress this year.

 

[Wolf]

Am so glad I went back to my Ajax save, really enjoying the Eredivsie and challenge of building a team that has progression each year in the CL.

Its mid February we've played 26 League Games and are still unbeaten in all competitions yet only have a 3 point lead at top of table as PSV are having a storming season and we play them next. We won CL group with 4 wins & 2 draws, also drew 1st leg of last 16 game away to Atletico 1-1. Had a touch with cup as well we're in the Semi Final but have a KKC division team to play.

Literally fighting on all fronts, if we can make the CL semis at least that will be big progress this year.

Following on from this post, season 3 completed. We won the league going unbeaten all season, won the Dutch Cup on penalties against AZ, won the Dutch Super Cup against PSV, got to Semi finals of CL where we drew the first leg 1-1 at home to Liverpool but then got hammered by them 5-1 at Anfield. Overall though a great season with progression and building the squad. Have just sold Boadu & Antony for a combined £146m. But have Gravenberch firmly playing in place on Antony now, bought Musa barrow to replace Boadu. Have added some strength in Midfield with Stark, also nabbed Kocku from Feyenord, plus picked up a couple of young centre backs including Saliba.

In 3 seasons we have won 3 Leagues & 5 cups. In that time we've played 102 league games losing only 5 times.

Season 4 is going to be a full crack at the CL.

 

[Dan2501]

Got another fun CL group in Season 4 as PSV. Liverpool, Atletico and Mainz. Gonna be another proper grind to try and get through to the KOs. Got a 1-1 draw in Madrid though so decent start.

I signed a Brazilian regen at the start of Season 3 - Adonias - he's only played for us 6 times but has just started and played 90 mins for Brazil. Looks a serious talent. Signed him for £15m, already valued at over £30m. I've been training him as a Half Back because of his stellar defensive attributes, but he could do as well at Mezzala. Have this lad as well - Etilson Laborde. Picked him up from Colombia for £2.6m and has serious potential. My midfield is unbelievably stacked - SMS, Ihattaren, Kana, Gravenberch, Adonias, Hendrix, Laborde.

My transfer window finished by selling Gutierrez to China for £63m and then Muric started kicking up a fuss about wanting to leave so sold him and tried to find a quality regen GK but didn't seem to be any on the market at all, slim pickings in regards to keepers in Season 4, so need to make sure Farinez goes nowhere. I also made a failed attempt at signing at Marcos Leonardo, who opted to join Liverpool instead, despite us offering him more money Never seen his name pop up in a save before but damn he looks good going into season 4. Quick, can pass, can dribble, cross, head the ball, has 16 finishing, 14 composure, 16 technique, really solid mentals, looks fantastic. Only 19 in 2022 as well, will be trying to pick him up earlier in saves going forward!

 

[Orikoru]

I didn't play over the weekend but I think Friday night my save had gone a bit daft. League has gone down the pan as we lost 4-0 to Inter and 4-0 to Lazio as well - I have no idea what happened either time. Normally our defence is great. I think we'll get top 4 but to win the league for a third time will be a step too far this time. We also lost the Italian Cup for the third time in my four seasons, which is incredibly annoying even though I don't prioritise that competition at all. We lost it 1-0 to Atalanta thanks to a JUAN FOYTH FREE KICK. Seriously. I don't know why I bother.

Champion's League though, different story! After smashing Dortmund we got Liverpool in the quarters, didn't expect to get past them but we smashed them 3-0 at home and got the 1-1 at Anfield to see us through to the semis. Barcelona awaited us, but we won the away leg 2-1 at the Nou! Just need to hold it together at home and then I can look forward to us bottling another cup final. Joy.

I've signed Thomas Lemar on a free for next season as well. I don't really need him as I already have Kluivert and Saka on the left to be fair, might let Cengiz Under go and play Kluivert on the right or something. I don't really know. I have decided Schick can leave, he's worth £69mil somehow, and although he scored 25 goals in my second season, in the third & fourth seasons he's been rubbish. Unfortunately 50% of his sale fee will go to Sampdoria (this was already set in at the start of the game), so I need to sell someone else as well and my plan is to bring in Haaland, since he's still at Dortmund somehow so I reckon I might be able to get that one over the line. Not that I've made any enquiries yet because we have basically no money again at the moment.

I might go for Luka Jovic, there was a weird situation with him. He was transfer listed at Real Madrid, PSG bought him for 31 mil, but two weeks later they transfer listed him as well. With an asking price of £60m. It's not like PSG need to wheel and deal for cash so I couldn't work out what happened there. It wasn't by player request or anything either. But anyway, it does mean he's available and he looks good if I can't get Haaland in.

 

[Dan2501]

Played a little bit of PSV over the weekend. Just got to Feb in Season 4, dominating in the league and still unbeaten. No signings in Jan but sold Jorrit Hendrix to China for £35m, he'd been moaning about playing time and with Kana the starter in the spot and with Etilson Laborde developing crazy quickly it made sense to let him go. Him and Adonias have developed so much in Season 4, they're going to be unreal. Adonias' value has shot up this season, going to make so much profit on him.

Bottled the CL. A 2-0 defeat away at Mainz would have been enough to see us through, but we went and mega bottled it, lost 3-0 and got knocked out, so Europa League it is. Annoyingly Real Madrid also finished 3rd in their group, so looks like they'll be winning the EL, so won't even win that. Annoying. Season 5 we go again!