Football Manager 2020 & FM Touch

[Dan2501]

I picked Dias up from Liverpool for about £60m in 2023, played 8 seasons as main CB and captain once Kane retired. Squad option for the last 2 years and retiring at 35 this season. Awesome player.

If you need a CM look at Camavinga from Rennes.

Camavinga's insane, can cost an absolute fortune but so worth it. Another wonderkid I like is Oumar Solet, a CB from Lyon. Doesn't look too amazing at the start of a save but couple of seasons in and he's ridiculous, moved to Barca in a save I had for >£60m and was far and away the best CB in the world.

Dominik Szoboszlai is another I really like, crazy good all around stats, becomes worth a fortune a couple seasons in. Sandro Tonali as well, so many quality CM's on this years game.

 

[Dan2501]

Ludwig Augustinsson. 3 games, 1 goal, 3 assists, 1 MOTM award, 7.97 average rating.

Oh, and we have 9 points from 3 games with wins over Everton, Bournemouth (my FM20 bogey team) and Watford. Pretty happy.

 

[Orikoru]

Update: Pre-season seemed to go well. Opening day we then lost 3-0 to Sheff Utd, all the goals in the first half an hour. Fast forward to October, I have switched to something more akin to the Gegenpressing strategy, and the team usually plays well but fails to score. We are in 19th position having won 1, drawn 2 and lost 3. We've scored 3 goals in 6 games. This is actually worse than my first attempt. Results in Europe have been alright, we only lost 2-1 to PSG which I was happy with. I honestly don't have the foggiest clue what you are supposed to do.

 

[Dan2501]

Can you share a pic of your Gegenpress tactics screen? What tactic are you using? Must be something going wrong with your tactic somewhere, shouldn't have lost 3 out of 6 as Spurs.

My start was going well, but then lost my last game last night in the CL against Lokamotiv Moscow away 1-0 from a set piece. We were pants, didn't create anything, hardly had a sniff. Frustrating game.

 

[Orikoru]

Can you share a pic of your Gegenpress tactics screen? What tactic are you using? Must be something going wrong with your tactic somewhere, shouldn't have lost 3 out of 6 as Spurs.

My start was going well, but then lost my last game last night in the CL against Lokamotiv Moscow away 1-0 from a set piece. We were pants, didn't create anything, hardly had a sniff. Frustrating game.

I've changed it now but from memory I had it as follows...

CF(A)
IW(A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . W(S)
AP(S) - BBM(S)
DM(D)
WB(D) - BPD(D) - BPD(C) - WB(S)
SWK(S/D)​

• Attacking against poor teams, Positive against slightly better teams, or Cautious when I think I'm going to get tanked.
• Passing was just on standard because whenever I had it on short they just knock it about with 65% possession and don't actually create any chances.
• Attacking width I think was standard. Then I made it slightly narrow for a bit.
• I had pass into space on at first, but it made our passing terrible with them passing it to literally no one so I turned it off after a while.
• Tempo was at the highest setting.
• Be more expressive was on I think.
• Transition screen - counter-press and counter were both on.
• Distribute to centre backs was on but we conceded about four goals from one of my idiot defenders being dispossessed so I turned that off in the end.
• Out of possession - I had to turn the high defensive line back to standard because we would routinely get rinsed by quick forwards - like Lys Mousset. Defence width standard.
• Higher line of engagement I think. Pressing intensity extremely urgent and prevent short goalie distribution.

Right I think that's all I can think of. Honestly I've tried so many combinations now though and none of it works. With this set-up we seemed to play well in a lot of games but we just couldn't score enough goals even with bloody Kane up top! And we leak goals like a sieve.

 

[Dan2501]

@Orikoru To help prevent the leaking goals - turn tempo down towards the middle, turn counter-press to regroup and I always distribute to wing backs, CB's aren't reliable on the ball, especially when pressed.

I'd stick Kane on Advanced Forward as well, he's been banging the goals in for me. I'd also switch the wing-backs so the LB is on support. With your right-winger set to a Winger there's less need for your rwb to get forward as there will be less space on the wing, however with your LW drifting infield there will be gaps down the left, so you should encourage your LB to get forward as much as possible.

I'd also consider moving the AP up to CAM as either an AP (S) or an AM (S) - the BBM into LCM and then move the DM up into RCM set to a DLP (D), you'll get less separation between the striker and the midfield but with the DLP on defend you still get decent defensive cover. Also allows either Alli or Lo Celso get into the game more and be more of a creative influence.

One final thing, try and stick with a set of instructions for a few weeks before changing it again. You should try and imagine how you would feel as a footballer if every single game your manager was trying to get you to do something completely different from the last game, and that's without the necessary training in-place to work on the things you're trying to change, with a hands off approach to training and staff, you need as much consistency in your tactics and instructions as possible. That's difficult when your team isn't performing, but if you've thought about your tactics and are happy with your approach, you should stick with it for a few weeks at least.

 

[Orikoru]

@Orikoru To help prevent the leaking goals - turn tempo down towards the middle, turn counter-press to regroup and I always distribute to wing backs, CB's aren't reliable on the ball, especially when pressed.

I'd stick Kane on Advanced Forward as well, he's been banging the goals in for me. I'd also switch the wing-backs so the LB is on support. With your right-winger set to a Winger there's less need for your rwb to get forward as there will be less space on the wing, however with your LW drifting infield there will be gaps down the left, so you should encourage your LB to get forward as much as possible.

I'd also consider moving the AP up to CAM as either an AP (S) or an AM (S) - the BBM into LCM and then move the DM up into RCM set to a DLP (D), you'll get less separation between the striker and the midfield but with the DLP on defend you still get decent defensive cover. Also allows either Alli or Lo Celso get into the game more and be more of a creative influence.

One final thing, try and stick with a set of instructions for a few weeks before changing it again. You should try and imagine how you would feel as a footballer if every single game your manager was trying to get you to do something completely different from the last game, and that's without the necessary training in-place to work on the things you're trying to change, with a hands off approach to training and staff, you need as much consistency in your tactics and instructions as possible. That's difficult when your team isn't performing, but if you've thought about your tactics and are happy with your approach, you should stick with it for a few weeks at least.

Funnily enough, everything in bold there is what I tried on the last two games. I dropped Dier and brought in Ndombele as the DLP(D) next to Sissoko (BBM). And since I had a number 10 now I made Kane an AF. Telling the LWB to get forward is all well and good, but it's Ben Davies. I had the right back going forward because Aurier should be more suited to it really.

I did have those instructions for the first 4 or 5 games before making very small amendments.

The thing is, it just shouldn't be this hard to get it right. We're talking about small changes here, to make the difference between being 19th in the league and top four?? It doesn't make sense to me. The tactics I had might not have been perfect but you can't tell me they were bad enough to get Spurs relegated!? This is what's doing my head in about the game. It can't be the case that 4-2-3-1 is the only formation that works - if it does even work.

I made a separate save file before the first league game so I could start again without having the torture of 7 pre-season friendlies with only 15 fit players again - but I'm torn right now between giving it one final go as Spurs or just accepting the fact that they are cursed and trying again with someone else.

 

[Dan2501]

Think you and Spurs just aren't going to work

Also, you can get your assistant to manage the friendlies if you don't want to manage them. It's in Staff > Responsibilities. Can get your staff to do as much or as little as you want them to. I tend to let my staff take control of friendlies, tactical briefings, staff contract renewals and general training (I manage the individual training).

 

[Orikoru]

Think you and Spurs just aren't going to work

Also, you can get your assistant to manage the friendlies if you don't want to manage them. It's in Staff > Responsibilities. Can get your staff to do as much or as little as you want them to. I tend to let my staff take control of friendlies, tactical briefings, staff contract renewals and general training (I manage the individual training).

Yeah but I figured I would use them to try out my tactics. We seemed to play well in them too so the game was just setting me up to fall flat on my face. I do have them doing most of the other stuff.

 

[Wolf]

Yeah but I figured I would use them to try out my tactics. We seemed to play well in them too so the game was just setting me up to fall flat on my face. I do have them doing most of the other stuff.

Sounds like you need a break from Spurs
Finally got mine working last night obviously playing as Arsenal, first thing I managed to do was offload Ozil for big money alone with Mustafi and Kolasinac to bolster the transfer kitty. Then signed Augustinsson at LB plus youngster Naci Univar, Maarten Vandervoort & Jude Bellingham. Plus I've a deal agreed and signed for Camavinga.

current Line up is

Leno
Luiz Mari
Bellerin Augustinsson

Torreira Xhaka

Ceballos
Pepe Aubamayang
LAcazette

5 games in to season Laca is banging in goals, Ceballos is MoM pretty much every game, Augustinsson has 2 goals and 2 assist. Bellingham as a sub is knocking out great stats, Univar has 2 goals from the bench . Mari is outstanding at CB, yet Torriera has 3 own goals . Drew with Newcastle, Destroyed Burnley & norwich, drew with SOuthamton and got destroyed by Chelsea

 

[Dan2501]

Nice work @Wolf bringing in the main man Augustinsson He's got 5 assists in 7 for me now, average rating of 7.81. How much did Bellingham set you back? Never bought him myself but have either seen him stay very meh in terms of attributes or become fantastic.

@Orikoru Have you invaded my save and taken over United? I've just beaten them 1-0 to keep them in 16th place with 2 wins and 5 defeats in 7. Ole might not be at the wheel for much longer. Bloody Liverpool look like they're going to run away with it. Won 6, drawn 1 (we've won 5, drawn 2), they've scored 18 goals in 7 games and they've already beaten City, Chelsea, United and Arsenal. They're winning the league.

 

[Wolf]

Nice work @Wolf bringing in the main man Augustinsson He's got 5 assists in 7 for me now, average rating of 7.81. How much did Bellingham set you back? Never bought him myself but have either seen him stay very meh in terms of attributes or become fantastic.

@Orikoru Have you invaded my save and taken over United? I've just beaten them 1-0 to keep them in 16th place with 2 wins and 5 defeats in 7. Ole might not be at the wheel for much longer. Bloody Liverpool look like they're going to run away with it. Won 6, drawn 1 (we've won 5, drawn 2), they've scored 18 goals in 7 games and they've already beaten City, Chelsea, United and Arsenal. They're winning the league.

Augustinsson is averaging 7.36 for me so solid every game and after 12 games has 3 goals & 9 assists.

Bellingham cost me £18m but is performing well for a 16 year old at 7.5 average and 3 goals in 8 appearance in league plus 2 in 2 in Europe. Nketiah also doing well playing as a sub has 6 goals. Biggest surprises are Laca with 16 goals and Ceballos with an average performance of 7.92 though Auba is shocking average 6.07 & only 1 goal.

Consistency is a pain in the rear end though as a team. Got smashed by Chelsea & Watford, drew 3-3 with Utd, was 3-0 up against spurs and lost 5-3. Am currently 4th in league only 4 points off top spot but according to board I'm underachieving and in trouble.

 

[Orikoru]

Over my self-awarded lunch break I started a new save as Chelsea. I figured they're a similar level to Spurs so a bit of an experiment. In the game they are more similar than I realised - the board have the exact same expectations, half my squad are injured again, and I can't buy anyone!

I set it up in a 4-2-3-1 similar to how we discussed earlier:

AF(A)
IW(A) - AM(S) - W(S)
DLP(D) - BBM(S)
WB(S) - CD(D) - BPD(C) - WB(S)
​

Raced through the friendlies, 'instant resulted' the last three to get to the first league game, where we dominated Everton to win 3-1 (their goal was a consolation). Jorginho and Kante are an incredible midfield pairing, and Mason Mount seems to be awesome as well. That settles it anyway, Spurs are bloody cursed. (Incidentally Spurs won their first game of the season 5-0 against Villa, playing 4-2-3-1. So it looks like 4-2-3-1 is literally the only formation that works at the moment.)

Main dilemma is who to play up front, Abraham and Batshuayi both seem to be on a very similar level. Giroud is not in the picture, he can only play as targetman on support - pretty inflexible really.

 

[Orikoru]

Augustinsson is averaging 7.36 for me so solid every game and after 12 games has 3 goals & 9 assists.

Bellingham cost me £18m but is performing well for a 16 year old at 7.5 average and 3 goals in 8 appearance in league plus 2 in 2 in Europe. Nketiah also doing well playing as a sub has 6 goals. Biggest surprises are Laca with 16 goals and Ceballos with an average performance of 7.92 though Auba is shocking average 6.07 & only 1 goal.

Consistency is a pain in the rear end though as a team. Got smashed by Chelsea & Watford, drew 3-3 with Utd, was 3-0 up against spurs and lost 5-3. Am currently 4th in league only 4 points off top spot but according to board I'm underachieving and in trouble.

This Augustinsson must be some sort of cheat player, I scouted him in one save and I'm sure they only rated him as a bog standard 3* left back with no improvement on the horizon, lol.

I think the expectations are daft in this game really. In real life the Arsenal board wouldn't be unhappy with 4th. In my first Spurs save I was expected to get to the Champs League quarters, I managed it, then got knocked out narrowly by Real Madrid, and the board were still in a mood about it! In this Chelsea save one of their expectations was to reach the FA Cup final - minimum requirement. As well as balancing top four and Champs League quarter finals? On your bike lads.

 

[Dan2501]

Augustinsson just has really solid attributes in all the areas you need for a decent attacking LB. Great crossing, decent passing, can tackle, really good mentals, gets assists from set pieces, scores free-kicks and is solid defensively. He's never going to be rated mega high by scouts (Also the scout ratings are a comparison with your current squad - 3* will be about on par with what you already have, so PL level if you have reasonable LB's already) as his Current Ability in the DB is only between 130-140 but he performs in-game better than any LB I've used, Ait-Nouri's the only one that comes close.

Jorginho is fantastic on FM. Has all the attributes to be the best DLP on the game, I've had scouts at big clubs come back and recommend him with a 100 rating, one of few players I've seen rated consistently that highly by scouts. Every single attribute you need to be a DLP he excels in, he's so good.

Just realised Spurs have £243m in the bank. Come on Daniel lad, loosen them purse strings.

 

[Orikoru]

Augustinsson just has really solid attributes in all the areas you need for a decent attacking LB. Great crossing, decent passing, can tackle, really good mentals, gets assists from set pieces, scores free-kicks and is solid defensively. He's never going to be rated mega high by scouts (Also the scout ratings are a comparison with your current squad - 3* will be about on par with what you already have, so PL level if you have reasonable LB's already) as his Current Ability in the DB is only between 130-140 but he performs in-game better than any LB I've used, Ait-Nouri's the only one that comes close.

Jorginho is fantastic on FM. Has all the attributes to be the best DLP on the game, I've had scouts at big clubs come back and recommend him with a 100 rating, one of few players I've seen rated consistently that highly by scouts. Every single attribute you need to be a DLP he excels in, he's so good.

That only makes him as good as Ben Davies! Haha. That's in the past now anyway.

Yeah Jorginho seems pretty key to the whole set-up at the moment, and with Kante as well, pretty strong. Kovacic is a pretty good back-up as well. It's a shame that almost all of my wingers are injured and my strikers and defenders are mediocre.

 

[Dan2501]

That only makes him as good as Ben Davies! Haha. That's in the past now anyway.

Yeah Jorginho seems pretty key to the whole set-up at the moment, and with Kante as well, pretty strong. Kovacic is a pretty good back-up as well. It's a shame that almost all of my wingers are injured and my strikers and defenders are mediocre.

To be fair, he probably has a very similar Current and Potential ability to Davies, it's just his stats are in better places for him to perform well in the match engine. Davies isn't horrendous on FM either, could be re-trained into a pretty handy centre half I reckon - I might try that His lowest stat currently that relates to a BPD is 11 (concentration) other than that he looks decent - 15 tackling, 13 marking, 14 for heading, decisions, anticipation, passing, positioning and strength. He then has 18 bravery and a really strong work rate so he'll work hard to re-train, this is becoming a thing, lets make Ben Davies a top centre back

Yeah, Chelsea have a pretty strong side on FM. Reece James becomes a superb RB, Tomori has a ton of potential, I've had success with Mount at Leipzig, you've got Billy Gilmour coming through, and Hudson-Odoi is unreal. Had him when I managed England and he was brilliant, kept Sterling out of the side.

 

[Orikoru]

My great start didn't last long, after the first game we had the Super Cup against Liverpool. I told the press it was a pointless game, and my players responded in kind, losing 5-0. Next game City away in the league. Thought we played well but they just walk through us and score whenever they like - another 5-0 loss. Ten goals in two games, pretty impressive really.

 

[Orikoru]

This game is stupid. I was doing well with Chelsea, won three games in a row all with clean sheets, had crept into the top 4. Then we lose 4-0 to Sheffield. WTF? What is it with them? God this drives me mad.

 

[Dan2501]

It is dumb, you get some weird results. I was on a good run, then randomly lost 5-0 to Villa. They went 2-0 up so I went mega attacking and conceded the last 3 in the last 10 mins

Doing alright still though. 2nd in the league after 12 games, 8 wins, 3 draws, one defeat. 7 points behind Liverpool though, so it's a battle for 2nd place between us, City and Arsenal at the minute. CL not going great, 2 draws from 4 games, only 1 win, need to win our last 2 games and hope either Bayern or Galatasaray slip up.