Football Manager 2020

[RazorsEdge]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck you.

For context my 3 wins were 1-0 at home to Napoli (who have all the strikers apparently - Edouard, Dembele, Mertens, Insigne), 1-0 at home to Barcelona(!), and 4-1 away to Napoli.

I have also discovered that Troy Parrott is best used when you can't get a goal - giving up my right winger to go 2 strikers up top seems to either net him a goal or lead to him assisting Joelinton. Spurs still won't sell him to me, though

[Baddar]

Going out with 10pts is unfortunate.

[Twist]

9 hours ago, stokeriño said:

Just that he may be a bit of a wanker, I guess.

I’d be more worried about other people jerking him about.

[Arjen Robben]

This beta update for the match engine feels loads better. I haven't had had one instance of defences just being split open by one long ball never mind having it happen about 20 times a match leading to a one on one that was never scored.

[METALMAN]

7 hours ago, RazorsEdge said:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck you.

For context my 3 wins were 1-0 at home to Napoli (who have all the strikers apparently - Edouard, Dembele, Mertens, Insigne), 1-0 at home to Barcelona(!), and 4-1 away to Napoli.

I have also discovered that Troy Parrott is best used when you can't get a goal - giving up my right winger to go 2 strikers up top seems to either net him a goal or lead to him assisting Joelinton. Spurs still won't sell him to me, though

The Europa League is fun! 👍

[stokeriño]

11 hours ago, King Ellis said:

Just had a message pop up about one of my left backs being unhappy at his playing time. To be fair he has been out of the side a little recently but it's not like I've completely exiled him like I have some players. Then the rest of the squad chime in to back him, mostly from some of those aformentioned people I exiled.

Such is the risk of letting him get away with a 'Star Player' status. They don't really expect to be dropped for anything.

[SquareRootOfSi]

4 hours ago, Arjen Robben said:

This beta update for the match engine feels loads better. I haven't had had one instance of defences just being split open by one long ball never mind having it happen about 20 times a match leading to a one on one that was never scored.

I'm looking forward to when that fix rolls out. I was thinking about my complaints about losing to teams lower in the league and how it now seems that the most part of it is the 'feeling' that I lose to lower teams. (i'm currently on a 20 match unbeaten run - bunch of draws in there). The game I play against lower league teams I break apart defences and my strikers regardless of form just hammer it past the post or into the keeper. When i see the AI replays, the ball just goes into the net.

I'm just used to seeing my players missed EVERYTHING (what seems like everything) and the AI opportunities being actual goal opportunities.

Best game of the season so far last night. Beat 9th placed Derby (i'm 3rd with a game to hand) 5-2 at home. Ai still banged in their two goals within minutes of me scoring but a few team shouts and not panicking and changing the play style keep them out for the last 3 goals.

[stokeriño]

Most gratifying.

[Malenko]

44 minutes ago, stokeriño said:

Most gratifying.

Weren't you the one who decided to leave though?

[stokeriño]

6 minutes ago, Malenko said:

Weren't you the one who decided to leave though?

In the sense that I walked out the door halfway through the meeting where they were sacking me...yes and no.  

[RazorsEdge]

So went into January and lost Miguel Almiron to Shanghai SIPG for £65M. That was okay, though, because I bought Arnor Sigurdsson from CSKA Moscow for £40M to replace him and he performed better than Almiron so all good.

Won the Carabao Cup against Man Utd after ending 1-1 and going to penalties. Knocked out by Liverpool in the FA Cup 5th run on penalties. Made a good run in the Europa League to end up losing 3-2 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid in the semi finals.

Was having a good run in the Premier League and I was sitting 2nd for most of the season behind Liverpool (last year's winner Man City dropped to 8th and Pep got fired at the end of the December with Ben Wilkinson, one of their reserves assistant coaches, taking over as interim manager - which he still is at the end of the season. I end up beating Liverpool in the run home and end up winning the league ahead of them by 3 points with 27 wins, 7 draws and 4 losses. I pretty much won because I had stuff all injuries all season. Only real injury was Saint-Maximin who missed the first half of the season but came back later on to do well. Joelinton won the golden boot with 23 goals in 33 games. Parrott was alright again, Alena was immense and won young player of the year.

Need to move on Jetro Willems at the very least and bring in a new left wing-back as he's the main first team player who isn't performing. Have arranged for Matias Arezo to join on a free to bolster my striker ranks (might still try to extend Parrott's loan again so he is home grown at Newcastle just in case I do want to buy him). Also got Jude Bellingham coming in for £12.5M. That leaves me with £47M in the transfer budget and £124k p/w in the wage budget (board is tight). Sent Matty Longstaff to Blackburn on loan in January and he's been great for them so hopefully he can challenge for a place in the team to help with home grown issues.

Still think the game is getting easier and easier each year. The opposition doesn't seem to adjust to your tactics anymore.

EDIT: Also Lampard & Poch both got fired at the end of season, too. OGS, Klopp & Emery the only big name managers left.

Edited January 25, 2020 by RazorsEdge

[stokeriño]

Goals have completely disappeared from my matches (at both ends), despite no substantial change in anything. This is weird.

Exhibit A: 10 games, 24 scored, 8 conceded.

Exhibit B: 10 games, 5 scored, 2 conceded.

 

 

[Liam]

https://mega.nz/#!HQkjHCxK!ZQDCsBv7VALdXK0x6sn6bJq0hbHud8E0QwrkJDwWv8M

An interesting save that some might want to have a look at. A relegated Newcastle, Mario Balotelli as main striker and a tycoon funding a return to the Prem.

[Arjen Robben]

Man City have just won their twelfth straight Premier League title in my game. Crazy. 

[RazorsEdge]

2021/2022 Transfers Out:
Jetro Willems to Sheffield United for £35M
Fabian Schar to Norwich for £15M
Isaac Hayden to Stade Reims for £6M

2021/2022 Transfers In:
Matias Arezo from River Plate for £975K (Compensation)
Jude Bellingham from Birmingham for £12.5M
Ben Chilwell from Leicester for £32.5M
Axel Tuanzebe from Man Utd for £11.25M
Theo from Real Madrid for £400K (loaned out immediately)
Kristian Dobrev from Botev Plovdiv for £3.6M (loaned out immediately)
Lucas Canizares (Santiago's son) from Real Madrid for £400K (loaned out immediately)
Ugo Bertelli from Marseille for £33.5K (loaned out immediately)

Future Transfers Arranged:
Jose Javier Murillo (DC newgen) from Real Zaragoza for £650K - joins end of season
Jose Manuel Rodriguez (AML newgen) from Alaves for £1M - joins end of season
Emilio Hernando (ST newgen) from Rayo Vallecano for £700K - joins January 2023

Lineup:
GK - Andre Onana / Freddie Woodman / Rob Elliot
DCR - Jorge Mere / Axel Tuanzebe
DC - Jerome Onguene / Jamaal Lascelles
DCL - Ferro / Marco Varnier
WBR - Jayden Bogle / Ricardo Esgaio / Luke Matheson
WBL - Ben Chilwell
MCR - Carles Alena / Sander Berge / Jude Bellingham
MCL - Sander Berge / Sean Longstaff / Matty Longstaff
AMR - Allan Saint-Maximin / Ricardo Esgaio
AML - Arnor Sigurdsson / Martin Terrier
STC - Joelinton / Troy Parrott / Matias Arezo

Lacking a backup left wing-back but Esgaio and Matheson can play there in a pinch and I began training Terrier to play there last season, even though he isn't the most suited for it.

Still have £10M in the transfer budget and £169K p/w in the wage budget after playing around with the budgets. Gave new contracts to Varnier, S. Longstaff, Bogle, Joelinton, Onguene & Berge. Some to get rid of outside interest, some to remove release clauses and some because they wanted and deserved new contracts. I still have release clauses for Onana, Ferro and (now) Chilwell (only way he would come to the club), so Onana and Ferro are next up for new contracts.

Chilwell was unsettled at Leicester so I snapped him up for less than I got for Jetro Willems, which absolutely astounded me. Tuanzebe was transfer listed & English so I got rid of Schar for him. Extended Parrott's loan again, even though I bought Arezo, so if I do buy him in the future he will be Newcastle home grown. Jamaal Lascelles is now all that remains of the original defensive unit and out of my 6 first team central defenders he is ranked 6th. He's still my captain and highly influential so I don't really want to upset everyone by selling him. Let Matt Ritchie go for free (was my vice-captain) as he had become very injury prone and didn't perform well so Ferro is my new vice-captain. Berge was meant to be Alena's backup in the DLP position but he has overtaken Sean Longstaff as my starting BBM. Sean's still been great when he's played, though.

I'm still predicted to finish 7th despite winning the league last year, which is up from 8th the year before. The board wants a top half finish and me to get to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Very doable. Knocked back the Real Madrid job in the off season as well.

First competitive match played of the season added more silverware to the trophy cabinet with a 2-0 win over Liverpool in the Community Shield.

[Arjen Robben]

Don't think I've ever seen the AI do this. Juventus literally didn't lose a single game in any competition all season.

[RazorsEdge]

14 minutes ago, Arjen Robben said:

Don't think I've ever seen the AI do this. Juventus literally didn't lose a single game in any competition all season.

In the Beta I had Liverpool win everything except the FA Cup, the final was their only loss of the seasons. That's insane.

[Arjen Robben]

Man City not quite as dominant, but still pretty fucking mad too, and over a longer period:

So naturally the Champions League final was Man City vs. Juventus.

Meanwhile I'm just getting promoted to Serie B with Palermo. COMING FOR YOU, JUVE.

 

[stokeriño]

Secured the title against Darlington. However, I rue the lack of a "no, see, we should try to win our last four games too because 100 points is a cool number to finish on" option for my team talks.

 

[FestiveJack]

Pep's a fraud tbh.

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