Football Manager 2020

[METALMAN]

1 hour ago, Naitch said:

Hopefully he can make it to seven before he retires. Then he can move on to completing the Pentagon irl before you do on FM.

OH YEAH IS HE JUST GOING TO POP ALONG AND SCORE AGAINST A BUNCH OF PENGUINS IN ANTARCTICA THEN? YOU BERK.

[Naitch]

Don't doubt penguins and their ability to play football...

 

[9 to 5]

4 hours ago, Arjen Robben said:

Why did Lamela retire at only 30? Seems odd.

The coke caught up to him.

[The Lusophone]

So I sold Romero and Grant in the January transfer window, then realised I didn't have a backup goalkeeper. So in comes 

Spoiler

 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Don't know what's wilder, Buffon coming in as a back-up or Berbatov of all people as your DOF.

[The Lusophone]

Just now, Jericode said:

Don't know what's wilder, Buffon coming in as a back-up or Berbatov of all people as your DOF.

I intentionally sought out a former United player for DoF, just cos I needed one and didn't care who it was.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Season 2 Update:
 

Spoiler

EFL Cup: Beat Arsenal 4-1 in Round 3, Brighton on penalties in Round 4, and Crystal Palace continued being a thorn in my side by beating me on penalties. Jordan Ayew scored the equaliser in the game before scoring the winning penalty. Fuck him. Not an important trophy anyway tbh.

Champions League: Won 5, Drew 1 in the group. I've had my say on the draw. We only conceded 4 in the group stage. 3 of them in a ten minute spell in Austria. Bastards. Salzburg actually joined me in going through whilst Napoli bottomed out. Elsewhere, Real Madrid of all teams are now in the Europa League, after failing to get through a group of death that featured AC Milan and Liverpool. Barcelona, on the other hand, are my opponent in the first knockout round again.

Premier League: Such a mixed run since that dominant August. We stayed undefeated until mid-November but it's been far from convincing. The mid-season run in has another Spurs > Arsenal > City death run, but we did thump Spurs 4-0 which was nice. Arsenal are 12th, which I'm loving. Promoted Fulham have yet to win again in 17 matches. Blackburn and Leeds are fairing better. We're second in the league, 7 points off the pace, but I'm a lot more interested in the cups this season. getting the FA Cup ticked off would be my preferred outcome for the season, since we have loads more time to win the Champions League.

Transfer-wise, Edouard has proven to be wank, he's only managed 2 goals. By contrast, Abraham has got 13 (he had 14 all of last season), Batshuayi has 7 on loan at Leicester, even makeshift striker Loftus-Cheek has 6. Ziyech has 8 along with 10 assists, Sancho also has 6. Edouard is just rubbish. I might recall Batshuayi and see if I can loan him off.

But yes, goals are proving problematic in the big games. I've tried to solve it by getting a deal in place for a big name striker, but so far I've been turned down by Dybala and Haaland because they're too expensive.

Ibrahimovic for 300k though... 

 

[DavidMarrio]

On 04/05/2020 at 21:25, DavidMarrio said:

2021-22 - Derby County
Background - So I've only played 8 games so far in the Prem and i'm currently in 3rd with 5 wins (big home wins against Chelsea 2-0 and Arsenal 4-1), 2 draws and 1 loss (2-1 away to Watford). Couldn't have asked for a better start really especially considering 3 points seperate 2nd to 10th. United are currently 4 points clear ahead of Liverpool.

Transfer Summary
Andre Wisdom left to Hull for 675k in the only real outgoing that wasn't either on loan or someone leaving on a free. 
I signed 4 regens but in terms of major incomings they were as follows:
Odegaard - AMC (Loan from Madrid) 
Oscar - AMC (2.7mil from Castilla)
Andrija Balic - MC (1.5mil from Leeds)
Jack Butland - GK (7.75mil from Stoke)
Jake Clarke-Salter - DC (Free from Chelsea)
Ebere Eze - AML/AMC (2.5mil rising to 8mil from QPR)
Thierry Corriera - DR (3.6mil from Lille)
Joe Aribo - MC (9.25mil from Rangers)
David Turnbull - MC (3.6mil from Motherwell) 
Scott McKenna - DC (6.5mil from Aberdeen)
Brewster - ST (Loan from Liverpool) 

So I've signed a lot of young players to match the club vision whilst also aiming for people I can develop more to hopefully solidify myself in the league and potentially sell people for profit if need be. 

So following on from this I have just finished my 1st full season at Derby and my 3rd in season game.

 

Premier League - 8th
15 wins, 13 draws, 10 losses 
Got some big wins at home against Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton and managed to draw away at the Etihad, Stamford Bridge and at home to Tottenham. The draws killed off any chance of getting a european spot in the end as I finished 9 points behind Everton in 7th (Euro 2) and 10 behind Chelsea in 6th (Europa League). It didn't help I had a run from the 29th October to 11th December without a win and then a bad Christmas period spell. Had an impressive 7-1 away win to Villa in the February

Made some signings in January by brining in Hlozek from Sparta for 2.7mil (was going to get bosman) and Koita from Salzburg for 19.75mil to give me another option upfront and to become my starting striker next season given that Brewster will cost 30mil and won't join because of wages. Signed Toni Lato for 2.8mil and Bangourra from Nantes for 180k. 

FA Cup - Semi final
Had a good run in to the semis by not facing any Prem teams. Beat Tranmere, Hull and Blackburn before needing penalties to squeak past Birmingham. Played Arsenal in the semi's and was quite harsly beaten in the 123rd minute (despite there only being 1 minute added on at the very end). Lost 3-2 but still got to go to Wembley with the team

League Cup - 3rd Round
Beat Walsall on penalties in the 2nd round and then got beaten by Arsenal 4-2 in the 3rd round. Not a good run in the competition really. 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Classic FM, manage to win all three games in the Spurs > Arsenal > City run, and then draw to bloody Leeds and Everton straight after.

Shithouse Edouard has been loaned off to AC Milan, Mauro Icardi has arrived thanks to some tactical installments and a big sell-on clause which shouldn't affect me if this season goes as planned. Happy with the team now but could do with flogging Bakayoko and loaning Barkley off to free up some wages.

[Arjen Robben]

Alf Ralph is funnier to me than it has any right to be.

[JasonM]

One smaller feature I really enjoy in FM20 is that the game gives away a LOT more secondary nationalities when generating newgens to youth intakes.

I got a North Irish/Dutch midfielder next to my Australian/Scottish midfielder. There's an English/Vietnamese striker in the league, whilst Arsenal is playing a South Korean/Brazilian superstar.

Some combinations might be a bit ridiculous, but I like the variety in nationalities it creates in teams, and probably makes lesser nations a bit more viable because you're going to get more talented players who can't play for England who choose to go play for another nation instead.

[Arjen Robben]

I have a Chilean regen called Paul Guest (cause of English second nationality) which makes me laugh every time.

[King Ellis]

I've started getting a smattering of more exotic countries come through, I seem to have had a few second nationalities like England/Ghana or England/Nigeria. Looks like one of my guys who didn't make the cut is now at Colchester and turning out for the Ghana U-21's with the very Ghanian name of James Bunn. Recently had people from France, Turkey, Montenegro and Gibraltar. The Gilbraltan has immediately been called up to the national team at only 16 and already has two caps and a goal to his name. I have their starting RB, a regen released by Arsenal a few years ago and keep seeing a few of their players pop up on my scout reports so I feel tempted to sign them all just to keep the team going but I can't justify the cost of having these subpar players around. I'm sure I had two Gibraltan staff before but I can only find record of one, he got poached away a few years back to be a manager somewhere. Not sure if having another player and staff member from that country has influenced the intake slightly?

[METALMAN]

I played two games of FM 2020 and I’m really not feeling it. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Gateshead or if I’m just over FM now. Bit sad, I spent £30 on it 😕

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Bottled it in the FA Cup against Spurs. No point staying in England now, gonna try and move to Germany because both Bayern and Dortmund are doing rubbish.

[Kyle]

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored 22 goals this season for me, only slightly behind Moise Kean. Newcastle's top scorer was Andy Carroll with 8. The 28% who voted no either have realistic expectations and know I won't sell him, or want to sign Mbappe or nothing.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Bale or nothing for Newcastle.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored 22 goals this season for me, only slightly behind Moise Kean. Newcastle's top scorer was Andy Carroll with 8. The 28% who voted no either have realistic expectations and know I won't sell him, or want to sign Mbappe or nothing.

Sounds accurate for Newcastle fans to be honest.

[FLiam]

Started a game with Everton on the mobile version. First transfer window budgets off. 

Within a few weeks, Michael Keane gets a 4 month injury and Yerry Mina gets a 3 month lay-off. Leaving me with Mason Holgate and some kid called Jarrad. Perfect.

First game went well.

[Kyle]

Jarrad Branthwaite will hear no such slander.