Football Manager 2021

[Meacon Keaton]

Boring Sweden.

[Szumi]

@Liam Mk2

I too have been doing a Dortmund save!

Loaded up the new database and started a January game with Dortmund because they were midtable and I think 8 points back of Top 4 spots (I almost started with Frankfurt because they were even worse off, but I've never used Haaland in FM or FIFA before, and the appeal of Youssoufa Moukoko was fun as well). They started the season off with something crazy like no wins in their first 9 matches too. I took over after 14 games played in the league, and the side on the up having won I think their last 3 in the league, but Haaland only scoring 5 in his first 14. Boy did things change really quick though.

After starting off with a draw at Leipzig, wins and Haaland goals just kept coming. Had an 8 match league winning streak from there. Only lost 2 league matches out of the 20 I played - away to Bayern after a red card, and to Stuttgart after over rotating - but irritatingly lost in the SF of cup to already relegated Mainz to set up a very winnable final against Hoffenheim.

 

The real success story though: Champions League. Porto in the R16 was a 2-2 draw at Porto and then a 3-1 home win, with Haaland scoring 4 of the 5 goals (after only 1 penalty in the group stage). PSG in the QF was a 1-1 home draw and then a surprising 1-0 away win (surprisingly no Haaland goals, Brandt and Hazard there both on set pieces), to set up City in the SF. First match was away and set up for a 0-0 draw with City just edging me out, but both sides were playing well and attacking. Then Youssoufa Moukoko getting his debut goal in 90+2 and Haaland stunning them in 90+6 for a 2-0 road win! Moukoko got on the end of a Muenier cross while Haaland scored an outrageous volley from the top of the box, on his weaker foot!

Emre Can got sent off in the return leg after an hour (he also was the one sent off against Bayern), but City created dick and we drew 0-0. They hardly had a single chance in the match, which was bizarre. I mean, I went Sam Allardyce levels of defense after the red card, but it was Man City, and my defense hasn't been that great anyways. And then for a fun clash, Liverpool in the finals. Klopp vs. Dortmund again, the romance! But also: the Haaland show.

Haaland put us 2-1 at HT with a goal inside the opening 15' after getting in behind, only for Salah to score a banger free kick right after, but Haaland again got in behind right before HT. And then,20 seconds into the second half for a 3-1 lead! Sancho had a disallowed goal to almost put me in a 4-1 dreamland, but alas. Salah scored in the final 20 to make it interesting, but we held on for a shock 3-2 win and the Champions League!

 

Haaland is amazing, obviously. 30 goals in 34 league appearances - 25 in 20 for me - 9 Champions League goals - 8 in 7 for me - and 44 goals overall. Pretty much played the whole second half of the season without Reus or Hummels which probably helped, because Julian Brandt, Gio Reyna, and Thorgan Hazard especially were just amazing. Hazard came up with big goals repeatedly for me. Here's hoping I can get one more season with Haaland and Sancho before having to sell, especially since Bayern walked the league by 21 points and I'd like to challenge them this time around.

[FLiam]

After a lot of back and forth, I’ve finally settled on a new save with Norwich City, for whatever reason. Never managed them before to my recollection. Started off the season with a bang, 2-1 win at Huddersfield. 

I realised they have quite a fun squad to start with - Aarons, Skipp, Buendia, Cantwell and Pukki all terrific players for Championship level. Norwich start the season failing FFP so I imagine I will have to sell someone stellar either in January or the summer.

I still have a Sassuolo save booted up, so I might alternate between the two. 

[Malenko]

How do you manage to keep 3 saves? I can hardly keep 1!

[FLiam]

5 minutes ago, Malenko said:

How do you manage to keep 3 saves? I can hardly keep 1!

My Dortmund save is on the back-burner for now. I'll probably mainly play this Norwich save though.

[Lineker]

Classic Fliam.

[Szumi]

At the halfway point of the 21/22 season so let's do an update!

 

Transfers:

I was expecting interest to come in for both Haaland and Sancho but not even a single offer, so yay! However, Manchester United came in with big money offers guy both Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt, with both men letting me know they wanted to move. Hazard was great in my 5 months in charge, versatile and scored big goals, but also was the lowest ranked attacking midfielder so it made sense to do, while Brandt the offer was just too good to turn down. £41 potentially reaching £60 for Hazard and £63 potentially reaching £90 for Brandt. Axel Witsel also got his last move as well to Real for £13. He only had a year left on his contract, wasn't going to renew, and at 32 years old, not getting any younger. Also managed to offload some fringe players, namely Leonardo Balerdi for £7m, Jeremy Toljan for £4.9m, and Marius Wolf for a paltry £3.4m.

I was a bastard and used the free transfers to my advantage and was able to snap up both Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia, while Odsonne Edouard was available for a bargain price of only £13.75m as he forced a move out of Celtic. While I honestly didn't really even have much need/room/space for him, I also activated the buyback clause for Alexander Isak at £27.5m because even if I use him as a squad player this year, I can have him ready for when I ultimately lose Haaland, or sell him for a profit (again). And to try and go with the club vision of signing Germans, especially from rival clubs, I brought in Lukas Klunter on the cheap as a back up RB to Thomas Meunier. And then, right as I was getting close to ending pre-season, I went a little unrealistic by buying Eduardo Camavinga. It's not a transfer I think would happen IRL because the fee is too high, but given the money I brought in from Hazard/Brandt, the profit I expect the club to still ultimately make off him, and some of the fee being performance based clauses instead of all guaranteed, I went with it. Sorry Jude Bellingham, you are not the automatic starter at DLP anymore! £67m guaranteed, potentially up to £79m. Big money, but Dortmund made big profits off the Champions League, and I still made a profit in the transfer market, which is the goal I had for myself because well, Dortmund.

 

Meant my squad was as such:

GK: Roman Burki, Marwin Hitz

RB: Thomas Meunier, Lukas Klunter

CB: Eric Garcia, Manuel Akanji

CB: Mats Hummels, Dan-Axel Zagadou

LB: Rafa Guerreiro, Nico Schulz

BWM: Emre Can, Thomas Delaney

DLP: Eduardo Camavinga, Jude Bellingham

#10: Gio Reyna, Alexander Isak

RW: Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus

LW: Memphis Depay, Odsonne Edouard

ST: Erling Haaland, Youssoufa Moukoko

 

Felix Passlack, Mahmoud Dahoud, and Reiner also are in the squad, but they're not really being used. Reyna plays as a AP and Isak as a shadow striker, while thanks to injuries and fixture congestions, that attacking midfield 3 is very versatile. Depay has regularly featured in all 3 spots, especially when Sancho was out for 6 weeks with broken ribs, Bellingham has filled in at CAM and RW when needed, and Isak and Edouard have moved around as well.

 

Bundesliga

At the winter break, things are looking damn great. 15 wins, 1 draw in 16 matches played. I'm 6 points clear of Wolfsburg with a game in hand, and 8 ahead of Bayern with the game in hand. Munich dropped 11 points in only 4 games last season; they've already dropped 13 points in 5 matches halfway through the season. Also funny to see Berlin in the relegation playoff spot on 13 points given my title win with them in another game, and Frankfurt in 17th on 12 given how good they are in real life.

Given our only draw was home to promoted Hannover, we've come through in the big games, the biggest the 1-0 win at Bayern thanks to a Haaland penalty where we were definitely out played (2.69 to 1.78 xG) but rode our luck, something that happens often with this side honestly. We beat Leverkusen 2-1 away, Gladbach 1-0 away, and Berlin 3-0 away despite xG being against us. That Berlin result was crazy because Can was sent off in the 2nd minute, yet 3 goals between 30-39' meant we humiliated them. 

No surprise, Haaland leads the Golden Boot race on 15 goals in 12(3) appearances, although on loan Eddie Nketiah is level in 15 in 16 for Koln. 5 are the goals are pens this year for Haaland, who has struggled a bit, by his standards, because of being tired. Constantly getting messages he needs a rest. Guerreiro is second in the league on assists as well with 6, and Bellingham has impressed on 5. We're just dominating the stats with 43 goals scored, best by 7, and only 6 conceded, best by 9. 

 

Champions League

We got a shit fucking draw! Liverpool in Pot 2, Lyon in 3, and at least Club Brugge in 4. After a 3-0 home win to Brugge, we lost 2-1 in France when Haaland had a pen saved but they converted theirs. So pressure was on got the Liverpool ties. Liverpool out played us but Haaland was Haaland, with only a James Ward Prowse goal at 90+4' getting them a 2-2 tie. At Anfield, they again were the better attacking team, but Sancho in the 63' and Haaland in the 64' again put us up 2-1. Son Heung-Min at least equalized in the 69' this time for the 2-2 draw. After winning in Belgium, we were home to Lyon for the final fixture, ahead by a point thanks to them losing both times to Liverpool and drawing home to Brugge. So a draw, and we qualify. They scored early, Sancho made it 2-1 either side of Halftime, and Lyon equalized again in the 72'. Lyon were totally putting the pressure on to get the win and qualify over us, but Haaland secured it with a 90+2 goal. Through to the next round... Where we got Real Madrid. Benfica, Ajax, Roma, and Sporting all won their groups (City & Inter both finished 3rd, lol), but nope, we get Real! 

 

Cups

Won the UEFA Super Cup 3-2 against Napoli with a crazy finish. Akanji in the 86' and Edouard in the 90th for 3-1, Lozano in 90+5' for 3-2, but too little too late. 

Club World Cup: Akanji and Reus either side of HT put us in the Finals with a 2-0 win over Monterrey. We were tied 1-1 at HT against Corinthians in the finals, and Haaland took over with 4 goals en route to a 6-1 win.

Fucking exited the DFB-Pokal in the second round away to Hannover. Bogey team!!!

 

Overall, I love Erling Haaland you guys. 28 goals in 21(4) appearances. Jadon Sancho has been limited to only 12(2) total appearances out of 27 competitive matches played, but still has 4g and 7a. Marco Reus is quietly having a great season after barely featuring last season because of injuries. He has 5g and 6a in only 12(7). None of the new signings have actually been great, just solid. No one over 7.00 average rating, but Edouard has 9 goals in all competitions in 12(9), while Depay has been crucial with the injuries, tallying 6g and 3a in 22(3). Oh, Klunter has actually been low key great with a 7.33 avg rating, but he's still a clear second choice. Funny too, since he was shit for me at Berlin before.

 

I definitely expect to win the league given my lead right now, Bayern clearly have taken a step back, and the Bundesliga seems to always have a side do great in the first half and then drop off in the second. Bayern probably regretting selling Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry to Chelsea and Real, in exchange for Leon Bailey and David Neres, even though those fuckers made out like bandits in the deals. For whatever reason, FM21 hates Lewa. 17 in 34 last season, and now only 4 in 13 this season. BOOOOOOOOOO!

 

One thing I'm worries about moving forward though isn't winning the league or surviving Madrid in Champions League. It's MF'ing Youssoufa Moukoko. His contract expires at the end of the season, but he only turned 17 in November to sign his already secured before the game started first professional contract. So here I am in January, Moukoko able to sign elsewhere on a pre contract, and I can't even negotiate with him right now because he just recently signed the new contract. FM better not fuck me here. 

[Szumi]

Can confirm FM is fucking bullshit. Moukoko signs his already in-game professional contract on his 17th birthday 11/21, but expires 6/22. You cannot renegotiate his contract at all since it's too close to when he signed the first one, even when other clubs come in to poach him on a free transfer. So I'm losing him to fucking Hertha Berlin at the end of the season, on a free, because FM glitched it up.

[Bobfoc]

I actually benefited from that quirk by signing him. It's great if you're playing as anyone other than Dortmund.

[Szumi]

9 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

I actually benefited from that quirk by signing him. It's great if you're playing as anyone other than Dortmund.

It's definitely something I'm going to remember in other games, for sure, but for this save, I'm pissed. My plan was to loan Moukoko out in January to get first team regular football, and then make him my new 9 for the next season after Haaland inevitably gets sold since everyone is going to come in for him.

[FLiam]

@Szumi - A PolackDid you have problems getting rid of Wolf? Took me almost two seasons, he was a total prick. The amount of offers he turned down after me saying I would pay him off was insane! 

Also, it’s interesting to see how different our saves are - for me Bellingham is an absolutely outstanding box-to-box player, try him in that role if you can.

With Reinier, by the end of the second season, he can play anyway across the front positions, re-trained the fuck out of him and then extended his loan as he is a fairly useful backup option I find and his wages are so minimal. 

And yes, Haaland is basically a cheat code on the game but still realistic! 

[Szumi]

I've never really used him as a BBM purely because I typically do a DLP as the CM next to my defensive one, but when we're playing home matches against weaker sides I'll start testing that out to see!

Wolf turned down a few moves before I got an offer in from Leverkusen, so that was one he was happy to accept. The £3m or whatever it was amounted to 1/2 of his market value, maybe even slightly less, but that seemed better than paying wages for a guy who would've just sat in Dortmund II. I wish FM had the German League as deep as they seemingly have Spain now because the II guys aren't going to get any in-game playing time which I'm sure kills their development.

I've honestly only kept Reiner because I'm not even paying his wages in the loan. I definitely see what you mean about his potential and retrain ability, I just... Hardly use him. When Sancho is injured or needs rested, I've used Depay as a winger or Reus as a Muller like Raumdeuter. In emergency scenarios, I've used Bellingham as a winger on the right, although my initial plan was training Reiner to be the back up there. I have so many options on the left, and at the 10 position, I've used Isak as a shadow striker when I'm not making Gio my star Advanced Playmaker. Americans gotta push Americans, brother!

I'm definitely winning the league so I'm hoping now to try and do an Invincible, especially if I go out to Real Madrid. We crushed Bayern home already I think 5-2 so there's one big test passed!

[Bobfoc]

England has been chosen as the host for the 2030 World Cup in my save, so I thought I would take a look at the stadiums. Some of the new grounds created for the competition are a little strange. There's Michael Owen Park in Southampton, Terry Butcher Arena in Leeds, Geoff Hurst Park in Sheffield and David Platt Arena in Wolverhampton.

Leicester and Nottingham each have a dully named "Community Stadium", both of which have only 500 seats greater than the expansion capacities of both the King Power Stadium and The City Ground. It's the same situation in the aforementioned cities as well. Boris Johnson must still the Prime Minister.

[Szumi]

Well, between Bayern regressing massively and having my best season in all my years playing FM, at least in terms of the league, I walked it, Champions with 5 matches to spare. And to cap it off, Invincible Season and records broken! I ALMOST lost it too. I was crushing Leipzig but they scored on their only shot on target, and my xG was over 3.00. However, Reus won a penalty in the 88' that Haaland converted and I escaped with a 1-1 draw. Won the final matches so I finished with 96 points, beating Bayern's record of 91 points.

 

The last match was a fun one too. A win secured the Bundesliga's best GD ever, most wins in a campaign, the Invincible Season on the line, and 5 goals would tie Bayern's record for most goals in a campaign. Haaland proceeded to score 4 first half goals and force an own goal to make it 5-0 at HT, and only needing 1 goal to break the record. They scored 2 in the second half to ensure I didn't get to have the best defensive record ever, and then in the final 15' who else but Haaland popped up to score one last goal to give us the record for most goals in a season. Obviously gave him a send off since we were home and that's surely his last match with us. 

 

Speaking of God, he broke Gerd Muller's record with a game to spare. Thanks to converting 14 of 26 penalties and that one last great game, Haaland Watch concludes as such: 46 goals in 28(3) Bundesliga appearances, 10 in 8 UCL, 4 in the CWC, for a grand total of 61 goals overall in 39(4) competitive appearances. Now to see how much money I can get when I unfortunately sell you!

 

Going out early in the league cup and Round of 16 isn't obviously ideal, but with that kind of Bundesliga campaign? Excellent season, and I'm looking forward to rebuilding. Oh yeah, I went out to Real Madrid on away goals. Came back from 0-2 down to tie 2-2 at home, and then only could muster a 1-1 draw away. I took comfort in at least not losing to them, meaning my only losses for the whole season were away to Lyon and away to Hannover in the cup.

[nickhastie2004]

9 hours ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

Speaking of God, he broke Gerd Muller's record with a game to spare. Thanks to converting 14 of 26 penalties and that one last great game, Haaland Watch concludes as such: 46 goals in 28(3) Bundesliga appearances, 10 in 8 UCL, 4 in the CWC, for a grand total of 61 goals overall in 39(4) competitive appearances. Now to see how much money I can get when I unfortunately sell you!

He missed 12 penalties? Doesnt sound right for him.

[Szumi]

Whoops, typo! 14 of 16 penalties converted. He missed 1 in the Lyon defeat and I think the other was in a match that was an inexplicable 3-3 draw to bottom side Augsburg. He always made the misses costly, the bastard 😛

[nickhastie2004]

Even 2 doesn't sit right somehow lol

[Lineker]

 

 

[Charlie Tango]

So far, my experience of Football Manager 2021 is that it is the easiest game I have ever played. Having started with a created club in Level 10, we have now secured Vanarama North/South for next season in just four years. That's a promotion every season and along the way we've won every trophy on offer (bar the FA Cup); Counties Cup, Velocity Trophy, FA Vase and FA Trophy.

No cheating involved, we play a simple counter-attacking 4-4-2 and I've only ever signed players who either we've played against or came up on the scouting report. We haven't lost a league game in three seasons. Our top scorer has been Connor Comber, previously a Bolton youth and in the game with Atherton LR (the club we took the position of in the league). Up until promotion was secured to the Vanarama N/S, we've not been able to pay players a wage, just bonuses and that means they're out-of-contract ie. eligible to be snapped up by all and sundry. Finally this season I've got the defence better organised with some free transfers such as Ben Tozer, Josh Langley and Mark Kitching. The decision now is whether to convert them to proper contracts going forward.

Also unsure of why a club in Lancashire has been put in the southern leagues but there you go, that's FM for you. I did enjoy beating the likes of Truro and Poole even if the travel was a bloody nightmare.

I'm hoping that the transition to the Vanarama leagues brings with it more challenges!

[Gorka]

I'm not saying the Club World Championship is rigged but my team had a day break between matches, Chelsea had five and now all my players are on 49% fitness with 70 minutes gone.