Football Manager 2022

[ROFF]

Meanwhile in my Newcastle Save Year  2028 

Carlo Ancelotti is my new scout

 

 

[Lineker]

This is going to be a hideous final day...

[Twist]

8 hours ago, Lineker said:

This is going to be a hideous final day...

How did it go?

 

[Lineker]

11 hours ago, Twist said:

How did it go?

Turns out I didn't need to worry - played already relegated Rotherham and got our biggest win of the season!

[Twist]

So my 4th season so is nearly miss out on the Championship group, get back up to finish second (thanks to only carrying forward half points), win the Austrian cup again, finish 3rd in my Champions League group but only make the second round of the Europa.

However, in the 5th season I’m top of my Champion’s League group after 3 games having beat Inter 5-1, and Lyon and Man City 1-0.

[Kyle]

For the first time in probably my entire FM history, I've gotten to the point where my regens are Premier League quality. Probably doesn't speak volumes for my attention span.

[JasonM]

The 35/36 season, last year had the continental treble. This year, less so.
Lost to Man Utd in the European Super Cup (foreshadowing), a bit disappointed but it's not like I really needed it.

In the League we lost an early game to Juventus, and that meant we were dominantly running in 2nd place with Juventus somehow managing to one-up us until the winter break and not allow us to take first place. But after the winter break Juventus finally stumbled, allowing us to run out to a 103 point season and the third Serie A title in four years.

The cup was, as usual, an afterthought by design. CL teams get slotted into the 3rd round, so we ran through Modena, Inter, Parma, and then Juventus for my third cup win in a row.

Also won the domestic supercup 4-2 against Atalanta, even bigger afterthoughts.

Champions League, board wants us to go back-to-back. And we got a group of Madrid, Nice, and Famalicao. To my surprise, we went a perfect 6-0-0 with an 8-0 goal difference against Madrid, on top of that.
First KO we get an easy draw against Celtic, who we defeat 5-0 and 5-0. So far so good.
Quarter finals has the harder draw, FC Bayern being placed in front of us. But we win the first tie 2-1 before taking it home in the return with a 4-2 victory to get us back among the top four of Europe.
Semi Finals we face Man Utd, the chance to get our heat back after taking the pin in the European Super Cup. But English clubs continue to be broken, and they beat us 4-2 at Old Trafford before beating us 1-0 at San Siro despite us having much better shooting, the team decides to shit the bed on top of the Man Utd GK deciding he's not a 3* player but a 5* one. Really frustrating way to go out, but at least Napoli beat City in the other Semi's, so there's hope for Italy (heh, as if).

My own grade, a 8/10. Despite trailing Juventus for the best part of the season, the league eventually wasn't in doubt as Juventus stumbled hard and let us run away. We did what we have to do in the cups. And the Champions League started strong, but ended on a sour note.

After four seasons at AC Milan. I got 3 Serie A titles, 3 Cups, 3 Supercups, and a Champions League victory.
That on top of EURO 2032 and Nations League with the Netherlands, Conference League 31/32 with Metz, A World Cup final with Poland, and a Vana South and FA Trophy all the way back in 24/25 with Concord Rangers.

I think I'm honestly done at this point. Milan has been fun in a different way, but the winning has become largely automatic as long as I don't face Man Utd or Liverpool in the Champions League. Even Juventus, my biggest national competitor, has not been able to really match up to me in the past two seasons.

I know there's more Champions leagues to win, but Milan is 3rd with 8 behind Liverpool (12) and Madrid (13), but the seasons really grinds along when you have close to 60 games to play.

So I really am going to think about what I want to do next. Maybe a new save, or drop FM22 from my playing schedule entirely for a bit. Or leave Milan to try my hand at a different challenge in the same save. (but I shudder to think the mess my successor will make of the team)

[FLiam]

I’ve not got any further than two seasons on any save this year. I have no idea why really.

And I just started a fresh save with Union Berlin.

[Twist]

In 2028 …

Virgil van Dijk: Moukoko should come to Liverpool!

Me: Or you can come play with him in Dortmund …

VVD: Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.

and then …

Trent Alexander-Arnold: Moukoko should come to Liverpool!

Me: you should come and play at Dortmund as well!

TAA: Yeah, sounds good, isn’t my pal VVD coming as well?

Go on Liverpool, I bloody dare you to keep going to the press.

 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

On 11/04/2022 at 17:37, Brandon Cutler Fan Account said:

Surprisingly didn't get spanked by City and only lost 1-0 on aggregate - a Raheem Sterling goal separating us. They got spanked by Juventus in the next round so I didn't feel too bad.

We got knocked out of the Portuguese equivalent of the FA Cup before winning the Portuguese equivalent of the League Cup to get my first piece of silverware here. The congested league fixtures, whilst for the most part giving us some great momentum and rocketing us into title contention, are knackering the squad and not having enough decent full backs is starting to bite me in the ass. 8 games left of the season now, and it's pretty much down to myself and Benfica. If we both win every game, they'll win the league by one point, so I'm hoping they cock up and draw somewhere whilst I don't make any mistakes, but their run-in is marginally easier so I don't see it happening.

I'm really hoping they give me some actual transfer budget in the summer or I'll be thinking of moving on again, depending how the league goes. I don't see how they expect me to make marquee signings whilst only giving me 30% of the money for any players we sell.

------

Just editing to save a second post.

Devastatingly came up short. Once City had knocked us out, we didn't lose a game for the rest of the season. The only game we didn't win, was typically against Benfica, who also won every remaining game since the previous post and took the title by one point. Second place guarantees me a Champions League group spot and saves me the hassle of qualifying at least, but to come so close on the first attempt in a new league is agonising. On the other hand, second in the league and a piece of silverware is a successful season on balance, given we were predicted for third. So I'll take it, and hopefully strengthen enough over the summer to best Benfica this time around.

I had a quick review how my previous teams had done:

Cardiff - last place and relegated with a game to go. Gerrard got the sack and was replaced by Slaven Bilic in March. The regen I posted about was their top scorer with 8, and Gallagher had the most assists for them, so I can at least be assured my signings were solid for them. Hopefully they bounce straight back up. Swansea got relegated alongside them so there's that at least.

Man United won the Prem on the last day after Arsenal, who led for most of the season, bottled it against Burnley, who came 6th ahead of Spurs, lol.

Chesterfield - Firmly established in League One after I got them promoted there, a tidy 11th place finish for them! Fair play.

First two signings are done too, both frees whilst I await my new budget - Kristian Pedersen of Birmingham, as my new back-up left back; and Raul Jimenez from Wolves. Luis Diaz has agreed to join permanently too, which saves me looking for a wing option, but will likely use a big chunk of whatever budget I was going to be given. Probably need an extra centre back if nothing else, and maybe a right back since Fosu-Mensah decided he wanted £70k a week to join permanently which he isn't worth.

SO, HOW'S PORTUGAL GOING? Pretty fucking badly, that's how.

We lost to Porto in the second game of the season and they've basically been near unstoppable. They brought Anthony Martial in on loan and he's got 11 in 9 in the league. They've also got Mariano, formerly of Real Madrid (via Arsenal and two separate loans to Leicester) scoring for fun too. They've bizarrely lost twice to underperforming teams but are still 4 points clear as we go into December so will probably piss the league.

We're not here to talk about Porto though, we're here to find out what's gone badly for me. Well, that all comes down to one man: Hugo Viana. Who is Hugo Viana you ask? He's my Director of Football, who thought it would be a great idea to leave me with one centre back on deadline day, flogging off first choice Eduardo Quaresma to Chelsea and third choice Goncalo Inacio to Real Betis for a total of 50m. Also lost against my will over the summer: star winger Jovane Cabral to Wolves for 52m (which Viana rudely accepted on my behalf) and star central midfielder Daniel Braganca to Bayern Munich for 39.5m (release clause, can't blame the DOF for that one). Which if you're counting up is almost 150m, so where did it all go? Not to my transfer budget, let's look at the ins...

Spoiler

Kristian Pedersen from Birmingham (free) - back up left back, nuff said.

Raul Jimenez from Wolves (free) - looked a solid rotation option for Vlahovic and I needed better rotation options up front. Six goals in all competitions so far, so not the worst signing.

Fred from Man United (free) - now, the main thinking for him and Jimenez was that they moaned all my first season I didn't make enough high profile signings, so I figured screw it, I'll sign some free transfers from the Prem and they can stop bitching. He's been fine, I guess? Been more of a rotation choice.

Luis Diaz from Schalke (15.5m) - permanent signing after getting him in on loan last year. Hasn't performed as well since, but still a good hand.

David Dunn from Liverpool (20.5m) - disappointed a bit here, he's a regen striker who looked very good but has been injured a lot. Has 3 in 9 in all competitions so still time for him to impress.

Thomas Delaney from Inter Milan (8m) - They'd now sold Braganca at this point and he was an available high profile CM who fitted a slightly different role to what I already had, seemed perfect.

Emerson from Barcelona (7.75m) - Rotation right back so I didn't have to lean on Guilbert all year. Has ended up being first choice because Guilbert has had to play makeshift CB.

Aurelien Tchouameni from Monaco (4.5m) - Surprised he was available that cheap really so added him as an extra CM option.

Bryan Fiabema from Chelsea (loan) - extra winger option to replace Cabral.

Lucas Leiva from West Ham (loan) - don't even remember doing this one and he's barely played other than as occasional CB cover because the other signings are all better. He's also 34, on wages that are too high, and planning to retire, so I'm cancelling it the first chance I get.

The slight oversight in not getting a proper CB then bit me in the arse when he sold the aforementioned players and I had no time to get one in.

So here we are, December 1st, utterly embarrassed in the Champions League (-18 GD and 0 points with a game to go, but to be fair I had to face Bayern, Real Madrid, and Monaco), 4th in the league with little hope of getting higher, and a squad that's all over the place due to the lack of CB options. No interesting England jobs are opening up so I'm trying to look abroad again. Marseilles, sat 11th in Ligue 1, looked an interesting choice but they went with Kobenhavn's Jorge Sampaoli, which I was disappointed about as it looked a good project until I remembered that France is near unwinnable because of PSG and noticed Sampaoli had left a team in 2nd place to take this job so had created a very winnable opportunity. Fingers crossed!

---

Should have just waited 20 seconds before posting this, I clicked progress and they offered me the job. We're going to Denmark, baby!

That means I left Portugal with just one cup, and the second rate cup at that, but it's still early in my career so I don't need to win the big ones yet. Disappointed to leave some of the players in that mess, Albert Sambi Lokonga is going to be a global star within a couple of years of this save and Arsenal were sniffing around him so I'm hoping he can get out of dodge. Luis Maximiano the goalkeeper is another I'll probably try and rescue at some point, and it would be rude to leave Vlahovic in such a poor league I guess. The rest, fuck em.

---

Extra bonus edit: Sporting beat Bayern 2-0 in the last group game  whilst I drew 0-0 with Shaktar. They still came last in their group whilst this lot finished 3rd, so I've got the Europa League to look forward to!

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Took until the final day, but the Danish league title has been captured 

We had 19 games from the final Champions League group stage match to the final league game, and of those 19, we won 9, drew 8 (including the first 4) and only lost 2 - the second leg Europa League game to Burnley (3-1, meaning a 3-2 aggregate loss) and title rivals Nordsjelland in the penultimate game, which took things down to the wire. A 3-2 comeback win after going 2-0 down in 7 minutes was a great way to round out the league.

---

"Near Unstoppable" Porto royally fucked the league and Benfica won by 12 points. Sporting retained the Allianz Cup that I won them and lost the final of the bigger cup to Pacos de Ferreira.

Cardiff lost to Reading in the playoff semi-finals, who then went on to win promotion. Chesterfield devastatingly got relegated by one point and are back in League 2.

---

Transfers! January needed a new left winger and a big name striker because of those 4 draws I mentioned, three of them were 0-0 and for whatever reason I was really struggling for goals. Enter the wonderfully named Gift Links on LW, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top (he was languishing at Swansea for some reason; spoiler alert, the reason was he's shit now). Gift Links put in a good shift and will be an important feature next season, PEA announced he planned to retire next year so I released him on a free. Ethan Laird joined on loan from Chelsea as a better option than the aging Lars Bender at right back, and Michael Olise provided an extra option in CAM. annoyingly Steve Bruce won't let him come permanently.

Onto summer signings: Ethan Laird's departure along with the expiring contract of Lars Bender left a big RB whole to fill, which has been suitably done by Leicester's James Tavernier for 3m. Olise's departure meant a new CAM was needed, so Florent Mollet is arriving on a free, and Nuno Sequeira also joins on a free as a LB improvement. The star signing though is Santiago Ramos Mingo from Barcelona's B team for the princely sum of 10m (in installments), who looks an outsanding defender in relative quality terms.

I reckon one year here to hopefully get a second league and a cup in and I'll head off again. I could be swayed by a good European run but there's limited scope to take this team, especially when I just jumped over to nab a league title.

[RazorsEdge]

After getting tired with Leicester and Newcastle saves I decided to start a Manchester United save as I don't think I've done one on FM22 yet and I thought the squad would be relatively poor to reflect real life as in my other saves they haven't been very successful.

I was wrong.

First season done and I've won the league, FA Cup and Champions League. Only had a couple signings (Julian Weigl to play DM, Nico to deputize him, Enzo Le Fee as a future prospect). Ronaldo scored 31 goals and had 9 assists in 39 appearances in all competitions. Edinson Cavani had 36 goals in 45 appearances in all competitions. Maguire and Varane did well in the league with the team keeping 23 clean sheets across the season.

So now I'm in two minds about whether to continue this save and try and re-vamp the areas of the squad that are still a touch weak or start something new since I've won it all already.

[Cymbols]

Spent £150m on Ansu Fati and won the Champions League with Gladbach, so that's nice.

Turns out spending £150m on Ansu Fati (and an obscene amount of $$$ over the years) puts me in a £36m financial fair play black hole. So I have three options this summer:

1. Figure out how the fuck FFP works and try to fix it.

2. Say fuck it, and spend £110m on a promising looking winner from Southampton and trust that FFP goes away or figures itself out.

3. Leave Gladbach in the mud and apply for either the Chelsea or Spurs vacancies.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I've never actually gotten to a point where FFP has been a problem, so I'd just move to Spurs and forget about it if I were you.

[Cymbols]

Me neither, but things got a bit out of hand...

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

No shit, you spent £150m as Borussia Monchengladbach.

Minor update on my save: over the summer the Euros took place, and three countries underperformed so badly that they offered my little nobody ass the job role - Switzerland, Poland, and The Netherlands. Whilst the Dutch job was certainly enticing, I couldn't overlook family roots and have taken on the Poland job. They don't give a shit about the Nations League apparently so it sets a nice low bar expectation wise until the qualifiers for the Euros roll around.

One final piece of transfer news, former Cardiff loan star of mine Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has come to Denmark for a reunion for the surprisingly manageable fee of 6m to round out the squad revamp. A good amount of quality players have left the other teams, so I'm hoping that'll make the league pretty manageable. Still managed to only draw the first two games though, putting it down to the new squad still gelling.

[Cymbols]

I didn’t spend just £150m as Gladbach.

I actually spent £329m as Gladbach. 

[Owen]

I'm interested in jumping in and playing a bit of Football Manager, I've played a bit of the Touch one a few years back but I just wanted to check really how indepth it is? Is it a type of game where you have to manage every single detail and give every single instruction during the game or can you just sort of sit back and casually play, making transfers, choosing a team and just simming through matches without having to worry too much about using specific tactics and whatnot?

[Liam]

7 hours ago, Owen said:

I'm interested in jumping in and playing a bit of Football Manager, I've played a bit of the Touch one a few years back but I just wanted to check really how indepth it is? Is it a type of game where you have to manage every single detail and give every single instruction during the game or can you just sort of sit back and casually play, making transfers, choosing a team and just simming through matches without having to worry too much about using specific tactics and whatnot?

You can largely set it up so that other members of staff do the bits that you don't want to do.

[METALMAN]

In about 20 years of playing CM/FM I have never once touched training.