How Are You Doing On CM?

[King Pietersen]

Surprised you got rid of Barkley. He's probably been my best player since taking over. Gueye and Bolasie have been superb for me too, especially Gueye, he's a rock in at DM.

I made some big summer moves selling on 7 players for £85m before spending £84m strengthening the team. I sold:

Gerard Deulofeu to Man Utd for £27.5m (rising to £39m) - Didn't want to sell but the offer was too good and he wanted out.
Niasse - £3.2m to Bastia
Muhammed Besic - £4.4m to Marseille
Brendan Galloway - £1.8m to Wolves
Andrea Belotti - £45m to Bayern - Again, didn't really want to sell but the offer was just too good to resist and he wasn't amazing first season. I'll take the profit.

I then strengthened the side bringing in:

Christian Espinoza - £6.75m from Villarreal: Straight replacement for Deulofeu - pacy, technical winger with good crossing and dribbling
Mohammed Elyounoussi - £7m (rising to £8.75m) from Basel: Was weak on winger back-ups last season so another talented, pacy winger
Youri Tielemans - £17.25m from Anderlecht: A staple of FM saves. Gives a bit of extra creativity in the midfield and is a potential superstar
Moussa Dembele - £9m from Celtic: Replacement for Belotti, young, talented striker to rotate with Lukaku
Mauricio Lemos - £6.75m from Las Palmas: A defender brought in to inject some youth into an ageing centre of defence. Lemos is very highly rated with huge potential
Memphis Depay - Loan from Utd: Injuries to Bolasie, Espinoza, Elyounoussi and Lennon meant I needed an emergency winger. Depay was available on loan and fit the bill perfectly
Rafik Zekhnini - £1.3m from Odd: Yet another winger, but this time a very young one. Zekhnini comes very highly rated and is a definite one for the future
Andre Horta - £32.5m from Benfica: Biggest signing of the window, Horta was bought in on Deadline Day as I had a bit of cash spare and wanted another wonderkid. Comes very highly rated, has amazing all-round stats for a 20 year old and looks set to become a sure-fire superstar of world football. Delighted with that signing.

So, with those transfers made, this is now my strongest XI:

Loving that line-up and have very good depth in so many positions. Started well too, sitting in 4th after 10 games. Might not be title contenders this season, but with the amount of young talent in the squad I'd be amazed if 2 years down the line we weren't a Champions League team. Really excited to see how Horta develops. I hope we get to keep him for a good few seasons before he demands a move to one of the big boys, as he could end up being one of the best players in the game. In Donnarumma, Lemos, Horta and Dembele we've potentially got the best players in their respective positions in 5 years time, some incredible young talent.

 

[cpr]

I shifted Barkley because his contract was up in 12 months and he wasn't entertaining the notion of discussing one - hangover from Koeman nearly relegating the team and me managing to just make the top half. He wanted European football, Arsenal offered £27.5m (rising to £40m), was a no brainer to cash in. I'm using a 4-2-3-1, McCarthy/Wanyama behind Lucas Lima. McCarthy's passing % has been 90%+ during my time, so he's hard to drop, and Lima has just been a gem, so I felt Barkley was worth cashing in on. Deulofeu has only just left, was properly kicking up a stink about wanting to go and AC Milan matched his buy out agreement (£28m - he'd already renegotiated his contract twice in the year i'd been there and included that).

Tend to use McCarthy/Wanyama as a pair of BWM (Cleverley sometimes comes off the bench to go BBM), and use my wide men as inside forwards to support the lone striker. Lozano hit the ground running though the goals have dried up, but Januzaj has hit 2 in 3 since his loan move. Depay managed 11 in 16 (come to think of it, the last 10 might've been in about 7/8 games) doing the same last season. Currently the leagues top scorers, though my defence has gone to pot this year due to the changes. Bringing in Phil Jones for £6m on deadline day probably won't help.

 

[King Pietersen]

Just finished my 2nd season and what a season it was. Started okay, was sat 4th after 15 games but after that the guys put the accelerator down and we went on an incredible run. Lost a couple of key games, but this is how the season finished:

Unbelievable really. We were bang average in the first season so to come back and win the league in the 2nd is ridiculous. The key was our attacking. We were incredible going forward. Moussa Dembele was the signing of the season. Took a few games to get going, but here is his record at the end of the season:

He swept up every award other than top scorer (that was won by Icardi for Arsenal). He won Footballer*of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Players Player and*Players Young Player.*

Another superstar signing was Andre Horta. He was absolutely superb as an Attacking Playmaker in the centre of midfield. Season average rating of 7.52 with 6 goals and 7 assists and then he went to the 2018 World Cup with Portugal and absolutely dominated. Won Player of the Tournament and the Golden Boot with 5 goals, this kid is going to be the best player on the game in 2 years, no doubt. His partnership with Barkley was a joy to watch.*

Think my signings for next season are done. Depay has gone back to United after his loan spell so replaced him with the free transfer signing of Dries Mertens and then replaced the out of contract Aaron Lennon with Adnan Januzaj (also on a free). Then the big money signing of the summer is £36.5m for Joshua Kimmich. Needed something a bit extra in defensive midfield. Been impressed with Gueye, and he will serve as excellent back-up, but Kimmich is next level. Also sets up the Kimmich-Barkley-Horta midfield of dreams. This team is looking rather tasty right now.

Edit: Made that post and news popped up that City had bought Dybala for £81m. Looked at his profile and my god, look at them attributes:

 

[Furball]

Surely you've heard of Paulo Dybala ffs?

 

[King Pietersen]

Of course I've heard of him. Was just surprised when I saw just how godly his attributes have got. They're Messi level attributes. What a signing.

 

[cpr]

If anyone pines for
A) Classic CM games (01/02 etc)
B) Classic teams from bygone era's

Might be worth having a look at Retro Football Boss on steam. £9 for early access, combines the feel of old CM (match screen anyway - rest of its a bit more basic for now), and every English league season (inc real players) back to 1888. Even mirrors the finances/tactics etc of each period.

I'm giving it a blast now, but as my Newton Heath 91/92 squad currently only has 7 players it might be a slow season

 

[Nate]

Is CM 17 on Mobile any good? Wouldn't mind playing a tactics based game, but would enjoy 3D visuals.

 

[Nate]

Guys plz

 

[sledger]

Sorry lad, never played any mobile CM/FM games.

IIRC GIMH used to, perhaps he's the person to ask.

 

[Dan]

Seeing this thread bumped made me resurrect my FM save. Bastards.

Ended up winning the league and the FA Cup with Man Utd, and was 4-1 up in a CL Semi following the first leg vs RM, they promptly won 3-0 at home to take the tie.

Got rid of Charlies Adam and Austin, Lingard, Fellaini and Mata in the Summer. Brought in Messi, Kyle Walker, Firmino and Goretzka.

Gives me a line-up of:

GK - de Gea

RB - Clyne
CB - Ramos
CB - Balanta
LB - Shaw

DM - Bender
CM - Di Maria
CM - Goretzka

LW - Depay
RW - Messi
ST - Lewandowski

Bench strength of:
Valdes, Meret, Walker, Rudiger, Rojo, Evans, Luis, Blind, Herrera, Bradley, Schneiderlin, Tielemans, Januzaj, Firmino, Wilson, van Persie

 

[King Pietersen]

Been inspired by this thread to start a new save. Started as Ajax after seeing all the young talent they have at their disposal, aim is to get them back to Champions League contention and to win a 5th Champions League title.

First transfer window went well. I'm resigned to the fact I am going to have to be a selling club, and had to sell a first-team player in the summer window, with Kenny Tete moving to Man City for £12.25m up front rising to £19m, so a decent chunk of money. Following that sale I went into the market and bought the following:

Nicolas Tagliafico - Promising 23 year old LB from Argentina. Cost me £2.8m and although he appears to be slightly injury prone should be a solid signing and will strengthen an area of the squad that is particularly weak
Fredrik Oldrup Jensen - Another 23 year old, this time a Norwegian defensive minded midfielder signed from Odd for 650k. Incredibly solid stats across the board, excellent passing, very good mentality and his physicals also look very good for a defensive midfielder, a bargain.
Rafik Zekhini - The most expensive of our summer signings, Zekhini is another youngster signed from Odd, this time for £4.4m. He's a pacey, dynamic winger that at 18 has serious scope for improvement. Should be a valuable first-team player and a youngster we can make some good profit on.
Dodo - Our replacement for Tete was also purchased. 17 year old Brazilian Dodo looks like the perfect replacement at RB. He's incredibly quick, and has all the necessary stats to perform well in the position, as well as heaps of potential. He can't join until January, but he's well worth waiting for and should be another player we can make some very nice profit on in the future, having only signed him for £3.7m.

Season has started well. Had a good pre-season, plenty of goals once the tactic bedded in. First competitive game was in the Champions League qualifiers against Steaua Bucharest and it did not start well. In the 3rd minute my LB Viegever thought it'd be a good idea to slide in on someone 2-footed and was promptly sent off. Then the goals started leaking in and within 37 minutes we were 4-0 down away from home. Traore pulled one back in injury time of the first-half but at 4-1 down after 45 minutes, it wasn't looking good. We performed well in the 2nd half, grabbing another goal via Dolberg, a superb assist from Zekhini, but we went to the Amsterdam Arena with serious work to do.

The home leg was a completely different story. Late in the 1st leg we lost another defender, the much lauded Sanchez receiving a second yellow for a stupid challenge. So, we went into the home leg needing a 2-0 win with a centre back at LB and a 16 year old (de Ligt) making his debut at CB. Didn't matter though, we were superb. Dolberg grabbed a 2nd goal of the competition in the 3rd minute and just before the interval we made it 2 via Ziyech. A contained defensive display followed and the tie was eventually sown up in the 69th minute via a Westermann header from a corner. We did it. An incredible comeback, to go from 4-0 down to win 5-4 on aggregate. Superb performance! Next up we play BMG in the final round of qualifying.

 

[King Pietersen]

Got a really fun save going as Roma right now. Into the 3rd season - won the league last year pretty comfortably and leading this year by 3 points. Not on the best run in January, 4 draws and a loss in our last 7 which is not ideal, should be miles ahead of Juve. Have made some crazy good signings and have built an unbelievable team. Just picked up an insane 18 year old Romanian regen in January for £5.75m. Looks insane already and has incredible potential. What do you reckon?

 

[Indipper]

If anyone pines for
A) Classic CM games (01/02 etc)
B) Classic teams from bygone era's

Might be worth having a look at Retro Football Boss on steam. £9 for early access, combines the feel of old CM (match screen anyway - rest of its a bit more basic for now), and every English league season (inc real players) back to 1888. Even mirrors the finances/tactics etc of each period.

I'm giving it a blast now, but as my Newton Heath 91/92 squad currently only has 7 players it might be a slow season

That sounds like a rehash of the whole Out of the Park thing, but I'ma give it a shot if it means guiding the likes of Danny Blanchflower or Greavesy to some extra glory.

 

[cpr]

Its a struggle of a game at the moment, as its hard to get on the tactics. He's redoing the match engine thankfully so hopefully should improve. I've sorta left it to one side as I was struggling to get any consistency no matter which era Utd team I selected.

Once its redone I'm hoping it'll be amazing, it's got the balance of match to other aspect balance almost spot on, really does feel like a CM3 era game in so many aspects - almost as if someone's done a fantasy patch for one of those games but given you an option of starting season too.

 

[Furball]

In honour of the 25th anniversary of CM, the Guardian's run a feature.

Favourite part so far:

Back in 2001-02 I used to pick Rushden and Diamonds as they had an £8m transfer budget for some reason. Most of the money was spent on Taribo West’s wage. Gabon international Henri Antchouet was always bought from a small Portuguese club and I played him in attacking midfield. He scored lots of goals for me. Later in life I found him on Facebook and added him as a friend. He rejected the request and blocked me.

 

[sledger]

New one seems quite good.

 

[Furball]

New one seems quite good.

Will be interesting to see what sort of budget you end up with at Arsenal once all the shite in the squad gets binned.

 

[sledger]

Game realistically starts with Sanchez refusing to sign a new deal and City waiting in the wings.

 

[Furball]

Would probably sell him anyway.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, I sold him to City for £60m and brought in Lemar for £100m.

Season has been fairly mixed so far. Smashed a load of the dross teams early on, but then had to play Utd, Liverpool and City back to back, and managed to get 1 point from all 3 games.

Just beat Huddersfield 2-1 to go 8th in the table.

Have been playing with 3 at the back, but might ditch that as it it doesn't seem to be conducive to scoring many goals.