No idea if anyone has any interest in this, but a review of my first season on FM20 below…
Summer Window I had a budget of about £100m. Immediately I set about looking for a midfielder, and found that Bruno Fernandes was available for about £55m, which later proved to be the biggest bargain since Ronaldo. I also wanted a left back to compete with Shaw (Williams is not rated by the game), so I spent the remaining £45m on Jose Gaya from Valencia. I still wanted more, but I was fairly happy, particularly when I managed to get rid of Young for about £3m.
However, I was disappointed to not be able to sell Jones or Rojo, and both went on loan to Dijon and Wolves respectively. Rojo had a surprisingly good average rating at Wolves (about 7.2), so I’m hoping they’ll pay me £20m or so for him. I was also annoyed when Alderwiereld went on the market for £25m, as I had no budget left, but luckily the ‘Interact with Board’ option became available and they agreed he’d strengthen us significantly, so we got him in as well. Sent Tuanzabe on loan to Germany once I knew I was getting Toby in.
My team All listed with second choice for each role directly beneath.
De Gea (GK)
Romero (GK)
AWB (FB, Au) --- Maguire (CB, St) --- Alderwiereld (BPD, Co) --- Gaya (FB, Au)
Dalot (FB, Au) --- Bailly (CB, St) --- Lindelof (BPD, Co) --- Shaw (FB, Au)
Fernandes (BBM, S) --- McTominay (BWM, S) --- Pogba (AP, S)
Fred (BBM, S) --- Matic (BWM, S) --- Periera (AP, S)
James (IF, A) --- Martial (AF, A) --- Rashford (IF, A)
Mata (IF, A) --- Greenwood (AF, A) --- Lingard (IF, A)
United’s season Won the league and in the final of the Europa League. Europa was easy enough, didn’t face a decent team until Porto in the semis and Arsenal in the final will be straightforward. See what happens when we actually invest properly in the team?
The league was fairly straightforward too tbh. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and Pogba all got between 10-20 goals across all competitions, but my real star was Bruno Fernandes. He got 28 goals, 27 in the PL, making him top scorer in the competition despite coming from midfield. 20+ of those were outside the box (including a few free kicks), plus a couple of others and 3 or 4 pens (I only put him on them once I realised he could be top scorer). The scoring from outside the box is definitely glitched, Pogba got about 10 too.
Rest of the world’s season Liverpool were on my tail for most of the season (about 5 points behind) but dropped off around Feb/March fairly heavily. On the final day (quit just before it last night) they need a win to secure top 4, but if they draw Arsenal will snake them for 4th place. They’re in the Champions League final against Bayern and it sounds like if they lose and don’t get 4th Klopp will be sacked.
City were about 3 points behind Liverpool until Jan/Feb when they also dropped off (albeit not as far as Liverpool, top 4 was never in doubt). That combined with losing to Barca in the CL last 16 meant Pep was sacked, and they now have Faith Terim in.
Crystal Palace were 4th for ages, they just kept winning every game 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1. Then City dropped off and they went 3rd, and then Liverpool dropped off and they went 2nd. Not sure what the fuss is about, I beat them twice fairly comfortably, but anyway Hodgson will probably rob me of manager of the season.
Chelsea and Spurs both had nightmares, both bottom half in January. Pochettino was sacked, can’t remember who replaced him, they’ll finish about 9th.. Lampard hung on (I’m pretty certain his minimum expectation is qualify for Europa) and going into the final day he has a slim chance of 7th. They shouldn’t sack him now, they were about 15th in January but have been decent since, but likely will sack if he doesn’t get Europe.
Villa and Sheffield United are down, and Burnley very likely to join them on the final day. Barca, Juve, PSG and Bayern all won their leagues. Only La Liga was competitive.
Next season For the transfer window I’m doing what I hate us doing in real life and playing the waiting game. My budget is about £250m plus any money I can get from sales.
Eriksen is leaving Spurs on a free and it seems his main suitors (Liverpool and Chelsea) may not have CL so I might lowball slightly and see if he’ll come. I don’t have a clear opening for him but on a free it’s worth a punt. The real prize from North London is Kane, who the scouse have made their top target. If they have a bid accepted I’ll match it instantly and give him a better offer. If he comes I’ll move Martial back to LW and rotate him & Rashford to make room.
Most of what I buy will be defined by who I sell. I want to sell Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Fred, Matic, Periera, Mata and Lingard ideally. Of those, all but Matic and Mata should bring in at least £15-20m each. Fred is apparently coveted by Real for about £55m, and Periera by Bayern for about £65m. Periera has played well when he’s come in, particularly in the Europa, but I’d be absolutely delighted with that valuation. Lingard is the one I’m worried about – hoping Arsenal get CL as they are apparently interested and that’d give them the money required (assuming they don’t then look for a better calibre of target). I’d also consider selling one of Bailly/Lindelof if a good offer came in as I have Tuanzabe ready to go.
As I said, I’ll be in for Kane and Eriksen. Sancho isn’t that highly rated in this but I might go for him anyway if I can get him for about £100m. If money gets diverted elsewhere Chong can do a job for next season. Happy for Hannibal Mejbri to be my reserve AP to Pogba, so that frees up room to spend more on the other two midfield slots. Kessie from AC Milan was a beast on 19, he doesn’t look as good this year but is half the price of Rice and rated higher. Looking at SMS as well but seems like Lazio will want too much money.
