So, it turns out that Football Manager 19 is flexing its realism muscles harder than I expected this time around. In my last installment, I delved into what my goals were for revamping the first-team and how my financial goals were connected. The Football Manager gods laughed me out of their proverbial office on this one.
I can now confirm that escaping Arsenal’s nightmarish contractual situation, even in the digital world of Football Manager, is going to take a bit of work beyond one transfer window. While I was able to get some rather solid business done, I fell short of some overall goals I had previously set for myself.
Christian Pulisic | ₤38M | ₤75K/week | Shkodran Mustafi | ₤25M | ₤90K/week |
Kieran Tierney | ₤26M | ₤60K/week | A. Lacazette | ₤15M | ₤180K/week |
Yussuf Poulsen | ₤10M | ₤40K/week | Danny Welbeck | ₤12.5M | ₤83K/week |
Willi Orban | ₤9M | ₤56K/week | Nacho Monreal | ₤10M | ₤70K/week |
Alex Blesa | ₤825K | ₤5K/week | Carl Jenkinson | ₤2M | ₤34K/week |
Magnus Kaastrup | ₤700K | ₤5K/week | Henrikh Mkhitaryan | ₤10M | ₤200K/week |
Armin Djerlek | ₤600K | ₤5K/week | |||
Ionuţ Rus | Free | ₤5K/week |
Total Money Spent: ₤85M – ₤251K/week
Total Money Recouped: ₤75M – ₤657K/week
Combined: -₤10M (lost) | ₤406K/week (gained)
Initially, there is no avoiding the young players that are in and around the first team; I would be insane if I binned them. Smith-Rowe and Nketiah, in Football Manager especially, are too good and too promising not to keep on the books. Both have at least 4-star potential, with ESR hitting 4.5 if you develop him correctly. Maitland-Niles and Mavropanos also have the same potential rating.
Willock is right on the line between keep and sell. As for the new youth additions; Kaastrup, Blesa, and Djerlek are also in the same potential bracket as the first-team youngsters. This really does afford me the ability to keep or sell depending on the need at the time. Overall, this is an absolute win for me.
GK: Cech, Leno, Martinez
LB: Tierney, Kolasinac
CB: Sokratis, Koscielny (INJ), Orban, Holding, Mavropanos
RB: Bellerín, Lichtsteiner
DM: Torreira, Elneny
CAM/CM: Özil, Ramsey, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles, Willock
LW: Iwobi, Smith-Rowe
RW: Pulisic, Poulsen
CF: Aubameyang, Nketiah
This should be more than good enough to challenge for a top-four place whilst almost guaranteeing Europa League qualification at the very least. It has a nice balance between established ability and potential. It is clear that I still need a CB upgrade, especially with Koscielny nearing the end of his career, but that to me is the only glaring weakness; ironically, much like real life.
Unfortunately for me, the only downside with my best XI is that I am forced to utilize a 4-2-3-1 given that Özil is still on the books. He is too influential in the squad and relegating him to the bench would give me far too much of a headache from the very start of the campaign. My plan for a 4-3-3 that pressed more will have to largely be scrapped until next season. Still and yet, this is a pretty strong first-choice team and should not have any major issues I suspect. What are your thoughts?
Pre-Season can often be tricky and deceiving. One of the main keys to effectively utilizing your pre-season program is to understand that winning every match will often mask tactical deficiencies. So too in relation to the strength of your fixtures. Finding a balance between matches intended to target fitness and cohesion, and matches meant to test your tactical schematics against decent opposition is paramount. Thankfully, Football Manager makes it relatively easy to be able to craft a balanced pre-season.
Out of the 8 fixtures on the pre-season program seven of them ended up in wins; 6-0 (Tanjong Pagar; Singapore training camp), 3-1 (FC Metz), 2-1 (Lincoln City), 8-0 (Lewisham), 3-2 (Las Palmas), 1-0 (Ascoli), and 5-0 (Croydon). The only non-win was a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.
A worrying – and typical – trend for me that cropped up was inconsistent finishing relative to the number of shots and chances I was creating. At the other end, in the matches where a clean sheet was not kept, the opposition never registered more than three shots on frame (and always less than ten total). Normally their goals were the result of a mistake somewhere in the back, either in turning over position or a moment of poor marking. Like I said, typical Arsenal.
Prime examples of this came during the Espanyol and Lincoln City fixtures where all it took was 1 shot and 3 shots on frame respectively for them to find themselves on the scoresheet. In the case of Espanyol, a decent La Liga side capable of pushing for a top seven finish, I held them to two shots in total. Compared to my twenty and 9 on frame, the result was frustrating yet confirmed my two biggest flaws going into the league campaign. Limiting mistakes at the back while improving my chance conversion rate is vital in the first weeks of the season.
Despite one or two questions, overall pre-season form was good. I was especially pleased to see so many young players play rather well. Iwobi dispelled any notion that I should have gone in for a LW in the window. He was brilliant.
How would my efforts come off? Find out in the next installment where I tackle the opening month of the season, which culminates in a home fixture against Wolves.
Thank you once again, and as always, feel free to leave your thoughts on the blog itself and the save. Have suggestions, please leave those as well! And don’t forget to explore some excellent Football Manager community content.
Until next time! COYG
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