Career Emulating Klopp!

[FM Blogger]

Hey everyone, i have started a Liverpool save with the aim to follow Jurgen Klopp's plans and philosophies in football. I will hopefully not be spending too much money and instead be hunting for bargains and creating my own gems. Not the easiest task in the world be it should be achievable. I have already made a start and the tactic is working pretty well so far. 

 

Here is an overview of the start of the season.. One thing i am trying to do is to get Sturridge scoring consistently. Coutinho is helping me achieve this although its early days

 

 

As shown, a solid start to the season averaging 2 points a game in the league. 

 

Started very well winning both friendlies and not losing for the first 4 league games before losing away at southampton... but apart from that, good start still in the league cup and topping the europa league group so far. 

 

These are the few transfers I have made in the first window

 

Brought in john stones for a reasonable amount, dont really think lovren or skrtel are good enough on this years game so I had to bring someone in, and with sakho not being the most mobile or technically gifted defender I though stones was the perfect fit. 

My only other signing, Ward-Prowse.. not yet one of the best midfielders/attackers but has a great delivery and a teamwork rating of 16 which is one reason I got him in... Very important that my players have high workrate and are willing to press the opposition for my tactic and style to work.

The three players on the way out made some of the money back, and while Ilori and alberto are pretty obvious sales, I want a bit hesitant on selling Origi. The problem was trying to fit all my attackers in, and especially with ward-prowse coming in I had to let someone go and I just felt that origi wouldnt be ahead of players like ibe and lallana so he had to go.

 

So here are my tactics

 

I have taken the idea of a high pressing game and put it into my formation. Having 4 attackers who are constantly chasing the ball down and 2 midfielders sitting and breaking up play will put alot of pressure on the opposition. On the ball however, I have wing backs to keep the pressure and hopefully outnumber the defense out wide, while having firmino as an inside forward to give coutinho and sturridge support down the middle. Ward prowse and lallana have been rotating out on the right as wingers to put good deliveries in while emre can playing as a ball winning midfielder will hopefully recycle the ball when either the attack breaks down and we lose the ball or when we run out of space and need to start again. Henderso is changing roles all the time depending on the match situation.

 

 

These are the instructions that I am using to try and create a high pressing high tempo attacking style of play.

 

Stay tuned for progress on the save and I will be uploading regularly!

[danovic78]

Stones would never join the reds!! 

There is lots of talent in the Championship if you want to look for some young talent, especially at Wolves and Leeds.

I always hate playing Southampton away, a bogey side for me this time too.

[FM Blogger]

thats a good shout got my eye on a couple but time will tell. There is always one, 16 games in and ive just lost my second 3-1 again thiss time to arsenal, tam showing good signs but not quite as clinical upfront as i was hoping.

[FM Blogger]

 

Just had a really relieving result, a 3-2 comeback against a defensive Chelsea team. looking at the stats I would have been really disappointed with a loss or even a draw, but thankfully the boys managed to break through three times after going 2-0 down to open up a 6 point margin over one of our rivals

 

 

 

 

As the league table shows, I've had a solid start to the season, only lost twice and still averaging over 2 points a match which is there or thereabouts the target to break into the top 4. Also please with the goals conceded considering I'm playing full backs and attacking football. The pressing play high up the pitch is really working well and its time now to see if we can keep it up throughout the season. Also won 4 of 4 Europa league matches so far so we have qualified already for the first knockout round.

[FM Blogger]

 

 

More than happy with this, winning 11 of the last 13 in all comps, losing only one and 7 clean sheets... very close to perfect from my team, still a couple of points of arsenal but we are coming for them!

[AndersJ]

That looks very interesting i Think

have you tried it with other instructions and teams the tactic ?

dont worry about Southampton and Bournemouth ( i also fair there 90% of the time

[FM Blogger]

41 minutes ago, AndersJ said:

That looks very interesting i Think

have you tried it with other instructions and teams the tactic ?

dont worry about Southampton and Bournemouth ( i also fair there 90% of the time

yeah had a couple of situations where i have had to bring benteke on as a target man and play wingers exploiting both flanks because playing through the center just hasnt worked, also had half an hour with benteke and sturridge upfront together but that was horrible lol. apart from that not really changed much else

[FM Blogger]

well well well, who said to win you have to dominate! at 2-1 down with 20 mins left i thought i was heading out of the league cup in the quarters, but a late comeback with strikes from super sub benteke and inside forward firmino gave me a very last minute victory to send me to the semi finals

 

because of the high tempo we play im not too fussed on the possession stats, but on the other hand i would really expect to have more chances, but luckily we took our chances and city didnt. Second victory in the first 4 months over possibly the title favourites (who are currently 2nd a point above me) really goo signs and i havent even changed the squad too much yet.

 

Capital One Cup Quarter Final Draw 

 

Liverpool                             v                            Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United             v                            Stoke City

 

Edited August 5, 2016 by FM Blogger

[FM Blogger]

ummmmm... right

 

 

 

Apparently im managing england in the qualifiers....

This was surprisingly easy, but considering the other 3 teams i suppose i shouldnt have expected any different

I will now play lazio in the first knockout round, and first leg away which means the second leg at anfield  

(i know stadiums arent on fmm but still, i can imagine)

[FM Blogger]

So January has come around and its time to look for players out of contract in the summer and available to sign contracts... 2 contracts signed to join in the summer and 1 transfer that has cost a small amount of money.

 

that happened... saw him on the list of expiring contracts, i could do with replacing benteke with someone i can use with the tactic, and as a poacher with ok teamwork and reasonable stats i feel his experience may help the squad.

 

The next free transfer is a goalkeeper who I adore on the game. Ive signed him three times on the PC game and hes not disappointed me so i thought why not. Probably sell mignolet and bogdan and just keep either danny ward or get another back up keeper.

 

The third transfer ready for the new season isnt a free signing but he is young, only cost arund 5 million, and i beleive he has potential to fit in the team in a couple of years, probably loan him out straight away unless i sell a few midfielders which i do plan to do but I dont know how many will leave

 

 

 

None of these players joining until the summer but i have a couple of million to spend, and may sell benteke now as its january, depending on who is available to sign

[Real_Random]

Nice signings mate. Tbh I would sign Lewis Cook over Mowatt because Cook has a higher PA

[Taff]

Good going dude looks very interesting and will be following this one.

Can I ask something your very first screen shot with all the various stats and pages how do you pull that up as I've seen a few people use it but am unsure how to do it

[FM Blogger]

8 hours ago, Real_Random said:

Nice signings mate. Tbh I would sign Lewis Cook over Mowatt because Cook has a higher PA

Yeah I did think that, but I've signed him before and didn't quite work out so fancied someone different

3 hours ago, Taff said:

Good going dude looks very interesting and will be following this one.

Can I ask something your very first screen shot with all the various stats and pages how do you pull that up as I've seen a few people use it but am unsure how to do it

Cheers mate! Just press the home icon on the left and its there I only found out you can save matches and go back through the highlights yesterday lol, this the first game you could do that?

[Taff]

39 minutes ago, FM Blogger said:

Yeah I did think that, but I've signed him before and didn't quite work out so fancied someone different

Cheers mate! Just press the home icon on the left and its there I only found out you can save matches and go back through the highlights yesterday lol, this the first game you could do that?

see when I press my home page I get this

Do you mind if I use your image and ask in the help forum?

[Real_Random]

51 minutes ago, Taff said:

see when I press my home page I get this

Do you mind if I use your image and ask in the help forum?

@Taff for you it's the button that says 'First in League 1 Wrexham' it's different because your device doesn't support the side bar

[Taff]

1 minute ago, Real_Random said:

@Taff for you it's the button that says 'First in League 1 Wrexham' it's different because your device doesn't support the side bar

Right so I cant get it, no worries dude cheers for letting me know

[Kylehood]

Hi,

Do you know if I should buy the in game editor for fmm16, I will still have it for fmm17. Or do I have to buy it again

Edited August 6, 2016 by Kylehood

[FM Blogger]

5 hours ago, Taff said:

Right so I cant get it, no worries dude cheers for letting me know

Yeah I have a Nexus 6p so it's hd skin, not sure but I think only hd skins support the side bar, you can still get all the info obviously but maybe not on one screen, get a better phone

4 hours ago, Kylehood said:

Hi,

Do you know if I should buy the in game editor for fmm16, I will still have it for fmm17. Or do I have to buy it again

You'll have to buy it again I'd imagine

[FM Blogger]

Just loaded the game back up and checked on sturridge... He's making me rethink replacing him to be honest

 

[FM Blogger]

Last signing of the season made mid January... Perfect fit, still young, only £23m, more than happy!

 

This was his debut in AMC... 

Edited August 6, 2016 by FM Blogger

[FM Blogger]

Aaaaaaaaand first peice of silver up for grabs, League cup final against united at Wembley.. close fought game went to extra time and penalties after a 1-1 draw.. 

 

Urgh ... Hate penalties, made even worse by the fact I couldn't pick the takers which I didn't know before the game, but oh well still in the other cups, and have united next in the league and again in the family cup quarters

[FM Blogger]

Will be updating abit again tonight sorry it's taking a while to do a season but I have been working and play footie 4 times a week 

[FM Blogger]

League table update!

Played arsenal in a midweek catch up game which ended 2-2 to keep my title hopes vaguely alive and keep myself in the top 4 race. The game started ok with both teams playing fast attacking football... But on the brink of halftime Theo Walcott was played in and opened the scoring to take an away lead into the break for arsenal. Walcott doubled the lead on the hour mark and at this point I started to change the tactics slightly in hope of a comeback as a defeat would have put the title out of the window for me, and a brilliant last 10 minutes saw two super subs lallana and ings complete the comeback in a 2-2 draw

 

With 8 games left and 8 points behind but with a game in hand, the title is a possibility but I would be satisfied with top 4 first season

[FM Blogger]

After a 3-1 win against Norwich, we are now 5 points behind the leaders and all teams on equal games played, here is the title run in, including a Europa league quartrr final against Dortmund and an fa cup semi final against Stoke city at Wembley!

[FM Blogger]

SEASON 1 REVIEW

 

Overall a pretty decent first season. Very good transfers in my opinion and even though I didn't win any trophies, it was only the first season and in my eyes the first season and maybe the second is primarily for building your team. I am now not far off the type of squad that I want, and have managed this without losing too much money. 

 

League Table

 

Man City won the league by what proved to be quite a large margin, even though they only won it on the final day. I am happy with 3rd place, Champions League group stage qualification and promising goal scoring stats when it comes to goals scored and conceded. Also having only lost 5 matches all season, I am confident that I can keep that up next year and hopefully turn some of those draws into more wins.

Team Stats

 

Turn your attention to the bottom half of the image, 'Most games without defeat'..... 15! This was a massive feature this season, I went on 2 unbeaten runs of over 10 games, and countless 3 and 4 game unbeaten runs throughout the season which shows good signs of consistency, and only once I lost 2 games in a row.

 

League Awards

 

Although I didn't win the manager of the year award, which I wasn't expecting to win, we had a 1 2 in the player of the year award, with Daniel Sturridge edging Coutinho, and I'll show you why....

 

Stand Out Players

 

Now... I know that as a lone striker he is bound to get the majority of goals for he team, but I didn't see this coming. Scoring 44 goals in 56 games is a goal scoring ratio that only the best strikers manage, and to get 11 assists as well is extremely impressive for the first season under my system. Not surprisingly he finished the league's top scorer with 24 league goals, beating Jamie Vardy in second, who scored 22 league goals. He can only thank the attacking midfielders for his performances, including this man...

 

25 goals AND 25 assists for my main attacking midfielder this season. Amazing stat, he really enjoyed playing as an inside forward on the left wing, and occasionally switching to a play maker in the central attacking midfield role. I'm not sure I've ever managed a player who has achieved this level of goals and assists at the same time, and the fact he isn't at his prime yet really excites me! With Daniel Sturridge getting the golden boot for the most goals, it will be no shock that Coutinho beat everyone in the assist leaderboard with 17 in the league. Sturridge also came second with 13 league assists, one more than Juan Mata in third. He also had 9... yes 9 man of the match awards just in the league, 50% more than any other premier league player this season, Sturridge also came joint second in this with 6.

Here are the top scorers and highest assists tables

 

My Thoughts

Transfers:

I am very happy with the transfers I made in the summer, John Stones was the marquee signing before the season started coming to Liverpool for £25m, and Rafinha another massive signing for me in January for £23m. Ward-Prowse coming for £13.75m was also a decent signing, more looking to the future but he featured a few times and impressed me alot! with both Belgians Origi and Benteke departing before the season in summer and January respectively for a total of £29.75m, the only time I regretted that was in extra time against Dortmund in the europa league quarters where he made it 2-1 and eventually we lost that tie, but apart from that I haven't missed them.

Defence: Very happy with me defence but slightly concerned with the fitness side. Regularly found myself subbing and rotating my defenders when I really wanted to keep the same back four working together.

Midfield: meh... not disappointed with my midfield but not overly impressed either, may find a big money player coming in and replacing some of the players who I will be selling in the middle of the park.

Attack: Obviously very happy, dont really need to state the obvious why

Playing Style: I really think I'm on to something here, still tinkering with midfield roles but I love the way we can play fast attacking football at the same time as winning the ball high up the pitch, really exciting to see, only problem is sometimes long ball team catch me out when i pressing high

 

Competitions:

League : 3rd (77 points)

League Cup : Runner Up (1-1, lost 4-2 pens to Man Utd)

FA Cup : Semi Final (lost 2-0 to Stoke)

Europa League : Quarter Final (1-1 Agg, lost 4-2 AET to Dortmund)

 

 

On to season 2! any questions feel free to ask:)

[FM Blogger]

Season Preview 16/17

So on to the second seasn then, caught upto where we now in real life. This is where my team is starting to really take shape, signed my ideal types of players and got rid of most of the deadwood.

Happy with the players I have brought in and very happy with the amount of income I have generated which helps keep my spending down at around £15m pounds while still improving my squad

Luiz Gustavo was my main target, mainly because my midfield needed strengthening, and knowing that I had grujic coming back from loan and a couple of CMs like Allen and Lucas going out I needed to keep but improve the quality and depth in the middle by getting Gustavo in and also adding some experience with De Jong who will be my back up BWM behind Can

With sane coming in, I needed an attacker who naturally plays as a winger, and I didn't feel ibe was quite good enough for the level I wanted to reach, so I sold ibe for a decent sum and brought in sane who looks very promising

Fernando Torres! El Niño is back where he is loved... Saw his contract running out back in January and I just felt I had to snap him up, not the greatest striker anymore but I think he has a bit more to off than ings, who I will be keeping and these two will rotate as back ups to Sturridge up top

In the goalkeeping department, I have decided to go with Geronimo Rulli, a young promising goalkeeper who I have had success with in the past on FM16 and 15 on the PC. On a free transfer I felt that signing him and letting bogan go would significantly improve my defence this year!

A couple of youngsters coming in and going out on loan, harry Chapman from Middleborough, a young midfielder with great potential but not quite good enough for first team yet. Liam bishop, a youngster from Leeds who fits exactly the same criteria and will also go out on loan to improve, and Andre martins who isn't as young but joining on a free, I think he will do more than a good job as a back up if I need him due to injuries so he's going out on loan with a recall clause if I can manage it

 

Tactics and Starting XI

 

As for the starting line up, the defence and goalkeeper pick themselves and I just had Gomez on the bench for back up as he can play anywhere in the back. In center midfield, these two are open to chopping and changing with the 3 on the bench, with De jong as a BWM, Can as a BWM or DLP, Henderson as CM or BBM along with Gustavo, and Milner as a playmaker CM or BBM. They will all get game time through the season as I tweak player roles for different opponents. In attacking midfield, there will be less rotation, Coutinho rafinha and firmino are all first choice, but fatigue and injuries will pave the way for both lallana and sane who are top quality replacements. The beauty of my attacking MIDs and subs are each player can play virtually anyway attacking, so I should never be left short! 

Upfront, no brainier after his 44 goals last season that Sturridge will start up top with ings and Torres rotating to replace him

 

The tactics are largely unchanged, but now I have sane, I can be more confident playing the AMR as a winger, firmino plays well there but before sane I didn't have a quality natural winger to replace him if it didn't work

The two in the middle are as I just explained, different player roles for different matches. An interesting choice is to not have a primary outlet. Because I have more than one player who's roles are to create chances, I thought against singling out one player to stop others drifting out of the game, and it worked for me when I made the change last season so I'm sticking with it

This is my plan for the year, not thinking of any more signings but I have money if I need it come January, start the league against city so let's go!!!

Edited August 10, 2016 by FM Blogger

[FM Blogger]

Interesting start to the season, first match away to man city... Went 3-1 down to a harry kane hattrick on his city debut, all of a sudden, Sturridge got his second to claw one back... Then this happened last minute of the game to make it 3-3!!! Leroy sane also coming on and scoring on his competitive debut for the club

2016_08_13_14_02_40.mp4 

[Real_Random]

Nice signings mate. Hopefully there will be some glory this year

[FM Blogger]

Cheers @Real_Random, on more signing made, saul from atletico madrid for £17m, probably means milner will be going by next season now

[FM Blogger]

Just approaching January 2017 and I thought I'd give you all an update, having just annihilated our closest current title rivals! 

Yep, having had coutinho and Gustavo get injured for a couple of weeks, I didn't have my strongest team available but it didn't matter! 

It brings Sturridge up to 15 goals so far, not keeping up to last year's pace but he's missed some games through injury

 

Looking good on the league table, opened up a 3 point gap with this victory over spurs in 2nd. Amazing defence and only one loss.. here is how I've got to this point...

Suffered an early defeat to palace but bounced back and that still stands as my only defeat this season so far, we are now on a 17 match unbeaten run in all competitions, 14 of these being clean sheets, with 6 and 7 game runs without conceding. 

Long may this continue!