Career UCL Challenge Attempt: Liverpool

[Scouse Mouse]

New to FMM; long time FM'er.  I liked the UCL challenge, so thought I'd make a thread about it. IMHO, teams should forget about the league and treat is as a qualifier for the UCL anyway. There's 0% chance I win it before FMM20 comes out.  I have a natural tendency to scum-save, because "I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem", so I hope making a post will make me more accountable.   Going Liverpool, obviously.  

Strategy is to prioritize formation/players that will work in UCL, not EPL.  So high positioning for CD, movement for AM/ST, and both for everyone else is essential.  Also, I "borrowed" the Fulham "big-match" tactics from the tactics forum, because it works against big teams, whereas many posted tactics are where a big team consistently beats teams that sit back.  IRL I'd argue the Man City approach of 10 Attacking Midfielders and a Poacher works well in the PL, but not the UCL with more equal teams.  Pep didn't do great with Bayern either.

Player purchases:

Target Man for system: Maxi Gomez ($65M buyout clause.  Dollars because, like Scouse the Mouse, I emigrated to USA.).  Of course, he was injured before I played a competitive game.

High Mentals improvements:

Kante   ($108M; outbid Barcelona for his services by offering large sign-up bonus; surprised Chelsea let him go).  I looked at Torreira, but Arsenal wanted >$120M for him, and Kante is currently better.

Craig Dawson ($19.5M RB from West Brom.  TAA's stat's in this game are not great, at least to start with. Dawson has much higher positioning, important for UCL.  IRL Liverpool have the best full backs in the world, but I don't think that's reflected in the in-game attributes).

Gaetan Bong ($6.5 M LB from Brighton.  Much better positioning than Andy Robertson).

Simon Kjaer ($27.5M CB from Sevilla. Positioning = 19.  IMHO Joe Gomez' attributes are too low in-game)

Player Sales:

Henderson: Tottenham offered >$70M, which I didn't want to turn down.  He would have started otherwise.

VVD My new captain.

My first PL game is Man City away, which is great as a test for how it works against UCL sides.

My biggest issue might be salaries; there are a lot of players on a lot of wages.  Maybe I should have Transfer Listed some players that aren't 1st XI; but in my "full-fat" FM experience you don't get offers and just annoy them (like Zidane and Bale IRL).

If I can figure out iPhone screenshots, I'll post as I go. 

 

[Scouse Mouse]

1st XI.  When fit, Maxi Gomez will be TM:

 

[Scouse Mouse]

My first competitive game, away at man city.    We dominated possession, but had far fewer shots and shots on target. Allison performing well means we won one Nill.  So I RL like the champions league final against Tottenham.   My negative that the game tells me is that my midfielders didn’t make enough forward runs, but I don’t want them to make forward runs so I’m fine with that. It seems that this approach will be good for the UCL.

[Scouse Mouse]

Match 2. Home v Bournemouth. 1-0. Negative is “lack of goal scoring threat from attacking midfielders”.  I’m going to play on higher mentality from now on when I should win.

[Scouse Mouse]

I prefer 1-0. Conceding first is too stressful! I was on “attacking” mentality. The negative was Allison not stopping the shots. Kjaer got a 5!

[broodje kip]

Never heard of this challenge though 🤔

3 hours ago, Cereal Killer said:

What exactly are the rules of this challenge? Is it just win the ucl with Liverpool??

 

[Scouse Mouse]

It's in the challenges section here.  You have to win the UCL as many times in a row, with the same team, as possible.  The max so far is 15.  I'm not going to get there before FMM20.

There are lot's of other interesting looking challenges there.  The easiest to me appear's the Neil Warnock challenge.  Since it's across multiple saves, you can play as Luton Town for a season, post it, play it again etc.  But that seemed boring, so I went with this.

My next game is Crystal Palace away.  I'm thinking of changing my wing-backs.  I don't necessarily need great positioning against CP, and the others may have other qualities.  Today I've been doing other stuff, so I won't get back to it for a while, maybe.

[Scouse Mouse]

I think I made a mistake buying Dawson. Joe Gomez would be just as good. I didn’t think of him, because he was down as a starting cb. My bad.

[Scouse Mouse]

Had to replay Leicester because I forgot to save. 

[Scouse Mouse]

 Went control away against team I should beat. Conceded first against crystal Palace. Negative is  strikers losing Ariel Duels which is a bit concerning because that should be Maxi Gómez biggest strength. 

[Scouse Mouse]

 Arsenal at home. I care about how I do against the top six because they are the type of team I will face in the UCL. It is also a good test for my positioning focused plant purchases. Here it worked well, with the players I bought doing very well. I am worried about the continued negative on strike is not raining many Ariel Duels .Am I misunderstanding what a target man is going to do?  Maxi has 17 strength and Ariel, 16 movement. 

[Scouse Mouse]

My first UCL much is a way to young boys. I Squeaked a one Nil win. The tactics seems solid, but will not score a lot even against weak opposition. Maybe against the smaller teams in the group stages, I should push up the mentality. the goal came only after I switched from defensive to balanced.

[Scouse Mouse]

Unconvincing win v Cardiff. I should have reduced mentality at halftime 

[Scouse Mouse]

Arsenal away. Only Caribou cup, but a good test again for the tactics against a strong team. Convincing win. Now I have a question about what to do with Waterford on Saturday and Atlético Madrid the Tuesday after. Will probably play full strength, because it’s only a group game.

[broodje kip]

Looking good right now but I didn't think that you can qualify for the champions streak challenge as you are using tactics from the forum

[Scouse Mouse]

It didn't you couldn't in the rules (though it does for some challenges).  Though it also didn't say (originally) you had to do it with one club, and someone had 20 with Barcelona/Man City combined.

Also I'm not sure in rules like that what counts?  What if I took the tactics and changed the mentality from "Defensive" to "Counter".  Or a BPD to a CD?  Is it anything inspired by anything you see in the forum (rather than IRL)?  

I would suggest, if possible, someone respected by the challenges community puts expected rules in one place (e.g. no replays/ unlockables/ editors/ tactics from forum and what to do if you mess up etc.).  Then challenge creators can just link to it.  I'd make it, but I'm four games into my first challenge, so I'm probably the wrong person.

For this year, it's moot because I'm not playing >15 seasons anyway.  For next year, I'll probably get FMM20 at the beginning of November, and have to make my own tactic because people won't have created/tested theirs yet.

[broodje kip]

3 hours ago, Scouse Mouse said:

It didn't you couldn't in the rules (though it does for some challenges).  Though it also didn't say (originally) you had to do it with one club, and someone had 20 with Barcelona/Man City combined.

Also I'm not sure in rules like that what counts?  What if I took the tactics and changed the mentality from "Defensive" to "Counter".  Or a BPD to a CD?  Is it anything inspired by anything you see in the forum (rather than IRL)?  

I would suggest, if possible, someone respected by the challenges community puts expected rules in one place (e.g. no replays/ unlockables/ editors/ tactics from forum and what to do if you mess up etc.).  Then challenge creators can just link to it.  I'd make it, but I'm four games into my first challenge, so I'm probably the wrong person.

For this year, it's moot because I'm not playing >15 seasons anyway.  For next year, I'll probably get FMM20 at the beginning of November, and have to make my own tactic because people won't have created/tested theirs yet.

Yeah if the instructions were changed you technically using your own tactic while the rules in one place could be quite funny though as some will make it to long 😂😂 

Btw don't be to mad I'm trying to tell you that only 😉

[Scouse Mouse]

I’m not mad at all. I’m not taking it that seriously. I feel worse for the guy that switched to man city after 15 straight wins with Barcelona.Next few games posted below. Main thought is that some of my squad are getting a little bit tired. So I will be resting anybody that says that on the happiness screen, or has low-ish stamina, unless it is a UCL  game. I think that will mean that I do not win the league, but that is not my goal anyway.

[broodje kip]

4 minutes ago, Scouse Mouse said:

I feel worse for the guy that switched to man city after 15 straight wins with Barcelona.

Actually it's part of his challenge so don't feel too bad for him😂

[Scouse Mouse]

I didn’t realize that.Next game I gave both of my sent box of rest against Chelsea, but  The replacements  were both solid

Edited September 2, 2019 by Scouse Mouse

[broodje kip]

Actually those midfielders and forwards are very impressive but the defences is quite a meh.. but yeah as they say offence is the best defence

[Scouse Mouse]

Sala out for two months make makes 15 of my squad injured.😩

[Scouse Mouse]

My second 11 beats Bolton in the Caribou cup. I have a lot of injury worries so I think it’s good to play we can teams in these competitions. Who cares about that cup

[Scouse Mouse]

The game said I was a huge favorite against Southampton, so I tried my second 11 again. I was very lucky to win.

[Scouse Mouse]

I rest VVD for two games because he’s a bit jaded, and I want to save him for more important games, and I got all kinds of abuse. Who would be a manager? Next game is Hoffenheim away, so a real test of my UCL tactics. 

[Scouse Mouse]

A good win away shows how good the tactics work in UCL. Like Irl sane steps up when Salah is injured.

[Scouse Mouse]

Game says “comfortable “ 1-0 win. I’m glad it was so relaxed!

[Scouse Mouse]

Easy win over young boys. Top of the table against Manchester United to come!

[Scouse Mouse]

 I’m torn because my UCL center backs are both slightly tired.  And Michoel is the UCL, not the EPL. On the other hand I don’t have a UCL match for a couple of weeks, and I can rest them against Fulham at home. Also I got these sent back because of the high positioning, which is more likely to be important against Manchester United than say ever turn off phone. Therefore I’m going to Risk them now, and then rest them against Everton and Fulham.

[Scouse Mouse]

 My 2 Best Center backs secure an important clean sheet. After Origi scored, I went to defensive, which is why manChester United only had two shots.