Career Scratch Tries The Liverpool Front Three Challange (🎬Take 2)

[Scratch]

I'm back from my mini break and ready to try the The Liverpool Front Three Challange (created by @Rob ) :

I like that it's short, I like that I'll be able to use some top players that I normally don't get to, and I like that I'll get to pit my three up front tactic from my TT against the Premier League. The tactic was great in Spain and I've since used it in a test career with Ajax, once again with great success - but the EPL may be a tougher nut to crack. We'll see.

Anyway, I've only just started the save, but I thought I'd post the pre-season transfers now:

The big signing was KDB who cost £150M plus Naby Keita. Hey, why not? He'll be able to keep the front three topped up with an endless supply of chances and this is only the second time I've managed at a club that could get him.

Other big signings were Douglas Costa (a favourite of mine that I never get to use), Coman, Havertz, Dilrosun and Telles. I ran out of time and funds near the end, so brought in some cheaper options, like McKenna as cover (not quite good enough at this level) and Sinisterra as the second right winger (a bit too young for a single season career).

I tried to sell Wijnaldum (his Newcastle exit was understandable, but I've avoided him in FMM), Shaqiri and Minamino and clubs were willing to pay £60M, £50M and £60M respectively, but they would NOT leave. If they had, I would have gotten a better second right winger than Sinisterra and a better CM option and a backup striker. 

Anyway, I'm reasonably happy with the team. We'll have the 3 lads up front, with KDB and Havertz alternating behind them, Costa/Dilrosun on the left wing, Coman/Sinisterra on the right wing, with Henderson and Wijnaldum holding down the CM role. TAA and a retrained Fabinho will be our right IWB, while Robertson/Telles will be on the left, and VVD/Joe Gomez will share the single CD position. Then we have Milner, Origi, Shaqiri and Minamino coming off the bench.

So, we'll have to see how this goes, but I'm feeling excited right now! I'll be back with the result in a couple of days...

EDIT: I should have mentioned that most of my signings, including KDB, have a 50% sell-on clause attached. Makes sense for a single season save - I'll never have to sell any of them and it means my funds go further! Also some of them had to get upset at rejected bids before I could get them as cheap as I did - Coman for eg was originally going to be 120M I think, but that came down when he got upset at my first bid being rejected, then I used the 50% fee to make it even lower...

Edited November 5, 2020 by Scratch

[Rich]

Some nice signings and well done on getting so much for Alex oxlaide-chamberlain, great stuff. Looking forward to seeing how you do Scratch, it’s an enjoyable season this one 😁

[Rob]

Good luck. I always do 50% sell on and then usually include those players as trades if I ever want to be rid of them, therefore not taking a financial hit. Getting Dil and Kai at those prices though is nuts. Dil is always mid twenties for me, at the cheapest, even with 50%.

Smash it!

[Scratch]

4 minutes ago, RichD said:

Some nice signings and well done on getting so much for Alex oxlaide-chamberlain, great stuff. Looking forward to seeing how you do Scratch, it’s an enjoyable season this one 😁

I actually wanted to use the Ox, but then I noticed his coach report screen said "Incosistent" and I got rid of him right away! I always bump the price up a bunch the first time I offer them out to see if anyone bites and sure enough they did this time. 

I do wonder if the order of it has any effect. He was probably the first player I offered out and I had no trouble getting rid of him. But the players I got stuck with were the ones I offered out last. People wanted to buy them, but they wanted to stay.

I wonder if I'd offered Wijnaldum out first whether I could have got rid of him easily, but gotten stuck with the Ox if I offered him out last. Maybe the game makes it harder to get transfers through once you've sold 'too many' players. Mind you it's never stopped you selling players judging from your transfer screens in your writeups! 😄 Maybe it's if the squad is too small or something...

[Scratch]

8 minutes ago, Rob said:

Good luck. I always do 50% sell on and then usually include those players as trades if I ever want to be rid of them, therefore not taking a financial hit. Getting Dil and Kai at those prices though is nuts. Dil is always mid twenties for me, at the cheapest, even with 50%.

Smash it!

Thanks mate! Dil (and I think Havertz too) was one of those players who got upset at not being able to leave, so then their priced dropped. I actually did that on purpose this time around - made a bid, but let it fail, and then went back again. I had a couple of bidding wars get in the way, but mostly it worked well.

I've never done it on purpose before, because apart from Barca, I've never managed a club with with as much draw card potential as Liverpool right now. I mean all of these players were upset when a transfer to Liverpool fell through, so it worked really well and I kept on doing it.

[Aaron Thornton]

That is some significant cash splashing 😂 great signings, KDB will be an assist machine which is good and bad as you want the front three assisting each others goals, good luck. 

[Scratch]

31 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

That is some significant cash splashing 😂 great signings, KDB will be an assist machine which is good and bad as you want the front three assisting each others goals, good luck. 

Thanks mate. Yeah, I generally don't play the really big clubs, but I have to admit that I'm getting a taste for the spending power!

Yeah, I'm starting to worry about the assists. Maybe I've bought the wrong players and maybe this tactic is letting those players assist too much! Here's where I'm up to:

Costa is a beast (always has been, wish I could normally afford him). Telles is a massive bargain for his quality. Havertz and de Bruyne both doing well. But yeah, doesn't leave that many assists for the lads...

Of course they are scoring pretty well, which is nice, so it may turn out fine in the end. They had a couple of small injuries though, fingers crossed that's the end of that!

[Scratch]

This made me cry...

I'm so sorry... 😢

To make matters worse, I got mixed up and subbed Salah and Firmino (Mane is out injured) just before half time... 🤦‍♂️

 

[Aaron Thornton]

2 hours ago, Scratch said:

This made me cry...

I'm so sorry... 😢

To make matters worse, I got mixed up and subbed Salah and Firmino (Mane is out injured) just before half time... 🤦‍♂️

 

I hope your happy! 

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

I hope your happy! 

My secret plan is to get him sacked so I can ditch Liverpool and go manage the Toon! Salah, Firmino and Mane? No thanks, I'll take Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Carroll! 

[Aaron Thornton]

6 minutes ago, Scratch said:

My secret plan is to get him sacked so I can ditch Liverpool and go manage the Toon! Salah, Firmino and Mane? No thanks, I'll take Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Carroll! 

^said no one ever 😂 given Firmino's form recently we should be allowed to buy ASM and play him alongside Mane and Salah and create the strangest abbreviation in football, ASMMSSM

[Scratch]

8 hours ago, Aaron Thornton said:

^said no one ever 😂 given Firmino's form recently we should be allowed to buy ASM and play him alongside Mane and Salah and create the strangest abbreviation in football, ASMMSSM

LOL, although... now I'm thinking that would be an interesting challenge (ASMJAC at Newcastle). Would be a lot lower scores than the Liverpool Front Three Challenge, but sometimes it's good to have a more difficult one...

[Aaron Thornton]

2 hours ago, Scratch said:

LOL, although... now I'm thinking that would be an interesting challenge (ASMJAC at Newcastle). Would be a lot lower scores than the Liverpool Front Three Challenge, but sometimes it's good to have a more difficult one...

That would separate the cats from the pigeons for sure, the thought of two strikers as immobile as Carroll and Joelinton in the same XI makes me queezy 😂 but you've peaked my interest 

[Scratch]

11 hours ago, Aaron Thornton said:

That would separate the cats from the pigeons for sure, the thought of two strikers as immobile as Carroll and Joelinton in the same XI makes me queezy 😂 but you've peaked my interest 

Of course a sensible person would go for Almiron instead of Carroll... But maybe Carroll is more fun? Don't know. Just wrapped this challenge up and half tempted to try the Newcastle version. Or I might do the Liverpool one again, this time with my DT tactic (instead of my TT one). Or maybe I'll do the Messi/Ronaldo one... Not sure, but will likely start on of those in the next few hours...

[Scratch]

The Results Are In...

First though, we need to talk about transfers..

Spoiler

I went into the first half of the season undermanned, especially with backups in the 3 forward positions. I was running out of both time and money, but almost closed several cheap deals (Hurtado, Arezo) - but then window slammed shut and Origi was my only real backup. So, at subbing time, I had to bring on AMs and change the formation.

When the window opened again in January, I tried again - but again I couldn't sell the players I wanted to (Wijnaldum, Shaqiri, Minamino). After a fair bit of frustration I decided I would just loan in a couple of backups and I did - Esposito, Arp and Fati. They are obviously pretty green, but they did an adequate job of coming off the bench, which is all I was expecting of them.

It was at this point that I discovered I could loan in (some) players who were transfer listed, so I bought in Sane and Isco. I thought they might lift the quality of the team or at least be decent backups. They were both pretty abysmal however, with neither getting anywhere near an average rating of 7 even when I started them (for the first month after they arrived). 

Anyway, we had a strong team with two good players for most positions. Here is our strongest lineup (based on performances):

 

Next we need to talk about injuries. Mane had two separate 3 week injuries (both thigh strains), while Salah had a 10 day injury:

Spoiler

Not ideal, but could always be worse.

 

Then let's talk about results:

Spoiler

So... A good season, romping the league and winning a lot - but with two ugly losses in the cup competitions that matter. West Ham beat us 4-3 to knock us out of the FA Cup in the 5th round, while Inter dominated us in both legs of the CL Quarter Final, beating us 9-4 on aggregate. Quite a few games lost right there...

 

Importantly in the league we had 104 points and a goal difference of 107, which I was pretty happy with. Probably not enough to put me in contention for the top of the leaderboard, but hopefully in the frame for mid-table. 

Which leaves goals and assists to count up:

That's 139 goals and 59 assists. I'm pretty happy with the goals, but the assists could have been higher - but then that's how this tactic works... Lots of goals, but the AP, the CM, the wingers and the IWBs all get a bunch of assists. 

So... If my maths are right, our score adds up to: 409 points in total.

That's good enough to put me in the top half of the leaderboard. Taking the injuries into account, along with the the lost games (from getting knocked out early) and the fact that it was my first attempt - I'm pretty happy with that!

I would like to see how they fare with my DT tactic, as that gets a lot of goals but is slightly better defensively than the TT one. So I may very well be back to try that.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading - I'll leave you with screenshots of their attribute and individual history screens:

Spoiler

Great little challenge this. See you around soon! 

 

[Rob]

That’s one of the best ‘first attempt’ scores I’ve seen. Well done. Looking forward to your next attempt at it, especially if you take a bit more due care on the transfers 🤦‍♂️

[Titjes]

Great attempt mate, well done 😉

[Aaron Thornton]

Great first attempt mate, i like when @Scratch is in Challenge Mode

[Scratch]

16 hours ago, Rob said:

That’s one of the best ‘first attempt’ scores I’ve seen. Well done. Looking forward to your next attempt at it, especially if you take a bit more due care on the transfers 🤦‍♂️

Thanks mate. All down to the tactic, honed over 14 seasons of TT. 😄 I've just started again using my DT tactic, as I really want to see how that goes. Some complicated choices though - Mane as winger? Or Firmino as an APM? Or.. something else? Hmm 🤔

I've ended up with some of the same transfers this time around (KDB, Havertz, Telles), which is boring, but I couldn't find anyone better. Actually I need left footed BBMs who can cross and KDB and Havertz fit the bill, so they are more important this time around...

I made sure my squad is a bit deeper with some wonderkids who won't mind sitting on the bench when everyone's fit (Almada, Zaracho) and I signed Haaland for bench duties... So I think I've got it covered this time around. Also, only need 4 forwards per game instead of 6 with this tactic which helps.

Anyway, really loving this, thanks again!

added 0 minutes later

15 hours ago, Titjes said:

Great attempt mate, well done 😉

Thanks mate, pretty happy with that, but hoping to improve slightly next time around

[Scratch]

13 hours ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Great first attempt mate, i like when @Scratch is in Challenge Mode

Thanks mate! I'm actually thinking about retiring from challenges (as in I will still write them up, but not go on the leaderboard), just because I've seen too much under the hood of the game now and it's an unfair advantage. But challenges like this might be okay for me to do as I'm only buying world class players and my under the hood knowledge isn't that much of an advantage here...

[Rich]

Great going mate, awesome score there, loads of goals, it’s making me want to have another go at this one, Salah was a beast for you! It’s so much more fun scoring loads isn’t it?

[Scratch]

12 hours ago, RichD said:

Great going mate, awesome score there, loads of goals, it’s making me want to have another go at this one, Salah was a beast for you! It’s so much more fun scoring loads isn’t it?

Thanks mate - yeah, there's something to be said for scoring lots of goals. It's different dynamic with it happening upfront in the first season - normally I have to build the squad for a couple of years to get anywhere near this. I'd miss that squad building thing if I didn't do it every so often, but a ready made single season save is good for a change!

[Scratch]

Attempt 2

Alright, I did it again... This time using my DT tactic, which I was hoping would bring as many goals, while being slightly better (not much mind you) defensively. 

However, it didn't work as well as I wanted (still petty good, just not as good as the TT tactic used in the last attempt). I think the problem is the three lads just didn't fit the tactic.

I needed two forwards with great Aerial and none of these guys fit that. I also needed a right winger with great Crossing but I ended up playing Mane out on the wing most of the time, as he didn't seem to do enough up front. So I made him an IF on the right, which changed the whole tactic. Here's what we ended up with:

We ended up with that after a lot of trial and error (which didn't help things). Playing Salah as a Treq meant he scored a lot less goals than last time, but provided more assists. I couldn't get him scoring as an AF (the original role for this tactic) or anything else, so this seemed the best choice.

Firmino was the weakest scorer last time, but this time around he went it the position that scores the most, which may not have been sensible... And although he's not a TM, that's the role that worked best in the original tactic, and that's what he played in my TT tactic and none of the alternatives I tried worked any better for him. I tried him in the AM/AP role with the other two lads ahead of him, but the other two lads didn't work.

Maybe if I did it again, I'd put Firmino and Mane upfront and either play Salah as right IF or retrain as the AM/AP and stick to having a good crosser on the right wing.

But anyway, to sum up, the lads didn't quite fit the tactic and it didn't work as well as I was hoping (by no means a disaster, only slightly lower than last attempt, but I was hoping for more).

 

Transfers

Once again I brought in a load of players, really pushing the limits of our budget. Everyone coming in had a 50% sell on clause and I know the formula now to maximise that - basically:

• Make an offer at their list price (eg 20M)
• They will come back with what they ideally want (eg 50M)
• Bring the offered amount down to something slightly over list price (eg 25M) and clear any sell on %
• Close the offer screen BEFORE you make the offer (ie walk away from the negotiating table), then open it again and make the offer
• They will tell you their real mininum (eg 30M)
• Then offer them two thirds of that (eg 20M) plus the 50% sell on clause
• 9 times out of 10 they will accept, even for older players who probably won't have a good sell on price
• If you are doing a part exchange you can generally remove their list price from the value before you add the 50% sell on clause - using the eg above: real minimum of 30M, minus 12M list price of exchange player, means there is 18M remaining, so offer them 12M plus 50% sell on

So using that strategy, I made the following transfers: 

Spoiler

I went for KDB, Havertz, Telles again but then brought in a bunch of other players. Bernardeschi was brought in to share the left footed BBM role along with Havertz. Fekir came in as a cheap option to share the AM role with KDB. I did try to bring Messi in for that role and got a good deal from Barca, but he didn't want to come.

Unlike last time, I brought in some good backups for upfront (Haaland and Embolo) and a bunch of decent young players that could play across the midfield (Berge, Amiri, Maier, Zaracho, Almada) and who would be happy sitting on the bench.

So the squad was ready to go!

 

Injuries

We had a better season this time around - only one injury to Salah (10 days):

Spoiler

He had another in game injury and was bumped down to 60% so missed 3 games or so, but it was much better than the last attempt.

 

Results

I forgot to get the league screenshot or deleted it or something, so will just go with the History screen as proof (and I won't worry about the other finals, because this score will be lower than last time):

Won everything, so much better on the team front than last attempt. I guess that's down to being slightly more solid at the back - although we only conceded 7 less in the league. We also scored 20 less goals, which is the trade off I guess.

Anyway, we ended up with 103 points and a goal difference of 94 - not as good as last time around.

Then the lads managed the following:

Salah a lot less goals than last time (47 vs 68), but the other two lads stepped it up - Mane only by 1 (42 vs 41), but Firmino by 17 (47 vs 30). But then the assists went more to Salah than Firmino this time around. 

All up, the lads got 132 goals and 64 assists. Last time we got 139 goals and 59 assists, so it was roughly the same. Adding all that up means: 

The total for this attempt is 393. 

 

Not bad, but not the step forward I was looking for. Also, when you take into accout that we went further in the cups and had had fewer injuries, it meant the lads played more games - 174 this time around vs 152 last time. So really I was disappointed we went backwards. Still that's football!

Here are the screenshots of their attribute and individual history screens:

Spoiler

 

Not sure what I'll do next. Maybe try the KDB challenge with my 1KC tactic (which got Vignato 99 assists one year, though in all competitions). Even if he only gets 40 in the EPL (league only), if you add 10 penalties and 10 free kicks and 5 open play goals, he could get a score of 65-70, which isn't far off the top of the leaderboard (75). And I'd like to give the lad freedom to just play rather than being a servant of the Liverpool front 3! But we'll see.

Anyway, thanks for reading!