Doing the youth academy challenge in Belgium with Lokeren the last few weeks, a ton of fun so far. Pity finances are bugged in Belgium.
Gaming Football Manager 2023
- Thread starter Berbaclass
- Start date
Started my usual save with no badges and no experience and nabbed the Hereford job. I struggled badly last year and ended up going to Spain after a season and having to work my way up here, but this time I have been on fire. PL rejects just too strong for lower leagues. It’s so time consuming but so good when you see “Potential Championship Player” come up on a trialist!
Doing well in League One with a PJT and two FA Trophies and absolutely flying with Arsenal as an affiliate…and Marseille come in for me! I have never had a jump like that before, but promised to defy expectations in the interview and landed the job. The players hate me.
In 18th but managed to recover and sneak back into the CL with transfer listed Gabriel, Bennacour, Ibanez, Zaniolo and Moukoko coming in in January ( running up some serious transfer debt)
Have added some delightful free signings (Diaz, Gravenberch, Goretzka, Anguissa) ahead of new season and brought in a couple of Mexican wonderkids. PSG squad is STACKED and needed to overspend to have a hope of competing.
Am hoping CL runs and selling likes of Moukoko and a few of the free transfers will cover the debt when needed, but it’s all or nothing with PSG around.
Squad still no match for theirs, but let’s see what we can do!
Doing well in League One with a PJT and two FA Trophies and absolutely flying with Arsenal as an affiliate…and Marseille come in for me! I have never had a jump like that before, but promised to defy expectations in the interview and landed the job. The players hate me.
In 18th but managed to recover and sneak back into the CL with transfer listed Gabriel, Bennacour, Ibanez, Zaniolo and Moukoko coming in in January ( running up some serious transfer debt)
Have added some delightful free signings (Diaz, Gravenberch, Goretzka, Anguissa) ahead of new season and brought in a couple of Mexican wonderkids. PSG squad is STACKED and needed to overspend to have a hope of competing.
Am hoping CL runs and selling likes of Moukoko and a few of the free transfers will cover the debt when needed, but it’s all or nothing with PSG around.
Squad still no match for theirs, but let’s see what we can do!
Why sell Moukoko? A beast when he reaches full potential. A goal a game guaranteed.
Jesus PSG are a fecking joke. Playing with Saint Etienne and I’m now in my 4th season and I’ve built the squad up enough to comfortably be second (11 point gap to Nice) but Mbappe is an absolute freak and he pretty much wins every game for them.
Spending £40 million per year on wages, only 17 million less than Mbappe alone earns
Edit: Weirdly, they haven't bought anyone at all this season (now in March) and only have a 18-man first team. Could be that Mbappe's 1.1 Million a week wages are really hurting them. Don't think they have a transfer ban, can't see it anywhere.
Spending £40 million per year on wages, only 17 million less than Mbappe alone earns
Edit: Weirdly, they haven't bought anyone at all this season (now in March) and only have a 18-man first team. Could be that Mbappe's 1.1 Million a week wages are really hurting them. Don't think they have a transfer ban, can't see it anywhere.
Last edited:
Winter update due to drop soon, if last year is anything to go by. Reckon any Utd players will be buffed?
Martinez should be first. He's criminally underrated in this version. All the others are fine I guess. Maybe Sancho will be nerfed a bit.
He already is at that level but I mean more as security against the transfer debt. If I needed to, I can. I couldn’t believe my luck to be honest. Still at Dortmund, not playing, and no interest.
He is now a machine second season.
But yeah, might be more sensible to tie him down and sell the 30 year old mids while they still have value.
The issue is that the very top players don’t want to come here and it took all the money we had for the next 2 years to build a squad (they had a LOT of old men when I arrived). I am at the mercy of transfer list/free transfers.
Mudryk is still in Ukraine at 25 and his contract is up in December, but lots of teams circling. He wants to wait to end of his deal though and Shakhtar want 25 million to buy with 4 months left!
What in the feck is this? How was this goal allowed to stand, they have VAR 
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
If this fecks up my title race I will be pissed
A few interesting CA/PA changes. Ignore the minus ranges. My basic formula couldn't handle them.
These two look really nice after the update 
Martinez should have been upgrade much more considering how much they undervalued him, same with some of Casimiro’s technical ability.
Any noticeable changes to the match engine?
Some of these, I find absolutely criminal. We have some of the best players in the world at the moment who are far too low either in CA or PA or both.A few interesting CA/PA changes. Ignore the minus ranges. My basic formula couldn't handle them.
Currently in 2027 in my save and Eddie Howe just won the CL with Newcastle and Arsenal won the PL in the same season.
United finished 13th with Poch as the manager and they promptly sacked him right after he won Europa League.
We also gave Newcastle a helping hand by selling them a 27-year old prime Jadon Sancho. Fecking cnuts.
United finished 13th with Poch as the manager and they promptly sacked him right after he won Europa League.
We also gave Newcastle a helping hand by selling them a 27-year old prime Jadon Sancho. Fecking cnuts.
Apparently my team can't score penalties since the patch.
Have played half a season today with the new ME and can't say I noticed anything different. I don't seem to concede stupid goals from corner rebounds where my whole team just stands in the center of the penalty area not bothering to close anyone down, so that seems like it has been improved, apart from that I can't really tell much of a difference tbh.
Sad to see the patch hasn't fixed the joke bids. Chelsea just offered me like €12M for my biggest midfield talent, being a national team player at age 19 and being valued at between €80M - €90M. Fecking cheap arses.
FM bases CA on consistent performances over form and we've been shocking for a good few seasons now. Nevertheless, in game you could have a CA 140 player win the PL golden boot so it's not everything.
I'd say most of these are fair and the average CA is that of a top 4 team.
The Casemiro rating is pretty criminal though and Martinez is still underrated, even after the buff.
I think I'm giving up on Football Manager. There's nothing wrong with the game itself, I'm just beginning to realise I don't really enjoy it very much.
I like gaming to be something I can relax whilst doing and Football Manager is by far and away the least relaxing game I've ever played. I think it's the lack of control that does it for me, and with the bastard match engine changing it feels as though any time I get something working I have to rework it because it's no longer effective when the match engine updates!
I like gaming to be something I can relax whilst doing and Football Manager is by far and away the least relaxing game I've ever played. I think it's the lack of control that does it for me, and with the bastard match engine changing it feels as though any time I get something working I have to rework it because it's no longer effective when the match engine updates!
weirdly I’m the same but for the opposite reason. I feel like I can control too much now and it’s too easy.
Garnacho keeps opting for Spain and not Argentina
Gonna give this another go with the winter window update. Took over from Ten Hag in Feb with the club in 8th place and 11 points from top 4. Sunday league footballer, no coaching badges, just a regular joe from the stands who thinks they could do better.
Its been probably too easy for awhile now, probably a decade if I'm being honest, ever since they swapped sliders with roles and hard coded settings.
Not to mention some of the workarounds for bad form. Managing morale is easier than ever and if you have a free day playing a friendly vs a Sunday league team can quickly turn horrid morale around.
And thats essentially all thats needed to overachieve, a solid tacitc and green arrows for morale.
Theres tons more in the game than earlier versions but it all amounts to the grand sum of feck all bar those 2 simple things.
The game is definitely way too easy if you play a sensible tactic. Some sort of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 variant plus high pressing is guaranteed success.
I try to play weird tactics as it's the only way to artificially make the game hard. 3-4-3 with 3 shadow strikers?
I try to play weird tactics as it's the only way to artificially make the game hard. 3-4-3 with 3 shadow strikers?
Oh yeah. Basically a 4-3-3 with gegenpress of some form, a DM and a mezzala/attacking cm is all you need for your formation and the friendly trick always helps too.
I’ve basically copied and pasted my formation this year into every club and it hasn’t failed me yet.
Saying that...have Advanced Forwards since the patch been nerfed...? 
See, this is kinda what's made me fall out of favour with this game. Yes, it's easy. But at the very least, I want to see my team play to my style, or what I've set up. Instead, you just see the same repetitive movements over and over again. It's like you have no control in that sense over anything going on in the ME.
I have to agree, especially 4231 with aggressive tackling seems to make the game way too easy, at least if you have a decent team. Can't say if it also works in lower leagues, since I never have the patience to manage there and am always drawn back to Manchester United.
Still pretty good but I'm finding my goals are being shared around a little more. Don't think the likes of Haaland are gonna be banging in 90+ a season on the role now though.Saying that...have Advanced Forwards since the patch been nerfed...?
This is how I'm rocking this years game too. 2 dm's, high line and gegenpress the life out of teams. Switching between 4231 and 4222 mostly.I have to agree, especially 4231 with aggressive tackling seems to make the game way too easy, at least if you have a decent team. Can't say if it also works in lower leagues, since I never have the patience to manage there and am always drawn back to Manchester United.
Inside Forwards and 1 Advanced Forward on both tactics, pressing forward or target man in the 2nd striker role when playing the 22 and just a regular am on attack when playing 31.
Sometime with weak teams you'll get battered away from home but it'll work out more often than not and you'll easily punch above your weight.
Can't remember the last time it was favourable to use a mentality below balanced or a defensive line below high on an FM game.
You gotta love these scripted events of "you have to lose to your rivals away from home, no matter how amazing your form is right now."
Well at least it wasn't a 7-0
And yes the results are stupid but I'm 7 season in and the "AI" has made a complete mess out of every team, Liverpool are 5th btw.
Well at least it wasn't a 7-0
And yes the results are stupid but I'm 7 season in and the "AI" has made a complete mess out of every team, Liverpool are 5th btw.
Pretty much yes. It even works with a 5221, which I'm currently using in my Manchester United save. But it's essentially the same principle.
At first I actually tried to do a more possession based approach with a balanced and cautious mentality, did only last like 1 1/2 seasons because I really couldn't get any consistency in my performances, only after switching to gegenpressing, counter attacking, much more direct style I was actually able to stabilize my performances and immediately won the treble, it's a bit annoying that it is working this well because it actually makes me feel like wasting my time as soon as I try different approach and in all honesty I think it has been this way since at least FM2020, maybe longer.
Agree 100%, its very much a problem with the match engine where patient football doesn't work as well because defences can reset (similar issue to Fifa actually). FM has always had an issue with counter attacking, pace and setpieces being over powered. I even remember the online game Football Manager Live and how abused high line, pace and direct football was. That game was around 07 iirc.
I think possession styles still work best with high pressing to be honest. You want to win the ball back and then keep the ball ultimately, a cautious mentality, low block doesn't help that task. All I do is put the tempo way down and short passing. It takes a lot of risk out of the way they pass which naturally means you dominate possession and try and grind the opposition down. If you have good triangles in midfield and technical players even better. Shame there's not more nuance to it but this gets 70% for me quite easy. Some of the football is Van Gaal esque.
Totally agree possession can work but it's laughable how much better direct attacking football is. That's the problem for me at least since I never seem to be able to approach games in a way that I know is not the optimal. I mean the way I'm currently playing I end every season with more than 100 points and goal differences of 130-140 and while I know it's stupid and actually makes the game less fun I just don't have to will power to stay away from this style for too long.
This is me too.Totally agree possession can work but it's laughable how much better direct attacking football is. That's the problem for me at least since I never seem to be able to approach games in a way that I know is not the optimal. I mean the way I'm currently playing I end every season with more than 100 points and goal differences of 130-140 and while I know it's stupid and actually makes the game less fun I just don't have to will power to stay away from this style for too long.
Sit down and I'm like, I'm gonna try something new, drop 2 points and straight back to the meta.
One thing about that, cautious mentality can be played with very aggressive pressing and a high line, no problem. It's simply a risk taking modifier. It even works decently in big games I made some good experiences with that combination.
They have definitely nerfed Advanced Forwards and attacking play in general. I score 20-30 goals less than I was before in terms of the team and my forwards go on stinking runs of 6.0-6.5 ish and then purple patches. Might need to tweak the tactic a bit.
Noble Lee Cattermole honouring his sacred ties to Middlesbrough and not even considering the possibility of working at Sunderland. Just the 15 years and 250 games too late.
This fecking game sometimes.