So it's been a minute... I decided to take a prolonged break from FM but I'm back and ready to continue this save. I was really excited for this save but I honestly got burned out on FM. I work from home and thus could play FM for 8 hours, between working, every day. Do that for 5 months and I'm sure you would be ready for other games too. I'm back now and over the next few months will be jumping right back into the breach of this save and see where it takes me, us. Luckily I had only gotten 1 more month played before my break so you haven't missed much.
An Americans Journey
- Thread starter doyce7
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March 2023. So this whole month was played before my break and as such have no hope in remembering the details of these games. Instead I will give you the results and move on. First up was the Coupe de France quarter final against Lille. Based on the stats, and only goal being a penalty, I'd say it must have been a nervy affair. Especially since the penalty was in the 90th minute, yikes. But we move on. We face Ajaccio next for a place in the final. Monaco and Nice face off in the other semis
Not the greatest youth intake I've seen for sure but Julienne might have a future, time will tell. Pretty disappointed to be honest.
All in all, pretty good month, 4 wins from 4. PSG is now long gone but we did move into 2nd in the table as Monaco have a rough month.
That's it for the first post back. All I have done with the save since march is press continue until April. Ready for this.
Not the greatest youth intake I've seen for sure but Julienne might have a future, time will tell. Pretty disappointed to be honest.
All in all, pretty good month, 4 wins from 4. PSG is now long gone but we did move into 2nd in the table as Monaco have a rough month.
That's it for the first post back. All I have done with the save since march is press continue until April. Ready for this.
MidKnightDreary
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Welcome back. Following.
April is the big month of my Lyon tenure so far. A shot at the Coupe de France with the semi final early in the month and potentially the final at the end. The semi final against Ajaccio, which is a Ligue 2 team by the way. With them not being the best of competition I decided to risk playing a rotated team and even though we were fairly dominate, it could have backfired but it was 3-1 after 75 minutes and even though Ajaccio got one back on 94, it wasn't really in doubt. on to the final... against Monaco, as expected.
Before we get to the final, some other bits of news. First up, we did it! Now of course we already knew that, baring a collapse, we would be in the Champions League next season, but now it is confirmed.
Next, Lyon seems to be pleased with my work so far, which is nice to see. They definitely get one thing right, Ndombele has pretty much been undroppable for me since I arrived and Lopes has been splitting time with Rajkovic as I try to work out who will be number 1 next season or one or both need to be sold in the summer. I do have my eye on another keeper, that could easily supplant either but I'm not sure if I want to spend my resources at that position or not.
Speaking of money, with the Champions League confirmed, we have our budgets for the summer. As always I would liked a bit more but not a terrible budget for a club this size. That wage budget translates to 114k/w left right now and everyone in the first team is already under contract for next season, so if I want to bring in more than a couple players I will need to either sell, or move some of the transfer budget to wages.
Ok, enough stalling, you want to know what happened in the final. Moussa Dembele opened the scoring in the 8th minute with an absolute screamer from the edge of the area to the top corner and from then on we were cruising. Monaco did NOTHING for 70 minutes, they had 2 shots and none on target until a turnover led to a Ben Yedder breakaway and he slotted home for 1-1 in the 71st, ****. Nothing happens for either side, as I rage, for the next 19 minutes and then Monaco get a corner from nothing. Ball delivered into the box, headed across at the front post by Badiashile and turned in by, again, Ben Yedder and Monaco steals the final. Devastating. Absolutely devastating. We were the better team but really we only have ourselves to blame. We did not take advantage of Monaco sleeping for 70 minutes and get another goal or two.
As for the rest of the results, a sea of green. Did I forget to mention that we beat Monaco 3 days before, 4-0. Yeah. Frustrating.
Winning every league game, doesn't matter if you are chasing PSG though, does it? We are making them wait until May to hoist the trophy though, small victories I guess.
Before we get to the final, some other bits of news. First up, we did it! Now of course we already knew that, baring a collapse, we would be in the Champions League next season, but now it is confirmed.
Next, Lyon seems to be pleased with my work so far, which is nice to see. They definitely get one thing right, Ndombele has pretty much been undroppable for me since I arrived and Lopes has been splitting time with Rajkovic as I try to work out who will be number 1 next season or one or both need to be sold in the summer. I do have my eye on another keeper, that could easily supplant either but I'm not sure if I want to spend my resources at that position or not.
Speaking of money, with the Champions League confirmed, we have our budgets for the summer. As always I would liked a bit more but not a terrible budget for a club this size. That wage budget translates to 114k/w left right now and everyone in the first team is already under contract for next season, so if I want to bring in more than a couple players I will need to either sell, or move some of the transfer budget to wages.
Ok, enough stalling, you want to know what happened in the final. Moussa Dembele opened the scoring in the 8th minute with an absolute screamer from the edge of the area to the top corner and from then on we were cruising. Monaco did NOTHING for 70 minutes, they had 2 shots and none on target until a turnover led to a Ben Yedder breakaway and he slotted home for 1-1 in the 71st, ****. Nothing happens for either side, as I rage, for the next 19 minutes and then Monaco get a corner from nothing. Ball delivered into the box, headed across at the front post by Badiashile and turned in by, again, Ben Yedder and Monaco steals the final. Devastating. Absolutely devastating. We were the better team but really we only have ourselves to blame. We did not take advantage of Monaco sleeping for 70 minutes and get another goal or two.
As for the rest of the results, a sea of green. Did I forget to mention that we beat Monaco 3 days before, 4-0. Yeah. Frustrating.
Winning every league game, doesn't matter if you are chasing PSG though, does it? We are making them wait until May to hoist the trophy though, small victories I guess.
Last moth of the season, May. We did play PSG this month, one week after they clinched the title and we WON. Don't get too excited though, PSG must have been hungover after winning the league because they played a B team basically and the B team didn't look like they wanted to be there either. About as lifeless as you'll ever see a PSG team be. 3 shots, none on target? Still 3 points is 3 points I guess.
All green in the league again in May. We finished with 14 straight league wins to finish the campaign, the last loss coming back in February against Stasbourg.
I don't think this half season ish, can be considered anything but a success. We kept pace with PSG for the whole second half of the season. We had 1 fewer point than PSG in the last half. Overall we finish in second, 8 points off top and actually broke the record for most points in Lyon history with our 89. Look forward to maybe having a title challenge next year!
Awards time. Moussa Dembele wins the golden boot, or whatever the top scorer in France is actually called. He and Paqueta also made it into the Ligue 1 team of the year with 8 PSG players and 1 Monaco player(who I absolutely love on FM).
Next up will be a summer plans post and then... transfers!
All green in the league again in May. We finished with 14 straight league wins to finish the campaign, the last loss coming back in February against Stasbourg.
I don't think this half season ish, can be considered anything but a success. We kept pace with PSG for the whole second half of the season. We had 1 fewer point than PSG in the last half. Overall we finish in second, 8 points off top and actually broke the record for most points in Lyon history with our 89. Look forward to maybe having a title challenge next year!
Awards time. Moussa Dembele wins the golden boot, or whatever the top scorer in France is actually called. He and Paqueta also made it into the Ligue 1 team of the year with 8 PSG players and 1 Monaco player(who I absolutely love on FM).
Next up will be a summer plans post and then... transfers!
sahajpal97
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Nice series. It is an interesting turn from the USA job to the Olympique Lyon job.
This will be a lengthy post I'm sure. Lets just get into it. Position by position breakdown incoming
This is the squad as a whole. It's a fairly balanced squad on the surface but lacking depth in certain areas, as you'll see.
Keepers first. I'm not completely sold on either of these guys. Rajkovic I brought in for cheap because he was cheap, I like him and he had a really good av rating in the 12 games he played but he probably isn't a number 1 on a team trying to win in the Champions league. Lopes has been the Lyon number 1 for many years now and he's a good keeper but same thing applies, plus he is the 3rd highest paid player on the team and might be the 13th best. Like I said before I have a keeper in mind that is better than both, just not sure he would come or if we can afford him. TBD
Fullbacks. Vanderson is my long term starter on the right and Dubois is pretty good but expensive so I'll probably be trying to move him on and bring in another to compete. Ake and Denayer are CBs so ignore them. I really like both Pelegrini and Lodi but both were hurt almost my whole time in charge, can I trust them next season? Lodi I know I could get a good price for so I may sell him to make moves elsewhere and keep Pellegrini and hope he stays healthy while bringing in another guy, I have one in mind but we'll see. Sadilek did an ok job filling in at LB for most of the second half but he is not really a LB, probably will keep him as Pellegrini insurance though.
Centerback. Oh man are we lacking any kind of depth here. The starters are great but 40k is a lot for a 4th CB and that's really what brooks is, I may need to move him and bring in 2 CBs. A vet to be number 4 and youngster to be 3rd choice would be ideal.
Midfield. The midfield I am incredibly happy with. We should have enough bodies if they all stay that I think this will be the one area that remains untouched. Unless a great deal pops up.
"Wingers." Out wide Aouar is great on the left as IF and the right will be Cherki as IW. Gomez wants out and I see no reason not to let him go. Almada will be backup IF and MEZ. Paqueta will mainly be MEZ in midfield but can also play on the right. Oumas can be a backup across the front 3. I think the wide places are fine. Maybe one player that can do both sides, maybe.
Lastly, upfront. Dembele is fantastic but there is not much after that. Kadewere is ok, but would rather he be a 3rd choice. My top summer target, and I'll just tell you who it is now, is Ben Sesko. I have no idea if I can actually get him but that's the plan.
That's the team. What would you do? I went into this thinking, not many changes but after talking it all out, I think I may do a half rebuild. Is that insane? it might be. I should probably just add a CB or two and a backup striker and go with that but we'll see what happens.
This is the squad as a whole. It's a fairly balanced squad on the surface but lacking depth in certain areas, as you'll see.
Keepers first. I'm not completely sold on either of these guys. Rajkovic I brought in for cheap because he was cheap, I like him and he had a really good av rating in the 12 games he played but he probably isn't a number 1 on a team trying to win in the Champions league. Lopes has been the Lyon number 1 for many years now and he's a good keeper but same thing applies, plus he is the 3rd highest paid player on the team and might be the 13th best. Like I said before I have a keeper in mind that is better than both, just not sure he would come or if we can afford him. TBD
Fullbacks. Vanderson is my long term starter on the right and Dubois is pretty good but expensive so I'll probably be trying to move him on and bring in another to compete. Ake and Denayer are CBs so ignore them. I really like both Pelegrini and Lodi but both were hurt almost my whole time in charge, can I trust them next season? Lodi I know I could get a good price for so I may sell him to make moves elsewhere and keep Pellegrini and hope he stays healthy while bringing in another guy, I have one in mind but we'll see. Sadilek did an ok job filling in at LB for most of the second half but he is not really a LB, probably will keep him as Pellegrini insurance though.
Centerback. Oh man are we lacking any kind of depth here. The starters are great but 40k is a lot for a 4th CB and that's really what brooks is, I may need to move him and bring in 2 CBs. A vet to be number 4 and youngster to be 3rd choice would be ideal.
Midfield. The midfield I am incredibly happy with. We should have enough bodies if they all stay that I think this will be the one area that remains untouched. Unless a great deal pops up.
"Wingers." Out wide Aouar is great on the left as IF and the right will be Cherki as IW. Gomez wants out and I see no reason not to let him go. Almada will be backup IF and MEZ. Paqueta will mainly be MEZ in midfield but can also play on the right. Oumas can be a backup across the front 3. I think the wide places are fine. Maybe one player that can do both sides, maybe.
Lastly, upfront. Dembele is fantastic but there is not much after that. Kadewere is ok, but would rather he be a 3rd choice. My top summer target, and I'll just tell you who it is now, is Ben Sesko. I have no idea if I can actually get him but that's the plan.
That's the team. What would you do? I went into this thinking, not many changes but after talking it all out, I think I may do a half rebuild. Is that insane? it might be. I should probably just add a CB or two and a backup striker and go with that but we'll see what happens.
You're not wrong. I wouldn't have thought I'd end up in France first but the job looked interesting and toppling PSG is always a challenge
sahajpal97
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Btw please check out both the series I am writing about.
1. The journey of a lifetime Part 1: https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime-part-1.178165/
2. The journey of a lifetime Part 2: https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime-part-2.178361/
1. The journey of a lifetime Part 1: https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime-part-1.178165/
2. The journey of a lifetime Part 2: https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime-part-2.178361/
On the eve of the first game of the new season, lets look at some transfers.
Well... This was the keeper I had in mind. Of course he goes to PSG instead to sit on the bench forever. You were meant to destroy PSG not join them!
Lets get to the outs first. I know I talked about selling Lodi and keeping Pellegrini but no body wanted Lodi and I couldn't go into the season relying on TWO guys coming off major injury seasons. Sporting offered 25M for Pellegrini, so he can go.
Moi Gomez goes to West Ham for 16M, as I said before he wanted to leave and I see no reason not to let him. Third choice at best on the left, third or forth choice at the CM spots, or 16M. Gimme the 16M.
Dubois is a good backup RB but again, he wanted to go. Ended up getting 8.5M for him from Atletico, which is fine.
Are you ready for the ins? I'm not sure you're ready for the ins. I am very, very excited for this summers transfers.
First up, we got him! Welcome to Lyon, Ben Sesko! 16M(11 up front), 1M more after 50 league games and a 30% profit sell on. The profit sell on hurts but honestly, it's just the price of doing business. He should be great for us.
Sesko is not coming by himself. Welcome back, Oumar Solet! The young CB was at Lyon before moving to Salzburg and blossoming into a really good young player who will come in to start at the back for us. I plan on doing something I've done in the past at CB this year and that is have all 3 of Denayer, Ake and Solet start equal games, 2/3 each. Hopefully that will keep all 3 happy and fresh. I really like this one. He comes in for 17M(11 up front), no clauses, no sell on.
With Pellegrini going out, I needed a new LB, Enter Federico Dimarco, 12M with a further 1M after 50 league games. Now you may look at his attributes and say, he's fine, nothing special. Trust me, this guy fits the way I play FM to a tee. Federico is hands down one of the 3 or 4 favorite players in FM22 for me. He's going to do big things for Lyon.
I know I said Vanderson would be the starter long term and that is still true, he is young after all but Maehle comes in to actually start this season. He had moved to Chelsea for 17M before last season but only played 7 times. I was able to get him in for 10.5M which is honestly a steal.
For the last in, there needs to be some background. I thought early on that I was going to get Altay and so I accepted a deal for Anthony Lopes from Wolves that he said he was open to. Lopes turned down Wolves then he got ****** at me that I accepted the offer. So now I had to sell him even after the Altay deal fell through and he went to PSG. But he wouldn't go, he just wanted to cause problems. I tried to apologize but he wouldn't hear it. I was so mad at him that now he will never play for me again. So GK went from, I'd like to upgrade to I have to get a new one. I had two options accepted.
Ugurcan is the better shot stopper, Simon is more athletic and probably a bit more complete of a keeper but also much more expensive. Either would be a great keeper for us.
In the end, I could not in good conscious, spend SO much money on Simon. So welcome to Lyon, Ugurcan Cakir. He may actually even be better than Altay, who I have had before. He's a really good upgrade on what we had in Lopes and Rajkovic. Lopes by the way, has been moved to Lyon 2 so if he doesn't accept a move he will be playing in like the 4th tier of France this year. Good luck with that Anthony. Ugurcan comes in for 15.5(8 up front).
Well... This was the keeper I had in mind. Of course he goes to PSG instead to sit on the bench forever. You were meant to destroy PSG not join them!
Lets get to the outs first. I know I talked about selling Lodi and keeping Pellegrini but no body wanted Lodi and I couldn't go into the season relying on TWO guys coming off major injury seasons. Sporting offered 25M for Pellegrini, so he can go.
Moi Gomez goes to West Ham for 16M, as I said before he wanted to leave and I see no reason not to let him. Third choice at best on the left, third or forth choice at the CM spots, or 16M. Gimme the 16M.
Dubois is a good backup RB but again, he wanted to go. Ended up getting 8.5M for him from Atletico, which is fine.
Are you ready for the ins? I'm not sure you're ready for the ins. I am very, very excited for this summers transfers.
First up, we got him! Welcome to Lyon, Ben Sesko! 16M(11 up front), 1M more after 50 league games and a 30% profit sell on. The profit sell on hurts but honestly, it's just the price of doing business. He should be great for us.
Sesko is not coming by himself. Welcome back, Oumar Solet! The young CB was at Lyon before moving to Salzburg and blossoming into a really good young player who will come in to start at the back for us. I plan on doing something I've done in the past at CB this year and that is have all 3 of Denayer, Ake and Solet start equal games, 2/3 each. Hopefully that will keep all 3 happy and fresh. I really like this one. He comes in for 17M(11 up front), no clauses, no sell on.
With Pellegrini going out, I needed a new LB, Enter Federico Dimarco, 12M with a further 1M after 50 league games. Now you may look at his attributes and say, he's fine, nothing special. Trust me, this guy fits the way I play FM to a tee. Federico is hands down one of the 3 or 4 favorite players in FM22 for me. He's going to do big things for Lyon.
I know I said Vanderson would be the starter long term and that is still true, he is young after all but Maehle comes in to actually start this season. He had moved to Chelsea for 17M before last season but only played 7 times. I was able to get him in for 10.5M which is honestly a steal.
For the last in, there needs to be some background. I thought early on that I was going to get Altay and so I accepted a deal for Anthony Lopes from Wolves that he said he was open to. Lopes turned down Wolves then he got ****** at me that I accepted the offer. So now I had to sell him even after the Altay deal fell through and he went to PSG. But he wouldn't go, he just wanted to cause problems. I tried to apologize but he wouldn't hear it. I was so mad at him that now he will never play for me again. So GK went from, I'd like to upgrade to I have to get a new one. I had two options accepted.
Ugurcan is the better shot stopper, Simon is more athletic and probably a bit more complete of a keeper but also much more expensive. Either would be a great keeper for us.
In the end, I could not in good conscious, spend SO much money on Simon. So welcome to Lyon, Ugurcan Cakir. He may actually even be better than Altay, who I have had before. He's a really good upgrade on what we had in Lopes and Rajkovic. Lopes by the way, has been moved to Lyon 2 so if he doesn't accept a move he will be playing in like the 4th tier of France this year. Good luck with that Anthony. Ugurcan comes in for 15.5(8 up front).
This will be a shorter update as there was only 2 transfers, 1 in 1 out and 3 games in August
Lopes has left. He will not be playing for Lyon 2 this season, he's going to go sit on Liverpools bench instead for 5M.
The only in, and I know I said I was happy with the midfield, I was and am. But I realized that I actually promised Ugurcan that I would improve the midfield, so Welcome Daniel Braganca! 18.5M(14 up front), pretty good deal really, he should fit right in but I am going to have to do more rotation this year to keep everyone happy.
This is probably my first choice 11 and subs. You could have Denayer over Ake, Berg or Caqueret over Braganca or Ndombele or over Cherki when Paqueta goes out wide on the right. It's a well balanced team I think with 20+ guys that I have no issue playing at any time. If I had to say a weakness, it's probably at IW but Cherki is young and has played well for me. I do expect Sesko might be number 1 by the end of the season.
As for results so far, yeah not much to say other than this team is pretty good, I think. My stamp is now all over this team. Only 7 of the 18 pictured are players that were here when I arrived 9 months ago.
Will probably be a few days before the next post, enjoy your weekend everyone!
Lopes has left. He will not be playing for Lyon 2 this season, he's going to go sit on Liverpools bench instead for 5M.
The only in, and I know I said I was happy with the midfield, I was and am. But I realized that I actually promised Ugurcan that I would improve the midfield, so Welcome Daniel Braganca! 18.5M(14 up front), pretty good deal really, he should fit right in but I am going to have to do more rotation this year to keep everyone happy.
This is probably my first choice 11 and subs. You could have Denayer over Ake, Berg or Caqueret over Braganca or Ndombele or over Cherki when Paqueta goes out wide on the right. It's a well balanced team I think with 20+ guys that I have no issue playing at any time. If I had to say a weakness, it's probably at IW but Cherki is young and has played well for me. I do expect Sesko might be number 1 by the end of the season.
As for results so far, yeah not much to say other than this team is pretty good, I think. My stamp is now all over this team. Only 7 of the 18 pictured are players that were here when I arrived 9 months ago.
Will probably be a few days before the next post, enjoy your weekend everyone!
So I thought going into this season, maybe we could mount a title challenge...
Things started out pretty well, 5 wins from 5. Then Chelsea happened. Chelsea absolutely rocked us and now we've lost 3 games in a row. The league defeat to Bordeaux was the first one since February and we could not recover against Monaco either. The wheels are not off but they are starting to wobble a bit
We find ourselves in 5th going into October
I forgot to show you the Champions League group on my last post so here it is after 1 game. Hopefully we can win our home game against Leipzig but my confidence is a bit shaken if I'm being honest
Things started out pretty well, 5 wins from 5. Then Chelsea happened. Chelsea absolutely rocked us and now we've lost 3 games in a row. The league defeat to Bordeaux was the first one since February and we could not recover against Monaco either. The wheels are not off but they are starting to wobble a bit
We find ourselves in 5th going into October
I forgot to show you the Champions League group on my last post so here it is after 1 game. Hopefully we can win our home game against Leipzig but my confidence is a bit shaken if I'm being honest