FM20 - P&B Challenge

[Ludo*1]

The P&B Challenge kicked off yesterday.

The goal? To be the first to win the English Premier League.

@C. Muir& @CaspianChris picked Chelsea and Manchester United respectively whilst I went Arsenal.

I was given £6m to spend and had to basically offload half my team. Sold more than £100m worth of talent and brought in the following:

 

[RandomGuy.]

That's an outstanding window who had to be sold to finance that?

[Ludo*1]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

That's an outstanding window who had to be sold to finance that?

The save includes players that joined/left in real life so the players that came in/left begin on the 30/6:

18 players shipped out. At one point it was 38 leaving but various youth (And Nicolas Pepe) opted to stay.

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, Ludo*1 said:

The save includes players that joined/left in real life so the players that came in/left begin on the 30/6:

18 players shipped out. At one point it was 38 leaving but various youth (And Nicolas Pepe) opted to stay.

Assume you're only playing one season some of those departures should see you sacrificed to appease the FM Gods.

[Ludo*1]

Just now, RandomGuy. said:

Assume you're only playing one season some of those departures should see you sacrificed to appease the FM Gods.

Just playing until one of us win the league.  Sacrificed a lot of younger talent to go all out!

It doesn't look like it'll be

@C. Muir's Chelsea

[Ludo*1]

4 games played so far. Have picked up 3 wins and a draw. My draw being a 1-1 against Chelsea, but I was particularly happy with this result:

Still have Hector Bellerin & Kieran Tierney to come back. Maitland-Niles proving to be the ultimate utility player having played in a different position in 3 of his 4 appearances so far.

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Just playing until one of us win the league.  Sacrificed a lot of younger talent to go all out!

 

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It doesn't look like it'll be

@C. Muir's Chelsea

 

You're the Mourinho of this, IMO.

[CM.]

Just a basic update from me as there's no transfers to report on. I recalled Zappacosta from Roma.

Been a fairly shit state of affairs so far. At least my team of pussys finally managed a clean sheet against the mighty Aston Villa. Rudiger made his return from injury that game with Hudson Odoi and James also back in full training which is a bonus.

Roll on January when the embargo is lifted and my generous budget gets spunked.

[CM.]

We have played to the end of December. Thankfully my league form got drastically better from the last update. We were showing 2 different sides to our game both in the high scoring affairs and the wins grinded out by the odd goal (but mainly the grinded out wins! ). The returns from injury of Rudiger and Hudson Odoi made a difference no doubt. Recent form has dipped though with a drubbing from Man City and disappointing reverses at Watford and Southampton who are in the drop zone. 6 points there would've had me in touch at the top. However 11 wins in 15 games is a decent return after the start I had.

Going in to the new year I have the bragging rights of being above the 2 players I'm playing online against but the challenge is first to win the league after all and City/Liverpool have opened up a bit of a cushion.

The less said about my Champions league campaign the better. We were abysmal and could only finish 3rd in a group that should've been a walk in the park. Copenhagen and Shakhtar went through at my expense so I now join Arsenal and Man Utd in the Europa League (as if battling against other online players on 3 fronts already wasn't enough).

Here are our best performers and most card happy players of the campaign so far. I'm sure Zouma had the highest average rating before the Southampton game so he must've been rancid. Abraham on 7 doesn't sound too prolific but the goals are pretty shared out among the squad which is encouraging. Although there is no doubt Abraham is my best option up front by far.

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by C. Muir

[RandomGuy.]

How are Southampton doing in your save now?

I'm 4 points off their 20 game tally after just 8 games in my save 

[CM.]

14 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

How are Southampton doing in your save now?

I'm 4 points off their 20 game tally after just 8 games in my save 

Can't remember. We aren't playing again until tomorrow evening so only one that can check before then is the game host (Ludo). I'll have a look when we play again if he doesn't

[CM.]

The January window has slammed shut and Chelsea are allowed to spend money!

Here is the business

Out

In

[Ludo*1]

So, my season hasn't exactly gone to plan since my first update.

I'm really struggling, and considering the quality I've brought in, I really shouldn't be. My January business was as follows:

 

David Silva was a clear panic buy.

Tierney has been a disappointment and constantly unfit - Digne has been top notch for me so far:

Currently out of the FA Cup after a humilating loss to Brighton:

But that was much better than the performance we put in against erm, Gillingham in the Carabao:

And I'm currently hanging on for dear life in the Euro Cup having lost 2-0 in the away leg to Espanyol.

Humiliating experience to strengthen the squad the way I have (I've surprisingly not spent a lot overall as I've brought in a huge amount through sales as well) and be sitting behind Brighton in the league. I'm looking forward to putting in a challenge next season - if I hang on to my job!:

Edited April 21, 2020 by Speroni*1

[Ludo*1]

Second leg heroics! Still in Europe, just!

[Ludo*1]

Think it sums up my season when the press officer deems this as valid news to slap on my desk:

[Ludo*1]

Season finished for me. Finished 6th. Terrible end to the season being papped out the Europa League Semi-Final by Lazio. Nice wee 1-0 win against @C. Muir Chelsea the only high point:

 

Just gonna share my thought process for next season without giving too much away.

Looking to set-up a 3-5-2 formation since I've got explosive wing backs in Bellerin, Tierney & Digne with Maitland Niles a useful utility option.

Signed Tonali and he'll slot in, in the middle of a midfield 3 with him being my deep lying playmaker:

Need a new keeper as Bernd Leno has been poor and the replacement I brought in on the cheap has been even worse. Unlikely to keep Artur Vidal as Barca want £24m for him which as he's coming up for 34 just isn't viable.

I've got 5 targets in mind and will update this thread as I bring them in. Looking for a GK, CH, CM & two ST (In a specific role). I've already got 3 quality strikers but none can really play the role I'm wanting them to play.