[FM23] - French football thread

[karanhsingh]

Just realized that one of the best leagues in FM doesn't have a thread yet! There are so many reasons to love French football:

• the ultimate challenge - to take down the PSG juggernaut - and now Mbappe is there to stay as well and make your life even harder
• the best youth in the game so if you like developing youngsters, this is the place for you
• and if you like wheeling & dealing again this is the league for you because the money for the expensive buys is just not there - it's all about hunting for those bargains
• while registration rules only allow for 4 non EU players - Africans however don't count towards this so you can load up on as many as you like

There are so many great options of teams to manage in France - if you want to quickly challenge PSG you can go for Marseille or Lyon perhaps. Both clubs with a fantastic, passionate support. Marseille of course is the "classique" rival of PSG.

If you want to start lower down the leagues clubs like Red Star or Paris FC can provide a good story to build up a local rival of the Parisian behemoth.

You could opt for a club with a good history or developing youth like Le Havre or Toulouse... the possibilities are indeed endless.

In my current save (which was supposed to be a Belgian save) - I have just ended up taking charge of struggling LOSC Lille in the summer of 2024 - and so my French adventure begins!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

14 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Just realized that one of the best leagues in FM doesn't have a thread yet! There are so many reasons to love French football:

• the ultimate challenge - to take down the PSG juggernaut - and now Mbappe is there to stay as well and make your life even harder
• the best youth in the game so if you like developing youngsters, this is the place for you
• and if you like wheeling & dealing again this is the league for you because the money for the expensive buys is just not there - it's all about hunting for those bargains
• while registration rules only allow for 4 non EU players - Africans however don't count towards this so you can load up on as many as you like

There are so many great options of teams to manage in France - if you want to quickly challenge PSG you can go for Marseille or Lyon perhaps. Both clubs with a fantastic, passionate support. Marseille of course is the "classique" rival of PSG.

If you want to start lower down the leagues clubs like Red Star or Paris FC can provide a good story to build up a local rival of the Parisian behemoth.

You could opt for a club with a good history or developing youth like Le Havre or Toulouse... the possibilities are indeed endless.

In my current save (which was supposed to be a Belgian save) - I have just ended up taking charge of struggling LOSC Lille in the summer of 2024 - and so my French adventure begins!

I wanted to start a French league thread but the Good Players & Team Guides forum hasn't got much activity these days compared to a year or two a go.

This thread definitely needs people like @Jogo Bonito posting in here as he knows a good unknown African player to mould into a superstar.

I will probably do a French League save sometime soon so I will post in here.

 

[karanhsingh]

12 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I wanted to start a French league thread but the Good Players & Team Guides forum hasn't got much activity these days compared to a year or two a go.

This thread definitely needs people like @Jogo Bonito posting in here as he knows a good unknown African player to mould into a superstar.

I will probably do a French League save sometime soon so I will post in here.

 

Cheers please do!! And yes calling @Jogo Bonito as well!

So I have started a save with Le Havre - youth to gold challenge. Will start posting shortly.

[sedge11]

I'm just doing a Man Utd save with a few updates like transfers, real life fixtures etc, but once the official update is out I was looking at either a Lyon or Nice save.

Lyon have dropped off and aren't doing very well so to rebuild them would be a fun save and I've always kind of liked Lyon from when they had players like Coupet, Cris, Govou and of course Juninho, and Nice is well a team I have never been but think they have got abit of money behind them.

Edited February 8, 2023 by sedge11

[CaptCanuck]

Good timing! I'm giving my Brighton save a rest (even though I'm just in the first half of season 3, as while we won the Europa League in 2023/24 I've not got my RDZ tactic totally clicking, so I needed a palette cleanser). Maybe this shouldn't be in the good player's guide, as we have no good players, but hopefully we can discover some along the way!

The idea: Ligue 1 gets dismissed by some as a 'farmers league', so why not take a club from the countryside as such, build it into a PSG-beater, and then a UCL champion, all the while only using French players from outside the cities? So no players from a commune of over 200k, which means the 11 largest in France and no players from the banlieues of Paris. Ideally once the club is established, we can try and limit the selection further to just one région.

The région: Nouvelle-Aquitaine. A new region since 2014 only, it comprises 3 former regions in the Southwest, which also includes some of the country's main agricultural and viticultural departments. For such a large region, it is also without a club currently in Ligue 1.

The club: Chamois Niortais FC.

In hindsight, I should have chosen Bordeaux and maybe I will give up after a couple seasons and restart with Bordeaux, but for now CNFC in Ligue 2 it is! In their recent history (last 25yrs) they have been a bottom half Ligue 2 side (currently last IRL) but that will make the rewards of success all the sweeter... or the failure easier to take. But c'mon at a minimum that is a class logo :-) And then when you go onto Youtube to watch match reviews and get a sense for the side, they do this!

The squad: The board expectations are 16th (first of the non-relegation spots) and the squad reflects that it seems. Initially I thought it had enough decent players and played my RDZ tactic with them and well... I quickly realised that was not the case. The squad's relative merits:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Even with that, in true Jesse Marsch fashion I stuck to my guns and got the deserved results, even a desperation switch to the OOTB Direct Counter Attack tactic didn't help, as we lost the first 8 matches of the season. The best player at the club (on a princely 5k EUR/week) is Charles Kabore, who at 34 years old his legs are gone, but his mind is willing and he has to run the show as our DLP, regardless of the formation. We have a couple decent attacking MFs and a couple decent FBs, but the GK is simply terrible. His attributes aren't that bad, but the howlers he let's in are something else and his season stats back it up. But what the side was really missing was someone to score goals (more on that later). Charles our best player:

 

Spoiler

I genuinely wasn't sure how long D & E report cards from the board and fans would last before getting the sack, but 13 league matches without a victory we finally won a match... in the French Cup... to a semi-professional team... where only 4 of our supporters could be bothered to make the away date:

Spoiler

 

 

But with that, a glimmer of hope, and maybe an inkling of how we should be setting up the side and the discovery of who could maybe be our striker, if we could use the World Cup break for a reset...

Edited February 8, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[Jogo Bonito]

On 06/02/2023 at 21:22, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I wanted to start a French league thread but the Good Players & Team Guides forum hasn't got much activity these days compared to a year or two a go.

This thread definitely needs people like @Jogo Bonito posting in here as he knows a good unknown African player to mould into a superstar.

I will probably do a French League save sometime soon so I will post in here.

Funnily enough, after managing in England and deciding I should look for a club with less restrictive transfer rules, I had been re-reading some posts from my Lorient save of a few years back as I wanted to see what had happened to my African transfers. One player I signed actually joined in real life, Datro Fofana has been in the news recently, whilst some of the others have done OK too. I made some kits for them, and was quite close to going back there, but then they sold Moffi and the temptation drained away.

On 07/02/2023 at 09:45, karanhsingh said:

Cheers please do!! And yes calling @Jogo Bonito as well!

So I have started a save with Le Havre - youth to gold challenge. Will start posting shortly.

Le Havre/Havre AC is a really good club, great youth production legacy, lovely modern oceanic-shaped stadium etc. Good luck and enjoy if that's your next career!

2 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

The club: Chamois Niortais FC.

I managed them once before, quite a few years ago now. A nice concept idea, and good luck.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[karanhsingh]

16 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I'm just doing a Man Utd save with a few updates like transfers, real life fixtures etc, but once the official update is out I was looking at either a Lyon or Nice save.

Lyon have dropped off and aren't doing very well so to rebuild them would be a fun save and I've always kind of liked Lyon from when they had players like Coupet, Cris, Govou and of course Juninho, and Nice is well a team I have never been but think they have got abit of money behind them.

Great please join us! Both would be nice saves for sure

[karanhsingh]

11 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Good timing! I'm giving my Brighton save a rest (even though I'm just in the first half of season 3, as while we won the Europa League in 2023/24 I've not got my RDZ tactic totally clicking, so I needed a palette cleanser). Maybe this shouldn't be in the good player's guide, as we have no good players, but hopefully we can discover some along the way!

The idea: Ligue 1 gets dismissed by some as a 'farmers league', so why not take a club from the countryside as such, build it into a PSG-beater, and then a UCL champion, all the while only using French players from outside the cities? So no players from a commune of over 200k, which means the 11 largest in France and no players from the banlieues of Paris. Ideally once the club is established, we can try and limit the selection further to just one région.

The région: Nouvelle-Aquitaine. A new region since 2014 only, it comprises 3 former regions in the Southwest, which also includes some of the country's main agricultural and viticultural departments. For such a large region, it is also without a club currently in Ligue 1.

The club: Chamois Niortais FC.

In hindsight, I should have chosen Bordeaux and maybe I will give up after a couple seasons and restart with Bordeaux, but for now CNFC in Ligue 2 it is! In their recent history (last 25yrs) they have been a bottom half Ligue 2 side (currently last IRL) but that will make the rewards of success all the sweeter... or the failure easier to take. But c'mon at a minimum that is a class logo :-) And then when you go onto Youtube to watch match reviews and get a sense for the side, they do this!

The squad: The board expectations are 16th (first of the non-relegation spots) and the squad reflects that it seems. Initially I thought it had enough decent players and played my RDZ tactic with them and well... I quickly realised that was not the case. The squad's relative merits:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Even with that, in true Jesse Marsch fashion I stuck to my guns and got the deserved results, even a desperation switch to the OOTB Direct Counter Attack tactic didn't help, as we lost the first 8 matches of the season. The best player at the club (on a princely 5k EUR/week) is Charles Kabore, who at 34 years old his legs are gone, but his mind is willing and he has to run the show as our DLP, regardless of the formation. We have a couple decent attacking MFs and a couple decent FBs, but the GK is simply terrible. His attributes aren't that bad, but the howlers he let's in are something else and his season stats back it up. But what the side was really missing was someone to score goals (more on that later). Charles our best player:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I genuinely wasn't sure how long D & E report cards from the board and fans would last before getting the sack, but 13 league matches without a victory we finally won a match... in the French Cup... to a semi-professional team... where only 4 of our supporters could be bothered to make the away date:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

But with that, a glimmer of hope, and maybe an inkling of how we should be setting up the side and the discovery of who could maybe be our striker, if we could use the World Cup break for a reset...

That's a terrific challenge to take up, even if the start could have been a bit better. But i hope you can build on things from here! Best of luck 

[karanhsingh]

9 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Funnily enough, after managing in England and deciding I should look for a club with less restrictive transfer rules, I had been re-reading some posts from my Lorient save of a few years back as I wanted to see what had happened to my African transfers. One player I signed actually joined in real life, Datro Fofana has been in the news recently, whilst some of the others have done OK too. I made some kits for them, and was quite close to going back there, but then they sold Moffi and the temptation drained away.

Le Havre/Havre AC is a really good club, great youth production legacy, lovely modern oceanic-shaped stadium etc. Good luck and enjoy if that's your next career!

I managed them once before, quite a few years ago now. A nice concept idea, and good luck.

Yes I'm actually surprised i never got around to managing them before. Ah well, better late than never. Hope to see you on the French shores soon too. 

[CaptCanuck]

CNFC Update: So the World Cup break effectively reset our season. Most importantly stopping the square pegs into round holes tactics experiment and actually going back and reviewing the squad made a huge difference, as did watching Youtube highlights... as I saw this big #22 attacking player and figure how did I miss him? I hadn't missed him as such, just that except for composure he has none of the key mental or technical #s you want for a striker, so was my 3rd choice and playing only once a week... well ya. When I tried the OOTB counter attack option I did play him as a target man in a 2 man attack but nothing worked, such was the squad's dismal morale (I'd never seen 4.nn training weeks before!). But maybe with a simple, well thought out tactic?

CNFC's hopes pinned to this 6'4" frame, with 18 jumping & 13 heading:

Spoiler

So a new 3 (because our CBs are slow and not that good) 4 (the WBs & DLP actually are decent) 2 (AM & SS) 1 (Mr. Bakayoko as AF your time is now!) counter attack tactic was created and put through the paces during the WC break. Friendlies never tell the real story, but things looked promising and most importantly morale was raised above clinically depressed levels.

First match back? 0-3 loss to leaders Metz and the first board meeting about getting the sack after a 0-3-13 start. Yes really those were our results. Thankfully the next 2 league matches (either side of a 0-1 Cup loss to Nantes) had us playing fellow relegation strugglers and the results were 5-0 and 4-0 victories, followed by 2-0 win against Saint-Etienne! 

Bakayoko coming out party (4 goals vs Pau FC):

Spoiler

 

It's not all smooth sailing, as we're still losing to 'better' clubs, but scoring lots of goals and since the league resumed our record is 8-4-4 33 GF 22 GA.

Results since the break:

Spoiler

There are 7 matches left this season, with a realistic top finish of ~14th, but we'll take it after taking 3 pts from 48 pts to start the season.

Since the club has no money, we're basically letting a number of players walk at the end of the season and hoping the freed up space enables us to find some good out of contract players to replace them. While not players that we could get, but that scouts turned up anyways, Pembele (FB/CB from PSG), Larouci (WB from Troyes), and Matazo (CM/DM from Monaco) look like good prospects for anyone with a few Euros to spend and decent club reputation.

[CaptCanuck]

Ligue 2 question for those with experience: is it common for players to prefer shorter (2-3 yr) contracts over the typical 4.5/5 year ones?

Obviously 30yr+ players may take shorter ones, but I am having guys in their mid 20s only want 2 years and I wondered if that is more an indication they are not sure about the quality of the club over any other parameters. Thanks!

[karanhsingh]

8 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Ligue 2 question for those with experience: is it common for players to prefer shorter (2-3 yr) contracts over the typical 4.5/5 year ones?

Obviously 30yr+ players may take shorter ones, but I am having guys in their mid 20s only want 2 years and I wondered if that is more an indication they are not sure about the quality of the club over any other parameters. Thanks!

Yes i noticed the same. Looks like a ligue 2 thing. Maybe players just don't want to commit long term to any club at this level. Not sure. 

But that's a good turnaround. Well done. Things were looking quite bleak for a moment. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am currently enjoying a save with Brighton but once I get bored of the Brighton save I will be definitely starting a French league save. 

I would love some team suggestions from people on here including our French and African football expert @Jogo Bonito

I have already managed Metz, Rennais, Nantes, Lorient, Lyon and Strasbourg.

I am tempted to replicate how Will Still is doing by managing Reims. Other teams I fancy are Lens, Nice, Troyes or Auxurre from Ligue 1 and maybe Le Havre, Caen or Nimes in Ligue 2. 

Also there is the temptation to bring Bordeaux or St.Etienne back to where they belong.

I can't believe that St.Etienne are near the bottom of Ligue 2 in real life at the moment.

Maybe @Jogo Bonito can guide me as he is always good at painting a good picture for teams to manage.

Whomever I take over I will be only buying French or French African players and promoting from my youth team.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Ronaldo Beckham

[karanhsingh]

My favorites in ligue 2 would probably be, in no particular order, Paris FC, Havre, Sochaux and St Etienne. 

In Ligue 1 as you said you have Reims, Lyon etc also Rennes always interesting 

[CaptCanuck]

Before I struck on this Athletic Bilbao-esque save with Noirt, I was leaning towards Sochaux as I like the whole Peugot company town thing, having their stadium right beside the company works or rebuilding Bordeaux/St Etienne.

I have a bit of a soft spot for St Etienne, as I lived in Quebec for a couple years and watched many of their matches on TV5 when they had that promising young core of Riviere, Payet, Matuidi, Fernandes, before they all got bought by bigger clubs. ASSE also have a cool logo and kit, which is tres important ;-)

Regardless of the club, this reality will definitely take a few in game (if not IRL, lol) years to overcome. Top 10 salaries in Ligue 1 and bottom 10 in Ligue 2:

Edited February 10, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

My favorites in ligue 2 would probably be, in no particular order, Paris FC, Havre, Sochaux and St Etienne. 

In Ligue 1 as you said you have Reims, Lyon etc also Rennes always interesting 

Yeah I like St.Etienne but I managed them on FM22. I might wait a bit before I do a dynasty save with them.

Sochaux would be interesting. 

A youth only save Le Havre would be good but someone else is doing that on here so I don't want to copy them.

18 minutes ago, CaptCanuck said:

Before I struck on this Athletic Bilbao-esque save with Noirt, I was leaning towards Sochaux as I like the whole Peugot company town thing, having their stadium right beside the company works or rebuilding Bordeaux/St Etienne.

I have a bit of a soft spot for St Etienne, as I lived in Quebec for a couple years and watched many of their matches on TV5 when they had that promising young core of Riviere, Payet, Matuidi, Fernandes, before they all got bought by bigger clubs. ASSE also have a cool logo and kit, which is tres important ;-)

Regardless of the club, this reality will definitely take a few in game (if not IRL, lol) years to overcome. Top 10 salaries in Ligue 1 and bottom 10 in Ligue 2:

Yeah St.Etienne have had a good reputation of producing good players who go onto to play for bigger teams.

Yeah there is a bit of a difference in the salaries but that is what makes it more interesting.

 

[karanhsingh]

10 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah I like St.Etienne but I managed them on FM22. I might wait a bit before I do a dynasty save with them.

Sochaux would be interesting. 

A youth only save Le Havre would be good but someone else is doing that on here so I don't want to copy them.

Yeah St.Etienne have had a good reputation of producing good players who go onto to play for bigger teams.

Yeah there is a bit of a difference in the salaries but that is what makes it more interesting.

It's me managing Le Havre LOL, but not doing youth only. However, only buying teenagers - "youth to gold" challenge.

Sochaux for sure always produce good youngsters too, and have nice kits to boot.

[Muttley84]

I had great fun playing in FM21 with Guingamp while only using Breton players... might go back to that at some point or even drop a league down to Saint Brieuc.

[karanhsingh]

There is also an interesting one for those willing to drop down to the National - Paris 13 Atletico have reached that division for the first time ever and they are semi-pro.

[karanhsingh]

So I have completed the first season with Le Havre. And quite a season it was. It took a few games to get going, but once we reached the top of the league we never looked like dropping off.

Pushed all the way by the likes of St. Etienne, Bordeaux and Metz but we eventually managed to win the division and get promoted to Ligue 1. But, this wasn't the incredible part. We managed to reach the quarter finals of the French cup by beating the likes of Metz & Paris FC. Here we got drawn against a Ligue 1 side for the first time in AC Ajaccio but they were struggling so we thought we could take them. And we managed to win it on penalties after a 0-0 draw. The semi-final was against PSG so obviously this is where the run would end... or so we thought!

What a crazy result, especially for the first season! When they equalized I thought we are done for, but the team fought back superbly. Amazing scenes, to set up a finale vs AS Monaco! Could we possibly go one better and actually win the Cup without even being in the top division?

Amazingly, the answer is YES!

It was a similar pattern to the PSG game, we scored an early goal but then concede an equalizer at the top of the second half. However then we managed to regain the lead due to a goal-keeping error. We battled really bravely and somehow held out until the end. 

And so, a league and cup double in the first season! Le Havre will be playing in the Europa League next year 

A new achievement for me too in all my years of FM - to win the national cup with a second division side.

 

[karanhsingh]

Actually we won more than a double, because our youth team also cleaned up their division as well

And finally while on the subject of youth, we seem to have had a solid first in-take with a couple of players who I think could break into the first team with time

For anyone interested, this is the tactic we have been using:

[CaptCanuck]

Good stuff @karanhsingh! Heckuva opening campaign. I like the 343, I'll need better legs in MF before daring that counter-press and out of possession, lol.

Reckon you can reloan or outright buy that double-pivot?
Richardson, but especially Diakite, make for a quality MF pair.
Le Havre is a cool team, they look to have a fair few quality youngsters that can hopefully handle Ligue 1 as well as 2.

Weird thing about the u19s, I think mine are in with a shout to win as well, FM being nice out of the gate?

Edited February 11, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[karanhsingh]

9 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Good stuff @karanhsingh! Heckuva opening campaign. I like the 343, I'll need better legs in MF before daring that counter-press and out of possession, lol.

Reckon you can reloan or outright buy that double-pivot?
Richardson, but especially Diakite, make for a quality MF pair.
Le Havre is a cool team, they look to have a fair few quality youngsters that can hopefully handle Ligue 1 as well as 2.

Weird thing about the u19s, I think mine are in with a shout to win as well, FM being nice out of the gate?

Thank you!

Haha. The u19 squad isn't even that special. 

Can't get either of the mids. Tried but their clubs want them back. However i managed to get a couple of good ones coming in. And Lekhal who is our club captain has also been immense there. 

[Jogo Bonito]

On 10/02/2023 at 17:35, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I am currently enjoying a save with Brighton but once I get bored of the Brighton save I will be definitely starting a French league save. 

I would love some team suggestions from people on here including our French and African football expert @Jogo Bonito

Maybe @Jogo Bonito can guide me as he is always good at painting a good picture for teams to manage.

Thanks for the kind words. Not really an expert as I don't get to go back to Africa these days and don't get to watch French football where I am based now.

My favourite clubs for Ligue 1 recently might be Lorient (until they sold Moffi) & Montpellier, the two French sides I managed most recently. Strasbourg are a good option but you have done them. Elsewhere, ASSE and Bordeaux are great rebuild projects, and Le Havre are always a decent choice. I'd probably look at SC Bastia or Grenoble (for locations), possibly Stade Lavallois - or Le Mans / AS Nancy for a slower project.

@karanhsingh An amazing season. Not so much the promotion, but winning a Cup in the first year was somewhat unexpected!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

19 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks for the kind words. Not really an expert as I don't get to go back to Africa these days and don't get to watch French football where I am based now.

My favourite clubs for Ligue 1 recently might be Lorient (until they sold Moffi) & Montpellier, the two French sides I managed most recently. Strasbourg are a good option but you have done them. Elsewhere, ASSE and Bordeaux are great rebuild projects, and Le Havre are always a decent choice. I'd probably look at SC Bastia or Grenoble (for locations), possibly Stade Lavallois - or Le Mans / AS Nancy for a slower project.

@karanhsingh An amazing season. Not so much the promotion, but winning a Cup in the first year was somewhat unexpected!

Yeah I think I might pick SC Bastia or Le Mans. 

Le Mans have had former players like Didier Drogba, Sebastien Corchia, Patrick Ekeng Ekeng, Gervinho, Grafite, Anthony Le Tallec, Yoahnn Pele, Romaric, Morgan Sanson and Stephane Sessegnon. 

The 3 players that stood out to me were Drogba, Gervinho and Romaric who were from Ivory Coast. 

So I think if I go with Le Mans I will focus on buying Ivory Coast league's best players. 

Le Mans are only 37 years old as a club as well. They were formed a day before my 1st birthday.

SC Bastia have had a few former famous players who played for them in Micheal Essien, Roger Milla, Florian Thauvin, Jerome Rothen, Sebastian Squillaci and Alex Song.

I think I will go for Le Mans and concerntrate on the youth academy, players from Ivory Coast and then maybe a few players from Ghana, Nigeria etc. 

I will start the save soon and post in here.

Cheers @Jogo Bonito for your advice.

Watch this space

[Jogo Bonito]

22 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah I think I might pick SC Bastia or Le Mans. 

Le Mans have had former players like Didier Drogba, Sebastien Corchia, Patrick Ekeng Ekeng, Gervinho, Grafite, Anthony Le Tallec, Yoahnn Pele, Romaric, Morgan Sanson and Stephane Sessegnon. 

The 3 players that stood out to me were Drogba, Gervinho and Romaric who were from Ivory Coast. 

So I think if I go with Le Mans I will focus on buying Ivory Coast league's best players. 

Le Mans are only 37 years old as a club as well. They were formed a day before my 1st birthday.

SC Bastia have had a few former famous players who played for them in Micheal Essien, Roger Milla, Florian Thauvin, Jerome Rothen, Sebastian Squillaci and Alex Song.

I think I will go for Le Mans and concerntrate on the youth academy, players from Ivory Coast and then maybe a few players from Ghana, Nigeria etc. 

I will start the save soon and post in here.

Cheers @Jogo Bonito for your advice.

Watch this space

Great choice. I just made a post elsewhere and mentioned Grafite (from what he did at Wolfsburg) so couldn't believe you mentioned him here at almost the same time!

Good luck with Le Mans!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

52 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Great choice. I just made a post elsewhere and mentioned Grafite (from what he did at Wolfsburg) so couldn't believe you mentioned him here at almost the same time!

Good luck with Le Mans!

Great minds think a like. 

I am actually going to choose Grafite to be the manager of Le Mans when I take over.

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Le Mans FC Team Summary

Very nice kits

Nice to see I have excellent training and good youth facilities. Also a 25,054 capacity stadium will help with finances.

Last season Le Mans finished 10th. My aim is to get higher then that in my first season. I aint expecting promotion first season.

I think my main man at the club will be 20 year old Ivorian striker N'dri Philippe Koffi. 

With Koffi having 16 in First Touch I feel like a Tika Taka style tactic would be well suited to get the best out of him.

Simple realistic season expectations with us just needing to work within the wage budget, grow the club's reputation and also get a top half finish in the league. These should be attainable for us.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

This is the Tika Taka tactic I will be using for my save with Le Mans for now. I might have to change it I start losing.

Annoying Koffi is on loan from Reims so I will only have him for this season at least. Hopefully I can keep him longer.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Great minds think a like. 

I am actually going to choose Grafite to be the manager of Le Mans when I take over.

Nice idea.

And as your main striker is on loan, shall I give you a pointer towards a young free agent African striker who should be fine for that level?

[CaptCanuck]

^That kit is cool

So we've finished up our first tale of two halves season, 'comfortably' in 14th place after our playing chicken with getting the sack pre-WC play. 38pts from 22 matches afterwards is a more promising 66pts over a season, especially as we limped home after losing our 35yr old linchpin DLP for the final month. 

Metz absolutely ran away with things and PFC wrapped their spot up and then sandbagged the rest of the season to make it look closer than it was.

On the plus side we had the undeniable player of the season (or is that half a season), as Bakayako scored 29 goals in our last 21 matches, including 8 multi-goal games, after not featuring and then being a bit part player before the WC.

On the opposite end of things, a word for easily the worst keeper I've ever had in FM, that word: merde. So rubbish that his -12 XGP does not fit on the Data Hub scatter graph for 'poor shot stopping' because it only goes to -10.

We lined up as follows, according to an accurate Best XI (sometimes I wonder why they pick who they do), playing our 3421. Lots of fun using it and it did extract about as much out of the side going forward as it could.

Spoiler

Next season should be fun, getting a proper transfer window to work in. We're voluntarily and unvoluntarily getting rid of loads of players that should free up space to improve the squad. Since 4 Ligue 1 sides are dropping, that's a lot more teams to climb over, so figure we'll have 1 more 'fun' season to improve the squad and score goals and then look for a proper promotion push in season 3.

And our u19s? Couldn't quite do as well as the Le Havre side, we lost the final to PSG:

Spoiler

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[Ronaldo Beckham]

39 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Nice idea.

And as your main striker is on loan, shall I give you a pointer towards a young free agent African striker who should be fine for that level?

Yes any player reccomendations would be greatly appreciated please @Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

My DOF managed to get this guy on loan and he looks way too good for the French National League.

[Jogo Bonito]

17 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yes any player reccomendations would be greatly appreciated please @Jogo Bonito

Just the one, then it's down to you 

Percious Boah.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

23 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Just the one, then it's down to you 

Percious Boah.

Cheers for the recommendation @Jogo Bonito I just about had enough in my wage budget to sign him. 

He looks way too good for the division I am in. I will give him some game time soon.

Cheers again buddy.

 

[karanhsingh]

Wow good to see some action in the thread! @Ronaldo BeckhamLe Mans is an interesting choice and one i contemplated as well. Love the kits too. I think this will be a fun save. I've picked up a couple of good cheap players from Africa, let me know if you want more recommendations. 

@CaptCanuckthat's a very good turnaround for you. Surprised to see Paris going up. Now that you've got a handle on the tactics and with Bakayoko scoring for fun, I'm sure the following season will be much better! Also if i am correct you will revert to 3 teams going up and not 2. 

[karanhsingh]

11 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks for the kind words. Not really an expert as I don't get to go back to Africa these days and don't get to watch French football where I am based now.

My favourite clubs for Ligue 1 recently might be Lorient (until they sold Moffi) & Montpellier, the two French sides I managed most recently. Strasbourg are a good option but you have done them. Elsewhere, ASSE and Bordeaux are great rebuild projects, and Le Havre are always a decent choice. I'd probably look at SC Bastia or Grenoble (for locations), possibly Stade Lavallois - or Le Mans / AS Nancy for a slower project.

@karanhsingh An amazing season. Not so much the promotion, but winning a Cup in the first year was somewhat unexpected!

Thank you! And yes absolutely unexpected! Pretty sure PSG will exact revenge the next time they play us and it won't be pretty

[Ronaldo Beckham]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow good to see some action in the thread! @Ronaldo BeckhamLe Mans is an interesting choice and one i contemplated as well. Love the kits too. I think this will be a fun save. I've picked up a couple of good cheap players from Africa, let me know if you want more recommendations. 

@CaptCanuckthat's a very good turnaround for you. Surprised to see Paris going up. Now that you've got a handle on the tactics and with Bakayoko scoring for fun, I'm sure the following season will be much better! Also if i am correct you will revert to 3 teams going up and not 2. 

Feel free to recommend as many players as you want as your knowledge of hidden gems from Africa will be better then mine. 

I can't afford to scout Africa yet but hopefully that will change once I am in Ligue 2.

 

[karanhsingh]

44 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Feel free to recommend as many players as you want as your knowledge of hidden gems from Africa will be better then mine. 

I can't afford to scout Africa yet but hopefully that will change once I am in Ligue 2.

 

Check out Amadou N'Diaye (LB) and Libasse Ngom (AM/SC).

[CaptCanuck]

8 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Feel free to recommend as many players as you want as your knowledge of hidden gems from Africa will be better then mine. 

I can't afford to scout Africa yet but hopefully that will change once I am in Ligue 2.

 

Are players like this (screenshot from Aug '23) too good/expensive for Le Mans at this point? I get a fair few random recommendations from scouts and agents. Anticipation and composure aren't the best, but otherwise has the makings for a pacey, goal-scoring IW/IF:

Edited February 13, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[CaptCanuck]

General Q: how have loanees/clubs been on FM23? I'm struggling to get legit starter-worthy loanees in, so I want to at least get a couple squad players in for CB and RWB cover. I thought I could say ya sure your guy will be a 'regular starter' and then suffer the consequences, when barring injuries or a cup run they'll see limited action

On FM21, when I was in the EFL it was really easy to get 19-21yr old starlets in who really help your squad, guess Ligue 1 doesn't quite have that depth outside the top teams plus us not being a good enough destination yet.

Edited February 13, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[Ronaldo Beckham]

11 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Check out Amadou N'Diaye (LB) and Libasse Ngom (AM/SC).

Oh yeah I know them after watching a Zealand video on Youtube a while a go.

Also look at Prince Ndlovu and Nathaniel Nwosu.

Cheers for the suggestions.

3 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Are players like this (screenshot from Aug '23) too good/expensive for Le Mans at this point? I get a fair few random recommendations from scouts and agents. Anticipation and composure aren't the best, but otherwise has the makings for a pacey, goal-scoring IW/IF:

Yeah a bit out of my price range at the moment but I will look into signing him when I get better finances.

Cheers for recommending him to me.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I had a good offer for one of my star players 18 year old French Left Back Mael Tran Van.

This is good money for a French National League team. I would of liked to have kept him but I need to sell the occasional star to keep the books out the red.

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

The deal didn't go through so I have him for a bit longer.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Tran Van Saga Completed

[karanhsingh]

Wow he looks really good!! 

EDIT - sadly he is totally rubbish in my game. Weird.

Edited February 14, 2023 by karanhsingh

[CaptCanuck]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow he looks really good!! 

EDIT - sadly he is totally rubbish in my game. Weird.

Me too. You playing with a custom DB or something? It's like he's at his ~28yr old ability (most optimized too) 10yrs earlier.

Edited February 14, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[karanhsingh]

Right, have finished the 2nd season. First, the transfers.

This does not cover some loan signings who joined in June. I can't believe they still haven't fixed this (transfers from one summer appear over two seasons). I'll do a deep dive on some of the players in a bit.

Here are the fixtures:

It was a bit inconsistent, as expected. But overall, very good. April in particular was the best month easily. We were actually in with a sniff of Champions League qualification until we messed up the last few games. Finally, we finished 6th in the league, and will be back in the Europa league next season.

Speaking of which, we had a good taste of Europe, somehow topping our group (we got lucky with a pretty easy one). But we then ran into the juggernaut that is Ajax in the round of 16 and that's where the adventure ended. Although I must say we gave a good account of ourselves but ultimately they were clinical and professional.

All in all, a good first season back in Ligue 1. Sadly no miracle in the Coupe de France this time.

Oh, and I almost forgot. We were about to shock PSG again! In the curtain raiser, the Trophee de Champions, we went into half-time with a shock 2-0 lead against the league champions. Obviously, they were rattled. And mighty pissed off. They came back out and put 5 past us in the second half 

Also, Mbappe scored 49 league goals this season, and 77 goals in all competitions. He is the best player I have ever seen in any version of FM. I don't think winning the league is possible until he is around.

[karanhsingh]

Now I will very quickly profile some of my key players and signings. 

Yann Kitala started the game at Havre and was our best player this season, finishing with 19 goals & 12 assists. He has also improved a lot.

Joao Neves, the best free signing I may have ever made in FM. I could not believe my eyes when he was unattached. He is now labelled a wonderkid (deservedly so) and somehow topped the NxtGn rankings this season. He is also valued at over 50m already. Top player!

The other half of my new pivot is Lesley Ugochukwu who initially joined us on loan, but will make his transfer permanent for 1 million this summer. Also a very solid and well rounded player, even if he had some disciplinary issues on the pitch.

Collins Sichenje is a cheap Kenyan center half we brought in on loan for the season, who has also improved a lot and will be joining on a permanent move for 1m in the summer.

And finally, a quick look at Ourdy Apataki who came through the ranks of the academy last season, and seems to have a bright future at Havre. He made one substitute appearance, breaking the club record for youngest player ever. I am really hoping he continues to develop well.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

15 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow he looks really good!! 

EDIT - sadly he is totally rubbish in my game. Weird.

 

10 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Me too. You playing with a custom DB or something? It's like he's at his ~28yr old ability (most optimized too) 10yrs earlier.

I used all sorts of different data files so it might be to do with that. 

I haven't personally editted his attributes in anyway. 

Maybe I am just lucky.