MUFC

The Red Revival: Three Wheeling

 
 

In Episode 2 we took you through our recruitment for the 2019/20 season. Lot’s of players left and some exciting players joined the group. In this instalment we will be taking you through a season review, how the new signings have settled in and how different approaches to Football Manager worked when CurtyFM, FMDoop & FridayNightFM took control at various times throughout the season. 

With the transfer window firmly closed, Manchester United’s recruitment stands out as one of the largest in world football. 

 
 

United’s three highest transfers are also that of the league, Harry Maguire from Leicester for £65m, Abdoulaye Doucouré from Watford for £40.5m and Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon for £40m all make the front page with United also leading the way as the biggest spenders this summer with a whopping £241m spent… and that’s without the add-ons.  

 
 

Pre-Season Review 

 
 

A bumper pre-season schedule was arranged to integrate the new signings into the squad. Tours of China and America were arranged for ‘Commercial Revenue’ (this would happen in real life, but doesn’t really work in FM) with more local, morale boosting fixtures slotted in around them. We were happy with the performances and looked forward to starting the season against Leicester.  

August – November  

 
 

We started the campaign well and picked up plenty of points. A draw against Chelsea is not to be sniffed at but a defeat against Bournemouth and their fantastic 4-4-2 left us thinking about how we could combat that. A defeat against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup wasn’t exactly the end of the world as we played our second string side with the competition not really high on our agenda. 

Finishing the month of November as Manager of the Month showed that we were getting things right but as we approached the busy Christmas period we knew that it would start testing our ability to continue what we had started. 

 
 

With the club doing well in both the Premier League & The Champions League it was time to think about improving the club further. FridayNightFM wanted to introduce a holding midfielder to the squad with no real defensively minded player on the books it made sense to start sniffing around N'Golo Kanté from Chelsea.  

 
 

 CurtyFM & FMDoop had other ideas… 

 

Doop & Curty discussing Lukaku’s departure.

 

FMDoop took control of the team throughout the January window making sure that FridayNightFM couldn’t sign Kanté and instead spent £86m on Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi (yes he did) & £42m on West Ham’s Declan Rice. Now, we don’t actually play a system that includes a defensive midfielder so spending £128m on two players that probably won’t play much seems a little reckless, especially as both are Cup Tied for the remained of the season.  FMDoop also facilitated the departures of Jesse Lingard to Arsenal for £63m and top-scorer, Romelu Lukaku, to Real Madrid for £94m. 

 
 

FM_Razz also piped up with a suggestion .. 

 
 

Doop’s transfer dealings might need questioning but his performance at the wheel definitely get him off the hook. A perfect January which included victories over Chelsea and Spurs certainly put the club in a strong position for the start of the year so much so that former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær was excited by the in-form side. 

 
 
 
 

February 

With the January window closed it was back to business and February was an action packed month with games in the Premier League, Europa League and the FA Cup. Bournemouth were once against a bogey side and a loss against Wolves spoiled the hard work Doop had put in during January. 

Golden Generation 

 
 

February 28th 2020 might be a date to remember in the United calendar as the club reported that the next batch of Youth Candidates had been classed as a Golden Generation. The stand out potentials from this group were Dylan McNeil & Ben Lewis.  

 
 
 
 
 
 

March – May 

The games just didn’t slow down! A decent March saw us gain a Europa League Quarter Final game against Valencia and finishing the month unbeaten gave us hope that the 4-3-3 system still had something about it. 

April however wasn’t as fruitful, an FA Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool plus a derby defeat against City decided our season and that we wouldn’t be winning the league. Victory in the Quarter Final of the Europa League set us up with a Semi Final against Benfica which we would finish the month with a 1-0 home victory and a solid clean sheet to take to the away leg in Portugal. 

 
 

Our season finished in disappointment, we lost to bitter rivals, Liverpool, in our final league game of the season and then ended our Europa League campaign with a final loss against Arsenal where former player, Jesse Lingard, played out of his skin to help Arsenal come out the victors in a 3-2 win.  

 
 
 

Champions League qualification was achieved with games to spare and our 2020/21 season budgets were released. We were being backed with a war chest of £371m which meant we were being given the tools to strengthen the squad not only to compete in the Champions League, but to also close the gap on City & Liverpool who ran away with the league. A new tactical vision had been thought out inspired by Pep’s City, well they do say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, which would enable us to utilise the potential of Declan Rice in the Fernandinho role. The centre back partnership of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf had been good, but if we were to take the club to the next step upgrading of centre halves became a priority along with an Inside Forward-Right & a number 9. 

There are plenty of positives to take away from the first season in charge. Champions League football means the financial backing will be there, a new tactical philosophy and some fantastic new recruits mean that the next post is guaranteed to be a belter. 

Thanks for reading. See you next time. 

 

The Red Revival: Research & Development

 
 

Manchester United confirmed their third piece of transfer business on Friday with an agreement in place to sign OGC Nice winger, Allan Saint-Maximin for a fee reported to be in the region of £9m. Saint-Maximin, along with Daniel James & Aaron Wan-Bissaka, will join the club when the international transfer window opens on June 11th.

These signings are the first piece of tangible evidence that Muelensteen’s rebuild of the first team at Old Trafford will revolve around the recruitment of young, energetic players, with potential prioritised over experience.

When looking at a squad which needs major reconstruction to fight for Championships it’s hard to pick one position to strengthen when there are arguments to strengthen in every area of the pitch.

With up to 25 players leaving the club this summer Muelensteen will need to work quickly to identify his first, second and even third choice targets as he looks to have his identity stamped on the club before the club start their Premier League season against Leicester City.

Squad rebuilds are not usually as drastic as the one we’re about to undertake. If we are building from the back we can tick off the goalkeeping position. David De Gea and Dean Henderson are a fantastic number 1 & 2 so that’s the first area ticked off the list.

The centre back position remains the priority. Jose Mourinho had identified the need for a defender last season and unfortunately the board were unable to get a deal done. Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailley will be retained meaning two replacements need to be identified.

At full back the club are in a healthy position, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot & Aaron Wan-Bissaka have potential in abundance leaving only cover for Shaw required.

In central midfield there is always uncertainty over Paul Pogba’s future and with the departure of Ander Herrera & Nemanja Matic there is some work to be done in the middle of the park. We will be looking for two Deep Lying Playmakers and a Box-To-Box midfielder.

With the acquisitions of Allan Saint-Maximin & Daniel James the attacking areas are strong with Martial, Rashford and Lukaku set to stay with the club there may only be one more signing needed to bolster the attack.

 

Current Squad & Transfer Targets

 

The Systems

Identifying playing staff is all well and good, but to make sure you approach the right players, first you need to understand your playing style. In a throwback to the Fergie era we’ll have a 4-4-2 system to revert to when we’re approaching squeaky bum time. We’ll also be running two variants of a 4-3-3, one more controlled, the other very attacking. This United team will be fast, energetic and determined. These tactics, I hope, will get the best out of the players we’re looking to bring in to the club.

 
 

Deals - Out

At the time of writing there have been 16 players leave the club, most notably:

  • Ashley Young to Arsenal for £5m

  • Scott McTominay to Burnley for £7.5m (plus add-ons)

  • Matteo Darmian to Burnley for £9.5m (rising to £13m)

  • Marcos Rojo to Watford for £11.5m (rising to £16m)

  • Sergio Romero to Young Boys for £7.25m

  • Nemanja Matic to Lyon for £21.5m (rising to £27.5m)

  • Chris Smalling to Monaco for £13.25m

  • Alexis Sanchez to AC Milan on loan (Milan are paying £100k p/w wages, £275k p/m loan fee with a £6.75m mandatory fee agreed for next summer)

  • Phil Jones to Eibar on loan (Eibar are paying £40k p/w wages & a £95k p/m loan fee)

The plan was never to maximise our income, in-fact, quite the opposite. A decision was made to take a hair-cut on a number of players to rejuvenate the atmosphere around the club.

Deals – In

First through the door was Scottish full back, Kieran Tierney. Tierney has long been linked with a move to the Premier League and will compete for the left back position with Luke Shaw.

 
 

Next in was the first of our playmakers, Bruno Fernandes, signed from Sporting Lisbon. Fernandes was arguably Portugal’s best player at this summer’s Nations League and has been linked with a move United for some time.

 
 

Tip: During the contract negotiations, Fernandes’ agent asked for £115k p/w in wages – when checking his scout report I was advised that he would be looking for a minimum of £80k p/w. Agents can be fickle so you need to be careful not to annoy them making them cancel negotiations so I decided I would meet them in the middle. I would offer £95k p/w and increase the Agent’s fee to help grease the wheels which would save me nearly £4m over the course of a 4-year contract. It’s not a huge deal for Manchester United, but for smaller teams this can really help you maximise your profit year on year.

 

Opening Negotiations

 
 

Terms Agreed

 

The next player to walk into Carrington was Chucky Lozano. The explosive Mexican winger was a bargain signing from PSV Eindhoven at £20m and will fill the remaining attacking slot in the squad.

 
 

A day later and the Sky Sports News ticker flashes yellow with the news that Slovakian central midfielder, Stanislav Lobotka, has joined Manchester United.

 
 

With the squad taking shape, United find themselves in a familiar situation with no new central defenders signed. There was a deal to be done though, Abdoulaye Doucouré joined from Watford providing the squad with some much-needed Premier League experience and quality.

 
 

Centre backs at United are like buses, you wait for ages to sign one and then two arrive at once and it’s two defenders that have been linked with the club over the summer. In come Harry Maguire from Leicester & Issa Diop from West Ham.

 
 
 
 

Pre-Season

With so many new recruits it is important to integrate them into the playing squad as soon as possible. With 12 friendlies arranged there will be plenty of opportunity for the squad to familiarise themselves with our 3 tactics and we’ve included a Team Bonding session every week leading up to the start of the new season.

 
 
 
 
 

Updated Squad List

 

It’s been a busy summer for Manchester United and as the transfer window draws closer there is still plenty of work to be done.

In #3 we will look at squad depth and the tactics that we will start the season with and as we said in the opening post we would love for this save to be interactive with our community so if there’s any subjects you want us to cover please ask in the comments or on Twitter.  

The Red Revival: The Devil is in the Detail

 
 

Manchester United have today announced their appointment of Rene Meulensteen as the new manager at Old Trafford. 

 
 

Fifty-five year-old Meulensteen brings a wealth of footballing experience to the job and will take charge of first team affairs with immediate effect. He replaces previous manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who failed to qualify for the Champions League finishing in 6th place in the Premier League.  

In a brief statement, Meulensteen said; ‘Ole’s a good guy, he had a tough job replacing Jose. His impact on arrival showed me that there are a core group of players willing to put a shift in for the shirt and those that aren’t WILL be moved on. I’ve spoken with Mr Woodward about our strategy moving forward which will include a Director of Football and we will be working hard over the summer to build a squad in line with our ambition’.  

 
 

This series of posts is set at the end of the 2018/19 season using a custom start date and updated transfers as of July 7th 2019. In this series of posts we will be looking at how to utilise the transfer market when buying and selling players, the use of a Director of Football and how we plan for a project. 

The first day in the job sees an approach for former Porto & Paris Saint Germain Director of Football, Antero Henrique. There were two candidates I was interested in bringing to the club, Antero Henrique & Mattias Sammer, I chose the former due to his adaptability attribute as I want him to integrate into the club as quickly as possible as we’ve got a lot of work to do. 

The Manchester United squad does not need much introduction each position filled with an international player, international players that have been stealing a living. It doesn’t take long to filter out a shortlist of names that I want out of the club and I will work with Henrique to find new employment at the earliest opportunity. 

 

Goalkeepers

 
 

Defenders

 
 

Defensive Midfielders

 
 

Midfielders

 
 

Attacking Midfielders

 
 

Forwards

 

As Henrique has only just joined the club, I have initially set the asking price for the selected players and have asked Micky Phelan to put the feelers out. 

When you return for #2 we will look to see how well Micky got on, whatever is left will be handed to our Director of Football to dispose of and we will start looking at the next generation of Manchester United. 

 
 

I would love for this save to be interactive with our community so if there’s any subjects you want us to cover please ask in the comments or on Twitter and the same goes for realistic transfer targets, we could sign De Ligt, Milinkovic-Savic etc and make it the same as every other save, or we can look at making players fit the philosophy; fast, attacking football with a strong British core. There have been lots of ‘Saving United’ posts, videos & streams and this will no doubt end in a similar fashion, with us being victorious but I hope with your help we really look at creating a realistic future for the red side of Manchester. 

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