We asked Sports Interactive’s Andrew Sinclair take a break from producing all of the top quality online FM content we have seen released lately to tell us his favourite player/players (#spoilers!) from this year’s edition of the game. He answered 👇.
I had very high hopes for Football Manager 2020. After a couple of years of consciously not purchasing the game to focus on my degree, I was back and back with a vengeance – it was the first I’d get to play since joining Sports Interactive.
First up, without a question, were Partick Thistle, the surrogate team I’d picked up while studying in Scotland. An electric start, with a Betfred Cup semi-final and 12 wins from my first 14 games, had me flying high. I still thought I was the living embodiment of Johan Cruyff’s tactical vision.
And then, as you can guess, it all went a bit Pete Tong. I crashed out of the Scottish Cup away at Peterhead. There followed a flurry of defeats and draws - I only won another five games before the season’s end. I crashed out of the play-offs at the first hurdle, humbled home and away by Dunfermline Athletic. I was, in fact, a fraud.
There followed a stint with Valour FC in Canada that showed I’d mastered how to defend but had somewhere along the way forgotten how to attack. I’d also forgotten all the rules I spent a fair amount of time explaining on the FM website…
After my laptop packed up, I started afresh. One cup final and two third-place league finishes were my reward for two years with Argentinos Juniors. Two seasons with Hertha Berlin produced league finishes of 10th and… 10th. I thought I was Cruyff, but I was basically Zdenek Zeman with a transfer budget.
Then came the lockdown. I worked on the basis that being a football nerd had been my undoing thus far, and that my best football had come from managing a side I knew nothing about.
Step up KA, based in northern Iceland. The start was disastrous. Taking inspiration from managerial heroes Sean Dyche and Steve Bruce, I adopted a structured 4-4-2. It didn’t work. I had no idea how to operate a 4-4-2 in the game and everyone else in the league did. We were bottom after seven games, with two draws and five defeats.
With a call to the dreaded board meeting in sight, I completely switched my approach and went with a Vertical Tiki-Taka. It paid dividends immediately – a convincing 3-1 win over Stjarnan. I then shot up the table and was somehow in with a shout of winning the title on the final day. We only managed a 0-0 draw but it restored the faith.
Building for the 2020 season began with the addition of two strikers – youth international Mani Austmann and Bradley Wright-Phillips on free transfers. BWP basically broke the budget but I thought he’d take to the Icelandic game, and my approach, like a duck to water. He didn’t and scored just eight in 41 across two seasons before calling it a day and joining my coaching team.
Austmann stole the show and he’s one of two my players from that save that are my favourites in FM20.
Mani Austmann
Austmann was an Advanced Forward, so perfect for the high-pressing system being implemented and he took to the league like a duck to water. His attribute scores aren’t the most impressive, as you can see below, but they didn’t tell the story of what a natural finisher he was.
His complete one-footedness threatened to distort the system but he formed a tremendous link with my Deep-Lying Playmaker in midfield, running the channels, getting in behind the opposing centre-backs and getting at least two clear chances in most games. As things stand he’s got 68 in 95 league games, and 137 in 227 overall for the club. He’s won 15 trophies with KA and been an essential part of our journey to becoming the dominant force in Scandinavian football.
Without doubt the best real striker I’ve managed in a long time, Mani is the absolute boy. He also got a delightful brace on our famous night at home (it was a neutral ground, as our old stadium was too small for European competitions, sad) against Real.
Tobi Omole
Another addition during the 2020 season, albeit midway through, was Nigerian centre-half Tobi Omole. Initially partnered alongside fellow new arrival Alan Lithgow (the classic combo of one older centre-back playing on Stopper, and a younger, more spritely colleague on Cover), Omole developed into both an authoritative centre-back, a leader in the dressing room and a potent goal threat from set-pieces (the Dyche influence remained, despite the fancy tippy-tappy passing).
Omole had been released out of the Arsenal academy when I signed him and was hugely inexperienced. He was mobile though and a great passer (his Passing was 15 when I signed him), so he fitted perfectly into a system that was focused on building out from the back and knocking the ball around with panache. That game time allowed him to develop naturally and become the player he is for me now.
It’s in the Mental attributes that he’s made the most progress. It’s made him a dressing room leader and saw him get called up to the Nigeria squad. At this point in the save he’s just about peaking and already has 236 appearances and 16 goals for the club across seven seasons.
Looking at his attribute progress brings a smile to my face – it’s probably the most improvement I’ve extracted from a real player ever. I’ve signed him in my current save with Scunthorpe, hoping I can repeat the magic.
Tobi Omole, captain, leader, legend. Much love my brother.
Big thanks to Andrew for sharing his favourite FM players from this year’s version of the game - you can find more of his excellent written content on The Byline, Sports Interactive’s official platform for online Football Manager content.
Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.