By winning matches,scoring goals with players and winning trophies

Because of EPL has so many games with bad scheduling your EPL clubs first 11 will need all out energy to keep your best 11 playing games all the time but you will need each position to be 3 players deep in case of injury and to rest your first 11 against weaker teams.

I was pleasantly surprised with both Ihonvien and Shields contributions this season so far 😁 Ihonvien really has pushed for that 2nd spot and warranted dropping Hopper in most cases. As you remember, the RM/RW is occupied by Matt Jay and Conor Shields, I'm hopeful of holding onto Matt Jay so that when a big club comes calling for Chilverdinho I still have a somewhat competent CAM behind the striker. We're definitely in with a shout provider we maintain the winning percentages and don't bottle it in the final few months 😜

despite some of the really odd individual errors or mishaps I think the results are as accurate as I could get them, Sutton were unbelievably difficult (Surprise Surprise) NOT our pressing finally paid off as them only having 5ft 8 Kashket in net should of been a massive landslide, the away defeat to Norwich was expected. Although given Amos reactions and saves it probably should of been 3 or even 4-1 to them, we didn't look like scoring until McCallum turned into idiot brain on the line LOL. 8 Wins now in the League we have to be looking at a top 3 auto spot if not runners up as priority now.

@@SetPlayGaming only four goals smh sort it out 😂 cheeky stat pad sesh to maintain the gap at the top of the table.

@RL- idk why EA can't be bothered to fix it properly 🤷‍♂️ it's obviously been broken now for 2-3 years. I'm going to sell my other Academy GK to them when I get into S3, not ideal but he'll be better than 13pos 5ft 8 Kashket 😆 probably by then they have 0 CBs 😭 The CM gamers are crying out for a football sim they can play that actually has logical decisions and proper storylines in it. Please S.I for the love of God join up with another developer and make a game we can play that somewhat emulates reality. 😆

Thanks so much for watching mate and the comment 😁 I appreciate the support 💪

McNulty isn't bad also I realized after I uploaded my summary was only supposed to be of the new blood McNulty is from the Academy I think 😆 Idk if we can keep up the winning streak but we're becoming hugely competitive in this division and difficult to beat just through the amount of goals we're scoring. Thomas has a borken metatarsal 😜 Regarding the Tovide comment I did say that I prefer saying it without the 'ay' but I'll endeavor to say it the correct way infact when that red card happens I actually said it both ways it's not easy to change when you're used to saying it a certain way all the time 🤣 December out of the way, we have some more transfers and loans imminent hopefully I can get Ep32 done later 😊

@@SetPlayGaming red mentals and 65 short passing... it'll be red mentals and 76 short passing if you don't reload spam ☠️ you're just carving through teams atm. Why couldn't Hopper and Taylor do this up front early on? 😂 By broken metatarsal you mean you agree with my observation that it's a broken foot then? 🤔 I was remarking more about the strange nature of seeing something that isn't a toe, ACL or bruise issue 😂

Phew! So much to reply to here! 😂 I think you must have either been well caffeinated or drunk 😜 I'm not complaining! 🤣 Right let's start with the first Question. Zarins graduated from U's Academy and had SGP status which is why in the beginning when you had mentioned about him coming up I said I didn't think he would stay as he's too good of a player. McGeehan really stepped up for us this Episode and both Chilvers and Edwards are flying with helpers to goal. You're absolutely right about us today 3 wins from 3 after losing to two of the top 6 last time out was the perfect response for us. Tovide I think on course for 20G or just shy of it. I'm hoping to squeeze one more season out of him in L1 as I think he'll end up being quite a good ST by the end of next season (S3) it's not likely we'll be able to hold onto him or Chilvers because of their development. That's why I'm eager to keep Matt Jay happy as I can always move him back to the CAM position.

Tovee-day 😁 thank you!

Let's not panic, these matches were always going to be tough especially Gillingham away, I had to 😂 at both Gilbs + Nichols two former CM players coming back to haunt me? 😭 Out of all the hundreds of players in the game 😂 We will need to be much better when Gillingham come to the JobServe Arena in February. End of November and we're into R3 of FA Cup and in the top 6 of the league. Despite some of our obvious flaws I'm going to say we're headed in the right direction. The next two Episodes will focus entirely on league matches so no disruption from the cup games. 😁

​@@SetPlayGaming so typical 😂 but then I've been doing it with Lukaku against Everton and Man U 😅 Sorry I apparently can't read. I just saw R3 in the description. So who will you draw in R3? 👀

So you might notice from time to time that even against weaker sides I'll still put a strong lineup out, sometimes it's because I want to get the match won guaranteed and then sub on guys who deserve an App, sometimes it's because they might have an Important role and I want to keep them content, other times it will be because we're out of the Carabao and EFL Trophy so our League form and results are the priority so we need a guaranteed win. Even though Sutton Utd had a 5ft 9 GK and went down to 10 men early, they looked threatening on the counter. 4-0 is good enough. I'd prefer to have a 3 or 4 nil win than score 5 or 6 but lose the clean sheet 😁 Yeah only 1 dub against Cheltenham in October but that loss to FGR last time was a momentary blip. I'm sure more goals and wins to follow as we negotiate the second season.

Also don't forget Jayden Fevrier is going on loan to Sutton Utd so should get some matches there, why they can't put that priority and urgency on getting a GK idk. 😂 I mean every COM side scores a minimum of 3 or 4 past them every week. At a blind guess I'm going to predict they ship at least 100G unless they sign a GK in January.

@@SetPlayGaming oh I forgot it was Sutton. HAHAHAHA. Quick, loan list a goalie 😭

@RL- I already did? Actually. I loan listed not 1 Goalkeeper but 2! Nadir Said the Moroccan with the wonky GK Pos? Then Billy Davey went to St. Mirren. At no point did Sutton Utd contact me for either GK. Weird!!

🤔 I've got 2 more GK in the Academy, I wonder if I should call one up and loan list them but keep refusing sides that come in for them until Sutton Utd realize I've loan listed them specifically for Sutton I shall tag him on the loan list with bright yellow 😂 *for Sutton nobody else bid please* 😆😂

I think we battled pretty well against Portsmouth in that EFL match, we were always going to be the underdog and they were going to get loads of chances so to come away with a draw (even though it means we're out) isn't a terrible result. We have to bounce back in our next league matches. I'm very certain the top 3 sides will probably lose 6-8 matches in this division so we can't afford to lose too many going into the new year especially if we want to be there or there abouts. Once we get the next 3 matches dusted we'll revisit the league table. Fevrier already agreed a new squad role because of his low rating he's now on prospect 😜

​@@SetPlayGaming huge result at Fratton Park and a shame. Did you only have L1 teams in your group? 😂 it'd be cool if you got Prem U21 teams in it, like they bother to do in FM. Shame the loss to FGR was at home. Could've gone for an undefeated half of the season at least 😢 rotation down to prospect, yikes 😭😅

@RL- yeah unfortunately 😕 Soon as I saw the table I thought, well we usually try resting first team players in the EFL Trophy and it helps to use rotation players so they get games they normally wouldn't get in addition to any bonus league games I will throw there way, but as soon as I saw that drawing those two L1 teams I didn't think realistically we could get out of that group. Even as one of the higher ranked L2 sides the best we could of hoped for is two draws? I feel like we should of beaten FGR in the Carabao Cup but you get quite strong teams early on in that anyway 🤷‍♂️

@@SetPlayGaming can't really do that until L1 unless you're up against weaker L2 sides though can you? As you're flying in L2 I think it made sense to prioritise a strong lineup for Portsmouth and it worked well. Just a shame Mongi went for glory on his old turf 🫠😂 not much point going for long shots with him while there are better finishers ahead of/around him. Long shots are affected by the finishing attribute unless you're miles out anyway 🤣

@RL- you say that but he's scored some important goals for us this year, I promise a banger from him this season 😜 losing to FGR twice this season is not what I had envisioned we play them again May 10th so I'm going to be all in on that game I want to give Troy Deeney a pasting 😂😆🤣

Hopper isn't going to be benched, he'll be sold after this LOL, last year he would of bagged a hat-trick from those scenarios against Accrington, it was left to Cameron McGeehan to bail us out and I sort of knew that Wrexham away would be tough going. I feel like we exert more control now over matches but still lacking in the final 3rd when Tovide doesn't play, hopefully when Ihonvien and Mellor gets their chances they start to produce for us. The fact we've maintained our good run into October is a fantastic and encouraging start but we need to keep it going now. FGR and Carlisle to play next in Ep27 and we have a rescue mission against Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy.

@@SetPlayGaming haha, the ultimate punishment ☠️ weak foot training for you boy. In the mean time go train with the women or U12s 😂 Wrexham away was a huge result. Kinda felt like it could only be downhill from there lmao Portsmouth 🤔 should be interesting

Absolutely! 😂 The EFL Trophy 🏆 hasn't actually been so kind to us this season, 2 L1 teams in our group in Rotherham and Portsmouth so it wasn't going to be an easy run. Once I saw the table Coyley put all his eggs in the league basket 😜 it's worked out pretty well for us so far! 😂

​​@@SetPlayGamingyeah so few teams in the pool means you can easily run into considerably stronger teams. But that's why you prioritise it once you're in L1 as you said. Something to look forward to before you push on towards the Championship. Yeah just a little bit. Undefeated with only 6GA in 12? LMFAO HACKING MATE.

@RL- I definitely see us giving the cup competitions more of a go once we go up, it's not only a fantastic way to increase Colchesters Growth in brand but good for prize money. It might also mean some league match results are sacrificed meaning we don't finish as high up leading to a prolonged growth of the team. 🤔 It's also going to be tied into objectives for the league in S3 so we'll have to wait and see, it would be nice to get a survival objective for once rather than bouncing up a division and getting mid table right away 😂

For players who play on a regular basis yes, because you want them to conserve energy, however if you're managing larger squads where you have a handful of players on the fringe playing maybe 1 match a month that isn't going to be enough to keep sharpness high, so there needs to be some management of which training plan is best. I've found all out performance works best for reserves.

We absolutely smashed Tranmere didn't we 🤣 I didn't think it would be so easy, they usually give me a hard time lol. 3 wins on the bounce after the disappointment in Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy. I think Coyle will maintain that the league is very much a priority. As with all saves and EA games, I can't possibly see my good form lasting, but just hope we don't wobble completely after our first loss. We don't play Portsmouth (EFL Trophy) now until Ep27 so we can freely focus on the L2 for now. 😜

Defense can definitely play better than they did in this EP, we've seen them shut out teams this season. Unfortunately the cup draw gave us what it did, Forest Green Rovers is always a tough match for us. I'm less bothered about the EFL Trophy as I'm hopeful of us getting promoted this season and I think it will suit us better to win in from L1 🤔 the Mansfield game hopefully is a one off, to concede 2 to them was really poor. 👍

@@SetPlayGaming yeah as I say, any earlier would be nice but you could prioritise it while not being expected to win L1 after promotion has already been secured, or not prioritise it while going for the Championship and still being able to win with your strength lol

I think as of right now Coyle has his eyes set on promotion out of L2, the aim I think will be to establish ourselves in L1 and take a crack at that EFL Trophy 🏆 I think that is fairly realistic and means we're not glory hunting from the off, after all it will be S3 by that point 😜

😆 how very dare you! Mingi has been excellent. I mean, let's consider his only contribution last year was 2G all season he's already showing he can play the role. If Mingi is injured or suspended then McGeehan can step into that role no problem 😉 and I guess they'll be room to rotate once in a while. I'm super happy with our start, it's early days but the signs so far are promising! 💪

@@SetPlayGaming yeah he's done fairly well but he starts with red finishing and he's just having a lot of final third stuff forced through him because he's joining the front line? He's got good progressive attributes in dribbling and passing, and decent balanced physicals, but wouldn't it make sense to have him get the ball to better finishers with better positioning? 🤔 Need to sign an emergency dedicated holding mid for when the good form anti BS starts and your goalie starts falling over or deflections aimbot straight to their forwards. EAIDS is a coming 🤣😂 Ridiculous form so far. You're not expected to go straight for the title are you? I can't remember.

@RL- from what I remember it was aim for the playoffs? 🤔 Aka fight for promotion. I think we'll be in the mix! I was considering going for a dedicated holder but then I saw the development of M3 and I think I'm just going to go with him? I could have him sit and be a DLP then have McGeehan as the box to box guy. If Mingi keeps this form up I can't see him staying that long tbh. McGeehan won't likely grow beyond 65/66 due to age.

@@SetPlayGaming oh cool. Well that sounds spot on right now 😂 I know McGeehan won't grow beyond his 66 (well unless you play him enough to get a boost) but he's damn good all around. He (and Chilvers) would be the first name on my teamsheet because he's basically better than 66 with that complete set of skills

@RL- yeah I know 😁 it's a real testament to McGeehan taking one for the team and sitting in that reserved spot. I'm absolutely certain that if a side offers good money for Mingi then we'll take it as that seems to be the boards objective of making profit from player sales. McGeehan isn't going to fetch an astronomical amount but he's really good, like you said he plays better than a 66, in many ways similar to having Alex Gilbey again that he should not probably be playing L2 football he should be in L1. 🤔 A Midfield of M3, McGeehan and Chilvers is going to be pretty unstoppable tbh. Especially if I can influence M3 defensively while on loan. Then I'll have O'Leary coming back to play backup to M3, Taylor as backup to McGeehan that just leaves Thomas or Cooper for backup to Chilvers. 🤔 That's one area we could improve on is Thomas/Cooper at CAM doesn't look so hot 😆 Thomas has actually played pretty well RW

Oh god yeah 😭 I forgot to tell you when I went through the new season I was messing about with custom pitch and forgot to switch it back 😆😂🤣 sssh there is only you who noticed. I'll just say for the opening month they had American Sponsorship Event to get their brand over to stateside 😆 as a result some NFL teams came to JobServe to play some promotional games against NFL Europe sides and as a result a 2 part special documentary was also aired showing Colchester Utd history but on American TV. 😂 On a brighter note I have actually changed it back to normal turf 😜 but the change won't be until late October-ish 😆 LMAO. The results in the first Ep are very encouraging tbh. Zarins looked Shakey but let's not jump on him right away, there is a big difference from playing non-active academy football to just jumping into L2. We need to prioritize the objectives of YA to obviously satisfy the board to keep our job but I'm not going to be too gutted about the results in the cups, my own perspective is that we want to at least get top 6 this season and see if we can take a crack at those playoffs.

Also regarding Jay/Shields it's a mere possibility, I think Shields offers a bit of strength and good press on the right hand side but if we ever went 532 for an away game is a great foil for any target man. I firmly believe as of right now Matt Jay is our best option at RM. 👍 It's just nice having depth that can play RM as well as ST and don't forget if Chilvers gets a knock or needs rest I can put Shields RM and Jay in the middle 😁

It's looking good mate! 😜 4231 definitely suits us going forward when we break it's more like a 433 🤔 McGeehan will be given a chance to play the sitting role and I'm just asking Mingi to get forward both into the box and join the attacks. 👍 Zarins only has really is long throw 🤷‍♂️ it be nice if he had a playmaking style like long pass, I think Connor Hall has that 🤣 We'll be looking at bringing in 1 or 2 options in defense and Midfield but I'll see if I can get loans in. Ideally from Championship or L1 above. They can't be too high OVR as I don't want them to be asking for Important/Crucial roles. Considering the quality of opposition we basically set out what we wanted to do here and establish a new style. I'm sure the goals will come and I hope that not every match is 1-0 😜

@@SetPlayGaming well I like a CB with long throw. I prefer a wide player with long throw but CBs tend to do it 😂 it's nice that traits aren't mostly just something to use as a guideline for immersion but rather tools that encourage signing a diverse bunch of players. You know, diverse in a way that matters 🤣😂 Might be a waste of McGeehan's shooting and energy then I guess. Starts with yellow finishing and Mingi's is red :( did you ever check out Shea Charles? Think he'd be perfect for you for the year while you let others try to join the attack

@RL- yeah we did send the scout out to check out Shea Charles and he looks well good, his OVL was very high 🤔 so I think I decided to wait. If we lost Mingi or McGeehan then Charles being loaned in would definitely work because if Mingi left then McGeehan could just move back over to CM but if McGeehan got sold then we could leave Mingi at CM and put Charles as the holding CM. As of right now it doesn't make much sense loaning him in cos he's 65 or 66 rated.

@@SetPlayGaming very high being what at this point in s2? He starts at 63 so I wasn't sure where he'd be going into s2 based on his potential. No issue giving him an important role though because a dedicated holding mid is about all that's missing for the midfield to be unleashed. It'd probably be too late to loan Charles if you wait for any of them to leave first 😂 4231 with Mingi and McGeehan is looking suicidal considering how poor the defence was last season, both in defence and playing out. And former United goat Amos won't stay at his best for long 🫢 Imagine Charles and Mingi, Edwards, McGeehan and Chilvers together. Chef's kiss drooling and stuff and whatnot 🤣

Well let's see how they get on, if Pre-Season is anything to go by the boys certainly held their own defensively. It's only a small sample size of games but it's encouraging. McGeehan has been training in BWM since he has decent physical attributes for a CM. From what I have seen so far both Read + McGeehan are fine as the sitting CM. I've been more cautious this time about players I've signed when I look at my starting 11 I've considered where the new signings will play and what squad role they will demand so with Charles being a 66 rated CM it didn't make much sense to bring him in when I already had McGeehan, Mingi, Chilvers, Jay, Edwards all on Crucial or Important. Add to that Arthur Read who even at 61 and rotation complained about game time would of just given me more of a headache.

Welcome to the NO Noti Gang! Population> ME. 😳 WTF. 💩 Thanks RU-vid! 🤔 I didn't specifically train Zarins in anything other than balanced CB I'm sure of it, so he must of had exceptional high passing from the outset. Despite McGeehan only averaging that per game it was still way better than Mingi 😂 I didn't see any share being thrown at him despite 2G all season. 😂 The GKs as mentioned from Academy will be sold off if they can't generate any interest I can always bin them from the squad hub. S2 should be pretty straightforward in terms of playing and figuring out what to do next, everything is hinging entirely now on Mingi being able to deliver with an end product with us moving to 4231. I need to wait and see what rating Fevrier comes back as, 56 isn't going to cut it and he's not exactly a defensive master since he's primarily a Midfield player. Maybe I could find an alternative left side fullback who similar rating to McLaughlin and swap either Kazeem or Edwards (Academy fullback) not the winger 🤣

@@SetPlayGaming haha I moved out and you moved in 🫢 yeah I'm not surprised you've had it on balanced. Defensively minded ones often have quite high passing but low vision. You could try LW/RW/CF training to target his vision for a bit? He'd end up with 3* skills but that's not unrealistic for more technical CBs anyway. You'd just have to check periodically and when they hit 3* skills, you go into the attribute screen and wait to see the icon that says skill moves aren't going up past that, or they'll keep going to 5* 😭 I always do it if it suits the player, like Colwill and Badiashile but not Disasi 😅 You're right - I didn't slate McGeehan enough. Hey Cameron, you're bad kid 😂 I do think even though he was in front of a five, he wasn't freed up enough to do his thing in s1. I feel like being next to a dedicated sitter will have him and Chilvers shine more together with the striker. Yeah a left sided McLaughlin would be nice, although if you're having to rotate enough due to fitness you could get someone younger to replace Kazeem like for like and just sub them a lot or start them against lower table sides and in cup games? You don't have too many youngsters to worry about fortunately. Fevrier has SUCH a good base for a L2 youngster that it'd be criminal to not try to build him back up. So tanky, versatile and a proper winger 🥲 4231 is crying out for him?! I'm interested to see what you ultimately do with central midfield.

Also I thought Mingi was backup to McGeehan now. Marshall Miranda/Read/new guy > 😂 I'd seriously suggest scouting Shea Charles

@RL- yeah, I think the last rating has Fevrier on 56 and he's still not back yet 😭 so idk how much room he'll have to get back to whatever his potential is going to be, let's say mid 60s he's only ever gonna be a rotation player? 😬 I felt like I was starting to get some use out of him on the left side both at LM and LWB so it's disappointing he got crocked so badly. I'll see what his dev plans say when he is fully back. I'm looking at some loan options not full season but Ben Greenwood at Bournemouth, Stefan Parkes? I think at Fulham and Odutayo (I think that's how you spell his name) but I want to make sure their OVL isn't infringing too much on Ellis Iandolo. It's only enough until Fevrier comes back and then I can make more of an estimate on what to do next.

@@SetPlayGaming how many apps did he have? He might be able to hold at 69 or 70 which is still more than good enough. You don't have any wide players aside from Edwards anyway lol You looking at loans for halfway through the season? Because you can't get half season loans at the start of the season for some reason 😐 not like FM where you can even loan someone for a month lol

I didn't expect much of Thomas tbh, bringing him back was just a measure of having someone rather than having to play a wide player up top. He's all more than likely going to stay in L2 anyway. 😂 Off the top of my head I think he had something like 66 or 68 potential, even if I had of not loaned him and player him in 20+ matches no doubt DP would of capped him below that since he would not of scored 15+ goals and assists 😵‍💫 We were good going with a last minute surge and who knows what might of happened if we kept our team Inj free? Ep20 will show the season review, squad report and the YA review. Should be out in a day or two 😜

I was really surprised by how easy it was for Hopper to dismantle Swindon Town 🤔 I always thought they were one of the better sides in L2. Hopper comes through clutch for us at the end, while Tovide and Taylor are In the treatment room Hopper is making up lost ground. Both him and Tovide with 11G this year we will need a solid return from him next season so I'll be looking to start Tovide as the main man. The win over Morecambe was probably more satisfying 😜 I need to review Ep20 that I have on ShareFactory. Idk if I want to go through a full Episode of Youth Academy but seems like there might be some benefit to it looking ahead to the new season. Or if I should just tie an Academy update into 1 whole Episode and put the Season Review + Squad Report all in the same EP. 🤔 The Squad Report will probably take 6-7m and season review probably another 5m so already about 12-13m just with those two features. There isn't anywhere else to put the Academy report but idk if I could justify 1 whole Episode to the Academy or if I could just do a simple one shot quick review before getting on with S2.

@@SetPlayGaming he's on fire. Must be hopping for joy inside 🫢 hopefully you can fix the midfield to allow more control and unlock the attack more next season. Pushing for the play off spots shouldn't be too unreasonable if you can get some clever acquisitions. Definitely need a loan or two as a higher league player will have more growth and facilitate that improvement, after losing so many players. Maybe you can be a hipster and move a fullback to a DM spot to strengthen the midfield. I think Iandolo and Egbo are both high/medium though? 🤔 interestingly on my squad version Egbo is now a CB/RB. But still high/medium lol

Garner had Egbo playing RCB for some of the games and he actually does a good job there 😆 I actually did play Iandolo at LCM and DM at some point. I felt really comfortable using Iandolo as the sitting Midfield player as he's really good on the ball, what it did was give options to use Fevrier at LWB. Since both Kazeem and Fevrier fucked their ligaments Iandolo now is the only recognized LB in the team so we'll bring in temporary cover there. Midfield pretty much takes care of itself, I'm not going to steamroll the existing guys just yet, I'll start with McGeehan and Mingi and actually go from there, I know that McGeehan can do the box to box role very well. Mingi we have to wait and see, I'm willing to give it time and if Mingi isn't productive enough then I can drop him to the bench and use a combo of Read and M3. Worst case scenario is that none of them are good enough and we don't make the playoffs or just fall short but it's a low priority objective anyways. At least then I would of tried Mingi fully in his position and know the outcome. We could even use Edwards and Shields in the wide positions and Chilvers next to McGeehan or Read with Matt Jay behind Tovide.

@@SetPlayGaming Iandolo doesn't make sense there though. Work rates and his technicals and mental suit wingback where he'd be covered and given licence to push up. I probably wouldn't even use him as LB. Maybe LCM in a 433/451 but he'd still be better out wide with his stamina, dribbling and crossing. I think defending is actually his second worst category 🫢 he might be alright at LB when you're one of the dominant teams in L2 though. Mingi hasn't really done enough to justify a starting spot, so one of Marshall Miranda (who I somehow forgot about before) or Read alongside McGeehan seems good. Mingi can play the box to box role as back up since he's supposed to be quite a direct carrier. That's four options with slightly different roles and different levels of importance. It would be nice to get Marshall Miranda in more since he's one of the remaining "prospects" lol Chilvers and McGeehan as the two deepest CMs? Trying to get your keeper bombarded? 😯🫨😂

Trying? Nah I don't have to try, I'm sure if you interviewed Goodman about his time at Colchester this season he'll be as happy as Hopper to tell you how busy he's been 😜 I do like the look of Miranda, if Mingi doesn't pan out he'll basically only have Read standing in his way for game time and tbh like you already pointed out both Read and Miranda do offer something a bit different between them so I can always rotate. I thought Read accepted a new deal and was on rotation but he's been on Important all this time 😳 I think I'll make that a priority to change his role so that he isn't bitching every 9 days 😆 I've been trying to catch you at the same time online so I could try the share screen thing 😜

I think before the Bradford match I included a screenshot of the players who are Inj, at that point Hall was not completely recovered and had a plaster symbol so was on his way back, Egbo still out and Kazeem got his ACL while Taylor got the dislocated shoulder. Then we got injuries to McGeehan - broken toe and Fevrier ACL, so yeah I don't think 4 is the limit tbh. If it was it isn't anymore. I've since reduced the severity, last CM I had it on 35 for pretty much entirety and never had this many inj so maybe they adjusted the values. I only have it on 20 now but 85 frequency hopefully we get more day to day and weekly knocks rather than busted ligaments and broken elbows LOL. I know for a fact Kazeem is done, Fevrier is still young enough but Idk how he's going to be on his return next year, we'll ease him in. The left side will need some improvements, maybe bring in a loan LB/LWB for a few months to cover for Iandolo. We'll be switching to 4231 definitely next season so we need at least 2 per position to help with fatigue and suspensions. Given our record this year a W/L/D against these opponents under these circumstances is actually pretty solid. Morecambe, Newport and Swindon up next!

@@SetPlayGaming didn't get a noti for this... noice! I know they always do those news articles with the four players side by side when you hit four injuries, but in 23 I'd never seen to get a new one until one or two players were back. Maybe on 85 frequency it'll be different. I've already got Chilwell, Thiago Silva and Ugochukwu out, although Ugochukwu is back in training. Just waiting for the inevitable ACL. You might as well just use the 85 frequency and 25 severity I'm on because it's recommended by people who have tested it 😂 How many apps does Fevrier have? The injury will hurt enough but you don't want to lose potential if he hadn't had 89 games (assuming they haven't tweaked dynamic potential that is. I'm hoping there might at least be small improvements because you haven't reported back on it yet. Might as well take advantage of the ability to release more players - just release and resign those who get unfairly hit.

no noti gang LOL 😁 may as well take advantage of my decent health and get as much in as I can. Already recorded Ep18 it should be up in 2d. As I mentioned above I've adjusted it now so fingers crossed we should be okay. Looking ahead I'm not that interested in winning silverware right away, I always saw this first season as transitionary, it's going to probably mean a bit more next season and hopefully the board objective won't require us to win everything in sight. LOL. Once I get these next 2 Ep done we'll have a look at the players performances as I usually commit 1 episode to the end of season summary and squad reports. I wouldn't want to release players because they got crocked tbh, it's unfortunate but there is probably enough players in the game that I can continue to build, it might be that Fevrier and Kazeem both leave next summer as a result of their injuries as they are quite severe. Like you mentioned it will depend on the apps and how DP ruins him, if he's still capable once he recovers and isn't completely knackered then we'll try and rebuild him.

@@SetPlayGaming gotta get that Papa Smurf Trophy while you're down there though 🫡 I can't remember if I got it with Colchester before I got promoted LoL Not release them. Just move them to free agents on June 29 and resign on July 1 lol. It's basically all you can do to protect the ones you can't loan out or give 12965 apps to.

(this is a bit of an essay) It seems to be our story this year, we have a decent little run of form interrupted by poor results I wish it was simply a case of just blaming injuries piling up but as discussed in PSN chats the midfield has been a problem, I'm glad you noticed that monumental slide from Read we have been lacking some bite in the middle. Theoretically we can get 83pts but realistically I'm not sure it's attainable. I think the big flaw with this initial setup this year is that while Coyle loves wing play and I wanted to use 4231 to facilitate that we had to prioritize the loans into the club and the loans into the club reflected more Colchester IRL with Garner, so this was always going to be a bit hit n miss? I think S2 could be hugely successful in terms of consistency, whether we'll have all the personnel in the right spots remains to be seen but the way I have seen it is these 5 at the back formations haven't allowed us to dictate much with the ball and then even when we have created something our forwards haven't always been that consistent (you mentioned it was our weakest area coming into the season). So we have a system that primarily depends on staying solid at the back with 5 inviting pressure onto us, but our defense isn't really protected by any one player when we go forward? I've played McGeehan, Mingi, Read, M3 and even Mitchell and even Iandolo and I'll be honest if I had to rank them in order of effectiveness Iandolo is a little ahead of Read and then it's probably McGeehan then M3 with Mingi dead last. Since we've established Iandolo is best served in his favored position at LB that leaves either Read or McGeehan, I know McGeehans worse stat category is defense but he's better ranked than Read or Mingi and if Mingi truely is going to excel he probably needs to be on license to go forward more often, all too often this year it's been switched around so he's never consistently played in that box to box role. Next season we won't have those 5 players in on loan, and I also think even though we do have some Academy players coming through we'll be able to force a 4231 change a little better, as I've mentioned this means Dallison might have to drop to the bench so we can use both Kelleher and Hall together and then have both Dallison then Greenidge as back up CBs. We'll only know when we try it. Everything pretty much hinges on if McGeehan can hold that midfield and allow Mingi to roam and IF Mingi is more successful doing it. If not the fall back will be to recruit in January, possibly sell or swap Mingi for a holding player and in the mean time have Arthur Read hold the midfield and McGeehan back to regular box to box CM.

regarding the results, Doncaster was a fantastic result it seemed like a big step forward for us and even the come from 1-0 down against Tranmere to hold on and win 2-1, the Sutton Utd game was typical of us this season. They seemed way more physical than us and faster for some odd reason, Beautyman as you can see from the highlights got all kinds of space to ping passes into the front like of Smith and Roberts. Our next 3 are Mansfield Town (A), Bradford City (A) and MK Dons (H) those 3 games take us to the end of March. After that there is only 2 more Eps to go and we have our Season Review :-)

@@SetPlayGaming yeah I I know Read is really just a tidy passer, but he seems built for holding. Maybe he could train as a DM and just offer cover because he seems up for it with that Earth shattering tackle 🤣 s2 should be interesting but you'll need lots of new personnel to cover the gaps left behind by all the loanees. I do like that you mostly just try to nick results here and there rather than constantly sending it, as that fits the current team, and of course you're not the same in the final third without Chilvers pulling the strings because you don't really have another playmaker. So hopefully his return will steady the ship a bit. I'm guessing wing play doesn't really suit the current bunch because, while you've had surprisingly good luck with those weird high crosses at times, it's not consistent and it certainly hasn't suited Edwards, Jay or Taylor. Maybe you should adjust it to be more direct and aggressive rather than focusing purely on width, because you don't have natural, traditional wingers (one's an inverter and the other's a playmaker). And you could be more aggressive in defence with a mid-low block and more proactive in midfield because most of the time your team drops right into the box and then when you pull a CB out of position they dance around you with ease, so you have to rely on Supergoodman. I kinda learned from FM that a more counter-attacking style doesn't lend itself to parking the bus and stifling the opposition, but rather letting them cross into your third and then going at them. But at the same time, direct attacking sides don't really do well with width, which suits patient possession and pulling a defensive side apart more than getting the ball up the pitch quickly. Keeping Read back is less about how good he is defensively and more about how much better McGeehan is athletically and going forward. As long as someone is covering he can influence things a bit more in that dry final third. And he can give you something of a target for crosses and through balls, since he's not the smallest midfielder and he seems to suit running late from deep. Maybe it's not a big deal since you're using the five at the back and they could just be left on balanced. At least Read could be set as DLP at LDM, or stay on edge of box at LCM if you use that. I think I'd prefer them both at DM even if they're CMs 😂 they could still work together in a Manchester United 442 style pair, where one goes when necessary and then the other. They've got suitable work rates, and you can still modify Read to be the least aggressive of them with either DLP or edge of box instructions as above. The main priority for me would be getting a dedicated holding midfielder, *especially* if you want to switch to a 4231 because they just haven't had one since Skuse left. Or as I said before, bring Chilvers back to CM because he's good at defending for a CAM and everyone can help out. Dallison's 44~ pace with far lower acceleration than sprint probably wouldn't be good outside of the five man defence anyway. He seems to suit the centre better with Hall on the left.

@@SetPlayGaming hey it could be worse. You could be Chelsea in mid-table with a worse defence 10 games in than they had in the entirety of 04/05 😂

I haven't personally had that problem, once I get into pre-season I have everyone on high performance to bring sharpness up then once they are optimized I switch it to balanced. The only players you need to keep an eye on are players returning from Inj and players who are not in the starting lineup or subs bench.

Same happens to me, lol.

Fr

I think you're penalized if you deviate from the preferred chosen tactic? Unless I swap formations to 4231 but like I said I was going for it with 2 strikers up front against Harrogate and I guess wing play just focuses attacks down the wings or it infers the attacks will come from the overlapping full backs 🙂 the plan for next season I think will be 4231, but quite how that will fair for us we'll wait and see, considering last Ep win over Wrexham, the Win over Harrogate here we've done well to build that kind of momentum up under the Inj circumstances. Was Shields a panic buy? maybe a little bit but he's come in at the right time and provided a spark in that offense which lets face it didn't look good at times. We were desperately unlucky against Walsall, disallowed soft goal then hitting the crossbar then Evans just being Superman! it wasn't for the want of trying, we answered back brilliantly I think against Grimsby who have been awful this season on my save, they looked clueless and Hopper took full advantage. Now that Taylor is out the only strikers we have are Tovide, Hopper and Shields and we're primarily using Shields as a RM/RW anyway. Not only will Hopper be happy with game time it gives him what I think is a final chance to stake a claim to play up front more regularly. Lets see if he takes it :-p

@@SetPlayGaming yeah if you change it on the matchday screen. If you do it from the team management page you can change it, although whether or not that'll make your coaches useless is unclear. But then again coaches just give you an arbitrary bunch of attribute boosts which is half of the reason why I prefer using custom 😂 wing play forces your team wide so you really need people out there to capitalise. But it might also split the strikers wider which could be half decent if one's direct and pacy. I wouldn't really call Shields a panic buy. You got rid of Newby and nobody else could really play up there with Edwards and Chilvers out. Maybe you could have just used Tovide at RAM since that's similar to where he's played on the right before, but Shields lets him stay more central which is best. What's the plan with the 4231 - Chilvers central, Edwards left and Shields or maybe an upgrade on the right? Maybe Chilvers right with Jay in the middle would make sense. Egbo is a flier so Chilvers can cut in or be on free roam and do his playmaker stuff while still being able to cross. Edwards can be the more typical inverted winger with pace and dribbling, and Jay can play second striker behind a target man. Like my favourite combo of IW, SS, AP and TF on FM 😅 I'm surprised it's Hopper showing up in front of goal atm. I thought he'd do what he's done so far in reality and played second fiddle to Taylorvide 🫢

@RL- yeah I think so, I'm going to have to start scouting some prospect CBs just in case most of these Academy bunch are wet wipes 😂 Basically by switching over to 4231 next season it will likely place Dallison into the rotation/bench. In a 5 man Defense he gets in, but once we start to sacrifice players at the back someone needs to drop to the bench and unfortunately it's him. Haralds Zarins coming in looks fantastic. I mean he can play both CB and CM his attributes are too good for this level but as I have been messaging you on PSN tonight about it, we are needing someone to play holding role of CM and Mingi was useless last year, Read could play there I guess? That would then push both Dallison and Kelleher to rotation CBs. GK Amos, RB Egbo CB Zarins CB Hall LB Iandolo, CM Read, CM McGeehan, RM Chilvers, CAM Jay, LM Edwards, ST Tovide.

Alternatively if I pick both Hall + Kelleher as the two CBs. Zarins can play in that holding CM role and give a reign for McGeehan to be more box to box. I am so pissed off with Jay Mingi, he looks mint as a Midfield player but he can't play in that double CM with McGeehan. 🤔 Is there anyone I could swap him for maybe? To bring in at CM who is more holding role?

Right? 🤣 Oh the inconsistency of our season. We'll struggle against Harrogate and Accrington but turn up and dropkick Wrexham 😂 Hopper is kind of weird, one minute he feels like Hopperandowski and can shoot from anywhere next minute he's Kai Havertz 😭 Tovide remains our best option if we play 1 up top because of the combination of his strength and movement. Even his finishing sometimes isn't up to par. I'm going to completely dismiss the Stockport game simply because it's only the 2nd time this year we have conceded 3 goals in a match, those mistakes were coming eventually it's just frustrating it's against the top side in the league. Harrogate, Walsall and Grimsby up next in Ep15 so a great chance to build on that fantastic result against Wrexham.

We need a table update! 🤣 I thought we did pretty well against a better side in Fleetwood Town. Also the loss to Forest Green Rovers was a bit unlucky really. 🤷‍♂️ Yes we lost 3 on the bounce but sometimes you need a bit of luck for the ball to go in. 🤔 Our next matches against Salford City, Stockport (best side in the league) and Wrexham so we best sort ourselves out. I think we're still in mid-table btw 👍

@@SetPlayGaming haha yes we do! Rough fixtures coming up too 😐 someone needs to step up because the goalie can't do superhuman stuff every week.

@RL- I think against Salford I need to go back to 2 up front. 🤔 I can't keep playing Edwards and Jay as those AMs if they aren't providing or taking chances maybe I need to be a bit more direct. I think I'll go with 2 strikers and have Matt Jay in behind them in the CAM. Have Edwards on the bench and bring him on if we need to revert to wider players in 2nd half.

So based on the feedback you're saying you want me to dwell on the ball more in defense :-p LOL! Actually Dallison and Kelleher had some good interceptions in the last game against Accrington? I think I showed them in the highlights, it's going to be a worrying stretch for us Chilvers missing and now the captain both down for 3 months. The expectations of the side are now on Goodman in goal, Dallison and Kelleher at the back with McGeehan, Jay and Edwards. If those guys are not up to form it greatly reduces our chances of a positive result. The game feels like it's tilting at the moment in the com's favor, also Jay Mingi started pretty well the first few weeks but he's been absolutely awful lately. I might drop him full time for Arthur Read alongside McGeehan we'll see. He's definitely in a performance slump. we might need an extra attacking option someone to play RM/ST who can work hard when Jay and Edwards are tired and not on it? I'm rotating Taylor/Tovide and Hopper obviously but none of those guys can play out wide, maybe I should of held onto Alex Newby longer?

​@@SetPlayGaminghahaha don't you twist my words sir 🫢 yeah couple of good tackles there. December completed so will there be any signings? A loan or two might be good 🤔 Mingi looks ready for the bin ffs so disappointing. Same for me too lol. Feels like Read would be a safer pair of feet. Maybe there's a left footed talent from a league higher up that you could play on the right with Edwards on the left as you wait for Chilverdinho to return.

@RL- idk, I was actually just thinking about a hard working scoring RM/ST someone who can just press high on the right side and send crosses into the box to whoever the ST is with Edwards running in from the left side. 🤔 I don't really have a lot of money so a loan could be done. Mingi isn't really on the aging side either and has great physicals. It's hard to say what is behind the slump in form. McGeehan is a good 2 way player in CM but he can't do it all by himself.

@@SetPlayGaming scoring hard working and crossing? Might as well just sign some 85 rated demon 😂 I said Mingi and McGeehan didn't work as a pair. Need someone like Read to sit because his partner is box to box. Maybe a new Skuse is needed 😅

okay, so a RM who is med or high def work rate who can play as a striker, crossing doesn't have to be spectacular but if he's predominantly RF and playing right side there won't be as much incentive to cut inside since he's already on his favorite foot. Mauro Bandeira can definitely play RWB and RM but I need someone who is more attack minded when Edwards/Jay are ineffective. I definitely have warmed up to this 5221, especially having LAM and RAM support the midfield and fullbacks bombing past them. Remember I mentioned Iandolo playing LCM? I wonder if he could play there and throw Fevrier some matches at LWB.

In the YA segment of the video I had mentioned this one was going to be just a general OVR update on each player not really an in depth look at where they fit into the senior squad, based on the OVR rating I agree most of them are not usable but at the moment I think Edwards could come through in a Sporadic role and maybe Olav Berg in a CM role, I'm training up his defensive stats as I hate it when the com assigns multiple positions such as; CAM/CM/CDM I look at that and think, okay but how many of those 3 positions is he actually capable of playing? Berg looks better as an advanced attacking midfielder playing either wide or through the middle, so it might be he gets loaned out if we can't get his defensive work up to a respectable level. My plan I think is to get all the games dusted then at some point possibly with it's own actual full episode do a deep dive into each Academy Player regardless of if they graduated to senior at that point or are still in the Academy and I plan to sell them.

I'm really enjoying the gameplay this year, there have been what we call 'EA' moments and there still seems to be a bug randomly when finishing a match and you click on Advance to Interview it crashes? so that basically makes me want to just skip the interview as that is where the crash happens? Especially if I feel like the content in the match I recorded is good I don't want to lose it and have to replay the game.

@@SetPlayGaming I know I know... I just want to see which of them is a waste of time 😂 Maybe that's a new version of the match stats bug, although I don't think you ever really had to deal with that? Does it happen in pre-match interviews too?

Negative, it never happens in pre-match. Basically once you finish the match you click on advance to post match interview and when the screen goes black to load into the interview the image comes on screen of your manager but it's frozen. In the bottom left is a green pause ⏸️ button but it's a still image and pressing any buttons or holding them does nothing. Because you never actually make it back to the menu you've lost your match data. 😕🙄 The worst part is there isn't a lot you can do about it, it doesn't happen every time and Idk if match length or something effects the likelihood of it happening? It's frustrating as well because you can get morale boosts from answering the pre + post match questions even if some of them are nonsensical. 😆

@@SetPlayGaming there's always something 😴 half of the time, when I press triangle at the post-match screen to go to a press conference, it just goes back to the main menu anyway 😂

regarding lineup questions vs Wrexham; Goodman, Egbo, Lawrence, Iandolo, Hall, Fevrier, McGeehan, Read, Edwards, Chilvers + Taylor. I can't obviously go back on the save and see fully why Iandolo played there; it could be a number of factors? As I mentioned Wrexham are a strong powerful side, but also Dallison I don't think was fully available yet to play in the back 5? It also might have something to do with Iandolo playing as a Sweeper not in midfield as I wanted his movement as well as passing in the middle. I mean it seemed to work pretty good we kept a clean sheet we just couldn't finish our few chances. Regarding team selection against MK Dons, (2 best players) are you referring to GK Goodman and CAM Chilvers? Goodman was already slated to play in the home game against Bradford and with too few cup chances remaining it made sense to throw another game to Tom Smith, Chilvers didn't play as he hadn't fully recovered I didn't want to risk injury. The issue we have with balance right now is that 5221 allows those two CMs to instruct cut passing lanes and if I prefer 'stay back on attack' which should mean they are more defensive minded, however 5212 doesn't allow the cut passing lanes or man mark and they are much higher up the field? I still feel like we would be way better in a 532 but Edwards is a Crucial Squad player and our wing play tactic kind of infers we're going to use attacking wide players because of Edwards/Chilvers. I want to progress into the 4231 as I think honestly that's the best formation overall for this tactic and the fact we have attackng midfielders all over the place who can play both wide and in the middle just means it's probably better for us, how that is going to work out when S1 ends and one of Dallison or Kelleher has to rotate will be interesting.

If I go with 4231 next season not counting additional signings or loans; GK Smith RB Egbo CB Kelleher CB Hall LB Iandolo CM Mingi CM McGeehan RM Edwards LM Fevrier CAM Chilvers ST Tovide

@@SetPlayGaming yeah maybe you mentioned it in real time that Dallison was back and we're still playing catch up in terms of vids. But Iandolo as a sweeper when he can't really defend, he's high/medium and the sweeper role doesn't even work anymore because it was scrapped and doing it against Wrexham is like 😬😂 And I was talking about Chilvers and Edwards. Just the idea of having to try to overcome a team that should be one of those looking to go back up this season without them 😭 I take it the new training thing and plans don't get your players to recover then? Lmao stupid addition Yeah I mean the 5221 is a custom formation and you're obviously using them as DMs. Makes sense when you've essentially got two CAMs in front but McGeehan and Mingi are kinda lightweight in terms of anchoring a midfield. One's box to box and the other just likes to dribble like an overgrown Kovačić 😂 at least McGeehan can defend pretty well though. I'd be kinda tempted to put him on ball winner just to force his defensive work rate to high lol. Fortunately you'll be using the five at the back for the season and when the loanees go home you can sort out the midfield to suit the 4231. Can't really get away with using two more attacking players in a two in front of a four at the back 🤔 Going to a new season with a bunch of loanees returning to their parent clubs is perfect timing for switching a formation. The only problem is figuring out how to recruit. You'll need at least one experienced goalie, one backup RB, one dedicated holding mid to partner McGeehan/Mingi, I guess maybe a RM if Chilvers goes central but since Newby and Bandeira will be gone you'd probably need one anyway, and a ST maybe unless Ihionvien is ready to be backup?

Sounds good! Who did you choose as your manager for Colchester? :-) I appreciate the comment bro

nah, unfortunately we were KO'd in R1 of the Carabao Cup we played Birmingham City in Ep3 (just to refresh your memory) - didn't I confirm Kazeem's Inj with the screenshot after the game? I feel like I need to go back and watch my own Episode now! haha TBH, I wanted to make a strong showing in both cups but we drew Birmingham in Carabao and Gillingham in the FA Cup so we've been Knocked out 1-0 by both sides, I think that is fair, we can focus on the EFL Trophy and the League. :-) Even though nothing came of it I wanted to show the Kelleher throw because I've never actually been that close to scoring with a long throw. LMAO. Imagine having someone like Hudlin at the end of those giant throws? Delap Spesh. IDK what has happened to Mingi, he started the season so composed and he's really lost it lately, maybe time to give M3 a few games or bring Arthur Read in alongside McGeehan.

@@SetPlayGaming oh that was it 😂 I've been getting mixed up, basically remembering my own cup fixtures lol! Birmingham was always gonna be tough so no complaints there. You better get that PJT 👀 I can't even remember if I won it the season I left League One. I'll have to go back and look lol M3 in M1 out 👀👀

Taylor actually was a cross to the back post so to see it go in was a surprise! 🤣 I was also surprised that Fevrier dinked that over the GK, he isn't renowned for his shooting ability 😆 a complete lack of consistency at the moment as we seem to WDL every episode! Thankfully the board are only expecting a mid table finish so the pressure isn't on us to reach the top places. Given that we did well to get back into it against Morecambe it was disappointing to lose the game.

@@SetPlayGaming yeah fair point. I guess it's just disappointing after the early good form. But it's all balancing out. As long as you don't go on a winless run like me and end up capable of being relegated with only a few games to go 😂

@RL- I think the game tries to balance out your results to some degree, I mean if you play on a super easy difficulty you could just win every match and greatly exceed expectations? On the somewhat more difficult settings with sliders though, if you go on a good run I do expect to be punished for it. I mean you had something similar where you got a few good results then it gave you 💩 result after 💩 result to push you down the table. 🤔 I have mentioned before, losing isn't something I'm alien too, as long as it makes perfect sense and is done in a way where the game itself feels natural. It's just horrible when you've had a good match or decent experience then is ruined by EA Cheese 😂 If I had to nail a position right now I'm saying 12th or 10th. A few bad results we could finish as low as 18th tho. 🤷‍♂️

Yeah. 👀 hopefully not a sign of things to come, that 3-1 defeat to Forest Green and the late slip up against AFC Wimbledon could just be blips in the road. Don't forget I've not been as active on it so I need to get more games in again. Swindon, Newport and Morecambe coming up, I don't rate Newport or Morecambe so we should do well against them. I'm happy so far with a base line of the scores experienced. 15 matches played in all comps the FGR one is the heaviest defeat at 3-1 we'll probably end up winning the next 2 😂

Mitchell is the Sweeney right now and remember in Stevenage we had Harvey Lintott? He was the poor guy who got dolmio'd by Chilverdinho 🤣 Yeah. The other CB who kinda flopped at Stevenage was Bobby Faulkner, I had signed both him and Mazeed Ogungbo who obviously faired better. 🙂 One of the things I have yet to mention about the CM on video is my refusal to sign or use players used at Stevenage/West Brom so I won't be getting Drysdale back in or signing Robbie Gotts, there is enough talent on the game to find that I can make this different from the last save. 😁 Now we have 2W and 1D I fully expect to get annihilated in the next episode 🤣

@@SetPlayGaming actually if you check messages, you'll find a surprise on that front. You're not gonna believe your eyes but there you go. He is now Sweeneydini 😂 I remember Lintott. Rest in puddles of sauce 😔 Yeah I'm feeling like that with players I've used before and players you used recently too. As long as you don't touch Beckenblackett or Paterhawkinson we're good 😡🤣😂 I was gonna suggest that you have an excuse to tap up the other ex-Leeds talent at Barrow (Stevens) but he's gone down to Yeovil in the VNL 🧐 I'm sure you'll find another tricky devil to target for the right wing one day soon

We also have to be mindful of holding onto players that are simply too good, I mean if standard OVR is the main reason you get a stupid objective we kind of want to reduce high ratings? I'm favoring selling those Academy lads and bringing in my own flesh. 😂 obviously some of these lads we have now do have really nice potential but they aren't going to hit 70 in one season. At least I don't think they will 🤣

@@SetPlayGaming that's why I like players like Brown and Blackett. Adequate quality without an excessive rating. I guess Norburn and O'Connor count too because they'd be higher rated at DM 😂 shame you can't rely on realistic bids too often to keep a nice rate of player turnover going.

I need to STFU about Jay cos ever since I said what a good finisher he was he's bottled two really decent chances and missed 😭 Tovide looks like he needs the games to get on a role but if I stick with him Hopper will complain and I still need to push Taylor in 🤣 It's frustrating that against Doncaster Rovers for the most part we played easily well enough for at least a draw and the only goal they scored was immediately following Dallison winning the ball with a slide tackle. It feels a lot like one step forward one step back at the moment lol

NGL the Grimsby match kinda pissed me off 🤣 it was all set up for the "these guys are awful so we should win" and Grimsby just seemed to get the luck of the bounce then hit us cold against the run of play. I kinda felt it happening as well when we were 1-0 down, Jay hitting the post he's through on goal and I had blessed his finishing. 😂 I don't think I used R1, I usually spam the shoot button now cos if you try and use long pass they just press you and win the ball 😆 even though Taylor goes early I do feel more confident I can play route one more effective as long as I have a decent sized forward up top. Hopper seems to suit that role but as Tovide gets a bit better he'll probably be more rounded and outgrow him. 👍 Results I think are probably going to be a bit hit and miss but like I said in last So, it's more about keeping everyone happy and ticking off those objectives 😋

@@SetPlayGaming yeah shoot is the clearance button as long as you're in your own half. Every time a high ball comes into the box, I use that now. I thought it just means it's a less rushed, hacked attempt. I didn't even know it was in the controls until recently 😂 I looked it up and apparently it was introduced in 22 to give you the opposite: a hoof as far away as possible. So wtf is a regular clearance, aside from usually being an assist for the other team? Because directional clearances don't work ☠️ Tovide is mobile but I swear he's bigger than Hopper so he's already in a good place to take up that role, only with the bonus of being more mobile lol I'm glad you're not stuffing all of the best teams so you don't end up going on a winless run of 12 games unable to pass or tackle or do any basics like me 🤣

@RL- "WTF is a regular clearance, aside from being an assist for the other team?" 🤣 hahaha. Yep. Have you also noticed how when the COM is 1-0 down and they are in their own box you apply pressure they can pass blindly in front of you and the ball always finds their man? 😆 if you pass blindly in your own area it's a certain goal. 💩 🤣 I don't want to win every game obvs, however I do want to feel like I've been in a match with some too and fro, rather than an FUT Sweatfest 😆

@@SetPlayGaming yeah they can one touch 180° no scope ping pong pass up the pitch, but if you try to clear or play a short simple pass to get out, you end up with 13 composure and can't do it. Especially when against worse teams. Especially when they're behind. Especially when they have 10 men 🧐🙃 I'd rather not have easy games and do too well so you get artificially brought down a peg later on to compensate 😡

I won't ever sugar coat something, but so far I haven't had to replay a match because it was garbage I have replayed 2 matches because of game crashes. I actually had a 3-2 loss but when I clicked on post match interview the screen was stuck with a green marker in the bottom left. 🤣 I was like "okay we can just skip the interview it isn't that big of a deal?" It's a shame cos even though I enjoyed the match at 3-2 and we conceded 3 I felt like overall it was an enjoyable match. My older brother always said that when you go on a good run the game starts playing more against you, I think that is where scripting definitely comes in, that's why if you're higher than mid-table you're on a decent run suddenly 16th or 17th place Grimsby come out 28d later 😆 I don't mind losing at all as long as it's enjoyable gameplay and feels like an actual match where chances have been at both ends, even in the Grimsby game we can account the loss to being caught out and not taking our own chances. It happens in football. Hopefully by Christmas we'll have a much better idea about where we will finish. I'll probably have one Episode around end of November where we take a look at Academy progress and re-check objectives.

😂 firstly I don't have a 2nd PS5 controller to work on here yet so if the COM selected on loan players against me, eh it is what it is. I renamed the stadium from default to JobServe Arena, I wanted stadium but the guys at EA have kept character limits so stringent you can't even name it JobServe Stadium, it's a good job I didn't want to call it the Colchester Community Stadium innit? 😂 I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of character limits are on Stadium Names IDK if it is something to do with coding limits or what but it's another illogical thing EA have in their game. Regarding Goodman's celebration, he did this on 79/80 mins LOL, hence why I said 'Calm down boys' there is 10m plus stoppages, EA have added this in but it should be reserved for saves in stoppage time or ones on 89/90th minute. Taylor definitely woke up and chose violence and Yes absolutely he's given Coyle an extra headache, as i have pointed out in the Stevenage save the OVR ratings are a guide, but if it's only by say 3pts and the lower rated player is outperforming someone then I'm going to probably pick the player in form. You mentioned 'never switch with L1' this has always been my default button for player switching so in any instance of defense what am I supposed to switch players with???

@@SetPlayGaming oh damn that's right. You can't use your PS4 controller on PS5 versions of games 🤣 I always like to omit loanees from matches against their parent clubs, because if I am loaning someone they're usually going to be a strong player for us and it adds a little challenge thanks to a bit more realism. Idk how I scored three against Fulham without Ablade, but we've made up for it by not being able to score in his absence. Next top scorer has 3 in 23, and he had 9 in 7 🤣😂 that's weird because I was able to fit JobServe Community Stadium in there 🧐 You've never switched with the right stick? I use that pretty much exclusively. No point letting the game pick someone for you when it's coded by baboons LoL

@@SetPlayGaming and yeah that's my/our point exactly. Sometimes players just have something different about them and deserve priority in the pecking order because they deliver more than expected. Ablade has been like that for me. Only 66 when he came in (in line with the lowest rated players that make my first XI), yet it's like he's the only working player at times. He's nothing special but seems powerful, tricky, fights for 50/50s etc. I haven't enjoyed a striker signing so much since I bought Ciprian Marica back in FIFA 08 or something. Didn't know the guy, signed him randomly and he just became an all-time favourite of mine, up there with Yearwood 😂

You do love your Yearwood 😂 he's a legend in your head lol. Scary place to be! my main aim is to try and keep everyone together at first, while I am open to selling prized stars to halt the progress happening in just 1 season I also like the idea of building around guys around 70 rated potential to get us eventually into the next league. Although Joe Taylor has been smashing it IRL they are nowhere near close to playoff contention this year with 3w 1d in 11 matches. They have also conceded 20 in those 11 games so they do tend to leak goals. Keep in mind Garner uses a back 3 with the wide fullbacks/mids. So his system is different from my back 5 with two holding players in front. One of my favorites in recent years was Oliver Hawkins, 6ft 6 and there is something fun about playing against the grain of the game? It's like the game wants to punish you for playing long ball and high aerial crosses with tall strikers so does everything it can to play like FUT to piss you off, it made playing fifa fun when I had him cos I knew there were not many defenders who could beat him once that ball went into the box LOL. Interestingly, I found that L2 does work on strength players for me but it is purely situational which is why sometimes it doesn't always work, it's like a 75% success rate or maybe I'm being kind it's more like 60%? if I have a guy like Hawkins in my forward line I'm going to use him as much as possible. It's not that he never lost the ball cos obviously he did, I feel also like in this latest game I'm getting more used to crossing from the wide areas now, it's also fun to try different types of them to draw the GK out lol

@@SetPlayGaming rude 😭 I've got so many clips of him here on my channel haha. Remember that scoring run he went on when I got promoted with Bournemouth I think it was? Ridiculous player. Wish Brentford would take him back because I could watch him in the Prem 👀 Shocking isn't it? I thought they were expecting promotion. Garner went on a great run when he came in and steadied the ship, even getting nominated for manager of the month after an unbeaten run of eight games, so maybe the new personnel just need time to gel. Hope to see them surprise and improve like Stevenage have so far. I think Garner uses a five but Google, and everyone and their nan, refers to it as a 'back three with wingbacks' which is a contradiction lol. They should be more solid than that. Goodman has been okay if unspectacular for a goalie loaned down three tiers (they could use Aaron Chapman, while he's been wasted at the bottom of the VNL 😐), and nobody has really been productive aside from Taylor.