Building for a better future
Chelsea have struggled to maintain their high standards over the last few years. The club had a lot of problems off the field and is looking to bring back the success.
Welcome to another edition of how to manage a Premier League team in the first season on FM24. The concept of this football manager 24 guide is to manage each Premier League team and play them throughout the first season. This is will be made up of suggestions and recommendations of how to manage the team in the first season.
In this guide we are taking control of Chelsea. Chelsea used to be the dominate force in the EPL, but after off field problems it halted the progress and put them in reverse. There have been many managers and players come and go over the last few years and Chelsea have just struggled to get that consistency. The previous guide of how to set up Chelsea on FM24 can be found here.
In this guide we are going to:
- Look at the league performance and individual performances.
- We will look at the tactics which have been used in Football Manager 24.
- Potential transfers and areas of improvement.
Read on if you want to change Chelsea’s fate and take them back to the glory days!
Chelsea Results
In this section we review the results of the season so far. The results data can give us some fabulous insights into the types of teams we play well against and who we struggle against. While it is general data that concern results it is something to start with.
On first impressions when I took over Chelsea, I was looking forward to playing with this team and pushing back to the top. How the season unfolded was very different to how I expected it to go. We started the season with a number of annoying draws, followed by a short spell of winning, then to go on devasting 4 game losing streak.
The only way I can describe this is that the team are gelling and adapting to the tactic. After the four game losing streak we changed to a 433 DM rather the 4231 formation as I felt we were attacking too much without cover. This then produced an unbeaten streak.
By January the 1st we were 7th and on a good run of form. This is pretty much what predicted from the start of the season, so hopefully in the second half of the year we will push up the table. Looking at the goals and conceded we have had a distinctly average season, plenty to improve here.
While it is easy to criticise the team, we are in a state of transition. We are playing with a team with a lot of new signings and with a new tactic. The team is performing better now and we will focus on building the team going forward to support defensively and offensively. The main point here is that we are on target to achieve the goals set.
Individual Performance
In this section we look at the individual performances of players so far this season on football manger 24. By looking at a more granular level on across key performance indicators, it highlights any poor performers as well as the players that are pushing the team. It can be a used to help intervene in bigger problems within the team.
There are some interesting developments within the team from looking at the individual player performances. Conor Gallagher is our top performer, bearing in mind he wasn’t even starting for at the start of the season. Cole Palmer was playing well when we played the 4231, but unfortunately since we have changed to the 433 DM his role has been made redundant.
Caicedo has been nothing short of amazing this year, chipping in with goals all over the place and killing his XG. As well as that he has maintained a 89% pass completion, what an absolute boss. On the left we can see Mudryk is coming together now, scoring 4 and doubling his XG while his passing is above the benchmark.
So let’s took about the areas of improvement. Fernandez, James, Disasi, have not hit their XG target so far, but to be fair two of them are defenders so it is not vital. Palmer, Nkunku, Jackson and Madueke are all turning over the ball too often according to their pass completion. This is something that needs to addressed, but overall their are not any immediate concerns.
The thing made me laugh about managing Chelsea FC on Football Manager 24 is that it’s like managing a team of regens. These are not the household names that Chelsea have had in the past.
Chelsea Tactics
So in this section we start to speak about the tactics that we have used this season so far. In most games will be using the same tactic as we have recommended in the Day One series. Sometimes we have to put our hands up and say we got it wrong, but the majority have worked well.
We switched to the 433 DM from the 4231 as we were attacking so much, but sometimes not scoring, leaving our defence exposed and in turn losing. We had to put a stop to that, and placing a strong DM in the team was the way to try that. While this takes away from our attacking emphasise it certainly made us more balanced.
One of the biggest problems with Chelsea FC on FM24 is that their recognised striker Lukaku is out on loan. In the second season he is going to be vital as Jackson and Aroja are not up to scratch at the moment, and may never be. The way that the team is set up is to push from the front and force the opposition to make mistakes.
The wide defence is used to push up into the space on the width that the inside forwards will leave. The inside forwards will attack the centre space where the pressing forward is creating an overload in the centre of defence. It’s quite a modern footballing strategy, and we will organise the team in January.
Conclusion
Chelsea FC have definitely been a challenging team to start with, but I feel the worst is behind us. The team needed to adapt and gel together in the first half of the year. We are starting to see the results of preserving and the performances are coming good.
The strength of this team is the defence, Silva is on his way out as he has poor pace. It is a fantastic defence and still very young, it’s something to build on. There is a good goal keeper to back them up too, and he has had some epic games. The weakness to this team is the forwards, while they are very good at running and dribbling, they are more like wingers. They do not have that finishing ability, that killer instinct, bring back Lukaku.
The potential in the team is serious, there are so many high potential youth players in this team. Build a youth set up, use great coaches working with youngsters, keep building up the facilities or maintaining them. The threat in this team is a lack of success. If you do not win early in the season with Chelsea FC the board will be on your back. This could be detrimental to the whole strategy.
Go and start your Chelsea FC game today on football manger 24. Let us know in the comments how you get on. Please like and follow our social media pages.
