Or if you want a real test in League One why not take on Coventry, homeless and with a 10-point deduction. Getting them up the Championship shouldn’t be a problem, the real test will be where you go from there. The club is financially secure and there are a lot of players that you can sell if you want to raise funds. Well, not exactly, but they are a big club in the lower leagues and they have the perfect platform to achieve back-to-back promotions.
Southampton have fantastic infrastructure but failure isn’t tolerated lightly on the south coast and you’ll have to hit the ground running. All that while trying to keep a little digitised Nicola Cortese happy, which presumably won’t be easy. You’ll be tasked with keeping hold of them, developing more like them and making a push for a European place. The Saints have made a lightning start to the new season, and boast some of the most exciting young English talents in the league. With a little investment, there is no reason you can’t get them challenging for silverware. With Julian Draxler, though, there are reasons to be optimistic. Very much the fourth team in Germany right now, behind Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen, incredibly Schalke haven’t won the title since 1958. Thirdly, manage the above while adhering to UEFA’s financial fair play rules. Second, race the Parisians to Champions League glory. First, take on PSG and claim the domestic title. After being promoted from Ligue 2 last year, Claudio Ranieri has assembled an all-star cast in the principality. Last season it was PSG and now it is their newest competition, Monaco. Perhaps the hardest challenge of all will be to replicate their tiki-taka possession style of football. It’s safe to say Swansea somewhat over performed last season, but can you repeat their success? Winning a domestic cup will be hard, but your aim should be to get the Welsh side back into Europe via the league. Swansea are back and they’ve got a real striker this year, as well as a Europa League campaign to navigate. Don’t forget your academy though there are some serious talents like Koke and Oliver Torres for you to nuture. It is up to you to pick up the gauntlet and deliver the club’s first league title since 1996, breaking Spain’s duopoly in the process. Diego Simeone has done a tremendous job and has compensated for the loss of Falcao brilliantly. Not even the most ardent Atletico fan would have predicted that they would be ahead of their big-spending arch rivals after 10 matches. As a side project, why not see if you can help Francesco Totti achieve his goal of becoming Serie A’s all time top scorer? Only 47 goals to go at the start of the game… The challenge will be to try and replicate their real world success, as you try to secure a first Scudetto for over a decade. Serie A’s surprise leaders still have their 100% start going on Football Manager 2014 release day. Securing a top four berth is by no means guaranteed in the first season, patience is the key. You could go one of two ways here build the team around the likes of Suarez and try and bring the glory days back to Anfield, or utilise the strong English core and create an entirely English squad. It just goes to show how much can change in the world of football in such a relatively short space of time.On this year’s edition Liverpool offer the perfect balance of money, big names and talented youngsters, all while still presenting a challenge. Of all the Liverpool players, Xherdan Shaqiri was the one seen as having the most potential (86) after earning his move to Bayern Munich from Basel.Īlisson Becker was rated just 63 as a 20-year-old, with his potential seen as only 74 - he now boasts a muscular 85 rating on FIFA 19.Ī 21-year-old Virgil van Dijk was viewed as a defender that would never beat the 80 mark, but he's now 85 overall and one of the best defenders in the world and on FIFA.īoth Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino were seen as having potential ratings of 84, but both have exceeded those expectations - Salah is rated 88 on FIFA 19, with Firmino 86. So to try and get a rough understanding, we've looked back at the current Liverpool squad's FIFA 14 ratings and potential, compared with their rating today. Jurgen Klopp has built a mighty impressive squad during his time at the club and it's interesting to see how his current stars were perceived back in 2013/14, when a lot of them were breaking through.