Welcome to the last installment of this mini-series about my Football Manager 2021 beta save, where I took charge of Rennes and conquered France – and almost the whole of Europe too.
In Part 1 and Part 2, I wrote a season-by-season summary of everything that happened at Roazhon Park during those four years. Today, I will take a closer look at my tactics and players from that incredible final season, where we won the domestic double, reached the Champions League Final, and completed an entire league campaign undefeated.
So, let me introduce you to ‘Les Imbattables’ – The Unbeatables!
TACTICS
For much of this save, I’ve been using either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, with an emphasis on sensible pressing and fluid counter-attacking. Results were pretty good for the first two seasons, but we had some wobbles in the third, slipping as low as 12th in the Ligue 1 table in January.
After that slump, I decided to rebuild my tactics using the Rate My Tactic web app. This takes inspiration from guidetofm.com to advise you on how you can improve your system in terms of penetration, solidity, support, and partnerships. BjoernsFM recommended this to me after I wrote about my failures at Sporting CP on FM20, so thanks very much, Bjoern!
The rebuilt tactics below helped us to save our season, finishing 2nd before enjoying unprecedented success 12 months later. They share a few characteristics:
- a mentality that carefully balances risk and reward
- a pressing game that looks to regain the ball and then hit our opponents on the break
- a deep-lying playmaker who dictates the tempo and transitions defence into attack
So this is my main tactic, which I predominantly use at home and in easier away games. Though counter-attacking is obviously a major part of how we play, this system allows us to put the opposition firmly on the back foot.
You’re probably thinking, “Yawn, another 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress. They’re soooo OP on FM21.” But this isn’t gegenpressing, no sirree! Klopp-ball is where you press with extreme urgency very high up the pitch to stop an opposition counter in its tracks.
Fuller-ball is much more conservative, with a standard line of engagement. I don’t even have ‘Counter-Press’ switched on nowadays, as that often left us quite exposed at the back – and the increased intensity also contributed to us fading badly late in games.
For the first two-thirds of our unbeaten season, I usually had two inside-forwards, with one on an Attack duty and the other supporting an attacking full-back. When teams realised we meant business and started to play more defensively against us, I converted that supporting forward into an inverted winger, just to make our attacks a bit less predictable and more direct.
It took a lot of trial and error to build a counter-attacking 4-3-3 that kept us solid defensively but also allowed us to strike swiftly and clinically on the break. This looks very conservative, with only two players on Attack duties, but it actually works reasonably well for me.
Mind you, this is a tactic I’d only really bring out for tougher away outings… and even for those games, I have an alternative system that’s arguably even more effective.
Call me Antonio Conte, but I like a 3-5-2, and have done for years. This particular system worked wonders when we beat the mighty PSG 1-0 at the Parc des Princes, and also outsmarted the even mightier Liverpool in the Champions League.
I always wanted the DLP in the heart of midfield, but I struggled to figure out which roles suited the two men alongside him. In the end, I decided to have not one but two mezzalas, who add some width to a narrow-looking system by supporting our wing-backs in attack. After all, mezzala is Italian for “half-winger”.
GOALKEEPERS
Every team needs a strong presence in goal, and Edouard Mendy certainly gives us that. He’s no Donnarumma or Faríñez, but the French-born Senegalese international is still a great shotstopper with fantastic reflexes.
Mendy first played for Rennes in 2019/2020, subsequently earning an £18.25million transfer to Chelsea. Incredibly, he failed to dislodge Kepa Arrizabalaga at Stamford Bridge, and Dominik Livakovic’s arrival in 2022 effectively ended his Blues career. I brought him back to Roazhon Park on loan in January 2023, and he performed so well that I made the move permanent for just £7.5million.
Mendy was ever-present during our 2023/2024 league campaign, conceding only 13 goals and keeping 26 clean sheets. FM21 says he conceded 11 goals and kept 28 clean sheets, but there’s a bug in the game that doesn’t count own goals when recording goalkeeper stats. I’m afraid it’s one of many statistical bugs to be found in this season’s release, but oh well…
Fellow Senegal goalie Alfred Gomis was a decent if inconsistent first-choice during his (and my) first season at Rennes in 2020/2021. He has spent the last three years serving as a capable backup to three different number 1s – Robin Olsen, Hugo Lloris and Mendy – but hasn’t complained once about a lack of regular football. What a guy.
DEFENDERS
Faitout Maouassa is another original, and I always knew he would be key. His attributes don’t scream “world-class left-back”, but they are absolutely rock-solid. While his composure is somewhat mediocre, he still has the physicality, mentality and technical skill to perform his duties to a very high standard.
Maouassa missed just four league games in the first season but didn’t pull up many trees. He really kicked on the following year, grabbing eight assists and hitting a 7.33 average match rating as he was named Rennes’ Player of the 2021/2022 Season.
The attacking full-back was even more productive over the next two seasons, hitting double figures for assists in both campaigns. While Maouassa has still not been capped by France, the 25-year-old has always attracted strong interest from abroad, not least from Celtic and Rangers. I’d say he’s probably a bit beyond the Scottish Premiership.
Since signing from Arsenal for £7.25million in January, Swedish role model Jonathan Augustinsson has been a reliable understudy to Maouassa. He too is a no-frills left-back with a keen eye for a deadly cross, and his defensive capabilities were especially key to getting us a clean-sheet win in a tough late-season game at Metz.
Prior to Augustinsson’s arrival, my second-choice left-back was Kévin Rodrigues, whom some of you might remember from my FM20 series with Sporting. Costing just £1.2million from Real Sociedad in 2021, the French-Portuguese put in plenty of fine shifts over the next two seasons, but made just five appearances for our ‘Imbattables’.
Let’s now talk about our regular centre-back partnership. First up is Jérôme Onguéné, who arrived from Red Bull Salzburg for £15.5million in late August 2021. The brave and powerful covering defender was an instant hit, plugging a big hole in a leaky Rennes backline and carrying the vice-captaincy with distinction.
2022/2023 saw a ‘sophomore slump’ from Onguéné, who struggled to control his nerves or keep focus. After having his head turned by Barcelona in January, the Cameroonian kicked up a fuss and was soon moved down the pecking order. When he did play, he was so erratic that I took away the vice-captaincy and even considered selling him in the summer.
After Barça lost interest, Onguéné knuckled down again and regained his starting place in 2023/2024. His outstanding aerial ability and positional awareness made him a pivotal part of Ligue 1’s most watertight defence. He also provided five league goals, including the second-half opener in the 2-0 win over Angers that confirmed us as champions.
Onguéné’s partner-in-crime for the last three years has been Nikola Milenkovic. When I saw in June 2021 that Fiorentina had made the ball-playing defender available for just £9.5million, I said, “Don’t mind if I do,” and immediately got him on the next plane to France.
The resolute, intelligent Serb had a fine first season before gradually improving and becoming more important over the next two. Like Jérôme, Nikola found it hard to concentrate when Barcelona came calling in early 2023. After stewing for a few weeks, Milenkovic calmed down and responded with some brilliant displays, so I gave him a new contract and later promoted him to vice-captain.
As a team leader, Milenkovic grew even stronger in 2023/2024, even becoming a beast from set-pieces, such as when he opened the scoring early in our Coupe de France Final win over Amiens. While his ruthless tackling can be a little reckless at times, his man-marking skills make him one of Europe’s leading central defenders.
If Milenkovic is lured to an elite club in the future, we have a ready-made replacement for him in Leonidas Stergiou, who signed from St Gallen for £13.25million in January 2023. The athletic Swiss-Greek shows great ball-playing skills and anticipates the game so well for someone who’s still only 22. He could easily be a top-level centre-back for the next decade.
Ex-Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti was loaned in from title rivals Paris Saint-Germain last August to provide some quality cover. The left-footed centre-half was mentally incredibly resilient, and his big-game mentality helped us to dethrone his parent club as French champions.
We never had a clear first-choice right-back at any point during my Rennes reign. Kevin Mbabu was signed to fill that void in 2022, costing £15million from Wolfsburg. The Swiss international’s athleticism and work rate caught my eye, not to mention his crossing ability.
Mbabu got four assists and averaged 7.15 in his first league season at Roazhon Park, then grabbed six more assists in our ‘Imbattables’ campaign. Sadly, a spate of injuries mean he hasn’t quite realised his full potential. A particularly serious hip injury in March saw him play just 17 minutes over the course of our final 16 games.
While Mbabu was on the sidelines, Almamy Touré became a much more regular presence at right-back. Like his rival, he had arrived from German football two summers earlier, signing from Eintracht Frankfurt for £3.5million. I knew all about the resolute Malian’s abilities from my FM19 save with Fiorentina, where he was one of my best signings.
Touré didn’t have as much pace or attacking endeavour as Mbabu, but what he did have was a cool head and an appetite for important matches. He played in exactly half of our 76 league games over the last two seasons, and I can’t remember him having many bad days. However, he didn’t feature in the Coupe de France Final…
…as I instead put my faith in 18-year-old youth graduate Loïc Dany Nicolas. A strong, brave and temperamental wing-back who can also play in midfield, Dany Nicolas justified his selection with two assists in a 3-0 win. It was the best performance from his 24 outings this season (including 7 starts), and I’m sure Loïc will become a regular feature in this Rennes team over the coming years.
MIDFIELDERS
Our captain and inspiration – Eduardo Camavinga. The 17-year-old wonderkid is now a 21-year-old elite playmaker, boasting exceptional technique and passing ability. Frankly, we’ve done incredibly well to keep hold of him for this long, with many of Europe’s top clubs constantly sniffing around.
My first season was a struggle for Camavinga, whom I originally used as a defensive midfielder. After adapting my tactics to make him the centrepiece of my team, the ‘new Pogba’ really came alive. He was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year in two of the past three seasons – and even when he wasn’t in 2022/2023, his appointment as captain midway through a turbulent campaign helped turn us around.
Though Camavinga has never been an assist machine, he’s always been at the heart of our counter-attacking play, often setting up the player who then sets up the goal. It’s not exactly a secret that he is one of THE best young players on FM21, and I can definitely see why.
Another fine young playmaker is Nicolas Raskin, who we poached on a free transfer from Standard Liège in 2021. After two seasons out on loan, the Belgian played a bit-part role in our unbeaten league campaign, making two assists in nine substitute appearances. Raskin might never hold down a starting berth at Rennes, but I reckon he could still be sold for a large profit.
Moving from youth to experience, Benjamin Bourigeaud has been an underrated hero throughout my reign. He has scored 16 goals in four years for me, constantly averaging above a 7 in every season except 2021/2022, when he broke his leg and was out for five months. That he has recovered from that and continued to play at a high level says a lot about his character.
Tiémoué Bakayoko started his career at Rennes, breaking through as a teenager in 2013/2014. He then won Ligue 1 with Monaco in 2017, before a difficult spell at Chelsea which ended with him being loaned to Napoli for a couple of seasons.
I brought Bakayoko back home on a Bosman in the summer of 2022. His aggression, work rate and consistency made him a very useful box-to-box midfielder, though he also occasionally filled in as a playmaker when Camavinga was resting or otherwise unavailable.
Bakayoko might not be the most prolific scorer or the flashiest creator, but he is one of those players I really like – someone who does his job well with minimum fuss. He also shares a birthdate with the singer Phoebe Bridgers, which is another plus in my book.
Youth product Lesley Ugochukwu might be Bakayoko’s long-term replacement. Les got his first opportunities as a 17-year-old in 2021, then spent a year at Belgian club Gent before returning to be a semi-regular part of our first-team squad.
Ugochukwu featured in 28 games for us this season, averaging a 7.13 and scoring three goals. His best performance was at Dijon, where he came off the bench to net the only two goals of a tense game. He has a silky-smooth first touch, is an excellent decision-maker, and surely has a very bright future.
Dominik Szoboszlai was my most expensive signing in 2021, with the then 20-year-old midfielder costing £19.5million from Red Bull Salzburg. Hungary’s best footballing export since Ferenc Puskás immediately became a fan favourite, getting nine goals and seven assists in his first Ligue 1 season.
Szoboszlai originally came in to be a mezzala – a role which utilised his incredible work ethic, and which he still fills whenever I bring out the 3-5-2. However, converting him into an attacking midfielder made him an even greater threat, with his dribbling skills, vision and penalty-box prowess constantly causing defenders headaches.
2023/2024 saw Dom reach world-class status, posting 10 goals and 15 assists in all competitions, along with a highly-impressive match rating of 7.40. Of course, he was voted Rennes’ Player of the Season, and supporters of Les Rouges et Noirs will hope he stays here for many years to come.
Curtis Jones was our backup attacking midfielder this season after arriving on loan from Liverpool. Though not as consistent as Szoboszlai, the young Scouser made his mark with some silky moves – and eight goals. Jones’ contract at Anfield expires next summer, so I suspect this might not be the last Rennes fans see of him…
FORWARDS
When I signed Amine Gouiri in June 2022, I wasn’t actually looking for another forward. Nice had put the raw but talented French-Algerian on the transfer list for just £1.7million, which seemed like a ridiculous bargain to me.
I was right, as Gouiri scored nine goals in his first season at Rennes. He bettered that the following season, bagging 11 goals while upping his creativity with eight assists. Though I preferred him as a centre-forward, he overcame his limited crossing abilities to also play well as an inverted left-winger later in the campaign.
Eddie Nketiah‘s first stint at Rennes in 2021/2022 was as a loanee from Arsenal. The then 22-year-old Londoner only scored nine goals for us as he struggled to fulfil his potential. However, something clicked the following season, as Nketiah got 16 La Liga goals for Villarreal to pique my interest as his Gunners contract expired.
Eddie returned to Roazhon Park on a free transfer last stummer and again struggled for consistency in front of goal, despite having plenty of chances. He finished 2023/2024 with 15 goals from 40 games, though that included three hat-tricks. Nonetheless, he still played a pretty big part in an incredible season.
One former Arsenal guy who was an unqualified success at Rennes was Nicolas Pépé. I needed a top-quality inside-forward for the right flank, and it was basically a decision between two players. Eventually, I opted to buy the 29-year-old Ivorian for a club-record £39million, instead of paying Hertha BSC £54million for a younger, higher-rated Jonathan Ikoné.
Pépé might not have succeeded with the Gunners, but a 36th-minute goal on his full Rennes debut at Dijon was a sign of better things to come with us. He would average a goal every other game in Ligue 1, eventually finishing as our second-top scorer in all competitions with 17. I will mostly cherish the brace he got in the first leg of our Champions League Semi Final with Liverpool.
M’Baye Niang was our main goalgetter in my first season, which he began with six goals in as many games. The versatile Senegal and former AC Milan forward finished the campaign on 20 goals, but missed out on Ligue 1’s top scorer award to Nice’s Kasper Dolberg.
Niang’s impact steadily diminished over the next three campaigns, in which he scored 14, 10 and 6 goals respectively. That’s a solid half-century of goals under my management, but at 29 years old, I think his best days might be behind him now.
My top scorer in this save was another original – Serhou Guirassy, who was bought from Amiens for £13.75million just before I took over. This pacey, ice-cool finisher found the net 63 times – peaking with 19 in 2022/2023 – and never failed to hit double figures in a Ligue 1 season.
Guirassy particularly thrived in big matches, scoring 17 Champions League goals. Though he’s 28 years old and no longer a regular starter, if I was to continue this save, I would still want to keep him around for at least another season.
Last but not least, it’s our starboy – Firas Ben Belgacem. The Tunisian-born striker was the brightest prospect from a very exciting first youth intake. Blessed with plenty of technique and athleticism, but not much finishing ability, I converted him into a left inside-forward early on in his development.
Firas progressed through the ranks extremely rapidly, scoring three goals in Ligue 1 before his 17th birthday. After bagging three more in the first half of the 2022/2023 season, he spent the second half on loan at Nice, scoring 10 in just 18 games.
When he returned to Rennes that summer, Ben Belgacem was determined to establish himself as a regular starter. A match-winning cameo in the Trophée des Champions against PSG set the tone for a season that blew away even his own expectations. At the halfway point, he’d already hit 13 goals, including a hat-trick in a 9-1 demolition of Bordeaux.
Firas went cold in early 2024, but scoring an early winner at PSG on 1 March reignited his spark. After returning to an advanced forward role, the goals flowed back, and a first France call-up sent his confidence sky-high. It was fitting that he completed our unbeaten league season with the fourth and final goal at Lens – his 25th of the season.
2023/2024 LIGUE 1 TABLE
2023/2024 RESULTS
Ligue 1
Coupe de France
Trophée des Champions
Champions League
2023/2024 PLAYERS STATISTICS
And there we have it – perhaps the greatest team I have ever managed on Football Manager.
I will start my next FM21 save later this winter, which I will blog about in full right here. I’ll be embarking on a European journeyman career, starting in the British Isles with no coaching badges. If that interests you, don’t forget to hit the ‘Follow Fuller FM’ button below. You can also find me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
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