Nice work, Netjam! OK, finally got a chance to play a few more games -- I'm in mid-September of my first season:
Team: Nottingham Forest
League: Coca-Cola Championship (for now!
)
Difficulty: World Class (for now?)
League Standing: 4-2-2 (14 points, +7 GD; currently 7th in Championship and 5 points out of a promotion spot with one game in hand)
Cup Competitions: Lost in first round of Carling Cup to Norwich City
Summer Acquisitions: Chris Gunter* (RB, Tottenham); Bojan Jokic* (LB, Sochaux); Ardian Gashi (CM, Frederikstad FK); Andrew Driver (LW, Hearts)
* Indicates player purchased from the transfer list
My formation(s) and tactics are finally starting to come together with the purchase of Driver & Gashi, both of whom required the maximum fee allowed in regards to the market value (1.185M & 900K in euros). I'm currently playing a 4-3-3:
--------------- Smith (C) ---------------
Gunter --- Chambers -- Morgan --- Jokic
--------------- Moussi -----------------
------- Gashi ---------- McGougan -----
- Anderson --------------------- Driver -
---------------- Tyson -----------------
Build Up Spd/Pass: 40/70 (Organised)
Chance Creation Pass/Cross/Shoot: 80/50/35 (Free Form)
Defense Press/Agg/Width: 40/60/25 (Cover)
I also will employ a more conservative 4-5-1 with two holding mids and the wingers pulled back, along with less aggressive custom tactics when trying to defend a lead late. I'm starting to hit my stride offensively, especially after switching from a 4-4-2 to the current formation and changing to free-form chance creation. I've scored 11 goals in my last five games (time of switch) after netting only three in my first four. And of course, some player development and squad additions have helped considerably.
I updgraded my negotiator to level five and fitness coach to level six. I'd like to get fitness up to a seven before the FA Cup starts, but there's no rush as I don't have more than a game per week until Christmas. Hopefully I'll be able to bank some cash to add a few more players in the January window to cope with the compacted schedule. I'm trying to keep things reasonable in terms of whom I purchase -- I don't want to buy anyone that would never make the move.
For example, I'm not going to go out and buy a starter from a top league or too many Germans, Italians, Spaniards or South Americans, etc that wouldn't make the jump to England to play in a lower league. For instance, Gunter is from Wales and was 3rd choice RB at Spurs; Jokic is Serbian; Gashi is Norwegian; Driver is English, but was playing for an average Scottish team. Of the three, only Gashi isn't young -- but he's only 27 so he should be fine for at least a few years and will be the captain once he's acclimated to the squad. I know, I'm crazy...
Overall, I'm really enjoyed it thus far. I can see myself sticking with this for at least a few months and hopefully completing a few seasons. I just hope that when I get to the Premier League that I feel like I'm fighting for survival, not battling for European places right off the bat. Maybe I'll try Legendary, but I never really enjoyed it as the CPU just gets too many boosts/advantages/cheats...