***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[HKPound]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

I fixed my set piece problem thankfully but now I'm plagued by strange own goals. Doing a Tijuana save and lost in the semifinals of the playoffs thanks to Joe Corona just blatantly heading the ball into his own goal and now lost a Copa MX match thanks to two own goals of the same bonehead variety, basically just heading the ball into my own net. Damn it FM, I love you but the match engine can be frustrating, it's much better since FM 12 but weird **** happens too often.

[ronaldo9]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Anybody got an updated MLS data file? Kinda jonesin' to start a save with Toronto all the sudden...

[jvalverde88]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

After a month being on the side and a couple of saves later I decided to continue with my Bassano save. I was dead last in the league but something in the team clicked and we won 4 out of our last 6. Because of that we moved up all the way to 12th at the end of the year.

I also found this gem:

Spoiler

I got him on a free from the Sounders. He instantly became my best Midfielder on my team.

[jvalverde88]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

I went from being dead last in the beginning of Decemeber to finishing in the Top 4 and getting a Champions League spot.





Looks like I'll be opening the brand spanking new Beghetto Stadium with some Champions League football.

[jesmith29]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Been playing a new save since New Years, 50% off was too good to pass up. Started a few to get used to the new tactics and changes, using Portsmouth in League 2.


FM 2014 The Rise of Pompey!


Started my save in June and the board expects to win L2. All right I said. Pompey's not bad but not world beaters either. Maybe I should have said promotion only!


Brought in 2 wingers and 1 fullback, on loan, and signed a couple of young center backs, a young winger and center forward. Fans have been pleased with my signings.


Playing using 4-1-2-2-1/4-2-3-1 with 4-2-3-1 Deep as more counter/defensive when applicable.

Started out the season going 2-3-2, in 10th, and you would have thought the world was going to end. So the board requested a meeting. I basically said have faith and we went on an 7 match unbeaten run to move up to 4th. We than went 2-2-4 over the next 8, dropped to 6th, and again the sky is falling. During this time I unlocked score in 10 straight achievement.

I've been dealing with injuries, along the back line, and the depth on the team isn't great. We had a $0 transfer budget.

Again another meeting was requested. I used the injury option, which the board didn't buy. I said making knee jerk changes doesn't bring stability (something like that). so the board said over the next 5 league matches pick up 10pts. Won the first 3, so after 24 matches we are 12-6-6 with a +15 GD sitting in 4th. I'm only 5 pts out of 1st and the spread between the top 10 teams is only 9 pts.


Squad harmony is great and my players keep backing me. Teams that started out hot, have fallen, and we've been in the top 6 for most of the year. We'll see what happens in the 2nd half.

[Cabke]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Is there anywhere out there (not necessarily FM related) that explains the pros and cons of different formations and what kind of players fit into each role? It'd help me with FIFA too.

[Bruins]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Is there anywhere out there (not necessarily FM related) that explains the pros and cons of different formations and what kind of players fit into each role? It'd help me with FIFA too.

Give this a download, there's a section focused on formations:

http://www.pushthemwide.co.uk/fm13-beginners-resource-pack/

[jvalverde88]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Is there anywhere out there (not necessarily FM related) that explains the pros and cons of different formations and what kind of players fit into each role? It'd help me with FIFA too.

How about this

[Cabke]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Give this a download, there's a section focused on formations:

http://www.pushthemwide.co.uk/fm13-b...resource-pack/

How about this

Those both work, thanks. I'm understanding a lot of the game, but formations still throw me off.

[Leon]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Just wanted to share my first season with Manchester United.

The season started off well, just a bit like David Moyes. Banging goals in for fun during pre-season, winning the Community Shield and leading the league with City thru 5 weeks. The next 10 or so weeks though, was almost a copy of what happened in real life. No one was scoring; "we played well but we just couldn't get it in the final third"; numerous draws to clubs I should beat easily; lots of 0-2 or 0-1 losses to the top half of the table; knocked out of the Capital One Cup; United barely hanging on the top 10. Then came injuries to Rooney/RVP, my midfield and defense at various points in time and basically decimating my squad.

Fans were aghast when Chelsea kicked my *** 0-5 and I drew my previous UCL match, meaning all the other matches in the group were must-wins in order for me to qualify. The players started requesting meetings with me because they weren't confident I could turn things around. To each and every one of them, I said, "Believe me, we will get things right by the end of the season." The board gave me one match to turn things around and it just so happened to be a derby with Liverpool.

Barely able to fill out a match-day squad because of all the injuries and because Fellaini can't help but pick up 2 yellows or straight reds every other match he's eligible for, I basically had to ride these guys into salvation. Thankfully, we managed a 2-1 win against Liverpool to keep me off the hot-seat for a little while. Little did I know it would be the start of a 23 match unbeaten run in the league. Players started becoming familiar with my tactics, I managed to bring down our number of goals allowed and come January, I even got some transfer money which I would use to snag Luke Shaw and have him come over at the end of the season.

Still nagged by so many injuries, my main work-horse was Wayne Rooney. He wasn't really scoring until our first knockout-round against AC Milan. I felt bold and went with a 4-4-2 at Old Trafford where Rooney scored a hat-trick. Should be a good enough lead for the 2nd leg! In between, Kagawa was firing me into the top 4 in the league until he was beset with a long-term injury. Even more pressure on Rooney now. Come the 2nd leg, Milan managed to score 3 1st-half goals on me and I thought I was ****ed. I switched to a counter-attack and managed to get to extra time still tied on aggregate. 2nd-half of extra time, Rooney managed to latch onto a great thru-ball by Vidic and score the 1 goal I needed to get thru. RELIEF! Then an email the next day said Rooney had strained ligaments and would be out till May.

Good thing RVP was just getting back to full-fitness but in the meantime, it fell on Welbeck, Chicharito, Cleverley and Januzaj to keep our domestic challenge going (FA Cup and EPL). Things were going fine until Cleverley went down and then Januzaj for a little while. Evra/Rafael would also take turns getting hurt but good thing Fabio was having a breakout year (by his standards).

I met Juventus in the last 8 of UCL and advanced comfortably for a date with....Barcelona. In the FA Cup, I had to beat Tottenham and Chelsea to setup a final against Arsenal. In the league, Chelsea and I were tied on points with Chelsea having the edge on GD because of their fewer goals allowed. Heading to the Camp Nou, I set out to attack Barcelona and was surprised at how I was able to dominate possession (common for me domestically, but wasn't expecting it against Barcelona). I got a 1-0 lead heading into the 2nd-half when Barca suddenly blitzed me for 3 goals to make it 1-3 until RVP was able to secure a 2nd goal to keep the tie alive heading back to Old Trafford. In the 2nd leg, RVP scored early in the first to tie it on aggregate and get me thru on away goals. Barcelona kept HAMMERING me though so I had to grit my teeth and channel my inner-Chelsea 2012. Attempt after attempt on my goal (long shots but still on target so De Gea had to make saves) until finally, late in the 2nd-half, United were able to launch a counter and Welbeck sealed my trip to the final and end the contest 4-3 on aggregate and meet Dortmund in the final.

Come May, Chelsea fell of a bit after a defeat to Everton which meant I just had to win 2 of my next 3 games to secure the title. What better way to secure it than against your noisy neighbours, in their home, while they're languishing in 7th all of a sudden. With the league wrapped up, Arsenal was next in the FA Cup. Arsenal have had my number throughout the year (though they sat in 6th in the league) and this represented my last chance at revenge and to keep my treble hopes alive. Arsenal scored first and it stayed at 0-1 to end the 1st. 2nd-half, Chicharito managed to bring it level but we couldn't find a breakthrough so off to extra time we go. As fate would have it though, Jonny Evans launched a ball forward for an Arsenal player to control it, only for him to commit a mistake and......RVP there to pounce and send United fans into rapture in extra Fergie time.

Now comes the main stage. I really have nothing else to say other than Rooney got fit just in time to play THIS one match. I kept him on the bench until the 75th minute. I was expecting extra time once again.

Unlike David Moyes, Fergie time seems to still be with United in Football Manager. It's not quite "And Solskjaer's won it!" but I bet I looked stupid when I screamed and raised my arms when this happened.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4A6TC10aZCQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

95 minutes. Klopp wasn't happy in the post-match interview.

"Football. Bloody hell!" And this is why for all of FIFA and PES' fancy graphics, I choose to "play" FM for my football fix.

[Perceptor]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Leon, dude that's epic Grats man. I'm just into September with a new Everton save. I decided to focus on youth and signed players to replace departing ones. I decided that I wanted to get rid of Heitinga, Jelavic, and Naismith because they're useless and make too much money. Out they went and in came Luciano Vietto, Eder Balanta, and Tom Ince. Vietto is going to be my striker for the future and Balanta will help solidify my back 4 while Ince was signed as cover for Mirallas. All in all, I made a profit 5 million which is good for a financially indebted club such as Everton.

After an intense preseason focused on tactics, I started off kind of slow with 2 1-0 wins against Stoke and Swansea. Despite the narrow wins, the team was playing the possession and short passing game I wanted.

Next came my big 3 tests, Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a), and City (h). Arsenal started off poorly and were missing Ozil, Ramsey, and Mertesacker so I was able to score a late goal for another 1-0 win. Chelsea battered me and were up 1-0 before Mirallas beat the offside trap and scored to rescue a draw for me. City was a little easier, but they were able to take a 2-1 lead on me before a 90th minute Leighton Baines free kick saved me yet again. After 5 games, I have 11 points and sit 5th behind United, Chelsea, City, and Liverpool.

I've been giving plenty of minutes to my promising prospects including John Stones, John Lundstram, Matthew Kennedy, and Ledson. I'll sign players I need, but want to focus on development and youth for now

[jesmith29]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

My 10pt ultimatum, in 5 league matches, finished.

4-0-1 scoring 14 conceding 4.

Currently we're in 3rd, 2pts out of 1st.

[gopher_guy]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Finished my first season at Spurs. Champions League!







We stumbled a little bit around the 3/4 point of the season, with a couple stumbles, that brought us down to 5th in the table, but a nice string of 3 wins late in the season, including a critical 3 points against Man I bumped us back up to 3rd.

Going into the final week of the season it was:
Tottenham - 70 pts
Southampton - 69 pts
Everton - 68 pts

So it was a little tense going into that final game, with the possibility to miss out on the Champions League, but we got a favorable matchup in Sunderland. After an emphatic 4-0 victory, we were in the Champions League!

Soldado had a very nice season, 27 goals in all comps. Other than him, the goal scoring was very spread out, which is nice to see. Eriksen, Lamela, and Lennon chipped in with 8.

Haven't really identified any transfer targets for the offseason. I bought Fabio Coentrao in the January window to shore up my weakness at LB.

Honestly, I don't know that I even want to bring anybody in to my starting lineup, I really like it the way it is. So unless someone demands a transfer, I might just spend the summer looking for some diamonds in the rough for my U21 squad, and probably a reserve GK, because I'm assuming Gomes will want to leave, and Friedel will retire.

Looking forward to next season!

[Leon]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Leon, dude that's epic Grats man. I'm just into September with a new Everton save. I decided to focus on youth and signed players to replace departing ones. I decided that I wanted to get rid of Heitinga, Jelavic, and Naismith because they're useless and make too much money. Out they went and in came Luciano Vietto, Eder Balanta, and Tom Ince. Vietto is going to be my striker for the future and Balanta will help solidify my back 4 while Ince was signed as cover for Mirallas. All in all, I made a profit 5 million which is good for a financially indebted club such as Everton.

After an intense preseason focused on tactics, I started off kind of slow with 2 1-0 wins against Stoke and Swansea. Despite the narrow wins, the team was playing the possession and short passing game I wanted.

Next came my big 3 tests, Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a), and City (h). Arsenal started off poorly and were missing Ozil, Ramsey, and Mertesacker so I was able to score a late goal for another 1-0 win. Chelsea battered me and were up 1-0 before Mirallas beat the offside trap and scored to rescue a draw for me. City was a little easier, but they were able to take a 2-1 lead on me before a 90th minute Leighton Baines free kick saved me yet again. After 5 games, I have 11 points and sit 5th behind United, Chelsea, City, and Liverpool.

I've been giving plenty of minutes to my promising prospects including John Stones, John Lundstram, Matthew Kennedy, and Ledson. I'll sign players I need, but want to focus on development and youth for now

Thanks! That was easily my most satisfying campaign in FM thus far. Very sweet to go from a not respected "Sunday League Player" turned manager to gaining your player's admiration after that roller-coaster of a season.

Once I get a bit bored with this save, I'm definitely going to wade into uncharted waters - go down into the lower leagues and test how good of a manager I really am. Just haven't decided which country to do it at!

Soldado had a very nice season, 27 goals in all comps. Other than him, the goal scoring was very spread out, which is nice to see. Eriksen, Lamela, and Lennon chipped in with 8.

Lamela is a beast in my save. 20+ goals during my first season with United and already a 4.5 star player. I was almost tempted to buy him but I'm committed to seeing Januzaj and Zaha develop under me.

Seeing that also makes me want to tinker a bit more with player roles to get RVP and Rooney scoring more. I had quite a number of goal-scorers - over 10, I think - but I want my mains to hit 20+.

And for anyone here interested, apparently Atletico are very willing sellers for Koke. After spending a month trying to get Gundogan, I made an enquiry for Koke and Atl. Madrid quickly replied - 8.5m pounds (at VALUE) straight up for Koke. Deal.

[jvalverde88]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

S.I released a minor patch today:

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2014 – UPDATE 14.2.1 CHANGE LIST
======================================

- Improved balance of managerial job & contract offers
- Fixed user being unable to set offers as non-negotiable
- Fixed AI team selections when simulating 2014 start dates
- Fixed 2D Classic pitch in zoomed views
- Fixed Uruguayan relegation system
- Fixed Brazilian foreign & age limitation rules