***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[The GIGGAS]

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

Any thoughts on my chances as a Finnish team in the 2018 Champions League group stage?

I beat BATE, Kobenhavn, and Olympiakos to get here.

Crashed out hard. Only got 2 points, drew CSKA 1-1, and Inter 3-3, but then got housed otherwise. Worst one was 0-6 vs City. Inter and City moved on.

That being said, getting the money for the group stage was AWESOME.

[Mo]

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

Season 1 at Madrid has been interesting, first thing I did was bring most of my old staff with me. Jaap Staam as my *** man.

Next I unloaded so many bad contracts they had on the books, which freed me up to raid Cardiff for some players.



Started the season with Barca on the schedule 3 times, twice in the super cup finals. Lost 2(one in the league). So not good.

Now after that Barca match, that's a different story




I'm in the Copa del Rey final. Have the league pretty much wrapped up. The Champions League we'll see.

[Mo]

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

And of course soon after.

[Kobalt]

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

Wolfburg's stadium is named Dzeko Stadium named after their club legend Edin Dzeko. He only played like 4 seasons with them but is listed as a club legend.

[Mo]

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





Heh

[gopher_guy]

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

Blazed through season 2 with Oxford



(once it looked like I was firmly a mid table side, I simmed a lot)

I was about 75% of the way done with upgrades to my training facilities, and apparently we ran out of money, so that got stalled out...

Money seems to be a pretty big issue for me. I don't own my ground, and I never have money to upgrade anything. But, my sponsorship dollars keep going up, hopefully attendance will do the same.

So maybe after a couple seasons establishing myself in League 1, and hopefully a promotion to the Championship, money will be a little easier to come by.

[gopher_guy]

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

Sometimes the "team talk" suggestions on FM14 make me chuckle.

We (Oxford; League 1) just beat Cardiff (been in the EPL for 3 years) in the FA Cup. 1-0, win by the skin of your teeth type game.

"I don't think there's anything we need to address right now"

[jasontoddwhitt]

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

Locked up advancement to the Knockout Stages of the Champions League with two games in hand. Two victories over Basel, a victory over Dynamo Kiev, and a draw against Arsenal.

[rsnomar05]

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

UEFA EURO Draw:

[gopher_guy]

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

"Alright I should maybe sub off my guys on yellows, so I don't pick up a re-... Oh...."



I want them to be aggressive, but I'm not trying to employ a team full of hacks

edit:

And after the game



Damnitall... Lol

[Kobalt]

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

Testing out a new tactic



This is frustrating

[The GIGGAS]

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

I stopped my Finnish save, and started a save with a full English pyramid (all the way down to Level 24) and I started with AFC Bolnore. I'm having a good season, but man, I hate waiting for like 2 in game weeks to get to games, especially since I don't have a ton of games in league.

[gopher_guy]

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

Well this season is going better than I thought it would.



A really good run of recent form has me in the top spot with 10 games to play. 2 goals allowed in 8 matches. That's gotta be some of the best defense I've ever seen (any) one of my FM teams play.



There's a lot of time left, and it's really congested at the top of the table, so anything could happen, but everything is going really well so far.

Finished 11th in League 1 last season, after being promoted from League 2. At about the halfway point of this season I thought I was definitely going to spend at least another year in League 1, before moving up to the Championship, but now I have my sights set on an automatic promotion!

My top 2 strikers did just go down in consecutive games (rubbing salt in the wound, because I had a striker signed in the January window, but his work permit was denied and the transfer was cancelled), so hopefully that doesn't slow me down too much...

[The GIGGAS]

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

Just finished my first season with AFC Bolnore, won the league, got promoted, and won the two challenge cups (Tester and Brian Hall, I believe). An odd treble compared to some of the rest of you, but a treble none-the-less.

[rsnomar05]

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

You may remember my long post about the huge comeback win I had vs. LOLSPURS in the CL quarters. Could we do it again in the Semis? I headed into the second leg (home) vs. Chelsea trailing 4-1. I needed a miracle, but a miracle was unlikely. After all, this wasn't LOLSPURS. This was Chelsea, and Chelsea were dominating the EPL.

In the pregame, Mourinho played his typical mind games and insulted my managerial ability. He had apparently forgotten that we knocked him out of the CL last year.

The match started with Mourinho employing his usual negative, send a whole two players forward on the counter strategy. And it was working. While I dominated possession, I wasn't generating chances. I could get the ball in the final third, but Chelsea were playing 2 DMs and my squad was finding it difficult to create any real chances. Then Azpilicueta decided that this strategy was boring him, so he decided to make things interesting and get sent off in the 28th minute. It was a vicious two legged tackle on my wonderkid AMC Paulo Freitas, but fortunately Freitas got up unscathed. Azpilicueta already had a yellow, so the ref had no choice but to pull out a second.

My dominance continued, but now I was creating chances. Freitas, Konoplyanka, and Deulofeu each missed sitters, and it was a miracle that Chelsea's lead was still three. Meanwhile, Chelsea's DM Junior Malanda was enraged. I would be enraged too if my team had a three goal lead in the CL Semis and was on the verge of making it to the final. I mean, the horror! Malanda needed an outlet to release that rage, a place to vent his fury. He chose the leg of my striker Frederico Bonazzoli, and the location he chose was the box. Bonazzoli blasted the penalty home in the 39th minute, it was now 2-4 aggregate.

At half time I instructed my squad to get revenge, and everyone was motivated except for Calum Chambers who looked stressed. "Fine, Calum! Surrender like the French, why don't you!"

With everyone motivated except Chambers, my squad's dominance continued. I pressed for a goal, and Mourinho stayed negative. In the 52nd minute Freitas stole the ball from Zouma at midfield, then sprinted forward towards Chelsea's box. The Chelsea defenders responded by retreating. I guess they forgot that Freitas has a 20 in long shots. It's either that or they were trying out Mourinho's new "don't defend at all" tactic. "See, it's brilliant, because the attacker will be so surprised that nobody is defending him that he might shank his shot. Mourinho, you've done it again!" Freitas dribbled unopposed to the edge of the box, then blasted one at the top right corner. But it hit the post! The ball fell at the feet of Courtois, but Bonazzoli got there first and fired the ball into the net. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! 3-4 AGGREGATE!!!!!!! ROMA DOWN BY ONE!!!!!!!!!

Chelsea, realizing their lead was down to one, got demoralized. Mourinho, sensing the match slipping away from him, whipped out his smart phone and placed an ad on Craigslist: "Wanted: 1 Team doctor, preferably female, to take the blame for Chelsea's impending loss in the Champions League Semi-Final. Must be able to get to the Olimpico in Rome within 30 minutes. Must be capable of running onto the pitch when Hazard fakes an injury."

With Chelsea's squad demoralized and my squad (except for Calum Chambers) fired up, it seemed only a matter of time before I equalized. Bonazzoli, realizing he was one goal away from a hat-trick, decided that the equalizer would come from him and him only. On three consecutive attacks he passed up the chance to pass to a wide open teammate in the box, electing instead to try and dribble through two defenders to have a go himself. His dribbling is only a 13, so it should come as no surprise that his ability to dribble through two defenders is not high. "But, coach, you know when you go to a bar, and you try a sleazy pickup line, and it doesn't work 100 times in a row? Well, if it works on the 101st try, you've succeeded! And that's what it's like with me! The goal is my hot-chick, and the two defenders are the hot-chick's friends who are determined to not let her get laid!" Missing from Bonazzoli's analogy was a wingman, and that wingman came in the form of one Eugene Konoplyanka. In the 64th minute, Konoplyanka burned a defender on the left hand side, then cut into the box instead of crossing. Finding himself 2-on-1 with the keeper, he squared the ball for Bonazzoli who tapped it in for the hat-trick. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! ROMA HAVE THE TAKEN THE LEAD ON AWAY GOALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CRAP!!!!!!!! CHELSEA LEAD ON AGGREGATE!!!!!! My squad decided to try out Mourinho's exciting new "don't defend at all" tactic and left Oscar unmarked on a corner in the 72nd. Oscar headed the ball into the box, and Chelsea now led 5-4. I whipped out my smartphone and placed an ad on Craigslist: "Wanted: 1 soccer player, preferably human, to come on as a sub in the Champions League Semi-Final and DEFEND A %@#$ING CORNER! Must be able to get to the Olimpico in Rome within 18 minutes. Must be capable of NOT LEAVING OSCAR UN-%@#$ING MARKED!"

With 18 minutes left, I went into overload and implored my squad to push forward. Boy did they respond. Bonazzoli, with his hat-trick secured, started passing the ball, and he created two consecutive chances for Kovacic that fizzed wide. "Um...guys? Kovacic has a 10 in finishing and a 17 in passing. Bonnazoli has a 17 in finishing and a 12 in passing. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean, I'm no rocket scientist, but shouldn't the guy who can't shoot be doing the passing? And if so, then WHY THE %@#$ IS MY CM WHO CAN'T SHOOT TRYING TO SCORE? Do you remember how on the Lakers Shaq was running up and down the court launching threes? Oh, you don't? THEN STOP %@#$ING SHOOTING KOVACIC!"

At this point I felt sick. Had I really come back like that only to piss it all away? I demanded that my squad get creative to try and score, and typed up a Craigslist ad: "Wanted: 1 new computer, preferably a laptop, to take the place of the one I just smashed in frustration after losing at Football Manager in the Champions League Semi-Final." But I hadn't lost yet. In the 79th minute, Deulofeu decided to do what Bonazzoli hadn't been able to. He dribbled through two Chelsea defenders, rounded the keeper in the box, and tapped it home. OH MY GOD!!!!! LEVEL AGAIN!!!!!! DEULOFEU I'M NAMING MY FIRST BORN AFTER YOU!!!! Well, not really. But it's the thought that counts, right? 5-5 aggregate.

I continued to press for a goal with Chelsea down a man, and for the remainder of the second half my team pounded on the door but couldn't put one in the net. The ref signaled for three minutes of stoppage time, and I began thinking about what my substitution strategy should be in extra-time. But then Mourinho decided to whip out his all-the-rage "don't defend at all" tactic one last time. In the 91st minute Paulo Freitas dispossessed Chalobah at midfield. He then found himself unopposed with acres of space within which to dribble forward. As he approached the box the Chelsea defenders retreated. It was like a scene from a monster movie, where Paulo Freitas was Rosie O'Donnell stomping her way through the streets, and the Chelsea defenders were anthropomorphic ham sandwiches running for their lives. Freitas dribbled to the edge of the box, then blasted a rocket into the top right corner. OH MY GOD!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! FREITAS 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Chelsea did not get off a shot in the final minute of extra time, and my Roma squad won 6-5 on aggregate. The comeback kids had done it again. It was on to the final for the third consecutive season. Boy, was that an emotionally draining match. It's amazing how excited a computer game is able to make you when a match like this happens. But that's why FM is the best sports game on the planet.

Also, %@#$ you and your mind games Mourinho!