***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Mortiis]

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVHDXzP8kbw&t

by far the best FM skin outthere...check it out

[Cod]

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

Have any of y'all tried the World Cup quick-start from Sortitoutsi? There's two options available, First Game and Squad Selection: https://sortitoutsi.net/content/6120...up-quick-start

I think I may fire this up after the USA/England match and see how it goes.

[Suntan Superman]

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

I've tried so many times to do National Team Management, but it's just not for me. I think it's down to control, I'm better at recruiting the right players and training them to do what I want, than I am at plugging people into a tactic that gets the best out of them. Maybe during this journeyman I'll give another National Team a try.

[Matty Aqua]

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

Have started a save with Union Berlin!, this thread needs a bit of life! so anyone wants a read can click below!.

Spoiler

Union Berlin - The Terrifying preospect of success FINAL.png
Why Union Berlin?, due to time constraints of the past 12 months I never really got this save of the ground in last year's edition, but I am currently reading the book: Scheisse! We're Going Up!: The Unexpected Rise of Berlin's Rebel Football Club by Kit Holden which has been an enjoyable read covering the history and re-sparked my motivation to manage Union Berlin and attempt to take them to the top and carry on the work of Urs Fischer. I have really enjoyed watching Union Berlin and their recent success in real life, I genuinely have an appreciation for Union Berlin and what they stand for as a club and I hope they continue to grow and maintain their beliefs which is something I plan on doing in FM23.

The objective of the save is to create a successful club structure, developing players and integrating them into first team football and creating a scouting network identifying talent to fit into the philosophies of the club. I also want to develop relationships with other clubs within the city of Berlin to send our players on loan and develop clubs locally to strengthen the development of youth prospects within the city, which is something I will cover more in depth further down.

AFFILIATED CLUBS
Affiliated Clubs.png

CLUB HISTORY
Pronounced "Oohn Yawn", 1.FC Union Berlin is known for its working-class tradition and underdog status but also for its sense of solidarity and spirit of political resistance. Berlin is one of my favorite cities in the world. It's a culturally diverse city, it has a crazy nightlife, rich in history...with a touch of football on the side!. I can't mention Berlin without touching upon the city's history and how it plays into how German Football operates to this day. On the 9th of November 1989 the citizens of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) were allowed to cross the wall that divided one side of the city from the other, more than 2 million people from the East of Berlin flooded to the West of Berlin and were finally reunited with the people of the opposite side. The Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War to this day.

Only one team from the East of Berlin has established itself in the Bundesliga, Union Berlin, while rival Hertha Berlin are from the western region of Berlin and have been a mainstay in the Bundesliga the last 20 years, they consider themselves as the "biggest" club in Berlin, although they haven't won a Bundesliga title since the pre World War II era claiming back to back titles in 1930 and 1931.
Football Clubs in Berlin.png

Union Berlin have been competing in the Bundesliga for four consecutive seasons now and in the recent years Bayern Munich have been completely dominating the Bundesliga and have now amassed 32 league titles, and 6 Champions League trophies, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig have been growing in threat over the years but don't look like slowing down Bayern Munich anytime soon.

Germany has one of the world's most successful national teams in the world and the Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world. The nation's capital city Berlin is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to football, despite Berlin's population being over 3 million people it surprisingly isn't known for producing many stars in the game today. Jérôme Boateng, Karim Bellarabi, Nico Schulz were born in the city of Berlin and have been capped for Germany, and Berliner John Brooks has had a solid career in the Bundesliga earning 43 caps for the United States and Kevin-Prince Boateng has been capped for Ghana.

Some consider Berlin to be a black hole when it comes to football development and also there are questions as to whether Berlin is actually a football city at all!, but the fans of Union Berlin remain some of the most passionate, committed and dedicated fans in the world. For a city that has experienced an awful lot from wars, plagues, fascists, communists, revolutions and is one of the most significant cities in Europe symbolically, politically and geographically, I have no explanation as to why Berlin isn't producing more world class footballers other than possibly they get lost to the nightlife in Berlin?, I plan to change that!.
Berliners.jpg

STADION AN DER ALTON FÖRSTEREI
A big part of Union Berlin's history is the clubs stadium Alte Försterei which holds a total capacity of 22,012 featuring only 3,617 available seats, whilst the rest of the ground remains terracing. In the middle of 2008 the club decided to finally modernize the stadium which is located at the edge of a wooded forest area called the 'Wuhlheide' which means that the path to each home game is part of a ritual that includes a walk through the forest. Money was still tight, and so the fans simply built the ground themselves with more than 2,000 Union supporters investing 140,000 working hours. The fans have also dedicated their own blood to donate money to the club's financial situation. The club still has a debt remaining of €38,520,075 which I am assuming is part of the loan to refurbish and maintain the club over the previous 20 years.
Stadium.jpg

As the Union joke goes: “When god created the world, he spoke to the stones and said: ‘Do you want to become Unioners?’ And the stones said "Yes, but we’re not hard enough ”.

The plans to modernize Stadion An der Alten Försterei were unveiled in 2017. Since then, the club has not been able to push through the project that aims to raise the number of seats from 22,012 to 37,000. The cost of the works is estimated at €39 million, although this may be different on Football Manager, the problem is not the scale of the stadium expansion, but the lack of adequate infrastructure around it the stadium. The additional 15,000 seats will create traffic problems for the neighborhood and has been rejected by the council until the nearby Köpenick station is upgraded in 2026, so I might have to hold off on stadium expansions in the short term!.

The club would certainly be able to finance the redevelopment of the venue with continual qualification in European tournaments, president of Union Berlin Dirk Zingler announced that the club plans to focus it's investments on the expansion of the the club's academy before the increasing the stadium capacity, which fits in nicely with my objective for the save which is to develop players from the city of Berlin.

Union Berlin’s President Dirk Zingler has been in charge since 2004, overseeing the club’s rise from the lower reaches of German football to the Bundesliga, and now face the terrifying prospect of success!, something the fans of Union Berlin may not be entirely comfortable with due to its core values of not becoming a commercial club with major global sponsors.

The fans of Union Berlin will regularly arrive 75 minutes before a match and stay well and truly after the final whistle singing chants as a means of encouragement rather than intimidation. I've come to learn supporting Union Berlin is a way of life not just something to attach some sporting novelty too, year by year football changes and so does Union Berlin, as they achieve greater and greater success do they risk losing their soul the more successful they become?, hopefully slowly enough that is can still recognize itself!

History suggests that teams generally drift back toward their original weight class as stars get plucked away and are replaced by inferior imitations, successful managers ends up at a larger club's with a larger cheque books and the team drifts back down the table as another underdog story emerges to take its place. Augsburg for instance finished 5th in 2014 but have spent most recent seasons battling relegation, while others like Schalke fell victim to relegation soon after strong finishes, so it's imperative to recruit well and develop players to fit the system. Just as every cult hero dreams of mainstream success, every mainstream success dreams to be a cult hero!.

EISERN UNION
Before the game you will often here the crowd chanting "Eisern Union", it literally means "Iron Union" but it means so much more. The chant is a remembrance to its working class origins and sheet-metal workers from Köpenick region of the old East Germany. The yellow bricks on the facade of the Alte Försterei are a homage to the factories along the riverbank. When Union Berlin got promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time fans lifted banners of deceased supporters so they could experience the historic moment of Union's arrival in the Bundesliga, they were also counted as part of the attendance for that match. It's not only rebellion but also togetherness that explains why Union Berlin is one of Europe's great cult clubs!.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
I've touched on the fact that Berlin hasn't been producing a lot of youth prospects for top tier football in the opening post, and part of this save is to change that and start to develop players from the academy to fit the 5-3-2 system, something Union Berlin doesn't necessarily rely on in modern world as they are very proficient at signing quality free agents, and let's be honest - who doesn't love good value free agent signing?.

Union Berlin have some young players in the squad already as two players looking to break into the first team András Schäfer and Paul Jaeckel and an emerging talent in the academy American prospect Malick Sanogo. The 17 year old striker looks very promising as a future first team player and could be a future replacement as a striker

Who is Malick Sanogo?, Malick Sanogo was born in New York in 2004 and is the son of Boubacar Sanogo, a forward who played for Kaiserslautern, Hamburg, Werder Bremen and Energie Cottbus between 2005 and 2014. Youth football took a break in Germany during 2020/21 season due to world events, but Sanogo still managed six goals and one assist in four U17's matches that season as well as make his first appearance for the U19's team. The suspension of youth football meant the teenager was invited to spend valuable time training with the senior squad and learning veterans and professionals such as Max Kruse and powerful Taiwo Awoniyi, I'll be monitoring his development as the season progresses as there is a good chance he could break into the first team squad.

RECRUITMENT
There is a large number of Bundesliga teams currently in the midst of an identity crisis surrounding football philosophy and player recruitment, it is no surprise Union Berlin are performing better than most in the league at the moment in this area with recruitment led by long term Director of Football Oliver Ruhnert. The success of Union Berlin is closely linked to the name of Oliver Ruhnert, the managing Director of Football is a squad planner with a keen nose for good footballers and has been with the club since 2017, it's no coincidence that the rise of Union Berlin coincides with Oliver Ruhnerts arrival.

In nearly every case where Union Berlin lost a player who played a valuable role in their team, they had a very effective approach in finding a replacement. Last Summer they lost Taiwo Awoniyi for a reported €20.5 million and replaced him with Jordan Siebatcheu for reportedly just €6 million, when Max Kruse was lost mid-season they recruited a player with a similar profile in second-division forward Sven Michel. Marvin Friedrich's departure to Borussia Monchengladbach was handled by the arrival of loanee Diogo Leite from Porto.

Most of these replacements are perfect matches for the physical requirements of Fischer's tactical approach and given their age range they tend to have fewer problems needing time to fit in and settle into life in Berlin. It's pretty common for FM players to have a DNA model of attributes to recruit by and considering the Union Berlin style of play is counter attacking, I'm happy to give up possession and focus more on strong defensive output, quick transitions and scoring from set pieces.

At the end of the season I will take a look at team stats across the league and see if I am effective in achieving this style of play. I'll be keeping an eye on other teams from the city of Berlin as potential places to loan players out too and hopefully they can benefit from getting in some quality players. I generally always recruit players that my scouts identify and then send the Director of Football to go and complete the deal, it makes sense to stick to a more strict way of recruiting and adds an element of realism.

Union Berlin have been incredibly adept in finding value in the transfer market over the years which has kept them from dropping back down into the second division. I pan on focusing the recruitment on the Bundesliga, leagues within close proximity to Germany such as The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and some specific scouting assignments in Denmark, Sweden and England. I don't think it's quite realistic for Union Berlin to be scouting the South American leagues but they have recently added an affiliate in Argentina.

How will I recruit for Long term and Short term goals?

Key Attributes

Physical

Acceleration - Being able to break away from the opposition and move into space as quick as possible could unlock a passing opportunity.
Pace - The most obvious Attribute and exactly what it says on the tin, I want players who as fast and can hit top speeds on the break.
Stamina - Counter Attacking is hard work and players will cover a lot of ground, Being able to run all day is important as I'm looking for players who can give me everything for 90 minutes.

Technical

Dribbling - If we're going to play Counter Attacking football then we need players who can take on the opposition and confidently dribble up the pitch.
First Touch - Once we've won possession of the ball, we can't afford to have the transition breakdown and lose the ball.
Crossing - I believe crossing is vitally important to a counter attack, the ability to play a cross behind the defense can easily catch defenders out of position and create goal scoring opportunities.

Mental

Bravery - I want players who are willing to go and win the ball back, tough in the tackle and strong Defenders in the air.
Concentration - Giving up possession means focusing more on being a cohesive defensive unit, cannot allow players to switch off or give up cheap goals.
Off the Ball - When we win the ball back, I need players moving in the right places creating space and moving into positions to make attacking runs.
Work Rate - Players are working hard in both Defensive and Attacking phases of play.
Teamwork - Possibly one of the most important Attributes, Working cohesively and not having any weak links mentally, Union Berlin score well as a unit in this category.
Determination - It's important we put out a team that is always fighting until the end, never giving up and always a threat to attack.

OBJECTIVES
There's a lot I want to accomplish in this save with the main aspect focusing on the city of Berlin and developing Union Berlin as a top tier club and the city as a whole becoming a more prominent place for footballers to develop. Below I've listed some objectives I'll be hoping to tick off the list as I continue on with the save, but there are some other personal objectives that I might be able to tick off also, I may even be tempted to take the Australian National team job for a run at a World Cup if the opportunity arises but for now the focus is on achieving success with Union Berlin.

🔍 Develop Youth Academy and improve Youth Recruitment at Union Berlin.

⚽ Establish a B team to help develop players, and develop more players from within Berlin.

⚡ Implement the 3-5-2 (The Accordion tactic) and maintain it with smart recruitment.

🤝 Create local Affiliates with football clubs within the city to raise the standard of football in Berlin.

🤴 Have an academy player from Union Berlin capped for the German national team

🏆 Win the DFB Pokal, Bundesliga and Champions League trophies

Thanks for reading!

[cranes74us]

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

Just got the game today and geez do my players commit stupid mistakes leading for cpu goals. Have played 7 games so far, 1 W 5L 1T 16 goals allowed 6 goals scored . I had heard the match engine was wonky this year but saw they had released a patch to fix that so decided to buy it.

Are yall enjoying the game?

[Cod]

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

I'm enjoy the game this year and I do believe the ME is much improved. I've been trying the WC starts recently to see if I do at international management. I've never been good at it, but starting at the beginning of the WC group stages has been fun since I don't have to worry about picking the overall 26-man squad.

[Suntan Superman]

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

I've been loving it, but there's only been like two FMs I haven't liked since the addiction started in 2012. I just don't talk about it that much anymore as this thread died and I didn't want to be the only one talking lmao

[Cod]

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

I've been loving it, but there's only been like two FMs I haven't liked since the addiction started in 2012. I just don't talk about it that much anymore as this thread died and I didn't want to be the only one talking lmao

I'll converse with you . I've been playing a lot more this iteration than in the past and always willing to talk FM.

[cranes74us]

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

What teams are you guys running with?

[Suntan Superman]

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

I'm with SC Cambuur in my journeyman save. A few things I decided to do with this save, first, I wanted to really, really, really stick to a "brand" of football. So we basically only ever trot out a 4-3-3 with a lot of creativity, no matter what team I'm on, nor dependent on the players. This is partially because I generally don't like the journeyman rule of not applying for jobs, I know you can "break the rules" of particular saves, but my brain doesn't work that way, this way however, I can carefully choose jobs to make sure I can implement my way of playing.

I started out with Manresa in Spain's 4th Division, they were amidst a relegation battle(as usual with the classic 0 badge, Sunday League Footballer start), and we managed to play well enough post transfer window that we pipped the final playoff spot for promotion. The league was incredibly compact, I got the final spot by 1 point, and we were just 7 points safe from relegation. In all of my years playing Football Manager I've become very good at winning knockouts/playoffs/etc, and that was no different here, managed to sweep through the promotion playoff and make it to the RFEF Primera Division. Which we were surprisingly, after the Summer window, pretty decently set-up to just consolidate our position, and we did just that, ended up in 9th place after flirting with making the playoffs again. Then another summer of recruitment happened, and I picked up a Corner specialist, and a very good heading centre back, and we ran roughshod through the league. Finished top of the league with an 8 point cushion, and 45 goal differential. I knew the club was not at all ready for LaLiga 2, on the pitch, or financially, so I jumped ship, and after 3 months of looking and trying I ended up in Norway with Start.

It's funny that I ended up with Start, as one of my favorite saves from previous FMs was with Start's primary rival Viking. This time, because of the March-November schedule, I joined with Start struggling in the OBOS-ligaen(2nd Level of Norway) and luckily during the transfer window. Picked up a striker who fit my preferred tactics and was league ready on a free, and after some bedding in he tore it up, we finished outside of the relegation places, and once again in the playoff places, this time a full 10 points separating us from relegation after a great end to the year, and we were bounced immediately from the playoffs. Next year, with the Norwegian Winter Transfer Window lasting longer than Stride Gum, I was able to basically make the team exactly how I wanted, jettisoned the players who both did not fit, or did not want to be around, and brought in a bunch of Norwegian kids, and after a 2 1/2 month Pre-Season in which we were able to fully train my tactic, and my backup tactic, we were unstoppable(unless we faced Jerv, let's not talk about Jerv) We won the OBOS-ligaen by a whopping 14 points, and our goal difference of 51 would've been good for third in the league if it was just goals scored, behind our goals scored(69)(nice) and 7th placed Sandefjord(who managed to give up 49 with their 53 scored). Remember when I said I was good at knockout tournaments? We ended up winning the Norgesmesterskapet, which in turn also places us as the Champions of Norway. All that said, I enjoyed my time at Start, but the squad building rules were a little annoying and so I decided that while I would stay at Start instead of resign like I did at Manresa, I would look for, and take a job if I liked it.

Enter SC Cambuur. On the 21st of December 2026, I accepted the job at SC Cambuur. Fighting relegation once again, this time in the Eredivisie, I've just started, but I am thankful I started right at a transfer window, as my first few games in charge while forcing my tactic did not go very well, I was able to replace just about everyone I needed to, and drastically reduce the wage bill (from €156,000 p/w to €131,000 p/w) and at least get mostly the people to fit my system. Thankfully as well, two of my favorite Danish players were already on the team, and they were slotted right in. Things have been rough still, in my 77 days I've been able to push us up out of relegation and into the relegation playoff(we went from 18th to 16th, lmao), but we had some great momentum being built up before a tough February, which saw us start by beating Vitesse 2-0, extending our unbeaten streak to 8 in all comps(6 under me), then we fell 4-1 at home to AZ in the KNVB Beker Quarter Final, lost 5-2 at home to Feyenoord, lost a tight away match ADO Den Haag 1-0, and were gifted a goal to make it look nice in a follow up 2-1 loss at home again to AZ even though we were run out of the park. Heading into March now, and we started out with a 1-0 victory over fellow relegation candidate De Graafschap, and our next match is a home affair against primary rival sc Heerenveen, which god willing, we'll win.

The 4-3-3 I'm using as my "brand of football" has been defensively solid for the most part, I play with a BPD-De on the left of my centre back pair, and a CD-Co on the right, and the way they meld perfectly with my BWM-De Defensive Midfielder in defensive sequences makes for a tough battle through the middle. I'm still toying around in the midfield, as I want to use one of the midfielders as my primary playmaker and fulcrum for the offense, but so far the only person I've been able to find to handle the load was a midfielder I had at Manresa(whom will be joining on a free when his contract is up!). Normally when scouting a team, now that I actually have Data Analysts, I try plan my offensive attack to overload which ever side I feel is weakest, I then set the strong side of the defense to a WB-Su, and the weak side to IWB-At, that way my strong side fullback will join up with the attack, and the weakside fullback will attack from deep and provide a switch outlet when the defense overcommits to the overload.

Also, I'm a little sad that this year's main feature was the squad planner, when I just write everything down in my little lineup notebook, I tried using it a couple times, but it's just not the same. Sorry if that was too long, cranes if you're not trying to read all that, I'm managing SC Cambuur in the Netherlands!

[Cod]

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

Had that bottled up for a while eh? lol

I usually spend the first month owning the game messing with new/update features, testing out different aspects, and simulating a lot of time to see how transfers, squads, etc. looks as the game progresses. Then I'll usually pick a club I know well (Dortmund in my case) and run a couple of seasons against just to see how things shape up.

I usually start my first long term save around the time the winter patch is released, which just happened btw. Now I'm using the Sortitoutsi club finder to make a shortlist of clubs I want to manage for a while. Thinking a Serbian or Croatian league to start with.

[cranes74us]

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

I'm with SC Cambuur in my journeyman save. A few things I decided to do with this save, first, I wanted to really, really, really stick to a "brand" of football. So we basically only ever trot out a 4-3-3 with a lot of creativity, no matter what team I'm on, nor dependent on the players. This is partially because I generally don't like the journeyman rule of not applying for jobs, I know you can "break the rules" of particular saves, but my brain doesn't work that way, this way however, I can carefully choose jobs to make sure I can implement my way of playing.

I started out with Manresa in Spain's 4th Division, they were amidst a relegation battle(as usual with the classic 0 badge, Sunday League Footballer start), and we managed to play well enough post transfer window that we pipped the final playoff spot for promotion. The league was incredibly compact, I got the final spot by 1 point, and we were just 7 points safe from relegation. In all of my years playing Football Manager I've become very good at winning knockouts/playoffs/etc, and that was no different here, managed to sweep through the promotion playoff and make it to the RFEF Primera Division. Which we were surprisingly, after the Summer window, pretty decently set-up to just consolidate our position, and we did just that, ended up in 9th place after flirting with making the playoffs again. Then another summer of recruitment happened, and I picked up a Corner specialist, and a very good heading centre back, and we ran roughshod through the league. Finished top of the league with an 8 point cushion, and 45 goal differential. I knew the club was not at all ready for LaLiga 2, on the pitch, or financially, so I jumped ship, and after 3 months of looking and trying I ended up in Norway with Start.

It's funny that I ended up with Start, as one of my favorite saves from previous FMs was with Start's primary rival Viking. This time, because of the March-November schedule, I joined with Start struggling in the OBOS-ligaen(2nd Level of Norway) and luckily during the transfer window. Picked up a striker who fit my preferred tactics and was league ready on a free, and after some bedding in he tore it up, we finished outside of the relegation places, and once again in the playoff places, this time a full 10 points separating us from relegation after a great end to the year, and we were bounced immediately from the playoffs. Next year, with the Norwegian Winter Transfer Window lasting longer than Stride Gum, I was able to basically make the team exactly how I wanted, jettisoned the players who both did not fit, or did not want to be around, and brought in a bunch of Norwegian kids, and after a 2 1/2 month Pre-Season in which we were able to fully train my tactic, and my backup tactic, we were unstoppable(unless we faced Jerv, let's not talk about Jerv) We won the OBOS-ligaen by a whopping 14 points, and our goal difference of 51 would've been good for third in the league if it was just goals scored, behind our goals scored(69)(nice) and 7th placed Sandefjord(who managed to give up 49 with their 53 scored). Remember when I said I was good at knockout tournaments? We ended up winning the Norgesmesterskapet, which in turn also places us as the Champions of Norway. All that said, I enjoyed my time at Start, but the squad building rules were a little annoying and so I decided that while I would stay at Start instead of resign like I did at Manresa, I would look for, and take a job if I liked it.

Enter SC Cambuur. On the 21st of December 2026, I accepted the job at SC Cambuur. Fighting relegation once again, this time in the Eredivisie, I've just started, but I am thankful I started right at a transfer window, as my first few games in charge while forcing my tactic did not go very well, I was able to replace just about everyone I needed to, and drastically reduce the wage bill (from €156,000 p/w to €131,000 p/w) and at least get mostly the people to fit my system. Thankfully as well, two of my favorite Danish players were already on the team, and they were slotted right in. Things have been rough still, in my 77 days I've been able to push us up out of relegation and into the relegation playoff(we went from 18th to 16th, lmao), but we had some great momentum being built up before a tough February, which saw us start by beating Vitesse 2-0, extending our unbeaten streak to 8 in all comps(6 under me), then we fell 4-1 at home to AZ in the KNVB Beker Quarter Final, lost 5-2 at home to Feyenoord, lost a tight away match ADO Den Haag 1-0, and were gifted a goal to make it look nice in a follow up 2-1 loss at home again to AZ even though we were run out of the park. Heading into March now, and we started out with a 1-0 victory over fellow relegation candidate De Graafschap, and our next match is a home affair against primary rival sc Heerenveen, which god willing, we'll win.

The 4-3-3 I'm using as my "brand of football" has been defensively solid for the most part, I play with a BPD-De on the left of my centre back pair, and a CD-Co on the right, and the way they meld perfectly with my BWM-De Defensive Midfielder in defensive sequences makes for a tough battle through the middle. I'm still toying around in the midfield, as I want to use one of the midfielders as my primary playmaker and fulcrum for the offense, but so far the only person I've been able to find to handle the load was a midfielder I had at Manresa(whom will be joining on a free when his contract is up!). Normally when scouting a team, now that I actually have Data Analysts, I try plan my offensive attack to overload which ever side I feel is weakest, I then set the strong side of the defense to a WB-Su, and the weak side to IWB-At, that way my strong side fullback will join up with the attack, and the weakside fullback will attack from deep and provide a switch outlet when the defense overcommits to the overload.

Also, I'm a little sad that this year's main feature was the squad planner, when I just write everything down in my little lineup notebook, I tried using it a couple times, but it's just not the same. Sorry if that was too long, cranes if you're not trying to read all that, I'm managing SC Cambuur in the Netherlands!

Read everything lol , I love reading/watching all kinds of FM careers on blogs, Youtube ,etc ..

Managing in the Eredevisie is on my favorite leagues to manage in , I started a new save yesterday with Lierse K in the 2nd tier in Belgium let's see how it goes.

[Suntan Superman]

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

Had that bottled up for a while eh? lol

I am incredibly bad with FM, where I go to tell a short story, then I end up just describing everything that led up to whatever story I was telling lmao. It's a disease.

[jb12780]

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

I’m using with Arsenal and I’m in 8th right about to start the month of October.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Suntan Superman]

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



Well in spite of things generally going incredibly poorly right now, WE SURVIVED!

Now I just have to replace my Captain and starting goalkeeper who was one of the reasons I even joined the club, two strikers because they both are not good for my "brand" of football, and figure how to work with the midfielders I have since I'm generally flexible with midfielders outside of the one Ball-Winner. Team just wants me to avoid relegation, but I'm hoping we can consolidate for a season so I can fix the midfield next window, and then figure out the heart of my defense as they'll both be on their way out. Interested to see if anyone draws interest from elsewhere, as there's like 4 total guys in this squad I'm sold on.