***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[BunnyHardaway]

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

Decided not to save the game when I got fired, starting from a little further back.

[Perceptor]

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

My first game of the season as Barca had to be El Classico Love it when everything goes according to plan:

[Whitesox]

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

Decided to play a USA save and compare to how I did in my save when I first got the game, which was my first ever full FM save.

I just finished qualifying, won 7 and drew 3. Won the group with 24 points, over Mexico with 23. We're 5th in the rankings right now.

[ZM Punk]

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

My FM Arsenal team is as injury prone as the real Arsenal. I currently have 8 regular first teamers out through injury.

The good part though, is I just managed to beat Real Madrid with my beat up team 1-0. Off of an Alex Song (yes I said Alex Song) pk. I have no idea why Alex Song as was my penalty taker, as I had ranked all my penalty takers and I had atleast 5 guys in my team that were above him.

I litterally crapped my pants when I saw him step up to take the kick.

Currently 3rd in the EPL right now, but haven't played any of the better clubs as of yet. Have my first real test in my next game. I play Man City, who is currently 2nd, behind Chelsea.

[BunnyHardaway]

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

World Cup draw in my game looks pretty good...a few surprises, and for some reason South Africa isn't in Group A...

A
Italy
Slovakia
Paraguay
Togo

B
Algeria
Netherlands
Denmark
Saudi Arabia

C
Russia
Mexico
North Korea
Argentina

D
Serbia
Japan
Brazil
United States

E
Ecuador
Croatia
Australia
South Africa

F
Northern Ireland
England
Chile
Tunisia

G
Greece
Ghana
Germany
South Korea

H
Costa Rica
Ivory Coast
Switzerland
Spain

[Perceptor]

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

Love playing with Barca First, the team is stacked, but more importantly, I love developing their youngsters...

An update on my season:

I still have a 100% record heading into November and absolutely flying. In 11 league games, I've scored 31 goals and conceeded 3. I have a 7 point lead over Real Madrid so I've had to win just to stay ahead.

Messi, Ibrahimovic, and Bojan have 12 goals in all comps to lead the way while Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, and Pedro have chipped in too. Pedro has 8 goals and scores some screamers from long range.

My signings were only Spanish kids such as Azpilicueta, Jose Angel, and Marc Mateu. I also have guys like Fontas, Marc Muniesa, and Assulin in my youth team to grow.

I sold Keita and have deals to sell Hleb and Marques at season's end. My main goal in the off-season is to sign Fabregas so I'm saving my entire transfer budget for him. I also have long-term plans to get Asenjo (long-term replacement for Valdes), Silva or Mata, and maybe another forward (Muniain, Aguero).

[Hutton]

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

I beat West Ham 1-nil at WHL & Everton 1-nil at Goodison Park, both match winners being scored by David Bentley!

I have yet to concede a goal in 6 (5 league & one LC) matches, 540' of clean sheet action to start the season. The Everton match was the first time Gomes was really test all season, and he came up huge by making 3-4 fantastic saves. I really should have lost that match 3-nil.

I am currently sitting in 3rd on 13 points, tied with L'pool on 13 & 2 behind the perfect Manu. Berbatov has 8 goals in 5 matches to lead the league in scoring. Manu has scored 15 & conceded 2 in 5 matches thus far. Fulham, Birmingham & Burnley are in the relegation spots. Birmingham has scored only 1 goal in 5 matches!

David Bentley has been my most prolific attacking threat, he has 3 goals & 2 MoM awards on the campaign with a 7.60ish avg rating. My defense has been stellar, and I'm not really sure why. I held West Ham to zero Shots of goal! I finally have Dawson, Woodgate & Bale back to full health, not I just need to get them match fit & work them into the rotation, but honestly my backline of BAE - Bassong - Otanemdi/King - Corkluka/Hutton has been incredible.

I am running a 4-2-3-1 with two deep lying mids in front of the backline, perhaps this is why I have been such a fortress defensively? I'm rotating Huddleston & Palacios as a supporting DMF, and Sandro has a foothold on the defensive/ball winning DMF. Jenas is the odd man out now, not really having a place in the side as of yet.

I've been rotating Lennon, Bentley & Krancjar on the wings, with Modric playing as the center AMF. Strikers are Defoe, Keane, Crouch & Pavluychenko, none of whom have been any type of scoring threat. I think Pavluychenko has done the best job at holding possession, but Keane has the highest avg match rating (around 7.35). Dos santos hasn't really made any impact, and will probably only see action in cup matches or against the table bottom dwellers...unless of course injuries set in.

I've been extremely lucky on the injury front, the only issues I've had were players who started the season injured (Bale, Dawson & Woodgate). Ledley has missed about a week but nothing else. A few players out on loan got injured, but I don't care about them.

[Perceptor]

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

Hutton, you're looking solid even if you are playing as Sprus lol.

4-2-3-1 is a good formation because you have the players. Bentley is actually quite solid in the game as is Gomes.

I do think you need a complete striker to be able to score consistently. IMHO, neither Pavy, Keane, Crouch, or Defoe can play the lone striker role as each lack a certain component to play that position. A target man type of forward like Dzeko, Huntelaar, or Milevskyi would be good for your team.

Milevskyi would be a good addition if he's available. He's cheaper and can do a job as a target man me thinks

[ChubbyBanana]

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

I knew going in that drawing Man United in the Fourth Round of the League Cup would be a difficult challenge in my Liverpool Save.



I didn't know however that I would take a 3-0 lead only to squander it away and lose on penalties. To 10 Men at that. and an Own Goal Tied it up.

FML

[Tomasperez9]

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

I knew going in that drawing Man United in the Fourth Round of the League Cup would be a difficult challenge in my Liverpool Save.



I didn't know however that I would take a 3-0 lead only to squander it away and lose on penalties. To 10 Men at that. and an Own Goal Tied it up.

FML

That's absolutely brutal.

I got bored with BCFC, so I started a Napoli save (I wanted to play with a pretty good team). I loaded a bunch of leagues and made it so there would be no transfer budget in the first window, therefore no more transfers than actually happened in real life.

Things have started off beautifully. I made one player move, doing a straight-up player exchange of Christian Maggio (valued at $6M) for Rafael van der Vaart (valued at $12M); I'd call that a good piece of business! I'm currently sitting atop the Serie A table, although I'm only 3 games in. I'm 3-0-0 with a GD of +3 (6G/3A). van der Vaart has been sensational, netting 2, setting up a goal, and grabbing himself a MoM and an average rating of 7.53. I'm currently running a 4-1-2-1-2, with a DM (Gargano), two CMs (Hamsik and Cigarini), and an AM (van der Vaart). I have no real RM now that I got rid of Maggio, so this formation suits my team pretty well. We'll see what happens.

[Hutton]

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

Hutton, you're looking solid even if you are playing as Sprus lol.

4-2-3-1 is a good formation because you have the players. Bentley is actually quite solid in the game as is Gomes.

I do think you need a complete striker to be able to score consistently. IMHO, neither Pavy, Keane, Crouch, or Defoe can play the lone striker role as each lack a certain component to play that position. A target man type of forward like Dzeko, Huntelaar, or Milevskyi would be good for your team.

Milevskyi would be a good addition if he's available. He's cheaper and can do a job as a target man me thinks

I'm going to be looking at those 3 target strikers in the January transfer window. I need someone who is adept at holding up play & getting others involved, and also can chip in the odd goal.

Although Defoe did just net a 60' hattrick in my latest match against Sunderland @ WHL. I changed Defoe to a "poacher" role & played balls to his feet, he scored a beauty from 20 yards out, then rounded the keeper twice for 2 tap ins.

Ended up winning 4-1 (Bentley notched another, giving him 5 total on the year, 4 in league). I finally conceded a goal, after nearly 600' of shutout action, Bent put in a header off of the cross bar from a corner kick. All good things must end.

Bale came back from injury & had a great performance at LB, finishing with a 8.1 rating & 1 assist. If he can shore up the LB position then I feel confident in my squad all around. I rested a bunch of regulars & had my more dominating offensive performance in the league to date. Henrique was good in the center AMF role, and Jenas played pretty well as the deep lying support DMF. Woodgate was decent in his first match back from injury.

The 3 points moved me up to first in the Prem with 16 points from 6 matches, although Manu is sitting on 15 with a match in hand.

KEY STATS: GF=10, GA=1, GD=+9
Leading goal scorers: Bentley 4, Defoe 3

[Hutton]

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

Hutton, you're looking solid even if you are playing as Sprus lol.

4-2-3-1 is a good formation because you have the players. Bentley is actually quite solid in the game as is Gomes.

I almost want to use FMTRE to edit Bentley into a worse player, but he's come on of late for Spurs IRL so I've been holding off. I also need to find what attribute makes keepers have momentary mental lapses & concede awful goals, but Gomes has been real solid this year for Spurs also, they've had a nice run of clean sheets IRL recently, but nothing like I've strung together in FM10.

Milevskyi would be a good addition if he's available. He's cheaper and can do a job as a target man me thinks

I like cheap....

I know I'd pay top dollar for & probably wouldn't be able to land any of the "top" target men, though I'd go after one if I could offload the plethora of excess strikers that I already have. What are the chances of selling off & raising funds to buy someone like Adebayor (former arsenal scum I know) or Berbatov?

[Perceptor]

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

Hmm...if you continue to do well and get into the top 4, you should be able to get Dzeko for sure provided you have the funds and he hasn't gone anywhere else. You will get some cash as a result of finishing high...

It should be easier to sell off your deadwood too. I'm sure if you offer guys like Pavy, Keane, and Crouch, once they've played a full season, you'll get some bites. Also consider that clubs will get money and be able to outright buy the players instead of those ridiculous installment payments they offer at the beginning of the game.

I'm thinking of altering my Spanish only rule to go after Dzeko in my Barca save. Ibra is 27-28 and maybe has 3-4 good years left so getting Dzeko to rotate in to be the eventual striker could help.

Bojan is awesome, but a little short for my liking.....we'll see though as I'm becoming one of those guys who doesn't want to spend money lol.

[Tomasperez9]

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

Just drew 2-2 away at Fiorentina (my first non-win of the season). I'm not too disappointed with the result, as Fiorentina are a squad with some ability. However, I should have walked away with so much more. Quagliarella, who oozes class in real life, managed to bag only 1 goal, even though he managed 5 clear cut chances (I had 7 as a team) on his own! You're ****ing kidding me! A 15 finish, no matter his 12 composure, should be able to slot home more than 20% of his CCCs, especially in such a big game. His first and only goal came in the 6th minute, meaning he missed 4 consecutive chances. Over the course of the season, he also has managed only 2 goals on his 20 shot attempts, with 15 of those shot attempts landing on target. Wow. Talk about choking when it counts.

Would you guys recommend asking him to learn a trait? What would be best? Shooting with power, placing shots, rounding the keeper, lobbing the keeper, something else?

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[Hutton]

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

Hmm...if you continue to do well and get into the top 4, you should be able to get Dzeko for sure provided you have the funds and he hasn't gone anywhere else. You will get some cash as a result of finishing high...

It should be easier to sell off your deadwood too. I'm sure if you offer guys like Pavy, Keane, and Crouch, once they've played a full season, you'll get some bites. Also consider that clubs will get money and be able to outright buy the players instead of those ridiculous installment payments they offer at the beginning of the game.

I'm thinking of altering my Spanish only rule to go after Dzeko in my Barca save. Ibra is 27-28 and maybe has 3-4 good years left so getting Dzeko to rotate in to be the eventual striker could help.

Bojan is awesome, but a little short for my liking.....we'll see though as I'm becoming one of those guys who doesn't want to spend money lol.

If I had Zlatan I'd ride him like a horse until he's all used up. He should easily have 4-5 more good years left, or so I would assume.

It's going to be hard for you to find someone with the quality of Zlatan, I assume he would work well as a lone striker, but also has the technical skills to be deadly in any attack. He might actually be somebody I would be interested in buying should I manage a top 4 finish this year, even though I doubt I'd ever be able to lure him to WHL.

I like Bojan a lot, I think he's going to turn into quite a player, but I agree with you on the height thing. He wouldn't fit well at all with my tactic at Spurs, but he'd be fun to watch reek havoc on opposition defenders nonetheless.

Your options with Barca are endless, you have legendary club reputation, a huge transfer budge (or so I assume) & tons of existing senior & youth quality to work with.....that must translate into one hell of a fun game.