***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[gopher_guy]

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

My CL group this season:

Barcelona
Tottenham
Roma
Olympiakos

I just lost to Olympiakos 1-2 in the first game; terrible start with a group like that.

And the opening of my EPL schedule was Everton, Liverpool, Man U, Aston Villa, Chelsea.

I beat Everton, Villa, and Chelsea to get out of that stretch with 9 points.

The Chelsea match was crazy: Caulker got a straight red in the 11th minute (after I had scored to take a 1-0 lead). I somehow managed to score 2 more goals in the first half on the counter attack. In the locker room at half time with a 3 goal lead and down a man, so I decide to park the bus and go defensive. Chelsea scored twice in the 2nd half, so I'm up a goal with about 15 minutes to play and Welbeck gets injured. Down to 9 men, awesome. Somehow managed to hang on for a victory.

Only the 3rd time I've beaten Chelsea (all competitions) in 4 years at the helm.

[Suntan Superman]

Has anyone played with a sweeper before in FM13? I feel like my tactics are breaking the game right now, i've not allowed a goal in the 2. Bundesliga through 5 games.

[Kobalt]

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

Has anyone played with a sweeper before in FM13? I feel like my tactics are breaking the game right now, i've not allowed a goal in the 2. Bundesliga through 5 games.

I did, but I didn't have much success. I'm taking another crack at it using a sweeper later though.

[gopher_guy]

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

Brought in Sime Vrsaljko last year to cover for injuries at RB, he had to play in our CL game against Barca.

Messi scored twice in 4 minutes to give them a 2-1 lead. I thought I was done, but Vrsaljko picked a great time to score his first career goal at Tottenham!!

I was very happy to come out of that game with a point.

[Anners]

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

Has anyone played with a sweeper before in FM13? I feel like my tactics are breaking the game right now, i've not allowed a goal in the 2. Bundesliga through 5 games.

I don't think I've ever used one in any sort of FM game to be honest. I've never really felt comfortable with them for some reason. The same way I'm not comfortable without a defensive midfielder. I suppose you could call it an FM superstition!

Quick update on Portadown, eventually finished the 15/16 season winning the title by 27 points. Europe was very similar to last year, swap Celtic for Crvena Zvedza (who got revenge for a few years ago) and Sevilla for Liverpool.

Also back at our proper stadium and so far (10 games in the League), we're averaging 3142 (94.07%). In my first season we averaged 816 people a game. I normally struggle with attendances but it doesn't seem the case this save.

First major transfer happened in the off-season as well, with Rabiu Ibrahim coming in which means he's head and shoulders above any player in the league. It took about 30 minutes of attempting to sign players on free transfers, and only him and an Argentinian central defender who failed a work permit were interested.

[Suntan Superman]

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

So when you guys hire coaches, what do you look for? I normally hire individually specialized coaches, like one with attacking 15+, one with defence 15+, one with technique 15+ etc, and generally for the jobs on the team I look for guys with 15+ does anyone do anything different?

[Anners]

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

So when you guys hire coaches, what do you look for? I normally hire individually specialized coaches, like one with attacking 15+, one with defence 15+, one with technique 15+ etc, and generally for the jobs on the team I look for guys with 15+ does anyone do anything different?

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that high attributes in Determination, Level of Discipline and Motivating are essential to good coaches. I can't quite remember where I've seen it but it seems to work.

[Bruins]

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

So when you guys hire coaches, what do you look for? I normally hire individually specialized coaches, like one with attacking 15+, one with defence 15+, one with technique 15+ etc, and generally for the jobs on the team I look for guys with 15+ does anyone do anything different?

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2013-discussion/108074-football-manager-2013-staff-requirements.html

[Suntan Superman]

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

After losing five players, I was able to bring in more castoffs, and miraculously, we're doing fantastic in the 2. Bundesliga. Currently sitting first with a 12 point cushion. However we had a mini-mutiny at mid-season when some players decided they should be playing for bigger clubs. After bringing in replacements for them, I sold them off as well(I hate it, they always end up going to a BIG club, and never play again, then they get angry at me later in the game) Overall near 10 new faces, all but one was an improvement over the person he took over for.

I'm also not sure if it's the formation, or the players, but jesus I can score goals like no other.

[Anners]

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

Another year, another title. Nearly a carbon copy of last season actually! I finished the 16/17 season 25 points clear and it was over from about 15 games into the season when my gap was around 12 points. I'm just a class above any other Northern Irish team when I want to win the title.

We're getting another stadium upgrade that will take us to just over 4,000 seats. No move out of the stadium this time, just a reduction in size to just under 3,000 until around December.

That's it on the club side anyway. Internationally, I have become the manager of Sierra Leone. Currently in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, we're 4 games into the 2nd round with a group that contains Angola, Gambia and Nigeria. With 2 left, we're level on points with an inferior goal difference with Nigeria. I don't have to play them, so wins against Angola and Gambia are vital.

[Anners]

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

Apologies for the double post, but I've only gone and qualified for the Champions League Group Stage! After knocking out Racing FC of Luxembourg 11-0 on aggregate in the 2nd qualifying round, we were given the task of taking of FC Red Bull Salzburg in the 3rd. A 2-2 draw in the first leg in Austria set us up nicely for the home leg in which it was also drawn, but only 1-1, which meant I'd managed to progress to the playoff round.

We were rewarded with a tie with Sheriff, probably the easiest team to draw. We managed to overturn them in the first leg 2-1, with them managing to gain a late away goal. However, it turned out it didn't matter in the end as we managed to come away from Moldova with a 3-1 win. This is the group we were rewarded with:



That wasn't even the toughest draw we could have had (and what I was secretly hoping for). As long as we're not embarrassed I'm just happy to be here.

[ImTellinTim]

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

Finally got all my graphics set up on my new computer. I haven't gotten around to networking with my old PC to transfer any files, so starting fresh with Bursaspor in Turkey.

EDIT:

We've made the Europa League groups. In the 3rd qualifying round, we held on 3-2 after being up 3-0 through the first leg. In the playoff round, we managed to win on aggregate 2-1 in extra time at home.

[Suntan Superman]

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

Promoted to the Bundesliga. I match up well against the bottom half after signing malcontents from top clubs, however I imagine I'll go 0 for when it comes to Bayern/Dortmund/Schalke/Leverkusen/Hannover/Gladbach.

Lost out to Lyon on getting Franck Ribery, did sign a few high potential kids from other nations though.

[ChubbyBanana]

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



Made it to Serie A last season. This offseason I sold some and brought in some younger guys for lower wages. Fully expect myself to finish near the bottom but so far things are going well for my Sassuolo. We have been playing great and even knocked off 2nd place Roma at home!

[Suntan Superman]

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

Continuing my ever-present Danish bias, I signed Daniel Wass and Casper Sloth, also picked up Brek Shea on a free transfer from Stoke, and that kid from another nation, this is what he looks like for only €6.5m



and my wonderful loaning out program of the guys who helped me win 3. Liga and 2. Bundesliga