Football Manager 2008

[Rhyfelwyr]

Dear God, man! Glasgow Uni?

In fairness, they scraped a win against Partick or something in my demo
pre-season with Elgin. 7-2 to Forfar, though? What were you doing? I
take it you were down a man?

Forfar are whipping boys, are they not?

I've no idea what I was doing TBH. I used a basic 4-4-2, R/L midfield set to make runs forward. I checked I was using the player with the highest stats for each position. I changed my Captian to the player with the highest leadership/teamwork rating. I checked the opposing teams, if they had a star man I would set someone to mark him tightly. I used a long ball game since Dumbarton are not really a top quality side. Slightly towards attacking mentality for the poorer pre-season friendly sides. Made a couple of decent rated signings from lower clubs.

I only know the really basic tactics. But I really got badly destroyed.

Anyway, I wouldn't say Forfar are the whipping boys, they only just got relegated, I think they've just had a slow start.

[scotchedpommes]

Aye, whipping boys last season. I very rarely go with long ball. Sit back, hit on
the counter, unless it really is a poor side you should gub with your eyes closed.
And when I start out I don't assign the captain, or most of the players myself.

[IrishArmenian]

Oh oh, and guess what?
Edgar Manucharyan won Best Player of the Year. He made 19 appearances for me, and scored 14 goals.

If only in real life.
And what is this about saving and reloading with Chelsea? I asked about Ararat, for it seems as if there are some quite obscure leagues, so I've a chance!

[AntiochusIII]

And what is this about saving and reloading with Chelsea? I asked about Ararat, for it seems as if there are some quite obscure leagues, so I've a chance!

He means the old CM dirty trick where you created another account to bolster your first. You can use that other account (of whom you gave one of the premier teams of the game to) for various nefarious purposes ranging from selling your sucky players to that other rich club at exorbitant prices, screw their game plan in their upcoming match with you (can lead to insane scores), vent your rage by abusing some of their key players constantly, etc.

"Chelsea" is chosen because its big purse I think. I still remember the days when Chelsea wasn't the financial monster it is...I feel old.

I'm not sure if the league you're looking for is in the game or not (I don't have this version...), but if so, good luck and win that Championship within the next decade or something!

[scotchedpommes]

No Armenian league. The team will doubtless be there, but unplayable.

Football Manager 2008

[Craterus]

PS: I rock at this game.

[edyzmedieval]

I rock your bottoms at this game Craterus.
The game says it's time to change my underwear.

[Craterus]

EDIT: Forget it, I take it back. Those last few games were awful.

[Craterus]

Right, advice please.

It's May 2009 and I'm looking to pick up some players for free. Can anyone think of players who run out of contract in June 2009? I found Steven Pienaar, but I can't really meet his wage demands.

I particularly need a right-back. Went for Pascal Chimbonda () but he went to Villareal instead.

Anyway, thanks for any input.

[Dodge_272]

I think Nicky Shorey's contract runs out in 2009.

Cool that there's an FM topic here, the only games I play these days are HOI2 and FM.

[edyzmedieval]

Woah, what team are you playing if you can't afford Pienaar?

[naut]

Few options on the cheap side, not free unfortunately, Yonni Hinestroza (Columbian) should cost around £35K, Andrea Gritti (Italian) between £5-10K or Luca Lagnese (Italian) probably £10K. Gritti and Lagnese have a decent amount of potential, 83 and 81 respectively.

[Craterus]

I'm playing in the Bundesliga in my 3rd season as TuS Koblenz (although not for much longer as I rejected their final offer to extend the contract meaning it runs out at the end of the season - the wage was just insulting, I know my doesn't matter and doesn't change anything, but I'm getting well under half what most of the other managers in the league are being paid). Been promoted from 2.Bundesliga but still don't have much money and a tiny(!) stadium which can't be improved because the club doesn't even own it.

I've found a cheap right-back and he looks to be settling in but it's now July 2009 so I've missed my chance for pre-contracts. The real problem is a left-back. I played for a long time last night/this morning, just to be turned down by just about every left-back in the world.

There's a young Estonian guy who's agreed a contract but my assistant manager (none other than Mario Basler!) thinks he 'would not be a worthwhile signing'. I think his stats are fine for a left-back.

Anyway, if there are any other cheap and not too old left-backs, I'd like to hear them.

And, if anyone's a real expert, I wouldn't mind some advice on how many players I should have. I'm too opportunistic with signings. If there's a player going cheap, I'll buy whether I need them or not resulting in me having 7 attacking midfielders heh.

I play 4-1-2-1-2 (wide diamond) formation so yeah, number of players for each position? 3? And 4 centre backs?

EDIT: Transfer budget is €13m (using Euros for authenticity) because I'm aiming for a top-half finish and didn't do too badly last season.

EDIT2: Also, Ajax offered a contract to Pienaar so it may not have been mine wasn't good enough, they're just his favourite club. Tried to get Nakamura as well, but he signed for Fulham so had to settle for Ricardo Sousa as my new AMC but the fans don't like him. Neither does Mario. :drama:

[edyzmedieval]

Haha. I think ill start again FM, but I want to stop and start working on myself. Love and gaming don't get together at all, and gaming will have to go.

FM is like 2 Big Macs just after you worked your ass off and finally you show that six pack.

13 million euros for a 2nd league team in Germany?!?!?!?!? What the heck is that team? Chelsea of Germany?

Left backs - Jan Vertonghen from Ajax. He's good and has potential. Young too. 21 years old. Urby Emanuelson if you have the cash.

[Craterus]

I'm in the first league now, and I had a pretty good league position last season. Added to that is that I've only bought two players in two seasons. Anyway, €13m isn't that much.

Ajax are my parent club so I'll try get that kid on loan. Thanks.

[Tamur]

OK since there's a thread here and I trust you guys (well, not as babysitters, but...)

I have never played this game. I hear it's horrendously addicting, which is fine - I'm stronger than the addiction. Really.

What I need to know before I get hooked, though, is this: the game seems to be a simulation trying to match real conditions rather than a rubbish dumb-down. However, I've been consistently disappointed in simulation games' for ignoring the fact that I need good information and pinpoint tools to make good changes (e.g. diplomacy in RTW).

How is FM2008 at telling me what I need to know, and giving me the ability to make targeted changes? If a single player's morale is poor, for example, do you know that? Can you tell who else in the squad that is affecting? And what options do you have to help change that? If a player has a low rating in, say, throw-ins, can you actually set a coach on him and improve it? Or do you have to try to fix 1 cm wide problems like that with some sort of sledgehammer approach ("just train hard, idiot!")?

[Tamur]

Never mind, I just ran into davidkempshall's tutorial series on youtube. Definitely answered all my questions.

[Craterus]

Heh, glad I couldn't help.

Just to let everyone know, the transfer window was a disaster. I even did it twice (continuing from an older file) and everything that went right the first time, went wrong the second. However, I made a few more intelligent signings on my second attempt so I stuck with that.

2 days before the first game of the season, my first choice keeper got injured with a broken finger for 2 months. Wouldn't be a problem except my other, and only other, also had a long-term injury. Miraculously, I'd looked at the team report a few days before and my assistant manager's main concern was the lack of backup for goalkeeper so I put in a loan offer for a young keeper from my parent club, Ajax. I thought he'd only be there for my peace of mind, but a few days later, he was called into action. He's not very good so I think I may get fired.

EDIT: P.S. Embrace the addiction Tamur. Good luck!

[naut]

Tamur, I hope you enjoy playing.

Usually I stick clear of "top" teams, but I thought I'd give the Gunners a go. Pretty fun beating Spurs 1 - 0 on the opening day of the season.

But it seems my transfers were almost as disastrous as yours Craterus. I signed 3 decent young players, (Saivet, Coquelin, Dawes). But, almost every player I attempted to get was not available, (Diego, Mario Gomez, Nasri, Ben Arfa) or too expensive (Aquilani, Villa). I tried to buy Gervinho, but he got a work permit declined. I eventually jumped on Van der Vaart since he handed in transfer requests, but he ended up going to Barca, even though they offered him substantially less than I did. My scouts in Argentina turned up a player, Leonardo Ponzio, who I bought to replace Diarra (who I immediately off-loaded), only for my scouts to find a better, younger player, Ever Banega, straight after.

Edit: Although on a positive note Ponzio did almost score on his debut, and set up the Spurs goal. So the fans seem to like him.

[Craterus]

Heh, that doesn't sound too bad.

I also stick clear of the top teams. I like the change in objectives when managing lower league teams. (Promotion, stay up, stay up with better position, mid table, title challenge etc.) With the top teams, it's the same season every time: Title challenge or win it, win the cup and do well in Europe. Bah.

Arsenal sounds fun to manage, good luck.

My now 1st-choice keeper, the one who got injured, is Rui Patricio. I signed him last summer (2008) and he's been named as the 3rd choice keeper in the Portugal squad. IRL! How cool is that? I think he's got worse as a goalkeeper because I didn't play him for a whole season. Reckon that will return?

[LittleGrizzly]

I also stick clear of the top teams. I like the change in objectives when managing lower league teams. (Promotion, stay up, stay up with better position, mid table, title challenge etc.) With the top teams, it's the same season every time: Title challenge or win it, win the cup and do well in Europe. Bah.

I usually just run one game as someone like Manchester United, its a bit boring same thing year in year out and theres no real way you can surpise people by doing so well, much more fun to go a 1st division team or something, find you can convince one or two half decent south americans to come...

Ever Banega

think i bought him for my Derby team, didn't really continue that game so not sure how well he plays...

[Craterus]

Well, I'm playing in the German league, so that's interesting. Fairly different style of football. I play defensive, slow-short passing tactics almost every game because that's the only thing that seems to work and seems to be the way all the other teams play.

Most of them also use my favoured diamond formation. Grr. I can't tell if they're just copying me.

My other big-money signing, for a whopping €1.9m was Guillaume Hourau from PSG. I bought him in Januray 2009 and he scored 2 goals in 9 games, but got injured, which was annoying. However, this season, 6 goals in 8 games.

[edyzmedieval]

Ha, I always play All Out Attack.

I always push on the gas. 4-1-3-2 or a 4-2-1-1-2 or a 4-1-2-1-2.
I always go with Ajax because it offers a bit of everything. The league is easy but long, and you always have to strive to get the best out of everything.

I play FIFA Manager now. Unrealistic sometimes (I beat Chelsea 5-2 with a normal Ajax team, and Milan 4-2) but it's good fun. Transfer markets are always good here.

[naut]

Van Persie is a goal scoring machine! A massive 20 goals from 15 games so far.

Really irritating though, I loaned out Flamini (for obvious reasons), and decided that 4 DMs would be enough for the squad (Gilberto, Diaby, Denilson, Ponzio). Then 45 minutes before the transfer deadline Juve offered £9.5M for Denilson, which the Board of Directors accepted, leaving me no time to find a replacement.

Bought Modric for £4M, a bargain, but the fans don't think much of him. My other signing Henri Saivet is epic, could turn out to be a real star.

I think I might play a game in an obscure league, hmmm perhaps Pribram in the Czech second tier.

[Craterus]

I like playing in obscure leagues because your judgement isn't affected by reputation. If I were managing a Premiership team, I'd pick players based on reputation. In the German league, it took a bit more thinking.

Last night, I got the Cameroon job. How easy is it to juggle club and country? I didn't sign a new contract with Koblenz so I will leave at the end of the season but its Dec 2009 now and the African Cup of Nations is in January. I'm kind of anxious as they expect me to reach the semi-finals but I'm hoping Eto'o will pull out all the stops.

Luckily, the German league has that (extremely annoying) break in January and I usually fill it up with friendlies so the team don't get unfit. I guess I won't be able to do that this season. I'll also have to find time to spend some of my budget on players which I'll only get to use for 6 months.

Impressive goal record for Van Persie. My top striker (Guillaume Hoarau from PSG) has scored 15 goals in 20 games which I think is pretty good.

[naut]

You better hope Song has been on form for the Gunners (or whoever he's been on loan too). Cameroon do have some decent players, Makoun, Kameni and M'Bami are a few.

[Craterus]

He went to Atletico Madrid for €5.75m in the first season. Was sold to Newcastle for €11m in the second season. He's on ok form. The main trouble at the moment is choosing a strike partner for Eto'o if I choose to have one at all.

[naut]

Gustave Bebbe and Pierre Webó are ok, but nothing special. Who's in your ACN group?

[Ja'chyra]

I always start out in the bottom leagues with this type of game.

I got the game a couple of weeks ago and went with Dorchester from the Blue Square South League, their 3 year plan was a respectable mid table position and I somehow managed to win the league in the first year, I think getting knocked out of the cups early helped :P. I'm nearing the end of my second season and I am in a playoff position in the Blue Square Premier, no chance of winning this year and I think I want to stay in this division for another season at least.

I've managed to get a few good signings like Tommy Coyne a Scottish striker and Sam Russel and English Goalkeeper but my best signing was getting Adda Djeziri on loan from Portsmouth, my parent club, he's on 50 odd goals in 30 games before getting injured.

[Craterus]

Gustave Bebbe and Pierre Webó are ok, but nothing special. Who's in your ACN group?

Sorry I didn't return to report back sooner but wow, it's been some campaign. Didn't think much of Webo by the way, he's only made one appearance as a substitute. I took a risk and played 4-5-1. Generally, I don't trust this formation because of the lack of options up front but I went for it (the other strikers weren't great and there were a few good midfielders) and it paid off.

My group was Cameroon, Egypt, Benin and Zimbabwe. Eto'o, the lone man, scored 6 goals in the group stage (3 games) including a hat-trick against Benin. (1 against Zimbabwe, 2 against Egypt).

ACN Group 1
Cameroon P3 W3 D0 L0 GF10(?) GA1 GD 9(?) Points 9
Egypt W1 D1 L1 Points 4
Zimbabwe W1 D0 L2 Points 3
Benin W0 D1 L2 Points 1

In the quarter final draw, it was Cameroon against Guinea. Final score: CMR 2 - 0 GUI. 2 more goals for Eto'o.

And then: Eto'o - groin strain in training, out for the rest of the competition. I wasn't prepared to continue the 5-4-1 with any of the other strikers so 4-4-2 for the semi-final against Ivory Coast.

Possibly the most nerve-wracking game I've ever played. Normal time finished at 3-3 and I was winning 3-2 until the 84th minute. Two lucky goals from Joel Epalle, one of which may have been offside, had put me ahead. But they equalised and it went to extra time. I'd kinda lost hope by this point because they were on the constant attack but then Effa (substitute striker, only his second cap) scored a wonder goal from 35 yards and we ran out the time.
CMR e4 - 3 CIV.

And it's Nigeria in the final. I won't play that until tomorrow night because it's half 3 here and I don't want to do something stupid but I think I'll be happy with runner up.

IIRC, Eto'o is still top scorer in the competition with 8 goals and he had an average rating of 8.75 over the 4 games he played.

Also made a few signings for Koblenz, including a young Aussie keeper with a lot of potential (according to scouts and Mario Basler). Sold my star right-midfielder, Traut, for €6m but he could have gone for free so I'm counting that as a win. I bought Dimitriu Copil who has scored 3 goals in 3 games from an AMC position and I bought a Dutch MR called Kemy Agustien to replace Sascha Traut.

Overall, success.