Football Manager 2012

[Moose]

In the second week of February in my second season with Blackburn and its going ridiculously well!

I graduated from my Europa League group alongside Fiorentina, Braga and Dinamo Bucharest with 18 points from 18 and a goal difference of 23F:1A, and this was with a definite b-team. The last game, away to Fiorentina, I gave 3 players their debuts and 2 players their 2nd games and still won 0-3!

In the league, I’ve just gone on a winning streak of 7 games, including beating Arsenal and Chelsea away, and find myself 3rd. Man City have won every game in the league so far and are top, 11 points ahead of United and 25 points ahead of me. The league isn’t even a two horse race, City have won it pretty much.

I signed Fellaini from Everton and Gibbs from Arsenal in January and now my squad is full of quality. I’m still in the FA cup, so the three competitions have allowed me to rotate quite a lot. David Goodwillie, despite being very average on paper, is absolutely banging them in. I think he has 17 from 22 in all competitions. Ivica Olic has been a bit of a flop, so I might not renew his one year deal. He has been ok at left wing, mind you.

One thing that is upsetting me is Yaya Sanogo’s progress. When I signed him he had 5 stars of potential, now he only has 3 because he’s been injured constantly. He still does really well when he does play, though. If I can keep him fit and play him regularly, is it likely I can get him to his initial potential? I keep sending him on loan to get fit/experience and he keeps getting bad injuries. Fucking wuss…

I think top 4 is a definite possibility, judging by current form, and I’d also like to win the Europa League and FA cup. Bordeaux and Man U in the next rounds respectively. Easy. If I can achieve all that in my second season, they should rename the stadium after me.

My first 18:

GK: Robinson

RB: Kyle Walker

CB: Gael Givet

CB: Brede Hangeland

LB: Martin Olsson

BWM: Maruoanne Fellaini

DLP: Fernando Gago

RW: Junior Hoillet

CAM: Mauro Formica

LM: Morten Gamst Pedersen

ST: David Goodwillie

Bench:

Loris Karius (young German keeper)

Scott Dann

Romario

Simon Vukcevic

Steven N’Zonzi

Siem de Jong

Ivica Olic

[Captain America]

Words words words

His stars are coming down because your squad is getting better in general. I know for one Fellaini is a 4 star world class player so that will effect your young players stars.

[Moose]

His stars are coming down because your squad is getting better in general. I know for one Fellaini is a 4 star world class player so that will effect your young players stars.

I thought it was just if you bring in much better players in their position?

[Captain America]

I thought it was done a bit generic as well as by position if the standard of your team went up. It might just be your assistant or scout whoever is rating him has changed their mind. They are prone to getting it very wrong depending on how good they are themselves.

On that note I had no positions of need this season so was struggling with what to do with my money as the club got bought over in summer and I was touted to lose my job (to Martin Jol!! wut). I kept it though I guess 3 champions league finals in 4 years, 1 champs league win, 2 EPL league, 4 league cups and an FA cup isn't enough.

I just spaffed 30 million on a wonder kid defender who just played a whole season at Napoli after joining them from Argentina, he's rated 3 stars playing already (that's compared to Vermaelen who is 4 star world class) and apparantly has the potential to go to 4.5 stars. We'll see how this investment goes.

[Moose]

My assistant is Jimmy Hampson who has 20s for judging player potential and ability. I get him to have a second look at all my scouted players that I like the look of. He’s rarely wrong, but I think he’s a bit harsh on certain players. Granted, we don’t agree on everything: he doesn’t think much of David Goodwillie or Morten Gamst Pedersen, but in my team they are key players.

My plan for summer is to spend none of my transfer budget in order to get the club in a strong financial position for the long run. A lot of my young players are getting really good, so I won’t have any need for new 1st team players. Berbatov will be free on a free, so I might get him in and not renew Ivica Olic’s contract. He’d be a bit of a coup!

[delboy]

still at P Ferreira, still getting linked with loads of jobs even declaring some interest in the odd one but still not one offer on the table. still shit in europe 2 points from 9 in euro cup group stages, can qualify for europe easy but doing fuck all when i get there. the new stadium was completely unecessary and a burden on the club finances, thankfully managed to sign a few promising youngsters when i did get a small transfer budget first two seasons, since then been given 100k. Having to shore the squad up with freebies and loan signings - the big three plus braga always have players you can sign for fuck all on loan. am stuck in a bit of rut now but will keep plugging away!

[Moose]

Do any of you FM 2012ers (Milner, I’m looking at you) know if there’s any way of changing your strip in between seasons? I have grown weary of Blackburn’s incredibly ugly black and yellow away strip and I really want to change it for next season. Completely irrelevant and unimportant, I know, but not to me.

[Lemonade]

I need some advice, fellow world class managers. With my Arsenal team I'm absolutely dominant at home. Nobody leaves the Emirates with so much as a point. Yet I'm absolutely fucking turgid away from home. Hopeless. At home I play "control" and with a good bit of flair and creative freedom and beat almost everyone. If I'm away to a big team like Man U, Liverpool etc. I play defensive, keep it tight, stick to position and usually manage to nick a win. It's when I'm away to "smaller" clubs I get fucking humped every time. If I play control I'm too attacking and I lose goals. If I play defensive or counter, I'm too defensive and I get outplayed and get beat. Standard works sometimes but it's rare. Speaking very generally, would you advise playing more cautiously away from home against smaller teams, or go gung-ho?

Also I keep getting told that my players are showing signs of becoming complacent against smaller teams. Especially that cunt Gary Cahill. How do I tackle this?

[Lemonade]

Out of curiosity - anyone else have a list of rules / superstitions when playing? Here's a few of mine:

1 - Never sign Spanish players. Lazy fuckers.

2 - Never sign African players. Always fuck off to made-up competitions mid season, also work permit issues.

3 - Never start any player whose fitness is below 90%.

4 - Substitute any player who drops below 70% during the match.

5 - Number my favourite XI in the traditional way. 1 - GK, 2-DR, 3-DL, 4- DC, 5 - DC, 6 - CM, 7 - RM, 8 - CM, 9 - ST, 10 - ST, 11 - ML. Then my second X1 gets the corresponding number 10 higher. E 12 - DR, 13 - DL, 14 - DC, 15 - DC etc. That way I can tell who is who on the pitch.

6 - My "promising young striker" always gets the shirt number 19. It's my lucky number.

7 - Select starting 11 by sorting on Form from last 5 games and select that way.

8 - Captain should always be a defensive minded player who is native of the country I'm playing in.

Also sometimes if I get a regen player who's name doesn't match his nationalitly, I just set a nickname for him to something I think is more suitable. Shahan Jafari? That doesn't sound very German. Your name is Jorg Finkel now. I don't care if it's a family name. Lads, call him Jorg from now on. Also if I'm playing in England and I get a young English player with a poncy foreign sounding name I'll just Anglicise it. Juan Blanco? Fuck off, you're from Rotherham. You're called Johnny White now.

[Murrr]

1. Always attempt to sign an Ameobi, whatever the cost.

2. Never sign anyone 30+ unless absolutely necessary.

3. Always start fights with Sam Allardyce.

4. First sub at 55-60 minutes, second at 70-75, third whenever required.

5. The assistant manager, regardless of his stats, is always completely fucking useless and his advice is always complete dribble. Ignore completely.

6. Give the player with the most flair a crazy number like 88 to show how mad and continental he is. On one occasion this ended-up being David Dunn. Yes, I know.

7. Pre-match team talk is always "I expect a win," usually assertive. Drawing/losing/winning by 1 at HT results in an aggressive "I expect better," a big lead gets some passionate "keep it up" malarkey. Harshness gets results.

[Soda Jerk]

I agree with #3 especially, but swap big Sam for Kenny Dalglish. I love to slag off the Queen. He always gets sacked from Liverpool, but I still love to stick the boot in.

[Lemonade]

1. Always attempt to sign an Ameobi, whatever the cost.

2. Never sign anyone 30+ unless absolutely necessary.

3. Always start fights with Sam Allardyce.

4. First sub at 55-60 minutes, second at 70-75, third whenever required.

5. The assistant manager, regardless of his stats, is always completely fucking useless and his advice is always complete dribble. Ignore completely.

6. Give the player with the most flair a crazy number like 88 to show how mad and continental he is. On one occasion this ended-up being David Dunn. Yes, I know.

7. Pre-match team talk is always "I expect a win," usually assertive. Drawing/losing/winning by 1 at HT results in an aggressive "I expect better," a big lead gets some passionate "keep it up" malarkey. Harshness gets results.

I do the subs at 60, 70 and 80 usually. My pre-match talk is always "For the fans!" If I'm winning at half time it's "Don't let your performance drop". If I'm drawing it's "encourage". I never praise the fuckers at half time or they just switch off.

Also to add to the above - I do a team talk for the squad as a whole at full time to reflect the whole teams performance. Anyone who scored over an 8.0 gets a personal "delighted". Anyone who gets below a 6.0 gets a personal "disappointed" talk.

[soundian]

I never praise the fuckers at half time or they just switch off.

I hate being 2-0 up at half time. If I say I'm pleased that practically guarantees an opposition goal within 10 minutes of the second half. Then it's brown trouser time til the end of the match. I reckon it might have something to do with the opposition team talk as well, 2-0 down is the perfect time for a "I want to see more from you", which generally players will react well to.

I don't really have a fixed sub system, but after 60 minutes any underachievers are in severe danger of getting subbed. I give them the first 15 minutes to see what effect (if any) the HT team talk had, then hook them if there hasn't been a significant improvement and I have decent cover for that position on the bench. I'll normally keep one sub back just in case of injuries. I normally won't use the third sub unless I'm under pressure then I'll throw them on purely to break up the flow of play sometime in the last 5 minutes. If everyone is playing well and I'm controlling the game fringe/young players can expect a run out sometime in the last 20 minutes.

In my current game, first season in the EPL, I'm currently 7 points above Liverpool after 25 matches. Unfortunately I'm not dreaming of European glory nights at Dorchester Stadium yet, Liverpool are 18th . Even better from my perspective is that Everton are bottom.

My hatred of them both stems from one particular season with the Mighty Barnet back in FM07.

I lost the League Cup and Champions League finals to Everton. (Yeah, I know, Champions League-Everton?? It was after about 15 seasons though):mad:

I lost the FA cup final to Liverpool.

I lost the league to Liverpool by 2 points,after leading pretty much all season, because Everton beat me in the second last game of the season.

Thieving Scouse Gits!

[delboy]

I've been known to do a Mourinho and make 2 subs at half time if things going shite but in general stick to the 60, 70 and 80 min rule for substitutions. I usually stick on timewasting and go ultra defensive if holding a narrow lead after 80 minutes and bring on a fresh defender.

Been experimenting a bit more with team talks this season and in the main its working, finding throwing major teacups after a defeat is working next game. For example after being humped 5-1 away at St Ettiene in Europe I went and beat Porto 4-0 next match. Am top of the league (only just mind) on the back of 8 successive league wins and been spouting shite like I intend to stay top of the league for the rest of the season and predicting my team to win the league something I have never done before. Also been demanding a win if my team is clear favourites which is working as well.

I tend to sign players under 30 but if a good oldie comes my way I'll snap him up. When at Cambridge i signed a 36 year old Ukrainian international who was the dogs bollocks first season and second season when he was in decline he was still a great influence on the squad according to my assistant.

[Moose]

I have lots of rules relating to squad numbers. Once a player has a number in the first 11, they can't lose it. If I have a lad that's number 5 when I take over the club, but he's the 5th choice centre back, he can only lose his number if he goes out on loan. You can't just change him from 5 to 15, say. Pretty strange rule... Generally, I like to have a midfielder with #4, and centre-backks as 5 and 6. Strikers can have any of the traditional attacking numbers (7-11) but I usually prefer not to have a striker with 8. Other key numbers are 17, 25 and 33. 27 is always my young promising striker.

COOL STORY, BRO.

[The Milner]

Do any of you FM 2012ers (Milner, I’m looking at you) know if there’s any way of changing your strip in between seasons? I have grown weary of Blackburn’s incredibly ugly black and yellow away strip and I really want to change it for next season. Completely irrelevant and unimportant, I know, but not to me.

The only way you can do it is to use FMRTE im afraid, no way to do it in the game normally, SI can only use the current seasons kits, they are not allowed to have them change in game.

[The Milner]

I need some advice, fellow world class managers. With my Arsenal team I'm absolutely dominant at home. Nobody leaves the Emirates with so much as a point. Yet I'm absolutely fucking turgid away from home. Hopeless. At home I play "control" and with a good bit of flair and creative freedom and beat almost everyone. If I'm away to a big team like Man U, Liverpool etc. I play defensive, keep it tight, stick to position and usually manage to nick a win. It's when I'm away to "smaller" clubs I get fucking humped every time. If I play control I'm too attacking and I lose goals. If I play defensive or counter, I'm too defensive and I get outplayed and get beat. Standard works sometimes but it's rare. Speaking very generally, would you advise playing more cautiously away from home against smaller teams, or go gung-ho?

Also I keep getting told that my players are showing signs of becoming complacent against smaller teams. Especially that cunt Gary Cahill. How do I tackle this?

Personally, i dont change how i play away from home.. I dont really like the control settings in the game, i tend not to use that at all, i use standard for home and away and change if needed. You could try setting up your normal way but use more shouts, if its small teams away chances are they are pumped up at the start of each half, try using stuff like dropping deeper along with retain the ball, maybe pass to feet, try to drag them out a bit, if your struggling with some players being motivated try being harsh with them for these games, assertive - i expect a win, or at least picking out a few players like Cahil and demanding a good performance.

[delboy]

8 games to go in my 4th season in Portuguese football and in with a serious shot of the title, lost just 2 in 22 and locked in a three way battle with battle with Porto and Benfica with just 2 points between the three of us, it goes on results between teams . Lost both league games to Porto so should we be level on points will finish below them but beat Porto 4-0 and still to play them. Also got myself in the final of the Portuguese League Cup and have avoided the big three and bogie team Braga so confident some silverware is coming my way this season!

[Adam Easy Wishes]

I have lots of rules relating to squad numbers. Once a player has a number in the first 11, they can't lose it. If I have a lad that's number 5 when I take over the club, but he's the 5th choice centre back, he can only lose his number if he goes out on loan. You can't just change him from 5 to 15, say. Pretty strange rule... Generally, I like to have a midfielder with #4, and centre-backks as 5 and 6. Strikers can have any of the traditional attacking numbers (7-11) but I usually prefer not to have a striker with 8. Other key numbers are 17, 25 and 33. 27 is always my young promising striker.

COOL STORY, BRO.

Naaah, 27 is a young left back. 8, 17, 24, 26 centre mids. 32 full back. 7 and 11 exclusively wingers. 10 second striker/creative centre mid. 9, 19, 21 strikers.

[Lemonade]

9,10,19,20,29. That's my 5 strikers right there.

[The Milner]

I dont really think about squad numbers, centre backs are usually 5/6, full backs 2/3 but thats about it.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Also 28 - battling centre mid or right back (normally if I've signed one in January).

[Lemonade]

STARTING XI

1 - GK

2 - DR

3 - DL

4 - DC

5 - DC

6 - CM

7 - MR

8 - CM

9 - ST

10 - ST

11 - ML

SECOND X1

12 - DR

13 - DL

14 - DC

15 - DC

16 - CM

17 - MR

18 - CM

19 - ST

20 - ST

21 - ML

29 - ST

50 - GK

[Guest Gladstone]

I haven't played Football Manager for about a million years, but you guys are fucking mental.

1 = goalkeeper

2 = right back

3 = left back

4 = defensive midfielder

5 = sweeper

6 = centre half

7 = right midfielder

8 = centre midfield

9 = centre forward

10 = centre forward

11 = left midfield

12 = you're shite

14 = you're shite

15 = you're shite

16 = you're shite

17 = you're shite

18 = don't bother coming back

[EDIT: Lucky must have hit post about a millisecond before me. We almost agree on starting XI]

[Flights]

Remember when Zerouali played for Aberdeen and had the number 0? Crazy days.