Football Manager 2015

[Lemonade]

I downloaded the in game editor recently, which is fun. I don't use it to cheat, change my player stats, remove injuries, increase my wage budget, anything like that. I just use it to give regens funny names and change their nationalities and stuff like that. And the strips. I give my Dons team a new strip every season. Currently we're playing in a classic 1983-style red shirt with white pinstripes, and the away strip is black with yellow pinstripes. I gave us a third strip too, a garish purple and green striped nightmare, but I hate it, as I'm sure the fans do.

[Lemonade]

I'm in my third season with Aberdeen in FM2016. Finished 2nd in my first season behind Celtic and won the Scottish Cup. Finished 3rd in my second season behind Celtic and a rampant Caley Thistle who are thriving under David O'Leary (who keeps insulting me). Approaching the midway point in season 3. I'm doing pretty badly, finally added a consistent striker which I thought would be the end of my woes but I'm having a very up and down season and currently sitting 5th. Inverness are running away with the league, annoyingly my inconsistent young striker (Jason Cummings) who I loaned out to them to get more game time since I signed a new number 9 pushing him down to third choice is the fucking league top scorer. Celtic are struggling in 6th, Rangers, under new manager Ricardo Moniz (who also keeps insulting me) are in their first season back in the top flight, having been pied in the playoffs twice, which was hilarious. They're doing pretty badly though. I got to the group stages of the Europa League last season, which was a money spinner but killed my players fitness. Went out in the playoff this year after smashing the first three rounds 11-1, 10-1, 7-1. Drew West Ham in the playoff, held them 0-0 in London and 1-1 at Pittodrie, lost heroically on away goals.

[Soda Jerk]

On 11/03/2016 at 0:31 PM, Lemonade said:

I downloaded the in game editor recently, which is fun. I don't use it to cheat, change my player stats, remove injuries, increase my wage budget, anything like that. I just use it to give regens funny names and change their nationalities and stuff like that. And the strips. I give my Dons team a new strip every season. Currently we're playing in a classic 1983-style red shirt with white pinstripes, and the away strip is black with yellow pinstripes. I gave us a third strip too, a garish purple and green striped nightmare, but I hate it, as I'm sure the fans do.

Live editors are great fun. I like using them to cause carnage, usually in a league I'm not managing. If I'm doing a Bundesliga save, I'll usually oversee the Premier League and/or La Liga and use the editor to just create bedlam. Replacing all the elite managers at the top clubs with the likes of Curbishly, Megson, Big Mick McCarthy, Steve Bruce and so on is a good one. Make them all unsackable too. Dougie Freedman at Real Madrid on a 5 year contract and they can't bin him, going head to head with Nigel Clough at Barca. Put them both into administration with transfer embargoes too. Why be realistic? That's what real football is for.

 

I got a bit bored of all my saves so now I'm using the FMRTE editor in an unemployed save, as a sort of Chairman Mode. I'm overseeing Man Utd, I'm going to give the club finances for the management to obtain their own targets, though in Perez-like fashion, I'm going to provide the management with (realistic) players, if I see fit.

Obviously the first thing I did was bin van Gaal (I actually moved him upstairs into the DoF role) and appointed Jose Mourinho. Giggs has been demoted to a coach, and Mourinho's usual assistant, Rui Faria, is the #2. Hoek and Stuivenberg remain, as do the rest of the staff. Mourinho and/or LvG can chop and change their team if they wish.

First order of playing personnel business: Rooney and Fellaini are gone. I'll have no scousers at the club. Rooney went to Chelsea for £15m, and Fellaini to PSG for £11m. I also reversed the Javier Hernandez to Leverkusen transfer. We'll pretend that didn't happen, but I'll probably move him on next summer.

Incoming: I brought in Laporte for £29m and Xhaka for £14m for Jose. I'll leave it at that for now, and overrule any deal Mourinho wants, to see what he can do with this squad in the first season.

I'll show Ed Woodward how easy this gig is.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Soda van Jerk

[Soda Jerk]

First year simulated. I didn't expect Jose to have his shit together in the first season (Liverpool lol):






Everyone feckin' loves Mourinho:




Just like IRL, Jose likes a small squad, and this was his go-to starting 11. Ironically, Mourinho just loves Juan Mata. The only real rotation appeared to be Blind for Darmian (at RB!), Schweinsteiger for Januzaj (on the wing!) and Hernandez for Martial. Rojo and Blind came in for Laporte a few times too. He got a few niggly injuries.




My acquisitions for Jose, Xhaka and Laporte, were the 2nd highest assisters and the highest average rated players in the squad respectively. 10 out of 10 job by the beloved chairman, B. Bastard.


Rooney's Chelsea career bombed. 3 goals in 25 games in all competitions. Loic Remy was ahead of him in the pecking order. Fellaini played 7 games in all comps for PSG. No goals. B. Bastard get's it right again.

[Lemonade]

That does sound fun. One of my favourite saves from one of the earlier games was when I put Fraserburgh into Division 3 with a massive budget and a bigger reputation than Real Madrid. Pumping everybody 10-0 never really got boring. 

[Moose]

I basically use the RTE to bankrupt Rangers every time they look like the might come up.  It pleases me.

I always choose a youth player at random and give them a potential ability of ~180 at the beginning of the season too, which is sort of cheating, I suppose.  

[Lemonade]

I stuck two promising youngsters in my Dons youth team before I started my game, a keeper and a left back, the LaCroix brothers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (both with Scottish as a second nationality and both die-hard Dons fans). The keeper demanded a transfer before pre-season had even kicked off, the left-back played 1 game for the senior squad in my second season and then also demanded a transfer. Pair of little cunts. Both fucked off to Real Madrid. I hope they fail spectacularly. 

[Soda Jerk]

22 minutes ago, Lemonade said:

I stuck two promising youngsters in my Dons youth team before I started my game, a keeper and a left back, the LaCroix brothers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (both with Scottish as a second nationality and both die-hard Dons fans). The keeper demanded a transfer before pre-season had even kicked off, the left-back played 1 game for the senior squad in my second season and then also demanded a transfer. Pair of little cunts. Both fucked off to Real Madrid. I hope they fail spectacularly. 

Use the editor to make sure they do. Put both their left and right foot ability to 1, so they can retain all that talent, but can't even kick a ball, just as a reminder to not fuck with you.

The FMRTE editor is much more in-depth than the official one, and is great fun to toy with. If a particular player pisses me off or jumps ship because he's a gobshite, once the deal goes through, I'll put him on a £1 per week contract until he turns 40, but also set it so that he has a free transfer arranged at 40, so it stops his current club from renewing/improving the £1 p/w deal and stops other clubs from offering him a deal. It makes their morale totally bomb for the rest of their career.

FM is no fun unless you're absolutely destroying someone's life.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Soda van Jerk

[Adam Easy Wishes]

On 3/11/2016 at 0:59 PM, Lemonade said:

Inverness are running away with the league, annoyingly my inconsistent young striker (Jason Cummings) who I loaned out to them to get more game time since I signed a new number 9 pushing him down to third choice is the fucking league top scorer. 

Cummings is incredible, get him back in January if you can and either play him as an advanced forward with a deep lying playmaker (balls over the top) or in a two upfront alongside a deep-lying forward/target man. Goals galore! Was my top scorer in my title winning season with Aberdeen (third season in).

[Lemonade]

13 hours ago, Adam Easy Wishes said:

Cummings is incredible, get him back in January if you can and either play him as an advanced forward with a deep lying playmaker (balls over the top) or in a two upfront alongside a deep-lying forward/target man. Goals galore! Was my top scorer in my title winning season with Aberdeen (third season in).

He was my first choice striker in my first season when I lost Rooney, and he was totally shit. Then in my second season I brought in Stevie May, who started out well, then also got really shit. I signed another new striker this season, he's really hit the ground running but I think there must be something off with my tactics because my strikers (apart from the purple patch the current one is in) never really seem to perform. They drift in and out of match with ratings of 6.3 and 6.4. I play with wingers and most of my goals are scored and created by them, I think the ball is just sailing over my striker's head while the wingers ping crosses back and forth to each other.

Here's my tactics and current first team squad. I generally stick to this tactic home and away and just adjust the mentalities. 

 

 

The core of the team hasn't changed that much since I started but I've brought in a lot of youngters (mostly free transfer Italians). I've got the Irish league running as well and picked up Lee Desmond and Brandon Miele from there. I had an excellent keeper from Fulham in my second season who won points on his own but he wanted a move back to England after only one season. I brought in Lammana to replace him, they have the same 3.5 star rating but Lamanna has been a total liability. Never comes out for anything. Just stands there. I think the young Italians were probably regens. Michael Agadu is a regen. That wasn't his original name but I changed it. Guess what the fans sing when he comes on? Jake Taylor and Connor Smith were both free transfers (Reading and Watford) Taylor has been excellent and is keeping record Dons signing Sebastian Kerk (€1.3m from Freiburg) out of the team. Jonny Hayes and Peter Pawlett have been my star players, 10-15 goals a season each and a lot of assists, although Hayes is just back from a serious injury and missed most of the start of this season. Their two understudies, Forrest and Miele have both been excellent when standing in as well. And Habibou is on form. Maybe the answer to my inconsistent striker problem but we'll see.

[Lemonade]

Sweet kits as well.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Okay, a couple of things:

1. Please swap Ash Taylor and Mark Reynolds over (AT is right footed, MR is left footed). I would also personally change Taylor's role to Limited Defender (he excelled for me, and got Wales recognition in this position).

2. Likewise, I'd be tempted to swap Ryan Jack and Kenny McLean, purely from a left/right foot situation. Obviously adapt positions to suit.

3. Do you concede a lot of goals? Having both your full-backs as CWB(A) is very bold. I would probably shift Shinnie to a standard wing back on attack duty and make Logan a full-back on support. If you do this, then you're probably as well leaving Jack and McLean the way they are (to allow for Jack to cover Shinnie's side when he's rampaging forward.

4. You arguably have to many players on 'attack' duty. Try putting both your wingers on 'support' (at the very least Johnny Hayes given Shinnie's 'attack' duty). I find that wingers are more effective with a 'support' duty because they are a) more involved and b) more creative when it comes to setting up a striker. I think thereafter you'll find that your striker scores more goals. If I were you, I'd put both wingers on 'support' and put your AP on 'attack'. In my experience playing an advance playmaker on attack duty will only work with an advanced forward or poacher up-front (any deep-lying position (F9, TM, DLF) seems to just get in their way).

5. Are you getting the most out of your AP? Consider changing him to an attacking midfielder and using player instructions to turn him into a sort-of-AP (more risky passes, etc, etc).

7. Stevie May and Jake Taylor are both excellent signings. Did you say you sold Rooney? He was absolutely brilliant for me in the first couple of seasons.

 

I know you didn't ask for advice, but you got it anyway lol

[Lemonade]

Ha ha,  thanks @Adam Easy Wishes.  I'll set up another tactic with your suggested changes and let the team get used to it and run it for a while and see how we go. Taylor and Reynolds was just a mistake and I rotate my 4 central mids depending on form. Fit into my formation or fuck off. I don't have a recognised ball winner but Jack is the most capable. 

I do like to play very attacking. Long ball, lots of pace and everything down the wings. Three pronged attack. 5 if you include the full backs. I do concede a few but I score a lot too and it's way more fun to go gung-ho. I tighten it up a bit away from home but my away record is admittedly terrible. 

I lost Rooney in my first preseason. A bid came in from Bournemouth, I rejected it and he demanded a move so I let him go. I only got a couple of  friendlies with him in the squad. 

Actually, post your title winning tactics pls. 

Edited March 16, 2016 by Lemonade

[Adam Easy Wishes]

16 minutes ago, Lemonade said:

Ha ha,  thanks @Adam Easy Wishes.  I'll set up another tactic with your suggested changes and let the team get used to it and run it for a while and see how we go. Taylor and Reynolds was just a mistake and I rotate my 4 central mids depending on form. Fit into my formation or fuck off. I don't have a recognised ball winner but Jack is the most capable. 

I do like to play very attacking. Long ball, lots of pace and everything down the wings. Three pronged attack. 5 if you include the full backs. I do concede a few but I score a lot too and it's way more fun to go gung-ho. I tighten it up a bit away from home but my away record is admittedly terrible. 

I lost Rooney in my first preseason. A bid came in from Bournemouth, I rejected it and he demanded a move so I let him go. I only got a couple of  friendlies with him in the squad. 

Actually, post your title winning tactics pls. 

Will need to dig out a screenshot later.

[Soda Jerk]

Does left foot and right foot coordination in central pairs have a real effect? I don't know many managers who do it in real life other than Van Gaal, and he's a lunatic. My CB pairs are nearly always right footed.

I've never taken notice of it in tandem though, apart from with wingers. Inside forwards cutting in on their stronger foot, or out and out wingers going down the line on their stronger foot.

[Moose]

You want them the other way around against inside forwards too (right footer on the left; left footer on the right).  

[Lemonade]

On 3/15/2016 at 8:44 AM, Adam Easy Wishes said:

Okay, a couple of things:

1. Please swap Ash Taylor and Mark Reynolds over (AT is right footed, MR is left footed). I would also personally change Taylor's role to Limited Defender (he excelled for me, and got Wales recognition in this position).

2. Likewise, I'd be tempted to swap Ryan Jack and Kenny McLean, purely from a left/right foot situation. Obviously adapt positions to suit.

3. Do you concede a lot of goals? Having both your full-backs as CWB(A) is very bold. I would probably shift Shinnie to a standard wing back on attack duty and make Logan a full-back on support. If you do this, then you're probably as well leaving Jack and McLean the way they are (to allow for Jack to cover Shinnie's side when he's rampaging forward.

4. You arguably have to many players on 'attack' duty. Try putting both your wingers on 'support' (at the very least Johnny Hayes given Shinnie's 'attack' duty). I find that wingers are more effective with a 'support' duty because they are a) more involved and b) more creative when it comes to setting up a striker. I think thereafter you'll find that your striker scores more goals. If I were you, I'd put both wingers on 'support' and put your AP on 'attack'. In my experience playing an advance playmaker on attack duty will only work with an advanced forward or poacher up-front (any deep-lying position (F9, TM, DLF) seems to just get in their way).

5. Are you getting the most out of your AP? Consider changing him to an attacking midfielder and using player instructions to turn him into a sort-of-AP (more risky passes, etc, etc).

7. Stevie May and Jake Taylor are both excellent signings. Did you say you sold Rooney? He was absolutely brilliant for me in the first couple of seasons.

 

I know you didn't ask for advice, but you got it anyway lol

 

I made these changes (although I changed both full backs to WB/Support) and it made a huge difference. In January I was sitting 5th and playing absolutely shit, swapped to your tactics and after a slightly bumpy start I went on an insane run. Finished second and won both cups. It got my strikers scoring more but even better it absolutely transformed my AMC into easily my most important player. Really get the best out of Shay Logan at right back too. You can be my assistant manager anytime . Signing a really solid CB in January helped as well of course.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Lemonade

[Lemonade]

3 minutes ago, Lemonade said:

 

I made these changes (although I changed both full backs to WB/Support) and it made a huge difference. In January I was sitting 5th and playing absolutely shit, swapped to your tactics and after a slightly bumpy start I went on an insane run. Finished second and won both cups. It got my strikers scoring more but even better it absolutely transformed my AMC into easily my most important player. Really get the best out of Shay Logan at right back too. You can be my assistant manager anytime . Signing a really solid CB in January helped as well of course.

I spent a lot of time deliberating over whether to put the smiley before, after, or in place of the full stop.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Great stuff! Some screenshots/stats would be great if you can be arsed.

I keep forgetting to screengrab my title winning formation(s), because I only really come on to ab-music at work.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Also, what happened to Niall McGinn?

[Soda Jerk]

I promised the majority of my young Gothenburg side that we'd be in the Champions League next season, or I'd let them leave. I won the Europa League. "I've done it!" I thought.

Nah. Swedish league starts March to October. Because the end of the season league season overlaps the European competitions starting, qualification is one year behind for a lot of the northern European leagues. I won the 15/16 Europa League, but the weird schedule means I qualify for the 17/18 Champions League, not the subsequent 16/17 Champions League.

Everyone is pissed. Broken promises. I'm going to get wrapped up in a carpet and thrown into the Baltic Sea.

 

PSV are offering me a job. I think I'll swim to Holland.

[Moose]

13 hours ago, Soda van Jerk said:

I promised the majority of my young Gothenburg side that we'd be in the Champions League next season, or I'd let them leave. I won the Europa League. "I've done it!" I thought.

Nah. Swedish league starts March to October. Because the end of the season league season overlaps the European competitions starting, qualification is one year behind for a lot of the northern European leagues. I won the 15/16 Europa League, but the weird schedule means I qualify for the 17/18 Champions League, not the subsequent 16/17 Champions League.

Everyone is pissed. Broken promises. I'm going to get wrapped up in a carpet and thrown into the Baltic Sea.

 

PSV are offering me a job. I think I'll swim to Holland.

That is BONKERS.  I want to look into some of the smaller leagues (other than the Scottish).  My only experience so far is with Netherlands and France, which aren't exactly diddy leagues.  

[Adam Easy Wishes]

I'm going to crack on with the MLS when my Aberdeen game gets boring.

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

Currently rocking the Houston Dynamo in 2037 in my current save.

I started off managing Newry City FC in the second tier of Northern Irish football, the squad available to me consisted of less than 11 men. The board gave me £0 to spend on new players, but with a lot of perseverance and free and east Scandinavians, I managed to get Newry promoted, premiership champions on more than one occasion and even a couple of UEFA cup runs. Our finest moment must have been a 5-1 home demolition of Partick Thistle, 4 goals coming from Bjorn Rhordahl. Alas, I gave the board an ultimatum, demanding transfer funds - in the 6 years I was there, they never gave me anything - and they sacked me. Scumbags immediately gave cash to my replacement!

A lengthy spell at Boston Utd followed, taking them from the conference to champions league in a fairly meteoric fashion. my greatest achievement was the 19 year career of a free transfer I signed in my first year at the club, on Ludovic Guillou. Ludo managed over 524 appearances for the Pilgrims, winning leagues, european cups and amassing over 60 caps for France. There were two other stalwarts of my conference side that made a splash at the top tier of club football. Swedish goal poacher extrordinaire Martin "der bomber" Muller amassed 245 goals for the club and won European Footballer of the year, before abruptly packing in football and retiring at the age of 28. Ben Freeman, who played an Andrea Pirlo-esque holding role whilst at Boston, dominated premiership football for over 10 years, but national team politics meant he was awarded only one token cap. He was regularly voted Boston player of the year.

Once Ludovic Guillou retired I decided that a new challenge was in order and I departed to Italy and took charge of Napoli. The board gave me a £200m war chest and I went to town, filling the first 11 with the cream of world club football. 5 years there and it was a bit too easy with all the money in the world. That brought me to Tayside and Dundee. Scottish football was in pretty dire straits by 2035, probably on par with the conference football that the Pilgrims played when I took over at the Jakesmans. 18 months at Dens park rewarded myself and the club with 1 league cup and 1 league title. Our glamour moment was hosting Real Madrid in the 3rd round of qualifying for the champions league. We managed a goalless draw at the Bernabau, so spirits were high for the return league. We battered them for 90 minutes, firing everything we could at them, but nothing was going in. We all were expecting extra time, but a cheap 92nd minute goal broke the hearts of the Dens park faithful. This also cancelled out my love affair with the club and I decided on a move across the Atlantic.

Its January and the league hasn't started and I have no idea how anything works, wish me luck.

[Soda Jerk]

1 hour ago, Moose said:

That is BONKERS.  I want to look into some of the smaller leagues (other than the Scottish).  My only experience so far is with Netherlands and France, which aren't exactly diddy leagues.

I'd avoid Sweden, unless you enjoy having NO FUN. March to October is a tough schedule.

The first season was alright, as there was no interruption. In the 2nd season, the overlapping Euro 2016 took a few of my players away, and the league just carries on through it. Luckily, Sweden and Denmark went out early, so I got them back after about 3 weeks, but they were all knackered, and one was a long term injury. ACL, out til Christmas.

I thought I was through the worst of it. No... I forgot about the Olympics! I've hoarded a great deal of the best young Swedish, Danish and Norwegian players and put them straight into the first team. The Olympic callups drained me of well over half my squad. The Swedish league also demands that you have at least 9 Swedish players in your 18 man squad.

How? They're all at the bastard Olympics.

To add to that, the league season plays through the summer transfer window for the big leagues. No chance of keeping your good young players if they've got any sort of potential, not even til the end of the season. Everyday, I'm rejecting bids, everyone is pissed. Everyone wants to play for Liverpool, and they think I'm the mother of all cunts for not letting them go. None of them would get a game at Liverpool. "I'll let you go at the end of the season" I say. "I can't wait that long. Wait til the dressing room hears about this, you tit" they say. A 19 year old can't wait 3 months.

Horrible.