Football Manager 2009- Demo is out!

[GaelForce22]

Don't know, I barely play Nasri and he's had quite a few injuries this season.

Near the end of my first season. Alex Song made way for new signings Miguel Veloso and M.Diarra who have been great for me. Have been playing catch up to Chelsea, United and City all year after losing my first two games but the gap has now been cut to two points at the start of March (was nine in September). Got knocked out of the Carling cup in the 4th round thanks to a Rio Ferdinand goal in the 122nd minute and it's the middle of the first knockout round of the Champions League - lost the first leg 1-0 at Inter but I'm confident I can go through.

One question, how do you all get the most out of Cesc? He's had a few injuries but when fit doesn't get many assists and only has one goal. I've got him in the Centre of midfield with high creative freedom and mixed passing at the moment.

 

[Anzac]

One question, how do you all get the most out of Cesc? He's had a few injuries but when fit doesn't get many assists and only has one goal. I've got him in the Centre of midfield with high creative freedom and mixed passing at the moment.

what other instructions do you have for him?
* how short is his passing = the amount of time he will spend on the ball;
* what passing options does he have around him - time & distance?;
* forward runs?
* playmaker?

 

[GaelForce22]

My formation is like this:

Arshavin(AML)--------------------Theo/Nasri(AMR)

------------Cesc(CM)---Veloso(CM with no forward runs).

The only player instructions I gave Cesc were to play lots of through balls and have a high creative freedom. And he's not a playmaker.

What do you think would be best for him?

 

[True Gooner]

-Try giving him a free role? (provided that no other player on your team has a free role too)
-Limit Long shots to rarely?
-Foward runs and run with ball to high
Passing mixed (a bar over 'short')
-set mentality to a bar under 'Attacking'

Thats what I've done and my Cesc has got about 8 goals and 9 assists along with an average rating of 7.78.

Don't worry about him not scoring 15 goals and creating 15 assists in a season - it seems quite impossible tbh.

 

[GaelForce22]

Cheers, I'll try all of that.

 

[xcdude24]

anyone notice the load speed of their games slow down after the latest patch?

 

[qs]

My squad at the moment (haven't been playing much)

Lloris
Sagna-Touré-Richards-Clichy
Srna-Fabregas-Palombo-Nasri
Vela-Adebayor

Back up -
Asenjo
Santon-Sakho-Djourou/Gallas-Traore
Wilshere/Walcott-Camacho-Denilson/Ramsey-Merida/Fleck/Rosicky
Balotelli-Marqunihos/Bendtner

Vela is ridiculously good for me, 23 goals, 12 assists in 25 games. Train him (and Maruqinhos/Balotteli) to run around the keeper and watch the goals flow.

I find Santon to be much better on the wing than Theo or Srna.

Vela is great for me too. Plays great off Ade.

 

[Anzac]

My formation is like this:

Arshavin(AML)--------------------Theo/Nasri(AMR)

------------Cesc(CM)---Veloso(CM with no forward runs).

The only player instructions I gave Cesc were to play lots of through balls and have a high creative freedom. And he's not a playmaker.

What do you think would be best for him?

Try cutting back on the through balls.
Any time you give a player an instruction to do something always, then they'll always look to carry it out as their 1st option. In this case he'll always look to put on through balls regardless of what other options he has, even though the high creative freedom tends to give him some scope within the instructions.

I tend to map their creative freedom to their decision making ability.

IMO the key is to forget the 'real' player, concentrate on what you want the role do to - this is the framework. Then consider the player's attributes - this is how much scope you have to work with.

If they player has killer passing stats, give him as much time on the ball as his position, role & decision making allow (bearing in mind your style of play).

If you designate someone as playmaker & use playmaker on your team instructions, then the team will look to play the ball to them as their 1st option, regardless if the player is in the front line or is closely marked or not. You have an equally good passing CM combo, and Veloso also has good decision making & creativity, so I tend to have neither as playmaker so as to utilise the passing attributes of both & use them in tandem.

 

[Anzac]

OK so sometimes the game CAN mirror reality..........

I'm experimenting with different formations in pre-season with AFC.
I've bought AA & because of injuries I'm playing him as AMR (in FM'08 I played him as AMC). So far in 3 matches I've had him get to the byline & then come inside & score just like he did to open his account with us - lol. He comes along the byline quite a bit and likes to get inside the 6 yard box where he'll either shoot or pull the ball back.

 

[DREVAK]

I lost interest in the game. Again. A couple of months ago I mean. But yesterday I reinstalled it. The thing is, I wanted a change from my usual Ipswich team. So I went with Queens Park Rangers. And so far it's okay, the funds available are very good and allow me to build a team of youngsters like I always did. The thing is I can't help thinking that I'm cheating or something. With their high transfer budget and everything. Then again I don't really want to go back to Ipswich. And in all honesty I don't want to pick a team with no transfer budget either. Life is cruel.

 

[Original_AAA]

Startet up an AFC Wimbledon game yesterday. I had almost forgot how fun LLM can be. First thing I did was to ask for a parent club. Guess who I got? That's right, the allmighty Arsenal. With it's large numbers of talented youth it is the perfect parent club.

With AFC Wimbledon, you start with a team that is allready among the strongest in the BSS. However, that didn't stop me from doing a real Norwegian invasion.

Players in this season:

Ola Kamara (Forward, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Chris Joyce (Forward, Free transfer, English)
Jesse Ohene (AMR/AMC/Forward, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Marius Lilleeide (Central midfielder/AMR/AMC/AML, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Bjørnar Kvåle (Keeper, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Richard Tomren (Defender, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Jørgen Rismark (Defender, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Nicholas Lyngmo (Full back right, Free transfer, Norwegian)
Ben Martin (Defender, Free transfer, English)

Long term loans:

Gilles Sunu (AML, Arsenal)
Lee Butcher (Keeper, Tottenham)

Players out:

32 released on free transfer to cut costs, 5 reserves sold.

So, I'm now in early november and only 2 players from the original Wimbledon team are still in the first team. So far this is my status in the different competitions:

Blue Square Premier: 1st, 13 played, 10(V) - 2(D) - 1(L) 29-12(GD) 32 points
Conference League Cup: qualified for 4th round
FA Cup: Knocked out in 1st round against Stockport
FA Throphy Cup: 3rd qualification round

I have in other words only lost two games so far, one in the league and once in the FA Cup against League 1 opposition. So I can't really complain

 

[Stevo the Villan]

I've also been playing a lower league game and it really is a lot of fun. It's also made me realise how vitally important tactics are to any sort of success in this game unless you start with an already world class team. After attempting a game with Bournemouth with no real tactics set in place I failed miserably it became clear that tactics are central to success.

So I spent about an hour at the start of my game developing a tactic for lower league teams. I based it on Benitez's 5x5 mentality but developed it to be more direct to account for the lack of technical ability of lowerleague teams. Only had a 25k budget and no leaway on wages so had to make do with a couple of free transfers and some loans.
Tactics worked a treat and I finished top of the BSP and won the conference league cup and FA trophy.

Now I'm in league 2 and struggling. Kiddy can't afford to give me any more transfer budget so I was still left with 25k to build a team for league 2 success, which is hard. So I'm trying to develop some new tactics, taking after MON with some Rule of One mentality instead as I suspect that may work better with a team of inferior quality relative to the league.

This lower league stuff is fun and bloody addictive!!

 

[DREVAK]

I mentioned I was bored by the game, only to start a new game a few weeks ago. As QPR I believe. Guess what? I got bored again. And, yeah, I started another new game. Again. Not as Ipswich though! A grand change in my Football Manager history, it has to be said. First the short lived QPR stint and now this... After deciding which kits and badges look pretty enough I picked Cardiff. I was really tempted to pick Birmingham or Reading but as I had mentioned previously I would be somewhat irritated by the fact that they are the favourites and have strong squads already.

Which is a bit daft when you think of it, I mean it has always been my target and I think I have always reached that goal to get promoted in my first season. So I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad about picking a slightly better team outright considering I would have most probably got promoted anyway. Oh well enough of this guilt talk!

I finished second with 92 points in my first season, Reading were first with 103 points, third placed Birmingham are on 81 and are battling in the play off right now. I have to say I was almost surprised at how well I have played, especially away from home. I signed several very good or promising youngsters as usual but no, I wasn't expecting this. Especially my forwards have been outstanding, with 80 goals total I'm second only behind Reading in this regard.

I signed quite a few players and can't be bothered to look them up all right now but a few were really outstanding and deserve a mention. Jonathan Cristaldo, an Argentinian forward, got fifteen goals and ten assists, a key man after Ross McCormack got injured. Then in central defense there was Emir Faccioli, also from Argentina. Average stats for a centre back at best but he has been simply immense. And finally the Russian striker Fedor Smolov, despite only playing a reserve role he managed eleven goals and eight assists.

Other than that I relied on a couple of the original Cardiff players, they do have a very solid squad. The aforementioned McCormack was key in attack, then there was the extremely versatile and useful midfielder Peter Whittingham who got eleven assists. And how can I forget Joe Ledley! Both him and Whittingham are quite the traitors though. Ledley left for Everton for five million in January and Whittingham wants to leave for a bigger challenge.

Yeah, sure, good luck with finding a greater challenge than I'll be facing in the Premier League next season as I have next to no defensive cover and my back four is average at best! Ahem. Anyway, in my hunt for youngsters I have kind of overlooked the general balance of the team and now I am packed up front, have decent depth in midfield but the defense is weak, very weak. Especially the fullbacks. In fact I had to resort to loans throughout the season, something I usually haven't had to do in my previous games.

So, the priorities are clear for me in the summer. A first team fullback or two. I suppose I could do with a side midfielder as well, seeing as Ledley left and Whittingham may soon follow and few if any of the youngsters are ready to step up. I'd love it if the new signings were both young and already good but I'm prepared to change my principles and go for a veteran if there is no other way. I'd better have an old guy who might suddenly become bad rather than a bad youngster outright!

 

[DREVAK]

Also 134 million pounds spending Manchester City have just beaten Juventus 2 – 0 in the UEFA Cup final. The same Juventus who have knocked out Liverpool in the semifinals. Talk about a second string competition! And it's Inter against Barcelona in the Champions League final. Oh and funnily enough an Arsenal away match at Aston Villa will decide the Premier League title with Manchester United, facing Hull, two points behind them on the last day of the season... Oops! I must have jinxed it. United win the title after Arsenal lose 1 – 2.

 

[Stevo the Villan]

My Kiddy game took a strange twist. I finished my league 2 season with them 1 point outside the playoffs, then the Leeds job in League 1 became available and I was touted as favourite for it. I applied for the job and the Kiddy board immediately sacked me for my disloyalty!!

Whats more is I didn't get the Leeds job so became woefully unemployed. Eventually got a job at relegation struggling Rushden in the BSP after 15 games. Won 7 out of 8 so far and just off the playoffs. Back to square one really.

 

[Original_AAA]

After a rather long break of doing other things, I have resumed my AFC Wimbeldon game.

The last time I posted my status was this:

Blue Square South: 1st, 13 played, 10(V) - 2(D) - 1(L) 29-12(GD) 32 points
Conference League Cup: qualified for 4th round
FA Cup: Knocked out in 1st round against Stockport
FA Throphy Cup: 3rd qualification round

Now, with 5 games left of the season this is the status:

Blue Square South: CHAMPIONS, 38 played, 28(V) - 6(D) - 4(L) 77-32(GD) 90 points
Conference League Cup: Knocked out in the 4th round
FA Cup: Knocked out in 1st round against Stockport
FA Throphy Cup: Final against Stevenage

Very happy to have won the league, but the big suprise of the season has been my run the FA Throphy Cup. I would never have hoped for the chance to win the double while playing in Blue Square South.

My offensive signings have really had some good form. Here are some of the highlights:

Ola Kamara - 13 goals, 12 assists
Chris Joyce - Top scorer with 24 goals, 11 assists
Jesse Ohene - 8 goals and with 21(!) assists
Marius Lilleeide - 11 goals, 7 assists

Can't complain to much about that.

 

[Jasard]

Ah I think I'll give a BSP team a go, sounds fun. Infact I'll give it a go now! Hmmm who to pick...

 

[Original_AAA]

Ah I think I'll give a BSP team a go, sounds fun. Infact I'll give it a go now! Hmmm who to pick...

Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[DREVAK]

I think I read somewhere that the next installment in the series will bring about a tactical change to the game. Instead of the tedious and in all honesty more frustrating than intuitive sliders another option will be available, that of assigning player roles and general tactical guidelines.

I haven't played the game but apparently the online FM uses a system like that? Not sure if I will get used to the change from very specific (sliders) to broad and general (drop down menus) instructions but I do appreciate the first part of the change – that is moving away from the sliders. The game feels more and more like Slider Manager rather than Football Manager to be honest.

I suppose I'd prefer a combination of both systems. Not having the option of using one or the other, but taking the best from both. I want to be able to tell the player to play a deep lying playmaker role with few defensive duties – and want to see him do exactly that – but at the same time I want to fine tune his settings if for example I expect him to be more adventurous with his passing or whatever. I guess we'll see in a couple of months!

 

[Stevo the Villan]

I must admit that whilst the sliders provide a tactical precision that is up there with the most realistic in any manager game, you do feel it is a little too complicated. I mean, no manager in the world asks his wingers to push up the field one eleventh more than they are currently.

I think if all the sliders were like some of the ones now that only have 3 options (i.e. rarely, sometimes, often or deep, normal, high) it would be much more casually playable.

I love FM09, but it certainly isn't for the casual gamer.