Football Manager 2010

[Illusion]

Little update on my Notts Forest vs. Newcastle league:

<a class="postlink" href="http://i37.tinypic.com/35ksxh5.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://i37.tinypic.com/35ksxh5.jpg</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Currently fourteen games unbeaten in all competitions since the start of the season, keeping a lot of clean sheets and scoring lots of goals, absolutely chuffed at the moment.

My big result was the 1-0 win against Man Utd at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup. I change my tactics for this tie in order to try and negate their attacking play and dominate the midfield. I switched from my normal attacking 4-4-2 into a defensive 4-1-4-1 looking to counter. I held out for 90 minutes and halfway through extra time I pushed a little harder and went a bit more attacking, Utd were tired and I scored and ended up winning.

About to play my mate who is Newcastle, hopefully he wont end my unbeaten run but we'll see

Oh and yes I know my friendly form was awful, but I was testing tactics and getting to know my players!

 

[outlaw_member]

Is it just me, or is it very hard to be consistent in this game. I can go on a five match winning streak, only to go on a winless streak for the next 5 games. Almost every team I manage follows this path, what am I doing wrong?

 

[stuart]

Finding that myself at the minute with Leeds in the Championship. Not doing well at all...winning then drawing then losing a couple then doing the same thing all over again. Cant work out what im doing wrong as i've got some quality players.

Thought id won League one only to find out a couple of months later during the board confidence update that id read the text at the end of a game wrong Rested my whole team for the last 2 games thinking it was all wrapped up!

 

[Clrnc]

agreed outlaw. I have tweaked my tactics alot and it still dosen't seem to work. I can thrash man u 4-0 only to find myself losing 3-0 to dinamo. really have difficulty with this game

 

[Illusion]

You need to make sure you are motivating your players, keep them happy, give them useful team talks and change your tactics for different situations.

I beat Man Utd 1-0 by changing my tactics purely for that game, had I played my free scoring 4-4-2 I'd have most likely lost it.

The Backroom Advice feature is a new thing in FM2010 and I suggest using it often. Your backroom staff will give you lots of good suggestions, such as "our team is weak against others playing 4-4-2" or "xxx is very strong against teams playing 4-3-3". If you play those formations you should make changes to avoid playing to your opponents strengths.

Touchline instructions work well too, you should be more attacking against weak teams at home and more defensive against strong teams away for example.

There's no set science, I lost my unbeaten run after 14 games to Crystal Palace away 1-0, the next game I lost 5-1 to Barnsley (I went all out attack and paid for it). I recovered things and improved afterwards, but it's not always easy.

Unfortunately my network game has developed a problem, my mate can't watch matches in 2D or 3D anymore, it's completely frozen. Yet if we start a fresh league it works flawlessly.

Not sure exactly how to solve this problem, will be gutted to lose all our progress so far as we've taken our time with it.

More worryingly is I don't know whether the issue might arise in the future if we start a new game.

 

[outlaw_member]

I think the team talks is the biggest factor on how long you can maintain a good run of form, and how to break a losing streak. However, it's almost impossible to guage which team talk is best for which situation, because they all have a varying degree of success and failure. Also, how do you go about motivating players? I find this game rather frustrating because I tend to put alot of thought in what I do, yet my brother plays the game like a layman and he wins leagues and trophies almost instantly. Even my friend has the same problem, he too puts alot of time in finding the right balance and what not, yet his brother who does very little of that goes on crazy unbeaten streaks.

 

[Clrnc]

I barely scraped through my UCL grp, finished 2nd 2 points behind Sporting on 10. And i get drawn against Real Madrid...

However, in the league its a different story. Unbeaten streak now, stretch back to the 3rd match when I lost 1-0 away to Bolton. Finally found the right tactics and balance for my Arsenal team (4-1-1-3-1). Seems to concede alot of goals, hasn't had many clean sheet but scored alot as well. 5 points ahead of liverpool with a game in hand

 

[Illusion]

Well fortunately the match issue I mentioned was just my friend being a monumental boob and causing it himself. I assumed it wasn't this particular thing so we spent a few days trying to diagnose it in all other possibilities until I figured it out today

Team talks make a big difference, but you have to be careful what you say. The opposition instructions can also make a difference. What I do right now is sign up the best assistant manager I can find (good motivating, tactics etc.) and use the 'ask assistant' button for both. I then look at what the AI Assistant has done and see if I want to tweak it as well as trying to understand why and what effect i has.

If you do this for 30-40 games you should start to see what works and what doesn't so you don't have to rely on the feature. It's important to remember that nothing is guaranteed to work though, even the best AI Assistant in the world will not produce team talks that will give you wins.

To keep players motivated and happy you need to ensure their needs are met. This means training that they are happy with, a good contract on par with their teammates (especially those they deem themselves to be as good as), praise and criticism when necessary (make them earn the praise though), fines and discipline when they overstep the mark (getting sent off or missing training for example), first team football frequency that meets the status described in their contract (key player, first team, backup etc.), don't offer them to random clubs, talk sensibly about them in press conferences and make sure the team is successful.

You could also add setting a good captain to that list as well (influence is the stat to look for here).

I generally say 'well done' in teamtalks if my team did well and the individual player got a rating of 7.5 or above. Anything under a 6 I will tend to be angry with the player and inbetween I might say nothing or just be disappointed.

It's good to praise a players excellent performance in the press via player interaction after the game, although the backroom advice section will usually tell you when this is necessary most of the time.

 

[outlaw_member]

What do you think of individual team talks, should you do it often?

 

[Illusion]

What do you think of individual team talks, should you do it often?

Sometimes it's necessary in my opinion, but I can't guarantee it's the ideal strategy I'm just doing what I think works.

If a player has a stand out rating from the rest of his team I will probably give him a different talk to the rest.

For example if my team won well and most are 6.5's to 7.5's I'll give them a general 'well done', but if my striker got a hatty and has an 8.5 rating he'll certainly get the sensational talk.

The same works for those who are really bad of course.

Not saying a word can work too, if you're unhappy with your team, say they drew against opponents you could have beaten, it might be worth just saying nothing and letting them stew.

 

[Clrnc]

To keep players motivated and happy you need to ensure their needs are met. This means training that they are happy with, a good contract on par with their teammates (especially those they deem themselves to be as good as), praise and criticism when necessary (make them earn the praise though), fines and discipline when they overstep the mark (getting sent off or missing training for example), first team football frequency that meets the status described in their contract (key player, first team, backup etc.), don't offer them to random clubs, talk sensibly about them in press conferences and make sure the team is successful.

I don't do that at all. I only warn, because when i always fine them they complain unfair no matter how many red cards they got.

I often let my assistant have the team talk, or press the ask assistant key, because I used the editor to put Arsène Wenger as mine When they perform well I will mention special praise for individual players, when they perform badly I will use the harshest option. Seems to work.

Oh and i just won 6-5 at OT in an epic league cup semi with my reserves. Aggregated victory 9-8. Some very epic match in these games. I was 1-0 down at Pompey at the 89th min before I scored 2 goals. I thought i won the match and then they got a penalty and level in the 92nd min...

 

[outlaw_member]

This game is taking the piss. In the last few fixtures I have conceded 4 long range strikes (Storari and Frey in goal), 3 freekicks and generally anything from 25 yards out.

 

[outlaw_member]

lol add another freekick to that by BATE for ****s sake.

 

[Clrnc]

long range shot i an irritating fix they have yet to make after the patch. the new patch made people concede long range goals much easier. I drew 3-3 with chelsea thanks to a lampard hattrick of long range shots from 30 yards.

Oh I just won the league cup 6-5, only to discover I lost the match on penalties after a 4-4 draw, talk about bug...

 

[outlaw_member]

I've been reading the Tactical Theorems and Frameworks guide for FM 2010, a must guide for anyone who wants to play the game at great depth. It has also provided me with alot of answers to where I could have been going wrong in my previous teams. Although, it is important to remember that it is only a guide rather than an answer book.

Anyway, I quit my Fiorentina game which was a total disaster and started a new one with Liverpool. The board gave me a starting transfer budget of 2.2 million which was provided I won the league. As usual, I've made many transfers moreso in this game due to the lopsided and unusual formation that I will be deploying. I started the summer selling;

Babel 10 million - Man City
Johnson 2.6 million Loan Fee w/ 14.6 million Agreed Fee - Man City
Riera 8 million - Sunderland
Degen 3 million - Stoke City
Benayoun 10 million - Man City
Voronin 3.5 million - Sunderland
Dossena 7 million - Man City

Sales: 44 million

Simone Pepe 8.25 million
van der Vaart 7.5 million
Oscar Cardozo 7.5 million
Guti Loan Fee 400 thousand
Pape Diakhate 3 million
Defour 9.75 million
Felipe 10 million
Buonanotte 4.5 million

Purchases: 51 million

Formation: 4-5-1 Catenaccio (Herrera's 1965 European Cup winning formation)

--------------------Reina/Cavalieri(GK)
--------------------Felipe/Diakhate(SW)
----------Carra/Kyriagos(CB)-------Agger/Skrtel(CB)------Aurelio/Insua(LWB)
Kuyt/Pepe(RDW)-Aquilani/Defour(DLM)-Masch/Lucas(BWM)
---------------Gerrard/Buonan(IFW)--VDV/Guti(ADP)
----------------------Torres/Cardozo(AST)

RDWefensive Winger
DLMeep Lying Playmaker
BWM:Ball Winning Midfielder
IFW:Inside Forward
ADP:Advanced Playmaker

I tried the catenaccio in Championship Manager 2003 back in the day with all the best defenders in the game but it never really worked the way I wanted it to. I doubt it will work in this game either, but here's trying it.

 

[Clrnc]

i swear thats the weirdest formation i ever seen, can't even figure out how it will work in real life let alone in a rigid game.

and some undervalued sales there, especially with babel benayoun and riera. how did you manage to sell johnson who just joined?

 

[outlaw_member]

I've done weirder formations in the past, trust me. 1-3-1-2-2-1, otherwise known as the straight line formation which won me many trophies with Barcelona. Obviously, you can only get away with that formation with a briliant team. I also tried a 4-2-4-0 which didn't work despite trying it with great players.

I couldn't sell Johnson outright, which is why I could only loan him out. I found Riera surplus to requirements as there is no LW in my formation. Benayoun got me 10 million and his stats weren't good compared to VDV. Babel never had the workrate to play as the defensive winger, plus Pepe is better and was more suitable to the role.

 

[James]

Give me a 4-4-2 formation anyday

I got Diakhate on loan in my PSG game. His stats are quite impressive. I'm currently 3rd, Pld 7, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 1.

 

[Anzac]

i swear thats the weirdest formation i ever seen, can't even figure out how it will work in real life let alone in a rigid game.

Think of it this way:

........GK...........
........SW..........
......CB....CB....FB
.....CM/DM..CM/DM........
AM.......AM...........
......ST.....ST.....

The width is provided by the wide AM & the FB, who alternate = when the FB goes forward the AM drops deep to keep the width in the defensive line so that it always operates as a back 3 across the pitch, with a sweeper behind them. It plays havoc against a man marking system as the markers of the widemen get dragged out of shape, creating space for the playmakers to exploit.

 

[Illusion]

I've used asymmetrical formations before, they can work well and are certainly good at making your opponent have a few question marks over how to deal with your team, especially if it's a human player.