CM 01/02.... Hows it goin?

[DuffFutureofIreland]

Hello everybody

What team are you in charge of?
What season?
Who have you bought?
What have you won?

[JohnR]

Hello everybody

What team are you in charge of?
What season?
Who have you bought?
What have you won?

Woking
2014/15
Never bought anybody very famous or good except regens
Won many trophies

Among my current oldies, I have Jose-Antonio Reyes (mediocre), Jean-Alain Boumsong (decent squad player), and Alex Manninger. The latter morphed into a young Ollie Kahn the moment that I bought him as a 28 year old, and was the best goalkeeper in Europe for several years. Sadly, he's 36 now and starting to feel his age ...

And as usual for CM 01-02, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in every game he faced against me. If I man marked with with 2 great defenders, I could hold him to a single goal. Usually.

[DuffFutureofIreland]

Woking
2014/15
Never bought anybody very famous or good except regens
Won many trophies

Among my current oldies, I have Jose-Antonio Reyes (mediocre), Jean-Alain Boumsong (decent squad player), and Alex Manninger. The latter morphed into a young Ollie Kahn the moment that I bought him as a 28 year old, and was the best goalkeeper in Europe for several years. Sadly, he's 36 now and starting to feel his age ...

And as usual for CM 01-02, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in every game he faced against me. If I man marked with with 2 great defenders, I could hold him to a single goal. Usually.

Not bad.

I had a game myself before with Barnet, 9 seasons later i won the champions league....

[JohnR]

I had a game myself before with Barnet, 9 seasons later i won the champions league....

We're the only ones talking to each other ... I've played Barnet a couple of times, primarily because the first English game I ever attended was a friendly at Barnet. Gower & Doolan, those guys do the trick for me. That keeper Lee Harrison is good, too.

[JohnR]

You know what I like about CM 01/02 ... the unabashed English concepts about Latin divers.

Players on my current team who "go down like a shot" or get carded for diving -

1) Forward from Paraguay
2) Forward from Italy
3) Forward from Spain

I cannot remember an English player in 01/02 doing such a thing. Actually, not any northern European player.

Ashley Cole, gentlemen, Ashley Cole. Oh, and Michael Owen, and Andy Johnson.

[DuffFutureofIreland]

We're the only ones talking to each other ... I've played Barnet a couple of times, primarily because the first English game I ever attended was a friendly at Barnet. Gower & Doolan, those guys do the trick for me. That keeper Lee Harrison is good, too.

Ye i know. Doolan scored so many goals for me it was unreal, he was supposed to be a defensive midfielder. Harrison left in the first season when his contract ran out....

[Montréal United]

What team are you in charge of?

Blyth Spartans, Newcastle's second biggest team, before a virus killed the game :(

What season?

2008/09 when the magic ended...

Who have you bought?

All youth free transfers, but 3 of them were England U21 (those lunatics looking for bigger clubs. It doesn't get any better than Blyth Spartans, no?)

What have you won?

Conference champions
D3 playoff winners
D2 playoff winners
Not much in D1, but looking good in the relegation battle

The good part is that's all in consecutives years

Otherwise I still haven't won the Premiership, but won numerous Ligue 1 title & the CL with both Marseille and St-Etienne. I'm usually able to take a team to 3rd/4th in England, but the all hell comes loose the following years.

[JohnR]

Harrison left in the first season when his contract ran out....

With Harrison, you sometimes can sign him the moment the game begins.

If not, sell him as fast as you can because he's worth several hundred thousand pounds, which as you know is a lot of money for a team like Barnet.

Now that I think of it, just sell him. He's good, but the money's better.

[JohnR]

I'm usually able to take a team to 3rd/4th in England, but the all hell comes loose the following years.

Why is that? Are they figuring your tactics out?

CL & the cups are is always a crapshoot, but I've generally been able to be consistently near the top of EPL table once I get my team assembled. However, I do change tactics every 2/3 years, otherwise things start to fall apart.

[DuffFutureofIreland]

Why is that? Are they figuring your tactics out?

CL & the cups are is always a crapshoot, but I've generally been able to be consistently near the top of EPL table once I get my team assembled. However, I do change tactics every 2/3 years, otherwise things start to fall apart.

I'm editing my game at the moment but i think i'll take over a 2nd or 3rd devision side. I have updated all the teams but not all of there players, i've been workin on it for nearly 2 weeks...

[Montréal United]

Why is that? Are they figuring your tactics out?

CL & the cups are is always a crapshoot, but I've generally been able to be consistently near the top of EPL table once I get my team assembled. However, I do change tactics every 2/3 years, otherwise things start to fall apart.

It's all tactics and players starting to play dumb.

The problem is my team is build to fit my tactic and not another one as I lack cover for wingers. Also, it depends because sometime the opponents can't seem to get a clue like my Marseille game with 10 L1 titles in a row and going...

I've yet to try every league, but my favorites are France (with St-Etienne), Greece (champs with POAK) & Russia (RPL title with Zenit Petersburg).

The next games should be in Denmark if it doesn't get the "Belgium bug". I wanted a game there, so I started on holiday modes for a few years. By 2008, Belgium was 5th in the UEFA coefficients creeping up on Spain for 4th. A bit unrealistic to say the least...

[JohnR]

By 2008, Belgium was 5th in the UEFA coefficients creeping up on Spain for 4th.

In spring 2013, I played Club Brugge in the Champion's League final. :)

The dominant teams the past few years are -

PSV
Brondby
Kopenhagen
Juventus
Milan
Lazio
Madrid
Barcelona
Dortmund
Woking (me)

Typically, about 6-7 of those 10 teams are in the CL quarterfinals.

Notable disasters are Man U, Bayern Munich, Roma, Ajax, and anybody in France, none of which ever advance past Round 1 of CL, if they even qualify at all.

The only league I am playing is England, by the way.

[JohnR]

The problem is my team is build to fit my tactic and not another one as I lack cover for wingers.

Do you play your wingers wide?

I love wingers who can cross & I spend a lot of money to collect them. However, I cannot figure out how to make them successful playing wide. So ultimately, I end up with narrow tactics, something like a 4-1-3-2.

What a waste ...

[Montréal United]

Do you play your wingers wide?

I love wingers who can cross & I spend a lot of money to collect them. However, I cannot figure out how to make them successful playing wide. So ultimately, I end up with narrow tactics, something like a 4-1-3-2.

What a waste ...

I use the 2-3-2-1-2 lineup.

FC----FC
AMC
DMC----DMC
DL-----DMC-----DR
CB----CB
GK

It's not the super cheat versions as I didn't download any & don't go into the with/without ball screens.

So, my team is basically a ton of DM as I use 3 per game with some DM or D on the wings. I never buy a AML or AMR as I just won't play them. That makes it a bit hard to be flexible with your tactics as the pieces won't fit.

I once tried a 4-3-2-1 line up with high attacking wingers, but I never got consistent results.


FC
AML--------------AMR
DMC---AMC---DMC
DL---CB---CB---DR
GK

[JohnR]

I was able to be successful playing a 4-4-2 with wide play at the lower leagues, but not in EPL.

However, I tend to use 2/3 attacking midfielders in my formations. And I have learned that the wide players are usually effective even if they are more centrally placed, as long as they have the good AM attributes of dribbling, pace, and passing.

[DuffFutureofIreland]

I was able to be successful playing a 4-4-2 with wide play at the lower leagues, but not in EPL.

However, I tend to use 2/3 attacking midfielders in my formations. And I have learned that the wide players are usually effective even if they are more centrally placed, as long as they have the good AM attributes of dribbling, pace, and passing.

I use a 4-3-3 formation with only one midfielder attacking and 2 holding players.

I play a striker with a forward on each side. I don't seem to use the free role very effectively, what do i have to do to get it working better???

[JohnR]

I use a 4-3-3 formation with only one midfielder attacking and 2 holding players.

Yes, that's what I'm doing now. Don't score quite as many goals but defense is brilliant, particularly at home.

I use either forwards or AMs in the outside roles for the front 3.

[/quote]I don't seem to use the free role very effectively, what do i have to do to get it working better???[/QUOTE]

You got me. My players are always worse with free role. I had Zidane's regen, with 20 passing, 20 dribbling, 20 technique, 20 flair, 20 creativity, and even he did worse with free role. So I've given up entirely on the concept, because if that guy wasn't made for free role, who is?

[Canadian_Supporter]

I am Halifax in the English 3rd division.

So far have a record of 6 wins, 1 loss and 2 ties. Unfortunately I lost to Scunthrope in the first round of the league cup. :(

[DuffFutureofIreland]

I just bought Robben off Chelsea and he has replaced Ronaldinho who is who i bought 2 seasons ago. I also got appointed as sweden manager after the WC, qualified unbeaten for the EC but just lost my first game away to Yugoslavia, Kezman scored 3 as i lost 3-2. Justin Georcelin, Raul and Adriano all get about 30 goals a season.

I'm in my 9th season and have won the serie A 5 times and runners up the other 3 time, have also lost 1 Uefa cup final and 4 CL finals, twice against Arsenal and Dortmund. and have lost in the quarter finals twice loosing to Porto and Venezia, Yes i said Venezia... Christian Guei and Ibrahimovic were unstoppable...

[JohnR]

I'm in my 9th season and have won the serie A 5 times and runners up the other 3 time, have also lost 1 Uefa cup final and 4 CL finals, twice against Arsenal and Dortmund. and have lost in the quarter finals twice loosing to Porto and Venezia, Yes i said Venezia... Christian Guei and Ibrahimovic were unstoppable...

Is your squad starting to get unhappy & your board ridiculous?

I won EPL 5 years straight and Champion's League the past 2 years, but I just had to quit. 15 games into the season, I was in 2nd place, 2 points back with a game in hand, and 12 players on the team "lost confidence" in the manager. Note that at the time of this occurring, my team had already advanced into 2nd Round of CL (after winning all 6 games in the first round!), had won its first 2 games in League Cup, and had won Supercup.

I then won 5 straight games, including the Intercontinental Cup and another Champion's League match, to move into first place in EPL. However, those 12 players were still unhappy, plus about 7 more players joined them because they were worried about "team harmony."

With 19 unhappy players, my squad no longer could perform well and I drew two straight matches. At which time another 6 players got unhappy.

I quit. The whole thing was too absurd. Let's face it, if Sir Alex Ferguson were held to my standards, he would have had his butt wheeled out of town years ago.