FM Tactics and Stories Discussion

Im playing FM 09 and as usual, start the game with Liverpool.

Although ive started the game in July 2008, all the transfers have been updated to include the transfer period from July 1 - September 30, 2009.

Tactics
I always try and play with a short-passing, possession style tactic but sometimes its hard to implement without the right players. Usually, I also use a 4-2-3-1 with 1 CM (Mascherano) set to make forward runs "rarely" and the other CM (Lucas, Aquilani) with mixed FWR. The AMR and AML also both have mixed forward runs along with Torres who has run with ball often, long shots and through balls both mixed and crossing rarely. Usually I played him with a free role, however, I found that he was moving too far towards both flanks so I took it off and he's staying closer towards the centre. Despite scoring 29 goals and getting 8 assists in 35 matches, im tweaking my system to make the attacking mids more fluent and able to drift and interchange a lot more which means ill need him in a more stable position. He also had 10 offsides in his most recent match with a free role. So far, its worked and he has 3 goals in 2 matches with only 2 offsides.

The lowest individual mentality of any player is my CB, usually Skrtel, with a mentality of 10. The rest are all higher, with the highest being Gerrard (AM) at 17. The only players with forward runs set to often are both full-backs and the AM.

Also, the only players that I have set to run with the ball often are the full-backs and CF...it has made my players stop losing possession easily by running into defenders carelessly.

Transfers
My transfers have mainly been based on these player attributes. Obviously each player will have their certain strengths depending on their position, however if you can get a player with +14 in the first 5 attributes and a decent amount of acceleration and pace then you should be getting a good player. Determination and creativity are also other key attributes.

IMPORTANT PLAYER ATTRIBUTES: Anticipation, Decisions, Off The Ball, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace.


2008/09 season
Premier League - 1st (94 points: 28-7-2)
Champions League - lost semi final vs Villarreal (4-4 on away goals; 1-2 away & 3-2 home)
FA Cup - won final vs Man Utd (3-1 extra time)
Carling Cup - lost quarter final vs West Ham (0-1)
Player of the Season - Gerrard
Top Goalscorer - Gerrard (30)
Most Assists - Riera (16)

Usual 1st team line-up (08/09)

Reina
Johnson - Carra - Agger - Aurelio
Masch - Aquilani
Kuyt - Gerrard - Riera
Torres​

Subs: Cavalieri, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas, Benayoun, Babel, Voronin

Season Events
At the start of the season, I ticked the box where every team has no transfer money for the first transfer season. Therefore, I also had to stick with my current team despite the numerous weaknesses.

I started off in pre-season scoring an average of at least 2 goals per game, but only kept 2 clean sheets in 7 matches which was annoying. My first match was the CL Qualifying match vs Atletico Madrid, which was always going to be a tough match. 1st leg away drew 2-2 then won at home 2-0.

The worst news was Lucas breaking his leg in October and he would be out for 5 months, leaving me with only Aquilani and Mascherano as central midfielders...I ended up having to move Gerrard back into midfield for a lot of matches and play Benayoun/Voronin/Kuyt behind Torres. A couple of days earlier Nemeth had also broken his leg, out for 5 months and Torres then fractured a cheekbone and was out for 1 month.

In my first 14 competitive matches (including the CL matches) I scored 33 goals and only conceded 4 goals, although most of the opposition was poor (Tottenham the hardest). Then I managed to beat Man Utd 4-2 at home with twice as many chances created.

Biggest transfers in Jan were:
Chiellini to Arsenal
Quagliarella to Real Madrid
Cattermole to Man City
Palombo to Inter
Behrami to Inter
G.Bale to Man City
Parker to Man City
Momo Sissoko to Chelsea
Danny to Man City
Jagielka to Lyon
Lennon to Aston Villa
Pandev to Lyon
A.Zapater to Atletico Madrid

All was going very well until the end of January when Aurelio then damaged his achilles tendon and was going to be out for 3 months, leavng me with Insua at LB, Aquilani (still settling in) in CM. Torres was going to be out for 3-4 weeks with an ankle and Gerrard then strained a hamstring (out for 3 weeks) at the end of feb and it left my team fairly thin.

This is around when the poor defensive runs started. From the 25/2/09 til the 4/4/09 I conceded 11 goals in 10 consecutive matches, losing 2 matches and drawing 4.

I got some players back, Aquilani and Insua started performing really well, Kuyt started scoring regularly and I got the results and performances I wanted. Beat Madrid in the CL quarter final with a good 1-0 win at home and a solid defensive display away to draw 0-0 and progress. In the away leg, without Mascherano, Aurelio or Torres, and Kuyt getting injured in the 32nd minute, they had 29 shots to my 6, although only 5 on target to my 2 and they had 15 blocked shots. My defenders all rated around 7.5 and had numerous key tackles.

I drew Villarreal in the CL semi-final. Chelsea, Inter and Madrid were knocked out in the quarter's. The other semi was Bayern vs Man Utd. Bayern beat Man Utd 4-2 over both legs with a resounding 3-0 thumping at home in the 2nd leg.

In my 1st leg vs Villarreal (away) I started well and Kuyt opened the scoring after 18 minutes. Chances werent being created very regularly for either team. Then, in the last 10 minutes, they scored twice and won 2-1. With the away goal, I was content with the result despite Villarreal's late surge. In the second leg, I started with a full squad apart from Torres and Aurelio. Babel (playing as a CF) opened the scoring in the 14th minute from a Kuyt assist but Agger gave away a penalty and Pires equalised 4 minutes later. Not to worrying given my dominance. Kuty then assisted Gerrard to give me a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute and Babel scored again. I thought I would be able to hold on, or at least score again but Villarreal scored their 2nd and the winner in the 75th minute and I couldnt break through again. Somehow, I conceded 2 goals despite only letting them have 5 shooting attempts throughout the match to my 25 (12 on target). Bayern beat Villarreal in the final 2-0.

Throughout the EPL season, I managed to stay generally around the top with Chelsea, at least within a couple of points off the top. Towards the end I built a decent points lead but my loss to 2nd placed Chelsea in the 4th last match of the season wasnt good. I won my next 3 matches easily and won the league

Wolves, Stoke and Burnley were relegated and the top 4 was Liverpool (94 points), Chelsea (92), Arsenal (82) and then Everton . Man City finished 5th on 73 points and Man Utd finished 6th on 70 points with 10 losses. I scored 87 goals (1st) and conceded 25 (3rd best).

The EPL team of the year was:

Reina
Johnson - Vidic - Agger - Aurelio
Arteta - Fabregas - Gerrard - A.Young
Agbonlahor - Torres​

The FA Cup was probably the best finish I couldve wished for in the season. I was up against Man Utd, who I had beaten twice throughout the season already and I had a full squad to choose from.​

First half was very even, with both teams creating half-chances. The worst possible thing couldve happened then, when Insua received his 2nd yellow card in the 48th minute and left me with 10 men. I brought Agger off the bench to play LB with Skrtel/Carra in the middle as he was my only option. Still, neither team created good scoring opportunities throughout the remaining 45 minutes and it ended 0-0. Park Ji-Sung scored the first goal in the 98th minute and it didnt look good as I didnt really look like scoring and only had 10 men. Then, Kuyt scored in the 109th minute and Torres got one in the 113th minute. I changed tactics to a defensive, counter-attacking game-plan and put Torres up front. As they were attacking, he scored another in the 120th minute and sealed it. Very happy finish ​

 

Despite a good season winning the double (League + Cup), I knew the team needed upgrading. I conceded a few too many goals and didnt create as many chances as I would like consistently.

With the following player attributes in mind (Anticipation, Decisions, Off The Ball, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace and Passing), I was going to create a team mainly using players that had good ratings in all of these. Therefore, Carra was dropped to the bench with Skrtel coming in.

I got rid of Dossena, Kyrgiakos, Voronin and El Zhar, with only Voronin contributing something meaningul in the previous season.

Throughout the season, I was consistently "tapping up" Simon Kjaer and Juan Vargas, who were two players that would be significant additions. Kjaer was only 20 years old and would eventually replace Carra as 3rd choice CB and challenge Skrtel/Agger for first choice. Vargas would provide good back-up to Insua at LB, who, due to injuries to Aurelio made 33 appearances in all comps and improved significantly to be a better defender than Aurelio, Vargas, Johnson and Agger (stats are now marking=16, tackling=17, positioning=17, anticipation=18, teamwork=16, work rate=16, concentration=18, decisions=17, accel+pace=16 and strength=15. He's been awesome in defence but his final cross/pass hasnt been great, with not many assists. This season, he's been better with 5 assists but no goals. Vargas would mainly be playing as a LW and challenge Riera. His added set-piece ability, better defence and all-round game was a bonus over Riera.

I bought a couple of youngsters, although only Fernandez Garcia still has a high potential. The other two will not make it passed the reserve team...especially disappointing is Roth (CB) who cost 2 mil and at first, looked to be good.

Biggest transfers from other teams in the summer window were:
Ribery to Madrid
L.Cana to Arsenal
Moutinho to Madrid
Agbonlahor to Man City
F.Campbell to Man City
Gourcuff to Arsenal
S.Parker to Arsenal
Benzema from Madrid to Barca
Heitinga to Barca
Pandev to AC Milan (6 months after joining Lyon)
I.Marcano to Madrid
C.Rodriguez to Madrid
Huddlestone to Man City
Hangeland to Tottenham
Jonas Gutierrez to Milan
Lucho Gonzalez to Valencia
Srna to Chelsea
Milner to Chelsea
Hulk to Marseille
Santa Cruz to Villarreal
Gamst Pedersen from Wolves (yes, he went to there in Jan 09) to Man Utd
Stewart Downing from Villa, back to Middlesbrough (wtf!)
Scott McDonald to Tottenham
G.Cahill to Aston Villa
C.Maggio to Milan
Quaresma to Napoli
Diego Capel to Madrid
Alexis Sanchez to Madrid
Abidal to Valencia
Hamsik to Chelsea for 8.5 million pounds (f***ers)
Malouda to PSG


MY TRANSFERS

In (£79 mil)
Daniel Fernandez Garcia (LB) - Villarreal (£1.5 mil, January 2009)
Simon Kjaer (CB) - Palermo (£12 mil, July 2009)
Juan Manuel Vargas (LWB) - Fiorentina (£11 mil, July 2009)
Alexander Roth (CB) - Schalke (£2 mil, July 2009)
Marco Nobile (RW) - Udinese/Cagliari (£460k, July 2009)
Javi Martinez (CM) - Athletic Bilbao (£20 mil, July 2010)
Jack Collison (CM) - West Ham (£8 mil, July 2010)
Cesar Azpilicueta (RB) - Osasuna (£21.5 mil, July 2010)
Fabio Ferrari (CB) - Siena (£2 mil, July 2010)
Andy Bopp (GK) - Atletico Paranaense (£500k, July 2010)

Out (£53.7 mil)
Andrea Dossena (LWB) - Lazio (£9 mil, July 2009)
Nabil El Zhar (RW) - West Ham (£3 mil, July 2009)
David Martin (GK) - Aston Villa (£500k, July 2009)
Andras Simon (CF) - Sheff Wed (£150k, July 2009)
Jordy Brouwer (CF) - Chesterfield (£75k, July 2009)
Andriy Voronin (SS) - Werder Bremen (£6 mil, July 2009)
Sotiris Kyrgiakos (CB) - Newcastle (£3 mil, January 2010)
Philipp Degen (RB) - Porto (£5 mil, January 2010)
Albert Riera (LW) - Barcelona (£22 mil, July 2010)
Diego Cavalieri (GK) - Valencia (£5 mil, July 2010)


2009/10 season (currently 3 April, 2010)
Premier League - 1st (81 points: 26-6-0)
Champions League - quarter final vs Barcelona
FA Cup - semi final vs Man Utd
Carling Cup - lost 4th round vs Everton (1-2)
Community Shield - lost final vs Chelsea (2-2; lost 4-5 on penalties)
Top Goalscorer - Torres (29)
Most Assists - Gerrard (15)


Season Events
Decided to tour Australia in the pre-season but was rather uninspiring and my best result was a 5-2 win over Palermo.

With Vargas effectively replacing Dossena in the squad and only losing Voronin as a player who made a significant amount of appearances, the squad was much stronger. Johnson, Insua, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas, Ngog, Torres and Masch all made good improvements in attributes over the previous 12 months with everyone completely settled into the squad. The major weakness was at RB with Degen leaving and Masch, Carra, Kelly and Darby as back-ups. Darby isnt good enough and I could only trust Kelly in easier games.

The community shield was something that I didnt really care about but definitely would like to win. When Zhirkov was sent off in the 9th minute, it was looking like a win, especially as Ancelotti subbed off Drogba to bring on a CM. When Lampard scored an own goal in the 12th minute, it couldnt have been going any better. Straight away, the man who always stands up against Liverpool, Ivanovic, scored off a corner in the 15th minute ot equalise. I managed to go ahead through Masch in the 38th minute...a good shot from outside the box. Then, just like earlier, Chelsea levelled just after we scored with Lampard scoring in the 44th minute. Half time, but I was dominating and not too worried about the situation. I brought Riera on for Kuyt, who wasnt playing well in the 78th minute and moved Yossi to the right wing. Then, Riera got sent off in the 83rd minute and that pretty much started his downfall for the season with Vargas and Yossi ahead of him as a LW. The 90 minutes ended 2-2 with me leading with 25 shots to 8, 8-4 on target, 10-2 blocked and 2 clear cut chances to 0. It went to penalties and after Gerrard and Camoranesi both missed their opening shots, it was 4-4 after 5 shots each. Bosingwa scored for Chelsea, then Johnson missed for me and Chelsea won.

Started off the EPL season well, up until October I hadnt lost with 6-1 win over Portsmouth the best result.

The first bit of bad news was at the start of October when Kjaer suffered a slipped disc in training. Out for 3 months.

Got a few draws in the first half of the EPL season, although they were with a very solid Fulham, Arsenal and Man Utd. Had a 2-1 loss to Stuttgart in a CL group game, but dominated the game and the 2nd goal was in the 87th minute.

Got a great result vs Juventus (away) in the CL when I won 4-1, with Torres getting a hat-trick. Best result by that stage. Then, 3 weeks later beat Juventus 3-0 at home to continue the good run. Top of the league and top of the CL group. Lost in the Carling Cup which was disappointing as I wanted to give the youngsters as many games as possible but that loss seemed to spark the team. These results followed.

Liverpool 2 - 0 Stuttgart (away)
Liverpool 4 - 0 Chelsea (home)
Liverpool 6 - 0 Wigan (away)
Liverpool 1 - 1 Tottenham (away)
Liverpool 8 - 0 Stuttgart (home)
Liverpool 7 - 0 West Brom (home)
Liverpool 2 - 0 Everton (away)

Ive never been on a better run than this. Even the Tottenham game is one that my team were better, creating more chances. The Stuttgart (8-0) match was truely amazing. They played a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 and I made my team wide and play the ball down both flanks all the time. After 32 minutes it was 6-0. Babel played as a right-winger, scored 2 goals, got 3 assists and had 14 runs passed an opponent. That started his up-turn in form and to be a reliable player for me.

With Johnson getting injured for a total of 9 weeks so far in the season, Masch has made 5 appearances at RB and been good, while Carra has played 12 matches at RB and done ok. Kelly has also been good.

January was very good with 7 wins (including wins over Arsenal and Fulham) which was helped by 7 straight clean sheets and 18 goals scored. The only blip was Skrtel injuring his knee (out for 6 weeks) but he's back now and playing well.

At the moment, I am undefeated and 15 points ahead of Man City in the league (Chelsea are 3rd, Arsenal 4th and Man Utd 7th) so I can focus on the CL and FA Cup while giving better players a rest in the league games.

Gerrard just got sent off in my most recent match vs Blackburn, so he'll get a 3 game EPL rest .

I have Wigan next at home, with Gerrard suspended and Torres tired and going to be rested.

I have a lot of big games coming up. Its Barcelona (CL away), Chelsea (EPL), Barca (CL home), Man Utd (FA Cup), Tottenham (EPL), West Brom (EPL), Everton (EPL) and Man City (EPL).

Ive also used this season to get as many games into the younger players as possible. Pacheco, Ayala and Bouzanis have all had loan spells at championship clubs, while the following youngsters have made these first team appearances which I think is important if you dont want to spend a lot of money each season.

Bouzanis - 5 starts (1 as a sub)
Kelly - 3 (3) 1 assist
Kjaer - 12 (5)
Fernandez Garcia - 0 (2)
Spearing - 2 (6)
Buchtmann - 0 (2)
Kacaniklic - 0 (1)
Bruna - 0 (5)
Nemeth - 3 (8) 3 goals
Ngog - 7 (10) 5 goals 2 assists


Riera wasnt performing very well this season but I did want to keep him. There were quite a few matches where my assistant (Sammy Lee) said that he was over-confident in the warm-up. Aurelio also had this problem which is why Insua and Vargas are clearly ahead of him, with Fernandez Garcia (17 yr old LB) also coming up. I will probably sell Aurelio. Barca made a bid for Riera during January and after I rejected it, he said he was unhappy, unsettled and wanted to leave. After that, I offered him around and rejected offers from Man Utd, Inter etc and only accepted the Barca offer. Cavalieri was also unhappy at not playing enough so I got good money for him.

As for next season, you can see that Ive already started planning with Javi Martinez, Jack Collison and Cesar Azpilicueta coming in.

Azpilicueta was extremely important. A 20 year old "wonderkid" RB with all the attributes that I want. Although, he was 21.5 mil and I tried for a couple of weeks to get it lower but they wouldnt budge.

Jack Collison wanted to leave West Ham stating he wanted to play for a bigger club, and eventually was offered to everyone by West Ham for 8 milion which was amazing and something I couldnt bypass. This season, he has 42 starts (3 subs in) with an overall rating of 7.15 for West Ham. He has 12 goals, 9 assists and 6 MOTM performances with a passing accuracy of 80% in Zola's 4-3-3. Im very happy now that im getting him. Plus, he will add to home-grown players. The only problem he brings is that I now have Masch, Lucas, Aquilani, Martinez, Gerrard and Collison as central midfielders. Aquilani has shown a lot as an AM so I might move him their permanently while Lucas/Masch have been very solid. Martinez is young but will provide competition for Lucas and Collison is only 20 but can also play RM/LM. Sadly, I will probably sell Spearing as he's the "lesser" of that group.

I also tried to get David Silva but Valencia wanted around 79 million pounds for him. I will need a right-winger soon, unless Babel can become more consistent there. But for now, im very pleased with the squad.

 

i hav a question
is there a way to sell a player?
idk why but nobody wants any of my players i offer them to other clubs sometimes even for nothing
help plz i hav a 26 man squad lol

 

im napoli in serie a
i was just wondering if there was something i was missing
and yea i loan and send out all my young talent on loan or feeder clubs if i dont need them
ok thx bro

 

Yeah selling players can be difficult, it seems if you deem them surplus, you have to take a sizeable hit on the fee. I rarely can sell them for their value, much less more than their current value. It can be a bit frustrating, especially when you see the computer is able to buy players at reasonable rates, whereas I tend to have to overpay. Second window, in January seems to be my best chance to get rid of squad players btw.