Football Manager 2007

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

So, over the last four seasons, here are my overall top scorers.

Dimitar Berbatov - 82 goals (196 games)

Alex - 40 goals (161 games)

Robbie Keane - 37 goals (152 games)

Jermain Defoe - 27 goals (95 games)

Lee Barnard - 19 goals (54 games)

Aaron Lennon - 17 goals (197 games)

Yossi Benayoun - 16 goals (84 games)

Michael Dawson - 12 goals (163 games)

Tom Huddlestone - 11 goals (126 games)

Matthew Etherington - 9 goals (113 games)

Ledley King - 9 goals (157 games)

Steed Malbranque - 6 goals (60 games)

Calum Davenport - 5 goals (68 games)

Carlos Javier Acuna - 4 goals (20 games)

Didier Zokora - 3 goals (21 games)

Steven Taylor - 3 goals (44 games)

Emil Halfredsson - 3 goals (54 games)

Teemu Tainio - 3 goals (56 games)

Reto Ziegler - 3 goals (62 games)

Anthony Gardner - 2 goals (89 games)

Young-Pyo Lee - 1 goal (132 games)

Jonny Dixon - 1 goal (17 games)

Billy Jones - 1 goal (28 games)

Phil Ifil - 1 goal (181 games)

[Buford Ripley]

So I somehow managed to win La Liga undefeated which probably was down to me having Sebastian Viera in goal and every other team playing seriously shit. Barca finished 10th with Real Madrid finishing 9th. Real Betis and Atletico Madrid spent the last quarter of the season duking it out for second which helped me extend my lead, unsurprisingly, Valencia finished 4th.

Apparently winning the league makes me a Villareal legend and then going on to win the UEFA Cup makes me even more of a legend.

The UEFA Cup was a good tournament with many highs and lows, the highs being winning and drawing one or two easy teams and the low being forced to play unfit players in the preseason and having so much of an injury crisis that I could only send out a team with 4 spare spaces on the bench.

I was fortunate to be drawn against easy teams like Kalmar and FC Moscow in the earlier rounds. The group stage placed me into a group with Marseille, AEK, West Ham and Protugese team Braga. I managed to finish that group with West Ham and I battling it out for the third qualifying spot. I thought all was lost in the final game when WHAM beat me 1-0 and were drawn on points. So I checked the table and West Ham were out because of my superior goal scoring abilities.

The first KO round pitted me against Tottenham and after a very even home leg I managed to nick in a fairly late goal to help me with a 1-0 home win going into the second leg. That was when I thought all was lost. 70 minutes into the away leg Tottenham were 2-0 up and I had one or two key players injured, most notably Senna and Jose Mari. In those 70 minutes Spurs were coming at me like a group of male Japanese bukkake actors but I stayed resilient and the talents of Viera held off any chances of a third going in against me. So I thought I'd send my troops out to go for the goal with an all out attack. My players' efforts seemed to be in vain until the 92nd minute when the eventual top scorer of the UEFA Cup, Nihat, came alive with a brilliant solo effort. I managed to sneak out of White Hart Lane 2-1 with the away goal sending me on through to the next round.

Wisla were next and they were shit so... The Qtr Finals sent me off to England for my third match their in the tournament, this time the destination was St. James Park as the Geordies were about to have a taste of an understrength VILLAreal side. There were a few things working against me in this game such as:

a) Bringing only 14 players with me.

b) Viera being slightly injured.

c) Having to play two old ass centrebacks as full backs.

d) Second string striker playing alone up front.

e) A defensive midfielder playing AMR.

However, one thing was on my side: NO SHAY GIVEN.

Before our ninety minutes were up I managed to knock 3 goals past Harper and Forlan came on to during the second half to tuck away the third. The second leg wasn't as easy as the bastards were 2-0 up against me within the the hour. A late come back in the second half saw me score three goals so in the end it didn't matter.

The semis drew me with my Valencia and despite them having the far superior team and the BEAST that is David Villa, I beat them 3-1 on aggregate.

The final loomed in on a mild wet day in the beautiful Hampden Park stadium in bonny ol' Scotland. FC Bayern (Don't Call Me Munich) Munchen VS VILLAreal.

The Gerries were all over me in the first half and scored the opnener on the stroke of 17 minutes. They were relentless in their attacks on goal and my VILLAreal side were thankful for the half time break. The early parts of the second half were akin to the first but weren't as bad as my side managed to feed in a few chances but by the time the seventy minute mark rolled by it seemed that the Cup was merely too far to grasp.

BALLS TO THE WALL TIME.

My all out attack came into play as soon as the Gerry bastards started playing defensively and soon it was I putting the opponents to the test. Nihat once again nicked in with the important late goal sending us into extra time. Extra time was piss easy after Jose Mari scored early and all I had to do was defend the lead.

Winnar is me.

[stokeriño]

Okay, transfer advice needed:

I have £38million to play with and no obvious target, since all the people I would actually really like to buy (Rooney, Gerrard, Ronaldo etc.) have all just signed new five year contracts and are valued at about £35m each anyway. Plus I'm not sure whether I have an obvious part of my squad which I need to improve. My current crop runs thusly:

Goalkeepers

- Petr Cech

- Carlo Cudicini

- Hilario

Defenders

- John Terry

- Ricardo Carvalho

- Walter Samuel

- Ashley Cole

- Daniel Alves

- Paulo Ferreira

- Khalid Boulahrouz

Midfielders

- Michael Ballack (Premiership Footballer of the Year)

- Frank Lampard

- Michael Essien

- Claude Makelele

- Joe Cole

- Geremi

Strikers

- Andriy Shevchenko (30 games, 18 goals)

- Didier Drogba (27 games, 9 goals)

- David Trezeguet (28 games, 7 goals)

- Filippo Inzaghi (24 games, 5 goals)

And another thing about those not-especially-prolific strikers: Michael Owen wants to leave Newcastle. Is he worth picking up when I have those four, or should I be setting my sights higher at this stage?

Edited January 12, 2007 by stokeriño

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

You need:

A goalscoring striker

A player who can cover centre back AND right back (you can never had too many centre backs)

To get rid of Hilario and find a young third goalie

A winger

[stokeriño]

I just remembered that I've got Crespo back now. He scored 23 in 30 for Inter last season...which certainly warrants him a go in my first XI when compared to the other four.

[therockbox]

Micah Richards becomes an awesome player, and Andy Johnson is a goal machine (as long as you play him with a striker who'll play lots of through balls).

[King Ellis]

Sell Carlo and Hilario and snap up Sebby Frey.

[figos]

David Villa. You won't need anything else.

[stokeriño]

David Villa. You won't need anything else.

Yeah, and if Valencia are willing to accept any amount of money for him ever it'll be a fucking miracle.

[stokeriño]

Well, I've signed Miroslav Klose. Hopefully that'll do something.

[Steeb]

When I'm playing a money game, I find Villa's easily purchasable for 24-27m.

[stokeriño]

Not £38m. Nor £38m plus any combination of players they might want. Stubborn gits.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Buy young English. You've got the spine of a very strong team so you've got time to bring some youngsters through and bed them in as full English internationals.

[Captain Kirk]

I hate the Offside Rule was playing a game with Scotland and went 2-0 up against the Frogs, France fought back and went 3-2 up after 55 minutes then Barry Ferguson decides to get sent off for kicking a player. Kenny Miller scored 3 goals in the last 10 minutes with 2 of them dissallowed.

[Buford Ripley]

I need advice for a good goalkeeper for less than £5M since I'm basically fucked once Sebastian Viera gets injured.

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

Not sure how much Tim Krul is, but he did a good job for me.

[Michael]

Anybody got any effective team tactics that work with an attacking 442?

[therockbox]

What's your team?

[stokeriño]

Formations I used throughout the season included the 5-3-2 (counter) and the 4-3-1-2 (attacking). But then, my strikers never scored, so don't mind me.

[ONO]

Reading 4-3 Chelsea

Reading 2-1 Arsenal

Reading 4-1 Man Utd

All in a week, fantastic Christmas holiday.