Football Manager 2007

[Steeb]

He's only produced for me once, ever, and that was at Middlesborough for roughly ten games, then Marica stole the spotlight back. He rarely does that well in my games, regardless of where he is.

[estebanmon]

In my earlier game with Villa he made plenty of goals, but only because Donovan kept passing him the ball perfectly, and he only scored when there was no one in front of him anyway.

And I still can't find a keeper that doesn't screw up every other game.

[Summers]

Moore does super in every game I've played. Also, push Barry to LM, unless Whittingham is doing too good to drop.

[Legend_Killer33]

Could some of the more veteran FM managers give me some tips on how to build a successful team?

I mean, I started a game with Manchester United and the pre season games were a breeze. Won all of them. But then I get to the premiership and in my first 3 games, here's how it went:

Everton 3-0

Arsenal 3-1

Watford 9-4 WTF!

And it just got worse from there. Fed up with it I quit the game in a fit of rage. I really want to win some games but I don't think i can with the way I'm playing atm. I don't really think I am doing anything wrong, I didn't make any signings pre season though and my strikers never score, and when they do, it's when we have no hope in coming back.

I need your help!

[TheArsenal]

Wait....

You're United and you lost 9-4 to Watford? Seriously...thats just..... :blink:

Post your tactics, formation, who you're playing. And pray for forgiveness for whatever the hell you did in a past life......

[King Ellis]

Moore does super in every game I've played. Also, push Barry to LM, unless Whittingham is doing too good to drop.

Or even put him in central midfield. I had to do that for the latter half of a season once and he played out of his skin.

[stokeriño]

Whittingham is being awesome, which is why he's been kept there after coming in for the Barry/Bouma injury period.

And Luke Moore has scored once for me now, yay. Once. ¬_¬ I wouldn't put him in central midfield though, because my Kléberson/Mendieta partnership are pretty damn solid there. My main irritation at the moment is that Mellburg keeps screwing up in defence...

I've had some awesome games as of late. The one at home to Watford was epic - and even if I didn't win, I could at least appreciate the entertainment value.

7th min - Pasanen pushes Henderson in the box to forfeit a penalty. Marlon King puts Watford ahead. 0-1

14th min - Juan Pablo Angel pulls Villa level with a header. 1-1

33rd min - Darius Henderson powers Watford back in front. 1-2

35th min - Gaizka Mendieta strikes a super free kick. It is the 50th league goal of his career. 2-2

HALF TIME

48th min - An Angel cross causes defender Carlisle to fumble, allowing Wilfred Bouma to pounce. 3-2

*lots of near misses from either side follow*

81st min - With serious suspicions of offside, Marlon King nonetheless drills the ball past keeper Stuart Taylor to level the match once again. 3-3

86th min - Watford defender Gavin Mahon punts the ball towards his own goal line, looking to put it out for a corner...only for it to loop magnificently and end up in the top corner of the net! Own goal! 4-3

89th min - 3 minutes of added time announced

92:52 min - Bouazza delivers a long, seeking ball for Watford. It's blocked by Olof Mellberg, but he's not quick enough to control it. Marlon King seizes the opportunity, securing both his hat trick and a point for Watford with 8 seconds to go. FINAL SCORE 4-4

...But on the plus side, I managed to beat Arsenal 3-2 at home somehow. Currently undergoing a cold/flu epidemic, with 7 players suffering despite all being sent home immediately. Hopefully I should still manage to do well away to Wigan, though.

Edit: Baros and Angel injured in the same match by shifty Man Utd tackles. :@

Edited May 26, 2007 by stokeriño

[Pesci]

I just had an awesome game myself.

Liverpool still, second second, in the first knockout round of the Champions League. I'm drawn with Inter Milan and since last season I bet Barcelona and Chelsea in this competition, I'm feeling confident that I can at least draw at the San Siro and then scrape a 1-0 win at Anfield.

So I go to San Siro first, and I decide to go defensive and take my chances on the counterattack, with Owen and Kuyt up front. Only, I'm dominated. They get three goals in the first half and after that I realise I'm probably out of the competition unless I can get an away goal. I figure I can beat Inter Milan 2-0 at Anfield, but 3-0? Unlikely story.

But I don't score an away goal, and only when I bring Crouch on and start playing him as a target man do I notice a difference. Their superb defending kept me at bay though, so I lost the first leg 3-0, and I'm so pissed off at the shoddy performance that I'm thinking of fielding a reserve squad in the next leg so I won't waste my players on a game that probably won't make any difference in the long run, and I'm top of the Premiership too so I'd rather win that.

I decide that if Rafa suddenly did that in real life I'd be annoyed that he didn't give it his best shot, so channelling the Liverpool come-back spirit I start with my best eleven, this time including Crouch as the target man, playing only a couple of notches down from all out attack.

After only 30 seconds, Luis Garcia goes close with a drive he should've buried from inside of the penalty area, but I don't feel down for too long as Crouch scores with a superb strike to put as 1-0 ahead and 3-1 down on aggregate. About 30 minutes later I'm feeling like a scraped win at our ground is all we can hope for, but Crouch shuts me up by scoring a header to make it 3-2. Owen gets injured so I take him off for Kuyt, and Kuyt scores a few minutes from time after an exceptional 1-2 with Crouch to level things up! At this point I'm literally dancing around the living room and everybody gives me strange looks.

Then in extra time the beast Mark Gonzalez bangs one in from distance to send us into the next round.

I think my selection of team talks probably helped too. At the start of the game I used the cheesy "do it for the supporters", at half time I used "we can win this game" and just before extra time it gave me the lovely option of "tell them all they need is to find one more goal to secure the win they deserve".

I'm still ecstatic now. 4-0 against Inter, wow. And how DO you lose 9-4 to Watford?

Edited May 26, 2007 by Pescizuna

[stokeriño]

"Kevin McDonald is of the belief that Zenden's potential could lead him to becoming a good Premier Division left midfielder in the future."

At 30 years of age? Burn.

[Pesci]

Bayern Munich just did exactly the same thing to me as what I did to Inter! Well, almost. I beat them quite soundly 2-0 away, then they beat me 2-0 in normal time at Anfield. I reverted to my usually life-saving tactics of Crouch the target man, but it didn't do much and we ended up going to penalties. Luckily I have Jose Reina so nobody's beating me at penalties. I won 4-2 after Reina saved two of theirs in a row.

It's a shame really, I didn't want to progress and face Man United in the Semis, because I already faced them in the League Cup and FA Cup and lost twice :@

I'll try not to let them get the cup triple over me, but they will.

On the league front I'm sitting comfortably on top 9 points clear of Chelsea in second place, and they have a game in hand so if they win that they'll cut my lead to 6 points. Since I have five games left I just need three wins and a draw to clinch it for definite. I have United away next (which'll obviously lead them to their third victory over me this season) so I'll need to find the other points in the remaining matches. I do have superior goal difference by about twenty goals at the moment so I could only win three and still win on goal difference, but being that they won their last two games 6-0 and 5-0, I'm not going to sit back and let them pip me.

[Pesci]

I don't fucking believe it

I led the table practically all season, nobody ever threatened to challenge me past Christmas, and I've just finished 3rd.

1st until the last game, and a fucking draw at Leeds, who finished 20th and were relegated with about six games to go. I'm fucking stunned. I'm beyond angry, I'm actually mortified.

Chelsea drew one of their games so it was easy. I only had to win one fucking game and draw another. I had to WIN ONE game. Out of my last four in the Premiership I lost two and drew two.

I couldn't beat Leeds, I couldn't beat Middlesbrough at home, it's embarrassing.

I shouldn't get this connected to a game but I thought I had it in the bag. How does a team play so fucking badly when they've played so well all season?

3rd, that's not even automatic Champions League qualification. 50 million spent, big names brought in and I still have to beat some fucking no-name team to get into the Champions League. Unless I win it (since I beat Man Utd and am now in the final) but I won't.

I'm on the verge of tears. Leeds fucking United. The best team for me to play if I wanted a win. Ugh, just ugh.

And I don't even know how to improve my team. All the areas are covered, it's as if I've finished my work with Liverpool after two seasons. GUHHHHH

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

({)

Kevin Doyle is damn good, I bought him for my Newcastle side for 8 million after I had a big clearout of the trash, and now he has 10 in 6 games. I hope this continues and we can stay top of the league.

[Kanegetshighbysmellinhisarmpits]

Started a game with Fulham and we ain't doing so good at the moment. Boa Morte demanded a transfer right at the beginning of the season and I granted it. I shipped him off to Tottenham for a cool £7M. Diop also demanded a transfer, so I sent him off to Ajax for £5M. I had a pretty decent transfer budget to begin with. (£3.4M). I brought in Darius Vassel for £6M, Landon Donovan for £5.5M, Pablo Mastroeni for £1.6M, Gerardo Torrado for £1.8M, and Claudio Reyna for £110K. I have £950K left over, hopefully the board gives me more during the January transfer period. My strikers can't score for shit. We lie in 18th place at the moment. Shockingly Arsenal and Liverpool are at 14th and 13th respectively and we're already 10 games in to the season.

[Legend_Killer33]

Holy fuck, how awesome is this!

One of my friends (use to be best friends at primary school) is in this game! He plays for New Zealand Under 19s and Youngheart Manawatu. His name is Cory Chettleburgh but they spelt it Corey Chettleburg. But seriously, that's pretty cool, eh?

Edited May 26, 2007 by Legend_Killer33

[IAceI]

Grant Connor, although it should be Connor Grant of Carlisle youth team I know, been out partying with him before

Ashley Combe used to go to my school.

Oh yeah, and I've met Paul Simpson and he also went to my school, and he's given me a tenner before and we've had like a 5-10 minute chat just us two, not even about football >_<.

Stephen Hindmarsh of Carlisle I've probably played football against, my friends know him better than I do.

[Legend_Killer33]

Paul Simpson? That's my uncles name haha and he lives in England.

But he's a rugby player played 4 tests for England and scored a try against the All Blacks. My claim to fame

Edited May 26, 2007 by Legend_Killer33

[IAceI]

Paul Simpson? That's my uncles name haha and he lives in England.

But he's a rugby player played 4 tests for England and scored a try against the All Blacks. My claim to fame

Edited May 26, 2007 by IAceI

[stokeriño]

League Cup Final

Arsenal 1-3 Aston Villa

^_^

[Legend_Killer33]

What does the patch achieve? I haven't downloaded it because my net disconnects often but am I missing out on anything?

[estebanmon]

The patch makes the PC cheat less. But they still cheat. And the rosters are more updated.

Spurs screwed me on my first game of the league. We were 1-0, the tied, then we went 2-1 on the 92nd minute, with only 3 minutes of loss time. Fucking referee never stops the match until they tie, at the 95th minute. That's cheap. Then we went on to beat Newcastle 3-1 and tie Liverpool 2-2 being away, winning 2-1 until Luis Garcia owned my defense.

This time I've spent my money a lot more wisely, getting players that will actually be helpful. I got a much better DM, a better left back, a keeper that will become twice as good as my current one and a striker that will be as twice as good as the one I have. My scouts also tricked me into thinking I was buying an awesome WB, but it turns out I don't have any wing backs at all.