Football Manager 2007

[ONO]

After signing Jim Ford for a free from Ross County at the start of the season, and beating off Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton to his signature - I thought that was the end of it and I had the next best goalkeeper for nothing.

No. Chelsea have just offered me £5.25m plus 25% sell on clause, and Liverpool offered me just flatout £5.25m.

Both of which have been rejected, he's only worth £2.7m but then again he's aged just 20. He has low eccentricty and tendency to punch, but his other technical and physical stats are all immense. I don't want to let him go, but if someone comes in with an astronomical bid, it may be hard to turn it down.

[IAceI]

Not fair. I was dominating, then I drew 0-0 with Sheffield United in the FA Cup 3rd round, so I have a replay with them to play with the winners gaining the right to host Arsenal in the next round (I always get tough teams in the Cups), never on this save have I been given a decent draw.

Then I have to come from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with bottom of the league Cardiff who have 1 win after 23 games. This isn't helping my cause since I was up at the dizzy heights of 5th - but in an insanely tight league. I'm actually up to 4th, but three teams below me have games in hand. I reckon I'll be 6th once we're all caught up, still, performing well above expectations and if I was to squeeze UEFA Cup, that money would flow in - which I could use, and I could help patch up some more holes in the squad that may need tended too.

See for yourself how much you think he's worth (Y)

Edited June 8, 2007 by IAceI

[Lord Nibbler]

His mental stats (anticipation, concentration) are a bit shit. His form isn't great either. Plus he appears to be Scottish.

Sell him.

[Thomas]

Not fair. I was dominating, then I drew 0-0 with Sheffield United in the FA Cup 3rd round, so I have a replay with them to play with the winners gaining the right to host Arsenal in the next round (I always get tough teams in the Cups), never on this save have I been given a decent draw.

Then I have to come from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with bottom of the league Cardiff who have 1 win after 23 games. This isn't helping my cause since I was up at the dizzy heights of 5th - but in an insanely tight league. I'm actually up to 4th, but three teams below me have games in hand. I reckon I'll be 6th once we're all caught up, still, performing well above expectations and if I was to squeeze UEFA Cup, that money would flow in - which I could use, and I could help patch up some more holes in the squad that may need tended too.

See for yourself how much you think he's worth (Y)

[IAceI]

His communication could be better yeah Thomas, I'd agree.

Anticipation and concentration could be higher as well.

However his form isn't that bad, considering one of the 6's is basically because he had nothing to do I think. One 6 is because he conceded 3 goals, but we drew 3-3 and his defence was piss poor that day, it should have been more. Then the last match was poor, but if you've played with him and saw all the highlights and the saves he's made, then he his form hasn't been shit.

Plus I picked him up for nothing.

[Pesci]

I like that my youth team are getting better and better every year. Out of last year's U18s I have a keeper called Barry Getty who has immense stats for his age, and a Portuguese striker whose name I've forgotten, but rest assured it sounds really Portuguese. Then the year before that I had a brilliant right back, who I'll aim to send out on loan because until Zaccardo retires, he won't be getting much football with the awesome Juan "..." Cabrera as Zaccardo's current understudy. I'm more pleased with Getty though, because this means I can finally sell Carson. He's a good keeper but I know that he'll never be happy here, and he'll never be as good as Reina, plus he's only a couple of years younger, so I may as well make my sub goalie somebody who may actually be my #1 in the future.

The World Cup ended ages ago but I haven't talked about my experience because it was frustrating. Drew the Argies in the quarter finals, and I was confident we could beat them with our form so far. Drew 2-2 in normal time, probably should've won it though. Went 3-2 up in extra time and I decided against going defensive after that, but I lived to regret it as Messi scored a goal in the 121st minute in the last kick of the game, bar penalties obviously. Then we lost in penalties. I was gutted and resigned in a burst of fury, but then the FA begged me to come back so I did

[The Quasi Juice]

This guy is immense. Had a new record assists in a season: 20

Best striker I've ever had in FM. 92 goals in 102 games.

[Thomas]

Wow at the Salazar guy. Wow.

[IAceI]

I came up against Sultan Cem earlier in the season, he was okay for Galatasary but didn't really do anything of note.

[The Quasi Juice]

Wow at the Salazar guy. Wow.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Quasi Juice

[IAceI]

How come sometimes you can't make a substitute?

Eg. Man Utd had a corner, so I pressed tactics. I know it doesn't happen here. However the ball was cleared, ends up as a Man Utd throw in their own half. They make two changes, nothing for me though. They go downfield and score just to make it taste that little bit more bitter.

I don't get it, I wanted to make a substitute. The ball went out, I'm not able to?

[The Quasi Juice]

The game doesn't want you to change because they are sneaky bastards. It's kind of like Pro Evo. When you're up the opponent suddenly gets away with fouls just so they are able to score a goal.

Anyway, does this guy have a future:

[IAceI]

That's hard to say, his reflexes are depressingly low, as are his one on ones. He's going to punch a lot, but I'm not sure if that's always a good thing? I like it to be low, some people say high tendancy to punch can be a good thing. His concentration and decisions (?) may be a problem though, I assume decisions affect goalkeepers.

Loving the 16 pace though for a goalkeeper (Y)

[Thomas]

The game doesn't want you to change because they are sneaky bastards. It's kind of like Pro Evo. When you're up the opponent suddenly gets away with fouls just so they are able to score a goal.

Anyway, does this guy have a future:

Edited June 8, 2007 by Thomas

[IAceI]

However, you'll be able to get a good amount for him surely so I'd recommended loaning him out and trying to get his value up. Then offloading him somewhere for a good amount (Y)

[The Quasi Juice]

There are a couple of things that annoy me about Football Manager.

- Even though I win all the big tournaments basically every year with Ajax the Best European Blabla awards always go to players who play in Germany, England, Spain and Italy. Every year Ajax and another Dutch team do well in the Champions League, that shows the Eredivisie has become way better than it is now in real life compared to other competitions. I dare to say that the Eredivisie in my game is better than the German league and maybe as good as the English Premier Division.

- Can never win Golden Boot even though Cem scores more than anybody.

- Ajax should have a WAY better Youth team.

- My Brazilian and Spanish players don't get called up for their national teams, yet they are no doubt better than the players that play on their position in their national teams. I mean look at Salazar, come on now....just because in real life it doesn't happen much (except for Afonso Alves from Heerenveen in Brazil and Alex and Gomes).

[Kanegetshighbysmellinhisarmpits]

I don't see what's so special about that Salazar guy? Sure, he's some athlete, but he's just above average at crossing, which I would think is a must for an attacking winger. The striker seems much better to me.

[estebanmon]

Is eccentrity supposed to be high or low? I can never understand that.

[9 to 5]

Big Brad's is about 2, so as low as possible you want.

[Thomas]

Low. High = Gabor Kiraly. Comes flying out flapping, makes unnecessary over the top saves. It's a really bad characteristic for a goalkeeper. Althoguh if you're in a shitty league, a keeper with decent agility, rushing out and eccentricity might be handy for you. I've never really looked into it on the game, but in real life it often comes hand in hand with bad decision making and communication.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Thomas