Football Manager 2008

[The Future]

Has anyone ever tried using an Attacking Midfielder as a target man? I played Steffen Iversen in the hole behind the two strikers and he's not marked by Central Defenders thus he won a lot of headers which set the strikers through on goal.

[stokeriño]

I did: Eduardo with Arsenal (playing behind the strikers).

Edited October 20, 2008 by stokeriño

[DavidMarrio]

Typical...

I sell Marlon Harewood, Luke Moore, Steven Taylor- Total of about 8 mil and Reo Coker to Everton for 8.5 mil and i see Aguero is unhappy at Madrid...Cue last last minute deadline transfer put in a 15mil bid due to release clause i sign him and than i cannot play him cause of Work Permit issues. So i got Aguero just sitting around doing nothing and 15 mil gone bye bye until he can play which i don't know will be...

Signed Enyeama too for 1 mil as a backup keeper for now and with De Silvestri haven been out for a bit and Curtis Davies left me with no real cover so managed to sign Pascal Cygan who got released start of the game for 6 months as backup.

Results since i last posted

W Yeovil 2-0 FA Cup 3rd Round

L Blackburn 2-1

W Liverpool 3-0

W Wigan 2-0

D Middlesbrough 1-1 FA Cup 4th Round

L Newcastle 2-1

D Man.City 0-0

W Middlesbrough 2-0 FA Cup 4th Round Replay

So i got Pompey 5th Round of the FA Cup and the table looks like this after 26 games

4th: Newcastle, 46 Pts, Played 26

5th: Man.Utd, 45 Pts, Played 26

6th: West Ham 44 Pts, Played 26

7th: Spurs, 43 Pts, Played 25

8th: Me 41 Pts, Played 25

9th: Blackburn 37 Pts, Played 26

So it's really close battle for that Champions League spot and Uefa Cup + Intertoto Cup spot With a game in hand will put me closer to 4th.

Remaining fixtures look like this:

Chelsea at Home

Spurs Away

Middlesbrough Away

Derby Home

West Ham Away

Everton Home

Bolton Away

Arsenal Home

Birmingham Home

Man.Utd Home

Fulham Away

Sunderland Home

Reading Away

Edited October 20, 2008 by davidmarrio

[METALMAN]

I'm paying over the odds for centre-backs here, but it's 17:45 on transfer deadline day and I have the money (£23m total), so I need a decision. Quick:

Fabricio Coloccini for £16m

or Martin Skrtel for £10m

Skrtel is younger and cheaper but Coloccini seems to have slightly better stats as well as really high influence rating, which is rather lacking in my squad at the moment.

Coloccini. Just so you can look at that funny picture on a regular basis.

[stokeriño]

I did indeed go with Coloccini. (Y)

He couldn't play in the next game though because he was still in-flight from Argentina...or something.

And we lost 4-0.

To Spurs.

[METALMAN]

Oh. You should probably have beaten Spurs. They aren't very good.

[stokeriño]

I've heard that.

Though they still have Berbatov in this game.

[DavidMarrio]

Well his mug is bit better than Skrtel and his eastern European thug look even though Skrtel is a god

Well i beat Pompey 2-1 in the FA Cup setting up a tie against Sunderland at home.

AND I BEAT CHELSEA 3-2 They were on a 22 unbeaten streak going into this their 27th Prem game and a great performance from Barry, Arshavin and Carew getting first half goals to help me get a win that helps ease some pressure on me.

With Spurs next it's a great chance to gain points on people i'm battling with for that Champions League or Uefa Cup spot but with those results came Ashley Young getting injured for 2 months so my team looks like this at the moment:

GK: Neuer

DR: Olof Mellberg

DL: Wilfred Bouma

DC: Martin Laursen

DC: Curtis Davies

ML: Gareth Barry

MC: Stilliyan Petrov

MC: Van Der Vaart (Suspended for Spurs game)

MR: Shaun Maloney

FC: Andrey Arshavin

FC: John Carew

Subs:

GK: Vincent Enyeama

DC: Pascal Cygan

MR: Gabriel Torje

MR/ML: Wayne Routledge

FC: Gabriel Agbonlahor

Plan is to move Arshavin to MC, Move Maloney to upfront and play Routledge in Right Mid with Osbourne coming onto the bench. Also question about Aguero. When the season ends the following season will he be able to play?

Also why whenever i play Agonlahor he is the biggest piece of crap striker ever? I mean he can never get a goal in the net on my game

Edited October 20, 2008 by davidmarrio

[DavidMarrio]

lol History tends to repeat it's self as seen in my game

Oh and what do you know i should criticize Agbonlahor more lol. I'm down to Spurs after 84 minutes when Bent decides to score a goal...5 Minutes added time 93rd minute after bringing Agonlahor on around 75th minute he gets a goal. Now why couldn't he do that in most other games except he can score against Yeovil... Also why don't Arsenal who are top and pretty much been wiping the floor with everyone can only muster up a draw against Newcastle when i look at the fixture and see it as a perfect chance to gain points on them... Bastards

Also Liverpool running through Managers even more. Thomas Schaaf has been sacked after well leaving Liverpool in 11th and after learning from last time decided to decline on the subject and my usual method after Spurs feel the goal was controversial my response...Lighten up. Cannot wait for 09 and the Journalists lol try to be Jose Mourinho and Mike Basset morphed into one ultimate manager

Edited October 20, 2008 by davidmarrio

[db07]

David Mario, just offer Aguero a new contract with higher salary. That usually works for me to get him a work permit.

[Adam]

Has anyone ever tried using an Attacking Midfielder as a target man? I played Steffen Iversen in the hole behind the two strikers and he's not marked by Central Defenders thus he won a lot of headers which set the strikers through on goal.

Ive never tried anyone but an attacking midfielder as a target man. It always made more sense to me to play the target man behind the two strikers, especially if you set it to Head the ball, that way they head it on to the strikers most of the time, works a treat.

[The Future]

Yeah, difficult to find Attacking Midfielders with good heading and jumping though. But the best person for the job is clearly Tim Cahill he is a beast in the air.

[Matt]

Aguero will get a work permit when you send him to another country for a million years or something ridiculous. But I'm guessing you don't want to wait that long. In which case, wait for him to become a regular for his country and then offer him a new contract, or just offer him a new contract on the off chance that he's given a work permit as a "special exception".

[The Future]

Since Aguero is from Argentina he will gain a Spanish Nationality in 2 years if you send him on loan there.

[DavidMarrio]

I offered him a new contract and hey presto he's playing. (Some reason i signed him to only a 1 year deal)

Well heres an update of what's happened since last time. I've started to get a good run of results going after beating Chelsea 3-2

Spurs 1-1 Away

Middlesbrough 4-4 Away

Sunderland 5-1 (FA Cup 6th Round) Home

Derby 4-0 Home

West Ham 4-0 Away

Everton 2-1 Home

Bolton 0-2 Away

So from the Chelsea game managed to get a great run of form earning points bringing me right back into Champions League contention apart from the loss to Bolton were i was missing Bouma and De Silvestri due to suspension, and with Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final there is a possibility that i could be in the Final

Since Aguero made his debut in the Sunderland game in which he scored he also netted 1 against Derby, A Hattrick against West Ham and scored both goals against Everton

It also seems that Arshavin and Van Der Vaart are performing really well and my midfield looks pretty darn good in the shape of Barry, Petrov, Van Der Vaart and Arshavin plus with Ashley Young still to come back i've gotten a really good team. Plus with Sivok and possibly Guilherme joining for next season should be looking strong. Here's the table

3rd: Everton 59 Pts 32 Played

4th: Newcastle 56 Pts 31 Played

5th: Me 55 Pts 32 Played

6th: Man.U 52 Pts 30 Played

7th: Spurs 52 Pts 31 Played

It's still rather close with 6,7 games left (8 for Man.U damn it!!!) And my fixture list looks like this:

Arsenal H

Birmingham H

Man.Utd A

Fulham A

Sunderland H

Reading A

I should beat Birmingham, Fulham, Sunderland and Reading but as obvious on there Man.U game is the biggest game left as a win over them will be a big boost for morale and being points ahead of them. Anyone wanting to predict who finishes in 3rd,4th and 5th lol

[stokeriño]

3rd: Everton 59 Pts 32 Played

4th: Newcastle 56 Pts 31 Played

5th: Me 55 Pts 32 Played

6th: Man.U 52 Pts 30 Played

7th: Spurs 52 Pts 31 Played

Replace Man Utd with Liverpool (...and shunt us all 1 place downwards) and that's almost exactly where I was at that point in the season. >_>

[Bigal]

Just for kicks, give us your game's Premiership managers, and their predecessors. In December 2013, after 15 games, from top to bottom, mine are:

1. Chelsea - Louis van Gaal (only Avram Grant preceded him)

2. Arsenal - Hubb Stevens (via Arsene Wenger, Tony Adams and Arsene Wenger again)

3. Sunderland - Dave Jones (via Roy Keane, me, Tony Mowbray and Hugo Sanchez)

4. Liverpool - Ronald Koeman (via Rafa Benitez and Marcello Lippi)

5. Man Utd - Marcelino, who's just been appointed. They've been god-awful since Ferguson retired (via Alex Ferguson, Ottmar Hitzfield, Michael Laudrup, Henk Ten Cate, Harry Redknapp and Paul Le Guen)

6. Newcastle - Stuart Pearce (via Sam Allardyce, Felix Magath and Marcelino)

7. Leicester - Steve Cotterill (via Gary Megson and Steve Clarke)

8. Aston Villa - Thomas Schaaf (via Martin O'Neill, Michael Laudrup and Felix Magath)

9. Tottenham - newly-appointed Tony Mowbrary (via Martin Jol, Harry Redknapp and Marcelino)

10. Portsmouth - Ertugrul Salgam (via Harry Redknapp and Gareth Southgate)

11. Norwich - Hugo Sanchez (via Peter Grant)

12. Fulham - Sam Allardyce (via Lawrie Sanchez)

13. Sheff Utd - Steve Tilson (via Bryan Robson and Iain Dowie)

14. Everton - Neale Cooper (via David Moyes, Mark Hughes, Steve Coppell and Alan Curbishley)

15. West Ham - Steve Coppell (via Alan Curbishley)

16. Blackburn - Mike Newell (via Mark Hughes)

17. West Brom - Alan Curbishley (via Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus)

18. Reading - Adrian Boothroyd (via Steve Coppell)

19. Man City - newly-appointed Steve Staunton (via Sven-Goran Eriksson, Ronald Nilsson and Tony Mowbray)

20. Nottingham Forest - Mark Robins (via Colin Calderwood, Nigel Clough and me)

[Big Red Fury]

As of February 4th 2011

1. Manchester United- Juande Ramos (via SAF and Steve Coppell)

2. Chelsea- Javier Aguirre (via Luis Felipe Scolari)

3. Liverpool- Rafa Benitez

4. Arsenal- Arsene Wanger

5. West Ham- Felix Magath (via Alan Curbishley)

6. Sunderland- Roy Keane

7. Aston Villa- Martin O'Neill

8. Everton- David Moyes

9. Middlesbrough- Gareth Southgate

10. Bolton- Gary Megson

11. Newcastle- Kevin Keegan

12. Blackburn- Hugo Sanchez (via Paul Ince and Michael Laudrup)

13. Hull- Stuart Pearce (via Phil Brown and Roland Nilsson)

14. West Brom- Mark Wotte (via Tony Mowbray)

15. Manchester City- Paul Simpson (via Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen)

16. Charlton- Alan Pardew

17. Tottenham- Louis van Gaal (via Juande Ramos and Marco van Basten)

18. Wigan- Steve Bruce

19. Portsmouth- Harry Redknapp

20. Fulham- Roy Hodgson

Apparently my game is boring.

[The Future]

2009

1. Chelsea: Javier Aguierre(via Marcelo Lippi, Jose Mourinho)

2. Arsenal: Pat Rice( via Arsene Wenger)

3. Charlton: Sam Allardyce( via Henk Ten Cate,Alan Curbishley,Ian Dowie)

4. Liverpool: Juande Ramos(via Sammy Lee, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez)

5. Man Utd: Steve Bruce(via Alex Ferguson)

6. Newcastle: Sven Goran Erikkson(via Glenn Roeder)

7. Bolton Wanderers: Marcus Lacatus(via Phil Brown, Sam Allardyce)

8. Aston Villa: Aidy Boothroyd( via Gareth Southgate, Martin O Neill)

9. Tottenham: Me(via Martin Jol)

10. Portsmouth:Harry Redknapp

11.Everton:David Moyes

12.Fulham: David O Leary(via Mick Mcarthy,Lawrie Sanchez,Chris Coleman)

13.Blackburn:Mark Hughes

14.West Ham:Alan Pardew(via Steve Coppel,himself)

15.Leeds United:Gareth Southgate

16.Manchester City:Stuart Pearce

17.Boro:Paul Jewell(via Steve McClaren)

18.Wigan Athletic:Steve Coppel(via Paul Jewell)

19.Sunderland:Roy Keane

20.Sheffield United:Lars Lagerback(Eric Blahic,Neil Warnock)

[Guest Kou]

Nothing will top my Palermo game where Ole Gunnar is Man Utd manager.