Football Manager 2009

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

I want to play this again. Does anyone have recommendations of good teams to manage?

Any of the teams promoted to the BSN/BSS from lower leagues is always a good challenge

[METALMAN]

I don't know if they were promoted or not but I went Hyde United in a game once and got them promoted to League 2 after a while. That was an awesome game.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

Another great game idea would be to play as a premiership team thats predicted relegation and try to survive using only English/British players

[The Future]

Fucking hell I just got eliminated from the World Cup in the group stages.

My group had France,Chile and Saudi Arabia!

I thought I would win the frikin thing! before the tournament I thumped Italy 3-0 away from home but when we got to the tournament everything went down the crapper...Gerrard got injured so I had to play Hargreaves and Lampard which didn't work out that well. France beat us 1-0 and then I had a horrible performance against Saudi Arabia where we somehow scraped 1-0(Beckham coming on and scoring a free kick...then breaking his hand).

Needed a win against Chile but Rooney was dire through all three games, Lampard created loads of chances for him and he scuffed them all, a 0-0 draw and Chile go through to the next round because of a better goal difference.

Hopefully the FA keep me on but I doubt that's going to happen.

[IAceI]

Just lost 3-1 away to Inter Milan in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. Fortunately a 2-0 home leg win and that 11th minute Ronaldo header meant that Cambiasso's double and Vieria's late strike didn't matter so I get through to the semi finals. But it's been three times I've lost away 3-1 in the Champions League, to Roma and Atletico Madrid in the group stages and now Inter Milan in the Quarters. I guess I just have to hope I'm good enough in the home legs to see myself through.

It's odd because I can beat Liverpool 3-0 away in the Premiership, but completely different story in the Champions League.

Got a semi final showdown in the FA Cup with Everton and then the winner has a meeting with Middlesbrough or West Brom in the final. So I'm hopeful there. I'm 4 points clear of Chelsea now with 7 games to go after they were held 0-0 with Liverpool. My run in isn't too frightening either.

Man Utd (76 points)

Blackburn [H]

Arsenal (A)

Fulham (A)

Wigan [H]

Sunderland (A)

West Ham [H]

Middlesbrough (A)

Chelsea (72 points)

Fulham [H]

Man City (A)

Aston Villa (A)

Arsenal [H]

Wigan (A)

Sunderland [H]

West Ham (A)

Man City back in 3rd on 64 points. Will hopefully take some points off Chelsea but are pretty irrelevant in the title chase. My biggest worry is Arsenal, who I've done well against this year but they do hold a 9-0 win over West Ham in the league... which is slightly scary. Newcastle uncannily in 8th, were 5th at one point bizarrely. Liverpool back in 7th. Wigan are 18th and 9 points off safety with 7 games to go, looks like they're down. 18 points, Stoke and Hull 19th and 20th with 17 points each.

[IAceI]

So having seen my 30 game undefeated streak in the league go to the hands of Arsenal 3-0. Then immediately lose to them in the CL SF 1st leg 3-1 (obviously, that's 4 times this CL season i've lost 3-1 away). So it was the same principal as the Inter match, while there I won 2-0 and then lost 3-1 and went through. This time I needed to win 2-0.

We attacked from the start to the end, an own goal from Clichy just after half time meant we needed just one more. Ronaldo popped up at 77th minute with a vicious strike from the edge of the area and I went mental. Jumping and shouting in the back room, all worth it though. 2-0 win, could have been more.

Play Barcelona in the final after they're 5-1 aggregate win over Liverpool.

2 points ahead in the league with a game in hand and 4 games to play. Sunderland (kinda my bogey team) next. Sunderland, Fulham West Ham and Boro to go. No one really that I should drop points to so just gotta keep a straight head. Then a date with West Brom in the FA Cup final.

[King Ellis]

After a 3-2 win over Arsenal (), where my awesome CB Andriy Rusol got 2 goals, I got one of those pun headline stories. I had one earlier which was a bland effort, Brilliant Beckford. This one made me smile though. Rusol-id! Shame it wasn't Rock Rusol-id!

[METALMAN]

I just won the Conference Cup. Exciting.

[IAceI]

Won the league with 2 games to go, so got time to let my top players recover for the CL Final and then the FA Cup final. Wish me luck. Will upload some pictures at some point with my team as I will be enlisting your help to sort my team out for next year

[King Ellis]

I managed to survive in 15th place, some 8 points ahead of West Brom in 18th. Truly a bizarre season though. I ended up scoring the 3rd most goals in the league with 74, one shy of champions Man U on 75. Man City were top with 80 but that is thanks to me losing to them 8-3 in the penultimate game of the season. That brings us to my main issue, I conceded 84 goals. This was by far the most in the entire league, Hull (who finished 14th) were some way behind me on 62 and even bottom placed Wigan only conceded 59.

I blame this on my goalie who is only rated as a League One player. I don't think I ever really looked at replacements last summer and I should probably adress that in this post season. I suffer from what I like to call 'Warnock Syndrome' and have been distracted by all the attacking players on the transfer list. Though that is clearly not a concern if i've scored 74 goals. I can't see anything too wrong with my defence, Rusol is amazing and players like Huntington and Michalik are OK. Pichu Atienza is perhaps better than them but i've been playing him in midfield, maybe I should move him back next year. Maybe the DR spot is an issue though since Richardson doesn't look too good and only got an average of 6.67. LB is great though what with the amazing Diego Calderon. Ross Wallace can also back up there.

Speaking of Ross Wallace, best 2.5m ever spent. He got 20 assists from the LM spot in 35 games whilst adding 4 goals. Beckford got himself 20 goals and tied for second place with Tevez in the golden boot race, Torres was first with 22. Jonny Howson doesn't look too amazing but he did a steallar job in midfield getting 12 goals and remained ever present in the league. Delph too chipped in quite a bit with 11 goals in 33 apperances with a further 7 assists. He got Young Player of the Year. Even Roman Pavlyuchenko turned good during the run in and ended with 6 in 12. He didn't start too brightly but I ended up tweaking my tactics to utilise my wingers and that seemed to help.

It's a slight shame that England didn't get picked as the extra UEFA spot for fair play as it turns out I had the fewest yellows, 20. I only got 1 red card too. Though i'm not sure how a UEFA Cup run would help us in our survival process it could help attract a few people. Next season should prove interesting, depserately need that goalie and right back, maybe a quality defensively minded midfield player. Other than that my squad is pretty set. Hopefully the board releases the funds to pick up those players I need. I spent all but 1.5 of my 23.5m budget this season but I think it has been well spent. A higher wages cap would be good too, currently chasing Rafihana (or howeever it's spelt) on a bosman but he wants in the region of 50k whilst I can only offer 25.

[IAceI]

Right, so with the league all wrapped up. I have to say... I'm quite chuffed. Not that I just finished top, but I only lost 2 matches. Conceded only 18 goals in 38 games, which is pretty fucking good. Surprised Wigan went down so easily and Newcastle were as high as 4th at one point going into about the second half of the season (if not closer to the last 3rd). They lost 7 matches in a row before winning 5-0 on the last day of the season, so that wouldn't have helped.

Well theres the league for you lot to look at. I'm going to play the CL final and the FA Cup final and then i'll put some stats and squad up. I need some ideas for replacements, who to sell, who to buy.

EDIT: Ugh.. chopped the points off. Will maybe fix that some time.

RE-EDIT: 2-0 wins over Barcelona and then West Brom seal the Champions League and then the FA Cup to secure me the quadruple in my first season. Or if you want to be optimistic...

Community Shield - Won

Super Cup - Won

Club World Championships - Won

Premiership - Won

League Cup - Won

FA Cup - Won

Champions League - Won

Pretty impressive first season. I plan on staying for a while, but I can't actually top that so next season may almost seem like a disappointment. I have a couple of ideas, either stay with Man Utd for a long time. Bring through the youth and just be the next Fergie. Or I may stay for a handful of seasons and then move to a 2nd tier Spanish/Italian side to help them push the top crop. Like a Betis/Deportivo/Sampdoria/Fiorentina UEFA Cup standard team. If not I may got to League 2 and take a side that started the game in the conference and make them a super power

Edited March 30, 2009 by IAceI

[The Future]

Alternatively you can download the patch which makes FC United Of Manchester a playable team and turn them into a superpower!

They actually have Giggs's brother playing for them...

[Thrilla]

Good game for Walcott there.

[Matt]

Should've got 10. Drop him.

[SilentBob2004]

Just started my 4th season at Arsenal and amazingly I'm still enjoying it (usually I get bored at big clubs after 2 seasons). Won Premiership and FA Cup Double in the last two seasons, along with the Carling Cup and Champions League in my first season.

Starting line-up is:

Asenjo

Clichy Toure Fazio Sagna

Walcott (rotated with Nasri) De La Red (rotated with Veloso) Fabregas Srna (assist king!)

Adebayor Van Persie (rotated with Bendtner who was a machine last season)

My bench usually consists of: Ustari, Jordan Spence (very solid young CB signed frpm West Ham for £6.5m), Veloso or De La Red, Vela, Nasri or Walcott, Eduardo or Bendtner. Ramsey and Wilshere also feature regularly from the bench and from the start against lower teams.

Last seasons FA Cup Final against Man Utd was one of my most exciting games ever. Thought I didn't have a chance after Rooney scored after 10 mins and Fazio got sent off after 19. Brought on a defender to replace him, then got an injury to Cesc. Asenjo turns in an amazing performance to keep it 1-0, and luckily Adebayor pops up on 87 mins to take it to extra time. I bring on Theo in extra time to give my attacks some pace, he then gets injured after 3 mins. No more subs means i'm down to 9 men against Man Utd! Yikes! I decide to play for a shoot-out so i go to an Ultra Defensive formation. And on 119 mins, Asenjo boots it upfield, Vidic misses his header, Adebayor sneaks in, rounds the keeper and its 2-1!!!! I promptly go absolutely nuts!

[IAceI]

Manchester United 2008/09 Season Recap

Maybe it's because I won everything and want to brag, or maybe it's because I'm over dramatic but here's a slightly in depth look into my first season as Man Utd boss on FM09. It was definitely a good season, if not a tense and nail biting one at times, mainly in the Premiership and the Champions League, which isn't surprising. Fortunately I managed to come through in all competitions and in total did the major trophy treble (FA Cup, Premiership & Champions League) the more appropriate quadruple (FA Cup, Premiership, Champions League & League Cup) and at a stretch a seven trophy haul which saw me take the Premiership, FA Cup, Champions League, League Cup, Club World Championship, Community Shield and European Super Cup all in a single season. And I loved it, and I want to do it all again.

The fact that I've won the FA Cup, Premiership and Champions League already makes me the seventh most successful English manager in the world. Go figure, not only are England terrible at producing consistently good footballers but also pretty poor on the manager side of things as well. It's all good though, normally I don't win anything in my games and languish in League Two or the lower Slovakian leagues with the teams I play as, so I'm excused for enjoying my success.

So here's the league table for you all to look at;

I did post this further up the page but accidentally cut off the points at the side so here's a better version for you to look at. As you can see, a seven point winning margin which looks quite good at the end but it was a lot closer than that, I won it with my game in hand leaving us 7 points ahead with just two games to play but that was a well timed late surge that saw us neck and neck early on and if anything often chasing Chelsea from usually 2 points behind to up to 7 points behind at one point. So I was quite nervous but surprisingly confident throughout that they would slip up to teams and I wouldn't. A 0-0 draw late on in the season with Blackburn had me slightly worried but we recovered well and I was definitely impressed with how we played. Not only are the 2 losses impressive (3-2 loss in the 2nd game of the season to Chelsea and a 3-0 loss away to Arsenal (just days before we took them in the Champions League semi finals) but my favourite part is the fact we only conceded 18 goals in the whole season. 18 goals in 38 games is nothing to be scoffed at, nor is 82 goals scored. I think it comes from having a big, very talented and adaptable squad where I often played a set back 5 (Van Der Sar, Neville (and later Brown), Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra) so they provided the stability. While the midfield and attack were interchangeable and always able to perform well it seemed. Tevez was rewarded with his big contract in January because of some fantastic play, and pretty much cemented himself as a top striker for us.

Here's the team that won us everything;

Normally with the teams I play as I have tiny squads, but I realised the importance of big squads in this game. When you're in all the competitions to play and are playing twice a week usually it's important to have some extra players who are good enough to hold down a place in the squad regardless. Players made their way from the reserves to play (Darron Gibson & Anderson) whilst some reserve players also got regular League Cup run outs (Daniel Drinkwater etc.) to keep furthering their development. I'd be hard pressed to pick a definite first eleven, as I say it's very rotated even Ronaldo found himself being subbed if he wasn't having the best game. But generally the back five were set and players like Rooney, Ronaldo and Carrick featured very heavily. Anderson came in second half of the season and played pretty well, have a bad feeling he may want to play a lot more than he'll be able to with the team I have though. If he's expected to start every match he may be stuck because I don't think he can be guaranteed that. Got all the contract negotiations to come though. And as you can see Rooney is injured, and he did miss the Champions League final - poor bloke. Thought that was really going to screw me up but we won 2-0 quite easily, was shocked at how dominant we were against a strong Barcelona side.

Take a look at the side, see if you can pick any players who need shipped off or positions that need strengthened. Baring in mind I play quite serious so I won't be selling Scholes or Giggs since they don't have long left anyways and Man Utd aren't going to do that. Plus they're still pretty solid to have. Park had an awesome run in at the end of the season but he gets left out more often than not, Tosic had a great season and Nani is good back up. Obviously Ronaldo plays a lot so Park found himself out in the cold quite a bit.

Marquinhos will be off to Antwerp to work on getting a work permit. So he's a future striker, I don't think I really need to strengthen that at all since I got myself the striker in the end (after chasing a few such as Demba Ba, Odion Igahlo etc.) so I have Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov as main three. Then Frazier Campbell will be back from Spurs (but he didn't even get to play very much) plus I have Welbeck whose looking quite decent, Manucho and Brandy will be back but will probably be loaned back out/sold/whatever as I don't know if they have a future.

Of the reserves/U18's I'm not sure who has what it takes to break into the club. Marquinhos, Possebon, Rafael, Fabio, Macheda all possibly. Other than that I think we're stuck so I'm tempted to sell reserve players to lower league clubs if they attract interest, as I don't think many of them will develop into first team/squad players.

Think that's everything. Enjoy.

[shaneo]

Fabio, Rafael, Tosic and Ljajic all seem to come good on the 9.3 patch. Certainly good enough to use as squad players for an assault on all competitions. Keep a hold of Petrucci as well. He has the potential to be very good AMC, and my coaches were always high on his potential, but it seems that he takes longer to get there. Id wait until he is about 22/23 before deciding on him. As for Possebon and Macheda, they didnt come good for me, so, keep them for as long as your comfortable with, then ship them off.

Really, everyone in your Reserves/U18, other then Rafael, Fabio, Possebon, Ljajic, Macheda, Welbeck, and at a push Gibson and Cathcart, are pretty much dead weight. The only reason I have ever had for playing them, or offering new contracts, is to try to get some money for them later on.

As far as strengthening goes, id say CB. Evans can be hit or miss, i find, sometimes turns good, sometimes, just above average. If I were to suggest someone, Mamadou Sakho would be the man, from PSG, but expect to pay through the nose for him. He is almost guaranteed to be a future World Class CB.

Otherwise, you dont even really need to buy to replace players like Giggs or Scholes, since you have a lot of players there, who can easily step up, like Nani, Tosic and Anderson. However, if you want an all purpose forward player, AM RLC, FC, I would go with Saivet from Bordeaux. Natural FC, but can fill in anywhere in the AM positions. The squad is almost perfect as is though.

[METALMAN]

Michael Carrick is absolutely scores so many long shots on this game.

[The Quasi Juice]

Manchester United 2008/09 Season Recap

Of the reserves/U18's I'm not sure who has what it takes to break into the club. Marquinhos, Possebon, Rafael, Fabio, Macheda all possibly. Other than that I think we're stuck so I'm tempted to sell reserve players to lower league clubs if they attract interest, as I don't think many of them will develop into first team/squad players.

Think that's everything. Enjoy.

Marquinhos becomes one of the best players in the world, so he surely has what it takes to break through. Possebon usually develops into a good player for the likes of Wigan, same goes for Rafael. The rest is just League Two/One fodder, I have never seen Macheda develop into anything remotely decent. Also, I think you might want to buy a new goalkeeper because Van der Sar quickly gets rather shit for a team like Man Utd and the other two I don't find world class, but that's just me. Frazier Campbell was good when he came in my Man Utd game, in which I let Manucho and Brandy go 'cause they are shockingly bad for Man Utd's level.

I agree with Shaneo that Sakho would be a good addition to the squad. The first season you could keep Evans as well in order for Sakho to settle nicely and get a grasp of the language. Then the season after I'd sell Evans for some nice cash and Sakho will grow into one of the best defenders in the world. I also sold O'Shea in the second season because he is just so damn mediocre. Another Englishmen like Baines or someone on the right to replace Neville/Brown would be cool.

[stokeriño]

In my England game, I've been drawn in my World Cup 2010 group along with...Brazil, South Korea and USA.

Holy fuck that's a tough group.

I mean Argentina get drawn with Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Honduras. Honduras for fuck's sake.