Football Manager 2011

[Dan]

So apparently it didn't auto-save after I signed up with Barnet, so I took over at Walsall this time (turning down Santos), sitting 18th in League One towards the end of January, 4 points above the relegation zone.

Only signed a contract until the end of the season, hopefully I can save them then build from there.

[stokeriño]

At what point do you get an actual transfer budget if you start the game with initial transfers turned off? It's only September but I want to start shopping in advance of January but don't know whether I can when my funds still say £0.

[Dan]

I am great, first game in charge of Walsall, lost 4-1 at Plymouth. Brough in Pachecho on loan until the end of the season and a young French right back called Ebrard, went on to beat Exeter 2-1, Charlton 4-2 and Yeovil 4-1 to leave me 11 points above the drop zone now, wonderful.

Edit: And then I fucking lose to bournemouth 1-0 with a last minute goal :@

Edited January 19, 2011 by Version Dan

[Baddar]

Stok, you should get a message as soon as funds are available - then you're good to start bidding.

[Hobo]

I lost out on a good player, because the agents fee was too high.

[EddieG]

Don't think you'll get anything till the summer I think.

[Dan]

A little update on my Walsall game.

Won 7 out my 10 games in charge, only lost 2 and drawn 1. Pacheco is a beast, him and Byfield are tearing up the league, such a shame we where just outside the relegation zone when I joined, we're now 19 points above it and 14 points off the play-offs, with 7 games to go. Need to find a class striker or try and get Pacheco for another year in the summer, pick up a few back-up players and I can really see this team challenging.

[Gazz]

At what point do you get an actual transfer budget if you start the game with initial transfers turned off? It's only September but I want to start shopping in advance of January but don't know whether I can when my funds still say £0.

You'll get it just before the January window opens.

[Benji]

You can still sign frees and loans anyway.

[Hobo]

Finished 4th in the Cup of Nations. Injuries didn't help us. The Cameroon FA wanted to keep me on for the World Cup Qualifiers but I resigned (the team is aging, without Eto'o there is no decent striker and I felt distracted from club management the whole time).

Now I'm back at Viking Stravangar, looking to launch into my first season.

[Baddar]

When I played a net game with my mate with first window turned off, we were getting the message about funds available at some time in December, ready for the Jan window. Positive of it.

I posted about an Atletico game I started a few months ago...and I still need to continue it. I'd only just started, but after signing decent players, winning the Super Cup and opening the season with a win, it's definitely the game I'll play when I go on FM again. Damn console games taking up all of my time.

[stokeriño]

What the fuck is this nonsense?

Steve Holland has noticed that Newcastle United tend to struggle against teams who play with slow tempo.

Holland suggests playing with slightly slower tempo.

Steve Holland has noticed that Newcastle United tend to struggle against teams who play with narrow width.

Holland suggests playing with slightly narrow width.

I pay this person good money and he basically tells me that the way to beat Newcastle is to dribble the ball very slowly up the middle of the pitch? GTFO.

[MJB]

Have you seen Newcastle try and defend?

[stokeriño]

Feh.

Incidentally, I played my normal high tempo wide game and beat them 4-0. I celebrated this by firing Steve Holland.

[britneyspearsisgod]

I never listen to my assistants in the backroom advice screen, to be honest. I generally know what I want the players to do. I always hire my assistants to have good youth development and recruitment skills so that they manage my youth team and suggest to me top quality players. Apparently, I struggle against teams who play 4-4-2.

Considering I play 4-4-2 and have gone 7 games unbeaten, I don't think it's the formation stopping me. Good players overcome any tactics, I feel.

[Summers]

So, I was having a good West Ham game, second season, we're chasing the European places.. I see Villa, 18th, struggling.. managerless. I jump ship to save my beloved, that season we hold on, second season we win the FA Cup and get into the Europa League. Third season.. win the title, FA Cup again and the europa league. A big help was the signing of PATO, yes Pato (!), on a free. Gabby still finished top scorer. I've turned Curtis Davies into a rock and England international. Brought Robert Green along with me from the Hammers, as I needed a keeper I could trust. Huddlestone for 1m was a big reason behind us winning the league, he anchored our midfield brilliantly. Gonna be impossible to better the season I just had, but a good league finish and a good showing in the CL is all I desire.

[therockbox]

Finished my second season at Liverpool, won everything. Premier League, FA Cup, Europa League, League Cup. Won the league quite comfortably in the end, because of a fixture pile-up with the two cups at the end at one point I was top by three points, even though everyone else had played 32 games and I'd only played 29. Luckily I got the title sewn up before I had three games in six days (Everton away, Spurs at home, Middlesbrough away), which meant I could focus on the two cups. Beat Man Utd 2-1 in the FA Cup final and Wolfsburg 2-1 after extra time in the Europa.

Got offered the England job after Euro 2012 (England went out at the group stage, in a group with France, Denmark and Serbia), but turned it down to try and win the proper treble with Liverpool. Sold a few of the older players (Meireles and Joe Cole went to Villa and Man City), and got rid of players that had been on season long loans elsewhere (Jones, Skrtel, Jovanovic etc). Now my squad's looking like this:

GK: Reina, Gulacsi

RB: Johnson/some Romanian whose name I can't remember, beat Chelsea to his signing though

LB: Coentrao/Insua

CB: Agger/Wilson/Carragher (although Wilson may become first choice this season)

CB: Subotic/Kelly/Ayala

MC: Lucas/Defour

MC: Gerrard/Shelvey

AMR: Hulk/Maxi

AML: Turan/Babel

AMC: Aquilani/Honda

ST: Torres/Carroll/Coutinho (£20m from Inter)

I'm still trying to only sign attacking players who can play anywhere in attack really, so Coutinho, Hulk and Babel can pretty much cover three or four positions each, which means I can get away with having only two senior strikers in the squad (sold N'Gog to Atletico for £8m in January 2012).

I've still got a budget of around £40m, but I can't think of any other positions I need covering. I don't want to sign too many senior players because I've got a few decent youngsters coming through (Suso, mainly), and I've had to send the likes of Pacheco out on loan just because I know I'm probably not going to use them. I think I'm just going to concentrate on signing 15/16 year olds, load up the youth team with players from all over.

[DavidMarrio]

Started a new game and I thought why not go Blackburn as it'll be an interesting challenge.

Not much money to spend about £1.5mil and there isn't really anyone that I wanna get for that low so I've resorted to signing 3 players out of contracts: Sylvinho, Guillermo Franco and Jeremy Rothen.

Starting line up:

GK: Paul Robinson

DR: Michel Salgardo

DC: Ryan Nelson

DC: Christopher Samba

DL: Martin Olsson

AMR: David Hoilett

MC: David Dunn

MC: Morten Pederson

AML: El Hadji Diouf

ST: Guillermo Franco

ST: Mame Diouf

Kalinic in pre-season damaged his cruciate ligaments and is out for 7/8months also I've only played 2 games in the Prem so far, beat Stoke 2-0 and then lost to West Ham 2-1

[Hobo]

I generally try and get an assistant and staff who are the best, and most rounded I can afford. I'm rather pleased with my assistant at Viking, Nigel Gibbs. He has the best stats of any assistant I've had yet.

The amount of physios and scouts who've been recommended to me by coaches who didn't even have good stats in what they were supposed to be good bugs me.

[stokeriño]

First thing I did in my Chelsea game was sack my assistant manager Michael Emenalo. Because, you know, fuck him.

Tried to re-hire Ray Wilkins, but he didn't want to negotiate with the club. Fair play.

Tried to get Zola. He wanted too much money if he was going to be assistant to some unknown like me instead of a manager himself. Fair play to him as well.

So I signed Steve Clarke. I have no idea if his stats are any good, and frankly, I don't care. (Y)