Football Manager 2014

[MDK]

I hate getting promoted. I love that I have a huge(er) wage budget but I baulk at the idea of giving anyone 300k a year.

I might just try and see how it goes with my current squad and bulk up in January.

[Lineker]

Could not figure out for the life of me why having undersoil heating installed was costing me £23m. The addition of 16,000 seats was not mentioned in the inbox message!

[METALMAN]

They are hiding things from you.

They are. Vincent Tan and you are Malky Mackay.

[Lineker]

Slippery slope.

[METALMAN]

Yes. Just be careful you don't end up at Norwich.

[Whisper]

Since I managed to overwrite my existing Man Utd save, I've started again but added a few of the January transfers in. I usually start with the first transfer window off but I've got it on this time and have completely gutted the squad.

In

Sven Bender (£13.5m)

Lars Bender (£24m)

Davide Santon (£11m)

Adam Lallana (£7m)

Alberto Cerri (£825k)

Out

Anderson (£8.5m)

Hernandez (£27.5m offer from Barca too good to turn down)

Young (£7m)

Cleverley (£13m)

Buttner (£1.6m)

Valencia (£11.5m)

Beat Wigan 4-2 in the Community Shield and finished with 9 men as Jones, Rooney and Mata all went off injured. Then, finding out that all 3 would be out for 4-5 weeks, I check what my first league game is. City away. Fabulous. So I took an attacking midfield trio of Adam Lallana, Adnan Januzaj and Shinji Kagawa to the Etihad and somehow came away disappointed at "only" getting a 1-1 draw. Followed that up by thumping Cardiff 5-2 at home, with Lallana scoring twice. I've struggled so far with this year's game to find a formation that works the way I want it to, so it's nice to have one that I'm enjoying. Until an inevitable 2-0 home defeat to bottom of the league comes along! (Probably where I have 12 clear cut chances to their 1 random pot shot from 40 yards).

Edited January 28, 2014 by Whisper in the Wind

[METALMAN]

What a pair of benders.

[brenchill]

If you start a Football Manager game as Man Utd, you really are a bender.

[MDK]

Sometimes I really hate this game. I got Orient promoted, made a few decent signings (Marco di Vaio!!) and generally not doing too bad. Except that I've let in last minute equalisers on about 5 occasions out of 14 games. If it wasn't for these last minute lapses, I would be sitting just outside of the play-offs.

Fuck you, game.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, no matter how good my team is, they almost always let in last minute goals.

[MDK]

Yeah, no matter how good my team is, they almost always let in last minute goals.

I put it down to my team having quite a lot of new signings and not playing well together.

I did just beat Milwall 4-1, so that is nice.

[9 to 5]

Do you not sit back, reduce tempo etc when you are trying to run a game out?

[MDK]

Do you not sit back, reduce tempo etc when you are trying to run a game out?

Yup, almost doing a turtle. Just seem to let in really late goals, might just be coincidence but its happened a lot this season. Good job I'm mid table and not at the bottom >_>

[9 to 5]

That might be the problem, if you go turtle-like, you will have no outlet and the pressure will keep up. If you only keep one up front, might be wise to bring on an attacker with a high work rate and strength to hold up the ball.

[The Lusophone]

Torres is available for £5 million... I'd sign him for United for lolz but he wants 160k week which isn't worth it...

[Baddar]

Will he budge if you give him a signing on fee?

[MDK]

That might be the problem, if you go turtle-like, you will have no outlet and the pressure will keep up. If you only keep one up front, might be wise to bring on an attacker with a high work rate and strength to hold up the ball.

Not quite 1 up front but a defensive 4-4-2 with a defensive forward

[Plubby]

I can't win (not literally) with this tactical system. I can either get crushed on possession, or dominate on possession. I can't find a balance between holding possession and creating shots. grah.

[stokeriño]

That might be the problem, if you go turtle-like, you will have no outlet and the pressure will keep up. If you only keep one up front, might be wise to bring on an attacker with a high work rate and strength to hold up the ball.

My preference is to retain your normal formation (with the same attacking players etc.) but switch either to Counter (if there's still a fair bit of time left) or Contain (if you literally wish them to kill the game off). Defensive is a strange one because, so far as I can tell, they still play with enough urgency to make mistakes and give the ball away...but at the same time will try to do absolutely nothing in attack. I therefore find it a bit of a 'worst of both' halfway option.

[MDK]

That might be the problem, if you go turtle-like, you will have no outlet and the pressure will keep up. If you only keep one up front, might be wise to bring on an attacker with a high work rate and strength to hold up the ball.

My preference is to retain your normal formation (with the same attacking players etc.) but switch either to Counter (if there's still a fair bit of time left) or Contain (if you literally wish them to kill the game off). Defensive is a strange one because, so far as I can tell, they still play with enough urgency to make mistakes and give the ball away...but at the same time will try to do absolutely nothing in attack. I therefore find it a bit of a 'worst of both' halfway option.

I spanked QPR 4-0 away from home in a game I was definitely not the favourite while playing defensive. Lord knows how many fingers I would have had to use to count the score if I was set to attack.