Football Manager 2014

[Gazz]

Park the bus.

In the opposition box.

[The Lusophone]

Dortmund are pretty devastating but i have absolutely zero cover and little funds to spend on replacements. Brought in Edar Balanta, Timos Werner and Horn and signed an extension to Lewandowski's contract.

Have zero under 18s staff too, so having to slowly build that up.

Playing 3-1-2-3-1 or two variations on 4-5-1 (one with a dm the other with a cam). Much higher tempo is basically the only instruction I stick with and it's pretty devastating.

[stokeriño]

Park the bus.

In the opposition box. On their goalkeeper's face.

[DavidMarrio]

Lesson learnt....always have a sub keeper on the bench and don't stick Matthew Upson in goal.

Got smashed 7-1 by Nottingham Forest

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Decided I simply cannot wait: had to download a transfer update and start playing as Chelsea (with Costa, Fabregas, etc.).

Sigh.

Edit: ...But doing so has only served to remind me how NEMANJA MATIC IS ONLY RATED AS 0.5 STARS IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD, WHAT THE HELL

Which transfer update are you using? The two I've found haven't worked properly, and since I have no intention of getting FM15, I could do with one that works.

In the updated Chelsea game I've just started up for fun, I'm trying to force "Fluid" on them right from the beginning, in hope that they'll have figured out how to do it properly by late October, say.

In fact, not only am I playing every match with "Fluid", but I've decided that in every match I shall also be "Attacking". Just because.

Obviously if this goes well then the next step is "Very Fluid" and, if I want to really get silly, "Overload". LIKE A MANIAC.

Also, I always force Fluid Attacking on them, it's just the way I've always played it.

[Millsybeast]

In my Liverpool side I have way too many strikers fighting for one spot in the lineup.

My Tactics doing decently now, into March and 15pts behind Leaders Chelsea so I doubt i'll be challenging this year, still gonna be succesfull if we just manage to qualify for the CL.

This is the second season btw

GK: Reina/Mignolet/Jones

CB: Agger

CB: Skrtel

CB: Sakho

DM: Diame/Barry

CMx2: Gerrard/Allen/Xhaka/Tiago

AM: Hughes/Morrison

AML/R: Coutinho/Johnson/Canos

FC: Destro/Sturridge/Guidetti/Emenike/Sinclair

Destro: 4 in 15

Sturridge: 7 in 20

Guidetti: 6 in 15

Emenike: 12 in 26

Sinclair: 1 in 2

Not exactly our best position ¬_¬

[The Lusophone]

Clearly you should be playing Sinclair much more.

Because maths and stuff.

[Millsybeast]

He's injured, otherwise I probably would have played him more. Eminike finished with 16 goals and Sturridge got 9. Coutinho was by far our best player, playing just behind the Striker and on the Wings he got 13 goals and 17 assists. Will Hughes and Ravel Morrison barely got a look in because of it, probably end up loaning one of them out next year. Destro & Guidetti are leaving, and if I get a good offer for Sturridge then he could leave too, Man City & Barca are interested (A Barca team that bought Suarez this year).

In the league we managed to finish 4th after fading out of the title race in January, beating Everton of all teams to 4th place on the final day. I played Spurs twice in my last two games, Lost 2-1 in the FA Cup Final (after having 24 shots and 64% possesion) fuck you Lamela . But then we drew 0-0 with them in the League, after dominating most of the game.

Next season I need to improve the Defence as we did well and scored a fair few, but concede way too many even against relegation battling teams. Reina has a decent rating but Mignolet never plays well.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Millsybeast

[The Lusophone]

If you're looking for a new keeper Timo Horn has performed consistently well on every game I've had him.

[Millsybeast]

For some reason Timo isn't in my game, I guess it's because the only leagues I have loaded are Prem and Championship (my Laptop is crap). Reina himself is pretty good, its just that he finds it hard to keep fit for every game, actually he won Keeper of the year and got in the Team Of The Year, alongside Coutinho keeping 15 clean sheets. Mignolet on the other hand is shite, clearly different to real life, but eh.

I have a 40m transfer budget and 150k free wages ready for next season, not sure if I should try for a big name Keeper or get a cheaper decent backup really as Hart, Romero, Akinfeev & Adler would all be willing to join. I have seen a cheap keeper called Ron-Robert Zieler from Hannover available for 2m, but his 18 rushing out is stopping me from buying him. 17 Aerial, 20 Command, 15 Handling & 15 One on Ones though. Also need another Centre Back as only Skrtel managed to get a 7 rating. Santon played really well at LWB and with Johnson at RWB I feel they can both contribute greatly to attack and defence, backups are Robinson and Flanagan though, although Flan is decent.

The Midfield is way too inflated right now, although Tiago and Barry are likely to leave, meaning Xhaka can get more gametime. Does Xhaka develop into a decent Defensive minded Midfielder or is he more attacking/B2B? Also probably need another striker to replace Destro/Sturridge/Guidetti too.

Gonna be a 'Big' Transfer window

[JasonM]

If anyone has Brazil loaded and is searching for a cheap top-notch Assistant Manager. Search for Jair Ventura.

He's 33 at game start, has no qualifications (yet) and he's dirt cheap to get.

Picture of him just after getting his B qualification.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Jasonmufc

[Fudge]

Decided I simply cannot wait: had to download a transfer update and start playing as Chelsea (with Costa, Fabregas, etc.).

Sigh.

Edit: ...But doing so has only served to remind me how NEMANJA MATIC IS ONLY RATED AS 0.5 STARS IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD, WHAT THE HELL

Which transfer update are you using? The two I've found haven't worked properly, and since I have no intention of getting FM15, I could do with one that works.

In the updated Chelsea game I've just started up for fun, I'm trying to force "Fluid" on them right from the beginning, in hope that they'll have figured out how to do it properly by late October, say.

In fact, not only am I playing every match with "Fluid", but I've decided that in every match I shall also be "Attacking". Just because.

Obviously if this goes well then the next step is "Very Fluid" and, if I want to really get silly, "Overload". LIKE A MANIAC.

Also, I always force Fluid Attacking on them, it's just the way I've always played it.

LFCMarshall's updates are good. I don't have FM14, so haven't played his newest, but I follow his update thread and it looks as good as ever. It should work if you have a legit copy and the latest update.

I use fluid attacking too 99% of the time. Whenever I try other things it doesn't seem to work as well.

I have a 40m transfer budget and 150k free wages ready for next season, not sure if I should try for a big name Keeper or get a cheaper decent backup really as Hart, Romero, Akinfeev & Adler would all be willing to join. I have seen a cheap keeper called Ron-Robert Zieler from Hannover available for 2m, but his 18 rushing out is stopping me from buying him. 17 Aerial, 20 Command, 15 Handling & 15 One on Ones though. Also need another Centre Back as only Skrtel managed to get a 7 rating. Santon played really well at LWB and with Johnson at RWB I feel they can both contribute greatly to attack and defence, backups are Robinson and Flanagan though, although Flan is decent.

Is this a bad thing? Neuer, Lloris etc. have high rushing out...

If anyone has Brazil loaded and is searching for a cheap top-notch Assistant Manager. Search for Jair Ventura.

He's 33 at game start, has no qualifications (yet) and he's dirt cheap to get.

Picture of him just after getting his B qualification.

Damn right, I sign him nearly every game he's available. Just got him as U18 manager at Arsenal.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Fudge

[Gazz]

The only 'bad' goalkeeper attribute is eccentricity.

[Millsybeast]

Eh I just thought that occasionally the Keeper might get caught out, but I doubt that'd happen. This Transfer window looks promising, I even broke our transfer record to get someone in for 40m. When I've got everyone I need i'll post the transfers.

[The Lusophone]

Hasn't Zieler got decent enough acceleration to make the 18 rushing out more than worth it (assuming acceleration is factored into rushing out attempts) anyway?

Ospina has been mentioned in here before as a very good keeper who's cheap enough. Was willing to come to my Leicester City side after being promoted too.

Edit: also Jair Ventura is a fantastic assistant manager.

[Millsybeast]

Yeah he's actually a really good Keeper and I went and scouted him, and bought him

Sold Mignolet to Southampton, Guidetti to Stoke, Destro to Monaco for 19m, Sturridge to Spurs for 10m, Diame to Fulham, Assaidi to Stoke, Allen to Newcastle, Wisdom to West Ham and Sakho to PSG. Overall I got 64m from the sales. Best part of the outgoings is that I bought Destro a year ago for 14m, and yet after only 5 goals Monaco offered that much for him.

Now to the best part, the Transfers in . Two regens rated at 4* Potential came in from Celtic (Kier Cambell LB 6m) and Dundee (Andy Carmichael CB 500k). Next is the shockingly cheap transfer of Ron-Rob Zieler for a measly 100k...yes 100k for a 4* Keeper is a massive bargain. From 100k to 40m now as I signed the guy that screwed us out of winning the FA Cup, Erik Lamela. Probably the most i've ever paid for a player (not counting my various attempts to buy Verratti and Pogba for around 45-50m) and he will need to perform well from the get-go to meet his price tag.

After last years striker problems, I ot rid of most of them and needed a backup for Eminike. In comes Luciano Vietto from Atletico Paranaese for 12m. Judging from pre-season (In which he has 5 in 7 apps) he can already be relied on to score and might be causing alot more trouble for Eminike than 3rd choice Jerome Sinclair (Who is rated 4* 1/2 Potential, same as Vietto).

I had some more cash to splash and after getting transfer listed at Monaco, I couldn't help but offer the 20m that brought James Rodriguez to the club, it was a bargain buy IMO. Last transfer (So far) is the Centre Back that replaces Sakho, 23m was spent on getting Man Citys Matija Nastasic. I hope the Skrtel & Nastasic pairing can perform well in the coming years. I spent 101m and brought in 64m, so technically only spent 37m in the grand scheme of things.

The Quality Squad, I think, is good enough to challenge for the title but I didn't risk it and just went with Champions League place. What with the added games from the CL (If we qualify) and the cups, it might be tough. Talking about tough brings me to my next point, the start is fucking tough. First 5 Prem games: Chelsea (A), Arsenal , Man City (A), Birmingham , Southampton . Added into the fact that we finished 4th last season and now have to beat Porto over two legs to get in, its a tough first 5 games.

Squad:

GK: Reina & Zieler

LWB/RWB: Flanagan, Santon, Campbell (Regen) & Johnson

CB: Agger, Skrtel, Nastasic & Illori

CM: Barry, Xhaka, & Gerrard

AM: Lamela, Ibe, Morrison, Hughes, James & Coutinho

FC: Vietto, Sinclair & Eminike

Looks like a pretty World Class Squad to me, although imma have to rotate alot.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

LFCMarshall's updates are good. I don't have FM14, so haven't played his newest, but I follow his update thread and it looks as good as ever. It should work if you have a legit copy and the latest update.

I use fluid attacking too 99% of the time. Whenever I try other things it doesn't seem to work as well.

That does actually look pretty sweet, but there's a new update out in four days, I'll wait until then

[Fudge]

Started a journeyman game unemployed with the intention of winning everything I've loaded. England & Scotland (Premier League to League One), Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Holland (L1, L2) and Russia and Turkey (L1).

First job was at Girona in Liga Adelante. Told the board I could get a top half finish, but won the league pretty easily first season and got to the semi final of Copa Del Rey. Second season I lost to Atletico again in the cup semi final and finished 7th in La Liga thanks to everyone but Barca and Real underperforming, so qualified for the Europa League. The squad was quite weak and getting old with contracts expiring, and I wouldn't have had enough money to strengthen the team properly so I resigned.

I didn't want to waste another season not winning anything, but the only job I could get was at Rijnsburgse Boys in the Dutch second division. I was expected to get a mid-table finish, but when it came down to the last 3 games I was top, level on points with second and third. Thankfully we all managed only 1 point out of a possible 9 and I won the league with the help of a late goal from whoever second place were playing. Knocked out of the KNVB cup at the first hurdle too.

Again no chance of winning anything, so I resigned immediately and got the job at Rostov in Russia. Didn't have a great league season with my two best players getting injured for the second half, but finished 7th anyway. I won the Russian Cup after a fairly easy run of games, but the team was in a bad financial state, and there were no good Russians available so it was gonna be impossible to compete against the likes of CSKA who walked the league.

Shopped around for a job, applying at realistic targets aswell as the likes of Monaco, Sevilla and Arsenal just for the hell of it really. Shockingly Premier League runners up Arsenal offered me the job! The Russian Cup must really be something special considering I couldn't get a job in League One this time last year.

They've got Suarez too! Should be a nice change from managing a bunch of nobodies.

Spent a lot of money in the summer, signing the likes of James Rodriguez for 45m, Sergio Busquets, Stefan Bell, Luke Shaw & Matej Vydra too totaling a bit over 100m. Also got Alexis Sanchez on a free! Sold the likes of Mulumbu, Joel Campbell, Jesus Navas, Sagna and Cazorla for around 80m, then a few days after the transfer window shut I got a £20m offer for 30 year old Laurent Koscielny who had a year left on his contract which I couldn't really refuse. Had to go the first half of the season with just Shawcross, Mertesacker, Bell and some youngsters as my CB's, but still did pretty well. Spent about 100m in January too, on Stones, Sturridge, Schneiderlin, Laporte, Yaya Toure and a few regens. Ridiculously good team now.

As for actual football I started off well winning the community shield, but did poor in the FA and league cups going out quite early. The Premier League came down to the final day of the season, Arsenal vs Chelsea, both on 88 points. Chelsea only needed a draw to win the league on goal difference, but it ended 4-3 to me! After beating Real Madrid 4-0 in the Semi Final second leg all that stands in my way of Champions League glory at the first attempt is the mighty..... Ajax?

Fuck.

[JasonM]

Wut...

This is the first time in many FM's where I've seen a dutch team in the finals of the Champions League... Well, one that isn't controlled by a user.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]