Football Manager 2016

[MDK]

1 minute ago, Mad Jack said:

Roy does that anyway in my United game. Every England player I have always comes back knackered or injured.

I took over from Bobby Martin who now manages Bournemouth.

[JasonM]

27 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

5000/1 odds to win? I'd say you're a dead cert now.

If last season was anything to go by, you're probably right. #GonçaloRosaGonçalvesPereiraRodriguesEnergy

23 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Took over Fulham using a Sweden March 2016 start date - was actually looking to take over England without having to do the last qualifiers - with them 12th and many many points off the playoffs. Won 10 from 11 and snuck in on the final day. Somehow won the playoff final against a better Brighton side, and Fulham are back in the Premier League:

Out went Mitroglou in the summer for just £5 million. Nothing I could do, fee was in his loan agreement.

In came:

Luke Garbutt from Everton (£6 million): was at the club on loan last season, and the only loanee I found to be of any use. Easy decision to make to bring him in.

Will Hughes from Derby (£9 million): Derby again missed out on the playoffs and this was the final straw for Hughes, who asked to leave. 9 mil for a player who will be my first choice centre mid isn't bad.

Lewis Cook from Leeds (£7 million): and joining him is Lewis Cook. Decide to prioritise signing young British players, and Cook was an easy choice. Bit steep for the season he had - Leeds were about 16th - but him and Hughes will partner each other for a decade potentially.

Nathan Redmond from Norwich (£4.7 million): Needed a right wing/right mid in a more traditional style compared to Tom Cairney, who works well as a wide playmaker but not much else - and with Norwich relegated Redmond was available for peanuts.

Jake Bidwell from Brentford (£4 million): Back-up and competition for Garbutt at left back. A more natural choice than Garbutt - who can also play left mid - and already at a Premier League standard.

Eder Alvarez Balanta & Emanuel Mammana from River Plater (£4 million and £3.4 million): Went out for Balanta, saw that no one was interested in Mammana and decided to gett him as well. Had to give River 25% of the next transfer fee for both of them, but well worth it. Already forcing Tim Ream out of the centre back spot.

Andres Renteria from Santos Laguna (£5 million): The gamble signing. Not a bad season in Mexico (10 goals and 4 assists in 33 games) but a definite risk. Attributes aren't bad an he'll provide good rotation with McCormack, Woodrow and Dembele.

Also brought in Rashford from United and Joe Gomez from Liverpool on loan deals. Confident about staying up and my defensive additions are doing well. 3 1-0 wins to start the season leaves me top, amazingly.

With Balanta in your midst you're probably gonna bully the shit out of strikers.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[MDK]

The appropriate reaction to two wonderkids, who want to go to bigger clubs, is to drop them from the team, right?

[The Lusophone]

How long left on their contracts?

[MDK]

5 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

How long left on their contracts?

One has two years the other has four years. I'm willing to ruin their careers if they are going to be cunts.

[JasonM]

23 minutes ago, MDK said:

One has two years the other has four years. I'm willing to ruin their careers if they are going to be cunts.

Personally I feel that as long as they're performing well I'll continue playing them, especially if they are valuable members of the squad. If they're not, i'll loan them out and hope they'll get over it when they return.

The worst part I feel is the locker room being a lot more volatile towards anything you say or do. Telling a 17 year old deadbeat player to fuck off with his demands for playing time can cause the entire squad to start having shit fits about it. Which can range from annoying to downright morale murdering and job-killing.

[Whisper]

Just achieved something I've never managed before in any FM game - a playoff victory!

Lost out with Coventry in the playoff semis last season (2016/17) after finishing 4th. All this season we have been so patchy, (17 draws - most of which from winning positions), that it's felt like a worse season. Struggled with tactics and finally settled on one with 11 games to go, when it looked as though the playoffs were slipping away. Ended up needing to win my last 2 games to make the playoffs, which we did and even ended up 5th. I had very little hope of doing any worthwhile, but somehow we took it upon ourselves to go on our best winning streak of the season to get promotion.

Beat Burnley 3-1 and 1-0 in the semis, and absolutely dominated Derby in the final, winning 3-1. It should have been more but we missed so many chances and didn't seal the win until the 87th minute. Jack Barmby .

Premier League here I come! My budget has gone from 180k wages and £1.5m transfer funds, to 500k wages and £17.5m - that's mental, even by "promoted to Premier Leagues" standards.

[JasonM]

It's nearly January, and I'm currently sitting in 13th with 5 points removed from the relegation zone. At the same time I have the shared worst defense in the league (28 in 15) and 4th best offense in the league (24 in 15).

What makes this all the more 'special' is that two important players have been out for a while now, Osmar with a broken leg and arguably a career that's done, and Daniel Novoa with a slipped disc that will put him on the shelf until February.
Additionally I have the lowest wage budget of the entire league at 7M euros per year, compared to 9M of fellow promotee Osasuna, and 14,35M to other promotee Espanyol... With Real Madrid taking the piss at a mere 273M a year in wages.

But what makes the whole budget ever the more insane, there are four(!) teams in the Adelante (not even including the B-Teams) who are spending more per year on wages than I am.

So yeah, I'd love it if the board stopped being such stingy pricks and gave me something to work with, because whilst I got a modest transfer budget of 2.7M, there is nobody I can spend it on because they're all demanding near or over 100K a month in wages >_>

Final game before the winter break... Against #1 Barcelona...

Edited May 23, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[Whisper]

The Prem is hard

7 games, 6 defeats, 1 draw. 

Next up? Chelsea away

Whelp.

[JasonM]

1 hour ago, Whisper said:

The Prem is hard

7 games, 6 defeats, 1 draw. 

Next up? Chelsea away

Whelp.

Play four-four-fucking-two!

[Whisper]

22 minutes ago, Jasonmufc said:

Play four-four-fucking-two!

I don't have the strikers for it

playing 4-3-3, or 4-1-2-2-1 with inside forwards. First 3 games were awful, but I've gone more defensive and it's working - just not converting chances. Was 2-1 up at Anfield with 20 minutes to go until Jack Colback got himself sent off. Made the mistake of going 'Contain' (seriously, has it ever worked in FM, ever?) and conceded 2 in the last 5 minutes.

It's a real struggle. Already 4 points off safety and that won't get any better with the Chelsea game. Need a win, fast.

[JasonM]

If you dont have strikers for a 442, then play 4411, a 451, or even a 541. Depending on how badly you don't want to lose...
Also if a team is playing an AMC, using a DMC with tight marking can fuck them up badly in the middle of the pitch.

Most teams in England play some form of 442 or 4231, due to the inherent style of English football (hoof and cross). Knowing how most of your opposition will play helps you build a tactic (set) that can help you negate most other tactics, especially when you're the lesser team.

Since you're a lesser team, i'd suggest you go with either a 4141DM or a 4411AM.

4141DM:
Goalie - Does goalie things, tell him to play it short and to your defenders.
Full Backs - They run around the pitch for 90 minutes, they focus on the other team's wingers (if no wingers, then they focus on the wing backs)
Centre backs - They stay static, they cut out through balls and whatnot and form a (fucking) wall. Then play it off to someone else
Def Mid - They close down and mess with deep lying forwards and the AMC, preferably tight marking to make sure he sticks to his man.
Wingers - They run up the pitch and do crosses to the far post
Mids - They link up play in the midfield, one of the two goes further up field whilst the other stays supportive between attack and defense.
Striker - He shoots at goal and closes down defenders and goalies to force long balls.

Personally i'd tell the defensive line to not close down a lot or do offside traps, the former causes gaps which good teams can play into with ease, the latter needs very mentally skilled defenders to work properly.
Play out of defense works quite well even with lesser teams, but be sure to tell them to keep it short and play narrow if you do, else the other team can pressure you into turnovers.
Don't be afraid to turn your sole striker into defensive forwards, because they can still score loads whilst also showing much more effort when your team doesn't have the ball.
Slow the pace down when you're not the better team, you want to frustrate your opponent and give them as little of the ball as you can. Additionally counter is one of the best mentalities in the game.

Finally, you gotta get lucky and have a few morale boosting games here and there, because morale is ridiculously OP in FM16 and can turn a shit team decent and a good team shit in a heartbeat. Abuse team talks every 3-4 matches to keep morale as high as possible.

Made a quick and dirty tactic based on what i'd do with a 4-1-4-1, of course it's probably not perfect.
http://www.filedropper.com/4-1-4-1dmwhisper

Edited May 24, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[The Lusophone]

Shout out Fulham fam.

[JasonM]

Getting the commercial summary after my second season in the Liga BBVA...

And then seeing club membership totals having nearly doubled too.

 

 

(With a third of that increased income I've basically written off my yearly debt-repayments from the team buying the stadium...)

Edited June 2, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[Liam]

On 27/05/2016 at 23:28, Mad Jack said:

Shout out Fulham fam.

Post team?

[The Lusophone]

Spoiler

Stekelenberg's already had two leave of absence's, one in pre-season and one in November. Will need to sell in the summer I think. Renteria's been incredible, just pops up with goals.

[The Lusophone]

Good news Liverpool fans, 2046 will be your year!

[Bobfoc]

Some of these teams have stadiums with higher capacities than their entire areas' current populations. This never would have happened if we had voted Brexit.

[The Lusophone]

Some of them have stadiums much smaller than their current ones as well.

[JasonM]

1 hour ago, Mad Jack said:

Some of them have stadiums much smaller than their current ones as well.

I find it more amusing that Charlton and Portsmouth are sitting in their near 400 year old stadiums, rather than having upgraded them at any stage in the game's history.