Football Manager 2017 - General Chat

[RandoEFC+]

Tempted to start a new save in a while. Anyone heard of any good challenges? Tempted to do the one where you have to win each continental tournament (Champions League, Copa Libertadores etc.) but I can turn my current game into that. Might just do what I did last time and choose a country completely at random and build up from there.

[Guest]

I have an interesting story...

So a while back I used Peru's U20's to try and replicate the save I did on 16 where I won the U20 Sudamericano. There was this player I called up. Left back on Cienciano.

One day I brought my laptop to college. First things first, the student sitting next to me apparently was also an FM player. I found out on that day. So he took interest in my save that I was playing on while we were in class distracted. A few others took interest.

I brought my laptop in the next Monday and I was watching a video of Ronaldo Alguedas (17 years old on EGB, good on FM) and I mentioned that he's good on FM. One of the people who took interest in the game I was playing asked me surprised "Alguedas is in the game?" I said yes, the whole EGB team is on. He told me that he himself plays for EGB, so we looked for him and he wasn't on. He told me his name and it was the same as that left back on Cienciano. He played for EGB though so I thought it was a different one because he had a common Spanish name.

The next day however it hit me: i didn't ask where he played prior.

I asked him and he did indeed play for Cienciano in the past.

So basically, one of the players I used in my U20 Sudamericano campaign which I play before the semester started is actually one of my college buddies. 

The world is a small small place.

[The Palace Fan]

I always thought I was being a great guy bringing through Academy players when I could but now i've realised why i've done it. Scouting the right players is a ballache. I've had to have quite an overhaul through means out of my control and it's been a ridiculously long summer.

[Eco]

Well, I have done it. FM17 is getting downloaded now. 

[Eco]

5 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

You won't regret it, welcome to the club. 

Blah blah blah, I'll regret it when my wife yells at me for spending too much time on my computer. 

Now, I have an hour or so to think of a team to play as. Off the top of my mind, here is what I'm thinking...

England - Bristol Rovers
Italy - Foggia
Germany - Munster

But those are some of my favorite teams in each league. 

[RandoEFC+]

You on about lads?

[RandoEFC+]

Yes it is, still mildly amusing though.

[Dan+]

Right, here goes, nicking Cannabis' idea. This isn't personally what's right or wrong, it's what I do (which definitely means it's right by the way)...

Staff
I'm actually a little inconsistent here. While I will always attempt to bring in as many staff as I'm allowed to I'm a bit unsure if there is something to be said for trying to keep the backroom you inherited together while gradually replacing them over time. I've had some clubs where I've come in and immediately binned anyone with poor stats but at one club for example I binned a scout who it turned out had been there for 40+ years so maybe there was actually a hidden negative in that somewhere although if I remember rightly that save did go quite well, so maybe this point is void.

I try and bring in a high reputation director of football who has good stats for player judging but truth be told I can't really see the point of this unless you're getting him doing the signings - although I've tried that before and it was a bit of a disaster so I think there's room for improvement within the game in this area. They are becoming a bigger part of the sport than ever and it's a model a lot of clubs have nowadays, so I think there needs to be some emphasis on how their own performance affects your club - like I've said I go for a high reputation DoF but truth be told, I cannot see any tangible benefit based on who it is on the game. I bring in the coaches myself generally - I search for the attributes that I need. I will get my assistant to organise the training (which seems to automatically click straight away the most effective way you can train the players) and then bring in as many coaches as I can for increased specialisation, which I always go to the board for as well as I think the more the merrier. However once I have sorted my coaching team, I will get my DoF to bring in the youth coaches. I get the DoF to offer out players I've transfer and loan listed as well as renew staff contracts.

Assistant manager - I look for two things. Solid player judgement, and good tactical knowledge. The reason for the former is obvious, the reason for the latter is that I get my assistant to set opposition instructions pre-match as I frankly can't be arsed.

I ensure that I have a good head of youth development too. A real specialist in the area as I think with the absurd money floating about in the game now, what better way to get some quality into your side than to produce it yourself - it costs you nothing really. John Cannon is always my go to man as his stats are frankly ridiculous, but I've found another good one at Leicester. Scouts, I get as many as possible, try and get some foreign ones in as their extra knowledge always comes in handy (although it's worth focusing on their adaptability if they're coming from abroad) and have my head scout sort out all of their assignments.

 

Morale
Definitely a big thing. Keep morale high at all costs. I will happily sell anyone who I believe is going to have an adverse effect on squad morale even if I am partially at fault for causing it in the first place (although over time this becomes less frequent). I try to balance out my team talks and avoid repeating myself. I try to balance out my team talks and avoid repeating myself (sorry I couldn't resist). I find that encouraging your team to get revenge often seems to fire them up. I won't tell them I expect them to win when in anything other than a piss easy game because it can go a bit wrong - although I think that's probably based more on how I've been at Barnsley where I've more often than not been an underdog. Some squads flourish on being the underdog and some don't, and you have to try and establish that based on your team talks and your results. I find pre-season and post-season expectation talks a bit of a fucker and you often can't win. For example, I get Barnsley into the play-offs after being expected to fight relegation. A lot of them next season will be convinced that we punched above our weight and that play-offs again is too big an ask - yet how can you possibly lower expectations following last season? I think it's total insanity to aim lower than where you came last year. I get my assistant to arrange friendlies and manage them and they rarely let me down in terms of maintaining morale.

 

Talking to the press
I'm a bit of a Nigel Pearson with the press. I quite like his style. No suffering of idiots who are out to do nothing but scupper the club and holding my hands up when I've got it wrong. I don't like to give away tactics, nor signings unless we really are in the latter part of the deal. I talk the club up and don't try and ever gloss over a defeat because I believe it gives off an unambitious, small-time mentality. While I can see positives in performances, a defeat is a defeat. I usually answer calmly although that's because I can't really be arsed to change it. This is a very tricky part of the game from SI's point of view and while I appreciate they have made an effort to improve it, it's still pretty tedious in my eyes and you don't really gain a lot from it. You shouldn't be able to get away with sending your assistant every time yet you can.

 

Finding and signing players
A very big part of the game for me and probably the bit I enjoy the most. I always get a little bit of a buzz when I receive my transfer budget, and more often than not, an "oh fuck off" when I've read it.

I leave very few stones unturned. I'm a bit of a scouting geek and will happily trawl through obscure nations just for that gem from Uzbekistan or that star from Costa Rica. It's trickier in England with the work permits rule and you are limited somewhat - although if you weren't I think that would make it incredibly easy as I reckon I could put together a squad of Colombians and Chileans for about £15mil that would stay up and eventually challenge for Europe when they got older. This is something I do a lot more when abroad and especially in Holland, I was regularly signing young Africans and South / North Americans. I will happily scout 100 African players playing international youth football as often you will get at least two or three who are good enough to go on to become first team players for very little expense. There's a lot of pissing around involved and it's tedious, but it's a great money saver. Think back to the Walid Tran deal on FM15 with Sparta for those who read it - £60k I paid for someone who would win consecutive Eredivisie golden boots, be sold for £7mil and some of the next fee as well.

I have quite big squads, and with my emphasis on developing youngsters (I will concede this often goes to shit, it did at Barnsley) I am happy to spend more on first team players. Rather than spending £8mil on a right back and £5mil on a back-up right back, I'd spend more on the first choice right back and have the back-up right back as a youngster coming through who'll develop with game time, which I will give them where I can. It is very hard in the Premier League as the standard of the league on the game is very high and the financial rewards make it hard to take risks, but sometimes you have to. I want to run a club to be self-sustainable and not one that pisses money away, relying on it's TV income.

I try to keep players wages down as much as possible but do accept it's tricky. I wanted to get my DoF doing the contracts but that plan was aborted immediately when he offered Malaga's right back Roberto Rosales £105k a week. I don't know how much this applies in-game but I'm a believer in only paying your consistently good players highly - inconsistent players are a waste of time in my eyes and they do more harm than good when they're often trying to justify their occasional good game with extortionate wages. Never ever go near the match highest earner clause even if you have to pay them a bit more to get rid of it.

I ultimately try to find a way of getting a team clicking in the short-term and will build around that if I can, but with each window I will vary the type of player I sign more and more to give me more tactical flexibility. Eventually my squad takes shape and I'll have a squad that fits how I really want to play - which is usually a high-energy, fluid 4-3-3.

 

Beating the opposition
There's far too much to put here for variation, but I do think if you get most of the above right then the results will follow. I usually look for quick players if I'm a smaller team, and more technically gifted players if I'm a bigger team. I've done some scintilating damage on the counter before - one game really sticks with me, where I took my Bari side that I pretty much put together over a summer away to Udinese and beat them 0-5 simply by battering them on the counter. I'm absolutely ruthless as well. 1-0 up? Get a 2nd. 2-0 up? Get a 3rd. 7-0 up? Get an 8th.

I do look in game to see where exactly I think we are struggling, if we're finding it harder to get a hold of the ball I will often drop a striker a bit deeper to disrupt the opposition's play as it is likely coming from midfield - it's what Okazaki does so well for Leicester. Shoddy footballer but the bloke is superb at attacking the root of a team's flow. I prefer wingers over inside forwards and often like to have a central midfielder who attacks as well. I don't like playing without a holding midfielder and I think that 4-3-3 is a far safer formation than 4-2-3-1. I've had some luck with 3 at the back as well, spent years playing it with Las Palmas. I don't really build my team around how the opposition play as I think that's a very negative mindset to take and one that plays into their hands. Give them something to worry about has always been my thinking. I will be a bit more cautious in certain games but I won't go to Man Utd away and play 5-4-1 when I know I'm a good side in a 4-3-3. What on earth is the point?

I do like killing a game with time-wasting though. I'm a bit sly like this. I'm happy to really run a game down if I'm a goal up. Slow the tempo, keep the ball and waste time. I often find you actually get another goal doing this. I've often looked to kill a game and then managed to add a 2nd. Could be argued it contradicts my ruthless streak earlier on, but I won't be going all out for 2-0 if it's 1-0 with 5 left for example, in the first half I will, but not late on.

[RandoEFC+]

This is going to come across as me being a butt=hurt crybaby but I need to have a rant about this, absolute bullshit.

So I'm on a 13-game winning streak in all competitions, and my team are on 16 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses in the Tunisian league which is the top in Africa. Go into this tie in an early round of the African Champions League, 5-2 up on aggregate from the home leg having at one stage led 5-0 in that match. We lose fucking 4-0 to a decent but certainly not special Ivorian side and go out 6-5 on aggregate.

Full strength team, all players with average ratings from the last 5 games of at least 7.3ish, no different tactics or anything, played most of the match on counter given that we were leading on aggregate until the last 10 minutes, but after going on a 20+ game unbeaten streak, we lose 4-0, and over two legs have gone from 5-0 up to losing 6-5 to a side from a bang average league.

The. Fuck.

[Eco]

4 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

So I'm on a 13-game winning streak in all competitions, and my team are on 16 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses in the Tunisian league which is the top in Africa.

Da fuq? Egyptian Premier is loads better than the shit played in Tunisia

[RandoEFC+]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

Da fuq? Egyptian Premier is loads better than the shit played in Tunisia

Possibly in real life/modern day. My save stretches to 2032 and the top 3 leagues by reputation are Tunisian, Egyptian and Algerian, with Tunisia just edging it at the top. However Al-Ahly are the highest reputation club in Africa and current holders of the Champions League.

[Toony]

8 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

This is going to come across as me being a butt=hurt crybaby but I need to have a rant about this, absolute bullshit.

So I'm on a 13-game winning streak in all competitions, and my team are on 16 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses in the Tunisian league which is the top in Africa. Go into this tie in an early round of the African Champions League, 5-2 up on aggregate from the home leg having at one stage led 5-0 in that match. We lose fucking 4-0 to a decent but certainly not special Ivorian side and go out 6-5 on aggregate.

Full strength team, all players with average ratings from the last 5 games of at least 7.3ish, no different tactics or anything, played most of the match on counter given that we were leading on aggregate until the last 10 minutes, but after going on a 20+ game unbeaten streak, we lose 4-0, and over two legs have gone from 5-0 up to losing 6-5 to a side from a bang average league.

The. Fuck.

Doesn't surprise me, I've known the game to throw in odd shockers. I think they do it on purpose when you're on a good run just to fuck you off.

[Eco]

Just now, RandoEFC said:

Possibly in real life/modern day. My save stretches to 2032 and the top 3 leagues by reputation are Tunisian, Egyptian and Algerian, with Tunisia just edging it at the top. However Al-Ahly are the highest reputation club in Africa and current holders of the Champions League.

Damn, Right on for Al-Ahly, as I am going to one of their matches later this year. I guess Zamalek fell off the fucking map then. Good riddance

 

[RandoEFC+]

2 minutes ago, Eco said:

Damn, Right on for Al-Ahly, as I am going to one of their matches later this year. I guess Zamalek fell off the fucking map then. Good riddance

 

Zamalek just won the Egyptian league last season in mine, playing them in the Arab Championship semis in a bit . However, Al-Ahly have been raping that league for the most part.

[Eco]

Just now, RandoEFC said:

Zamalek just won the Egyptian league last season in mine, playing them in the Arab Championship semis in a bit . However, Al-Ahly have been raping that league for the most part.

Good, my business associates in Egypt are all massive Al-Ahly fans, so I've had to adopt them in Africa.

[Stan]

sorry but what the fuck is going on here  

loving the diversity of this player though. I want to know what his family looks like. and I want to know why he chose Israel  

[RandoEFC+]

Obviously conceived in a multi racial gang bang with no clear victor.

[Dan+]

On 6/2/2017 at 11:55 PM, Eco said:

Blah blah blah, I'll regret it when my wife yells at me for spending too much time on my computer. 

Now, I have an hour or so to think of a team to play as. Off the top of my mind, here is what I'm thinking...

England - Bristol Rovers
Italy - Foggia
Germany - Munster

But those are some of my favorite teams in each league. 

I've been them before. No word of a lie. That was quite a good save actually.

[Dan+]

14 hours ago, Stan said:

sorry but what the fuck is going on here  

loving the diversity of this player though. I want to know what his family looks like. and I want to know why he chose Israel  

I just find it surprising he's not eligible to represent fucking Albania

[Dan+]

On 6/1/2017 at 10:06 PM, Cannabis said:

The fuck are Forest playing at with this formation?!

Not the worst I've seen, when I was Nantes, Monaco once came away to me and set up with GK, CD, CD, CD, LWB, DM, DM, RWB, CM, CM, ST. It was absolutely ludicrous.

[The Palace Fan]

Been neglecting this section and the game recently. I thought working 9-5 Monday's to Friday's would be dream work hours but when you factor in travel, revision, exercise, girlfriend, friends and hangover period I don't get how you all find the time for everything. I'll catch up on all your diaries over the week.

I'll probably just do one big season review now. A lot of time went in to last season's post and there wasnt enough interest to warrant it.

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Aaroncpfc said:

Been neglecting this section and the game recently. I thought working 9-5 Monday's to Friday's would be dream work hours but when you factor in travel, revision, exercise, girlfriend, friends and hangover period I don't get how you all find the time for everything. I'll catch up on all your diaries over the week.

I'll probably just do one big season review now. A lot of time went in to last season's post and there wasn't enough interest to warrant it.

this has what has put me off putting up updates and predominantly talking to myself 

[Eco]

I need to get back on this. My computer is so slow that the game takes so long to process, but whatever.

[RandoEFC+]

2 hours ago, Stan said:

this has what has put me off putting up updates and predominantly talking to myself 

Aye, since @Cure has been less active lately I can't even look forward to the reliable karma point when I post an update .

When a few of us get fed up of our current games we should look at starting some sort of challenge as a group. E.G. I've seen people take on the "win the Premier League with only English players" challenge a few times. Few of us can have a go and swap notes as we go.

[Toony]

12 hours ago, Stan said:

this has what has put me off putting up updates and predominantly talking to myself 

Must say though, just because people don't comment doesn't mean they aren't reading it, I read them all and don't leave a comment every time.