Football Manager 2017 - General Chat

[Guest]

Death, taxes, and bottling leads within 10 minutes. Okayama have done it now.

[Dave]

1 hour ago, Dan said:

I've noticed that as well. They've actually got some really tidy players. Dozzell is one I may try and snare if I go up.

Andre Dozzell has been brilliant. Him, Joshua Emmanuel, Tommy Smith and Teddy Bishop have all made Team Of The Year. All four of them are former academy players.

Just had it confirmed that i've got Manager Of The Year. I'm a little surprised about that as Everton were ruthless this season.

[Storts]

 

Weirdest I've had in a while - The guy that scored twice for Roma is actually on loan from me. That was a mixture of reserves and first team as well for me, but most are regens, when I get a chance I'll run through my team properly because it's bloody superb

[Guest]

Yeah.... this squad needs an immediate overhaul.

So far the matches where I've bottled leads within 10 minutes.

 

Vissel Kobe - 3-0 up in the 20th minute, 3-2 in the 30th, 3-3 full time.

Okayama - 1-0 up in the 84th, 2-1 down in the 87th. 1-2 full time

Funabashi - 1-0 up 80th. 1-2 full time

As an honourable mention, 3-0 up in the 75th vs Saitama United, 3-2 full time.

 

Could it do with squad personalities? I find that the "dont get complacent" team talk just means your team will fucking bottle it, so I don't tend to use that.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Just finished the season. Here is the review

 

 

So this is how the table ended

 

 

Finished just like I predicted. Between 11th to 9th. We managed to go on a very good run in parts of the second phase to make up for our horrible 9 game losing run since the Osaka game (so the last update). Crislan ended up as the third top scorer with 17 goals. Roberto with the most yellow cards. Understandable given his role. All things considered he's done well. Now we just wait for Juan Diego Gutierrez and a new forward. Crislan won't be around after this as he's only on loan so I'll be looking for a new forward in the winter.

 

First phase and second phase tables

 

 

Shambles of a campaign. We managed to go on a 9 game losing run here which was just awful. Luckily I never received any ultimatums or anything. I did get one board meeting but it was to explain a result thankfully. I managed to fix my ways and go on a good run after this. Okayama did well here, no surprise though as they are one of the best teams in the country. The underachievers has to be Hachioji Tigre (FC Tokyo in real life). They were predicted to finish 6th at the end of the season and ended up finishing 15th here. As the picture spoils, they were eventualloy relegated, meaning I'll be raiding them once I get my budget. Osaka second, Hiroshima third. No surprises here at all really.

Much better here. Hachioji's campaign in this second phase it what cost them. Sakai did better but it wasn't enough. Anyhow, we did what we needed to do. We were never really in the title race even if the table looks like it but we were never a danger to Hiroshima really. Aside from Hachioji the big underachievers here are Saitama United (Urawa Red Diamonds) who were predicted to finish first. 8th in the first phase, 5th in the second. Not great from them, I would raid them but we won't be in continental football so I doubt their players will have much interest.

 

Now we'll talk about the games. 

 

 

The 2 games that weren't shown here I've already covered. Vs Okayama and Funabashi. Both the games where we bottled leads at the end.

 

As you could see, we went from a really bad run to a really good one. Basically after the Kawaguchi Riccio game I began to fiddle with tactics, it wasn't working out well. I eventually switched back to the Boca Juniors 2000 and it began working for me again. I realized maybe the defensive injuries hurt me and that Nozawa perhaps wasn't working as an Enganche anymore. So I tried Ryang Yong-Gi

 

Ryang Yong-Gi has flourished in the system. Worked a lot better than Nozawa so I ocasionally play as an advanced forward now or one of the deep lying playmakers. Since Yong-Gi has come into the side we began winning again and he deserves the shout. He has all the stats he needs for an enganche. Definitely not a top top player but until Juan Diego Gutierrez comes in then he'll be the first option there. Once Guti comes in, Yong-Gi is getting moved back to a deep lying playmaker which was where he originally played.

 

I won't be covering the J-League cup. I will be talking about the Emperors Cup though which I had ambitions to win. Unfortunately, that dream did not last very long.

 

 

Kawamoto showed up and got a hattrick against us. Although 2 were from penalties. We did absolutely nothing to win the game so I'll say we fairly lost this. I was hoping we could win this to qualify for the Asian Champions League in some other way but we couldn't manage it unfortunately and we'll just have to give it a go next season.

 

OTHER LEAGUE'S

 

A-League

 

 

Not much to talk about here really as its just started. Melbourne Victory being top is no surprise as they are very good and especially on FM where they are completely OP. Players like Besart Berisha, James Troisi, Oliver Bozanic and Alan Baro. Besart Berisha with 3 goals, second in the league goalscorers behind Melbourne City's Pavicevic. I'll get back to this at the end of next season as its still too early to say anything.

 

K-League

 

Well well well, what do you have here? A surprise top 3. Jeonbuk and Ulsan in the bottom half of the table. Suwon is in a normal position but Suwon FC on the other hand finishing 4th is also a surprise. Interesting. Seoul in 6th I guess isn't awful but it is underachieving by their standards. Pohang won the league by a bit, when I was in Korea they were the most seasonally inconsistent team. Veselinovic from Incheon finished top scorer, with Damjanovic finishing second. Maybe I should go for some of these. Ulsan's Han Sang-Wu in the top of the assists.

 

CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE

 

 

Huaxia Xingfu aren't exactly the worst team so to see them win it isn't a surprise to me. What a race this has been though. Jackson Martinez won the top scorer with 23 goals, Carlos Tevez in second with 21. Graziano Pelle third with 20. I find it funny that we see Jackson Martinez and Carlos Tevez then Pelle is there in third. Paulinho with 13 assists and Lavezzi with 11 although a Chinese player got the most assists and this was Beijing's Zhang Xizhe. 

 

And how did the Asian Champions League end up?

 

Well its not done yet but Pohang is playing the final with Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia. Pohang have had a superb season, fair play to them. Klaas Jan Huntelaar finished top scorer of the ACL with 12 goals for Al Ahli. Alex Texeira in second with 8 goals.

 

If there's any other leagues you want to see let me know. Keep in mind I only have the Asian leagues as well as the South American leagues loaded.

[Dan+]

Get the name change downloaded. I've managed to sort it on mine and being who I am I find it a lot better

I used to half follow the J-League about ten years ago. No-one believed me when I told them I had heard of Yuki Abe when we signed him.

[Stan]

18 hours ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

Yeah.... this squad needs an immediate overhaul.

So far the matches where I've bottled leads within 10 minutes.

 

Vissel Kobe - 3-0 up in the 20th minute, 3-2 in the 30th, 3-3 full time.

Okayama - 1-0 up in the 84th, 2-1 down in the 87th. 1-2 full time

Funabashi - 1-0 up 80th. 1-2 full time

As an honourable mention, 3-0 up in the 75th vs Saitama United, 3-2 full time.

 

Could it do with squad personalities? I find that the "dont get complacent" team talk just means your team will fucking bottle it, so I don't tend to use that.

 

what are your tactics or instructions?

Do you do team talks while the game is in progress - i.e. assertively encourage the team or demand more from certain players or whole team. Maybe concentrate or tighten up are more apt talks to give when it gets to latter stages of the game.

I probably wouldn't go too defensive, either. It just invites pressure on when the other team are pushing men forward and committing more up front. 

[Guest]

Just now, Romesh said:

what are your tactics or instructions?

Do you do team talks while the game is in progress - i.e. assertively encourage the team or demand more from certain players or whole team. Maybe concentrate or tighten up are more apt talks to give when it gets to latter stages of the game.

I probably wouldn't go too defensive, either. It just invites pressure on when the other team are pushing men forward and committing more up front. 

My tactics I posted earlier, but I'll have them here anyways in case you cba to go back hahaha

 

 

The picture is from a different save but its the exact same tactic. 

 

I haven't used the concentrate team talk at all in this save yet so I'll have to definitely do that. I agree on going defensive though, I only do it if its against one of the stronger sides and I want to hold onto a lead. I feel that attacking is the best form of defence.

[Stan]

do you concede a lot of goals from the flanks/wings? You have both full backs in attacking duties so if you're attacking, you have both of them unnecessarily gone forward and are caught short if teams counter you. Plus you have a narrow-ish midfield which could go against you. Not sure you need 2 Deep Lying Playmakers either?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Romesh said:

do you concede a lot of goals from the flanks/wings? You have both full backs in attacking duties so if you're attacking, you have both of them unnecessarily gone forward and are caught short if teams counter you. Plus you have a narrow-ish midfield which could go against you. Not sure you need 2 Deep Lying Playmakers either?

The midfield works fine, but I do concede a lot of goals from the flanks. As you mention it probably is the attacking duties in the fullbacks, meaning I'll need very very good fullbacks for it to work. I'll take off play narrower now.

 

Do fullbacks overlap if they're on support though? Its something I've never put my head around.

[Stan]

6 minutes ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

The midfield works fine, but I do concede a lot of goals from the flanks. As you mention it probably is the attacking duties in the fullbacks, meaning I'll need very very good fullbacks for it to work. I'll take off play narrower now.

 

Do fullbacks overlap if they're on support though? Its something I've never put my head around.

maybe don't have both on attacking duties? 

 

[Guest]

Just now, Romesh said:

maybe don't have both on attacking duties? 

 

Misread this at first. Maybe I should have one attacking with the DLP on defend to provide as cover. Or even both.

Do supporting fullbacks overlap though? That's what I can't figure out.

[Smiley Culture]

Celtic Football Club - 2017/18 - July and August

Crusaders (a) W 2-0 (Dembele 2) - With qualification starting in July, it's a case of just going with it and throwing a team together under prepared but for us, we it shouldn't and wasn't an issue. We could have had more than two and with more match fitness, we'd have had 4+.

Crusaders (h) W 8-0 (Griffiths 2, Dembele 3, Sinclair, McGregor, Own Goal) - Nice to see Dembele and Griffiths being lethal in front of goal with very few minutes under their belt, also used this as an opportunity to give kids a go from the bench. Josh Kerr and Jack Aitchison the two lucky youngsters who got a chance.

Rosenborg (a) D 0-0 - Thought this was a tough draw, Rosenborg were in the group stages of the Champions League year in, year out for a period and this wasn't the draw I was hoping for. 4-1-4-1 ensured we were level heading back to Parkhead and I was pleased how we played this out.

Rosenborg (h) W 6-2 (Griffiths 2, McGregor, Dembele, Roberts, Sinclair) - Didn't want Rosenborg, don't know why? We were on fire from the first whistle, though the two conceded were the only negatives from this performance.

Hearts (a) W 2-1 - As first games of the season go, Hearts away wasn't what I wanted. Hearts were good and deservedly lead but Leigh Griffiths rose from the bench and scored two late, late goals to nick it. We were lucky here, we can't play like this away.

Morton (a) W 1-0 (Own Goal) - The romance of the cup, eh? We were sent to Championship side Morton and I used this to make vast changes, including 16 year-old Stephen Welsh and Jason Cummings (signed from Hibs) making their debuts. Cummings hit the woodwork three times. We could have won this more convincingly.

Dinamo Zagreb (a) L 1-3 (Sinclair) - The game I mentioned further up this thread. 'Disaster at Dinamo' included Kouassi Eboue and Scott Brown being sent-off. A lot was needed to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.

St Johnstone (a) L 1-3 (Sinclair) - You get sent-off in Zagreb, so what do you do to redeem yourself? Get sent-off in Perth too, I'm really starting to dislike Scott Brown. I blame this defeat on my tactics, I live and learn.

Dinamo Zagreb (h) W 2-0 (Sinclair, Aitchison) - You here so much about these magical nights at Celtic Park in the Champions League and this ranks amongst them surely? Scott Sinclair has been magical lately and he won a penalty, dusted himself down and slammed it past the Dinamo keeper. We pushed and pushed, Dinamo retreated further and further but time was beginning to get away from us and without Leigh Griffiths through injury, I turned to Jack Aitchison and had to throw him on as Moussa Dembele was disappointing. It was the last throw of the dice. The ball goes in the box, Big Eric Sviatchenko heads it, it gets blocked, Patrick Roberts has a dig and thats blocked but it lands at the feet of Aitchison who taps in from three yards. Parkhead erupts, we qualify for the Champions League Group Stages. Job done.

Aberdeen (h) D 2-2 (Griffiths, Tierney) - Shite. After the jubilation of the Dinamo game, we returned to the SPL and another tough task, Aberdeen. A game to show what we're about and it turns out we're about rubbish performances, sloppy defending and just all round awful play.

 

Next up...Rangers. Excellent. Absolutely must win.

[Stan]

21 minutes ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

Misread this at first. Maybe I should have one attacking with the DLP on defend to provide as cover. Or even both.

Do supporting fullbacks overlap though? That's what I can't figure out.

i meant don't have both defenders as attacking full backs.

Not sure about support role over-lapping, but perhaps train one of them to have the trait 'Get Forward Whenever Possible'. 

[Guest Cannabis]

Qualified for the next round of the Europa League unbeaten, five wins and a 3-3 draw against Southampton in the final fixture sees us through as the group winners.

Convinced that the FM Gods shit on me though, Shane Long banging in all three goals for them is a load of bollocks as far as I'm concerned.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Romesh said:

i meant don't have both defenders as attacking full backs.

Not sure about support role over-lapping, but perhaps train one of them to have the trait 'Get Forward Whenever Possible'. 

Yes, good suggestion. I'll try that out. Thanks

[Guest]

I'll do a proper post on the save tomorrow as I'm knackered and want to go to bed. I've had a solid start to the season though. 4 wins, 1 loss. Signed Sergio Moreno on a free after being released by Municipal as my only foreign signing. The other domestic players I signed were from the relegated teams. 2 from Sakai.

 

Table

 

 

Saitama  

[Guest]

Transfer Window

 

 

Signed him for the first team. Unfortunately Roberto is out for a few months so I'll have to deal with him as a BWM for the moment. Not that he's bad at it mind but I prefer him as a DLP personally. Good passing, good strength, a composed midfielder with good work rate and a good first touch. I like the prospect of what he can offer and since he's Japanese, I can afford to have him long term.

 

 

Another first teamer. I sacrificed a bit of defensive ability to get someone further forward. I feel his pace and stamina is good enough for him to track back after attacking. His crossing, dribbling and first touch are all very good. Maybe his vision could be a bit better for his crosses but again, another player i could afford to have long term. Keep him on FB attacking for the smaller teams but have him more conservative on support against the stronger sides while moving further forward.

 

Only reserve player I signed. The backup of the backup and he's honestly not dreadful. He can do something if given a chance. Good to be solid in depth in the goalkeeping position

 

Well, what a lack of consistency. I just now realized that this is the only image that has the graph. Ah well, anyways the foreigner is introduced to the TF365ers last. The best for last. Not really a step up or step down from Crislan at all but given my limited scouting abilities, I went with pure knowledge from players based in Peru for this one. Released from Deportivo Municipal, he works a lot better as a poacher than Crislan and that might be the thing that can be considered an "upgrade". To grow as a club I have to focus on Japanese players and then the foreigners. Plus I have Juan Diego Gutierrez still coming in so that's always something to look forward to.

 

Spent 1.3M overall in the window. Moreno and Matsuzawa on free's, Maruhashi for 700k and Yamamura for 575k.

[R-D]

FC Groningen - 2020/21 - August & Summer Transfer Window

Following my previous post, I decided to turn down the Ateltico Madrid job. Something about it didn't feel right, not sure if it's the team or the league, as I'm not overly fond of managing in Spain. Since turning it down I said to myself I'm only going to leave FC Groningen for: a) one of the big teams in Portugal (never really managed there and the talent in Portugal is insane), b) Fiorentina, I do want to have a stint in Italy and they'd be my choice of team. Failing them, I'm happy where I am and trying my luck at the Champions League, if I do another season I should get another steam accomplishment for time at the club. I will need to leave at some point as it'll get stale winning the league over and over.

On the back of that, the Benfica job has just become available which I've gone for. I was hoping for one more season here, but let's see how that goes.

Transfer Window - major transfers

Outs:

Marcos Llorente - Midfield - £40m - Chelsea

Chelsea came in with the bid to meet the full release clause of Llorente. Disappointing to lose him as he was an unbelievable talent for us, but to pick him up for £900k 3 seasons prior and to get £40m is no bad effort. Will be replaced by Wonderkid Petrovic who we signed last January.

Gaston Fuentes - Defender - £17.25m - Porto

Another really disappointing departure. My star RB left for a release clause I couldn't shift. Was always going to be tough to hold on to him,especially with his contract demands, but could easily have been for closer to £30m if we could have negotiated a better contract for him. 

 Zakaria Bakkali - Midfield - £8.5m (£11m) - RB Leipzig

We picked him up for £2.4m 2 seasons ago, and I thought he'd be a key player for us, but a lack of consistency saw him eventually become a bit-part player and I had no worries about letting him go for that price.

Ruben Jenssen - Midfield - £2m - Club Brugge

Not a huge transfer, but my old captain who did wonders for us when I first arrived. Was never going to feature with the strides we'd made, so let him go.

Total transfers out: 14 (ex. loans)

Total fees received: £86m

Ins:

Richard Klomp - Striker - £9m - Ajax

Looking to try and increase our Dutch player quota, I went in for Klomp. At 19 I think he looks phenomenal and could become a top top striker.

Davy Klaassen - Midfield - £13.75m (£15m) - Ajax

Signed very late into the window cause I had the funds to. Again looking to strengthen homegrown quota so we have better options in Europe. Probably will go straight into our first XI.

Emanuel Mammana - Defender - £14.75m (£17m) - Lyon

CB was a key area we needed to improve and with the funds we had I identified Mammana as a key target. Looks solid with room for some improvement, definitely a step up on what we had.

Godfred Donsah - Midfield - £8.5m (£10.25m) - Bologna

A more defensive minded midfielder was needed as we've lacked in that department since Sturaro left. Looks a tidy player and good value I reckon.

Guillermo Rivera - Defender - £975k - Atletico Nacional

RB that will likely jump straight into the first team to replace Fuentes. Another Wonderkid, so I have high hopes he can do well for us.

Juan Jesus - Defender - Free - Roma

Seemed silly not to bring in someone of this quality and experience for a free. Will provide excellent backup to CB and LB.

Total transfers in: 10

Total fees spent: £47.5m

August results

FC Groningen 1 - 0 NAC (JC Schaal)

ADO Den Haag 0 - 5 FC Groningen 

FC Groningen 4 - 0 Excelsior

PSV 0 - 1 FC Groningen 

NAC 1 - 2 FC Groningen 

FC Groningen 4 - 1 FC Twente

JC Schaal; another routine win in this cup. Not a lot else to say.

Eredivisie; awesome start to the season with 5 wins from 5, conceded 2 goals in the process but scoring 16. We still have some new faces settling in, especially in the midfield and defence departments, so hopefully we'll push on even better than last season, especially our shoddy away form.

Champions League; so should I stay, our group will consist of: Juventus, Porto and Shakhtar. Tough still being 4th seeds, and tough draw all round. We faced Shakhtar two seasons ago and they beat us 6-1 on agg. in the group stages, so some retribution there would be nice. We're yet to face both Juventus and Porto in any competitive games yet, so they'll be an interesting battle. A return for Fuentes when Porto visit. Semi-confident we can finish runners up. Even though we reached the final last season, I still don't think we're at a much higher quality than those sides.

Maupay bossing it early doors with 7 goals and 5 assists in 5 league games. I wonder if he can beat his last season's tally of 46 goals, I struggle to think he will!

[Guest Cannabis]

Will you be taking Maupay with you to your next club? I can't imagine not using him considering how many goals he seems to bang in for you!

Good to see you doing well with Gronigen but I agree that you need to move on, it's becoming a procession for you at the minute and it'd be nice for your career to have a bit of a challenge again. 

[Takyon]

Taking advantage of the free weekend on FM17. Does anyone have a club they recommend to get to grips with the game? I normally go with Hull but given the mess that our squad is I don't think it's a great option 

[Spike]

Reinstalled and uninstalled this yesterday. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Hull?

And I'm being serious as you might find it easier to get to grips with the game if you know your team inside out.

[Takyon]

1 minute ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Hull?

And I'm being serious as you might find it easier to get to grips with the game if you know your team inside out.

I guess that's true but I can see myself getting sacked quicker than Phelan  Will make a change from my most recent Hull game on 16 where we finished second in my first season that was a bit unrealistic 

[Toony]

Does anybody play the iPad version? FM Touch I think it's called.

It's good but obviously not as in-depth as the full version. I've started playing on it a bit recently, slightly easier I think but just as fun. Even has the 3D match engine.