Football Manager 2017 - General Chat

[Guest]

Something extraordinary has just happened.

 

I exit the game for a second, reloaded it and all of the sudden I have all the real names.

 

I think I had the file somewhere. Can't remember, but its bizzare how it would just activate.

 

[R-D]

1 hour ago, Cannabis said:

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. 

Yep I agree I do need to move on, hard to let go of a good thing though!

As for Maupay, I'd love to take him with me, but if I take the Benfica job (and they've just offered me it) he'd be up against Andrea Belotti and Bakary Konan. Also here is Maupay for comparison. Those three would be some attack though. Besides a few of our wonderkid youngsters, Maupay is the player I have the most interest in staying for, but who knows what a Jan transfer window will bring.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Takyon said:

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 

Southampton? 

Depends how much of a challenge you want. Maybe a League One or League Two team and rise up to the Premier League. Fleetwood? Plymouth? 

[Guest Cannabis]

1 hour ago, Takyon said:

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 

Newcastle United is probably a good shout if you want to get to grips with the game. They've got a team that should be able to push for promotion and have the funds required to bring in whoever you like, over the 46 game it would be considered a colossal failure if you were outside the Top 6.

That is presuming that you want to manage in the lower leagues, if you want to literally learn the game with an easy team then look no further than Bayern, Juventus or Chelsea.

[Guest]

If you want to get into the groove of things, I recommend Asia, the MLS or the Liga MX. Fun for short term saves, but usually not for long terms.

[Stan]

Just now, LaSambadeStGermain said:

If you want to get into the groove of things, I recommend Asia, the MLS or the Liga MX. Fun for short term saves, but usually not for long terms.

where he probably knows no players....

[Guest]

Just now, Romesh said:

where he probably knows no players....

China, the MLS and Liga MX has a lot of recognizable players.

[Toony]

14 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Newcastle United is probably a good shout if you want to get to grips with the game. They've got a team that should be able to push for promotion and have the funds required to bring in whoever you like, over the 46 game it would be considered a colossal failure if you were outside the Top 6.

That is presuming that you want to manage in the lower leagues, if you want to literally learn the game with an easy team then look no further than Bayern, Juventus or Chelsea.

It's not the cakewalk you'd expect with them though, I obviously went straight to them with them being the team I support and struggled and ended up getting sacked.

Though maybe that's just because I'm useless.

[Takyon]

25 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Newcastle United is probably a good shout if you want to get to grips with the game. They've got a team that should be able to push for promotion and have the funds required to bring in whoever you like, over the 46 game it would be considered a colossal failure if you were outside the Top 6.

That is presuming that you want to manage in the lower leagues, if you want to literally learn the game with an easy team then look no further than Bayern, Juventus or Chelsea.

That's a good shout actually cheers! The likes of Bayern are way too easy if you're not completely new to the game because you just steamroll your way to the title unless you fuck your tactics up colossally  

29 minutes ago, Romesh said:

Southampton? 

Depends how much of a challenge you want. Maybe a League One or League Two team and rise up to the Premier League. Fleetwood? Plymouth? 

I'll leave the lower leagues alone until I get to grips with the game because I was having a lot of struggles with the demo I wasn't having on 15 and 16 where I just hit the ground running. Wary about doing Southampton again because I had my best ever save with them on 15 and I don't think it could measure up. 

[Stan]

Southampton is a challenge in itself then ! 

[Takyon]

Just now, Romesh said:

Southampton is a challenge in itself then ! 

True! I might have to try and surpass my achievements with them once I get the hang of the game  

[Guest]

Quick update just because I've got to do some work now. I'll leave how I'm doing here.

 

Its July and Juan Diego Gutierrez has finally arrived! My assistant doesn't like him as an Enganche but I think he's excellent and has what he needs to play there as my judgement on him served me correctly. He's looked solid in his first game at the club. 6.8 rating, not a game changing performance but solid enough given its his debut.

 

Now as for the league, here is how things are going. For some odd reason my game changed all the names and the format, it could be something to do with a database update. I don't have a clue how its happened but oh well.

 

 

Up and down form for the most part but more green than red and that's always a good thing. The Kashima match where we lost 3-0 I'll admit had me worried as we were at home and then losing the next one wasn't great but as time went on I saw that things have massively improved from last season and that we are on good course. Where does this leave us in the table?

 

First! Quality first half of the season and we are first by 2 points. I honestly don't think we'll finish first come the end of the season but we've shown something this season and I can only see it improving with Juan Diego Gutierrez in the team. If I were to stick out and make a prediction, I'd say 2nd or 3rd. I'm not going to completely raise my expectation to win the league though as Kashima and Osaka are looking strong. I expect Vissel Kobe to fall soon and Urawa Red Diamonds to climb the table.

 

Okuno our top scorer of the league and Moreno in 3rd. Nice little partnership between them. They've been class. Oiwa is doing well in the right back position. I believe I haven't introduced him yet as he was part of the setup last year. Here he is.

 

He's about as good as Maruhashi. Better defensive skills, worse technical offensive skillos but all the speed in Japan to run down that flank and get a decent cross in. He's been very good, although Maruhashi also deserves credit. He was the LB I signed from Sakai as a refresher.

 

One last thing, I promised to post it at the end of last season.

 

A-League

 

 

Melbourne who were 1st ended up in 5th while Perth took it from Melbourne City and Sydney FC. I can't see who ended up as top scorer last season unfortunately. My money is on Besart Bersiha though as he's just lethal for that league. Could also have been Perth's Adam Taggart or Andy Keogh. Fornaroli is a shout too. Its all a guessing game at this point though. Anyways, Melbourne Victory won the finals series against Melbourne City in the final, they found a way to win it anyhow. Good for them!

[Dan+]

Results (March - May)

QPR (a) - Yet another away game, yet another what has become almost a routine win. 1-3 once again. This truly is unprecedented.
Ipswich (h) - I did fear we would choke in this game, and we did. We drew 1-1 after taking the lead, which isn't a disaster, but if we want that 6th spot then we're going to have to avoid another one of these.
Norwich (a) - Another draw, but it's a good result really. I didn't mind drawing with these away as they're a very good side, especially when we were missing our best defender Mark Roberts. 0-0 it ended.

Sheff Wed (h) - The good run started against our local rivals Sheffield Wednesday at their place, and I was hoping it would continue here. Sadly not. It's a third straight draw, and probably the biggest blow of the lot as these are one of the teams we need to gun down. It ended 0-0 again and truth be told we were lucky to draw.
Cardiff (h) - We got back to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win over strugglers Cardiff. But I think we'd probably started that bit too slowly to really catch the top six as everyone else kept winning. Still, this was 8 unbeaten, and just 1 loss in 17 league games. Quite remarkable.
Blackburn (a) - Similar game to the one at home to them, but there was no late Blackburn winner this time, it's another goalless draw, and an injuries to Armstrong & Roberts combined with another strong week for the teams above us left us needing a bit of a miracle.
Wigan (a) - But it's not over until it's over, already relegated Wigan were brushed aside 2-3.
Brentford (h) - Win or bust. Brentford are a team we need to gun down after their recent resurgence saw them go into the game 6th. We won 2-1 in yet another turbulent game against the West London club. They ended with ten men, we scored the winner from the resulting penalty and they had one saved even later on. Our thin hopes were kept alive with just three games to go.
Bristol City (a) - But sadly, this was the end of it. Our unbeaten run came to a very disappointing end against 23rd placed Bristol City, 1-0 it finished, leaving us 8 points off 6th with 2 games to go. It was one too many.
Burton (h) - A weakened Barnsley fell to pieces as my keeper got injured early doors, and I don't have one on the bench. A pretty awful way to lose our unbeaten run at home as stand-in keeper Michael Essien conceded twice with no reply. Not very fitting for us.

Newcastle (a) - Newcastle already champions, 7 won in a row and Barnsley with nothing to play for. We put in a very decent performance and netted 3 times, yet still lost it comfortably. Newcastle won 5-3, a game that emphasised the quality they have as they scored largely through individual brilliance whereas we scored through nice moves on the counter. This past two games would've angered me if we had anything to play for, but we didn't.

We finished 10th, a nice 13 places above where we were predicted, so I'm happy. It's a shame we couldn't keep it going, but it turned out we would've needed to win our final 7 games to have gotten in the play-offs so we were on a bit of a hiding to nothing. Really though, we weren't expected to be anywhere near this and I can only praise what was a very good season.

Next year for me will largely depend on the budget I get. The big problem is the fact I'm going to need to replace James and Armstrong and that will likely eat into my money.

I think I've finally found a save I'm really enjoying though, so onwards and upwards.

[Dan+]

Nakhi Wells is an absolute joke on this game. He's gotten 43 goals in 31 starts in the league for Huddersfield and another 3 in the play-off semis.

[Takyon]

2 minutes ago, Dan said:

Nakhi Wells is an absolute joke on this game. He's gotten 43 goals in 31 starts in the league for Huddersfield and another 3 in the play-off semis.

Just played Huddersfield and he was an absolute menace, made two goals out of nothing. 

[Dan+]

If I had sneaked up and they hadn't gone up I would've gone all out to get him in to replace Armstrong.

I need a pacey forward to spearhead my attack. It's paramount. Pacey forwards are big for me.

[Dave]

Nakhi Wells is an animal on my save too. Fired Huddersfield Town under Nigel Pearson to The Premiership. He's the modern version of Troy Deeney on this game.

Tenth's pretty good going Dan. A massive summer ahead of you in terms of replacing those that have arrived on loan. Even if you can't get Armstrong there would still be forwards like Ben Woodburn and Tammy Abraham you would be able to get without paying a loan fee.

RD's idea of adding screenshots with players name is a potential gamechanger in this thread just like when Cannabis introduced Gyazo.

[Dan+]

I've got my eye on Lys Mousset on loan as his stats look pretty strong as well but I wonder if there's better.

We do have quite a well balanced side and it's tough to know where exactly to strengthen. Above all it is James and Armstrong that need replacing but even then we don't have bad players in those positions. Saying that I like Bradshaw and I like Watkins, but not together, both were excellent with Armstrong but average with each other.

I also think my left winger Hedges could be improved upon. He's only 21 and actually did very well but his attributes are really average and it makes me wonder if it's a system bringing out the best in him rather than him being any good, so what if someone really good played there?

I'm probably going to get another centre half in too as my best one, Roberts, wants the defence strengthening and Macdonald & Jackson weren't THAT great (both starting poorly and improving). Pellenard was a revelation and has really improved, really happy with that signing at just £250k. Yiadom as well was very steady.

Ryan Williams is a player I under-used. He very nearly left in January but I ended up sticking with him and he really flourished. I'm expecting quite a big season from him.

Stephen Quinn proved to be a lot better in the middle than on the wing but the catch with him is he's not particularly young. I'll probably get another good year out of him but after that he'll decline, I intend to get Mowatt or Moncur in for him eventually. I can Moncur becoming our Andy King. A steady midfielder but never really good enough to hold down a place, but probably good enough to be in the squad.

I like R-D's idea as well but I just don't know how you do it anymore. I used to be able to but I'm not sure these days.

[Dan+]

Holy fuck. £3mil transfer budget and £100k a week in wages extra to play with. I think we ought to be aiming for the play-offs. That's some very decent money for a club like us. Granted it isn't massive in terms of this league anymore.

[Takyon]

July - August 2016

Transfers:

In:

Craig Bryson - £5m from Derby - I wanted to bring in another box to box midfielder as I felt we were lacking depth in the middle. Bryson ticks all the boxes as he has some great attributes plus he is versatile enough to play as an attacking midfielder if need be. The only sticking point is that at 29 he won't be a long term option so I'll probably be looking to replace him if we get promoted. 

Out:

Massimo Haidara - Loaned to Brentford - He won't see much first team action so I decided to let him play regularly in the hope he can develop some as he has decent potential.

Results:

Fulham (A) Won 1-0 - Not a great performance in my first competitive game but we stole a win in the dying embers of the game. Highlighted some issues which needed ironing out in my tactics.

Huddersfield (H) Won 6-2 - Fiddled about with my instructions a bit and it paid instant dividends as we were absolutely ruthless in front of goal where we had floundered against Fulham. 

Reading (H) Won 2-1 - All in all a rubbish game settled by three own goals but we got the rub of the green and three points with it.

Bristol City (A) Won 3-0 - A commanding performance from us and Bristol never really got a look in. 

Swindon Town (A) Won 2-1 AET - Rotated my first choice outfield players and naturally a very poor performance followed and we got lucky with a superb Mitrovic goal in the last few minutes of extra time. 

Brighton (H) Won 2-0 - Our first test against potential promotion candidates and we were excellent. Brighton didn't get a shot on target all game and we took our chances when they came. 

In our first month we've proven ourselves to be exceptionally tight defensively (except when we come up against Nakhi Wells), Lascelles and Mbemba have been imperious in at the back so far, I can't see us leaking too many goals. Going forward we tend to blow hot and cold and have benefited from some luck such as Reading's two own goals. We're very reliant on Ayoze Perez who's currently assisted over a third of our league goals. We have plenty of players who carry a goal threat but I'm worried we'll struggle to create chances if we lose Perez. 

A look at my first choice XI:

And the league table:

[Guest]

Proper post and reply to the others tomorrow.

I just finished my season though. Spoiler, we finished 3rd and qualified for the Asian Champions League.

[Dave]

Tammy Abraham just scored two goals on his Premier League debut and then damaged cruciate ligaments meaning he's out for the whole season

 

[Storts]

Mousa Dembele becomes an absolute beast

[Guest Cannabis]

46 minutes ago, Storts said:

Mouse Dembele becomes an absolute beast

I've heard he becomes Cat Dembele .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bah-Dum-Tis

[Storts]

1 minute ago, Cannabis said:

I've heard he becomes Cat Dembele .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bah-Dum-Tis

That was horrific!