FM10: Official FC Basel Thread - No! We're Not Wearing Barcelona's Kit!

[RomaRulez]

I got Paulista for €2.1M from Cruzerio. You may have to wait until your 2nd season to afford him. I'm sure Streller would do fine in his place until then and you can get about the same amount for Streller if you sell him. I haven't had another EC match since the 2 vs. Aston Villa. I have 2 left in the group stage. Currently I have 2 wins and 2 draws which puts me at the top of my group. Had I beaten Villa both times I would have qualified already.

[RomaRulez]

I've finished the first half of the 2010-2011 season and we're into the winter break. There's good news and bad news in Basel, but mostly good news.

In the Swiss Superleague we're currently 1st with 40 points, 4 points ahead of Young Boys. We're currently riding a 7 game SL winning streak, suffering our last loss on October 3rd to Zurich. We haven't secured a spot in next year's Champions League yet, but we're 10 points ahead of 3rd place so we have a pretty good chance.

In the EURO Cup we finished the group stage with 3 wins and 3 drawn, which was enough to qualify for the 1st knockout round. We take on Olympiakos from Greece next, which will be a tough team to beat. If we get past them we'll have to face either PSG from France or Frankfurt from Germany in the 2nd knockout round. Advancing out of the group stage was above my club's expectations, but I still expect to make the 2nd knockout round.

The bad news came in the Swiss Cup. One of the teams that always seems to play us tough is Sion, and they did so again by winning 2-0 in the third round to knock us out of the tournament. So we won't be repeating as SC champs and our board isn't too happy about it.

All these developments led me to think about what direction I want to take this team in? Am I happy just being one of the best teams in Switzerland who can occasionally make some noise in a UEFA tournament? Or do I want to be the best team in Switzerland that can regularly be a threat in the Champions League or to win the EURO Cup if we happen to be playing there instead? The answer of course is the latter, but how do I accomplish that?

The way obviously to make us true European Power is to try to attract world class players to come play in Basel. But our reputation and our wage budget are limiting to say the least. That won't stop me from trying...

We're almost to January which not only means an open transfer window, but it also means we can offer pre-contracts to players who are going to become free agents in the summer. I've decided to dump all my transfer budget this winter into the wage budget, then try to throw the whole checkbook at a player like Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, or Luca Toni. I've begun gushing about these guys in the press every chance I get to see if they become interested. To best honest I'd say my chances are slim to none of having success, and if it appears that by the end of January I won't be able to get those guys then I'm going to go after other highly ranked players who maybe don't carry the name recognition. Guys at the top of my list are Harry Kewell, Kakha Kaladze, Luis Jimenez, and Mark van Bommel, all of which seem more interested in coming to Switzerland.

If I do manage to entice someone then I'll probably have to sell a current player, and it'll pretty much be at whatever position I'm bringing someone in at. I'd even consider moving Frei or Paulista if I can somehow attract a world class ST.

If nothing works out in January then I'll go back to my transfer budget and see if I can make any deals in the 2nd half of the season. If not, the budget will hopefully carry over to next year and I can try again.

[RomaRulez]

BTW, I don't know if it helps or not, but another thing I'm trying to do is schedule friendlies against big name opponents. In January, in order to keep my players in game shape, I've scheduled friendlies with Tottenham, Man. City, Udinese, Lazio, and Beneficia. Doesn't matter to me how well we do in those matches, just that we play in them.

Anyone have any idea if this will help my team's stature?

[RomaRulez]

Ok so here are the moves that I made during the January break. I'm curious to hear what you guys think of some of these players, if you're familiar with them....

Transfers Out:

Scott Chipperfield - €45k to Charleroi

Samir Kouakbi - €100k to Le Mans UC 72

Mats Rits - Loaned to Aarau for €110k

Transfers In:

DMC/MC Fabricio - €2.5M from Cruzeiro

DL/WBL Marcello Oliveira - €1.9M from Corinthians

Future Transfers Scheduled For July 1st:

AMC Luis Jimenez in from Inter Milan

Defender Jiri Kladrubsky in from Sparta Prague

MC Gerardo Bedoya out to Cartagena

MR Marko Perovic out to Chievo

Fabricio is a 4 star MC who is good enough that some of my other MCs panicked and wondered to the press if they were going to get sold. Oliveira will become my #1 DL/WBL, despite Aron Liechti being a pleasant surprise and playing great all year. I've been very disappointed with Thomas Fontaine so I'm now trying to get rid of him but so far I haven't been able to. Jimenez will become the #1 AMC when he gets here (with his hefty contract). This was pretty much required as Kavianpour took some big steps backwards and is aging quickly. And Kladrubsky will be a rock at DC when he gets here as I've had trouble finding a decent partner for David Abraham.

In the friendlies I mentioned (plus an added one against Rubin Kazan), we lost the first three by one goal each. We then beat Rubin Kazan 4-1 and got a draw with Beneficia so pretty good results in all the matches.

Obviously I wasn't able to entice guys like Luca Toni or Thierry Henry. I offered all of them the max my board would allow and they all turned me down and signed elsewhere. Guess it's gonna have to be "baby steps". Improve the team to the point that they're the best in Switzerland and can hold their own in the EC and the Champions League. Pull off a Swiss double or triple if possible by winning in Europe and the Swiss Cup. Then hopefully our reputation - and our wallet will increase.

[joe__the__man]

BTW, I don't know if it helps or not, but another thing I'm trying to do is schedule friendlies against big name opponents. In January, in order to keep my players in game shape, I've scheduled friendlies with Tottenham, Man. City, Udinese, Lazio, and Beneficia. Doesn't matter to me how well we do in those matches, just that we play in them.

Anyone have any idea if this will help my team's stature?

It won't really do anything for team's stature, no, not if they're friendlies. You ought to be careful about playing such good opposition in friendlies as well, as consecutive defeats or non-winning streaks can really hurt morale. I'd mix it up a bit and play some poor opposition amongst the big names.

Good signing of Jimenez btw

[RomaRulez]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

[RomaRulez]

This mid-season break is killing me. We struggled coming out of it last year and we're off to a poor start this year. In our first league game after the break we took on Thun, who had 1 win and 4 points all year. They held us to a 0-0 draw. At least we didn't lose. The break is good for the health and rest of the players but it just kills any momentum and chemistry we had.

[RomaRulez]

Here's an interesting development. My chairman is quitting and we're in the process of a board takeover. I've never had one of these happen in one of my saves. What does it mean for my team?

[joe__the__man]

All depends who takes over. You could get a tycoon investing hundreds of millions, or you could get a measly chairman who wants to sack you...

[RomaRulez]

The good news is they haven't put a spending freeze on yet, which I believe they usually do during a takeover, correct?

[joe__the__man]

That's usually the case yeah. I'm guessing it's all just paper talk atm then, which means it might not happen for a while, or even at all...

[RomaRulez]

I guess. When I go to team information under Chairman Status it says in process of a takeover.

Our 2nd match after the January break produced the same results - a 0-0 draw at home against rivals Luzern. Next up is the 1st leg of the EURO Cup 1st knockout round vs. Olympiakos. We better figure out how to score quick....

[flogside]

Have you considered having a little change around with the tactics, nothing drastic, just tinker a little with them?! You may find against European opposition you may find your team plays better......then again they could play worse! Swap your attackers round perhaps, so swap your left striker to play on the right and vice versa. Other than that its just good team talk, tactics, training and a slice of luck. Good luck with Olympiakos, tough team!!!

[RomaRulez]

I'm afraid to mess with tactics because I'm still learning the game. In the Olympiakos match, after we fell behind 2-0, I gave a halftime team talk of "I expect more from you". The team came out and earned a 2-2 draw. Next up is rivals Zurich and then we head to Athens to finish the knockout round.

[flogside]

Nice comeback against Olympiakos! Im finally getting round to giving the game ago, work, baby and girlfriend/family commitments = no Fm for me lol

If your confident to mess with tactics then try squad rotation, a few new fresh faces may....well, freshen things up! Who's leading scorer for you at the moment!

[RomaRulez]

Paulista is the leading scorer, 1 ahead of Frei. But he got hurt in one of those friendlies in January and is out till March. That certainly hurt our ability to score.

[RomaRulez]

So I decided to take your advice and try my hand at a custom tactic again. What I did this time was use the Squad Analyzer to identify what role each player is strongest at, then develop the tactic to exactly fit that role. It's a bit unconventional but we'll see. Here's a screenshot:

Here are the positions/roles, excluding the GK:

Backline: Limited Defender Defend, Limited Defender Stopper

DMC: Defensive Midfielder Defend

Midfield: Ball Winning Midfielder Defend x 2, Winger Support

AMC: Attacking Midfielder Attack

Forwards: Deep Lying Forward Attack, Trequarista Attack, Advanced Forward Attack

Team Instructions:

Philosophy: Very Rigid

Starting Strategy: Overload

Passing: Shorter

Creative Freedom: More Expressive

Closing Down: Default

Tackling: Default

Marking: Zonal

Crossing: Default

Roaming: Stick to position

Primary Playmaker: ST3 (the ADV Forward, usually Frei)

Target Man: ST2 (the Trequarista, will be Paulista when he's healthy again)

Target Supply: To Head

Defensive Line: Very Deep

Width: Very Narrow

Tempo: Quick

Time Wasting: Rarely

Focus Passing: Through the middle

Counter: Yes

Play Offside: Yes

Set Pieces -

Corners: Mixed

Free Kicks: Best Header

Throw Ins: Quick

My thinking here is that I'll outnumber their defense with my forwards and midfielders, so let's go on the all out attack. But since my defense will be outnumbered by their guys let's keep everyone at their position and not let them roam much.

The results so far haven't been great, but I probably should have waited till the offseason to try this. But I didn't. So in a rivals game @ Zurich, our first with this tactic, we of course lost big, 3-0. Then we went to Athens, again a bad game to monkey with, and we lost 4-2, which knocks us out of the EURO Cup. If we hadn't already accomplished the goal of the board I would have switched back for the Olympiakos match. From here on out it's all SL matches so I'm just going to roll with this tactic and see if the players pick it up.

BTW, the reason Lnkoom is on the MR in a position he hasn't been trained for is that the squad analyzer says his best role is winger, so I'm training him on the position. He hasn't played as bad as some others in these first 2 games.

Of course as I've discussed before I'm still learning the game. If you guys see fundamental flaws in this setup, beyond the fact that there aren't many defenders, please let me know. I figure if I can't stop them from scoring I may as well try to outscore them.

[flogside]

When i said tweak......

I must say ive never seen a tactic like this before, id personally go for a less radical approach, espcially where defence is concerned, which is why i think you'll find you are conceding a few goals. Try and keep it a little bit more simple! Then again i am by no means a tactics pro at all so.

[RomaRulez]

The real problem with defense is Lnkoom. While he's been great as a WB/R, his skills seem to indicate he's best used as a MR Winger. According to the squad analyzer he's 10 points better as a MR then a defender. So I'm not sure what to do with him.

[flogside]

Use him as an attacking full back in games you are confident of winning, in ganes where you need to play more defensively then use a more defensive minded full back! All i can suggest!

[RomaRulez]

Thanks. I'll admit that if I get sacked it won't be the end of the world because I wouldn't mind starting the save over. When I originally created the save the OP is based on I didn't include any leagues from any countries besides Switzerland, which means no other teams are playing games except if they're involved in a tournament. Not very realistic. If I start a new save I'll turn on the major leagues in Europe and maybe even Brazil and Argentina.

But before I just totally give up and start over I'll try to tinker more with the tactic to see if I can make it more defensive. We certainly are conceding lots of goals with it.

[RomaRulez]

Ok, I came to my senses a bit. I don't WANT to get sacked. So I decided to try to develop something a bit more sensible yet still takes advantage of my best player's strengths. Here's what I came up with:

Positions/Roles:

DL/DR: Wing Back Automatic

DC: Limited Defender Defend

DMC: Defensive Midfielder Defend

MC1: Central Midfielder Attack

MC2: Deep Lying Playmaker Defend

MC3: Ball Winning Midfielder Support

AMC: Attacking Midfielder Attack

ST1: Trequarista

ST2: Deep Lying Forward Attack

Primary Playmaker: AMC

Target Man: ST2 (Frei usually)

Philosophy: Rigid

Strategy: Attacking

Passing: Direct

Freedom: Expressive

Marking: Zonal

Closing Down/Tackling/Crossing/Roaming: Default

Def. Line: Slightly deep

Width: Very narrow

Tempo: Slightly slow

Time Wasting: Rarely

Focus Passing: Middle

Counter Attack/Play Offside: Yes

Set Pieces:

Corners: 6 yard back (I set my best header to cover the keeper and my 2 tallest players to attack from deep)

Free Kicks: Best header

Throw Ins: Quick

I didn't mess with any of the individual player settings beyond setting the role. I'd be curious to hear if you think this is a better tactic to play?

In our first match with it, on the road at Xamax we were in complete control with a 2-0 lead having only allowed 4 shots. Then Gelabert was sent off and Castaignos was injured and I had already used my 3 subs so I was playing down 2 men. Xamax came back to win 3-2 in the final 12+ minutes. Needless to say I wasn't happy.

In other news the talk of the Basel takeover continues. Looks like our managing partner is trying to buy control of the team. Also, we signed a very good looking young goalkeeper named Paulo from Botafogo in Brazil for €100k. Since he's only 15 he can't join the team until August of 2013, but at least we have a replacement for Costanzo in a few years. All my scouts rate him as 4 star potential.

Paulista will finally be back from his injury in a week or so. Akrour has played well in his stead, scoring both goals in that Xamax loss, but the tactic was really designed with Paulista and Frei in mind. He can't return soon enough for my taste. We've now lost 4 in a row and haven't won in 8. We've fallen to 2nd in the SL and 3rd place Zurich as caught us.

[RomaRulez]

Finally broke our 8 game winless streak with a 3-0 beating of Aarau. Probably not a coincidence that it was Paulista's first game back from injury, and of course he scored a goal. This team seems even more reliant on his play then on Frei's or anyone else's. We needed the win because Zurich also won so we remained tied with them, 2 points behind 1st place.

[RomaRulez]

After the Aarau win we tied St. Gallen (fans didn't like that), then went on the road and beat league leading Young Boys 3-0. Looks like the team is taking to the new tactic. We're even seeing great games from normally quiet players. MC Rodrigo Possebon picked up 2 goals in that Young Boys game.

Only 9 SL games left and we're 2 points behind Young Boys. Can we win the title?

[RomaRulez]

And the board takeover collapsed. Guess we're not going to have a new chairman yet....

[Martvb60]

Great thread gollum65 I am enjoying following your Swiss adventure. I think you are doing great for someone new to football and the FM series.

I did have a chuckle at your custom formation which looked very lopsided and light at the back.

What Squad analyzer tool are you using?

Also I think you may still have some defensive problems with your defence in your latest tactic with only one DC. in my experience it is difficult to play with a back 3 made up of 2 full backs and 1 DC unless they are world class defenders. Do you not find the opposition creating chances against your DC if they are playing with 2 up front? Strangley enough if you play with 3 DC it seems to work as the outer two DC move out to cover full back positions, just my opinion and food for thought for you.

KUTGW

[RomaRulez]

Thanks for the comments. I'm using this squad analyzer: http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=184764 If you know a better one please post a link as I'd like to try to compare their results.

The new tactic does seem to be a bit weak on defense but I am hoping to outscore most opponents. So far so good, until the last game I just played. I fell behind Sion 2-0 at the 57 minute mark and the team was playing terrible. So in a bit of a panic move I switched to a "Barcelona Style 4-3-3" from this thread: http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=182669 and we came back to win 3-2!

So now I'm thinking that I still stink at making tactics and I should trust more knowledgeable people and try to find one that works. We're still in the hunt for the SL title, just 1 point off the lead. I'll probably try this Barca tactic for a few games to see how it plays.

[RomaRulez]

So far the team is playing the best with this new tactic as with any I've tried before. After the Sion comeback they beat Xamax 1-0 then league leading Young Boys 2-1. The victory over YB put Basel back into the Superleague lead with 3 matches to go in the season. It's still going to be a tight race though as Basel, Young Boys, Grasshoppers, Sion, & Zurich are all within 5 points of each other. We have 2 straight road games left before we end up at home vs. St. Gallen. The only game left vs. a title challenger is the 2nd game @ Grasshoppers.

[RomaRulez]

Results (1 game remaining):

Basel 2-0 Aarau

Basel 1-0 Grasshoppers

The Grasshoppers win gives Basel the Superleague Championship!

[RomaRulez]

We finished the season with a 0-0 draw with St. Gallen. Played all kids as the result didn't matter for either team. We were league champs and they were going to have to play a relegation playoff even if they won. They didn't beat us, and they didn't win the playoff and got relegated.

We're into June now and the players are already coming back for summer training. There are 2 semi-big bits of news. First off we're seeing talk of a board takeover again. Maybe it'll go through this time. And secondly I'm trying to find a new DR/WB R to replace Lnkoom. While he's been good for me, he's not an EU citizen and because of Swiss League rules I keep having to rotate one foreign player out every game. He's the one I can spare the most. So I'm trying to acquire a comparable EU citizen who can play the position. No luck yet, but I'm waiting to see if I get a new transfer budget.

[RomaRulez]

Into July now and only a week or so till the start of the 2011-2012 Superleague season. We've been made favorites to repeat as league champs, so the pressure is on.

Lnkoom was sent to Gladbach in Germany for 1.8M. In his place we picked up 17 year old phenom Bernd Meibner from Hertha in Germany. A bit on the young side but he's already good enough to start for me and when he finishes developing he may be the best player on the squad. I'll try to post a screenshot of him when I get a chance. He cost me 3.2M but if he develops right he should be worth the price.

[RomaRulez]

[RomaRulez]

Updated the image of Bernd's attributes. Looks like a possible future team captain too?

[RomaRulez]

We've reached the start of the 2011-2012 season. In addition to signing almost all my scouts & coaches to contract extensions I also got Frei, Abraham, Paulista, and Fabricio to sign new contracts so the core of the team isn't going anywhere. Here's the starting XI for the season:

GK: Costanzo

DL: Kladrubsky

DR: Meibner

DC: Abraham

DC: Baris

MC: Fabricio

MC: Azofeifa

MC: Gelabert

AMC: Jimenez

ST: Paulista

ST: Frei

I'm back to using the Pozatti 4-3-1-2 as it best fits the players I have right now. Hopefully they'll play well. We need to make a name for ourselves in the Champions League this year.

[RomaRulez]

We've finished the first month of play in the '11-'12 season and it's been an eventful one. We opened up the Superleague season with an ugly 3-1 loss to Sion, and it really wasn't that close. Since that loss we turned things around, winning 3 games and drawing 1. In those 4 matches we've only conceded 2 goals.

In other news the Basel takeover is complete with our former Managing Director buying the club. Our former chairman is no longer with the club. No indication yet on what that means for the team financially. Hopefully this new guy has lots of money.

We should be entering into the Champions League in August and the board expects us to reach the playoff. Hopefully we can accomplish that goal at least.

[RomaRulez]

Another month gone in the 2011-2012 Basel season and it was one of our best ever. Basel won 3, lost none, and had 1 draw in August. We outscored our SL opponents by a combined 10-2 score for the month. Basel players swept the top 3 players of the month for the Superleague, with newcomer Luis Jimenez picking up the award (Zanni was 2nd, Paulista 3rd).

We haven't started Champions League play yet, but we've been seeded for our group and it won't be easy. We have to take on Austria Wien, Shakhtar from the Ukraine, and Spain's powerhouse Barcelona. And yes, Barca still has Messi so even getting a draw in Basel is probably out of the question. That means we have to find a way to earn points against the other 2 teams if we want to make it out of the group stage.

We had a busy month in the transfer market. Even before we were seeded in the Champions League group stage I was concerned that none of the DCs on the team were good enough to help us earn much success, and my AssMan was saying we really needed to bolster the defensive line if we wanted to even win the SL.

So I went out and paid the highest transfer fee yet to bring in one of the top young DCs in the game, Darnel Situ from Lens in France. And so far he hasn't disappointed me, putting up a 7.35 rating in his first 2 matches.

After acquiring Situ I sent a few guys packing, most of which were asking to leave anyway. Randall Azoufeifa was sent to Sturm Graz in Austria for 825k. Azoufeifa had been pretty angry since I brought in Fabricio and Jimenez as he felt he wouldn't get playing time anymore. I did my best to appease him but he still demanded a transfer so I gave it to him. Considering that I got him for 90k from AA Gent I think I made a pretty good profit on him. We also got rid of Fabian Frei for 350k to Sunderland as I really didn't have an opening to play him in the near future. I also tried to offload one or 2 DCs but nobody was interested yet.

In back room news the new chairman told me that no additional money would be available, but I did get him to agree to improve our already excellent youth facilities, and to add a new commercial link with a team in China.

If there's any bad news in Basel right now it's that half of our defensive line were injured in our last match with Meibner and Oliveria going down and both will probably miss our first match in the Champions league. But we're deep enough to still play well (I hope) against Wien at home on Sept. 14th.

Also, out of the blue starting goalkeeper Franco Costanzo went to the media and demanded a transfer to a bigger team. I got him to back down on the demand, but I'm probably going to start looking to replace him somehow if I can. I mentioned above that I have a prospect named Paolo coming soon but he can't even transfer for 18 months. I still have Sommer and a few decent young keepers but if I'm going to part with Costanzo it will have to be for an upgrade.

[RomaRulez]

BTW, I paid 6.25M for Situ.

[RomaRulez]

Off to a terrific start in the Champions League!

And on top of that Barcelona had to settle for a draw with Shakhtar so we're leading our group after 1 match.

[RomaRulez]

It was a busy 14 days for Basel following the victory over Wien. 7 days later they went on the road in the Swiss Cup against a lower league team, and in order to rest my best players I dressed mostly reserve and U18 players. We still won 5-0. Three days after that game we had to go into Zurich. We gave up a goal in the 80th minute to settle for a 1-1 draw, and Grasshoppers won to take over the SL lead. Then three days after the Zurich match we had to go into Barcelona to face Messi AND Ribery! Yikes! Well, we played a pretty good game against them but still suffered a 1-0 loss. To be honest I expected worse.

Next up in the Champions League is Shakhtar and we really need at least a draw against them. At least it'll be a home game.

[RomaRulez]

I think I had posted someplace earlier in the thread that if Basel sacked me for any reason it wouldn't be the end of the world because I had kind of screwed up the game setup when I started the save. My reserve team wasn't playing. I hadn't included any nations besides Switzerland, so no players from any teams around the world were playing at all unless they were involved in international play or UEFA competitions. If I were given a chance to restart the save I would do so with a more intelligent setup.

Well, now I have that chance. Costanzo had again asked for a transfer so I started looking for a new goalkeeper. I asked the board for more transfer funds and they threatened to sack me if I didn't shut up. So I issued an ultimatum, fully expecting them to sack me for it and they did.

Fine by me. I'm going to start a new Basel save, but this time I'm going to have the top 2 leagues in each of the following countries outside Switzerland playing:

England

Germany

Italy

Spain

France

Denmark (Since Netherlands isn't in the game)

Greece

Portugal

Brazil

Argentina

Croatia

South Africa (since Egypt isn't in the game)

Serbia

Russia

Chile

These are the top 15 soccer nations according to Fifa's world rankings, plus of course Switzerland. My computer is fast. It can handle it.

Because of Switzerland's rules about foreign players I am going to try to pay more attention to signing EU nationals this time around so I don't run into some of the selection issues I had in my 2nd and 3rd seasons the first time around.

[RomaRulez]

Ok, so maybe my computer isn't that fast. I changed the above list to just the top leagues plus national cups in:

Brazil

Argentina

Russia

Germany

France

England

Spain

Portugal

Italy

Switzerland

Australia

Greece

I also started as an unemployed manager in Brazil in December, 2008 so I can take over Basel in time to ensure their reserve and U18 teams are enrolled in leagues (I hope).

The interesting question is what transfers will the AI make before I get to the team? I'll post a roster when I get to the team.

[Martvb60]

I am still reading gollum65 good luck in your new game. Why didnt you just start at Basel rather than unemployed? Looks like it is just me and thee tho lol

[RomaRulez]

Yeah, I'm working on it. Having some trouble getting it setup the way I want. More info today or tomorrow. Thanks for continuing to read.