FM10 - Constructing Teams With Limitations Is A Lot More Fun!!

[deejay10]

Playing a game with unique requirements or restrictions ? Such as building an all Italian Milan side, a physical, athletic, aerially strong Stoke team ? A home grown Sporting team, a 4-3-3 youth academy dependant Ajax ? Then this is the thread to talk about it.

However if you're Aston Villa and Milner, Young, Downing etc have all been sold off in 2 seasons to be replaced by foreign stars, or Arsenal and spending £50m+ per transfer window, or playing anywhere else but Portugal and Veloso and Moutinho are your CM partnership, with Fazio and Sakho your CB partnership, then this is most certainly NOT the thread for you.

No bragging about Champions League success here, unless you've done it in the RIGHT way!

Basically I HATE going to every team and buying the same old players, building similar multinational squads and achieving all dominant success within 2-3 seasons for top flight clubs. Unique restrictions keep me interested, and give each game its own unique style and different challenge.

So anyone who is employing specific restrictions and styles with different clubs...tell us about it in this thread!

[Wilson7]

nice idea

[joe__the__man]

I don't follow my rules perfectly, but I always limit my transfer and wage spends to low amounts. I'm also trying to build a French side (with Lyon), but as many academy graduates in the side as are decent, but I don't think this thread is for me as I get distracted too easily

That, and I have Fazio and Sakho as my first choice centre backs

[polskaGOLA]

I am currently playing as Athletic Club Bilbao, and as you know, I am restricted to only using Basque players.

My other save is with Anderlecht, my goal is to create a Belgium Ajax, and produce tons and tons of youth.

I agree that self imposed limitations are a ton of fun, only problem is that I don't always follow them to the letter.

[deejay10]

I am currently playing as Athletic Club Bilbao, and as you know, I am restricted to only using Basque players.

My other save is with Anderlecht, my goal is to create a Belgium Ajax, and produce tons and tons of youth.

I agree that self imposed limitations are a ton of fun, only problem is that I don't always follow them to the letter.

Yup I don't always follow them exactly to the letter, but use them more as a general guideline.

That Belgian challenge looks interesting, as its one I was considering too. Have you found many other Belgian prospects to accompany Lukaku ? The Belgian national side has a bright future with Lukaku, Hazard, Vermaelen, Defour, Fellaini etc.

And of course, Athletic Bilbao are one of my favourite teams in real life because of their Basque only policy, and the way they use their Cantera.

Keep up the good work!

[TacticalGenius]

I'm also playing as Athletic Club, just got through the 1st season, finishing 3rd and winning both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey.

UCL here I come

Following that, I'm thinking of a u19's only team. Not sure who to use as a base team atm. Possibly Arsenal, but the Work Permit thing makes difficult with foreign wonderkids, etc.

[Welshace]

started a burnley save where i buy burnley like players... by this i have restricted my buying to fringe prem players and lower league players and only slightly obscure foreigners without huge reputations... all have to be able to help with the build up play and be attacking.. and all must have high workrate, teamwork and determination and also composure if possible

suprisingly the likes of eagles, blake and fletcher are superb... as are carlisle and the beast in goal

[el sid]

I'm also playing as Athletic Club, just got through the 1st season, finishing 3rd and winning both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey.

UCL here I come

Following that, I'm thinking of a u19's only team. Not sure who to use as a base team atm. Possibly Arsenal, but the Work Permit thing makes difficult with foreign wonderkids, etc.

u19's don't have to be registered iirc

[joe__the__man]

all must have high workrate, teamwork and determination and also composure

standard...

[TacticalGenius]

u19's don't have to be registered iirc

No. But there are still Work Permit issues, i.e. getting them into the country.

[deejay10]

I'm also playing as Athletic Club, just got through the 1st season, finishing 3rd and winning both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey.

UCL here I come

Following that, I'm thinking of a u19's only team. Not sure who to use as a base team atm. Possibly Arsenal, but the Work Permit thing makes difficult with foreign wonderkids, etc.

Hmm the U19's only team I wouldn't really agree with, as its pretty unrealistic in real life to have a whole team comprised of such young players. Definitely need to have some experienced players in there tutoring.

[TacticalGenius]

Hmm the U19's only team I wouldn't really agree with, as its pretty unrealistic in real life to have a whole team comprised of such young players. Definitely need to have some experienced players in there tutoring.

Hmm. Some truth in that.

I'm thinking of doing something with Chester City, as they no longer exist. But what, I'm not too sure.

[Falahk]

if i have a basic knowledge of a club, I pretty much always try to "play in character" with the team i manage, both when it comes to signing polecy and playing style

[TacticalGenius]

I'm going to start again with Arsenal, but I'm going to rely on their own resources only, i.e not buying anyone (besides Martinez and Silva, but they're already coming in the DB, so that don't count ). Just relying on the 1st team, reserves and whatever comes through the academy. Should be interesting.

[BoobyBlah]

Usually, or lately anyway, when I have been starting matches, I will choose two nationalities and try and make the team entirely out of them.

Eg, I made an Atletico team with only Spanish and French players in. I think little restrictions like that make it more interesting.

[JEinchy]

I agree with the OP here. While people play the game how they want to, I do find it annyoing when I'm flicking through some of the team guides here and finding that people are constantly signing the same players over and over and over. This isn't the place to complain though.

I'm going to be Southend United, and restrict myself to only British players. At some point, I will restrict myself further and stick with English players only.

[Ville Valo]

This isn't a huge restriction on my game, however, on my Man Utd game, I don't spend more that £30 million a season on players, nor spend over £15 mill on an individual player. I've never been one to spend £50 million on someone like Aguero, when a player I already have will give me a similar return.

[german_wunderkind]

im gonna try the belgian challenge but dont know which team i´should take...

obviously anderlecht is the best cause they have lukaku but what about standard or club brugge?

[german_wunderkind]

anyways i chose standard. playing 4-3-3.

[RomaRulez]

Glad you decided to start your own thread. You're certainly correct that using self imposed restrictions to build a winning team gives a certain sense of accomplishment you don't get otherwise.

Many clubs in FM are severly restrictive in their budgets, so in some ways the game imposes some limits on you. Although I see a lot of people purchasing players on 48 month payment plans, which I guess gets them around the budget problem. Not a way I choose to manage the finances on my teams, but if it works for them...

I'm currently running an FC Basel save and am maintaining a thread on the forum about it and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm not really restricting myself in any way because between the low budget in Basel and the Swiss Superleague limits on foreign players, plus the club's low international stature, I can't exactly go out and pick up Rooney if I wanted to. So in this case the game is pretty much imposing restrictions on me.

But I've been looking to start an alternate save just to have fun with to try to win one of the major European leagues and the Champion's league. I've been having trouble finding a team that interests me. I'm American and I've just starting paying attention to the real football this last few months. So I'm going to use this thread to inspire me to start my new venture. I just have to figure out what type of endeavor I want to undertake.

My first ideas are either to take Roma and eventually build an all Italian side, or to start with an EPL, Serie A, or La Liga team that is maybe a title contender now, but due to age is likely to fall quickly and rebuild it with youth (from my academy and from other nations). The first team that comes to mind for the 2nd option would be AC Milan, but I'm not sure if they're really a good candidate due to the big budget the team comes with. What would you recommend?

I'd like a team that I don't have to do a lot of tinkering with right off the bat. One problem I've been having with picking a team is that none of the ones I've looked at seem really good enough to even accomplish the goals the team has set for them.

But probably my biggest problem is that because I'm new to the game I don't really have a firm understanding of the tactics and player roles yet. So either I have to use a tactic someone else has made, or I have to try to figure out how to make my own to suit my team. If you've read my Basel thread you know it's an issue I'm really struggling with.

Looking forward to reading your ideas.

[polskaGOLA]

im gonna try the belgian challenge but dont know which team i´should take...

obviously anderlecht is the best cause they have lukaku but what about standard or club brugge?

I am playing as Anderlecht.

Even though Anderlecht has Lukaku, Standard and Club Brugge IMO have much better squads. Not to mention Anderlecht has little talent coming out of the youth system, which means you will need to buy alot of youth players for the future.

To be honest, I think I am having more fun with Anderlecht than I would be with Standard or Club Brugge.

Also note in Belgium, there is absalutely 0 restrictions with buying players. No work permits or anything. You can pluck as much Latin American and African talent you want.

[german_wunderkind]

I am playing as Anderlecht.

Even though Anderlecht has Lukaku, Standard and Club Brugge IMO have much better squads. Not to mention Anderlecht has little talent coming out of the youth system, which means you will need to buy alot of youth players for the future.

To be honest, I think I am having more fun with Anderlecht than I would be with Standard or Club Brugge.

Also note in Belgium, there is absalutely 0 restrictions with buying players. No work permits or anything. You can pluck as much Latin American and African talent you want.

im enjoying life at standard atm. hopefully some budget for the january transfer window. some talent in the youth squads but mainly foreigners so im gonna loan them out n sell them when its best.

im not gonna buy any players that r not at least partial belgians

[polskaGOLA]

^Yah, I bought my fair share of Belgium youth as well.

So now my U-21 squad is like 60% foreign and my U-19 squad is 95% Belgium.

[Dutch Delight]

Great thread, although people are free to play the game how they want to I've always preferred to keep things realistic and make it more of a challenge.

I'm about to start a new save with my hometown club FC Utrecht. I've decided to only sign players who have Dutch as their native tongue, so that restricts me to players with a Dutch or Belgian nationality. The original squad doesn't have too many foreigners but it will be difficult to start competing with the big boys and even more difficult to stay at the top, hopefully making this a long lasting game.

[Purefun]

I always have a game where I buy only french players.

[polskaGOLA]

Speaking of which, what is the language of Anderlecht? Dutch or French?

[german_wunderkind]

you could go with both for anderlecht since its very close to brussels iirc

[polskaGOLA]

No, I was wondering what would be the language the team communicates with, because when signing players there is the squad problem "Player X is having troubles communicating due to not speaking Y"

[Skinaldo]

I always do this when managing in brazil . I sign only Brazilian players and staff and invest heavily in training and youth facilities ! Then I promote all my youngsters and develop them. It's so much fun

[Slothuus]

No, I was wondering what would be the language the team communicates with, because when signing players there is the squad problem "Player X is having troubles communicating due to not speaking Y"

I'm pretty sure it's Dutch formally, but I think they use both French and Dutch (and English) in practice.

[Jovetic]

started with juve...im play like arsenal..sold all old player and buy all wonderkid...my average age is 23...going to top of the europe again later...ngee..

[lfc7]

After my current save with my beloved Liverpool (were i have bought whoever i could afford basically) i am going to have a save were i just have more or less british players at the club like in the old days i.e

Daglish, Hansen, Yeats, Liddell (Scottish)

Rush (Welsh)

Barnes, Hunt, Clemence, Callaghan (English)

Just to name a few

Ive never done it before so am looking forward to it i might also restict how much i spend on each player

[adamc81]

Nice thread, i always set myself restrictions when playing. Being a Liverpool fan i usually play as them and try to develop my own talent and resisting the big buys. Just gets boring turning Liverpool into a Man City or Chelsea style culture and losing the Liverpool identity.

At the min am playing as Nottingham Forest and keeping it very much old school by playing a standard 4-4-2 formation with 2 wingers and 2 Centre mids. Am also keeping all purchases very much Brirish like in the great Brian Clough's era. Still in 1st season but am in the hunt for promotion; not sure how my tactics would hold up in the Prem tho, just hope i am able to get there this season.

[adamc81]

After my current save with my beloved Liverpool (were i have bought whoever i could afford basically) i am going to have a save were i just have more or less british players at the club like in the old days i.e

Daglish, Hansen, Yeats, Liddell (Scottish)

Rush (Welsh)

Barnes, Hunt, Clemence, Callaghan (English)

Just to name a few

Ive never done it before so am looking forward to it i might also restict how much i spend on each player

I think you will enjoy it more, my last liverpool save was like that and really enjoyed it. Think i would still be playing it now some 6 seasons in if all knowledge of my new stadium hadn't disappeared along with listing me in the Hall of Fame well down on where i should have been.

[bawbag the gr8]

I'm struggling to get into a game at the moment, so I think I'm going to try to recreate my FM09 successes with Milan using an only Italian side. However, if I get desperate I might only restrict myself to European players for the first season until I can sign enough Italians.

[ThePrawn]

I always have a game where I buy only french players.

who are you arsenal?

[bawbag the gr8]

I'm struggling to get into a game at the moment, so I think I'm going to try to recreate my FM09 successes with Milan using an only Italian side. However, if I get desperate I might only restrict myself to European players for the first season until I can sign enough Italians.

I've also decided to only sign players with Italian as a first nationality, and have released all foreign staff members.

[lfc7]

I posted above that i was going to start a Liverpool save in the future and look on buying just British maybe HG players well i have decided to start it now

There will be 1 exception Torres no way am getting rid of him the likes of Reina, Mascherano e.t.c will be replaced as i progress

I would like opinions on the following please: If i get a yth player coming through my academy a few seasons in who is say Spanish should i get rid of him or as he has come through the academy keep him as he would be HG but on the other hand Insua who is at the club and HG now i would be looking to sell

I am not going to be buying the likes of Lukaku and having them as HG as it is too easy just thinking the only HG players i would aloow are English ones or players that come through the academy and i could only buy English regens from other clubs

Thanks

[Skinaldo]

I'd sell unless was reallygood and try convert him to play for England

[dburns647]

Inspired by this thread i did the following

Started a new game with Liverpool where i swapped all the foreign players for a british player and ended up with these squads:

Senior

Reserve

U18

Torres

Mascherano

Reina

And i'm not allowed to buy any non-british players at all and should any come through the academy they will be sold or released..also sacked all non-british staff

Staff

[deejay10]

I started this thread because I prefer playing my games as realistically as possible based on the club's stature, culture, objectives, finances etc.

In addition to that, sometimes little limitations on transfer policy add interest to the games.

So for example I tend to make my squads predominantly the resident nationality, but sometimes if a foreign player is available who can slot into the squad easily, and fits into the club's ethos and mentality, then I'll sign him, no problem.

Tactical Genius...that Chester City game would be interesting if you managed to build the squad around a small nuclues, maybe 5-6 of local NW England born players.

Falahk...yup that's what I try to do on every game I play on FM.

Gollum...maybe try that Milan challenge, but restrict yourself to only 1, max 2 first team signings a season, and only release senior players when they are not physically able to cope at the highest level, and encourage them to move into coaching with you. This will allow a gradual change in the squad, whilst keeping the older players around for the Milan tradition. Each signing would have to be very carefully considered.

German wunderkind...remember Belgian teams have a history of bringing through unknown but talented African players as well, be sure to scout Africa and maybe South/Central America alongside looking for those young Belgian talents.

Jovetic...I don't really agree with that as its very unrealistic to have a whole team of wonderkids. Even Arsenal have Gallas, Campbell, Silvestre, Arshavin around as senior players.

Adamc81...I like that idea. Having a strict tactical ethos for the whole club, and only signing players who fit into it.

Lfc7...I think its pretty unrealistic to sell all your top players just because they are foreign, Reina and Mascherano are top, top players. Instead maybe try to nurture a future group of home grown players, alongside maybe a more British focused transfer policy. At a club the size of Liverpool, an only British policy would probably be too restrictive at the highest level.

If a youth player has come through your youth academy, don't sell just because he is foreign. By the time he is ready for first team football, the culture of the club and city will be fully engrained in him, and he will be as home grown as one of your British youth prospects.

Basically my idea is for realism and subtle limitations. There is no use having a British only policy, if you then aggressively pursue every single British talent around. You'll be spending just as much in the transfer market as chasing every foreign talent around. Notice Martin O'Neill has still bought the odd foreign player, but he's made sure they all speak good english and are well adapted to the English culture, so can get on well with his British favoured squad.

Also I'm surprised nobody has mentioned player styles and personalities yet. How about building an entire team of model professionals, or physical beasts ?

PS...I wanted to put posters names in BOLD, how do I do that ??

[lfc7]

Lfc7...I think its pretty unrealistic to sell all your top players just because they are foreign, Reina and Mascherano are top, top players. Instead maybe try to nurture a future group of home grown players, alongside maybe a more British focused transfer policy. At a club the size of Liverpool, an only British policy would probably be too restrictive at the highest level.

If a youth player has come through your youth academy, don't sell just because he is foreign. By the time he is ready for first team football, the culture of the club and city will be fully engrained in him, and he will be as home grown as one of your British youth prospects.

Basically my idea is for realism and subtle limitations. There is no use having a British only policy, if you then aggressively pursue every single British talent around. You'll be spending just as much in the transfer market as chasing every foreign talent around. Notice Martin O'Neill has still bought the odd foreign player, but he's made sure they all speak good english and are well adapted to the English culture, so can get on well with his British favoured squad.

Also I'm surprised nobody has mentioned player styles and personalities yet. How about building an entire team of model professionals, or physical beasts ?

PS...I wanted to put posters names in BOLD, how do I do that ??

Thanks

[lfc7]

I think i will keep Torres, Mascherano and Reina and make my squad maybe 90% British with the odd foreign player here and there but i am going to resist buying the likes of Lukaku e.t.c as my HG players for the future maybe have academy players and the odd foreign regens

[Slothuus]

Another way of doing it a bit more realistic is to use retired players (club legends) as your manager profile... Instead of your own profile, use Enzo Scifo for Anderlecht, Tony Yeboah for Leeds etc. etc.

[ballinisahabit]

I started this thread because I prefer playing my games as realistically as possible based on the club's stature, culture, objectives, finances etc.

In addition to that, sometimes little limitations on transfer policy add interest to the games.

So for example I tend to make my squads predominantly the resident nationality, but sometimes if a foreign player is available who can slot into the squad easily, and fits into the club's ethos and mentality, then I'll sign him, no problem.

Tactical Genius...that Chester City game would be interesting if you managed to build the squad around a small nuclues, maybe 5-6 of local NW England born players.

Falahk...yup that's what I try to do on every game I play on FM.

Gollum...maybe try that Milan challenge, but restrict yourself to only 1, max 2 first team signings a season, and only release senior players when they are not physically able to cope at the highest level, and encourage them to move into coaching with you. This will allow a gradual change in the squad, whilst keeping the older players around for the Milan tradition. Each signing would have to be very carefully considered.

German wunderkind...remember Belgian teams have a history of bringing through unknown but talented African players as well, be sure to scout Africa and maybe South/Central America alongside looking for those young Belgian talents.

Jovetic...I don't really agree with that as its very unrealistic to have a whole team of wonderkids. Even Arsenal have Gallas, Campbell, Silvestre, Arshavin around as senior players.

Adamc81...I like that idea. Having a strict tactical ethos for the whole club, and only signing players who fit into it.

Lfc7...I think its pretty unrealistic to sell all your top players just because they are foreign, Reina and Mascherano are top, top players. Instead maybe try to nurture a future group of home grown players, alongside maybe a more British focused transfer policy. At a club the size of Liverpool, an only British policy would probably be too restrictive at the highest level.

If a youth player has come through your youth academy, don't sell just because he is foreign. By the time he is ready for first team football, the culture of the club and city will be fully engrained in him, and he will be as home grown as one of your British youth prospects.

Basically my idea is for realism and subtle limitations. There is no use having a British only policy, if you then aggressively pursue every single British talent around. You'll be spending just as much in the transfer market as chasing every foreign talent around. Notice Martin O'Neill has still bought the odd foreign player, but he's made sure they all speak good english and are well adapted to the English culture, so can get on well with his British favoured squad.

Also I'm surprised nobody has mentioned player styles and personalities yet. How about building an entire team of model professionals, or physical beasts ?

PS...I wanted to put posters names in BOLD, how do I do that ??

[ b ] remove the spaces [ / b ]

[virtex]

Just about to start a game with AC Milan following the Milan ethic of mainly Italian signings where possible and look to bring through the youngsters where possible.

[mista T]

Would something like a Foreign team in a different nation do? Thinking of Dutch AC Milan, Croatian Tottenham etc. Or maybe a completely multi-national side: 1 player of different nationality in each position. Would be hard to build an all-conquering side this way, as several of the "best" players in each position are the same nationality (for instance, I rate Messi as the best right winger, so I can have him but not Aguero, who is rated as one of the two best forwards for me). Spanish players seem to be the best in this game, too: Torres, Xavi, Iniesta and Casillas could all be considered as "best" players for their position.

[ronaldo_1978]

Brilliant idea this mate ... I just started a game with CSKA Sofia and my squad is 100% bulgarian... Im not sure if there's a abundance of bulgarian youth but Its gonna be fun

[deejay10]

[ b ] remove the spaces [ / b ]

Thanx mate :-)

[deejay10]

Another way of doing it a bit more realistic is to use retired players (club legends) as your manager profile... Instead of your own profile, use Enzo Scifo for Anderlecht, Tony Yeboah for Leeds etc. etc.

Nice touch, I'm definitely going to start doing that in future games.