FM11: The Official Manchester City Thread - We will buy you, yes we can!!

[JD nawrat]

Yeah, that ^. Plus, assuming you do well in the League, Cups etc., your TV Revenue and final positions in competitions etc. will boost your finances greatly.

[SRL88]

Then if you have signed players on monthly agreements e.g, Sergio Aguero over 36months, you will be paying £1m a month to Madrid just on him alone and then the squad pay-outs for cups & leagues as well as signing on fee's & also your coaching staff.

Brutal this football business.

[JD nawrat]

Okay, a much-needed bump for this thread and an update from myself. I am in January of 2012, Season 2. I will just give competition updates and transfers.

Carling Cup - I got to the 4th Round and drew United at Old Trafford. My very young team fought bravely, but lost 1-0 to the scum. I failed to defend this.

FA Cup - I've just finished my 3rd Round game Vs. Derby County at COMS. It was mainly youths, but I had a few more experienced players. They weren't Tevez or that, but they were new signings, such as Edinson Cavani! He scored 2 on his debut after a £34M move.

Champions League - a tricky group comprising of Zilina, Man City, CSKA Moscow and Barcelona (Defending Champions) was what lay ahead of me. I left the group with P6, W5, D1, L0. I won 1-0 in Manchester Vs. Barca, and won 0-3 in Spain against them! The draw was away in Moscow. I topped the group and drew Porto, who I've not played yet.

League - I went 17 games without defeat and was sitting 4 behind Chelsea at one point, who were also undefeated 17 games in. However we have both lost since. I lost the 18th game 2-0 at Old Trafford, but have since recovered nicely. I'm sitting top of the League after 22 games by 3 points, ahead of 2nd placed Chelsea. It's shaping up into another highly successful season. My League record is P22, W17, D4, L1, F69, A13, GD+56 - my team is comprised of goal machines. Of course, there is the ever-reliable Sergio Aguero, who has suffered a few injuries which have hampered his chances to blast away teams, but he still has 14 goals in 15, only 1 behind Torres (the most). Junior Hoilett has been a sensation on the wing, scoring 12 (4th most in the League) and Tevez from AMC and occassionaly ST (whenever Aguero is injured) has managed to bag 12 also. With Cavani now playing for me, god knows how many I will score, and I have the wonderful, magnificent, beautiful, painful task of choosing between Aguero or Cavani to start up front. I can't wait to have to choose.

Okay, so transfers:

In:

Kyle Walker, £6M - he's been fantastic as my starting RB. Can't fault this guy. I was a massive fan of him on my old save, and I couldn't turn down the offer to sign him. Great player. He has a 7.43 Avg Rating in 20 appearances. Champion.

Edoardo Ferrarese, £2.9M - he's only 16. He's a regen as well, from Italy. He looks massively promising. He's sitting in my U18 team. I intend to get him starting for me within 4 years. He's got bags of potential. He's a ST, btw.

Eden Hazard, £19.75M - I don't like signing this guy, it always strikes me as the obvious signing. But he's been great. I retrained him to AMR, but he's not been playing there. Never know where to play him, because Balotelli (AML), Hoilett (AMR) and Tevez (AMC) are so consistent..

Alex Chamberlain, £3M - I don't really rate this guy, but I went for him because I'd like a good homegrown team and he's a nice start to getting there. He's developing reasonably well and has made 11 out of 22 League appearances, scoring and assisting a few along the way.

Salvatore Rossi, £7.5M - another regen. He's only 17, but he's almost as good as de Jong as it stands. He's not been getting much chances, but whenever he has he's been matching de Jong's performances. He'll be starting within 3 years for sure. Great talent. He can play MC, DM or DC, naturally a DM.

Jose Ramon Ledesma, £3M - another regen, also only 17. He's almost as good as Walker, and so he and Walker will begin rotating in a year or two. Richards will probably be kept as a third choice and for the HG status. He's a DR/DC, natural DR.

Cristian Medina, £1.2M - another regen, 18 year old from Argentina. He's an MC. I'm hoping to eventually play a 4-3-3, with Rossi, Medina and Cairney being my starting midfield trio. Medina has bags of potential. He's physically rubbish, but mentally and technically fantasic. Very similar to David Silva, but slower and better aerially.

Edinson Cavani, £34M - the king has arrived. He was costly, but worth it. Massive wage demands were a little hindrance, but I need another great striker to accompany Aguero. Like I said, I'll have selection headaches; I can't wait.

Out:

Adam Johnson, £10M - Hoilett is better than him, Liverpool offered a reasonable sum, I thought "why not?" Glad to see the back of him, it's went well.

Guiseppe Rossi, Loan - Wanted to sell him, but nobody would buy. Spurs took him on loan. He was terrible for me. I'm hoping they'll make it permanent, because I don't want him.

Kolo Touré, £3.5M - no need for him.

Emmanuel Adebayor, £5.75M - Real Madrid made it permanent. Glad to see him go.

James Milner, £5M - I wanted to loan him out, but nobody wanted that. Just sold him. No point in keeping him, he was 4th choice winger and rarely performed well anyway.

Pablo Zabaleta, £3M - stuck behind Walker and Richards, and with the arrival of Ledesma, he'd be pushed to 4th choice. Might as well get shot of him, sadly.

David Silva, £15M - Didn't see the point in keeping him. In hindsight I wish I had. He wasn't performing well, but at least he'd be there as an option, I suppose. Ah well, I've managed without him and made £15M from him, so I'm happy enough.

Game is going great, thoroughly enjoying it. Hoping to win the League, make the Final of the FA Cup and get to at least the semi-finals of the Champions League is possible.

Cavani, first league game - Scored 1, Assisted 4, was subbed off after 70 minutes and had a rating of 9.6... he didn't even get man of the match. That's how scarily good my team is, at the moment.

To give you an idea of how good my team has been performing, here is some big scorelines from my current season:

Everton 0

Man City 5 (Tevez(2), Hoilett, Boyata, Hamsik)

Man City 4 (Dzeko(2), Varane, Hoilett)

CSKA 1

Stoke 1

Man City 5 (Aguero(3), Chamberlain, Huth(OG))

Barcelona 0

Man City 3 (Hamsik, Kolarov, Kompany)

Man City 3 (Tevez(2), Jones)

Liverpool 0

Man City 7 (Aguero(2), Shackell(OG), Hoilett, Jones(2), Cairney)

Barnsley 0

Cardiff 0

Man City 8 (Hoilett, Cavani, de Jong, Hazard(2), Tevez, Medina, Boyata)

All of these are either the League or Champions League. I'm also missing out a load of 4-0s against the likes of Ipswich and Cardiff. My Goals For is at 77 goals in 23 games for a reason. Frightening form.

Another update since my last one on my competition progress:

FA Cup - I've made my way into the semi-finals, where I will play Arsenal.

Champions League - after losing 2-1 in Portugal to Porto, I pulled off a 2-0 victory in England to see City progress to the Quarter-Finals, where I drew League rivals, Chelsea. I lost the first leg 2-1 in London, and am about to play the second leg in Manchester. If I win, I will play against AC Milan or Bordeaux, and in the final Vs. Real Madrid/Arsenal/Juventus/Lyon (most likely Juventus and Lyon to go into the semi-finals after away wins for both)

Premier League - I'm still top, barely. After 33 games, I've managed to stay ahead of Chelsea by only 2 points. It's tough trying to maintain this, but I'm so close that losing the League now would be unbearable. In my last 2 games I've got to play United and Liverpool. It's going to be an extremely difficult and tense ending to the season, but I am sure I believe we can come out as champions.

I just thumped Bolton 7-1 at COMS and am about to play the second leg Vs. Chelsea. That's the best way to grow in confidence - batter your rivals.

Dominant:

Man City 5 (6) - (Aguero(3), Jones, Tevez)

Chelsea 2 (4) - (Vidal, Drogba)

I will face Bordeaux in the Semi-Final. In the other Semi-Final it Arsenal Vs. Lyon - 2 French teams and 2 English teams. I'd love to face Arsenal in the final if I get there. I should, and Arsenal should too, but I don't want to get too confident about it all...

[skeletore2002]

Ok, I've accomplished all I could in my Spurs save, so I'm starting a new City one. Here's a question to those of you with experience: how do you get Tevez and Aguero to work together? I brought over Aguero in my last save, and he was awful, going 19 appearances before finally scoring. I've bought him this time as well, as I know he can be great. I want to play a 4-4-2 with wingers, and two strikers. I've had a lot of success with Tevez and Dzeko, but I'd rather have Aguero playing. Last time I had Tevez as advanced forward, and Aguero as deep-lying/attack. Is there a better way to use him? I like the two strikers formations, so I have no plans to use Tevez or anyone else in the AMC spot.

[JD nawrat]

My combination for Tevez/Aguero, which has saw both receive ratings over 2 seasons with an average of 7.43 (Tevez) and 7.89 (Aguero) and around 50 goals in 50 games for Aguero, was to play Aguero as a Poacher, and Tevez in AMC as a Trequartista (try him as a ST Trequartista). Set Tevez to Closing Down at the maximum level, though.

So I finished my season, won the double. I won the FA Cup, beating Spurs 3-1 after extra time (Aguero scoring both). I won the League by 5 points. Chelsea, who managed to challenge me until I knocked them out of the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League, finished 4th. Arsenal were runners-up. The Champions League was gutting. I got to the semi-finals against Bordeaux. 0-1 in France to me, 4-0 in England to me. I played Lyon in the final. They are winning 1-0. I equalise near the end, to make it 1-1. And then Boyata gets sent off 1 minutes into extra time and I capitulate. I am on the back-foot and playing for penalties. Lisandro scored to beat me 2-1, in injury time of extra time (120+1). Gutted. But still, a domestic double and the final of the Champions League ain't bad. Next season I want to win the League again and win the Champions League. The FA Cup would be nice to win (it'd give me 3 in a row), but it will not be essential. I practically gave up the Champions League for the FA Cup, because my players were tired by the end of it.

[slakey]

Selling de Jong is insane. I would never, ever, ever consider doing something like that. He's the best DM in the game, imo. Awesome mental stats, great defensive technical stats, and good physical stats. Why in the world anybody would sell de Jong and bring in Marouane Fellaini is beyond me. Madness.

De Rossi > de Jong

[Braundjoh]

For me, as Tevez got older, he was best in an Advanced Forward role while Aguero played as Complete Forward. They both scored a lot of goals, and Aguero eventually overtook Tevez's record league goals for City. I have a regen now that will smash that record though lol. He's scored something like 101 goals in 106 league appearances.

[JD nawrat]

Okay, so I have just ended the 2012/2013 season.

My aims were to:

Win the League

Win the Champions League

Win the FA Cup or Carling Cup, but there was no real importance placed on them, so failure to win wouldn't matter too much

What I actually achieved:

Won the League

Lost the FA Cup in the Semi-Final to Everton 0-1

Won the Carling Cup in the Final against Sunderland 1-4

Won the Champions League Vs. Bayern Munchen 5-1

I am pleased to have won the Champions League, having just lost out on it last season to Lyon, it felt great to finally win it

My team was very, very young, so I've taken great pride in this to be honest. I've got so many promising youngsters, and my squad average age is 22, which is insane. I have about 5 wonderkids (or people who just stopped being a wonderkid because of their age), who are first team players. It's all going great, and I've got massive hopes for the future and sustaining this dominance.

Oh, and I'd just like to point out that Edinson Cavani is a KING. He scored 39 goals in the League in 34(3) appearances, and in all competitions he has 53 goals in 51(6) apps. Unbelievable.

[cragswfc]

just started a new game and choose man city here my signing so far

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

i sacked Brian kidd as assistant manager and brought in Sideni lobo

[Stomalomalus]

Well, I decided I wanted to give City a go in the end, but I don't like their RL signings... So I reversed the ones I wouldn't have made and gave myself the money spent instead. So back went Yaya Toure, Boateng, Kolarov, Balotelli and Dzeko, and in came £102m.

So I went on a spending spree with my now huge £157m budget, and bought in Cassani and Coentrao for FB, Huddlestone for CM, Bale for LW and Thomas Muller, Neymar and Van Nistlerooy up front.

I've been playing either a flat 4-4-2 with Bale as Defensive Winger and Milner as Wide Mid, Tevez as Treq and the other forward as Poacher.

When I got a nice big 9-1 win away at Sunderland And Tevez got 10! 4 goals and 3 assists did it!!! So far, in 20 games all comps, Tevez has 15 goals and 17 assists! Muller has 10 and 8 in 11(5) and Neymar has 8 and 1 in 6(13). Milner has been a star too, pitching in with 4 goals and 6 assists from 9(3), with an average rating of 7.59.

This is the best attacking team I have managed in a long time, and to cap it all off, I'm more than capable of shutting up shop if I feel like it, as evidenced by a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, a 1-0 win against Utd, and a narrow 1-0 loss against a rampant Chelsea team (seriously, they were insanely good, and my players came out of it with almost 7 ratings!).

Ruud hasn't been so class so far, though, but he hasn't had a run in the team due to the recent form of Muller. He still has 4 goals from 6(9), but that isn't quite good enough for me, yet, especially in the league. He will get some chances, but he is firmly behind the others.

[Stomalomalus]

Well, I decided I wanted to give City a go in the end, but I don't like their RL signings... So I reversed the ones I wouldn't have made and gave myself the money spent instead. So back went Yaya Toure, Boateng, Kolarov, Balotelli and Dzeko, and in came £102m.

So I went on a spending spree with my now huge £157m budget, and bought in Cassani and Coentrao for FB, Huddlestone for CM, Bale for LW and Thomas Muller, Neymar and Van Nistlerooy up front.

I've been playing either a flat 4-4-2 with Bale as Defensive Winger and Milner as Wide Mid, Tevez as Treq and the other forward as Poacher.

When I got a nice big 9-1 win away at Sunderland And Tevez got 10! 4 goals and 3 assists did it!!! So far, in 20 games all comps, Tevez has 15 goals and 17 assists! Muller has 10 and 8 in 11(5) and Neymar has 8 and 1 in 6(13). Milner has been a star too, pitching in with 4 goals and 6 assists from 9(3), with an average rating of 7.59.

This is the best attacking team I have managed in a long time, and to cap it all off, I'm more than capable of shutting up shop if I feel like it, as evidenced by a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, a 1-0 win against Utd, and a narrow 1-0 loss against a rampant Chelsea team (seriously, they were insanely good, and my players came out of it with almost 7 ratings!).

Ruud hasn't been so class so far, though, but he hasn't had a run in the team due to the recent form of Muller. He still has 4 goals from 6(9), but that isn't quite good enough for me, yet, especially in the league. He will get some chances, but he is firmly behind the others.

As I speak, Tevez gets another goal and assist, and Muller two more goals, against Blackpool in a 3-1 win

[JD nawrat]

In my opinion, Jerome Boateng is a great utility player and back-up, capable of playing anywhere in defence and being both-footed. He's always happy to sit on the bench and play every now and again, coming on as a sub or starting cup/European games. I would've kept him, but that's just me. I can't sell Yaya (I'm in season 4), Kolarov and Dzeko both left for Munchen for a combined fee of around £22M, and Balotelli is still a back-up for Eden Hazard, and will probably be sold at the end of Season 4, because I don't want to upset him and end up having him crying like a bitch and upsetting my players, which is a shame really. I shouldn't have to play in the fear that he'll wreck my wonderful squad cohesion.

Anyway, the signings of Cassani and Coentrao - I can't say much for Cassani having never managed him, but Coentrao is a very good player. However, he hasn't ever performed much better than Kolarov did in 2 seasons for me, so personally I don't see much logic behind that. But if he's performing how you want him to, then fair play. He's still a quality player, no doubt about that.

Huddlestone is a strange signing, as I personally would prefer to go for a younger player, like perhaps Tom Cairney (a sensation for me) or Jack Rodwell (who I can't sign because his agent hates me hahaha). But Huddlestone is a class act, so I can understand why you'd target him.

Bale is amazing, that's a great signing.

Thomas Mueller is a fantastic prospect, same goes for Neymar, so those can't be faulted. But I don't understand the thought process in signing Van Nistelrooy? He's an old, slow player, and with Muller, Neymar and Tevez, you don't really need him. And for tutoring purposes, you have Tevez and Muller doesn't need any of that.

Anyway, now into October of Season 4, I'm having a good save so far. I've won 4/4 of my European games, I'm second in the League, 1 point behind Spurs who have a record of 9W and 1L, as opposed to my 8W and 2D. Cavani and Aguero are getting some playing time together up front, despite having been available for joint-selection for a season and a half, due to Tevez being out for 4 months. They've both scored 8 League games (Aguero in 10 appearances, Cavani in 7 appearances), and Cavani has just netted one in a game I'm currently playing.

Hazard is a beast, same goes for Alex Chamberlain on RW. Tom Cairney is an assisting machine, with 15 assists in 10 League games from MC. Enrico Falcone (regen), only 19, controls games better than anybody I've seen and his wonderkid status is justified. He's going to be world class in a few years.

A backline of Robinson, Phil Jones, Dedryck Boyata and Ledesma (wonderkid regen) is great. Ledesma is acting captain, and it's deserved because he's been faultless at RB. He's already capable of walking into any team and he's only 19. I would post screenshots but I cba at the moment (if you check out the rate my regen thread you'll see all of my regens).

Aiming for:

4th League title in a row

Second Champions league title in a row

Carling Cup for the second year in a row OR FA Cup

Only signings made this season was a regen for £2.8M, who is in my youths and is only 16. I might sign a LB, because Robinson hasn't developed that well and he's only averaging around 7 exact (as opposed to my other 3 who are 7.6, 7.5 and 7.3).

Here is my whole squad:

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart, Michele Pellegrino (19 year old regen)

Defenders

Micah Richards, Kyle Walker, José Roman Ledesma (19 year old wonderkid regen), Dedryck Boyata, Phil Jones, Raphael Varane, Vincent Kompany, Jack Robinson, Jerome Boateng

Midfielders

Marek Hamsik, Nigel de Jong, Tom Cairney, Salvatore Rossi (19 year old regen), Enrico Falcone (19 year old wonderkid regen), Cristian Medina (20 year old regen), Eden Hazard, Alex Chamberlain, Junior Hoilett

Strikers

Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Edinson Cavani, Mario Balotelli, Connor Wickham

Average Squad Age: 22 - Incredible.

I rotate between a 4-4-2 (with AMR/L, so 4-2-4 according to the game), 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, with the 4-4-2 being my most used formation assuming 2 out of Tevez/Aguero/Cavani are fit.

Hahaha, Cavani is so good he should be made illegal. 16 goals and 8 assists in his last 11 games.

[Stomalomalus]

In my opinion, Jerome Boateng is a great utility player and back-up, capable of playing anywhere in defence and being both-footed. He's always happy to sit on the bench and play every now and again, coming on as a sub or starting cup/European games. I would've kept him, but that's just me. I can't sell Yaya (I'm in season 4), Kolarov and Dzeko both left for Munchen for a combined fee of around £22M, and Balotelli is still a back-up for Eden Hazard, and will probably be sold at the end of Season 4, because I don't want to upset him and end up having him crying like a bitch and upsetting my players, which is a shame really. I shouldn't have to play in the fear that he'll wreck my wonderful squad cohesion.

Anyway, the signings of Cassani and Coentrao - I can't say much for Cassani having never managed him, but Coentrao is a very good player. However, he hasn't ever performed much better than Kolarov did in 2 seasons for me, so personally I don't see much logic behind that. But if he's performing how you want him to, then fair play. He's still a quality player, no doubt about that.

Huddlestone is a strange signing, as I personally would prefer to go for a younger player, like perhaps Tom Cairney (a sensation for me) or Jack Rodwell (who I can't sign because his agent hates me hahaha). But Huddlestone is a class act, so I can understand why you'd target him.

Bale is amazing, that's a great signing.

Thomas Mueller is a fantastic prospect, same goes for Neymar, so those can't be faulted. But I don't understand the thought process in signing Van Nistelrooy? He's an old, slow player, and with Muller, Neymar and Tevez, you don't really need him. And for tutoring purposes, you have Tevez and Muller doesn't need any of that.

I simply went through the transfers, and the only ones I would definitely sign were Milner and Silva, so I reversed the others. Coentrao over Kolarov was because my aim was to play him and Bale interchanging positions.

Huddlestone is because I wanted a DLP who can tackle. He did really well for me in a DLP Defense role in FM10 for Liverpool, so I bought him in aiming to do the same with Silva alongside him. However, I put an end to that, as De Jong really offers my defence good cover.

RVN is because I wanted another striker, one who had excellent OTB and was cheap, and he fitted the bill. Will last well until Adebayor is back, and then I'll make than decision.

Anyway, now into October of Season 4, I'm having a good save so far. I've won 4/4 of my European games, I'm second in the League, 1 point behind Spurs who have a record of 9W and 1L, as opposed to my 8W and 2D. Cavani and Aguero are getting some playing time together up front, despite having been available for joint-selection for a season and a half, due to Tevez being out for 4 months. They've both scored 8 League games (Aguero in 10 appearances, Cavani in 7 appearances), and Cavani has just netted one in a game I'm currently playing.

Hazard is a beast, same goes for Alex Chamberlain on RW. Tom Cairney is an assisting machine, with 15 assists in 10 League games from MC. Enrico Falcone (regen), only 19, controls games better than anybody I've seen and his wonderkid status is justified. He's going to be world class in a few years.

A backline of Robinson, Phil Jones, Dedryck Boyata and Ledesma (wonderkid regen) is great. Ledesma is acting captain, and it's deserved because he's been faultless at RB. He's already capable of walking into any team and he's only 19. I would post screenshots but I cba at the moment (if you check out the rate my regen thread you'll see all of my regens).

Aiming for:

4th League title in a row

Second Champions league title in a row

Carling Cup for the second year in a row OR FA Cup

Only signings made this season was a regen for £2.8M, who is in my youths and is only 16. I might sign a LB, because Robinson hasn't developed that well and he's only averaging around 7 exact (as opposed to my other 3 who are 7.6, 7.5 and 7.3).

Here is my whole squad:

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart, Michele Pellegrino (19 year old regen)

Defenders

Micah Richards, Kyle Walker, José Roman Ledesma (19 year old wonderkid regen), Dedryck Boyata, Phil Jones, Raphael Varane, Vincent Kompany, Jack Robinson, Jerome Boateng

Midfielders

Marek Hamsik, Nigel de Jong, Tom Cairney, Salvatore Rossi (19 year old regen), Enrico Falcone (19 year old wonderkid regen), Cristian Medina (20 year old regen), Eden Hazard, Alex Chamberlain, Junior Hoilett

Strikers

Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Edinson Cavani, Mario Balotelli, Connor Wickham

Average Squad Age: 22 - Incredible.

I rotate between a 4-4-2 (with AMR/L, so 4-2-4 according to the game), 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, with the 4-4-2 being my most used formation assuming 2 out of Tevez/Aguero/Cavani are fit.

Hahaha, Cavani is so good he should be made illegal. 16 goals and 8 assists in his last 11 games.

Good luck:)

[JD nawrat]

So, here is how Season 4 went for me:

I won the League (P38, W31, D5, L2, F124, A21, GD+103, Pts98) for the 4th year in a row

I won the FA Cup - Beat United 4-1 in the Final

I lost in the Carling Cup 3rd Round to United

I lost the Champions League Final to Barcelona 4-2 on penalties (I was winning 2-0, but they fought back to 2-2, I went up 3-2 and then they scored a penalty in the last minute to take it to penalties)

The CL loss in particular is gutting. It makes it 3 finals in 3 years, but 2 defeats and only one win. I am so disappointed, because I think we probably deserved to win the thing. But still, this should drive the team on to win it next year.

Notable signings made:

NONE

Notable players sold:

Marek Hamsik for £21M (£1M profit)

Cavani was terrific. I can't be bothered posting any pictures of him, so just check out the Cavani thread if it interests you. The whole team was fantastic the whole season, I'm genuinely so happy with them, it has been amazing how my team has developed and grown together. I'm going to sell a few players, bring in one or two, but ultimately I'm going to have a very similar team who will just keep improving and winning things.

Targets for next season:

Win the League for a 5th consecutive year

Win the Champions League

FA Cup/Carling Cup aren't important, and will only be taken seriously if I make the semi-finals

[JD nawrat]

God damn it.

Accomplishments this season:

Won the Premier League for the 5th consecutive year

Won the Carling Cup

Won the FA Cup

Lost in the Semi-Finals of the Champions League 5-4 on aggregate to... Man United. They won the competition, beating Lyon (who beat me in the 2011/2012 final) 2-0 in the final. Pretty angry.

Released Balotelli on a free, think I'm gonna sell Richards and Walker because they're constantly moaning. I was going to let Tevez go on a free because of his age, but he had a pretty fantastic season, when Aguero and Cavani were injured (Cavani only played 20 games in all competitions due to a broken foot and then a torn hamstring), so I'm going to hang onto him (was planning on Pato, but I've changed my mind). I have managed to convince him to take a reduced wage of £160k and he's no longer a Key player. I will be able to use him for mentoring purposes and I'd like to make him a coach, if possible. He might be terrible, I dunno, but I get the impression that his awesome mental stats would make him a great assistant manager. Depends, really, he might not even want to be a coach.

Also didn't make any signings again this season. I think I'm going to need to sign somebody, just for the kicks. A LB and an AML are in order. Going to aim for youthful regen players though, instead of accomplished, established real players.

Next season:

All priority is towards winning the Champions League

6th Consecutive League title would be pretty awesome

FA/Carling Cup, not bothered if I win one, the other, both or neither.

Also, any hope of activity in here?

[skeletore2002]

JDownie, nice to see you having so much success. I haven't been able to play much lately, but I am currently in November of my 1st season. I will post a proper update when I get to January. Now that you're quite a few seasons in, how are your facilities/youth recruitment? I would really like to get a new stadium at some point in this save. My long-term goal is to get the salaries down, and bring the revenues up, and actually make money, instead of just having funds injected by the owner periodically.

[JD nawrat]

Uhh, I'll post the current status of my facilities etc:

City of Manchester Stadium (still)

60,000 seater

Good corporate facilities

Top training facilities

Excellent youth facilities + youth academy

Extensive youth recruitment

I strive to improve my facilities as soon as that option becomes possible, which is usually every 18 months. My youth facilities are current midway through being upgraded just now, actually. I've not bought any players for my first team since I signed Edinson Cavani in the January of 2012. Since then my record signing has been £10M for a 18 year old (now 21) Central Midfielder who is currently one of the first names on my teamsheet. Here is my whole first team (some of these screenshots are outdated, but it gives you a general idea of who is who and whether they're important or not, bearing in mind that they've all developed to some extent):

Goalkeepers:

Joe Hart, Michele Pellegrino

Defenders:

José Ramón Ledesma. Dedryck Boyata, Phil Jones, Jack Robinson, Raphael Varane, Vincent Kompany, Jerome Boateng, Micah Richards

Midfielders:

Enrico Falcone, Salvatore Rossi, Eden Hazard, Tom Cairney, Nigel de Jong, Alex Chamberlain, Junior Hoilett, Cristian Medina

Forwards:

Carlos Tevez, Edinson Cavani, Sergio Aguero, Edoardo Ferrarese

So, as you can see, it's mostly a young team with the exception of one or twos players (de Jong, Kompany, the strikers). The Strikers is tough because I can't find any prolific youths who would fill the role of Cavani/Aguero/Tevez quickly, and I've neglected some youth strikers (Ferrarese being one, but thankfully he's turned out okay).

But for most of the players in this side to have been there for my last 4 consecutive league titles, to make 3 out of a possible 4 Champions League finals (unfortunately only 1 victory though) and to make something like 3 Carling Cup's and 4 FA Cups is incredibly special imo. My central midfielders (Falcone and Rossi are the starting duo) are just wonderful to have together. They know each other practically inside and out. It's great working with them. They're amazing.

[JD nawrat]

Bump de bump.

Okay, Season 6 complete, and nothing but disappointment to come out of it, really.

League: Won for the 6th consecutive season. This was my toughest victory, to be honest. I won it on week 37. On week 36 there was 2 points separating the top 3 teams, but I won my last 3 games, Arsenal lost 2, and Spurs lost all 3 (one to Chelsea, one to me, one to United).

FA Cup: Knocked out in the 3rd round. Fans were furious.

Carling Cup: knocked out in the Quarter Finals, embarrassing really. I beat Blackburn in the League 6-0 at Ewood, then played a similar team in the QF, this time I was at home, They battered me 1-3.

Champions League: In a group of Palermo, Monaco and Wisla, I struggled through and finally came top of the group by virtue of goals scored. Drew Atletico Madrid, drew 1-1 in Spain, lost 1-2 in Manchester and went out wayyy too early. My only saving grace was that Atletico went on to win the tournament, beating Juventus 1-2 in the final.

My facilities downgraded because of "technological advances", so I'm currently improving them again.

Season 7 objectives:

1. Win the Champions League, this is a MUST.

2. 7th League title in a row.

(3. Win a domestic cup to make up for the embarrassment of last season)

Transfers:

Letting go of Cristian Medina and Tom Cairney. I'm going to try and sell Cavani to allow Ferrarese to play more often (top goalscorer in my team last season, he's only 20). I've brought in Mateo Kovacic as a replacement for Medina and Cairney. I've already brought up a youth to replace the other half (Michael de Waard, 18 y/o wonderkid)

Brought in Gabriel, an 18 y/o Brazilian CB with Passing 17, Tackling Heading and Marking of 15. He's got terrible Decisions (5), so I'm going to try and bring him up and make him special, with Phil Jones tutoring him.

Going to sign a back-up AML for whenever Hazard is injured. It's the only place I don't have cover for. I might promote a promising youth who came through my academy, but he's not amazing... I'm undecided.

Oh, and I signed a goalkeeper (Siegrist, dunno if he's a regen) as a back-up to Pellegrino, who is going to become my starter. Joe Hart has expressed his unhappiness at the club and wants a bigger challenge. Selling him allows Pellegrino to play (he played 11 league games last season (keeping 9 clean sheets and only conceeding 3) and 14 the year before anyway) and develop, and he's got the potential to be far better than Hart is.

[Ty]

I have just started with Man City for the first time on FM11... just want a relaxing, easy to play game at the moment.

[JD nawrat]

Welcome Please try and keep this thread active! I hate when it gets all lonely like now

Anyway, "relaxing, easy to play game" isn't how I would describe City, it does come with its pressures at times. Season 1 is easy, but, personally, I don't like to spend any money unless it's necessary in the save afterwards, except to bring in youths, regens, back-ups, that sorta thing. In my first 2 seasons I had spent around £200M in total, in the 4 seasons following my combined total comes to only £50M, and there is only 1 starting player in there (Eden Hazard for £18M). The rest may be starting now, but they've taken their time to get there. I didn't spend a dime in season 4, actually. There was nobody knocking around that I could snap up.

But it is probably easier than most other teams. I mean, I've won 19 trophies in 6 seasons. 6 of those are the Premier League, 4 FA Cups, 3 Carling Cups, 1 Champions League, and the rest are stuff like the Club World Championship, Community Shield etc. - the biggest frustration is European football, by far. I've made it to 3 CL finals, but only won 1 of them. The two I lost were extra time (my first ever CL venture) and on penalties (my 3rd CL venture, I won the title in my 2nd). It's heartbreaking...

[Ty]

Well, I am not sure what approach I am going to take to this City save.

Spend big, win big or just Real Madrid style, one big signing a season.

[Dark Moon]

Started a City save last week and won the domestic treble in my first season.

3rd game of season two was against Man Utd, and well this is what happened:

Sitting pretty at the top of the prem after 15 games, winning 14 of them and through the the next round of the CL after winning all 6 games in my group which included AC Milan and Athletico Madrid, only conceding 2 goals.

I did get knocked out of the Carling Cup by Chelsea in the 3rd round but ah well.

[And Could He Play]

Moussa Sissoko or Yann M'Villa?

I've bought Moussa on my past save but I got bored off it too quick so never got him going, but I've just been comparing the two and M'Villa's stats are slightly better especially teamwork and he is a year younger and would cost slightly less, I'm in my first season, January sitting 2nd in the league and hte board have just gave me £15m for transfers.

[JD nawrat]

So, that's me completed Season 7.

Targets:

Win the League for the 7th year in a row

Win the Champions League

Achieved:

7th League title in a row

Champions League Winners

FA Cup Winners

Game is going great. Summer signings Romario, Bah and Jano have all turned out great, with Romario being an adequate replacement for Ledesma, the best RB in my game. Bah, who is a regen, is an improvement on Jack Robinson. Jano, originally bought as back-up for Eden Hazard, has managed to become a strong contender for the LW position and also came runner-up in the CL for best player.

A few of my players won some awards, but I cba listing them.

Next season aims:

Win League for 8th year in a row

Try to defend Champions League

[skeletore2002]

Another great season, JDownie. Are you a club icon or legend yet?

[JD nawrat]

I am now a Club Icon I achieved it after winning my 6th League Title (last season). Sergio Aguero, Edinson Cavani and Eden Hazard have joined me as Icons; Cavani isn't at the club anymore; Aguero was a Club Legend but has dropped to an Icon strangely. Carlos Tevez is now a Club Legend (I just extended his contract by 1 year, then hopefully he'll hang up his boots and go into coaching). Vincent Kompany, who I've just released on a free (he was moaning about not getting football and his contract ran out), and Edoardo Ferrarese (Italian regen who was 2nd top goalscorer for the club this season (after Aguero)) are now both Favoured Personnel of the club.

I have quite an impressive resume:

League Cup *3

FA Cup *5

Premier League *7

Community Shield *5

Champions League *2

European Super Cup *1

Club World Championship *1

Manager of the Month *24

Manager of the Year *7

Very pleased with my Man City career. I want to win 10 in a row before I'll consider giving up.

[skeletore2002]

Congrats on becoming an icon. Hopefully they'll bump you up to legend soon. What are you going to do if you win the league 10 years straight, will you move to another team, or start a new game with someone else?

[JD nawrat]

Okay, so my Season 8 objectives were:

Win 8th League title in a row

Retain Champions League, thus winning it a second year in a row

What I managed:

My 8th league title was perhaps my toughest one - amazingly, I set a record for goals scored and GD though - 139 scored, compared to my previous record of 124, and a GD of 106, compared to my previous record of 103, both set in the 2013/2014 season - and still won the title by 9 points. But Arsenal and Chelsea were both ahead of me up until around 30 games in, then I broke ahead by some distance.

I got to the League Cup Final, against Arsenal. 1-1 FT, 2-2 AET, 4-2 on penalties to Arsenal. Disappointed, but not too fussed because it's the League Cup.

I got to the FA Cup Final, against Newcastle. 1-1 FT, 2-2 AET, 5-4 on penalties to Newcastle. Gutted, we totally failed to get going and I was not happy at all with the team's performance.

I got to the final of the Champions League, against Barcelona, the team who prevented me from retaining it in 2014. Long story short, I whupped them 4-1 and retained the Champions League, making it my 3rd title. Very happy! Especially to crush the same team who took it from me last time I tried to retain it.

Season 9 objectives:

Win 9th League title

Win 3rd consecutive Champions League

[TheInvisibleMan]

Can't believe I've only just noticed the thread title makes no sense and also sounds very arrogant.

[JD nawrat]

Yeah, I also think that the fact the image at the top of the opening post is the wrong guy on the note is very poor also - he (I can't even remember his name) was the "poor Arab" who bought over Pompey and didn't have any money. He was the idiot who went about claiming we would sign Torres, Ronaldo, etc. for £100M each. He was an idiot and was sacked by Sheikh Mansour because he was such a moron.

I dunno if it's possible or whatever, but I'd really like to do the Man City team thread for FM2012. Is there some place where I can put my name forward for that?

[TheInvisibleMan]

Yeah, I also think that the fact the image at the top of the opening post is the wrong guy on the note is very poor also - he (I can't even remember his name) was the "poor Arab" who bought over Pompey and didn't have any money. He was the idiot who went about claiming we would sign Torres, Ronaldo, etc. for £100M each. He was an idiot and was sacked by Sheikh Mansour because he was such a moron.

I dunno if it's possible or whatever, but I'd really like to do the Man City team thread for FM2012. Is there some place where I can put my name forward for that?

I agree, Sulaiman Al-Fahim it is. Nothing to do with City at all, just helped do the deal I think.

Not sure on the thread to be honest. I think, and don't quote me on this, that it's just whoever does it first when the demo comes out. So I presume you can just do it if you like.

[Tyler42]

All hail Cavani! This guy just dominated this year in my save! Broke almost every club record that existed and is now the all time top scorer for City!

Here is the team stats over the season:

The God-like Cavani:

And the Championship Final that got ruined by the referee:

[Tyler42]

Here's my player record screen:

[Buttk0]

71 goals in a single season! Thats a record alright. Great job Tyler42

[JD nawrat]

Yeah, Cavani is an absolute beast. I made the player thread for him to show off just how beast Cavani is.

However, I got the point in my save where I had Tevez/Cavani/Aguero and had to make a decision to sell one and bring through my youth (Ferrarese). Well, I didn't have to, but I wanted to fulfill a youngster's very high potential. Cavani had spent 3.5 seasons with me, Aguero spent 4.5. Cavani had 2 great seasons, whereas Aguero had 3.5 great seasons, so I went with Aguero and sold Cavani on for £26M to Chelsea, where he never had a great season (some pretty good seasons though). Aguero is my all-time top goalscorer now, the guy is a king. I dunno how many he has for me though, something like 180.

But yeah, great stats from Cavani there. And unlucky about the result, that referee should be hung drawn and quartered for playing so badly in such an important game. I'd be furious. In fact, I'd probably even reload my save and replay the match - I've never done it before, but something like that would probably inspire me to do it for the first time.

[Braundjoh]

Aguero is my top scorer too. But he won't be for long, got a regen who has something like 130 in 140 in the league. I'm sure I could have had some massive scorers if I didn't have so many strikers. I have to rotate to keep them happy, so they never get unbelievable tallies.

[JD nawrat]

I plan to keep a set number of strikers at all time - an experienced one (Tevez, soon to be Aguero in a season or two), an accomplished one (Aguero, soon to be Ferrarese), a striker becoming something special (Ferrarese, soon to be Schiavone), a youngster with high potential (Schiavone, soon to be Ocat), and then a youth striker who may or may not become good in the future (Ocat).

Tevez will retire, allowing each player to move up a role. Then eventually Aguero will retire and so on, so forth. It would be too easy for me to get into the habit of buying too many strikers, but I'm deliberately trying to avoid some top signings (and believe me, there's 4/5 regens who I would LOVE to sign, but home-grown talent takes precedence).

[Braundjoh]

Yeah, most of my strikers have been with me since they were kids, only signed one in the past few years. He was totally worth the money though, he scores so many goals. I also find it hard to sell them as they are all so good, and I don't want them to score against me!

[JD nawrat]

Sell them abroad

I've been taking a break from my Man City save just now, focusing on other teams because I've never really dedicated myself to anybody but Man City (currently doing Aston Villa). I still have the save though and I'll return to it shortly. I still want those 10 in a row.

[Braundjoh]

I did sell Babacar and Lukaku a couple of years ago. That got me about £50m or so. Down to 5 top strikers now lol, but they're all in their peaks or getting to it. I think the oldest one is 27 maybe.

[Jordanknox]

I started with Man City a few days ago and im really starting to get into it. I decided to go for a complete squad overhaul right from the start and im delighted with the squad ive got right now. The calender has just ticked over to January 1st 2011 and City sit top of the league just a few points ahead of Chelsea. The current squad is:

GK: De Gea/Given

RB: Lahm/Boateng (in emergency)

LB: Kolarov

CB: Chielini/Lescott

CB: Jones/Varane

RM:Robben/Silva/Chamberlain

CM: De Rossi/M'Villa

CM:Yaya Toure/Moussa Sissoko/Pjanic

LM:Hazard/Balotelli

ST:Tevez/Sanogo/Wickham

ST: Dzeko/Lukaku

Im still looking to strengthen, with Aguero in talks at the minute. I also think promising cover for the full backs would be a sensible move. Any suggestions?

[JD nawrat]

Fullbacks worth targeting:

RB: Sime Vrsaljko, Serge Aurier**, Davide Santon (approach him now, get him for free in summer), Kyle Walker* (wait until summer and his loan deal will end), Cesar Azpilicueta*, Gregory van der Wiel

LB: Lucas Digne**, Jack Robinson*, Ryan Bertrand, Greg Cunningham (already in your youth system), Domenico Criscito*

That's all I got. All worth targeting though, definitely. Players with * are my personal targets. ** means they can become amazing (through previous experience with them), but I'm not sure what they're like on FM11 (although Digne turned into a beast on my FM11 save with City, he's now at Bayern Munchen).

[Jordanknox]

Fullbacks worth targeting:

RB: Sime Vrsaljko, Serge Aurier**, Davide Santon (approach him now, get him for free in summer), Kyle Walker* (wait until summer and his loan deal will end), Cesar Azpilicueta*, Gregory van der Wiel

LB: Lucas Digne**, Jack Robinson*, Ryan Bertrand, Greg Cunningham (already in your youth system), Domenico Criscito*

That's all I got. All worth targeting though, definitely. Players with * are my personal targets. ** means they can become amazing (through previous experience with them), but I'm not sure what they're like on FM11 (although Digne turned into a beast on my FM11 save with City, he's now at Bayern Munchen).

Cheers mate, I can get Aurier for 9m is that a good deal? Ive had Lucas Digne on a previous game and he was decent back up i think i might give him a look. Managed to sign Aguero even though i dont really need him, hopefully the board keep throwing money at me otherwise financial oblivion could be around the corner.

[JD nawrat]

No problem.

£9M for Aurier is reasonable, aye. On FM10 you could get him for around £2M, and on FM11 on the last patch I tried to sign Aurier at the very beginning and was having to pay fees around £15M. I dunno if £9M is good for patch 11.3, but it's not a bad price, I know that.

You'll never go into financial oblivion at Man City - don't worry. Because of the manner of the board, regardless of what you spend you'll always stay in good finance. If it ever drops to a crucially low point, the board inject big sums of money to counter-act your crazy spending. The way you guage how your spending is going, btw, is by the club finances in the world. Personally I've never went any higher than 4th, despite not spending anything at all in some seasons and still winning everything. At points I've dropped down to 18th, which was due to spending £200M in the first two seasons combined. This stuff doesn't really matter though - as Man City you're there to win stuff, not make a profit. It's probably the only club where that's the case...

Also, Lucas Digne is really good. Here he is on my FM11 save at Bayern Munchen. Definitely has bags of potential that you can fulfill with a good training programme and great coaches.

As you can see, fantastic physical stats. In fact, some of the best I've ever seen. Really good Positioning and Off the Ball. Marking, Tackling, Heading, Passing, Crossing are all pretty good/reasonable. And then attributes like Concentration, Composure and Decisions are really good as well. If he develops anything like that, or maybe even better (if that's even possible), then you've got a gem on your hands. He's just incredible in that screenshots.

Oh, and if you're interested, here is how Serge Aurier has developed:

Not anywhere near as impressive as Digne, clearly. But the difference is that Aurier remained at Lens until season 7, before transferring to Tottenham. Whereas Digne was away from Lille after only Season 2 (albeit to Club Brugge). He has been at Munchen since Season 4. But don't let this discourage you. He's still a pretty great RB, and he's still at a good level, even in this screenshot. Plus he clearly hasn't met his full potential. If you were there to oversee his whole development, he'd perhaps be as good as Digne, but on the right. Both of them are very similar, in terms of initial ability and potential ability.

[Jordanknox]

Thanks, im defiantely going to give Digne a go at the end of the season as back up to Gareth Bale and ill sell Kolarov i think. Ive got Davide Santon coming on a free in the summer so he should give good back up to Lahm at right back. After that only a top centre half to replace left back and perhaps a dabble at persuading Fabregas to join and ill be very happy with my team.

[Guest Arsenalist]

Yeah, I also think that the fact the image at the top of the opening post is the wrong guy on the note is very poor also - he (I can't even remember his name) was the "poor Arab" who bought over Pompey and didn't have any money. He was the idiot who went about claiming we would sign Torres, Ronaldo, etc. for £100M each. He was an idiot and was sacked by Sheikh Mansour because he was such a moron.

I dunno if it's possible or whatever, but I'd really like to do the Man City team thread for FM2012. Is there some place where I can put my name forward for that?

Cheers mate,

My former nickname was corrupted for some reason, so I am using this newone until mine (Koki Balboa) is not resolved. TBH picture of arab in the opening post, isn't ment to be like, he is the owner of the club. I saw it somewhere on the man city forums, and i liked the comparison, smiled arab on the money, it was the idea to serve as comparison for clubs most outstanding values, arabian money. As for the threads go, you should wait until the demo is out, and after that, HoPeY or Purefun, or some other super moderator creates a theme in which, people express their desires to do the clubs threads, then super moderators, decide which one will be the maker of the threads, so as far I am concerned, i would be happy to let you do the thread for Man City for 2012, but Hopey or Perefun are holding the right key for your hapiness

[Guest Arsenalist]

Thanks, im defiantely going to give Digne a go at the end of the season as back up to Gareth Bale and ill sell Kolarov i think. Ive got Davide Santon coming on a free in the summer so he should give good back up to Lahm at right back. After that only a top centre half to replace left back and perhaps a dabble at persuading Fabregas to join and ill be very happy with my team.

Digne is looking good as scouts are saying but TBH, i havent found him breathtaking. His tackling is 9 still after three seasons, despite my focus on tackling and defensive training, tutoring from gael clichy. He is decent but not that good defensively, which can be quite bad if you are playing with wingers.

him from my arsenal save

[jayboywonder]

Thought I would post in here as you guys all seem friendly enough haha. Heres a nit of background info first -

I started off unemployed. I wanted to build a good manager profile with lots experience behind me. I got my first job with Leicester City and got then promoted into the Premiership. After struggling till november in my first premiership season i got offered the shalke job with a good budget so I moved. I spent two years there and won the league one and uefa cup. I then resigned as I wanted to see where I could go next. I got offered the Athletico Madrid job and spent two years there finishing 5th and then 4th in my last season. Once again i resigned and I got offered the Lazio job. This is when it turned nasty!

At my press conference the media asked me about it being a step down in my career.

I replied with roughly "This is a long term project for me, I aim to make lazio big and reshape from top to bottom

4 days later man city sacked their manager and declared interest in me, i replied saying i would love to take the job. Which resulted in me being asked tor esign. So I did. Meaning i left lazio after just 4 days after saying it was a long term project.

A quick roundup for my first season I finished 4th place. Took them over in novemberish time.

Now in my first full Man City season and boom i am romping it. No cheating. No reloading, just studying my tactics so hard.

Update on players in and outs and results coming soon!

Cheers

Jay

[Koki Balboa]

Okay Gentleman, and if there's any ladies, after my problems with account, and after I leave all of my girlfriends and give up sexual pleasures, alcohol, and nightlife, I dedicated myself to work only, and to FM. Decided to start new long term project with my second, soon to be first (if someone doesn't kill Wenger IRL soon) favorite club.

I red a lot on the internet, and few of my books, about tactics, and exploring new angles and perspectives, and since there is soon to be almost a year, since I started the thread, I will devote myself to another one changed, and adjusted to 10.3 patch.

Okay, after a thorough look and evaluation of the squad and staff, i saw that there is lot of deadwood, deserved to be thrown away from club. So I did it. Rebuild the staff, training routines, and setup attacking fluid and quite creative and roaming tactics. Tactics is a result of my different approach to management of clubs with creative and flair potential.

Advice: At the start, i noticed that players are responding better after you put them on Fitness regime, to regain condition, and set up match preparation, to three tactics which you plan to use, and push a workload notch two times in a right for high workload, and to put them on focus team blend, to gel in faster, and to adopt your tactic sooner.

Transfers:

Since Man City have already have quite decent setup of players and covers, except AMC's, and I like to play with great AMC, i decided to splash the cash on young pastore, to rotate with silva and create him a stiff competition, also while trying to retrain Tevez to AMC role, behind Dzeko, It should be great setup once they gel in.

Also I am seeking young future goalkeeper prospect, and keeping tabs on Phil Jones, best english DC IMHO in the game. I am probably gona wait until season ends for Blackburn to lower demands, before I bought him. Will kep you posted, as I progress...

[2 halfs]

Right then just started a new man city save, want to upload my progress with some pics how do i do it?

Thanks Koki Balboa

right players ive signed all on 48month payments