Tricky Trees Thread 2008!

[Richie the Red]

Originally posted by Craig_R.U.F.C:

Anyone here be able to help me out with Forest? I'm on the new patch(8.0.2) and looking for any recommendations please.

I have a game going with Forest but I use my own editor, but only update the players i.e. transfers. So have Rob Earnshaw which helps....anyway...

Sell Davies - he is so inconsistent. others to consider selling Clingan, Holt, Breckin, Perch.

Make Chambers captain - brilliant player if you give him some resposibility.

Play McGugan - gets better with everygame.

Play Lockwood instead of Bennett. Let Lockwood take all free and corner kicks.

Good signings: Havard Nordveit - loan Arsenal.

Gary Hooper - Southend

George Boyd - Peterborough

Nicky Maynard - Crewe

Neil Eardley - Oldham

Gary McDonald - Oldham

Kyle Lafferty - loan Burnley

Tyson is a right moaner so be prepared for him to want to leave but should get a good price. He usually gets unhappy after the transfer window.

Cohen is excellent when fit, I play him AMC just behind my front man.

I will post my team later when I get home...back to work now....

[fighting irish]

I am playing Forest as well.

Won Division 1 in the first season playing:

GK Redmond (also bought Vilmunen from Drogheda for 60k as he is the best keeper in REP of IRL)

DR Wilson

DL Lockwood (Bennet effective as well)

DC Morgan

DC Breckin

MCR Clingan

MC Perch (Power effective as well)

MCL McGugan

AMC Commons (Cohen effective as well)

SC Holt

SC Tyson

I sold GK Smith when I received a large offer in the first week.

Commons tries too many long range shots despite being told not to, so I used Cohen liberally but he gets injured frequently. Agogo and Sinclair are fine at Div 1 level but are overmatched in the Championship.

I finally was able to get Tyson to sign a long term deal. He wanted to move to a bigger club just before I won the league, so I immediately transfer listed him without changing his squad status from Indispensible. When the season rolled over with nobody making an offer for him, he signed a 4 year deal.

Second Season:

Players in:

AMC Nicluae (~$500k) but he has been hurt the entire time

AMRC Salifou (free from Villa) to cover the MC positions as a sub

DRC Tall to replace Breckin, but I have been using him as a DR mostly

DRC Boateng

DC Morely

GK Kingson (free) because Vilmunen didn't do as well as I thought

Players Out:

Breckin - 60k too slow, and I have never had luck with players over the age of 27

Davies - ridicluous offer from Milway (1.8M) for a bench player

Sinclair - 110k, weakest link at SC

Maloney - 95k too far behind Wilson, Tall, Perch and Chambers on DR depth

Milwal also offered $1.05M for Cohen but I held on to him because I was unsure about Commons in the AMC role.

I am now in 2nd position behind Man City on Boxing Day playing with mostly the same line-up. Tall has quickly earned the starting DR role and I rotate in a variety of DC to play with Morgan, but everyone else is the same as the first season as I try to acclimate my foreigners.

McGugan is having a great year in the Championship and scores a lot on the back post run on corners. I tend to drop Commons back to ML and play 4-4-2 in the tougher games at this level, and will drop Perch back to DMC and pull off a striker when I am up a goal at the end of a game into a 4-1-4-1. Vilmunen is my starting GK as he finally seems to have adjusted to the new country.

I find Forest do not like any pressure placed on them. I need to use "Wish Luck" even for games when I am favored at home. I use Clingan and Morgan as Captain so maybe I need a change there. If I push it to "You can win this" the team does miserably.

[fighting irish]

On the final day of season two, my Forest squad clinched second place and automatic promotion to the Premier League behind Manchester City.

Down the stretch run my lineup was:

GK O'Brien*

DR Perch* (also plays MC frequently)

DL Bennet*

DC Morgan*

DC Ibrahim Tall / Callum Davenport

MRC Clingan* / Salifou

MC Cohen*

MLC Commons*

AMC Niculae

SC Ched Evans (loan)

SC Holt*

Bench: SC Tyson*, MC McGugan*, DR Wilson*, DL Lockwood*, GK Kingson

Everybody with an * is an original member of the team at the 2007 start date, so as you can see Forest is a great team for growth potential.

Everything really clicked once I found the right spots for Cohen and Commons. Both didn't quite cut it as a Championship AMC.

In the last three high pressure games it was Niculae, Sailfou and Holt who stepped up in the media to inspire the team. I was disappointed that my Captains Clingan and Morgan not only did not step up, but expressed nervousness. I will have to pass the arm bands on to somebody else next season.

I was just about to let Holt go at the end of his contract, but he started performing in the final three months. With 2 months to go he was asking for a 4 year contract at $13k per week. I wanted to see if he could survive as a Premier league back-up first before I committed to that deal. I offered a 1 year deal at double his salary ~8K per week. He rejected it, but after earning man of the match in 2 straight wins in the last month of the season I was about to give in. Thankfully he only asked for a 2 year deal and 9K per week this time around.

Agogo has been sold. Lockwood's contract expired. Power and Chambers will be let go if they don't accept a low salary deal. Bennet started to struggle at the Championship level so a replacement will be sought. Wilson's performance was not up to par, but has the kind of ratings I am looking for so he will get a second chance. I wanted to buy Ched Evans, but his value increased 500% in the final week of the season. I will look to loan an EPL quality SC and GK for next year and will likely switch to a 5-3-1-1 shape in order to manage a 17th place finish.