FM2012: Newcastle United thread - Triumphing by brave defending.....well maybe!

[col_nufc1]

I am tempted to load up my old Newcastle save, but then again I'll might just wait until the January transfers patch comes out and start a new save then, decisons, decisons.

[Andrew!]

Yeah, how did he fail to get one? If it makes you feel better, he was on fire for me. Scored 25 goals in 20 games last season and I only signed him in January!

[tommonufc]

Well I worked out that he hadn't met the necessary quota of 75% appearances in competitive games over the last 2 years; despite him having 30 apps at the point of transfer. Due to me having feeder clubs around Europe, and it being a deadline deal, the transfer went through without a work permit granted or appeal process.

Playing the 2016 Euros with England now; needless to say that my team has a fair few Newcastle players in. Jack Rodwell missed out due to breaking his ankle towards the end of my season; but Jack Butland plays second fiddle to Joe Hart. Kyle Walker, Phil Jones and Steven Taylor make up three of the back four, with Jack Robinson in at left back, and running my midfield I have Jack Wilshere. Heres the full squad for anyone who may be interested;

Goalkeepers

• Joe Hart
  
• Jack Butland
  
• Alex Smithies

Defenders

• Phil Jones
  
• Steven Taylor
  
• Chris Smalling
  
• Jack Robinson
  
• Kyle Walker
  
• Micah Richards
  
• Leighton Baines

Midfielders

• Jack Wilshere
  
• Tom Huddlestone
  
• Ross Barkley
  
• Tom Cleverly
  
• Jordan Henderson
  
• Jonjo Shelvey
  
• Josh McEachran

Forwards

• Wayne Rooney
  
• Theo Walcott
  
• Dale Jennings
  
• Danny Welbeck
  
• Wilfred Zaha
  
• Connor Wickham

Haven't really paid too much attention to my International duties really, just going through the formalities in Qualifying and playing minimal friendlies. The media seemed somehow taken back that James Milner wasn't selected, when he is 30 something now and sat in MCFC's reserves; same with the John Terry and Steven Gerrard. Saying that John Terry still is a formidable defender at 35, just has no pace. Other notable players that I don't particularly like, or haven't caught my eye that were used in the previous 2014 WC regime would be Gary Cahill, Ryan Shawcross, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Aaron Lennon, Adam Johnson, James Milner, Stewart Downing, Dan Gosling, Darren Bent and Andy Carroll.

[DandyDon]

Looks good to me Tommo.

Made it to the final of the Champs League where we'll face Ajax (who knocked out Man City). The second leg was very much a 'squeaky bum' time to quote Fergie where we somehow clung on to a 0-0 draw in Barcelona. We actually had 56% of possession but only managed a paltry 5 shots on goal compared to their 24, but still we survived.

[tommonufc]

Looks good to me Tommo.

Made it to the final of the Champs League where we'll face Ajax (who knocked out Man City). The second leg was very much a 'squeaky bum' time to quote Fergie where we somehow clung on to a 0-0 draw in Barcelona. We actually had 56% of possession but only managed a paltry 5 shots on goal compared to their 24, but still we survived.

I've found Barcelona not to be the dominant force in Europe that they are during the first couple of seasons now, whenever I have played them, even before the 'Galacticos' came along I haven't been overwhelmed by their quality. Finishing the 2015/16 they are not that incredible, partly as I now have their crown jewel Messi, but Xavi and Puyol retired early, and Busquetes moved to Inter. Although they do now have an incredible Spanish regen center midfielder that I have been trailing for a few years, but their squad now seems to comprise a lot of regens - so they just don't seem as formidable in my opinion. Fabregas is pretty much their best player, tempted to bring him in if I have any wheelbarrows of money left over. But trying to damped my impulsive urges these days.

[DandyDon]

Yeah they still have the maestro Messi on my save...though they haven't renewed his contract yet and it's almost the end of the season. Fabregas, Iniesta and Biscuits all still there as well. Puyol and Villa remain, but are starting to get a bit creaky.

[Andrew!]

Did Guardiola leave at the end of the first season in anyone else's game? Wenger left Arsenal to manage them, and Ian Holloway from Blackpool took over Arsenal and has successfully managed them into 19th place

[shirepartial]

Anyone had much success with Tiote so far?

Trying him in DM(Anchor Man) and in MC(BWM-D) and half way into my second season he just seems destined to be forever average... 6.80 every single game pretty much, also Cabaye is in the same boat, though he has the odd game where he bosses midfield.. I play him along side Tiote as a DLP-S both in DM/MC and get the same results.

Fair play who ever mentioned Jay Rodriguez earlier in the thread, I got him for 4m in January of my first season and he scores 2 goals in 3 games as a TM-A, rarely misses a chance for me(unlike ba!) also Tom Cairney is an animal, got him at the same time for 5m.. when Rodriguez scores you can be sure its Cairney with the assist.

[DandyDon]

Did Guardiola leave at the end of the first season in anyone else's game? Wenger left Arsenal to manage them, and Ian Holloway from Blackpool took over Arsenal and has successfully managed them into 19th place

He did actually leave them at end of the 1st season on my save as well, to manage Spain, but he's now back in charge having rejoined in May 2015. Not sure who was bossing them in the interim.

EDIT: talk about spooky coincidence, just checked the club history and the man who replaced Pep was one Arsene Wenger until his retirement in 2015! in the meantime Arsenal have had Michael Laudrup until he took the England job, David Moyes till he got sacked and are now bossed by Schteve McClaren.

[DandyDon]

2015/16 Season Update - And now the end is near....

Actually it's finally here...at long last, for this season at least! Finally got round to finishing off a ridiculously drawn out season last night, and after having spent the day re-installing windows and other drudgery figured I might as well give the final account.

The run in

With a healthy lead in the championship race our 4-0 win over Cardiff, coupled with the results elsewhere for the Manchester clubs meant we wrapped the title up with 4 games left to play. That helpfully gave me some breathing space to rest key players in the last couple of weeks after our nail biting 2 leg win over Barcelona, and proved vital as it allowed our defensive rock Jose Dominguez to recover from a visit to a specialist and Jack Wilshere to return to match fitness after a 3 month lay off.

Alberto Paloschi and Andre ter Stegen were the key men in the FA Cup final, Paloschi scoring both our goals in the first half against Arsenal as a frantic end to end match went the full distance. After 120 minutes ter Stegen made his mark, saving 3 of the Gunners' penalties in a row as we won the shootout.

The Champions League final proved to be a more one sided affair, our defence and midfield stifling Ajax and restricting them to only one shot on target while the front men Hernandez and Sequeira scored in either half. With the 'Holy Grail' of club trophies in our hands we'd completed a clean sweep of the club competitions this season which will take some living up to in seasons ahead.

Final League table

With our defensive unit proving to be the tightest in the league a slow start for our strikers was overcome and as the season developed we got gradually more free scoring as Hernandez really found form, Paloschi recovered from injury and some of the midfielders found their shooting boots. Javier Hernandez finished the season as the league's top scorer with 25 goals (he got 39 in all competitions). Despite missing a large junk of the season with injury Paloschi still managed to play 29 games in all, scoring 25 times.

Our Argentinian wonderkid Sequeira didn't prove to be as prolific as his 2 older colleagues,but he played 57 games in all, and scored a respectable 23 goals. More importantly his strength and passing ability made him vital in bringing other players into the game and creating chances as he weighed in with 24 assists in all. However the most creative player for us was one who missed most of the first half of the season, but after Christmas went on an incredible run of form. Nicolas Gaitan made 29 assists in all, 18 in 21 league matches as he set the record for the highest average rating in the Premier League. (beating the previous record holder...Jose Dominguez).

Apart from Sequeira, several other youngsters had good seasons, with French centre back Malo Louis and Czech left back Postulka pretty much guaranteeing themselves as 1st team regulars. Garza would have gotten more regular football as well if he hadn't disappeared for almost half a season with the Mexican U23 squad...not sure what was happening there.

Ch..ch.ch.changes

With a relatively low average age of 24 the current squad still has plenty of life in it, but with several departures imminent over the summer and injury causing some decline in a couple of key players some reinforcing might just be needed during the close season.

Erik Pieters and Bressan joined Palermo and Bayern once the transfer window opened in deals that were organised back in February. Several other players including Abeid, Vukic, Ranger, Ferguson, Williamson, Marveaux and Gonzalez were allowed to leaveon free transfers after being deemed surplus to requirement, or refusing to sign new deals.

Adam Johnson has been unable it seems to fully recover from his 9 month absence due to a cruciate ligament injury and according to our coaches shows signs of serious decline, and depressingly Yohan Cabaye was unable to rediscover his early season form after a three month ankle tendon injury and also shows signs of decline in his ability. Cabaye has been pretty much first name on the team sheet so far on FM12, but it looks as if I may have to start looking for a replacement sooner than I would have liked.

Apart from looking for a new left winger and possibly another playmaker, the focus in the transfer market during the summer will be on youth signings due to the very poor quality of the youth intake in March, with no real talent coming through from our own ranks I've identified a few signings, 4 of whom are already signed and sealed.

[DandyDon]

The Future is bright, the future is black and white

Ahem....sorry.

The first four signings of the summer are all youngsters who I hope will find their way into the 1st team squad in a couple of seasons. Snapped up young enough so that by the time they are hopefully ready for regular action, they'll count as home grown at the club.

Paul Lancaster - Defensive Midfielder

Snaffled from man utd's youth squad, though we had to pay a hefty 6.25 million to get him. My Ass man rates him as 4.5 stars for potential and he already has some decent attributes. Hopefully being tutored by Cabaye, Nainggolan and Rodwell should benefit and potentially he's the long term replacement for Radja as the ball winning enforcer in our midfield.

Adrien Henry - Attacking Midfielder (Left)/M (L)

Highly recommended by scouts, so we offered Sochaux a fee of £1.8 million which they felt was too good to turn down. Coaches think he could have similar potential to Jack Wilshere...here's hoping.

Fabrizio Gaggiotti - Defender/Wing Back (left)

Sampdoria weren't willing to discuss a fee for this player so we offered him a contract anyway and the tribunal fee was £3 million. Another one rated with 4.5 stars for potential, and I think may be the most capable of the new arrivals of playing a few 1st team games this season.

Philipp Holm - Midfielder (Centre)

Picked up off the Borussia Dortmund conveyor belt of young German talent. We had to pay £4.3 million for this lad. Not particularly impressive physically but he already has some great technical attributes for such a young player. Hoping to mould him into an ideal deep lying playmaker for the future.

[Welshace]

papiss cisse eh? possibly a great signing.. but a good season and a half doesnt make for a good 12million pound investment in my eyes... also losing him and Ba to the african cup of nations isnt going to be ideal for you..

right.. gonna start a save i think

[DandyDon]

papiss cisse eh? possibly a great signing.. but a good season and a half doesnt make for a good 12million pound investment in my eyes... also losing him and Ba to the african cup of nations isnt going to be ideal for you..

right.. gonna start a save i think

I thought the price was less than 10 million euros which isn't all that bad. Not ideal both of them being off at the Cup of Nations admittedly

[col_nufc1]

I have decided to continue my old Newcastle save, I am in February in the year 2015.

We are currently 2nd in the Premier League and we are 3 points behind league leaders Man City but we have a game in hand on them and a much better goal difference so if we win our game inhand we will go top.

In the cups we have a Carling cup final against Liverpool and Champions League first round tie against Sevilla coming up over the next couple of months.

I have just had a look at the transfer centre and to my shock we have about 80 Russian regens joining us when they turn 18 years old, all of them are signing for a transfer fee as little as £6.25k .

[tommonufc]

I have decided to continue my old Newcastle save, I am in February in the year 2015.

We are currently 2nd in the Premier League and we are 3 points behind league leaders Man City but we have a game in hand on them and a much better goal difference so if we win our game inhand we will go top.

In the cups we have a Carling cup final against Liverpool and Champions League first round tie against Sevilla coming up over the next couple of months.

I have just had a look at the transfer centre and to my shock we have about 80 Russian regens joining us when they turn 18 years old, all of them are signing for a transfer fee as little as £6.25k .

Haha, I remember this old trick! Never transferred such a vast population over as you have done, but it made me a good few million. Think I have one or two left in 2016, none of which have really made my first team.

[DandyDon]

Well least col will never be short of warm bodies to play in reserve matches:p

[col_nufc1]

I think when they come over the next couple of seasons, I'll send them to my feeder clubs to get first team games to develop quicker.

[DandyDon]

2016/17 Season Update - Pre Season fun and games

To quote Saint and Greavsey, it's been a funny old game so far during the summer of 2016. After the Euro Championships finished with Portugal defeating Croatia in the final, a whole raft of international management jobs became available, including both the English and Scottish posts.

Now despite being the current top dog in the English premier League....and Scottish, that wasn't enough for those FA's to consider me for the posts. With England turning to Stuart Pearce, and Scotland making Peter Houston the new head man. However I was considered good enough by both the French and Italian federations, and after some debate with myself I decided to pick Le Bleus over the Azzurri.

This summer also, finally, finally saw some of my efforts to unsettle a player have some effect. After a five year campaign of praise and media sychophancy, when Mario Goetze appeared on the transfer list by his own request, I was able to persude him to pick us over his many other suitors. Super Mario arrived on the 17th of July as our new record signing at a cost of £28 million. Annoyingly Dortmund went out and used the cash to snaffle a couple of very talented regens I'd been keeping an eye on.

With several talented youth signings already in the bag, attention now turned toward finding a possible back-up/replacement for Le Dreamboat Yohan. However we're now approaching the start of the season and haven't managed to land any possible targets. Several players were priced out of our reach (Arturo Vidal, Nuri Sahin and Yann M'Vila amongst others), we did agree a deal with Arsenal for Aaron Ramsey, but he was too greedy for his demands in terms of a loyalty bonus and I eventually walked away from the deal. Have the scouts out looking at several other targets now, and I'm hoping we can secure at least one of them before the end of August as central midfield is looking a little sparse if injury strikes.

[Robert the Spud]

So, started a Toon save. Not sure how i'm gonna play tbh. Squad looks pretty thin too, but no signings till Jan

Need to find a way of getting Cabaye slightly more forward. 4-2-3-1, or simple 4-4-1-1??? Hmm

[DandyDon]

So, started a Toon save. Not sure how i'm gonna play tbh. Squad looks pretty thin too, but no signings till Jan

Need to find a way of getting Cabaye slightly more forward. 4-2-3-1, or simple 4-4-1-1??? Hmm

The squad is definitely pretty thin in terms of depth. Witness the real life struggles against Norwich when both Colo and Taylor were crocked, and Demba Ba's composure and consistency seem a bit lower on FM than they've proved to be so far. Squad should still be good enough to keep you in touch of the board's 1st season expectations until you get the chance to reinforce though (as long as you get lucky on the injury front)

I generally went for 4-2-3-1 with the players available, mostly as 4-4-1-1 never seems to work out for me. Give Cabaye a little more freedom and licence to get forward than the general Deep Lying Playmaker instructions.

[Robert the Spud]

Marveaux looks like an excellent playmaker higher up the pitch. Having him and Ben Arfa(when fit) together looks mightily intriguing. I may retrain Cabaye to play further up the pitch, because he's much needed there. Although, he has the stamina to get from box to box. Looks like a bloody good all round player to be honest. But yeah, i'll tweak his instructions somewhat.

Doesn't look like Santon really has the work rate to be a wing back either, unfortunately.

[tommonufc]

Marveaux looks like an excellent playmaker higher up the pitch. Having him and Ben Arfa(when fit) together looks mightily intriguing. I may retrain Cabaye to play further up the pitch, because he's much needed there. Although, he has the stamina to get from box to box. Looks like a bloody good all round player to be honest. But yeah, i'll tweak his instructions somewhat.

Doesn't look like Santon really has the work rate to be a wing back either, unfortunately.

Santon is a truely world class wing back on either the right or left side. I use him in 2016 in rotation with Gareth Bale at left back, and Kyle Walker at right back. The lad is quality!

[tommonufc]

Marveaux looks like an excellent playmaker higher up the pitch. Having him and Ben Arfa(when fit) together looks mightily intriguing. I may retrain Cabaye to play further up the pitch, because he's much needed there. Although, he has the stamina to get from box to box. Looks like a bloody good all round player to be honest. But yeah, i'll tweak his instructions somewhat.

Doesn't look like Santon really has the work rate to be a wing back either, unfortunately.

Davide Santon, this lad is quality! Make sure you keep him at all costs. Was class for me at left back, and equally as good at right back before the likes of Gareth Bale and Kyle Walker came along. Now use him in rotation at both full/ wing back berths, and is truly dependable. If you can afford him the luxury of car free attacking from wing back he can be a real treat to the opposition. Keeeeep him at all costs.

Regarding Ben Arfa, he was truly hit and miss and I believe the only position he will fire in is in AMC behind a striker; I stuck him outwide most of the time and didn't see much quality what so ever. If you can get his mental application right he could be a great player, all I can say is good luck with him.

[DBurns]

Just about to start a save with Newcastle but before I do, a few questions:

- How well do Vuckic, Campbell, Abeid, Ranger and Ferguson turn out?

- What are the finances generally like a few years in and whats the chances of getting a takeover?

- Finally, is 4-2-3-1 the best formation to use with the original squad?

Many thanks!

[tommonufc]

Just about to start a save with Newcastle but before I do, a few questions:

- How well do Vuckic, Campbell, Abeid, Ranger and Ferguson turn out?

- What are the finances generally like a few years in and whats the chances of getting a takeover?

- Finally, is 4-2-3-1 the best formation to use with the original squad?

Many thanks!

1)With right development I believe that Vuckic and Abeid can turn into decent Premier League players; but as I mentioned in a post further up ^^(have a search for it, I go into more detail) by the time that they have fully developed through training, tutoring and game time you could be realisticly challenging for the title; and thus they would be mere squad player quality at best. As for Ranger and Ferguson, I'd say decent/average Championship players.

2) Well, as you would be able to see if you have a read through the thread history, I was taken over by a Russian tycoon who seems to plough money into the club at every given opportunity; thus allowing me to spend £100ms on players like Messi, Ronaldo ect. That's one side extreme case of a takeover possibility, and I think I struck my luck with that happening to me in any FM save for a long time; but you should see that Mike Ashley does look to sell the club, and from their it's pot luck really upon who you get. But the main ability you have in turning the clubs finances around (which I don't think are as bad as they are made out) is to win games, and win throphies. Getting into the Champions League as soon as possible should definatly be a priority. The club has a huge stadium, and infrastructure to become a top club. If you do get into Champions League, the likely hood wold be that you would be able to increase St. James' capacity to 60,000, therefore offering an even greater revenue stream. My approach saw me bring in the best quality of player I could be using the 48mnts installment, this risk paid off and I finished 4th first season. From there I intended to cut back, and live from the money generated but was shortly taken over, so money didn't become an issue. Short answer, finances aren't a worry, just succeed in what you are doing and you will be financially backed accordingly.

3) A very broad statement, seeing as the wide playing field you have when it comes to tactics; but I believe this should be your stock formation you would look to build a system around. Replicating Pardew's 4-4-2 requires you to be very tactically aware of what the opponent is doing, and then look to play the ball forward as quick as possible. For the more user-friendly approach, a simple 4-2-3-1 of Krul in goal, with a back four of Simpson, Colo, Taylor, Santon; Midfield of Cabeye and Tiote, with a front four of Jonas, Obertan, Marveux and Ba would see good enough quality for the Premier League.

[DandyDon]

Just about to start a save with Newcastle but before I do, a few questions:

- How well do Vuckic, Campbell, Abeid, Ranger and Ferguson turn out?

- What are the finances generally like a few years in and whats the chances of getting a takeover?

- Finally, is 4-2-3-1 the best formation to use with the original squad?

Many thanks!

Welcome and Good luck with the save

-the youngsters are fairly hit or miss, some folks have had some success with them mostly Vukic and Abeid. Campbell didn't improve one iota for me nor did Ranger. Ferguson could have but got injured and then threw a strop about lack of games.

-the finances should be pretty healthy if you don't go crazy in terms of big money deals over 48 months and wages. Chances of a takeover are same as any other club, and totally random as to whether it's a Sugar Daddy, minted consortium or a tightwad local business man who shoots down all your requests (speaking from bitter personal experience )

-personally I think 4-2-3-1 is probably the best formation for the starting squad, but 4-4-2 is worth a look as well.

[DandyDon]

2016/17 Season Update - Full speed ahead

After the massive signing of Mario Goetze early in the summer our progress in the transfer market slowed up until the middle of August, when I managed to secure another 1st team ready central midfielder to provide cover/competition for Yohan Cabaye. After scouting several possibilities and making offers for 5 different targets we eventually agreed a deal with Bayer Leverkusen for Lars Bender and he arrived after our opening league game for a fee of £13.25 million. He's a very solid player with no real weaknesses to his game, can play either DM or MC and has the high workrate and determination I wanted to fit in with rest of our squad.

With that deal organised for a reasonable fee I was left with 13 million in the transfer budget after selling Pablo Serabia to Fiorentina for 9 million, so I splashed out on 2 youngish players to add some extra cover and depth to the squad. Both regen players that we'd been tracking for a season and I think they should help us deal with all but the most extreme injury cirses in defence or midfield.

Valeriy Kosinets - Defender (Centre)

Young Belarussian defender, signed from Red Star for a fee of £6.75 million. Decided to snap him up now as Steven Taylor is currently out injured and isn't getting any younger and that left us with only 3 fit centre backs. My Asst Manager, Jair Ventura, rates him as having similar potential to our Mexican star Jose Dominguez so he may well turn out to be a bargain.

Koldo Larrazabal - Defensive Midfielder/D/M ©

Young Spaniard cost us £5.5 million from Xerez. He can play DC, Dm or MC, though his favoured position is DM. Already has some nice technical attributes, and hopefully some influence from Nainggolan should help him. Signed him primarily because he can cover three positions reasonably comfortably.

[ky jelly]

how has dan gosling turned out in anyone's game? just reloaded a newcastle start (due to boredom with the old one), tried to challenge myself by not signing anyone in the first window. squad is paper thin but i think i'll manage. in the few games i gave gosling a run (in the expense of tiote as gosling's preferred position seems to be DMC), he doesn't strike me as a good player at all. or may be i should play him in the box-to-box midfield role?

[shirepartial]

how has dan gosling turned out in anyone's game? just reloaded a newcastle start (due to boredom with the old one), tried to challenge myself by not signing anyone in the first window. squad is paper thin but i think i'll manage. in the few games i gave gosling a run (in the expense of tiote as gosling's preferred position seems to be DMC), he doesn't strike me as a good player at all. or may be i should play him in the box-to-box midfield role?

I played him alot due to injurys first season as a dlp/anchor man when ever Cabaye/Tiote were out, he makes drastic improvements in training and scores the odd wondergoal apart from that hes just a solid 6.80/7.00 each match, I also had him chain tutored by Cabaye/Tiote.. start of second season fulham made a 10m bit that cashley accepted on my behalf... he is an ideal backup player since he is so versatile but he needs alot of games first season as he isnt getting any younger.

[Paulista]

Newcastle just signed Cisse, so I want to know how I could use Cisse and Ba together or if I should sell on of them.

[Welshace]

cisse as a targetman or complete forward.... ba as a deep-laying forward or advanced forward.. easy.. and they should work well together... both are very well rounded strikers .. and in fact, both cover eachothers weaknesses well

[Andrew!]

Just reached November 2012, i've got Tiago Alves coming in on January 1st to take some of the pressure off of Damiao. Milevskyi hasn't scored in the league since March or April and his only two goals this season have come against Cardiff in the League Cup. Hopefully Xisco will go as he's demanding first team football, and I even made a bid of £7.75m for Tevez which got accepted, but he wanted £125,000 a week.. i'm glad I couldn't get him as it would have been a waste of money, especially as I normally play 4-2-3-1 anyway.

I'm thinking of buying Charlie Adam who's transfer listed as extra cover.. and maybe a right winger if I can sell Obertan in the summer. Any suggestions for a different CM? Adam is 3* which should be enough, i'm just looking for someone better than Guthrie, but who can still challenge Cabaye.

[Welshace]

who's thiago alves?

[DandyDon]

Andrew, take a look at Andile Jali a South African midfielder. He has his own thread on here. He's a good all round option, could cover for Cabaye or Tiote fairly well. What sort of budget would you be looking at?

[Robert the Spud]

Also, Tom Huddlestone might be a good bet. Probably can't get into the Spurs squad in game. And although everyone says this, Kara is a great CM. Can do everything.

Who's the West Ham lad that Pardew bid for in real life a few week back, was it Tomkins or Collins(sp)? I'm looking at potential CB targets. Might sell Colo end of season because of his big wages. Want to get the bill down to a more sustainable rate and build a squad of cheap, young players.

[Welshace]

tomkins.... great cb

along with craig dawson.. probably the best attainable young brit cb around

[Robert the Spud]

Are they good enough on Fm?

[Welshace]

thats what i meant yeah... definately mid table standard and can definately do a job for higher clubs too

[Andrew!]

My budget is still £22m after I sold Ba for £9m (I don't think I desperately need a new striker as i'll now have 3 plus Xisco and Ranger and I only play with 1). I've tried looking for Andile Jali but I can't find him

I think I might scout Huddlestone, I also used to buy Angelo Palombo on FM10, but 31 is too old for me really, and i'm already starting to look at defenders... really don't know if I want to sell Coloccini though

[Robert the Spud]

thats what i meant yeah... definately mid table standard and can definately do a job for higher clubs too

Yeah, my prospective buys for Newcastle are Dann, Tomkins, Dawson and possibly Verthonghen. Also the young Juan from Internacional looks quality.

[DandyDon]

My budget is still £22m after I sold Ba for £9m (I don't think I desperately need a new striker as i'll now have 3 plus Xisco and Ranger and I only play with 1). I've tried looking for Andile Jali but I can't find him

I think I might scout Huddlestone, I also used to buy Angelo Palombo on FM10, but 31 is too old for me really, and i'm already starting to look at defenders... really don't know if I want to sell Coloccini though

might need to have a large database or the South African leagues loaded to find Jali, not sure. I usually have South Africa loaded so didn't really think about it. Like Robert says, Kara is a good option if he hasn't moved somewhere already, plus he could play at centre back for you if need be, has all the attributes to do well there. Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan might be in your price range or Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another who is pretty versatile in midfield (he's at Dortmund on my save and looks very good) and I think Fernando is often available very cheaply in second season.

[h=2][/h]

[DandyDon]

Yeah, my prospective buys for Newcastle are Dann, Tomkins, Dawson and possibly Verthonghen. Also the young Juan from Internacional looks quality.

Dawson is a good signing for first few seasons, very affordable, good back-up/competition for Steven Taylor. Vertonghen is obviously excellent, but quite pricey I think. Leastways I would have had to pay about £10 mill for him if I remember right, decided against it at the time. Dann was an excellent player for me on FM11, very solid, but haven't managed him on FM12.

Course if Blackburn's form mirrors real life he could be available pretty cheap should they get relegated. Pretty much how I got him on FM11, played vulture when the brummies went down.

[Robert the Spud]

What sort of play do you all recommend with the starting squad as it is, in terms of passing/tempo/philosophy etc? I'm tempted to play a possession game, but that won't use the pace I have on the wings. Maybe go for a direct counter game away from home.

[DandyDon]

I don't know about the likes of Tmmo or other regular posters, but in first season I generally played 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 both were fairly rigid at the time, with shorter passing and a lot of pressing. I can't remember the exact settings as the 4-2-3-1 has mutated quite a lot as I improved the squad. Generally used the 4-4-2 at home against teams were close to or expected to beat as it was quite an attacking set up. Used the 4-2-3-1 against the bigger clubs and away from home.

As I built the squad I wanted the philosophy has become more fluid. To start with I was usually using our wingers, especially Jonas, as defensive wingers to try and help protect our fullbacks. Obertan proved quite a useful option for me in the 1st season, scored a few and created a few with some very direct runs despite his fairly terrible starting attributes.

[Andrew!]

might need to have a large database or the South African leagues loaded to find Jali, not sure. I usually have South Africa loaded so didn't really think about it. Like Robert says, Kara is a good option if he hasn't moved somewhere already, plus he could play at centre back for you if need be, has all the attributes to do well there. Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan might be in your price range or Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another who is pretty versatile in midfield (he's at Dortmund on my save and looks very good) and I think Fernando is often available very cheaply in second season.

[h=2][/h]

Tried the first 3 but Strootman and Nainggolan have both been bought this summer and I can't find Mkhitaryan either

Tried looking for Fernando but there's over 300, which club does he play for? Thanks for the suggestions.

[DandyDon]

Tried the first 3 but Strootman and Nainggolan have both been bought this summer and I can't find Mkhitaryan either

Tried looking for Fernando but there's over 300, which club does he play for? Thanks for the suggestions.

Good question! I think he starts at Porto and he'd be 24 or 25 years old.

[Robert the Spud]

Pre-season gone excellently. Only negative is that Jonas is out until early September. Still, unbeaten, even against Braga and Sporting. My game plan looks very efficient too so far, keeping good possession but passing with intent and speed.....Ba looks a bit of a beast!

[DandyDon]

Pre-season gone excellently. Only negative is that Jonas is out until early September. Still, unbeaten, even against Braga and Sporting. My game plan looks very efficient too so far, keeping good possession but passing with intent and speed.....Ba looks a bit of a beast!

Ba's an odd one on FM, he seemed to be on fire for some folks and absolutely hopeless for others. He started the 1st season well for me with 5 in 7 (when he was fit) but in the second half of the season he couldn't seem to hit the proverbial barn door most of the time. His low composure seemed to be a real hinderance considering the amount of one-one-one chances we created for him against opposition keepers. Some of his other attributes are great though.

Hope he keeps the form up for you

[Robert the Spud]

His composure will inevitably be looked at in the last patch. Well, I presume so anyway, because 9 is quite a way off in my opinion at least. He has missed a few, how shall we say, sitters.

Anyway ****ing windows updates mean i have to play my last two Pre-season games plus Bolton away, which i drew 1-1, again I really quite like this squad though. Looking forward to bringing in some unknown gems though

[Andrew!]

I found Fernando, but the scout reckons he won't be interested in joining me. But, on the good side.. Felipe Melo is transfer listed at Juventus for £5.25m, not sure if I should go for him at age 29, or Charlie Adam. Decisions, decisions!