The "Post Your Football Manager Game" Thread

[cklitsie]

Sounds good dada, nice win.

Since I'm done with school I have so much free time so I got this game too.
I saw you guys so enthousiastic about it and I'd played it before (like 2003 or 2004) with a friend that moved away so I never did it again.

It's pretty much fun now but I'm wondering if there's just one 'skill level' in the game, because I started in the Dutch League and picked my hometown team.
They should normally end like 7th-13th and I'm first in the League 2 pts ahead of PSV after about 20 games played. Only sold 2, bought 2 (Ismail Aissati of PSV, 17 y.o.).

[J@3]

I'm pretty sure there's only one skill level... you might've found a really good tactic or something. I'm hitting a slump in my game, I haven't played it for a few days. Update to come.

[cklitsie]

lol I must've been lucky as hell then. I decided from this point on the 2nd place in the league is my ultimate goal. Last week (in the game) I played PSV at home and lost 2-0, so they're no doubt the better team.

2nd place earns you a berth for the Champions League Qualifiers in Holland, so that's fucking great for a shitty team like mine.

But what happens thereafter? Do I play the next season with the same team and just get a shitload money to get better? Or do I get a job with a good club?

[J@3]

Yeah you play the next season with the same team... the money you get depends on the board and TV money... like for instance in England, every Premier League side gets something like 11 million at the end of the season for TV rights, so you might get some of that in the Dutch league. If a job opportunity comes up at a better job you can apply for that if you want, but if your team is tight you might have to try and scab some good free transfers if you don't have the money.

That being said, in the champions league you get money for every win/loss or draw, also for qualifying for the group stages etc. So you should get enough cash to do some upgrading.

[cklitsie]

Ah ok thanks for the explanation. Let's hope I can still somehow finish 1st, that'll get me some cash or else maybe win the Dutch Cup.
I guess I'll keep you updated to my season too.

[J@3]

I was talking to Jugs just a few minutes ago and it got me thinking, what if we started an online game between a few of us? I mean we're all in different timezones but there's bound to be some way to get on and play for 30 minutes or so every few days. It might be fun, I'm a bit sick of my Strasbourg game.

Continuing on with my Strasbourg game, I was desperate to sign a decent player... I signed a defender hoping to play him as a striker, that failed horribly so I didn't save and exited. Now I've found someone who could really work. His name is Ugur Yildirim, he's a 23 year old striker/midfielder from Holland who's got great stats. I broke the bank to get him so he better work out. We got beaten 3-1 by the worst team in the league so I'm annoyed. Hopefully this'll improve things.

Also, a bit of an update on my up and coming young players... Rudy Carlier threw a hissy fit after I signed Yilidrim and requested a transfer, so I released him hopefully someone picks him up, I'm interested to see how he goes elsewhere.

So far so bad... losing 1-0 to a second division side and Yilidrim has a minor injury. I'm keeping him on though because he looks fairly dangerous. And that's how it ended annoying.

Fucky yeah! We beat Monaco 2-1, they are 1st in the league We went down 1-0 early after Oliver Kapo scored for them, but Ekene Ezenwa got one back before half time. At half time I moved Babel to striker, and substituted Kisliy for Arrache. It worked well, we didn't concede any (although they were constantly threateneing) and Ryan Babel scored his first goal on the 93rd minute taking the ball from half way and scoring from out wide Everton was also fantastic in the 2nd half, it was the first decent game he'd had all year.

I've got St Ettiene now, who are coming 4th probably end up a loss but we'll see.

Ugh, Babel injured after 2 minutes. Great, they just scored on a penalty. On the plus side, Yilidrim looks good. Awesome, Yilidrim brings it back to 1-1... but they score the winner towards the end of the match awell, I've got too many injuries to be annoyed about it.

This is more like it. Beating Le Mans 1-0 and doing well. Stacks of injuries as usual but once this team is back to full strength we'll be really strong. Carlos Martins puts us up 2-0, eat that bitches. Half time. Finished 2-0, the points are nice and we're back up to 9th place

I think there's 2 key factors to us doing so well lately: 1 is Salim Arrache. I barely used him on the left wing, good player but I prefered Babel and Leremi but since he's been playing he's averaging 8 and has one man of the match. Number 2 is the return of Fabian McCarthy. He's been on international duty with South Africa for about a month, thankfully he's back now.

Crap... now we've got Marseille who are currently sitting 13th but have a really strong side with guys like Di Vaio, Zalayeta, Trabelsi, Barthez, Ribery so this will suck. Well kind of, Yilidrim just tore through their entire defense and set up Ezenwa for the opening goal. Shit, they just scored and Kante got injured. This sucks They went up 2-1, but Yilidrim got the equaliser on the 85th minute and secured the draw This guy is pretty good.

More updates later.

Had a nice 2-0 win over Toulouse. Yilidrim does what he seems to do often and scored from a free kick, then Sergey Kisliy put them away in the 80th minute which was good. Only about 9 matches left in the season, hopefully we can finish around 8th or 9th. Also gave a debut to Daddy Bazuaye who was ok, he's done well for the Under 18's.

Just got beaten 2-1 by Auxerre. Yilidrim scored to make it 2-2 but they said he was offside

[Dean]

Well after reading all of your FM06 Stories, like CK i went out and bought the game ($40 Australian, thanks EB Games ), and havent really got going yet.

Ive never played the game before, so i was wondering if anyone could recommend a team for a first time user?

[J@3]

I'd suggest Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Pick a big dominant team so you won't get annoyed at losing and quit. That way you can afford to experiment with tactics or whatever, since it comes down to the difference between beating someone 1-0 or 3-0.

[Jugs]

i went the cheap option and downtoaded it.

And because I am a noob, I of course chose Real Madrid.

Here's my team:



Casillas and Raul are injured , but I've won 2 friendlies 3-0. I need a better back-up keeper though. I can afford one but I'm not good at bidding lol, anyone have any suggestions?

[J@3]

Go to Player and Staff Search and look for any keepers over about 30 years old, you'll find stacks of good players. Try Henao, the guy I picked up at Strasbourg. Or if you want to splash the cash go for that young GK at Ajax or PSV... Stelkenbourg or something like that, or Akineev (spelling).

[Dean]

Righto, thanks Jae.

Ill keep you all updated as to how my season goes!

[Jugs]

I went to sign Stelkenbourg (from AJAX, their back-up goalkeeper) but Ajax refused but i got a news piece from the Media saying that Stelkenbourg didn't like how they refused the offer and he wants to play for my team. I offered another transfer but yet to "continue" to find out if he signs.

[cklitsie]

Stekelenburg is actually their main GK, I guess the game is old in some way. you should get Gomes from PSV, he's da shiznit.

like CK i went out and bought the game

Oh and yeah, Yildirim is a good buy, he won like some free kick tourney where all the big stars like Zidane competed too. So obviously he's awesome at free kicks and corner kicks and just shooting.

[Dean]

Sorry CK , its on the DL

Ok, well ive just been mucking around with Everton, and i won my first friendly 3-1, but unfortunatly Timmy Cahill and Marcus Bent (who scored a double in this game) were injured.. I already had my best defender sidelined, so this just added to my problems... My next two friendlies had Everton short on players due to injury, so i had a couple of 2nd Graders called up.. Both of the games ended in 0-0 draws, but Cahill and Bent both came of the bench in the latter.

Ill probably just keep messing round, and then start a serious game, but ill see what happens..

Im having a real problem luring talent to my team, i keep getting out-bidded, or just getting shut down by their Club.. Also a few of the guys that have been mentioned in the thread (such as Vincent Degre) who someone said turn out to be studs, get really bad scouting reports, and they tell me they have no career in professional football..

Well any feedback would be helpfull.

[J@3]

Yeah I generally ignore the scouts, guys like Degre are almost guaranteed to be good if you take care of them so it's best to go with your gut feeling, or ours lol.

I'll get you a list of guys you could probably sign, how much do you have to spend?

[Dean]

With Everton, i have just a little over 12,000,000 Euro.

I forgot to mention before, but Everton have a guy who i really like in this game, someone Ferrari.. Hes a defender, and in the first three games hes finished with 8-10 ratings. He was on loan from another team when i started, but hes really good and puts forth a huge effort game in, game out, so im thinking of approaching him to sign full time.

[J@3]

Matteo Ferrari used to play for Inter Milan I think. Anyways your options for 12 million are great...

Valeri Bojinov
Riccardo Montolivo
Ryan Babel
Jefferson Farfan
Papa Bouba Diop
Julian De Guzman
Jerome Rothen
Nikola Zigic
Cleber (Internacional)
Ivan Pelizzoli
Didier Zokora
Markus Rosenberg
Mile Sterjovski
Denelson
Bofo Bautista
Massimo Maccarone
Kim Kallstrom

Cheaper guys:

Carlos Martins
Juan Carlos Heano
Labinot Harbuzi
Julien Gorius
Noe Pamarot

Keep an eye out for guys who play for Chelsea, there's some really good players who get annoyed with lack of playing time and you can get them quite easily.

For youth players I'd say you should raid Ajax, PSV and Barcelona.

[Dean]

Yeah thats him, Matteo Ferrari, he's turned out to be a real stud for me, hopefully i can lock him to a contract.

After i saw you sign Babel, i scouted him but they turned down my offer. Ill give it another go, and ill check out the other guys aswell. The board only want me to finish in the top half of the English Premier League, so that gives me plenty of freedom to experiment, and develop some potential stars. Ive also gone in and shortlisted and expressed interest in a few strikers and defenders in the English International under 18's and 21's sides, no response yet. Im starting to get into this game, which is good, considering the basis for me wanting to play it was this thread lol.

Would you advise pursuing Vincent Degre?

[dada]

Vincent Degre is the goalkeeper right?
I signed him but he didnt play a match my first year. He supposedly is gonna turn into a good goalie so I would say yeah. Or, you can wait out a until you get a bunch of money and go after Akinfeev. Kinda expensive though so I wouldnt recommend it if you already have a decent goalie.

Go send your scouts out to South America. Sometimes they find some pretty good young players who are keen to sign with a European teams. I think there is a young goalie named Julio Cesar over there as well with decent stats.

[Dean]

Thats another thing i wanted to know..

Can i actually send my scouts to research all players in certain areas, or do i just have to scout each player individually, by finding all players for certain areas (such as South America) and asking for a scouting report.

[dada]

You can send them to specific regions. Just go to the sections with your staff and then assign (its the page you see your finances and stuff I think) them to a region for I think from 1 month- 2 years.

[Dean]

Excellent!

Now i know how you guys find decent players, thanks dada!

[dada]

Jae doesnt do it that way. Only lazy bums like me. I like to do my own scouting but sometimes I might miss a guy or two so thats what those bastards are for.

I would recommend putting an age limit because you dont really want any old guys who only have a year or two left. I normally tell them no older than 27/28. My preference though.

[J@3]

Got motivated to continue my game while I was looking for players for Dean to buy...

We just beat Troyes 4-2... were leading 2-0 at half time but they pulled 2 back. I made one change and suddenly we tore them up, so that was cool.

Strasbourg 4
Sergey Kisliy (1, 65)
Mickael Pagis (36)
Everton (72)

Troyes 2

Everton scoring was pretty huge, because I'd basically given up on him being a left sided defender (which is what he's supposed to be), so I played him on the left wing out of desperation and he did a great job. Kisliy scoring 2 is awesome aswell, the guy's only 18 but he's improving like crazy. I'll start him permanately I think. That win by the way moves us up to 8th and brings our goal difference back to 0.

How strange is this... talk about a good youth system

French reserves league (Championnat de France Amateur - Groupe A)

1st: Strasbourg Reserves: Won 18, Drawn 3, Lost 6

Top Players:
Stefan Por Poroarson (7 apps, 5 goals , 7.57)
Pontus Farnerud (6 apps, 1 goal, 7.50)
Ricardo Faty (3 apps, 3 goals, 7.33... not bad for someone who should be playing under 18's)
Talla N'Diaye (20 apps, 13 goals, 7.14)

French Under 18's Group 1

1st: Strasbourg Under 18's: Won 16, Drawn 2, Lost 3

Top Players:
Clement Leberre (6 apps, 1 goal, 7.83) 17 years old
Morgan Schneiderlein (13 apps, 1 goal, 7.62) 16 years old
Jean-Christophe Lourde (15 apps, 1 goal, 7.60) 18 years old
Mustafa Durak (23 apps, 23 goals, 7.57) 17 years old

[Srbija]

Has anyone played CM5 ? I've heard it's pretty good, but is it better than FM 06??