Anderlecht or Inter Milan

This is just for general reccomendation from the public. I am unsure out of which one to choose out of Anderlecht or Inter, can people give me the pros and cons of being each side and who would be a more enjoyable save. Thanks in advance

Why not look it up in team guide section. Alot of good posts in each teams thread

i played 10 years with inter following the sacking of benitez (in-game) in january and it was really competitive for the first 4 years then turned too easy, worst thing about being them is buying out the stadium cost us £200m meaning another loan was taken out, you never get a board take over cos moratti loves the place, they have nothing within the team to look forward to currently so you'll be bringing in your own kids and of course the worst after probably the second season, dealing with the damn co-ownership decisions, u want none of them but sometimes you still get stuck with awful awful players that u end up releasing. oh and also their team is extremely old, oldest in the league i think

Well, as a season ticket holder of Anderlecht and playing them in FM I can tell you about them but I do not have any experience with Inter in the game.

Anderlecht has a proud history of winning 3 Europa cups and most of us supporters hope to really bring that back.

Our biggest rivals are Club Brugge and Standard.

Budgetwise you will find it somewhat challenging at the start but your aim should be trying to keep players like Lukaku, Bigglia, Juhasz and Boussoufa at the club and building your team around them. (irl Boussoufa will move to Grozny for 11.5 mil euro, that's not in the game because this transfer is only made this week)

As a manager of Anderlecht you will be expected to win the league and progress into the Champions league group stage.

Those are not to hard to do with the current squad but however for the latter you will depend a little on the 4th preliminary round draw, the 3rd round should be easy no matter what opponent.

In the longer term you will have to quite often rebuild your squad because it will be hard to keep the better players.

Keep your budget in check, buy young Belgian talent from smaller Belgian teams and the occasional 4 star player (relative to the club) and you should be good.

Some other tips: French is the spoken language so you will do good by getting some of the young talented French players that French top teams overlooked.

There's no need for work permits and rules for the league say at least 6 players trained by a club in Belgium have to be in the selection for a match.

Also a few U21's aswell, 2 I think.

League rules are pretty complicated but here it goes:

16 teams play home & away against eachother, winner 3 points, draw 1 point, loser 0 points.

When all the teams have played against eachother the first 6 will make up a "Play off I" group, possition 7 - 14 will play "Play off II" and the number 15 & 16 will play a relegation match.

Rules for the Play offs:

-Play off I-

All points gained in the regular competition will be halved and the 6 teams play home and away against eachother to make out the champion and some Eurocup places.

-Play off II-

Points are striped and the teams play in 2 groups of 4 teams (like in the groupfase of the Europacups).

The winners of both groups play a final and the winner gets a Eurocup spot.

-Relegation Battle-

Team 15 and team 16 will play eachother in a best of 5 matches, the team that wins 3 or more matches stays the loser relegates.

Normaly with Anderlecht you will get easily in play off 1 so that means at least 40 competition matches + cup games + Continental games.

Imo you need a decent sized squad, at least every possition double occupied to be on the safe side.

final word:

If you don't mind rebuilding your squad every few years and want to have a team that can domminate it's own country but will have a though task of winning siverware in Continental competitions Anderlecht should be well suited for you.

Don't let the Play off system put you off, you get used to it after a few seasons, but irl football fans here in Belgium do not fancy them much.

I suggest also to take a look at the Wiki page of Anderlecht, to get to know them a little better.

If there's anything more you want to ask, let me know.

Wow, A league more complicated than Israel!!!

But if you start in 11.3 i think you should start with Inter.

Great little guide to Anderlecht there, really makes me want to start a game in Belgium

After RSCA4Ever's post, I think you know what to do OP.

Go to Inter, and sign Lukaku.

Go Anderlecht, Inter woul be too easy and you would get tired quickly

Thanks everyone for the feedback, yh it is true that was an amazing post by RSCA4Ever thanks very much I think maybe I might want to start with Anderlecht because it would be a challenge to keep hold of your talented players such as Lukaku and have good youngsters, however I will start with Inter later. They have got an old aquad but it is blended in with youth as well

Well, as a season ticket holder of Anderlecht and playing them in FM I can tell you about them but I do not have any experience with Inter in the game.

Anderlecht has a proud history of winning 3 Europa cups and most of us supporters hope to really bring that back.

Our biggest rivals are Club Brugge and Standard.

Budgetwise you will find it somewhat challenging at the start but your aim should be trying to keep players like Lukaku, Bigglia, Juhasz and Boussoufa at the club and building your team around them. (irl Boussoufa will move to Grozny for 11.5 mil euro, that's not in the game because this transfer is only made this week)

As a manager of Anderlecht you will be expected to win the league and progress into the Champions league group stage.

Those are not to hard to do with the current squad but however for the latter you will depend a little on the 4th preliminary round draw, the 3rd round should be easy no matter what opponent.

In the longer term you will have to quite often rebuild your squad because it will be hard to keep the better players.

Keep your budget in check, buy young Belgian talent from smaller Belgian teams and the occasional 4 star player (relative to the club) and you should be good.

Some other tips: French is the spoken language so you will do good by getting some of the young talented French players that French top teams overlooked.

There's no need for work permits and rules for the league say at least 6 players trained by a club in Belgium have to be in the selection for a match.

Also a few U21's aswell, 2 I think.

League rules are pretty complicated but here it goes:

16 teams play home & away against eachother, winner 3 points, draw 1 point, loser 0 points.

When all the teams have played against eachother the first 6 will make up a "Play off I" group, possition 7 - 14 will play "Play off II" and the number 15 & 16 will play a relegation match.

Rules for the Play offs:

-Play off I-

All points gained in the regular competition will be halved and the 6 teams play home and away against eachother to make out the champion and some Eurocup places.

-Play off II-

Points are striped and the teams play in 2 groups of 4 teams (like in the groupfase of the Europacups).

The winners of both groups play a final and the winner gets a Eurocup spot.

-Relegation Battle-

Team 15 and team 16 will play eachother in a best of 5 matches, the team that wins 3 or more matches stays the loser relegates.

Normaly with Anderlecht you will get easily in play off 1 so that means at least 40 competition matches + cup games + Continental games.

Imo you need a decent sized squad, at least every possition double occupied to be on the safe side.

final word:

If you don't mind rebuilding your squad every few years and want to have a team that can domminate it's own country but will have a though task of winning siverware in Continental competitions Anderlecht should be well suited for you.

Don't let the Play off system put you off, you get used to it after a few seasons, but irl football fans here in Belgium do not fancy them much.

I suggest also to take a look at the Wiki page of Anderlecht, to get to know them a little better.

If there's anything more you want to ask, let me know.

And extra praise for this in taking your time in explaining the rules of this league, always have found it confusing but now I get it. Sounds quite innovate and more exciting, I like the idea of this league, gives teams something more to play for rather than just pride but as you seem a very knowledgable person of Anderlecht can you reccomend what players to start in central defence and do you know of there youth prospects, most noteably Dennis Praet and Kabasele and I probably want to have 2 up front in being Lukaku partnered with De Sutter or Veranjovic (something like that) both their heading and jumping are better than Lukaku so they will be main target man so I was wondering how to play as Lukaku, poacher, target man aswell, advanced forward or the main one I was thinking Complete Forward?

And something else i wanted to ask is why do they halve the points ?

And extra praise for this in taking your time in explaining the rules of this league, always have found it confusing but now I get it. Sounds quite innovate and more exciting, I like the idea of this league, gives teams something more to play for rather than just pride but as you seem a very knowledgable person of Anderlecht can you reccomend what players to start in central defence and do you know of there youth prospects, most noteably Dennis Praet and Kabasele and I probably want to have 2 up front in being Lukaku partnered with De Sutter or Veranjovic (something like that) both their heading and jumping are better than Lukaku so they will be main target man so I was wondering how to play as Lukaku, poacher, target man aswell, advanced forward or the main one I was thinking Complete Forward?

It's very confusing at first and I'm not so keen on the play off system tbh but financially it's almost a must, since Belgian football is getting to much behind.

In my (11.2) save Badibanga, Kabasele and Jordan Lukaku the younger brother of Romelu Lukaku became good players for me.

I do play now a fresh start with 11.3 but I'm still in my first season.

I tend to cash in early in the game on most of my youth and only keep the ones I think that will suit my tactics.

Central defence: Juhasz and Mazuch but they do lack pace and it's good to look for faster replacements in the long run but they both do well in the Belgian competition for me.

How to best play Lukaku still puzzles me, I play him as a Poacher in a 4-3-3/4-5-1 for most matches but I think later on when his attributes get better he is maybe more suited as a complete forward.

A wide variation of 4-1-2-1-2 is my attacking formation with De Sutter (target man) and Lukaku (Poacher) upfront with Boussoufa behind them as a trequartista.

I use Veselinovic as a backup for De Sutter and Suarez for Lukaku.

And something else i wanted to ask is why do they halve the points ?

It's to keep it more competitive, I'm completely against it and most people share my feeling on this but it does give more top matches.

Last year we dominated the league and the play offs and this season it sure will be a lot tougher, still I think points earned shouldn't be taken away just to keep it more interesting.

Correction to my previous post"irl Boussoufa will move to Grozny for 11.5 mil euro, that's not in the game because this transfer is only made this week".

He just signed for Anzhi Makhachkala in somewhat of a surprise last minute transfer.

Hate to see him leave though.

Go to anderlecht for a challenging game.

You only need lawyers to win stuff in Inter. Boring.

Go to anderlecht for a challenging game.

You only need lawyers to win stuff in Inter. Boring.

LOOL hehe

It's very confusing at first and I'm not so keen on the play off system tbh but financially it's almost a must, since Belgian football is getting to much behind.

In my (11.2) save Badibanga, Kabasele and Jordan Lukaku the younger brother of Romelu Lukaku became good players for me.

I do play now a fresh start with 11.3 but I'm still in my first season.

I tend to cash in early in the game on most of my youth and only keep the ones I think that will suit my tactics.

Central defence: Juhasz and Mazuch but they do lack pace and it's good to look for faster replacements in the long run but they both do well in the Belgian competition for me.

How to best play Lukaku still puzzles me, I play him as a Poacher in a 4-3-3/4-5-1 for most matches but I think later on when his attributes get better he is maybe more suited as a complete forward.

A wide variation of 4-1-2-1-2 is my attacking formation with De Sutter (target man) and Lukaku (Poacher) upfront with Boussoufa behind them as a trequartista.

I use Veselinovic as a backup for De Sutter and Suarez for Lukaku.

So normally you play Lukaku on his own upfront? how many goals did he get for you and as you went in to quite a few seasons with them in the last patch does he ever get unhappy saying he wants to move to a bigger club and if so would you cash in on him because irl that must be devestating for a fan to see one of their own, so young leave and is arguably going to be the best striker in the world in a few years, i still think he should stay at Anderlecht for a couple more years and for left back would you reccomend Dedschacht.

It's to keep it more competitive, I'm completely against it and most people share my feeling on this but it does give more top matches.

Last year we dominated the league and the play offs and this season it sure will be a lot tougher, still I think points earned shouldn't be taken away just to keep it more interesting.

Correction to my previous post"irl Boussoufa will move to Grozny for 11.5 mil euro, that's not in the game because this transfer is only made this week".

He just signed for Anzhi Makhachkala in somewhat of a surprise last minute transfer.

Hate to see him leave though.

And yeah I have seen Boussoufa, looks quite a good player but the money for him looks quite good but I see the challenge behind the league and also frustration. Say if Anderlecht were on 100 points and Standard were on 80 there would be a 20 point difference but if halved there would be only a 10 point difference and in a situation like that Anderlecht could regard that as unfiar/ slightly cheatish but at least it makes sure that every team knows they have something to play for every match other than just pride and provides a better chance for all the other teams for something to play for but what happens if a team's point ends on an odd number such as 53? Confused. Sorry for all the questions btw, just want to know more about the club and league before I start my save.

So normally you play Lukaku on his own upfront? how many goals did he get for you and as you went in to quite a few seasons with them in the last patch does he ever get unhappy saying he wants to move to a bigger club and if so would you cash in on him because irl that must be devestating for a fan to see one of their own, so young leave and is arguably going to be the best striker in the world in a few years, i still think he should stay at Anderlecht for a couple more years and for left back would you reccomend Dedschacht.

He scored a lot in his first 2 seasons but had a dip in his 3rd, probably due to the interest he was getting from Barcelona.

I sold him in that summer transfer for 18M but only because I had a young regen who was about to break through.

It wasn't my greatest move because the young lad got injured for 5 months shortly after and we struggled the entire season.

In that transfer window I also had sold Suarez, Bigglia and Juhaz so it was always going to be a though season.

I ended up 3rd but won the Belgium Cup for the first time.

Badibanga and Kabasele both saved my season a few occasions and probably my job also.

The next 2 seasons we dominated from start to finish then 11.3 came out.

Deschacht should be your first option yes, but when you have the chance to sign a good DL who has more pace you can always play Deschacht out as a DC.

And yeah I have seen Boussoufa, looks quite a good player but the money for him looks quite good but I see the challenge behind the league and also frustration. Say if Anderlecht were on 100 points and Standard were on 80 there would be a 20 point difference but if halved there would be only a 10 point difference and in a situation like that Anderlecht could regard that as unfiar/ slightly cheatish but at least it makes sure that every team knows they have something to play for every match other than just pride and provides a better chance for all the other teams for something to play for but what happens if a team's point ends on an odd number such as 53? Confused. Sorry for all the questions btw, just want to know more about the club and league before I start my save.

Yes in a way it is unfair, a team who won less points in total can still become champion by playing great in the Play offs.

It does give some pressure in the play offs and a few times I really got angry when we lost, unlike in the regular season.

But it also gives you the opportunity to rotate your squad more during regular season and giving young talent some playing time.

The odd numbers like 53 will be round off upwards, so it will become 54 divided by 2 = 27.

Boussoufa wanted to move for some time and his contract ended in 2012.

He didn't want to renew it, so cashing in on him was probably the best but just before the play offs is hard to swallow.

The Russian transfer window ended last midnight so there was no way to keep him untill afterwards.

In the game make sure you look at his contract because he has a release clause, try to renew his contract early on.

A few other tips I can give:

Put a minimum asking price of about 5 times the players vallue, even 10 times higher for young players, on every player you like to really keep, otherwise other teams will bid very low for your players and it might unsettle them.

Look out for Big clubs trying to steal away the U18 players on Youth contracts via Tribunal fees.

To counter it, offer them a pre-contract that they will sign when they become 17.

Thats good that you brought through quite a lot of the young players and youth team. Kabasele and Babaginda look very exciting, however I do think you should of hold up for a higher fee for Lukaku, with me I want to try my uttermost to make sure he does not leave at all costs. But although you can give some of the younger players more playing time, isnt that a risk as the aim should be to get as much points as possible so you can hold a good lead by the time of the play offs and the annoying thing is the board don't have enough funding so i cannot give Boussoufa a contract so I think I'm going to wait till the end of the season to offer him a contract as I want to keep the sqaud as it is with no outs, but kind of risky as Bousouffa has a minimum fee releae clause of £7m which is quite cheap a player of his calibre but I ensured I gave Lukaku a contract and gave him a minimum fee release clause of £40m and thanks for the tip about the youth players, been made aware of that, common thing irl apparently Man United have got a 16 year old from Anderlecht who could turn out to one of the best wingers in the world, like a younger Messi I heard, must be quite frustrating.

Going back to Kabasele do you have a screenshot to show how he developed because his starting stats look for a potential world class poacher and in your third season I think Lukaku and Kabasele up front could turn into a brilliant partnership and just for general interest what was Lukaku's stats like for you in the first season and did he achieve any awards such as goalden boot or in the team of the year?

Just to keep update, lost my first league game away to Zulte Waregem 2-0, worried me a little but felt more satisfied as I won my next league game 4-0 at home to Liers. Lukaku scoring a magnificent 2, De Sutter with 1 and Dalibor Veselenovic with 1 aswell, Kanu is looking really impressive in my games btw and because Legaar has been injured recently, I am playing Suarez out of position at Right Mid because of his pace and he is playing well there as well. Other from that all looks good/

BTW, I don't post this in the Anderlecht team guid as no one tends to respond and it falls behind due to all other people updating about their team threads.

I didn't even know there was a team guide for Anderlecht. :o

I also sometimes put Suarez out of position as a AMR/L inside forward and yes he does well on the wing.

Thats good that you brought through quite a lot of the young players and youth team. Kabasele and Babaginda look very exciting, however I do think you should of hold up for a higher fee for Lukaku, with me I want to try my uttermost to make sure he does not leave at all costs. But although you can give some of the younger players more playing time, isnt that a risk as the aim should be to get as much points as possible so you can hold a good lead by the time of the play offs and the annoying thing is the board don't have enough funding so i cannot give Boussoufa a contract so I think I'm going to wait till the end of the season to offer him a contract as I want to keep the sqaud as it is with no outs, but kind of risky as Bousouffa has a minimum fee releae clause of £7m which is quite cheap a player of his calibre but I ensured I gave Lukaku a contract and gave him a minimum fee release clause of £40m and thanks for the tip about the youth players, been made aware of that, common thing irl apparently Man United have got a 16 year old from Anderlecht who could turn out to one of the best wingers in the world, like a younger Messi I heard, must be quite frustrating.

Going back to Kabasele do you have a screenshot to show how he developed because his starting stats look for a potential world class poacher and in your third season I think Lukaku and Kabasele up front could turn into a brilliant partnership and just for general interest what was Lukaku's stats like for you in the first season and did he achieve any awards such as goalden boot or in the team of the year?

I should've kept Lukaku for sure and one of the reasons I sold him was to try to have enough money for a new stadium.

In my new save I'm also planning to keep him as long as possible.

I also have trouble trying to renew Boussoufa's contract in 11.3.

Yeah it's frustrating that clubs of the size like Man Utd trying to steal youngsters away so early in their development.

Not sure if it's the best thing for the player, but I can understand it.

I normaly don't take screenshots to watch the development and my 11.2 save is on my older comp as I'm still in the process of moving stuff to my new one.

While posting this I will fire up my old computer and transfer my saves so I can take screens.

I have tied all the best young ones to long term contracts, Kabasele, J.Lukaku and Praet look very promising, Praet made his league debut for me at the age of 16 but when I am away from home I am struggling to dominate possession. BTW, Juhasz is a brilliant centre back gets his head to everything. Just by playing the game, I am starting to know more about the players.

I am really struggling, players keep getting injured, being dominated in possesion really annoying and having to include a few youth players in the first team

Having many injuries is though, hang in there, the first season is always the hardest!

I have to say 11.3 is a lot harder then 11.2.

Did you managed to get in the Champions league group fase?

If you did, you will find next seasons budget very usefull.

Well, it took me ages to find out how to make a screenshot in Win7 but I finaly managed to find out ALT-F9. :o

I tried first with "Prt Scr" button but it always gave me the desktop view, in XP that worked, apparently not in Win7.

I took some early screenshots from the first 3 seasons as I didn't want to spoil to much.

As you can see Kabasele improved in many ways.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/Kabearly.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/NathanKabaseleProfile_Attributes.png

His debut games late in the 2nd season:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/NathanKabaseleProfile_Attributes-2.png

Lukaku's first season stats:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RomeluLukakuHistory_CareerStats.png

His 2nd season:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RomeluLukakuProfile_Attributes-2.png

What can I say about this guy? He prooved to be my best transfer in the game. (2nd season)

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RobertoRosalesProfile_Attributes.png

To give you some courage this was the league standings halfway my first season, not very impressing but towards the end the team really got going.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/BelgianProLeagueInformation_LeagueTable.png

2nd year with 2 games left in the play offs, a lot more dominating then previous season, the champions league money from previous season came in very handy also.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/BelgianProLeagueInformation_Stages.png

These are the only backup saves I had from early game and my final save is 4 years later.

Having many injuries is though, hang in there, the first season is always the hardest!

I have to say 11.3 is a lot harder then 11.2.

Did you managed to get in the Champions league group fase?

If you did, you will find next seasons budget very usefull.

Well, it took me ages to find out how to make a screenshot in Win7 but I finaly managed to find out ALT-F9. :o

I tried first with "Prt Scr" button but it always gave me the desktop view, in XP that worked, apparently not in Win7.

I took some early screenshots from the first 3 seasons as I didn't want to spoil to much.

As you can see Kabasele improved in many ways.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/Kabearly.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/NathanKabaseleProfile_Attributes.png

His debut games late in the 2nd season:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/NathanKabaseleProfile_Attributes-2.png

Lukaku's first season stats:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RomeluLukakuHistory_CareerStats.png

His 2nd season:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RomeluLukakuProfile_Attributes-2.png

What can I say about this guy? He prooved to be my best transfer in the game. (2nd season)

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/RobertoRosalesProfile_Attributes.png

To give you some courage this was the league standings halfway my first season, not very impressing but towards the end the team really got going.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/BelgianProLeagueInformation_LeagueTable.png

2nd year with 2 games left in the play offs, a lot more dominating then previous season, the champions league money from previous season came in very handy also.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd200/Smithycpl/BelgianProLeagueInformation_Stages.png

These are the only backup saves I had from early game and my final save is 4 years later.

Kabasele is developing quite well for you, still very young as well and I heard from somewhere that he has irl already been linked with Chelsea and played in the first team. Lukaku's stats for you are looking good as well, you must of start to get quite a bit of interest in him. In my save I went out of the Champions league 2nd stage of qualifying, I am going to make a new save as with my old one I think I relied too much on youth and 4-4-2 was not really working well for me so in my new save hopefully things change. I am thinking about playig a 4-3-3 tactic with Lukaku as the lone striker but unsure what role.

You're doing very well btw, to be top of the league especially considering the lack of funds. Can you plase tell me what tactics you use, your team and the formation you play and how do you play Lukaku? And the dilemma of having a 1 striker upfront I am thinking is that your are keeping about 3-4 good strikers on the bench if I play with 1 up front. One thing I seemed to notice aswell is that I kept being dominated on possesion, any tips on how to change this, do you think it would be better having 3 in midfield? And last thing what kind of passing instructions do you set for your team?

Thanks for the replies btw

oh and also their team is extremely old, oldest in the league i think

i read somewhere that they have the oldest team europe, with an average age of 29.7 or 28.7 if i remember corectly

Kabasele is developing quite well for you, still very young as well and I heard from somewhere that he has irl already been linked with Chelsea and played in the first team. Lukaku's stats for you are looking good as well, you must of start to get quite a bit of interest in him. In my save I went out of the Champions league 2nd stage of qualifying, I am going to make a new save as with my old one I think I relied too much on youth and 4-4-2 was not really working well for me so in my new save hopefully things change. I am thinking about playig a 4-3-3 tactic with Lukaku as the lone striker but unsure what role.

You're doing very well btw, to be top of the league especially considering the lack of funds. Can you plase tell me what tactics you use, your team and the formation you play and how do you play Lukaku? And the dilemma of having a 1 striker upfront I am thinking is that your are keeping about 3-4 good strikers on the bench if I play with 1 up front. One thing I seemed to notice aswell is that I kept being dominated on possesion, any tips on how to change this, do you think it would be better having 3 in midfield? And last thing what kind of passing instructions do you set for your team?

Thanks for the replies btw

In a early phase don't rely to much on the youth, certainly not for continental matches.

Try to sell one of the GK's in the first team "Kudimbana" offer him for free to clubs and "Michael Cordier" offer him for his value and a few not so good youngsters to free up some wage money.

Then getting a backup DR is the most important imo!

Gillet can play in DR possition and does a decent job in most games but because of the injury at the start of the game that Wasilewski has you don't have many options.

If you cannot get a backup DR on free try to get a DC instead this way you can allow Mazuch to play in DR possition if needed.

Ideally is to get both a DR and DC.

BTW, in FM09 I was sacked in my 2nd season and I did started a new game that lasted untill FM10 came out.

In FM10 and FM11 I had much more luck with injuries and I think it's mainly because of that luck I could do well considering the lack of funds at game start.

But I say it again Champions league money can give you a serious advantage early on.

You start with 0 transfer money now but the 2nd season you get +25M (if in champions league group fase in 1sth season) and that's a lot in Belgian comp.

Most of the time I play a 4-5-1.

Team settings:

Balanced, control, short passing and everything else default

Player settings:

GK defend

DR/DL automatic, against weaker teams attack and against better teams defend

DC's defend

DMC defend

MCR support ("deep lying playmaker" but only for Bigglia plays otherwise I set it as "box to box")

MCL support

AMR attack winger

AML attack (For Boussoufa only as "Inside Forward" or when Bigglia isn't playing as "advanced playmaker" for any other player I set it as "winger")

SC attack (Lukaku, Suarez and later on Kabasele I set as "poacher" De Sutter or Veselinovic I set as "target man")

As you can see I usualy change some settings depending who is playing to "hopefully" get the maximum out of my best players.

This is the best formation to keep possesion imo

My attacking formation is a wide 4-1-2-1-2.

Team settings:

Balanced, attack, short passing (default passing when behind or in bad weather conditions) and everything else set to default

Player settings:

GK defend

DL/DR support

DC's defend

DMC support

ML/MR attack

AMC attack "Trequartista" Boussoufa plays pretty good in that position

SCR attack "Target man" De Sutter and Veselinovic

SCL attack "Poacher" Lukaku, Suarez and later on Kabasele

This is a very attacking formation and it seems once you get ahead it's better to change the mentality to control or go back to 4-5-1.

Edit: One more thing I forget to mention is about the huge list of staff members.

Keep your scouts otherwise you will never get so many, they aren't the best but they do allow you to cover many areas.

Give a few Youth coaches a new contract as Coach and get rid of one Assman no need to have 2.

Physios I keep 4 but it might be better to only keep the best 2.

In a early phase don't rely to much on the youth, certainly not for continental matches.

Try to sell one of the GK's in the first team "Kudimbana" offer him for free to clubs and "Michael Cordier" offer him for his value and a few not so good youngsters to free up some wage money.

Then getting a backup DR is the most important imo!

Gillet can play in DR possition and does a decent job in most games but because of the injury at the start of the game that Wasilewski has you don't have many options.

If you cannot get a backup DR on free try to get a DC instead this way you can allow Mazuch to play in DR possition if needed.

Ideally is to get both a DR and DC.

BTW, in FM09 I was sacked in my 2nd season and I did started a new game that lasted untill FM10 came out.

In FM10 and FM11 I had much more luck with injuries and I think it's mainly because of that luck I could do well considering the lack of funds at game start.

But I say it again Champions league money can give you a serious advantage early on.

You start with 0 transfer money now but the 2nd season you get +25M (if in champions league group fase in 1sth season) and that's a lot in Belgian comp.

Most of the time I play a 4-5-1.

Team settings:

Balanced, control, short passing and everything else default

Player settings:

GK defend

DR/DL automatic, against weaker teams attack and against better teams defend

DC's defend

DMC defend

MCR support ("deep lying playmaker" but only for Bigglia plays otherwise I set it as "box to box")

MCL support

AMR attack winger

AML attack (For Boussoufa only as "Inside Forward" or when Bigglia isn't playing as "advanced playmaker" for any other player I set it as "winger")

SC attack (Lukaku, Suarez and later on Kabasele I set as "poacher" De Sutter or Veselinovic I set as "target man")

As you can see I usualy change some settings depending who is playing to "hopefully" get the maximum out of my best players.

This is the best formation to keep possesion imo

My attacking formation is a wide 4-1-2-1-2.

Team settings:

Balanced, attack, short passing (default passing when behind or in bad weather conditions) and everything else set to default

Player settings:

GK defend

DL/DR support

DC's defend

DMC support

ML/MR attack

AMC attack "Trequartista" Boussoufa plays pretty good in that position

SCR attack "Target man" De Sutter and Veselinovic

SCL attack "Poacher" Lukaku, Suarez and later on Kabasele

This is a very attacking formation and it seems once you get ahead it's better to change the mentality to control or go back to 4-5-1.

In your 4-5-1 formation, who do you have playing alongside Biglia in CM, presuming you have Kouaute in DM and if you set your tactics to default what does that mean. Also I see how you set Boussoufa as an inside forward, but wouldnt it be more ideal if you have him on the right wing in that case so he can be on his stronger right foot. Last thing with the full backs and CB do you set their closing down to whole pitch or own area? Get confused on those ones.

In your wide 4-1-2-1-2, my question again is what does it mean if you are setting your passing to default and in that formation does that mean you would start Kouaute and leave out Biglia? Also who do you have on the ML and MR, i guess you have Legaar on the RM but LM a bit unsure.

Can you give me some of your tips on the team width and tempo because this is where I think i got exploited and the only thing is, especially when I start a new save I dont' really like selling, thats is my only problem and woow £25m is amazing, ensuring that I get to the Group stages or a good Uefa Cup run is a must

In your 4-5-1 formation, who do you have playing alongside Biglia in CM, presuming you have Kouaute in DM and if you set your tactics to default what does that mean. Also I see how you set Boussoufa as an inside forward, but wouldnt it be more ideal if you have him on the right wing in that case so he can be on his stronger right foot. Last thing with the full backs and CB do you set their closing down to whole pitch or own area? Get confused on those ones.

In your wide 4-1-2-1-2, my question again is what does it mean if you are setting your passing to default and in that formation does that mean you would start Kouaute and leave out Biglia? Also who do you have on the ML and MR, i guess you have Legaar on the RM but LM a bit unsure.

Can you give me some of your tips on the team width and tempo because this is where I think i got exploited and the only thing is, especially when I start a new save I dont' really like selling, thats is my only problem and woow £25m is amazing, ensuring that I get to the Group stages or a good Uefa Cup run is a must

Yes mainly Kouyate as DMC and Sare as backup.

My other MC Klejstan at start, backup is Marecek, and once Wasilewski is back from injury Gillet will be the main choice.

But the sooner you have a extra DR, the better, Gillet is much better on MC.

Boussoufa is irl two footed and in FM terms it might be better to put him on the AMR but I preffer Legear as a AMR winger with crossing to Lukaku.

For the DC's I keep them at close marking and closing down own half.

They aren't fast enough for whole pitch.

The wide 4-1-2-1-2, I realy don't use much.

But Biglia will play in DMC then.

ML Leckjaks, Kanu, Badibanga.

MR Legear, Badibanga.

It all depends on the situation.

Normal team wide, normal tempo (slower when 2 goals up).

With default I mean Creative freedom, closing down, tackling, etc. I keep them as they are I only change "passing" to "short" and "starting strategy" to "Control" in my teams settings.

I don't change much in advanced as I never felt the need for tweaking to much.

I don't like selling either but Kudimbana is the 4th GK in the first team, not much point in keeping him around.

25M is great to have yes + the wage budget increase + after the first year loan repayments are only 120K monthly instead of 1.3M. (values in euro's)

The downside is by the 2nd summer transfer window a lot of teams will have interest in your players and it's quite challenging in keeping them.

Yes mainly Kouyate as DMC and Sare as backup.

My other MC Klejstan at start, backup is Marecek, and once Wasilewski is back from injury Gillet will be the main choice.

But the sooner you have a extra DR, the better, Gillet is much better on MC.

Boussoufa is irl two footed and in FM terms it might be better to put him on the AMR but I preffer Legear as a AMR winger with crossing to Lukaku.

For the DC's I keep them at close marking and closing down own half.

They aren't fast enough for whole pitch.

The wide 4-1-2-1-2, I realy don't use much.

But Biglia will play in DMC then.

ML Leckjaks, Kanu, Badibanga.

MR Legear, Badibanga.

It all depends on the situation.

Normal team wide, normal tempo (slower when 2 goals up).

With default I mean Creative freedom, closing down, tackling, etc. I keep them as they are I only change "passing" to "short" and "starting strategy" to "Control" in my teams settings.

I don't change much in advanced as I never felt the need for tweaking to much.

I don't like selling either but Kudimbana is the 4th GK in the first team, not much point in keeping him around.

25M is great to have yes + the wage budget increase + after the first year loan repayments are only 120K monthly instead of 1.3M. (values in euro's)

The downside is by the 2nd summer transfer window a lot of teams will have interest in your players and it's quite challenging in keeping them.

Thanks a lot for the advice mate, really appreciated. I think I am probably going to try out the 4-5-1 and home games where I am clear favourites I will proabably play 4-4-2 or the 4-1-2-1-2 wide. Do you play down the flanks or through the middle and just matter of interest seen as you are a big fan of them irl do Anderlecht use a 4-5-1 formation irl because I checked their games and Lukaku seems to be the only striker who regularly starts. I looked at some stats and irl De Sutter scored a lot of goals last season but this season, he has featured mostly from the bench.

Another thing, I spotted a brilliant talent in the game called Dennis Praet in the youth team, do you know anything about this lad?