Had a good chat with "my" researcher and he said to bring this up here:

not a specific data issue he can deal with.

i'm playing in the EPL with a mid-table side in transition.

i have data allowance issues for now meaning i can't download the demo til next friday. but i've been told on my official team thread that the minimum expectation for my team this year is top half finish.

now, with last season fresh in my mind, it occurs to me that the teams from 6 to about 16 can finish in any of those positions. there was so little in it last year. and i know for a fact that if my team finishes 11th or even 14th IRL the manager will not be sacked, so why does the game not really reflect that this year? chairmen, on the whole, mine especially, are no mugs. they realise it's a very fine line between europe and just staying in the division. and if the team are playing decent football, show potential for future years (my team's RL midfield could sometimes have ages 21,21,24,25) and the fans are vaguely content then no manager is gonna get sacked for finishing in the bottom half.

one possibility i'm looking at is reducing my team's rep ( and some around them who aren't biggerr teams). will that lower expectations? will certainly make it harder to attract players from the likes of lazio that i can at the mo that i dont belive would be possible IRL.

....just some thoughts.......

i agree that the expectations are stupid, the board always expect improvement so for example if Stoke got into Europe this season, theres no way Pulis would be sacked next season if he finished in 8th place.

However in FM the expectation would be to finish in Europe again so overachieving isnt a good thing as you will be expected to repeat or improve on it. IRL Stoke would be happy with a mid table finish each year.

Won't you just get reduced resources next year? I doubt you will be sacked from ending in 10th or 11th place.

You won't be sacked for finishing 11th, especially if it is very close.

You are right about what reducing rep would do.

Personally, I think very few teams should have "top half" targets. The big four, City and Spurs would probably be disappointed with 7th; the likes of Everton and Aston Villa, who are generally seen as just below Spurs, would probably be content with 14th. I think only Newcastle would sack their manager for not finishing in the top half this season.

Personally, I think very few teams should have "top half" targets. The big four, City and Spurs would probably be disappointed with 7th; the likes of Everton and Aston Villa, who are generally seen as just below Spurs, would probably be content with 14th. I think only Newcastle would sack their manager for not finishing in the top half this season.

I doubt Ashley would sack Pardew for finishing outside the top half especially when he has a 5 year contract.

And if you're meaning if one of us finished outside the top half in the game, i still don't agree.

I doubt Ashley would sack Pardew for finishing outside the top half especially when he has a 5 year contract.

And if you're meaning if one of us finished outside the top half in the game, i still don't agree.

I forgot about that five year contract.

You won't be sacked for finishing 11th, especially if it is very close.

You are right about what reducing rep would do.

Personally, I think very few teams should have "top half" targets. The big four, City and Spurs would probably be disappointed with 7th; the likes of Everton and Aston Villa, who are generally seen as just below Spurs, would probably be content with 14th. I think only Newcastle would sack their manager for not finishing in the top half this season.

you mentioned my team! yes, 14th would be ok IRL so why do we have minimum expectation top half? well, when the game's out i'm gonna reduce the reps of some of the mid-table sides if they're not in line with my thinking, see if i can lower the boards' expectations.

"You are right about what reducing rep would do."

hmmm, what if i reduced the rep of the teams around me, and my team, as i believe is probably really realistic in the game, end up with the 7th highest rep? surely then the board would still expect me to finish 7th (the media do ~ they seem to have it down to rep)

I think your best bet would be reducing Randy's ambition. That wouldn't affect your ability to attract players, but it would reduce expectations. Budgets might suffer a bit though.

you mentioned my team! yes, 14th would be ok IRL so why do we have minimum expectation top half? well, when the game's out i'm gonna reduce the reps of some of the mid-table sides if they're not in line with my thinking, see if i can lower the boards' expectations.

Who is your team anyway, I'm a Villa Fan and with the history we have and the status of the club we have a higher reputation than maybe we should after selling Young and Downing but we have a possibility of finishing 7th if Gabby keeps his form and with Bent back from injury and starting to get goals, we have a sold defence apart from RB don't rate Hutton that much.

I don't think the majority of fans would be happy with 14th because a club with our status should be knocking on the door of Europe. Personally we should be looking from 7th to 11th.

If your an Everton fan then I can understand with the predicament you face because of the lack of money at the club it will be hard to finish towards to top end of the league. IRL David Moyles has done a great job with what finances he has had to deal with.

I think your best bet would be reducing Randy's ambition. That wouldn't affect your ability to attract players, but it would reduce expectations. Budgets might suffer a bit though.

you cleverly worked out my team;) never thought of randy's ambition. will amend. because taking the rep of several prem teams down but not continental teams (and, frankly, i can't be bothered to trawl thru the spanish, portugese, french, german, dutch and italian leagues lowering all teams who havent got villa;s history) would under-rate the prem.

cheers for the thoughts!

Who is your team anyway, I'm a Villa Fan and with the history we have and the status of the club we have a higher reputation than maybe we should after selling Young and Downing but we have a possibility of finishing 7th if Gabby keeps his form and with Bent back from injury and starting to get goals, we have a sold defence apart from RB don't rate Hutton that much.

I don't think the majority of fans would be happy with 14th because a club with our status should be knocking on the door of Europe. Personally we should be looking from 7th to 11th.

If your an Everton fan then I can understand with the predicament you face because of the lack of money at the club it will be hard to finish towards to top end of the league. IRL David Moyles has done a great job with what finances he has had to deal with.

mate, i'm villa thru and thru. i agree if we can get gabby and bent reproducing the form they showed against wigan we could do well. yeah, realistically we COULD finish 6th or 7th. the game makes us the 7th biggest team in the prem and i reckon that's pretty accurate. but it'll be so close that we could finish maybe 3-5 points below 6th and still end up 14th. i reckon randy recognises this. as long as we stay in touch with that 7th place i dont reckon he'll be bothered where we finish, as long as we can play some attractive football, appease the fans, show that the likes of bannan and delph will develop into top class players (and then, no doubt, be sold!)

mate, i'm villa thru and thru. i agree if we can get gabby and bent reproducing the form they showed against wigan we could do well. yeah, realistically we COULD finish 6th or 7th. the game makes us the 7th biggest team in the prem and i reckon that's pretty accurate. but it'll be so close that we could finish maybe 3-5 points below 6th and still end up 14th. i reckon randy recognises this. as long as we stay in touch with that 7th place i dont reckon he'll be bothered where we finish, as long as we can play some attractive football, appease the fans, show that the likes of bannan and delph will develop into top class players (and then, no doubt, be sold!)

Yeah I think it would depend on the points gap between 6th and where we finish, if it is close then we would most prob be satisfied but if it is a huge gap then its a different story. Don't know how much that is replicated in game though.

If we picked European Qualification has the minimum and finished 6 points behind 6th and 3 places below. Would the board react the same way if we finished 7th on goal difference.

I find it very easy to progress in FM, I have a couple of mates who support Villa and they would be disappointed with a bottom half finish. With the team they have in FM top half should be an easy and realistic expectation Villa have a better team than Sunderland and I finished the demo in 8th place with Sunderland quite a few points ahead of 10th.

I find it very easy to progress in FM, I have a couple of mates who support Villa and they would be disappointed with a bottom half finish. With the team they have in FM top half should be an easy and realistic expectation Villa have a better team than Sunderland and I finished the demo in 8th place with Sunderland quite a few points ahead of 10th.

IRL it's a strong squad, youthful with bags of potential. in fm, i'm the manager and i have very little tactical nous and develop all my own tactics. i'll manage to mess up, somehow!

btw have re-started after amending randy lerner's ambition. will see what the expectations are now..........

IRL it's a strong squad, youthful with bags of potential. in fm, i'm the manager and i have very little tactical nous and develop all my own tactics. i'll manage to mess up, somehow!

lol, you should have more faith in yourself. Bent will fire you into the top half of the EPL.

lol, you should have more faith in yourself. Bent will fire you into the top half of the EPL.

make that bent and gabby what with his masterclass against wigan last week. yeah, i guess i have learned a fair bit playing this game for years. thing is, before gabby caught fire IRL i was playing 1 forward, ireland in behind him and it was going well. but i feel i need to make this amazing strike partnership work in the game and it involves a major re-think.

well, i tried reducing randy's ambition from 18-->13, and villa's rep from 7050 to 6800 and i'm STILL expected to achieve a top half finish. so much for that experiment........!

Can Gabby play AML?

yeah gabby is a AMRL, ST in FM12

I am no tactical guru but I would use him at AML with Bent as a lone striker and Ireland just behind him.

Well this is the Formation I have gone for.

EDIT: Thats Fabian Delph partnering Barry Bannan is the centre

I'm still in the friendly stage so don't know how it will hold up in league matches

I'm still in the friendly stage so don't know how it will hold up in league matches

looks interesting but i'm not going to go 451/433. ever since i saw highlights and comments from that wigan game i've been determined to develop a couple of pretty simple 442s. gabby-bent partnership, gabby as tgt man/run onto ball. delph developing as a roving dmc due to his ok defensive stats and huge aggression.

i still haven't downloaded the demo, won't have enough data allowance until friday, but i'll try to post my DB-amended formations later.

Well this is the Formation I have gone for.

EDIT: Thats Fabian Delph partnering Barry Bannan is the centre

Two stoppers isn't advisable, they'll both attack the ball and will be liable to becoming exposed by pace. Defensively it looks quite weak in general, actually, with two fairly attacking full backs. The midfield is possibly a bit lightweight, and N'Zogbia is wasted as a defensive winger- I'd go for "inside forward" so he could come onto his stronger left foot and wreck havoc.

I'm having trouble doing a screen capture, even irfan view doesnt seem to work today.

anyway, i've ripped up the defence. collins/dunne have major weaknesses in FM. and i was getting hit on crosses so i've brought in 2 x defensive fullbacks, a cover DC and DC/Defend. have taken the D-line down 2 notches. basically i want to have players deep to nullify this threat from crosses i've noticed.

i've gone for positioning and agility as pre-requisites for the FBs, anticipation, agility for the DCs.

i'm playing a deep midfield. basically, 2 x dmcs. delph as support and AN Other as anchor man. should be really solid defensively.

have zoggy on the right, cutting inside, attacking (RFD, RWB, TTB often) and bannan on the left, primary playmaker, RWB sometimes, never RFD, cut inside, TTB often.

and gabby and bent up front. bent as poacher, gabby as tgt man/run onto ball.

hope that makes sense. defensively i hope it'll be sound and with delph/zoggy bombing forward to support the forwards we have enough options up front.

a lot of this i've developed today with the help of these forums, i've been trying out a few things and this is where i'm at, 12 days before the game is released.

i also have a 442 diamond. will be putting these 2 tactics into match prep and sticking with them season 1.

transfer-wise i;m ditching jenas as i don't see where he fits, ditching petrov for a younger, better version on lower wages, and, as i mentioned previously, a whole new defence. also selling heskey and bringing in Nolan ROux as a 4th striker

Two stoppers isn't advisable, they'll both attack the ball and will be liable to becoming exposed by pace. Defensively it looks quite weak in general, actually, with two fairly attacking full backs. The midfield is possibly a bit lightweight, and N'Zogbia is wasted as a defensive winger- I'd go for "inside forward" so he could come onto his stronger left foot and wreck havoc.

Because its the demo and I will most prob re-start to have a bigger database from the start when the full game comes out. I have just gone on what my Ass Man says are they best positions and roles (well apart from Gabby). I'm still playing friendlies so its not come up against strong opposition yet, Beat Yeovil 4-0 and Oxford 5-0. I have Le Mans, PSG, Brechin, Newport Co and Malaga coming up.

N'Zogbia has assits 2 goals so far, Gabby has scored 3 no assists and Bent has scored 2 no assists. Hutton has assisted in 2 goals and even warnock has got on the score sheet. But will keep tabs on it when bigger matches come up

I doubt Ashley would sack Pardew for finishing outside the top half especially when he has a 5 year contract.

And if you're meaning if one of us finished outside the top half in the game, i still don't agree.

From my Spurs game:

I took over Liverpool and with a budget of 2million I'm expected to challenge for the title. Now I know some people might say 'but it's Liverpool', yet in reality the board aren't expecting Liverpool to challenge for the title this season, and they certainly wouldn't be if a new manager was to come in with somebody elses (crap) squad and without any money to spend.

Semms a bit ott to me.

I took over Liverpool and with a budget of 2million I'm expected to challenge for the title. Now I know some people might say 'but it's Liverpool', yet in reality the board aren't expecting Liverpool to challenge for the title this season, and they certainly wouldn't be if a new manager was to come in with somebody elses (crap) squad and without any money to spend.

Semms a bit ott to me.

The transfer budget at the start of the game takes into consideration the transfers already made i.e. Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing etc.

I took over Liverpool and with a budget of 2million I'm expected to challenge for the title. Now I know some people might say 'but it's Liverpool', yet in reality the board aren't expecting Liverpool to challenge for the title this season, and they certainly wouldn't be if a new manager was to come in with somebody elses (crap) squad and without any money to spend.

Semms a bit ott to me.

Even we get a £2.5 million budget and we are in the right crapper , well , not according to the game as the status is RICH! A Nice £44 million in the bank :D

The transfer budget at the start of the game takes into consideration the transfers already made i.e. Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing etc.

I realise this but as I said in my post, even with all these signings the Liverpool board are not expecting the team to push for the title, they're expected to finish fourth and anything above that is a bonus.

I would be very disappointed if in my first season as Villa on FM12 i didn't finish 8th or higher tbf.

But that's just me, I think there should be an option for mid-table though.

I realise this but as I said in my post, even with all these signings the Liverpool board are not expecting the team to push for the title, they're expected to finish fourth and anything above that is a bonus.

With the players you have at Liverpool (If getting them to play well regularly you could challenge) don't forget in January you will most prob be given £30M