FM 10: Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Die Werkself

For the joy of the others and the pain of he own supporters, Bayer Leverkusen made itself a reputation of the eternal second placed or "Vicekusen" as they "won" a lot of second places in the past with the "highlight" being 2002 when they lost both finals in championsleague and german cup and got kicked from the first place in german Bundesliga on the last day. So besides a win of the german cup in 1993 and the UEFA Cup in 1988 there is no real gold to present to the fans. Can you change that?

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

The Club - Bayer 04 Leverkusen is department of the TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen a sports club founded in 1904 as a company sports group for the Bayer chemical companies employes. The club consists of many departments like athletics, gymnastics, basketball and other sports, but the football department is the most-known of them.

Through the history of being part of the Bayer company, the club is one of two teams (the second one is Wolfsburg) in german Bundesliga who are sponsored by a company so you get a few millions at the begin of each season from Bayer (~25m €)

Since Bayer Leverkusen was promoted to Germanys first division, the Bundesliga, it kept his spot there and always finished between place two and sixteen. The most succesfull years were probably 1988 when they won the UEFA Cup, 1993 the win of the German Cup and 2002 when they finished second in Bundesliga and lost the finals in Championsleague and german cup.

Last season saw two different faces of Bayer Leverkusen (again), an awesome first half of the season and a second half, where they had to play in Düsseldorf as the BayArena was upgraded, that was as awefull as the first rocked and dropping to place 9 in the final table. The only highlight was reaching the finals in the german cup where they lost to Werder Bremen.

This season, back in the own Stadium, should be better in real life (and in game with YOU as the new coach ), the hopes are high as the club not only hired experience on the field with former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypiä but also on the sideline with veteran coach Jupp Heynckes

Chairman - : Wolfgang Holzhäuser

Famous Alumnis/Heroes - Michael Ballack, Dimitar Berbatov, Bernd Schneider, Jens Nowotny, Carsten Ramelow, Ze Roberto

The Arena - The BayArena with a capacity of 30210 seats.

Budgets

Top half finish - 3m € transfer / 600k € wage (2.6m/550k £)

Euro League qualification - 3.6m € transfer / 650k € wage (3.1m/550k £)

Title challenge - 3.9m € transfer / 650k € wage (3.4m/575k £)

Winner - 4.2 € transfer / 675k wage (3.7m/600k £)

The Squad

No.  	B Pos  	Name
1 	GK 	René Adler
21 	GK 	Tomasz Bobel
69 	GK 	David Thiel
47 	GK 	Benedikt Fernandez
32 	GK 	Fabian Giefer
34 	GK 	Dominik Poremba
49 	D R 	Assimiou Touré
27 	D R 	Gonzalo Castro
2 	D R 	Daniel Schwaab
24 	D L 	Michal Kadlec
52 	D C 	Markus Happe
4 	D C 	Sami Hyypiä
5 	D C 	Manuel Friedrich
20 	D C 	Lukas Sinkiewicz
56 	D C 	Marius Schultens
3 	D C 	Stefan Reinartz
6 	DM 	Simon Rolfes
18 	DM 	Thomas Zdebel
15 	DM 	Hans Sarpei
23 	DM 	Arturo Vidal
8 	M C 	Lars Bender
7 	AM L 	Tranquillo Barnetta
39 	AM C 	Toni Kroos
10 	AM C 	Renato Augusto
29 	ST 	Theofanis Gekas
11 	ST 	Stefan Kießling
9 	ST 	Patrick Helmes
17 	ST 	Richard Sukuta-Pasu
19 	ST 	Eren Derdiyok
61 	ST 	Maciej Zieba

RL Lineup (Rolfes being the more defensive part, Vidal more offensive)

As Bayers second team plays in Germanys fourth division you need to use a user made file so you can let them play (and hopefully be successfull enough to get them promoted to the third division )

Click here and do as it says.

Key Players

Rene Adler

With Rene Adler you have one of the best german goal keepers in your squad who should become one of the best goalies in the game a few seasons in.

Sami Hyypiä

Many supporters consider him one of the most important transfers in recent club history. While Bayer has a young team, Sami and his experience are a solid base to keep the defence together.

Simon Rolfes

A good, if not great defensive midfielder who doesnt hesitate to go forward from time to time. Team captain though he always seems to be a bit too quiet on the field.

Patrick Helmes

Being 25 years old he is still young and he is a striker you should enjoy having in your squad. Unhappily he is injured for most of the first season's half but after that the german national should score for fun.

Squad Analysis:

Goal

First choice is obvious, Rene Adler is the strongest part of your defense. Benedikt Fernandez will do a decent job as a backup. For number three either choose one of the others and get rid of the rest or hire a better free agent.

Defense

Strongest part here should be the right side. Schwab and Castro are on a similar level, up to you who you want to have as a starter here. Left side is easy with Kadlec as the starter. With a bit of training Castro will be accomplished here too, so if you keep Hans Sarpei around you might be good backup wise for both sides. Second choice as backup on the left side could be young Leonardo Ribeiro. Sell or loan the others. If worst case szenario applies even Vidal can play both full- or wingback positions

Sami Hyypiä is your rock as a centre back. Manuel Friedrich and Lukas Sinkiewicz are on a similar level here and with Stefan Reinarz you have a decent, young talent.

Midfield

Propably the strongest part of your first eleven. Vidal can play all central positions, Rolfes is a great DM/CM and you have a talented winger with Barnetta. And with Bender (cm), Kroos and Renato Augusto (ACM) you have three great talents. Thomas Zdebel as a veteran defensive backup is also a usefull player to have. Only thing you might really need is a good man for the right side.

Attack

Helmes is injured for the first five to six months so you have three decent strikers and one hot prospect. Eren Derdiyok should be your first choice and then its up to you and your system I guess. Usually you should be covered enough here.

U21 Team

Leonardo Ribeiro (LB) might be an idea as a backup and Burak Kaplan& De Witt (AM) seem decent in a few years. In my opinion the others are not really worth keeping around, but guess its a thing of personal opinion. Not too sure about those loaned out at the start of the game yet, will update later.

(-TonyVain- posted a far better analysis than mine a few posts down. Scroll or click

Young Prospects

Gonzalo Castro

Versatile right back who can play almost every position in defense+midfield.

Lars Bender

Joined from second division club 1860 Munich. Solid, young midfielder

Richard Sukuta-Pasu

18 year old attacking jewel that may need a year or two before he breaks into the first team, so maybe a loan deal to a lower division club might be a good idea here.

Great OP Dinu

I'd settle for another 2nd place behind Bayern

saved for future updates

My own squad analysis.....

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers

Rene Adler is probably the most important player in the team. He is only 24 years old and could easily be relied upon for the next 10 years. Excellent in one on one situations and with lightning quick reflexes. His only real weakness is his aerial ability, so it may be worth keeping an eye on how he deals with crosses into the box.

Benedikt Fernandez seems a decent backup for the first season but could be out for up to 3 months from the start of the game with a knee injury, so another backup should be considered (maybe on loan).

Centrebacks

Sami Hyypia provides valuable experience to a defence which is fairly young overall. He is dominant in the air , determined, influential and will be a great mentor to younger centrebacks. However, with age comes slowness – his lack of pace means he should definitely not be used in the ‘Cover’ role but he is a great reader of the game (Anticipation, Concentration, Decisions, Positioning stats all 17+) so would probably make a good ‘Stopper’.

Sinkiewicz would most likely take the second centreback spot with Friedrich providing a good third choice as backup. Stefan Reinartz should also be given plenty of games in the first season as he has the potential to replace Hyypia in a year or two. Michal Kadlec, can also do a good job here if needed.

Fullbacks

The only natural leftback in the first team is Michal Kadlec. He is a good all round defender who also has the pace and crossing ability to get forward and supply the strikers with balls into the box. There are several players who can use their left foot and provide backup here if needed – Castro, Schwaab and Sarpei. A natural left back as backup may be something to target in the future though.

At rightback there are two very good young players who are very similar – Daniel Schwaab and Gonzalo Castro. I would advise starting Schwaab here as he is slightly better defensively, slightly better going forward and also Castro has a strong left foot therefore is probably the best backup for leftback aswell as rightback. Sarpei can also cover here.

Assimiou Toure can play both leftback and rightback but is still developing, so should be sent out on loan as he could become useful in a season or two.

Leonardo Ribeiro in the Under 21 squad is decent, see how he performs in pre season.

Defensive midfielders

Simon Rolfes is your captain and without doubt the best defensive midfielder in the squad. His high natural fitness, stamina and teamwork will be invaluable in protecting the back four until the final whistle.

In Arturo Vidal you have the perfect backup for Rolfes – his aggression, bravery, determination and work rate will add extra bite to the centre of the midfield, especially useful when trying to neautralise the big teams in the league – the likes Bayern, Bremen and Wolfsburg.

Thomas Zdebel adds to the depth in defensive minded midfielders and despite being 36 years old will still be a good squad player if you can keep him fit.

Lars Bender is an excellent prospect for the future and is touted by the media as the next Michael Ballack! Give him some sub appearances / cup games and he could become a very good player in a couple of seasons.

Wide midfielders

Tranquillo Barnetta should be first choice to play wide left. He is also accomplished wide right and competent in the AMC role. Good from set pieces , an agile dribbler and a threat from long range - Barnetta makes a dangerous and versatile attacking player.

There is no natural backup for the left side of midfield so this may be an area to look at investing in, depending on your preferred formation. Renato Augusto can play here if needed but is better in a central role.

There are no natural right midfielders in the first team and this could pose a problem. Kiessling has good pace and acceleration, but is poor at dribbling and crossing. Barnetta, Renato Augusto and Toni Kroos can play here but are more effective in other positions. Definitely an area to strengthen if you intend to play with wide midfielders.

Attacking midfielders

Renato Augusto is your number one centrally. His high creativity and teamwork attributes mean he will probably be involved in a lot of the chances the team creates. Augusto is strong technically and will be an essential first team player.

Toni Kroos is a very gifted 19 year old on loan from Bayern Munich, who has the potential to be a future world class attacking midfielder. Unfortunately there is no future fee clause in the loan contract, but if you have the chance to sign him permanently then I would recommend that you do it! He is already good enough to start and is as equally creative as Renato Augusto.

Pierre de Wit is the only other natural AMC in the first team. He is young and still developing, but could become a good player if trained well and played in enough games. Use him from the bench of loan him out for frst team experience. He is also strong with both feet.

Burak Kaplan is one to watch in the Under 21 squad.

Forwards

Patrick Helmes is the strongest striker in the squad but starts the game with a cruciate ligament injury – meaning he probably won’t be fully fit until December. He is a pacey, quick-thinking attacker who can use both feet and will score goals from inside and outside the box.

Eren Derdiyok is a 21 year old pacey striker who is a major aerial threat. At 6’3” and with great jumping [18] and heading [17] attributes, he will give even the best centrebacks in the business nightmares.

Stefan Kiessling has very good physical and mental attributes but his serious lack of technical prowess (Finishing – 11, Composure – 8) may reduce his effectiveness upfront.

Theo Gekas is a good all-round experienced striker with good pace, acceleration, finishing, composure, off the ball and heading attributes. He may not set the world alight but should prove to be a good squad player and possibly a good mentor for youth players.

Richard Sukuta-Pasu (‘RSP’) is a very promising young striker who has the potential to be as good as Helmes. He should be given sub appearances / cup games to aid his development.

You may want to strengthen this area in the absence of Helmes, depending on your formation.

Tevfik is one for the future, keep an eye on him.

Notable players out on loan:

Sascha Dum (23) – D/WB/AML – Would have been decent cover at leftback if he wasn’t out on loan.

Constant Djakpa (22) – D/WB/AML – Looks like a decent wide midfielder, he is fast and has 14 for dribbling/crossing. Not safe in defence though – poor tackling, concentration and positioning.

Bastian Oczipka (20) – D L – may turn out to be quite a good prospect. Solid all round, with double figures in most attributes.

Jens Hegeler (21) – DC/DM/MC – another good all round defender who is good in the air and can also play in midfield. One to watch.

Anderson Bamba (21) – DC/DM/MC – A brazilian centreback is a trademark of Leverkusen, past successes being Lucio and Juan. Can Anderson Bamba follow in their footsteps??

Marcel Risse (19) – AMR/L – decent winger who may come good. Equally good with both feet.

Dennis Schmidt (21) – ST – decent striker who is best in the air, may become a useful backup with good training and plenty of matches.

Summary

The spine of the team is very strong – Adler, Hyypia, Rolfes, Augusto and Helmes – and there is definitely a good young platform to build on. A few backup players, and wide players if you choose to play with them, should be all you need for the first season. Some decent players are out on loan and may develop well so you might not want to splash too much cash, especially with a loan debt of £61m.

Formations

Main formation :

Defensive formation :

*

Possible Area’s To Strengthen –

backup GK – Lung Jr, Agenor, Luis Guilherme

backup DL - Aleksandar Lukovic (loan £300k, buy £2m), Paolo De Ceglie (loan £450k, buy £3m)

And if playing with wide midfielders you will need to look at MR and backup ML.

-TV-

Great OP Dinu

Thanks

I'd settle for another 2nd place behind Bayern

Well I became second in my first season (as if I didnt expect it *sigh*)

Okay I played pre season and the first games a few times, tbh, to get a handling of the new tactic thingie (aka I failed horriblie in the first attempts)

The final attempt before I would have given up (was about to try one of the big clubs to see if its my players or my tactics) finally fixed the holes in my defensive line. Well not completly, but at least enough so Adler could catch enough to keep me going.)

Even if the squad in itself isnt bad I am a bit biased towards Sinkiewicz, Friedrich and Gekas from RL. Plus I am a bit of a trader which leaves me hiring and selling a lot more than its necessary *g*

Transfers in first season:

I mostly worked with monthly installments so I was able to spend a lot more than the 3.5m € I got as transfer budget.

The loss of Castro is sad, would have loved to keep him but I had two offers, one of Florenz, one of Atletico Madrid I guess. I asked for too much from Madrid, they withdrawn their offer and he became upset. I asked for 12.5m € from Florenz, they were willing to pay and my board accepted. Maybe I could have kept him if I offered him more for a new contract. (*selfslap) But I was lucky injury wise in the defense so i got it covered most of the time with Kadlec, Ansaldi and Schwab and Garrido.

When Helmes came back in winter I became complacent and decided to loan out Kießling to give him more matchpractice. Of course I got bitchslaped by faith and Helmes got another injury for the last three months of the season. Got lucky that Fleck worked just fine as backup.

Season went above expectations, I was able to challenge Wolfsburg most of the time for their first place, was usually 2, 3 sometimes 5 points behind them and was finally able to finish second, 3 points ahead of Bremen and 5 behind Wolfsburg.

Dortmund and Bayern finished on the Euro League Qualification places while Cologne won the cup.

Best players where Barnetta who became German Footballer of the Year and Eren Derdiyok who scored 19 league goals in 32 games. Not too bad for a 21 year old I guess.

Second Season is upcoming and I guess I will keep Sukuta-Pasu and Reinartz because of their Home-Grown Status while I'm trying to give Bender another year of second division football.

More when I finished pre season/summer transfers

Nice OP mate. Well done.

I was hoping someone would start a leverkusen save

In my 1st season I am 10pts clear with 5 games to go. The standout players have been Adler and Helmes, the highlight being Paddy Helmes' 5 goals in one league game. Derdiyok has been disappointing just not scoring.

At the start of the season i signed simon vukcevic who has been my top scorer, omer toprak and viktor elm who has proven a very useful player. I was forced into arranging a 12.5mil deal for defour when the chairman accepted a 6.75mil offer for vidal from tottenham also have a deal done for alaba.

Anyway ive had a very enjoyable season so far looks like i have the bundesliga in the bag

Excellent OP!

I am in 5th season with Leverkusen now and things are looking good. I managed to get Van der Varrt in the first season and he was my key player with his free kick and play maker ability. I finished second in the first season with Stuttgart wining but since Champions League money come in, things become fairly easy. So far I have enjoyed this save and will soon bring them European glory.

I have totally transformed my team now with only Adler, Barnetta, Augusto and Rolfes left. Hyypia only lasted thru the second year (he is already old!). The downside of playing this team is the supporters will have low confidence in the transfer, because you would need to sell most of the team and I always get frowned on.

Now the first half of second season is over. And it was really up and down. I had a few really bad matches, 2-5 against Bochum, 0-4 against Schalke for example. Guess me and the fans better forget the first 10 or 11 games of that season. Before the 3rd game in the championsleague the press already talked about me losing the job when I lose. My guys didnt do them the favor and turned a 0-2 into a 3-2 against Zenit St. Petersburg. This was somehow a turn. Won the next two Championsleague games against Galatasaray and Zenit and made a comeback in league.

Especially December looked good then. Drawed both, Wolfsburg and Bayern who both play a good season so far and had an amazing match in Barcelona. Adler was injured and I basically played with a B-team as I was already qualified. Scored three goals away, but unhappily Hyypiä had maybe the worst game he had in those 1.5 years and Ibrahimovic was lethal so I lost 4-3.

Two wins against Hertha (who kicked me out of the cup in the third round) and Frankfurt left me on place 3, 6 points behind Bayern.

A bit of a shocker was the CL firstround draw as I doubt I will stand much chance against Chelski At least I can concentrate on getting at least on place 2 in the league.

Summer was somehow quiet for me. I hired Diego Renan after Kadlec told me he wants to leave and became unhappy. As noone wanted Kadlec for a reasonable price in summer I kept him around and somehow managed to get him back to normal and gave him a new contract.

I hired two new centrebacks. Young Sergiy Kryvtsov came from Metalurg Zp and I loaned him out to Greuter Fürth (second divisions leader so far) where he is a starter, more than he may have expected in my team this season. And Serdar Tasci came from Stuttgart.

Last noteable change was in midfield. I got a 10+ million offer for Lars Bender which my board accepted. I offered him a new contract but also payed 12m for Moussa Sissoko. Both accepted so I devided that Vidal, who didnt play much last season and always told the media he cosiders a new challenge, can go so he got transfered to Aston Villa. Bad decision, the fans didnt really like that

To Do list for January is a goalie and maybe a veteran striker. Adler had 4 injuries in those 1.5 seasons where he was out for 3-4 weeks. Fernandez did great the first time, okay the second time, but pretty much sucked in pre season. I played Areola in December, but he's just not ready yet. So a safety net will be necessary I guess.

Also I'd like to loan Richard Sukuta-Pasu out to give him more match practice.

January update: Helmes got tempted by Liverpool and after I rejected an offer by them he became unhappy. I offered him to clubs and now he plays in Amsterdam.

Got Venegoor op Hesselink as backup striker and having no more Helmes in the squad this should be the "more matches for Richi"-guarantee

Activated two players release fees: Oscar Ustari is my new backup keeper. Not egligible in CL this year, but as I said, I doubt that I survive Chelsea anyways. And I got Diego Capel, Di Maria didnt really impress me in the 1.5 seasons yet so a stronger backup for Barnetta shouldnt be a mistake. Also I have more options for AMC in case I want to play a 4-2-3-1

5 games played so far, won three, one draw and one loss. Bayern is four points ahead, may hope raises that I can really be a treat to them. Only thing that worries me a bit is a injury for Simon Rolfes. 2-3 months of treatment, so I can't expect him back in the starting eleven before end of march

As nice as it is to have something like success, its hard to get the band together.

First things first. 2010/11 is finished and I finished, surprise, surprise, second. Again. One point behind Wolfsburg, and a few goals ahead of Bayern. I won't really complain, after the first 9 or 10 games I would even have taken the third place without thinking about it if someone would have offered it

I keep hoping some english, spanish or italian club gets the cash and buys Dzeko out of the Bundesliga. Close to 30 goals again. They already proven to me the fact that there is money. Man City offered 40m for Adler. I asked for 90 which they refused Next was Renan. Cagliari offered 15, I asked for 45 or something like that. They offered that and my board accepted. Lucky for me, Renan turned them down. Sergiy Kryvtsov left us. Bremen offered 12m and my board overruled me again. I just hope Reinartz won't get upset this year so I can play him and Papadopoulus as the Backup for Turner and Tasci.

I also decided to let one of my 3 natural AMLs go. Di Maria didnt really impress me in his two years and I got a good offer for him, so he hopefully gets happy in Palermo.

After I was able to keep guys like Rolfes and Renato Augusto in line last summer, I failed big time this year. First one was Eren Deriyok. He requested a transfer and for some weird reason he prefers to play for Middlesborough who just got promoted to the Premier League instead of challenging Dzeko for his crown.

I got 15.5m for him, so I put the cash I got for Di Maria and Kryvtsov on top and hired Mauro Zarate for 35m and Miroslav Klose who was a free agent.

Next one to jump the ship was Simon Rolfes. I rejected his request here as he is a vital part of my team and I won't give up on him. Somehow he wasn't unhappy anymore a few days later (after I replaced him as the Vice Captain:O) and even signed a new deal. Hopefully this keeps him for one or two years here. Lars Bender did well when Rolfes was injured in spring, but I am afraid its too early for him.

Besides Klose and Zarate I just invested in a bunch of young talents to give my youth team a bit more depth. I got one decent regen this year but thats all so far. But the board aggreed to upgrade the facilities so hopefully I have more luck in the future.

New Vice Captain this year: Tranquillo Barnetta

First Team 2011/12

GK: Rene Adler © / Oscar Ustari

LB: Diego Renan / Michal Kadlec

RB: Christian Ansaldi / Daniel Schwab

CB: Serdar Tasci / Michael Turner / Stefan Reinartz / Kyriakos Papadopoulos / Sami Hyypiä

DM: Sandro / Moussa Sissoko

CM: Simon Rolfes / Lars Bender

AMC: Renato Augusto / Diego Buonanotte / John Fleck / Jano Ananidze

AML: Tranquilo Barnetta / Diego Capel

St: Mauro Zarate / Artem Milevskyi / Richard Sukuta-Pasu / Miroslav Klose

Hopefully next year will be more quiet so I can concentrate on maybe replacing Michael Turner with a better centerback.

First games 2011:

vs Mannheim (cup, home): 6-0

vs Bayern (league, home): 1-2 loss

vs Berlin (league, away): 2-1 win

vs Dortmund (league, away): 2-1 win

vs Hoffenheim (league, home): 1-0 win.

Decent start. After that horror last year I can even live with the loss against Bayern

My Champions League group should be okay, Real is a challenge, but St. Petersburg and Liege shoudlnt be a real problem.

I really wanted to restrict my progress postings, but this one rocks: http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7097/yayw.png

Tried to get him in summer and he wasnt even interested, 3 weeks in september and out of a sudden they offer him for 24m € ... yummy

2011/2012 was my best season so far. Dzeko scored 18 goals in 17 games for me and the 24m I payed for him were probably the best 24m I ever spent. Was 2 or 3 points behind Wolfsburg at halftime and 15 points ahead of them at the end. (Though they had 5 points more than the year before when they became champions).

Highlight in the championsleague was a 4-2 away win over later CL winners Real Madrid in the groupphase. And I reached the quarter final this time but lost to Chelsea again

2012/13 in progress and I kinda hate it from time to time

After last seasons second half I thought I gonna trust in Dzeko and Sukuta-Pasu for the striker job. Got 36.5m for Zarate and 16m for Artem Milevskyi. Of course Dzeko has his worst season so far. 3 goals in 9 games and then a broken foot which puts him out of action for 4 months.

This brings my only big transfer this summer in the focus as 33m €uro man Guillaume Hoarau in the focus. He's doing good in Championsleague but need to improve in the league.

Besides Zarate and Milewskyi I was somehow able to keep the gang together. Had a few guys who where tempted to leave and Tasci even requested a transfer but nobody wants to pay the 40m release fee I got in his contract Oscar Ustari and Diego Capel left in Winter but other than that my roster looks similar to last year.

GK: Rene Adler © / Josh Lambo

LB: Diego Renan / Michal Kadlec

RB: Christian Ansaldi / Daniel Schwab

CB: Serdar Tasci / Michael Turner / Stefan Reinartz / Kyriakos Papadopoulos / Sami Hyypiä

DM: Sandro / Moussa Sissoko

CM: Simon Rolfes / Lars Bender

AMC: Renato Augusto / Diego Buonanotte / John Fleck / Jano Ananidze / Ronaldinho

AML: Tranquilo Barnetta / Ronaldinho / John Fleck

St: Edin Dzeko / Guillaume Hoarau / Richard Sukuta-Pasu / (Milan Baros)

I got Ronaldinho whos 32 now but still a good player after AC Milan didnt renew his contract in summer and hes a decent backup for my young attacking midfield. Josh Lambo joined me in winter after I sold Ustari back to Getafe. Signed Baros in Oktober as I forgot I couldnt register him mid season Scored a goal in the cup though, so he at least showed me why I signed him

I really looked forward to play this season and to defend my title. But again I had a real bad start. I dominate at home but have problems winning away. 6 points behind Wolfsburg will be a though challenge, hopefully Dzeko gets back to his old form again or Horau realizes that the goal is as big in Germany as in CL *g*

Championsleague went somehow okay, lowlight was a 4-3 defeat in Genoa where they came back after I already lead 3-1.

adler and rolfes!

finished my season as champions!

at the end of the season i was offered podolski for 5.75mil so i moved quickly to bring him in, Derdiyok really has been poor for me played him in the last 3 games of the season as a target man support and he did nothing, arsenal beat me to hangeland. at the moment im gathering countless scout reports on potential signings, really looking forward to being in the champions league.

Late response, sorry.

Congrats to your champion title, hope you found/find a decent centerback. Interesting targets in the Bundesliga might be Tasci (Stuttgart), Höwedes (Schalke) or Geromel (Cologne)

Had to restart my game after my harddrive crashed. Will give update after first season, but first 12 games look awesome so far.

New attempt for me, third season just started and it looks like this will be a bigger challenge than the last two seasons.

Won both two seasons by 12, 13 points ahead and was even available to dominate my CL group (AC Milan, Litex Lovetsch, CSKA Moskau)

I played a 4-2-2-2 the first two seasons but after Barnetta requested a transfer and left I am back to the asymetric version w/o right winger I used in my first save.

I was able to keep Castro this time (got a 18m offer but he signed a new contract, yay) but Renato Augusto left me in the winter break, € 23m helped me to get over it and as I was able to sign Kroos I didnt miss him.

First season I brought in Enyeama, Jorge Andrade, Sergej Kryvtsov, Anthony Annan, Hamed Namouchi, Bernardo, Mesut Özil, Angel Di Maria, Kikin Fonseca, Andrej Kramaric and Iker Muniain. And I signed Kroos with the help of a bigger signing fee

(Noteable) Outs: Friedrich, Reinartz, Vidal, Gekas and Renato Augusto. Plus I loaned out Bender and Sukuta-Pasu (my biggest mistake I guess, might have been better if I kept him and didnt sign Kramaric)

Besides Namouchi and Bernardo i was satisfied with all my signings, Kikin Fonseca was the biggest surprise, scored 26 goals first and 18 in the second season.

Second season I kept most of the squad together. Sold Sinkiewicz and Enyeama and replaced them by Daniel Van Buyten and Rüstü Recber. Also Sergiy Kryvtsov left, Bayern payed me €17.5m for him. Lars Bender left me in winter to Wolfsburg, I missed the message that my board accepted a €17m offer.

Season went well, cup was disappointing again but I dominated the league and reached the first knockout round of the CL, Atletico Madrid was too hard then. Van Buyten was a great signing as he kept the defense together, Helmes finally found out where the goal is and Kroos was just amazing.

Third season saw two big signings. I bought Yoann Gourcuff after Barnetta left and Robert Acquafresca after my AssMan tells me that I have a problem in the striker area... I decided to believe him, although the main reason is that I like Acquafresca Two older players I signed were David Beckham and Fabio Cannavaro as backups and tutors for my young ones.

Starting Eleven 2011

Rene Adler

Daniel Schwaab - Stefan Reinartz - Daniel Van Buyten - Cristian Ansaldi

Toni Kroos - Yoann Gourcuff - Simon Rolfes - Mesut Özil

Patrick Helmes - Robert Acquafresca

Season 4 - First step to world domination?

What started out as maybe the worst season so far had a pretty happy ending. I knew I will get problems when I saw that I got Real and Marseille in the championsleague, but I really managed to finish fourth in the group behind Kopenhagen. But lucky as I am Marseille scored one more goal against them and I advanced to the Europe League.

Next shocker: Toni Kroos broke his leg in training. 5 to 6 months break. So it became time for my young ones to step up and the two regens and Beckham I had as backup for his position played pretty well.

Fast forward to the happy end: After already have beaten Getafe and Valencia I got another spanish team in the finals of the Euro League: Barcelona was my opponent and I really managed to beat them and to win the gold.

Current team:

Goal: Ochoa, Luis Guilherme (Adler got tempted by ManCity so I got 40m richer (52m for Adler minus 12 for Ochoa)

Defence: Castro/ Schwab - Reinartz - López* - Vargas (Ansaldi)

Midfield: Gourcuff - Rolfes/ Annan - Kroos (regens) - Özil (Di Maria)

Striker: Helmes (Muniain) - Acquafresca (Kramaric)

*Lopez is a argentinian regen wonderkid

Guess its not really championsleague winning material but I hope it will grow into it. Ochoa does well and I am not really missing Adler, of course Vargas who I bought after Adler left helps a lot here. Helmes and Acquafresca seem to score for fun, Helmes won the topscorer trophy and the golden boot the last two years.

Will have three oldies coming in for upcoming season on free transfers: Raul (Real), Rafael Marquez (Barca) and Massimo Ambrossini (Milan), main goal for them should be to tutor my younger players and provide backup.

My Bayer Save 10.3, first season.

Team is still good and doesnt need too much work. Priority was a striker (as Gekas is loaned out in 10.3 and Helmes is still injured for most parts of the first seasons half) and some strength for the midfield. Also two replacements for Manuel Friedrich and Lukas Sinkiewizc.

Looking at my transfer summary now I am amazed about the lack of transfers I had as I am usually a big time trader

I bought two strikers, Yannick Djalo for 2m€ and Andrej Kramaric for 2.7 . Kramaric as backup who I play in my U18/U23 team for the first season.

The two defenders where Serdar Tasci and Dalton.

Midfield saw Adrien from Sporting coming and Timo Gebhart who I got recommended by Tasci. Gebhardts problem became that Renato Augusto has one hell of a season plus his aggression cost me a few injuries so I loaned him out for the second half of the season.

Was able to get Schalkes Joel Matip for an okay price (650k) so I decided to go for him.

Got Bill Hamid for free as backup keeper, but his ratings arent that great so I decided to get Jan Oblak and sell Hamid again... Looking at the young mans work rate and teamwork I might try to get an experienced backup keeper in summer and hope that I can keep Rene Adler for a long time.

Besides that I got a bunch of finnish and norwegian newgens, one or two of them might become first team material and the others are at least cheap players for my U23 team.

Starting 11 was

Adler

Castro - Tasci - Dalton - Vidal

Rolfes

Bender - Barnetta

Renato Augusto

Kießling - Derdiyok

Vidal played as a leftback in the chilenean (sp?) nationalteam so I decided to give this a try instead of getting a backup for Kadlec then. As Kadlec got tempted by Bayern and upset because I refused an offer of them I used him as backup here, might let him go and get a cheap, young player here.

When I decided to go for the narrow diamond in the midfield I started retraining Barnetta as a CM, liked him statswise better than Augusto or Kroos for that job and he played a good season here.

Season was great. "Dreamfinal" in the cup against Cologne and champion ahead of Bayern and Wolfsburg. Might try to see if I can get backups for the goal and the left back and maybe see if I can get Kroos but other than that I'd love to work with the squad I have.

Third season, third championship. Got eliminated by Schalke in the second round of the cup which sucked, but at least the league was relaxing. Had my most amazing championship ever in the second season.

Last game, 2 points behind Bremen with the better goal difference. Bremen played against the 18th, we had to play against Bayern. Bayern scored in the first halftime, equalizer at the beginning of the second half. And I always had a look on the Bremen result and I got more nervous every minute because it showed me a 0-0 all the time. I almost gave up the hope, then 93. minute... Dzeko scored, 2-1 in Munich and the Championship was defended

Got eliminated in the CL both years in quarterfinal by Real. Hope I do better this year.

Squad for this year:

Goal: Adler/ Butt

DR: Schwaab/ Castro

DC: Dalton, Reinartz, Fazio, Milito and a finish regen.

DL: Evra, two regens

DM: Rolfes/ Crisetig

CM: Bender, Defour, Khedira, De La Red, Fyvie

AMC: Kroos/ Renato Augusto

St: Dzeko, Derdiyok, Sukuta-Pasu, Kießling, two regens.

Great OP, saw a documentary on them on ESPN in England, made me want to play as them but haven't got round to it yet.

Thought I'd bump this thread a bit, been having great fun with Leverkusen, they have some really good players alot of them young as well, here's a list of my achievements so far.

The champions league still eludes me though, furthest I've got is the quarter finals as you can see I've won everything else.

Here's my current squad.

Congrats with your seasons LFCMatt7.

I started a new game with Leverkusen.

I have had a solid start to the season I am currently on

I only made 1 purchase which was Kusnir from Sparta Prague for £2.6million up front with £500k over 30 months, so far it has proved to be a great transaction as he is averaging 7.44

Derdiyok is also making a good start to the season along with Kiebling, so far my squad have been pretty solid. For some reason though no one seems to be improving, probably because of the awful coaches Bayer 04 possess at the start which I have made no changes to.

Atm it looks like this save will last a long time. The future will only tell what happens to my side though.

Good luck with your Leverkusen save mate. I had alot of fun with them and lasted 7 seasons winning the league every season, the german cup 3 times and the CL once.

Thanks, looks like a fun team to play with.

So much great prospects in their squad, it's a shame their defence blows.

Can't believe I haven't ever got into a long term save with a german club though

Loving my time with Leverkusen at the moment. Just about to start my third season after 3rd and 4th place finishes.

I sold Barnetta before he ever played a game for me (£6.5m to Juve), then sold Kadlec to Man City for the same price in January. Schwaab went for £10m to Wolfsburg in July and Derdiyok to Valencia in the January for £5m (I never got on with him).

I brought in a load of youngsters to fill the holes: Sebastian Blanco from Lanus playing on the wing has been a revelation (65 games, avg of 7.28), Gabriel from Botafago replaced Kadlec (avg over 7 after 42 games), Juan Angel Albin on the left wing tore the league up, Borja look promising up front, Rafael Toloi is a wonderkid CB, Serge Aurier has deposed Castro at RB and I just signed Freddy Adu for some attacking midfield cover.

Current starting line-up (4231)

Adler (stud, but he wants to leave every January, gets transfer listed by request, no one offers, then the day after the season he changes his mind. Two years in a row)

DL: Gabriel

DR: Aurier

DC: Sinkiewicz (total stud)

DC: Rafael Toloi

MC: Rolfes

MC: Vidal/Bender (toss of a coin between them, leaning towards Bender this year)

AML: Albin

AMC: Renato Augusto

AMR: Blanco

FC: Helmes/Borja (interchangeable)

Hoping to keep the consistency up this year and make a run at the title properly.

Sounds good. I started another game trying to focus more on germans or at least keep it to the neighbors

Besides Germans I decided to stick more or less to Brazilians, Belgians, Dutch, French, Danish, Swiss and maybe Chinese (merchandise, baby ) players.

So far I'm more or less satisfied though my players seem to be too dumb to hit the target, I get a s...load of chances no matter what tactic I use. Anyways, I sold Friedrich, Sinkiewicz and Sarpei and brought in Höwedes and Morgan (hoped to be able to use him as a tutor for Reinartz and Höwedes), Sercan Sararer (came from my feeder club Fürth) and a few U18 players (Digne, Helan, two regen strikers).

Transfertargets besides maybe a few african (thinking about going after players from Ghana and Tunisia) and chinese regens will be a left back to replace Kadlec who already seems to be eager to leave and first of all bringing back Deniz Naki from St. Pauli. He looks promising and I'm not willing to overpay for Toni Kroos again as I did in past games Maybe I'll make a move for the younger Kroos, Felix who should be able to reach a similar level than Toni.

Besides that I have 18 y/o Oscar coming in. First longterm target will be a third young centre back to jump in when I retire Sami, either Hummels, Toprak or Tasci or a promising regen or two.

Reinartz never performs for me, he always ends up with a rubbish avg rating, Sinkiewicz is awesome though.

Just had a £25m offer for Hulk accepted by Porto. Needed a more dominant striker to play up top on his own, he should more than fit the bill. Gives Borja a bit more time to develop and another striker to learn off. Never been a big fan of Helmes, I will admit.

My "problem" with both are their real life performances. Sinke was rubbish and I liked what the young Reinartz did. I played Sami and Höwedes as starters the first half of the season and Reinartz did okay so far as a sub.

Kadlec requested a transfer so I sold him for €7m to ManCity and Real payed €15.25m for Barnetta (decided to sell him before he gets too tempted and unhappy) so I guess I retrain Vidal to LB and try to hire Juninho (former Lyon one) as a veteran for my central midfield. With the Barnetta wages of my back I might be able to afford Juninhos wages

And congratz on the Hulk signing. One of my, if not the, favorite striker in the game.

Ah, having never seen Leverkusen play in real life (at least not as far as I can remember) I don't have that to base my opinion on. I picked them because of twitter. I asked a football scout which teams had the best scouting operations in Europe and he recommended Leverkusen amongst others. Only having to reach the top half of the table seemed a nice easy life, and with a great youth and scouting setup behind me it was.

Hulk has been totally dominant so far, averaging over 7.7 through the first 7 games, with 4 goals. Looking to be a great investment so far.

Slightly worried that Adler has already requested a transfer in October (for the third year in a row, although usually he waits until February, but always just after the window closes). Renato Augusto wants to leave as well now though. I predict neither of them will go anywhere however, because no-one wants to pay my valuations of £30m and £20m.

I've had to amend my formation because of Augusto's drop in morale: I've dropped the MCs back to DMCs and the AMC back to MC. I've got Rolfes (DL playmaker) and Vidal (anchor man) in the DMC, and Bender as the MC (he fits the bill for an advanced playmaker to perfection). Seems to be working so far, I'm sitting top of the table after 8 games.

I've never seen this thread, thx for the up

I'm in the 2nd season. In the first I won just Pokal, in the 2nd I won Bundesliga and finished 2nd in Pokal.

My team:

I'm prioritizing good (and relatively cheap) German players, but there aren't many of them.

I will do a huge update sometime soon about my rather successful Leverkusen career so far.

But first I just gotta say...

I ****ing love these two and pretty much the rest of the squad but mostly these two.

I guess its possible to build a good german squad even as Leverkusen, but the good ones arent cheap, yeah. But I like your squad.

@Britrock: I know Sinke is better in the game than in RL, I had a game where I kept him and Friedrich and they did a good job so nothing wrong with keeping them And yes, Renato Augusto is hard to keep. I try my best this time (I usually just sold him in the past as I was too lazy to fight the likes of Juventus, Real, etc of) to keep him as he played well the first half of the season and I am not willing to pay 15m for Toni Kroos You're signing of Hulk and my disapointing strikers (4 Goals for Eren Derdiyok and 4 for a 15 yo regen were the most I got from my strikers in the first half) so I spend €19.5m over 48 months for Hulk too. I hope he can help me secure my Euro League qualifier and more over the next years.

My squad for the next 15 games (and the second season, as I prefer not to change that much in summer):

Goal: Adler, Fernandes

RB: Schwaab, Castro, Helan

LB: Vidal/Digne, Digne

CB: Höwedes, Hypiiä, Reinartz, Morgan

Midfield: Rolfes, Vidal, Bender, Juninho Pernambucano, Castro, Renato Augusto, Oscar, Felix Kroos, Toni Kroos, Deniz Naki

Striker: Hulk, Kießling, Helmes, Derdiyok, Sukuta-Pasu, a Regen.

Only target for the summer might be a quality left back and another defensive or central midfielder, Khedira might be the obvious choice here or I retrain Renato Augusto to CM, he's not great defensively but should do well here and with three great talents for the AMC slot it might be the best option to go that way.

If anyone has good suggestions for a left back, I am more than happy to follow such an advice

I had to sold Derdiyok for 14M, Roma was making him unsettled.

I sold Kiessling back to Nurmberg for 8M too, i'm looking for a backup striker, because i only have Helmes on the whole squad.

I had to sold Derdiyok for 14M, Roma was making him unsettled.

I sold Kiessling back to Nurmberg for 8M too, i'm looking for a backup striker, because i only have Helmes on the whole squad.

Tragic He's godly for me, I dedicated making the leverkusen career for him.

If anyone has good suggestions for a left back, I am more than happy to follow such an advice

I'm having to cope with Keiran Gibbs as I wasn't willing to pay expensive for a LB...

He gets the job done though for a signing of around £3million... LB's really aren't easy to find though and Gibbs has some pretty good physical and decent tackling etc.

Ok, I bought Tomas Necid, good TM and backup for Helmes.

Now i'm looking for a natural left FB, I only have Kolarov at this position, and my assistant manager doesn't like him, crazy lol.

Have a look at Taye Taiwo, he looks like a pretty brilliant LB or maybe Jean-Alaine Fanchone?

Tbh when I want a LB though I just search for players with good pace + accelaration + stamina + positioning + tackling + teamwork + workrate and sometimes I look for a decent crosser unfortunetly though it is ever so hard finding a great LB...

Could retrain a good either footed RB to be a LB though I suppose

My alternative would be to hire Andreas Beck and use him on the left side, but I had him that often that I hoped for new suggestions But Gibbs, Kolarov and Taiwo sound good, guess I take a look at them or just hope that Vidal plays better there than the last two games

Edit: What role do you use for Eren? He scored 4 so far but I am not really satisfied with his performances yet

Have a look at Taye Taiwo, he looks like a pretty brilliant LB or maybe Jean-Alaine Fanchone?

Tbh when I want a LB though I just search for players with good pace + accelaration + stamina + positioning + tackling + teamwork + workrate and sometimes I look for a decent crosser unfortunetly though it is ever so hard finding a great LB...

Could retrain a good either footed RB to be a LB though I suppose

Marseille wants 40M (!!!!) for Taiwo and Fanchone has just moved to Saint-Etienne, no chances

It's hard to find a good and purchasable FB. I had luck with Kolarov, Lazio wanted 4.4M for him.

@Dinu

If i don't find any FB, i'll train Beck to be natural at LB and use Schwaab at RB, but it isn't my prefered option tbh.

Why can't you just use Kolarov and Beck as first choice with Beck as backup for the left and Schwaab as backup for the right?

If you don't want to do that look at Evaldo, Jose Angel and Schennikov.

Edit: What role do you use for Eren? He scored 4 so far but I am not really satisfied with his performances yet

The team basically creatively works to supply Eren.

I use him as the primary target man while my CM is the advanced playmaker supplying him.

Marking is set to : Man Mark

Tight marking: No

Roam from position : No

If i don't find any FB, i'll train Beck to be natural at LB and use Schwaab, but it isn't my prefered option tbh.

I really don't think Schwaab is fast enough though, sure he is a great substitute as he is quite versatile but I've never actually been a huge fan of him due to his stats only being decent rather than good.

Fullbacks are the position I hate the most to find Schwaab might be an option for the left side too.

What about Ansaldi or Diego Renan? Fabio (the one from ManU) or Dodo can develop quite well though I am not sure if its too early for them to shine. Or if you're lucky and pay him enough you might be able to even pick up Patrice Evra... okay, more of a big money signing and I'm not sure if the third season isnt too early, but he's one of my favorite leftbacks and worth every cent I payed him in those games I had him.

Fullbacks are the position I hate the most to find Schwaab might be an option for the left side too.

What about Ansaldi or Diego Renan? Fabio (the one from ManU) or Dodo can develop quite well though I am not sure if its too early for them to shine. Or if you're lucky and pay him enough you might be able to even pick up Patrice Evra... okay, more of a big money signing and I'm not sure if the third season isnt too early, but he's one of my favorite leftbacks and worth every cent I payed him in those games I had him.

Ansaldi at Inter, Diego at Milan, Fabio at Catania and Dodo is on loan from Corinthians at Rosenborg. Hard.

Money isn't the problem atm. I have 8M upfront plus the option to pay in 48 months. The problem is to find someone purchasable.

@ joe__the__man

One word: Injuries.

I'd say, if you are satisfied with Kolarovs performances screw your AssMan and keep him Joe Mattock is another name that comes to my mind, had him in one game and the only problem I had was that I had to turn the big clubs down Another one could be Cheikh M'Bengue, looked promising, but guess that was one of those games where I was able to pick up Evra and let M'Bengue go.

I'd say, if you are satisfied with Kolarovs performances screw your AssMan and keep him Joe Mattock is another name that comes to my mind, had him in one game and the only problem I had was that I had to turn the big clubs down Another one could be Cheikh M'Bengue, looked promising, but guess that was one of those games where I was able to pick up Evra and let M'Bengue go.

Of course i'll keep Kolarov

btw, Mattock at Liverpool and M'Bengue at Lyon.

This is the most difficult save to find available and cheap players i've ever had.

Have a look at some of these left backs

Rindaroy

Masilela

Pablo Armero

Jose Angel

Jéferson

Monzón

Diogo

Marco Motta

Have a look at some of these left backs

Rindaroy - Arsenal

Masilela - Villarreal

Pablo Armero - Palmeiras wants 20M, too much lol.

Jose Angel - My scout gave him 2.5 stars - 1.5 CA. Looks a decent option.

Jéferson - Isn't in my save

Monzón - Just transfered to Anderlecht for 5.25M

Diogo - Isn't in my save

Marco Motta - 40M !!!

Thx for the work, but there's a problem with this save as you can see lol.

I think i'll have to buy Angel, but he doesn't get me excited.

3M bid for Angel accepted.