FM11: The Yellow Submarine. The Official Villarreal C.F thread

loved watching this team play back when Pellegrini was coach, and it seams they are slowly heading back to a similar style now, if I find enough time I will might give this team a try on fm11

Villarreal CF is a miracle in the world of football. Its home city (Vila-real, located in the Valencian Community) has a population of only of only 51.000 people, while its stadium has a capacity of 25.000 thousand... which means half of the population fits in there!

See also Green Bay Packers of the NFL

Their stadium (Lambeau Field) seats 73,000. The city of Green Bay has a population of 101,000.

Villareal should be fun in FM with their wealth of attacking talent.

I already play as them, theyre fun )))

looks like you are of to a very good start on this thread with this recent update, alex

Thanks, man. Sadly, I dont have much time from monday to friday but Ill try to finish the squad analysis by this weekend and then start with the posible formations analysis, starting with what Villarreal are using right now...

Brilliant two opening posts. I have just started a save with Villarreal and I am hoping it will be a very long, successful one.

I started an El Submarino Amarillo save a few days ago, just coming into my 2nd season now. Last season was quite a success, finishing 2nd in the league just 1 point behind Real Madrid, semi finalists in the Spanish Cup and reached the 2nd knockout round of the Europa League. The only permanent signings I made last year were Silviu Lung Jr (£1m), Ibrahim Afellay (£5m) and Eyong Enoh (£1.6m). The rest of my in's were loans (Bassong, Grenier, Buonanotte, Jo and Langil).

This season has just started and I permanently signed former loanees Valero & Buonanotte. Also coming in were Mattia Destro, Steven Taylor, Gianni Zuiverloon, Marco Amelia and Ivan Fatic all for free. Lastly I signed a regen striker from Bulgaria, and just finished off my squad by bringing Grenier back in on loan.

I had to sell a few squad players to get my balance back to a reasonable figure, so out went Angel (£3m), Matilla (£1.4m), Catala (£1m), Joan Oriol (£1m) and a few others totaling £13m. I let Thiago Dutra leave for just £500k before actually realising he could become a great player Should teach me to know my players eh?

About to start a Villareal save right now as they are my spanish team and I have seen them play. Surprised this isnt a more active thread, and no formation analysis, but i will keep posting in here and maybe more people will also do so

I was just as surprised as you DangerousDan which is why i didn't post in here... made sense in my head

but i'd love to help get this thread nice and active!

i'll post transfers, squad, tactics, progress etc when i get to January

Same mate, i'll post an update of transfers at end of august and what not, and what formation i expect to use, staff I brought in etc looking to bring in spanish talent and also brazillian/argentine players, good luck mate

anyone know what is the best way to play Guisseppi Rossi? I'm really struggling to get the best out of him, cheers

I am Just About too start a Villarreal On 11.2 Any Tips?

Just started game with Submarine and loaded all Spanish and Argentine leagues with no transfer funds at beginning as I want to try and utilize current squad. So only staff rebuilding in first window.

Original intention was to try and replicate 4-4-2 box used by Garrido and Pellegrini before him, however after I made tactic I went for 4-2-3-1 cos I need some results to keep players happy so experiments will come later on.

So far I'm only in pre-season with heavy focus on team blend.

4-2-3-1 system is heavily influenced by SFrasers threads found here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/220742-Creativity-and-Flair.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/229538-Modern-Tactical-Concepts-Do-They-Work-in-FM

4-4-2 box looks like 4-4-2 DM with Interiores cutting in from wings when in possession and defending flanks when without ball. Player instructions are set in general way so they can use their own decisions what to do.

Since lots of contracts are expiring at the end of season I need to show ambition for success to keep important players. Wage budget was same regardless of my initial expectation so I chose Top table finish which should be easy to achieve and also by judging the squad I should be around Champions league places during the whole season. That would be seen as overachievement and should keep morale high during whole season.

DangerousDan

I play him as a Trequarista but I think the key to getting the best out of him is putting another striker next to him that he can slip his oh so brilliant balls through to.

My favourite player on last years FM.

I'm not entirely sure why this thread is so quiet but hopefully I can kickstart some chatter. I'm thoroughly enjoying my Villareal save. My tactics are loosely based on the real life Villareal tactics (but only seen them play about 3 times so probably miles away). Currently second in the league, although wishing I could buy Borja Valero because he can't stop assisting: 9 assists in 10 games. Don't be fooled by some mediocre attributes; they are high where you want them for a playmaker and he is two footed.

Your playing a 4-2-2-2?

Yes, of course. I managed to get it working really well for Nilmar who was on fire then tweaked it and made it worse, with goals coming from more areas but less for strikers.

And a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-2-2 are the best formations for Villareal in my opinion.

A basic overview of the tactic is:

fluid

control

shorter

more expressive

zonal marking

GK defend

DR full back support

DL full back support

DCs CB defend

MCr dlp defend

MCl dlp support

AMR inside forward attack

AML advanced playmaker support

STr deep lying forward support

STl advanced forward

Well in fairness Nilmar should be used to a 4-2-2-2 being Brazilian. 4-2-2-2 is a awesome formation, works in Europe as-well on FM, with no real problems, once you find the right setup. But people don't seem to use it much.

I do find though the only problem is that I can sometimes get overloaded in midfield with 2 deep holding midfielders. Normally to counter this I bring the deep lying forward into AMC or drop his mentality or specific man mark the very deep opposition CM.

I reckon this is a problem unique to Spain with its 4-5-1s and 4-2-3-1s.

Yeah that can be a problem, normally away from home I play a deeper 4-2-2-2 (So four at the back, two defensive mid fielders, two MC's and two strikers. Keep it quite narrow and that shuts out alot of the potential problem) and at home I play the normal 4-2-2-2. I think naturally a 4-2-2-2 allows you to play a more expansive game. Sometimes I don't mind winning 4-3 either.

I had planned to use a 4-4-2 against tougher opposition and sometimes away from home but yet to use it since the 4-2-2-2 is going so well.

Just approaching January, and amazingly holding a 2nd place spot. Even more surprisingly, I have gone unbeaten and still I'm second. I feel I need to tighten up my defence if my run is going to continue, however. I really need some aerial presence somewhere on the pitch and Adil Rami is really helping with that. Khouma Babacar is good upfront although is second fiddle to Nilmar and Rossi, and Altidore has been very good. Coria just doesn't get any game time but has been good when called upon.

I have secured Fazio for next season to give ourselves a greater aerial presence and will look for a good defensive minded midfielder with some creativity to take over from Senna that can provide some aerial presence.

It's possible to win La Liga in your first season lucatonix with a little bit of luck. I surprisingly did so by a single point over Barcelona even with the small squad. I had a lot of luck. I got away with some terrible games away from home against the 4-2-3-1's [still can't crack that formation as consistently as I'd like] due to the excellence of Cani, Valero, Nilmar and Rossi. However there were some fantastic performances mixed into it as well. Spearheaded by Rossi and Nilmar.

The thing is the defences in La Liga are by and large pretty bad, and that includes the biggers clubs with the exception of Barcelona. Every other defence is penetrable, and that includes Real Madrid, the only difference is they have the human brick wall in Iker Casillas in goal. With an easy opening run I quickly racked up an unbeaten start till a 1-0 defeat at Sporting away from home. Still I was swatting teams away 3-0 and 4-0 every other weekend and soon realised defending wasn't going to work, particularly with my fulls back of Jose Angel and Mario who both liked to "get forward whenever possible". So I attacked and attacked. We rode our luck as aforementioned, and if Deigo Lopez wasn't the brilliant keeper he was and Rami/Musacchio/Rodriguez inspired we'd have been a lot worse off but we handed out a fair few beatings.

Major Transfers In [Euros] : Adrian [2.3m], Kevin [2.3m], Rami [6m], Jose Angel [10.25m], Mauricio [3.2m - Regen from Santos].

Major Transfers Out [Euros]: Jozy Altidore [4.4m], Marco Ruben [3m], Joan Capdevilla [3.9m], Juan Carlos [1m], Juan Oriol [1.6m]

In hindsight I might have been a little more prudent with the spending. The stadium is really small and you don't rake in that much from match day revenue and alongside that the Europa League prize money is truly pathetic in comparison to the champions league amounts. You get more for drawing a group game in the Champions League than winning a Europa league match!

In the end though here are pictures:

La Liga Final Table: http://www.abload.de/img/liganmvk.jpg

Europa League Final [we were completely embrassed and were it not for the defence would have lost 8/9-0]: http://www.abload.de/img/europa1m2w.jpg

Copa Del Rey Final [good teams knocked out each other. most difficult team on route to final was At. Madrid, who can't defend ^_^]: http://www.abload.de/img/copadelnmp0.jpg

Striker Stats:

Rossi: http://www.abload.de/img/rossis5mo2.jpg

Nilmar: http://www.abload.de/img/nilmarstme0.jpg

Mauricio: http://www.abload.de/img/mauricioswm53.jpg

Adrian: http://www.abload.de/img/adriansgmg3.jpg

Some good performances:

vs A. Madrid: http://www.abload.de/img/great1am7k.jpg

vs. R. Madrid: http://www.abload.de/img/league6mhl.jpg

Result which made me laugh: http://www.abload.de/img/lol8m30.jpg

==================================

Still lucky, surprising or not. We were champions of Spain! Double Champions infact. The board decided to expand the stadium by 5000 seats and we have the brilliance of Champions League Football. Still looking to the new season I can't help but feel I have made some wrong moves in the transfer market.

One of the biggest problems with Villarreal is lack of physical presence/height. I wanted to bring in JaviMar to rectify that in midfield but me and Athletic had valuations poles apart. At.Madrid came in with a 16.75m bid and he was theres. As I highlighted earlier I didn't want to spend away money I didn't yet have despite the boards 28m Euro transfer budget we only had 10m in the balance [We made a yearly loss of nearly 20m!] but after some high profile friendlies and selling Adrian for 8.75m Euros to Arsenal it helped matters.

Transfers In [Euros]: Affelay [free], Ander [6m], Dorian Campana [regen, 1.1m], Alberto Botia [8.75], Javi Garcia [4.9m], Emilio [regen 3.3m], Rodolfo Molina [regen 800k], Sergio Asenjo [7.75m]

Transfers Out [Euro]: Adrian [8.75m], Senna [free], Matilla [4m], Coria [2m], Cristobal [1.5m], Marchena [1.8m - his wages are ridiculous], Montero [1.3m], Sarabia [4m + 50% profit]

You can see I've tried to keep the squad as Spanish as possible to minimise the time it takes people to settle in as they know the language already.

Still my assistant Neeskens says that the midfield is weak. I kinda agree. I snapped up Ander to stop him going to Sevilla/Valencia and Valero was such a tempramental tit I didn't want him permanently [constantly poor/low morale and looking disinterested [he'd then go and split the defence with a brilliant ball but there we go]] but he hasn't quite clicked yet, and it showed as we were hammered 4-2 by R.Sociedad even without Griezmann [who I spent half the summer woo-ing only for Sociedad to continue to want 20m] on the opening day of the new season which the fans hated.

This is my current lineup: [Gk] Lopez [DR] Botia [DL] Jose Angel [DC] Rami and Musacchio [MC] Ander and Garcia [ML/MR] Affelay and Carzola [sT] Rossi and Nilmar.

I realise Botia is a CB but away from home defensively he's a lot lot better than Mario and Angel so he plays. At home I'll play the quicker Mario.

Will upload some screens of some key players later. Musacchio and Jose Angel have improved massively, still no Argentina cap for the former though! Tutored by Marchena and then Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a perfect tutor with his excellent mentals and now Club Captain even if not a first team choice.

Sorry for the extremely long post! It's just that Villarreal and the most unlikeliest of titles I have ever claimed on Football Manager was the season to get me back into FM11 after my Sampdoria save got a little dull/frustrating.

Still with four days left in the transfer window and the 6m Champions League prize money also added to the balance I want to add a big name signing or two. I would like some aerial presence up front but am going to stick with Borja Baston, especially after Athletic told me they want 25m Euros for Llorente. I am looking at Pastore and Paulo Henrique. Problem is the former from all I have read doesn't excel quite as much at MC as he does at AMC and I'd rather keep Nilmar/Rossi two up front. However Santos rejected my 15m Euro bid. Argh! Would quite like to bring Neymar AND Henrique, to see if bringing two friends works but dunno if I have the money. Winning the title also meant David Silva is interested in joining but his wages are simply ridiculous so haven't bothered to bid.

When the stadium is finish in October hopefully we can rake in a lot more money. The Merchandising feeder club has already helped a lot. Watch out though lucatonix in my game my board severed the link with River Plate annoying

Nice post and a great first season.

Having won the Champions League twice with AC Milan, the league 4 season in a row and many other cups along with the WC and Confederations Cup with Spain, i have decided to join villareal in March without checking out their squad first.

As you can see the squad is nothing special, nowhere near as good as the squad at the start of the game, but hopefully i can work my magic and get us to atleast the top 4 again, hopefully 1st in 2 or 3 seasons. Thats their first win in 12 games.

@Two: There are some good players left in that squad. Admittedly Nilmar, Rossi and Musacchio have gone but Marcano is a solid defender. Whilst Piatti, Albin and Menez are a fearsome attacking trio. Good Luck! Plus still the dependable Lopez between the sticks!

So moving on in my Villarreal Game.

As I said before, we needed something special in the midfield and hence we made our record purchase of Brasilian Midfield Maestro of Paulo Henrique and he was certainly the missing link for my tactic if his start to the season is any evidence. 11 Games. 1 Goal. 4 Assists. 7.23 Rating and generally running the midfield show, with chief ****-kicker Javi Garcia alongside him. Although that's a disservice to Javi whose got a fantastic right foot on him as evidenced by two brilliant 20 yard goals and several defence splitting passes. One even winning goal of the week. However I'm sure opponents are more scared of his tackling. Although his four yellows in ten games suggest its a good thing long time Villarreal servant Bruno is ready at a beck and call.

My regen I picked up from Santos has really kick off this season. Started the year as backup to Rossi and Nilmar but after Rossi got injured has ousted Nilmar from the team and has scored 6 in his last 5 including one brilliant goal against Real Madrid. Alberto Botia is now full time right back, although when we face a team with pace Mario comes back into the side. The frustrating thing about him is despite heavy defence tutoring he has barely improved in that respect since the first season, I think his 17 for Acc and Pace might be the reason but heck his pace gets him out of situation where he's in completely the wrong position. Nevertheless Rafael's agent offered him to me for 7m Euros so I am considering a bid for him to come in at the end of the season.

Also Sergio Asenjo has now displaced Diego Lopez, his aerial ability is a slight worry but against aerial strong teams like Athletic Lopez goes back in goal. However Asenjo's athleticism is a major plus point in his favour, thought there isn't much between them. 9 apps for Sergio. 8 for Diego. First team lineup below. Whilst pleasing Affellay has hit the ground running in Spain. His own personal destruction of Real Madrid very pleasing.

I signed the legend that is Juan Carlos Valeron as a tutor 8)

Barcelona and Real have had horrid starts to the year. For Barcelona Villa getting injured doesn't help, but for some bizarre reason Pep is playing a 4-1-4-1 to utilise Mascherano, which leave Villa isolated from what I can see. Whilst Real Madrid have just been rubbish, although they have had Super Iker injured for the past 2 weekends, and for the next three, which coupled with a declining Carvalho gives everyone hope against them. I've still got to face Barcelona, At. Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Getafe so I expect things to go off haywire soonish. Starting with the away trip to Sevilla where they will no doubt kick my somewhat lightwieght midfield and attack off the park.

Victory against Real: http://www.abload.de/img/awesomef6go.jpg || Current League Table: http://www.abload.de/img/ligab5w6.jpg || Champions League: http://www.abload.de/img/champ05oe.jpg

Paulo Henrique: http://www.abload.de/img/gansokno2.jpg || Mauricio [Regen Str]: http://www.abload.de/img/mauricioe6tv.jpg || Musacchio: http://www.abload.de/img/musacco6vj.jpg

Nilmar: http://www.abload.de/img/nilmar267a.jpg || Rossi: http://www.abload.de/img/rossia50q.jpg

You'll see both Nilmar and Rossi have scored a lot less this year but I significantly changed my tactics to be less striker reliant on goals and spread throughout the team. Both Nilmar and Rossi being utilised as the linking forwards at times. Rossi is better at it as he is much more creative, but it hurts his goal tally. I found at the striker I set as target man with ball to feet is the one who lands the most goals but the interplay is lovely. When Nilmar is back in the team he'll play as the most attacking striker like Mauricio. With his pace he should rip teams apart. Finally the future of the Villarreal Midfield. Stolen off Amiens for a measly 1.2 million. Four star potential and will be as good as Henrique. || Campana: http://www.abload.de/img/campanasuzq.jpg

Pep is doing the same on my game but the teams can't deal with it and Villa is playing out of his skin: 27 league goals in 22 league games.

An update by me is overdue so will be done today. nice to see the thread is alive again

I'm still in my first season with Villareal and it has been thoroughly enjoyable so far. At the start of the season I thought that 4th or 5th would be a very good achievement for the Yellow Submarines but with a few signings and some grit we hold the top spot in mid-February. I doubt if we can continue this fine form, with Barca only 3 points behind and David Villa a goalscoring machine.

Transfers

I really wanted to strengthen the wings a little with some young class to be rotated with Cani and Cazorla, and Eden Hazard was the perfect man for the job. Plus the fact that I had never bought him before on FM 11 made him a must buy.

I was also looking for a CM to become a creative force since I didn't think Borja Valero would cut it. How wrong I was. Valero and Yann M'Vila have been supreme and rotating them with the rock Senna, whilst giving Bruno games has been hard but the performances have made it worthwile

I have heard people raving on about Babacar and I just wanted to see if he really was that good, and the answer is yes. He always puts in a good performance despite him not having great attributes yet. I cannot wait for him to become an aerial monster since then I can have him brutally destroy most opposition defences since in Spain they tend to be rather short.

Having looked at the starting defenders I was impressed but at their ability but disappointed at the lack of strength and height. So I swooped in for Adil Rami, another player I have never bought before and he has been supreme. With him in the side he provides goals from corners and I always feel much safer when we concede a corner, although we still are a shockingly short side.

Competitions

Villareal have exceeded all my expectations. they have played with flair and intelligence and our consistency in goalscoring has meant we lead the league, although Barca probably deserve it more:

We have cruised into the second round of the Europa League without too much difficulty, sweeping away Dinamo Kyiv 8-0 on aggregate in the last round

Team

This is my strongest 11, and we have pretty good strength in depth although, with Fazio coming in at the end of the season and hopefully we can persuade Borja Valero to stay. We should have a stronger squad next season. My only concern is the finances, although I don't really plan to buy many more players. Perhaps a full-back and a GK but other than that the squad is good. I will have to sell the players on the fringes though to save a little money and Marchena is unlikely to get his contract renewed at 70k a week.

Nice signings lucatonix. How are the finances looking? If you well off enough hopefully at the end of the season the board will expand the stadium by 5000 seats. Your first team is very strong M'Vila looks a great player and we all know the quality of Hazard. I got rid of Marchena due to his contract was ridiculous. Only Santi Cazorla in my team earns above 55k per week.

I recommend Jose Angel [Here he is after one year and a few mths:http://www.abload.de/img/josngelprofile_attribu55tb.jpg] for full back, although they will want a fair chunk, and immediately get him tutored by Capedevilla to raise his really low determination [seems to be something most good young Spanish players have, poor determination] or maybe Monreal/Alex Sandro/Diego Renan/Canella? Which side you looking to buy for? and for Goalkeeper it's only a matter of time before Asenjo gets unhappy warming the bench at At.Madrid. Good luck for the title run in. Hopefully you secure the title but at worst you should finish 2nd and get automatic Champions League qualification!

Player a few more games since the Real Madrid game. Annihilated Rayo 8-0 at home in the league. Followed by beating Sevilla 3-1 away and hammering Valencia 6-0 at home [with captain for the night Santi Carzorla giving Ricardo Costa an absolute nightmare, winning two penalties and getting him sent off]. El Madrigal is becoming a fortress akin to the Camp Nou or Old Trafford. Our record at home this season is Pld 6 | W6 | GF:28 | GA: 2! Guiseppe Rossi has found his shooting boots, with 6 in the last 5 admittedly including two penalties.

We've drawn Athletic in the Copa Del Rey which I am not looking forward to. I hate visiting San Mamés.

Interesting thread this! I'm currently on my first day as new manager of Villarreal.

My aim is to build a "Family" - to make the players feel like a tight group and talk the same language. I'm looking for players from Spain, Argentina and Brazil. I won't be looking at players like Eden Hazard, Mamadou Sakho, Henri Saivet or Yaya Sanogo.

I like the structure at the club and want to pump money into they youth academy so we can produce our own players. Just like Barcelona and Santos do. I'm also looking to (buy and) add youth players from leagues in Argentina and Brazil to my U19- and B-team.

I will play the 'Brazil way' in a 4222-formation. Two defensive midfielders and two attacking midfielders. Both central. My fullbacks will be very attacking.

I'm also looking in the possibility to bring back club legend Juan Román Riquelme.

MrSundlofer: im honestly not sure how resigning Juan Román Riquelme would add up to the family feel, it would almost be like bringing back Cassano to Roma

im honestly not sure how resigning Juan Román Riquelme would add up to the family feel, it would almost be like bringing back Cassano to Roma

True! (Well, a bit I think).

He left Villarreal after a tense situation with the board. But he's still a club legend at the club and has good determination to tutor younger players. For me, he's good enough to return to club and finish his career here.

Nice signings lucatonix. How are the finances looking? If you well off enough hopefully at the end of the season the board will expand the stadium by 5000 seats. Your first team is very strong M'Vila looks a great player and we all know the quality of Hazard. I got rid of Marchena due to his contract was ridiculous. Only Santi Cazorla in my team earns above 55k per week.

I recommend Jose Angel [Here he is after one year and a few mths:http://www.abload.de/img/josngelprofile_attribu55tb.jpg] for full back, although they will want a fair chunk, and immediately get him tutored by Capedevilla to raise his really low determination [seems to be something most good young Spanish players have, poor determination] or maybe Monreal/Alex Sandro/Diego Renan/Canella? Which side you looking to buy for? and for Goalkeeper it's only a matter of time before Asenjo gets unhappy warming the bench at At.Madrid. Good luck for the title run in. Hopefully you secure the title but at worst you should finish 2nd and get automatic Champions League qualification!

Player a few more games since the Real Madrid game. Annihilated Rayo 8-0 at home in the league. Followed by beating Sevilla 3-1 away and hammering Valencia 6-0 at home [with captain for the night Santi Carzorla giving Ricardo Costa an absolute nightmare, winning two penalties and getting him sent off]. El Madrigal is becoming a fortress akin to the Camp Nou or Old Trafford. Our record at home this season is Pld 6 | W6 | GF:28 | GA: 2! Guiseppe Rossi has found his shooting boots, with 6 in the last 5 admittedly including two penalties.

We've drawn Athletic in the Copa Del Rey which I am not looking forward to. I hate visiting San Mamés.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm primarily looking for a RB since I plan to use Fran Garcia at LB soon.

I won't be looking at players like Eden Hazard, Mamadou Sakho, Henri Saivet or Yaya Sanogo.

Wise move staying clear of Henri regardless.

Saivet was awesome on FM09 but not been great since then.

Hey guys, just stumbled upon this thread, I started a Villarreal game a wee while back, enjoying it thoroughly! Really struggled to get into a game on FM11- but this is looking very promising!

Here is what I’ve done with the squad so far, as you may notice, I’m only buying U18 players.

Just been given another £4.3m, to spend in January- over 48 months that might just add up to Neymar!

It's hard watching a 10 point lead at the head of La Liga crumble to just a one point advantage with a trip to the Vicente Calderon and Barcelona coming to the El Madrigal still to occur. 2-1 loss at the Mestella. Last minute penalty conceded against Malaga for a 2-2 draw. 0-0 draw at home to Espanyol and now a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid at the Berneabau.

Whilst Pepe Rossi hasn't scored in 636 minutes of football. We're crumbling worse than Newcastle all those years ago despite scoring 81 in 29 La Liga matches!

Really tempted to start a game up with Villarreal, never been them before and reading this has made me want to start a game up. Think I'm going to load all the Spanish leagues up because of the B team in the league below. Looking for some advice also. I'm thinking players to sell would be Jozy and maybe Capdevila?

Any players I should also look to sell?

Formation I think I'm going to play is 4, 2 Defensive Mids, 2 Wide players and 2 Forwards. Any good players you think I should sign to fit in this formation.

All help is really appreciated. Thanks

@Sparky_07: Welcome to the Villarreal Thread ^_^ . Definately load up at least Liga Adelante. It get's the B team playing actual games which can be very useful for consistently giving games to some youth players that you don't want tutored. Unfortunately it's not possible to tutor a player in the B Team which is a bummer. Also the B team can take 2 non-EU players so it's a good place to put regens if you can't register them for the main team/too old for the U19 team and give them game time.

I got rid of a lot of dead weight from my save. Altidore, Ruben, Carlos, Oriol, Flor, Catala and sent Cristobal on loan. I offloaded Capdevilla in the winter window once I had got him to tutor my replacement for him in Jose Angel, good player, but within 6-8 months he [Capdevilla] will be on the decline and the wages he asks for are ridiculous considering I would be slowly phasing him out. Man City came in for him and offered him the silly wages he wants. Getting rid of Altidore/Ruben is up to you, I didn't feel the need for them but you might want to bring in a bit of a physical presence since the team is really lacking in that department, and in hindsight that's what I would have done. Otherwise you open to getting bullied by some of the more physical La Liga teams like Athletic Bilbao.

Looking at the team. Angel is good at right back for two seasons, and Mario can reach his level given time . However he'll frustrate you time and again being caught out of position, so over time a Champions League quality player should be brought in here and Mario used as his backup. I'd bring in a physically and aerially strong centre back. [Rami, Lugano, Fazio, Kara e.t.c.] to compliment the more technically gifted ones you have in Musacchio, Rodriguez, Marchena. Get a long term replacement for Capdevilla [Jose Angel, Canella, Alex Sandro e.t.c.]. Maybe look at a backup wingers for Cani and Cazorla, I got Kevin from Zaragoza who could play centre mid and right mid. I also took Pichu Atienza and Borjan Baston away from At. Madrid for small fews and they have potential to be pretty good players and can be taken for small fees.

Also I'd recommend getting Musacchio tutored by Rodriguez straight away to get his determination up so he'll fuffil his potential. I got him tutored by Marchena, Rodriguez and Rami and he has finally got a determination of 16 and isn't as much of a confrontational ass he can be at the beginning of the game! Nevertheless good luck! Champions' League is a realistic aim. Anything else a major plus!

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In my game I have succumbed to a 2-2 draw at Getafe [we were 2-0 down so I'll take it] and a 2-1 loss away to 18th placed Rayo :| So we're now level on points with Barcelona. My current form is one of the worst in the league [LDLWLD] but hopefully winning to our whipping boys Sevilla at home will boost morale. We play Barcelona on the penultimate weekend of the season at home so that match will probably decide the title! Drawing will probably lose us the title. Losing would definately do so. As we have an away trip to the Vicente Calderon on the final day whilst Barcelona have an easy home game against the already relegated Xerez. However with both of us dropping points. Real Madrid are now only six points off us both after being 16 behind me and 10 behind Barcelona at one stage. Cristiano Ronaldo powering them forward as usual.

We have also reached the final of the Champion League! In what had to be the weakest final 8 since 2004? [Milan, Sampdoria, Liverpool, Bayern, Villarreal, Real Madrid, Porto, PSV]. We knocked out Real Madrid 4-3 on aggregate in the Quarter's. Faced Bayern who had beaten Liverpool and won on away goals thanks to a 94th minute Guiseppe Rossi strike. Now we face Porto in the final, a winnable game for potentially an unlikely title but I am not confident with our current lack of form. Plus Ibrahim Affelay, one of the key players this season will miss the final*

*Nice? touch by SI. When a player misses a big game their morale drops.

@dude891 mate thankyou so much for that advice really appreciate it, I'm excited not to get this game up and runnging, think I'm going to load all Spanish and English leagues with a Large database and top players from Europe, South America and North America. Work needs to hurry up and finish now!

Good luck in Champions League Final

I think an update is long overdue.

End of 2010/11 Season Update

Competitions

Liga BBVA:

Well Barcelona hit poor form at the end of the last season, despite winning crucially against us we managed to win the league by 5 points.

David Villa scored 38 goals for Barca in the league whilst Nilmar was second highest with 27.

Spanish Cup:

I was very happy to make it to the final of the Cup, despite having a rather easy run of teams. However Real Madrid stood between us and the trophy. For the first 80 minutes they were on top and we defended well to only conceed one goal. Madrid however were picking up several yellow cards and the turning point in the match was nigh. Marcelo received a second yellow for persistant fouling and our team responded with 10 minutes of solid all out attacking. In the end Senna equalised with a sublime longshot.

In extra time, Madrid looked more composed and organised, but we were comfortably on top helped by Raul Albiol's sending off for a professional foul. We however could not break the sturdy defence. Rami then got himself sent off for persistent fouling and ruined our chances of winning.

The match went to penalties which Madrid scraped 3-2.

Euro Cup:

This was where our team brought out our best performances. We eased into the semi finals winning all but two games. Here we faced Ajax and scraped through 3-2 on aggregate. We faced the difficult task of Juventus in the final. The worst possible opposition. Not only do they have very good defensive physical holding players, both their strikers are strong and good in the air. I was unsure that Musacchio would be able to cope. However a beautiful passing move from kick off gave us the lead. Juventus responded quickly with a series of attacks which meant they equalised 15 mins later with a spot kick. Juventus had the momentum and attacked and attacked but we defended well forcing them to waste opportunities with countless longshots. In the 92nd minute we had a freekick. It was fired in towards the six yard box and Adil Rami, my only danger from set pieces, attacked the ball from the far post getting infront of his defender and glancing a header into the top corner. 2-1 with barely anytime left on the clock. The Euro Cup was ours.

Performances

Stand out performers were Nilmar, Giuseppe Rossi, Borja Valero and Adil Rami. Khouma Babacar was also very good as a back up.

Top Scorers:

Nilmar - 41

Rossi - 28

Babacar - 18

Hazard - 14

Update for 2011/12 Season coming soon.

Well firstly that would work but your wingers may get a tad isolated. Also Cani, Kevin and Renato Augusto are all good players but definitely not inside forwards or wingers, but playmakers. Cani for me plays best at advanced playmaker support at AML.

As for your strikers that is the optimal combination. I use this combination and Nilmar has 54 goals in 52 league games so far with me. Rossi has 18 goals in 48 league games. (Rossi suffered with injury last season so never really got any form. In Europe he was very good first season scoring 9 goals in 11 games.)

I would say you should have your full backs on support with no more than mixed forward runs so you aren't to vulnerable down the wings.

DLPs in the centre to keep possession and midfield territory.

I currently use a 4-2-2-2 as follows (it is tweaked):

FBs support

Dcs defend

MCl DLP support

MCr DLP defend

AMR inside forward attack (not happy with this, gets isolated and makes few passes but scores and assists quite a few since only gets involved at the end of moves)

AML advanced playmaker support

STr deep lying forward support (perfect for Rossi. Altidore is a perfect back due to his physicals and work rate to help mark your oppositions extra MC)

STl advanced forward attack (perfect for Nilmar. can't stop scoring)

I also use a 4-2-3-1. I think this could suit your team as follows

FBs support

DCs defend

MCs DLPs

AMR inside forward attack

AML inside forward attack

AMC advanced playmaker attack

ST deep lying forward support

Front four all have mixed everything on individual instructions apart from rarely long shots.

I say this since Kevin and Renato Augusto would thrive in the AMC position.

Any of the tactics for download?

Not at the moment because they are very specific to my team at the moment. I doubt they would work unless you used very similar players.

If you look at post 20 that is pretty much my 4-2-2-2 tactic. Only adjustments from the tactics creator is mixed forward runs on the full backs. Roaming ticked for the AML and for the STr tight marking is not ticked and wide play is moves into channels and longs shots is mixed.

As for the 4-2-3-1, it is loosely based upon SFraser's theory on creativity and flair creating exciting and unpredictable play by letting them choose what to do: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/220742-Creativity-and-Flair

i am half way thru the first season, and to say its been poor is an understatement, rossi played one game and has been out injured ever since, i when out in the euro cup at the group stages and out in the copa del ray in the 5th round on away goals i play 4-4-2 and need help getting the team to flow any tactical tips will be great.

With Villarreal, I think the best way to go is to have two holding midfielders and let the wingers and strikers do the work. How much support you want from your FBs is up to you.

If you look at the post above you can see what I use for my tactics. As for a 4-4-2, I think you need to utilise Nilmar as the focal point and get everyone focusing around him. Have Altidore as the supporting striker until Giuseppe is back. You want your wingers to support so have them on support if you want a link between midfielders and attack, or attack if you want them to run past the FB. I recommend on support, one attack with the support next to Nilmar, and the attack next to the supporting striker.

So

MR attack - pin the LB to the left wing so he can't cover effectively, plus meas you have an extra option for your STr if cannot find Nilmar

ML support - the left hand side link to Nilmar or dragging out the full back so you can get a cross in to Altidore

STr support - complete forward/deep lying forward/trequartista deeper than Nilmar so can play him in or do a one-two and get played in himself.

STL attack - advanced forward Nilmar is the focal point and most advanced. with good ppms he shouldnt get isolated

STr:

Altidore - complete forward, a physical beast, and hard working. suits this role. also plays well as a deep lying forward

Coria/Ruben - deep lying forward, just want him deep, and their creativity and flair should help them in these deep positions. Not got the physical presence for a complete forward

Rossi - any of the three, when in good form try him as a trequartista. His supreme creativity, flair and composure means he can run the show supplying your offense with a devastating creative outlet.

I'm hoping to kickstart this thread so I shall be posting some updates shortly

First off, this is a great thread and inspired me to start my first game since november

always had a soft spot for villarreal so it was an easy choice

Only brought in kadlec and kevin for about 2m each so that means my starting eleven is unchanged. This was not difficult because the quality in the squad is excellent. Am playing a 4-2-2-2 with wingers and 2 defensive cm's.

GK: Diego Lopez - easy choice, dependable

DR: Mario - giving youth a chance and Angel is injured for the long term. Will be looking to bring a replacement in the next few years as mario does not look CL class

DL: capdevilla - here by default and will probably look to cash in soon and bring angel

DC: musacchio - performing excellentlly and has chipped in with some goals from set pieces.

DC: Rodriguez - solid no compaints

CM: Senna

CM: Bruno - these two positions are where my team is weakest and i feel i am not getting the most out of them. senna is being underused as a cm (def) and i dont think bruno is good enough.Maybe playing marchena here might shore things up in the short term?

AMR: Cani - stunning in this position as an Adv playmaker and was bossing the midfield untill he got injured

AML: Santi Carzola - playing an inside forward and doing really well, my 3 highest scorer after these two \/

CF: Rossi - trequarista bossing the league - top of the assist league and my second highest scorer

CF: Nilmar - Playing really well as an adv forward but more than any other player seems to be a confidence player and so can often disappear from games completely

would love to fit in borja valero but my team is already massively attacking so I dont think its possible

am currenly 3rd behind the big 2 after 10 games and have scored 29, conceded 13

any help on my midfield or my defence would be a massive help