FM13: Sunderland AFC - But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more.

Football Manager 2013: Sunderland AFC Thread

Recent times

Last season things started slowly under Steve Bruce and he was sacked in November as he blamed his Geordie roots for the fans getting on his back rather than the results. In December Sunderland had appointed Martin O'Neill as Manager which proved to be popular amongst fans as he was a boyhood Sunderland fan, Martin's first month as Manager could not have gotten better as Sunderland hit top of the form league over the festive period and there was talk of Europa League spots if Sunderland could maintain their form. Unfortunately, not all had went to plan a plague of injuries followed by Martin's decision not to sign anyone in the Winter transfer window meant the team's lack of depth shone and their form dropped dramatically and the fans had to enviously watch their main rivals Newcastle over-achieve in the league and qualify for Europa League from league position.

In the Autumn, the signings of Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson brought a boost of morale around the club but the form had picked up from the end of last season managing only 1 win in 16 premier league games.

You have been tasked to bring the club out of this horrible form and give something for the fans to shout about, emulating your closest rivals Newcastle's achievements could be too much too soon but a respectable league position will be a good starting point for the future.

Expectations

In recent Football Manager games, Sunderland have had the luxury of spending power which has all but dissipated this season thanks to the £22 million spent on Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher. The new TV Rights deal which starts as of 2013/14 season will earn clubs over £50 million means Relegation survival is absolutely essential to get back on a decent financial footing.

On the footballing front losing the Tyne-Wear derby to Newcastle is not an option, the derby is gaining recognition nationwide for always producing a Red Card, for its hard tackles in the Centre Midfield area and Newcastle seem to always come out top. The Wear-Tees derby with Middlesbrough is not as well-known due to the Boro being in a lower league but should you ever meet them in the Cup, a loss to them would be disastrous for the fans

Goalkeepers

Key Player:

Keiren Westwood and Simon Mignolet will be battling throughout the season for the #1 jersey, both are very young but Mignolet's shot-stopping ability edges him out for the #1 jersey, Keiren will need some game-time at the club so that he doesn't become unhappy.

Backup:

Keiren Westwood - See above.

Transfer thoughts:

Possibly Sunderland's strongest position, both Keepers are good enough to last you the first season, the main problem is the lack of cover if either Westwood or Mignolet get injured, or even worse both - Richard Kingson is a cheap alternative as he's on a free transfer, Craig Gordon is also there but he's probably still upset at the club for releasing him to negotiate.

Defenders

The Wing-backs are the weakest part of the team, Phil Bardsley does have decent crossing abilities but his defensive abilities make him exposed to attacking-minded teams, you have Danny Rose on loan from Spurs who is also the same as Bardsley stats wise, he puts in a good cross and overlaps but his defensive abilities doesn't warrant a first-team place. These positions should be your first look in the Transfer Market - Personally I switched John O'Shea to Right back and bought new replacements for Centre back.

Key Players:

John O'Shea - The versatile defender can play very well at both Centre back and Right back, he will be key for you this season

Carlos Cuellar - Can also play Right back but is not advised his services are badly needed at Centre back

Backup:

Wes Brown - Starts the season injured but keeping him fit will be needed

Transfer Thoughts:

I personally signed Sebastian Squillaci from Arsenal for a mere £1 million to provide much-needed consistency and has provided Man of the Match displays and even contributing goals from set-pieces.

Selling Titus Bramble and Matthew Kilgallon will give you some much needed funds elsewhere

Midfield

Key Players:

Adam Johnson - The Seaham born lad is now at his local club and is expected to do well at Sunderland, his dribbling, crossing and Corner-taking stats is more than enough to make him #1 choice on the Right wing

James McClean - Set the Premier League alight last Winter and has now broke into the Republic of Ireland team, the fact he has no right foot makes him too predictable at times for defenders but has excellent dribbling and crossing stats.

Backup:

Sebastian Larsson - Set-piece specialist in real life and also in game. The Swede can also play Right Back but his services are most needed further up the field

Craig Gardner - His primary position is Centre midfield, has good passing, technique and shooting ability. Can also play Right back but the same applies.

Transfer Thoughts:

The Wingers are Sunderland's strongest position, James McClean and Adam Johnson should be first-choice without thought and the team have more than enough cover with Larsson and Rose . The centre midfield lacks Aerial ability someone who can win the ball in the air which could give you food for thought in the Transfer Market - Lee Cattermole, Jack Colback and David Vaughan all have good tackling stats but none of them are ball-winners in the air. David Meyler starts the game with lower-league interest on Loan and should be either loaned or preferably sold.

Attack

Key Players:

Steven Fletcher - The £12 million pound man from Wolves already a big hit in Sunderland, a good finisher and a good Target Man, will be the key-man for scoring goals this season.

Stephane Sessegnon - A strange-one in FM13 - Martin O'Neill's 4-5-1 is built around Sessegnon being the engine in the team but doesn't seem to fit in any other Formations, I've tried 4-4-2 with him in Centre Midfield and on the Wings without success. His technique, acceleration and dribbling skills make him a decent Poacher but don't expect him to set the world alight if you play him elsewhere than the AMC position

Backup:

Ji-Dong Won - Has good finishing and aerial abilities, makes a decent Target Man and should be brought on if you're behind

Louis Saha - Same as above but his vulnerability to injuries and lack of pace makes him more unreliable than Ji

Transfer Thoughts:

Sunderland's weakest position. Connor Wickham is simply not good enough for the Premier League, lower-league teams will come in for Loan offers for Wickham but the scouts highly-rate his Potential ability so he needs a season in the Championship before playing another game for Sunderland, Frazier Campbell is decent for the BPL but his £4 million value could be key to raising badly needed funds, Ryan Noble is a future prospect and should be loaned out.

Signing new Strikers is urgent if you plan not to play the 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 formations

Tactics:

reserved

reserved - enjoy and share your stories

Thanks for creating the thread Mackus, some sound advice in here.

I've started a game with Sunderland but have had little success. Currently Only one 1 in 9 game and pretty much look certain to get sacked. This is par for the course in terms of Football Manager and all my games so pretty much started off this way (tried a Preston and Huddersfield game as well).

I've been trying, for the most part, to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, but my main problem has been having weak fullbacks and I was unsuccesful in bringing any one in for this position apart from a free transfer, can't remember his name but it's some what irrelevant as he is simply not cut out for this level.

Lee Cattermolle fell out with me after the first game because i substituded him which has led to me playing Colback as my anchor man.

For my lone striker I've been playing Fletcher as a target man on support duty, and on the wings I have McClean and Johnson set up as Wingers alongside them is Sess, set up as an Advanced Player maker, all three are on attack duty.

in midfield in a DM position I have David Vaughan as Deep lying play maker and as already mentioned Colback as anchor man.

In defense I've tried to keep it simple, set O'Shea and Bramble/Ceullar to Limited Defenders and Defend, and full backs on support (Bardsley/Rose).

I leave all intructons as default apart from stick to positions. I give all my attacking players high creative freedom, and set a Very Rigid positions. I usually play counter or defensivley against the better teams, and do okay, getting 1 win and 3 draws when i've been away or underdog.

At home I'm useless, I've tried setting every thing back to standard and balanced, tried more fluid approaches even went with a fluid 4-4-2 attacking, but I'm constantly getting hammered.

I'm going to restart the game and try do better in the transfer market, I had real trouble selling the likes of Myler, Campbell and Cattermolle (post fall out) and only managed to get Myler to leave for a future fee of 500k on loan. I think thas has been my primary downfall along with poor tactics.

Mignolet.

For my lone striker I've been playing Fletcher as a target man on support duty

Good to hear your thoughts Scotteh - I managed to loan out Wickham to Huddersfield for the vital experience and sold Bramble for the 1.9 mil value he starts at, all of the money went back into Loan signings as it's the only thing I can afford since I splashed out my budget on Squillaci

The good news is that I've already played Newcastle first game of the season and avoided defeat and I've got AJ and Fletcher firing on all cylinders.

The bad news is the rest of my midfield can't win the ball to save their lives and the problem is leaking goals

Very good thread, I was worried no one would do one for us this year.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/324829-FM13-Adryan-Top-Class-Brazilian-Potential-For-%C2%A3875-000

I highly recommend signing the Adryan the guy in the thread I just posted. Have fired up a Sunderland save and hope to do better than we are in real life.

Who to get as full backs? I'm not happy with Rose or Barsley/O'Shea/Gardner.

Not going to lie ive found it a struggle with us on this years game. Full backs are a main priority in the transfer market. I was having to play Brown at RB and Bardsley at LB. Didn't find Rose good enough to start straight away. After a terrible start i managed to finish 13th. Second season ive had a transfer budget of £1.7mil for a mid table finish. Looks like Ellis is a bit hard up at the moment.

I did a straight swap with Everton, Frazier Campbell for Seamus Coleman. Obviously Coleman isn't the best RB in the world, but he's a lot better than what we currently have. I hate playing old CB's in the fullback position as they have no pace; like O'Shea playing at RB last season irl!!!

Also for LB I've just brought in Sylvain Armond on loan from PSG

Need a new CB can spend up to £4mil

Had an easy start in terms of opponents with Southampton (h), Swansea (a) and Norwich (h).

Played 4-2-3-1:

...................Mig

Gardner-O'Shea-Cuellar-Kilgallon

DM......Larsson-Cattermole

AM..Johnson-Sessegnon-McClean

............Fletcher

Larsson just there for his set pieces and will probably end up rotating him with the wingers and putting a more defensive player in against better teams. Played some excellent stuff in those games and easily beat Swansea 3-1 but could only draw the two home games. That was fine after going 2 down early on to Southampton but annoying after playing against ten men for 50 minutes against Norwich. Went straight out of the cup on pens after a 0-0 at home to Hartlepool, rotated too many players for that one.

Need a new CB can spend up to £4mil

Squillaci maybe? Or take a look at Kjaer, not sure if he will move to Sunderland though.

Just started my Sunderland save tonight.

Here's my transfers:

I tried to sign McArthur on deadline day too, but Wigan kept wanting too much money upfront so it didn't get done it time. Still lacking creativity in the middle of the park, we need a Cabaye-like player.

Great first result . Minor slip up at Norwich but we were away from home and still getting used to tactics. Wellington Nem is a cracking little player. Two goals and two assists already! Keeping McClean out of the team.

Currently 2nd in the league also.

That was never a slip up at Norwich - we're just to good for you! Good luck though for your season.

I had a good game with Sunderland a few years back - a career that spanned about 8 years actually. Great game, may have to have another look at them in the future.

Nice threa, btw

Not going to lie ive found it a struggle with us on this years game. Full backs are a main priority in the transfer market. I was having to play Brown at RB and Bardsley at LB. Didn't find Rose good enough to start straight away. After a terrible start i managed to finish 13th. Second season ive had a transfer budget of £1.7mil for a mid table finish. Looks like Ellis is a bit hard up at the moment.

No Winter Window investment like we've had on previous FM's?

£1.7 mil for Season 2 when the new TV rights deal kicks in is extremely tight. Looking at the finances the club isn't in any danger in the present or future!

How is Sess doing for you guys, I'm in January and he's made a grand contribution of 0 goals and 0 assists even the Media are hounding em, think I might have to cash in on him!

I tried to sell Sess for £10 million to CSKA Moscow but he rejected them.

No Winter Window investment like we've had on previous FM's?

£1.7 mil for Season 2 when the new TV rights deal kicks in is extremely tight. Looking at the finances the club isn't in any danger in the present or future!

How is Sess doing for you guys, I'm in January and he's made a grand contribution of 0 goals and 0 assists even the Media are hounding em, think I might have to cash in on him!

Im unsure about winter investment didnt ask for extra funds so that might be why. Did a budget adjustment and got it up to £4mil

Hard to buy players with silly money, i had horrible time with SAFC, but that was classic mode, now on to the main game lol.

Still doing ok apart from being mauled by Man Utd 5-0 at home where Nani destroyed Kilgallon then swapped sides in the second half and destroyed Gardner as well. Had 1-1 draws with Chelsea and Liverpool and another away win at QPR so still only one defeat from 7 games.

Everyone is fit now and I cant decide on the first choice defence and whether to drop Cuellar for Brown or give Bardsley a go instead of Gardner?

I'm just letting Ellis appoint whoever he wants, think hes brought in like 7 members of staff lol.

Yeah give Bardo a go.

Bloodbath at St James' Park

Casualties - Both keepers' pride and 1 bruised Alan Pardew

I just haven't got a clue what to do in terms of tactics, player instructions and player roles. Any ideas how to get the best out of the players?

Like your team Mackus, 9 shots and 6 of them were goals. My team were squandering chance after chance. I don't want to resort to downloading a tactic but I just couldn't buy a win and got sacked.

I have 7 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses and my GA and GF are the same - My team couldn't be anymore average

I still need a proper anchorman to win the ball in the air, know any for £150k?

Out of interest what sort of formation/ philosophy and tactics do you use? I'm trying to establish what sort of formation and play style to go for before I buy anyone from the transfer market.

Out of interest what sort of formation/ philosophy and tactics do you use? I'm trying to establish what sort of formation and play style to go for before I buy anyone from the transfer market.

I tend to use Fluid and Controlled. Quite attacking football, let in a fair few goals but score a lot too!

Sitting 7th in the Prem in January of season one.

Do you use short/direct passing? I'm not sure what to set for all of those instructions (creative freedom, marking etc.)

Do you use short/direct passing? I'm not sure what to set for all of those instructions (creative freedom, marking etc.)

I personally use short passing as from watching SAFC in real life, I know that we aren't great at playing direct balls and it would mean a lot of interceptions, although I haven't really tried out direct passing. Give both a try and experiment untill you start to get a good run of games.

Mackus that is class:)

Ive Played 16, W 5 D 7 L 4 with Newcastle next up. We're the only team to lose to bottom club Villa at home but then went and beat leaders Arsenal 2-1 so have had a mixed bag. Have had no significant injuries and now the first player, Bramble, has broken ranks to request first team football so there might have to be some loans in January to keep people happy. It will be hard to let Westwood go when only Pickford can cover the Mig.

Tactics wise is good up front, McClean is top scorer as an inside forward (attack) in the AML position, he has 8 in 16. Johnson has 8 assists in 10 starts as advanced playermaker (support) on AMR but Seb is pushing him hard for a place with his 4 goals so far. Fletcher up top on his own has 5 in 16 and Sess has been a bit of a let down as AMC with just 2 goals but he seems to create a lot without getting the final 'assist' credit.

At the back is not so good, conceding lots of early goals. I've just got the 2 CBs on the default instructions so any advice with what to do with them would be useful. They get good ratings, especially O'Shea but when they leak soft goals that doesn't count for much.

Window Transfer Window has been good to me:

In:

Jermaine Jenas - 500k

Lorik Cana - Loan

Some much needed steel and creativity in my midfield!

The board do accept a Wage Budget increase which you can then turn into Transfer funds - Transfer budget increase was declined but the % made from Transfer sales was increased.

Might start again as safc currently in my second season but my defence is woeful

Ellis Short's gone full Abramovich/Hearts Chairman mode

It's nice and all that but he's buying players I don't actually want

Just finished my first season in charge of Sunderland.

Finished 8th but disappointed as I was sniffing around 3rd and 4th just before Christmas! Also got knocked out of the FA Cup Semi-final by Charlton on penalties .

Had a run of games right at the end of the season playing Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, went five games without a win and scored one goal in that whole period!

Here's the league table.

As you can see I played great attacking football and scored a lot of goals... but also was extremely weak defensively. Tried tweaking my tactics all season but couldn't stop conceding! Granted O'Shea and Squilacci aren't the best CB's, I am in the market for two young CB's this summer. Fingers crossed I will get money to spend...

Also... Everton went down!? Tried to go in for Jagielka but he's signing for City!

Here's my transfers

Spent quite alot on Kolarov, but he is a top left back and will hopefully be good enough to take me on to Champions League level!

My top goalscorer, and second top goalscorer in the league was... Ji Dong-won!?

I took Fletcher off one match as he picked up a knock and brought on Ji for him to score two goals straight away! I decided I would give him a run of games and never looked back... he had scored 21 in 23 until my last spell of games where we didn't create enough chances and he went a few games without scoring. Impressed with him though!

And finally, has anyone scored a quicker hat-trick in FM13 yet!?

3 goals in four minutes by Adam Johnson!!!

Why is Phil Bardsley in favoured personnel?

Looks like you had a good first season really andrewfx, Sunderland bottling in a cup competition though? How very bizarre!

Just loaded up for the first time and started with the lads, Newcastle away first game of the season...

Sounds like you had the strangest season ever Andrewfx, Everton are 2nd on mine!! - Fletcher for me has 25 goals and it's only February problem is my next top goalscorer is *drumroll* - 3

How did you even get the funds to buy Kolarov?!

Just starting a game with the Lads, which I swear every year I won't do but end up doing one anyway. I have what I'm hoping'll be an easy start to the season by FM standards, with QPR (H), Wigan (A), Reading (H) and Villa (A) being the opening four games. I don't think I'm going to bother spending anything seeing as its such a pitiful amount. Any suggestions for a good assistant manager? I tried to get Roy Aitken but couldn't afford his wages.

Why is Phil Bardsley in favoured personnel?

Not my cup of tea either but figured seing as he's always up there in player of the year polls he might as well be in. And I was getting a bit sick of putting in Bent, Cisse etc for one update then having to take them out the next. He has a fairly low rating rating so if you sell him he'll probably drop off the list within a season or so.

Not my cup of tea either but figured seing as he's always up there in player of the year polls he might as well be in. And I was getting a bit sick of putting in Bent, Cisse etc for one update then having to take them out the next. He has a fairly low rating rating so if you sell him he'll probably drop off the list within a season or so.

I'd say Cisse deserves to be still there he did do a double over the mags afterall - Surprised Peter Reid is not listed in the Icons

Thats a good point actually, Reid will get added. While Quinn, who had him as favourite personel, was here he was actually on a hidden disliked list so that he wouldn't hire him, along with others who would be unrealistic appointments like Keegan and Shearer. If it was down my personal preference I'd still have Cisse and Steed on the list, but we are advised to keep it updated and relevant and neither are likely to be connected with us again.

Steven Fletcher found it hard to get into my team lol, the assistant always plays Di JOng or Wickham haha..

I started my game in USA, so got alot of time to sort a team out that i think will do well.

Feel free to mail your assistant a P45

Bit of a struggle with the amount of money I was given to spend... five games into the season.

GK - Mignolet/Westwood

DR - Cuellar/Bardsley

DL - Tiene

DC - O'Shea/Bramble/Brown/Kilgallon

AMR - Johnson/Larsson

AML - McClean/Rose

MC - Colback/Cattermole/Sessegnon/Vaughan/Gardner

FC - Fletcher/Saha/Campbell/Dong-Won/Wickham

Newcastle away (2-2), Reading home (3-0), Swindon home league cup (2-0), Southampton away (4-0)!!, Fulham home (2-2)... Five points from first four games is actually better than i was expecting after i lost to my own reserve team in pre-season. Doing well going forward but performing awful defensively, need some well needed cash from the chairman in December. Playing Fletcher as a Poacher, Johnson as an Advanced Playmaker on the right and McClean as an Inside Forward on the left and all three doing very well. Any ideas on how i can stop leaking as many goals as i am?.. Already spent weeks and weeks on defensive positioning and set pieces training.

Newcastle away (2-2), Reading home (3-0), Swindon home league cup (2-0), Southampton away (4-0)!!, Fulham home (2-2)... Five points from first four games is actually better than i was expecting after i lost to my own reserve team in pre-season. Doing well going forward but performing awful defensively, need some well needed cash from the chairman in December. Playing Fletcher as a Poacher, Johnson as an Advanced Playmaker on the right and McClean as an Inside Forward on the left and all three doing very well. Any ideas on how i can stop leaking as many goals as i am?.. Already spent weeks and weeks on defensive positioning and set pieces training.

I cant stop leaking them either. But after playing half a season and looking at the stats a huge problem at the back is passing accuracy, O'Shea was only 60%. Assuming these are mostly due to hoofs, the only player who doesnt have a very low % for winning headers up front is Fletcher.

So I'm going to

-try to get them playing the simplest possible passes but also instruct them that if they must belt it forward to aim it at to Fletcher

-stop putting CBs at full back, give Colback a run on the left instead of Kilgallon to see if our possession improves.

I cant stop leaking them either. But after playing half a season and looking at the stats a huge problem at the back is passing accuracy, O'Shea was only 60%. Assuming these are mostly due to hoofs, the only player who doesnt have a very low % for winning headers up front is Fletcher.

So I'm going to

-try to get them playing the simplest possible passes but also instruct them that if they must belt it forward to aim it at to Fletcher

-stop putting CBs at full back, give Colback a run on the left instead of Kilgallon to see if our possession improves.

Setting your Shouts to play the ball out of defence helps that alot and it's effective for Sunderland as if they hoof it no one other than Fletcher has the stats to win the ball!

I've had my yearly intake of 16-year olds and there's a Striker my Scouts reckon could be a mid-table Premier League footballer, was rather pleased but my problem he's 5'4 therefore doesnt really fit with the Sunderland way I want to develop him but there's no way he's getting into the team playing as 4-5-1

In other news - I've just lost 9-1 and 8-0 to Arsenal and Man Utd respectively, I'm 11th in the league but those 2 results have the fans pissed regardless

Man Utd absolutely mullered me as well. Planning on putting Meyler, Gardner and Cattermole on hard tackling at Old Trafford to even the score. Refs owe us one after Howard Webb (who else?) screwed us over in the FA Cup, we only just scraped past Bournemouth with ten men.

I started again the other night. Went a bit ambitious and opted for a top half finish so i could get the most transfer budget. 6 games in and ive draw 5 lost 1 need to start winning.

Won 8 and lost 2 of the last ten in the league to go up to 6th Vaughan has come in since Colback moved to left back and been phenomenal, got a 9.2 rating in a 4-0 win over Chelsea and just masterminded a win over Spurs as well.

Sadly Man Utd beat us again. They got an early goal and we ended up chasing the game, Cattermole got 2 yellow cards for giving 2 penalties away and it finished 3-0. Only 9 points separate 1st and 11th at the end of January!