FM14: Aston Villa - Prepared

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Mid Table Finish -  Transfer Budget: 0 Wage Budget: £800k
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Goalkeepers

Brad Guzan

Shay Given

- Potential Youth Prospect(s)

Jed Steer

Benjamin Siegrist

Guzan is a solid and dependable no.1 and should be that way for a long time. Steer and Siegrist look promising, although Siegrist will need to be tied down to a new contract. Given is still a dependable shot stopper, but for £52k per week you should be getting more.

Central Defense

Ron Vlaar

Nathan Baker

Jores Okore

Ciaran Clark

Four solid Center defenders, Vlaar and Okore are a good pairing while Baker and Clark are very good backup/rotation options.

Full Backs

Matt Lowton

Joe Bennet

Antonio Luna

Alan Hutton

- Potential Youth Prospect(s)

Joshua Webb

In Lowton and Luna Villa have a good, young pair of attacking fullbacks/wingbacks that can do very well for a number of years. Outside of those two however it's a bit grim. Hutton,like Given, is average at best but for £40k per week you'd expect more. Finally, Bennet is a decent enough back-up option until you've strengthened more important areas. Finally, Webb looks good enough to loan out, but not good enough to challenge for a spot in your first team.

Central Midfielders

Gary Gardner

Charles N'Zogbia

Chris Herd

Ashley Westwood

Fabian Delph

Yacouba Sylla

Leandro Bacuna

Karim El Ahmadi

- Potential Youth Prospect(s)

Sammir Carruthers (On Loan at Mk Dons)Jack Grealish (On loan at Notts County)

The big challenge in this area is who do you leave out? Westwood and Sylla should be no brainers, being the best passer and best ball winning midfielder in your team respectivly. Delph is underrated (again), El Ahmadi isn't bad but brings nothing special to the table and Gardner is still developing, although he can certainly play a role over the course of your first season. Outside of those Herd and N'zogbia probably aren't worth keeping, Herd's a pretty poor player and N'Zogbia is on quite a sizable wage. Finally, Bacuna can play through the middle, but also plays well out wide. In terms of youth prospects Grealish is the man to watch and looks like he can make a handful of appearances for you once he returns from loan in Dec/Jan.

Wingers

Marc Albrighton

Alexsander Tonev

- Potential Youth Prospect(s)

Jordan Graham

Probably the weakest area of the team. Graham is a work in progress, while Tonev and Albrighton are average at best. While either can do a job for you, for the wages they're on it might be better to cut your losses and move on, Albrighton especially as his contract expires at the end of the first season.

Forwards

Gabby Agbonlahor

Andi Wiemann

Christian Benteke

Libor Kozak

Nicklas Helenius

- Potential Youth Prospect(s)

Callum Robinson

First things first, Agbonlahor and Weimann can do a decent enough job for you out wide, but don't expect either to set the world on fire. Benteke is the main man for you, so expect bids from the big clubs at the end of the season. Helenius is a very good False 9, often out preforming Benteke when they partner together. Finally, Kozak is your typical lumbering target man, he lacks pace to really contribute during the build up of moves but apart from that is a good solid player. In terms of youth prospects Robinson looks like he could develop into a good inside forward, or even an advanced forward.

Good stuff.

Great primer.

I'm just hitting February in my first Villa save. mainly trying to tweak tactics and get to know the squad. I'm fourth though which isn't bad, best defence in the league but not scoring many - although I just realised I'd forgotten to do any training which might explain it.

I've found Delph a real disappointment. Would love to justify building the midfield around him but just can't find a role that suits. He's a strange Frankenstein's monster of great stats and stats that make no sense for the roles he should be playing. Very interested to hear about Helenius. He's made good cameo appearances for me but because I only play one up front I haven't been able to try him as a false nine. I may switch to 4231 and try him out behind Benteke to see how he does.

Kozak, though limited, has been very effective for me as a TM(s), but the biggest surprise is undoubtedly Bennett. Woeful on FM13 he's been superb on the BETA, especially going forwards. In fact the less defending he has to do the better.

Up the Villa!

Definitely a much better proposition this year but still a challenge. Just got Crowley back from arsenal in my save, he and grealish will be the future of my team i hope

I am going for a few players to add to the youthful team we already have, has anyone looked to get rid of Benteke yet? I think £30million is possible.

Just train Kozak the PPM Shoot with power and make him target man and your target on corners. Beast Mode on.

I am going for a few players to add to the youthful team we already have, has anyone looked to get rid of Benteke yet? I think £30million is possible.

I sold Benteke after my first season for 30 million euro to City.

So I finished my first season. It went right up until the wire with us having to come back from 1 down at home to Swansea, but I eventually finished fourth.

It's one of the best Villa season's I've ever had. Didn't sign any players and got off to a great start (1 loss and top of table by Xmas) which eventually saw us through a wobble in form towards the end.

I didn't score many goals, but as you can see by Guzan's clean sheets we were the best defence in the league and I set up to play counterattacking from the off. I suspect this is something to do with the BETA as we really shouldn't be that tight at the back by hey I'm not complaining.

In terms of the squad. Benteke was the standout performer up front with 20 goals. Weiman and Agbonlahor started to show what they could do by the end of the season too after shakey starts. The midfield were all solid but it's at the back where we excelled with Nathan Baker in particular having a stunning season.

All in all I'm pretty pleased. tactic is playing how I want it to and whilst I'll need ot adapt for next season I'm looking forward to a money-spinning campaign in the Champions League.

Interesting that its not just me who finished fairly high relying on the counter!

Although you look to have got a lot more out of kozak than i did, think he's scored twice for me so far. Got much more out of helenius.

Interesting that its not just me who finished fairly high relying on the counter!

Although you look to have got a lot more out of kozak than i did, think he's scored twice for me so far. Got much more out of helenius.

Yeah I found Kozak played best as a lump up front. I had him as TM (s) purely to win headers and hold up ball. he worked best away from home but scored some vital goals for me. He'll never be a starter - just too one dimensional - but adequate back up for benteke.

I think i need to give Helenius more games in a consistent spot. he played everything from target man to inside forward via attackig midfielder, false nine and advanced playmaker for me. he was always reliable though and I'm hoping to find a way to get him more regularly into starting eleven next season.

Helenius scored 16 for me in the league as a false 9.

God, I swore I wasn't going to buy FM this year. But as a certain gangster once said...

Every time I try to get out you pull me back in again!

I'm trying to wait for the demo as as fell completely out of love with FM over the last

2/3yrs. But if it doesn't come tomorrow I may just pre order it for the beta.

I have pre ordered the vita version but now it looks like I'll be having a go trying to

make my beloved Villa a European force once more!

Just thought I'd throw an update out there for my "lets try a 4-4-2" game with the mighty AVFC, mainly to see how Benteke & Helenius do up top together. Also, I wanted to mess around to see who I could sell to get some cold hard cash at the start of the game.

I've just got into January and am sitting 5th in the table, after a few bad games allowed a few teams to over take me. I play a 4-4-2 deep, mainly on the counter, but around Christmas teams started figuring me out so I switched to an attacking version. Most of my sales were to get rid of players that weren't in my first team plans and were on too much wage. Weimann I felt gutted to let go, but he was 3rd choice at best behind Benteke and Gabby, similar to Clark and El Ahmadi.

Transfers Out

Pre-Season

Ciaran Clark to Crystal Palace

Fabian Delph to Norwich

Karim El Ahmadi to PSV

Marc Albrighton to Leeds

Alan Hutton to Nottingham Forrest

Shay Given on a free

Enda Stevens to Derby

Gary Gardner on Loan at Milwall

January

Andi Weimann to Reading

Charles N'Zogbia to Stade de Reimes

Alexsander Tonev on loan at Hoffeniem

In their place I bought in young players as back ups, as well as bringing in some much needed creativity and flair out wide. Sanchez Mino is massively flexible, having the ability to play anywhere on the left and in center/defensive midfield, Allione is a pacy, tricky winger who has been one of my top scoreres so far AND I had to fight off Barcelona and Juventus for his signature! I bought in Townsend because of a major injury to Sanchez Mino and Grealish but when they're both fit I'll move Sanchez Mino to left back, sell Bennet, who's not been bad but I've got better, and then put Grealish in as Townsend's cover.

Transfers In

Pre-Season:

Juan Sanchez Mino From Boca

Augustin Allione From Velez

Marco Motta on loan From Juventus

Ogenyi Onazi From Lazio

Ole Kristian Selnæs from Rosenborg

Rasmus Thelander from AaB

January:

Ezequiel Rescaldani from Velez

Andros Townsend from Spurs

End of Season

Mattia Perrin from Genoa - End of Contract

Transfer Expenditure:

Transfer Income:

Thanks to those transfers (and a few loans) I've dropped my wage bill from £795k p/w to ~£640k p/w, with Andros Townsend (£28k rising to £35k after an international appearance) and Ogenyi Onazi (£26k) being the only players I bought in on higher wages than I had. Benteke, as you'd expect, is my top scorer on 7 from 15 starts, but is getting sniffed around by Arsenal and Bayern Munich and wants to move to a bigger club, but got annoyed at me for setting his asking price at £25m.

So after a sensational season where i won the FA cup and performed decently in the league (8th) I managed to sign a load of promising young players for my push in the Europa. Despite the FA cup triumph Bentekers was still after a move to a bigger club and causing a lot of disruption within the squad. Sold him to Bayern for £32mil in January of the second season and replaced him with Volland for 11mil.

Ezequiel Rescaldani from Velez

Just got him in my second season aswell, wolfsburg bid 20m for helenius and i just couldnt turn it down. Looks like he could be really good, bit like benteke but quicker.

Anyone seen how well Benteke develops 2/3 seasons in?

Dont think anyone can keep him for that long, hes a bit of a whiner.

I just checked my save that's in Aug 2015 and Benteke's stats have changed by this:

Corners -1
Penalty Taking +1
Concentration +1
Decisions +1
Leadership +1
Acceleration +1
Pace +1

He went to Man Utd and only played 18 games in his first season though.

Has anyone got any top class Newgens? I got 2 in my first batch, with my Head of Youth (19JPA) saying that one of them "had a chance to be the best player of his generation" the other is considered "The next Micheal Owen". Who needs Benteke eh?

Two questions:

1) what about the academy, we should expect one or two gems in the first year?

2) In the beggin they don't give transfer budget, it's easy to control the salary to get some money?

Not really. You're looking at cheap loans and the odd free transfer in the first year.

Succumbed and bought the game. Playing the Beta now.

I don't have the best laptop so I'm playing FMC. Spent today trying to sort my choppy 3D and slow ass Machine. Seems it's the best it's going to get so I started...

I forgot just how quick FMC is! Only played a couple of hours and I'm 3 games into the season. No money means no new players! Well, not to buy.

I got rid of Hutton to Forest, couldn't believe they actually paid €350k for him! The fans and board are unhappy I sold Hutton! .

Sold Given to Chelsea for €100k . That reduced the wage bill by around €80k a week. That covered a couple of loans

I brought in ruben rochina from Blackburn and josh mceachran from Chelsea. That's all I could afford.

I'm playing a 4-3-1-2 formation. Trying to fill the middle and get it up to the front 3 quick.

Benteke has only scored once for me and I've played him in every match from pre season up to the 3rd league match. How is he for people here? Not that impressed so far with him but maybe it's my formation. Helenius is really good. Scored 4 for me playing behind the front 2. Most impressive. Gabby scored a couple so far. Weimann not getting on at the moment.

I have lost a 2-0 lead and a 3-0 lead in my first 3 league matches so that's really annoying. Lost my 1st league cup match as well although I changed most of the team.

Not the best start but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm hoping Randy will give me some cash in January.

I am struggling to get Villa to play any form of passing football, even when I set them up to play short simple passes I get Sylla trying to pass like Pirlo and Clarke is probably going to go.

Has anyone managed to get the team passing at all well?

So I was playing Stoke away and I was 3-0 up. Benteke scored and Weimann got his first of the season, I was flying. Stoke got it back to 3-2 then my game crashed! Just my luck. Reloaded and lost t he match 2-1.

I terminated my 2 loan signings as they were not Getting into my matchday squad. I got Jordi Gomez on loan from Wigan to compete with Helenius as my AMC if good I can get him for free at the end of the season. I also got Vargas from Fiorentina on loan. So I can go with an out and out winger to change things up a bit.

Must admit I love transfer deadline day! I lost out on Diakate from QPR as I didn't get the paperwork through on time! Hahaha...love it.

Last years Villa was a nightmare, I was very active in the thread about several saves I tried.

It wasn't until I used someone elses tactic that I got any joy from Villa.

Trying a 4-1-3-2 formation of my own atm to see how I get on.

I am struggling to get Villa to play any form of passing football, even when I set them up to play short simple passes I get Sylla trying to pass like Pirlo and Clarke is probably going to go.

Has anyone managed to get the team passing at all well?

Not for the first few seasons, probably want to get some good footballers in if you want to play that style.

Think I might be on to something with my tactic.

I'm playing Delph and Bacuna as LM / RM & they really are starting to click.

Delph - P 9, no goals & 7 assists avg rating 7.57

Bacuna - P 9, 4 goals & no assists avg rating of 7.48

Has anyone been given any money by Randy? I was offered a 3 yr deal just before Christmas on my 1st season. I thought there might be a budget update with it but nothing. I waited until the 1st week of the Jan transfer window and asked for more budget. I was told the club couldn't afford it. I managed to sell Albrighton and brought in Fletcher from UTD on loan to give some help in midfield.

Now I know Randy has tightened the purse strings but even last Jan he gave Lambert a million or so for Sylla. I'm hoping/expecting around a 10m budget plus whatever I can raise through sales come the summer. Another thing I noticed was at the beginning I was given 50% of sales for my transfer budget but now it's went down to 25%!

I just don't believe we are as broke as the game thinks we are. We are owned by a multi billionaire who has stopped pumping money in but is still giving the manager around 20m a year.

I'm doing better than I expected. Currently sitting in 11th place. Have been as close as a win away from top 4 but a slight dip in form saw us stall.

I can't sell NZogbia at all. So I'll have to use him as a backup until the summer. As above I brought in Fletcher from Man U on loan and cancelled Vargas's loan deal.

I'll give a more detailed report on my save once the jab window shuts.

Loving this so far.

I've had no problems with the budgets so far but yea the income you get from transfers is really annoying. If you arent giving me money atleast let me have what i can raise..

Just in preseason of my 3rd season. The budgets have been a bit lame, £10m + 50% (up to 65% if I beg the board) of whatever I make from sales. This was after back to back top 10 finishes (6th First season and 8th Second season, could of been higher if not for dips in form however). The budget and Sales has been more than enough to get a decent squad together though: [* = At the club already or came through the Academy]

Goalkeepers:

Alex McCarthy (Bought from Reading in 2014)

Mattia Perrin (Bought from Genoa in 2014)

Defenders:

Antonio Luna*

Nicola Murru (Bought from Caligari in 2014)

Nicolas Nkoulou (Bought from Marseille in 2015)

Ron Vlaar*

Nathan Baker*

Matt Lowton*

Sebastian Corchia (Bought from FC Sochaux in 2014)

Young Prospects

Tommaso Barichello (Bought from Cesena in 2015)

Midfielders

Marco Davide Faraoni (Bought from Watford in 2014)

Juan Sanchez Mino (Bought from Boca in 2013)

Mohamed Diame (On Loan from Man Utd in 2015)

Ashley Westwood*

Yacouba Sylla*

Will Hughes (Bought from Derby in 2015)

Augustin Allione (Bought from Velez in 2013)

Jack Grealish*

Tomas Martinez (Bought from Barcelona in 2015)

Young Prospects

Tiziano Di Santo (Bought from Reggina in 2015)

Martin Smith (Bought from Crewe in 2014)

Daniel Roznik (Bought from Zillina in 2014)

Forwards:

Manolo Gabbiadini (Bought from Juventus & Sampdoria in 2014)

Nicklas Helenius*

Ezequiel Rescaldani (Bought from Velez in 2014)

Young Prospects

Jake Laskowski*

Rico Wilson*

Current Squad cost in Transfer Fees & other Money stuff:

Loans are brilliantly useful, I had Stefano Denswil and Tom Cleverly on loan last season and they were both class for me (although I didn't want to pay the £17m the clubs wanted for the pair of them). Finally, try and get as much as you can for players who want to leave *Cough*BentekeandOkore*cough* I managed to get £30m for the pair of them (Thank you Monaco!) and cheaper players (Rescaldi and Baker especially) have really stepped up to help fill in the gaps.

Outside of that get yourself a good DoF to help shift the deadweight, buy cheap in the first season (Check out Selnaes and Thelander in my post above for example) and get some good scouts and let them do their job.

Just got to jan in first season. Sitting in 5th.

Managed to sell given and Hutton and bring in teilmans for £2m and Tom cleverly on loan.

Playing a 4-3-3 with benteke as an AF, bacuna as RW and weimann as an IF on the left

Weimann top scorer with 10, benteke 5 with a few assists to his name and bacuna 3 goals and a handful of assists

Stand out players are luna and lowton, lowton had about 5 MOM awards. Delph and cleverly doing well as AP with Westwood in the DM position playing as a DLP.

Weakest link is Guzan. He's cost me several games and I just want rid but with steer out for 4 months I'm out of options.

Can anyone recommend a decent keeper? I've no money ATM but hoping for a bit next season. Maybe someone whose contract is coming to an end?

I had diego alves on a free but that was a few seasons in, i was looking at khune before that. Very cheap and looks decent enough.

Funny though because guzan was immense for me, wouldnt sign a new deal and lost him on a free otherwise i'd have kept him.

Guzan has been good for me as well. How much did you get for Given and Hutton. I got 100k from Chelsea for Given and 500k from Sunderland for Hutton.

I'm playing 2 main systems at the moment. 4-1dm-2-3 (4-3-3 but with an anchor man) away and 4-3-1-2 t home.

Luna and Lowton are great in the game as is Vlaar. Clarke was great for me until the latest update then he dropped off. Okore is playing well now. I brought in Fletcher from Man U on loan and he is very good.

Benteke has scored 13 so far I'm in Feb. Helenius is very good as my AMC at home. Don't really play him away.

Benteke is looking to leave for a bigger club so his value is set at 30m. I want to get as much as I can for him.

I'm playing FMC as I don't have the time nor patience for the full fat game any more.

The only thing is I have about 4 or 5 ps3 games to play yet before I get the PS4 and now I'm hooked on FM again.

Just in preseason of my 3rd season. The budgets have been a bit lame, £10m + 50% (up to 65% if I beg the board) of whatever I make from sales. This was after back to back top 10 finishes (6th First season and 8th Second season, could of been higher if not for dips in form however). The budget and Sales has been more than enough to get a decent squad together though: [* = At the club already or came through the Academy]

Goalkeepers:

Alex McCarthy (Bought from Reading in 2014)

Mattia Perrin (Bought from Genoa in 2014)

Defenders:

Antonio Luna*

Nicola Murru (Bought from Caligari in 2014)

Nicolas Nkoulou (Bought from Marseille in 2015)

Ron Vlaar*

Nathan Baker*

Matt Lowton*

Sebastian Corchia (Bought from FC Sochaux in 2014)

Young Prospects

Tommaso Barichello (Bought from Cesena in 2015)

Midfielders

Marco Davide Faraoni (Bought from Watford in 2014)

Juan Sanchez Mino (Bought from Boca in 2013)

Mohamed Diame (On Loan from Man Utd in 2015)

Ashley Westwood*

Yacouba Sylla*

Will Hughes (Bought from Derby in 2015)

Augustin Allione (Bought from Velez in 2013)

Jack Grealish*

Tomas Martinez (Bought from Barcelona in 2015)

Young Prospects

Tiziano Di Santo (Bought from Reggina in 2015)

Martin Smith (Bought from Crewe in 2014)

Daniel Roznik (Bought from Zillina in 2014)

Forwards:

Manolo Gabbiadini (Bought from Juventus & Sampdoria in 2014)

Nicklas Helenius*

Ezequiel Rescaldani (Bought from Velez in 2014)

Young Prospects

Jake Laskowski*

Rico Wilson*

Current Squad cost in Transfer Fees & other Money stuff:

Current Squad cost (in Transfer Fees): £34.65m | Total Spent on Transfers: £43.43m| Total Transfer Fees received: £67.81m

Most Expensive Signing: Manolo Gabbiadini - £6m | Biggest Transfer Fee Received: Christian Benteke £20m to Monaco | Highest Earner: Nicolas Nkoulou - £61k p/w

Loans are brilliantly useful, I had Stefano Denswil and Tom Cleverly on loan last season and they were both class for me (although I didn't want to pay the £17m the clubs wanted for the pair of them). Finally, try and get as much as you can for players who want to leave *Cough*BentekeandOkore*cough* I managed to get £30m for the pair of them (Thank you Monaco!) and cheaper players (Rescaldi and Baker especially) have really stepped up to help fill in the gaps.

Outside of that get yourself a good DoF to help shift the deadweight, buy cheap in the first season (Check out Selnaes and Thelander in my post above for example) and get some good scouts and let them do their job.

Benteke and Okore for £30mil for the pair?:confused: Or do you mean each. I got £32mil for Benteke alone! Okore is still with me valued at £17mil.

Benteke and Okore for £30mil for the pair?:confused: Or do you mean each. I got £32mil for Benteke alone! Okore is still with me valued at £17mil.

Wow I got ripped off. I got £20m for Benteke and £11m for Okore at the start of my second season o.O

Yea you can get atleast 30 for benteke, i even got 20m for helenius. Save corrupted yesterday unfortunately when the game updated but not too bothered probably would have started again upon release anyway.

That sucks. I only got 7 for Helanius, but i played him on the wing all season. Record signing Douglas Costa out for 5 months with a broken foot:(

I managed to keep Okore by promising a Euro cup win and then delivering. Still can't get my side to finish higher than fifth though.

I'm doing alright with Villa

1st season - Finished 7th and lost in the semis in the FA Cup. Got into the the Europa League.

2nd season - Played until min Jan and sitting 4th.

I sold Luna for £11m after a great first season (fullback rating bug in the beta). Also Sold Vlaar as he demanded a doubling of his wage to renew his contract.

I've been able to keep Benteke. He got upset in the 2nd season window start as Bayern came in for him and his moral changed to abysmal, but after the window closed he was back to his best. Can't really see who can replace him that I can possibly get, so I'm do my best to get him to stay. As for Okore he hasen't complained once.

Forgot to mention Grealish. He has been fantastic. Playing him as an IF - s on the left flank.

I had diego alves on a free but that was a few seasons in, i was looking at khune before that. Very cheap and looks decent enough.

Funny though because guzan was immense for me, wouldnt sign a new deal and lost him on a free otherwise i'd have kept him.

Guzan has been good for me as well. How much did you get for Given and Hutton. I got 100k from Chelsea for Given and 500k from Sunderland for Hutton.

I'm playing 2 main systems at the moment. 4-1dm-2-3 (4-3-3 but with an anchor man) away and 4-3-1-2 t home.

Luna and Lowton are great in the game as is Vlaar. Clarke was great for me until the latest update then he dropped off. Okore is playing well now. I brought in Fletcher from Man U on loan and he is very good.

Benteke has scored 13 so far I'm in Feb. Helenius is very good as my AMC at home. Don't really play him away.

Benteke is looking to leave for a bigger club so his value is set at 30m. I want to get as much as I can for him.

I'm playing FMC as I don't have the time nor patience for the full fat game any more.

The only thing is I have about 4 or 5 ps3 games to play yet before I get the PS4 and now I'm hooked on FM again.

Given - free to wigan

hutton - 250k to nottm forest

Albrighton - 675k to leeds

herd - 500k to Crystal palace

el hamadi - £1m to montpellier (jan)

ins

youri teilmans - £2m

Cleverly - loan

Erik Andersson - 250k (elfsborg)

Abdelhak Nouri - 750k (ajax) beat inter, real, arsenal and half a dozen other top clubs to sign him.

I might be over reacting about guzan, he's played 28, conc 19 with 8 clean sheets, av rating 6.91.

been offered £3m for sylla which im tempted by, would give me about 4-4.5m to spend, it's deadline day tho so i'd need to make a quick signing. Neaerly landed steven defour but i have to pay his agent £2m?

looking at liam bridcutt and a few other randoms. Just want a really good ball winning mid to be honest, Sylla been ok to be honest so not altogether sure

Update corrupted my save and now im getting the most ridiculous bids for my players, 85k for 1-2m players and they refuse to negotiate..

Edit: nevermind, seem to have sorted that.

If anyone is interest, I've posted my tactic based on my Villa save : http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/369183-FM-14-Tactic-4-1-3-2-MBB

Feel free to have a nose.

Think I might be on to something with my tactic.

I'm playing Delph and Bacuna as LM / RM & they really are starting to click.

Delph - P 9, no goals & 7 assists avg rating 7.57

Bacuna - P 9, 4 goals & no assists avg rating of 7.48

Interesting - are you retraining Delph to play as a LM as well? Did it take him a while to bed in there?

7 games to go in my first season . I'm 8th with a chance of 6th. Everton are 5th 7pts in front so I don't think I can catch them.

I'll give an end of season review once I finish. Overall I'm delighted. I got a new 3 yr deal and my job is very secure.

I just hope I get some funds. 6 clubs interested in Benkeke so if I have to sell hopefully I'll get his asking price which I set to 30m.

..Messed up my post.... Having a mare! Can anyone help me? how do i (in laymans terms please) embed or attach screen shots to my post? I want to post up pics of my league table etc like posts above...

Thanks

Read here for the long answer

or

link to your images like this

[img=www.link.com/pic.jpg]

finished 4th at the end of the 1st season, benteke's asked to leave and lowton wants a 50k a week contract! he gets one england cap in a defeat to tunisa and he thinks he's ashley cole all of a sudden!

Not a clue who to replace benteke with, i liked cornelious in the last game but he's at cardiff now.

may also get rid of: Guzan, agbonlahor, tonev, kozak and clark who have all deteriorated at the start of season 2.

club only given me £9m despite qualifying for champs league!

finished 4th at the end of the 1st season, benteke's asked to leave and lowton wants a 50k a week contract! he gets one england cap in a defeat to tunisa and he thinks he's ashley cole all of a sudden!

Not a clue who to replace benteke with, i liked cornelious in the last game but he's at cardiff now.

may also get rid of: Guzan, agbonlahor, tonev, kozak and clark who have all deteriorated at the start of season 2.

club only given me £9m despite qualifying for champs league!

If you want someone as a target man type player then Lacina Traore might be worth a look at and also Narsingh or Depay from Psv

I still have Benteke, coming towards the end of season 3. He's scored 24 in 26 league games this season and looking to become top scorer for the 3rd time in a row. He's been complaining on and off throughout this game, but recently our relationship broke down and he wouldn't speak to me. Eventually PSG came in with a bid that matched his his release clause at £41.5m, but as the transfer was to be confirmed it broke down as they couldn't register more players or something. He put in a transfer request shortly after, which I accepted, but nobody came in with a bid. He's had constant 'abysmal' moral and his body language during games changes between 'unsure' and 'hesitant'.

Two months later he is talking to me again, scoring goals and his moral is back to superb. I have a good chance of qualifying for CL so I really hope that if that happens he withdraws his transfer request and signs a new contract.

Looking at other strikers I can only see one who would possibly be as good and that is Llorente, but he would be just as expensive and he is 6 years older. Alberto Cerri looks like he might become a great target man, but right now he's not good enough to play upfront on his own, so if Benteke leaves I think I have to do a complete change of my playing style.

If you want someone as a target man type player then Lacina Traore might be worth a look at and also Narsingh or Depay from Psv

Have you bought him on this game? I usually buy him on every installation of FM and end up selling him after 6 months. I think he has extremely low adaptability or something. He always struggles to settle. When I signed him for Villa on FM13 I tried being patient with him and he stated something like 20 games and didn't score a single goal.

Have you bought him on this game? I usually buy him on every installation of FM and end up selling him after 6 months. I think he has extremely low adaptability or something. He always struggles to settle. When I signed him for Villa on FM13 I tried being patient with him and he stated something like 20 games and didn't score a single goal.

I signed him on my beta game just starting my proper save now, I used him as a Shadow Striker behind either Agbonlahor or Weimann and they just all clicked Weimann ended up with 15 goals and Agbonlahor with 17 and Traore got 10 assists and 12 goals.