[FM15]Knocking Fergie off his perch. The noisy neighbours are turning up the volume

This is my latest attempt at a Football Manager career save, and as the title suggests, I'm going to attempt to surpass the achievements of Alex Ferguson, and make Manchester City the dominant force in English football.

Here is my profile. I've decided to set myself up as a fully qualified manager, but with no prior playing experience.

Just one addition to the squad in the summer window, and only fringe departures

And my squad looks like this

My initial setup looks like this

A great start to the season

September was decent domestically, as we played well even in defeat to Chelsea, but were disappointing in Europe

and we're in a decent position, but Chelsea look ominous already

October wasn't great, and we blew a 2-0 lead against West Ham

We're still in Champions League contention, but the title looks gone already

November really saw the wheels fall off

and we're starting to resemble Manchester United under David Moyes

December wasn't much better

but somehow we remain in Champions League contention

Not the best start Pilgrim.

There isn't a big budget to spend in January (the board seem terrified of FFP), but clearly the major area needing improvement is central midfield. I am playing the way I am because it uses our best players in their best positions and roles. I think our erratic results may be because we don't have a more defensive minded player in central midfield, and hopefully the addition of a more solid midfield structure might help us out. Does anyone else have any thoughts or advice on this?

Not the best start Pilgrim.

I agree, but I'm not quite sure yet what to do about it. I'm clear that I need to bring in a more defensive central midfielder, but I'm not sure whether that will solve the problem, or if I'm missing something else?

If your formation is still the same, maybe look at being a bit more attacking with an AMC in the side. Two of your best rated players (Silva & Nasri) play best there and you may get more out of them and Aguero with a bit more support through the centre. It means your two CMs may have to be a bit more defensive, but given the attacking talent you have, it could be a way forward?

A decent January

and we're within touching distance of the top 4 again

I changed the formation at the start of January, and am now using a downloaded 4-3-3 which seems to be working

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/414961-433-Hulk-Smash-for-15.2.1-Lethal-going-forward-Tested-and-works-fantastic

wtf how are u losing at man city haha

Apart from a terrible home draw with West Ham, a very encouraging February

and back into the top 4

A disastrous March

and we're sliding again

March could have been so much better. We were the better side against Everton and Liverpool, and should have won both because we had so many chances and shots on target. We deserved a draw against Arsenal too, but it wasn't to be. I'm beginning to wonder whether not having any experience is counting against me, but I'm going to keep going with this save unless I get fired.

I can't believe your win against Man U wasn't on TV. Losing to Liverpool and Arsenal hurt but at least your lost to Everton wasn't in the Premier League.

You deserve the losses for keeping those awful generic badges and the 'EURO Cup'.

wtf how are u losing at man city haha

My eyes hurt.

You deserve the losses for keeping those awful generic badges and the 'EURO Cup'.

I'd like to change them but don't know how

That's better

and we're back in the top 4 again

Amazingly, given a relatively disappointing season, we now look certain to be in the top 4, and have a chance of winning two trophies. It should have been 3 as well, but we were rubbish in the Capital One Cup Final

Its a shame as I was enjoying this more before you stated you downloaded someone else's tactic in order to get a quick fix.... which bar a couple of setbacks in March, has basically propelled you forward.

I've actually ditched that tactic following the loss to Arsenal, and am using a 4-2-3-1 I built myself. It's not a settled tactic yet, I'm still tweaking it, but I'm hoping that, with a signing or two in the summer, it'll be the springboard to success for next season.

A strong finish to the season

But how the hell did we lose the FA Cup Final??

The Premier League table looked like this at the end of the season

And here's the 4-2-3-1 formation as it finished up

A decent recovery in the end.

A decent recovery in the end.

Thanks Lenzar. I'm hoping that I can get a couple of players in over the summer to improve the squad, and that the new formation will be the springboard to success. But either way, given that my objective is to win more trophies than Sir Alex Ferguson did with Man Utd, I'm ahead of where he was after one season in the job

Good to see you made it in top 4 in the end Congrats on winning Europa League.

A couple of additions, and plenty of departures in the summer. Didn't want to lose Negredo but the DoF sanctioned the departure without me realising

Apart from the Super Cup, a decent start, but I'm a little concerned at the number of goals we're conceding

and we're the early leaders

Yeah, one goal conceded in three league games is terrible.

Yeah, one goal conceded in three league games is terrible.

I was referring to the 6 we conceded against Roma and the 5 in the Super Cup. There are certainly no concerns about our attack, but defensively I'm not so sure. I need to bring in some English talent too, the rules on home grown players are making it difficult just to get a squad together.

Near perfection in the league, with 3 wins from 3 and just one goal conceded. A tough start but great display in the Champions League (we had to play for over an hour with 10 men, having gone 1-0 down to a soft penalty just 2 minutes earlier), and a totally undeserved cup exit. The season is shaping up nicely

A brilliant October (although we did come very close to blowing a 5-1 lead against Genoa)

and we're comfortably ahead in the league

Although I don't think anyone would argue with my view that we deserved to win the game

A great start but frustrating end to November

and we're still top, just

The defeat to Liverpool was absolutely deserved, their 3-0 win matching almost exactly their domination of the stats. The draw with Bayern was a result I'd have bitten your hand off for (and probably mine too) ahead of the game, but we dominated in all areas and deserved to beat them as comfortably as Liverpool beat us. We had the lion share of possession (56-44), shots (25-3) shots on target (10-2), and yet only claimed a draw. Sergio Aguero was the main culprit, wasting loads of chances on a poor night for him (5.9). The kind of game that induces rage quits and rants about how unrealistic FM can be.

The Chelsea game was equally frustrating, and another utterly undeserved defeat

And if that's not bad enough it's Arsenal next

I was referring to the 6 we conceded against Roma and the 5 in the Super Cup. There are certainly no concerns about our attack, but defensively I'm not so sure. I need to bring in some English talent too, the rules on home grown players are making it difficult just to get a squad together.

A friendly and a cup that doesn't really mean a lot.

December was a mixed month

and we're top of the league again after losing it early in the month

The Norwich game was very even, and we deserved a draw, which would still have been a poor result.

We should definitely not have lost to Villarreal

and the Southampton game makes me wonder if there is a bug in the game

Looking at the Saints game, I'd say you probably went too attacking. Looks like the classic example of a team sitting back and waiting to make a quick break and it worked, at least judging from the stats.

Looking at the Saints game, I'd say you probably went too attacking. Looks like the classic example of a team sitting back and waiting to make a quick break and it worked, at least judging from the stats.

So what would you suggest? I've changed mentality to standard and removed the 'push higher up' instruction. Is that what you had in mind, or were you referring to player roles/duties?

A decent January, albeit with a disappointing defeat to Nottingham Forest. I made the changes outlined in the previous post for the Crystal Palace game, so it'll be interesting to see if it has the desired effect

and we're back on top of the table again

So what would you suggest? I've changed mentality to standard and removed the 'push higher up' instruction. Is that what you had in mind, or were you referring to player roles/duties?

I have no idea, I'm not actually very good at FM (as you will see if you read my career save thread). It was just was stuck out looking at the stats.

Just one transfer in in the window, splashed out £50m to bring Raheem Sterling in from Liverpool. He's a talented player, and the first part of my plan to bring in talented English players.