Sydney666's Napoli Wonder Tactic (4-2-3-1)

Congrats on your Champions League victory

That's a shame about Ronaldo, but also a good thing that you got Messi in to cover his absence! England will be a good opportunity for some International trophies for sure, how long do you plan to spend with the National team before you move on?

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On the Wolves front, I mentioned in my last post that I had some big news and would post up at the start of March, but I've been away from the forums as I've been enjoying my save so much, I'm now into the second season! The big news was that we some how managed to beat Manchester City in the Semi-Final second leg (2 - 0) after drawing the first leg 0 - 0, so this meant we were headed to Wembley for the final!

Unfortunately the fairy tail came to an end in the final, but for a moment the biggest upset in history was on the cards as we forced Manchester United all the way to a penalty shoot-out! I was so gutted that we didn't manage to win the cup, because it would have meant Europa League football for a team that has defied all odds and would have allowed me great improvements and better financial stability in the coming season, but at the end of the day I never even expected to get that far!

In the league, we did a fantastic job and at one point looked like we would run away with it, but with a massive injury crisis hitting the squad, reducing us at one point to having just 2 subs on the bench for a match, the losses started creeping in and it came down to the final match, a must win match and luckily it was at home and we had a few important players back in the squad, all we had to do was win and we were almost certainly guaranteed top spot. And so, we head into the second season as a newly promoted team in the Premier League!!! Amazing tactic is all I can say...

Well, it's been a great tactic so far, only lost 2 games all season and both have been to Chelsea in the League and FA Cup they must be my Achilles heel. Currently 3rd overall as Utd and Chelsea have pretty much flawless records and I've drawn 3 i a row now, but still not bad considering I've only brought in youth prospects.

@ mikenevo

That's great news about the promotion, but it is gut wrenching to lose a final on penalties. With regards to your injuries. Check your training and make sure that their work load is only medium across the board. Also allow rest periods the day before and day after matches and if players are below 90%...do not play them, even if they are key members. When you are playing a match, make sure you sub players off once they go below 70%, especially for midfielders and defenders.

On a final note, get coach reports - preferably read those from specialist coaches. So if you want to check your goal keepers report, I would read reports from your best keeping coach - and try to hire coaches who are good at seeing current ability. If you want to check reports for outfield players, then read them from your best outfield coaches. Many people do not realise that if you try to get a report for your keeper using an outfield specialist, then the report will not be accurate.

I would suggest selling any player - no matter how good, if they are injury prone. I would also sell players once they reach 29 years old, especially if they have low natural fitness and high wages. However I would keep those who are key players, have natural fitness to keep them playing well into their 30's.

Re: Question about my International career...

I have managed quite a few teams internationally and my time varies with each one.

Brazil - I managed them for two years and when I got them they were about 6th in their qualifying group and hence why their manager got sacked. I only lost my first match with them away to Chile and then won most of my games with only a couple of draws. The team was old, disorganized and ununified (I know thats not a real word ) as a group. I dropped a lot of famous names out of the team after a few months, and bled in a lot of teenagers. The reason I dropped many players were because of age, especially seeing that they would be 2 years older by the time the World Cup would come around. I also dropped players who had a huge reputation, but did not have the skills required to be in my tactical setup, such as dribbling, work rate, determination and team work. I also did not select players whom were "afraid of big matches" or "inconsistent". If they had either of these negative scout tags, I just did not pick them, even if they were awesome at club level.

Some players I dropped were : David Luiz, Dani Alves, Tardelli, Maicon, Miranda, Paulinho, Lucas Moura, Fernandinho, Ramires, Luiz Adriano, Dante(we did not get along during our Napoli days and he retired from International football as soon as I was picked as manager ), Hernanes, Rafinha and Osvaldo. Some of these guys were big names. Luiz Adriano was Serie A top scorer, Osvaldo was 3rd top scorer in Serie A. David Luiz was a key player for PSG, but was unreliable in any position from my perspective attribute wise. Dani Alves was 34 and too old. Same with many others.

The media was against me, but over 18 months I finally formed my key squad and many newgens. I even gave caps to 16 year olds, and now 4 years later they are world class players. I used my Napoli scouts to scout Brazil and South America and I also went to each club and looked at each and every player one by one. It took me literally 5 or 6 hours to do so.

The day after I won the World Cup I resigned after 2 years in charge...

Belgium : I then managed Belguim, as their manager was sacked after a bad run during the 2018 World Cup. I basically kept the same squad, but I did blood some new players. One player that became a key player but was not very famous was Tielemans. Outrageons stats for a DLP and I gave him his first few caps and then he became my best midfielder. He now plays for Barcelona, as starting playmaker for them.

Anyways, I managed Belgium for 2 years and I won the Nations League and decided to resign after that. The reason being was that there were no new talents coming through and the national team was aging. I decided to add belgium as a new nation (via add league) and I might go back there in a few years time.

Peru - I managed Peru for about 6 months. I managed them for 8 matches. 1 win 3 draws and 4 defeats. I quit there because I had only 40 players to pick from (national pool) and I had numerous injuries to defenders to a point where I was placing strikers at left back or centre back. I decided to also add Peru as a league and will probably go back one day when more newgens come through.

England - They are basically at the same point as Brazil was when I took them over, but I actually have kept all the big names and left out none. The only big name who I have decided to bring back who had not played for 5 years was Gary Cahill. The 34 year old is playing for Sunderland and his physical stats have declined quite badly after losing his spot at Chelsea and also suffering some injuries.

The nation is strong when it comes to attacking midfielders/wingers and strikers but there are very poor defensive midfielders. They also lack a good AMC and right backs. I spent about 4 hours going through all EPL teams, but the league is full of foreigners that I was forced to start looking at Championship players. Low and behold I found a few gems between 17 and 21 and my scouts told me they are future World Class player. One guy is called Brissett, a 21 year old player from Crystal Palace.

Anyway,

Keep the posts coming, especially those with screen shots on how each of you are doing. I really enjoy reading reports back on how the tactic is going for all of you and I am happy to help where possible.

Like I stated in my first post, I am not by any means a tactic genius or a Football Manager expert (despite being a tester for SI a decade ago ). I can still learn from all your experiences.

Cheers,

Tony

You should have a good chance at some silverware with England then to add to what you've already won. I like what you did with Brazil and how you proved the media wrong

I forgot to mention, during the January transfer window I signed Roman Prochazka from Levski for just £97,000 which is an absolute bargain, he's a central midfielder and has done very well since arriving. I brought him in because we lacked quality and he was a replacement for the outgoing Kevin McDonald who I sold for a massive £4mil!

Along with that I signed Anete, also from Levski for £1.3mil. He took up much of my budget, but I was helped by the sale of Kevin McDonald. He's an Attacking Central Midfielder and he's an absolute beast of a player! I felt that although we had decent players here, there were too many injuries in that department, so Anete would soften the blow of any injuries.

Finally, I brought in the ageing Mahamadou Diarra on a free transfer, just to add extra backup for that central midfield area. He announced at the end of the season that he intends to retired at the end of the next season, so I have signed him up as my future assistant manager!

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The New Season

With a severely poor squad for a Premier League side, I had to make sure I improved the squad in as many key areas as possible, for as cheap as possible. I will reveal all the signings in my next update, except one. I wanted to bring something special to this club, so I went in search of a marquee signing and to my surprise it didn't take long and the transfer was a lot cheaper than I expected! Can you guess who this guy is? He has cost the club £5mil up front and £22mil over 48 months with a couple other add-ons!

Is that Memphis Depay?

He had 1 season at Napoli on my save. Unfortunately he only scored 6 goals in 32 matches, but he did add 17 assists which was the best in Serie A. I signed him for 60 million Euro from FC Bayern Munich, and sold him after 1 season to Liverpool for 75 million Euro. 109 matches and 37 goals for The Reds since he moved on from Napoli.

Is that Memphis Depay?

He had 1 season at Napoli on my save. Unfortunately he only scored 6 goals in 32 matches, but he did add 17 assists which was the best in Serie A. I signed him for 60 million Euro from FC Bayern Munich, and sold him after 1 season to Liverpool for 75 million Euro. 109 matches and 37 goals for The Reds since he moved on from Napoli.

Yes that is Depay Put it this way, he has already scored 5 and assisted 2 in 11 games for me, with 3 man of the match performances. He's playing like an animal!

Yes it totally depends where you play him. I think I didn't utilise him to his strengths, and he was mainly a player off the bench. He probably won't score 30 goals a season, or maybe he will for you - but one thing is for sure, is that he is a good player and will give you a lot of assists.

A small update on my game, I just beat Juventus 2-0. We both had a 100% Serie A record going into the match. Messi scored (8 goals and 8 assists in 7 games) and Mario Gaspar got on the scorers charts. It is really a miracle seeing Mario Gaspar score, he hadn't scored for 4 years!!! :D

It is also sad that he has never been capped for Spain, though he was called up ONCE!!! :(

Yes it totally depends where you play him. I think I didn't utilise him to his strengths, and he was mainly a player off the bench. He probably won't score 30 goals a season, or maybe he will for you - but one thing is for sure, is that he is a good player and will give you a lot of assists.

I've been using him in the AML position and he's been doing a brilliant job, especially in the big games where we are struggling, he just seems to come up with something special! He's now hit 8 in 13 and considering he had a slow start to the season, he could easily reach the 30 goal mark! Unfortunately for us, our striker is almost non existent in games, so we rely on our wingers to finish the job.

A small update on my game, I just beat Juventus 2-0. We both had a 100% Serie A record going into the match. Messi scored (8 goals and 8 assists in 7 games) and Mario Gaspar got on the scorers charts. It is really a miracle seeing Mario Gaspar score, he hadn't scored for 4 years!!! :D

He looks pretty good, I'm surprised he hasn't managed to score more often. He's not the best looking full back though, so I can see why he may struggle to get into the Spanish team.

That is one part of the tactic which you might get players struggling, and that is in the ST position. In my tactic, the ST basically sacrifices himself to allow the AM's to get a lot of goals. When I had Higuain there, he used to sometimes get 40 goals in one season, then the next he would only hit 10. The ST position is there to make movement, to go into space and bring defenders with him which allows the AMC to dribble basically into goal without many challenges. The AML and AMR are where you will get a lot of tap in goals from rebounds off the ST and AMC shots, and if their PPM's allow, they will cut inside and score lots of goals.

Re: Mario Gaspar. I only signed him to be a backup defender - actually he was my "3rd" right back. Maggio surprisingly retired at 34 and then I sold Zuniga. Then Darmian came in from Torino, as well as Santon. However season after season for whatever reason Mario Gaspar quietly did his job and he did it very well. He has always gotten 7.5 and above and I think last year he was my 3rd best performer. While you think he is not the best looking full back (and I agree), the game tags him as "world class" and while he has not been capped for Spain, he is always my "go to guy" for big games, and he has won a lot of trophies. :D

Oh and I only paid 7.5 million euro for him, which is about 5 million pounds. He is now a fan favorite (icon) and is worth about 11 million Euro. I have had 40+ million euro offers for him, but I am too attached to my quiet achiever.

36 year old Cristiano Ronaldo just scored a hattrick against BASEL, lol . Sadly though he is getting injured every other game. I might sell him at the end of the season to free up some of my wage budget. He earns 30 million euro a season, which is around 20 million pounds a year or 400,000 pounds a week. Gosh Messi is on the same contract.

I am having financial problems at Napoli, as we are 78 million Euro in debt and the projection shows us being 400 million in debt by 48 months, which scares me. :o

Oh yes, finally England is playing well. I am topping the Nations League group at the moment after this 4-1 drubbing of Germany. The other side in the group is Austria whom have lost every game thus far. If I beat Austria, I go through to the next round.

That is one part of the tactic which you might get players struggling, and that is in the ST position. In my tactic, the ST basically sacrifices himself to allow the AM's to get a lot of goals. When I had Higuain there, he used to sometimes get 40 goals in one season, then the next he would only hit 10. The ST position is there to make movement, to go into space and bring defenders with him which allows the AMC to dribble basically into goal without many challenges. The AML and AMR are where you will get a lot of tap in goals from rebounds off the ST and AMC shots, and if their PPM's allow, they will cut inside and score lots of goals.

Re: Mario Gaspar. I only signed him to be a backup defender - actually he was my "3rd" right back. Maggio surprisingly retired at 34 and then I sold Zuniga. Then Darmian came in from Torino, as well as Santon. However season after season for whatever reason Mario Gaspar quietly did his job and he did it very well. He has always gotten 7.5 and above and I think last year he was my 3rd best performer. While you think he is not the best looking full back (and I agree), the game tags him as "world class" and while he has not been capped for Spain, he is always my "go to guy" for big games, and he has won a lot of trophies. :D

Oh and I only paid 7.5 million euro for him, which is about 5 million pounds. He is now a fan favorite (icon) and is worth about 11 million Euro. I have had 40+ million euro offers for him, but I am too attached to my quiet achiever.

I think you need someone like Edinson Cavani then I guess, someone who has a good passing ability, an amazing shot, really good movement (as you say he needs to be able to make movements to opens holes for the other players) and fantastic teamwork + work rate abilities. Unfortunately for me, the striker position was something which I was unable to spend money on, with the only player I was able to attract choosing to join West Brom instead.

Re: Mario Gaspar, it's true, you definitely don't need players who have the best looking stats and it's sometimes those who don't look appealing that actually perform much better than those who do. Take for instance Rajiv Van La Parra in my Wolves team, he's got decent stats but nothing outstanding really, but he ended as my best player in the Championship and he's still one of my best players in the Premier League with a 7.61 rating in 11 games of Premier League action!

36 year old Cristiano Ronaldo just scored a hattrick against BASEL, lol . Sadly though he is getting injured every other game. I might sell him at the end of the season to free up some of my wage budget. He earns 30 million euro a season, which is around 20 million pounds a year or 400,000 pounds a week. Gosh Messi is on the same contract.

I am having financial problems at Napoli, as we are 78 million Euro in debt and the projection shows us being 400 million in debt by 48 months, which scares me. :o

You should just keep buying and selling, because if you do that then the projection means nothing

I have hopes that if I can sell enough players in January, then I have high hopes that I may be able to bring Gabriel Barbosa to the club. He has plenty of potential and isn't far off the type of striker I feel we need, so I could easily mold him into that type of striker Fingers crossed I can snap him up before someone else does!

Yep Gabriel Barbosa is a good player, even though I didn't really play him much for Brazil, well actually I did albeit from the bench and a few starts he never did well. I gave him 9 caps, and he has never been capped by any other manager since. He has 219 games and 73 goals on my save. 38 of those goals have come for Valencia over the course of 5 seasons. His stats are quite good, but he has very low bravery and aggression. So he can easily go into his shell if he faces some harsh treatment. I still think his best position is AMC, which is where he seems to be playing quite often for Valencia.

Yep Gabriel Barbosa is a good player, even though I didn't really play him much for Brazil, well actually I did albeit from the bench and a few starts he never did well. I gave him 9 caps, and he has never been capped by any other manager since. He has 219 games and 73 goals on my save. 38 of those goals have come for Valencia over the course of 5 seasons. His stats are quite good, but he has very low bravery and aggression. So he can easily go into his shell if he faces some harsh treatment. I still think his best position is AMC, which is where he seems to be playing quite often for Valencia.

I actually had him in my United save and over 2 seasons he actually played extremely well. His goals to game ratio was probably around 0.8. I haven't looked back at the figures, but I seem to remember he scored in excess of 40 goals during his final season with me before I sold him to Chelsea.

I may not need Barbosa after all. I loaned James Wilson from Manchester United at the start of the season, but he was already on a 15 games goal drought. It has taken him 11 more games playing for Wolves to get his first goal, which he scored against Manchester City and has just followed up that goal in the following game against Everton where he just scored 5!!! If he can continue like this, then I will leave any transfer business until next season, but going by his 25 game goal drought, it may have serious issues with lack of confidence.

Wow 5 goals in 1 game? I have rarely seen that happen. I did have Lacazette score 6 against some African nation for the FIFA CWC and Ronaldo scored 5 I think once.

The one thing I love about FM is how these little universes are created with each and every save. So on one save Gabriel Barbosa may go on and score 400 goals in his career as a frightening Cavani like striker and in another he is a bit part player playing in midfield.

One thing is for certain, he should fit well into this tactic despite the fact I did not have success with him on my Brazil Save. I think it was because he was only 21 at the time. He is 24 now on my save and he has developed quite nicely.

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tests your tactics with Bayern München can you tell me what the training must be before the start of the season and when it has started?

Wow 5 goals in 1 game? I have rarely seen that happen. I did have Lacazette score 6 against some African nation for the FIFA CWC and Ronaldo scored 5 I think once.

The one thing I love about FM is how these little universes are created with each and every save. So on one save Gabriel Barbosa may go on and score 400 goals in his career as a frightening Cavani like striker and in another he is a bit part player playing in midfield.

One thing is for certain, he should fit well into this tactic despite the fact I did not have success with him on my Brazil Save. I think it was because he was only 21 at the time. He is 24 now on my save and he has developed quite nicely.

Yeah I was shocked as well, it's as if all the frustration of not scoring for 25 games, and with the self belief coming back from having scored against Manchester City, it just exploded and he went crazy with every shot going in. It only calmed down as I made the 3 substitutions and the game sort of fizzled out at that point, if I had left it the same then I would have no doubt he would have scored at least 1 more, but as you've said it's important to use the substitutions to keep players fit and healthy.

I would absolutely love Cavani but I know it's a big no no right now and he wouldn't even consider even if we had the money, but Barbosa is a real possibility if we can free up wages and cash to buy him as he was happy to talk when I'd had an offer accepted, it just didn't go through because of our finances. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Barbosa's potential can vary from save to save, as several others do and maybe he just had a better potential in my Man United save.

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I think we are definitely thanking you because it has provided me with a save which I just can't stop playing!

tests your tactics with Bayern München can you tell me what the training must be before the start of the season and when it has started?

I don't bother with fitness regiments. I just play 6-7 friendlies with everyone getting 45 minutes each to get fitness up. Then I play 1 or 2 last friendlies, with the predicted starting lineup for the upcoming season and only do 3 subs as if it were a competitive match. When the season begins, I only play people with 90% match fitness and 90% condition.

Also it is important to give players extended leave if they have played a big tournament. If you don't they get jaded and their morale drops and the play catch up all season in terms of fitness and motivation.

As an example, Paul Pogba played the Olympics for his country this season and he also played in every France match, friendlies and all. I am not the type of manage to give International Instructions, but maybe I should have. Pogba was very tired and jaded and I gave him 2 week extended holiday and then when he got back he still only had 70-75 condition so I rested him for a further week. Then when he got back, he had 68% match fitness and I have been bringing him on as a sub most matches and then I decided to start him against Livorno, the club in bottom position. What happened? I had a 0-0 draw at home and lost 2 valuable points.

That just shows how important it is to keep players fit and give them rest periods, but it also shows the down side of it as well.

I think we are definitely thanking you because it has provided me with a save which I just can't stop playing!

I have been contemplating leaving Napoli because after 7 seasons, with 7 league titles and 30 cup cometitions, I am getting a tad bored in my role. The lure of the English Premier League is quite strong, even though in real life I don't particularly rate it (sorry boys ). Over the last few seasons, I have had 3 interviews with English clubs, Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool. Barcelona also interviewed me. I ended up declining all the jobs except for Man United where they decided to go with another manager who said he could work with a smaller transfer budget. I was actually read to leave Napoli then, but destiny had it other wise. I ended up winning 4 trophies this season, which Man United would have not had.

I am also interested in the MLS, but I am a tad too young to retire, seeing I am only 42 in game. (I am 35 in real life). However it seems as soon as I lose a match or play badly, I am yelling at my screen like my first season when I had not won anything and my heart would race match by match as I would surprise myself at how well I was doing and thus took nothing for granted.

I am very attached to some of my youth players, especially Battipaglia whom is probably the best defender in the world and thus if I were to move clubs, I would probably want it to be a club with enough money to at least bring in 2-3 of my 19 to 22 year old gems I produced through my youth team. 5 of my current squad are newgens that came out of the Napoli setup, in which I heavily invested. Then about 4 more players I scouted myself going through nations youth teams. Then 3-4 more my scouts found...not to mention the 30 other teenagers out on loan!

Seeing as 65-ish% of my squad is over 30, this transition phase is also exciting and keeping me at the club.

One other club I want to manage is Manchester City, as they have not won a thing. Even Liverpool has managed 1 EPL title would you believe.

Oh one last thing...! Whenever I get my next role, I will definitely start a new thread in the stories forum and just begin posting about it there. I won't be doing any fancy writing (I am a freelance writer by hobby) but I will post updates on my matches etc. Sounds like fun...!

It's funny because it actually keeps me motivated with my save as well.

I have been contemplating leaving Napoli because after 7 seasons, with 7 league titles and 30 cup cometitions, I am getting a tad bored in my role. The lure of the English Premier League is quite strong, even though in real life I don't particularly rate it (sorry boys ). Over the last few seasons, I have had 3 interviews with English clubs, Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool. Barcelona also interviewed me. I ended up declining all the jobs except for Man United where they decided to go with another manager who said he could work with a smaller transfer budget. I was actually read to leave Napoli then, but destiny had it other wise. I ended up winning 4 trophies this season, which Man United would have not had.

I am also interested in the MLS, but I am a tad too young to retire, seeing I am only 42 in game. (I am 35 in real life). However it seems as soon as I lose a match or play badly, I am yelling at my screen like my first season when I had not won anything and my heart would race match by match as I would surprise myself at how well I was doing and thus took nothing for granted.

I am very attached to some of my youth players, especially Battipaglia whom is probably the best defender in the world and thus if I were to move clubs, I would probably want it to be a club with enough money to at least bring in 2-3 of my 19 to 22 year old gems I produced through my youth team. 5 of my current squad are newgens that came out of the Napoli setup, in which I heavily invested. Then about 4 more players I scouted myself going through nations youth teams. Then 3-4 more my scouts found...not to mention the 30 other teenagers out on loan!

Seeing as 65-ish% of my squad is over 30, this transition phase is also exciting and keeping me at the club.

One other club I want to manage is Manchester City, as they have not won a thing. Even Liverpool has managed 1 EPL title would you believe.

Oh one last thing...! Whenever I get my next role, I will definitely start a new thread in the stories forum and just begin posting about it there. I won't be doing any fancy writing (I am a freelance writer by hobby) but I will post updates on my matches etc. Sounds like fun...!

Yeah it's good that we can all inspire each other and I would definitely say move clubs if things are getting a bit boring as you clearly need a new challenge. I did this is my Manchester United save, moved to Germany Bremen for a season and did very well, brought in one of my best youngsters from Manchester United and it looked like I could take a crack at the title in the second season, but then decided to move to Tottenham Hotspur for an even bigger challenge, the challenge of trying to unhinge Manchester United who I had made impossible to beat in my final season in charge, finally winning the lot and going unbeaten for the entire season. I had fun with Spurs, but grew bored of my save after a short while, took a break and now I'm back thanks to your tactic!

I think if I ever leave Wolves, it will be when and if I eventually win the Champions League. I'll most probably move to a club in the fringes of Europe and try to build something special.

I think it would be a great idea if you posted in that forum, I'd definitely be interested in reading it!

I've finally found myself a striker! It's a bit worrying when you have no second choice recognised striker and your first choice is a loan player, so I had a choice between Javier Hernandez and Miroslav Klose. I decided that although Hernandez was a better option, when considering his wage demands were through the roof and would break my budget and also the fact that the transfer would cost me in excess of £10mil overall, I decided to go with the German + World Cup legend Miroslav Klose! He is happy with less wages which is a massive plus and the overall transfer only cost £3mil Hopefully he can push James Wilson to perform better, or maybe Klose will be really good, who knows?

Oh man, those are two good strikers. Klose is a fantastic player, but he is pretty old, and 3 mil for an oldie is kind of worrying for me.

Javier Hernandez however is a player whom I also had at Napoli. He never complained despite being a backup striker. I think he played about 12 games for me and scored about 9 goals. He was really good despite not being the best at dribbling the ball (a key stat that I prefer for my tactic). I would have highly recommended him because he was proven to work well with my tactic and as stated he was quiet on the complaints front.

I felt sorry for him and eventually sold him for a tidy 15 or so million euros. I did get him on a free transfer as well, I think he was mutually terminated or something along those lines.

Oh if you want a good striker, I would recommend Simone Zaza. I only had him for 1 season and I paid 9 million for his services. He was a backup to Higuain and one day the Argentine star got injured for 3 months (torn hamstring) and Zaza ended up being a starter. He scored 20 goals in Serie A in 21 matches and I sold him to Man United for 75 million Euros. The sale of Zaza led me to gather enough funds to buy Paul Pogba (for a crazy 140 million Euros)

Oh man, those are two good strikers. Klose is a fantastic player, but he is pretty old, and 3 mil for an oldie is kind of worrying for me.

Javier Hernandez however is a player whom I also had at Napoli. He never complained despite being a backup striker. I think he played about 12 games for me and scored about 9 goals. He was really good despite not being the best at dribbling the ball (a key stat that I prefer for my tactic). I would have highly recommended him because he was proven to work well with my tactic and as stated he was quiet on the complaints front.

I felt sorry for him and eventually sold him for a tidy 15 or so million euros. I did get him on a free transfer as well, I think he was mutually terminated or something along those lines.

Oh if you want a good striker, I would recommend Simone Zaza. I only had him for 1 season and I paid 9 million for his services. He was a backup to Higuain and one day the Argentine star got injured for 3 months (torn hamstring) and Zaza ended up being a starter. He scored 20 goals in Serie A in 21 matches and I sold him to Man United for 75 million Euros. The sale of Zaza led me to gather enough funds to buy Paul Pogba (for a crazy 140 million Euros)

Haha, i'll definitely take a look at Zaza! The transfer itself didn't cost £3mil, it cost me like £500k to buy him, but when you add on top all the agent fees and stuff, it adds up to £3mil in total.

Those pesky agent fees and sell on clauses.

I had a look at my finances report from last season and I spent 128 million on agent fees over the last 48 months.

BTW...I am not doing so well in Serie A this season.

10 matches 9 wins and 1 draw. (haha) 31 goals scored and 2 against....and I am coming equal 3rd! :D Serie A is going to be tough this year. Juventus and Inter have such strong squads that they make my squad look subpar. Juventus and Inter smashed clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea in the Champions League this season. However the last few matches I have been not scoring as many, I had a 0-0 at home to Livorno and then 2-0 against new rivals Perugia, my bogey side. I scored at the 89th min and 95th. Pogba got the goals and it was his 100th match for the club as well.

On a final note, Messi isn't so great playing as ST with my tactic. He just doesn't have the physical presence. Also CR7 (36) is constantly injured this year and it looks like it will be the last year for he and Messi(34) at my club. I am going to sell them both as well as Hulk (35) and a few other ageing stars. Doing so will also free up 120 million + euro a season in wages! :o

My finances are looking quite bleak as I stand over 150 million in debt right now.

@mikenevo

:D OMG IT HAPPENED! :D

It only took 6 years at Napoli and 126 League Matches and about 30 media questions regarding his international future for a manager to finally pick him.

From good news to bad news.

Now I am struggling to find a good player for the AMC position for England. I know Sterling is probably best out wide, but no one has been effective at AMC other than him and out wide I have quite a number of options. Has anyone ever tried any good English players at AMC? I just can't find anyone that is as devastating as Insigne is for me at Napoli, as is Sterling at AMC for England. Insigne's stats aren't overly the best either, especially compared to some of the English stars, which is puzzling sometimes. :o

OUCH!

P.S. Sorry for the multiple posts, it is not a shameful bumping of the thread - I sincerely mean that.

From good news to bad news.

Now I am struggling to find a good player for the AMC position for England. I know Sterling is probably best out wide, but no one has been effective at AMC other than him and out wide I have quite a number of options. Has anyone ever tried any good English players at AMC? I just can't find anyone that is as devastating as Insigne is for me at Napoli, and his stats aren't overly the best either. :o

OUCH!

P.S. Sorry for the multiple posts, it is not a shameful bumping of the thread - I sincerely mean that.

That's really unfortunate and it could also spell trouble in the long term for the player as it will no doubt have a major effect on his stats.

Yep, David Lopez whom I sold to Man United for 60 million had 2 broken legs in the space of 18 months and he too had his physical attributes destroyed because of it. A reason why I snapped him up on a free transfer as my "injury replacement" signing for 1 season.

Also "lol" @ a comment someone posted on my STEAM page that "as if Napoli can sign Pogba, Rooney and Ronaldo" as though I had somehow cheated. Like I had stated in previous posts, I have used the save game editor but only to fix appearance issues which annoyed me. I actually made a thread about it before I got it. I had already won 2 or 3 CL by the time I used the editor.

My reply...

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1st what does that comment have to do with the tactic?

2nd It is called dynamic league reputation and club reputations, a game feature.

3rd Rooney was 35 when I signed him, as was Ronaldo. I signed Pogba after he was unhappy at Juventus for being fined for a string of bad performances and I had already won 2 Champions Leagues. He also cost me a lot of money which I made from selling my stars over the years to fund it. Don't blame the player, blame the game and I don't even blame the game. Man City, Chelsea and PSG were woeful sides a decade ago and people would have said the same thing about them. Napoli has a huge fan base and a wealthy owner and since I am from Naples, it makes it a pleasing gaming experience for me to do things the club don't do in real life.

Lastly, I don't appreciate keyboard warriors so you post has been deleted.

Happy gaming!

******************

Lucky he didn't know I also signed a 34 year old Messi, he probably would explode in his bedroom.

I really don't understand why people get so angry and upset behind their keyboards. I know I went through a period of fighting people online about 2 years ago - but I was going through chemo, was super emotional and angry at the world. I don't know what their excuse is. I wish more people were as nice as you mikenevo, I actually look forward to reading your replies.

Well,

I was not having any luck tactically with a "little guy" up front in Messi, despite he being a Legendary player.

So to people who are using my tactic and have a guy who is not physically strong and/or good in the air, be prepared to struggle with your ST position.

So I put Messi at AMC. I put Insigne (my go to AMC for 7 years) at AML and I put Lacazette at AMR. I then placed Cristiano Ronaldo at ST.

While it was not the optimal setup in terms of their preferred positions, this is the outcome;

Dazzling, breathtaking football to say the least. The old men did very well. I might think twice now about selling the both of them.

Gday mate Ive started a new game and congratulations ive decided to use your tactics, you lucky bugger lol. My team is Liverpool, Ive bought in new backroom staff and dumped joe allen to Arsenal for 17 mill pounds and Johnson to Napoli for 6.5. got in Balanta for 11.5, Vallejo for 1.1, Tielmens for 16, Mallo for 2.9, Mammana for 6.75 and Cubas for 5.5. Im leading the premiership by 6 points and leading my Champ league group that consists of Besiktas, real Madrid and Schalke beaten them all once so far. Team is on fluid for tactic familiarity. So doing good so far, thanks for putting the tactic out there.

Hi gumars,

Glad it is doing well for you as I am glad it is doing well for me this season as well. Thanks for the feedback!

So I am assuming you are Aussie, if so where from? I'm out in Sydney.

Re: My tactic. I am happy a lot of people like the results it produces, but I am also super interested if people like the "way" it plays. I have to say that I enjoy watching my players pass the ball around like the good old Barcelona of a few years past.

Yes mate I am Im in Qld near fraser Island. I usually prefer 2 strikers, not really played with wingers, but is doing the trick at the moment. I do like the way its played but match engine makes it frustrating some times lol. Falling over all the time, some players waiting to be closed down before passing etc and first touch, but not much we can do about it. Screaming at the screen wont make them change lol. And the amount of slide tackling .

Albeit my team doesnt have many superstars in their prime right now they are playing fairly well, no doubts when i get some better players the games will be even better to watch.

Haha, you have totally summed up how I feel about the match engine, but nonetheless I love it for some odd reason. I think SI find it hard to balance the game, and as a past tester for them a decade ago, I know how much testing and incremental changes they make to the match engine. If they were to "fix" the first touch, then you have people who are fast with good dribbling scoring 100 goals a season. lol With regards to players waiting to be closed down to pass and such. I sort of agree with that part of the match engine, as in real life, players wait to be closed down sometimes to create gaps to pass through. That is why as a defender you are taught to jokey and not to close down too quickly or over commit. Slide tackling I agree with you 100%. In real life there actually aren't that many tackles, let alone slide tackles. Most good defenders win their duals either aerially or through anticipation. The rest usually come from closing down and getting a foot on the ball.

The falling over I believe is spot on with real life, actually we should see more players falling over and crying. Haha, just kidding. I think it's probably because so many players have low balance. By chance, while watching goals from my youth team match (which I do very rarely I might add), I noticed one of my youth players was falling over every-single-tackle in this once sequence. His balance was 3. So I used my save game editor and put his balance to 20 and then watched the next match. He barely fell over and held the ball up well. I am not sure if was related or not, as I only watched one game of his, so my idea could be well full of it.

And yes, I put it back to 3 after the match.

The final thing that bugs me, which you did not mention is the amount of times the ball hits the woodwork...! My team has gone about 20 games in a row hitting the woodwork, with most matches upwards of 6 or 7 per game. It drives me nuts and kind of removes the excitement surrounding the close shot.

Sorry for the long wall of text btw....it's my Achilles heel.

I fairly well agree with your comments, I used to always tell my charges to stay on their feet until the other guy stuffs up, enough support has fallen back or hes 100% sure he can get the ball. We all have to have an Achilles heel somewhere, my writing ability is definitely not great, short and straight to the point lol. I used to live out in Richmond way back in the mid 80'. Played AFL back then, only played football when i arived in this area.

Do you get FM every year? What changes would you like to see in the 16 version?

Yes, I buy FM every year - but I didn't get past even 1 season for the last 3 versions, prior to FM15. I just did not like the match engine, especially how players seemed to skate on ice all the time instead of run. Regardless if I plan on playing or not, I do always buy the game. I do this to support SI in anyway I can as without our dollars, SI can't hire more staff to work on the game graphics! lol However this season it was harder to purchase because of my illness and my kids getting older, so my pension struggles to cover for entertainment expenses.

I really like FM2015, and I did not expect to get sucked into this save as much as I have. I think the match engine and graphics/animations have improved quite a long way since I last played a proper save 3 or 4 years ago.

So what would I love for FM16? I actually have a report here im writing for fun and it's got 20 pages worth of ideas so I probably shouldn't get into it too much...but I will put down a few points, in not in any specific order.

1. Graphics Improvements

2. Dugout, first person camera view

3. Higher Difficulty, especially hanging on to players.

4. Less complaints from players who are playing a squad rotation style at the club. I would also like players to overreact a lot less as they do right now.

5. Chairman mode, where I can hire and sack managers myself, improve the stadium, set ticket prices etc. Also option to manage and run as chairman mode. While hardcore fans of FM don't like this idea, the mode will open the game to a whole new market of fans who play other games just to get this kind of mode.

6. More media options, akin to a role playing game and also for it to be moddable and save game compatible.

7. Crowd chant styles differing per nation, such as a "rooaaarr" for Italian Club crowds, a "goooooollll" for latin based crowds and a "yeahhhh" for English language based clubs. Also an easier method to add chants to the game.

8. Less static season ticket holder number.

9. increased detail at youth levels, keeping an eye on players from the base levels of grass root football, say 8 or 9 year olds. One issue I always have with my Under 18's and U20's is that the majority of my 17 year old and over are loaned out and my 12 to 16 staff members are left coaching 4 or 5 youth players. It makes a huge portion of the game feel undeveloped.

10. One area in which the game requires immediate attention is the reward aspect of the game. *3D presentation of cups. * manager awarded and/or appreciated for time at club. *

11. Save game compatible stadium builder for modders, so that real stadiums can be added to the game by fans.

Thats just 11 or so points out of about 300 ideas I have.

Yeah I like the idea about playing as chairman like the old tycoon games of many years ago. Also the more in depth youth system, it would be great to sign up a 10 year old from Aust and watch his progress all the way up to 1st team player. You have been a busy lad. I hope your illness isnt getting the better of you mate.

Just put Man C to the sword 3-0

balotelli 22 goals 16 games, wish he did that in real life lol

Haha, Balotelli is way overrated in the game and in real life.

Yeh sometimes my illness keeps me down, but only mentally these days. I have had 4 operations, maybe more - I have lost count. Chemo and other nasty stuff, like antibiotics that also made my hair fall out, when funny enough chemo didn't :/

I am stable and in remission now, outlook of 5 years is about 80% survival rate, so those are decent odds.

My main issue is depression and anxiety. I suffer some form of PTSD since all this stuff happened...I have never been the same mate.

Oh and I just hammered 2nd place Inter 4-1 at home and now I have a 6 point gap ahead of them at the top of the table. Vincent Aboubakar has been smashing in the goals recently.

Hope it all goes well for you mate, my ex went through it when we were together not a nice thing, but have to try and keep a smile on your dial. Keep your chin up

Thanks I certainly will try.

Btw, I just signed a 30 year old Balotelli from Inter for 3 million Euro (about 2 million pounds).

He was, get this (it's quite funny) fined 11 times for missing training over the course of 2 seasons back at Inter.

He had quite a good career at Liverpool, before finally falling out with the manager (as he always does) and moving back to the club where he initially made his name. He played 152 matches for The Reds and scored 127 goals. Quite good really.

Unfortunately he has only played 16 games over the last 2 seasons, still scoring a reasonable 10 goals.

I really enjoy signing older players, or problematic stars and trying to get the most out of them. Now he, a 36 year old Cristiano Ronaldo and a 35 year old Hulk will fight for the reserve spot at AMR, AML or ST. Ha Ha.

Does anyone know how to update the STEAM Workshop mod description picture? I can't figure out how!

Sounds like you got lots of stars in your Napoli team. I dont know how to update pic in steam. I gather you have looked at their forums etc.

With your keepers distribution is there a reason why you dont get him to play it out from the back?

Yes I have a lot of stars , but the majority of my big names are actually 34+ year olds, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Hulk etc and I signed them past their peak. Actually I had Hulk in 2015 for 2 seasons and he was always injured and I sold him for 65 million to Real Madrid. Then his contract ran out at Real Madrid 6 years later and I decided to grab him on a free. In real life these guys at such an age will probably be playing in the MLS, China etc. I like taking the old guys and giving them good wages and trophies. I even had Rooney (34 years old) for a season, as well as Pirlo (38 years old). They all played a handful of games and got a goal for the club. They both retired after one season with me. Lot's of fun in it for me.

The only really world class player whom I have, that is in his peak in game and is World Class in real life is probably Pogba. The rest are good players, but not world class by any means such as Lacazette, Gabbiadini, Insigne etc. In real life they are all promising and I just got lucky that in my save they all reached their potential.

re: goalkeeper question

I don't tell my player to "play out from the back", but I have him distribute to specific defender every time, and that's my best ball playing defender Battipaglia or Koulibaly.

I also have him assigned to do few risky passes as sometimes goalies can get caught in silly kicks.

Here is the pic of how I have set it up. Koulibaly and Battipaglia have 16 and 14 for passing, quite good for centre backs. I also thankfully have only ever conceded one goal from Sepe making a silly kick. He took a free kick and hit it right to my opposition who shot from half way and scored.

That player was.....Cristiano Ronaldo. His last goal for Real Madrid during the Champions League final before he left to join me. I won that match.