FM08: Official Man City Thread

OVERVEIW

Manchester City FC is an English football club based in the city of Manchester. They are currently members of the English Premier League and now the takeover is complete Thaksin Shinawatra is chairman of the club, the club made a pre-tax profit of £16.97m in the year ending 31 May 2006 they have bought a lot of players for the club. Rolando Bianchi - £8.8 million, Elano - £8 millon, Valeri Bojinov - £5.75 million, Martin Petrov - £4.7 million, and Javier Garrido - £1.5 million.

Though originally formed in 1880 as St. Marks (West Gorton), they then became Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City F.C. in 1894. The club has won the League twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners Cup (Intertoto) once. The club's most successful period was during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won several major trophies under the management team of Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison, and with great players such as Colin Bell and Francis Lee.

TOP FLIGHT HONOURS

English champions - 1937, 1968.

FA Cup winners- 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969.

League Cup winners - 1970, 1976.

European Cup Winners' Cup – 1970

Charity Shield winners- 1937, 1968, 1972.

However, Manchester City has not won a major honour since 1976. The club's decline led to relegation twice in three years in the 1990s, meaning they spent one year in the third tier of English football. However, the club has since regained Premier League status, putting City back in the top flight, the division in which they have spent the majority of their history.

The club’s home colours are sky blue and white. Traditional away kit colours have been either maroon or red and black; however, in recent years several different colours have been used. In the 04/05 season, the team wore a white shirt with purple shorts and white socks, while the following season, the away kit was all navy blue. In 2006–07 season, they sported an all-black (with grey trim) second strip. For the 07/08 season, white pin stripes appear on the home and away shirts. The away kit is all purple in colour. There is also a third kit, which consists of a white shirt with a sky blue flash over the club badge, sky blue shorts and white socks.

SQUAD

Andreas Isaksson

Kasper Schmeichel

Michael Ball

Vedran Corluka

Richard Dunne

Javier Garrido

Nedum Onuoha

Micah Richards

Jihai Sun

Blumer Elano

Deiberson Mauricio Geovanni

Dietmar Hamann

Michael Johnson

Martin Petrov

Rolando Bianchi

Valeri Bojinov

Stephen Ireland

Emile Lokonda Mpenza

BEST XI

______ Andreas Isaksson

Richards-Dunne-Corluka-Garrido

_Elano-Hammann-Ireland-Petrov

________Bianchi-Bojinov

Bianchi

Valeri Bojinov

Stephen Ireland

Emile Lokonda Mpenza

need to replace ireland in midfield asap. elano and petrov are both class.

my formation

---------Isaksson

Richards-Dunne-Corluka-Garrido

-------Hammann/de Jong

----Haestad-------Arouca

Elano------------------Petrov

-----------Bianchi

elano and petrov are my playmakers, midfield is quite solid and wont let much through. fullbacks are set to overlap.

Saved me doing it this year kaz

I'm working on perfecting the 4-2-3-1 formation in my game at the moment, i'm lying in 5th having beaten clubs such as Arsenal but I keep getting the odd battering away, 5-1 by Chelsea and 5-0 by West Ham so obviously theres still work to be done, maybe having more defensive settings when playing away

I would def play schmeichel over issackson anyday also i will be def starting a man city game as soon as i got the game

Very tempted to play as Manchester City alongside my regular Norwich game. Always had a soft spot for the club.

Well, playing as Manchester City now and I thought I'd add my thoughts to this thread.

The squad you inherit with Man City is one in a very strong position. With a superb back four (I play from right to left, Richards, Corluka, Dunne, Garrido) with some decent enough back up, I've left that pretty much alone.

Midfield is where most of my changes are being implemented. I have decided to play a varied 4-5-1, utilising a Christmas tree formation. This necessitates a holding player and two attacking midfielders.

Thus, I'm hoping to bring in Van Der Vaart; a player who I don't think I have to comment on I've also got my eye on a Brazilian attacking midfielder called Cani from Villarael; right now he's considering my contract offer. In the important holding role I play Fernandes over Hamann as I like to have my holding midfielders with a bit of pace. His lack of work ethic could be a problem though.

If these two transfers go through, my midfield will be Hamann in the holding role, on the left Martin Petrov, on the right Cani with van der Vaart and Elano in the middle. That would be a sublime midfield for me.

My striker will of course be Bianchi with Mpenza as back up; although to be honest Bianchi has disappointed so far. Any tips on how to get the best of him?

The team is the following;

---------Isaksson------------

Richards-Corluka-Dunne-Garrido

-------Fernandes--------------

Cani--------------------Petrov

------Elano----V de Vaart-----

-----------Bianchi------------

Another worry of mine is Schmeichal; I'm not sure the young lad's up to it just yet. I might look to secure another goalkeeper.

Originally posted by LincolnCanary:

My striker will of course be Bianchi with Mpenza as back up; although to be honest Bianchi has disappointed so far.

Although saying that he's just gone and scored a hat trick in my final friendly against Oldham.

ive just finished the demo with city in 2nd place, 1 point behind utd

Bianchi has 19 goals in the league, 5 ahead of 2nd place.

Van der Vaart is amazing, easily my best player and I had to sell dunne cause he was doing rubbish and ireland and johnson just didn't fit in with my plans.

anyway my team is

Enyeama(1.6)

Richards Ferrari(6m) Corluka Onouha

Ponzio(4m) (DM)

Riga(7m) Elano Van der Vaart(13m) Petrov (All AM)

Bianchi

Bench: Tudor(1.3m), Flamini(loan), Vassell, Geo, Eddie Johnson(2.6m)/Isaksson

I regret signing tudor and ferrari, but they do the job.

Not got the demo but i would have Joe Hart befpre isaksson too,

I would play the squad thas playing at the mo unless they are underated ie the likes of Micheal Johnson and the two young keepers

Kasper's not underrated it's just he has a famous dad and kept some cleansheets.

That doesn't hide his inadequacy.

anybody had any joy with michael johnson,he's a wonderkid on my game

Woodman - I got an offer of 5.5m for him so i took it and splashed out on Van Der Vaart, i didn't really rate him to be honest.

Mancunian - Playing the squad that plays at the moment would be good, but Hamann didn't impress and Ireland's RM is set to unconvincing so he didn't like it when i put him out on the wing, which hopefully will be changed.

Just started as Man City as I have a soft spot for them and I like a lot of their players.

Need some advice, I can either -

a) Buy Owen for 9.25m and maybe get a new DM and play a 4-4-2 diamond.

b) Play Bianchi as a sole striker (until Bojinov is fit) and buy either a second AM (VDV perhaps) or buy another good DM and play with 2 CMs (one of them being the DM)

Open to any other suggestions, have bought a few good players.

Recommend Jose san roman from Tigres by the way, extremely unknown yet VERY good for 40k tops.

I'm also playing as Man city!

We poses the 5th place and i only got a new striker aaritalo issakson is great! just kept a clean sheet against man utd. i'm looking for a great striker and central defender to replace dunn with he makes to many mistakes

Isaksson

Onouha Breno/Dunne Corluka Bale

Richards/Cana

M.Johnson Van der Vaart/Elano G.Fernandez/Diaby

Rafael Sobis E.Johnson / Bianchi

Originally posted by Pirlo:

Just started as Man City as I have a soft spot for them and I like a lot of their players.

Need some advice, I can either -

a) Buy Owen for 9.25m and maybe get a new DM and play a 4-4-2 diamond.

I would go for a. I have started couple of times with Man City and never got it going. One of the main reasons was that my strikers weren't cutting it. I recommend signing a new one. Also with that plan you could sign Banega cheap which is a quality player.

Has anyone managed to play with Boj yet? He's been stuck as "Back in around one day" for about 2 months now.

Have Great news to you. Sturridge just became a wonderkid for me after 2 seasons. First Season he was out on loan to Southamptons and Abeerdeen. Second year he got alot of play time witehr he wanted or not .

Btw Bianchi playing bad for you had the same problem.

Then i put his Passing on Short.

Put him on running with the ball.

No offensive runs.

No Longshots.

And he play through balls.

Did alot better after that, but still in my game not the natural Striker for me.

Eddie Johnson still does most of my goals.

Btw dont sell M. Johnson, Richards,Onouha or Gelson. All are good.

Even Miller and Logan looking good. Think Logan will be backup for Onouha, in the third season.

Lots of potential yongster!

my city starting 11

isakkson

onouha

corluka

richards

gareth bale

malbranque

van der vaart/ elano

huddlestone

petrov

bianchi

bojinov

originally brought in kewell 1.7 and ignashev (sp).

sold kewell for 4mill, sold jhai for 1.5, and vassel. brought in vander vaart, bale, djourou on loan. swapped johnson for huddlestone and malbranque. johnson was a wonderkid but got to big for his boots so i got rid.

bianchi plays as a target man, van der vaart and malbranque are my play makers.

looking for a striker to replace bojinov (he's doing ok) preferably with pace. any suggestions. would play sturridge who is looking good but to young. im in europe and need a bit of experience.

I would say you would buy Rafael Sobis, he is wonderfull in my City team. Has done 20 goals in 30 games, can play OMC and striker.

bought mika aaritalo (sp?). thaksin accepted a 19m bid from chelsea for richards

Well i bought gareth bale for 20 M, one year after Thaksin accepted a bbid at 20 Mill for him

Ääritalo didnt do so well for me, so i sold him for 30M.

Has anyone gone past 2009 with city if so, can i have a screenie ?

Originally posted by jonahno6:

Has anyone gone past 2009 with city if so, can i have a screenie of michael johnson ?

forgot the players name

I wonder why Vassell has been stripped of his only weapon, his pace. And its quite funny to see Barton with a passing skill of 16.

I know its no "big" deal but how is it possible to do such a research

im over 2010, but where do i upload the screenie?

Originally posted by KingLion:

im over 2010, but where do i upload the screenie?

1. Press Alt + Prt Scr(Print screen)

2. paste in in paint

3. save it as a Jpeg

4. put it onto a site like imageshack

5. post the URL on this site for all to see!

Playing as City too, had to sell Richards to Chelsea (sigh) and bought Kompany and Arshavin, and Aatikola as he is a good backup for many positions.

Friendlies are played, Derby is coming to town! Can't wait!

Aatikola = Aaritalo

Sold SUn Jihai for 3,5 M

Garrido FOr 2m and + 30% next transfer fee

Mpenza 1,5M

Bianchi 8 M

Samaras 4M

Ääritalo 300k then sold for 30M after a season

so got money to buy players

Bought

Van der Vaart

Rafael Sobis

Lorik Cana

First season 5th and also second.

Won the third season PL.

Playing on my 4th season.

richards,COrluka,DUnne,Onouha,M.Johnson.Gelson F, Petrov. Isaksson, Schmeciel.

Is all great players.

Bojinov i ok, but we lack a top striker, and i bought Rafael Sobis he scored 20 goals in 30 games for me.

Will try and upload a image for ya soon.

Damn im shacking alredy against our Match tomorow against Chelski.

M. Johnson at 2010

M. Johnson

ultimate city XI. top of the league unbeaten for 7 games won all 7 (including teams like chelsea and man u):

GK: schemical

Defenders: corluka, dunne, richards, garrido

Midfield: petrov, elano, van der vaart, kewell, aaritalo

Striker: Bianchi

Bench:Ever Banega, bandalovski, rakitic, higuain, ignacio camacho

Just played my first season as city! All I can say is Miracles do happen! I won the treble!!! Only loosing 3 games two to Chelsea 1-0 and the other to Wigan 2-1.

Transfers

IN July/August

Song-Arsenal-Loan

Saviet-Bordeaux-425k

Felipe-Santos-4.3M+clauses

Alvaro Silva-Malaga-3.1M+clauses

January

Martins-Newcastle-12.5m

Aaritalo-Sparta Prague- 2.1M+ clauses

Vanden Borre-Fiorentina-6.25M

OutJanuary

Mpenza-Atlanta-2.7M + compensation for lowered contract

Vassel-Villa-4.3M

I'm lucky managed to get 15M extra transfer budget because of improvement in finances.

Results

My good results came about because of my strong back 4 and my sts/amcs putting away chances. I satrted off very narrow. Normally I played with two amcs(Petrov and Elano) behind Bianchi and there was a good spread of goals and assists between them averaging about 18 goals and 12 assists. After january and acquiring Martins I could play wider in a standard 4-4-2. This helped me keep above Man U in the title race. The league cup for me was a big sucess beating Man U 2-1 in the final. However I am not as pleased with my FA cup win as it was an easy ride (Rushden, West Brom, Villa, Coventry, tired 10 man Spurs and Reading).

Just wondering can anyone recommend any signings for me next season?

I would recomend sticking with Richards,Corluka,Scmeicel,M.Johnson,G.Fernandes,Petrov,Onouha and Elano.

I would recomend Rafael Sobis and Van der Vaart for ya.

Good luck keep us posted how your season going.

My 4:th season is going pretty bad 4-5 players gone for over 2 months, and im 3:rd in league.

City start with a great squad. Namely elano, johnson, richards etc. I only had to bring in a goalkeeper as isaksson was injured (benoit costil £325k), and then a right midfielder (fernando belluschi £8.75m).

I got to january in a lowly 14th place, started off poorly, so i brought in DMC in the mould of Ever Banega (£5.25m), i ended up finishing in 9th spot, with a place in euro vase.

2nd Season i got into the euro cup through the vase. only bringin in one player Seydou Keita for £2.2m. Ive managed to get to the final of the league cup, fa cup and euro cup and im currently sitting in first place a point in front of chelsea with two games in hand on 35 games.

Keep having Schmeciel on loan, he has surpassed Isaksson in goal now. and have alredy become a keyplayer. he is recomended 5 stars from my coaches and first keeper.After 3 years.

Finnaly in my 4:th season i finnaly got the rating 10 on a player in a game.

I played with my B-team against Palermo in champions league group A.

I am alredy qualified, so i put in my weaker team against Palermo and told em to just relax.

Then non other than Ireland goes and does 4 goals as OMC.

YEAHHH!!! Ireland! unbelievable.

What a show.

I won Palermo with 5-1.

Just started a game with City as they seem to be a good challenge (win the title in 2 years?!) and because they have good enough players to give me a lot of scope o develop a creative, free flowing tactic.

Season started with some hectic transfers, getting in a lot of young talent, as well as making 2 notable big-name signings in Sonko and Van Der Vaart. I was a tough decision selling Dunne, but Sonko is the kind of CB I prefer, and him and Richards make a pretty physically foreboding prospect for even the quickest, tallest strikers in the league.

he tactic focuses on keeping possession and playing slow paced, creative, attacking football, although the line-up looks Chelsea-esque, the style is more similar to that of Barcelona, Arsenal or Man UTD.

The 2 losses have come to Arsenal (a 5-0 drubbing where I had more chances than them) and a harsh 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool, the draw was a 0-0 with Villa. I was knocked out of the League cup by 'Boro.

The ratings seem to harsh on 08, so despite a good start my highest is 7.10! Bianchi has been very good up op on his own, supported well by Elano and Petrov. Will look for a pacey striker in January though, I still have nearly 8 million to spend.

Anyone had any luck shifting the dead wood, like Vassell and Samaras? I can't seem to sell them for even a few hundred grand.

http://i23.tinypic.com/a2c9p4.png[/img] ]Transfer summary

http://i21.tinypic.com/107syzo.png[/img] ]Tactics and squad list

http://i22.tinypic.com/jsivsl.png[/img] ]League so far

http://i22.tinypic.com/2mw9qhe.png[/img] ]Player rating

ah, sorry about that, supposed to be links, would edit them if the damn forum would let me!

Top of the league! Has anyone else found that Bianchi is a goal machine? 18 goals in 17 league matches for me!

Can anyone help me with tactic please. I'm stuggling with the current one.. My possession is almost always about 40% only. I have usually more shots than opponents, but only some of them are on target. My strikers can't score.

Please give me some advice about who to select and maybe You got some goot tactic for me?

Thanks in advance..

Bianchi definitely a goal machine 25 in 42 and Won the EPL in season one bought only Aaritola,Ninis in the summer and then managed to get hunterlaar in January and Johnson as back up!

Second season currenty sitting in second have Saviet joining in January and Johnson and Ninis are wonderkids. Looking for a replacement for Dunne as he is totally outclassed by Micah(RB) and Corluka(CB) and not convinced by Onura

Originally posted by Mysterio619:

Please give me some advice about who to select and maybe You got some good tactic for me?

Thanks in advance..

Have a look at the picture of my tactic above, play Bianchi on his own up top, Gyan on the right and Petrov on the left. Put Fernandes as the DM with max closing down and hard tackling, very defensive mentality, then use two creative attacking midfielders in the centre like Bellushi and Nani.

How the hell did you get Nani by the way? Also where's Elano? He's awesome!

Started a new game with Man City because of their new signings and how well they've been doing (usually tend to start with Ujpest in the Hungarian First). Having said that, they're transfer budget is amazing.

I sold Dunne, Ireland, Sun, Garrido and Onuahu for a combined $21.5, and brought in Vaart (18.5), Coloccini (13.5) Breno (CD/Sao Paulo, 9.5) and Haestad from Start for 1.3.

I use Scousers old 4-3-1-2 tactic, which i've been using since 06, and still rocking, as it takes advantage of good wingers and WB's. Unfortunately, all year had issues on my wingers.

Having said that, my end of year first XI was the following

Isaksson

Corluka - Colocc- Richards - Ball/anderson Silva (from Everton for 220K)

Elano - Haestad/Johnson/Gelson - Petrov

Vaart

Bianchi - Samaras/Mpenza/Vassel

Subs are Geovanni/Breno/Bojinov

Bianchi tore it up, and I also won the Treble

Second year, 3rd place, new signings are Akinfeev for the ridiculous 66Million , Renato Augosto from Flamengo 21M, Ever Banega who just rocks in CM/DM, for 8m, and Eduardo from Botafogo 3.6m. Frankly, my WB's arent that great, though i prefer Corduka at RD as he's got better ball skills than Richards.

BJG, yeah, for me as well, Bianchi was the top Premier Goalscorer. though, Vaart and Bianchi were 1 and 2 in match rating, Bianchi had top goals, 2nd most assists, most MOM's and he didn't win any awards in the premiership. A travesty methinks

Originally posted by Mysterio619:

Can anyone help me with tactic please. I'm stuggling with the current one.. My possession is almost always about 40% only. I have usually more shots than opponents, but only some of them are on target. My strikers can't score.

Please give me some advice about who to select and maybe You got some goot tactic for me?

Thanks in advance..

is there any possibility to buy nani without cheating???

Possibly a swap plus cash for Elano?

Anyone trying to replicate Sven's 4-2-3-1 formation?

I've been trying it with some success but I can't stop conceding silly goals despite dominating games, would be interested if anyone else has tried this and how they've set about it