FM2009 Official Portsmouth Thread (sponsored by a lack of money)

Well first of if your in this thread you must want a serious challenge as Pompey now are not as cash rich as they once were.

Read on for all the handy bits that fellow Pompey managers will give you but to start the ball rolling heres my assessment of the situation.

Portsmouth Football Club (also known as Pompey) are an English professional football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. They play in the Premier League and last season had arguably the most successful season in their history coming 8th and lifting the FA Cup.

This has resulted into our first ever entry into genuine European football via the UEFA Cup.

The club's colours have traditionally been blue, white and red, however for the 2008/9 season they are wearing an all blue strip at home for the 110th anniversary.

Club Information

Name: Portsmouth

Founded: 1898

Ground: Fratton Park, Portsmouth (capacity 20,600 all seated)

Chairman: Alexandre Gaydamak

League: English Premier League

Rivals: Southampton, Reading, Brighton, Bournemouth

Training Facilities: Good training facilities

Youth Facilities: Good youth facilities + academy

Media Prediction: 10th

Transfer Budget: £0

Affiliations: Zulte Waregem

First Team Squad

The numbers in brackets are to quote the game help system "each player will receive a star rating based on their expected standard within the team. This can range from 1 to 7 stars, with 7 exceeding expectations and 1 falling well below. Youth players are compared to similar players in their own age group".

GK – David James (5/5), Jamie Ashdown (3/3)

DR – Glen Johnson (4/4), Noe Pamarot (3/3), Lauren (3/3)

DL – Nadir Belhadj (4/4), Herman Hreidasson (3/3), Djimi Traore (3/3)

DC – Sylvain Distin (5/5), Sol Campbell (3/3), Younes Kaboul (3/3), Linvoy Primus (3/3)

DM – Lassana Diarra (5/5), Richard Hughes (4/4)

MC – Papa Bouba Diop (4/4), Sean Davis (4/4), Arnold Mvuemba(3/3)

AMR – John Utaka (4/4), Glen Little (3/3)

AML – Niko Kranjcar (4/4), Armand Traore (3/6), Jerome Thomas (3/3)

ST/FC – Peter Crouch (4/4), Jermain Defoe (4/4), Kanu (3/3),Dave Nugent (3/3),Ben Sahar (3/5)

Reserves Squad

GK – Asmir Begovic (2/3)

DR – Martin Cranie (3/3),Richard Duffy (2/2)

DC – Marc Wilson (2/3)

DC – Khaleem Hyland (2/4)

DM – Jean-Francois Christophe (7yth/2)

AMC – Matty Ritchie

SC - OJ (2/4), Danijel Subotic (1/1)

Highly rated U-18 squad members

ST – Paris Cowan-Hall (1/4)

AMR – Gael Nlundulu (1/4)

MC – Tom Kilbey (1/3)

Players on loan

SC – Ben Sahar (Chelsea)

ML – Armand Traore (Arsenal)

DL – Nadir Belhadj (Lens)

Players out on loan

SC – Danijel Subotic (Zulte Waregem)

AMC – Andrea Mutombo (Zulte Waregem)

DC – Joel Ward (Bournemouth)

DRLC – Martin Cranie (Chalrton)

FC – Omar Koroma (Norwich)

Analysis

In terms of setting up a new game I would have France and Belgium league boxes ticked to have Le Havre and Zulte Waregem active in your game

I would encourage you to make use of the affiliation with Zulte in future year

Getting Top 10 first year will be a struggle due to the financial predicament the club had in the summer, you will need to tighten those belts and if you do sell anyone don’t be too extravagant on spending, in fact first season I would go with what you have got, initially however I would try and sell someone to raise finance to sign Armand Traore (if you can prise him away) other than that its go with what you have got.

I personally would spend a bit of time analyzing players wages and contracts to see who you can do without to try and slash the wage bill which is massive…..

Goalkeeper – James is the best player in the squad and has a potential replacement in Begovic lying in reserve, might be worth sending him to Zulte for first team football to bring on his development.

Defence – Sylvain Distin and Glen Johnson are the main players here but other than those there is a quality shortage at the top level and also a big lack of pace, my advice would be to ditch Sol and his £105k salary as quick as you can….keep Linvoy on just for his stature

Khaleem Hyland is at the club on a non-contract basis, offer him a new contract and no matter the outcome ship him to Zulte to develop him again.

Midfield – Lassie is the quality central midfielder by a mile and can hopefully replicate his dominance of games now on the FM pitch. Now a bone of contention amongst Pompey fans, Kranjcar. He is probably the biggest asset which could be sold to generate transfer funds however he is still a very good player so if you decide to sell make sure you get top ££ for him. You can use Utaka at right mid but he might only turn up one game in ten….so if you can find a mug of a team to buy him.

Might be worth getting the scouts out to find a suitable partner for Diarra in the middle, my personal preference would be to find a dedicated DMC to allow Diarra to roam free…

Strikers – Crouch is head and shoulders above the rest (you see what I did there ) but with a few tweaks over the close season it might be possible to have him as a loan forward. Again a bit like Kranjcar do you keep or sell Defoe?? Hes a good finisher but offers minimal input on everything else.

Again Utaka can be played upfront but I would be looking to sell him as hes not consistent…

Sahar is probably too underdeveloped too make that much of an impact.

Academy – This is the one bit I’ll leave you to discover for yourself

Anyway, that's a pretty basic analysis of the squad, I hope it helps some people get a good start

Great opening thread. I think Pompey will be my first save once the game comes out. They've always been my favorite underdogs since I started watching English football. The squad looks pretty decent other than the wide players. I think I'll loan Insua to take care of the left back since Hreidarsson will probably slip soon and he's very slow, and Traore and Belhadj don't look like good defenders. Insua looks solid in attack and defense though. Defoe looks like he would be good with Crouch flicking onto him. Belhadj probably starting at LW while Traore is retraining. You can get about 6 mil out of the board so I'll use that on a RW and sell Utaka. Targets that look good so far are Pablo Osvaldo and Gervinho. Seems like keeping Hyland to retrain him to MC might be a good idea too, since he looks very playable in smaller games.

a post in the thread Celebration time

They've always been my favorite underdogs since I started watching English football.

How are Portsmouth underdogs when they pay players champions league wages and are nowhere near the champions league spots?

Ben Sahar is really good. Im 7 games in and he has 3 goals as a sub. Defore is rubbish with only one goal. I want to sell him. Peter Crouch is doing well with 5 goals. Keep kranjcar hes amazing. scored 2 goals 30 yards out and has dominated outside. You need to strenghten the center midfield and defence to be succesful. still looking for some cheap options. 3 mil to spend

this is hard!

im really finding my first season tough had to sell distin as he wanted out to tottenham for 12m and kanu went for 1m to tottenham aswell. which allowed me to bring in samba for 9m but apart from this ive done nothing :/

Good to see all Pompey's fans on here...

cheers lol

ive managed to start to turn it around a bit and it seems the youth academs stautus has made the youngsters somewhat better

Morale is pretty poor at the club (even when I managed to scrape the Charity Shield from Man - they were playing their kids really!). Any ideas on how to boost morale quickly or is this due to you coming in as an inexperienced manager, no money, possible takeover etc

A good player to cover all positions and who has done ok for me is Victor Moses from Palace. I have also got Nicky Hunt in from Bolton after selling Distin (dammit, thought 8m was too cheap to let him go at) and he seems pretty useful alongside Kaboul.

I think getting anything out of the strikeforce is going to be the problem here. Defoe and Crouch just don't seem to work together and when I look at Tony Adams feedback it says they both want to play direct, which doesn't really fit with the rest of the team. I would agree that Sahar looks useful, but leaves in January!

There is certainly some flubber to be cut in getting rid of people like Kanu, Distin, Hughes. I think I got myself a war chest of about 10m to 15m to spend, but after making Traore permanent and getting in Hunt, it only left a 1m for Moses and the rest on some youth players. Is going to be tough if get some injuries.

I did also get in Freddie Lynberg (sp) on a freebie, but was a false economy really as was pants.

How is everyone else going? I am in 6th after 6 games, but managed to lose to Sunderland. I think Ppompey have a fairly gentle start fixture wise, except a tricky away game to Everton in which the Yak always comes back to haunt me! I think early points need to be picked up, as by January the big fixtures kick in and as true to life, February is when Pompey just decide to not turn up on the pitch!

Good to hear how peeps are dealing with the team tatics wise. I have decided to go with a 5-3-2 and seems to be working well, although I cannot see to get Krancjar into the game and thinking of ditching him. Diarra is loving playing as a WBR though and defo player of the squad and loves to be praised!

Martin Cranie is Portsmouth's best player

hi powell that was good post. im guessing your playing on 9.0 though as adams is your assistant. kranjcar plays just off crouch upfront alone for me and theyve both got 14 by januray. beat scum in the FA cup 4v1 aswell whcih has to be highlight of the season. in january ive brought in lennon for 8m to solve our much needed rm problem. how much did you get traore for aswell if you dont mind me asking as id like to make him permanent.

and matt i swear you post in here more than anyone else.is there something you want to tell us???

or is it just that sweet smell of the premiership you crave

You wouldn't believe it but i've just drawn you lot in the FA Cup 4th Round away at the swamp.

Tell me how is your new ground coming along?

I tried to get traore for £5m and 30% of transfer profit and they came back and asked for £7m and 40% of profit and £1m on first international appearance! so I left it until after the transfer deadline and I got him for £6m and 40% of next transfer profit, which I think it pretty good.

I am really liking Moses by the way, more than adeqauet cover for Kranjcar who I find is always dead on his legs but about 60mins. I have put him in for some more strength and stamina training to see if that helps. If no improvement by January, he is out as far as I am concerned!

Re Matt SFC - whilst we may not have a massive stadium both in the game and real life (and which if you have tried, cannot be expanded due to the Council not giving planning permission - so bleeping true to life this game) we do at least have some players we can sell for decent money and are playing in the premiership! What use is a nice Stadium if you have no decent players to play in it! I think the scum went downhill the moment they got rid of the Dell!

Anyone managed to keep Pompey up then?

Just got an offer of £3.4m + £11.75m after 24 months for Distin.

Is it worth letting him go for that much?

Yes, you can replace him with Darren Powell on a free.

Powell is a Saints reject, really old, very over rated - so should feel right at home at Fratton Swamp

Going to be starting my pompey game tonight will keep your guys up to date on how i get on!

Going to be starting my pompey game tonight will keep your guys up to date on how i get on!

After my Liverpool & Then Athletico Madrid game, im definantly going to be giving pompy a go, i see it as they have a good first team a few fading legends such a Sol & Distin. What real needs to effort is some good youth, however without a budget it maybe hard. Good luck

Yes, you can replace him with Darren Powell on a free.

Powell is a Saints reject, really old, very over rated - so should feel right at home at Fratton Swamp

I don't know weather that's your idea of friendly banter or not but I suggest you do not post stuff like that in the future. If you can’t post constructively and help people in this thread then don’t post in here.

Ta.

I have managed to sell Djimi Traore and Noe Paromot for £2.5m each and Also Duffy for £1m

With these funds I bought RadekSirl from Zenit for £2.2m and Josip Simunic for £3.4m

Once the Takeover was complete(just in time for the window) I bought in Belletti from chelsea for £4.3m Rommendahl from Ajax for £875k and Altidore from Villareal for £5.25.

I am trying my own tactic which can be found here http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=66377

I will keep you posted on how I do

Erm... can someone reply to my previous post please?

lol

If you have a good replacement lined up, yes gunner_fan91

Just got an offer of £3.4m + £11.75m after 24 months for Distin.

Is it worth letting him go for that much?

Yes and buy Simunic from Hertha Berlin for the £3.4m outlay.

It is better thanany deal I have been offered

im a spurs fan but play online with a m8 who is also a spurs fan so i let him be spurs and ive been pompey for the last 3 years or so.

i was mainly pompey at the time cos they had a bit of money and the team has stuck

what a suprise this year when had nothing. but never to shirk a challenge i stayed on.

our first game lasted february 2010 and he got the sack and i was currently 8th way off 5th place. and as was first season we just started again.

so far on our 2nd game ive had a great start and im currently 3rd, after 12 games but have got arsenal away next. and was top for a couple of games. heres some screens of the table. transfers and tactics.

wouldnt let me put all images in one post so continued here. just got beat 4 - 2 away to arsenal.

will post some updates in 10 - 15 games or so.

Just posting to berate the Scummer troll, how's League One going matey?

No update, waiting on Mac patch but in 9.0.0 games have sold Kranjcar, Utaka, Traore (D), Nugent, Mvuemba, Lauren, Davis for cash to buy DMC and Right Winger. (Valencia)

Surprisingly Diop doing a pretty good job on the right wing as well for cover. (!!!pompey fans will understand)

One thing I cannot do is sell Campbell to anyone, even for free, even on loan - anyone had any luck?

I bought that Sirl mentioned above too (Left winger) hasn't really done too much, wish I hadn't bothered.

I have tried flogging Campbell too but he is just impossible to get rid of. even trying to release the board refuse

I have tried flogging Campbell too but he is just impossible to get rid of. even trying to release the board refuse

i got rid of him by mutual consent for 750 k on december the 30th 2008 after he moaned in a news article. as i had him listed and stuck in the reserves.

im a spurs fan but play online with a m8 who is also a spurs fan so i let him be spurs and ive been pompey for the last 3 years or so.

i was mainly pompey at the time cos they had a bit of money and the team has stuck

what a suprise this year when had nothing. but never to shirk a challenge i stayed on.

our first game lasted february 2010 and he got the sack and i was currently 8th way off 5th place. and as was first season we just started again.

so far on our 2nd game ive had a great start and im currently 3rd, after 12 games but have got arsenal away next. and was top for a couple of games. heres some screens of the table. transfers and tactics.

Who is scoring your goals for you? I have found both Crouch and Defoe to be less than prolific in front of goal. Seem to get all my goals from Diarra, then again, I am playing a defensive counter attacking game.

Who is scoring your goals for you? I have found both Crouch and Defoe to be less than prolific in front of goal. Seem to get all my goals from Diarra, then again, I am playing a defensive counter attacking game.

I have the same problem but only really with Defoe. As I am using Crouch as the target mnan and as a general rule he is doing it well and gets 7.0-7.5 ratings most matchs but Defoe is just pants. I get better out of Paris Cowan-Hall. But I feel it is down to me giving Defoe a free role so might change it tonight

Just one note, people may want to stick with Utaka as I had to use him as an emergency striker and scored 3 in 4 games and with 2 assists! I am wondering if it is because he has secured a move to the baggies in January for a cut price £3m and that has boosted his confidence or something? Anyhow, might be worth hanging on too as a squad player. If not, then get what you can for him and bring in Moses from Palace for cover.

To gunner fan91, I personally would have liked more money up front, especially as I read somewhere that someone got £12m up front from Tottenham. Personally, I was happy with £8m which allowed me to get Hunt, Moses and make Armand Traore loan permenant. Was also a little bit of money for some youngters and am 15 games in on the demo and board increased my budget due to good results and better financials (got rid of a lot of the reserves to free up wages).

Who is scoring your goals for you? I have found both Crouch and Defoe to be less than prolific in front of goal. Seem to get all my goals from Diarra, then again, I am playing a defensive counter attacking game.

my m8 hosts the game so i cant load it up at the mo but from what i can recall quite a few players are chipping in with goals and my strikers defoe briand and crouch arent buzzing.

defoe did get 4 in 1 game tho after 10 hours of play with none. ill post another screenshot with goals when he comes online.

edit: in our first game tho i bought cardozo for 6 mil plus 50 percent clause and he was top of the scoring table with 15 goals in the prem in jan / feb, i coudlnt get him in my second game they wanted to much money plus i bought samba for 6 mil which i didnt do in the first game.

Just one note, people may want to stick with Utaka as I had to use him as an emergency striker and scored 3 in 4 games and with 2 assists! I am wondering if it is because he has secured a move to the baggies in January for a cut price £3m and that has boosted his confidence or something? Anyhow, might be worth hanging on too as a squad player. If not, then get what you can for him and bring in Moses from Palace for cover.

To gunner fan91, I personally would have liked more money up front, especially as I read somewhere that someone got £12m up front from Tottenham. Personally, I was happy with £8m which allowed me to get Hunt, Moses and make Armand Traore loan permenant. Was also a little bit of money for some youngters and am 15 games in on the demo and board increased my budget due to good results and better financials (got rid of a lot of the reserves to free up wages).

i personally keep utaka unless i get a good bid for him, i never list him or offer him out, great cover up front or on the right wing imo

Would you take £6.5 over 2 years from the baggies for him?

that was of course supposed to be £6.5m!

I could get £8.5m for Utaka on the demo from West Brom but don't get the interest in the full game.

Would you take £6.5 over 2 years from the baggies for him?

id be more looking for 8 - 10 mil, especially at the start of the game, is hard to find a good replacement who can play both positions well for 6.5 mil.

id probably take 6.5 after a couple of seasons though if was doing well had more players interested and my squad was pretty complete.

1 thing i have noticed with the new fm is every club more or less when you offer your player out wants to spread the cost over 2 years and the offer is non negotiable.

i sold krankjaer for 12 mil over 2 years to man city by offering him out and i only got 7 mil to spend in return.

wouldnt let me put all images in one post so continued here. just got beat 4 - 2 away to arsenal.

will post some updates in 10 - 15 games or so.

Can we see team instructions and any major individual instructions please. Thanks

I have tried flogging Campbell too but he is just impossible to get rid of. even trying to release the board refuse

On my game you loaned him to Watford for the rest of the season. With Pompey paying all £85k p/w of the wages. He didn't look much good either. Is this what he is really on in real life?

Can we see team instructions and any major individual instructions please. Thanks

Me m8 who hosts the game went golf today so not had a chance to get him to load it but...

Im using this tactic from 08....... http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=14883

all i change is the centre back's closing down -5 notches into the first notch where it changes to own area

and i took down the mentality and creative freedom of both strikers down 2 or 3 notches as my forwards were only getting 5 -6 ratings and just tried a tweak to improve there ratings.

we stopped playing at 3 am last night and after 20 games i was 3rd or 4th cant remember but 4 points clear of villa in 5th. will post the update tonight.

edit: i also bought nekounam as is a fav of mine from 07 and 08 (after hes long injury in 08) and if he plays on the left centre mid which he usually does if diarra is on the right centre mid, then i set long shots to mixed on diarra and often on nekounam. so just a few tiny tweaks here and there. i also use to put guardado on long shots often in 08 when he was playing on the left mid as he had long shots of 20. just a few tweaks like that

Who is scoring your goals for you? I have found both Crouch and Defoe to be less than prolific in front of goal. Seem to get all my goals from Diarra, then again, I am playing a defensive counter attacking game.

me m8 has just got back home and hosted the game heres a screenshot of the team with stats for just the premier league so you can see whose got the goals assists etc

and also a quick update of the league after 20 games

chelsea away coming up tho now

Hey dudes another season another challenge with the blue army! Well things going ok/(could be improved) for me on the pitch. But off the pitch im loving the games new interviews and stuff! Well luckily i just got taken over by a greek business man called Kostas Papatzikos and he is pumping moola into the youth setup aswell as giving me £70M to play in the transfer window!!! HAPPY DAYS! Loving this game so far.

Screens>>>>>

Hey dudes another season another challenge with the blue army! Well things going ok/(could be improved) for me on the pitch. But off the pitch im loving the games new interviews and stuff! Well luckily i just got taken over by a greek business man called Kostas Papatzikos and he is pumping moola into the youth setup aswell as giving me £70M to play in the transfer window!!! HAPPY DAYS! Loving this game so far.

Screens>>>>>

lol i could do with some of that!. on the first game we done peter storrie just took over and on the 2nd one some takeover was going to happen but it said if it did happen then they was bringing in there own manager, luckily for me it didnt go through, will edit screens in in a sec

edit. i can only go back to dec in my media and the message was before it that but its in my history as richard collinge failed in takeover bid. it was hristov stoichkov they said they was gonna bring in as manager tho i remember, i didnt expect it to go through when i see that but it did have me worried.

Yeah as soon as i heard about the takeover i dumped it, i must be doing something good as hes liking the magic! Play up pompey!!!

Yeah as soon as i heard about the takeover i dumped it, i must be doing something good as hes liking the magic! Play up pompey!!!

Aye that sure is class and you got me very envious right now . Gaydamak is still looking to sell so i'm hoping i can keep up the good form to bring in a wealthy buyer.

was taken over and the news stories said that hristo stoichkov would be brought in... fortunately was given time to prove myself

good to see the thread has got some life

anyone got to the end of season 1 yet?

Not yet but will post pics when half way and complete season.

nice one i will post up my end of season stuff i think

anyone have any suggestions for a striker? crouch and defoe just can't play together in my game