FM10: Official Sunderland Thread - The only North East EPL Team

The Past

Sunderland Association Football Club are a professional association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that compete in the Premier League. Since their formation in 1879, they have won six First Division titles—in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936 (see Sunderland A.F.C. seasons).

Founded by schoolteacher James Allan, Sunderland moved towards professionalism and they were elected into The Football League in 1890. Sunderland performed well in the league, earning plaudits such as a "wonderfully fine team",[2] and won their first FA Cup in 1937 with a 3–1 victory over Preston North End. However, their achievements petered out, and they were relegated in 1958. They had remained in the top league for 68 successive seasons, a record surpassed only by Arsenal. Sunderland's only triumph after the Second World War was their second FA Cup in 1973, when they secured a 1–0 victory over Leeds United thanks to a goal scored by Ian Porterfield.

Sunderland play their home games in the Stadium of Light, an all-seater, having moved from Roker Park in 1997 for a stadium of higher capacity. The ground initially held 42,000 supporters, but that was increased to 49,000 after redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898.

Modern Era

After the success that Peter Reid brought to Sunderland of two 7th place finishes mainly achieved by teaming up Niall Quinn and Super Kevin Phillips, Quinn returned to the club as chairman. Backed by his Irish business connections Quinn hired Roy Keane who took Sunderland from bottom place in the championship to the EPL and helped us stay there. In his 2nd season in the EPL as our boss Roy Keane revealed his true colours and left the club due to his inability to manage a team through anything other than fear. Sbargia took over and lead Sunderland to a last day survival that saw our greatest enemies Newcastle United relegated.

During this time Sunderland were bought by Ellis Short a Texan billionaire who some fans were concerned about, would he be another Hicks and Gillett or another Randy Lerner. Short has pumped alot of funds into Sunderland and wants to build Sunderland AFC into a prem force.

Besides winning the Championship our last major trophy was the FA Cup, this saw a 1-0 win over Leeds United(I still remind the missus about that even now)also seeing Jim Montgomery pull off the greatest save in the history of football. Although the team is weak in some areas there is huge potential in Sunderland for anyone willing to take up the challenge.

Board Expectations

Avoid Relegation - £10 million plus 700k per week

Mid Table - £12 million plus 775k per week

Top Half - £13 million plus 775k per week

Continental Qualification - £14 million plus 775k per week

Title Challenge - £15 million plus 800k per week

Winner - £16 million plus 825k per week

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers - Craig Gordon and Martin Fulop

One of the strongest areas at the start of the game, Gordon would be first choice and Fulop is a good enough backup. Could be worth targeting a young GK but make sure its one that has more potential than Gordon, personally I will wait a season or two until I can raise the clubs reputation enough to sign someone like Akinfeev.

Fullbacks - Phil Bardsley, George McCartney, Nyron Nosworthy

A Weak area of the team McCartney is the only LB in the squad and Nosworthy is better suited to a CB role than a fullback. McCartney is injury prone so a LB is a priority. Bardsley is good enough for the first season but depending on your aim he should be replace as soon as possible.

Centre Backs - Paolo Silva, Michael Turner, John Mensah, Anton Ferdinand

Reasonably strong area another player would be good but Turner and Ferdinand along with Mensah as backup should be good enough for the first year.

Central Midfielders - Lee Cattermole, Lorik Cana

Strongest pairing in the team by far both highly aggressive not brilliant going forward but both provide a great shield for the defence. Can both be played in the middle or as part of a three man Midfield with a more creative player at AMC or MCa.

Wingers - Steed Malbranque, Kieran Richardson, Andy Reid, Daryl Murphy

Good area although a right winger is needed desperately, Malbranque is good enough for a couple of years and on FM09 was a constant performer. Reid and Richardson are good enough out wide but will need replacing eventually. Reid can also be played as the creative CM with support from Cattermole or Cana.

Strikers - Darren Bent, Kenwyne Jones, Frazier Campbell.

What should be the strongest area of the team is criminally under rated personally I would look to move all of these players on as soon as possible. For the time being I would bring in one striker to play with Bent as his speed could be a decent weapon against slower defenders. It is possible that Campbell could improve so he may be worth keeping hold of.

Squad Overview

The squad is pretty weak to be honest with the 2 CMs being the best players we have, Michael Turner although lacking pace is a very good CB. Key areas to improve would be both fullback positions a rightback and another striker.

Possible Targets

For strikers Borriello, Chevanton, Milevskyi or Kerzhakov I also like the look of Luis Suarez. For fullbacks Nicky Shorey is transfer listed and would be a decent buy as he is less injury prone and a better player than McCartney. For another CB will be targeting Ryan Shawcross and for rightback Steinsson from Bolton or Srna would fit the bill although Srna might be a bit too expensive. Also RVN is worth a look in 7 weeks once he is fit again.

Tactics

Personally I will be playing a 4-4-2 for most home games and either a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-1-4-1 for tough games. I guess the tactics and formation really depend on who you end up signing.

I guess the only thing left to say is can you bring the first top league title since 1936 and the first major domestic trophy since 1973 to Sunderland. Potential is huge so I better get started.

Nice OP, shame the title is only too true.

Nice OP, shame the title is only too true.

Look on the bright side. At least we have a chance to win something this year.

Great title marra.

Why is Fraizer better than Bent though? Bit worrying. Think we've been a bit underrated personally, Jones has had his stats decreased by the looks of things also.

Turner looks a beast however, as does Cattermole.

And I know James Armstrong in the Under 18's, he went to my old school!

Love the title.

Great title marra.

Why is Fraizer better than Bent though? Bit worrying. Think we've been a bit underrated personally, Jones has had his stats decreased by the looks of things also.

Turner looks a beast however, as does Cattermole.

And I know James Armstrong in the Under 18's, he went to my old school!

Thats pretty cool must be weird seeing someone you went to school with in the game. Cattermole, Cana and Turner are the best players in the team. Bent is greatly under rated but I think even if he gets 20 goals this season his stats still won't be raised. Kenwyne should have a few higher stats but in pre-season he has 5 in 2 for me so far as a targetman.

Love the title.

Nice OP, shame the title is only too true.

Its the first time I can remember that we have been able to gloat properly over Newcastle, so I had to take the chance might not get another one for awhile lol.

Great title

I started a demo game with Sunderland but dont plan to fully invest time until I get the full version. First thoughts on the squad/game though:

Very small squad lacking quality back ups, going to be tough with just £10m to spend and barely anyone to sell. Last time I played as Sunderland I sold the entire squad over a couple seasons, raising some funds but mostly because they were not good enough. This season is different, we have some quality players in ths game that will be more than good enough to achieve midtable.

Left back and right back need replacing if anyone has ambitions beyond midtable. A couple young decent back up players will be needed for these positions if anyone plans on keeping them.

Right midfied needs looking at. While Steed is a great player I just dont think he has the pace to play the wing. I think he will be more effective in a plamaker role in the middle. Most of my budget will be spent on the right wing.

DMC seems a bit over crowded, I dont like the thought of having two tough tackling midfielders in the middle. Cana was sent off in my first league game and Cattermole picked up a 2nd minute booking when he came on for Cana in the second game. ne of these guys will need to be sold in January and rotating them up to that point to see which one best fits is probably the best way to go.

AMC/MC, while Steed can play this I think SUnderland need a much more creative force to feed the strikers. Steed should probably be sold to raise some funds, along with Andy Reid.

Strikers, concerning for me is that both are so under rated. Jones has done well for me so far and Bents pace causes problems - but he misses too much. I want to stick by them and see how they get on over the season with more creative players round them though.

So yeah, a good team but no squad. Once injuries/suspensions kick in then there will be real issues. Transfer budget is very low and lack of people to sell could be an issue. Murphy, O'Donovan, Malbranque and Reid will be the first to hit the list and I will probably look to sell on McCartney and Bardsley if I can find quality, cheap replacements.

I like having Cana and Cattermole in the middle I signed Guti for AMC and use either Bent or Kenwyne upfront on their own. Both are so bad I just can't bare the thought of playing them both in the same team at the same time.

Once the full game comes out it will be alot easier to recommend signings as the database will be alot bigger.

Started a quick game with Sunderland yesterday, still haven't won a game yet, just lost to Hull 4-2 away. Trying to play a flat 4-4-2, have had a few injuries and suspenions. Forced to play Henderson. What way have people been trying to play with Sunderland, don't think I'm getting player roles right so far.

I sold Andy Reid for £3.4 million and O'Donovan for 500k. Brought in Van der Vaart for £7.5 million, Di Maria for £5 million and Radek Sirl on loan for £1.6 million.

Pre-season was pretty good the highlight was a 5-2 win over Dortmund. Started the season with a 3-0 away win over Fulham and a 3-2 home win over Birmingham, Van der vaart has scored 4 of our 6 goals. Kenwyne is actually performing pretty well as a targetman so far.

What a game, Sirl could have gone from hero to zero as they had 3 shots after he was sent off. Fergie got what he didn't in real life when the match went to the 96th minute.

An own goal, a sending off and a 2-2 result. Realistic indeed! Bet the Ben Foster own goal must have been interesting

I got 700k for O'Donovan, seemed Roy Keane wanted him at Ipswich.

He went to Ipswich on mine aswell. Van de Vaart is wicked.

Great thread title, just downloading the demo now. Can't wait to get stuck into a new SAFC game.

Let's hope we can replicate the success of 09 AcidBurn!

I hope we can, in a way this years is going to be even harder due to the strike force being severely underrated. There isn't as many players to sell to get some cash as there was on FM09. I think anywhere between 16th and 10th would be a good first season finish. I started with 3 wins and 2 draws then didn't win for 9 games, seems pretty hard to me so far but once the real game is out there will be alot more players to buy.

I'm really struggling for a right back here. Though I have signed David Beckham for 500k, and got him tutoring Jordan Henderson. (I'm sure in real life it would do the lad the world of good!)

Gretar Steinsson for £7m over 48 months:thup: good solid right back.

I'm really struggling for a right back here. Though I have signed David Beckham for 500k, and got him tutoring Jordan Henderson. (I'm sure in real life it would do the lad the world of good!)

I hope we can, in a way this years is going to be even harder due to the strike force being severely underrated. There isn't as many players to sell to get some cash as there was on FM09. I think anywhere between 16th and 10th would be a good first season finish. I started with 3 wins and 2 draws then didn't win for 9 games, seems pretty hard to me so far but once the real game is out there will be alot more players to buy.

i dont think darren bent is too far off in terms of stats..

but certainly kenwyne will get a boost when i get my hands on the editor

i dont think darren bent is too far off in terms of stats..

but certainly kenwyne will get a boost when i get my hands on the editor

Bents finishing, penalty taking and off the ball ratings are a joke to be fair.

Don't forget composure.

Just came in to say great opening post Acidburn.

C.

Nice OP!

My first thoughts were that Jones has been massively underrated however having played him through pre-season some starts and some sub ons, he has scored very consistently and i feel he might actually do about right in terms of goals, Bent on the other hand for me has been massively dissappointing, failed to score against hartlepool, so after 75 minsi bring on Jones as a direct sub no change to tactics and Jones nets two before the clock strikes 80....

Campbell has also been very good in front of goal pre season for me. So personally the only real problem is Bent for stats for me i think.

I like the boost to Fulop aswell after he did very well in Gordons absences.

I found Razvan Rat as a decent cheap left back to take over with McCartney as backup.

Bent on the other hand for me has been massively dissappointing

Tell me about it. Any one else massively frustrated at how often he manages to break clear and fluff his chance? He also has a first touch like a 20 yard pass.

Got a good game going with Sunderland, currently top after 10 games, with 22 points, scraped a lot of wins though, sure it won't last.

First 11 (4-2-3-1):

Gordon

Azpilicueta

Shawcross

Turner

Edman

Cana

Cattermole

Suarez

Afellay

Di Maria

Boriello

Results so far:

Fulham away W 3-2 (Malbranque 2, Boriello)

Birmingham Home W 3-0 (Afellay 2, Bent)

Man Utd away L 1-3 (Boriello)

Liverpool Home D 1-1 (Boriello)

Hull away W 2-1 (Di Maria, Boriello)

Portsmouth Home W 3-2 (Shawcross, Boriello, Carlos Eduardo)

Stoke away W 2-1 (Afellay, Suarez)

Tottenham Home W 2-0 (Boriello 2)

Chelsea away L 1-5 (Boriello)

Burnley away W 2-1 (Di Maria, Turner)

Oh yea and I got knocked out of the League Cup 2-1 by Plymouth away, played my reserves though...

How much did Suarez cost?

Great set of opening results.

I am also playing with Sunderland and I am doing quite well so far. After 6 games i am 3. in the prem. with 13 points. First is Chelsea with 15 points and second Everton with same points as me.

I bought these players:

Beckham €575k

Ronaldo €2M

Garrido €2.8M

Skjelbred €2.1M

Belletti €950k

Di Maria €5.75M

TOTAL € 14.25M

sold no one.

Playing with modified 4-4-2

Scorers so far: Leading the premier league charts is Kenwyne Jones with 4 goals - 4(2) appearances, Beckham 2, Campbell 2, Ronaldo and Skjelbred 1.

and these are my fixture results:

Fulham vs Sunderland 2 - 4 (Campbell 2, Jones 2)

Sund. vs Birmingham 3 - 1 (Jones 2, Beckham)

Man. Utd vs Sund. 1 - 0

Sund. vs L'pool 0 - 0

Hull vs Sund. 1 - 2 (Skjelbred, Beckham)

Sund. vs Portsmouth 1 - 0 (Ronaldo)

I am really enjoying so far

£17m on a 48 month deal...pretty pricey. However only just over £4m out of this years budget as it's over 48 months. Finished the demo now, sitting in 4th spot, 2 points clear of Man Utd in 5th who have a game in hand.

Bolton Home L 0-1

Villa Home W 3-1 (Boriello, Suarez, Edman)

Man City Away W 2-1 (Suarez 2)

Everton Home L 0-1

West Ham Home W 4-0 (Boriello 3, Cana)

Wolves Away D 0-0

Wigan Home W 2-1 (Afellay, Di Maria)

Arsenal Home L 1-4 (Afellay)

Blackburn Away W 2-1 (2 O.Gs!)

Fulham Home D 3-3 (O.G, Malbranque, Boriello)

Birmingham Away L 1-2 (Radoi)

Bit inconsistent in second half of demo, what I've realised is that I need to watch the matches, the 1 match I watched (away to Man City) I changed tactics 2 or 3 times mid game and got my best result of the demo. Every other game I just used text commentary and started and finished with the same tactic. Every other time I met a 'bigger' side I got hammered because I just went with my usual tactic.

Some side notes...Boriello hit 13 goals, 5th top scorer in league, he's a beast as a lone striker. My worst result came when he was ruled out of the Bolton game with a minor injury. Afellay is amazing in the Trequarista role in the hole behind Boriello, floating around everywhere. He's got the joint highest assists total in the league on 10, and also hit 5 goals in 18 starts.

How much did Suarez cost?

Great set of opening results.

Just started a save with Sunderland - tend to always be the first team I play as on a new FM so I don't see anything changing here.

I started with a mid-table finish which gave me the budget of 13 million and I made some smart loan signings and went for cheap, quality players.

This screenshot is my squad before the first game of the season, along with all pre-season results.

Just playing my first league game now again Fulham - RvN has just come back from injury and Di Maria signed the day before - hence they are not starting. Hopefully they will make an impact as substitutions.

I signed adriano from flamengo for 12 mill and him and bent have an awesome partnership, Bents got 5 goals in 3 games and adriano has got 7 goals in 3 games, everyone should sign a kid called matias defederico from Corinthians for 6 mill he's amazing the next messi

Some good signings, wil be interesting to see how RvN settles and plays over the season. I piked up Beckham for my Sunderland team in FM09 and he was a star, make sure he is taking the free kicks and corners! Biggest surprise for me is the benching of Kenwyne, for all his stats dont look too good for him, he is probably still the best option for banging the goals in.

Keep us updated with your results and how well the new boys are performing!

Just started a Sunderland game playing a 4-2-3-1 Tactic. As for signings i brought in: Angel Di Maria £3M, Daniel Opare £275K, Jonathon Cristaldo 900K, Tom De Mul £2.2M (starts on transfer list) and Gabriel Milito £4.9M (signed on last day of the transfer window, when he can pass the medical.)

As for results:

Fulham A lost 1-0

Birmingham H won 2-0

Man United A lost 4-1

Colchester (LC) H won 3-2

Liverpool H lost 2-1

Hull A won 6-1

Portsmouth H won 2-1

Sheff United A won 4-1

Stoke A won 2-1

So far I have won the matches I would be expected to beat, even if Colchester gave me a scare and lost to the big teams. Darren Bent is on fire for me with 6 goals in the Prem a hatrick against Hull, 2 against Portsmouth and 1 against Stoke. In the cup Bent has scored twice and none have involved the use of a beach ball.

I'm waiting to play as Sunderland with a friend on network when the game is out but for now I am just scooting in with reloads of the demo with Sunderland. I tend to offload richardson in favour of around 6-6.5m that Birmingham seem to enjoy paying. Nani is readily available with a bit of haggling from Man Utd for 12-15m

Bent is quite toned down, but I think that is in effect of how he performs. Yes he has done well this season and he did score 15 last year but he is so unreliable as of late, but I will stick by him and hopefully he will lead the line well alongside Jones. I'll probably draft in RVN like someone in this thread.

Like it has been said, I do have my reservations about having two ball winning midfielders so this may be an area I look toward.

Looks like it will be a great time in charge though and I can't wait for when the game comes out!

Hi guys. I loved using Sunderland on 09 and so thought i'd give them a chance on the demo. Its very hard to find a decent left back on this game that goes for quite cheap but I manage to find one eventually.

Here's my transfers and squad:

Wish I had read that you can buy Beckham for 500k as now I have to wait until January.

Kenwyne has been awsome in preseason, he's got 9 goals and 2 assists in 7 games. I use assistant for friendlies so don't know exactly what position he has played in but I have a striker position set to target man so I can only guess he's played there.

Good luck with your seasons on FM guys.

P.S. You're looking good in the league this season, good luck to you.

Hi All

Interesting to see how people are faring so far. I am coming up to the end of the demo and am lying in 11th position. Highlight of the season was beating Fulham 5-3 AET in the League Cup, with Daryl Murphy scoring 4!

I'm happy with 11th. It's pretty realistic and I have to say I have found the game, stats etc to be realistic overall. Probably Jones and Bent are a little under-rated stat-wise but I have no complaints as they're playing well, with Jones as Target Man (support) and Bent as Poacher. Have also used Campbell and N'Gog (loan) alongside Bent for Counter attacking or against slower teams.

My approach to the transfer market so far has been pretty simplistic. I've thought about what positions we need to strengthen in real life - left back, right back, right mid + cover in the def mid positions. With that in mind, I brought in Rat LB, Hibbert RB, Faubert RM and Yussuf DM (from Kiev I think). Also Soley on a free for additional DM cover, Driver from Hearts as LM cover and N'Gog on loan. Have only sold Richardson to West Ham. I'm not crazy about any of the transfers I've made and next time I will probably only sign N'Gog, but even so we've done alright.

I'm playing 4-2-2-2 with two DMs and two wide midfielders. Overall style depends on the opposition but generally I start with Standard and see how we get on. If I restart, or when I get the full game, I'd like to try different formations to accommodate Cattermole as he struggled at DM whereas Cana is Natural at DM and I decided to shape the team round him this time round.

The first team looks like this (some of the player styles change depending on the opponent):

Gordon GK

Hibbert RB (auto)

Rat LB (auto)

Turner CB (stopper)

Mensah CB (cover)

Cana DM (anchor)

Yussuf DM (anchor)

Malbranque RM (wide mid/support)

Reid LM (wide mid/support)

Jones ST (target/support)

Bent (poacher)

Subs: Cattermole, Fulop, Driver, Faubert, N'Gog, Campbell, McCartney

Overall, loving FM10 and can't wait for the full game!

Can't wait for the new FM to come out now, I won't be downloading the demo, so it will be more special when I do get the game to go with my new laptop.

Is it worth keeping Cattermole for the majority of his career? He is only young and has potential to develop, but does it look like he could progress to be a top class central midfielder on the game?

Cattermole is definitely worth holding onto, Campbell as well. Glad people are getting Jones and Bent to score plenty of goals.

Hi All

Interesting to see how people are faring so far. I am coming up to the end of the demo and am lying in 11th position. Highlight of the season was beating Fulham 5-3 AET in the League Cup, with Daryl Murphy scoring 4!

What a dirty lie.

Not a Rokerite by any stretch of the imagination but started as Sunderland hoping they'd have quite a lot of dough to throw about.

If I had my time again I'd sign Beckham, Di Maria, Krivets and Vela (loan) and definitely NOT sign Rat (moody, joker of a left-back).

Belleti's done well at right-back for home games but I prefer Bardsley when we're going into a game as second favourites coz he's quicker and stronger and always seems to be 'fired up' against tougher opposition (with the right team talk of course).

Jury's still out on Cristaldo and Skjelbred and in terms of staffing I've got rid of Eric Black (replaced by Tosh Farrell) as well as 4 crappy youth team coaches...

I'm playing 4-4-2 with Jones as a Support Target Man and either Vela or Bent as an Attacking Advanced Fwd.

Cattermole and Cana are both out with long-term injuries but until that happened I played them both as Supporting Box To Box midfielders, which they seemed to handle well. Beckham is a Support winger while Di Maria is set to Attack.

Turner's been solid but Anton and Da Silva have made a lot of mistakes.

Overall I'm happy with 11th in the league; just wish Razvan Rat had done a bit more to justify his price tag and shown a better attitude.

Hows it going then everyone? Just about to boot up for the first time and start with Sunderland.

Ive just started as Sunderland and am currently in September. Ive decided to go for a mix of youth and experience with the players ive brought in during the transfer window.

Players in:

David Beckham 475k

Bolo Zenden Free

Ruud Van Nistelrooy Loan

Angel Di Maria 4.3m

Sokratis Papastathopoulos 8m (mostly instalments)

Demba Ba 10m (mostly instalments)

Only managed to sell 1 player for a fee (Nosworthy) but a few players left on loan with a vie to permanent deal (Ferdinand, Murphy, Reid).

Season has started okay beating Birmingham 2-1 and drawing with both Man Utd and Arsenal (Was leading 2-0 with 10 mins to go). But its early and a few players have to settle in yet.

Chris Cohen is a good name to provide som depth in the middle, pretty young and cheap too.

How are you guys playing Bent? Is poacher the only way to go? I've only had limited succses so far, Campbell seems to be better.

Is anyone else seeing Sunderland playing with red socks for home kit and the white away kit appearing blue/black on the 3d?

Bent scores plenty as a poacher for me, he gets a lot from crosses with Malbranque and Reid as attacking wingers. Jones alongside as a targetman gets a lot of opportunities to shoot from 20 yards but usually misses.

Middle of November and im in 14th place after a shaky start. Weve managed draws against Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea but we cant win away from home, well we cant win at all really. Hopefully things will improve in January when Gabriel Milito, Chinedu Obasi and Marek Hamsik arrive. Fingers crossed.

Anyone get any money for January? I'm all out after buying Di Maria, Beckham, Ronaldo, Zezinho & bringing Degen and Shorey in on loan for a small fee.

Team's finally starting to gel, back to back wins against Birmingham and Wigan followed by a 2-1 defeat away to Chelsea with Campbell missing a 1 on 1 in the last minute, then winning a penalty and Cech saving it.

Campbell has been a revelation for me! 12 goals in 7 games until he got injured.

The secret to a decent result with Sunderland for me is to play cautious counter-attacking football with Cattermole and Cana supporting the defence. Two strikers often mean that I get 2 on 2 breakaways and have scored some lovely late goals as a result!

I'm bringing Hamsik to the SoL in January, so need to have a tinker with my formation.... I might see if he can play wide right.

I pretty much ended up buying the same players as everyone else in this thread, sitting in 7th 17 games into the season and pleased that i'm not going to have to get rid of all my players, like I usually do with Sunderland. Cattermole and Turner in particular are great, Frazier Campbell got a decent run in the team following a Bent injury and he's looked really sharp so far, grabbing himself 5 goals.

Couple of points

- If you get an outswinging corner taker, have them aim for near post and have Turner attacking near post, he's grabbed five goals doing that for me so far, some of them very vital ones against top opposition. Beckham usually takes my corners from the right and Di Maria from the left.

- I bought Shorey for LB and rotated him and McCartney, McCartney has been playing brilliantly for me, while Shorey has been average at best. I'd recommend looking for a decent, cheapish youngster with some potential for Lb backup instead of the £4mill I spent on Shorey. Or you could jsut loan him instead.

- If buying Beckham, you're probably best off trying to get him on a one year contract as his stats are deteriorating a bit for me in important areas (stamina & workrate). Plus he has massive wages.

-I sold Nosworthy for 1.5 mill and the fans absolutely hated me for it. He must be a favoured player which is ironic as i've been hearing all day long how he's a donkey and a liability whose time at s'land has passed.

- You can grab Ballack for abour 900k in January, his stats are still amazing and he's regularly playing in the Chelsea first team, but weirdly transfer listed. I'd be all over it, but my wage bill is already spiralling out of control and he wants a lot.

I'm 15th, ridiculously inconsistent. Figure out how the hell I've done this please.

Brilliant result there marcftm

Currently at xmas lying 4th. Had a good win at Old Trafford and drew at Goodison with narrow defeats from chelsea and liverpool. One of the few who doesnt play cattermole, prefer cana who seems to play better for me. Bent is on fire banging them in, havent really given campbell a chance yet. Riquelme whipping the corners has turner scoring loads at back post as some mentioned.

Transfers

Di Maria 5m

Fanni 6.25m

Roy Makaay 500k

Riquelme 4.5m

Team

Gordon

Fanni

McCartney

Da Silva - immense

Turner

Malbranque

Di Marie

Riquelme

Cana

Bent

Jones

Started a new save as Sunderland last night and I have made 4 hopefully key signings so far (still looking for a reasonably priced RB)

Angel Di Maria - 4.2mil over 48months

Rafael van der Vaart - 8.25mil over 48months

David Beckham - 475k over 48months

Oscar Cardozo - 4.5mil over 48months

My defence needs improving with some cheaper players and loan signings, anyone reccomend any players? Cheers.