FM10 : Official - Aston Villa - Recreate 1982.

Welcome to the Aston Villa guide for Football Manager 2010

Based in Birmingham, Aston Villa (nicknamed Villa/Villans) play their football in The Barclays Premier League. Founded in 1874, one of the founding team of what is now The Premier League.

Currently playing in their 42500 seated stadium, Villa Park. The main behind goal stand The Holte End is the largest behind goal stand in England, beating Liverpool’s Kop.

Villa’s most successful time came between 1981-1982, in which Villa won the European Cup (now The Champions League) one of only four English clubs to reach that achievement. Villa have also won The First Division seven times, FA Cup seven times, and overall won 20 major honours.

Villa enjoy a fierce rivalry with fellow Birmingham side, Birmingham City, although West Bromwich Albion is physically closer to Villa Park.

The traditional colours of Aston Villa, claret and blue stretch to the kit as well, in the 09/10 season Villa play in claret body, blue selves shirts and white shorts.

Squad

1 Brad Friedel

2 Luke Young

3 Wilfred Bouma

4 Steven Sidwell

6 Stuart Downing

7 Ashley Young

8 James Milner

9 Marlon Harewood

10 John Carew

11 Gabriel Agbonlahor

12 Marc Albrighton

14 Nathan Delfouneso

15 Curtis Davies

16 Fabian Delph

17 Moustapha Salifou

18 Emile Heskey

19 Stiliyan Petrov

20 Nigel Reo-Coker

21 Nick Shorey

22 Brad Guzan

23 Habib Beye

24 Carlos Cueller

25 Stephen Warnock

26 Craig Gardner

27 Isaiah Osbourne

42 Andreas Weimann

43 Elliott Parish

44 Eric Lichaj

45 Shane Lowry

46 Barry Bannan

47 Ciaran Clark

48 Nathan Baker

49 Christopher Herd

50 Jonathon Hogg

Information

Transfer/Wage Budgets Red is what i suggest

Transfers Winner = £3.9m, Title Challenge = £3.7m, European Qualification via league = £3.4m , Top Half = £2.7m

Wages Winner = £875k, Title Challenge = £850k, European Qualification via league = £825k , Top Half = £725k. Currently wages are at £667k Per Week.

Staff

Strengths/Weaknesses

Goalkeeper

- You have a very strong GK in big Brad Friedel, with younger USA 'keeper Brad Guzan waiting in the wings to take over the No1 spot. Andy Marsell should provide enough cover for 3rd choice. Goalkeeper isnt really a urgent position to improve, but can be if funds/players avaliable.

Defence

-The defence is looking pretty strong at the start of the game. In Richard Dunne you have a born leader, although prone to the odd mistake can be relied upon to be a rock at the back. James Colins is a good defender, although maybe not the class Villa need in order to break into the top 4. Carlos Cuellear and Curtis Davis will also provide strong CB's. Davis may take a season to develop into a top class defender. For LB/RB Villa have Luke Young and Stephen Warnock, both are good quality for the standard of football Aston Villa need to play. Personnally the back four should be - (L)Young-Cuellar-Dunne-Warnock

Midfield

- After last seasons transfer saga over Gareth Barry, Villa shipped him out early to Manchester City, allowing us to bring in 19y/o Fabian Delph. Villa usually play good football when going 4-5-1, with wingers (Young/Milner/Downing) bossing up the wings. Young is a top class, English attacking midfield, DONT SELL, he will become vital in any league/cup runs you wish to have. Milner is a very consitant player, always putting in 100% into every game, again a top class winger, although unlike Young, could possibly sell if resonable offer is recieved. Despite having Young and Milner, Martin O'Neill decided to bring in Stuart Downing. Unfortunatly, i havnt seen him play much so can't pass comment.

For CM, its easy. For the first few seasons, it has to be Nigel Reo-Coker and Stylian Petrov. Play Fabian Delph in cup games etc, and wait for him to develop. A CM should be near the top of your transfer targets.

Attack

- Villa could do with strengthen upfront. Carew/Agbonlahor are the best strikers in the squad. Harewood isnt premier league quality so sell! Heskey may prove to be a good squad player, so possibly keep.

Key Players

Richard Dunne

Nigel Reo-Coker

Ashley Young

John Carew

Transfers

Right, postions need improving are definatly a Striker, and CM. I would recommend Jenas, Stephen Ireland, Angelo Palombo.

For Striker, need a quality striker. Budget isnt all that unless you sell of deadwood, so i recommend Artem Milevskiy, Dzeko, Cardozo.

For sales, definatly ship out Harewood, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner and maybe Sidwell.

Youth

In Villa there are some very promising youngstars.

Nathan Delfouneso,

Marc Albrighton,

Barry Bannan,

Gary Gardner.

Fabian Delph

Formation

Personnally, 4-5-1 is the way to play with Villa.

--------------Freidel--------------

Young-Cuellar-Dunne-Warnock

------NRC-Petrov-Sidwell-------

Milner----------------------Young

----------Agbonlahor------------

The End. Hope you enjoy your Villa save, and as this is my first club thread, would apperciate any comments, good and bad

Sparey.

Nice OP Sparey, can't believe the **** poor transfer budget

I haven't had a look at villa yet..

I just went random and played around with options and getting a feel of the layout.

Set up all the graphics I may need.... I'll look into Villa in a day or 2...

Excellent OP btw

done now

Only me who it is ridiqulous that Milner, Young and Agbonlahor all have worse attributes than at FM09?

Young should be up there at the top IMO. Gabby needs some work to compete with the likes of Rooney/RvP. Milner is just as good (if not better) than Young. But then again possbily doesnt have the same ability as Walcott.

To be honest i can understand why Young has worse stats than last season. For about 9 months now he has done next to nothing.

I sold Milner to City for 10.5 million, I sold Gardner and Shorey to Sunderland for 4 million and 4.5 million respectively, and Harewood to Boro for 1.3 million. I bought in Van Der Vaart on loan (1.2 million fee), Di Maria from Benfica for 3.1 million and Veloso from Sporting for 10 million. Could of had Hamsik for 10.75 million instead if I'd of waited.

Basically, the start of season budget is very poor so it makes sense to get rid of the deadwood and a couple of the first teamers like Milner, and probably Heskey, NRC, Sidwell if possible, because there's better quality out there for similar prices.

To be honest i can understand why Young has worse stats than last season. For about 9 months now he has done next to nothing.

sorry for post

Shouldnt of sold Milner mate. His work ethic is amazing. Di Maria may be good on the wings, but Milner is top class, and 10.5m is abit to low for him IMO.

Good in's with VdV, Di Maria and Veloso! Would of got Hamisk though instead for the little extra. Sunderland always seem to buy my players like Harewood (got 2.5m for him) Shorey/Gardner both went for 5m

Shouldnt of sold Milner mate. His work ethic is amazing. Di Maria may be good on the wings, but Milner is top class, and 10.5m is abit to low for him IMO.

Good in's with VdV, Di Maria and Veloso! Would of got Hamisk though instead for the little extra. Sunderland always seem to buy my players like Harewood (got 2.5m for him) Shorey/Gardner both went for 5m

Yeah, I'm interested in seeing how people get on with Milner, his stats look pretty good to me but I wasnt sure about his quality to score or get assists, that said Di Maria has only scored 1 for me so far (in 3 appearences, no assists, but starting to play well). The main reason I sold him was to get some quality in the centre, so far Veloso has been quality, 2 assists in 3 averaging 7.7, and VDV is amazing, 3 goals in 3 games with 4 assists, playing in a 4-5-1 with VDV behind the forward as the attacking playmaker. So in that I think Veloso gives better balance over someone like Hamsik who cant defend.

Results so far:

2-2 away to Liverpool (after throwing away a 2 goal lead)

6-1 aggregate win over Debrecen in the cup.

3-0 home wins again Stoke and Hull.

I forgot to save my above game, so ive had to start again! Just loading it up now. Definalty going to bring in VdV on loan for the season, and sell Gardner/Harewood and Shorey. Loaning out Albrighton/Bannan aswell hopefully.

Might sell 1 first teamer for over 10m (it may have to be Milner ) But will try someone like Sidwell, or Cuellar

starting a new villa demo game later. Who should I bring in from anyone's experience?

i started to play a aston villa game last night. I decided to sell milner and young and go for a wingerless formation i have brought in van der vaart and van nistolroy and they have both worked well together i also have david beckham coming in january i have won all of my friendly games but lost my first prem game to liverpool 1-0 tho i had a good proformance from the team i am thinking that i should maybe bring in a new RB can any one recommend a good solid RB ?

my formation looks like this

--------------Freidel--------------

Young-Cuellar-Dunne-Warnock----

----------------NRC---------------

---Sidwell----VDV----Petrov------

------Carew----Van nistolroy------

You should've just paid the maximum £1,000,000 for Beckham,

as the Demo only goes for about 6mths so you won't get to use him until the full version comes out.

It's probably smart selling Young & Milner if you don't use wingers

But you could get alot better than Sidwell & Petrov to play the CM spots...

Fork out a tonne of cash and try get someone like Romaric... just for a change

ye ye but the problem is i dont have a tonne of cash because villa dont really have that much money to start of with any way i have about 9 mill left and i think im yet to sell some fringe players so maybe have about 14 mill left then

Has Palombo been sold out? 14m should be enough to get him as a new CM if you want better than sidders/petrov. I can also say keep Delfouneso, he has been banging them in for me at first team level at the start. 5 in 5 so far.

POSSIBLE (Well actually, blatant demo) CHEATING

You guys don't take advantage of the "Demo Boundaries"

you can sign almost any player by exploiting the 6mth game.

Offer about £1mil and the rest after about 30 legaue matches or something like that.

They maybe accept then if the player wants to join, you have him.

That way you can see if he'll be any good for your tactics etc...

I signed van der Vaart for £7.5mil with an initial payment of £500,000 and £7mil after 30 games. Just to see if it'll work..

I also had an offer of £5Mil up front with £25mil after 20 games accepted just to see if they would... he didn't want to join though.

Has Palombo been sold out? 14m should be enough to get him as a new CM if you want better than sidders/petrov. I can also say keep Delfouneso, he has been banging them in for me at first team level at the start. 5 in 5 so far.

Yes i have noticed delfouneso seems to have been notched up a bit in this game seems to score quite a few i had him one point playing up front with gabby and he was assisting and scoreing a fair amount.

Tbf, Delfouneso and Albrighton seem to be upgrading in this game, very good news indeed as they are (i know) highly rated by the staff at Villa, and look very promising.

regarding the clubs loan repayments - 'After a bit of investigation, the loan being paid back to Randy shouldn't happen and is down to a misunderstanding. I have asked for it to be removed when there is a data update but I have also tested removing it using the editor and it literally takes 30 seconds so it is no real problem. ' *not my words, but from a trusted source*

Nice opening post mate and some useful information. But just being picky its 'Villans' not 'Villains'

regarding the clubs loan repayments - 'After a bit of investigation, the loan being paid back to Randy shouldn't happen and is down to a misunderstanding. I have asked for it to be removed when there is a data update but I have also tested removing it using the editor and it literally takes 30 seconds so it is no real problem. ' *not my words, but from a trusted source*

Mate you can tell them it was what I said ffs it is posted in the data forum.

Lads, instead of posting your data complaints in here, come to the data issues forum and post them in there. You are most welcome provided you follow the posting instructions in the thread.

So are we all playing 4-5-1 then?

Im trying a 4-4-2 with carew as a holding and agbon as a poacher.

Which is working great! Agbon seems like a monster - 4 games, 11 goals, Young is providing the assists 4 games, 2 goals, 4 assists, so is Milner 4 games, 1 goals, 5 assists.

I'm unsure how to play my CM? Any ideas thats working well so far?

i played 4-4-2 with carew as supporting target man and gabby as advanced foward seemed to work well at the start i beat liverpool 2-1 coming from behind and beat chelsea in carling cup 1-0 but seemed to go down hill from there i brought in senderos at the back he has been a beast at the back. but i have brought in artem milveskyi and now after 21 games i am 8th place.

Milveskyi has 9 goals in 17 games

Gabby only has 8 in 21

so its not going to bad but i think Milveskyi is yet to settel in and dosent speak english either but looks an amazing player.

Almost at the end of my 6 month stint on the demo, and all is going really bloody well.

Didn't make any real signings, instead getting VDV on a season-long loan with a £7.5m option to buy and Marco Borriello on another season-long loan with a £6m option to buy. Was tempted to offer Beckham a contract, but he wanted Key Player status and £80k a week, which I can't do.

Everyone has been playing outstandingly well, and at December 17 we find ourselves 4th in the Prem (2 points behind Chelsea in 1st place and have a game in hand). At one point I was 2 points clear at the top, but a string of draws helped others to catch up.

Through to the quarter finals of the League Cup, after beating Southampton, Chelsea and Fulham.

Through to the knockout stage of Europa League, finishing top of my group with 14 points (rest of the group: Athletic, Fenerbache, Dinamo).

Normally playing a 4-4-2 with the following first team:

GK: Friedel

RB: Beye

LB: Warnock

CB: Davies (Dunne's crocked until approx. March 2010)

CB: Cuellar

RM: Milner

LM: Young

CM: VDV

CM: Petrov

ST: Heskey

ST: Gabby

[Against the dangerous teams I play a 4-5-1, with Heskey as a loan striker, usually replaced at about 70 minutes for the pace of Gabby. NRC is my defensive midfielder]

Top scorers:

Gabby - 15

Heskey - 8

Young/Carew - 7

Assists:

VDV - 8

Young/Milner - 5

Heskey/Borriello - 4

Mid-November I was given an extra £15m transfer budget by the board so immediately used that £7.5m clause in his loan contract - but he refused to join, saying it would be a "step in the wrong direction". So instead, I'm getting Marek Hamsik in January for £11m. Also want to get some cash together to make Borriello permanent as he always either scores or assists whenever he plays.

Biggest results so far:

Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield

Chelsea 2-1 at Villa Park

Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge

Dinamo 4-3 in Zagreb (came back from being 3-0 down at half time)

Arsenal 1-1 at the Emirates

Anyone else think that Albrighton is a really good cover on the right wing? He's done well whenever I've played him, and not necessarily always against weak teams. Bannan does a job on the left as well, just got man of the match in my final Europa cup group game against Dinamo at home (played my 'B' team).

I'm unsure how to play my CM? Any ideas thats working well so far?

I assume your CM is Petrov/NRC? Have NRC as a defensive CM and Petrov as a deep-lying playmaker (with the support option) and it should balance out a bit better.

Any chance of you uploading your tactics AndyP? I'm doing &^%£ now.

Any chance of you uploading your tactics AndyP? I'm doing &^%£ now.

Right im trying again with a more realistic Villa formation, I went to pot as soon as the premiership matchs started.

Im playing a 4-5-1 counter attack with:

--------------Freidel--------------

-----Young(FB Auto)-------Cuellar/Davis-Dunne-------Warnock(FB Auto)-----

----------NRC/Delph(Box)-Petrov(Defence)-Hamsik(Box)----------------

Milner(Wing Attack)------------------Young(Wing Attack)

-------Agbonlahor/Carew/Emile (Target or Agbon as Poacher)-----

Its not going great to be honest, mainly draws or 1/2 nil wins in the pre-season.

What instructions are you guys setting for the fullbacks and wingers?

Hey Hobgob, sorry for the late reply.

I've not done anything magical - I'm just using the standard 4-4-2 system, Standard strategy and Rigid philosophy, with pre-defined individual orders. As long as I have a good passing/creative player as the Support CM and a quick finisher as the Advanced Forward it works. If I'm against a team who I'd expect to struggle against, I play a 4-5-1, with a Counter strategy and again a Rigid philosophy. I'll change the strategy through the game: If I'm on top of the game, with the most possession and chances and winning, I'll change to Control (or even attacking if I'm not already winning); and on the flip-side, if I'm winning by a tight margin I would either select Counter or Contain depending on who I'm playing and how I'm dominating the game.

I might just be really lucky how this is working out, mind you.

Starting a game as Villa. I didn't want to mess with the squad too much but I ended up spending over £50m, heh.

Transfers

I know some of you'll go nuts that I sold Gabby, but he really wouldn't have got any game time. I was hoping to get more for him, but nobody was interested. Sidwell was part of my plans until I had an offer accepted for Sandro, so I decided I'd let him leave as I still have Reo-Coker/Delph as back up. Dzeko I wanted, because he's an improvement on what we've got and I want to test him out too! I was actually trying to ship Heskey out as I only play 1 up front and I prefer Carew, but there was no interest. Di Maria will provide good back up on the wing, though he may become a first teamer as he looks better than Milner, we'll see.

Tactics

We didn't score a great amount of goals pre-season but we have kept 7/7 clean sheets which is nice. Not sure what to expect in the league, got a good test in our first game as we're away at Liverpool

You made a big mistake selling Gabby and for only 4 mill aswell.

Lone striker in the same formation your playing!

Well done. But we don't all play the same way.

Personally I'm amazed at how good Gabby is in the game. Speaking as a Villa fan I do love the guy, but he's been nothing short of a goalscoring machine on my demo game. Hopefully that'll last over onto the full game! I also hope that I can manage to convince Borriello to join, as he's immense.

You made a big mistake selling Gabby and for only 4 mill aswell.

Lone striker in the same formation your playing!

What settings have you got him on? I have my best luck with him set to poacher.

Also what settings do you play your CB's on? Mine are just standard atm, was wondering if you had found a more profitable setting.

I've been playing FM for many years now and every time I start with Villa. I'm a Chelsea fan really, but for some reason, starting with Villa seems more fun and challenging.

However, I can't say I've been too successful with Villa over the past two FM's. FM 07, I won the CL (beat Real Madrid on Penalties) and I think I may have won the League, can't quite remember. But in FM 08 and 09 I really struggled to win anything. I don't think it's because I'm a crappy manager (maybe some of it is), it's just something I just can't quite understand. So I'm hoping that this FM is going to be like 07 (winning) and not like the previous baron games where the only thing I earned was my P45...

Anyway, I'd just like to say that your topic has really helped me out. I do know quite a bit about football, but as Villa aren't my main team to support, I don't know all the little intricacies that a real fan would know about. Hopefully this will help me actually win something and I'll keep you updated with how I'm progressing (hopefully).

Thanks -

Great thread... No doubt I will be visiting here a lot over the coming months!

Quick question though. Downloaded it via Steam this morning, now want to make a few tweaks to the game (get rid of the gift so we don't have to pay it back etc). Where is editor? Am I being reeeaally slow? Just can't find it,

Cheers.

Great thread... No doubt I will be visiting here a lot over the coming months!

Quick question though. Downloaded it via Steam this morning, now want to make a few tweaks to the game (get rid of the gift so we don't have to pay it back etc). Where is editor? Am I being reeeaally slow? Just can't find it,

Cheers.

I found the editor by:

Start > Games > FM10 > Right Click - Editor.

I've started a game with Villa, obviously going to develop the young talent of Delfouneso, Albrighton, Clark and Delph, but otherwise, I'll keep the squad pretty much the same for the first season. Sold Shorey and Harewood, obviously, considering selling Gardner. I still need a CM, Standard want £20million for Defour! WTF.

I'm looking to bring in a good DM and a good FC (quick, nimble etc) my budget is £7.5m each or £15m between the two.

It is in the first transfer window.

Thanks,

Hobgob.

I'd recommend Hamsik, he's doing wonderful as my advanced playmaker

im doing awful with villa any tactcs or is another year si have underated my beloved villa.

I'd recommend Hamsik, he's doing wonderful as my advanced playmaker

How much did he cost? And who did you sell?

im doing awful with villa any tactcs or is another year si have underated my beloved villa.

I think they've been criminally underrated. Milner and Young are two of the top 5 wingers in the league, and you would never have guessed based on the stats on this game.

I think they've been criminally underrated. Milner and Young are two of the top 5 wingers in the league, and you would never have guessed based on the stats on this game.

You can always just edit them with FMRTE.

What settings have you got him on? I have my best luck with him set to poacher.

Also what settings do you play your CB's on? Mine are just standard atm, was wondering if you had found a more profitable setting.

I had Gabby as Target Man with the supply as Run On To Ball. I used the standard settings for my CB's aswell mate.

Any advice tactics wise? Im trying my best here and it just isnt happening. On a 3 match losing streak in feb 2010. 10th in the league, struggling for any kind of consistency.

Any ideaS?

I had Gabby as Target Man with the supply as Run On To Ball. I used the standard settings for my CB's aswell mate.

Ok cheers ill try Gabby under those settings for a while and see what happens, at the moment hes not doing too great with goals in the league but i'm playing with a weird formation at the moment.

GK - Friedel

WBL -Warnock (He is rubish at WBL but I'm determined to train him lol)

CB - Dunne

CB - Davis

WBR - L Young

DM - Ancher Man - Veloso

AML - Inside Forward L - Young

AMC - Advanced playmaker - R van Der Vaart

AMR - Inside Forward R - Milner

ST - Complete forward - Adriano

ST - Poacher/Target Man - Gabby

6th after 9 games but only 16pts.

I'm looking to bring in a good DM and a good FC (quick, nimble etc) my budget is £7.5m each or £15m between the two.

It is in the first transfer window.

Thanks,

Hobgob.

DM - Moussa Sissoko

FC - Gignac? Nilmar? Rossi?

im doing awful with villa any tactcs or is another year si have underated my beloved villa.

SI don't rate the players themselves, voluntary fans do it, usually avid supporters and season ticket holders, if you want to raise questions over the Villa players stats, there's a thread in the data forum, where your input may then actually have an affect on the game come the January patch

Any advice tactics wise? Im trying my best here and it just isnt happening. On a 3 match losing streak in feb 2010. 10th in the league, struggling for any kind of consistency.

Any ideaS?

What tactics do you use?

==================================

I started a Villa save, I'm 8th in the league in mid-November, with a game in hand over the rest of the league - if I win I could jump to 6th.

Still in the League Cup.

Bought an awesome REGEN from some Scottish team, he's only 16 and is gonna be a rock in my defence in the future

Plus, I have Jadson and Jagielka coming in january. Delph and Delfouneso have impressed immensely in the games they've played, next season they'll probably be regular starters.

TRANSFERS

TACTICS

TACTICS

When playing at home I tend to go with 'Control', and when away I leave on 'Standard', and when I go a goal up switch to 'Counter'.

GK: Goalkeeper - Defend

Full Backs: Full Back - Automatic

CBs: Central Defender - Defend

One CM (Thompson/Reo-Coker): Ball-Winner - Defend

The other (Petrov/Delph): Central Midfielder - Support

Wingers: Winger - Attack

ST (Carew/Heskey): Target Man - Support

ST (Gabby/Delfouneso): Advanced Forward - Attack