FM10: Official Fulham Thread

Fulham Football Club, commonly known as The Cottages or The Whites, is an English football club based in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, The Cottages are the oldest professional football team in London, celebrating their 125th anniversary in 2004.

Overview

Fulham have maintained Premier League status ever since their promotion to the top flight under Frenchman Jean Tigana in 2001. This represented a third promotion in just five seasons for the Cottagers and they have not looked back, establishing themselves in the Premier League.

The 2006/07 season's 16th place finish was the first campaign where the club failed to finish between 9th and 14th position in the Premier League. In the 2005/06 season, Fulham's home form was the best outside the top six as they secured 13 wins from 19 matches.

Manager Chris Coleman was sacked as the 2006/07 season neared its end, with Lawrie Sanchez taking over on a temporary basis. The former Northern Ireland manager steered the Cottagers to safety and was subsequently rewarded with the full-time job.

But after the team struggled in the opening months of the 2007/08 season, Sanchez was also fired. Ray Lewington briefly took over as caretaker manager before Roy Hodgson was appointed and guided the club to safety with a dramatic last day win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park. In 2008/09, Hodgson guided Fulham to seventh and a place in the Europa League.

Club Heritage

The club was formed in 1879 as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School. Fulham were founded by worshippers of the C of E church in Star Road, West Kensington. The church is still in existence today, with a plaque commemorating the team's foundation. The club's name was shortened to its present form in 1888.

Fulham started playing at Craven Cottage in 1896 and gained professional status on 12th December 1898. The club's first recorded all-white kit was worn in 1903 and since then they have played in a white shirt with black shorts.

Fulham's Premier League consolidation is quite an achievement in view of the lowest ebb of the 1990s. The club was relegated to the Third Division in 1994 and two years later finished 17th out of 24 teams.

But the appointment of Micky Adams as manager saw the Cottagers quickly promoted again, and two more subsequent promotions under Kevin Keegan and then Tigana earned Fulham a swift return to the top flight. With just 1,000 season ticket holders and seven full-time staff during the darkest days of the mid-nineties, Fulham's transformation is no mean feat.

Club Information

Full name: Fulham Football Club

Nicknames: The Cottages, The Whites, The Lilywhites

Founded: 1879 (as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School)

Ground: Craven Cottage: Fulham, London (Capacity: 25,678)

Chairman: Mohamed Al-Fayed

Manager: Roy Hodgson

Major Rivals: Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers

Minor Rivals: Brentford

Affiliates: Germinal Beerschot (Belgium)

Club Legends: Johnny Haynes, Mohamed Al-Fayed

Clubs Icons: Gordon Davies, George Cohen, Simon Morgan

Favoured Personnel: Brian McBride, Jimmy Hil, Roy Hodgson, Chris Coleman, Micky Adams, Luis Boa Morte

Media Prediction: 10th

Continental Competition: Euro Cup

Club Captain: Danny Murphy

Vice Captain: Brade Hangeland

Corporate Facilities: Average Facilities

Training Facilities: Top Training Facilities

Youth Facilities: Good Youth Facilities + Youth Academy

KITS:

Club Finances

Estimated Value: £58 Million (Loan Debt: £189 Million)

Balance:

Average Ticket Price: £42.50

Average Season Ticket Price: £631

Sponsors: 3 Year Main Kit Sponsorship Deal at £4.59 Million per Season. Ends 2010

Start of Season Expectations

Top Half Finish: 575k Transfer Budget, 600k Wage Budget

Continental Qualification Through League Finish: 725k Transfer Budget, 675k Wage Budget

Title Challenge: 775k Transfer Budget, 675k Wage Budget

Winner: 825k Transfer Budget, 700k Wage Budget

Currently Spending £589,860k Per Week on Wages

Fulham F.C.

First Team Squad

[b]GK:[/b] [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Schwarzer.jpg"]Mark Schwarzer[/url], [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Zuber.jpg"]Pascal Zuberbuhler[/url]
[b]CB:[/b] Chris Baird, Toni Kallio, [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Hangelandstats.jpg"]Brede Hangeland[/url], Aaron Hughes
[b]RB:[/b] [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Kelly.jpg"]Stephen Kelly[/url], [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Pantsil.jpg"]John Pantsil[/url], [url="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/jarroldo/Stoor.jpg"]Fredrik Stoor[/url]
[b]LB: [/b]Paul Konchesky
[b]DM[/b]: Kagiso Dikgacio
[b]CM:[/b] Jonathan Greening, Danny Murphy, Dikson Etuhu
[b]RM:[/b] Simon Davies, Zoltan Gera, Bjorn Helge Riise
[b]LM:[/b] Diomansy Kamara
[b]AM:[/b] Clint Dempsey, Damien Duff
[b]ST:[/b] Andy Johnson, Erik Nevland, Bobby Zamora, David Elm

Squad Analysis

Goalkeeper: Mark Schwarzer is a great keeper and no investment will be needed here for a few seasons. However, Zuberbühler and Stockdale are not good back up so you may want to invest in a cheap one. However, I’d advise spending money elsewhere first as Zuberbühler can suffice for the first season. Tactics wise, play Schwarzer as a normal goalkeeper on ‘defend’

Right Back: You have three natural position players here in Pantsil, Kelly and Stoor. Kelly is easily the best player here and should suffice for a season or two. But Eventually you will want a better right back at a later point. Hughes and Baird can also play here if needed, although this probably not be necessary. Pantsil is good back up, and can be rotated with Kelly. You may want to get rid of Stoor, who, despite being very versatile, is average at best.

Left Back: A problem area. The only natural left back you have available is Konchesky, although he isn't all that great. Stoor and Kallio can be used as backups, but they are very average. Stoor is very weak with his left foot and Kallio is only rated 1 and a half stars in the left-back position. I’d look to get a reinforcement here, a first teamer is a possibility although Konchesky is good enough to be rotated.

Centre Back: A safe area. Brede Hangeland is amazing for this level, and Hughes is good enough too. You can get a lot of money out of Hangeland if need be, but I do not advise selling him. You may want another back up as Baird and Kallio aren’t fantastic, but I don’t recommend investing in this position in the first season, as what you have currently is fine for the first season.

Defensive Midfield: Dikgacoi is a your best option here and you have a lot of back up in Etuhu, Davies, Greening and Dempsey. I would mainly play Dikgacio, and rotate him with Etuhu. I wouldn’t look to boost this area unless you play with two defensive midfielders, which I don't recommend.

Centre Midfield: Another area waiting to be bolstered, but not necessary in the first season. Murphy is decent goal scorer and Dempsey is a fair player too. If you believe this position is lacking some creativity, you may want to look for someone young who could grow into a great player. Although as aforementioned, I do not recommend signing a player in the first season.

Right Midifield: A very healthy area. You have four very decent players that can play this position and you also have a mix of young and old at your disposal. Dempsey is your best player here, but personally I would play him in the centre of midfield and play Davies on the right when he gets back from injury. Till then, rotate Gera and Riise as they are good enough to play from the start.

Left Midfield: Duff and Kamara are your players for this position, and the right wing players can pose as back ups too. Konchesky can also play here. Duff is very slow for the wing and his technical skill aren’t the best, so I’d play Kamara. I’d get rid of Duff as his wages are too high for someone that will only be a back up. However, he may be tough to get rid of. You don’t need anyone here but if necessary you could bring in a younger player.

Striker: A problem area. Your best player here is Johnson, but apart from him the rest are lower premiership players at best. I’d ship out two and bring in two, one a pacey young player and the other a strong experienced targetman. Although Johnson is very good, the ageing Nevland and Zamora who can not finish to save his life, aren’t good enough.

A special thankyou to DiscoStu94 for providing this information.

Recommended Formation:

Coming soon

Reserved.

Will be adding more soon

any changes or alterations you see that should be made would be much appreciated

cheers

Good start, I'll shall be adding it to the links thread.

Feel the strikers are pretty poor this season which probably reflects real life.

With only a small amount to spend its very difficult to find a decent striker.

I thourght of just buying a striker for a season and then hopefully having some money to spend next year would be a good idea.

Came up with the following list:

Mark Viduka: Slate me all you want but hes better than what is their

Rivaldo: 37 and demands high wages but he is still quality.

Jari Lietman: Hopefully his famous 'ear' injury wont stop him playing

All of these can be brought on free or for less than £500k will do for a season until you get some funds.

Any others people can think off.

A couple of my friends have season tickets at Craven Cottage, so I've been so see them this season. I would expect to have to do a lot of wheeler-dealing with Fulham. They really lack creativity and a top-quality striker.

Feel the strikers are pretty poor this season which probably reflects real life.

With only a small amount to spend its very difficult to find a decent striker.

I thourght of just buying a striker for a season and then hopefully having some money to spend next year would be a good idea.

Came up with the following list:

Mark Viduka: Slate me all you want but hes better than what is their

Rivaldo: 37 and demands high wages but he is still quality.

Jari Lietman: Hopefully his famous 'ear' injury wont stop him playing

All of these can be brought on free or for less than £500k will do for a season until you get some funds.

Any others people can think off.

yeah i agree, the strikers are not great

im not so sure about the signings though, i'll have to try them out for myself and get back to you

Good start, I'll shall be adding it to the links thread.

cheers

This may help your squad analysis, although you could may a few tweaks here and there as I only had a quick look at the team. You may want to make an overall general analysis too:

Goalkeeper : Mark Schwarzer is a great keeper for Fulham as he proved last season. However, Zuberbühler and Stockdale are not very good back up so you may want to invest in a cheap one. However, I’d advise spending money elsewhere first as Zuberbühler can suffice for the first season. Tactics wise, play Schwarzer as a normal goalkeeper on ‘defend’

Right back: You have three natural position players here in Pantsil, Kelly and Stoor. Hughes and Baird can also play here if needed, although this probably not be necessary. Kelly is your best bet here, and he is solid enough for this level, although you will want better at a later point. Pantsil is very good back up, and can be rotated with Kelly. You may want to get rid of Stoor, who, despite being very versatile, is average at best.

Left back: A problem area. You only have Konchesky as a natural player here, and even he is not a great player, being rated only 2 stars out of 5. Stoor and Kallio are not very good back ups either, as Stoor is very weak with the left foot and Kallio is only rated 1 and a half stars here. I’d look to get a reinforcement here, a first teamer is possible although Konchesky is good enough to be rotated.

Centre back: A safe area. Brede Hangeland is amazing for this level, and Hughes is good enough too. You can get a lot of money out of Hangeland is needed, but I do not advise selling him. You may want another back up as Baird and Kallio aren’t fantastic, but don’t spend too much money on it, as what you have is fine. I’d suggest Andrade as a back up.

Defensive Midfield: Dikgacoi is a decent defensive midfielder and you have a lot of back ups here in Etuhu, Davies, Greening and Dempsey. Digacoi is you best defensive midfielder although he has competition from Etuhu who I’d rotate with Dikgacoi and I wouldn’t look to boost this area and I would only play a defensive midfielder against the tough teams. Your back ups are good enough to cover and Hangeland can also play if required.

Centre Midfield: Another area waiting to be bolstered. Although Murphy is excellent and a goal scorer too and Dempsey is a decent player too, I’d get a cheap young creative back up because after these two the only real creative player you have is Greening who is ageing and not at his best in my opinion. So try to find a young player who is willing to wait on the sidelines till he gets his chance.

Right Midifield: A healthy area. You have four very decent players on this position as well as having a mix of young and old. Although Dempsey is your best player here, I’d play him if centre midfield and play Davies here when he gets back from injury. Till then, rotate Gera and Riise as they are good enough to play from the start.

Left Midfield: Duff and Kamara are your players for this position, and the right wing players can pose as back ups too. Konchesky can also play here. Duff is very slow for the wing and his technical skill aren’t the best, so I’d play Kamara. I’d get rid of Duff as his wages are too high for someone that will only be a back up. However, he may be tough to get rid of. You don’t need anyone here but a younger player.

Striker: A problem area. Your best player here is Johnson, and after this the rest are lower premiership players at best. I’d ship out two and bring in two, one a pacey young player and the other a strong experienced targetman. Although Johnson is very good, the ageing Nevland and Zamora who can not finish to save his life, aren’t good enough.

Zamora is useless, although Nevland is a good impact player. Dikgacoi looks a decent player though im a bigger fan of Etuhu and i don't think they both fit in the same side. Definatly a left back and a decent striker is a must, but with the budget finding any is gonna be a struggle.

Zamora has been alright for me, I got rid of Nevland. OI sold Etuhu for £3.5M as Dikgacoi was good enough. I decided to get a few good back up strikers and play Kamara up front as well which is working very well. Having got past the qualifying stages of the Euro Cup and have drawn against Sunderland and Arsenal at home 1-1.

Mark Viduka is great, use him as a target man.

This may help your squad analysis, although you could may a few tweaks here and there as I only had a quick look at the team. You may want to make an overall general analysis too:

Goalkeeper : Mark Schwarzer is a great keeper for Fulham as he proved last season. However, Zuberbühler and Stockdale are not very good back up so you may want to invest in a cheap one. However, I’d advise spending money elsewhere first as Zuberbühler can suffice for the first season. Tactics wise, play Schwarzer as a normal goalkeeper on ‘defend’

Right back: You have three natural position players here in Pantsil, Kelly and Stoor. Hughes and Baird can also play here if needed, although this probably not be necessary. Kelly is your best bet here, and he is solid enough for this level, although you will want better at a later point. Pantsil is very good back up, and can be rotated with Kelly. You may want to get rid of Stoor, who, despite being very versatile, is average at best.

Left back: A problem area. You only have Konchesky as a natural player here, and even he is not a great player, being rated only 2 stars out of 5. Stoor and Kallio are not very good back ups either, as Stoor is very weak with the left foot and Kallio is only rated 1 and a half stars here. I’d look to get a reinforcement here, a first teamer is possible although Konchesky is good enough to be rotated.

Centre back: A safe area. Brede Hangeland is amazing for this level, and Hughes is good enough too. You can get a lot of money out of Hangeland is needed, but I do not advise selling him. You may want another back up as Baird and Kallio aren’t fantastic, but don’t spend too much money on it, as what you have is fine. I’d suggest Andrade as a back up.

Defensive Midfield: Dikgacoi is a decent defensive midfielder and you have a lot of back ups here in Etuhu, Davies, Greening and Dempsey. Digacoi is you best defensive midfielder although he has competition from Etuhu who I’d rotate with Dikgacoi and I wouldn’t look to boost this area and I would only play a defensive midfielder against the tough teams. Your back ups are good enough to cover and Hangeland can also play if required.

Centre Midfield: Another area waiting to be bolstered. Although Murphy is excellent and a goal scorer too and Dempsey is a decent player too, I’d get a cheap young creative back up because after these two the only real creative player you have is Greening who is ageing and not at his best in my opinion. So try to find a young player who is willing to wait on the sidelines till he gets his chance.

Right Midifield: A healthy area. You have four very decent players on this position as well as having a mix of young and old. Although Dempsey is your best player here, I’d play him if centre midfield and play Davies here when he gets back from injury. Till then, rotate Gera and Riise as they are good enough to play from the start.

Left Midfield: Duff and Kamara are your players for this position, and the right wing players can pose as back ups too. Konchesky can also play here. Duff is very slow for the wing and his technical skill aren’t the best, so I’d play Kamara. I’d get rid of Duff as his wages are too high for someone that will only be a back up. However, he may be tough to get rid of. You don’t need anyone here but a younger player.

Striker: A problem area. Your best player here is Johnson, and after this the rest are lower premiership players at best. I’d ship out two and bring in two, one a pacey young player and the other a strong experienced targetman. Although Johnson is very good, the ageing Nevland and Zamora who can not finish to save his life, aren’t good enough.

thanks a lot mate, will be using a somewhat modified version in there

Just finished the demo and here's how I got on.

Transfers out:

Nevland & Eddie Johnson went to Middlesborough

Seol went to Leeds

Stoor went to Sunderland

Andranik went to Wigan

Transfers in:

Ansaldi from Ruben, £1.7mil playes left back and wing back (Ended up keeping Konchesky out of the side)

Boriello on loan from Milan, £925k upfront with £5.5mil option to buy

Asmir Begovic from Portsmouth, £1.1 mil, much better than Stockdale and Zuberbuhler

There was also a young Argentinian striker I brought in for 775k with some future incentives, but can't remember his name ?

Formation - Standard 442

Settings - Left FC set as a target man, right FC set as a poacher, right sided MC set as a deep lying playmaker. I also set the wingers to hug the line. I set target man delivery to feet, and to float crosses. In every game I used the following pitch side shouts 'Play wider', 'Exploit the Flanks' and 'Pass to Feet' (If it was raining I'd cancel the last one)

Usual suspects ...

Schwarzer

Pantsil Baird Hangeland Ansaldi

Dempsey Murphy Greening Duff/Kamara

Boriello/Johnson Zamora

When playing away or a tough home match I would drop Murphy for Greening as the right sided MC, and play Dikogcoi as the left sided MC. If it was really tough, i.e. Man Utd I would drop Dikgacoi to DMC and play three across midfield.

Ended the demo on the 5th January in 6th place with a game in hand. Also finished second in the group stages of the Europa Cup so qualified to the knock-out stages.

Zamora was my top goal scorer with 16 goals, and Boriello second with 14 goals. Duff had the most assists with 13. Zamora also had the most MoM's with 7.

Although we did score a lot of goals, we conceded way to many, especially against smaller sides.

The final game I had was away at Stoke in the league cup and I got a 5-2 thrashing, even though we were 0-2 up at half time. Pantsil gave away a penalty which got them back into the game, and then both Baird and Hangeland made big errors, both of which lead directly to goals. Fair to say I was gutted.

The most impressive thing is that you actually got someone to buy Eddie Johnson. Well done mate.

The most impressive thing is that you actually got someone to buy Eddie Johnson. Well done mate.

What was shocking was that the fans were disappointed with the sale, claiming they felt he had something to offer the club !!

I got 1.7mil for him and 1.1mil for Nevland.

Started my traditional game with Fulham, this could be a very interesting season lol

pretty sure i was ok'd to do this thread in the request thread but oh well, COYW!!!!

just completed my 1st season with the mighty whites, and (to my massive surprise/joy) here's how it went :

The League

Well i'm majorly surprised at how this went but i managed to grab the 3rd place spot, mainly due to my avoiding the Fulham-ish results and beating pretty much all of the teams around me, as well as picking up some great away wins.

transfers

well here's what i did in the transfer market, had to bite Sunderland's hand off at their offer for Konchesky, especially as Masilela and Shorey on loan could be more than adequate replacements. Didn't do too much else exciting, bringing in Enyeama as a ready backup for Schwarzer, and Reginiussen as extra support to the backline

tactics

a simple 4-4-2 sufficed for most games, occasionally changing to a 4-5-1 (away at OT for example), playing with a balanced philosophy.

the defence takes care of itself, my midfield tactics are set with the specific players and lineup in mind.

the wide midfielder being Dempsey, not an out and out winger but a creative player who i've asked to attack through the middle and roam inside to create.

The deep lying playmaker is set with Danny Murphy or if injury forces it, Greening to play. Maybe without the legs anymore, their role is to sit in front of the back four and pick the ball up off of them to start attacks and dictate play.

The other midfielder is set with Etuhu in mind, or if need be Dikgacoi or Baird, somebody to try to break up play while Murphy is there when we're in possession.

The winger is set with Duff in mind, more of a winger who i'd like to see running at defenders than trying to be too creative and roam.

The top two is set in mind for a Zamora (deep lying forward) and AJ (poacher), although having played the season, David Elm is a good target man whenever he is brought on

My tactic can be downloaded here : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VYDY4EDX

couldn't get anymore images in that post but here are the player performances from that 1st season :

player performances

Seems like you had an outstanding first season mate, well done.

How did you get on in Europe ?

Are you playing with the patch ?

oh yeh totally forgot my european tour, will stick that up later (aswell as my 2nd season transfer activity) but basically i lost in the quarters to lazio. Yes this is with 10.1.0. Think that is the best first season i've ever had with us out of all the fm's, highly expecting a bit of second season syndrome though

oh yeh totally forgot my european tour, will stick that up later (aswell as my 2nd season transfer activity) but basically i lost in the quarters to lazio. Yes this is with 10.1.0. Think that is the best first season i've ever had with us out of all the fm's, highly expecting a bit of second season syndrome though

Another question ?

With you sticking to pretty much the same formation for the entire season (are you able to put up screenshots and details of the 4-5-1 you used occasionally?) did you suffer the 'new year slump' when AI managers have supposedly sussed your tactic come January ?

I seem to suffer this everytime I get a good season going with my beloved Fulham.

not at my lappy at the moment but i'll check the results to see if there was a slump around that time this evening when i update, although i cant say i felt there was one. However sticking to that tactic was with a set 11 in mind (schwarzer, pantsil, Hughes, hangeland, shorey, dempsey, murphy, etuhu, duff, zamora, johnson), and a change of personnel meant slight tweaks in the tactics, its all about knowing the players and how you want them to play, e.g. the return of Simon Davies meant tweaking the LM role/duty as i prefer him to Duff, as well as taking another direction if i were to play Kamara on the wing. Don't know how and if you are rotating but i'd say its more about knowing the players and what roles/duties they should be adopting, than having a set tactic and working players around that.

Hope you see what i'm getting at as i know i'm waffling a bit, but basically :

Players suitability > set tactic

Not to mention the in-game tactical instructions, learning when and how to use them suitably. Maybe a player by player role/duty kind of thing would have been better to show than my tactic (for that set 11 which i would assume everybody would stick to as irl).

not at my lappy at the moment but i'll check the results to see if there was a slump around that time this evening when i update, although i cant say i felt there was one. However sticking to that tactic was with a set 11 in mind (schwarzer, pantsil, Hughes, hangeland, shorey, dempsey, murphy, etuhu, duff, zamora, johnson), and a change of personnel meant slight tweaks in the tactics, its all about knowing the players and how you want them to play, e.g. the return of Simon Davies meant tweaking the LM role/duty as i prefer him to Duff, as well as taking another direction if i were to play Kamara on the wing. Don't know how and if you are rotating but i'd say its more about knowing the players and what roles/duties they should be adopting, than having a set tactic and working players around that.

Hope you see what i'm getting at as i know i'm waffling a bit, but basically :

Players suitability > set tactic

Not to mention the in-game tactical instructions, learning when and how to use them suitably. Maybe a player by player role/duty kind of thing would have been better to show than my tactic (for that set 11 which i would assume everybody would stick to as irl).

Totally understand where you're coming from, and like you say most Fulham fans will play with the same starting eleven as the Mighty Woy so it's predictable that each users tatics will be very similar.

I'll wait until you post your update this evening before asking any more questions =)

Mic i've just had a look at my results around jan/feb and i didn't find too much of a dip, although i did play Burnley, Wolves, West Ham and Hull at home in that time which helped.

Not gonna drag on the Europa League because i'll pop my july transfer window in this post aswell, but these were my results and i rotated quite a bit with Enyeama, Stoor, Baird, Greening, Dikgacoi, Gera, Riise, Elm, Nevland and Kamara getting good playing time. My biggest disappointment came in the home leg against Lazio where i led 1-0, 3-1, and 4-2 before being dumped out .

Lost in the quarters of the league cup at home to Liverpool, Aston Villa the eventual winners. Lost to Man Utd in the 4th round of the FA Cup, and they went on to lose out to Chelsea in the final

So unlucky against Lazio elgreenio. Good effort though.

Second Season Summer Transfer Window

After that amazing (still dont quite know how i pulled it off) first season, i was given a nice kitty of 27.5m with a wage budget of 700k which was still only to achieve a top half finish. Before i explain anything here are my dealings in the window

the big names coming in were Lee Cattermole and Simon Vukcevic, Cattermole because i'd set my sights on a better ball winning midfielder, vital for the upcoming champions league campaign, and although better options could have been sought after (Mavuba, Palombo, Matuidi) i'm a big fan of Cattermole and what he does, as well as him being young and english.

Another priority was the left wing, which although Duff and Davies sufficed i wanted something a bit special to add to a squad lacking that top class spark, and having had him on many other versions as well as not being many other options i fancied, i plumped for Vukcevic, and had to pay more than i would have liked, knowing that i could have had him for 5mil if i had the money before the 1st season ended.

I'd always had the target man replacement in Elm, but never had a real poacher to back up AJ, so seeing Owen on the transfer list i snapped him up, shipping out Dio and securing Nevland on a lower wage contract.

Elsewhere i made the Shorey deal permanent, brought in Luis Guilherme as a top keeping prospect for the post-Schwarzer era and bought in a couple of loans, Saivet covering Gera's departure and Crescenzi covering Stephen Kelly who is still with the club but suffered from being that 26th player in the new registration rules (p.s. we need more 1st team youngsters)

I've also now secured some future transfers for the end of the season, securing Nicolas Otamendi, a top CB prospect and the guy i have in mind for replacing Hughes eventually. The other was Joe Hart, who will come in and most likely become my number 1 from next season

So unlucky against Lazio elgreenio. Good effort though.

i know, i was raging, everything they touched turned to gold that game. Was worse when i saw they got drawn against Genoa in the semi's, somebody i know i could have the beating of from facing them in the groups, oh well

This is really good, keep us posted on how you get on in the second season.

For me, the January slump is obvious because I play teams like Burnley, Wolves, West Ham, Hull etc and they run riot and those on here claim it's because the AI has sussed your tactics. It may have not been such an issue for you though as you mentioned you kept throwing in a 4-5-1 against certain bigger teams so maybe that kept the slump at bay =)

I know you mentioned above that tactics are really for the team you pick and they way you choose to play, but I'd still be really keen to have a look at the details of your 4-5-1 if you wouldn't mind posting them ? I always struggle against the big teams but historically have still played a 4-4-2 and maybe a 4-5-1 could be the way forward. I also be interested to know who you played as the loan striker ?

I'm not that far into a career game yet, still in mid July but will post back my transfers and early results etc when I have more to show. My biggest and only signing so far is Kaladze on loan from Milan, this really got the fans excited. Although a bit disappointed you don't get a press conference for loan signings =(

Mic i'm just going to try to plough through a bit more of the season before i update again (probably sometime this afternoon/eve) otherwise it'll just be a 4 or 5 game update .

Just loading up now so will post the 4-5-1 as i did the 4-4-2 earlier in the thread

the 4-5-1 is as below (although tweaked to support the inclusion of my signings Cattermole and Vukcevic) :

Playing with a rigid philosophy.

the flat back 4 has only been changed in that the cb's are now limited defenders (aka no nonsense), looking to clear the ball to either my wingers or the target man.

the anchorman is exactly that, using the most mentally/defensively suited player in this role, usually Baird, to almost act as the 5th defender.

the defensive midfielder is more of the worker back there with the ability to keep the ball, mainly Cattermole, although Etuhu was used in the first season.

the centre midfielder is debatable, i used Murphy in the first season but his stats have dropped a bit and now Vukcevic can fill this role (although i'm not expecting much defensively apart from an extra body there).

the two inside forwards are there to act as those who can get a shot off (i'd recommend somebody with good shooting encouraged to take long shots), aswell as people to feed off the attacker.

the loan front man i use as a target man with Elm or Zamora in mind, although depending on who i'm playing i'd use Johnsons pace, for example a target man is a better bet against Arsenals new defensive pairing whereas AJ may be able to exploit a slower Chelsea backline.

@elgreenio

Thanks so much for this, it's great to get an insight into other players who play with Fulham =)

I'm quite suprised you gone for more of a Mourinho'esque 4-5-1 with two wingers as I had expected a flat 5 across the midfield type 4-5-1.

I'll look forward to your future updates, and as I mentioned, I'll post my own once I start getting somewhere =)

my main thinking was that without having a top class striker who could perform more as a complete forward i'd have absolutely zero going forward, so that merited the wingers pushing up a notch to the 4-5-1/4-3-3 type. Should squeeze a couple of hours in tonight so will see how far i get before updating. Good luck with your game mate, hope my thoughts have been of some help to ya

Started a new save as I wanted more players (started the first on a small database, now playing a large plus several options so have circa 96,000) and have so far only played two friendlies.

Home Team      Away Team      Result      MOM
--------------------------------------------------------
Fulham         Coalville      6-0         Andy Johnson
Fulham         Hartlepool     4-1         Pius Ikedia

I haven't signed anyone so far, but have taken Pius Ikedia on trial for two weeks. He's a very similar player to Jo Kamara, but plays on the right. He's been outstanding in the two friendlies, but my assistant feels there may be problems getting a work permit. Will have to see how that one pans out.

I did try to get Kaladze on loan again, but he choose Galatasary this time so I was a bit disappointed with that.

I have managed to sell the following

Player         Buying Club          Fee
---------------------------------------------
Stoor          QPR                  £2.6mil
Andranik       Wigan                £1.8mil
Nevland        Coventry             £1.3mil
Kallio         Sheffield Utd        £1.1mil

And Seol is in contract talks with Leeds for the third time after rejecting the first two offers.

So I've managed to raise a bit for the transfer kitty, and also now have some breathing space in the wage budget too.

First off I looking to sign Asmir Begovic as cover, and potential long-term replacement for Schwarzer as Zuberbuhler just isn't good enough for the Premiership, and we are in desperate need of another capable keeper.

Having promoted Eddie Johnson back to the first team because he has the right stats for a useful target man, (understudy to the mighty Zamora), I would still like to sign another striker before the window closes, so I'm currently leaning towards Van Nistelroy on loan, now I have enough wages to offer the 50% contribution Real Madrid want.

I also need to sign a left-back and central defender, but there seems to be a severe lack of affordable, decent left-backs in the game (one of the reasons I restarted wanting more players). I know the obvious choices of Masilela or Shorey on loan, but if anyone can recommend any others I'd be very greatful.

As for central defenders, I can pick Pape Diakhite up for circa £2.9mil so that may be one possibility.

I'll post back when I have some more to share, hopefully with screenshots =)

good start so far, got yourself some well needed funds, aswell as getting rid of some big wages (mainly Nevland).

Cant say i've ever had a look at Begovic but i've heard a few things, and a backup keeper is definitely needed, my usual is Lung Jr but since Enyeama had little other offers (massive change from the demo) i plumped for him instead.

Always been a fan of Diakhate from previous versions and he's still a reasonable age, depends whether you're wanting a starting CB or somebody to cover the dynamic duo (if you want cover, Jordan Spence looks a great prospect).

Left back was dodgy for me too, the Shorey loan in the first season started out as a stop-gap until the end of the season when i could find somebody better (was looking at Monzon) but he impressed so i opted for him in the end.

second season highs and, well, highs

no second season blues here, the first seasons accomplishments were carried on in the league, and with Liverpool stumbling on the last day of the season i secured a 2nd place finish, while Chelsea were again champions. Burnley, Bolton and Pompey couldn't avoid the drop to the Championship, and United and Arsenal were again out of sorts.

Champs League and other cups

i managed to come through a tough group with Inter, Valencia, and Grasshopper; thanks to a glorious win against Valencia and a creditable draw in the San Siro. I had to visit the San Siro again in the first knockout round, this time to face AC, but two draws weren't enough to see me through (2-2 at home, 1-1 away).

Again i fell at to the same teams in the domestic cups, losing at Anfield at the same stage of the league cup as last year, and going down at Olt Trafford in the 4th round of the FA Cup.

new faces

I was quite dorment in the January transfer window only bringing in two players, and two amazing youngsters at that. Marco Verratti as long-term replacement for Murphy, and an American regen to replace Dempsey, Luke Reilly (screenies below). I'll update later on what i do in the summer window

Second place, great season.

I've just fired up a fulham (my prem team if u like) game after an ill-fated spell at my beloved Hartlepool! (i lost my rag and stopped concentrating shall we say )

I've started off with 'no transfer budgets in 1st window' to keep it more realistic, so theres no transfer activity so far for me.

Playing the usual suspects in a 442 at home - starting off with a balanced standard and switching strategy depending on how i'm doing.. Etuhu/Diagkoci ball winning and Murphy as DLP. I drop a striker for a DM (etuhu+diagkoci) to use a 451 away from home and depending on opponents backline use either a Zamora type TM or the more pacey Johnson/Nevland TM style up top.

Qualified for the Europa League with a convincing win over Motherwell and a extra time win against some polish team whom i'm hammered but just couldnt score!!

Started off season against Sunderland at home, beat them 4-0 with a 2nd half Zamora hattrick!! Was helped with a red card for Cana midway thru 2nd half. 2nd game was away to Villa... they were practically camped in my half in 1st half but kept shooting straight at Schwarzer until Warnock got sent off on 49' for a 2nd yellow. From then on it was all me switching to my 442 subbing etuhu for Johnson. Diagkoci rifled in a 25 yarder to the top corner on 56' then Johnson tapped home on 59' for a well battled 2-0 win!

Thats as far as i am at the moment. I'm very happy with the villa away win and the amount of chances i create at home..

How are people playing Duff + Dempsey? They're both struggling with ratings especially Duff :/

-

Great work elgreenio, very impressive progress!

I'm struggling at the moment to find a decent enough tactic, so I'm just reloading a save I created to keep going over pre-season until I start seeing something a little more solid from the chaps.

However, I've also had mixed fortunes with Dempsey and Duff, but I am going to try using the editor tonight to adjust the positions they play as IRL Hodgson plays Duff on the right and Dempsey on the left, allowing them both to cut in off the wings.

After making the positional changes I'll set them up as inside forwards to see if that makes any sort of difference ?

I've now taken over at Fulham *3 seasons in* to find out that they got relegated last season :/

Idea's for transfers?

Depends who's where, how much you have and who's in your current squad?

Wow this really isn't good the Chairman is looking to step down, most of the decent players left won't sign new contracts

Could this be the end for Fulham?

Fulham Squad List:

Transfer Budget: £11,464,000

Squad isn't that bad? You need a better RB, LB, ML and some better strikers. Also your bench is not great either. Player recommendations? Hard to say because so many have probably moved. Not much help, am I?

Thats a huge budget for a Championship side, you only get £500k at the start of the game when we are in the Premiership!

However, it seems you've only lost a couple of players who were on huge wages, Duff and Nevland. Both are also getting on a bit, over 30 at the start of the game so it's proababy a good thing since you're three seasons in. Also it looks as though Etuhu has moved on aswell =(

There is still plenty of talent in that squad to get you promoted if they are managed well.

Here's what I'd suggest based on my own Fulham save (although I'm still in the Premiership in my 1st season)

- Drop the MC back to a DMC to play a diamond, and play Dikgacoi there

- Play Murphy in the AMC role as he will have the best creativity and passing in the side

- Play Dempsey on the right flank as an attacking winger

- Your back four is pretty much sorted and should be fairly solid

- Swap Johnson and Zamora around, and play Zamora as a deep lying forward and Johnson as an advanced forward

- Use Riise as your backup to Dempsey on the right flank, he's young and will be much better than Simon Davies, but when you switch makesure you change the positional role to wide midfielder

- Play a rigid/very rigid philosophy

- Stand off more for closing down, it really helps the team keep it's shape

- Play a more direct passing game

That's all I've got for now, let me know how you get on.

Also, if you can would you post a screenshot of Danny Hoesen. He's meant to be one of our brightest prospects and I'd be interested to see how he's developed three seasons in ?

-Mic

slakey, as Hopey says i'd be looking at replacing the LM (especially as Kamara is a high earner) and definitely strengthening the bench.

Depending on how things are going you may need to replace quite a few players elsewhere, as in my 3rd season Hughes, Greening, Davies, AJ, and Zamora are all declining physically, so i'd look at adding some younger players

Mic, here's what Hoesen looks like in my 3rd season, he's scored 6 in 13 in the championship

will do an update for my game probably today, just getting to the end of the January window

time to dust off the suit

thats right, i'm getting my first shot at Wembley in the league cup final, and against a team i'm unbeaten against (W 5 D 1), Wigan Athletic. Had a rather easy route through with games against Notts County, Blackburn and Everton, but came up against money-bags Newcastle in the semi's, in which i managed to grab a 3-1 lead at home no thanks to Enyeama between the sticks. I went to St.James' Park and got a 2-2 draw (breakaways and clinical finishing).

the start of the revolution

i had a nice big £39million to spend in the summer and the majority went on getting a strike force that could cope with the demands of the champions league, and Mauro Zarate was a snip at that price, although my first choice Pandev preferred a Chelsea contract over my generous offer. Elsewhere my big signings were Boateng to cover a declining Pantsil and young Walsh up front who looks an amazing prospect having scored 16 in 26 already.

the revolution should be complete by kick-off next season, with essential players the previous seasons leaving on a bosman this July (havn't been offered a new contract). Those include :

Andy Johnson

Michael Owen

Dickson Etuhu

Aaron Hughes

Chris Baird

Danny Murphy

Damien Duff

league dominance

with chelsea off the pace and my continued good times with my new look squad and strengthened spine i'm sitting top of the table and well clear of the chasing pack (mainly thanks to a superb smash-and-grab win at St.James' Park in the top 2 clash), and would fully expect a double this season barring a major screw up

@elgreenio

Thanks for the screenshot ... I'm a bit disappointed to be honest, I really thought he'd have developed a bit better than that.

Pretty good going in your update, well done. It's great to see Fulham up where they belong =) ... and that price for Zarate is a bargain !

I'm not very far into my season as I've taken to watching matches in full rather than just extended highlights. I've found that I'm performing much better because I'm able to react to opposition changes or style of play, but as you can imagine it's taking a lot longer to progress through the season.

Anyhow, I've played three friendlies (I was still ironing out the kinks in the tactic) and won them all

Team            Venue            Score
--------------------------------------
Carlisle        Away             4-1
Wrexham         Away             3-0
Brechin         Away             3-1

And I've played the first leg of the 3rd Round Qualifying for the Europa League, my first competitive match which was a big win

Team            Venue            Score
--------------------------------------
Cherno          Away             5-0

So feeling pretty optimistic about the return home leg =)

My first league match is at home to Arsenal ... not as optimistic about that one.

Will update with transfers once the window closes as I feel I've made a couple of really decent ones this time around.

I'm in January now with no money to spend (board won't give me any) having started with the save with no transfers in 1st window. It seems nobody wants to pay anything for my fringe players either (andranik, davies, ki-hyeon, elm etc..)

Still things are going well, I was in great form over the xmas period racking up 4 wins on the trot and now see myself sitting in 7th, level points with 6th placed Arsenal and 5 points (w/ game in hand over 8th place Villa).

Etuhu has been brilliant for me as a ballwinning midfielder and has the most tackles made per game in the Prem.

Hangeland has been solid as expected as has Schwarzer.

Zamora has suprised me with 14 goals in 18 Premier league starts. He only really seems to score 25 year screamersand tends to miss the 1on1s!!

I was unlucky in the Europa League, Athletic Bilbao and Benfica progressed from my group, both taking 4 points off me with late winners/equalisers :/

-

Should i be expecting zZamora to be as hot next season as he is this? I'm going to need a lot of reshuffling for next season i think with a number of key players approaching 30 and beyond.. Schwarzer, Hughes, Murphy, Gera, Duff, Greening and with Zamora only really performing (very well) in home games and johnson being too inconsistent i'm going to have to bring in faces there too..

I just hope they give me adequate funds to build on this season as i'm expecting to qualify for Europa League again..

Zamora and AJ were both on fire in the first season so i could never expect the same from them, although they were reasonable, Zamora getting 12 league goals in the 2nd season

Had a very disappointing return leg for the Cherno game which ended in a draw

Team            Venue            Score
--------------------------------------
Cherno          Home             1-1

So went through to the next qualifying round with a 6-1 aggregate victory.

The following week the Premier League season kicked off and we started in great form with a win over the mighty Arsenal

Team            Venue            Score
--------------------------------------
Arsenal         Home             1-0

Although it must be said that for some reason Wenger played a weak side.

So after the first weekend I'm sitting 10th in the league, morale is up and the fans seem happy.

For the 4th Round Qualifying in the Europa League I have drawn P.Ferreira from Portugal. The first leg is away and we are heavy favourites. My scout said they would play a 4-4-2 and that the pitch is long so encouraged a more direct style of playing. However, they actually turned up with 4-2-3-1 and seem to looking to push everyone forward. I've so far been playing with a 4-4-2 diamond, but I doubt it's suited to this type of play because they will flood the midfield and push forward, so I'm tempted to play elgreenio's 4-5-1 posted above just to make sure we hold the advantage when playing the home leg.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've got some new guys in most of them are old but they were free, and hopefully they can do the jobs I want them to do.

Transfers:

First game on the Championship lose 4-0 (away) to Reading

I just want the damn new owner to come soon, so I can get some money.