FM 2009 : Official FC Barcelona Thread

Futbol Club Barcelona is a sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team, which was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club).

They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the top division. The club were also the first La Liga champions, winning a total of 18 La Liga, 24 Copa del Rey, 7 Supercopa de España, 2 UEFA Champions League, 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and 2 European Super Cup trophies.

Transfer Budget: 14.75M for winner, around 12M for title challenge

Wage budget: 1.15M p/w

Current Wage: 1.02M p/w

Board Expectations: Win LIGA BBVA, semi-final of Champions Cup

During the 2006-07 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €291.1 million

Stadium Information

Camp Nou stadiumName - Camp Nou

City - Barcelona

Capacity - 98,772

Inauguration - 1957

Pitch size - 105 × 68 m

The Squad:

No. Position Player

1 GK Víctor Valdés (vice-captain)

2 DF Martín Cáceres

3 DF Gerard Piqué

4 DF Rafael Márquez

5 DF Carles Puyol (Captain)

6 MF Xavi ( vice-captain)

7 MF Eiður Guðjohnsen

8 MF Andrés Iniesta ( vice-captain)

9 FW Samuel Eto'o

10 FW Lionel Messi

11 FW Bojan Krkić

13 GK José Manuel Pinto

14 FW Thierry Henry

15 MF Seydou Keita

16 DF Sylvinho

18 DF Gabriel Milito

20 DF Daniel Alves

21 MF Aliaksandr Hleb

22 DF Éric Abidal

24 MF Yaya Touré

25 GK Albert Jorquera

27 FW Pedro Rodríguez

28 MF Sergio Busquets

29 MF Víctor Sánchez

Squad Analysis(Thanks to Soli for this)

GK

Victor Valdes is good but not great. Just like Almunia at Arsenal. The back-ups not too good unfortunately. Need to buy a good GK.

DC

One of the strongest areas of the team. You have three quality center backs in Marquez, Milito and Puyol. you also have two of the most promising youngsters in Pique and Caceres.

No need for reinforcements here.

DL/DR

Daniel Alves is one of the new comers this summer and he will make the RB position pretty much is own. There is no back-up though and you need to get in someone in case he gets injured.

Abidal is the best LB you have got and his back-up is Sulvinho. Both are ageing and you need a quality player here. Someone should be bought immediately.

DMC

Keita and Toure on paper seem brilliant but in FM 09 demo they are not rated that good. You may want to try out them though. Marquez and Pique can also play here if needed.

AMC

The strongest area of the team with Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Hleb vying for the spots. Hleb though is decent at best and you might want to sell him.

wingers

The weakest area of the team. Messi is obviously first choice on the right wing but there is no player available on the left. Urgent need to buy player seeing that Keita is the only player who can play here and he gets an abysmal 2 stars there.

Strikers

Strong again. You have two experienced strikers in Etoo and Henry. Bojan to back them up. Gudjohnsen is crap and should be offloaded. Young TM needed.

Recommendations:

GK: Riou/Mandanda

DL: Bale/ Torres as back-up

DR: Torres as Back-up, Santon

ML: Marcelo/Matias/Capel

DMC: Palombo/Toulalan/Ballack/Veloso

TM: Balotelli/Rossi

Best Formation:

GK: Valdes

DR: Alves

DL: Abidal

DC: Milito

DC: Puyol

DMC: Marquez

MC: Xavi

MC: Iniesta

AMC: Messi

ST: Henry

ST: Eto'o

Youngsters

Pique

Caceres

Bojan

Busquets

Gai Assulin

Thiago

Hope that helps. Ask any details if needed.

THE CHALLENGE

After a disappointing 07-08 season, can you revitalise the team as Guardiola has been doing? Can you get to another CL final, and win it? Can you get the team to play slick passing football while winning games and bringing through the youngsters?

Thanks to soli for giving the squad analysis and contributing to this post.

Oh and sorry that this isn't as good as the other club threads, I don't know how to do pictures or coloured stuff.

Nice opener, images are easy to put into the thread. What kind of images had you in mind? Logo? Anything else?

If your unsure how to put them in, just post the links to the images and I'll add them in, fairly easy to do though

Badge only I think.

Thanks, should I PM you or post them here?

Badge only I think.

Thanks, should I PM you or post them here?

Either, doesn't matter

If you play Barça, you should at least try to use the 4-3-3 imo instead of a 4-4-2.

Oh and you forgot to mention Henrique, who will be back at the club after his one season at Leverkusen.

Finally the Barcelona thread is up.

Jams you should make some modifications to the thread by using bold characters a bit more and remove some illegible characters. ( Please don't mind. Suggestions given just to improve the thread)

I also think that you don't have the game as yet so will not know details such as transfer and wage budget so just request the mods to add those details.

Apart from that the OP is great if not the best

Okay, thanks soli.

I did kinda put this up in a rush, so will improve it later tonight or tomorrow. How do I do bold?

jams1234

Look through this, should help you understand forum tag's:

http://community.sigames.com/misc.php?do=bbcode

Nice opener Jams

Thanks HoPeY and lfc.

No problem, if you want to change to a better logo or whatever just replace the link I put in with a link to another one. Just make sure it's within the tags

Oh and thanks HoPeY for putting the badge up. How do I make something with a different color, size and underlined all at once?

You just need to put the section you wish to have a different colour/size/underline within the tags, for for example.

[ color=red ][ size=2 ][ u ]FM 09: FC Barcelona Thread[ /u ][ /color ][ /size ]

Note: without the space's betwen the brackets ([ ]) and the words in the tag.

Okay, thanks HoPeY.

Finally a Barca tread for 09!

I've been playing with the mighty Catalan club on the demo for couple of days now. Spotted that Messi's stats are down a little bit this year - stil my best player though. Some players are underrated - Iniesta, Busquets, Eto'o. At least Pique, Caceres and Henrique look real solid for the future.

Anyway, if thing are not corrected for the full game, I will use the editor to fix the reserchers misses.

My demo game is going very well so far. Started with £14.75m transfer budget (as title winner), moved some more money from wages and ended with £17m transfer kitty.

Sold:

Henry = £8m to Juve

Gudjonsen = £3m to Bolton

Bought:

Arshavin = £12m

Giovinco = £6.5m

Diarra = £4.5m

Brigghi = £1.4m

Belleti = £600k loan

Aurelio = £600k loan

My line-up:

GK Valdes/Pinto

DR Alves/Belleti

DL Abidal/Aurelio

DC Puyol/Caceres

DC Marquez/Pique

DM Toure/Diarra

MC Xavi/Brigghi

MC Iniesta/Keita

AMR Messi/Hleb

AML Arshavin/Giovinco

FC Eto'o/Bojan

This team plays some great football. I did 5 frendlies in preseason to try and gell them. Won all of them 4-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-0 and 3-0. It took some time to sort out the individual instructions as some players weren't performing as I wanted and had me worried. I beat Standard in the CL 3rd qualifying round 2-0 away and 4-0 home without Messi and Giovinco who were at the Olympics. That's when all my worries from the frendlies went away. Then came the league games

2-0 away to Almeria

3-0 home vs Racing

2-1 away to Valencia

3-0 home vs Deportivo

2-0 away to Real M

5-0 home vs Numancia

So after 6 games I'm top of La Liga, 4 points ahead of Atletico M/Sevilla and 6 points ahead of Real M/Villareal.

I have Fiorentina, Porto and Levski Sofia in my CL group. I've won the two games so far - 4-0 away to Levski and 3-1 home vs Fiorentina.

I'm enjoying this demo game and can't wait for the full game. As I live in US I have to wait longer for my FM/WWSM 2009.

Has anyone started a Barca save on the full game yet?

Great run Yonko.

Giovinco for 6.5M. You struck gold, mate

Finally a Barca tread for 09!

I've been playing with the mighty Catalan club on the demo for couple of days now. Spotted that Messi's stats are down a little bit this year - stil my best player though. Some players are underrated - Iniesta, Busquets, Eto'o. At least Pique, Caceres and Henrique look real solid for the future.

Anyway, if thing are not corrected for the full game, I will use the editor to fix the reserchers misses.

My demo game is going very well so far. Started with £14.75m transfer budget (as title winner), moved some more money from wages and ended with £17m transfer kitty.

Sold:

Henry = £8m to Juve

Gudjonsen = £3m to Bolton

Bought:

Arshavin = £12m

Giovinco = £6.5m

Diarra = £4.5m

Brigghi = £1.4m

Belleti = £600k loan

Aurelio = £600k loan

My line-up:

GK Valdes/Pinto

DR Alves/Belleti

DL Abidal/Aurelio

DC Puyol/Caceres

DC Marquez/Pique

DM Toure/Diarra

MC Xavi/Brigghi

MC Iniesta/Keita

AMR Messi/Hleb

AML Arshavin/Giovinco

FC Eto'o/Bojan

This team plays some great football. I did 5 frendlies in preseason to try and gell them. Won all of them 4-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-0 and 3-0. It took some time to sort out the individual instructions as some players weren't performing as I wanted and had me worried. I beat Standard in the CL 3rd qualifying round 2-0 away and 4-0 home without Messi and Giovinco who were at the Olympics. That's when all my worries from the frendlies went away. Then came the league games

2-0 away to Almeria

3-0 home vs Racing

2-1 away to Valencia

3-0 home vs Deportivo

2-0 away to Real M

5-0 home vs Numancia

So after 6 games I'm top of La Liga, 4 points ahead of Atletico M/Sevilla and 6 points ahead of Real M/Villareal.

I have Fiorentina, Porto and Levski Sofia in my CL group. I've won the two games so far - 4-0 away to Levski and 3-1 home vs Fiorentina.

I'm enjoying this demo game and can't wait for the full game. As I live in US I have to wait longer for my FM/WWSM 2009.

Has anyone started a Barca save on the full game yet?

what tactic are you using when you were away or being unfavourite??is it the same 4-3-3 formation??

Tony23

I always use this formation with Barca. It's my favorite since FM 06 plus they use it IRL and I want to mirror that as much as possible.

What I change is the tactics, you know things like mentality, closing down, FWR, D-line, tempo, etc. I use frameworks for the mentalities and specific roles for each player. I have three presets - Standard, Attacking and Defensive. Each one has little changes here and there, but enough to give me the edge. Not to brag but I'm very expirienced in the FM/WWSM series and I've been reading this forums for a long time, mostly reading. I've been playing this game since 1995 when it was called Championship Manager. So all this helps me make the transition to each new edition of the game.

Here, in this tread, I can help you only with specific Barca tactics related to their playing staff. But if you need more detailed tactical help, then visit the tactics forum and look for Tactics Theories & Frameworks by wwfan.

Are you playing the demo or the full game? Is it going good or bad for you?

Great run Yonko.

Giovinco for 6.5M. You struck gold, mate

I know, he's easy to get though. Others buy him too with other clubs in their saves. I think it's because his contract expires in 2009 in the demo. I don't know if it's the same on the full game.

Needless to say he's amazing! Plays as good as Messi and Arshavin for me. I use him more in the La Liga games - 6 goals and 5 assists from 7 games now. Messi is with 7 goals/3 assists and Arshavin has 3 goals/4 assists.

Anyone having problems with selling players? I cant get any transfer offers for my players. I'm offering players like Keita-value about 15 mil. € for 6-7 mil. € and cant gat a offer. I only get loan offers. The highest offer i got for Eto-value 36, was 27 mil. €

Is this only in my game?

Secer Babo, transfer list them, put them unavailable for loan and you should be getting offers. People in the Liverpool thread have been getting 10+ million pounds bids for Pennant and Benayoun!

Secer Babo, transfer list them, put them unavailable for loan and you should be getting offers. People in the Liverpool thread have been getting 10+ million pounds bids for Pennant and Benayoun!

They are all transfer listed/not needed by club/unavailable for loan and i offer them almost every day, but i only get loan offers. I should get offers easily above 50 mil. € for Eto, and at least the actual value for players like Keita and Pique.

just started as Barcelona to get used to a few tactics. Only signed Obertan and Rat as back up and only sold Gudjohnsen for 3.1m plus clauses to Man City. going to wait until january to make proper changes. Midfield has been playing great Xavi, Iniesta and Messi been awesome, just trying toget my strikers to score a few more tbh. going well so far though.

They are all transfer listed/not needed by club/unavailable for loan and i offer them almost every day' date=' but i only get loan offers. I should get offers easily above 50 mil. € for Eto, and at least the actual value for players like Keita and Pique.[/quote']

TBH then I'm not sure what else you can do. Other people have been getting good deals, might just be luck.

finally just sold Sylvinho after he rejected everyone! 40k wages stupid amount for a player like him! but hes gone for 200k

is busquets any good? i like to see him playing irl but how is he on game?

They are all transfer listed/not needed by club/unavailable for loan and i offer them almost every day, but i only get loan offers. I should get offers easily above 50 mil. € for Eto, and at least the actual value for players like Keita and Pique.

Why do you want to sell so many players? Eto'o and Pique play very well and Keita is decent rotation player. If you sell too many and buy too many your squad will have problems gelling!

What formation you plan on using?

Why do you want to sell so many players? Eto'o and Pique play very well and Keita is decent rotation player. If you sell too many and buy too many your squad will have problems gelling!

What formation you plan on using?

I allready sold Toure and Marques. Toure is not good enough, and Marques is too slow for my tactic. I play like very attackin and need defenders with at least 15 speed/acceleration. The sam goes for Pique.

Eto is ok, but i would rather buy Aguero or Benzema. They are about 20-22 yo and much better then Eto. Keita is not the type of player i need. I bought Veloso and would buy Palombo for my central mids. They have creativity and passing above 18. Keita and Toure dont. Hleb is ok, but for that money i could buy much better players. Already bought Mati Fernandes, would buy a couple great players if i could sell them.

Nice, a thread about my favorite team...

As in every FM iteration my first team of choice was barcelona. In the summer transfer window I simply bought noone (I usually do it like this when I play barcelona to play at least until the winter transfer window with the squad they have IRL), but completely overhauled the coaches and scouts as the ones the team has simply won't cut it at all.

I like to give some rotations to the players, so I don't have a defined starting eleven except for some players who are key in my team (the likes of Messi, Puyol or Alves). Still the team I used at first you could say was:

GK: Valdes

DR: Alves

DL: Abidal

DC: Marquez

DC: Puyol

DM: Toure

MC: Xavi

MC: Busquets

AML: Iniesta

AMR: Messi

ST: Eto'o

As I say, there are rotations. I try to give some time of play to most players, so it's not unusual to see Keita in the fist squad in the place of Toure, or of Busquets (depends on the game and opponent, if the other team has a playmaker with a lot of creativity I put Keita as MC marking him), to see Henry in the left wing changing spots with Eto'o during the match, or Marquez and puyol to relax for one week and giving Piqué, Cáceres or Milito much needed time to play. Even gudjohnsen has had some quality time as MC and has given me very good results (you just need to know he won't be a playmaker, give him very offensive mentality and a free role and he'll be there to head quite some of your crosses, has worked wonders for some last-minute goals for me).

One has to keep in mind Barcelona has a very good set of young players, and they should see some action now and then to properly develop.

Victor vazquez is a good example: very young, can play in a lot of positions and for his age isn't that bad rated. we'll see how he develops, tho, as his potential doesn't seem to be that of a wonderkid.

Pedro is a good player for emergencies. Quite average but he fullfits the role and sometimes is all you can and should ask from a player who you know is there just to cover a spot in an emergency. He's got quite good ratings when he has played anyway, but he's moving away in summer as his potential seems to be very limited.

Assulin is the brightest of them all given his age and his potential. But it's a bit too green yet for 1st team. I loaned him out in December and currently is playing quite well in a 2nd league team.

And then is bojan. Training for AML, tutored by Henry,amazing results each time he has played, anywhere he has played, AMR, AML or DC. He's learned to beat the offside trap and since then his playstyle has improved even more. Doesn't have all the minutes he has deserved for his performance, but one has to avoid burning him anyway.

As for money, initial transfer ammount isn't that great, barely 15M€ for going for the league...didn't worry me anyway because as I say I don't buy/sell players until winter window. And the Winter window wasn't that active either. I received the hefty ammount of 45M€ from the board to splash on winter transfers, but I did only sign Keirrison (amazing potential brazilian 19yo forward) for an incredible 3.1M only. He was immediately sent in loan to FC lorient, with whom I have an agreement), where he's playing regularily with an average of 7.13 right now.

I actively tried to purchase an AML but failed. I set my objective in either Arshavin or Ribery, but neither would come for a decent price (Zenit asked 35M for Arshavin, and I wasn't going to pay that for a 28yo, and Bayern refused a 35M offer for Ribery), so I simply decided to make do with what I had(Iniesta,Henry and Bojan, all of them training for AML, and Pedro as a last ditch measure).

around the last days of march, I had a news report about Ribery being unhappy at Bayern and checked him. He had very low morale, and wanted to leave the club. Just for the sake of it (I was VERY annoyed when Bayern turned down my offers in winter) I put a 12M offer on him. After some negociation Bayern agreed to a 18M€ transfer for summer and there was no problem with the negociation with the player. Thus, Ribery will be the first star signing for the 09/10 season .

As for results, I was rock solid and have been until now in all competitions. By december I was 1st in the league table, 9 points over 2nd (Real Madrid) and having only lost to Mallorca (0-1 at home, they got a penalty and even while we played much better the ball simply didn't want to go in) and drawed 0-0 vs Atletico madrid at their home. Now in march we're 1st with 14 points over Real Madrid, having only drawed against Sevilla at their home and lost against Valencia, also abroad. We won in the Bernabeu, btw

In the Champs League we were 1st in our group (with AS Roma, Spartak and Celtic, Roma was 2nd, Spartak 3rd) with 12 points and unbeaten. Then we played the 1st eliminatory round vs Olympique Lyon and that was quite a nerve-breaker. Eto'o, Messi and Alves were injured in the 1st match at their ground, we lost 3-1. Back at home Alves was back and Messi just recovered but only at 73% condition for the match, so he couldn't play. First half ended 0-0, but just after starting the 2nd half Xavi scored a great free kick...and in minute 42 Gudjohnsen headed a great cross by Alves in. 2-0, we move on to next round...which is against Inter de Milan (Oh, my :S)

In the cup we were out in 2nd round after beating Real Union in the first one. We crossed paths with Betis, and as the Board didn't really care about the Spanish Cup, I used all my youngsters and substitutes in the round. 0-0 at camp nou, 2-0 at Sevilla, and kicked out we were.

And...that's all so I think. Will write more as time passes by .

BTW Keita has some gelling problems at first, but since then he has been great in my team. Same with toure, he has always played wonders as DMC...even scoring some really awesome screamers from 35m+...

Can't see why anyone would want to sell either of them ,but well, to each his own, I won't say how anyone should play the game

BTW Keita has some gelling problems at first, but since then he has been great in my team. Same with toure, he has always played wonders as DMC...even scoring some really awesome screamers from 35m+...

Can't see why anyone would want to sell either of them ,but well, to each his own, I won't say how anyone should play the game

Because there are 5-6 years younger players like Veloso that are already much better (creativity 18, passing 18) then Keita or Toure, and Veloso will only get better, but Keita wont, and Veloso is cheaper. I dont see a reason NOT to sell them.

good old FM, just had the first match 3-0 up sevilla pull a hatrick from drugunotavic and it was 3-3, won against racing 1-0, a great set up i have tbh i think it will work wonders. will write more, pre season was great, put the youngsters out against River in the CL Qualifying stages Bojan Sergio Busquets and Caceries etc and we won 3-0, and 3-0 again so 6-0 agg, will write more

Nice, a thread about my favorite team...

As in every FM iteration my first team of choice was barcelona. In the summer transfer window I simply bought noone (I usually do it like this when I play barcelona to play at least until the winter transfer window with the squad they have IRL), but completely overhauled the coaches and scouts as the ones the team has simply won't cut it at all.

I like to give some rotations to the players, so I don't have a defined starting eleven except for some players who are key in my team (the likes of Messi, Puyol or Alves). Still the team I used at first you could say was:

GK: Valdes

DR: Alves

DL: Abidal

DC: Marquez

DC: Puyol

DM: Toure

MC: Xavi

MC: Busquets

AML: Iniesta

AMR: Messi

ST: Eto'o

As I say, there are rotations. I try to give some time of play to most players, so it's not unusual to see Keita in the fist squad in the place of Toure, or of Busquets (depends on the game and opponent, if the other team has a playmaker with a lot of creativity I put Keita as MC marking him), to see Henry in the left wing changing spots with Eto'o during the match, or Marquez and puyol to relax for one week and giving Piqué, Cáceres or Milito much needed time to play. Even gudjohnsen has had some quality time as MC and has given me very good results (you just need to know he won't be a playmaker, give him very offensive mentality and a free role and he'll be there to head quite some of your crosses, has worked wonders for some last-minute goals for me).

One has to keep in mind Barcelona has a very good set of young players, and they should see some action now and then to properly develop.

Victor vazquez is a good example: very young, can play in a lot of positions and for his age isn't that bad rated. we'll see how he develops, tho, as his potential doesn't seem to be that of a wonderkid.

Pedro is a good player for emergencies. Quite average but he fullfits the role and sometimes is all you can and should ask from a player who you know is there just to cover a spot in an emergency. He's got quite good ratings when he has played anyway, but he's moving away in summer as his potential seems to be very limited.

Assulin is the brightest of them all given his age and his potential. But it's a bit too green yet for 1st team. I loaned him out in December and currently is playing quite well in a 2nd league team.

And then is bojan. Training for AML, tutored by Henry,amazing results each time he has played, anywhere he has played, AMR, AML or DC. He's learned to beat the offside trap and since then his playstyle has improved even more. Doesn't have all the minutes he has deserved for his performance, but one has to avoid burning him anyway.

As for money, initial transfer ammount isn't that great, barely 15M€ for going for the league...didn't worry me anyway because as I say I don't buy/sell players until winter window. And the Winter window wasn't that active either. I received the hefty ammount of 45M€ from the board to splash on winter transfers, but I did only sign Keirrison (amazing potential brazilian 19yo forward) for an incredible 3.1M only. He was immediately sent in loan to FC lorient, with whom I have an agreement), where he's playing regularily with an average of 7.13 right now.

I actively tried to purchase an AML but failed. I set my objective in either Arshavin or Ribery, but neither would come for a decent price (Zenit asked 35M for Arshavin, and I wasn't going to pay that for a 28yo, and Bayern refused a 35M offer for Ribery), so I simply decided to make do with what I had(Iniesta,Henry and Bojan, all of them training for AML, and Pedro as a last ditch measure).

around the last days of march, I had a news report about Ribery being unhappy at Bayern and checked him. He had very low morale, and wanted to leave the club. Just for the sake of it (I was VERY annoyed when Bayern turned down my offers in winter) I put a 12M offer on him. After some negociation Bayern agreed to a 18M€ transfer for summer and there was no problem with the negociation with the player. Thus, Ribery will be the first star signing for the 09/10 season .

As for results, I was rock solid and have been until now in all competitions. By december I was 1st in the league table, 9 points over 2nd (Real Madrid) and having only lost to Mallorca (0-1 at home, they got a penalty and even while we played much better the ball simply didn't want to go in) and drawed 0-0 vs Atletico madrid at their home. Now in march we're 1st with 14 points over Real Madrid, having only drawed against Sevilla at their home and lost against Valencia, also abroad. We won in the Bernabeu, btw

In the Champs League we were 1st in our group (with AS Roma, Spartak and Celtic, Roma was 2nd, Spartak 3rd) with 12 points and unbeaten. Then we played the 1st eliminatory round vs Olympique Lyon and that was quite a nerve-breaker. Eto'o, Messi and Alves were injured in the 1st match at their ground, we lost 3-1. Back at home Alves was back and Messi just recovered but only at 73% condition for the match, so he couldn't play. First half ended 0-0, but just after starting the 2nd half Xavi scored a great free kick...and in minute 42 Gudjohnsen headed a great cross by Alves in. 2-0, we move on to next round...which is against Inter de Milan (Oh, my :S)

In the cup we were out in 2nd round after beating Real Union in the first one. We crossed paths with Betis, and as the Board didn't really care about the Spanish Cup, I used all my youngsters and substitutes in the round. 0-0 at camp nou, 2-0 at Sevilla, and kicked out we were.

And...that's all so I think. Will write more as time passes by .

Good job man! Looks like you have awesome game going. How is Busquets doing/developing? He looks underrated on the demo.

I feel that at the start of the season Barca needs a starting AML (Giovinco, Arshavin, M.Fernandez, Cazorla), back-up right back who can maybe also cover on the left (someone like Cassani, Boateng) and that's it.

At least that's what I plan to do when I get the full game and patch it.

Keep up the good work and post updates! Let me know how Ribery does for you cause I like him too.

Good job man! Looks like you have awesome game going. How is Busquets doing/developing? He looks underrated on the demo.

I feel that at the start of the season Barca needs a starting AML (Giovinco, Arshavin, M.Fernandez, Cazorla), back-up right back who can maybe also cover on the left (someone like Cassani, Boateng) and that's it.

At least that's what I plan to do when I get the full game and patch it.

Keep up the good work and post updates! Let me know how Ribery does for you cause I like him too.

Busquets has pretty nice stats for his age, IMO. I'm using him more than what I thought at first because of team injuries, rotations ,etc, and he's been quite good for me (avg rating 7.01).

I also think an AML is needed, but between me not buying anyone until december and Zenit and bayern going over the roof with their pretensions for Arshavin and Ribery...well, what I have is getting the job done. I don't like to smash money if it isn't for a good reason. Besides it all turned to my advantage when I was able to sign ribery for almost half the ammount I initially offered for him ,so...

I'll do some updates as the game goes on .

whats basquets PA?

whats basquets PA?

a bit low IMHO...158. CA is 128. Still, the kid has got nice stats and is a pretty nice midfielder as it is. But he should have better PA, tbf.

Valdes; Abidal, Puyol, Pique, Dani Alves; Keita, Xavi, Iniesta; Henry, Eto'o & Messi

That lineup - though with heavy rotation due to the injury bug - made me untouchable in the league with 100+ points, Champions League finalist (lost due to my many injures tbh, couldn't even form a seven man bench ) and generally some awesome results (beat Inter 7-0 on aggregate). I personally think the AI is not intelligent enough, they just stay back basically and wait to be slaughtered.

(beat Inter 7-0 on aggregate). I personally think the AI is not intelligent enough, they just stay back basically and wait to be slaughtered.

and what's exactly the difference between that and real life?

a bit low IMHO...158. CA is 128. Still, the kid has got nice stats and is a pretty nice midfielder as it is. But he should have better PA, tbf.

He should be with CA=135 and PA=175 IMO! Also with better mental stats especially for positioning. I will fix him with the Editor.

ill fix him in the editor as well

Just signed Robinho in the January transfer window. he hasn't played too well atm. currently sitting joint top with Madrid on 71 points after 33 games! so need to win all my games as they have a very easy run in!

I agree Busquets' PA is a tad low. I'm guessing it will change on next patch.

How much did you need to pay for him?

and what's exactly the difference between that and real life?

True that. But given that we are fed with the assistant's tips, the AI should at least think in similar ways and exploit your weaknesses, expose your one footed players, go Roy Keane on your soft boys etc.

But yes, it is realistic that they just sit back and wait for the humiliation. Only teams going to The Emirates are confident of three points these days

How much did you need to pay for him?

Do you mean Robinho?

I paid 31.5m upfront and 7.5m after 50 league games. couldn't resist.

Hi guys, started my first game as Barca, into November and doing solidly, 2nd in the league behind Racing after 8 games and 2nd in the CL group after being 1-0 up against Fiorentina and conceding in the 92nd and 94th minutes:mad:. Anyway building for the future the team looks like this....

GKs: Asenjo, Valdes

CBs: Puyol, Milito, Pique, Caceres, Sakho

FBs: Alves, Abidal, Insua, Chretien

DMs: Keita, Busquets

AMs: Messi, Fernandez, Pjanic, Iniesta, Hleb

STs: Eto'o, Balotelli, Aquino, Bojan

Looking to get plenty of money for Hleb and Eto'o maybe to get some more youngsters in January like Camacho or Alexis Sanchez. Any advice on how to get the best out of the strikers? Anything I try they always seem to get crap ratings and miss easy chances, I think Eto'o's average rating is 5.something.

Also Messi doesn't seem to do much for me.

Cas46

Welcome to the forums mate.

You got good youngsters there.

What tactic do you use? Maybe tinkering with those tactics would give the desired results. All the best

Thanks:)

At the moment I'm playing 4-4-1-1 which might explain why my strikers don't do so well, I was going to go for Milevskiy as more of a target man but wasn't convinced if he was good enough, now he's gone to Newcastle so that's probably not an option now. Hopefully the injury situation subsides and then I can play 2 upfront, Eto'o was out for 5 months in the summer.

Hey guys,

i decided to go with Barcelona (gunna start man city game after this). I wanted to know what tactics you guys use and if you can upload them? i suck at making tactics.

Please help..

thanks

Just a tip. Getting a DR back-up isnt that necessary in my eyes. I had Alves out for 5 months and Puyol played like a God in that position. Pique and Caceres did very well in the centre. You can also use Victor Sanchez as a third back up. But had I seen Davide Santon before I would definetly have bought him as cover. Now Inter is demanding a ridiculous £22,5 Mill plus Caceres.

For the AML position I bought Balotelli (I know he is a striker), and he did very well in that position. Scoring 10 goals in 29 matches from that position and he had a very nice development the first year. Bojan is now my preferred striker and scoring loads of goals.

As for tactic I play a 4-1-2-2-1/4-5-1/4-3-3 or whatever you wanna call it

GK Valdes/Asenjo

DR Alves

DL Abidal/Emmanuelson

DC's Puyol/Pique/Caceres/Marquez/Henrique/Milito

DMC Toure/Keita/Marquez/Busquets

MC Xavi/Busquets/Keita/Thiago

MCa Iniesta/Hleb

AMR Messi/Hleb/Gai Assulin

AML Balotelli/Gai Assulin/Saivet/

ST Bojan/Eto'o/Balotelli

Last season I won every competition. I play with a very attacking mentality and a high d-line. In the attacking build I play with a direct passing system, due to the high creativity for my players this often opens up the oppositions defense. I have a very high closing down therefor I stop most of their attacks before they get past my midfield. There are some vulnerability to long balls, but my defenders are pretty quick and Valdes do sweep when he gets the chance. Last season I only let in 17 goals, and scored 83, I won 30 games and drew 8 in the league.

I have done some modifications to my original tactic to make it more efficient and so far it looks good.

Syntexity, could you share your tactics with us?

I've been struggling with Barca on FM09. Winning games but playing poor and scoring mostly from set pieces.

I've tried all kinds of formations and experimented a lot but it never payed of (yes I've read WWfans TTF).

Thanks!