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

[Jaqqzorr]

Just finished 7th in second season (8th in first) just qualifying for the Europa League.

Strikers fired me there as Jones ended up with 26 in the league, and Muniain won Young Player of the Year. I'm into the group stage after easily disposing of some Norwegian team and Gent in the qualifiers. Have got Fenerbahce, Siena and Rapid Vienna.

Squad is now looking like:

Keepers: Gordon, Fulop, Ernest (regen from Valencia)

Fullbacks: Rafael, Belletti, Assou-Ekotto, Drenthe

Centrebacks: Turner, Cahill, Djourou, Ferdinand

Midfield: Cattermole, Busquets, Cana, Collison

Wingers: Di Maria, Sessegnon, Trochowski, Granero, Johnson, Golasa

Forwards: Jones, Muniain, Milevskyi, Bent

Nice Squad you got there.

How much did you get Rafael for?

Anyway, i'm in November in my first season, and currently sitting 8th, mainly due to poor results against teams i should be beating.

I beat Chelsea away 4-3 and just drew with Liverpool 4-4 away and i beat Arsenal 2-1 at home.

Bent is on a good run and is scoring loads, with Defour playing loads of killer balls to him.

I'm hoping to at least finish 7th so i get into Europe next season.

Squad;

GK- Gordon/Fulop

DR- Nosworthy/Bardsley

DL- Stefan Radu/McCartney

DC- Mensah/Tuner/Ferdinand

ML- Richardson/Reid

MR- Malbranque/Henderson

MC- Defour/Cattermole/Cana

ST- Bent/Jones/Campbell

EDIT; This is what annoys me so much, i just played bolton and lost 1-0. Didnt even have a shot on targer. Lack of consistncy really bothers me.

[lurkingwithintent]

I struggled with consistency last season as well but now have seemed to get it working. Am working on the tactic to then upload so I'll post a link. 2nd season, just about to enter January, sitting 2ND! and on equal points as leaders Man Utd. Unreal:

[djsaunders]

Nice Squad you got there.

How much did you get Rafael for?

Only on loan at the minute, but have an agreed fee of £7m in place.

[LiamoW21]

I've just started a game with the lads. So far, I've not brought in anybody but I'm close to a deals for Michael Chretien, Xabi Prieto and I'm trying to get Villa down to a better price for Nicky Shorey. So far, I've not done well in friendlies and wondered if someone could help me out. I've never liked making tactics and get annoyed when I can't see why they don't work. As I type this, I'm being dominated away to Falkirk playing a 4-4-2, but leading by a brilliant counter attack goal, with these instructions:

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend

RB & LB: Full Back, Automatic

CM: Ball Winning Midfielder, Defend

CM: Central Midfielder, Support

RM & LM: Wide Midfielder, Attack

ST: Deep Lying Forward, Support

ST: Advanced Forward, Attack

The centre backs I've given these instructions but they seem to change themselves during a match..:

I'm not sure if I've been using these because, as I say, I changed them outside of a match and when I checked at half time during this match they'd gone back to their default settings. Any ideas?

[BlackCats Rule]

First season i mainly went for Creative freedom: more disciplined and passing style: more direct, i still had alot of inconsistency through the season though... but might help a bit, also think about how many of the first team squad are new even if you didn't buy anyone.

[Jaqqzorr]

I struggled with consistency last season as well but now have seemed to get it working. Am working on the tactic to then upload so I'll post a link. 2nd season, just about to enter January, sitting 2ND! and on equal points as leaders Man Utd. Unreal:

Nice! Good going mate!

I would like to see your tactics when possible though

[lurkingwithintent]

Hey jaggzorr, I'm working on a write up for them - team have hit a bit of a blip, still winning games but making hard work of it...3rd with 5 games left, title is out of reach but Champs League is nearly secured. If you want any advice feel free to PM me or I can give you my MSN.

[lurkingwithintent]

Bump, jaggzorr and others I've uploaded my tactic if anyone wants to have a look - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=4244055#post4244055

Also, with 3 games to go I've suddenly found myself top of the Premier League

But Man City (A), Chelsea (H) and Bolton (A) are 3 tough games, so not sure I'll finish top. Not sure I want to, then the season expectation for next season will be much higher.

[seaneyboy]

Just started new season, i'm a Sunderland fan so going to keep majority of the team for the first season, just add in new additions as the squad is so small.

healy, murphy, carson and anderson all on transfer list

seemed like we need more creativity so i've added some AMC's to the squad, and cover at leftback and sub goalkeeper.

brought in:

Joe Lewis - £1.3m

Jose Pablo Guerrero - £3.6m

Per Ciljan Skjelbred - £2.1m

Jelle Van Damme - £2m

so far, looking to add 1 more player to the squad to get me through to January then see where i stand.

looking to play 4-2-2-2 with advanced wingers

GK-Gordon

DR-Bardo (Full back/support)

DL-Rico/Van Damme (Wing back/attack)

DC-Turner (Limited def/stopper)

DC-Ferdinand (Defender/cover)

MC-Cana (Ball winning mid/defend)

MC-Cattermole (Box to Box/support)

AMR-Malbranque (Advanced playmaker/support)

AML-Reid (Winger/attack)

ST-Bent (Advanced forward/attack)

ST-Jones (Target man/support)

[lurkingwithintent]

Good signings seaneyboy - I would try and bring in a striker (Bent/Jones were pretty average for me) in January if I were you. On my game around late October the board gave me 9mil transfer budget so hopefully you will get some extra cash in January. Good luck!

[lurkingwithintent]

Man City (A) Lost 1-2

Chelsea (H) 2-2

Bolton (A) 2-2

Means Sunderland will be playing in the Champions League next season! Finishing 4th

[LiamoW21]

Nice one, jackfranklin.

Meanwhile, I've got up to October's international break and, while I load the next few weeks, here's how I've done so far:

I've spent my whole budget, more or less, on these players:

+ Michael Chretien, 5mil (+2.5mil after 20 games) from Nancy Lorraine. I've had him in last year's FM with Juve and he was sensational to I decided to plump for him rather than someone to tide me over this season.

+ Nicky Shorey, 3.7mil from Aston Villa. I thought I needed left back cover and he fit the bill.

+ David Beckham, 400k from LA Galaxy. I thought I should have cover for central midfield/right midfield so spent the rest of my budget on Becks, after fiddling with his wages to be able to afford his 60k p/w.

The only player who's left is Roy O'Donnovan who's on loan at my feeder club Millwall.

Results:

3 - 2 at Bolton (Bent 2, Turner)

1 - 1 Birmingham (Bent)

3 - 4 at Villa (Bent 2, Beckham)

3 - 0 Huddersfield (Murphy 3(!)) in the League Cup

0 - 0 Chelsea

0 - 1 at Fulham

2 - 0 Man City (Bent 2)

5 - 3 at Bristol City (Richardson, Bent 2, Cattermole, Henderson) AET in the League Cup

2 - 5 at Man Utd (Jones, Richardson)

2 - 2 Everton (Bent, Pienaar OG)

I'm sitting in 13th at the moment with a -2 goal difference thanks to that spanking from Man Utd, but overall I'm pretty pleased with my start. I've played a lot of the top teams in the league and done pretty well against them. Next up is Liverpool, then I have what could be a decent set of fixtures against some of the weeker sides, along with a League Cup tie with Arsenal.

[twentythree]

Mid way through season 4 now. Summer was uneventful, over a dozen left including Colback to West Ham for £2.5m and more than £1m for Meyler and Waghorn combined. No-one was signed as every serious target was crazy money. Man City settled Iker Munain's sell on fee for £8m, so a 17 year old who was here for 6 months raked in nearly £10m.

Cana, Rico, Fulop and Campbell came back from their loans to create a bigger squad that has coped with the European fixtures and got us through the group stage. League has been terribly hit and miss again, another bottom half year beckons.

Hoping some players become available in January. Both left backs Ringo and Jankulovski are totally past it. As is Nosworthy the right back cover but Liam Bagnall has turned out great so that's not as big a priority. One of Reid/Rico can go to save money as Hourihane is now good enough to fill in regularly.

[djsaunders]

Just finished 7th in second season (8th in first) just qualifying for the Europa League.

Strikers fired me there as Jones ended up with 26 in the league, and Muniain won Young Player of the Year. I'm into the group stage after easily disposing of some Norwegian team and Gent in the qualifiers. Have got Fenerbahce, Siena and Rapid Vienna.

Squad is now looking like:

Keepers: Gordon, Fulop, Ernest (regen from Valencia)

Fullbacks: Rafael (L), Belletti, Assou-Ekotto, Drenthe (L)

Centrebacks: Turner, Cahill, Djourou, Ferdinand

Midfield: Cattermole, Busquets, Cana, Collison

Wingers: Di Maria, Sessegnon, Trochowski, Granero (L), Johnson, Golasa

Forwards: Jones, Muniain, Milevskyi, Bent

As an update to this, finished 6th in my 3rd season.

Have since brought in:

Rafael permanently (Man Utd) - £7m

Drenthe permanently (Real Madrid) - Bosman free

Luis Suarez (Ajax) - Bosman free

Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal) - £2.6m

Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux) - £17.5m (over 48 months)

Nani (Man Utd) - Loan

E. Garay (Real Madrid) - Loan

And got rid of:

Darren Bent (Chelsea) - £11m

Kieran Richardson (Leeds) - £4m

George McCartney (Hull) - £2m

Lorik Cana (Marseille) - £7m

Stephane Sessegnon (Bayern) - £9m

Piotr Trochowski (Tottenham) - £6m

Belletti (Reggina) - Free

and eventually Daryl Murphy on a free.

Started the season on fire, scoring goals for fun

Oh, and the SoL has been extended for the 3rd summer running. First to 52k, then to 55k and now to 67k. Have always average a few thousand under capacity so god knows what is going on there.

[RabEss.Safc1879]

Came 5th then 8th made europe. star player out for the big match and i lose 2-0 at home to takara or some nonsense team like that

Signed

Wellinton and Di Maria and Pavalyucheko

Oh and whats with this stupid registeration thing?

[Craig_R.U.F.C]

Does anyone know a decent tactic i can use please? I want to play with wingers and not fussed if its 1 or 2 strikers.

Thanks

[liamc]

1st Season:

Players In

Summer Transfer Window

Beckham 750k

Lukovic 900k

Sol Campbell FREE

Viera 1.5m

Van Nistlerooy 2m

O'Hara 3m

Winter Transfer Window

Salas 3.4m

Obertan loan 1.5

Total Out - £13m

Players Out

Winter Transfer Window

Reid 3.6m

da Silva 2.5

Finished 5th qualified for UEFA Cup!

[aikman_2002]

hi guys just wanted to give you an update on how my sunderland save is going so far. just have to say i am absolutely loving this save.

anyways i finished the season in 5th place therefore making into the europa league. van nistleroy amd kenwyne jones were beasts for me noching 28 and 34 goals for me respectively. i brought in petrov for about 2.2mil to provide some competition for richardson and it worked , richardson never let petrov get a game, absolutely raising his game and finishing the season with a whopping 26 assists while chipping in 8 goals. anyways onto season 2 got hooked up with a 28mil budget and with Europe looming i knew i had to invest accordingly, first i wanted to trim down the roster so i decided to cut loose some of the deadwood in my squad. i offloadeddarren bent to fulham for 10mil he had been severly disappointing for me (fans didnt like that) sold andy reid cos he wanted to leave to fulham as well for 2.5mil. Phil bardsley to wolves for 5mil and da silva to porto for 3mil ternimnated mensah's loan, mvoto to wigan fot 1 mil. then i brought in Anyukov for 9mil, jose angel for 7mil, jorgensen for 4mil (immense Defender)berg for 17mil( i know quite pricey but over 48months) a fantastic regen Mc who is already being capped for Ireland at age 17, made RVN deal permanet for 425k and al sharwarry (sp) on loan with 3.5mil ff. the squad looks really impressive now and qualified for the group stages of Europa league quite easily, even beat galatasary in our first game. season started with 4 straight clean sheets courtesy of the new turner/ jorgensen partnership. Ferdinand now a bench warmer. thompson got unsettled by arsenal and now wants to leave, so i may need a replacement. sorry for the long post but really excited about this save.

[LiamoW21]

I'm just entering December in season one now, so time for another update. I've pretty much settled on a strongest line up now. Beckham has been on poor form and keeps giving the ball away, so I decided to try Henderson and he's been a sensation:

Gordon

Chretien .. da Silva ... Turner .. Shorey

Henderson Cana Cattermole Richardson

Bent .... Jones

Richardson also seems to play very well in the centre where Cattermole is in the formation above and Cattermole shifts into the holding role Cana occupies. Ferdinand is on the fringe and comes in if da Silva isn't playing well and vice versa. Mensah has been terrible and hasn't had a rating above 6.4 in the first team.

Results:

2 - 0 at Liverpool (Bent, Chretien (pen))

0 - 0 Blackburn

3 - 2 Arsenal (Cattermole, Bent, Almunia OG) AET in the League Cup 4th round

3 - 1 at Burney (Richardson, Campbell, Henderson)

1 - 2 Tottenham (Bent)

0 - 2 at Arsenal

4 - 1 West Ham (Turner, Jones 2, Richardson)

2 - 3 at Chelsea (Bent 2) in the League Cup Quarter Final

Not doing too badly I think. I'm sitting in 11th at the moment, but my next few games are very winnable (Wolves, Hull, Pompey, Stoke, Wigan, Bolton and Birmingham - all teams below me) so hopefully I can climb further up the table. I have 7.5mil to spend in January and I'm hoping to bring in Adam Johnson and train him up to be able to play right wing aswell as left - his value is 1mil and his contract is up at the end of the season so hopefully he'll be quite cheap and it'd be nice to have another Sunderland born player in the team. I'm also looking into a couple of young guys who look pretty good.

And finally, some advice again please: I keep being told by my assistant that Turner can't motivate himself to play for me because of 'personal issues between the two of you', yet is usually the best player on the pitch. I've also upset Cana by fining him 2 weeks wages for getting sent off against Arsenal, then returning against West Ham and getting himself sent off again. I was also asked about losing the 'dressing room', should I be worried?

[seaneyboy]

started again with sunderland as i bought too many players in the opening transfer window. decided to turn off the first transfer window and see how i (and the rest of the EPL) got on without signing anyone. set myself goal of 20 points by xmas as had quite a few tough runs of fixtures. instead of picking a tactic i was happy with for home and away games, decided to tweak for every single game and actually had quite abit of success. currently in january 2010 and have 33 points sitting 8th (1-7th are having their own league, 9 point gulf at this point). decided against bringin in too many players and went for quality over quantity. signed jack rodlwell for £6m upfront rising to £16m on appearances and over 3 years. quality player at only 18, looks a beast when i played him at the back after a mid-game injury to da silva. mcgeady also joined for £7m upfront rising to £11.5m, but has unfortunatley got injured for a few weeks already, which is a shame. looking at bringing in an additional striker as open to offers for murphy, healey etc. but recalled waghorn who looks a decent prospect in the game.

FM2010 is so addictive, better than previous version by far. I bought on release date and havent stop playing since...havent even picked up my ps3 pad to play PES or FIFA since then!

[LiamoW21]

Entering January now, but I wanted to have a little rant. This is nothing against the game, I just need to vent. So, here we go:

After carefully looking around for some good players I could sign with my 7.5mil budget for the January window, I found that Gabriel Milito was on the transfer list for £4.4mil at Barca - target one sorted. Or so I think. Nearing the end of December, I get a message that Bent has played enough games that Spurs get £1mil as part of the deal. Fair enough, but the money comes out of my transfer fund? So, I'm down to 6.5mil. Next game, 400k goes to Wigan for Cattermole playing enough games. 6mil, give or take. The next game, 2.5mil goes to Nancy for Chretien and I'm down to around 3.4mil. Now, Chretien was a player I brought in so that's fair enough that it effects my budget, but Bent and Cattermole weren't, so I think that's a bit harsh. Now, I'll be lucky to afford Adam Johnson.

Another thing that annoys me - my strikers going one on one with the goal keeper. Not once have any of them managed to put one into the net one on one. Bent has 19 goals, but not one has been one on one with the keeper. Kenwyne Jones... well, Kenwyne has 4 goals because most of his chances are one on one with the keeper and he passes it straight into his open arms. Seconds later, the other team will go one on one with Gordon and smash it into the back of the net. It's so damn frustrating...

[twentythree]

End of 4th season finished 15th after fielding the youths for the last ten games of pointlessness and losing most of them. Went out to Wolfsburg in the first knockout of the EUFA cup, won at the Sol but got stuffed in the away game. Campbell, Jones and Bent got over 60 goals between them.

Summer was the third consecutive transfer window where nobody was signed. The prices are crazy for any youngster who will improve he team and wages for available over the hill superstars like Adebayor are equally obscene. Could have funded changes by selling the much sought after Cattermole and Djourou for £11m each but they are the two first names on the teamsheet. Richardson left on a season loan however I can still easily put out a team of players who were at the club before I took over 4 years ago. Laing and Hourihane and worth holding onto, very handy back up players now.

[LiamoW21]

End of January now and I've managed to sign Adam Johnson for 750k after Steve Gibson decided that was too good to turn down. Lyon came sniffing around Lorik and swept him off his feet with compliments and soppy emails, turning his head and making him think about leaving. A pulled hamstring put an end to that and Lyon backed off. I did ask my assistant to find me some strikers I could loan given my lack of funds, but he never got back to me... van Nistelrooy seemed like the perfect solution, but his wage demands were too much.

Not really anything to do with me, but I've noticed a few players who were transfered earlier in the season going back to the clubs they came from, notably Huddlestone from Liverpool back to Spurs. Also, Ryan Shawcross is now sitting in Man Utd's reserves after a £12.5mil move...

Results:

1 - 1 at Wolves (Malbranque)

2 - 0 Hull (Bent, Malbranque)

0 - 1 at Portsmouth

3 - 0 Stoke (Bent 3)

1 - 2 Wigan (Reid)

3 - 1 Bolton (Reid, Bent, Jones)

1 - 1 Birmingham (Richardson)

2 - 0 Brighton (Reid, Campbell) in the FA Cup 3rd Roud

2 - 4 Villa (Jones, Campbell)

0 - 4 at Chelsea

1 - 2 at Wolves (Bent) in the FA Cup 4th Round

0 - 2 at Man City

In a pretty bad spell at the moment and its starting to be frustrating. Cana, Cattermole and Henderson have all been out injured and we've paid the price. We keep dominating games but fluffing chances. I'm sitting 13th on 30 points at the moment and I'll be stuck there for the forseeable future. Fulham are just above me on 34, just below me are Bolton (29), Pompey (26) and then Stoke (24). Up next is Fulham at home so hopefully I can put this terrible run to and end and close the gap a little, but then there's a horrific looking run of Man Utd (H), Everton (A) and Liverpool (H), then a couple of winnable games - Blackburn (A) and Burnley (H). Then we'll be on the home straight and, after games with Spurs (A) and Arsenal (H), tricky games which could push us up the table should things go well: Hull (A), West Ham (A), Wolves (H), Pompey (H), Stoke (A) and finally Wigan (A).

EDIT: I accidentally clicked 'No' for some unknown reason when asked to save as I was quitting. After a moment of panic, thankfully I the game auto saved just after the Man City game. God bless the man who invented auto save

[twentythree]

Noticed that too- Bruce is back at Birmingham and has been trying to unsettle half the squad unsuccesfully.

[liamc]

I am in my third season and Frazier Campbell is a monster! I sold Bent to Liverpool and Kenwyne to West Ham in the January transfer window in the first season. The save is on my other laptop that the wife is on at the minute but if I remember correctly end of first season he scored 11 goals even though he only really started from January.

Second season he scored 34 goals in all competitions ( I was in Europa League)...13 in the league.

Third season - I am in January and he has 28 so far, 15 in league. Defo worth keeping.

I have mainly played him with Dean Ashton who is also in a rich vein of form. Loving this save so much. Out of my 25 man squad in the Premier League I have 17 English men. Don't really have a "main" starting XI as I rotate the squad. My squad at the moment is:-

Goalkeepers - Craig Gordon - Joe Hart

Defenders - Phil Bardsley (DR) Kyle Naughton (D/WB/RL) George McCartney (DL) Alec Lukovic (DLC) - Michael Mancienne (DRC) Michael Turner (DC) James Tomkins (DC) David Wheater (DC)

Midfielders - David Beckham (MRC) Saeed Malbrangue (AMRLC) Henderson (AMRC) - Kieran Richardson (AMLC) Carlos Vela (AM/F RLC) - Lee Catermole (DM MC) Patrick Viera (DM MC) Rafael V.Der Vaart (AMC) Jamie O Hara (MLC) Fabian Delph (MRC)

Forwards - Dean Ashton (FC) Frazier Campbell (ST) R.Van Nistlerooy (ST) Mettia (FC)(Loan from Inter)

1st Season - Finished 5th Qual. for Uefa Cup/Europa League - Very disappointing in both cups!!

2nd Season - Finished 10th - FA Cup lost in 5th round - Won League Cup and Europa League!!(qualified for europe again!)

3rd Season - In January 5th in league, out of both FA cup (4th round) and league cup (semi finals) Got Wolfsburg in first knockout round of UEFA.

I am almost £20 mill in debt though! Turned down two offers from Man City and job offers from Roma & Sevilla.

Loving the career so far, just going to wrestle the other lap top off the missus and the fun can begin again!

[BlackCats Rule]

yeh i recently had my 30+ mill debt restructured so now have a loan of 30 mill instead :/, at least i didnt end up havign to sell players, im just heading into january second season.

First season i finished 8th missing out on europe on goal difference .

This season im right up amongst the euro spots, was in the top four for a while but now just amongst the europa leauge places.

My current suqad:

GKS: Gordon, Fulop, Luis Guilherme (sp?) (young prospect)

DEFS: Jankulovski, Bardsley, McCartney, Srna, Kolarov, Otamendi, Turner, Da Silva, Lugano

MIDS: Beckham, Deco, Vukcevic, Cattermole, Delph, Cana, Di Maria, Wilshere

FWDS: Suarez, Jones, Campbell, Owen

I also have Malbranque out on loan at the moment.

Vukcevic has been an outstanding player in AMC usually behind suarez playing as a deep forward. I highly recommend him, i got him quite cheap too in first season January window.

[LiamoW21]

Just a quick update on my game..:

Results:

2 - 0 Fulham (Reid, Ferdinand)

0 - 2 Man Utd

1 - 2 at Everton (Cattermole)

1 - 3 Liverpool (Cattermole)

3 - 1 at Blackburn (Richardson 2, Bent)

6 - 3 Burnley (Campbell 2, Bent 4)

1 - 2 at Spurs (Bent)

0 - 1 Arsenal (After a pen that never was...)

Heading into April and what should be make or break time. All my remaining games should be winnable, but I'm aiming for nine points out of the last six games, whether that be two wins and three draws or whatever. Nine points would probably see me around 8th to 11th the way things are shaping up and I'd be happy with that. The teams around me keep getting beat so my aim should be achievable. I'm not expecting it to be easy though, seeing as Kenwyne's broke his ankle. But he should return in late April/early May and be helpful to have around. At the moment, Bent has hit some form again after playing with his instructions and Campbell has started to step up and replace Jones.

Remaining Games:

Hull (A)

West Ham (A)

Wolves (H)

Pompey (H)

Stoke (A)

Wigan (A)

[mufc4life12]

I have just started my first game with Sunderland on FM10 and have just finished pre-season.

Here are my transfers:

Sol Campbell - Free - Is only on a low wage and should do a decent job as a backup player for a season or two. I doubt he will get much playing time but he should do an OK job if I have any injuries.

Guti - £2.3m - Very cheap for a player of his ability. He is on a huge wage (£85k per week) however I am prepared to pay it for a player of his quality. Hasn't been great in pre-season but thats because I kept on experimenting with tactics and he usually didn't even play 45 minutes of football before I changed his position.

Simon Vukcevic - £6m - A very good buy for the price I think. He has done a great job for me in previous saves and will hopefully do so again, playing just behind Bent in a supporting role.

Manu Micó - Free - Not a great player but is an OK backup for the Left Back position.

David Beckham - Free - Not joining till January and is on a very big wage (£75k per week) but I think he will probably be a starting player for the rest of the season and possibly the next. Still has the ability to easily compete at this level.

Overall, I am very happy with my starting XI and if I can get my tactics sorted then I hope for good things from this team.

The main problem I reckon I will have is that there is pretty much no strength in depth in my squad. I only have 4 or 5 players outside of my first XI who I am happy to play and a few injuries could have a huge effect on the team.

[RabEss.Safc1879]

I left the sunderland job after 3 seasons.. reached europe on my first and missed out on the other 2

beat man city 4-1 and arsenal 4-0

so the new man now should take us forward lol

[twentythree]

Mid way through fifth season. With no European games to worry about the squad has been easily strong enough for the league, flirting with the top four without quite cementing a place there. A sucker punch defeat after bombarding bottom placed Stoke seems to have ended the push.

£7.5m in the red though, all due to wages so something had to be done. Scouting trips have ended, no-one will be signed, players such as Cana, Campbell and Turner have had to be sent out on loan to reduce costs and worst of all star player Johan Djourou departs for Portsmouth for £12m over 6 months.

There's plenty in reserve to replace Johan with Loius Laing and two other regens easily capable of a first team spot alongside Ferdinand or Kompany but without the regular star players it looks like the slide into mediocrity will happen for a fifth time. Sunderland are a selling club

[andrewfx]

Season one

Transfers:

http://img4.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/4883/48837609fa65f67ddee54bc0e98b2f125a6ade4.png

League:

http://img8.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/4883/4883756ce1e1159d485c4ca73132df8e7ca9b59.png

Season two

Transfers:

http://img8.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/4883/4883761ed21a3c897bcd8477445833b7e6ac7fd.png

League:

http://img1.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/4883/4883758796f59ae98e2c7562cff76b8f3f700b3.png

Season three (current season)

Transfers:

League:

Also, I recommend signing Jo, as he has been outstanding for me and I purchased him at a bargain price of £3.6m at the start of season three

[LiamoW21]

I'd been thinking of buying Jo when his loan at Everton ends. I can't see Man City playing him in the second season, so I'm hopeful. Speaking of my game, I'm hoping to get the first season finished tonight. Five games to go, should be doable.

On a side note, what skin is that you're using andrewfx? It's purdy.

Outside of FM, gerrin today lads. Absolute quality

[andrewfx]

I'd been thinking of buying Jo when his loan at Everton ends. I can't see Man City playing him in the second season, so I'm hopeful. Speaking of my game, I'm hoping to get the first season finished tonight. Five games to go, should be doable.

On a side note, what skin is that you're using andrewfx? It's purdy.

Outside of FM, gerrin today lads. Absolute quality

Here you go

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/fm2010/downloads/Graphics/Skins/172-Steklo_X_Mirror.html

And I would definatley buy him, he is a very consistent goalscorer.

Scored 20 in 29 in the league for me, and his value has already shot up to £6.25m

Also yeah, good result for us, atmosphere was great again too.

[liamc]

I am in my third season and Frazier Campbell is a monster! I sold Bent to Liverpool and Kenwyne to West Ham in the January transfer window in the first season. The save is on my other laptop that the wife is on at the minute but if I remember correctly end of first season he scored 11 goals even though he only really started from January.

Second season he scored 34 goals in all competitions ( I was in Europa League)...13 in the league.

Third season - I am in January and he has 28 so far, 15 in league. Defo worth keeping.

I have mainly played him with Dean Ashton who is also in a rich vein of form. Loving this save so much. Out of my 25 man squad in the Premier League I have 17 English men. Don't really have a "main" starting XI as I rotate the squad. My squad at the moment is:-

Goalkeepers - Craig Gordon - Joe Hart

Defenders - Phil Bardsley (DR) Kyle Naughton (D/WB/RL) George McCartney (DL) Alec Lukovic (DLC) - Michael Mancienne (DRC) Michael Turner (DC) James Tomkins (DC) David Wheater (DC)

Midfielders - David Beckham (MRC) Saeed Malbrangue (AMRLC) Henderson (AMRC) - Kieran Richardson (AMLC) Carlos Vela (AM/F RLC) - Lee Catermole (DM MC) Patrick Viera (DM MC) Rafael V.Der Vaart (AMC) Jamie O Hara (MLC) Fabian Delph (MRC)

Forwards - Dean Ashton (FC) Frazier Campbell (ST) R.Van Nistlerooy (ST) Mettia (FC)(Loan from Inter)

1st Season - Finished 5th Qual. for Uefa Cup/Europa League - Very disappointing in both cups!!

2nd Season - Finished 10th - FA Cup lost in 5th round - Won League Cup and Europa League!!(qualified for europe again!)

3rd Season - In January 5th in league, out of both FA cup (4th round) and league cup (semi finals) Got Wolfsburg in first knockout round of UEFA.

I am almost £20 mill in debt though! Turned down two offers from Man City and job offers from Roma & Sevilla.

Loving the career so far, just going to wrestle the other lap top off the missus and the fun can begin again!

Update:- Just finished 3rd Season...lost in Europa League semi final to Porto...was gutted. Drew 4-4 at home and lost 1-0 away! Finished 4th in league and qualified for Champs league.

Signings in 4th season were Jotevic(SP?) £20 mill...Dan Gosling £7.5m & Arand Traore £3m. Got off to a flyin start:-

Newcastle (A) won 3-0 V.Der Vaart Ashton (2)

Birmingham (A) won 1-0 Jotevic

Wigan (H) won 3-1 Campbell Delph V.Der Vaart

In champs league qualifier I had Bordeaux who I lost to in a pre season friendly. I drew first leg at home 0-0 and went to France and won 1-0 (Campbell). Then I got screwed in the draw: Barcelona, Kiev & Hamburg(I think! can't remember) Transfer window has just closed and got Northampton away in league cup.

Turned down Valencia and Man Utd job offers pre season. We are now 14th richest club in the world aswell and I am loving it! Stadium has been made to 60300 capacity.

[mufc4life12]

I am in my third season and Frazier Campbell is a monster! I sold Bent to Liverpool and Kenwyne to West Ham in the January transfer window in the first season. The save is on my other laptop that the wife is on at the minute but if I remember correctly end of first season he scored 11 goals even though he only really started from January.

Second season he scored 34 goals in all competitions ( I was in Europa League)...13 in the league.

Third season - I am in January and he has 28 so far, 15 in league. Defo worth keeping.

I have mainly played him with Dean Ashton who is also in a rich vein of form. Loving this save so much. Out of my 25 man squad in the Premier League I have 17 English men. Don't really have a "main" starting XI as I rotate the squad. My squad at the moment is:-

Goalkeepers - Craig Gordon - Joe Hart

Defenders - Phil Bardsley (DR) Kyle Naughton (D/WB/RL) George McCartney (DL) Alec Lukovic (DLC) - Michael Mancienne (DRC) Michael Turner (DC) James Tomkins (DC) David Wheater (DC)

Midfielders - David Beckham (MRC) Saeed Malbrangue (AMRLC) Henderson (AMRC) - Kieran Richardson (AMLC) Carlos Vela (AM/F RLC) - Lee Catermole (DM MC) Patrick Viera (DM MC) Rafael V.Der Vaart (AMC) Jamie O Hara (MLC) Fabian Delph (MRC)

Forwards - Dean Ashton (FC) Frazier Campbell (ST) R.Van Nistlerooy (ST) Mettia (FC)(Loan from Inter)

1st Season - Finished 5th Qual. for Uefa Cup/Europa League - Very disappointing in both cups!!

2nd Season - Finished 10th - FA Cup lost in 5th round - Won League Cup and Europa League!!(qualified for europe again!)

3rd Season - In January 5th in league, out of both FA cup (4th round) and league cup (semi finals) Got Wolfsburg in first knockout round of UEFA.

I am almost £20 mill in debt though! Turned down two offers from Man City and job offers from Roma & Sevilla.

Loving the career so far, just going to wrestle the other lap top off the missus and the fun can begin again!

Update:- Just finished 3rd Season...lost in Europa League semi final to Porto...was gutted. Drew 4-4 at home and lost 1-0 away! Finished 4th in league and qualified for Champs league.

Signings in 4th season were Jotevic(SP?) £20 mill...Dan Gosling £7.5m & Arand Traore £3m. Got off to a flyin start:-

Newcastle (A) won 3-0 V.Der Vaart Ashton (2)

Birmingham (A) won 1-0 Jotevic

Wigan (H) won 3-1 Campbell Delph V.Der Vaart

In champs league qualifier I had Bordeaux who I lost to in a pre season friendly. I drew first leg at home 0-0 and went to France and won 1-0 (Campbell). Then I got screwed in the draw: Barcelona, Kiev & Hamburg(I think! can't remember) Transfer window has just closed and got Northampton away in league cup.

Turned down Valencia and Man Utd job offers pre season. We are now 14th richest club in the world aswell and I am loving it! Stadium has been made to 60300 capacity.

What formation are you using?

[Rubentus_Juventus]

This is how he finished the second season.

I fineshed 9th in the end.

Super Mandzucic Came 2nd in world player thing.

Then my top corer waas Bent with an injury free season

Mate can you please tell me how you use each on of your strikers e.g. "Advanced Forward) etc, i really need some help with my forwards.

[LiamoW21]

Here you go

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/fm2010/downloads/Graphics/Skins/172-Steklo_X_Mirror.html

Thanks mate.

Season one over, here's the last six results:

5 - 2 at Hull (Bent 4, Reid)

2 - 0 at West Ham (Cattermole, Campbell)

2 - 2 Wolves (Cattermole, Campbell)

3 - 1 Pompey (Turner, Campbell, Bent)

1 - 0 at Stoke (Bent)

2 - 3 at Wigan (Bent, Campbell)

Leaving me with a final league position of 11th:

I'm pleased with the final position but not the number of goals conceded. If we could've kept a few more clean sheets and not thrown away so many leads we'd have probably finished in the European places. Still, I think it's respectable enough. Goal scoring didn't seem to be a problem though, we seemed to use the ol' tactics of "one more than you".

Goalscorers:

Darren Bent, 32 (28 league)

Fraizer Campbell, 9 (8 league)

Kieran Richardson, 7 (6 league)

Lee Cattermole, 6 (4 league)

Andy Reid, 5 (4 league)

Kenwyne Jones, 5 (5 league)

Michael Turner, 3 (3 league)

Daryl Murphy, 3 (0 league)

Jordan Henderson, 2 (1 league)

Steed Malbranque, 2 (2 league)

Anton Ferdiand, 1 (1 league)

David Beckham, 1 (1 league)

Michael Chretien, 1 (1 league)

As I've said, I'm hoping for a decent budget next season but I've only got 12mil in the bank at the moment so I'm probably going to have to find a way of getting the wage budget down to stop us from going into the red in the future. I've already signed Nicolas Burdisso from Inter on a free transfer. He's been quality for me in the past on FM games so hopefully he will be again. I've got a few targets but they depend on the size of the budget. I'm guessing they're unlikely, as they'd probably cost £10mil each. I'll be in the market for a right winger, central midfielder and striker, as well as hopefully brining in Mensah full time as he proved his worth as cover in the end, especially at left back. Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson won the Young Player of the Year Award, so I'm hoping he'll improve even further next season.

[liamc]

What formation are you using?

Mainly a 4-4-2 but I mix it up depending on who I am playing. Nothing major just minor changes like playing a couple of holding midfielders etc.

I have started the 4th season on fire. 21 of my 25 man squad are English aswell.

Just into November played 10 league games and I am top of league. Spurs and Wolves breathing down my neck though.

Out of Carling Cup lost 2-1 at home to Arsenal.

Champs League 2nd in group lost 2-0 to Barca but smashed Moscow 4-1 and Hertha Berlin 5-2 should hopefully progress from group stages.

Dean Ashton has 15 in 17 already and Frazier Campbell 12 in 14. Really enoying the career so far but just wondering if a "big" job comes up towards the end of this season do I go for it?

[LiamoW21]

Well... Quinny decided it would be a good idea to extend the stadium by 5,500 seats, at a cost of £7.5mil then hands me a wopping budget of £5mil and a wage budget giving me £10,000 to give to new players. So much for my plans. Alas, I plod on. Burdisso has officially signed now and my assistant reckons he's the mutt's nuts. After some deliberation, I've decided to keep Nyron around as back up for Chretien seeing as I won't be able to afford Mensah now. Jo rejected my loan attempt, leaving me wondering who I can find for around £3mil who's going to be any kind of help. Meanwhile, I'm in competition with Spurs and Villa for young Man Utd goal keeper Ben Amos. He's not going to beat off Gordon and Fulop just yet but, should he come, I'd have a good young goalie as back up should one get injured and a one for the future too. I'm also trying to get Deco on a trial, seeing as my wage budget is so shabby. At least he'd stay with me until I can loosen up some more dosh for him, but a few clubs in Portugal have made offers and I'm not hopeful.

[simonlfcgreen]

Mate can you please tell me how you use each on of your strikers e.g. "Advanced Forward) etc, i really need some help with my forwards.

Mario was complete striker with support Campbell was poacher and so was Bent with 2 good supporting wingers your laughing.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Mario was complete striker with support Campbell was poacher and so was Bent with 2 good supporting wingers your laughing.

Thanks alot mate!

[twentythree]

Ended season 5 with a best ever finish of 7th. Bent started every league game, scoring 26 to take him to 99 in the league for us in five years. Aided by 11 from Jones and 10 from Vuckevic, only champions Man Utd outscored us. Everyone stayed fit after Christmas and we won the last five games, including a two one against bogey team Man City and their monstrous forward line.

Only Conor Hourihane and American regen Liam Stowell went to the World Cup. Boo.

The bigger prize money finally sorted the finances out allowing a first signing for 4 transfer windows in the shape of Welsh right back Adam Matthews. A £23m flop for Barcelona, they let me have him for £17m. A massive upgrade on Bardsley.

Cattermole and Turner have gone on loan again to get the wage bill down, otherwise the team is still the original squad plus Reira, Kompany, Vuckevic, Jankulovski and a few youth teamers.

Bent bagged 3 against Spurs on the opening day to pass the century. Rowell and Phillips' records are in sight

[simonlfcgreen]

Thanks alot mate!

No probs let us know how you get on.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

yeah i will start playing again and will post once my exams are over

[ballinisahabit]

Transfers In

Oscar Cardozo - 7 mill

Angel Di Maria - 4 mill

Nicky Shorey - Loan

Transfers Out

N/A

Premier League

I still cant believe we managed to hit 6th and secure European football, i was hoping for a top half finish but thought Europe was a step too far. We lingered around 10-12th for most of the season but an incredible run of form towards the end and an easy fixture list propelled us up the table.

League Cup

We had a decent run in this comp reaching as far as the Quarter Finals before being knocked out by Shef Utd, dissapointing.

FA Cup

Not a bad run in this comp either, 5th round before Spurs knocked us out.

Squad and Stats

Darren Bent and Frazier Campbell had really solid seasons. Cardozo was ok nothing special but hes really showing what hes about in season 2. The defence was my main worry, low av ratings and poor performances this is a part of the team that really needs to be sorted out.

Already started my second season will update in Jan!

[ballinisahabit]

Amazing scenes at the Stadium Of Light

[Grimble]

Gentlemen, maybe someone can help me as I can't seem to do anything but lose (I'm in my 3rd season) and my team should surely be pushing top 6 at least. Any suggestions welcome. And with all due respect, looking at things on paper my line up is better than most of the above - so I'm going HORRIBLY wrong on tactics. I expect my team to pass the ball and keep possession similar to Arsenal with the technical levels I have going forward. My team: (first name mentioned is 1st choice)

GK: Joe Hart, Artur Boruc

RB: Yakubu

LB: McCartney

CB: Subotic, Garay, A Ferdinand, Bartley

DM: Hubschman, Cattermole, M Johnson

RM: Arteta, Beckham

LM: Di Maria, Richardson

AM: Riquelme

AM: Van Der Vaart

CF: Jones, Owen, Campbell, Bent.

So I usually change between 2 formations depending on opposition, only changing the front 3. I prefer the 2 AMCs but change to 1 with 2 strikers if I think I can dominate.

Main problems are Darren Bent is a pile of wasteful space. Literally doesn't know how to score. (I usually pair him with Jones than play him on his own). Jones, naturally set to targetman whatever. Owen is a poacher if he plays.

Campbell seems to play well and will end up taking over as first choice next year I reckon.

If anyone knows how to get Darren Bent scoring I'd be grateful to know. Thanks in advance!

Oh, and I've been playing this since CM9798 and NEVER struggled so much - so I'm not an idiot noob!

[LiamoW21]

I had Bent as a pocher for a while and he did really well and scored goals, then he stopped suddenly and couldn't score or even play above a 6.4 rating. After a while, I changed him to a deep lying forward/support role and he started banging them in again, finishing the season with 36 goals in all competitions.

Hope that helps.

[Grimble]

Did you have Bent as a lone striker or alongside Jones? If the latter I'm guessing you had Jones as Target Man?

Cheers for your help so far - I'll give it a try tonight!

[LiamoW21]

I had Jones as a Complete Striker, which didn't work too well either. In February, Jones broke his ankle and I had to play Campbell and set him as an Advanced Striker and he played well with Bent and they made a fair few goals for each other.