FM2010 ~ Official Barcelona Thread - The Home of Midfield Brilliance.

[yonko]

Ok, so I finally had some time to start my Barca save. I'm in the middle of January 2010 and the season is going really well so far. But I have some tough games ahead of me. Here is recap of the major events:

Transfers IN ( using euro):

- Beck 7m over 48 months

- Camacho 11m over 48 months

- Giovinco 16m over 48 months

Transfers OUT:

- Marquez 11m to Arsenal

I started kind of slow but after couple of draws and wins my tactics started clicking and went on a great run. My only loss so far has been away to Athletic Bilbao after my return from CWC.

So far I've won the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup. My quest for the second tripple is progressing nicely.

In La Liga I lead the way with 51 points (13-3-1 & GD 50-10), nine ahead of Real M and fourteen ahead of third place Sevilla. I beat Real away 2-1 (Zlatan with the brace) and Sevilla away 4-2.

In Copa del Rey I'm gonna face Real M in the 1/4 finals, the two legs split by my home league game versus them. In Champions Cup I was in a group with Porto, Fiorentina and Levski Sofia. Won it easily but I'm now up against Arsenal. Like I said earlier, I have tough games coming up....but I have a special reinforcement.....Danielle De Rossi!!! Yes I got him for 55m (25 upfront and 30 over 48 months).

Some stats:

Ratings: Messi 7.47, Giovinco 7.42, Pique 7.39, Alves 7.34, Xavi 7.30

Goals: Ibra-22, Messi-11, Bojan-10, Giovinco-9, Keita-6

Assists: Xavi-18, Giovonco-11, Iniesta-8, Ibra-8, Messi-5

As you can see Giovinco is a big hit and the fans already love him. Zlatan is a monster, but Messi's goals/assists are kind of low. He is just picking up steam!

My team is using 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation.

GK - Valdes/Pinto

DR - Alves/Beck

DL - Maxwell/Abidal

DCr - Pique/Chygy

DCl - Puyol/Milito

DM - De Rossi/Yaya/Camacho

MCr - Xavi/Busquets

MCl - Iniesta/Keita

AMR - Messi/Pedro

AML - Giovinco/Henry

FC - Zlatan/Bojan

Well, that's it for now. I'll update in couple of days. Adios!

p.s. @ ~Catalonia~ I wonder how do you do without midfield enforcer ala Yaya/Keita/Busquets? Is Xavi deep-lying playmaker and Iniesta advanced playmaker?

[rougess]

Just a quick question, which one should I buy - Fabregas or Gourcuff? Any inputs all?

By the way I'm using 4-4-2:

--------Bojan-----Zlatan--------

Guardado--Iniesta--Xavi--Messi--

--Maxwell--Pique--Puyol--Alves--

-------------Valdes-------------

Zlatan and Bojan are HOT upfront. You guys should have a shot.

Fabregas is the way to go imo if money is no object, but you can't go wrong with either tbh. I bought Gourcuff for my Barcelona team and he's been astounding in the Advanced Playmaker role, and is also excellent backup for Messi at Inside Forward.

In the long term I'd want both in my squad, but as Gourcuff will be cheaper earlier on and is slightly older, I'd plump for him, then buy Fabregas in a season or so

[FrustratedGamer]

just finished my 1st season with Barca, and we won the Spanish Super Cup, La Liga, and the Champions League. lost 1-2 to Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup Final, which the fans obviously didn't like.

brought in Dzeko, Ronaldo, and Sakho during the season. Dzeko's been decent, Ronaldo starts off on fire, but his decline is pretty steep towards the latter part of the season. he still finished with 22 goals in 44 games though, which was great for a £1.5m signing.

Messi and Zlatan have been absolute monsters. I started out with the 4-5-1 (which is more like the 4-3-3 we use in real life than the default 4-3-3 in the game), and it worked very well. had Messi and Henry as inside-forwards cutting in, very attacking, and Messi always running with the ball and also swapping with Zlatan. that worked a treat, and I noticed that Messi was more dangerous when he switched with Zlatan. so using that, I changed to 4-1-2-1-2 (which is like a narrower 4-3-3) and played Messi in the hole as a trequartista. he finished the season for me with 41 goals in 51 starts (plus 4 sub apps), along with 21 assists, 25 and 12 in 31 league games. in that hole, the AI has so many problems picking him up, it's great. Zlatan finished on 36 goals and 18 assists in 44 games, 22 and 11 in 24 league games.

We scored 99 goals in the league, and something like 140/150 overall, only losing once in the league, twice in the CL, and in the finals of the UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Cup. it helps supporting the club, as I know most of the players games inside out, and can tweak individual settings in the game accordingly

[yonko]

Good job! It's funny I was thinking of using Zlatan as Trequartista in FC position...

So did you use 4-3-3 with F R/L or with 3 FC's. And then you went with AMC + 2 FC's?

[~Catalonia~]

@yonko: You're absolutely right. It's not dificult to play without Keita / Toure as Xavi is good defensively. The best combination for me would be Iniesta -- Xavi or Keita -- Xavi. I rarely use Toure as he's not a playmaker (I need 1 CM to be playemaker). As for Basquets, I think it's still early to use him.

@wills1987: Gourcuff moved to Sevilla. I failed to sign him Looks like the only option for me is Fabregas.

[Prowl]

I was thinking of signing Camacho as a replacement for Yaya since he's Spanish and would fit in. Also looking as Azpuletta...

[~Catalonia~]

I was thinking of signing Camacho as a replacement for Yaya since he's Spanish and would fit in. Also looking as Azpuletta...

How good is Camacho in this game? He's just a DM and not CM playmaker right?

[Prowl]

Camacho should develop into a solid prospect. The only non-Spanish players I'm likely going to sign is a French full-back, Areola, Otamendi, Lukaku, and possibly Bale. Other than that, I'm looking at buying Spanish. There are some decent prospects in the system to develop too.

[~Catalonia~]

Oh my god, Bojan is out for 7 - 8 months

[SSJ3-BROLLY]

Looking at Messi's PPM's i noticed he hasn't got cut-inside, would having it help his game? Cheers.

[tedleeds]

Just started as Barcelona. 1 league game into the Season.

The only signing I made was that of Stevan Jovetic for 13m. I thought I'd get a lot more to spend but this signing took all my transfer and wage budget!

My usual starting line-up and formation is:

----------Valdes---------

---Puyol--Marquez--Chygrynskyi

Dani Alves---Yaya Toure---Maxwell

------------ Xavi --------------

Messi ---------------------Jovetic

-------Ibrahimovic----------

I rotate Bojan and Henry with Ibrahimovic. Seeing as Bojan is my favourite player I tend to play him more than Henry. Obviously I'm going to have to alter my formation when Iniesta comes back from injury as you must play Iniesta and Xavi in the same team, meaning trouble for your opponents.

I won the Spanish Super Cup vs Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on aggregate, also winning the European Super Cup against Shaktar 3-0. My first game of the season went well beating Osasuna 3-0. Yet to concede a competitive goal as the manager of Barcelona.

Will Keep you posted.

[yonko]

Just started as Barcelona. 1 league game into the Season.

The only signing I made was that of Stevan Jovetic for 13m. I thought I'd get a lot more to spend but this signing took all my transfer and wage budget!

My usual starting line-up and formation is:

----------Valdes---------

---Puyol--Marquez--Chygrynskyi

Dani Alves---Yaya Toure---Maxwell

------------ Xavi --------------

Messi ---------------------Jovetic

-------Ibrahimovic----------

I rotate Bojan and Henry with Ibrahimovic. Seeing as Bojan is my favourite player I tend to play him more than Henry. Obviously I'm going to have to alter my formation when Iniesta comes back from injury as you must play Iniesta and Xavi in the same team, meaning trouble for your opponents.

I won the Spanish Super Cup vs Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on aggregate, also winning the European Super Cup against Shaktar 3-0. My first game of the season went well beating Osasuna 3-0. Yet to concede a competitive goal as the manager of Barcelona.

Will Keep you posted.

No room for Pique? Wow.....He is better than Puyol even.

I think you will have to change your formation to fit Iniesta in the team.

Good Luck!

[Prowl]

Yeah. Pique is awesome. In my season, I fired all the coaches and hired a new staff, physio, and scouting team. That alone has hurt my bottom line. I will try to get Camacho, Azpiletta, and Areola as well as Lukaku. Jovetic would be a sweet signing though, but he's not Spanish and I was really trying hard to minimize my non-Spanish players....however, one more wouldn't hurt lol

[nev147]

Just a quick question, which one should I buy - Fabregas or Gourcuff? Any inputs all?

By the way I'm using 4-4-2:

--------Bojan-----Zlatan--------

Guardado--Iniesta--Xavi--Messi--

--Maxwell--Pique--Puyol--Alves--

-------------Valdes-------------

Zlatan and Bojan are HOT upfront. You guys should have a shot.

Ive been away for a bit and the Barca thread has come to life!!!

Who should you buy - well depends what you want. With Iniesta and Xavi in the middle then if you buy Fabregas then it would seem that 3 players would be vying for 2 positions and I would say that this is a very strong area and maybe the saying 'why try and fix something that is not broken comes to mind' but you do need to plan for the future! Gourcuff can play right wing and through the middle and it seems after Messi the back-up for this position (right wing) needs improving. I have never been manager of either Fabregas or Gourcuff, but both their stats look very good. Also you may see Xavi as getting on a bit, but he has never been blessed with great physical stats so these will not fall too much and even if they do they won't harm Xavi's game too much, so I would say that Xavi has got another 5 years in him potentially. How much can you get Fabregas for? Because the 'Gooners' in my games are allways pretty 'tight'.

All in all it seems that Gourcuff would be the more prudent choice, but we always like to have the very best players in the world at our disposal and Fabreags is certainly that.

Edit: just read a later post and it seems Gourcuff as gone elsewhere. Oh well!

Also you play 4-4-2, with Xavi and Iniesta in the middle. Wheres your protection??? Or do you have the metality of if you score 2 then we'll score 5!

[nev147]

Looking at Messi's PPM's i noticed he hasn't got cut-inside, would having it help his game? Cheers.

Well IRL Messi is a master at cutting inside and if you play a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3, then your two attacking winger need to support the front player as much as possible and cutting inside would help bring your formation into a front 3 like IRL as Barca do, so cutting inside would achieve this, without compromising the width of the team . Also if you have Messi's touchline settings as cut inside then if he had cut inside in his PPM, as I have then this would complement this well.

[nev147]

To yonko, you got De Rossi for 55m, was that £ or Euro? I bought him after courting him for a season and negotiating for the entire summer!!! I did have bids of £40m or it could have been £45m (can't remember) in exchange for Hleb in one deal and Keita in the other deal but both deals collapsed as my players could not agree wages and I eventually got De Rossi for £55m up front! Yes I got taken for a ride but I really wanted him and I managed to sell Y.Toure for £25m or was it £30m lol! (my memory) After a few super cup games I already have big reservations about selling Toure, but I guess it will take time for De Rossi to settle, but then again Italians don't often venture away from Italy!

I diddn't really want to sell Toure but his discipline was just so bad that he had to go! Such an underated player.

Are you looking to offload Y.Toure? As you have bought De Rossi and have Camacho as his understudy.

[Ajaxkevi]

After meddling around with a host of teams I have finally decided on a Barcelona game.

Transfers In:

Alphonse Areola 40k

Romelo Lukaku 1.7m

Nikolas Otamendi 3.4m

Eduardo Salvio 3.9m

Tim Cahill 14m

Transfer Out:

Raphael Marquez 6m

(More to come, still in July).

Also, I've noticed there hasn't been any real guide to potential staff signings so I thought I'd chime in. The only coach I wanted but who wouldn't came is Meulensteen of Man Utd (For Shooting). I fired all my coaches, bar my assistant, who serves no purpose other than to filter out unrealistic targets (I'll look for a trophy assistant later).

Fitness Coach 1: Paul Winsper 5*

Fitness Coach 2: Tony Colbert 5*

GK Coach: Christophe Lollichon 5*e

Tactics: Marco Rota 4.5* (He is a young coach and very close to being 5*. If coaching stats improve (I'm not quite sure how it all works) then he should be 5* in a season or two.)

Ball Control: Paul McGuiness 4.5*

Defending: Manuel Delgado Deco 4.5*

Attacking: Brian McLair 4.5*

Shooting: Tosh Farrell 4* (Meullensteen would have been 4.5 or 5* I believe. I will keep trying and can always fire Farrell if I fail. However, Farrell is still young, so there's a chance he'll get better. Failing Meullensteen, he looks to be the next best choice).

Some of these guys are youth coaches, so you will have to offer them coaching roles in order for them to join, which obviously you'd want to be doing anyway!

Thanks alot for the coaches! You should start a thread (if 1 hasn't been made yet) about the coaches.

EDIT: Manuel delgado Deco is a 5* condition coach for me.

[Fabregas_4_(C)]

just want to know i was gonna be barcelona we was playing in yellow kit vs athletic blbao spanish super cup and the circle icons ( i took 3d off) were not the yellow kit they were playing in last years blue kit has anyone else had this problem is barca players kits mesed up?

[Prowl]

I bit the bullet and signed Jovetic He is awesome playing on the left. I had to sell Marquez to get him, but he's already proven to be quite the player. I have him cutting in from the left and changing positions with Messi

So far, I have won all 5 games I've played - haven't conceeded in any of them. I am playing a 4-5-1 right now control, but the team is playing really well

[Fabregas_4_(C)]

answer my question please?

[Ajaxkevi]

answer my question please?

Most likely because the other team uses a kit color nearly the same as yours and since you're seeing dots (3d off), it shows an alternative kit.

[yonko]

To yonko, you got De Rossi for 55m, was that £ or Euro? I bought him after courting him for a season and negotiating for the entire summer!!! I did have bids of £40m or it could have been £45m (can't remember) in exchange for Hleb in one deal and Keita in the other deal but both deals collapsed as my players could not agree wages and I eventually got De Rossi for £55m up front! Yes I got taken for a ride but I really wanted him and I managed to sell Y.Toure for £25m or was it £30m lol! (my memory) After a few super cup games I already have big reservations about selling Toure, but I guess it will take time for De Rossi to settle, but then again Italians don't often venture away from Italy!

I diddn't really want to sell Toure but his discipline was just so bad that he had to go! Such an underated player.

Are you looking to offload Y.Toure? As you have bought De Rossi and have Camacho as his understudy.

I got De Rossi for 55m Euros - 25 upfront and 30 after 48 months. I hadn't done any courting, but it was in January, so I don't know.....I was surprised how easy it was, so I agreed to the deal. He didn't play that well, it took him some time to settle. Now he plays much better as I started my second season. I was switching between him and Yaya at DMC, since Danielle was cuptied for the Champions League. But now Yaya is partnering Pique in defense and De Rossi sits behind Xavi and Iniesta. I don't have problems with either one with their discipline.

[yonko]

Update on my game.

Remember I had three games in a row vs Real Madrid - 2 CdR and a league game between. 0-0 at home and 2-1 away win saw me get over them in the Copa. In the La Liga match I was losing 0-2 inside 5 min. and had to make a comeback to draw 2-2 with two CCC's sadly missed to give me the win. In the Champions League, Arsenal got lucky and beat me 1-0 at their place. But I got my revenge when I spanked them 3-0 at Nou Camp. In between the two games I lost my second La Liga game away at Racing Santander. That put me in a little slump as I was trying to balance my team through the tight schedule for all the competitions. But that slump was short and I kept marching on towards all three cups.

Next victim in CdR were the city rivals Espanyol - beat them in both legs 4-0 and 3-1 without a sweat. In CL I got Liverpool. First leg was at the Nou Camp which we won 2-0. Then we went to Anfield and won there 3-0! Zlatan killed them with two goals. I was surprised how easy I got through Liverpool. Meanwhile, in La Liga I killed Valencia 5-0, Sevilla 3-0, and Atletico M 4-1. After that came Chelsea in the Champions League. 2-0 home win and 1-2 away loss saw me through to the final against.....Sporting Lisboa who beat Real Madrid in the other semifinal. Ha! I won the final 3-1 with goals from Xavi, Iniesta and Zlatan.

By then I had finished the league as champions with 28 wins 7 draws and 3 losses 89-22 goal difference giving me 91 points - 14 more than the second placed Real Madrid. Copa del Rey final vs Atletico Madrid was the last match for the season. I won 4-2 in wild game where they equalized twice in the first half before I sealed the victory with two goals in the second.

Overall good season although I could've done a little better in La Liga but that's ok. Top performers were Xavi (fans player of the year, La Liga player of the year, most assist with 30), Zlatan, Pique and Giovinco. I was a bit disappointed with Messi and De Rossi after his big money move. Leo had average rating but didn't score or assisted as much. Plus he didn't play well in either final.

Anyway, my focus shifted towards the transfer market. After seeing that my big money signing took some time to settle I decided to play it smart. I just needed to get rid of some dead wood and refresh the team a little bit.

Transfers Out:

Henrique - Man City - 10m euros

Hleb - Galatasaray - 10,5m euros

Milito - Napoli - 10m euros

Keita - Man City - 13m euros

Beck - Sevilla - 17m euros (that offer was too good to turn down)

Chygrynski - Arsenal - 12m euros

Caceres - Porto - loan fee 750k 4,5m euros set buy price

Transfers IN:

Enke (RIP) - free (a little tribute plus he looks good)

Aly Cissokho - 27m euros

Azpilicueta - 7m euros (Osasuna got relegated)

Afellay - 10m euros

Dzeko - 14,25m euros (he got offered to me at that price)

At the end of April, AC Milan offered Pato to me for 22m euros. But he wanted key player role and 125k a week and wouldn't accept anything less so I didn't get him. After that he resigned with Milan til 2015.

My team looks like this:

GK - 1.Valdes/25.Enke

DR - 2.Alves/23.Azpilicueta

DL - 15.Cissokho/19.Maxwell

DC - 24.Yaya Toure/5.Puyol

DC - 3.Pique/22.Abidal

DM - 4.De Rossi/12.Camacho

MCr - 6.Xavi/16.Busquets

MCl - 8.Iniesta/20.Afellay

AMR - 10.Messi/11.Bojan/17.Pedro

AML - 7.Giovinco/11.Bojan/14.Henry

FC - 9.Zlatan/18.Dzeko/11.Bojan/14.Henry

I've started the second season winning both super cups - two 2-1 wins vs Atletico Madrid and 5-0 vs Benfica. I have 4 wins out of 4 games in La Liga, one of them was vs Real Madrid at Nou Camp - 2-1 with Bojan scoring the winner assisted by Messi. The team looks better than last season so far.

That's it for now, more later.

[Manager23]

Hi all im playing in my 2nd season as Barca Manager in my first season i won 4 cups the super cup spanish cup the league and champs league but as time goes by my players keep complaining there is managerial indiscipline how can i cure that pls help.

[nev147]

Hi all im playing in my 2nd season as Barca Manager in my first season i won 4 cups the super cup spanish cup the league and champs league but as time goes by my players keep complaining there is managerial indiscipline how can i cure that pls help.

Be a bit harsher when players get a red card. A rule of thumb for me is the first time a player gets sent off I issue a warning, then if it happens again, they get a fine of one weeks wages, and then a fine of two weeks wages. But it does depend on the circumstances of the sending off. Then when a new season starts I start from the beginning, i.e. a warning. I guess the punishment is more severe if they get sent off early in a match, and if the person has a poor track record of indiscipline. If its a big game or a derby and its a heated affair then I may let it slide due to the passion and the occassion.

But once V.Valdes was unsettled becasue of my managerial indiscipline but it was totally out of the blue as no player had been sent off. But if your playing well and the comments are not effecting the team then I would not lose too much sleep over it mate!

[Prowl]

Wow - this is getting fun I just smashed Atletico 5-1 to finally overtake Villareal for the lead. 8-0-0 to start the season and I am cruising right now. Messi has 10 goals in all comps while Ibra has 12. My backline has conceeded 7 goals all season and things are going well. I am making money hand over fist and I will be looking to bring Fabregas back in the summer. I know we don't need him, but he's a fav of mine.

Pedro is very very solid as a backup for Messi. He's quite good so I won't be getting Gourcuff. Will likely sell Chygrynsky in the summer to bring up Muniesta as I am trying to develop as many homegrown players as possible. Now that I have Jovetic, Areola, Otamendi, Kolodocziezak, and Lukaku, I have the talent I need to develop and build around the Spanish guys I signed and have

[yonko]

I'm having fun too as my team is one bad mean machine. I'm in first week of December, played 14 league matches and won them all!!! My goal difference is 43-6 and I'm already 7 points ahead of Real M with a game in-hand. Actually, my team has won all game except one - in CL away to Ajax lost 1-4 but I was already qualified for the next round. A bit bumped about that as it would've been fun to win all games until the end of the calendar year at least. Anyway, now my aim is to win all La Liga games or go unbeaten.

The team is playing, I've had some injuries though - Xavi was out for three weeks with a broken arm, Dzeko three weeks for groin strain, Camacho two weeks, Zlatan is out now for a week. But everyone has stepped up and contributed to the progress of the team. The new players are doing well - Cissokho is my starting left back, Azpilicueta fills in nicely for Dani Alves, Afellay does the same for Iniesta whenever he needs a rest and Dzeko is very good alternative to Ibra and a future long therm replacement. On my left wing, Bojan is super this season displacing Giovinco and Pedro is very good back-up to Messi on the right. Sadly, very little playing time for Titi Henry. Oh, and De Rossi is a beast at DM!!!

[ivanro]

This is my first time playing as Barcelona again after a few years, and all I have to say is, Wow!

Just completed second season now, and I won everything there was to win out there. Both seasons. Super Cups, Club World Championship, League, Champions League, Copa del Rey. Both seasons are exactly identical (though the second is arguably harder than the first).

Just, Wow!

I quite honestly didn’t expect it. Are Barcelona too good? I’m no novice of the game, but I’m not one of those hardcore master tactician of the game either. Maybe my tactics just suit the players so much that they excel to the max of their abilities?

Anyway, I’m at the office now so can’t be bothered with screenshots. I’m just gonna sum up the two seasons so far.

I mostly used two tactics, 4-1-2-2-1 (4-3-3) and 4-1-2-1-2. First season’s first team looked like these :

-------------------Zlatan----------------

---Henry-----------------------Messi---

------------Iniesta-----Xavi-------------

-------------------Toure-----------------

---Abidal----Pique----Puyol----Alves---

-------------------Valdes-----------------

and

------------Henry-----Zlatan-------------

-------------------Messi-----------------

------------Iniesta-----Xavi-------------

-------------------Toure-----------------

---Abidal----Pique----Puyol----Alves---

-------------------Valdes-----------------

In the first tactic, Zlatan was obviously complete forward (attack), Henry and Messi cut inside (attack), Iniesta and Xavi advanced playmakers (support), Toure DM (defend), Abidal and Alves wing backs (support), and Pique and Puyol central defenders (defend).

In the second tactic, Zlatan was still complete forward, Henry deep-lying forward (support), Messi trequertista (attack), the rest stayed the same.

I didn’t buy anybody of note in the first season, only youngsters signed by every other person here : Areola, Otamendi. I contemplated of buying a goalie to replace Valdes, because I never like him much IRL anyway, and I’ve always felt he’s not as good as those superstar goalies. But in the end, I decided to stay put, because of two reasons : first, he’s Spanish, this is important, because I wanted to try to stick with as many Spanish players as possible, and only Casillas and Reina are better than him and they both are not accessible, and second, I’ve only got 15M euros transfer budget in the first season, who could I get? And he proved me wrong: he’s an excellent goalie (especially his reflexes), and when you’ve got as much firepower as Barca frontline and your midfield holds most of the ball possession, it’s kinda okay to have a Valdes there.

Anyway, I mostly got 15-25 shot attempts per game, with usually less than 10 on target. I scored the most goals in the league, conceded the second fewest after Sevilla. Ibrahimovic was a goal machine, scoring almost 40 goals in 50-odd games (though only 24 in the league, third after Villa with 30 and somebody else). Henry was close behind with 30 something goals in similar 50-odd games. Iniesta was superb, and I mean really really superb, his goals and assists, watching him in the game was almost like watching him in real life, it was surreal, LOL. Xavi was pulling all the string in the middle of the park, he had the team’s most assists.

And, unlike some of you, Messi was not average in my game. He was injured October-December, then February-April, so he missed a lot of games, but when he was playing, boy what a joy to watch! He was a goalscoring threat, much like Iniesta. At least 4 or 5 times in the season I saw him cut inside from the right, dribbled the ball to the middle just outside the opponent’s penalty area, then scored with a placed shot to the bottom right corner of the goal, just like he does so many times in real life, LOL. Made me chuckle every time.

The defenders hardly changed, they were all fit pretty much throughout the whole season, maybe Maxwell in for Abidal every now and then. Otamendi got a few games under his belt, Marquez a little bit more, not just for DC but also for DMC, and Chygrynskiy mostly covered for Alves in DR, and a few in DC. Strong backline.

I forgot to mention that I bought Liedson for around 5.75M. Chelsea, Man Utd and all the other big boys were after him for whatever reason (his attributes were good, but he was getting kinda old at 31), so I thought there must be something. I beat them to his signature. So Liedson, Bojan, Pedro, Keita, and Busquets were my main subs. Especially delighted with Liedson and Bojan because they really took their chances well, popping up with goals, sometimes 2 or even 3 in a game.

Main competitors were not Real but Villareal and Sevilla. Both were really hard to beat, I think we actually had some of our lower shot attempts against those two. Copa del Rey final was against Real, but they were easy taking. Champs League final was a bit of a dilemma for me for it was against Liverpool, my die-hard favorite team in real life. It was a tough game, but I remember in the end we won comfortably. Liverpool finished 7th in the league that season, so I guess their Champs League final appearance was what again saved Rafa Benitez, LOL.

Argentina won the 2010 World Cup, beating Paraguay, who in turn beat Spain the semifinal. Spain was third. Torres didn’t make it to the World Cup, torn hamstring. Poor guy. Wouldn’t wish that to happen next year.

Anyway, really wonderful first season. Haven’t had this much fun for a while now.

Onto second season.

If I only got 15M euros in the first season, guess how much they gave me this time around? A whopping 80M euros! And they said all Barca’s debts had been paid off.

But Barca didn’t really need much of an overhaul anyway. Most of the players are at peak age, and the qualities were pretty even all over the pitch. And I kinda wanna make just one marquee signing per season, plus one or two teenage prospects. I thought I might need replacement for Henry in AM (because he was getting old, Bojan is not there yet, Pedro is even further), Abidal in LB (him and Maxwell, though good, were not exactly left-sided Alves), and Toure in DM (thought some other DM’s were better and Marquez was getting old).

In the end, I decided to replace Henry. I felt that Abidal and Maxwell had at least one or two seasons left, and DM was well-covered with Toure, Marquez, Busquets, and Keita. One of my scouts recommended Franck Ribery, and Muenchen surprisingly only asked for 19.75M euros (because he was in his last year?), so I signed him. I’ve never had him before in any FM game, and I would imagined, if Barca signed him in real life, there would be pandemonium! LOL.

So, my formations in the second season remained the same, just replace Henry with Ribery for 4-3-3 and Messi for Henry, Ribery in the hole for 4-1-2-1-2 (I re-trained Messi as a striker, he was competent to begin with).

End results stayed the same, except this time around Real put much more of a fight. They were second in the league with one game left, and fought some tough battles in the finals of Copa del Rey and Champs League. Real didn’t buy anybody of note in the second season, and CRonaldo was the highest rated player in the league for the second time in two seasons.

Anyway, this is getting long. My objective for the current summer is getting a replacement for Abidal/Maxwell. I haven’t got this year’s transfer budget figure, but since I still had about 50M euros from last season, and I won everything again, I presume I should get a pretty fat one. I’m aiming for Gael Clichy, he’s the highest rated left back at the moment, at the right age, and I’ve unsettled him to an extent. Let’s see how Arsenal will react.

Other than that, I might get Renan or somebody else for Alves’s understudy. I thought about getting Essien to replace Toure, but maybe next year, Busquets is actually very dependable. I also thought about Fabregas, but then Xavi still rules, maybe in 2 or 3 years. Besides, Thiago is coming along nicely, highly recommended by my coaches, scored 2 on his debut, LOL.

Can’t wait for the third season. Been a blast so far.

[Prowl]

Love the update Very well written.

I am almost into the new year and yes, I still haven't dropped any points. I basically used my own tactic although the feedback from you guys on the Barca forum helped a lot. Ibra got hurt and missed 2-3 weeks, but Bojan exploded in his absence scoring at will. He now has 18 goals in all contests and is developing nicely

Messi has 16 goals and Henry is "struggling" with 5 although in my tactic, he is used as a winger. While his goal totals are down, he is setting them up and generally doing well.

I just smashed Villareal 4-0 and was fortunate to beat Real Madrid 2-1 thanks to an outstanding game by Valdes. I might also buy a left back in the summer, but Abidal has been pretty darn good and I already have Kolodzieczak as my future replacement. Maybe if the money is really burning a hole, I might get Lahm. But my 80 million that I will likely get has been already earmarked for Fabregas

My team right now

GK: Valdes/Areola

DR: Alves/Azpilicueta

DC: Pique/Otamendi

DC: Puyol/Chygrynsky

DL: Abidal/Kolodzieczak

DM: Toure/Camacho

MC: Xavi/Busquets

MC: Iniesta/Busquets

AML: Henry/Jovetic

AMR: Messi/Pedro

FC: Ibrahimovic/Bojan

[Manager23]

Anyone knw how shld i best play robinho as what kinda forward ?

[Prowl]

Anyone knw how shld i best play robinho as what kinda forward ?

I would guess maybe as a deep lying forward? If on the wing, maybe as an inside forward with cutting runs inside

[Garincha]

First save on FM10 and started as Barca

- Athletic Bilbao - Barca 0-4, 2-3

- Barca - Shaktar 3-0

- Barca - Valencia 3-0

- Barca - Bordeaux 4-0

- Sevilla - Barca 2-0

- Barca - Atletico 3-1

- Copenhague - Barca 0-2

- Santander - Barca 0-3

I'm trying to simulate the real life Barca tactic (like almost everybody here). I find it hard to replicate the combo : hard pressing when ball lost on the opponent half and patient play when in possession. So for the moment I am concentrating on getting the attack playing the way I want it. I'll see in the next few games how it is going as Iniesta and Henry are back from injury. Especially how is playing Henry with his cut-inside PPM as Messi is not playing the way I want him to; despite his instruction he plays more like a winger than a cutting forward. So for the moment, still experimenting the offensive area.

The first fixtures in La Ligua put us immediately on the move with the first 3 games against Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla. Except for the Sevilla game where they had 3 shot for 2 goals (Kanoute*2), everything ran smoothly.

In CL we drew a pretty competitive group with Inter, Bordeaux and FC Copenhaguen.

Next few games will give us some rest (Malaga, Xeres,...) and time for experimentation before we have another hard run with Inter twice and Real.

Only two moves on the transfert market, I signed Arda Turan in order to have some depth for the 3 up front (all promising youngster -Jeffren, dos Santos ...- are on loan except for Pedro and Bojan). I have also taken Degen on loan because Alves got injured for 4 months and Puyol being also injured for some weeks I don't have the "cojones" to play Chygryinskyi as a right wing back. So far no important sale as the squad is already well balanced, but Milito is transfert listed.

[yonko]

This is my first time playing as Barcelona again after a few years, and all I have to say is, Wow!

Just completed second season now, and I won everything there was to win out there. Both seasons. Super Cups, Club World Championship, League, Champions League, Copa del Rey. Both seasons are exactly identical (though the second is arguably harder than the first).

Just, Wow!

I quite honestly didn’t expect it. Are Barcelona too good? I’m no novice of the game, but I’m not one of those hardcore master tactician of the game either. Maybe my tactics just suit the players so much that they excel to the max of their abilities?

Anyway, I’m at the office now so can’t be bothered with screenshots. I’m just gonna sum up the two seasons so far.

I mostly used two tactics, 4-1-2-2-1 (4-3-3) and 4-1-2-1-2. First season’s first team looked like these :

-------------------Zlatan----------------

---Henry-----------------------Messi---

------------Iniesta-----Xavi-------------

-------------------Toure-----------------

---Abidal----Pique----Puyol----Alves---

-------------------Valdes-----------------

and

------------Henry-----Zlatan-------------

-------------------Messi-----------------

------------Iniesta-----Xavi-------------

-------------------Toure-----------------

---Abidal----Pique----Puyol----Alves---

-------------------Valdes-----------------

In the first tactic, Zlatan was obviously complete forward (attack), Henry and Messi cut inside (attack), Iniesta and Xavi advanced playmakers (support), Toure DM (defend), Abidal and Alves wing backs (support), and Pique and Puyol central defenders (defend).

In the second tactic, Zlatan was still complete forward, Henry deep-lying forward (support), Messi trequertista (attack), the rest stayed the same.

I didn’t buy anybody of note in the first season, only youngsters signed by every other person here : Areola, Otamendi. I contemplated of buying a goalie to replace Valdes, because I never like him much IRL anyway, and I’ve always felt he’s not as good as those superstar goalies. But in the end, I decided to stay put, because of two reasons : first, he’s Spanish, this is important, because I wanted to try to stick with as many Spanish players as possible, and only Casillas and Reina are better than him and they both are not accessible, and second, I’ve only got 15M euros transfer budget in the first season, who could I get? And he proved me wrong: he’s an excellent goalie (especially his reflexes), and when you’ve got as much firepower as Barca frontline and your midfield holds most of the ball possession, it’s kinda okay to have a Valdes there.

Anyway, I mostly got 15-25 shot attempts per game, with usually less than 10 on target. I scored the most goals in the league, conceded the second fewest after Sevilla. Ibrahimovic was a goal machine, scoring almost 40 goals in 50-odd games (though only 24 in the league, third after Villa with 30 and somebody else). Henry was close behind with 30 something goals in similar 50-odd games. Iniesta was superb, and I mean really really superb, his goals and assists, watching him in the game was almost like watching him in real life, it was surreal, LOL. Xavi was pulling all the string in the middle of the park, he had the team’s most assists.

And, unlike some of you, Messi was not average in my game. He was injured October-December, then February-April, so he missed a lot of games, but when he was playing, boy what a joy to watch! He was a goalscoring threat, much like Iniesta. At least 4 or 5 times in the season I saw him cut inside from the right, dribbled the ball to the middle just outside the opponent’s penalty area, then scored with a placed shot to the bottom right corner of the goal, just like he does so many times in real life, LOL. Made me chuckle every time.

The defenders hardly changed, they were all fit pretty much throughout the whole season, maybe Maxwell in for Abidal every now and then. Otamendi got a few games under his belt, Marquez a little bit more, not just for DC but also for DMC, and Chygrynskiy mostly covered for Alves in DR, and a few in DC. Strong backline.

I forgot to mention that I bought Liedson for around 5.75M. Chelsea, Man Utd and all the other big boys were after him for whatever reason (his attributes were good, but he was getting kinda old at 31), so I thought there must be something. I beat them to his signature. So Liedson, Bojan, Pedro, Keita, and Busquets were my main subs. Especially delighted with Liedson and Bojan because they really took their chances well, popping up with goals, sometimes 2 or even 3 in a game.

Main competitors were not Real but Villareal and Sevilla. Both were really hard to beat, I think we actually had some of our lower shot attempts against those two. Copa del Rey final was against Real, but they were easy taking. Champs League final was a bit of a dilemma for me for it was against Liverpool, my die-hard favorite team in real life. It was a tough game, but I remember in the end we won comfortably. Liverpool finished 7th in the league that season, so I guess their Champs League final appearance was what again saved Rafa Benitez, LOL.

Argentina won the 2010 World Cup, beating Paraguay, who in turn beat Spain the semifinal. Spain was third. Torres didn’t make it to the World Cup, torn hamstring. Poor guy. Wouldn’t wish that to happen next year.

Anyway, really wonderful first season. Haven’t had this much fun for a while now.

Onto second season.

If I only got 15M euros in the first season, guess how much they gave me this time around? A whopping 80M euros! And they said all Barca’s debts had been paid off.

But Barca didn’t really need much of an overhaul anyway. Most of the players are at peak age, and the qualities were pretty even all over the pitch. And I kinda wanna make just one marquee signing per season, plus one or two teenage prospects. I thought I might need replacement for Henry in AM (because he was getting old, Bojan is not there yet, Pedro is even further), Abidal in LB (him and Maxwell, though good, were not exactly left-sided Alves), and Toure in DM (thought some other DM’s were better and Marquez was getting old).

In the end, I decided to replace Henry. I felt that Abidal and Maxwell had at least one or two seasons left, and DM was well-covered with Toure, Marquez, Busquets, and Keita. One of my scouts recommended Franck Ribery, and Muenchen surprisingly only asked for 19.75M euros (because he was in his last year?), so I signed him. I’ve never had him before in any FM game, and I would imagined, if Barca signed him in real life, there would be pandemonium! LOL.

So, my formations in the second season remained the same, just replace Henry with Ribery for 4-3-3 and Messi for Henry, Ribery in the hole for 4-1-2-1-2 (I re-trained Messi as a striker, he was competent to begin with).

End results stayed the same, except this time around Real put much more of a fight. They were second in the league with one game left, and fought some tough battles in the finals of Copa del Rey and Champs League. Real didn’t buy anybody of note in the second season, and CRonaldo was the highest rated player in the league for the second time in two seasons.

Anyway, this is getting long. My objective for the current summer is getting a replacement for Abidal/Maxwell. I haven’t got this year’s transfer budget figure, but since I still had about 50M euros from last season, and I won everything again, I presume I should get a pretty fat one. I’m aiming for Gael Clichy, he’s the highest rated left back at the moment, at the right age, and I’ve unsettled him to an extent. Let’s see how Arsenal will react.

Other than that, I might get Renan or somebody else for Alves’s understudy. I thought about getting Essien to replace Toure, but maybe next year, Busquets is actually very dependable. I also thought about Fabregas, but then Xavi still rules, maybe in 2 or 3 years. Besides, Thiago is coming along nicely, highly recommended by my coaches, scored 2 on his debut, LOL.

Can’t wait for the third season. Been a blast so far.

Good job, well written too. What did you do with all the players that came back from loan like Caceres, Henrique, Hleb, etc.?

If you need a good left back check out Aly Cissokho. He plays very well for me.

One more question - when you retrained Messi to be FC did his attributes fell lower? Cause mine did, I wonder is it my training schedule?

[Prowl]

I have Messi training cutting inside PPM, but have him set as a winger playing as an inside forward cutting/attacking and have his instructions as cutting inside and running with ball. He is far more effective that way and scores for fun.

For the Barca style, I have my tactic set for control with shorter passing and normal or quick tempo. A lot of one-touch passing happens and I have my share of possession. Also, I have Xavi set as a deep lying playmaker, Iniesta as an advanced playmaker. I also play a fluid tactic as well as having more expressive set for creative freedom

[ivanro]

@Prowl

Yup, Bojan is really lethal. I know he doesn’t look like so in real life, and his attributes in the game may deceive some, but he really does the business. Good luck with Fabregas

@ yonko

Hleb – sold to Juventus. Caceres – sold to Villareal, IIRC. I decided to keep Henrique, he was the better of the two. But then again, Pique and Puyol hardly got injured, and even if they were it was only a matter of days so Otamendi only got a few chances far and in between, Henrique fewer still.

But I don’t know how long Puyol will last before his decline, and I really really wanna have another Spanish player to partner Pique in the future, but I haven’t found a young CB with world class potential and attributes to mimic Puyol just yet. Maybe I’m gonna have to scout harder.

I’ll check Aly Cissokho, thanks.

About Messi, sorry man, I didn’t really notice anything different. I don’t really check out Messi’s profile, or that of Ibra, Iniesta, and a few others. I guess we all know how good they are, how they love the club, and no way in hell we’ll replace them, so I don’t really pay attention to their attributes. Maybe I’ll do that this weekend.

Anybody got at least 5 seasons into the future? How do Bojan, Busquets, Pedro, and Thiago, Jeffren, and Ruben Rochina turn out to be?

[ivanro]

@Prowl

Yup, Bojan is really lethal. I know he doesn’t look like so in real life, and his attributes in the game may deceive some, but he really does the business. Good luck with Fabregas

@ yonko

Hleb – sold to Juventus. Caceres – sold to Villareal, IIRC. I decided to keep Henrique, he was the better of the two. But then again, Pique and Puyol hardly got injured, and even if they were it was only a matter of days so Otamendi only got a few chances far and in between, Henrique fewer still.

But I don’t know how long Puyol will last before his decline, and I really really wanna have another Spanish player to partner Pique in the future, but I haven’t found a young CB with world class potential and attributes to mimic Puyol just yet. Maybe I’m gonna have to scout harder.

I’ll check Aly Cissokho, thanks.

About Messi, sorry man, I didn’t really notice anything different. I don’t really check out Messi’s profile, or that of Ibra, Iniesta, and a few others. I guess we all know how good they are, how they love the club, and no way in hell we’ll replace them, so I don’t really pay attention to their attributes. Maybe I’ll do that this weekend.

Anybody got at least 5 seasons into the future? How do Bojan, Busquets, Pedro, and Thiago, Jeffren, and Ruben Rochina turn out to be?

[yonko]

@Prowl

Yup, Bojan is really lethal. I know he doesn’t look like so in real life, and his attributes in the game may deceive some, but he really does the business. Good luck with Fabregas

@ yonko

Hleb – sold to Juventus. Caceres – sold to Villareal, IIRC. I decided to keep Henrique, he was the better of the two. But then again, Pique and Puyol hardly got injured, and even if they were it was only a matter of days so Otamendi only got a few chances far and in between, Henrique fewer still.

But I don’t know how long Puyol will last before his decline, and I really really wanna have another Spanish player to partner Pique in the future, but I haven’t found a young CB with world class potential and attributes to mimic Puyol just yet. Maybe I’m gonna have to scout harder.

I’ll check Aly Cissokho, thanks.

About Messi, sorry man, I didn’t really notice anything different. I don’t really check out Messi’s profile, or that of Ibra, Iniesta, and a few others. I guess we all know how good they are, how they love the club, and no way in hell we’ll replace them, so I don’t really pay attention to their attributes. Maybe I’ll do that this weekend.

Anybody got at least 5 seasons into the future? How do Bojan, Busquets, Pedro, and Thiago, Jeffren, and Ruben Rochina turn out to be?

For a good Spanish CB check Ivan Marcano from Vilarreal. Or you can always go for Chiellini as I plan to do. In my game Muniesa is developing very well on loan and I had him tutored by both Puyol and Pique before that so I might gamble on him.

Bojan, Pedro, and Busquets are playing very well for me. Bojan has 16 for finishing, off the ball, dribbling, first touch, acceleration and 17 for composure!

[yonko]

I have another small update for you.

I won the Club World Cup again. I've played 22 games in La Liga - 21 wins and 1 draw, 58-10 goal difference. Cagey Racing Santander held me to a 0-0 score at their field. I had 28 shots 13 on target 5 CCC's and nothing to show for. Now I'll just try to stay unbeaten in the league. I'm leading second place Real M by 18 points!

In Copa del Rey I'm in the quarterfinals versus Las Palmas leading 2-0 after the home leg. In the previous round Racing knocked out Real Madrid!

In the Champs League I'm going against Udinese with the first leg away. Real Madrid got Inter.

I made another blockbuster transfer this January - got Davide Santon for 53m euros ( 25m upfront + 28m after 48 months ). Here are some player stats that might be interesting:

player - apps - goals - assists - MOM - avr

Dzeko - 12(13) - 16 - 6 - 4 - 7.33

Zlatan - 23(3) - 12 - 6 - 1 - 7.10

Bojan - 22(8) - 11 - 6 - 5 - 7.31

Messi - 24(3) - 8 - 13 - 4 - 7.33

Giovinco 19(7) - 8 - 7 - 2 - 7.17

Iniesta 26 (5) - 7 - 11 - 6 - 7.25

Xavi 22(1) - 6 - 14 - 2 - 7.43 Won World Player of the Year!!!

Pedro - 13(9) - 6 - 3 - 2 - 7.20

Pique - 29(1) - 6 - 1 - 2 - 7.44

As you can see Dzeko is scoring more than Ibra but Zlatan's goals come against the big teams. But I'm seriously thinking about playing them together in 4-2-2-2 with AMR/L

[Prowl]

I have Muniesa playing i the u-19's this season and maybe next season and then I will loan him, but he will end up being my Spanish CB after Puyol retires

[Purefun]

So Barca starts of with 13 mil? Can this be increased when asking the board? Does the board give you extra money before the transfer window closes?

[Prowl]

I never asked, but selling Marquez and ridding myself of Keita and Maxwell freed up my wage budget so I ended up with almost 30 million to spend. Plus, paying over 48 months only reduces your transfer budget by a fraction. I around October, the board gave me an extra 30 million. I'm now in the January window and they gave me another 12 million so I have almost 50 million to spend. I was earmarking that cash to buy Fabregas this summer as well as Lahm. I would have bought a younger LB, but Kolodzicziek is my top prospect in the LB position.

[ivanro]

I was in the middle of 2011 summer and contemplating of buying Dzeko to cover for Ibrahimovic when I received the news that one of my loanees was returning back to the club. Guess who? KEIRRISON!

I did a quick 'find' on this page and saw that his name was never mentioned by any of you guys, not even once. So, how good is he nowadays? Anybody get to play him yet?

I'm hanging on to him. I decided not to sign Dzeko to give the kid a chance. I remember he was the hottest property in FM09, much like Dzeko this year. One year wouldn't really change a player much, would it?

[klinden]

Great thread, guys.

I brought in Chiellini during the summer of 2010 only to find out that Zlatan started to dislike him immediately. It's been almost a year now and Zlatan still has that "slight concern" sign next to his name. I'm not entirely sure if this has affected his performance in any way, though (about 20 goals in 30 starts, average rating of 7.22). Chiellini seems to be unaffected by all this. Is there anything I can do to make them be friends?

I bought De Rossi during the very first transfer window and since then he's won La Liga twice, Champions league once, Spanish cup once etc but he's still having some issues motivating himself to play with me as his manager because of "personal issues". We had 38 straight wins in the league in 09/10 so I'm not sure if he should be questioning my managerial abilities. Again, is this something that will resolve itself with time as we win more trophies? He also has some serious problems with cards; 15 yellow and 2 red in 36 apps this season (very similar numbers last season as well). He's playing as a defensive mid with a "defend" role.

Also, a heads-up concerning the left-wing problems: On my save Ribéry was available for 10.5 million pounds in July 2010. He's been very good value for money as he can also play on the right.

[Prowl]

I opted for Lahm for 25 million. I'm sure I overpaid, but he's going to be very good for the next 4-5 years anyway. He' coming after the season.

[yonko]

Guys, Santon is the man! He has played amazing since joining the club. Dani Alves was out for 5 weeks with fractured ribs when Davide arrived and now has to fight hard to get his place back.

BTW, I'm through to the final of Copa del Rey - playing against Betis. Played the first leg vs Udinese in CL - won 3-2 away. Leading La Liga by 22 points on Real M now. And all that with normal player bonuses for all competitions!

My shortlist for this summer:

Marcano - DLC

Bochetti - DLC (that guy from Genoa)

Renan - D/WB/M RL

Fabregas - MC

Silva - AMLC

Aguero - AM/FC

Pato - FC

[Prowl]

Nice! I might get Santon maybe after next year depending on how Azpilicueta develops. I did finalize my Lahm signing for the summer so he will be a nice addition. Kolodozicziek is a nice prospect, but Abidal is getting old and Lahm is World Class Barca quality and will play at a high level for the next 4 years

I might even try to get Silva. Jovetic is there right now, but Valencia are in the relegation zone, so depending on what happens.....

I am well ahead in 1st place and 22 points up on Real Madrid after a 3-1 win. I can't stop raving about Bojan as he's now my top scorer with 27 goals in all competitions. He is scoring for fun and his screamers are a thing of beauty.

Ibrahimovic got injured for 2-3 weeks, but hasn't been the same since he came back. He's been invisible and I need him to start playing well again....

[nev147]

I was in the middle of 2011 summer and contemplating of buying Dzeko to cover for Ibrahimovic when I received the news that one of my loanees was returning back to the club. Guess who? KEIRRISON!

I did a quick 'find' on this page and saw that his name was never mentioned by any of you guys, not even once. So, how good is he nowadays? Anybody get to play him yet?

I'm hanging on to him. I decided not to sign Dzeko to give the kid a chance. I remember he was the hottest property in FM09, much like Dzeko this year. One year wouldn't really change a player much, would it?

Yeah I know its like a new signing! Based on his attributes it seems hes not as good as last year but he still seems pretty good and I'd give him a chance rather than buying a £20m + striker. His mental stats seem pretty good, the only two problems are that he has missed two years worth of tutoring which you can not buy and also I'm pretty sure he has not got a second nationality as he has been playing in Portugal or has he got a Portugal second nationality having played their for two years.

But I'd say hes not as good as the legend that is Bojan but not too far off in terms of attributes, but would be if he had a tutor for two years. He's also 1 maybe 2 years older than Bojan and I think that Kerrison is 22 when he comes back from loan and I think thats maybe too old for he to get a tutor. But yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how good Kerrison is.

Like ivarno said has anybody been manager of him yet???

Edit: This is from General Discussion about Kerrison! Take a look.

[nev147]

Great thread, guys.

I brought in Chiellini during the summer of 2010 only to find out that Zlatan started to dislike him immediately. It's been almost a year now and Zlatan still has that "slight concern" sign next to his name. I'm not entirely sure if this has affected his performance in any way, though (about 20 goals in 30 starts, average rating of 7.22). Chiellini seems to be unaffected by all this. Is there anything I can do to make them be friends?

I bought De Rossi during the very first transfer window and since then he's won La Liga twice, Champions league once, Spanish cup once etc but he's still having some issues motivating himself to play with me as his manager because of "personal issues". We had 38 straight wins in the league in 09/10 so I'm not sure if he should be questioning my managerial abilities. Again, is this something that will resolve itself with time as we win more trophies? He also has some serious problems with cards; 15 yellow and 2 red in 36 apps this season (very similar numbers last season as well). He's playing as a defensive mid with a "defend" role.

Also, a heads-up concerning the left-wing problems: On my save Ribéry was available for 10.5 million pounds in July 2010. He's been very good value for money as he can also play on the right.

Zlatan/Chiellini fall out! I presume thats from their Juve days even though I guessing that Zlatan left for Inter before Chiellini made the first team. A slight concern next to his name for a year does not sound great but if it has not effected his performances then I would not worry too much!

Is there anything I can do to make them friends? Based on the fact that when I assign Zlatan to be a mentor and recently it was to Bojan, Zlatan turned his nose up, and did not see how this would be of any benefit to him. With that kind of attitude I would suggest it was Zlatan that was the trouble maker, but having said that I've had no trouble with him so far in relation to disliking teamates.

How much did you get Chiellini for please klinden? Did you try and unsettle him? You bought De Rossi in the first transfer window - did you ask for more transfer funds from the board?

You won 38 straight league games! I bow my head in recognition!!! Nice work. I can remenber in FM 05 I went 90 odd games undeafeted in the league - but that was when all the best players in the world would never sign a new contract (a bug but I never knew about patches back then I diddnt think anything of it!) and after five seasons my team was a whos whos of football and FM has become more realistic and harder for the better since those days.

Based on the fact that you've won two La Ligas, one CL and one Kings Cup then I'd say winning more trophies will not make De Rossi feel any better. In FM09 after a good few seasons and sustained success then many of my players became unsettled and wanted a change of scenery so it does happen. As long as the individual and team are performing then its not a massive issue. However don't let his contract run out as he may not want to re-sign if hes unhappy. A short term solution may be to offer him a new contract, but after a while he may go back to being unhappy.

In my 1st season Y.Toure's discipline was very bad. He would averge 8 yellows every 10 games, and got sent off 4 times in the season I think or it may have been 3 - so he had to go!

De Rossi for you has a yellow every other game. For a holding role I would say thats fine especially as I would presume he is your first line of defence. 2 reds is not great, make sure you fine him after giving him a warning to make him aware that you will not tollerate red cards.

Regarding Ribery not sure if you've got him or wanted any advice on whether to get him. £10.5 m is a great deal but If you wait untill January there is a chance that you can offer him a contract to get him on a bosman to come in June, unless hes already signed a new contract. I'd say wait but if the left wing (and can play right and middle) is a weak position then go for it.

[nev147]

Guys, Santon is the man! He has played amazing since joining the club. Dani Alves was out for 5 weeks with fractured ribs when Davide arrived and now has to fight hard to get his place back.

BTW, I'm through to the final of Copa del Rey - playing against Betis. Played the first leg vs Udinese in CL - won 3-2 away. Leading La Liga by 22 points on Real M now. And all that with normal player bonuses for all competitions!

My shortlist for this summer:

Marcano - DLC

Bochetti - DLC (that guy from Genoa)

Renan - D/WB/M RL

Fabregas - MC

Silva - AMLC

Aguero - AM/FC

Pato - FC

Is Santon really that good? I know him from FM09 and took a look as you said earlier that you spent a lot of money on him. I was not sure that he was good enough defensivley, but then again Alves attributes are not too great for a defender more of an attacking wing back.

Oh nice season so far!!!

[nev147]

Nice! I might get Santon maybe after next year depending on how Azpilicueta develops. I did finalize my Lahm signing for the summer so he will be a nice addition. Kolodozicziek is a nice prospect, but Abidal is getting old and Lahm is World Class Barca quality and will play at a high level for the next 4 years

I might even try to get Silva. Jovetic is there right now, but Valencia are in the relegation zone, so depending on what happens.....

I am well ahead in 1st place and 22 points up on Real Madrid after a 3-1 win. I can't stop raving about Bojan as he's now my top scorer with 27 goals in all competitions. He is scoring for fun and his screamers are a thing of beauty.

Ibrahimovic got injured for 2-3 weeks, but hasn't been the same since he came back. He's been invisible and I need him to start playing well again....

Valencia potentially getting relegated..........that has David Villa written all over it. But I guess your attack does not really need him. Villa bangs them in for Valencia, hes got 11 in the CL and thats before the knock out rounds!!!

Yeah Bojan is a little gem!

Anybody bought M. Sakho? I did have a bid of £25m accepted but I could not afford him. He was very good in FM09 and again looks very good. Seems to have the stats for CB and could also be trained for a LB I would say.

Zlatan not performing after the lay off seems bad. If Zlatan does not reach the dizzy heights that he is capable of then I can see you buying Villa for a cheap price and selling Zlatan for £30m + Happy days!!!

22 points clear nice one!!!