FM08 - F.C Barcelona - Home Of The Spanish Giants

[Rydo L]

Do need a replacement for Marquez as his contract is up at the end of the season and I am not planning to renew it.

Tbh mate, you are better selling Marquez before his contract is up and get some money for him. I sold him to Milan for £26m. Great to see Vela doing well for you, he's one of my fav players in the game.

[Topman]

i just thought i would give you an update.

Its 19th January 2008 and im through the groups stages and am playing CSKA in the First knockout round.

Also the team is 9 points ahead in the league.

We are now playin Betis in the quarter finals of the Spanish cup as well so i feel i am on for the treble!!!!

Only on eminor problem at the moment INJURIES

Messi is out for 3 months. The same can be said for zambrotta and Menez is out for 3 weeks.

But we are coping..

Just one little extra thing is the 8.0.1 patch is brilliant. The teams spend much more. Pandev has gone to Madrid, Roma got Matias Fernandez, Trezeguet went to sevilla, And Aimar has gone to AC milan.

On esmall thing is after hearing abou tthe praises for him ive signed Vela and ill give another update after season 1

[Topman]

SEASON 1

Premier league- 1st

Chamions League- winner

Spanish Cup- Semi-Finals

For season 2 i decided to buy a few players:

Vela (Arsenal)- 15m

Pique (Man Utd)- 14.25m

Akinfeev (CSKA)- 18m

Aguero (At.Madrid)- 34.5m

In Otober at the moment and im pretty much dominating everything

[Rydo L]

Nice transfers but just remember, Vela will need time so give him a few seasons and he will become immense

[Shanksie1975]

Been playing barca for a while now, and as i've been following this thread i think it's about time i made some contribution .

After reading this thread and realising how much money we get to spend, i've decided to try and limit myself to spanish speaking players with the aim to get as many of my squad in the various spain national teams.

So far i've captured Pique and Javi Martinez from the U21's and they both look excellent for the future.

On a negative side, i've still not managed to shift much of the deadwood, but i'm hoping to have a large clearout after the first season, with Deco being the largest name to leave (hopefully).

[Topman]

Nice transfers but just remember, Vela will need time so give him a few seasons and he will become immense

Thanks for the info on Vela, that actualy works for me with at the moment Aguero Bojan Henry and Eto'o currently delivering?

[Topman]

Wow Sakho just scored a hattrick in a Barca U19s game

[Shanksie1975]

About to start my second season as barca and i must say 1D is quite easy, as commented earlier in this thread the other top spanish sides seem to draw too many games to keep up with you.

Season 1

Transfers

Pre season i spent my 10 million on the usual youth kids, Saviet, Torje etc etc.

Jan window i bought in Breno, Pique & J Martinez (the MC one from Athletic).

I sold Deco, Sylvinho, Edmilsom, Gudjohnsen and unfortunately Thiago as he wouldn't sign a bloody contract :/.

Results

I did the league & Cup double, lost to Arsenal in the CL final, Henry got a 4 and my squad was pretty buggered due to injuries, but nvm.

I also took the Ivory Coast job as they had a shocking ACN and went out early.

Close Season

After getting £115m to spend, i bought Aguero, Akinfeev, D Alves, Guardoado & Albiol and got Zaccardo & Mascherano in on frees.

I offloaded Oleguer, Marquez and Toure - the latter i might regret, depending on how Mascherano does, but it was good business, sold one for 11m and got a replacement in on a free.

Speaking of free transfers, i released Thuram, Evp, Ezquerro and Jorquera (tho tbh he wasn't doing a bad job as spare gk, i just had too much money to spend i couldn't resist getting Akinfeev from under the noses of both milan clubs .

Great fun so far, just spanked Zaragoza in the Super Cup and Bayern in the Euro Super Cup, time to get on with season 2 proper and hopefully get the CL this time round.

Some of the youth kids have started to come good, i think i'll sent most of them back out on loan for another season, with the obvious exception of Bojan who's been getting subs appearances whenever possible mixed in with the occasional home start.

[Shanksie1975]

On a very annoying side point, had to reload the first season2 player registration 6 times due to it either bugging and not registering ppl when i did it, or when i tried holidaying it my ******** Ass mgr (rene m) decided that as puyol was injured for 2 weeks it would be a wise choice to not bother register him at all .

[TheFuzzyOne]

i just took over Barcelona after 5 seasons with assorteed clubs, and am currently confused how to play them

they have a lot of stars which are getting old, but some younger ones coming through like Anderson, Joao Moutinho, Lucas Biglia and others. Samuel Eto'o and Adriano and MArtins are up front. Any monkey will tell you i should play 4-5-1, but how? If anyone can post up their tactic, much appreciated!

[Arathonas]

This is a good base

One I came up with after reading the brilliant 2-6-2 rule thread.

Basically, the only thing that'll consistently need tweaking is the striker's instructions to fit the player (they're currently set for Henry, a big target man would obviously have less RWB, for example). The sliders in the team instructions bar need to be tweaked depending on how the match is going, but it's mostly simple. The actual tactic uploaded is a more offensive varient, to go defensive just drop the d-line, turn off offside trap, and tone down creative freedom and the mentality a bit.

Keeps possesion and sends them home. Worked fine for me until about halfway into the first season, when everyone just started hitting me with 4-2-3-1s which it struggles against (still wins because of the simple fact that the entire barcelona midfield likes to score from 30 yards every other game).

They're also quite good at 5-3-2, although I personally dislike having to bench either Messi or Ronaldinho to make it work.

[Shanksie1975]

Personally i play a 442 diamond formation, and tweak the DMC and AMC depending on the fixture. Sometimes using a flat 4 across the middle, sometimes 2 DMC's, sometimes 2 AMC's etc etc.

GK - Akinfeev / Valdes

LB - Abidal / Zambrotta

RB - Alves / Zaccardo

CB - Puyol / Milito

CB - Pique / Breno

DMC - Mascherano / Albiol

AMC - Iniesta / Auguero

MC (depending on fixture) - Xavi / J Martinez

LW - Ronaldinho / Guardado

RW - Messi / Dos Santos

FC - Bojan / Henry

FC - Eto'o / Aguero

Played the same formation in the first season, tho as i didn't have Aguero then, i had to play 451 once in a while.

[Shanksie1975]

sweetness, Silva's just signed a new contract and the min release has lowered from 63 to 33m so he's going to be a nice addition to the spanish core i'm trying to create/maintain.

[Shanksie1975]

Update

Just finished Season 2 with a clean sweep, the highlight being a rematch of the CL final with Arsenal with me handing them a 3-0 thrashing to make up for last seasons disappointment.

The board handed me 99m to waste on players i didn't really need, so i obliged them by purchasing:

Silva - 32m (min release)

Miguel Torres - 7.5m (min release)

Briand - 13.25m (again min release from Zaragoza - where he won the European Golden Boot)

John Obi Mikel - Free

Ikechukeu Uche - Free

To balance the books (not that this is really an issue at Barca) i sold:

Henry - 12.5m - contract getting close to expiring and i don't really need that many strikers.

Milito - 9m - With Breno & Pique starting to emerge he really wasn't going to play that often.

Zambrotta - 2m - awesome squad player, but now i have Torres as my defensive "coverman" he was surplus and wasn't going to get a new contract.

Mascheraneo - 14.5m - Arrived on a free last season and didn't really get any games.

Zaccardo - 16.25m - same as Masch really, a top player but simply not needed.

8.02 is out, but i think i'll keep this going a little longer before i patch my game as it's good fun.

[yonko]

Hi guys I'm back.

New patch means new Barca save for me - my third. I read that this new patch makes the match engine very good. So I wanted to see this is going to reflect on my beloved 4-3-3.

And who's the best team at the start of a game to use the 4-3-3 with? Barcelona....

This is the starting eleven before any transfers:

GK-Valdes

DR-Zambrotta

DL-Abidal/Silvinho

DC-Puyol/Thuram

DC-Milito

DM-Marquez

MC-Xavi/Yaya Toure

MC-Iniesta/Deco

AMR-Messi/Dos Santos

AML-Ronaldinho/Henry

FC-Eto'o/Bojan

From my two other saves with Barca I know I need better cover in defense. I've loaded five leagues - Spain, England, Germany, Italy and France - two divisions from each + large database! And oh my God, there are some nice french players when you load the French League 1 and 2!!!!

I strongly recommend to anyone when you start a new game for the new patch to load France as well.

I've spotted a few nice versetile fullbacks from France. One is even available for free - I'll have to come back to you with his name as I can't recall his name now.

As of now all I've done is organize my team, trainning, scouting, shortlist, etc. I'll update later. I'm excited about the new patch, I've heard good things about it......

[Guest punkdjester]

hey guys, has anyone gotten 294M for transfer money..i'm not sure whats the currency thou..i got ronaldo for 145M second season and fabregas for 124M third season :S

got mathias fernandez banega breno and aguero too!!

[TheFuzzyOne]

hey hey its my first season with Barca, but i am a complete noob at big teams, just wanted to start with Barca since they're quite good.

As I'm used to scrimping and selling, I will be completely flabbergasted if i get to the 2nd season. 294M???? That's 3 times what my watford team was worth...

Anyway in Season 1, not sure who to buy, who to sell, help!

[Rydo L]

Hi mate. I would reccommend you look at a world class DM as you only have Marquez. I went with Pirlo(£17.5m)and have never regreted it. He fits in perfectly with Barcelona's style of play. I would aslo go for a back-up to messi if you play him on the right wing. If your on the old patch 8.00 Aaritalo would be fine if your on one of the newer patches have a look at Allesandro Rosina, He is quality

[yonko]

Hi guys!

I don't know about you all, but I find the new patch as very good. 4-3-3 is still the way to go especially with Barca. I love what I see in the extended highlights - very realistic and very impressive!

No surprise I'm dominating, but more than ever before. I've done pretty well in other FM08 saves, but this is something else. I haven't been this dominating since the "Diablo" tactic. My attacking 5 (Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Ronnie, Eto'o) is killing the opposition every game - killer passes, thunder shots, nice movements, etc. And my defence is just brilliant - I didn't allow a single goal until January in all competitions!

My transfers and line-ups:

Transfers IN:

Clerc - $19m

Samba - $2m

Tacalfred - free transfer (he's DRC,WB R)

Guilherme - $9m (January)

Neves - $14m. (January)

Transfers OUT:

Silvinho - $500k

Oleguer - $4m

Line-ups:

GK-Valdes (Jorquera)

DR-Clerc (Zambrotta)

DL-Abidal (Guilherme)

DC-Puyol (Thuram)

DC-Milito (Samba)

DM-Marquez (Toure)

MC-Xavi (Deco)

MC-Iniesta (Nevez)

AMR-Messi (Dos Santos)

AML-Ronaldinho (Bojan)

FC-Eto'o (Henry, Gudjohnsen)

1. Top of La Liga with 13 points advantage over Real Madrid.

2. Copa del Rey - beat Real M 3-2 away and 2-0 at home. Playing Atletico Madrid in 1/4 finals, won the first leg 2-0.

3. First knockout stage of Champions Cup vs. Liverpool, won first leg away 3-0 thanks to three goals by Eto'o !

That's it for now....

[ScouseWolf]

I started a Barca game over the weekend with the 8.0.2 patch.

Barca beginnings

I sat down in my office with my squad list in front of me. I'd promised the board to have Barca playing in stunning & dominating fashion - the clincher, which proved to be the reason why I now was manager of FC Barcelona, was that I'd assured the board I had a style of play that would confirm an undisputable claim of "best club in the world".

The leaving backroom staff knocked on my door and wished the team & I luck for the oncoming season. It was refreshing to have ex-staff members who understood that for on-field excellence there must be off-field excellence. I wished them the best before sending a list of replacements to the board.

My biggest complaint with the squad was a lack of defensive talent; and this was something I knew was first to be fixed.

Training Session

I walked between the players & coaches on the training pitch; not only was I ensuring that the coaches understood my training requests but also to have a face-to-face evaluation with my squad.

Pulling them aside after a light, introductory session I had them play a casual game against our U-19's just to get a feel for any flaws in my system.

Afterwards I had them meet me one at a time in my office:

Valdes: I told Valdes that I needed to trust in my GK. I wouldn't blame him for every goal scored against us, but I needed to be sure that only the best strikes found their way past him. I challenged him to make me turn coveting eyes away from Cassilas and Reina and show that he is 'the man' for Barca's GK duties for now and the future.

Abidal: I let Abidal know in no uncertain terms that he was my #1 LB choice. As he exited from my office & my interview I realised the man was class and the only concern that I could possibly have is that he wasn't going to get younger.

Puyol: As he sat in the foyer I realised that I had a dilemma. Puyol was clearly a class player and as the Spanish and Barca captain I needed to treat him with respect - respect he deserved. The quandry was that he was older than I wanted him to be. After speaking to him it was only re-confirmed to me that he would be a much needed rock for us over the oncoming season. Shame he was injured.

Milito: After observing a couple of silly & dangerous passes at the back I informed Milito that while I was a supporter of him, I needed to know he was an anchor at the back. He left concerned at the discipline of a manager only trying to be frank with him...

Zambrotta: The Italian sat in front of me and I was again struck at the ageing that was fixated in my defence. Sure, the man was a class act but it was only re-enforced to me that I needed to seek young talent to ensure that I had a settled backline in the years to come. Until then, Zambrotta was my #1 RB.

Marquez: I had other plans in the centre of defence and I let Marquez know. He seemed content that he was only to be a backup CB and that I preferred him in a DM role. Still, as he left my office I did happen to check my fax and noted down the interest from Real and Lazio...

Toure: I found this defensive midfielder to be exactly what I wanted in that position - tenacity and passing accuracy.

Messi: I chuffed when this young, young, young, young, young talented midfielder sat in front of me. This was a player who would be the centre of our midfield creativity for years to come.

Deco: Despite his age he was a tricky midfielder and I witnessed in training how his casual passing caused havoc...I couldn't wait to see passes he actually meant. He left the office knowing that he had something to prove to me this season; I told him was class but also requested that he purchase fake ID to try and make me think he was 21.

Ronaldinho: The guy had gotten into the news a lot lately. Apparantly Chelsea were going to buy him. Over my dead body. Literally. I hated Chelsea and therefore I wouldn't even sell them Oleguer.

E'too: I found him to be a sulky, but, devestating striker. His morale was low and I tried to find the number of a gentleman's club to help improve it...

Henry: The magical foward had a lot to show the Barca faithful. We both knew it and he mentioned that he was up for it.

Xavi: Another passing genius and younger than Deco. Suddently the thought of selling Deco didn't seem so bad.

Iniesta: Had me wanting to transfer list Deco immediately.

Dos Santos: I told this young man that he would be given plenty of opportunity in the oncoming season to show to me & the supporters more of what he could do. I was rubbing my hands in glee as he left.

Bojan: He was, and is, essentially Dos Santos. Just in a strikers role. More hand rubbing.

Sylvinho, Edmilson, Thuram, Gudjohnsen, Ezquerro, Oleguer & Jorquera: I assembled them outside my office and showed them my faxes placing them on the transfer list. Thanking them for their service I then pointed out to them the reserve trainer.

Squad

So, I had a plethora of attacking options and needed to slowly replace those at the back. Easy. I spoke to the board and they handed me almost $30m to spend.

Bought

Garay: This young Argentine defender was exactly what I wanted - he was young, talented and incredible easy to aquire thanks to his contract.

Samba: He travelled all the way from Blackburn to be interviewed and wouldn't leave my office. A very cheap squad player.

Flamini: I had wanted to wait for December so I can lure him via a Bosman. However when Arsenal appeared to be listening to offers for him I knew I had to jump in for a bargain.

Rochemback: I contacted Southgate and mentioned I possibly needed a cover for midfield and that I didn't want to pay a cent in costs or wages. He practically threw the Brazilian at me.

Enyeama: Told him that he'd better get used to sitting on the bench. The bright side the bench was located in Barcelona.

Saivet, Sackho, Wijnaldum: Stars of the future or incredibly good sale income. Only time will tell.

Line-Up

My biggest problem was accomodating Marquez, Toure, Flamini, Messi, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho and Dos Santos in midfield. It ended up quite an easy decision:

E'too

Messi Deco Ronaldinho

Marquez Toure

Abidal Garay Milito Zambrotta

Valdes

[toma_akvinski]

Wolf, your post was shockingly good and motivating, I guess everbody is ashamed to post after you

[ballinisahabit]

its true that was some deep **** makes me want to start a barca save

[ScouseWolf]

Thanks Toma & Ballin' - I'll be posting the next part sometime in the next 24 hours.

[ScouseWolf]

Board Meeting

I had been sitting in a plush leather chair for the best part of an hour listening to media reviews, discussions of other teams (especially Real Madrid) and other associated powerbroker talk. I felt like asking them if I should come back when it was time to discuss the team. I didn't however. I was in the inner sanctum of FC Barcelona and needed to be mindful that one wrong turn and I could face a hard task of making amends for 'upsetting' someone.

Finally, on the hour, the discussion turned to the team (who were, luckily enough, at the training ground...training).

I winced at the mention of the 2:3 loss to Valencia in our second game and gave a non committal grunt when the 1:1 draw with Real Madrid was discussed.

They were not the only people who were unhappy; the season had started well with a 1:0 win over Betis but I knew, at the time, the real test was the following back-to-back games against Valencia and Real Madrid. Valencia scored a late goal through Villa to give them the lead and the win and Raul brought Real Madrid back on level terms to save their pride.

I wasn't overly disappointed; the squad was still learning to play with the new system and injuries to Garay, Zambrotta, Iniesta and Eto'o didn't help.

However, the loss to Valencia woke up a side that had put 27 goals past pre-season opposition and the team now, in November, was roaring on all cylinders. So much so that our 4:0 thrashing of Espanyol had washed away our sins.

I was brought out of my reverie by a hand on my shoulder and congratulations in my ear. I'd been dismissed from the meeting but I felt, as the door closed behind me, that I had managed to not only not gouge my eyes out and therefore perform career suicide, but also to have bought myself much more time to continue my work.

Concerns

The board were antsy, along with the supporters, concerning Rochemback. I did explain that he was brough in as cover at a time when Iniesta was injured and was only there to fill in any gaps required. Still, calls of "Rochemback is a football hack" were chanted in games he played in. Everytime he touched the ball the cry of "give the ball back" was sung out - despite him scoring his 1st goal of the season in the Spanish Cup against Real Union.

I assurred the board that I had no intention of signing him on a permanent basis. In fact, due to our purchase of Flamini I was going to be sending him back to 'Boro in the January window; I just wanted him around in the event of a catastrophe.

The wage bill was a concern but that was to be expected; but the matter would be resolved at the end of the season when certain players contracts would not be renewed. Until then, I remain confident in the current squad of players and just hope that I can sell some of the unwanted players to get something from them - Sevilla seem interested in Gudjohnsen and the club and player were discussing personal terms to finalise a $7.5m move.

Results

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Played Won Drn Lost For Ag GD Pts

------ --- --- ---- --- -- -- ---

Barcelona 11 9 1 1 29 9 20 28

Valencia 12 7 4 1 25 14 11 25

Sevilla 12 7 4 1 23 12 11 25

We were currently 3 points ahead of 2nd & 3rd with a game in hand. We'd played 4 games in our Champion's League group and qualified with maximum points and was through to the next round of the Spanish Cup. Things were looking good.

I continued to push the players in training and told them I expected wins in our home matches and reminded them about our traveling fans in our away matches.

[code]

1:0 Betis

2:3 Valencia

1:1 Real Madrid

5:0 Celtic (CL)

1:0 Almeria

2:1 Deportivo

5:1 Recreativo

2:0 Fenerbahce (CL)

3:2 Murcia

4:0 Getafe

4:1 Benfica (CL)

3:0 Osasuna

4:0 Espanyol

3:1 Levante

2:1 Benfica (CL)

5:0 Real Union (Spanish Cup)

</pre>

[b]Players[/b]

While I was scouting & monitoring several players closely (Dani Alves, Zapater, Veloso, Pique, Aguero and Kaka) I kept in mind that I should only spend money in areas that really needed the work.

My defence was tight and my midfield was a warren of slick passing and immense game winners.

The only problem was Eto'o. I'd recently slammed him in the media after the fans (and they weren't the only one) became concerned at his 10 hours of football without scoring. Thankfully he responded in the game against Real Union with a hattrick. Still, his situation will need to be monitored and even I have to question myself as to whether I've used him properly until now...

Messi & Ronaldinho lead our scoring charts with 8 & 6 goals respectively, while Deco has showed his brilliance by laying on 10 goals.

Things are looking good as we head into the season proper...

[msadler04]

Started with Barcelona

Made only 1 signing so far, Frey from Fiorentina as i thought the keeping deaprtment looked a bit weak.

After 33 games in all competitions im still unbeaten, top of La Liga 4 points clear of Real Madrid (who ive beaten 2-0) The closest i came to defeat was a 4-4 draw away to Valencia. A crazy game with 3 of the 8 goals coming in the last few minutes!!!

PSV, Marseille and Shakhtar were dispatched in the Champions Leage and ive got Rangers in the Knockout Round.

Comfortable progress too in the Copa Del Rey where im at the Semi Final stage waiting to play Real Madrid.

My line up and formation (4-1-3-2)

Frey

Zambrotta Puyol Milito Abidal

Xavi

Messi Deco Ronaldinho

Henry Eto'o

[Footballgenius]

Some good results there scouse. ill be watching our for more posts by you

[Footballgenius]

Who should i REALLY look to sign for Barca? Im thinking Marcelo and Menez.

What do you lot think?

[ScouseWolf]

Originally posted by Footballgenius:

Who should i REALLY look to sign for Barca? Im thinking Marcelo and Menez.

What do you lot think?

IMO the squad is pretty damn strong and the requirements are really dependant on your formation - I play 4-2-3-1 so I prioritised replacements as Centre Back > Defensive Midfielder > Fullbacks.

The first place to fix I think is defence.

[Guest gimlas]

just finished me second season.... won leage ahead of madrid bt 18pts and won spanish cup

team consists of:

GK - Buffon

DR - Zambrotta

DC - Sergio Ramos

DC - Micah Richards

DL - Marcelo

ML - Messi

MC - Kaka

MC - Fabregas

MR - Ronaldinho

FC - Sergio Aguero

FC - Eto'o

Subs -

Ustari

Puyol

Xavi

Vela

Bojan

Scored 213 goals in all competitions last season

bought Marcelo - £5.5mil

Aguero - £38mil

Fabregas - £66mil

Kaka - £50mil

Richards - £30.5mil

Ramos - £28mil

Buffon - straight swap for valdes

have just sold henry to ac milan for £59.5mil

and have ibrahimovic on the way for £55mil

[yonko]

Hey guys.

After many days with little time to play, I finally managed to finish my season. I'm upset as I didn't win a treble . Instead I won only domestic double.

La Liga: Finished 1st with 35 wins 2 draws and 1 lost (2-1 away to Real M). Scored 85 goals and allowed only 8 goals!!! Mean defense I guess....

Copa del Rey: I trashed Zaragoza in the final 8-0!!! Samba scored 4 thanks to Xavi's brilliant corner kicks.

Champions Cup: I had an amazing run to reach the final. I got past Liverpool (3-0 away, 1-0 home), then came Lyon (3-2 home, 1-1 away), then Chelsea (0-1 away loss, 2-0 home win). The final was vs. Arsenal who beat Man U in the 1/2 final. The game went to extra time after 0-0, then Marquez scored after Iniesta's corner kick. In the second extra time, Diaby levelled the score with long shot from outside the penalty box. On to the PK's - after the first 5 each team had missed 1. We both scored the 6th, Toure made the 7th for them while Marquez missed his - faaack! This was the order of my takers: 1.Ronaldinho, 2.Messi, 3. Eto'o (missed), 4.Deco, 5. Abidal, 6. Xavi, 7. Marquez (missed).

Anyway, I'm now just after the Euro 2008 ( Spain beat France in the final!) and getting ready for pre-season matches. So far I've only bought Zapater for $13M (release clause), but I'm planning more transfers. Albiol has $25M release clause, and Jesus Navas can be bought for $18M. I want as many spaniards as posible - have to keep Barca spanish, right .

I'll update you after my pre-season, right before the start of the season. Adios!

p.s. Bayern M won UEFA cup.....

[tsimpson93]

Im in my Sixth Season I have won the league and cup every season. And what i have read many of you have made big mistakes in your early seasons this my squad at the moment soon going to have to sort it out the many reaching 35 36.

Joao Carlos (GK) Worth 12,500,00 Only Keeper better is Akinfeev came from Palmerias

Mihai Miron (Wb/r) From a Romanian Team for 10,000,00 now worth 16,500,000 tho (Regen)

James Mclean and Dave Baker (CB) (Regen) young english players got when 16 from bolton and tottenham both have played for english going to be class for a good 10 years.

John Burrows another good youngster i found from watford my star defender at 21 worth 9million (Regen)

Mascherano got on a free in the first season absoloute class

Andres Iniesta and Claudio Marchsio (Cm) Marchiso for Juventus for 37,500,000 Million Didnt really cut it for first couple of years but now one of the best players in the world as has Iniesta been for ages he is now my captain

Ronaldhino (35) and Messi (Attacking Midfield) Both absouloute stud.

Eto (33) Been prolific this year got world playerr of the year.

My Subs:

Alexandre Pato Cost Me an Absouloute fortune but is the future of my team

Zambrotta (37) Still quality back up

Thierry Henry (37) Still Immense

Jens Wiese (Regen) Star of the future Mashceranos replacement

Rafael Marquez (38) Still very handy to play now and then

Carlos Puyol (37) Doesnt play loads but you just can get rid of him

Moreno Locattelli (Regen) Ronaldhinos Replacement almost as good as himalready at 19

Giovanni Dos Santos is the best player in the world but is injured at the moment

Mike Fitzpatrick Eto and Henry rolled into one going to be incredible when older

Mamadho Sakho struggling at the moment but still pretty good

Xavi (34) Soon to retire i think but handy still

Bojan hasnt really cut it but still pretty good considering selling him tho

Im sure i have more but i cant remeber

All i recoment is dont get rid of them ^^^^

but scrap players like valdes,deco,toure,milito,abidal and some others as they dont cut it

[Footballgenius]

Good team there Simpson.

Im planning to defo sell Deco but im gonna keep valdes abiday and milito for at least a couple of years and the jury is still out for Toure but again good team.

What titles have you won with your team?

[ScouseWolf]

The players you mentioned are doing fine for me.

[GOAL]

Okay im starting a Barcelona save and have 30 odd million to spend.

Who should i sign? I was thinking Menez and Marcelo? What youngsters would you reccomend?

[jonahno6]

Saivet, Fleck, Sakho, Galvan

[arsenal_2111]

Originally posted by GOAL:

Okay im starting a Barcelona save and have 30 odd million to spend.

Who should i sign? I was thinking Menez and Marcelo? What youngsters would you reccomend?

like said, Saivet, Sakho, Fleck, Galvan, and add Bouzanis, Aquino,

[msadler04]

Originally posted by msadler04:

Started with Barcelona

Made only 1 signing so far, Frey from Fiorentina as i thought the keeping deaprtment looked a bit weak.

After 33 games in all competitions im still unbeaten, top of La Liga 4 points clear of Real Madrid (who ive beaten 2-0) The closest i came to defeat was a 4-4 draw away to Valencia. A crazy game with 3 of the 8 goals coming in the last few minutes!!!

PSV, Marseille and Shakhtar were dispatched in the Champions Leage and ive got Rangers in the Knockout Round.

Comfortable progress too in the Copa Del Rey where im at the Semi Final stage waiting to play Real Madrid.

My line up and formation (4-1-3-2)

Frey

Zambrotta Puyol Milito Abidal

Xavi

Messi Deco Ronaldinho

Henry Eto'o

Well the unbeaten run lasted 43 games but sadly was ended by Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup which also meant my goal of winning the treble were gone. Now concentrating on the league (10 games to go and 9 points clear, still unbeaten but some tough games coming up) and into the Q/Finals of the Champions League where i have Man Utd. Things are going slowly wrong though with Henry done for the season with a broken leg and also Deco and Messi picking up injurys

[inrep]

What is the point of being Barca at the beginning of the game?

[SkeeterP]

Originally posted by inrep:

What is the point of being Barca at the beginning of the game?

Because there's no rule saying who you should be. FM Nazi.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Quick questions before I consider starting a new game with Barca:

- What are the finanaces like? I know Barca's one of the richest in the game, but Spanish teams tend to to start with hilariously small transfer fees.

- How promising is the youth? Obviously there's Bojan and dos Santos, but are they the only future world-classers in the ranks?

- What level of regens does the club produce? I'm guessing they're good, considering the facilities and reputation the club has to offer.

[Barnetboyz]

money is nice and free flowing due to huge attendences and season ticket sales and you start off with about £30M

Assulin and Ebock (sp) are also good youngsters that are in the youth ranks and also Iago iirc

about regans i'm not sure.. you'll just have to play and see

[SkeeterP]

Right, I've decided to start a game with Barcelona. It's amazing to think that I've never started with this club before, in any version of FM.

My aim is to attack, attack, attack; so I can't think of a club better suited than Barca!

Club Finances: £300m, yet I'm only starting off with £30m? Now I know I'm no expert in the financial aspect of FM but this can't be right, surely?

The first team (of course) is great, but I'm not impressed with the rest of the squad. A couple more defensive injuries and the team is in big trouble.

Sylvinho, Oleguer, Ezquerro, Edmílson, Jorquera and Thuram don't have what it takes to cover for a club as huge as this is. Even more worrying, seeing as they're the only cover there is in certain departments - especially defence. Hmm, a squad GK, LB, RB, CB and DM for £9.75m? Ouch.

At least Ronaldinho, Messi, Eto'o, Henry and Iniesta all have the attacking ability to cover for this defensive frailty. Hell, it's worked well enough for Rijkaard!

[Barnetboyz]

i also started a barca game a couple of days again, past the transfers window though \o/

you started with 300M club finances Skeeter?

[Barnetboyz]

Squad

as you can see i've decided to use youth in the back ups (Sakho, Kenia, Bojan, Oler) and have a weird tactic (but it has 2 league wins so far)

signed a **** load of players for £24.5M (most expensive signing being Rafinha for £9.25M) and sold a total of Deco, Oleguer & Abidal for £35M meaning in janaury if needed i am fairly well off

have Real Madird next though which i reckon is gonna suck

[SkeeterP]

Originally posted by Barnetboyz:

you started with 300M club finances Skeeter?

Noooonono, I wrote that wrong. I mean the club selection screen said it had an estimated value of £300m.

Am I guessing that the game takes player value into account when calculating a club's value? If so, that'd explain a LOT.

[Barnetboyz]

it does yes

e.g when you win the champions league or sign a worldwide rep player your club value rises

[SkeeterP]

Aaaaaah that makes sense. Still, Barcelona only having £30m in the bank? Ah well, such is football.

[Barnetboyz]

Originally posted by SkeeterP:

Aaaaaah that makes sense. Still, Barcelona only having £30m in the bank? Ah well, such is football.

trust me that rises sharpish

[Mighty_Shrimper]

I've started a new game with Barcelona. What formation do you suggest I use? I'm playing 4-5-1 with a normal back four, 2 MCs and 1 striker (Henry).

But do you think I should play with 3 AMCs or an AML, AMC and an AMR?

Also whos better for AMC and MC out of Iniesta and Deco?

Thanks in advance

[represor]

I simply can't score with this team ... I can't believe that after 28 games I never had less that 20 shots and at least 10 on target per game but the oposition GK got man of mach in 15 games and on 8 games I received goal in 92'nd minute on the single shot on target my oponent had ... this is absolutely amazing ... I'm 8'th in the league with 14 draws ... absolutely unbelievable

[ScouseWolf]

Rivals

The siren blared, the home support erupted and the ref (Javier Turienzo Alvarez) was ushered from the field quickly by security. I knew beyond a doubt that there would be an inquisition from Valencia after the match and quite possibly for the remainder of the season concerning the 3 penalties given in our favour. It didn't really matter right now though, we had not only defeated our arch rivals but we had buried them.

From the moment the match started Valencia were outplayed, outclassed and outshone. I'd been worried about the threat of David Villa but the Spanish striker was nothing more than a spectator in a game where it felt there was only 1/2 of a pitch.

Gabriel Milito powered home an Iniesta corner to give us a 1:0 lead and the confidence to continue pushing forward.

Messi opened the scoring from play after some slick passing between Iniesta & Ronaldinho that provided the Argentinian with enough time and space outside the box...dangerous concerning the form of the player and he made no mistake curling his shot beyond the reach of the keeper. 2:0.

With Valencia on the back foot and Barca players queuing in the box for a shot at goal, we were awarded a penalty that Messi buried. 3:0. Game over.

Messi's hattrick came from another penalty; the Valencia defence just could not cope with the fluid attack and agility we presented them with; the game was dead but it was a wonderful sight to see my players continue to harass the scoreline.

Ronaldinho capped off a marvelous display with a late penalty and gave the classy midfielder a reward for his excellent team play over the 90 mins.

Joan Laporta met me in the dressing room with a bottle of red wine, cigar and a smile for the victory; in fact the praises continue to arrive via email, phone or sms from everyone associated with Barca. I loathe to imagine the attention from winning the title...

Played Won Draw Loss For Ag GD Pts

------ --- ---- ---- --- -- -- ---

Barcelona 20 15 4 1 53 13 40 49

Valencia 20 12 5 3 37 21 16 41

Zaragoza 19 12 5 3 33 25 8 34[code]

[b]Mid January Musings[/b]

I put the paper down while continuing to stare out the window of my office. I broke contact with the pane of glass and shuffled through reports that were scattered on my desk. As I shifted through the paper it occurred to me that I needed to continue with my push for a paperless environment - for every printed report I felt a small sense of guilt; afterall I'd been brought up around computers.

Valencia were clearly our closest rivals in the league and it was my challenge (more than the players) to ensure that I did not get complacent. It was easy, after a time, to get used to the abilities of your players and plan less and less for upcoming fixtures and receive a swift, sobering reality check along with a boardroom table practically wedged up your backside to allow members of said board to talk directly to the place where they feel you're thinking from...

Real Madrid had shown some excellent for over the past 5 games - as had Zaragoza; each had picked up 10 points to surge up the table while others around them stumbled. Schuster had saved his job after moving his team from 11th to sit in 5th with 33 points; still, they were too far behind to be a clear threat for the title. However, I'd promised the board at the start of my tenure that Barca would be the undisputed #1 team.

This goal was also coming into fruition in the Champion's League where we had drawn Milan in the First Knockout Round; it was going to be a great battle and a sure fire way of generating extra ticket sales.

I still had $5m in the bank to spend on transfers but I'd decided to use this pool of funds to begin bringing in young talent after clearing out a large number of <19's.

[b]Players[/b]

Ronaldinho, Messi, Deco, Milito and Garay had proven to be the top 5 players mid-season. Messi had a return of 20 goals in all competitions, Ronaldinho closely second with 15; although the Brazilian edged the Argentinian in relation to assists.

Deco continued to be a controversial concept in my mind. In one hand I knew he was ageing and not getting any younger, however he'd provided 19 assists so far and his vision was phenominal; Xavi and Iniesta were unashamadely sitting in his shadow. I knew I needed to cash-in on him; but with no clear replacement in mind the decision would have to be made in the summer.

Garay continued to show everyone at the club why I had met his release clause - so much so that it was an extremely difficult prospect of putting him out of the side in place of our captain Puyol.

Dos Santos had scored his first goal for the club and looked lively and satisfied with every opportunity he got; he was definately a player that would be intrinsic to our domination goals for years to come.

[b]Results[/b]

0:0 Sevilla

3:0 Celtic - CL

3:1 Zaragoza

2:2 Athletic

3:0 Fenerbahce - CL

3:1 Valladolid

3:0 Atletico Madrid

5:0 Racing

3:1 Real Union - Spanish Cup

3:0 Mallorca

4:1 Deportivo - Spanish Cup

0:0 Villareal

3:2 Deportivo - Spanish Cup

5:0 Valencia

[b]Spanish Cup Qtr Final[/b]

I broke out of my reverie and knew that I needed to plan for our Qtr Final meeting with Racing in the Spanish Cup...