FM 2008 : Tottenham Hotspur - Home of The Spurs

[Sanityfm]

I'm into my 2nd season.

Here is my squad

Gk: Robinson/Foster(Loan)/Dean Bouzanis/Corradini

DL: Bale/Carlinhos

DC: Dawson/Jonathan Evans(Loan)

DC: King/Kaboul

DR: Igna/Lee

DM: Huddlestone/Banega/Kaboul

ML: Diouf/Fernandez/Aaritulo

MR: Lenon/Fernandez/Torje

AMC: Fernandez/Vaart

ST: Palacio/Aaron

ST: Huntelaar/Aaritulo/Stancu

[knap]

Tweaked Fiora is working with patch, goals are down but conceding is lsss (2.0 -0.3). std back 5 working, Modric and Menez helping on left, Taarabt Rose Saviet edgeof 1st team, Lulinha and Banega waiting and hopefully Ustari, Guardado, Richards season 2. Still a chance in all comps and totaly closed out MU at OT, Arsenal in LC was battle with both sides 424 at end.

[paulinho]

Originally posted by Jorge Soares Amim Araujo:

I'm having a problem menaging Tottenham. Many players, like Robbo and King dislike Boateneg. It sucks!

The patch has fixed this I think.

[paulinho]

Originally posted by Sibs1980:

And I can't find Cornelious Jol as a member of staff anywhere in the game (though I haven't looked too deep).

I dont know this a fact but it seems much more than likely that Cornelius (****) Jol will have left the club along with his brother.

I've removed him from the Spurs file but as I said the Scouts seem very thin in the game at present.

I'm trying to find out if any more have been hired since Ramos's arrival.

But Commoli should definitely be in as a scout, this hopefully should be changed in the Jan data update.

[Sibs1980]

Tried changing Fiora2 last night so that both forwards have all out attack mentality and Berbatov on much creative freedom and I beat Newcastle 5-0 opening day of the season and Berbs got 3 assists and one goal. May help a few people who have been having trouble getting goals in since the patch

[hanoispur]

Nearing the end of my fourth season with the mighty Spurs, playing with the first Beta patch. Finished 3rd in the first and third seasons, and 8th in the second, and have won the League Cup twice and the FA Cup twice too. Playing with a 4321 formation which moves to 433 in attack.

In the 4th season I've finally got most of the players I need for the positions I play:

GK - Robbo

DR - Richards (Corluka)

DL - Bale

DC - King

DC - Dawson (Corluka)

CM - Banega (Motta)

CM - Van der Vaart

CM - Nasri (Lulinha)

AML - Aguero (Aissati)

AMR - Lennon

FC - Saivet (Berbatov)

Saivet is a beast, as is Aguero. All 5 defenders are brilliant, as are my midfielders. Also got Alex in the mix, but he's not quite living up to his potential. Got Anderson coming from Manure in the summer to cover midfield and Lennon.

So, with 9 games to go in the League, I'm leading by over 20 points from Manure, Arsenal and the Spammers. Nice.

[akakhtar]

I've just started a career game with Tottenham. Want to manage them for 2-3 years before moving to a team in Spain, and want to win most of the tournaments i enter as i really like Spurs IRL even though i dont support them. I just wanted some ideas of the players i should sell or replace as i am not too familiar with the team as i have never managed them before. Any suggestions are welcome. Cheers

[rustyuk]

Just finished my first season and came 4th in the Premiership, knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the Quarter Finals. Not too bad, I think Juande Ramos would take it. Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U were the top 3 unsurprisingly.

Squad:

GK - Robinson/Proll

DR - Chimbonda/Lee

DL - Bale/Assou-Ekoto

DC - King/Ignashevich

DC - Dawson/Kaboul

DMC - de Jong/Huddlestone

MC - Jenas/Prince-Boateng

AMR - Lennon/Ninis

AML - Aaritalo/Malbranque

AM/FC - van der Vaart/Keane

ST - Berbatov/Bent

Incoming - 4 main transfers that came in to play in the first team. Purchased de Jong and van der Vaart from HSV for around £15m. Both performed well in my system which employs a holding player and a hole player. Other than them I brought in Aaritalo for £250k and Ignashevich on a free. Obviously excellent value, they're not top quality but I think they are great rotation/backup players.

Outgoing - sold Defoe as he only scored 1 goal coming off the bench in around 20 matches, compared to Bent who scored 8 or 9. Pompey snapped him up for £6m, he always seems to go there - I think he's one of Harry Redknapp's favourite players. Found it hard to get rid of backup players such as Tainio, Routledge, Stalteri and Gardner. I put them on the transfer list and teams from abroad came in with loan offers for a couple of them rather strangely. I accepted as they were paying 100% of their wages. Hopefully I can sell them off when they return.

The new season - I'm looking to strengthen the left hand side of the field, Bale is too young to be playing every game and I'd like Aaritalo to be backup rather than first choice left winger. However, Portsmouth have offered £7m for him which I think I'm going to accept. Should get a nice transfer budget after qualifying for the Champions League.

So, should I sell Aaritalo for £7m or hold on to him? I've also thought about getting a new striker who'll bang in the goals. Berbatov seems to either get a 6 or an 8 , doesn't get many 7's - I guess that's why he is always referred to as 'flamboyant'.

[turfer]

On the left I bought Matias Fernandez in my first season (now in my third) and he's been very good - I wouldn't go as far as to say he's amazing, but he's extremely consistent. Almost always a 7, with the odd and the extremely rare 9. The thing I like about him most is that he's almost always up for the game. The pre-match media banter very often has him 'really fire up for the game against xxx', which is good for team morale. He's not cheap though - cost me 13.75 mil.

Two other players I'd recommend strongly to you are Lulinha as an AM, St - he's amazing and you can get him relatively cheap early on. I got him for 2.5 mil from Corinthians and he's now worth 18m. The must-have player is Saivet, the young striker. give him a year and he'll be staking his claim for a starting place. Great finishing.

[turfer]

Sorry - meant to say "the odd 8 and the extremely rare 6" - bad typing!

[turfer]

Has anybody else had trouble with Ledley not signing a new contract? I'm half way through my third season and his contract runs out at the end of the season. He's first picked every week, captain of the side, and has Tottenham as his favoured club and two other players as favoured personnel, but every time I try to offer him a contract (the last one being for 90,000 quid a week!) he won't sign it as he's 'keeping his options open'. Any advice would be great as he's a 15m player and they're hard to replace.

[HCC2006]

King doesn't like it if you bring someone else in over his head - I bought Barzagli and paid him nearly £20k more a week and, lo!, King started to get uppity.

I think the whole favourites thing is a bit less rigid on the new game - they seem more media items than real defining factors in players actions!

[vasilli07]

Hi guys, i just started a game with my favourite super spurs. Hope i can get them into the champions league.

My 1st team for the 1st few months(till the injury list eased) will look like this.

GK: Robinson

DR: Hutton

DL: Bale

DC: Chimbonda(I am trying to learn from Juande Ramos )

DC: Vermaelen

MR: Kevin Prince Boateng

ML: Malbranque

MC: Jenas

MC: Kaboul

FC: Berbatov

FC: Keane

Transfer Out:

Ghaly - 2M

Routledge - 2M

Transfer In:

Alan Hutton - 3.5M

Pablo Platti - 1.2M

Thomas Vermaelen - 4.3M

Ignacio Camacho - 3.3M

Anyone manage to sell away Gardener? I put him up on a free transfer but still couldn't get clubs coming in for him.

[Andyh60]

Originally posted by vasilli07:

Hi guys, i just started a game with my favourite super spurs. Hope i can get them into the champions league.

My 1st team for the 1st few months(till the injury list eased) will look like this.

GK: Robinson

DR: Hutton

DL: Bale

DC: Chimbonda(I am trying to learn from Juande Ramos )

DC: Vermaelen

MR: Kevin Prince Boateng

ML: Malbranque

MC: Jenas

MC: Kaboul

FC: Berbatov

FC: Keane

Transfer Out:

Ghaly - 2M

Routledge - 2M

Transfer In:

Alan Hutton - 3.5M

Pablo Platti - 1.2M

Thomas Vermaelen - 4.3M

Ignacio Camacho - 3.3M

Anyone manage to sell away Gardener? I put him up on a free transfer but still couldn't get clubs coming in for him.

Yep I got rid of gardner for 1.5 mil to Fulham, I managed to get 2nd in 2nd season with fiora2 tactic and signed VDV,Makoun in Midfield, Matias Fenandez on left, aarialto on right (forced to sell Lennon). Back 4 is basically unchanged from real life, but now in 4th season Chimbonda went and I got vanden borre at RB.

[Hauler24]

OMG I found my home. Awesome. Well just downloaded the full game and Im going to be doing a lot of changes to the roster let you know when I do them.

[knap]

Not sure how this set up will work only a few games in 1st season (scored 22 conceded 2)

Robbo

Chimb/Ign

Kompany/Kaboul

King/Dawson

Bale/Ben

Lennon/Routledge

Hudds/Banega(dropped to Reserves)/Tainio (playing OK)

Fernandez/Boeteng

Menez/Taarabt

Berbs/Bent

Keane/Saviet

Sold

LYP

Ghaly

Zokora

Jenas

Malbranque

Defoe

[Sanityfm]

i sold berbs for 15mil to ac milan and palacio has been doing wayy better 35 goals in 35 games

[Asgarderus]

Hey guys, Im new here and i've just started a game with Spurs. So far I've only played till 11 matches . Won 7, Draw 4, For 17, AG 6, Clean sheet 4. Now, im only 1 point behind league leaders Man U.

Transfers

Out

Simon Dawkins - 50k

Tommy Forcast - 50k

Lee - 550k

Andre Barcham - 100k

In

Ignashevich - Free

Sotiris Ninis - 575k

Mika Aaritalo - 150k

Van Der Vaart - 10.5m

Bartosz Biaikowski - 2.4

Currently my team concede the lowest goal in the league which is 6, the partnership between Ricardo Roccha and Ignashevich has been class so far. Both players keep Chelsea and Arsenal players at bay. Draw at Stamford Bridge(1-1) and won at Emirates Stadium (2-1). I've been wondering whether i should both this defenders keep their place in the starting line up or should i bring back King or Dawson(Back from injury and fit). Anyway, Aaritalo has been magnificent so far, 8 appearance(1 goal, 4 assists and 1 mom Avg rating 7.25) and Van Der Vaart is the man of the moment at Spurs(7 app, 3 goals, 5 assists and 3 mom but his currently injured right now)

My first eleven

GK - Robbo

DL - Bale(injured)/ Stalteri

DR - Chimbonda/Stalteri

DC - Ignashevich

DC - Roccha

AML - Aaritalo

AMR - Malbranque/Lennon(low fitness)

CM - Van Der Vaart/Boateng

CM - Jenas/Zokora/Huddlestone

ST - Bent

ST - Berbatov

Now my greatest dilemma right now is who to sell, Keane or Defeo ? Both have been quite poor and my strikeforce is quite strong since Aaritalo is also a striker.

Btw, does anyone find it hard to sell some of the players? Somehow no teams are willing to buy Tainio, Routledge and Ghaly.

Anyway thats all I have right now, cheers !!!

[Hauler24]

I sold Tanaio to West Brom, Ghaly to Reading, and I still have Routledge. Got rid of Chimbonda, Lee, Defoe, Dawson, and someone else. I picked up some great youth Gabriel Torje is taking the league by storm. Also got this great guy on the Sregio Mota. And I got Meuet Ozil on the free and he plays a nice backup role. Nauni Sahin in the mid with Giles Barnes and Jenas works well. Sahin isn't doing all that well but he is good at times. Lennon on the the right of the mid. Samba, King, and Bale in the back as well as this super youngster Ratinho. Right now 3rd in the league and moving up quick. Berbs and Torje are usually the strike partnership and keane is strong and Bent is coming on very strong. In my 3rd year so those young kids are developed. Also have Saviet in the reserves with a great young keeper I got off of Barcelona.

I have kept transfers on the low but I had to shell out 39 mil for Barnes and it was well worth it. Also have Panjiac and he is 19 and a star that everyone wants. We look good now and for the futrue. Mr Levy loves me and im hoping to expand even more as I have already expanded the West Wing to 7700 more bringing the grand total too 44,000 total. Hoping to get it too 50,000 very soon. Torje is the my all around guy he is a great pickup. Also Mota is fantastic and Hobbs from the l'pool reserves is a star in the making I would get him too. Great defensive guy.

[Wilson123]

Ok so I picked spurs as my team to go on a big career run for because I think they have huge potential below the obvious top four. Having just finished 10th in the league after season one, I share with you what went wrong in the trials and tribulations of a year in the life of R Wilson - tottenham hotspur manager...

Final Position - 10th

Pld:38 W:15 D:11 L:12 F:50 A:43 Pts:56

Top Scorer: D Bent 26 goals in 33 games

Players in:

J Lescott - 10m

K Nolan - 11m

S Downing - 10.75m

S Mota - 3.3m

N Onuoha - 6.5m

Players out:

L Young-Pyo - 1.7m

S Malbranque - 5m

P Chimbonda - 6m

T Tainio - 2.3m

W Routledge - 3.5m

J Defoe - 5m

R Keane - 10.25m

Expected transfer come the 1st of July 2008

V Love - 3.5m

J Franks - 3m

Well as you can see by the league position - not exactly setting the world on fire. However, I feel proud to the fact that for most of the games I was fielding a full 11 english team, something wenger should maybe take note of

Gk - P Robinson

DR - N Ouoha

DL - J Lescott

DC - M Dawson

DC - L King

MR - A Lennon

ML - S Downing

MC - K Nolan

MC - T Huddlestone

MC - J Jenas

ST - D Bent

Im hoping that Vagner is a good edition clinically. I enjoy the 5 midfield packing and playing K Nolan as a supporting role, he picked up double figures for the season in this role so im happy enough with that. Although if Vagner Love proves a good edition I may change to a 4-4-2 setting. Clearly by the results of season 1 a big change needs to happen. Goal wise I am happy with, chelsea won the league and only scored 55. But obviously defensively we didnt do enough, although I am happy with my back line.

Ill update you all as I go

[knap]

Ist season only Euro Cup but convinced Lennon to stay but lost Dawson for 10m to Newcastle

Robbo

Chimb/Ign

Kompany/Kaboul

King

Bale/Ben

Lennon/Routledge

Hudds/Banega

Boeteng/Fernandez

Guardado/Menez/

Berbs/Bent

Keane/Saivet

Now rocking with League Cup 3-0 win over Liverpool top of League and just thumped Newcastle away 6-2, and apart from Guardado and Kompany Std Spurs 11

[Paddy Pang]

About to start season two with Spurs.

Season 1

In

Van der Vaart £10.5m

Ignasevich Free

Modric £4m

Out

Ghaly £900k

Young-Pyo £1.2m

Taarabt £5m - Levy accpeted the bid over my head. Initally Pompey offered just £3m which Levy also took. £3m for the next Platini?!? Not to happy about that. Still, Newcastle came in with more, and fortunately Taarabt opted to head to the North East instead of the south coast.

Pipped Arsenal to 3rd place. Man Utd and Chelsea both finished on 85 points. Utd won the title on goal difference. I got 78 points and Arsenal 77. To get to within just 7 points of the champions was a fantastic effort. Highlights of the season included beating Arsenal home and away and thumping Chelsea 4-0 at home.

Faired less well in the cups. Went out the UEFA in the 2nd knock out round, FA Cup in round 5 and the league cup in the QF's.

Still, Champions League football to look forward to this season.

Van der Vaart, Berbatov and Defoe all scored over 20 goals.

Was then handed a hefty £30m for season 2. I doubled this by axing much of the dead wood:

Jenas £7m

Zokora £6m

Chimbonda £8.5m

Malbranque £6m

Gardner £1.9m

Stalteri £1m

Tainio £3m

In return, I've bought

Vanden Borre £7m

Giles Barnes £6m

Guardado £16m

Corluka £18m

I'm now at end of July 2008, with £13m still to spend. Cerny has left, so perhaps a second choice keeper to Robbo (Though Alnwick could be up to the job?) and perhaps either another central midfielder or a LB cover for Bale (still got Assou Ekotto though). Also Bent price is (like IRL) falling. May try and offload him whilst he's still circa £10m and try and get Huntlaar.

I'll start the season with

Robbo

Vanden Borre

Bale

King

Corluka

Lennon

Guardado

Boateng

Van der Vaart

Berbatov

Defoe

With Kaboul, Dawson, Ignasevich, Modric, Huddlestone, Barnes, Keane and Bent in reserve.

[SavageHurts]

I don't know why everyone sells Tainio? He's practically the best squad player in the game. Doesn't complain and you can slot him anywhere in midfield if you have injuries. I start him at CM and he got me 10 goals and 8 assists last season?

[neil220779]

I've had 1 go at Spurs so far, complete disaster and was sacked during the 1st season spending it flirting with the relegation zone.

I jsu tstarted an online game and have decided to try and redeem myself and try Spurs again.

My main concern is conceding way too many goals.

i haven't brought in or sold any defenders and would like to know who should be my back 4.

Previously, opposition strikers had far to much space in and around the box with my DC's seemingly ignoring my tight marking and closing down instructions.

I'm going for a balanced 4-4-2 with Farfan and Makoun my 2 additions for ML and MC positions. I sold Ghaly(sp?) and Zokora.

My probable XI is:

Robinson

Chimbonda/King/Dawson/Bale

Lennon/Malbranque/Makoun/Farfan

Defoe/Brbatov

Any advice would be appreciated, I really don't want to get sacked again, especially as I'm playing in a clan.

Again defence seems to be my main problem with Spurs. I lost my opening game 4-2.

[knap]

This is on tactics forum and I used it in a 2-1 away win against Real Madrid

LM and RM have farrows one position forward.

Mentality 4 clicks to the left.

Creative freedom 5 clicks to the left.

Passing style 4 clicks to the left.

Tempo 4 clicks to the left.

Width 2 clicks to the right.

Closing down 3 clicks to the right.

Time wasting normal.

Defensive Line 3 clicks to the left.

Tackling normal.

If you need to defend use the set to CB instructions for all outfield players - should kill game.

Boeteng is -9 and keeps Fernandez 180 out of 1st team. Keane apears better in FM08 and works well with Berbs.

The back 4 is pretty solid - I sold Dawson to Newcastle and then Chelsea bought him.

Chimbonda will keep the likes of VDB and Ratinho out of 1st team and Bale gets offers from top Euro clubs.

[Asgarderus]

Originally posted by neil220779:

I've had 1 go at Spurs so far, complete disaster and was sacked during the 1st season spending it flirting with the relegation zone.

I jsu tstarted an online game and have decided to try and redeem myself and try Spurs again.

My main concern is conceding way too many goals.

i haven't brought in or sold any defenders and would like to know who should be my back 4.

Previously, opposition strikers had far to much space in and around the box with my DC's seemingly ignoring my tight marking and closing down instructions.

I'm going for a balanced 4-4-2 with Farfan and Makoun my 2 additions for ML and MC positions. I sold Ghaly(sp?) and Zokora.

My probable XI is:

Robinson

Chimbonda/King/Dawson/Bale

Lennon/Malbranque/Makoun/Farfan

Defoe/Brbatov

Any advice would be appreciated, I really don't want to get sacked again, especially as I'm playing in a clan.

Again defence seems to be my main problem with Spurs. I lost my opening game 4-2.

Try to sign Ignashevich since he's free at the beginning and try getting Van Deer Vaart also since he has a release cost of 13.5mil. You can get him around 10mil. I partnered Ignas with King and my team has only conceded 18 goals out of 29 games while VdV will provide you goals and assists depending on how you'll play him.

[neil220779]

VDV was terrible for me 1st time around, so won't sign him this time. Ignashevich is already gone.

I'll go with King when fit, but Dawson is too slow and not strong enough in the air. I'll wait until January to see if I need a partner for King.

Things have improved overall, but I won 3-2 twice in the last 2 games but have conceded 11 goals in 5 games. My tactics are not particuarly offensive.

[Hauler24]

For a CB get Samba. He is like 2.3 mil US at the start and he wins everything in the air and plays fantastic D.

[paulinho]

Originally posted by neil220779:

VDV was terrible for me 1st time around, so won't sign him this time. Ignashevich is already gone.

I'll go with King when fit, but Dawson is too slow and not strong enough in the air. I'll wait until January to see if I need a partner for King.

Things have improved overall, but I won 3-2 twice in the last 2 games but have conceded 11 goals in 5 games. My tactics are not particuarly offensive.

Matias Fernandez is better than VDV IMO & can be bought for 9m or so.

[knap]

Season 4 VDV is on a free and Bent's value going up and playing well, Kaboul sold for £7.5m to Portsmouth to go with Jenas and Defoe.

[paulinho]

Slowest FM player in the world update.

Into Jan 1st season now, yes I know I'm very slow.

Top of the Prem by 10 pts & it's been considerably easier than I thought TBH.

Squad

Staff

I've been playing it a bit differently than on previous FM's, instead of using 1 tactic I use 4, 4-5-1, 4-4-2 defcounter, 4-3-3 & 4-4-2 diamond.

The only one that's really attacking is the diamond the others are defensive or counter attack.

Normally I'd be against such chopping & changing but it's working for me & my back four are set up similarly in all tactics (deep).

Transfers

Ignashevic , Matias Fernandez Capel (loan) & Makoun have been immense.

Upcoming transfers

I'm offloading Defoe to Villa & I'm going to strengthen my right side with Renato Augusto (if he gets the WP this time!) plus some good youth potential.

[paulinho]

Take2

Slowest FM player in the world update.

Into Jan 1st season now, yes I know I'm very slow.

Top of the Prem by 10 pts & it's been

considerably easier than I thought TBH.

Squad

Staff

I've been playing it a bit differently than on previous FM's, instead of using 1 tactic I use 4, 4-5-1, 4-4-2 defcounter, 4-3-3 & 4-4-2 diamond.

The only one that's really attacking is the diamond the others are defensive or counter attack.

Normally I'd be against such chopping & changing but it's working for me & my back four are set up similarly in all tactics (deep).

Transfers

Ignashevic , Matias Fernandez Capel (loan) & Makoun have been immense.

Upcoming transfers

I'm offloading Defoe to Villa & I'm going to strengthen my right side with Renato Augusto (if he gets the WP this time!) plus some good youth potential.

[mattyspurs76]

Anybody played the 1st season without buying any new players (or until Jan) ?

Tempted to try it tonight,just to see how bad we actually do or to see how life like it can be (woooo 13th in the league, ere i come lol)

[paulinho]

Originally posted by mattyspurs76:

Anybody played the 1st season without buying any new players (or until Jan) ?

Tempted to try it tonight,just to see how bad we actually do or to see how life like it can be (woooo 13th in the league, ere i come lol)

I tried it with FM2007 (or was it FM2006 I'm not sure ) & actually won the Prem 1st season.

I was testing various tactics to see which was best for the Spurs squad.

There's something to be said for making few changes at the start, you team will certainly gel quicker.

[skeletore2002]

Paulinho,

Just curious, how much did you get for Lennon, and who did you send him to? Also, how much did you pay for Giles Barnes?

[skeletore2002]

Wow, I'm an idiot and never saw your screenshots. Never mind

[magacid]

I'm about to make a silly-long post... but I want to make sure some things work, first.

[magacid]

Hey there, long time Spurs fan/player-in-FM-games, first-time poster. Let me tell you about seasons 1 thru 3 in my game, which are going pretty darn well, as you may see!

Season 1 was not entirely unlike Tottenham's current season, to be honest. I finished nearly 40 points off of first-place Chelsea, in eleventh place. This was due to absolutely miserable away-game play. However, I managed to win the English cup! I always mix up their names... the one that puts you into European play... you know the one!

That year, my transfers were something like this...

IN

Leonardo from Ajax (525k)

Fernando Meira from Stuttgart (6.5M)

Ismael Aissati from PSV (5.75M)

Alex from Vasco (600k)

Fabricio Coloccini from Deportivo (14.5M)

Brad Jones from Boro (350k)

OUT (of note)

Defoe to Arsenal (8m)

Malbranque to Reading (4.5M)

O'Hara to Sheff Utd (1.2M)

Zokora to Osasuna (2.6M)

That giant hole on the left flank was surprisingly well filled by the tandem of Aissati and backup Leonardo. If you're low on funds, I highly recommend Leo-- he's not brilliant, but for under 1m, you get a player with accel/pace (17 each now), dribbling (20 now), other incredibly good tech skills around 17-20 (passing, penalties, crossing... the good stuff). The flipside is that his mental skills aren't amazing, and he's not exactly a kid when you get him- young, I think 23, but not REALLY young.

Fernando Meira I picked up due to the insane hole I had in DC due to King and Dawson being injured and Rocha, Kaboul and Gardner all being a bit crap (read: a lot crap). I paid a bit high for a guy who was a bit old, but he ended up working very well as a first team defender for a while (and later as a backup to King/Daws, which he didn't seem to mind too much).

Aissati... I am torn on him. He plays well, and the scouts/coaches adore him, but he doesn't ever really inspire me. I may sell him off, as I don't think many players have gotten too attached to him, and I'm sure I can get a pretty penny for a highly-trained post-wonderkid. Others might have a different opinion, fair play to them.

Alex from Vasco... to be honest, when I picked him up, he was jsut a decently-rated youngster who I didn't expect much out of. I was VERY surprised. Read on to sason 3 to hear about this phenom.

Coloccini was the dumbest move I've ever made in an FM game. I really wanted a good D RC and he appeared to be that, PLUS a DM! My scouts loved him and recommended him, and I allocated most of my budget to defenders at the beginning of the season, and he was somewhat young and had decent defending stats... well, WHEN he was playing well enough to make the first team, he would make dumb mistakes all over the place, and let goals in all the time. ARGH. One of the reasons we did so poorly.

Players who were already around... Berbatov played pretty miserably all season. Bent, however, was scoring something like 20 goals on the season, fair play to him. Keane was very good, as well, making a lot of good assists. In midfield, Boateng ended up being a very good player. Scored a few, assisted on a few. Kaboul was just as awful as Coloccini, making me want to pla them precisely NEVER. Huddlestone was very solid, however, and even knocked in a couple of goals. Fair play to him. That speed, though, was sometimes costly. Lennon played like he was still learning. That's fair, he's young. King, once back, was solid as always, but got another knack into the season. Dawson varied from decent to ghastly. Chimbonda did what he was supposed to with little fuss; Bale seemed a bit less brilliant than I remembered in FM07 but was still okay.

All in all, a disappointing season, but not a complete waste. Won a cup, 11th in league, decent finishes in the other cup + the european cup. Enough that they probably wanted to fire me very much, but never quite did. Lucky for them.

SEASON 2

Things started to look up in season 2. I won't spoil the surprise of my place until the end of the little write-up, though. First, the transfers!

IN (selected):

Jeremie Aliadiere - Boro - 2m

Antonio Barragan - Deportivo - 8.75m

Lulinha - Corinthians - 9.75m

Mika Aaritalo - Valencia - 850k

Andrea Consigli - Atalanta - 3m

Peter Crouch - Liverpool - 4m

OUT (selected):

Assou-Ekotto - Reading - 1.7m

Routledge - Bolton - 1.4m

Stalteri - Marseille - 1m

Berbatov (!) - Roma - 11.25m

Chimbonda - Newcastle - 8m

Ghaly - Boca Jrs (lol) - 1.8m

Huddlestone - West Brom - 8m

Gardner - Boro - 1.4m

Dixon - Newcastle - 700k

Pekhart - Leicester - 1m

As you can see, this season I REALLY cleaned house. Got rid of Berbatov, who was weighing us down. One and a half years later, he's played two games for Roma! Ha ha ha! Replaced him with Aliadiere for the first bit of the season, who was a cheap replacement to go on the bench, freeing up more money. Actually, in this season, my transfers out were higher than my transfers in, money-wise. The higher-ups loved my shrewdness. Chimbonda's transfer was him being unhappy, and then Levy going over my head, getting rid of him. I was gutted, being out a D/WB R, and had to start frantically searching for a replacement, as I'd gotten rid of Stalteri and Ifil, and only had... Coloccini (CUE STABBING SOUND EFFECT FROM HITCHCOCK'S "PSYCHO"). Luckily, I managed to convince Barragan to come play for me. I must say, he's ben INCREDIBLY good-- for only 750k more than Chimmo, he's often the team's "key player" and plays his position quite well.

He wasn't the only key signing, though. I was sad to see Huddlestone go, but the offer was amazing, and I didn't need him that much. Coloccini was actually doing alright in DM, much to my surprise, as was Kaboul. Of course, later I stopped playing DM positions entirely... but i'm getting there. Crouch was languishing in Liverpool's reserves, and I thought, "boy, I'd love a tall header-type guy, and he's kinda cheap! Let's give him a go." This went FAMOUSLY. He can kick it in, head it in, everything. He kept up with Bent all season for top scorer, all the while fighting with Keane for the first place spot. Another awesome signing was Lulinha-- I didn't expect much from him, particularly in his first year, but he managed the highest overall rating on the team and was an absolute force in shallow midfield. He had a couple of goals, but the magic was truly in his passing. He could create opportunities out of nothing, land passes that seemed impossible. Aaritalo was the other surprise. Valencia landed him instead of me in season 1, which bummed me out. But, he wasn't doing anything, and his minimum fee release clause was... 850k?! For a wonderkid?! I made the offer, set the deadline "today," and before I knew it, four other prem teams did the same. To ensure I'd get his signature (his height, jumping, and heading were all deadly, as well as his crossing and corners and long throws), I offered him double his asking price, and won his signature. During an injury spell, he made his name known to all at White Hart Lane by scoring for fun in a striker position. Like, almost a goal a game. The fans were madly in love with him. Consigli was a decent, young keeper, so I nabbed him and put him on loan. We'll see how he turns out some day, when Robbo's engines putt out.

The existing team was changing a lot, but some original players were still around. King and Dawson stayed relatively injury-free and competent all season, and Coloccini would occasionally fill in for them (much less awfully than the year before). Bale played wel enough, I suppose. Lennon started growing into his shoes, and became a force down the right, scoring liberally. Keane didn't really impress, but Bent kept scoring. Aissati was good enough, I suppose. Leonardo went on loan. Robinson just keeps getting beter and better, and this year, was actually quite good!

RESULTS:

The season started phenomenally, and I jumped into first. However, some injuries and some miserable games against miserable teams brought us through a mid-table slump for a couple of months. I suspected the worst, but the team started turning it around due to amazing performances from Crouch, Aaritalo, and Lulinha. Even Alex and Taarabt played in the first team a few times, and did alright. A surge through the last half of the season put us on top of "the rest"-- which no longer meant the big four. There was now only a "big two"-- Man U and Chelski ended up with 82 and 78 points, respectively, with me in third place.. with 66 points. Ouch! That's a big gap. Liverpool and Arsenal ended in 10th and 8th, respectively... I like to think it's because I dumped Defoe on the gooners and stole Crouch from Liverpool. Take that, big four! Next stop, first place!

Oh, and european didn't go so well. I forget who knocked me out, but I think it was an asbolutely invincible Valencia. Que sera, sera. Chelski crushed the cup. I forget who won the other cup. I placed respectably in both tourneys. But I didn't care! I was going to the Champions' League!

SEASON 3

I almost wasn't hired back for failing to "challenge for the league title after two years." Bah! Hey did hire me, though, after the surge to third place. Smart move by them! My moves in the 2009/2010 season are relatively few so far (and it's past the Jan. window, now)...

IN (selected):

Shunsuke Nakamura - Celtic - Free

Tomasz Kuszczak - Man Utd - 850k

Tommy Spurr - Birmingham - 875k

Marco Pisano - Palermo - 13.25M

Callum Reynolds - Portsmouth - 4.5M

Robbert van der Post - Free Transfer - Free

Wesley Sneijder - R. Madrid - Free

OUT (selected):

Jermaine Jenas - Sampdoria - 4.5M

Fernando Meira - Sampdoria - 1.8M

Dorian Dervite - AS Monaco - Free

Lee Young-Pyo - Murcia - 475k

Jeremie Aliadiere - Bolton - 3.5M

Teemu Tainio - Reading - Free

The season started with Lulinha on song, perhaps even more than the year before. Every scout said he'd be a world beater, every team wanted him, but he stayed true to Tottenham. Then he fell awkwardly, broke his foot, and was out for about four months. I was gutted-- a top-tier AM C seems to help a LOT in this game. Boateng just wasn't the same as ol' Lulinha. However, a coach told me that Alex, that signing from oh-so-many years ago, might just be ready for first-team play. He was AMRLC/FC, so I thought, alright, let's give this kid a shot on the bench. He didn't play ike Lulinha; the creativity and dazzling clever play was replaced by something else... an unnatural drive to put balls in the net. And this kid was doing it, too; as of right now, even playing from an AM C position, he's rivalling Keane, Bent and Crouch for most goals this season. He scores for fun. He has had a couple of red cards, which cost us... but his scoring is insane. Nakamura benefitted from Lulinha's accident, too, and score a M C position (my current, insanely risky tactic has paid off-- 4-1-3-2, with the DL/DR moving to WB positions, the AMC AML and AMR all permanently locked in place, with an MC behind them... there are FIVE PLAYERS permantly in front of a MC position!). The market for decent fullbacks is dry, though, as evidenced by my startling 13.25M purchase of Pisano. However, he's good, and covered for Bale during an injury. Without him, I'm sure points would ahve been dropped up to now. 13.25M worth of points, I'm not sure... paying that much to back up Barragan and Bale (he cna play both sides) is a little crazy, but the extra rest they're geting is going a long way.

I got Kuszczak because he was being sold for a song, because he was whinging about never playing for Man U's first team. So I brought him to White Hart Lane, so he could not-play first team football somewhere else. He's a solid enough backup for Robbo while Consigli is out on loan to get experience. Reynolds is a young plaer for England, who shows plenty of promise. He's played a game or two in the Spurs kit, and done alright-- nothing special, but he's young. He may go out on loan. Sneijder came at the end of January after a free offer from Real Madrid. I said, "why not?" and took him, and paid it forward by offering Tainio to clubs for free. Van der Post was getting attention from Avram Grant, despite not having a team, so, in spite, I scouted and signed him. The scouts seem to think he's nothing particularly special, but he LOOKS like he has good stats, and he played a game while Robbo and Kuszy were injured, and wasn't particularly awful. He's new in 07-08 season... may be a regen? Please verify.

This season has been pretty insane so far. Bent, Crouch and Alex are all scoring like it's closing time at an Oxbridge nightclub (hehe... too much?). Even Aissati and Lennon are contributing goals, to the tune of one every four games... EACH. Needless to say, with five players who are scoring very frequently, I'm first in the league for goals. Goals against... well, I said I played an attackin game, didn't I? I think I'm 6th for goals against. Lulinha finally came back and is settling into Naka's position, who's playing very well from the bench (particuarly when I'm down a goal and need a real set piece dynamo for the second half). He's training Alex, too, who's just getting better and better-- he's now a monster from set pieces, too. The real monster, though, is Robinson, who has an average league rating of 7.37 so far! Other players of note... Dag Alexander Olsen is laiyng waste to the reserve team's defense, and came into the first team for some less-important midweek games... scoring three goals in three games. The coaches don't like him, but the numbers don't lie! Never underestimate a player with 20/20 pace/accel.

The two English cups I fell out of early, and not to particularly good teams. Pretty embarrassing. But, the Champs' cup was a huge upset-- I wasn't expected to pass the group stages, but I crushed Valencia and went first in my group! Then, it was into the first KO round... and I drew Inter. First leg away. I braced myself for embarrassment. However, by the end of the first half, we were... up 3-1. We lost our lead in the second half, and drew 3-3... but that's a lot of away goals. In the home leg, I told the boys to shut 'em down, and we drew 1-1. Away goals ftw! Soon we start round two against Chelsea, who we've done a lot of damage to in the regular season. I hope we can keep it up.

Oh, and the league... well, 28 games in, and we're in first. We have 60 points. Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal are in second, third, fourth, and fifth, with 53, 50, 50 and 49 points. I don't want to jinx it, but we might just take the league. Keep your fingers crossed for my little troopers!

Oh, and if you have any questions about my game... don't be afraid to ask. I'll try and answer! Staff, tactics, players I forgot, whatever... you name it. I won't promise that I'm any good for advice, though! That's your warning.

[magacid]

And a couple of other details... Bojan's coming to the Lane on a free at the end of the season. Dos Santos has been on a month-to-month at Barca for almost a year now, and they can't offer him a nice enough contract, but nobody else can either, apparently. Myself included. I think he'll accept if I offer him the highest possible everything, but I'd rather not upset the balance of the team at this point. I do, however, CERTAINLY have the wage space-- something like 400k/w unused! What do you think? I'd like to sell off Aissati...

[knap]

paulinho

Can you outline your team/individual settings for tactics.

Matty

3rd season 1 &2 with std squad. With all expensive buys 4th season 1st team

Robbo

Chimb

Kompany

King

Bale

Lennon

Hudds

Boeteng

Guardado

Berbs

Bent

Bent just got a 10 for banging 4 in against Portsmouth and Dervite is getting the odd game as is Lulinha.

magacid

Good read - Robbo really justs gets better - any tactics info

[paulinho]

Originally posted by skeletore2002:

Paulinho,

Just curious, how much did you get for Lennon, and who did you send him to? Also, how much did you pay for Giles Barnes?

12m to Arse

He wasn't really doing the biz TBH, hasn't pulled up any trees there either.

I paid 9.5m for Giles Barnes which was probably over the top but I got a few great prospects with the change.

[paulinho]

magacid

Blimey! what a post, I'll get round to reading it when I've got an hour.

[ knap ]

Which tactics do you mean?

As I said I use about 4 of them, but all but one have deep defensive line & normal to defensive mentality.

I think the game thinks I'm Claudio Ranieri.

[knap]

If only Spurs 6 (Bent Hat Trick) Arsenal 3 (after mind games in media)

Paulinho - How about cf/tempo/passing/width

Used various formations on Demo but not found need with patch as AMC is less potent.

1st season Lennon was a pain always wanting to go to Arsenal, but with silverware Euro Cup, playing well and happy.

[paulinho]

Originally posted by knap:

If only Spurs 6 (Bent Hat Trick) Arsenal 3 (after mind games in media)

Paulinho - How about cf/tempo/passing/width

Used various formations on Demo but not found need with patch as AMC is less potent.

1st season Lennon was a pain always wanting to go to Arsenal, but with silverware Euro Cup, playing well and happy.

I've very different set ups in each tactic TBH, the one I use most is the

4-5-1, it has everything normal except shortest passing, highest tempo, CF (12), normal (6) with deep DL (4).

I do adapt it for away & tough opponents by reducing mentality & playing on the counter & reducing fullbacks forward runs. Everyone's man marking here but I change the DC's to zonal if there's lone striker or front 3.

Everyone's on a global player mentality of 10 except the DC's (2).

The 4-4-2 is a defensive(6) normal width(7), normal tempo (10), direct passing(13), lower CF(8) & DL (5), counter.

Global mentality of 6 with the wingers on 20 (max farrows)

I'm trying to adapt this one to a 4-4-1-1 using Matias Fernandez with a solid pair of CM's behind him.

Then there's a 4-3-3 which is a normal(12), CF (7), Short(5), quick(18) CD(14), It's sort of a more attacking version of the 4-5-1 with & higher DL(12) that I sometimes use against weaker opponents.

Staggered player mentality with the highest being the more central MC (short farrow). Player CF global (8) except the middle MC (17).

I also use a 4-4-2 diamond which is normal(12) mentality, CF(12), passing(6), tempo(13), width(6), CD(13) & DL (8).

This really suits Matias in the free playmaker role, (ticked) & again I only use if I'm fave.

Again I try & keep them playing like a team with most on a global mentality & Mentality & CF on the player instructions except the AMC & DC's.

Normally I find they play more cohesively if the players are on either on the same mentality or split between defence & attack.

It also makes tinkering with the mentality during the game easier.

I do a bit of oppo instructions, not too much but taking a bit of care who's up against who in terms of pace, bravery, weak foot etc.

My squad's OK but it's nowhere near the quality of the top 4's so I have to use every bit of advantage possible to stay top.

Maybe I'm using players with good adaptability? (I haven't checked) but the players dont seem to have a problem switching between tactics.

[knap]

Thanks paulinho I will have a "Tinker" with these.

[mattyspurs76]

Magacid... Nice post.

Can you tell me what backroom staff you have and do you have any particular training schedules?

[magacid]

Thanks, mattyspurs76! I hope this answers your questions...

The first and second year my assistant was Danny McGrain who had pretty decent stats in plenty of areas. I found his suggestions kind of irritating, though, he was to against attacking football, so in January I gave him a coaching contract and hired Torbjorn Nilsson as ass-man. He stuck around for a year and a half before I replaced him with Tommy Craig who's just been a top notch assistant.

As far as scouts go, I got rid of most of the original ones and brought in: Geoff Taylor, Jurgen Milewski, Steve Martin, David Hamilton, Husnija Fazlic[/b], Ian Broomfield, and Salvatore Asmini, who all coem from enough interesting places and all have insanely good stats in JA/JP.

Physios I didn't really change. I think I fired one and hired one, but I forget. Do multiple physios actually... do anything?

Keeping 7 stars in everything for training has been a pain, as it seems coaches get crappier over time, or something. Right now I have: Geraint Twose, Hans Segers, Kevin Paxton, Danny McGrain, Tony McAndrew, Alan Mahood, Dominic Holohan, Tony Adams, Tom Ritchie. I'm also bringing in one more coach for 7 in set pieces again. I offered him a nice contract, so I'm sure he'll be here soon... Phil O'Donnell's his name. Between all of them and the ass-man I think I have 7 in every stat.

Training is broken down by position: big strikers, small strikers, wingers, mids, fullbacks, centrebacks, and goalies. I put AMs and DMs alike into the mids section. Some players get their own special training regimes, though; for example, Bale has one that's the same as fullbacks, but with a bit less ball control (i think?) and a bunch more set piece training. Lulinha has his own too, which is sort of like the mids training program, but with the "attacking" section maxed out, to keep his passing and creativity up.

And the tactic I've had fantastic success with is as follows:

.9.0.

7.6.8

..5..

^...^

12.34

..G..

G = Robinson, goalkeeper

1 = Bale, Left back (running to wingback position)

2 = King, center back

3 = Dawson, center back

4 = Antonio Barragan, Right back (running to wingback position)

5 = Lulinha, M C

6 = Alex (from Vasco), AM C

7 = Aissati, AM L

8 = Lennon, AM R

9 = Bent, F C

0 = Crouch, F c

Subs (depending on fitness, game in question, injuries, etc):

Kuszczak (GK)

Coloccini (DC, DR, DM)

Pisano (DL, DR, WB L)

Nakamura (MR, MC, ML, AM R)

Aaritalo (AM R, AM L, ST)

Keane (F C, AM C)

Sneijder (AM C, AM R, AM L, M C)

Kaboul (D C, DM)

Bent tends to like scoring from the left, and Aissati chips in nicer long crosses than Lennon, so putting Crouch opposite him is very nice. I know this tactic looks INSANELY frontloaded, and it is, but it scores a lot of goals-- usually more than the other tram scores due to my stupidly risky game. I'm 18-6-5 this season so far, and most of those games have anywhere from 3 to 7 total goals. I don't think I've gotten a clean sheet (for or against) for a very long time.

But now I feel really guilty... I was playing last night and I went on a four-game skid, dropping to second in the league. I was trying to figure out how to start winning again, and my laptop battery died... putting me back about 20 days. It feels like cheating! But I didn't mean to! My lost work stuff proves that!

[paul 1300]

Must buy Aguero

he has a release clause of 23 mil

what a player

[paul 1300]

still havent been able to download and install face packs graphics logos etc

any help is most welcome

cheers

[Hauler24]

Pauly I understand Lennon wasn't doing well but you never on God's green earth make that kind of a deal with Arse..... ever. Seems like your doing well but I stick to the old 4-4-2 and I like that. Im not doing as well as you in the league but I still like it. Also Samba is an excellent pickup as well.