FM11: Bayer 04 Leverkusen - the return of Ballack.

[joe__the__man]

I can't get over how good Kiessling is sometimes. Absolute beast. Also loving the new 11.2 ME

And no Evil, I'm sure most people get inconsistent results.

[Evil]

I can't get over how good Kiessling is sometimes. Absolute beast. Also loving the new 11.2 ME

And no Evil, I'm sure most people get inconsistent results.

Yeah kiessling is immense.

i think i have worke dout the issue still unbeaten btw.

[joe__the__man]

Phew, bullet dodged. He now has nothing on the personal bit of his profile about wanting to leave, except that he has a good relationship with me

[Evil]

Phew, bullet dodged. He now has nothing on the personal bit of his profile about wanting to leave, except that he has a good relationship with me

Happened to adler on my first save.

Still 3 points clear and unbeaten

How is your save going.

[joe__the__man]

Yeah I think it happened with Vidal and Barnetta on mine. Except Barnetta still wanted to leave, but he calmed down after a while.

Was just gonna write an update but FM crashed on me, lost two games I'll update you later instead aha.

[Evil]

Yeah I think it happened with Vidal and Barnetta on mine. Except Barnetta still wanted to leave, but he calmed down after a while.

Was just gonna write an update but FM crashed on me, lost two games I'll update you later instead aha.

Nasty.

it is weird Kiessling performances have been great but goalscoring has not been.

[Evil]

OMG barnetta just scored an amazing goal that i will upload tomorrow.

[dburns647]

Ah Ballack's a ledge, but then again I am a Chelsea fan

How's Vida doing for you Burns? Interesting that you're playing him ahead of Hyypia and Friedrich. Told you you'd win the league anyway, never had any doubt

Sorry for the slow reply, been at the girlfriends house.

Ballack hasnt been great for me tbh, been dissappointed with him.

Vida has been good but gets rotated with the other two, Hyypia has actually played 15 minutes more than Vida.

Good update

And you will win it or at least i hope so.

The spurs game looks like a decent game.

Cheers, yea it was a great game not good to watch though.

[joe__the__man]

I've never really played Vida tbh, only in cups and dead rubbers with the odd part of a game out of position in midfield or somewhere, he's always done pretty decently though.

Btw for future reference keep an eye on Sami Khedira, he usually gets unhappy at Real judging by other people's games, and has just been transfer listed on mine. Not sure where he'd fit into my midfield though.

[dburns647]

I've never really played Vida tbh, only in cups and dead rubbers with the odd part of a game out of position in midfield or somewhere, he's always done pretty decently though.

Btw for future reference keep an eye on Sami Khedira, he usually gets unhappy at Real judging by other people's games, and has just been transfer listed on mine. Not sure where he'd fit into my midfield though.

I never played him much in my other game but anytime he did play, he played well so decided to give him a extended first team run to see how he performs.

Hmm, maybe replace Balitsch and rotate with Sven Bender as my destroyer but then again I have Vidal as well.

----

Hows your game going?

[Dinu]

Unconsistent for me too, but at least the other teams have the same problem. Threeway with Hamburg and the goats at halftime, I'm tempted to buy Podolski just to weaken them and let him watch my guys play football from the sidelines

Okay, hatemode off

Though Niflore did well as backup so far I decided to bring in Lacina Traore from Cluj. Also keyplayers (Adler, Rolfes, Helmes, Schwaab, Kaplan) got new contracts, hoping to keep them a bit longer that way. Only problem so far is Vidal who just asks for too much and wants a ridiculous low release clause. Hopefully he comes to his senses or he has to go in summer. He's not that good to get more cash than Rene Adler

[Evil]

The goal i was referring too last night

[Evil]

i am now 2nd 2 points behind Bayern.

8 wins 9 draws 0 defeats.

[joe__the__man]

Monthy Update - September 2011

First Team

Adler

Castro Reinartz Friedrich Kadlec

Vidal

Rolfes Ballack

Barnetta - - - - - - - - Schuerrle

Kiessling

Renato Augusto is still out and Schuerrle has been doing well in his place, as has Sidney Sam. Schwaab and Castro continue to rotate at right back and Friedrich has come in for the long-term injured Toprak.

Results

Bundesliga

VfL Bochum 1-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

20' Yahia- - - - - -84' Kiessling

Champions League

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-2 Rubin Kazan

84' Schurrle - - - - - - - - - 14' Esquival

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 33' Junior Moraes

Bundesliga

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

32' Rolfes

42' Barnetta

DFB Pokal

FC Sankt Pauli 1-2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

89' Golebiewski - - -70' Derdiyok

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 116' Kiessling

Bundesliga

FSV Mainz 05 0-3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

- - - - - - - - - - - --6' Vidal

- - - - - - - - - - - --23' Ballack

- - - - - - - - - - - --26' Barnetta

Champions League

Real Madrid CF 1-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

16' Ronaldo - - - - --42' Barnetta

Really undeserved but poor loss against Rubin, it should've been the easiest game of the group as well. We made up for it later in the month though with an undeserved point against the mighty Real. The defence and 'keeper Adler did a brilliant job quelling the likes of Ronaldo, Higuain, Ozil, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Montolivo.

Good two results in the league meanwhile, but the Bochum result was pretty poor. The Cup game however was silly, absolutely smashed them put couldn't put anything away, but then again it was a team made half of reserves. Made it through to an easy tie with Energie Cottbus next round.

Btw, as my computer crashed I had to replay the Mainz and Real games, which originally ended up 2-0 and 2-1 respectively, with Kiessling scoring all 3.

Player of the Month

1st - Arturo Vidal. Played all the important games as usual, and was understatedly spectacular in all of them as usual. Also got forward well on occassion, and got a goal and a few assists.

2nd - Stefan Kiessling. More and more great performances, he always looks dangerous.

3rd - Tranquillo Barnetta. A few important goals and performances earn this guy a spot in the top three. Never afraid to take on his man.

Goal of the Month

Stefan Kiessling. Not a classic goal by any means, but an important one in context of the game, and a very tidy finish. Not a great selection this month.

[video=youtube;sT35k63LRso]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT35k63LRso

[Evil]

Monthy Update - September 2011

First Team

Adler

Castro Reinartz Friedrich Kadlec

Vidal

Rolfes Ballack

Barnetta - - - - - - - - Schuerrle

Kiessling

Renato Augusto is still out and Schuerrle has been doing well in his place, as has Sidney Sam. Schwaab and Castro continue to rotate at right back and Friedrich has come in for the long-term injured Toprak.

Results

Bundesliga

VfL Bochum 1-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

20' Yahia- - - - - -84' Kiessling

Champions League

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-2 Rubin Kazan

84' Schurrle - - - - - - - - - 14' Esquival

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 33' Junior Moraes

Bundesliga

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

32' Rolfes

42' Barnetta

DFB Pokal

FC Sankt Pauli 1-2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

89' Golebiewski - - -70' Derdiyok

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 116' Kiessling

Bundesliga

FSV Mainz 05 0-3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

- - - - - - - - - - - --6' Vidal

- - - - - - - - - - - --23' Ballack

- - - - - - - - - - - --26' Barnetta

Champions League

Real Madrid CF 1-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

16' Ronaldo - - - - --42' Barnetta

Really undeserved but poor loss against Rubin, it should've been the easiest game of the group as well. We made up for it later in the month though with an undeserved point against the mighty Real. The defence and 'keeper Adler did a brilliant job quelling the likes of Ronaldo, Higuain, Ozil, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Montolivo.

Good two results in the league meanwhile, but the Bochum result was pretty poor. The Cup game however was silly, absolutely smashed them put couldn't put anything away, but then again it was a team made half of reserves. Made it through to an easy tie with Energie Cottbus next round.

Btw, as my computer crashed I had to replay the Mainz and Real games, which originally ended up 2-0 and 2-1 respectively, with Kiessling scoring all 3.

Player of the Month

1st - Arturo Vidal. Played all the important games as usual, and was understatedly spectacular in all of them as usual. Also got forward well on occassion, and got a goal and a few assists.

2nd - Stefan Kiessling. More and more great performances, he always looks dangerous.

3rd - Tranquillo Barnetta. A few important goals and performances earn this guy a spot in the top three. Never afraid to take on his man.

Goal of the Month

Stefan Kiessling. Not a classic goal by any means, but an important one in context of the game, and a very tidy finish. Not a great selection this month.

[video=youtube;sT35k63LRso]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT35k63LRso

Good update.

I am really struggling to create chances against lesser teams

[joe__the__man]

This patch is infuriating. All my set piece instructions get reset everytime I continue

[dburns647]

Evil - nice goal

Joe - good update, ebven including that pathetic result against Rubin but good point against Real

----

March is turning out to be a very good month for me

[Evil]

Should i get kompany for 3.6 million as a rotation cb on 46k wages

[dburns647]

I wouldnt as im sure you could get a rotation CB on less wages.

[joe__the__man]

Yeah 46k (£?) is a lot for this club. Look elsewhere imo.

Btw I'm still top of the league, one point ahead of Hannover () and four ahead of Bayern.

[Evil]

Yeah 46k (£?) is a lot for this club. Look elsewhere imo.

Btw I'm still top of the league, one point ahead of Hannover () and four ahead of Bayern.

I think i am to buy him as i reckon i could sell for a profit and i do need a hyypia replacement.

[joe__the__man]

Bahh, keep it German. Toprak, Howedes, Tasci, Badstuber and Hummels ftw.

Work on unsettling one/all of them and you'll have your Hyypia replacement

[Evil]

You have convinced me joe.

[dburns647]

Monthly update – March 2011

First team

A

dler

Beck

---

Reinartz

---

Vida

---

Bastians

Vi

dal

-------

Rolfes

Sam

-----------

Derdiyok

-------

Augusto

Kiessling

Results

Bundesliga

Stuttgart 0-0 Leverkusen

Europa League, 2nd knockout round, 1st leg

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Leverkusen

Bundesliga

Leverkusen 2-0 Schalke

56' Kiessling

64' Sam

Europa League, 2nd knockout round, 2nd leg

Leverkusen 2-0 Atletico Madrid

42' Kiessling

68' Augusto

Bundesliga

Koln 1-2 Leverkusen

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

63' 74' Kiessling

Bundesliga

Leverkusen 1-1 HSV

50' Vidal

My Player of the Month

Stefan Kiessling -

5 goals and an assist from the main man means he wins this award again. He is at times unstoppable and is certainly unreplaceable.

[joe__the__man]

You have convinced me joe.

Haha I was only being partly serious, you don't have to play the way that I play

Although I do think all the defenders I listed above are at least at the same level as Kompany.

Edit. Good month Burns, what's the league looking like now?

[dburns647]

Bahh, keep it German. Toprak, Howedes, Tasci, Badstuber and Hummels ftw.

Work on unsettling one/all of them and you'll have your Hyypia replacement

What Joe said keep it as German as possible.

[Evil]

Haha I was only being partly serious, you don't have to play the way that I play

Although I do think all the defenders I listed above are at least at the same level as Kompany.

You don't know how indecisive i am.

I also forgot about a regen i wanted to sign so that took first priority

[dburns647]

4 games to go and the league table looks like this:

EDIT: updated the league table

[joe__the__man]

Oof that's close! Good luck with your last two games if you haven't played them already.

[joe__the__man]

Injuries

As soon as I get one big player back (Helmes, making his first appearance of the season), another gets done over (Rolfes now out for three months with a broken ankle).

[dburns647]

Oof that's close! Good luck with your last two games if you haven't played them already.

Played my second last round of games there now, and lets just say there was an unexpected twist.

[dburns647]

Injuries

As soon as I get one big player back (Helmes, making his first appearance of the season), another gets done over (Rolfes now out for three months with a broken ankle).

I know how you feel, currently have Vidal, Ballack, Augusto and Derdiyok all injured.

[dburns647]

Monthly update – April 2011

First team

Adler

Beck ---Reinartz---Freidrich---Bastians

Bender-------Rolfes

Sam-----------Ballack-------Barnetta

Kiessling

Results

Bundesliga

Nurnberg 1-2 Leverkusen

----------------------39’ Beck

----------------------68’ Kiessling

Europa League, Quarter final, 1 st leg

Leverkusen 0-0 Porto

Bundesliga

Leverkusen 1-0 Werder Bremen

33’ Helmes

Europa League, Quarter final, 2 nd leg

Porto 2-2 Leverkusen

---------------45’, 87’ Kiessling

Bundesliga

Kaiserslautern 0-3 Leverkusen

------------------------26’, 82’ Kiessling

------------------------57’ Ballack

Bundesliga

Leverkusen 3-1 Gladbach

4’ Barnetta

33’ Ballack

54’ Kiessling

Europa League, Semi final, 1 st leg

Roma 1-0 Leverkusen

My Player of the Month

Stefan Kiessling - improved on last months performances with 6 goals and 3 assists. I can't put a value on him, £100m wouldnt convince me to sell him.

[joe__the__man]

You play so quickly, it's craziness! It takes me about half an hour per game, and then I get distracted for ages between games aha.

[dburns647]

You play so quickly, it's craziness! It takes me about half an hour per game, and then I get distracted for ages between games aha.

I played them games last night up until the 2nd leg of the Porto game. What takes you so long?

[dburns647]

So the last round of games, with the table looking like this

And the last round of fixtures

And the final results

The title winning match:

[dburns647]

Monthly update –May 2011

First team

Adler

Beck ---Reinartz---Hyypia---Bastians

Bender-------Rolfes

Sam-----------Ballack-------Barnetta

Kiessling

Results

Europa League, Semi final, 2nd leg

Leverkusen 2-0 Roma

2’, 27’ Ballack

Europa League, Final

Leverkusen 3-0 Liverpool

4’, 24’ Kiessling

45’ Hyypia

My Player of the Month

Michael Ballack – put us into the Europa League final almost on his own, his best performance of the season by a mile. Also set up 2 of the goals in the final.

[Evil]

Nice league win dburns.

And joe i play quickly my issue is the fact that i am realy obsessed with the stats and analysis.

[Dinu]

Triple-kusen

Was a season of up and downs, I never was really able to put some distance between me and the other competitors but finally on the last 6 games of the season I was able to secure the title with a winning streak. My vote for player of the year is somewhere between Helmes who scored 20 goals this season and Kaplan who was great (again, as in my 11.1 savegame) on the right wing.

Second competition that surprised me more to win was the Euro League. After winning an easy group I had somehow luck with playing against Basel and Bremen. Paris and Manchester City were harder to play but I advanced to the finals without conceding a goal from the two and beat Alkmaar 3-1.

Last title to round off this great year was the german cup. 2-0 against Freiburg after I already had the hardest game in the semifinals with a win over Bayern.

Squad this year:

Now I am looking forward playing champions league. I doubt that I will change much squadwise though I know that I need some luck getting a good group to advance to the knockout games. With Schürrle coming in and Risse coming back I guess Gebhardt and Renato Augusto will be the ones leaving this year. Decided to keep Vidal no matter (well, at least almost no matter ) what he asks for.

With Hegeler coming back in midfield Patrick Funk might be the weakest link here and might be either sold or loaned out to my feeder Team, Fürth. I was satisfied with my defense, so I doubt there will be much movement here, Oczpica is coming back from St. Pauli and I might consider using him as Castros backup. Same for the strikers. I will see if I can get Niflore as number 6 striker but with Sukuta-Pasu coming back I am satisfied with the strength I have here. At least for this season, will see how it goes and then maybe put a lot of cash in new players in 2012 (Bayern style )

Edit: Sold Renato Augusto, Gebhardt, Djakpa, Jörgensen and Risse. Was planing to use Risse as backup on the wings, but I just couldnt stand the thought of Naki playing in Dortmund so I made an offer and he accepted the contract, so he's going to rotate with Schürrle on the left while Kaplan/Sam cover the right side. Other than that I just invested in young talents. Found a few decent ones in Argentina and two Germans from second division (somehow normal prices there compared to first divisions regens )

I also got a promising central midfielder from my own youth hope I can develop him properly.

[Evil]

Triple-kusen

Was a season of up and downs, I never was really able to put some distance between me and the other competitors but finally on the last 6 games of the season I was able to secure the title with a winning streak. My vote for player of the year is somewhere between Helmes who scored 20 goals this season and Kaplan who was great (again, as in my 11.1 savegame) on the right wing.

Second competition that surprised me more to win was the Euro League. After winning an easy group I had somehow luck with playing against Basel and Bremen. Paris and Manchester City were harder to play but I advanced to the finals without conceding a goal from the two and beat Alkmaar 3-1.

Last title to round off this great year was the german cup. 2-0 against Freiburg after I already had the hardest game in the semifinals with a win over Bayern.

Squad this year:

Now I am looking forward playing champions league. I doubt that I will change much squadwise though I know that I need some luck getting a good group to advance to the knockout games. With Schürrle coming in and Risse coming back I guess Gebhardt and Renato Augusto will be the ones leaving this year. Decided to keep Vidal no matter (well, at least almost no matter ) what he asks for.

With Hegeler coming back in midfield Patrick Funk might be the weakest link here and might be either sold or loaned out to my feeder Team, Fürth. I was satisfied with my defense, so I doubt there will be much movement here, Oczpica is coming back from St. Pauli and I might consider using him as Castros backup. Same for the strikers. I will see if I can get Niflore as number 6 striker but with Sukuta-Pasu coming back I am satisfied with the strength I have here. At least for this season, will see how it goes and then maybe put a lot of cash in new players in 2012 (Bayern style )

Edit: Sold Renato Augusto, Gebhardt, Djakpa, Jörgensen and Risse. Was planing to use Risse as backup on the wings, but I just couldnt stand the thought of Naki playing in Dortmund so I made an offer and he accepted the contract, so he's going to rotate with Schürrle on the left while Kaplan/Sam cover the right side. Other than that I just invested in young talents. Found a few decent ones in Argentina and two Germans from second division (somehow normal prices there compared to first divisions regens )

I also got a promising central midfielder from my own youth hope I can develop him properly.

Well done on the treble mate good job especially without barnetta who i think is indispensable as he is my main creative outlet and either scores or assists a goal a game.

[Dinu]

Thanks Barnetta is one of the guys that usually acts like in RL and becomes unsettled in my games so I decided to sell him for good coin and use that money to bring in guys like Funk, Werley, Jung and Gebhart.

[Evil]

Thanks Barnetta is one of the guys that usually acts like in RL and becomes unsettled in my games so I decided to sell him for good coin and use that money to bring in guys like Funk, Werley, Jung and Gebhart.

Dont get me wrong i can completely understand why and is replaceable i woud just rather not sell.

How good are your regens you bought?

[Evil]

I will update my game soon.

[Dinu]

Dont get me wrong i can completely understand why and is replaceable i woud just rather not sell.

How good are your regens you bought?

One striker seems to be first team material and a right back as backup for Schwaab looks promising so far (both 19 years old, Argentinian). I have far too many strikers I guess as I cant bring myself to sell Sukuta-Pasu who is the weakest of all six I guess. Loaned Sam out as Kaplan is my first choice on the right wing and with Schürrle and Naki there is no spot for Sam on the left side either. So I use Kießling if I have injury problems there and Sam gets match practice in Italy.

Three german regens, first one from my own youthsystem, a central midfielder:

Then two I bought, a midfielder and a striker

[Evil]

I have a brazilian striker like your argie except mine is 14 and will be joining at 18.

All are great any tips on how you got them.

[Dinu]

I usually check the clubs and scout the newgens a few days after they got generated, that way you usually can get them pretty cheap.

[Evil]

I usually check the clubs and scout the newgens a few days after they got generated, that way you usually can get them pretty cheap.

Same you must of got an awesome set.

[Dinu]

Got an amazing American with german as second nationality in my first (11.1) save who made me sell Lukaku again after 6 months Thats the only thing that is missing this argentinian striker, a european nationality

Besides those I posted I got some interesting guys coming in over the next two or three years when they turn 18.

[Evil]

Got an amazing American with german as second nationality in my first (11.1) save who made me sell Lukaku again after 6 months Thats the only thing that is missing this argentinian striker, a european nationality

Besides those I posted I got some interesting guys coming in over the next two or three years when they turn 18.

Yeah european nationality is a nice bonus.

Good luck going on with your Leverkusen save.

[joe__the__man]

I don't understand the table this season, so random. Loads of good teams underperforming completely, like HSV, Schalke and Werder well into the bottom half, and weird teams overperforming, like Hannover being top by 2 points, after avoiding relegation on GD last year.

I suppose it's realistic to Germany, but it is bizarre