FM08 : Olympique Lyon : Les Gones

[Purefun]

Agent Tiro

My most expensive regen i bought at age 18 was 5.5 mil euro. You'll see him action next season.

I watched all your regens they all look good to great. Only Mayer i have little doubt and Adam is a risk unless his accelaration and pace pick up bigtime imo.

Are all the big stars still at Manu? Because with me they are just a mediocre team tbh.

[zychan1]

Well just finished my first season with Les Gones and I'm really satisfied. Won everything possible including CL. Had quarters against Real (6-4), semis agaisnt Barca (2-1) and finals against Man Utd (3-1) but my players hit form at the correct time, with Benzema and Juninho being lethal in front of goal. The other cups were a walk in the park as there were upsets galore in the early stages. However my transfer dealings left the club in debt and it was only turned over after I won the CL. Am going to start Season 2 now and my team looks like this:

First Team

GK: Lloris

DL: Jeremy Mathieu

DC: Squillaci

DC: Mexes

DR: Clerc

MC: Bodmer

MC: Toulalan

AMR: Menez

AMC: Ben Arfa

AMR: Ribery (Just came in a swap for Keita )

ST: Benzema

Second Team

GK: Benoit Costil

DL: Sakho

DC: Bellaid

DC: Saunier/Schwechlen

DR: Abenzoar

MC: Omar Benzerga

MC: Juninho

AML: Sandro Garcia (brazillian regen)

AMC: Ederson

AMR: Joaquin

ST: Fred/Andrew(?) Le Tallec (youngster)

Ederson was named star player of the league but was on loan at Nice! Got him back now and going to try him out. Juninho's still in the squad because he had the most assists last year. Still looking for a good French CM/DM to replace him. Still have Boumsong, Anderson, Coupet, Cris, Grosso, Delgado and Revelliere in my reserves but so far nobody biting.

I'm still in the August transfer window and have about 10mil left. Any ideas how to strengthen this team? Looking for an all French team of course. And should I switch tactics for the new season?

[Purefun]

Zychan

Great first season mate congrats.

Great two teams. Although Ribery is great Keita is better imo.

You don't need to buy anybody. If you want to replace Juninho i would go for Zola (Monaco) or Digard (PSG), Diarra maybe.

For those players in your reserves put there value at 0. Than people should get interested.

[Scott08]

Tiro, some good looking prospects there mate.

Good news on the youth facilities, mine just got upgraded too .. im currently in November 2010 so not too far behind you.

Despite our slow start, losing 2 and drawing one in the league in our first 8 games.. we've now won 12 games on the trot in all competitions with Benzema firing on all cylinders again. My youngsters are finding their feet, with Sakho in particular starting to look great.

Benzema's hit 23 goals in 18 games so far this season, securing two player of the month awards in a row. Im positive he will pass Fleury Di Nallo's all time scoring record for Lyon in my time in charge.

[Scott08]

Zychan

Great season, nicely done.

May i ask how much Mexes cost you? I've looked at him but Roma always want 40m + for him.

As Purefun said no real need to strengthen, i'd save your money incase you need it. Only suggestion would be to look at A.Traore from Arsenal when you get enough for him.

[Scott08]

I've just given young Dubroca his first team debut in the cup. Im very excited by him.. if you remember i posted a S.S of him last year when he came up to my youth team.

He has the potential to be as good as Benzema. Only problem is his lack of concentration and slightly low off the ball but i've got high hopes of this improving. Apart from that he's got it all.

Here he is a year on Jacky 'Benzema Jnr' Dubroca

[zychan1]

Originally posted by purefun:

Zychan

Great first season mate congrats.

Great two teams. Although Ribery is great Keita is better imo.

You don't need to buy anybody. If you want to replace Juninho i would go for Zola (Monaco) or Digard (PSG), Diarra maybe.

For those players in your reserves put there value at 0. Than people should get interested.

Alright will try that out. Ribery's younger, and he's French Keita just didn't cut it, had too many 6-ratings for my liking and just couldn't score (I set my wingers to cut in). Will take a look at Zola, Digard and Diarra (I assume you mean Lassana?).

Might try to get Nasri and Briand in January or next season to have a French Golden Generation!

What about tactics?

[Purefun]

Scott

Looks sensational at his age would buy him immediatly.

[Scott08]

He just scored his first league goal as a substiute against Nantes and became the youngest ever player to play for Lyon

[Agent Tiro]

purefun

Only big players Utd have lost are Tevez and Giggs! So still a strong team at the minute, although they've not won the league yet. Finishing in the top 4 though.

zychan

nice team, well done on keeping it all french. Something i've not done.

scot

benzema just aint hitting that kind of form for me, infact this season none of my strikers are.

[Scott08]

Originally posted by Agent Tiro:

scot

benzema just aint hitting that kind of form for me, infact this season none of my strikers are.

All was going well until he played for France and got injured.. 2 months out. Luckily i don't share your problem as Gignac comes in and scores 3 in 2.

My problems this season are the reverse of yours.. my defenders aren't hitting form. I think its due to a lack of experience.

[Agent Tiro]

The rest of my team is on fire, i'm having difficulty choosing defence and midfield because everytime someone plays they do well. It's just upfront no one is being consistent. Although i've been hit with a few injuries recently in midfield so having to use same midfield a few times.

does anyone know what team talks at half time give ben arfa and benzema a kick up the backside. if they are ever on 6 i can't seem to get them out of it. most my other players i can get to improve to at least a 7

[Scott08]

Not sure on Ben Arfa but for Benzema, whenever i say to him 'I have faith in your ability' he always seems to score in the second half if he's been on a 6.

Might be worth a try

[Purefun]

Agent Tiro

Well with me they sold everybody because they didn't play in Europe for a couple of seasons.

[liam_everton89]

Hi all, just been having a read through sounds like your all doing great,

I'm dabbling in the transfer market with Valencia at the moment trying to buy Samba who I paid £800k a season ago for, they now want £18m, and Mathieu(sp) they want £30m for

I knew i should of part exchanged them before I left lol!

[Scott08]

Benzema has just become a FM Favourite of mine.

For the second year running he's won -

World Player of the Year

World Footballer of the Year

European Footballer of the Year

European Striker of the Year

French Player of the Year

A clean sweep again. Thats never happened to me in previous saves.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by liam_everton89:

Hi all, just been having a read through sounds like your all doing great,

I'm dabbling in the transfer market with Valencia at the moment trying to buy Samba who I paid £800k a season ago for, they now want £18m, and Mathieu(sp) they want £30m for

I knew i should of part exchanged them before I left lol!

Good luck with that mate could you let us know how Lyon is doing in further years?? Thx. Only let us know if they won the league, cup, CL ...

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Scott08:

Benzema has just become a FM Favourite of mine.

For the second year running he's won -

World Player of the Year

World Footballer of the Year

European Footballer of the Year

European Striker of the Year

French Player of the Year

A clean sweep again. Thats never happened to me in previous saves.

Brilliant mate. Never had that happen to one of mine players.

[Cleon]

A great friendly helpful thread, nice work all

I've never been able to buy Benzema, wish I could prize him away

[Lisandro Lopez]

Not even going to try and keep up with the last page and a half of posts since I last checked! I'm far to hungover to even attempt it! So to make it easier I shall say

Unlucky // Congrats

And just choose which one applies to you guys

[Agent Tiro]

theres a simple way around that Cleon. Use Lyon

then you'll never need to worry about buying him, just keeping hold of him.

[Cleon]

Originally posted by Agent Tiro:

theres a simple way around that Cleon. Use Lyon

then you'll never need to worry about buying him, just keeping hold of him.

Id love to, but that would be far too easy

Guess I could take the France job though

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by Cleon:

A great friendly helpful thread, nice work all

I've never been able to buy Benzema, wish I could prize him away

Always good to see some appreciation! Purefun deserves the most credit though after all he started the Lyon thread again in FM08 <3

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Cleon:

A great friendly helpful thread, nice work all

I've never been able to buy Benzema, wish I could prize him away

Thx and the question was asked somewhere on the forum and iirc there was only one player who actually bought him. But you could still try its just that he is so happy with Lyon in the game and irl. And the fact that he and Ben Arfa are best friends. So maybe buy Ben Arfa first!!

[Purefun]

Thx Hopey mate, the same goes for you offcourse, without saying.

[Cleon]

I got Ben Arfa easy enough, but on one of my games Benzema spent 14 years at Lyon and never left. Pretty cool though

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Cleon:

I got Ben Arfa easy enough, but on one of my games Benzema spent 14 years at Lyon and never left. Pretty cool though

Yeah pretty loyal but i'm trying to get him in my Anderlecht game though.

Which games do you play? (if i can ask offcourse)

Because i never see you post in here.

[Scott08]

Originally posted by Cleon:

I got Ben Arfa easy enough, but on one of my games Benzema spent 14 years at Lyon and never left. Pretty cool though

Thats a long time

If I have my way on this save he'll be doing the same!

[Scott08]

Y.Gouffran's contract is up in the summer, im in January, so have the option to offer him a contract. Iv had talks with him and he's requesting £63,000 per week.

This seems ridiculous, he'd be the highest paid player in my team. If he doesn't drop his demands im not paying him that.

What sort of wage is he worth? i haven't had him before. Bojan's contract is also up for renewal so we'll have to see how that goes. Iv started praising him but no luck so far.

[Agent Tiro]

I definately wouldn't offer him a contract either Scott. Never bought him before either so not sure quite how good he is.

Bojan is quality, had him on my long term inter game, odds are he'll want a high wage as well though.

At last my strikers are scoring! although most my players who have scored are in double figures or approaching them

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by Scott08:

Y.Gouffran's contract is up in the summer, im in January, so have the option to offer him a contract. Iv had talks with him and he's requesting £63,000 per week.

This seems ridiculous, he'd be the highest paid player in my team. If he doesn't drop his demands im not paying him that.

What sort of wage is he worth? i haven't had him before. Bojan's contract is also up for renewal so we'll have to see how that goes. Iv started praising him but no luck so far.

Gouffran did that too me on my other Lyon save, my advice is this. Don't pay him that, leave it longer and the less time he has on his contract offer him another one and his demands will come down, I did this and in the end I signed him on a £18,000 per week deal! So just give it time mate.

[Purefun]

Scott and Agent Tiro

I have Gouffran and he had "Signing of Season", "Revelation of Season", assist runner-up and has the habbit of scoring important winning goals for some reason. To conclude i'm very happy with him. But he isn't good enough to be in a champions league winning side so thats why he plays in my french league team.

Bojan is a ***** to sign. Good luck with that.

[Scott08]

Thanks for the advice. His stats don't look like he'll be able to keep Ben Arfa, Menez or Keita out of the team but id like to get him in as a squad player. i'll do as Hopey suggested and wait for him, it wouldn't be a great loss if i missed out.

As for Bojan, again im not too worried, my eyes are firmly on Pato. He's happy at Milan at the moment though.

I've noticed Messi has a 37.5m release clause and he's intrested as Barcelona haven't won anything the last 2 years and finished 4th in the league last year. However, i dont really want to spend big on one player. I like my 127m bank balance as it is

A little update, our league form has improved. We are on 17wins/2draws/2loss with 53 points after 21 games. We're 6 points clear with a game in hand, of second placed PSG. Since our openning 8 games we have only drawn once so im delighted.

In the CL we will face Espanyol so im confident of a Quater Final spot. Elsewhere, through to the Semi's of the League cup and we won 3-0 vs Marseille in the champions trophy.

All in all a great start to the season. We've done much better than expected. Dervite has proved his 9m fee and has played well, the same goes for Bellaid.

[Purefun]

Nice bankbalance mate. Glad to see that Bellaid and Dervite are playing well Scott.

Pato just doesn't look good on my game and he doesn't play a lot at Milan too.

[Cleon]

Originally posted by purefun:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

I got Ben Arfa easy enough, but on one of my games Benzema spent 14 years at Lyon and never left. Pretty cool though

Yeah pretty loyal but i'm trying to get him in my Anderlecht game though.

Which games do you play? (if i can ask offcourse)

Because i never see you post in here. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sheffield United

Thats a long time

If I have my way on this save he'll be doing the same!

The club accepted bids for him all the time, its just Benzema always refused and told the press he wouldnt go anywhere.

Scott and Agent Tiro

I have Gouffran and he had "Signing of Season", "Revelation of Season", assist runner-up and has the habbit of scoring important winning goals for some reason. To conclude i'm very happy with him. But he isn't good enough to be in a champions league winning side so thats why he plays in my french league team.

Hes at Marseille on my current game in 2nd season. Doesn't seem good to me either.

[Scott08]

Originally posted by purefun:

Nice bankbalance mate. Glad to see that Bellaid and Dervite are playing well Scott.

Pato just doesn't look good on my game and he doesn't play a lot at Milan too.

With good trainning he becomes amazing. Had lots of success with him at Milan.

In 2011 some strange things have started to happen. Arsenal have adopted a 4-4-2 with 2xDM's .. resulting in Fabregas not playing. He's only made 3 apps this season. When i noticed my eyes lit up, he's still not available for a decent price though.

My team is now all French, except Keita. I feel i lack a bit of Foreign magic on the field. Think i may address this is in the summer

[Agent Tiro]

Wohoooooooo! I just finished the away leg of first knockout round of champions league at Man Utd. Talk about under pressure, Lloris pulled out a MoM performance afer utd had 18 shots on target out of 27. Loads of deflections proving invaluable, Squillaci, Barzagli, Mathieu and Clerc gave there everything, going forward the guys were amazing and made the most of the chances created.

Puts me in a brilliant position when they come to my place

[zychan1]

Originally posted by Scott08:

Zychan

Great season, nicely done.

May i ask how much Mexes cost you? I've looked at him but Roma always want 40m + for him.

As Purefun said no real need to strengthen, i'd save your money incase you need it. Only suggestion would be to look at A.Traore from Arsenal when you get enough for him.

Scott08

To tell you the truth I've had some luck. Just signed him in pre-season. Managed to unsettle him after I won the quadruple and Roma wasn't doing so well. I think it was 10mil upfront and another 10 over 12 or 24 months. Not very cheap but well worth the money. He's solid and scores headers too

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Cleon:

Sheffield United

Should have known that. Stupid me.

[Scott08]

Originally posted by zychan1:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scott08:

Zychan

Great season, nicely done.

May i ask how much Mexes cost you? I've looked at him but Roma always want 40m + for him.

As Purefun said no real need to strengthen, i'd save your money incase you need it. Only suggestion would be to look at A.Traore from Arsenal when you get enough for him.

Scott08

To tell you the truth I've had some luck. Just signed him in pre-season. Managed to unsettle him after I won the quadruple and Roma wasn't doing so well. I think it was 10mil upfront and another 10 over 12 or 24 months. Not very cheap but well worth the money. He's solid and scores headers too </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats a bargain in my opinion. Roma on my game have done nothing really, usually finish 3rd or 4th but iv had no luck unsettling him at all.

If i could get him for 20m id jump at the chance, well i would have. He's getting on a bit now

[Scott08]

Just scored in the 119th minute and 39th second against Marseille to knock them out of the French Cup 10th round. We won 3-2

[Agent Tiro]

Nice one Scott. Once again i make my first knockout round exit from the champions league. Despite having a 2-1 advantage, i lost the home game 3-2 bloody anderson got two deflected goals. One trickled so slowly over the line i thought that lloris may be able to recover and save it.

Oh well maybe the new stadium will bring European Success!

[Scott08]

Originally posted by Agent Tiro:

Nice one Scott. Once again i make my first knockout round exit from the champions league. Despite having a 2-1 advantage, i lost the home game 3-2 bloody anderson got two deflected goals. One trickled so slowly over the line i thought that lloris may be able to recover and save it.

Oh well maybe the new stadium will bring European Success!

Unlucky again mate, you got a tough draw there. Next year iv got a feeling that your luck will change

I can't say enough good things about Benzema, when i think 'he can't get any better!' this happens..

He now boasts a record of 39 Goals in 28 Games, including 7 assists and a rating of 8.04.

I think i'll sell him.. i don't have much to do tactics/selection wise. Ensuring he's fit and happy is about all i need to do

[Lisandro Lopez]

Screenshot broke

[Scott08]

This Happens!

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by Scott08:

This Happens!

Nice! Good result

[tomtuck01]

My girlfriend has now gone back to America so Im back!!!

I have just gone on my Lyon game for the first time in over a week today and will be on a fair bit in the near future as I dont have to work again until Monday. As soon as I loaded up, Chelsea came in with an enquiry for Fred, (valued at £18million), so I negotiated a £35million fee for him hoping it would deter them, but to my absolute dismay they came back with the offer!! I guess Im looking for some guidance..................

Before you all automatically say "yes" to accepting the offer because he is either injury prone on your games, or lacks form, I'll give some background to him in my game;

After 4 seasons Fred has been an outstanding player for me, top scoring in all 4 seasons with tallies as follows;

Season 1 - 27 goals in 36 games

Season 2 - 26 goals in 41 games

Season 3 - 24 goals in 41 games

Season 4 - 28 goals in 43 games

He has also been named the "Fans Player of the Year" in 3 of my 4 seasons in charge, and last season won the Champions League Best Player Award.

Now make your judgments

[liam_everton89]

Lyon seem to be struggling after I left,

the assistant manager when I was there took over and has reverted them back to a flat 4-4-2 choosing a strike partnership of Benzema and Baros.

He's sold Bodmer to Man Utd for £30m and Samba to me for $18m.

Champions League theyre drawing most games and in Ligue 1 Orange theyre 5th, 7 points off Marseille,

I might try and poach Ben Arfa if they stay like that til January

[Scott08]

Originally posted by tomtuck01:

My girlfriend has now gone back to America so Im back!!!

I have just gone on my Lyon game for the first time in over a week today and will be on a fair bit in the near future as I dont have to work again until Monday. As soon as I loaded up, Chelsea came in with an enquiry for Fred, (valued at £18million), so I negotiated a £35million fee for him hoping it would deter them, but to my absolute dismay they came back with the offer!! I guess Im looking for some guidance..................

Before you all automatically say "yes" to accepting the offer because he is either injury prone on your games, or lacks form, I'll give some background to him in my game;

After 4 seasons Fred has been an outstanding player for me, top scoring in all 4 seasons with tallies as follows;

Season 1 - 27 goals in 36 games

Season 2 - 26 goals in 41 games

Season 3 - 24 goals in 41 games

Season 4 - 28 goals in 43 games

He has also been named the "Fans Player of the Year" in 3 of my 4 seasons in charge, and last season won the Champions League Best Player Award.

Now make your judgments

Welcome back mate.

As for Fred, he's done pretty well for you. However, given he's not getting any younger you could probably snap up a top youngster for that sort of money to partner Benzema, iirc you play two upfront?

I've found Gignac to be better than Fred on my game. He seems to score every time i play him.

[theincrediblehulk]

Right, I've finally given in to the hype and decided to have a go with Lyon. Lets see what its all about then! I still feel it would get too easy with their squad being a lot superior than any other French team but its worth a go none-the-less. Lets see what comes off it!!

I'll report back in a bit about my potential targets etc. Just having a look at all the players first really and also setting up the coaches etc.

One bit of help to start with - Can anyone tell me which youth/reserve players I should watch out for? Abenzoar is one I know of. Anyone else?? Thanx for now! Will be back in a bit!