FM12 Aston Villa - Surely not Mcleish?!

[Ginger]

First full season finished!

Might go for Shawcross in the summer?

Already agreed for next season are deals for John Fleck, Paul Bervoets (RB), Denis Praet (MC), Matias Ezquiel Schelotto (WB/AMR) and a 16 year old, Leonidas Vazaios (DC).

Looking to ship out a few big names - with any luck Ireland will leave!

edit - got to May 27th and board announce initial budget of £30m for transfers! This it too much!

Thought twice about Shawcross and got Toby Alderweireld from Ajax for 7.5m then purchased Gilfi Sigurdsson for 8.5m.

Only real positions I need now are a new keeper, for when Given declines and maybe a striker.

Players I will probably try to rehome will be Ireland, Delph, Agbonlahor, Collins and perhaps Dunne & N'Zogbia if anyone makes bids - although you dont get many offers do you?

[benmerrick]

Your tactic seems to be immense. Upload it for download.

I've never been one for making my own tactics at all.

Cheers I'll try and upload it later this afternoon

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Keep Delph you crazy person. Train him to be an AMC and watch the man work his magic.

[benmerrick]

Keep Delph you crazy person. Train him to be an AMC and watch the man work his magic.

Sound advice.

And as promised my tactic

http://www.4shared.com/file/SfmIs6Yp/Madmans_4-2-3-1_.html?

[benmerrick]

10th league game;

Prem: Liverpool - away Won 0-2 (Sam, Bent) M.O.M Sam - Another epic long range effort from Sam, Herd sent off near the end (first player to have a red card under me)

Prem: Southampton - home Won 3-0 (Bent, Bannan, Yttergård Jenssen) M.O.M Bannan - Rested a lot of first team regulars

Prem: Q.P.R - home Won 3-1 (Geromel, N'Zogbia, Bannan (Pen)) M.O.M Geromel

12 games in and am sitting in 1st 4 points ahead of 2nd, have had a fairly easy run so far

Champs League: home Won 3-1 (N'Zogbia (F.K), Babacar, Sam) M.O.M Sam - Went 1 nil down after a Digne own goal so brought on Babacar for Delph at half time and changed to a 4-2-2-2. Have qualified for the knock out round, should come top of the group with a point

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Sweet. I'll give it a go.

[benmerrick]

Prem: Bolton - away won 2-4 (Bent, Sam, Delph 2) M.O.M Delph 4-0 up at half time, disappointed to concede twice in 2nd half

League Cup Quarter final: Swindon - home won 3-1 (Cuellar 2, Weimann) M.O.M Cuellar Played reserves again, drawn Everton in the Semi's

Prem: Reading - home won 1-0 (Cuellar) M.O.M Herd

Champs League: Shakhatar - away drew 0-0 M.O.M was their keeper. Lost Delph to injury for 1 week and Pekalski for 3

[benmerrick]

Prem: Fulham - away won 0-4 (Bent 2, Herd, Cuellar) M.O.M Bent

Have drawn Inter in the Knockout stage of the champions league. Tricky week ahead starting with a trip to 10th placed man city who have just been taken over by jose 'the special one' Mourinho, then boxing day we host Arsenal, Sunderland at home a few days later then another home tie on new years day as Everton come to town.

Prem: Man City - away won 0-1 (Delph) M.O.M Adler M.O.M says it all, Man city would've scored 4/5 any other day. Have a team of very tired players, need to re-enforce in Jan!

Prem: Arsenal - home Won 2-0 (N'Zogbia, Geromel) M.O.M N'Zogbia

Prem: Sunderland - home drew 1-1 (Gordon O.G) We were wasteful in front of goal and were punished late on

Prem: Everton - home won 1-0 (Bent) M.O.M Adler again my goalkeeper saves the day

F.A Cup 3rd round: Stevenage - home won 1-0 (Babacar) M.O.M Lichaj

Searching the transfer market for a back up right back.

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Bandalovski

[benmerrick]

Bit of transfer activity;

James Rodríguez (Porto) - loan 50% of wages

Lassana Diarra (real) - loan 50% wages £5m future fee

Sold Brett Holman £3.5m. Hes not managed to get into the first team this season and I'd rather use albrighton as back up.

Had a look at bandalovski but he'd cost £7m and that's far too much for a back up player

[benmerrick]

Pekalski and N'Zogbia have both picked up small injuries so Diarra and Rodriguez are straight in the first team

Prem: Tottenham - home drew 1-1 (Delph)

Prem: Swansea - away drew 1-1 (Yttergård Jenssen)

Really struggling with fixture congestion, am hoping my loan stars will ease things.

League cup semi final first leg: Everton - away won 0-2 (Weimann, Babacar) M.O.M Babacar Played the reserves as i have in every league cup game so far

Just signed Serge Aurier from Toulouse for £2.6m as back up right back.

Prem: Wolves - home won 2-0 (Delph, Sam) M.O.M Edna Stevens Delphs 10th goal of the season, Bent got both assists and personally was my man of the match.

Looking at signing Albin Ekdal he looks like a great DLP but im unsure if i'd be able utilize him as a DM. I'm in negotiations with Kara but so are A.C Milan so for the 2nd time in my career i think i'm going to miss out on him

[benmerrick]

Signed Albin Ekdal for £4.6m, 24.5k a week

Prem: West Ham - away won 1-4 (Geromel, Bent, Sam 2) M.O.M Sam 9.3 scored 4 in the first half, half taken a 9 point lead at the top of the table

League cup semi final 2nd leg: Everton - away won 1-3 (1-5 on aggregate) (Boyata, Babacar, Bannan) M.O.M Bannan 9.1 3 of my players got injured in the first 15 minutes so all my subs gone and Lichaj got a straight red so i reckon he'll be missing for 3 games.

injures:

Pekalski 3 weeks

Herd 5-6 weeks

Rodriguez 1 week

Cuellar 6 months

Basically Cuellars Villa career over as ive decided not to renew his contract.

The only positive from the game (other than winning) is i played my normal formation but with Bannan in the AM position as a trequartista an he excelled. may need to make an emergancy loan signing before the end of the window.

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

I've just taken us into the red as Randy gave me 20m to spend and I didn't check my finances to see if we actually had the money. I'm 100k a week below my wage budget after splashing out 11m on Toby Alderweireld to compliment Clark, Cuellar and Collins at centre defence. Think he will go straight in the starting line-up. I've got 9m left to spend but the bank balance is now -£350k so I might hang fire and keep it to one side. I don't have to spend it.

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Meh, I just got Fernando for 1m as her was transfer listed. 20k a week wages.

Means I can sell Petrov and get some money back, plus a big wage off the books. PSG and Lille are interested. Probably fetch 3m for him if I'm lucky.

[benmerrick]

F.A. Cup 4th round: Coventry - away drew 3-3 (Babacar 3) M.O.M Babacar 9.4

Prem: Norwich - home Won 1-0 (Bent) M.O.M Lichaj 7.5

Prem: Chelsea - home Won 3-1 (Geromel, Bent 2) M.O.M N'Zogbia 8.8

F.A. Cup 4th round replay: Coventry - home won e4-1 (Weimann 3, Albrighton) M.O.M Weimann 9.6 played from the 80th minute till the end of extra time with 10 men due to injuries, scored 3 times then!

Champs league 1st knockout round: Inter Milan - away Won 1-2 (Bent 2) M.O.M Bent 8.8

F.A Cup 5th round: Morcombe - home won 5-2 (Boyata 2, Comrie O.G, Ekdal, Lichaj) M.O.M Boyata 9.4

League cup final: Wigan - N Won 1-0 (Geromel) M.O.M Geromel 8.5 Played a weak team, rested alot of first teamers and got the win.

Prem: Man Utd - home drew 2-2 (N'Zogbia, Bent)

Prem: Newcastle - away won 1-2 (N'Zogbia, Clark) M.O.M N'Zogbia 8.4 Scored a crucial last minute goal to keep me 11 points clear at the top

Champs league 2nd knockout round: Inter Milan - home won 2-1 (Bannan, Albrighton) M.O.M Digne 8.3

F.A Cup 6th round: Man City - away drew 2-2 (Geromel, Albrighton)

Prem: Liverpool - home won 2-0 (Geromel, Sam) M.O.M Geromel 8.3

Prem: Southampton - away won 0-3 (Boyata, Delph, Sam) M.O.M Lichaj 8.2

F.A Cup 6th round replay: Man City - home lost 0-2 Played a weak side as i'm really more concerned about the premier league now

Prem: Q.P.R - away drew 0-0 Luckily Man Utd lost leaving me 10 points clear and a game in hand

Champions League: PSG - away lost 1-0

Will really go for it in the home leg as ill get to play Real Madrid or Bayern in the semis.

[benmerrick]

Prem: Reading - away won 1-4 (Bent 2, Geromel, Delph) M.O.M Geromel 9.0

Champions League Quarter final 2nd leg: PSG - home drew 0-0 (lost 0-1 agg)

Prem: Bolton - home won 2-0 (Albrighton, Bent) M.O.M Bannan 8.2 Qualified for champions league

Prem: Tottenham - away drew 1-1 (bent)

Have won the title with five games left

Prem: Fulham - home drew 0-0

Prem: Stoke - away lost 2-1 (Babacar) First league defeat of the season

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Just trying out a new tactic and man, the lone poacher is scoring for fun (Rondon). 15 goals in his last 4 games, including a hat-trick against Utd and Arsenal. 5 goals against Leicester. 4 against Newcastle.

[benmerrick]

last few games of the season

Prem: Arsenal - away won 1-2 (Sam, Bent) M.O.M Adler 9.1

Prem: Man City - home won 2-0 (Delph, N'Zogbia) M.O.M Delph 8.6

Prem: Sunderland - away drew 1-1 (Babacar) M.O.M Delph 7.5

Premier League review;

Champions: Aston Villa

F.A. Cup: Man City

League Cup: Aston Villa

Champions League Teams for next season;

1st: Aston Villa - 93 points

2nd: Man Utd - 79

3rd: Tottenham - 78

4th: Chelsea - 74

Europa League:

5th: Man City - 69

6th: Liverpool - 68

7th: Sunderland - 65

Relegated:

18th: Reading - 31

19th: Fulham - 29

20th: Southampton -22

Promoted to the premier league:

1st: Blackburn - 91

2nd: West Brom - 81

3rd: Cardiff - 81 (play off)

Footballer of the year:

2nd: N'Zogbia

3rd: Delph

Golden glove:

Rene Adler 18 clean sheets

Manager of the year:

Ben Merrick - Aston Villa won 28 drawn 9 lost 1

4 players in team of the year:

Goal of the season:

2nd: Sidney Sam

End of Season player stats;

Assists:

1st: N'Zogbia 24

2nd: Bannan 15

3rd: Delph 13

4th: Bent 10

5th: Lichaj 7

Average rating:

1st: N'Zogbia 7.40

2nd: Lichaj 7.37

3rd: Delph 7.36

4th: Geromel 7.31

5th: Sam, Bannan, Clark 7.16

Goals:

1st: Bent - 20 (18 league, 2 cup)

2nd: Sam - 19 (16 league, 3 cup)

3rd: Geromel - 13 (9 league, 4 cup)

4th: Delph - 13 (11 league, 2 cup)

5th: Babacar - 13 (4 league, 9 cup)

Turned down my first job offer - Werder Bremen

Have just agreed a deal to sign Wilfried Bony from Vitesse Arnhem for £10m - 40k a week, have transfer listed Agbonlahor

Looking to do a deal for Simon Kjær for around £7-10m depends on his wage demands tho

Board have set initial budgets for next season:

Wages - £1.1m p/w

Transfer - £47.34m

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Nice season. I've nearly finished my 1st so I'll update you with the data soon. Got 3 games left. Liverpool in the FA Cup final and 2 league games.. Currently 2nd, 1 point behind Utd who are first. Drawing my last 2 league games have put me behind. Gotta hope they stumble and 1 win out.

[benmerrick]

Nice season. I've nearly finished my 1st so I'll update you with the data soon. Got 3 games left. Liverpool in the FA Cup final and 2 league games.. Currently 2nd, 1 point behind Utd who are first. Drawing my last 2 league games have put me behind. Gotta hope they stumble and 1 win out.

Cheers and good luck with the end of yours

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Treble baby! League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League (on last day of the season). Utd drew 1 of their games, I won both. Ooo-rah. Epic.

[benmerrick]

Transfers so far (2013/14)

Outs:

Agbonlahor - £6.25m Q.P.R Fans very unhappy as he's listed as an icon but he never performs for me and ive saved 55k a week

Delfouneso - £1m Swansea wanted rid since i took over

Henshall - 375k Norwich wasn't developing as i'd hoped

Several youth prospects out on loan

In's:

Bony Wilfried - £10m Vitesse - 40k a week Bought in as direct competition/long term replacement for Bent, scored 31 in 25 games last season

Bob Cuff - £1.3m (comp) Middlesbrough - youth contract Young regen CB 4 1/2 stars

Kyle Bartley - £2.8m Arsenal - 14k a week Back up to Geromel, Clark and Boyata

Lenny Nangis - £7m Stade Caen - 7.75k a week Cover for N'Zogbia

Painfully aware that 2 of my main strikers (Wilfried, Babacar) May miss most of Jan/Feb due to African Cup of nations. May send out Harry Kane and Josmar Zambrano on short term loans so they're match fit and ready to go come Jan.

Also Babacar is already amoung the clubs favourite people!

Still have £53m in the bank, don't think I need anyone else tho....

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Build that money up, you never know when you will need it! Have a season maxing out the attendance at VP and get an extension build. More money

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Dammit. Now the excellent news that McLeish has been sacked is 100% confirmed I've started a new game. Not only to see 'McLeish sacked' again, but to keep together the core of players that we have at the moment and rebuild properly. I've only sold Guzan (leaving now?), Heskey (leaving now), Cuellar (leaving now) and Petrov (since I don't think he'll be playing next year). Allowed me to get in Tshabalala, Carlos Hierro and Yaya Sanogo.

I also went into the editor prior to starting and edited Herds CA to 125 (PA 142) and Weimanns CA to 122 (PA 150) so they can have more prominent roles in the first team, and also cancelled Makouns loan so he is at the club from the get go.

Everyone else is getting a chance to show what they can do for a season. Don't perform and you're gone.

[sparey]

Im currently entering the third season (with 9th and 6th place finishes) looking for a lone striker as Bent is as good on the game as in real in my opinion. Got Danny Graham but he doesnt play well alone. Any ideas?

[JD nawrat]

[JD nawrat]

great first season for me. hopefully I'll continue to build on this success.

[CMOZZA]

Im currently entering the third season (with 9th and 6th place finishes) looking for a lone striker as Bent is as good on the game as in real in my opinion. Got Danny Graham but he doesnt play well alone. Any ideas?

See what Fabio Aveni is like on your game mate, He'll only be 18/19 at that stage but normally develops into a good striker. I have him in my pompey save and he scored 23 goals in his first PL season

My current Villa save is going ok, 8th place first season with my only addition being Taarabt in January, but sold Heskey at the start of the season and Warnock in January.

Bent finished with 43 league goals & 53 overall.

The summer has brought a mass clear out and some new faces (With the main priority reducing the wage bill to between £600k - £650k p/w):

Ins

Sebastien Bassong - £2.3m

Kyle Walker - £5m

Pape Diakhate - £3.7m

Simon Mignolet - £1.3m

Matias Ezequiel Schelotto, McDonald Mariga, Martin Montoya, Paolo Dametto, Oliver Norwood, Ritchie De Laet - All Frees

Fabio Aveni - Loan Fee £250k (Option to buy for £3m)

Total Spend - £12.5m

Outs

Nathan Baker - £2.6m

Richard Dunne - £1.3m

James Collins - £2.6m

Alan Hutton - Loan Fee £1.1m (Option to buy of £3.4m)

Eric Lichaj - £2m

Stiliyan Petrov - £2m

Carlos Cuellar, Brad Guzan, Andy Marshall + 8 others - All Frees

Samir Carruthers & Callum Robinson - Loans

Total Income - £11.5m

That brings the wage bill down to £651k p/w and I'm hoping to sell N'Zogbia as well as he doesn't really fit into my plans and is taking up £48k p/w. I've had a pretty awesome regen CB come through as well: Thomas Walker

Currently playing a 4-3-3 with my first XI most likely being:

Given

K.Walker Clark Bassong Stevens

Mariga

Makoun Ireland

Agbonlahor Bent Delfouneso/Weimann

[benmerrick]

Season 3 under-way;

Picked up some injuries in pre-season

Sidney Sam - 7 weeks

Khouma Babacar - 3 weeks

Barry Bannan - 8 weeks

Sent Weimann out on loan to get some game time, will need him in Jan when Babacar and Wilfried go to the african cup of nations

Community Shield: Man City - 0-0 won 6-5 on penalties

Prem: Norwich - away won 1-7 (Delph, Wilfried 3, Albrighton, Nangis, Boyata) M.O.M Wilfried

Prem: Newcastle - home won 2-0 (Wilfried, Albrighton) M.O.M Clark

[benmerrick]

League cup 3rd round gives me a home time against blackburn

Champions league Group Stage - seeded 2nd

Olympique Lyonnais

Aston Villa

Dynamo Kyiv

GNK Dinamo

Prem: Swansea - home won 4-0 (Albrighton, Delph, Wilfried, Bent) M.O.M Albrighton

Prem: Man city - away drew 1-1 (Wilfried) M.O.M Akdal

[CMOZZA]

Pre-season went pretty well and we won all 3 of our games on our French tour against mediocre opposition. Then we hosted Juventus (4-0 Win), PSG (4-1 Win) & Milan (1-2 Loss) and I was happy enough with the performances of all the players.

First League game was at home to Stoke and we picked up 3 points thanks to another Bent goal & a brace from Taarabt. 3-0 was quite satisfying. Only downside is Stevens has picked up a knock (Out for 2 weeks) and his replacement De Laet was only on the pitch for 11 minutes before tearing his hamstring, so he's out for 3 months. So it looks like a stint at Left Back for Clark until Stevens is back.

[JD nawrat]

my team at the start of the second season looks like this:

Shay Given / Ben Amos

Kyle Naughton / Alan Hutton

Toby Alderweireld / Steven Caulker

Mapou Yanga Mbiwa / Ciaran Clark

Taye Taiwo / Stephen Warnock

Steven N'Zonzi / Fabrice Muamba

Kwadwo Asamoah / Abdul Razak

Ruben Yttergard Jenssen / Barry Bannan

Junior Hoilett / Jires Kembo-Ekoko / Gabby Agbonlahor

Charles N'Zogbia / Adam Johnson / Gabby Agbonlahor

Darren Bent / Olivier Giroud / Carlos Fierro

team is looking great. I want to get into the top four again if possible, perhaps even try and best my finish of 3rd. two decent cup runs would be great. Got a nightmare of a Champions League group:

Aston Villa

Borussia Dortmund

Milan

Real Madrid

I'll aim for third and maybe steal second if I can nick a few points in Italy and Germany. Not too optimistic for my European campaign, unfortunately.

[georged123]

Just starting a new game with Villa. Anyone have any tips on what players to bring in and which ones to ship out?

[Welshace]

... read the thread.... 1000's of tips..

[jimmyt86]

thinking of having a bit of fun with Villa and making some changes in the editor. Since Red Bull have made a foray into Europe with RB Salzburg in Austria I was thinking they could take over at Villa....I would arrange for the older, wage munching players to have their contracts ending 5-10 days into the season and look to sign young players....which players should I be looking to get rid of (was thinking heskey, collins, hutton, warnock) and which players should I be looking to bring in (RY Jenssen, kara, hinterigger, vrsajlko, bandalovski)??

[CMOZZA]

Just starting a new game with Villa. Anyone have any tips on what players to bring in and which ones to ship out?

... read the thread.... 1000's of tips..

I'd suggest reading the thread too, we could give you a list of players to get shot of but some people will have kept certain players and had different levels of success. My personal preference has been to shift out all of the players over 30 (Excluding Given) by the start of season 2 and get the average age of the squad down to the 24 y/o mark whilst bringing the wage bill down to between 600-700k p/w which makes the club profitable over a season regardless of finishing position provided you don't do the unthinkable and get relegated.

[clarinet]

1st season ended:

Bent crazy scorer...

Only win league cup

So already spend 105M € to next season

Cheers

P.S. refuse to replace Sir Slex Fergunson

[Welshace]

hey clarinet... could you share some more info with us?

transfers? tactics etc? seems you got bent doing the business there

[clarinet]

Ok, i will do:

Transfers 2011:

Tactic: i have play with a 4-2-3-1 with 2 MC's and change this season to a 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMC+s, so i need to invest in january in 2 goods DMC's ( will post them later, one cost me over the price of Hazard )

Team 2012*2013:

But in January, due to change of tactic, i change the team a litle....will post later...

Cheers

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

I've made a few changes in editor (KEA in, Guzan contract extended, Petrov set to retire at end of first season, released the players who have left etc...) and started a new save.

I rarely get further than 3 seasons in before starting again >_<

[Neil Train]

I've made a few changes in editor (KEA in, Guzan contract extended, Petrov set to retire at end of first season, released the players who have left etc...) and started a new save.

I rarely get further than 3 seasons in before starting again >_<

I'm currently.playing fmh and no KEH but I'm doing a Lambert.and bringing in young hungry players. Alex Pearce from reading is.my new. Destroyer and also fairs haroun the Belgian (lots.of decent young Belgians) as a creative goalscorer.

Hope its not true that were not interested in brahimi;(

[JohnCarewsJockstrap]

Same. I'm looking for team work and work rate at 14 (if young) and above. Older players need 16+. No wages over 40k per week. I'm not looking for mercs, I want people who want to play for Villa. It's providing me a whole new level of FMing. Signing some players I don't think I would have in previous saves. Hard workers are my kind of players.

[Neil Train]

yup. i'm still considering using makoun and herd, not sure their attributes in the full version but the joy of fmh is that you can get +2-3 in teamwork (includes workrate) just in pre-season.

shame about the small db we get, because my phone has a quad-core 1.5ghz processor and could handle larger but lots of people dont have that luxury. still, makes me scour the lower leagues in england and found a fair few gems.

wages-wise i'm simply looking at players earning up to 10k currently.

[Neil Train]

If anyone's still persisting with gabby as a front man what's his most effective role and why?

Heard rumours he's staying IRL so decided to keep him in my save despite managing to buy 3 players previously from the proceeds of his sale.....

[jimmyt86]

Anyone else seen in their game that the AI manager of Villa tends to make some bizarre signings...will post the transfer screen for Villa when I can. I am managing Sheff Wed and was able to take advantage of Villa in my first season to take Lichaj, Gardner and Weimann on loan which helped me win League 1 title and then Villa decided to ask for money to take them on loan again which was a shame.

11/12 season - http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/jimmyt86/Football%20Manager/?action=view&current=Villa11-12.jpg

12/13 - http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/jimmyt86/Football%20Manager/?action=view&current=Villa12-13.jpg

[Neil Train]

amending my post.

ok, this is fmh but i´ve so far brought in alex pearce (reading) and miles addison (derby) as defenders/destroyers. pearce finding it hard to adapt to new role:(

wld´ve brought in addison in the full version anyway.

so i´m wondering how to play?

4231 defensive seemed to work, went 3-0 up against norwich 1st match of the season, then brought on 3 subs, changed some player roles and drew 3-3:(

also developed a 2-1-5-1-1 with workaholic wingers who´ll track back, and is easy to play offside.

HOW would you play a team with guzan (or aiyenugba), clark, dunne, albie, addison, pearce, JMII, delph, ireland, bent? how many players is that? hmmm, err, 10. hmmm, who´s missing? could add another midfielder in my 2-1-5-1-1. or try something else. assuming playing 1 upfront what are my options with this group? could also play four at the back and lose a midfielder,

all thoughts welcome.........

.....and UTV!!

[matthewpeterstock]

Just started a villa save and can't wait to get going. I've seen what everyone has said and 4-2-3-1 is my choice. Can't wait to see how this 2-1-5-1-1 plays out. Not seen a tactic like that since I let my girlfriend take over for a match lol keep us updated with that one.