FM 12: Atletico Madrid thread: who needs Aguero when you have Falcao?

[Ranquelme]

Fantastic season! Did better than me in my first. Impressed with the Europa success, I could never really handle that conpetition and keep up with the league!

For replacements for tiago, try ruben ytterad, he goes for cheap and right now is valued £25m on my save. Luis Perea should be capable for another season. Adrian is such a talent.

I still don't have backup for Arda Turan at left wing, I usually move Moises into the middle when Arda is rested.

[joe__the__man]

Muniain was an option, but he recently signed a new contract with a really high release fee, so I doubt Athletic Club will let him go.

Marseille have just come in with a £5.5m offer for Filipe. I'm tempted to take it as I think I could get Didac Vila or Jose Angel for a similar amount, both young Spaniards that are superior imo. I've already released Perea to get his wages off the books, and I think I've found a much cheaper, young Spaniard of similar ability.

Also, you got 10 more points than me in the league! Your season was clearly better.

[Ranquelme]

How is Atletico B doing in the leagues? I send them all the best youngsters and they got promoted from the regional Spanish leagues to the Adelante division and finished 6th twice, but of course can't get promoted. I want them to stay in that league so my youngster play at a good level.

This how my league finished:

Champions League

I pretty much see this as a one off season. I won at Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Malaga, Villarreal and drew at Betis and Atletico. Those are all my toughest ties, the only tough tie i lost was against Valencia in the last minute. I doubt I can do this again.

I wrote off the Champions League, but still won it.. I played a second string in the second leg against Chelsea and won 3-0. Moises's first start, won man of the match and scored twice. I played a stronger side to win 3-0 at home against Arsenal. Again, I think I lucked out by Real Madrid knocked out in the groups and Barcelona knocked out against Porto. Tottenham also had Modric, Bale, Kaboul, Daniel Sturridge all out of the final.. AC Milan dominated me over two legs also but I went through

[ReggaeBwoy]

Season 2011/12 - sponsored by Adrian going goal crazy

First I'll start off by saying what I won - Copa del Rey and the Europa League, and got 3rd place in the league.

Copa del Rey

This competition was fairly comfortable from start to finish, with Malaga the only decent team I faced before the final, and even then it was a comfortable win due to an early sending off for them in the first leg. Real Sociedad had been good for much of the season, they beat Barcelona and Athletic Club on their way to the final, but they were really dropping off by the time I faced them in May and it ended out in a really comfortable 3-0 win where they never really threatened me.

Incidentally, Adrian was absolutely on fire in the cup, he scored in all but one game as the games happened to fall either when Falcao was out injured or when he was in great form and being picked ahead of Falcao anyway. He finished with 13 goals in this competition.

I may have done it the easy way but it was my first trophy and I was happy.

Europa League

As you can see, not exactly the most convincing of European runs, but I made it! Nearly messed up against Aalesund for a start, that would've been embarassing, but then a comfortable win over Maccabi and I was into the proper competition.

The group stages were really comfortable, generally rested a few players each game, and the loss was when the group was already won. The games against Elfsborg were in the same vein. Copenhagen was a much tougher tie than it should have been, we dominated the first leg in chances but couldn't put them away, whilst they did really well in the second leg, winning 1-0 in normal time then going ahead in extra time. I though I was certainly going out but Falcao popped up in the 119th minute to send me through on away goals.

The game against Arsenal followed the same course, dominating at home and only scoring one goal, then playing poorly away and scraping through. This time it wasn't taken to extra time though, and we won only away goals by the end of normal time. The semi against Ajax was a bit more comfortable, despite going behind early in the first, home leg. For a change we were the better side in the away leg as well though, and a late two goals for them made it look closer than it really was.

The final against Hannover was one of the most exciting and infuriating games I've played on FM. I probably gave the wrong teamtalk in expecting a win, and several players looked nervous throughout the game. Little happened throughout the first half and neither side could create properly or take control, but there was several bookings (13 in the whole game). The first incident of note was a penalty being given for a foul on Nene, but Gabi stepped up (nervously) and missed both the penalty and the open goal follow up. With no chances being created it was inevitable that the breakthrough would come from a set piece, and it was Miranda that headed in the opener on 87 minutes. It didn't last long though, Mo Abdellaoue scored from a corner up at the other end and the game was taken to extra time...again. Right at the start of extra time Miranda took a heavy knock and had to come off, though I'd already used my three substitutes and had to finish the game with 10 men. This gave me a problem, and I finished the game with a 3-4-1-1 formation with two full backs playing at centre back and Diego playing deep in midfield. Hannover dominated extra time but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net, and Pizzi and Adrian hit them on the break with the latter bagging the winner in the 119th minute (sound familar?). Congratulations if you read all that.

I may have done it the hard way it was my second trophy and I was happy.

La Liga

Really happy with how the season went overall, some big results and pretty good consistency against the lower sides. Particularly pleased with the amount of times we came back from a goal behind with many of the goals coming after the 80 minute mark particularly. The best result of the season was undoubtedly my 4-0 win at home to Real Madrid, at a point when it was looking like I could still catch them. Adrian scored a hat trick in that game, which cemented his place in my 1st XI. Another great result was another 4-0 win, over Sevilla this time, but one of the most important results was a comfortable 2-0 win over Athletic Club, allowing me to overtake them at a point when they were playing really well.

Incidentally, as you might have guessed from the Europa League results, my home form was far superior to my away form. Really struggled away from home, picking up only 32 points compared with 50 at home.

Player Stats

Most Games

1. Adrian Lopez - 61

2. Arda Turan - 51

3. Tiago Mendes - 50

4. Diego Godin - 49

5. Alvaro Dominguez - 48

Most Goals

1. Adrian Lopez - 44

2. Radamel Falcao - 36

3. Arda Turan - 12

4. Eduardo Salvio - 11

5. Juanfran - 7

Most Assists

1. Arda Turan - 24

2. Juanfran - 12

3. Adrian Lopez - 12

4. Diego - 11

5. Pizzi - 10

My Team of the Season

Asenjo

Silvio Miranda Dominguez Lopez

Tiago Gabi

Salvio - - Arda - - Nene

Adrian

My Player of the Season

1. Arda Turan

2. Adrian Lopez

3. Joao Miranda

4. Tiago Mendes

5. Radamel Falcao

Future Plans

Diego, Nene, Pizzi and Thibault Courtois will not be kept on after their loan spells. Luis Perea will also be released on a free, and Tiago will likely be sold to make way for a better player, despite his very good and consistent performances over the season. Paulo Assuncao will also probably be sold to give more gametime to Koke.

The better player that will replace him is Borja Valero. He's a few years younger, a bit better overall and Spanish - I would ideally like an all-Spanish squad. Also Joel Robles will come into the squad to replace Courtois as backup goalkeeper. I've not decided how to replace the other players yet, but I want a versatile defender player that can play right back, a versatile attack minded midfielder (I may use Ruben Micael) and a left-sided, left-footed winger - I've got a few players in mind but they're generally either too expensive or not really good enough to replace Nene or displace Juanfran.

Brilliant update Joe congrats on finishing the season and winning the Europa League and Copa Del Rey, Adrian really impressed. Did he get he a call up to the Spanish national team btw? What is your starting budget like for the second season and are you planning on keeping Ruben Perez in your team after his loan spell at Getafe finishes. Noticed he is out of contract.

[joe__the__man]

Cheers, great season yourself! Who were your standout players?

No callup for Adrian, they took Torres instead. Alvaro Dominguez (my new captain) was the only player to get called up.

This is pretty crazy but after you mentioned him was the first time I've even looked at Ruben Perez's profile haha. He looks pretty handy as well, shame about the high wages, and I don't really have a place in the squad for him - already have Borja Valero, Gabi, Koke, Suarez and Merida natural in central midfield - although he's clearly better than the last three...but higher wages...I don't know, but I'm going to bed so I guess I'll decide tomorrow. Still don't know how I'd missed him completely.

Incidentally I've now signed Marc Bartra as a replacement for Luis Perea and I'm chasing Pablo Sarabia for the left wing, should be able to get him for around £12m-ish.

[Ranquelme]

I missed perez completely also, I only just kept him on, is a solid player that will crack a few 30 yarders.

do you have problems keeping Adrian match fit? It seems for me his condition takes a big hit if he misses two games in a row..

[joe__the__man]

I haven't had that issue, but then again he did appear in 61 games last season haha.

I made up my mind regarding the central midfielders, I'm going to be greedy and keep all of them. Borja Valero, Gabi, Ruben Perez, Mario Suarez, Koke and Fran Merida (though I may drop Merida to the 'B' team if I can bring in another decent cover for Arda).

[ReggaeBwoy]

Ruben Perez looks a very decent player tbh. If you mifdield is overcrowded and doesnt feature in your plans would benefit to give him a contract and sell him rather than lose him on a free. Borja Valero just put in an outstanding performance for me, bossed the midfield in my first Europa League. Joe yoou were right about Falcao, was poor throughout the match, pops up a minute before the end and finishes with aplomb.

[joe__the__man]

Give him a contract...his existing contract already runs until 2016. Sure you're not confusing his Atletico contract with his year loan? Anyway as things stand I'm struggling to find an attacking backup player, so I'll probably be resorting to a 4-3-3 more this season with the extra midfielder I've got.

Hopefully you get a Falcao more like mine than Ranquelme's.

[ReggaeBwoy]

In your situation, what happened is that the B team manager automatically gave him a contract and it wasnt notified to you. That is quite annoying, you can't change his squad for the first season, and as the B team manager is ticked to give contracts to players, he prob did same with Ruben Perez in your game, which is not always favourable because he might have offered him a contract on wages you would not of been happy with. In my case I saw it say he was considering a contract offer from my club which thr B team manager must have done, so I intervened and cancelled this and 1 month down the line I have persuaded him to sign a 5 year contract with me

[joe__the__man]

Ahh okay thanks, will look out for that in the future. In fact, I've just changed it in team policy.

[agentvinz]

Yeah finally an Atletico thread! They are always one of my favorite team in FM because they have a competent squad and budget to challenge Barca and Madrid!

Btw I almost finish my season and doing very well. I started it when Reyes is still in team and Diego Costa hasn't go to loan. Win Spanish cup with beating Madrid 4-0 in the semifinal ( so sweet!), reaching Euro Cup final, and currently 2nd in league with 2 points behind Barca with 4 game left.

I play 4-2-3-1 but my style and player choice is quite different. I drop Tiago because he likes to shoot ALOT which is f*ckin annoying, and terminate Diego's loan because he has poor composure, off the ball, teamwork , work rate and eat lots of wage. I signed Adam Vass, Douglas Costa and Christian Eriksen, both are versatile since I like to rotate players and I feel Atletico lacks depth in attacking midfielder and wingers. Adam Vass is there to rotate with Assuncao

Here is my XI:

GK: Asenjo

LB: Filipe/Lopez

CB: Miranda

CB: Godin/Dominguez

RB: Silvio/Perea

CM: Vass/Assuncao

CM: Gabi/Koke/Tiago

AMR: Reyes/Douglas Costa/Salvio

AMC:Eriksen/Turan/Reyes/Douglas Costa

AML:Diego Costa/Turan/Juanfran

ST: Falcao/Adrian

As you see my squad has really nice depth which I'm pleased of. Despite this quite some of my players (mostly wingers and amc) is strucked by injuries but fortunately we have enough backups. The defence is decent, the fullbacks is the weakest area as we are torn apart by Madrid and Barca's wingers . Definitely need improving in 2nd season.

In mid Assuncao and Vass both are decent holding mid, sometimes the other one play good and bad so I rotate them a lot. Gabi and Koke mostly play in the classic cm, Gabi's vision is decent but all he need is to keep it simple. Koke has talent but I don't play him in big game because he can easily give away ball when under pressure.

Our attack however, is scary because of the quality and depth. Diego Costa is my main left wing (retrained), and he has 15+ goals and assists. Juanfran is very underrated but plays very well, scoring 10+ including a 4 goals in a match on the left. Turan, Douglas costa, and Reyes all play well and rotating on the right, and centre, scoring 10+ and assisting 15+. Eriksen is out for 3 months between November and February, making 5 goals and 8 assists but he's still young. Salvio exclusively play on the right as classic winger with 10+ goals and assists so far but his form is dropping now.

Upfront Falcao is leading my team with 40 goals so far.He is inconsistent at first but after learning place shot he is even better!

[Bane]

Can someone that is further in the game for example 2014, 2015, 2016 tell on which venue he is playing his home games. One time, when I was wandering through the editor, I remember seeing something about a scheduled move to a new venue. Is that true or I've miss read something?

[ReggaeBwoy]

@Joe I tend to let my B team manager still take control over the players, just look out for the players who I might ideally look to have in my team for the future, the rest I would be unconcerned off tbh. @agentvinz I am surprised you terminated Diego's loan, are you not playing with the new update btw? Although is wages are quite high, he is an excellent player.

[joe__the__man]

His wages are high and he constantly underperformed for me, not a bad decision to cancel the loan. Playing Eriksen or Diego Costa ahead of Arda is controversial though, he's far better than them. I'm also not a fan of Douglas Costa after using him for Chelsea, very frustrating player for me.

[joe__the__man]

Courtois has just gone off on one at Chelsea, complaining about lack of first team football and handed in a transfer request. It's only 30th July 2012 and he's started three friendlies out of three. :confused:

Anyway I'm better off out of it, seems like a bit of a mental case.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Have you considered getting Courtois back on loan? Must be frustrating for him with Cech there

[joe__the__man]

Don't want him tbh, he's not as good as Asenjo and I think Joel makes a better backup.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Disepending on whether Courtois doesnt want to go back to me and I continue to be impressed with Joel, I may decide to have him as my no.1 ahead of Asenjo, more commanding in the air which is very important as a goalie IMO and shares the same birthday as me

[Ranquelme]

Can someone that is further in the game for example 2014, 2015, 2016 tell on which venue he is playing his home games. One time, when I was wandering through the editor, I remember seeing something about a scheduled move to a new venue. Is that true or I've miss read something?

They move into a new ground I think in 2015. 70,000. They're already expanding it after a year playing in that stadium!

Quick update, I sold Adrian for £7m to Roma and filipe to Bordeoux for £13m

I bought a regen that can play left wing back and as a winger, he will play both positions for me this season.

[Bane]

Thanks for the info. Sounds great, let's hope I reach 2015 soon

EDIT:

This is something I've never dreamed of achieving! I guess this will complete my title run making me 7 points on the top! I've got the opportunity to win a treble this season. Drawed Valencia for the Copa del Rey final, having two games with Lille for Europa League semi final and it seems that will be an easy game since they are heavily underachieving - 7th in Ligue 1. It will either be a great season for us or it will be much of a failure. Will see at the end!

[jonahno6]

Only just seen that Falcao got a lovely boost in the latest patch.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Thanks for the info. Sounds great, let's hope I reach 2015 soon

EDIT:

This is something I've never dreamed of achieving! I guess this will complete my title run making me 7 points on the top! I've got the opportunity to win a treble this season. Drawed Valencia for the Copa del Rey final, having two games with Lille for Europa League semi final and it seems that will be an easy game since they are heavily underachieving - 7th in Ligue 1. It will either be a great season for us or it will be much of a failure. Will see at the end!

Brilliant result, how are you playing Falcao?

[Bane]

Falcao is playing as a Poacher and scores A LOT, at the end of the season he had 70 goals scored (33 in La Liga but Villa scored 35 ). The other thing I did with him is to put him on - Near Post Flick On and Corner Aim to Near Post. His 20 heading is doing great and he is banging goals for fun!

[ReggaeBwoy]

That is a ridiculous amount woow, thanks fot the tip, going to try that corner option. Btw do people play through the middle or down the wings, or both?

[jonahno6]

How do you lads get Diego to perform? He rarely, if ever puts in a good performance for me.

[Bane]

That is a ridiculous amount woow, thanks fot the tip, going to try that corner option. Btw do people play through the middle or down the wings, or both?

Best if you keep it to mixed. Sad thing about Falcao is that this year he won't repeat that because he got a big injury at the begining, real bad news.

About Diego - there is absolutely no way to make him do something special. He is more of a mediocre player despite his good technical attributes.

[joe__the__man]

Ahh. That's annoying, my save file has been corrupted (my fault, laptop ran out of battery whilst saving) so I've been set back almost four months to just before my last league game. Won't affect anything in that regard, but it does mean a lot of wasted time.

I'll try and do everything the same as last time as it was going pretty well, won the Spanish super cup against Barca and the Euro super cup against Real, plus won my first two league games.

[Bane]

My board is throwing money at me.. before the January transfer window they gave me 26 mil. which helped me to bring Cesar Azpilicueta and Inigo Martinez and after that they gave me another 33 mil. which I don't know what to do with Will try to bring Javi Martinez as I need a new Ball Winning Midfielder because I'm not satisfied with how Mario Suarez is playing. The downside is that he will cost me tons of money. Good news is that Falcao is back on track and I managed to sell Arda Turan. Anyone of you guys having trouble with keeping fitness level of the players? I'm having lot of players injured and many others needing a rest after every game, I tried reducing the training workload but that didn't help much, any tips?

[Ranquelme]

Only had fitness problems with Adrien and Falcao really. You sold Arda? 6 seasons in and he's a key player for me!

6th season, played 12 in the league, won 12. Barcelona and Real Madrid are midtable...

[Ranquelme]

Forgot to. Add, the board upgraded the new stadium to 86000! I got £4.8m from a single champions league group game against Lyon! Money is coming in easy.

[Bane]

Only had fitness problems with Adrien and Falcao really. You sold Arda? 6 seasons in and he's a key player for me!

6th season, played 12 in the league, won 12. Barcelona and Real Madrid are midtable...

Ye, I'm not fan of Arda and I wanted to sell him from the start of season 1. Got 14 mil from Tottenham for him and that's superb!

[joe__the__man]

I wouldn't sell him for a penny less than £30m, and that's only if I had a replacement lined up and he wanted to leave. Initially the best player in the team by a fair distance.

[Bane]

I got Moura and Muniain and Lodeiro somewhere in the team but I cannot register him yet because of too many foreign players. Losing Turan wasn't much of a problem.. Things in the second season are looking good I'm having equal points with Barcelona but as you can guess worse goal difference. It is crazy how they manage to score 100+ goals every season...

[joe__the__man]

...especially because they shunt Messi out on the wing. At least on my game.

[Bane]

in my game Villa is the unstoppable one! He scores from everywhere that is crazy

[Ranquelme]

I'm having a crazy season. Barcelona are midtable, RealMadrid are miles behind me, I've lost once drawn two in 20 or so games.. And I'm still in 2nd place. Valencia the only team to beat me just keep winning! Theyre unbeaten in all competitions, including thrashing Man City 5-1!

Transfer wise I'm just raiding porto for talent. Took three potential world class youngsters of their hands for a combined fee of £2m

Trying to get another player from Porto, but he will cost about £12m, he's 18 and could walk into my midfield right now.

[ReggaeBwoy]

I am surprised people are struggling to use Diego effectively. He has been brilliant for me in the pre-season and just scored a brilliant 30 yarder against Den Haag in the Europa League, have people tried setting him to advanced playmaker, long shots mixed-often, wide play cut inside in a 4-2-3-1 formation? BTW, what have people's transfer budget been for the second season. IRL they seem to buy players for big money every season, despite the huge debt.

[Bane]

Mine was £26M

[Ranquelme]

Mine was around the same. I never spent it. I always sell before I buy and mine right now is £89m with £110m in the bank.

I just won the league for the second time. Valencia pushed me all the way. I lost in the last 16 of the Champions league to Man City on penalties. I still haven't won a shootout on fm12! Eduardo Salvio with the crucial miss.

I need a new goalkeeper. I like Asenjo and my back up goalkeeper is better..but he's 5'6 and his aerial ability is 8! Even though he performs well, he does let freekicks far more than I like. I probably should have kept Joel.

Transfer plans:

Jeremy Menez is 30 now and is worth £26m - I will sell him and I have a 5 star rated attacking mid coming on a free from Bilbao in the summer. He looks class.

Miranda will go for about £6m

Alvaro Perriera for about £8m.

Quick fun fact, Jose Mourinho is managing tycoon owned Getafe.

[ReggaeBwoy]

£26m I will take that, hopefully try turn Diego loan into permanent one and maybe add M'villa to the team to play alongside Valero, if no one has purchased him by then. With Filipe, I don't see the need to buy Pereira and despite Perea getting older always puts a good shift in. Mourinho left to Getafe?

[Ranquelme]

I play a 3 CB's - two wing backs - two midfielders (one ball winner and one advanced playmaker) two wingers and a striker and set to counter attack; So Perea who was solid despite his age had to go as he couldn't play as a wingback and I have better options at the back.

I have Pereira as a left wing back with Filipe interchanging last season. I sold Filipe as he had too many niggling injuries, I have two wonderkid left wingbacks for next season. So Pereira will be off - he's 31 and worth £12m! One of the wonderkids can play as a left winger too!

Mourinho has had a strange career, sacked after 12 games in the first season, went to Chelsea, sacked after a season, went to Man City, sacked after a season, went to Inter, sacked after two seasons. Joined Getafe who were sitting 15. He kept them safe, they have apparently £95m to spend so that should be interesting. Levante and Almeria are tycoon owned also. Almeria took my fringe players and went down (Merida, Raul Garcia, Matias Suarez, Jason Bil). Levante just spent £30m on defenders and finished midtable (one being Ivanovic) Real Betis do surprisingly well despite barely spending much.

I just want another challenger.. Real Madrid and Barcelona have turned into a mess. Barcelona finished 6th, Real finished 3rd but miles behind me. Valencia are good, very good but over the course of a season I can beat them.

Good luck with M'Villa! Man City bought him for £45m and on £140k p/w wages. My bid of £12m didn't quite match up

Oh yeah, my stadium is now bigger than Real Madrids they're upgrading it to 90000 now..I think it will become the biggest in Spain soon.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Where has all the tactical advise gone? From the assistant and scouts for eg I never get my assistant manager or scout giving me a report on the oppsition about the dangerman, who to watch out for and when I get on the match screen the assistant advice is useless. In previous times, my assistant would say show this player onto his weaker foot, tackle hard on this player. Burgos, the Atletico assistant others useless advice. Do other people share the same experiences as me or is this due to the knowledge of the assistant manager?

[joe__the__man]

Yeah the ass man is crap. Keep meaning to clear out the staff and replace them, but meh.

[ReggaeBwoy]

I literally get any advice on how to deal with the opposition so I have no clue on how to set otu against certain teams and know their strong and weak points. Lost 3-0 at home to Racing, going to start a new save or maybe on with Ajax or Bayern

[Ranquelme]

I got Oleg Luzhnyi as my assistant. He's better than Burgos. By quite a bit actually.

[ReggaeBwoy]

If I start a new Atletico save that is my first priority. What kind of advice does he give that is better than Burgos, Ranquelme?

[Ranquelme]

tbh I think Assistant managers are pretty useless most of the time, but I only use him for team talks. He always seems to motivate the players and never really lets me down in that respect.

When it comes to opposition advice, I honestly haven't bothered checking it. Usually because I just do Hard tackling, Close down, show on weaker foot to everyone from midfield to attack. If they have attacking fullbacks I do the same for them also..hasn't failed in any of of the FM's since FM08. I also find tight marking pacey players to never work, they always run away from my defenders easier. I don't really trust ass man's for things like that, only team talks and some press conferences.

[joe__the__man]

Don't use them for much, but they occasionally point out something useful that you can double check in the stats and do something about.

[Ranquelme]

Just been firmly put back in my place. After 3 seasons of success, Real Madrid took back their place as the best club in Madrid. They knocked me out of the Copa Del Rey semi finals, the champions league semi finals on away goals and won the title on the last day. I went into the last game top, after clawing back a 10 point gap which included winning at thier place, but a 0-0 draw at Sevilla in the last gameand Real Madrid spanking Espanyol meant I finished 2nd with 93 points, Real had 94. Devestating.