FM13: Newcastle United - Alan Pardew and The Eight Year Plan.

[nickbirdspain]

Nice update Don! Are you using a post-Jan-transfer window update? How are you finding the new signings? Hopefully, the new patch will be out soon and i'll kick on with my Toon career! How is everyone else getting on with their saves or is everyone holding out for the new patch?

[DandyDon]

Nice update Don! Are you using a post-Jan-transfer window update? How are you finding the new signings? Hopefully, the new patch will be out soon and i'll kick on with my Toon career! How is everyone else getting on with their saves or is everyone holding out for the new patch?

I'd edited in Ba leaving to Chelsea and Debuchy joining during the first January window and also added a summer 2013 move for Colo back home to Argentina. Didn't edit in the rest of the January transfers though and didn't take the team over till start of the second season. Did make a belated effort to sign Sissoko, but Dortmund beat me to it.

Debuchy has been excellent for me though

[nickbirdspain]

Good stuff - is this going to be your last NUFC save on FM13 or are you going to have a go at the new patch?

[DandyDon]

Good stuff - is this going to be your last NUFC save on FM13 or are you going to have a go at the new patch?

I'm not sure, I've got a lot more games distracting me from FM lately, so this might be my main NUFC save now.

Having a great run of form in the 2014/15 season, but also having lots of niggly little injuries and Ben Arfa has been out for 4 months. Couple of games back from injury and he's looking for a new contract with wage demands of £125,000 a week .

Club can't afford that at the moment, and even if I adjust the budgets and they could, not sure I'd be comfortable paying that amount. Might be tempted to sell him for big money in the summer if I can identify a target or two to replace his creativity. (Would be a shame as he been amazing in the few games he played this season so far either side of the injury)

Anyone looking for a midfielder btw might want to check out Spanish player Pedro at Sampdoria. Got him for £5 million midway through 2014/15 season, might be a bit cheaper if you grab him in first season. He has a very solid mix of Technical, Mental and Physical attributes. He's 6 foot plus, good strength and stamina, plus plenty work rate and teamwork.

[nickbirdspain]

Sounds good - out of interest what formation are you playing with? I'm planning on opting for a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1, over my standard 4-4-2.

[DandyDon]

I've generally playing with a 4-2-3-1 away and a 4-4-2 at home, though due to injuries I've been using the 4-4-2 away as well. Have a 4-5-1 with three MCs that I occasionally use as well.

[nickbirdspain]

Alright folks. Looks like 13.3 has arrived. Anyone had a chance to look at the new squad yet? Tom any chance your going to be making any updates to the thread in light of the changes? Can't wait to get started. Howay the Toon!

[tommonufc]

Alright folks. Looks like 13.3 has arrived. Anyone had a chance to look at the new squad yet? Tom any chance your going to be making any updates to the thread in light of the changes? Can't wait to get started. Howay the Toon!

Not sure man, been pretty busy last few months for FM, so haven't had much time to play the game, let alone dedicate time to a thread.

I did make a little update a while ago after the January window closed, but if anyone wishes to make a contribution I'd be more than happy to edit an update in - other than that, I don't think I'll have time to update the thread sadly. Just loading up a new Newcastle save as heard there was an update out, but not sure how long I'll last on the save. We'll see.

[jlawlor91]

Just started a new Toon save with the transfer window open on the updated patch.

I've sold Obertan, Shola, R.Taylor, Ranger, Simpson, Williamson, Perch and Jonas however there aren't many players available for decent fees. I would have thought the transfer window would have been updated / changed / different with the transfers being made. Not sure who I'll be signing now for depth and as a LW also.

[Fulax]

Finished my first season on the new patch, and it all went reasonably well. I finished 6th in the league, and reached the semi-finals of the Europe League (lost v Napoli) and the FA Cup (lost v Swansea). No European football next year, unfortunately, as the cups went to teams outside the top 4.

No transfer budgets in the first season, but here are my dealings for the second:

In:

Iago Aspas - Celta - 8.75m

Lucas Romero - Velez - 9m

Abel Hernandez - Palermo - 5m

Jores Okore - Nordsjaelland - 2m

Bruno Martins Indi - Feyenoord - Free

Plus the usual crop of regens.

Out: Jonas, Obertan, Ferguson, Raylor, Saylor, Perch, Ameobi, Gouffran, Marveaux, Simpson.

Here's my team going into next season:

GK: Krul

DR: Debuchy

DC: Yanga-Mbiwa/Martins Indi

DC: Colo/Okore

DL: Santon/Haidara

MC (bwm): Tiote/Anita

MC (dlp): Cabaye/Bigi

MC (cm): Sissoko/Romero

AMC (tq): Ben Arfa

ST (cf): Aspas/Vuckic

ST (p): Cisse/Hernandez

Due to injuries and the ACoN, Bigirimana got plenty of game time last season - he's looking pretty good:

EDIT: Iago Aspas lasted 17 mins on his debut before going off with a torn hamstring - 3 months out

[thebigfella]

Fulax what skin u using looks great

[Fulax]

Fulax what skin u using looks great

It's called Alavanja 13 Amazing Skin: http://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/3411/fm13-released-alavanja-13-amazing-skin

[DandyDon]

@Fulax

Bigirimana developing very nicely there for you

What sort of role you using him in so far?

[Fulax]

I use him as a backup for Cabaye in the deep-lying playmaker CM role. Cabaye's tutoring worked wonders.

It's quite fortunate, really: as soon as I started the game Cabaye said he wanted to leave for a bigger club, but I'd turned first window transfer budgets off so no one could buy him. By the time January came around, he'd changed his mind.

Not so lucky this year - Ben Arfa demanded a move and has gone to Man Utd for £21m

[nickbirdspain]

Hi all,

Just wanted to give you a quick update on how my long awaited NUFC save is going along. My wife to be was away on her hen weekend, so took it as the ideal opportunity to make a real dent in the start of my Toon career.

Armed with a variety of unhealthy sacks, the NUFC 1000 premiership goals playing in the background, I took my position on the couch as I begin the journey.

Now, after almost 20 hours of game play I’m currently half way through February of my first season sitting 3rd in the table and into the last 16 of the Europa league and quarters of the FA Cup. Very happy with the progress being made but have to admit the road hasn’t been without it’s bumps!

Originally, I planned on building a formation around 4-2-3-1/ 4-5-1 tactics to complement the available resources on Tyneside in light of the recent transfer window. No additions to the team in pre-season and only Shane Ferguson, Nile Ranger and Sammy Ameobi going out on season long loans. Pre season went largely well with the team appearing the gel well under the new formation and all signs looked good for the season ahead.

Fast forward to the first game of the new season and Liverpool at home. A topsy-turvy match saw it finish 2-2 with a later Cisse equaliser. Instinct felt there was something not right with the team set up but I still persevered and three games later I’m 13th with four consecutive draws against decidedly lower opposition. The problem I felt was Cisse simply was not strong to lead the line and didn’t have the resources to strengthen.

So decided to switch things up and reverted to my old favourite modern warfare 4-4-2. From this managed 4 wins on the bounce in league and Europe combinating in an impressive 3-1 victory away to Stoke to take us 7th.

Although the results were pleasing I wasn’t feeling I was making the most of the squad available so tinkered with the formation again reverting back to a 4-5-1 formation and despite some progress, again, instinct felt that we were holding by. Anyway swallowing my pride I then went back to Modern Warfare and haven’t looked back. The team is playing some brilliant stuff with monster victories including 4-0 away to the bindippers, 7-2 at home to WBA and 6-1 to West Ham.

Star performers have been Cabaye, Colo and Gouffran, also starting to bring along one of my core prospects Adam Campbell. A few sub appearances and he’s already scored 6 goals in all competitions. Big Shola also deserves a special mention for leading the line well in Cisse absence. Top scorer is Gouffran on 16 with Cisse on 12 and Cabaye on 10.

I had similar issues with Cabaye but managed to keep him happy and rejected bids for HBA.

Will give a full update with images once the season is however.

[Scott1892]

Nick, would you mind showing how you've set up your first XI? I'm also in the same boat as you as to whether to have two up front or the lone striker, but struggling to find a good formation with the two upfront.

[nickbirdspain]

Hi Scott, i use the Modern Warfare tactic which can be found here. http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2013-tactics-training/111264-modern-warfare-442-a.html

I've downloads this and used as a 'plug&play" largely as i simply don't have the time to faff around with experimenting. I've Cisse as poacher with either Shola or Gouffran as advanced forward. The only change i make is putting the tempo right down to zero which a lot of people recommended and seemed very effective. Training i set as tactics to high and leave assistant to the rest.

I use the shouts but i don't really know how effective they are. The key is getting fluidity - advise setting up a lot of friendlies during pre-season to help the team get used to the system. My team has 100% fluid now and despite being dumped out of the cups, we've got some really good results of late including the Mackem slayer popping up with 2 at the Stadium of ***** to give us a 2-1 win.

I'm having problems uploading images but as soon as i work out why i'll post. If you need anything else, please let me know.

[Scott1892]

Okay, thanks for that, may try it out if I'm struggling with the one man upfront. Still playing friendlies as have only just started though so it's a good time for experimentation.

[nickbirdspain]

Tom Ince or Nathan Redmond? Who should i go for?

[SOD7]

Tom Ince or Nathan Redmond? Who should i go for?

The two perform great at championship sides, never tried in Premier...

I bought sterling in my first season and is playing well when ben arfa is out.

[tommonufc]

Nathan Redmond is you haven't already chosen.

Should be easy to get from Birmingham, anything around £5Mish I think. Have seen a few screenshots of him around these forums, developed into a top player!

[MrSundlofer]

With all these French players at the club, what's the odds the club's supporter spokesperson is called Jake French?

I have started a career with Newcastle United. 60 000 players loaded from a lot of playable and unplayable leagues around the world, and I have decided to start the game in February 2013 (by including the Swedish league) to make everything as realistic as possible.

This means I had 11 games left to play, all of them in the Premier League and against difficult opposition: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Manchester United won the league and we finished on a respectable 6th position. Not bad at all.

I was also rewarded a new contract by Mike Ashley. Five more years.

Another interesting thing is that Pim Verbeek has joined the club as an assistant manager for the U18 team!

The reserve team will be reshaped in the summer. I will try to buy some new exciting youngsters to the reserve team.

[nickbirdspain]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Seasons now over and we finished an impressive 2nd. We had an amazing run at the end and of the last 8 games dropped only 2points away to WBA. Cisse hit some really good form and finished with 22 for campaign. Just in the summer at the moment but given a relatively small budget of £17m - had to reduce that to accommodate wages. Opted for Ince as i wanted someone more naturally suited to the left wing and at £7m i couldn't complain. Also, brought Carroll back to Tyneside for £5m which the romantic inside of me is really excited about. I don't think he'll wear the number for us again but really looking forward to the first time i can start him alongside Campbell. About £2m left in the pot now and not sure what to do. I'd luck to strengthen the reserves but simply don't have the cash. Might look to cash in on one of the blue chips, possibly Tiote but haven't decided.

[tommonufc]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Seasons now over and we finished an impressive 2nd. We had an amazing run at the end and of the last 8 games dropped only 2points away to WBA. Cisse hit some really good form and finished with 22 for campaign. Just in the summer at the moment but given a relatively small budget of £17m - had to reduce that to accommodate wages. Opted for Ince as i wanted someone more naturally suited to the left wing and at £7m i couldn't complain. Also, brought Carroll back to Tyneside for £5m which the romantic inside of me is really excited about. I don't think he'll wear the number for us again but really looking forward to the first time i can start him alongside Campbell. About £2m left in the pot now and not sure what to do. I'd luck to strengthen the reserves but simply don't have the cash. Might look to cash in on one of the blue chips, possibly Tiote but haven't decided.

WHY!??! Pet hate of mine.

[nickbirdspain]

You'll be pleased to know Tom I've resisted the temptation to sell Mr. T.

[james_wilko]

I didn't. Started a new Newcastle save with our update and Tiote was one of the first out the door for 20million.

The plan was to let one of the players I could make 20mil on go (so either Tiote, Cabaye or HBA) and then invest heavily in the youth players. Went a bit tits up as I found about 6 good young players, brought in two (Jon Williams from Crystal Palace & Liam McAlinden from Wolves) had 3 players work permits rejected & another turned me down for Bayern. Perhaps not the best thought out plan, so I may need to find some other players to bring in but that's easier said than done.

On top of that, I also had a few I couldn't negotiate for, or I was getting quoted 5+ million for them and that's not how I work.

But I did bring in Walters from Stoke for 5mil. Maybe not the most fashionable player to get but he is versatile and has great mental stats, perfect for tutoring the younger strikers.

But, in better news I just played my first game of the season V Arsenal and got a great 3-0 win with goals from Sissoko, Cabaye & Cisse (all set up by HBA). Arsenal only got one decent chance at goal, had about 7 from outside the box and 2 that were poor angles for a shot.

The team lines up like so -

------------Krul

Debuchy--MYM--Colocinni--Santon

-----------Anita

------Sissoko----Cabaye

HBA---------------------Gouffran

------------Cisse

Playing a rigid counter attacking strategy, which allows me to exploit the pace on the flanks to create lots of chances. I'm wary Cisse may not be great as the lone forward, but he flourished in pre-season and got a goal in the first match so hopefully it'll all pan out.

Future plans for the team;

Retrain Santon to AML. I think he's far better going forward than defending & with the right training he could be a good winger for us.

Get Campbell up to first team level ASAP. He's bring tutored by Walters which should help.

Make Bigi a good squad player. I don't know if he'll ever make it to the top level, but if he can rotate in for Cabaye to let him rest that'll be great.

Get rid of the c***. Managed to get rid of Sammy Ameobi and Danny Simpson; Now I need to get rid of Williamson, Gosling & Ferguson are next on the hit list. Jonas may be sold too, 'cause I don't think he's worth 50K/week

Get all the best young players, preferably British. I want to have a core of home grown players that will eventually replace the superstar Frenchies we have at the moment.

[tommonufc]

Just think how much better Tiote would be at holding that midfield than Anita..

People aspire to win the Premier League and play in the CL and willingly sell one of the players that can play at that level. One of the allures of managing Newcastle is surely to manage players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Tiote. You may state that you need to raise transfer money, but what for - you've been given five new players on the updated database? Wait until you actually achieve something and you'll get more than enough money to spend on players.

[james_wilko]

I always get good performances out of Anita, he's got more room to develop, is on less money(I think?) and he's three years younger. These are some of the reasons losing Tiote isn't a worry for me.

Plus Tiote's a liability. Just like IRL, when I play him he gets booked and is constantly missing games.

& without that 20mil, I couldn't have got Walters, Williams, McAlinden and Bakkali. If I waited til even the end of the season I'd have probably missed out on those three young players and have to pay a small fortune to get them.

[Safce]

I'm siding towards james thoughts, I sold tiote and replaced him with a slightly different type of DM in Gonalons, he rotates nicely with Anita and ended the season with 7.45 rating so not bad.

[MrSundlofer]

Summer transfers so far, second season:

Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Nile Ranger and Dan Gosling have all left the club.

[pearcey_90]

After 4 seasons without winning league due to moving to new stadium and having to sell everyone to maintain good finances, I finally got brought out by a tycoon

Coming towards the end of the season and I'm 5 points of top with 2 games in hand and these are my remaining fixtures...

Could go from potential treble to trophyless. Something my new chairman may not take too kindly despite my 20 year association with the club

[tommonufc]

May have to start up a new Newcastle save just to show all you Tiote-sellers how damn good he is..

[james_wilko]

Well, that 4-5-1 was abysmal and didn't work at all. After the 3-0 over Arsenal we just couldn't score, lucky to scrape a goal per match in the next 10 games. Absolutely awful.

So, I'll restart and try and work this a bit better. Anyone have any recommendations for formations? Thinking a 4-2-2-2, but not sure if that will work in England.

Tiote will probably still be sold, unless I can think of a good reason to keep him.

[tommonufc]

Having great fun with a 3-5-2 in Italy - that could be good for Newcastle in regard to the personnel available, not sure on it's compatibility in English football, takes some doing and attention - which might not be for you if your willing to right of a formation so quickly!

4-2-3-1 is probably the best formation for Newcastle, but the wider tactical set-up would suit attacking direct football (not long ball, direct - quick, fast paced..)

Krul

Debuchy

Colo

Yanga-Mbiwa

Santon

Tiote

Cabaye

Sissoko

Ben Arfa

Gouffran

Cisse

You've two fantastic attacking full backs - get them moving forward. You've real quality in Cabaye to create from deep, and Ben Arfa off the right wing, as well as Tiote as potentially, if used right to be one of the most effective defensive midfielders in the league.

Cisse is a great finisher of chances, but can't create for himself. Therefore prolonged attacks, slow tempo build up won't suit him - defenders can mark him out of the game two easily. You need to be getting the ball into him early - I'd do this buy getting the full backs forward delivering crosses, and the wide players in Gouffran and Ben Arfa up to support him.

If you're pushing these full backs forward, you need a player to move over and cut out counter attacks - Tiote! Don't play him as an anchor, he's two aggressive for that - as is a ball winning midfielder, that's how your going to have him on yellow cards all of the time. Play him in a two with Cabaye as a DM(D), Cabaye as a DLP(s).

Tiote is physically superior to Anita, and whilst their technical sides are around the same, Tiote's mental stats make him so great.

To try and sell you on Tiote even more, I shouldn't need to anyway, but if he's getting yellow cards to often and missing games through suspensions - do something about it! Look at his motivation in the game, then do something about it - if he's already been booked, bring him off if your winning or have won the game, lower his tackling - this is what management is about, Pardew has to do it in real life, he's brought Tiote off many a game for these reasons.

Don't just right off a player for getting booked too often if your not prepared to do something about it, point this aggression in the right way, and your find you've a player that can win you the ball back extremely well!

For your save to be succesful I'd suggest you first of all work on what you have already - get the best out of what you have.

If you do need to raise funds for purchasing players in the first window, move on Williamson, Jonas, sell Simpson before his contract runs out - you're raise more than enough to get in a front line striker to support Cisse on a structured deal.

[james_wilko]

Normally I don't drop a formation so quickly but it was painfully obvious it wasn't going to work. The wingers stayed too wide (despite the cut inside instruction) the midfield didn't push up to support and Cisse was stood up top, all by himself, waiting for a pass that never came. It was frustrating, especially since I'd built the team around that formation so it seemed best to cut my loses and start again.

I'm debating a 4-2-3-1, but a narrow version like this-

GK

Back 4

Tiote (DMd) Anita (DLPd)

Sissoko(AMA)Cabaye(APs)HBA(AMA)

Cisse(P)

[tommonufc]

Any formation can work, it's how you tactically set-up your side to play from that formation. What I'm guessing at is you've set-up your side tactically in the wrong manor, and whilst the formation and personnel fitted into the formation were on paper the right choices, their instructions were counter intuitive.

The clearest example I could give, and whilst exaggerating my point would be playing Lionel Messi up front, claiming he's the best player in the world, and lofting long balls from the back up to him - doesn't work.

From what you've said, I can talk about players cutting in - Ben Arfa will cut in all the time, but he needs space to move into to be effective. That means a player starting in the area in front of the opposing center backs vacating that area by what ever means for Ben Arfa to then cut into.

I would stick to a 4-2-3-1 as I outlined above - a narrow 4-2-3-1 can see your front four be played around all too easily, and then not offer any form of defensive shape, leaving your full backs and central two over exposed.

Set out a 4-2-3-1 you think may work out, and post up your TC instructions with it..

Just started up a Newcastle save myself, not sure how long it's going to last, as having great fun in Italy playing a Tycoon Inter save!

[james_wilko]

Think that's part of my issue TBH, I've left what was an interesting At Madrid save (with a funky formation) to come back to Newcastle. Not sure if it was the right time to do that...

I'll update the attempted formation after a few pre-season games, I'm hoping I've got the mix of roles right to make a balanced formation.

[Fulax]

Fixtures for my final week of the season:

8 May - FA Cup final v Sunderland

11 May - Europa League final v AZ Alkmaar

13 May - Aston Villa (A)

15 May - Swansea (A)

Busy.

[tommonufc]

Cup final vs. 5under1and should be great fun though!

[Fulax]

Won the FA Cup final 1-0 with a 115th minute goal from Abel Hernandez. Hardly ideal, given my run of 4 fixtures in 7 days, but it was certainly satisfying to imagine how disappointed Sunderland would be to lose like that. Won the Europa League final 1-0, too. Didn't play well, but they got a man sent off just before half time, which made things easier. Back in the league I went down 0-3 to Villa before snatching a late win at Swansea, meaning I manged to keep Liverpool's grubby paws off third place.

2015/16 - good year.

GK: Favela (regen)/Smithies

DC: Abdennour/Okore

DC: Yanga-Mbiwa/Colo

WBR: Corchia

WBL: Santon/Baines

DMC (anchor/dm): Wanyama/Tiote (still got him)

MC (b2b/cm): Asamoah/Cabaye

MC (bwm): Anita

AMC (ap): Paredes

ST (cf): Wijdenbosch (regen)/Abel Hernandez

ST (p): Campbell/Abel Hernandez

Krul left at the start of the season in search of a new challenge - 10m to Everton. Same goes for Cisse - 10m to Bayern. Debuchy left in January as he was almost constantly injured. A few torn muscles over the past couple of seasons have hit Cabaye's stats, so he's being phased out. At 33, Colo doesn't have the pace to play my high defensive line, so his contract will be allowed to expire in the summer. He has been immense though, making into the world team of the year in 2013/14.

Star performer this season - and the young man who got me over the loss of Ben Arfa - was Leandro Paredes:

Got him for £4m from Boca in the second season. Can't recommend him enough - although you really need him to learn Tries Killer Balls Often and play him as AP rather than Treq, otherwise he'll shoot from distance at every opportunity.

And my star regen, Kees Wijdenbosch:

And finally, in honour of Adam Campbell's first premier league appearance today, here's how good he will almost certainly be in a few years. Born to be a poacher:

[jlawlor91]

Thanks to Fulax I did similar on the new patch by including Sweden and starting in Feb 2013. The Toon were sat in 7th and still in the Europa against Montpellier in the first knockout round when I took over. Obviously no players could be signed due to the window being closed so I had to make-do with our current squad.

Results:

Europa League:

1st Knockout: Montpellier (H) 1-0, Montpellier (A) 2-2

2nd Knockout: Fenerbahce (A) 2-1, Fenerbahce (H) 1-0

Quarter Final: Spurs (A) 1-1, Spurs (H) 2-0

Semi Final: Napoli (A) 0-2, Napoli (H) 1-1 eliminated

FA Cup:

Sixth Round: Chelsea (A) 0-1 eliminated

Premier League:

Sunderland (H) 2-1 last minute winner from Ben Arfa after being 1-0 down!

Stoke (A) 0-2

West Brom (A) 4-1 great result

Fulham (H) 3-0

Liverpool (A) 0-0

Man United (H) 2-1 last minute again from Ben Arfa!

Arsenal (A) 0-0

Swansea (H) 2-2 after being 2 up but it was in between the Napoli games

Reading (H) 1-0

Wigan (A) 2-0

One more game to play away at Norwich, can finish from 4th to 6th so Europa is guaranteed for next season and I've signed a 4 year contract! Going to make sure I don't go on holiday at all because I often start to and play games less and less often.

Observations

Cisse is still class

Sissoko plays very well in-behind the striker

Gouffran is average

Obertan and Shola are poor

Gutierrez has played very well but I might still sell him

Tiote has already been sent off twice for me

Perch has been outstanding at both RB and DM

Debuchy and Yanga-Mbiwa are class

So pretty life like lol!

[tommonufc]

Transfers

Lots of money spent. Have grown into a habit of disabling first season transfers in new saves, but I don't necasserly plan for a long term save with this one I've enabled transfers to bring in new faces.

Therefore I had to boost my existing balance considerably. Speculatively offered out Jonas Gutierrez for £15M - and I snatched their hand off at £14M! Simpson wen't as he was in the last year of his contract, so fairly self evident with that one, as were the Williamson, Obertan, and Raylor sales, in the sense that they aren't that great. Clubs came hunting for Marveux, who I didn't intend the sell, but I push CSKA to £5.5M and that was a good price to sell at.

Coming in I wanted to have some young players I can improve and work with, that's always fun - Shaw looks to be much improved on this database, which saw me push the boat out for him. At the end of the real life transfer window I was hoping the speculation of Newcastle buying Ricky van Wolfswinkel would come true, sadly it didn't - so I was left to buy him on Football Manager.

Giaccherini was transfer listed at Juve, and offered to me by his agent - scouted him, and thought he'd be a great player - two footed, can play on either wing! Ermm, generic comments about Will Hughes, Vickor Fischer and every one else I signed... Oh, saw the screenshot up their of that Argentinean, so signed him as well - he looks great!

Tactic'y stuff..

There we go! In theory this should work. Two full backs getting forward, two wingers getting forward. Cabaye playing from deep, Tiote holding fort, and Sissoko up there supporting Cisse.

[tommonufc]

Europa League Qualifying: Newcastle United 4:1 FC Midtjylland

Turned around a sloppy away first leg defeat by out-gunning the Danes at St.James'. First leg I played too many unfit players, squad players, taking the tie for granted. The second leg I was more than confident in leveling early on with the side put out, but 0-0 at half time was a bit nervy.

A very raw Nathan Redmond was brilliant on his debut, with Sissoko getting two in two matches in a role behind Cisse, and RVW getting his first Newcastle goal after coming on in the second half!

[nickbirdspain]

Nice effort there Tom! Re. back to your earlier point and Tiote, i think it's down to personal choice. For me, i always like having money in the bank and if i'm confident in the squad of players i'm not afraid to tinker with it. Into my second season, and i moved on Williamson, Perch, Simpson, Ranger and Marveaux. The crux of the squad still remains in Cabaye, Tiote, Cisse, HBA, Colo, Sissoko, etc.

I'm confident that there is a strong spine that allows us to move on certain players. I'm not a fan of wholesale changes and would likely only move on a big player once every few seasons. On my last FM12 i moved on Tiote, Cabaye, Cisse and Ba all in one summer and instantly regretted it. It's all about retaining the balance.

[MrSundlofer]

After weeks of negotiation we have agreed a transfer fee with Rubin Kazan to sign Yann M'Vila. Our first bid at £6M was rejected and they wanted £22M. Finally they accepted our bid of £11M and the player himself (and his agent) demanded a huge contract - £115K per week and an appearance fee of £28K.

He's the kind of player I'm looking to sign for the club - a 23 years old French international with a continental reputation.

The deal has not yet been confirmed. Worth it?

[Sapačko]

11M is not alot for a player of this calibre. I would say yes to him. But other thing is contract demands.. Will he be the most payed player at club then?

[MrSundlofer]

Will he be the most payed player at club then?

Yes he will

Yohan Cabaye is on 80K per week, but will match Yohan M'Vila's contract due to a clause in his contract.

[D0bi]

If I were you then, I'd try to renegotiate Cabaye's contract sharpish, if you plan on signing M'Vila. Even if you give Cabaye an extra 10k p/w it's still going to leave you better off if you can take the Match Highest Earner Clause in his contract. Plus you'll put other clubs off signing him due to a longer contract (Y)

[tommonufc]

Only idiots put match highest earner clauses into contracts

[tommonufc]

Europa League

Dortmund. Brilliant!