FM 13 Tottenham Hotspur- Where 4th Place Is No Longer Good Enough

[DosSantosFC]

Looks good sammo,I am trying to upload some screenshots of mine but it doesnt work!!!!! Frustrating had a massive clear out 2nd season

[DosSantosFC]

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See if these work a min

[DosSantosFC]

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Dont think they worked sorry,try these if not give up! i want them to come up like everyone elses do,actually on the board

[sammo10]

Have you tried uploading them to tinypic and copying the code thing ? That's the way I do it.

[DosSantosFC]

Which one of the 4 codes is it though?

[DosSantosFC]

[DosSantosFC]

Ah great looks like it works!!! sorry for the spam everyone

[DosSantosFC]

Season 2 2013/14

There was a major overhaul in transfer which meant getting rid of alot of deadwood it has to be said:

Progression of Will hughes and Mason Bennett over the first season was great,Bennett was used a fair bit when Ade went to the AFCON and Defoe got injured:

At the moment things our looking good pre season went well and after a few games things are shaping up nicely

Currently line up normally like this but with quite abit of rotation,tactic doesnt change much unless I see fit for it to

Been waiting ages to upload some pictures so a big thank you goes to sammo10!!!!!

[DosSantosFC]

OCTOBER UPDATE

As you can see they were either outstanding results or close run things. Bennett scored to make it 4-2 rather than 4-3 so not as close as it suggests. Chelsea was the game though,some great defending from Vertonghen,we were depleted as the Chav's decided to injure Bale,Caulker and El Shawaary inside 70 mins. Hazard put them in the lead on 108 mins,however a headed goal from corner by Pogba gave us a deserved chance followed up by Damiao scoring a tap in as Cech and Luiz collided into one another. Fully deserved though. Best game however is definately below,Ayew picking up his 2nd red of season already leaving us with a mountain to climb,up stepped Benzia!!! Enjoy!!

[paulinho]

After winning so convincingly against Citeh in the Community Shield With the 4123 shape I decided to go back & do the window & pre season again. This time I would get rid of Siggy who doesn't really have a place in this shape.

I also got rid of Defoe who although he was my top scorer last season doesn't really do thr Trequartista role in the way I want.

I would have liked to bring in a stronger AMR but that'll have to wait & my choices of Lennon, Holtby, Griezmann & Dembele in this position are decent.

I Brought in Honda to compete for Cabaye's position in midfield & he's been excellent in either DLP or AP. His passing is excellent, he does the defensive side well, fantastic mental attributes & his free kicks are the best I've seen. He's now a key player in the side.

I also brought in Yacob, who can dep for Sandro as a BWM but can also play the DLP from DMC very well without me losing any defensive solidity.

I got Santon this time around but couldn't find an affordable &good RB to compete with Walker so I picked up Baines for £9.75m as another LB & now intend to play Santon at RB.

I thought I should get another player to play the trequartista role to cover for injuries so I picked up Iago Aspas for £8.75m. he's now got 3 in 3 & looks very useful indeed & will be trained to play out wide too.

So the squad looks like this.

GK Lloris/Ospina

RB Santon/Walker/Smith

LB Baines/BAE

DC Dawson/Vertonghen

DC Kaboul/Caulker

DMC Sandro/Yacob

MC Honda/Cabaye

MC Dembele/Arouca

AMR Lennon/ Holtby

AML Bale/Griezmann/Townsend

ST Adebayor/Destro/Aspas

This time around I beat Citeh again (although not quite as convincingly) & beat Bayern handsomely 3-0 in the Euro super Cup.

Against the stronger teams playing Yacob as my DLP at DMC, Sandro at MC winning the ball plus Honda at MC playing AP is very strong indeed.

Not really certain of my strongest 11 at the mo' as any of the 3 strikers play the treq role admirably & the AMR position is up for grabs. i expect it'll be horses for courses.

[knap]

No buys in 1st season

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[30.Beast]

Wow Will Hughes looks excellent.

[knap]

Final table

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[paulinho]

Final table

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Interesting how the performances of other teams varies so much 1 st season.

In yours Everton make the EQ in mine they were relegated, Moyes sacked at Xmas as they were underperforming & Harry Houdini relegates them! Ha ha

[paulinho]

Had a great afternoon at the Lane in the sunshine today.

Great transformation by use of subs by AVB, that's management!

[edgar555]

Started my final patch Spurs save.

Was looking at bringing in a striker, left back and keeper when Lewandowski got listed by Dortmund. £28.5m (all my budget) later he was mine. Had to sell Thudd to fund a move for Willems at LB but couldn't afford a keeper so praying Hugo doesn't get hurt.

Retraining Defoe at AMR so he might get some games. Retrained Bale to AMC and playing him there. Holtby and Sig both retrained to AML.

This is my lineup:

GK(SK/S) Lloris/Friedel (hopefully won't be needed)

DR(FB/A) Walker/Naughton

DC(Stopper) Kaboul (captain)/Dawson/Gallas

DC(Cover) Vertonghen/Caulker

DL(FB/S) BAE/Willems

DMl(DM/S) Sandro/Parker/Livermore

MCr(DLP/D) Dembele/Carroll/Luongo

AMR(W/S) Lennon/Defoe

AMC(IF/A) Bale/Holtby

AML(IF/A) Dempsey/Sig

ST(DLF/S) Lewandowski/Ade

Into December and the season is one of inconsistency. Not helped by Sandro getting injured in our 1st game. Defence is either amazing or useless. Hugo's only conceded in 6 games yet we've let in 15 in those 6. Lewandowski has yet to catch fire but luckily Ade is free scoring. Bale has been good but not great yet. Clint has been excellent. I'm on a 4 game losing streak but somehow still in 3rd place. 12 points behind 1st place City though. I'll be happy with top 4 this season and a run in EL or FAcup as I'm already out the Capital One.

Frustrating.

[danm2501]

Maybe I didn't need to buy Suarez. Given Maupay 2 starts, and he's scored 4 goals, average rating of 8.70. Beast of a 17 year old.

[paulinho]

How are you guys setting up your corners?

I'm finding inswinging near post delivery to find Kaboul attacking near post to be the most effective.

[DosSantosFC]

How are you guys setting up your corners?

I'm finding inswinging near post delivery to find Kaboul attacking near post to be the most effective.

Tend to have centre back attacking front post the other attack from deep,seems to work,Dawson has 8 goals by Febuary and Kaboul 4 so seems OK,Caulker seems to be a beast from corners as well. Try and do an update later on tonight.

[edgar555]

How are you guys setting up your corners?

I'm finding inswinging near post delivery to find Kaboul attacking near post to be the most effective.

1 CB stands near post, 1 CB far post, Bale attacks near post, Ade/Lewandowski attacks far post, 1 player stands by GK(usually Lennon), 1 lurks on edge of box, 1 attacks from deep or is on back when needed, 2 back at all times (usually full backs).

Mixed delivery always. Verts is on the front post and scores a decent amount. Caulks is top from set pieces. Bale also lethal.

[paulinho]

Reached the Jan window in season 2 & things are going well.

Top of the Prem again & now unbeaten in the League for a season & a half.

The key this time is squad depth, My team is not weakened by any injury or lack of fitness to any one player when rotating (which I do a lot), basically nobody starts if they're under 95% condition unless I'm really stretched with extreme fixture conjestion. This is the way I've always played FM & it's always worked well.

Even Bale is not particularly missed as Griezmann steps in & has been brilliant (top scorer with 10 goals & 6 assists from 16 starts!)

Iago Aspas has been outstanding played at trequartista or AMR & now has his 1st call up for Spain at the age of 26.

Kaboul scores 1 in 2 from that corner routine I mentioned earlier & is joint top scorer so far this season.

The only player I'm not particularly happy with is Cabaye, he never rates more than a 7 & hasn't done enough in his 1 & half seasons for me. I'm going to see if I can't get rid in this window & bring in M'Vila. Arouca is going back to Brazil too in this window as I got a good price for someone who's only really back up for me. Then I might try & bring in someone like Bolatti who can do the DMC DLP role in rotation with Yacob ( who's been good).

[edgar555]

I've just reached Jan in my first season and its still a slog. We are great at home, dire away. 4th in the table but it's going to be tricky staying there. City are far and away at the top, Chelsea just behind them followed by the goons. Utd are in 5th after losing 5 of their first 7 games but they are now only a point behind us. Got to believe they'll push on meaning it's likely to be a real life-esque London battle for 3rd-5th. Thinking about a total tactical rejig so I can use the same base formation home and away with just a change from control/attacking to standard/counter. Both Defoe and Gallas have got the hump about a lack of game time and are on the transfer list. If I don't get any takers they can rot in the reserves. Parker is moody with me, mainly cos I got into a war of words with Redknapp (twitchy started it) so I'm leaving him to stew. Luckily Sandro is back and Jake is playing at a top level atm. BAE and Ade are also mardy, apparently they don't like being told they've played rubbish when they've clearly played rubbish. Grrrrrrrrr. Both are off to the AFCON now so hopefully they'll cheer up when they come back from that.

Levy's given me another £4m to spend which with 48 mth deals will turn into £16m and get me the back up keeper I need as well as someone who can play MR/AMR to back up Azza.

[paulinho]

Looking through the players nearing end of their contracts Lewandowski, Belhanda Alonso & Villa, got to be worth trying for.

[paulinho]

I've just reached Jan in my first season and its still a slog. We are great at home, dire away. 4th in the table but it's going to be tricky staying there. City are far and away at the top, Chelsea just behind them followed by the goons. Utd are in 5th after losing 5 of their first 7 games but they are now only a point behind us. Got to believe they'll push on meaning it's likely to be a real life-esque London battle for 3rd-5th. Thinking about a total tactical rejig so I can use the same base formation home and away with just a change from control/attacking to standard/counter. Both Defoe and Gallas have got the hump about a lack of game time and are on the transfer list. If I don't get any takers they can rot in the reserves. Parker is moody with me, mainly cos I got into a war of words with Redknapp (twitchy started it) so I'm leaving him to stew. Luckily Sandro is back and Jake is playing at a top level atm. BAE and Ade are also mardy, apparently they don't like being told they've played rubbish when they've clearly played rubbish. Grrrrrrrrr. Both are off to the AFCON now so hopefully they'll cheer up when they come back from that.

Levy's given me another £4m to spend which with 48 mth deals will turn into £16m and get me the back up keeper I need as well as someone who can play MR/AMR to back up Azza.

Try Aspas, you'll have to train him to be accomplished at AMC (but he'll manage that in a few weeks) at that stage of the game you might not be able to pick him up for £8.75m like I did at the end of the 1st season ( he was listed IIRC) but it's worth a try & you've got the added bonus to play him as a striker. I seriously recommend Griezmann too he's a leftie but trains for AMR, wasn't the most consistent 1st season but when he's on his game he'll bag a hatttrick & 2nd season he's been immense on either wing.

[sammo10]

No problem DosSantos. Wow looks like you're having a hell of a season. Amazing results and very good squad.

[edgar555]

Try Aspas, you'll have to train him to be accomplished at AMC (but he'll manage that in a few weeks) at that stage of the game you might not be able to pick him up for £8.75m like I did at the end of the 1st season ( he was listed IIRC) but it's worth a try & you've got the added bonus to play him as a striker. I seriously recommend Griezmann too he's a leftie but trains for AMR, wasn't the most consistent 1st season but when he's on his game he'll bag a hatttrick & 2nd season he's been immense on either wing.

I'm ditching AMC's I think. Gonna retrain Bale as a striker and play 442-ish. Maybe.

[paulinho]

I'm ditching AMC's I think. Gonna retrain Bale as a striker and play 442-ish. Maybe.

Sorry I meant AMR, I dont use an AMC either.

My shape is 41221 or 451

Gk

Wb DC DC Wb

DMC (DPM)

BWM APM

IF IF

Tq

[30.Beast]

Looking through the players nearing end of their contracts Lewandowski, Belhanda Alonso & Villa, got to be worth trying for.

Belhanda YES. Excellent player on FM.

I'm ditching AMC's I think. Gonna retrain Bale as a striker and play 442-ish. Maybe.

Don't do it! Well, do what ya want, but I think 4-4-2 is a bit of a waste at Spurs, because we have a strong CM and with a 3 man midfield we can Sandro, Dembele and Holtby. Dembele and Sandro are not creative enough and so I think it's always gonna be hard against teams who play deep and narrow. Also you can fit Jakey in there somewhere, love this player on FM, becomes really vital to us so i never sell.

Holtby is excellent in the CM position though. In FM terms he was really a great Modric replacement. Definitely agree about Bale retraining as a striker though. I always do that with him and he's great in most CF roles. Well worth it, also because I like my players to be able to play multiple positions. I only really will allow 1-2 players to be specialists.

Sorry I meant AMR, I dont use an AMC either.

My shape is 41221 or 451

Gk

Wb DC DC Wb

DMC (DPM)

BWM APM

IF IF

Tq

Yeah, I love this formation. Bit obsessed infact. Cleon got me on that. Best of all worlds imo, if not quite vulnerable to wingers cutting in. If your CB's are good in the air then crosses aren't much of a problem, but fast inside forwards cause me hassle.

Going to start my final Spurs save aswell soon, just love my Dortmund one so much

[edgar555]

I've used 41221 & 4231 a lot so far in FM13 and just really want to try a 442 kinda thing. It'll be a bit of a twist on the traditional though, probably have a midfield of MR; DMCr; MCl; AML

That said after seeing the way we finished the game yesterday a flat midfield 3 with AMR/AML and ST is appealing right now. We'll see when I actually get time to play. Might squeeze in an hour tonight. I'm shattered though, played the most intense game of 5-a-side tonight and can barely move!

[paulinho]

It had to happen sooner or later but my unbeaten League run finally comes to an end after 52 games. Disappointed to lose away to Villa of all sides but I'm still top by 9pts so it's still a good position.

It'll be the 1st time this side has to bounce back from a defeat though so we'll see what they're made of.

[paulinho]

Signed Belhanda & Lewandowski on frees.

Let's see how they'll fit in.

Kept Cabaye in the end & added Fernandinho as a player to rotate with him.

He hasn't been very good so far sadly, which is disappointing as his attributes are excellent.I'll give him time but what I don't need are 2 under performing DLM's.

[paulinho]

I've used 41221 & 4231 a lot so far in FM13 and just really want to try a 442 kinda thing. It'll be a bit of a twist on the traditional though, probably have a midfield of MR; DMCr; MCl; AML

That said after seeing the way we finished the game yesterday a flat midfield 3 with AMR/AML and ST is appealing right now. We'll see when I actually get time to play. Might squeeze in an hour tonight. I'm shattered though, played the most intense game of 5-a-side tonight and can barely move!

It'll be difficult getting a 442 working 1st season with Spurs because we don't start off with enough strikers & good ones are expensive.

I'd go 433, it suits the starting squad much better then you could go for a twin striker formation 2nd season if you get the budget.

[danm2501]

4-2-3-1 has worked absolutely superbly for me. 2 CM's on automatic, Gylfi as AP, with 2 attacking wingers and a poacher.

[DosSantosFC]

4-2-3-1 has worked absolutely superbly for me. 2 CM's on automatic, Gylfi as AP, with 2 attacking wingers and a poacher.

I agree although as you will see from my updates tonight I am in mid Feb season 2 and only 2 people have scored over 10 goals and that Damiao and Dawson!!!! Lots of rotation though going on. Actually got my first real decent regen ever from Spurs which I will later,he was 3* potential and is now 4* potential and dubbed the new Michael Owen!!!!

[paulinho]

4-2-3-1 has worked absolutely superbly for me. 2 CM's on automatic, Gylfi as AP, with 2 attacking wingers and a poacher.

That was my shape 1st season too, only Bale used as an inside forward on the left, if only Gylfi was as good IRL as in the game, the same could also be said of Ade.

The opposite could be said of Verts, no criticism of the Spurs research of course because they would have been researched by others.

[edgar555]

That was my shape 1st season too, only Bale used as an inside forward on the left, if only Gylfi was as good IRL as in the game, the same could also be said of Ade.

The opposite could be said of Verts, no criticism of the Spurs research of course because they would have been researched by others.

I think Verts is well rated and plays brilliantly in game. Very little I would change with him.

To everyone:

On the formation front, I know that 41221 and 4231 are great but I just want to do something different. I like to mix it up and I think it's 442 time or like I said the flat 433.

[DosSantosFC]

edgar555- I feel the same,I would love a 4-4-2 formation to work,I have tried and tested a few and it hasent worked,however I have found one on the Villa thread which seems to give the user some joy so I am tempted to use that one,I just feel with 4-3-2-1 I get more chances at goal,can be so frustrating though,had 30 shots to another teams 0 and drew 0-0!!! Think it was Sunderland.

[spursglenn777]

It'll be difficult getting a 442 working 1st season with Spurs because we don't start off with enough strikers & good ones are expensive.

I'd go 433, it suits the starting squad much better then you could go for a twin striker formation 2nd season if you get the budget.

My first ever save was a 4-4-2!!

Won the league, euro cup and league cup in first season. I bought Lewandowski he took a while to get going but still got 25 goals along with adebayor.

A simple 4-4-2 worked wonders. Parker and sandro bossing midfield and giving bale and lennon/Wellington Nem (when he had small fee) or sig time to supply the strikers.

Found Dawson to be a beast as kaboul broke his leg. Dembele got injured for half a year and is now an average player on 2.5 stars. Huddlestone did a good job too.

Other signings were admeilson, wiliems (dutch left back).

[paulinho]

I think Verts is well rated and plays brilliantly in game. Very little I would change with him.

.

Really? Out of the 4 CB's he's the worst performer for me, 2 seasons running, in fact I may ship him out at the end of season 2 & see if I can get a proper ball playing CB in.

[edgar555]

Really? Out of the 4 CB's he's the worst performer for me, 2 seasons running, in fact I may ship him out at the end of season 2 & see if I can get a proper ball playing CB in.

In my initial save he was amazing. Him and Kaboul averaged over 7.6 for 6 seasons. Both scored and defended like bosses. I had a look in the editor yesterday and the only thing that lets him down is consistency but that said I'd never have known he had a poor rating in that area from his performances for me.

In my current save he's not playing at top level yet but he's still settling in. And stupidly can't speak English, thats the other thing that needs changing actually.

[DosSantosFC]

I have never had a problem with Vertonghen,I never seem to get the best out of Walker and Lloris never gets good ratings,probaly down to the lack of action he see's but still concedes a few goals even though other team barely have 10 shots,bit frustating.

[paulinho]

Maybe I'm not getting the best out of Verts?

I try to get him to be the ball playing defender to suit my short passing game (like in Cleon's thread) but I've also tried him in a straight DC defend role. I'm not saying he's bad in my game, just not as good as the other 3.

This actually brings me to the question of setting up the DC's.

1st season If Verts was playing I'd set him BPD with a defend role, the others would always be straight DC defend.

I shouldn't have tinkered really because I only let in 21 goals all season.

2nd season I have a different shape & I saw there were these other options like Limited defender, & roles of cover, stopper etc.

I think probably all 3 of Daws, Kaboul & Caulker are limited defenders really but the way the role would have them play doesn't suit my tactic too well. If I play Daws as a DC stopper he closes down more & his mentality is slightly less defensive which is pretty close to what he does IRL, this could lead to him getting caught out for pace but I haven't seen it yet as my defensive line is set to the last notch of normal.

[edgar555]

My CB's are set up like this:

DCr (Stopper): Kaboul or Daws

DCl (cover): Verts or Caulks

They are straight CB's. Verts isn't quite good enough to be played as a BPD (that may be where his attributes are slightly off) but he can do the role.

I've pretty much always used the stopper/cover combo. The cover defender should in theory have more pace than the stopper but I don't think it makes that much difference. Plus with Lloris as SK/S he normally deals with anything in behind.

[paulinho]

And stupidly can't speak English, thats the other thing that needs changing actually.

That's a bad error.

Incidentally, how long do players take to lose the language barrier problem?

Griezmann's been with me over a year & still has a problem according to my assistant, not that you'd know from his performances though.

[edgar555]

That's a bad error.

Incidentally, how long do players take to lose the language barrier problem?

Griezmann's been with me over a year & still has a problem according to my assistant, not that you'd know from his performances though.

Totally depends on the player (adaptability IIRC is the key attribute)

How much it matters is all down to the player. Perhaps Griezmann is more 'individualistic' and it matters less?

My biggest problem at the moment is a few players (especially Caulker though) not happy and struggling to motivate themselves with Kaboul as captain. They need to sort that out cos I ain't changing it.

[paulinho]

Totally depends on the player (adaptability IIRC is the key attribute)

How much it matters is all down to the player. Perhaps Griezmann is more 'individualistic' and it matters less?

My biggest problem at the moment is a few players (especially Caulker though) not happy and struggling to motivate themselves with Kaboul as captain. They need to sort that out cos I ain't changing it.

Daws is still my skipper & as he's 1st choice, it's not a problem, I did promote Sandro to vice (after he won players player of the year last season) & he'll probably take over eventually.

I had a moral problem after my defeat followed by a streaky win & a draw didn't help.

I then played my entire 2nd choice 11 for the League Cup final, won 2-0 & now nearly everyone is happy again.

I'm pretty good at the team talks, general & individual, it takes a bit of time working out all the different ways your players will respond to the various situations but every team talk brings boosts in moral of at least 4 players a time sometimes more.

[DosSantosFC]

I set my Centre backs up as CB© + CB(X) with Vertonghen being the CB© rotating with Kaboul and Dawson and Caulker being CB(X). Captain wise I still have Dawson as captain and I have Lloris as VC. Wont change it to much to be honest,Dawson is still first choice really. Need to keep him as homegrown as well,if anyone leaves for alot of money it will be Kaboul as long as the replacement is just as good!!

[edgar555]

I always replace Daws as captain cos he's never gonna be first choice for me.

In my long term save Sandro was vice captain and in season 6/7 Varane came in and replaced Kaboul in the line up so Sandro became skipper with Lloris as VC.

At the moment in this save Kaboul is captain and I left Parker as VC but he's pissed me off now so end of season he'll be sold. Will probably promote Sandro to VC. There's plenty of options though, Verts, Lloris, Sandro are all capable. Caulker longer term maybe.

[paulinho]

I always replace Daws as captain cos he's never gonna be first choice for me.

I started the game off with Verts as 1st choice & Daws rotating for Cups etc. but it soon became apparent that Daws was clearly the better performer.

Kaboul made team of the year with a ave rating of 7.68 yet Daws didn't make team of the year with a rating of 7.73!

Dawson's stats of 36 starts, fewer mistakes than the other 3DC's, 8 MOM's & top ave rating of the whole squad makes him a clear captain choice for me.

[edgar555]

I started the game off with Verts as 1st choice & Daws rotating for Cups etc. but it soon became apparent that Daws was clearly the better performer.

Kaboul made team of the year with a ave rating of 7.68 yet Daws didn't make team of the year with a rating of 7.73!

Dawson's stats of 36 starts, fewer mistakes than the other 3DC's, 8 MOM's & top ave rating of the whole squad makes him a clear captain choice for me.

Its my RL bias towards YK and Verts and my dislike of Daws. Tbf to Daws he's done well in this save when called upon. My long term one he was awful and I was happy to collect £10m from QPR for him.