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

[RTHerringbone]

Second season Sextuple is followed by a move to the new Tottenham Stadium, so thankfully I've got past the point where the original save corrupted.

Finances are great, and I'm bolstering them further by selling Honda for £15m 5 months after signing him on a free, Ospina sold for £5m a year after arriving on a free.

My U18's squad is looking terrific, if a bit heavy with DM type players.

I'm looking to focus on youth development; Ospina has been replaced by a £650k 16 year old who will get game time this year.

Vertonghen is actively being offered, and will be replaced by Free Transfer Alderweireld, but I have a few options to pack my subs bench this coming season.

I've also picked up an excellent 15 year old striker, so I'll either need to make a tactic with a striker, or see how effective he is as an Attacking Midfielder.

[paulinho]

What about the spurs staff? do you keep them or bring your own in? Do you recommend having a Director of Football?

Sack them all & get better in, it's the best way if you want to be able to train the players to the max, scouts too are not much cop either.

DOF has some advantages to deal with the tedious tasks such as dealing withb contracts etc, Commoli seems by popular choice the best, dont let him sign the players though or your team will be full of ManU rejects.

[paulinho]

Second season Sextuple is followed by a move to the new Tottenham Stadium, so thankfully I've got past the point where the original save corrupted.

Finances are great, and I'm bolstering them further by selling Honda for £15m 5 months after signing him on a free, Ospina sold for £5m a year after arriving on a free.

My U18's squad is looking terrific, if a bit heavy with DM type players.

I'm looking to focus on youth development; Ospina has been replaced by a £650k 16 year old who will get game time this year.

Vertonghen is actively being offered, and will be replaced by Free Transfer Alderweireld, but I have a few options to pack my subs bench this coming season.

I've also picked up an excellent 15 year old striker, so I'll either need to make a tactic with a striker, or see how effective he is as an Attacking Midfielder.

Bringing on the youth is the most satisfying aspect of the game IMO.

My youngsters are awesome too with half a dozen capable 1st teamers in this 4th season, I'm trying to hang on to the more experienced players too though as their tutoring is essential to bring on those youth players quicker.

[RTHerringbone]

Bringing on the youth is the most satisfying aspect of the game IMO.

My youngsters are awesome too with half a dozen capable 1st teamers in this 4th season, I'm trying to hang on to the more experienced players too though as their tutoring is essential to bring on those youth players quicker.

I've utterly, utterly battered my squad in the transfer window at the end of the second season, I could be in a world of pain in Season Three.

Here are the ins and outs - all of the ins barring the Frees are newgens:

I'm going newgen only as soon as possible, just because the AI transfer logic is stupid.

City have handed me £115m in 3 seasons for players they barely use. It seems like a cheap way to succeed, so I'll make things harder by playing 14-17 year olds regularly.

[sammo10]

Season 2017/18

January Transfers

Lost Kaboul for a year and it looks like it will be a career ender . Phil Jones is certainly a decent replacement. Cost a lot, but I think it will be worth it and its another English player to have.

Table

Disappointing performance in the league. 3rd place was no good for me. Away form was the problem this year. Also conceded a few more goals than recent seasons.

Managed to win the FA Cup beating Newcastle 3-2 in the final.

As per usual I was drawn against Barca in the Champions League quarters. As per usual I lost.

Team Performance

Benteke. Enough said. Crazy season for the big man. Easily my best ever signing. Great second season for Goretzka, He has everything you would want in a DLP. Umtiti, Sandro, Eriksen and Vertonghen very consistent and never let me down. A negative was obviously losing Kaboul but I also noticed a few errors coming into Lloris' game. I hope its just a blip.

Player of the Season

[wstussyb1]

I dunno why I paid so much for 3 strikers, pretty much Bale and gif score all my goals any ways.

[paulinho]

This 4th season is now turning out to be best ever.

Interestingly I was finding it more & more difficult to maintain my dominance in game situations despite my position as Europes most successful club. My tactic is a counter attacking one & nearly all my opponents were sitting back & playing for a draw against me.

So i changed things by just changing the strategy at the start of a game from counter to overload until I got the 1st goal then switching back to counter. I now do this in all games except away against the top few teams.

This simple ploy has been incredibly effective & has resulted in me really hammering teams 5-0 etc.

This overload strategy has not backfired on me once yet & since employing this way of playing I'm unbeaten in 32 games & have now won 17 in a row.

[mattyspurs]

Paulinho... Nice. Might try it myself. I use a balanced/counter attack system. New to the game though, only played 10games so far in my 1st season.

[sammo10]

Season 2018/19

Transfers

Suso has developed into a top class player playing for Southampton, Lennon wanted a new challenge and I felt Suso would add a better quality of depth.

Camacho has come in as an understudy to Sandro. Free transfer, cant go wrong.

Luke Shaw doesnt look as good on my save as I have seen on a lot of you guys saves, but he will add competition to Umtiti

Welbeck wasnt happy, didnt score a single goal last season, so I snapped Barca's hand off for £20m

Lennon wanted a new challenge

Belhanda went as Suso was quite simply better and I have John Nurse a decent regen coming through.

Willems wasnt as good as Shaw and Shaw is English

Results so Far

Man Utd - Com Shield 3-2 - (Benteke, Bale 2)

Swansea (H) 3-1 (Benteke 2, El Shaarawy)

Blackburn (A) 4-0 (Benteke 3, Bale)

Hull (H) 3-1 (Bale 2, Sigurdsson)

Man Utd (A) 1-4 (Benteke)

Red Star (A) 2-2 (Nurse, Sigurdsson)

Fulham (H) 2-0 (Suso 2)

Brighton Co Cup (A) (Sigurdsson 2, Benteke, Pedro Silva)

Sunderland (A) 3-2 (Bale, Sigurdsson, Umtiti)

[wstussyb1]

2nd season January transfer, Man city is 14th place, half the team is on transfer list, I got Kun for 57 mil, as board loves my 2nd postion gave me 67 mil to play with....un realistic...also barce took de gea, United sold phil jones, Johnny evans to chealsea

[paulinho]

Sammo, Suso is doing well for you? Surprised you prefer him to Belhanda as he doesn't look much on my save (37 games in 4 seasons with 3 goals & 1 assist on loan from Liverpool) but I'll check him out anyway.

Camacho should do well for you.

Thought about Luke Shaw myself but he looks a bit weak defensively.

I have solved my LB problem by retraining Asamoah there, he took half a dozen games or so to become accomplished in the position & settle in but now he's very good.

[mattyspurs]

Anyone purchased wellington nem and if so what position do you play him in? He looks like a great inside forward on the right but lennons perfect as a right winger in my formation. I play one up front, defoe in trq role. Wonder if nem will get this role instead. Also can anyone recommend a good dlp with decent tackling?

[edgar555]

Anyone purchased wellington nem and if so what position do you play him in? He looks like a great inside forward on the right but lennons perfect as a right winger in my formation. I play one up front, defoe in trq role. Wonder if nem will get this role instead. Also can anyone recommend a good dlp with decent tackling?

M'Vila

Nainngolan (sp)

Cirigliano

Schneiderlin

Crisetig

Jake Livermore

Javi Garcia (usually available from City after 6 months)

[muhaimin]

On FM Classic and finished with treble for my first season with spurs!

PL Table : http://imageshack.us/f/90/spurstable20122013seaso.png/

FA Cup and Euro Cup Fixtures : http://imageshack.us/f/507/eurocupandfacupfinals.png/

Transfers : http://imageshack.us/f/194/20122013transfers.png/

Now on my second season

I am loving my backline (all english) and also backups too. Except for Vertonghen, the rest are english. I must be crazy making Vertonghen my backup but Caulker and Jones partnership is rock solid. Hoping to replicate my previous season success.

Transfers : http://imageshack.us/f/402/20132014transfers.png/

Squad : http://imageshack.us/f/819/20132014squad.png/

[paulinho]

Anyone purchased wellington nem and if so what position do you play him in? He looks like a great inside forward on the right but lennons perfect as a right winger in my formation. I play one up front, defoe in trq role. Wonder if nem will get this role instead. Also can anyone recommend a good dlp with decent tackling?

Dembele does really well there.

Will Hughes develops into a monster in this position but it'll take a season or 2. You could do what I did, get Honda on a free & use him until Hughes blossoms.

Wellington Nem looks like he could be decent as an inside forward cutting in from AMR onto his left foot but as Edgar mentioned elsewhere on this thread he's inconsistent & IIRC my scouts mentioned he has problems adapting.

[paulinho]

Just played an incredible CL final against Barca.

I went into the game with Bale, Jovetic, Kaboul & Walker all only fit enough for the bench & moral pretty low all round as I'd just lost 2 on the bounce playing the kids in the Prem with the league already in the bag since the beginning of April.

I'd turned down the offer of managing them earlier in the season but Simeone jumped ship from ManU to take over when I refused & in addition to their amazing side they added Lewandowski & Neymar.

1st half goes pretty badly but thanks to Lloris making a string of amazing saves the score is kept down to 1-0 to them.

Midway through the second half I bring on Bale & Jovetic & go overload in desperation & Bale gets an equaliser with a superb solo effort.

Then I get a pen in 88th min & Jovetic steps up & misses, incredibly I get a 2nd pen in the 90th min & the cant misses again but thankfully slots home the rebound for 2-1.

But that's not all, 4 mins into injury time (that was down as 2!) Pique scores an equaliser for Barca & I realised that despite putting time wasting to the max as I always do in the last few mins of a tight game I'd forgot to take off the overload strategy!

So we get injury time where both teams hit the woodwork a couple of times & then the dreaded penalty shoot out.

Lloris saves the 1st 2 from Messi & Sanchez & I score 2 from Jovetic (I figured he couldn't miss for a 3rd time in the match) & Ayew & I'm thinking it's in the bag only to have Asamoah & Hughes miss 2 in a row & Barca score theirs. Then Vertonghen dispatches his, likewise Pique for them & it's down to Dembele who scores his & finally Lloris saves again & we've done it!

Won the CL 3 times in a row now but none were anything like this game, that has to be one of the most exciting I've ever played on FM.

[paulinho]

I haven't lost a pen shoot out yet as it happens so I suppose I should have been confident.

Having a keeper like Lloris is of course an enormous advantage & I guess it probably helps that my squad is very high on composure throughout but another thing I do is never nominate the takers. I figure it's a lottery anyway to some degree so let them decide between them & as I said it hasn't let me down so far.

[mattyspurs]

God yes.. 1st season's friendlies/ I had a tournement that we won on penalties with Lloris saving 3 of them. Couldnt believe my luck!

[paulinho]

4th season complete & it's been good.

So nearly managed the 100 pts tally but fecking about at the end playing the kids cost me.

But I'm very much into developing the youth on this save so i don't mind too much.

I've not bought so many ready made stars this time & have really heavily invested in youngsters. I have 11 5 star potential prospects & 8 4 1/2 star ones so the future is very bright so it's essential they get game time.

And they're progressing well with the keeper almost as good as Lloris now & an AML who has scored 17 & assisted 10 when rotating him in Bale's position. Newgen FB's, DC's & MC's are coming on too.

The only problem I find with these newgens is they usually have at least one big weakness that stops them from being awesome. For example I have a DC who's great but is really inconsistent, the AML doesn't like big games, RB who's very injury prone, LB who has amazingly low jumping & heading etc.

[paulinho]

Didn't regret selling BAE with Asamoah doing well once he'd retrained.

Sold Lennon in Jan too as he wanted a new challenge & Ayew & Belhanda have the AMR slot tied up.

In midfield Will Hughes is the main man now but is backed up by Dembele & Pjanic, Honda is still here but I think I may move him on now as I've a couple of newgens looking almost as good.

Upfront Destro & Jovetic have been great but the problem is they're both really injury prone esp. Jovetic. But I've managed through retraining Leandro Parades who starts the game as an AMC but can retrained as a striker or an advanced playmaker MC. I also have Paco Alcacer as back up & he's done ok when required.

Dawson now also wants a new challenge & I'll let him go now too as he's declining although an ave 7.61 rating for the season isn't too shabby.

I have a couple of newgens at DC who are great prospects but as I said 1 is inconsistent & the other is only 16.

So I may have to buy a ready made replacement for Daws & amongst the usual suspects I notice Tomkins has had a hell of a season & looks to have excellent attributes.

Anyone bought him before?

[paulinho]

Brought in Diego Reyes as my 4th DC as he can play the BPD & rotate with Verts.

My newgen keeper is really outstanding & almost as good as Lloris now, plus his name is Jesus so I can really say "Jesus saves" (groan).

Squad for 5th season

GK Lloris/Jesus

RB Walker/newgen

DC kaboul/Caulker

DC Verts/Diego Reyes

LB Asamoah/newgen

DMC Sandro/M'Vila/Malanda

MC Will Hughes/Dembele

MC Pjanic/ newgen

AMR Ayew/Belhanda

AML Bale/newgen

ST Jovetic/Destro/Paredes/Alcacer

[SSC]

So 2 things:

1. I’ve a veteran back to the CM2 days and have just rekindled FM for the first time in 5 years. Thought id give FM13 a bash as I saw it on sale and its got the new streamlined game.

To get me up to speed I want to do a quick game with my beloved Tottenham for some fun. I dont care about cheating or tips as I just want to get into the game again. Any quick set up recommendations, players to sell/buy, advice on tactics and such. I realise its not in the spirit of the game but i’ll then go into a LLM game once im back up to speed with how it all works! Thats what I used to do and love more than taking over a PL team.

For example i’ve just started a game and Gomes, Kaboul, Huddlestone, Walker are all wanted by Utd/City or Real Madrid.

2. We’re always looking for new blood in the Tottenham thread over in Off Topic, so feel free to pop in, we’re reasonably friendly!

[sammo10]

Sammo, Suso is doing well for you? Surprised you prefer him to Belhanda as he doesn't look much on my save (37 games in 4 seasons with 3 goals & 1 assist on loan from Liverpool) but I'll check him out anyway.

Suso has turned into a really good player on my save. Think the move to Southampton helped him, they have turned into a very good team on my game regularly getting Europe. Heres Suso

I like the idea of retraining Asamoah as a Left back, not many good left backs on the game but he does look very suited to it.

Also I have been trolled like mad here by the game, so frustrating

[paulinho]

So 2 things:

1. I’ve a veteran back to the CM2 days and have just rekindled FM for the first time in 5 years. Thought id give FM13 a bash as I saw it on sale and its got the new streamlined game.

To get me up to speed I want to do a quick game with my beloved Tottenham for some fun. I dont care about cheating or tips as I just want to get into the game again. Any quick set up recommendations, players to sell/buy, advice on tactics and such. I realise its not in the spirit of the game but i’ll then go into a LLM game once im back up to speed with how it all works! Thats what I used to do and love more than taking over a PL team.

For example i’ve just started a game and Gomes, Kaboul, Huddlestone, Walker are all wanted by Utd/City or Real Madrid.

2. We’re always looking for new blood in the Tottenham thread over in Off Topic, so feel free to pop in, we’re reasonably friendly!

You're in the same place as I was a month or so back having not played the game for years & years, welcome back.

Regarding tactics 451 or 4231 are the obvious formations to go with when starting as Spurs.

Cleon has an excellent thread in the tactics forum "understanding your tactic" where he plays as Spurs, so there's good advice there.

Get rid of all of your backroom staff & get better in.

1st season your keepers are fine, fullbacks & DC's likewise.

I'd get rid of of Hudd personally as he's not mobile enough but some tactics might work with him.

Most people get shot of Bentley & recall Townsend from his loan for wide cover. i got decent money for Kane too, none of the youth players are any good except Adam Smith IMO, & you have the option of selling straight away or trying to fatten up & get a bit more for them later but the likes of Carroll, Fryers, Falque, Parrett, Bostock, Coulibaly, Ceballos etc. are not worth the effort IMO.

Will hughes from Derby turns into one of the best players in the game at MC or AMC but it'll take a season or so,well worth the outlay though. You'll need some more cover out wide, Belhanda is great as is Ayew who can play in the middle too.

I got 3 good seasons out of Adebayor playing him as a trequartista & used Defoe & Dempsey as back up strikers & I won the League so I dont think you need to upgrade there until 2nd season, others may disagree.

[paulinho]

Sammo, do try Asamoah at LB if you can get him, I've had Baines & Santon in other saves but Asamoah's the best for me.

[paulinho]

Just a little word about Zakaria Bakkali.

Most of you probably know he's a highly rated Belgian youngster thats available cheaply at the start of the game. I got him for 600k from PSV.

I've had him since the beginning & he must have the slowest progress rate of any "wonderkid" because he's never done anything much for me in 4 seasons & his attributes never seem to rise. I've had him tutored, out on loan but his progress is sluglike. But finally starting the 5th season & having a bit of an injury crisis he's in my team in doing the biz. 4 goals in 2 games & he can play on either flank or as a back up striker. Doesn't look like he'll ever be much of a passer but cutting in from either flank his 2 footedness, good pace, decent finishing & composure (eventually) will get goals.

[R1ku]

Been away from FM for more or less five years, but bought FM13 about a month ago and already half way in the fourth season with Spurs, so more than mildly addicted again, haha. Yet to win the league in three seasons, but otherwise it's been a good ride. First season I finished 5th (Gunners were 4th on GD, gutted), but managed to win the Euro Cup and the FA cup, so it was a pretty good season all in all. Second season I won the FA Cup again and finished 3rd in the league. It was a tight finish to the league, and if I would've won my last game at home I would've won the league, but I lost 0-1 to Hull of all teams after a 10 game win streak before that. So I made it to the Champions League in season three and somehow managed to win it as well, winning my group and beating Bayern, City and Real after that and then Juventus 2-0 in the final. Won the League Cup also. Season three in the Premiership was again such a tight one and once again I somehow f*cked it up in the end. Four games to ago I was 6 points clear at the top, but again my players (or is it me?) froze completely and only got four dull draws from those matches and City won the league on goals scored, as we both had same number of points and exactly the same goal difference as well. Never had that happen before, and it didn't feel good at all. Now about half way into season four and won my CL group after four games and four points clear at the top in the PL. How will I manage to f*ck it up this time?

My squad in season 4 (4-1-2-2-1 (sometimes 4-2-3-1), Balanced/Counter):

GK SKs: Lloris/5*Spurs newgen

RB FBs: Walker/Isla

CD: Kaboul/Caulker

CD: Verthongen/5*Spurs newgen

LB WBa: Baines/Shaw

DM DLPs: Romulo/Hughes/Huddlestone

MCL B2B: Dembele/Verratti/Sandro

MCR APa: Isco/Sigurdsson/5*

AML IFa: Bale/Wellbeck

AMR Ws: Ben Arfa/Vadillo/5*

ST: Hernandez/Destro/5*

And some other rotation players and young players who I rotate in cup games and easier league games. I especially love the newgen goalkeeper I got in the first season. He's 18 now and looking fabulous and getting more and more game time in season four and progressing so well.

[paulinho]

R1ku, sounds like the Spurs end of season collapse is haunting you, I been fortunate to have the League already won before the last few games but I have noticed I tend to lose or draw them.

You're lucky that you've been given 5* potential from your triallists, the best player that's actually come through my system is only 3&1/2*. I've got 13 5* potential players but I've had to buy them all. Quite a few have cost me between 4-6m to get them as 16-18 year olds.

How does Romulo do for you? He looks good but I read somewhere that he's got a ridiculously low adaptation attribute & takes an age to settle.

[R1ku]

R1ku, sounds like the Spurs end of season collapse is haunting you, I been fortunate to have the League already won before the last few games but I have noticed I tend to lose or draw them.

You're lucky that you've been given 5* potential from your triallists, the best player that's actually come through my system is only 3&1/2*. I've got 13 5* potential players but I've had to buy them all. Quite a few have cost me between 4-6m to get them as 16-18 year olds.

How does Romulo do for you? He looks good but I read somewhere that he's got a ridiculously low adaptation attribute & takes an age to settle.

Yeah, the last to ends of season have been frustrating. Otherwise my team's been great when playing finals and other tough ones, but playing those "easy" league matches esp. late on in the season have been nightmares. Hopefully it'll all change this season.

Only had those two 5* trialists, that came through in the first season, none worth mentioning after those two.

Here's the goalkeeper:

..and here's the DCR/DM:

They aren't world-beaters, atleast not yet, but coming along nicely and playing nicely aswell.

Romulo's been playing well lately. I bought him after the second season, so he's been with me about a year and a half now. He took pretty much the first season to settle. He wasn't horrible then, but been much better start of his second season. Playing the role he is with me and my teams style of play, he doesn't score goals, but gets an odd assist here and there and is averaging about 7.50'ish now. Hope he'll be even better as time goes by. Luckily I've had a big squad and capable replacements for him, so him taking time settling in hasn't been a problem.

[mattyspurs]

Paulinho, nice formation. How you finding it? Mines fairly similar.. Still got Lennon but as a winger and im using Huddlestone as my DMP and Defoe as my 'T'. Im looking for a ball playing defender as Verts aint exactly a good fit but he is the best defender ive got for the role.

Into January of my 1st season. getting great results against the big guns. Played Arsenal 4 times (2 x Cup semi final) and won all 4 games. Just having a blp as in the last 6 games ive drawn 4 and won 2. Man Utd

closed the gap from 8 points to 3, oh what fun!

Also starting to get a few injuries now. Siggs had a broken foot after 6 games but hes on his way back now, Dembele and Holtby both injured for 6weeks. Brought in Jake Livermore and he has done fantastic for me so far.

[paulinho]

Paulinho, nice formation. How you finding it? Mines fairly similar.. Still got Lennon but as a winger and im using Huddlestone as my DMP and Defoe as my 'T'. Im looking for a ball playing defender as Verts aint exactly a good fit but he is the best defender ive got for the role.

Into January of my 1st season. getting great results against the big guns. Played Arsenal 4 times (2 x Cup semi final) and won all 4 games. Just having a blp as in the last 6 games ive drawn 4 and won 2. Man Utd

closed the gap from 8 points to 3, oh what fun!

Also starting to get a few injuries now. Siggs had a broken foot after 6 games but hes on his way back now, Dembele and Holtby both injured for 6weeks. Brought in Jake Livermore and he has done fantastic for me so far.

Yes, I use that shape exclusively, just change the strategy, playing style with shouts. My tactics coach keeps banging on that we need other tactics but I've won all but one comp since I started using it so what does he know?

Do you pay Hudd as a DMC playmaker or at MC as a DLP?

I didn't start using this formation till my 2nd season, before that I was using 4231 & I sold Hudd from the start. It did occur to me that he would make a decent DLP albeit a rather slow & cumbersome one. The 4231 was ok & I won the league Europa & League cup using it but I wasn't getting the best out of Bale & this 451 (or 41221 if you prefer) really does.

Defoe was 2nd choice for me 1st season then when I bought Destro & Jovetic it didn't seem worth keeping him, he did ok as a treq though which is a bit surprising as his attributes are certainly not ideal for the role. I read of one guy using this formation that retrained Defoe at AMR & said he was devastating as an inside forward. Food for thought & I personally like players than can do a job in more than one position. For example Jovetic is great as the trequartista or AML & can retrained at AMR. Ayew is another who can play practically anywhere & do a great job. Leandro Paredes cost me 3m from Boca & looked like a great AMC potential when I bought him 1st season but when I changed formation & no longer used the AMC he retrained really well as the Trequartista & the MC AP.

I remember reading Cleons thread where he also stated that Verts was not an ideal BPD. Fair enough he's not in the class of Hummels, Pique or Javi Martinez but who can afford them? For me he plays the DLP pretty well & only lacks the passing & 1st touch.

I'm rotating him with Diego Reyes atm as my BPD's. Diego Reyes is a new signing for me but has done well so far & only lacks technique to be pretty good for the role.

Sandro would retrain to be a great BPD I reckon & Gary Cahill looks like he could do good job. Song would be great if you can get him & Capoue, Nuytinck, Martins Indi or Olsson are other choices but there aren't that many around.

Jake Livermore is pretty good, I seem to remember creating him in the game a few years back when I was Spurs researcher for FM. He's solid backup.

[paulinho]

Here's the goalkeeper:

Looks like your newgen keeper is the same model as mine.

[R1ku]

Looks like your newgen keeper is the same model as mine.

"Jesus saves!".. haha! It's sort of a shame really that Lloris has been unbelievable for me and never gets injured. Played Millar in league cup matches the previous two season but have now been giving him the odd start in PL and Europe too. Well he's only 18 years old now, so he has time to develop and get more playing time.

Played a little more and everything is going really well. 18 games into season four and I'm five points clear at top of table with two games in hand, with a record of 15-2-1. Just won the World Club Championship in Toronto, Canada, beating a Japanese team 7-0 in the semis and Corinthias 2-0 in final. Last one I played was away to Chelsea and again I gave up a first-half goal but managed to get another comeback win, scoring three times in the last 10 mins, winning 1-3. That has happened quite a few times this season, that I let in the first goal but still manage to scape the W's in, which is a good sign. Could this be the season when I finally win the PL? The fixture list look horrible though, with atleast two games every week. Just got to keep rotating the squad and hope everything will go okay.

[paulinho]

These achievements in the game, what do they actually mean?

For example I just earned "parking the tank" for 10 games in a row without conceding (hardly parking the tank really as I scored 31 but anyway).

I'm still a bit of newcomer to Recent FM having not played it for a few years, in other video games achievements allow you to unlock things etc. but in FM it seems to be a pretty pointless addition to me.

[paulinho]

"Jesus saves!".. haha! It's sort of a shame really that Lloris has been unbelievable for me and never gets injured. Played Millar in league cup matches the previous two season but have now been giving him the odd start in PL and Europe too. Well he's only 18 years old now, so he has time to develop and get more playing time.

Played a little more and everything is going really well. 18 games into season four and I'm five points clear at top of table with two games in hand, with a record of 15-2-1. Just won the World Club Championship in Toronto, Canada, beating a Japanese team 7-0 in the semis and Corinthias 2-0 in final. Last one I played was away to Chelsea and again I gave up a first-half goal but managed to get another comeback win, scoring three times in the last 10 mins, winning 1-3. That has happened quite a few times this season, that I let in the first goal but still manage to scape the W's in, which is a good sign. Could this be the season when I finally win the PL? The fixture list look horrible though, with atleast two games every week. Just got to keep rotating the squad and hope everything will go okay.

Squad depth is key, my 2nd choice players are only slightly inferior to my 1st choices (if at all). I rarely play payers with less than 95% fitness either, that seems to help. If you play players with 90% fitness they'll be flagging at the end of games & you might be conceding late on. Still if you're making comebacks it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you.

[edgar555]

Achievements mean nothing. Other than showing your Steam 'friends' how good you are at fm. I have one steam 'friend'. The achievements mean nothing to me.

[R1ku]

Squad depth is key, my 2nd choice players are only slightly inferior to my 1st choices (if at all). I rarely play payers with less than 95% fitness either, that seems to help. If you play players with 90% fitness they'll be flagging at the end of games & you might be conceding late on. Still if you're making comebacks it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you.

I rarely start players under 95% and I, too, believe that is one of the keys things to those comeback wins, or turning draws into wins late on. Many times the other team has their players way more tired than mine, especially the top teams who also have fixture congestion. Squad depth and rotation is the key, indeed.

[paulinho]

I rarely start players under 95% and I, too, believe that is one of the keys things to those comeback wins, or turning draws into wins late on. Many times the other team has their players way more tired than mine, especially the top teams who also have fixture congestion. Squad depth and rotation is the key, indeed.

I know, I just played 2 games in succession against Liverpool & Lucas started the 2nd game at 75%! WTF!

[paulinho]

Achievements mean nothing. Other than showing your Steam 'friends' how good you are at fm. I have one steam 'friend'. The achievements mean nothing to me.

Thanks Edgar, thought as much.

[paulinho]

"Jesus saves!".. haha! It's sort of a shame really that Lloris has been unbelievable for me and never gets injured. Played Millar in league cup matches the previous two season but have now been giving him the odd start in PL and Europe too.

I'm half way through 5th season now & Jesus is now as good as Lloris. Lloris got injured for 3 weeks & Jesus came in & was magnificent, saving 3 consecutive penalties amongst other things. Probably playing sweeper keeper Lloris's greater bravery, pace & rushing out attribute still makes him top choice but Jesus's superior, command of area, handling, communication & anticipation make it very close. Still I'm very lucky to have 2 top keepers. On previous saves I was always struggling to find good 2nd choices to Lloris & I'm very pleased I went with youth. I got Jesus for the start of the 2nd season & he was 2nd choice right away, at 17 & coming from Spain he was awful to start with & in League Cup games he couldn't catch a cold but I'm so glad I stuck with him.

Youth development is going well & I played a game in the League Cup where all 11 players & all the subs were 4 1/2 or 5* potential newgens, it wasn't a bad side either with all the starting 11 being 2 1/2 * ability or more.

[paulinho]

Levy has decided to sell up to a local businessman (probably the owner of Chick King on the Tottenham High Road knowing our beloved baldy pea head). Seriously though Levy's been a great chairman for me & I'll be sad to see him go.

Wish they'd hurry up with the take over though as the directors have imposed a transfer embargo & I'm missing out on signing a few choice free transfers amongst other things.

Anybody else had this happen?

[edgar555]

6th season and he's been looking to sell for a while. 3 times a deals 'almost done' and I've been under transfer embargo only for the deal to fall through. It's a pain in the ass.

[mattyspurs]

Well... my DoF has just purchased Falcao for me for £39million. Not sure how he will fit in my Squad as Defoe as 24 goals in 24 Appearances!!

[paulinho]

6th season and he's been looking to sell for a while. 3 times a deals 'almost done' and I've been under transfer embargo only for the deal to fall through. It's a pain in the ass.

Mine fell through too, looks like I'm going to go through the same scene.

[edgar555]

Mine fell through too, looks like I'm going to go through the same scene.

It'd be worth the hassle for a tycoon but these 'local' businessmen are usually tinpot tyrants who are in it to make money not hand me a blank cheque! Hopefully the next one that Levy finds will be the golden goose!

[paulinho]

It'd be worth the hassle for a tycoon but these 'local' businessmen are usually tinpot tyrants who are in it to make money not hand me a blank cheque! Hopefully the next one that Levy finds will be the golden goose!

Indeed but I'm finding I'm spending less the longer the game goes on, it's now more about time to develop the great crop of youngsters I've already got plus a bit of cash to get some more youth on the conveyor belt.

I must have 25m of transfer budget left over at the mo' & I really can't see any player available who would really make a difference.

The only players I really fancy would require really silly money to aquire so I'll just "roll my own" so to speak.

[muhaimin]

Decided to play spurs on the normal FM instead of FM Classics. So far so good and now March in my 1st season sitting 2nd in the PL table. Made some signings. Similar to my FMC save.

Will post some screenies soon.

[lam]

I've mentioned it before and it's worth mentioning again given the number of managers mentioning his name?Ayew at left back is amazing for me. When he plays I ask him to cut inside and rwb often. He is very dangerous like this and he is also a pretty good LB generally speaking! Though he has a tendency to put the odd hard tackle in?Lam

[SSC]

Decided to play spurs on the normal FM instead of FM Classics. So far so good and now March in my 1st season sitting 2nd in the PL table. Made some signings. Similar to my FMC save.

Will post some screenies soon.

Is there much difference? Is it worth doing the full game? or does FMC do everything you need to have a fun game without getting bored?!

[muhaimin]

Is there much difference? Is it worth doing the full game? or does FMC do everything you need to have a fun game without getting bored?!

Hahaha! I just realised that FMC is a lot easier than the normal game. Thus getting the fun out of the game...

And as promised, the screenies. Just ended the first season... Finished 3rd.... Won Euro Cup

http://imageshack.us/f/826/standings20122013.png/ (Standings)

http://imageshack.us/f/163/transfers20122013.png/ (Transfers)

http://imageshack.us/f/12/squad20122013.png/ (Squad)

http://imageshack.us/f/801/newstadium20122013.png/ And finally the board took a loan to build new stadium !!