FM13 Aston Villa - You can't do worse than McLeish, right?

[JojoVillaHursty]

Weimann should be kept as has the potential to turn into a top striker.

[JojoVillaHursty]

Well Villa seem to have been dropped Ca and Pa wise by quite a bit, to make things harder for me I have decided to start in January and we are bottom and I think 6 points from safety with Man U and Spurs as my first two games.

[sparey]

Anyone idea on how we are looking after the recent patch? Heard Benteke has been upgraded.

[adibrickett]

just started a Villa save, first game against Man City Darren Bent with the only goal, totally against the run of play, they battered me! 64% possession in their favour 11 shots only 3 on target for them as to mine 6 shots with 2 on target.

[Haydos_23]

Have been waiting for ages to play a career save with Villa.Am a huge fan,and after seeing the results of the data patch things are not looking good.It was a hard challenge before but now it is incredibely difficult.Before it was possible to generate 40+mill in transfers.But now only offer I got was 7.5 for N Zogbia.It does reflect reality though,but for me Benteke is not rated properly.

Any advice on tactics would be great as i am going to need all the help I can get.Also any new bargains from the new patch would be good?

[adibrickett]

i use 4-4-2 at home and use 4-5-1 away from home or against a big club, worked for me. beat City and Liverpool 1-0 and was leading Arsenal 1-0 till the 92nd min when they equalized

[MeesterCat]

I thought I'd have a crack at a Villa save as they are just in the position I like a club to be in when I take over: underachieving, overpaid squad (mostly), some young prospects and decent facilities.

I've got first transfer window budgets turned off, so will have to make do with the starting squad. I'll let you know how I get on.

[rcrerie]

I've just finished my second season with Villa and its been going really well. Sixth place finish and won the FA Cup. Its a tough career especially at the start and I was on the end of some pretty bad beatings. I started using The Better Half's**Split 4-5-1 formation and would definitely recommend this. Here's the link to the post:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/343346-The-Better-Half-s-**-Split-451**

At the start I sold Dunne, Given and N'Zogbia, more to get the wages off. In hindsight I'd have probably also sold Delph and Agbonglahor. One player I would keep in Bent though as he will get you 20+ goals and actually tutors Benteke and Weimann well. You'll need him in the first season. You can still easily get 10m for him at the end of the season. The main area to strengthen is midfield and here I signed Ekdal and Jenssen, Ekdal in particular has proved a brilliant signing. When you load the game make sure to include the Norweigan league and plunder Rosenborg! Thomas Drage is also a must buy, very versatile and does a terrific job. I'd highly recommend signing Belluschi too, him and Ciaran Clark are a very solid pairing for me. Take your time developing Gardner and Grealish too, they are both coming on nice, Gardner is touted as the next Glenn Hoddle whilst Grealish will be the next Gazza (hopefully not the booze drinking version )

[Gooner88]

Has anyone managed to get rid of Ireland or given at the start? They've both rejected more than one offer to leave even though I've put them in the reserves and transfer listed them.

[MeesterCat]

I've not really been able to play since I last posted due to family stuff, but I have managed to get through pre-season.

As I've got no transfer budget, there are some obvious holes in the squad - no real left back of any quality in particular. Luckily it looks like Baker has been a little bit improved in the last patch, so he will have to fill in until January. Dunne is out for basically the whole season so that leaves the centre of defence pretty thin - I'm tempted to terminate his contract and take the hit to the balance, but as the wage budget is exceeded by nearly £100k p/w it might be worthwhile.

Further forward I can see problems at LM. I'd hoped to play 4411 and try and be solid defensively, but only Bannan can play at LM. I guess I'll have to go 4231 or 41221 but with a defensive set up and hope I can get away with it. N'Zogbia as a DW at AML anyone?

The lack of a true defensive midfielder worries me, so I think I'll have to set up the team to compensate and hope that we can scrape enough points until January.

I'm looking forward to this!

Oh, one last thing - has anyone discovered any decent free signings / loans since the new patch?

[Robert the Spud]

Bent seems to have been nerfed pretty good.

[SLB]

Hi Guys,

Just started a game with Aston Villa as they are struggling IRL and I wanted to revive a team I've always admired. I must admit, I didn't think this was much of a challenge but enjoying it immensely at the moment. My only problem is that I cannot get Benteke firing. He has not scored in 10, and consistently gets 6.50 or less for rating. I am using him as the focal point of the forward line (target man) who tries to bring others into play.

Anyone else having problems with Benteke?

[Gooner88]

I've had the same with benteke. Playing himas a target man. Not scored in first 6 and consistently rating below 6.

[SLB]

Finally got Benteke firing, didn't really change tactics just allowed him to have more playing time to settle into my formation. Also purchased Yannick N'Djeng for competition and he banged a couple in within the first two games.

Benteke just won young player of the month and has scored 8 goals in 14(2) after failing to score in his first six games.

Sitting in 10th after 16 games and very pleased with how the season is going so far. Beating Man.Utd 2-4 was a highlight.

[adibrickett]

just won the F.A CUP beating Arsenal 1-0 Ekdal with the goal tapped it in from a Ince cross. last game of the season Man united was up against Spurs if i bettered that result i would get in to the top 4, they drew 0-0 and i won with a 83rd min Caros Fierro shot. in to my 3rd season now, just been given 25 million. looking to bring in a new goal keeper left mid and possibly a ball winning midfielder so in to this game so damn addictive!!

[MeesterCat]

In order to move things along a little, I decided to holiday the first few months of the season and see what state the club was in when I returned. Well...

Not too good!

We are currently 18th with a grand total of 15 points and the worst defence in the league. My original manager got sacked after a 5-1 loss at home to Stoke, so I've created a new manager and will continue the 'project' with him. I'm confident with me in charge I can tone down a lot of the heavy losses and convert narrow losses into draws or even wins.

The board has just made it's mid-season expectation request. To avoid relegation they have given me £300k for transfers and enough wage budget to finally meet the existing costs with about £30k to spare. I'm hoping to offload Bent and Delph as they've barely played and are eating up the best part of £100k p/w in wages. Sadly the teams poor form means that I'm not going to get much for them - Wolves have made a £2.5mil bid for Delph, I can't seem to shift Bent for as low as £4mil. Annoyingly, the board won't let me terminate Dunne's contract even though he's not going to play again before his contract expires.

Top priority for the January window is to bring in a left back (still) and a proper defensive midfielder (still). I would also like to try and get in another right back as Lichaj is the only back up to Lowton. Possibly a loan striker if I manage to sell Bent.

On the positive side, Clark, Vlaar and Baker have been pretty good (I think the poor defence is more of a team issue), whilst Ireland and Benteke have done alright going forward. It has the feel of a team that is one or two signings away from being a decent, if unspectacular squad. I think I'm going to alter my formation too away from a deep 4231, which I was using to compensate for lack of proper DMs, to my more favoured 41221.

[Chewy2006]

Hey Lads,

Playing as Villa on my online game atm and really struggling to find any consistancy, 18th after 19games 3pts off west ham in 17th. I've tried all kinds of systems to try and get bent and benteke upfront together and although i've had success in some parts with them working as a front two i seem to suffer at back and concede loads. Can any1 have any advice on what system could I use to get best out of them 2 and gabby as currentley he is on right wing in my formation 4-1-2-1-2 but not sure if that will suit him in long run

[OlivierL]

I started a Aston Villa save with the new transfer update...

I can't sell anyone, i don't have a transfer budget.. my only transfer in was Zambrotta because i needed backup for DR..

It is a big challenge ! i hope i can reorganise my squad in january or the end of the season ..

Playing 4-4-1-1 with bent still in my squad (scored 5 in 6 games). I lost a few games in a row now (against man utd, spurs, Chelsea )and now i'm 16th..

I made Clark captain , what a player he is !

[MeesterCat]

Quick update of my progress since my 'new' manager took over. We've won one game (West Ham), drawn two (Arsenal, Norwich) and lost two (Liverpool, Southampton). So we're in 17th place, with a 4 point gap above 18th.

I've sold Delph to Wolves for £2.5mil, loan Bent to Spurs (they pay his wages) and released Dunne from his contract. This freed up £150k p/w in wages and has allowed me to bring in Strandberg (£500k), Masilela (£1.1mil) and Simpson (£375k). I now am looking to bring in a cheap striker who fits my tactics better and try and consolidate in the league ready for a squad revamp in the summer.

Edit: Just grabbed a 1-0 win over top of the table Man City. Stephen Ireland scoring against his old club. Now 7 points clear of 18th place with a run of , in theory at least, easier games.

[MeesterCat]

Apologies for the double post, but I think I've cracked the formation. Helpfully some of the less 'favourite' players are really stepping up and we've become a really dogged, hard to beat team.

I'm sticking with the 41221, and have the player roles set up like this:

GK : Guzan/Given

DL : Baker/Masilela (FB-S)

DC : Strandberg

DC : Vlaar

DR : Lowton/Simpson (FB-S)

DMC : Westwood/Bannan (DLP-S)

MC : Clark/Herd (BWM-D)

MC : Ireland/Gardner (AP-A)

AML : Agbonlahor (IF-A) or N'Zogbia (DW-S)

AMR : Albrighton/Holman (W-A)

STR : Benteke/Weimann (CF-S)

I think the key is having the BWM-D in the MC position - it's really helping having a wrecking ball higher up the pitch with the added insurance of a DLP sat behind to maintain a defensive shape. Hopefully as the team progresses I'll be able to bring in a Fellaini type player who will be able to mix up the destruction with some creativity.

[MeesterCat]

Annoyingly Montpellier had arranged to purchase Jelle Vossen before I had the funds to do so. Vossen is one of my favourite FM players, so I'm really disappointed to have missed out on him for at least a year.

I notice that Graziano Pelle from Feyenoord appears to have had a bit of a boost and looks like he might do the job as a CF or DLF with his decent Off the Ball and Creativity. I might try and put in a cheeky bid for him and try and improve his PAce as that is a little poor. (I notice he's banging them in for fun IRL - 21 in 23 games I think?)

[MeesterCat]

Typical. Just as I'm really getting into the save, my save file corrupts and all is lost. Sigh.

[sparey]

Doing extremely well, made my own tactic for the first time and it worked.

So far, i have won league 3 times on trot, champions league twice on trot, various capital one cups and FA cups, Community Shield 3 times trot.

This is my current formation/team - formation hasnt changed since day 1.

Word of advice - Keep Westwood and Guzan - both are really really good, only got rid of Guzan for Stegan who came in on a free third season.

I use shouts from here -http://www.mypassion4footballmanager.com/2012/11/football-manager-2013-tactics-shouts.html - started with defensive untill I was beating teams mid table, then a few seasons in went to Counter/Attacking/Overload.

Any screenshot requests - i will be happy to post up. (Eg - transfers from certain season, players, history page, etc etc)

Cheers,

James! U.T.V

[Chewy2006]

Hey Sparey,

Seems like an interesting tactic and I'm playing as Villa in a online save at moment and can't really find any consistency, would you be able to post a screenshot of team and play instructions aswell.

Cheers

[sparey]

Sure, i dont use many player specific instructions, apart from wing players not having long shots.

Yeah, its interesting, but as a villa fan in real life, i like to think i know where our strengths our, and 3 at the back suits us IRL, so why not on FM. I went for wing backs rather than just normal left/right backs as, same in RL, it allows them to push up and get a few goals between them.

But team instructions are here;

[sparey]

Decided to go all out and post all transfers so you can get an idea of how I operate, and can see what players i used/worked out well.

Players in Bold boxes are newgens.

1st;

2nd;

3rd;

4th;

5th;

6th;

[danger_mouse]

After years of success with Villa, im now thinking of selling some of my more experienced players and bringing through the youth players ive been working on for 2-4 years. If i get time later ill post up some screenies of my game.

[MeesterCat]

I've resurrected my Villa save from an earlier Auto-Save. Although I've lost lots of progress (It starts back in Sept 12), there's just something appealing about the Villa situation that draws me back.

I've reverted to a simple 4411 and am trying to use my less gifted, but more solid players in the hope of becoming a tough side to beat for the first season. It seems to be working as we're in 9th at the start of December with mostly good results against all but the big teams.

Injuries and no transfer budget (disabled for first window) means that my starting 11 is usually:

Guzan; Baker, Clark, Vlaar, Lowton; Bannan, Sylla, Westwood, Albrighton, Holman, Benteke (Agbonlahor for away games).

[tottivillarossi]

Has anybody been able to develop a tactic that reflects Villa's awesome counter-attacking ability?

[MeesterCat]

Not really at this point, though I am trying to develop one for away games especially, based around quick crosses and through balls for Agbonlahor to run onto to. It occasionally seems to work well, but not consistently enough for it to be properly effective - I think the problem may be related to a lack of quality in the midfield. Something to work on once I reach the second season.

I've reached the end of February in my save and we currently lie 12th, 10 points above the relegation zone. I got a good run going prior to Xmas, but then a horrible set of fixtures - Liverpool (H), Chelsea (A), Man City (A) - destroyed our form and morale. We then got taken apart by an amazing Burnley side in the FA Cup, but after a Team Meeting and grinding out some thoroughly undeserved draws, then a win we're now stabilised and should be okay, barring any disasters.

We generally don't concede heavily, but scoring goals is an issue. That's probably down to my tactics as my aim this season was just to be no-frills and grind out results. Hopefully some investment in the summer will allow for a more expansive style of play.

The January transfer window was fairly quiet. I sold Delph for £1.8mil but despite my best attempts I couldn't manage to sell Bent, Ireland or Given. I managed, eventually to loan out Ireland to Blackburn (100% of wages, £1mil future fee) and Bent to Reading (80% of wages, £2mil future fee). I also released Dunne in order to try and reduce wages. I brought in Danny Simpson as cover for Lowton for £500k, but had no other real funds to bring anyone else in permanently so Jeremy Morel and David Vaughan came in on loan for the rest of the season.

I'd been training Gardner to become more familiar in the AMC role and with the loan of Ireland I threw him in at the deep end - what a revelation. He's been absolutely amazing for me and the team now doesn't play as well without him on the pitch. Hopefully he can maintain his progress and be the creative hub of the team for the next few years at least.

[MeesterCat]

The 2013 youth intake has been pretty promising. I've got two DCs, one is 5* rated and the other 4 1/2* rated. Also a 4* rated AML/STR. Although their stats don't look as amazing as others I've seen, they are good in the right categories.

Hopefully I can start to mold them into something useful.

Edit: I notice the 5* DC is dubbed "The new Tony Adams".

[Marc Albrighton]

Bloody hell they've made villa a right challenge this year havent they? Got the game earlier as i was bored shitless and i cant believe how difficult it is, absolutely no money for transfers or even a loan signing, tonnes of injuries to start with and cant get bent or benteke to score, 12 games in bent has scored once benteke has scored 0.

Started off alright unbeaten in 6 but now im 19th i cant stop conceding and i just cant get the teams morale up despite good meetings and team talks, just seeming like the impossible job at the moment

[MeesterCat]

Bloody hell they've made villa a right challenge this year havent they? Got the game earlier as i was bored shitless and i cant believe how difficult it is, absolutely no money for transfers or even a loan signing, tonnes of injuries to start with and cant get bent or benteke to score, 12 games in bent has scored once benteke has scored 0.

Started off alright unbeaten in 6 but now im 19th i cant stop conceding and i just cant get the teams morale up despite good meetings and team talks, just seeming like the impossible job at the moment

From my experience for the first season you just have to make yourself as hard to beat as possible and rely on scraping together results against the weak teams.

A tactic that I found worked quite well was to have Agbonlahor as a lone AF, set to Target Man with Run onto Balls. I would then use the Hit Early Crosses shout and try and get balls through or over the defence where his pace would help. I'd prefer a more cultured approach, but the lack of pace on the wings, combined with no 'bite' in midfield meant that it was often our only option.

We attained a creditable 13th in the end (9th was possible at one point, but we had a terrible slump in form at the end of the season). Just to cheer you up further, I've found it impossible to move on any of the high earners for anything more than a million due to their high wages. This on top of a very miserly £6mil transfer budget. Season 2 looks to be just as tough!

(I will post my end of season/summer transfer stuff when my FM PC is repaired.)

[marog3]

Bloody hell they've made villa a right challenge this year havent they? Got the game earlier as i was bored shitless and i cant believe how difficult it is, absolutely no money for transfers or even a loan signing, tonnes of injuries to start with and cant get bent or benteke to score, 12 games in bent has scored once benteke has scored 0.

Started off alright unbeaten in 6 but now im 19th i cant stop conceding and i just cant get the teams morale up despite good meetings and team talks, just seeming like the impossible job at the moment

I'm having similar problems, just started a new save over the weekend and I currently have 8 first team players out injured, many of them with long term problems. This has led me to playing Lowton or Herd at DC with Clark as everyone else is injured. I'm still 99k over my wage budget, I was on the brink of convincing Everton to pay Ireland's wages for a season loan only for him to pick up an injury on deadline day, ruling him out for 8 weeks. I'm tempted to loan out Given for nothing in the hope that someone will play him for a few matches to get some teams interested.

Away from transfers and injuries, my season has had a mixed start, losing 2-0 away at Albion in the first match but I grinded out a good 3-2 win at home to Swansea in the second game. I'm also attempting to build a hard to beat 4-1-2-2-1 but Bent doesn't fit into the formation at all, his natural role is AF and this just doesn't work on his own up front. Benteke has been a little better but is still settling in.

Any tips on surviving the first season would be very helpful...

[MeesterCat]

To expand on my previous post I employed a 4411 formation using Wide Midfielders as opposed to Wingers and with a Standard & Balanced strategy and philosophy. I did have the Counter-Attack box ticked.

The aim was to be compact and not too adventurous, but to exploit any gaps that other teams left when attacking; something that would happen a lot given our reputation.

My formation and preferred personnel were:

GK: Guzan

DL: Baker (FB-Auto)

DC: Clark (Def-D)

DC: Vlaar (Def-D)

DR: Lowton (FB-Att)

LM: Bannan (WM-S)

MC: Westwood (CM-S)

MC: Sylla (CM-D)

RM: El Ahmadi (WM-A)

AMC: Gardner (AP-A)

STR: Agbonlahor (AF-A)

As mentioned, Gabby was set as Target Man and run onto balls. While he wasn't the most prolific striker, his pace and movement definitely were an asset. Hopefully with the second season I can use a more prolonged build up in play and hopefully get Benteke working.

I will say, don't under-estimate Sylla. His stats might not be too amazing at the start, but with games he will progress nicely and is frequently a better player than his stats suggest.

[marog3]

On previous saves I've never had any joy playing Gabby as a striker, I had Bent scoring prolifically as an AF on the old patch but haven't managed to replicate that yet. I do really like Gabby as a player though and his pace is very useful in a counter-attacking team so I'm trying to use him as an IF on the left.

Interesting that you should mention Sylla, I think the team is desperately lacking a defensive midfielder and I intended to loan one in January but now I'm tempted to give him some games. His only appearance for me so far was giving away a last minute penalty against Carlisle in the League cup, which led to us getting knocked out. I've currently been playing Westwood at DM as a DLP and he's been pretty impressive, but I doubt he is strong enough defensively to keep a top quality AMC quiet.

To top things off Bannan has thown his toys out of the pram after I denied him a move to Stoke, he requested a transfer so I sent him out on loan to Leicester. A season of getting the crap kicked out of him by Championship standard bruisers should teach him a lesson.

[Marc Albrighton]

I since started again but with a proper look at tactics and training, had all day bank holiday monday and managed to finish seventh using mainly a Bent/Benteke Poacher/TM approach, looking forward to season 2 now plan on getting a good defence and goalkeeeper together and then look at the midfield and attack in a few seasons once they are paid off since i used 5m in installments to get Ter Stegen but i got rid off Dunne, Ireland, Given and Hutton off the wage bill so that quite easily covers it aswell as getting Douglas on a free and he looks superb.

Was very surprised with Westwood's attributes aswell hes always first on my team sheet!

[MeesterCat]

Nice job getting Douglas! It appears that my reputation has not increased as much as yours as I've not had much joy in attracting any 'big' names in the transfer season.

My signings so far consist of Ryan Hall (Free), Sergi Gomez (Free), Tsepo Masilela (£1.2mil) and Tom Ince (£12.5mil - mostly installments and future fees). I'm desperate to get a pacy RM and one more defender - either a DL or a DC once I decide how best to use Baker. I've managed to shift most of the really high earners, but Given will not leave and I rather stupidly let Bent go on loan to Stoke without checking how the wages are paid - I'm paying all of them, natch.

I'm trying to slowly evolve the team rather than gut it, so I will persevere with some of the less quality players (Bannan, Holman) for one more year.

[marog3]

I think Baker has the potential to be a really physical (yet technically limited) centre back so I would definitely play him there over left back, I don't think he offers enough going forward to be a full back.

How long did it take you guys to get rid of the big earners? I'm desperate to bring in some better quality staff and maybe a couple of loans in January but I found it was impossible to shift any of them in the summer and I can't bring anyone in unless I slash another 90k off my wage budget. I'm not even fussed about getting any kind of fee for the likes of Given, I just want them gone.

[Marc Albrighton]

Second summer i managed to get rid of given, hutton, dunne and ireland although i had to offer them as frees numerous times for anyone to even bid and i rejected irelands proposal of me paying him 30k a week for two years before getting rid. Think its abut persevering with less than ideal circumstances for a season or two tbh, given was the most frustrating though didnt care about playing or moving really just sat there on 55k a week

[TheBigBoss]

Second summer i managed to get rid of given, hutton, dunne and ireland although i had to offer them as frees numerous times for anyone to even bid and i rejected irelands proposal of me paying him 30k a week for two years before getting rid. Think its abut persevering with less than ideal circumstances for a season or two tbh, given was the most frustrating though didnt care about playing or moving really just sat there on 55k a week

Do they get a bit of money to play with in the 2nd season ?

[MeesterCat]

I think Baker has the potential to be a really physical (yet technically limited) centre back so I would definitely play him there over left back, I don't think he offers enough going forward to be a full back.

How long did it take you guys to get rid of the big earners? I'm desperate to bring in some better quality staff and maybe a couple of loans in January but I found it was impossible to shift any of them in the summer and I can't bring anyone in unless I slash another 90k off my wage budget. I'm not even fussed about getting any kind of fee for the likes of Given, I just want them gone.

I think ultimately he's going to be a DC, but he has performed really well in the left back slot for me. He's even put in a few booming Beckham-esque crosses, despite his crossing attribute of 3!

I was able to loan out Ireland and Bent in the January just to free up some wages to get a couple of loans in. I was then able to get rid of most of them in the summer, but with very low fees to compensate for their high wages (N'Zogbia £1.5mil, Hutton £500k, Ireland £1mil, etc).

And yeah, Given is a pain in the arse. No-one will touch him even on a free and the board won't sanction a wage termination.

I think Marc is right - its about taking two or three seasons to steady the ship before pushing on from there.

Edit @ TheBigBoss : My second season transfer budget was £6mil. I was able to up it a little after the big earners had moved on, but its not a lot really. Hopefully after a second season with the increased TV money some more funds will appear.

[Marc Albrighton]

Do they get a bit of money to play with in the 2nd season ?

I got about 8m to finish top half, not the best but decent enough to make a few additions.

[marog3]

Has anyone had success using Benteke as a lone striker? I know people have got him and Bent working as a partnership but I like the solidity that my 4-1-2-2-1 offers and I'm trying to offload Bent at the moment so I'd like to play him on his own flanked by an AMR and an AML.

I think his attributes best match those of a target man but I think SI have toned down the TM role this year as it was so dominant in FM12, I haven't managed to get any success using it so far so I've switched him to a DLF on support role. Only problem is that he's not scoring many and I don't think it really makes the most of his physical presence and aerial ability, I could switch him to DLF attack but I'm worried that this will leave him isolated up front. Has anyone managed to get him playing to his strengths?

[Marc Albrighton]

I cant get him to score in any role or formation tbh, he does pitch in throughout the season but never scores consistently. He's scored 4 in 6 internationally so far n the second season but only 2 domestically both in the capital one cup, hes constantly getting better attribute wise though so ill stick with him for now.

[marog3]

I cant get him to score in any role or formation tbh, he does pitch in throughout the season but never scores consistently. He's scored 4 in 6 internationally so far n the second season but only 2 domestically both in the capital one cup, hes constantly getting better attribute wise though so ill stick with him for now.

I was browsing the Spurs thread and someone in there seems to have got him playing really well in the second season, 22 league goals iirc. He was playing him as a TM (Attack) in a 4-1-2-2-1 so I'm tempted to try that. In the past whenever I've played a lone striker in an Attack role he seems to just get isolated on his own up front. If I'm playing a TM I'll also need some who can cross a ball so I may fast-track Albrighton back to fitness to play on the right, I don't think any of our other wingers can cross.

[Marc Albrighton]

Little tip, do not sign ter stegen, i wanted to build from the back and i thought ill splash on a class keeper and halfway through the season he concedes 3 a game and hes scored genuinely about 5 own goals so far. Horrible signing spent a good 15m on him too.

[MeesterCat]

Little tip, do not sign ter stegen, i wanted to build from the back and i thought ill splash on a class keeper and halfway through the season he concedes 3 a game and hes scored genuinely about 5 own goals so far. Horrible signing spent a good 15m on him too.

Ouch! He's normally so highly rated.

I just did myself a lovely bit of business: Luke Shaw for a total fee of £5.5mil (£4mil upfront, £1mil after 30 appearances, £500k after first International appearance). My transfer dealing for the summer is complete (Unless I can get someone to take Given).

[hibees2]

I'm sure Benteke had better stats for finishing...started off at 10 in my save. He was going to be the focal point of my team, but his inconsistency and Bent's superb scoring form means that Bent is the main man for me.

13 in 16 so far. Pleasing.

[Marc Albrighton]

Ouch! He's normally so highly rated.

I just did myself a lovely bit of business: Luke Shaw for a total fee of £5.5mil (£4mil upfront, £1mil after 30 appearances, £500k after first International appearance). My transfer dealing for the summer is complete (Unless I can get someone to take Given).

His attributes were incredible but he just couldn't keep it out for whatever reason, offered him out for 25m no takers tried 20 and psg took him off me so i'm sticking with brad and got a youngster with 5 star potential to warm into the number 1 spot in 2-3 seasons hopefully. Thing that annoys me is every player you want you have to pay 2-3 times more than their value but when someone comes in for yours its always below or at best their actual value. I looked at shaw but got quoted a ridiculous fee as always