FM14: Aston Villa - Prepared

[Wyer]

I'm currently in the 8th season as Villa.

I've won the title twice in the last 3 seasons, 7th season being my best with a league title, Uefa Cup and FA Cup under my belt.

Randy is doing his best to sell up, had 4 failed take overs in the last 12 months.

Its a bit baffling too, seeing as Villa are now 1 of the top clubs in the country.

Villa Park is sold out week in / out @ 55k.

Got a cracking LM regen worth 40 mil and he is only 21. The little Ruski has a terrible agent to boot.....

[andrewfx]

Anyone managed to develop Jack Grealish? Looks like he could be a good player.

[Haydos_23]

Had a great first season using Glesgakillie's Under pressure tactic.Managed to finish 3 which was incredible considering I only added Stefan Strandberg and Anthony Reveilliere on a free.Benteke was an absolute beast up front for me scoring 30 in the league and winning European Golden Boy as well.Just starting my second season now and am willing to let him go but not for under 30 million.Have got some great free transfers in as well Julian Brandt,Vitinho and Gomis.I have never tried adding screenshots but will have a go if anyone is interested in seeing them.

[andrewfx]

Luna may not be the best full back in the world from his stats, but my word he performs extremely well.

He's just got 4 player of the match's in a row, after coming back from injury, in which I won all games (so all other players performed well too.)

Just look at his recent form!

[eple]

Yeah, he's great. I'm pretty sure it's because of his PPMs.

[Aandy]

Awesome start to S2 mate, well done on keeping Helenius, i think i made a mistake in selling him now. You sold Okore for too cheap though, im sure i read you can get 30 million for him. I didn't finish 4th unfortunately, got 5th.

The reason i never finished 4th was because i lost 2-1 to Watford at HOME and we missed TWO penalties, grrrrrrrrrrr. Benteke missed one and Honda missed one. really pissed me off, benteke scored to equalise at 1-1, totally played them off the park and they score from a dodgy set peace. Overall, very happy with 5th though.

Thanks man, the season's going pretty well. Was coming up to the end of October when I stopped playing last night and we're 2nd in the table after 8 games with 21 points, Chelsea being just 1 point above us and the equally high-flying Southampton being 5 points behind. Doing well in Europe too, winning both group games so far including a 2-1 win away to Marseilles. Despite my defence looking better this year (my tactical tweaks have fixed the frustratingly high amount of fouls), we have still conceded 5 in 8 League games. Of course, this doesn't really matter because we are good deadly going forward, being current League top scorers with 19.

I love Helenius, he's just so versatile. I play with an AF and a CF (though experimenting with a DLF) and he performs well in both roles. I hope his temperament is good because I will be gutted to lose him.

I didn't know that about Okore, damn. Still, it was a last-minute bid at the end of the transfer window and I didn't want a potentially unhappy player disrupting morale. Kana-Biyik has been solid anyway so I'm not too gutted about that.

Oh that's pretty gutting. I hate results like that; in my FM11 Villa save I missed out on a league title on the last day by losing AT HOME to LAST PLACE Charlton. Those results are so frustrating but IMO make the game that bit more compelling.

Plans for next season?

[Aandy]

Had a great first season using Glesgakillie's Under pressure tactic.Managed to finish 3 which was incredible considering I only added Stefan Strandberg and Anthony Reveilliere on a free.Benteke was an absolute beast up front for me scoring 30 in the league and winning European Golden Boy as well.Just starting my second season now and am willing to let him go but not for under 30 million.Have got some great free transfers in as well Julian Brandt,Vitinho and Gomis.

That's an exceptional first season! Not only did you finish 3rd but you were 9 points ahead of 4th. Really well done mate.

How prepared do you feel for Champions League football?

[Aandy]

Anyone managed to develop Jack Grealish? Looks like he could be a good player.

He's coming along nicely in mine. I'm using him as a sub in the Europa and as a starter in cup games against lower-league opposition. I think I'm having him tutored but I can't remember exactly who by - maybe Moreno? Anyway, he's consistently got green progression arrows and is gradually getting his pace up: it's 13/12 at the moment. All he needs is an extra yard and he'll be a first-team choice for me.

[Aandy]

Luna may not be the best full back in the world from his stats, but my word he performs extremely well.

He's just got 4 player of the match's in a row, after coming back from injury, in which I won all games (so all other players performed well too.)

Just look at his recent form!

He's been good for me. He has the potential of having an absolute mare every now and again but more often than not he's a solid >7.0 a game guy. What role are you playing him in?

[SGAV]

Anyone managed to develop Jack Grealish? Looks like he could be a good player.

He's playing pretty much every game for me in my second season, I'm using him as an AP behind Benteke and Agbonlahor. Already developed a lot but looks like he could be my star player in another season or two. Will try to post a screenshot of him over the weekend.

[Marc Albrighton]

Grealish doesnt have the bets stats to begin with but whenever ive given him a few minutes or a start in the league cup he's always delivered way beyond his attributes. Start of the second season and a game every 2-3 days so i bumped him up and he scored two away to some austrian team i forget the name. Tied him down to 2018 and bought in ji sung park for a year to use as a tutor with him in mind but the two werent compatible which was disappointing. I reckon 2 seasons more and he'll be a good premierleague starter.

[Haydos_23]

That's an exceptional first season! Not only did you finish 3rd but you were 9 points ahead of 4th. Really well done mate.

How prepared do you feel for Champions League football?

Cheers mate.I tried my own tactic for about the first four games but knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with.The high pressure tactic had my Villa side playing so well.The highlight of the season though was beating Chelsea 5-1.I had a chance at winning the title then but lost at Man Utd so they pipped my for second.

Am not expecting to do much in Europe realistically.Have just started that season and have drawn Basel,Napoli,Porto in my group.First game I beat Basel 3-1 but next game lost to Porto 3-2 after leading.The main problem is lack of depth in midfield.I play Sylla and Strandberg as my BWM and Sylla just got injured for 4 months.Luckily I managed to loan Garcia off City.Brandt has started out excellent for me as well as Vitinho.I will post a shot of my transfers tomorrow.Benteke is desperate to leave and missing a lot of training so will probably accept 30 mil for him.

[Wyer]

Anyone managed to develop Jack Grealish? Looks like he could be a good player.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

He can't get in my side right now tho....

I trained him as a LM.

[benmerrick]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

He can't get in my side right now tho....

I trained him as a LM.

It's early days in 2nd season but he starting for me on the left wing as an inside forward, he's ahead of weimann and gabby in that position. Played 5 premier league games, he's featured in all and scored 2 (including 89th minus equaliser at home to Man U)

Anyway, 5 games into 2nd season, p5 won 3 (Swansea-a Norwich

-h Fulham-a) drew 1 (Utd-h) lost 1 (arsenal-h)

Beat charlton in cup and now have a nice home draw against Leicester.

Along with my signings listed further up in signed Jon stones from Everton for £5m rising to £7.5m. Was a bit of a panic buy as I saw a few other clubs sniffing around and didn't want to miss out on him, he was part of my year 3 plan. Also signed a DM whose name I have completely forgotten. I needed cover in the middle of the park with Mitch and Ekdal out for a few months. Sent josh Webb and max Clayton out on loan along with Jordan graham, Gary Gardner and a host of other kids.

Man U were eyeing up Jed steer but didn't make a bid. He's my number 2 although I was looking at McCarthy from reading. Maybe in jan. No one made a decent enough bid for weimann, I don't want him to go but he hates me and refuses to talk. He's valued at £3.9m, has several years left on his contract and the highest bid I received was 2.9m, I want £5 at least.

Just another 7 hours of work before I can continue with my save

[Wyer]

I'm in my 8th season and I'm not starting a new save until I get a new ground for Villa.

That's what I enjoy most about building a side, its the whole new ground which gives me m buzz.

[andrewfx]

So, my second season in charge of Villa turned out to be great for the club.

I'll start with my second season transfers... again, I made a profit in the transfer window and have technically not spent a penny on bringing players into the club yet.

I decided to bring in a lot of young players as I like to build a young squad, a lot of these players went straight into the first team too so it took quite a bit of time to gel at first, and I was leaking goals left right and center and couldn't score at all! (Sorry Villa fans for bringing Barry back!)

I did spend a lot of money on Rubio in January, but I felt it was needed as he looks an amazing young talent, at only 16 he looks like he could go on to be one of the best players in the world... here he is at the end of the second season.

I started playing Grealish around January time too, and boy did he step up. Moreno got injured so I played him as an advanced playmaker behind the striker and he did brilliantly. Still lots of time for him to grow too.

Onto the business end of the season... had a terrible cup run for the C1C, as like I said, it took the team a while to gel at first, but the FA Cup showed our true form of the season, winning in the final 3-1 to Cardiff.

And last of all our league position... I'm pretty disappointing to have missed out on Champions League football only on goal difference, but maybe it is a blessing in disguise as I don't think I have enough quality in my squad for that yet... oh well, Europa League here we come!

(By the way Ruddy got the 2nd most clean sheets in the league!!!)

So.... looking ahead to next season, where do I strengthen?

I think the main areas I need to focus on is:

DL (A backup/rotation option to Luna; Luke Shaw or Ryan Bertrand I'm thinking.)

DC (I'm a bit short at the back, although Maguire and Okore were first class, I only have Baker and Vlaar as backups, and I'm considering shipping out Vlaar - Steven Caulker or Ashley Williams are top of my list.)

MC (Again, a bit short in midfield and with Barry getting on I need another quality player in the middle, as Romeu didn't really impress.)

AMC (I have a bit of quality here but I'm seriously thinking of shipping Moreno out. I brought him in for around 850k and he's been a great servant, my best player for 18 months but then unfortunately got injured and hasn't been the same since... with a value of £14M I think it's about time to cash in for an excellent profit.)

ST (Again I do have quality here but with another competition to focus on next year I could do with an experienced forward. I do have Mitrovic and Vydra who have both been outstanding this season, with Rubio coming through the youth system, but Fierro has failed to impress.)

[teenagers]

What staff are you guys ditching/signing?

[benmerrick]

What staff are you guys ditching/signing?

Karsa, culverhouse, Marshall, both fitness coaches and all scouts except wilkeman - out

Ins, Steve walford, Ray wilkins, Kevin macdonald, David platt, Paul winsper and Martin Laursen are my usual go to guys

[Marc Albrighton]

Second season finished 3rd with no cups which isnt too bad, all my signings were really average until the last bit of the season so i hope they've settled now for the next one which is why i'm going to limit signings this year.

Ins: Correa from Barca B on a free, decent enough for the premier league and high potential.

Outs: Bennet, Benteke, Delfouneso and im trying to offload one more midfielder. Only sold benteke because of my youngsters and the fact that dortmund bid 30m.

Got players in pretty much every position with at least 4 star potential so i hope i only have to make minimal signings for the next few seasons especially as Webb, Grealish, Graham and Robinson will be ready soon.

[andrewfx]

Just finished season 3 with Villa very happy, and looking forward to next season again, update will come soon.

Next season will be exciting...

[Wyer]

Second season finished 3rd with no cups which isnt too bad, all my signings were really average until the last bit of the season so i hope they've settled now for the next one which is why i'm going to limit signings this year.

Ins: Correa from Barca B on a free, decent enough for the premier league and high potential.

Outs: Bennet, Benteke, Delfouneso and im trying to offload one more midfielder. Only sold benteke because of my youngsters and the fact that dortmund bid 30m.

Got players in pretty much every position with at least 4 star potential so i hope i only have to make minimal signings for the next few seasons especially as Webb, Grealish, Graham and Robinson will be ready soon.

Only 1 worth keeping is Grealish.

I posted a SS of what he looks like on my game.

He couldn't get in my side so I sold him to Real Madrid for 24 mil.

[Marc Albrighton]

Graham has the same potential as grealish according to my staff so definitely worth keeping.

[Wyer]

I can post a SS of him if u want a spoiler....

Just completed 10 years as manager of Aston Villa.

Alot has changed around Villa Park.

No randy, No empty seats in the house....denied planning permission to extend past 55k & the chairman can not get the funding for a new ground.

The highest valued player on the game at 74 million playing down the left for Villa.....

3 League titles in the last 6 seasons - 2018, 2020 & 2023.

1 Uefa Cup - 2020.

Euro Super Cup - 2020

FA Cup - 2020.

League Cup - 2023.

Community Shield - 3 times.

[benmerrick]

Finished 2nd season, very tight at the top. Had been top 6 all season.

Final day and I'm 1 point ahead of arsenal and 3 ahead of city who have a far superior goal difference, man Utd have already won the title

Man U 1st

Villa 2nd

Arsenal 3rd

Man city 4th

I need to beat Southampton away to be assured 2nd , a draw will only do if arsenal don't win.

I'm without key players (Luna and bacuna) 60 mins gone and Southampton take the lead. Man city score dropping me to third, arsenal still drawing, 1 sub left and out of attacking options I take the DM from my 4-1-2-2-1 and place him behind the striker, I bring on a 16 year old newgen for his debut as a shadow striker, 88 mins gone, we attack, goalie saves shot from helenius, weimann strikes...... It comes of the defender who inadvertently knocks the ball into the body of my newgen, we equalise as my player basically face plants the ball over the line (think weimanns winner against Fulham 2 seasons ago but a more scrambled and uglier goal)

Final whistles all round, we're 2nd, unbelievable, I told the board and team a mid table finish, I was hopeful of Europa cup so this is amazing.

Season ends i tell the board and team that we will qualify for the champs league, mixed reaction from team, board give me £14 million and increase the wage budget by 35k!

Transfers:

Out

Agbonlahor - free. He wanted 59k a week to stay, didn't perform for me all season so let him go. Fans hate the decision.

No other outs yet but I've received a lot of bids for fringe players that are tempting me.

Danny batth - £2m, i got him on a free so am tempted

Matthew Briggs - £2m, free again

Delph -£2m, got injured, poor form, dropped to 2 star rating

Sylla - £4m, ok season but that's a decent bit if money for him I think

Ekdal - £5m, he played well, he was a free but am still tempted.

Looking to get rid if steer and tonev. Steer got me knocked out of both cups with some absolute clanggers ( taking free kick from corner flag and passing it straight to opposition striker who taps it into an open net!) he then demanded first team football!

Ins

Georginio Wijnaldum - free (110k comp)

Koen Casteels - free (100k comp) 22 yr old, 4 star keeper(Belgian)

Casteels would only sign a 1 year deal but I'm confident of retaining him.

That's all so far, looking at several deals tho.

Will Hughes - derby £5m (last year of contract next season)

Callum mcmannaman - Wigan £3m (same as Hughes)

Oriol Romeu - Chelsea free

Ignacio Camacho - Malaga free

Granit Xhaka - gladbach £7m

Definitely want Hughes and mcmannaman and then maybe one of the last 3. Xhaka is the youngest and has 17 for passing, romeu and camacho are pretty similar.

What I really need is a back up left back, I'm trying to have as many British and Irish players in the squad as I can but I'm limited by cost, wage demands and how good they actually are. Tempted to get wijnaldums brother how's a left back. 3.5 star rating bit looks good for a back up.

[Psvilla]

Wijnaldum and his brother generally work really well down the left together, played as Psv a few times and always ended up having both.

[benmerrick]

Wijnaldum and his brother generally work really well down the left together, played as Psv a few times and always ended up having both.

Cheers for the advice. Hopefully can grab him on the cheap

[Psvilla]

Really struggling to get Villa to work as no matter what I try the midfield is just to light weight, does anyone have any advice to combat this?

[Hurricanez]

Those injuries at the start of the season are really annoying.

[Mattias333]

Ok...I think i can post images now! My first season review. Playing FMC

I was delighted with my 1st season as Villa as I finished 8th, behind Everton on goal diff only. Only 7 pts of 4th. Here is the table...

"][/url]

I didn't buy anyone but did bring in a couple of loans, at the start of the season I brought in Josh MacEachran & Rubin Rochina. Both were poor for me so I cancelled

Rochina & brought in Vargas. Again Vargas was not good for me so I decided in Jan to get rid of both. I brought in Fletcher from Utd & Gomez from Wigan. I was much

happier with these two. Fletcher really beefed up the midfield as a Ball winning MC or DMC. Gomez I used as a MC Advanced Playmaker.

Fletcher Played 17 no goals and Ast4 AvR 7.04

Gomez played 25 G3 Ast 4 AvR 7.05

The 2 loans really helped my season.

Players in/out in my 1st season...

I set up 2 main tactics, home & away. Took a while to gel but I was generally pleased.

At home... 4-3-1-2 Attack , I decided as we seem to play better away from VP that I would play with 2 up top at home. Lots in midfield and let my FBs attack.

My preferredd 1st 11 was

Guzan,

Luna, Okore, Vlaar, Lowton

Gomez, Fletcher, Sylla (or Westwood)

Helenius

Weimann, Benteke

Helenius played 28, G5 Ast6. Weimann Pd31 G8 Ast8, Benteke Pd34 G14 Ast6, Kozak Pl16 G6 Ast1

Gabby played more away. Pl 19 G7 Ast2. Lowton Pl32 G1 Ast6, Luna Pl38 G4 Ast6

My away formation was 4-3-3 Counter Attack

Same Defense & Midfield although I would swap Gomez for Westwood or Delph. I played 2 Inside forwards normally Gabby on the left & Weimann on the right. Benteke

up top with Kozak as his sub.

We won 10 away and 9 at home. Some big results at home though...Best one was costing Man U the title on the last day of the season, We won 3-0 with Kozak

getting all 3. I was so happy! hahaha

Randy is still delighted about the league finish, I got 6m to spend and a new 3 yr deal. I am however now expected to finish mid table...Pressure!

I decided to Sell Bent to Fulham as I cant see him coming back to us now irl. So I brought in Ola Toivonen from PSV on a free.

Unfortunatly he got injured in pre season & has only come back 3 games into the season.

Here is my transfers in/out so far in my 2nd season. I tried to get Ganso from Sao Paulo. I agreed terms but he didnt get a WP. I brought back Fletcher on a season

long loan. I bought Livermore from Spurs & Moses from Chelsea. I signed Gomez on a free & brought in Marin on loan from Chelsea. I also brought in a another CB/LB

squad player from Real Madrid Leandro Cabera. I may sell Clarke as his performances have dropped badly.

I brought in a young striker from FC Nordsjaelland called TroelsKragelund for 350k. Scout reports he has 4star potential. I loaned him back for the season as well.

I hope to get into Europe this season & win a cup. I was knocked out of the league cup by wigan on pens. So its the FA cup for me!

Ill post a season 2 update after the Jan transfer window.

Apologies if you've been asked a 100 times but what skin is that? Looks great. Best bit is the bottom left corner part with the back of a players shirt with name and number. Is that a feature of the skin or additional add on chap?

[Marc Albrighton]

Thats fmc i believe.

[Mattias333]

ah disappointing! Not purchased fm14 yet but liked the look of that bottom left hand corner image. Shame

[Wyer]

Really struggling to get Villa to work as no matter what I try the midfield is just to light weight, does anyone have any advice to combat this?

Try and use my tactic, I've posted in on the sharing tactics section but heres a link : http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/369183-FM-14-Tactic-4-1-3-2-MBB

[DubyaDubyaDubya]

after struggling with Villa in my first two seasons, my third season i am 5th after 20 league games. Strangely enough i am the highest scoring team in the league and also at the same time have conceeded the most goals in the league too...my best result so far was beating Man Utd 6-3...i attribute my teams turnaround in fortunes to my three loan signings, Jordy Clasie, Lucas Ocampos and Marco Van Ginkel.....of the players i own, Massimo Bruno has been brilliant

[Wyer]

I'm in my 11th season with Villa.

Using my own tactic, I've taken Villa to 1 of the best teams in the game - no editing, no cheating, just good old wheeling and dealing.

But....Randy sold the club after about 8 failed attempts & the new chairman after being in the role for I think 3 or 4 years is about to undo all the hard work I've done and ruin my save.

Havinng just won the title back to back & the Champs League, I noticed that more or less all my star players have around 2 years left on their contracts.

1 of the best CB on the game, I have at Villa and his has 12 months.

He is only 25 but demanding 200k per week to stay.

Board will only allow upto 140k, so they forced my hand in selling him & believe me I don't think I can replace him.

The best player on my save is my LM - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/375026-Whats-the-highest-valued-player-you-ve-ever-had

2 years left and wants 250k per week.

Board won't build a new ground even tho we can't expand and sellout 99% of our home games.

So I've become some what dejected with my Villa save.

Sell my best players in their prime, can't replace them, can't keep them.....

[Psvilla]

Just finished my 1st season as Villa, finished 13th in the leagues got kicked out of the league cup in the 2nd round and somehow managed to get to the Fa cup final but lost 1-0 to Man United.

Overall I feel that it was a great first season especially the cup even tho we didn't win it, but the season was about getting the team set up and used to how I want them to play.

Key players:

Luna: Very solid season didn't put a foot wrong all season and now fighting off Barca for him.

Agbonlahor: 18 goals in all competitions and first season as captain.

El Ahmedi, Not consistent all season but when he was he was on another level.

Now I am in pre-season of the second season and have had to pretty much changed most of the team as the wage rises in the contracts from before I took charge put most of the team to over £40k a week, Agbonlahor ended up on £80k a week but managed to get him to £55k a week.

This season is about getting a set first team together and then bringing through youth players to supplement them when they get older/retire. Grealish,Burke,Graham,Robinson and Webb are going to be in the Euro cup and the odd cup and league games this season to get experience and I will be concentrating on the youth doing well in the u18 and u21 leagues now aswell.

[Gandy]

How is everyone playing Benteke? I brought him in on my West Ham save after Villa was relegated (sorry). I just can't seem to make him score ..

[Wyer]

How is everyone playing Benteke? I brought him in on my West Ham save after Villa was relegated (sorry). I just can't seem to make him score ..

Sold him after the 1st season for 30 mil.

Finally got a new ground.....

[andrewfx]

Haven't posted in here for a while...

Here's my signings for last season. Alot of them flopped, apart from Morrison, Bradley and Wijnaldum.

Still managed to finish 5th though due to my signings from last season really making an impact...

This season I went for almost a whole squad rebuild...

Couldn't resists JWP at £3.5M and Bakkali at £4M. Both absolute steals.

Vydra went for a profit of £23M, Wijnaldum also a profit of £18M, Brandt a profit of nearly £20M and Romeu a profit of just over £17.5M. Happy with that.

[Psvilla]

Well I got sacked after a poor start to the league but a really good start in Europe, having a second rebuild in 2 years wasn't a good thing but thanks to the stupid contract clauses it had to happen.

Starting again but not making the same mistakes this time.

[benmerrick]

3rd season done and dusted. Finished 2nd in 2nd season, board gave me £18m to spend.

Got rid of a few free transfers i'd made at the start of season 2 at a profit,

Outs;

Matthew Briggs - £2m (free)

Danny Baath - £1.9m (free)

Sylla - £4m

Agbonlahor - end of contract (wanted too much money)

Gardner - £775k

Tonez - free

Albin Ekdal - £4m (free)

Delfonesu - 525k

released quite a few youngsters who weren't going to make the grade

Ins;

Callum Mcmanaman - £3m (entering last year of contract)

Will Hughes - £5m (again last year)

Wijnaldium - free

Koen Casteels - free

Granit Xhaka - £7m

Michael Keane - 650k

Ben Davis - £4m (last year of contract)

playing a 4-2-3-1ish

Champs League: Got drawn in the champions league with Barcelona, PSG and Olympiacos! Finished top beating barca at home and drawing away, they didn't get out of the group! I got knocked out in the 2nd knockout round on away goals after drawing home and away with AC milan

League Cup: Won, beat man city in the final

F.A cup: knocked out in semis by man utd

Premier League: 1st. Didn't deserve to win, Arsenal were 8 points clear then collapsed near the end

3rd season, board give me £20m to spend and £1.3m wages. Most of my 1st team are on over 60k now, they deserve it! The only player not on a long term contract is matt lowton, he wants 99k a week!

Planned on not making any major changes but got carried away

Outs:

Delph - £3.6m (last year)

Steer - free

Westwood - £6.5m

Weimann - £7.5m (injury plagued few seasons and always unhappy)

Wijnaldum - £3.6m (couldn't settle)

Callum Mcmanaman - £4m (too many injuries)

Ins:

Ward-Prowse - £4.5m (last year of contract)

Marlon McInns - £3.4m (regen, 4.5 star rating)

Luka Djordjevic - free (19year old striker, a bit like mitorovic)

Muaro Icardi - free

Nathan Redmond - 700k (bargain)

Got a few decent regens coming through the ranks

This season I aim to mount a premier league challenge and try for the quarters of the champs league

[Wyer]

You made a huge mistake in getting rid of Gardner.

With the right training he can go on to be something a little special.

[benmerrick]

I'm still keeping an eye on gardner, he wanted to leave for game time, couldn't settle in the squad due to injuries and other players having much better form.

Anyway it's feb 1st. signed a regen goalie, looked at nathan chalobah from chelsea but decided to stick with the team i have at the mo.

Top of league by 5 points, tough run of games at the end of the season tho, arsenal currently bottom but i guess thats what happens when you hire the man who just relegated everton a season before!

League cup; knocked out in quaters by spurs, played the reserves in my defence

FA cup; knocked out in the 3rd round after 2 legs against southampton. Really annoyed at myself as I put out a weak side thinking it would be easy

Champions league went well after a shaky start, finished 1st with bayern 4 points behind in 2nd. As a reward we've been drawn against Real Madrid in the 1st knockout round. Oh the Joy

[Wyer]

I'm in a pickle myself.

My save is like 2028, regens coming though aren't good enough for me to continue attempting to carry on the way I have been.

Prob going to start a new save with someone else.

Highlight was getting a new ground named after me

[Hagginho]

Im having so much trouble with my team. I dont know how to play and i dont care. 4-1-2-2-1 seems the way to go.

Wanted to counter most teams, to play direkt and fast. But now i dont care. Just give me a tactic thats seem to work well.

Have all players left bar Lowton out and Tom Ince in.

[Psvilla]

I'm struggling to get back into a save now also, might be that I want to try a new tactic but Villa just don't have the players for it at the start.

I just feel my old tactics need to be brought into 2013 as I have used the same style and formation since Fm 2005

[sparey]

Finished my first season, finished 3rd?!?!

This is transfers and final league table;

Tactic is one downloaded from tactic forum, (Chelsea - season 1 quad - 14.2 or something) Basically an attacking 4-1-3-2.

Benteke was top goalscorer in the league, tempted to keep hold of him.

[beverage1982]

What role have people found gets the best out of Fabian Delph?

I play a 41221 counter and am considering using him either as a B2B, CM (s), or BWM; but wanted to pick the Villa brain trust as I can't seem to get good performances out of him.

[JD nawrat]

Playing as Aston Villa. Just into Season 2, but here's how Season 1 went:

Transfers were quiet. With no money, I opted to loan in two left wingers since I had none. I signed Nicolas Gaitan on loan and also brought in Juan Manuel Vargas. The former would turn out to be my best attacking player of the season, the latter a peripheral figure.

I still had issues with the right wing, so I brought Marc Albrighton in from the Reserves and decided that Jordan Graham would play a lot for us in the first season. Albrighton was very good until a serious injury put him out for 3 months, so Jordan Graham got an extended run in the team and proved himself to be a brilliant player for us.

In defence, I opted to start Ciaran Clark and Jores Okore as my starting partnership, flanked by Lowton and Luna. All brilliant. Okore was voted player of the season for us and rightfully so. Clark was sort of ignored despite being the only player so start all 38 games for us and still being beastly. After spending the first few months as a serious flop, a change in tactics allowed Luna to seriously impress, causing him to turn into one of our better players of the season. Matt Lowton was consistently good, too. Ron Vlaar had a terrible time for us whenever he played and found himself shipped out at the end of the season. Cheerio.

The midfield turned out to be set around three players constantly. Gary Gardner found himself as a consistent starter as our DLP/D, whilst Fabian Delph was our AP/A and now-Captain Ashley Westwood started as our Regista in almost every game. Leandro Bacuna came in for Delph when he suffered a serious injury, he was impressive but he was still sold at the end of the season.

Up front, Benteke started, of course. After really struggling to get him playing, he finally found form and finished the season with 16 goals. Unfortunately PSG came in for him for £30M and I sold him.

But not to worry. Enter the new boys. We sold a lot, managing to make around £50M, whilst spending £38M on bringing in new talent. We sold a lot of talent, but all of it was long debated internally and definitely for the best, either for the club or for the player's career (such as Gabby Agbonlahor leaving). The team now looks impressive though.

We were able to buy big after remarkably finishing 3rd. We had a storming first half of the season which saw us well on our way to 3rd, but a poor second half to the season certainly didn't make things easy on the heart.

So far this season we've had a fairly tough time, struggling to dominate games the way we've become accustomed to. But five newboys (Mitrovic, Knockaert, Hughes, Balanta and Romero) going straight into the starting XI was never going to be easy to get used to so quick. Patience is key. We've also been handed a tough CL group, as you can see from that screenshot.

So yeah, that's how season 1 went and how Season 2 is going thus far. Excited to see where I can take this Villa side.

[danthemanwhocan]

Looking to start a save with my beloved Villa. Any tips on tactics and who to play where and in what roles. Delph, Benteke, Aggy?

[JD nawrat]

Delph was good as a CM/A or as an AP/A for me. Benteke was great on his own as a Trequartista. Agbonlahor is crap and had no place with me. I guess he'd work either as an IF/A on AML or up front as a Poacher or Advanced Forward.