FM2008 - Official How to improve my team

[theincrediblehulk]

AcidBurn

Answered the Eduardo question in the Arsenal thread.

Have you sold anybody yet? Samba particularly? If not, then he does very well at RB. So maybe just stick with him?

You still have Arshavin and Riquelme right? If you do, then you should be fine for now with those 2 and Johnson. And Ireland can do a decent job. In the meantime, I would suggest you start giving Lansbury as many games as possible. He becomes class and will partner Johnson very comfortably in the centre. If he doesnt grow, then maybe you can look for an AMC next year. If you still do want to buy, maybe try Mathieu Bodmer? And ofcourse, there's always Matias Fernandez if he hasnt moved.

Barnetboyz

Surely Richard Dunne is better than Briggs??? Even Ben-Haim should be better?

Anyway, I would probably change the attack a little - play Elano on the right, Matias in the centre and Petrov on the left. Wright-Phillips should be more effective coming off the bench.

Think you're covered just about everywhere. You could just slowly try to improve the quality of your bench. You could do with some versatile player for your attacking midfield positions. Someone like Menez, Modric, Dos Santos (you should be able to get Modric & Dos Santos for resonable prices in Jan or season 2 I guess). You dont really need anyone for your starting XI just yet. Just a few players who can take over when guys like Petrov, Elano, Dunne starting declining. Oh and you would probably need a new striker next year if Robinho gets unhappy and wants to leave.

[Barnetboyz]

Briggs was a mistake i admit, Dunne or Felipe would usually partner Richards, i disagree with the attacking sides, Elano is a much better AMC then Fernandez and petrov well isn't that good

[ballinisahabit]

what is everyone in your team so concerned about?

and i agree with you elano is much more effective in amc give him free role aswell

[Barnetboyz]

they don't think i give the team enough credit.. thats all

[theincrediblehulk]

Barnetboyz

Never said Matias is a better AMC than Elano mate. The reason for my suggestion is simple: I rate Petrov (who is plenty good imo) higher than SWP. So I was accomodating him into the side. Normally, I wouldnt do it but even though Elano might be better than Matias, its not by a whole lot. And I think Elano would go well on the right wing with the arrow in the box as he's a very good finisher as well.

Ideally, it'd be great if you can buy a better striker than Jo (maybe Huntelaar?) and put him upfront. Then you could have Elano on the right, Robinho on the left and Matias in the centre. And the great thing with that is that you could easily have Robinho, Matias and Elano swap positions with each other if you want. And that would make them near impossible to mark.

[AcidBurn]

I would suggest getting a better striker you obviously have the money surely there is someone you can attract that can play up front on their own I would then move Robinho to the left and rotate him and Fernandez.

[DiscoStu94]

I think we should keep the same thread for '09 as that way people still playing with '08 or '07 can still post here, and this thread came in pretty late anyway.

[Barnetboyz]

Robinho is a world class striker.. am strugling how people could say thaty i need a new striker :S

[theincrediblehulk]

Barnetboyz

Robinho is a good striker mate but he's a great winger. You can find plenty of better strikers than him around but you wont too many better wingers around. That's the difference.

[Barnetboyz]

i think i will stick with Robinho as main striker as he already has 16 in 16 starts \o/

[G-Man11]

Club - Atletico Madrid

Patch - 8.02

Season - 08/09

Transfer Budget - £85.64M (£47.82M remaining)

Wage Budget - £1.56M

Wage Budget Remaining -£776k

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell) -Aguero, Andreason, Armand, Mensah

Have Podolski joining in January and Rossi joining in July. Currently Saviola is on fire but is not an untouchable as I am allways willing to improve my squad. However Aguero is a potential club legend and Andreason, Armand and Mensah are all candidates for a future Captain.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I won the league in 07/08 season as well as Uefa cup and Spanish Cup and currently competing in Champions league. Also have sufficient backup for squad members in B-team (Keeping them as the team plays in Liga BBVA) including Motta, Santana, F Merida, Jurado, Pichu Atienza and Havard Nordtveit (and many other good youth players). Just to give people the context in what level I am playing at and what players I have.

[theincrediblehulk]

G-Man11

Squad looks good but there seems to be a lack of Spanish players in the first team no? So maybe that should be your aim.

Firstly, without changing your squad, maybe you'd be better off playing Armand at LB and starting Andreasen at CB? Lopez is a good LB but I think Armand is better. Besides that, I'd leave the first team alone as it seems more than good enough. Oh, maybe you can bring in a better GK. Franco is good but you can always take it a step up with Lloris, Neuer, Frey or Akinfeev. Or if you want Spanish, then Reina.

Besides that, like I said, bring in some Spanish players. Guys like Cala, Aquino, Sunny, Capel, Iago, Olazabal, Pique etc. Or maybe you can bring in players like Javi Martinez, Raul Garcia, Jesus Navas, Santi Cazorla, Cani, Zapater, Albiol, Alexis, Soldado, Arteta, Miguel Torres, Mata etc.

I think guys like Zapater, Torres and Cazrola would be particularly useful for you. Zapater is as good as your two DM's, Torres would be great as he can cover LB and RB easily and even CB if needed and Cazrola can play just about anywhere in midfield. Albiol usually has a lowish release clause and is a quality CB - better than the ones you have starting for you. And he's also an excellent DM. Cani and Mata are very versatile as well.

[Mikal]

Club - Tottenham

Patch - 8.02

Season - 10/11

Transfer Budget - 41.5m

Wage Budget - 1.47m

Wage Budget Remaining - 400k

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell)- Ideally don't want to sell any of them, with exceptions of mudingayi, cardozo and maybe jiminez depending who I bring in.

I'm looking for young players who I can bleed into the first team, or put them in reserve/loan out for a season. Would love some English players, but I just can't find any!!!

Using the same tactic as G-Man

With this team won the league twice in a row, league cup twice, FA Cup semi finalist's twice and season just finished lost the champions league final to Arsenal on penalties!

Apologies if the pic is to small, here's another link to a bigger version http://i35.tinypic.com/287p4dc.jpg

[G-Man11]

G-Man11

Squad looks good but there seems to be a lack of Spanish players in the first team no? So maybe that should be your aim.

Firstly, without changing your squad, maybe you'd be better off playing Armand at LB and starting Andreasen at CB? Lopez is a good LB but I think Armand is better. Besides that, I'd leave the first team alone as it seems more than good enough. Oh, maybe you can bring in a better GK. Franco is good but you can always take it a step up with Lloris, Neuer, Frey or Akinfeev. Or if you want Spanish, then Reina.

Besides that, like I said, bring in some Spanish players. Guys like Cala, Aquino, Sunny, Capel, Iago, Olazabal, Pique etc. Or maybe you can bring in players like Javi Martinez, Raul Garcia, Jesus Navas, Santi Cazorla, Cani, Zapater, Albiol, Alexis, Soldado, Arteta, Miguel Torres, Mata etc.

I think guys like Zapater, Torres and Cazrola would be particularly useful for you. Zapater is as good as your two DM's, Torres would be great as he can cover LB and RB easily and even CB if needed and Cazrola can play just about anywhere in midfield. Albiol usually has a lowish release clause and is a quality CB - better than the ones you have starting for you. And he's also an excellent DM. Cani and Mata are very versatile as well.

Yeah I have a couple of decent Spanish prospects in my B team including Aquino and I did have Raul Garcia and Zapater but got offers of 20mil plus for both so decided to sell them. I may bring Jurado back into the first team and I am currently monitoring Mata, as for Goalkeepers I will most likely sell Wiese at the end of the season and relegate Franco to Bench duty as I can approach Lloris with a contract at January and have unsettled him to make sure he doesn't sign a new one. As for Lopez I would agree that Armand is better however currently Lopez is playing very well and is the only Spanish player in my 11. I also tried to bring Sunny in but he snubbed me and how has moved to Arsenal so may be hard to get hold of.

My policy has been to bring in decent players for the short term before flogging them off for lots of money to enable me to then bring in the expensive Spanish talent (Like Mata and Silva who Valencia want loads for).

Mikal

To start with I would but Samba on the bench and bring Zapta in to replace him, as Samba is a good Jumper/header of the ball but not a great all round CB. Also in 8.02 Fernadez is much worse than in 8.00 and as such I would perhaps relegate him onto the Bench and replace him with Jiminez. I would also bring in Urby E into left back as he is better than Pander. As for English players I would try and bring in the likes of perhaps Jermain Defoe who becomes a very good striker, Micah Richards who becomes a very good CB/RB, Michael Johnson can become a very good CM and if you really want good english players just do a filter search with English players only and see who is valued highly.

[simonlambert]

Club - Aston Villa

Patch - 8.0.2 (player database from 8.0.1 though)

Season - 2009/10 - End of 3rd season

Transfer Budget - Unknown as yet, just finished the season in 3rd place and heading into the summer, new season and transfer window. Guessing it is going to be £30/40 million as am relatively strapped for cash.

Wage Budget - £913,000

Wage Budget Remaining - £201,000

Untouchables (people you wouldn't sell) - Garay

Screenshot of your squad and best 11

Been a bit up and down. Finished 4th in the first season, 10th in the second and am now under pressure to challenge. Don't yet have the reputation to attract the really 'big' names.

[AcidBurn]

I would say you need a better GK and another RB which would mean you could move Vanden Borre to the AMR position I have heard he is better as a winger. Chygryinskyi although his natural position is CB has been wicked at RB for my Sunderland team I am just wondering how Michael Johnson can be playing so bad for you on my game he has an extremely high average rating and scores quite a few goals aswell. If Defoe isnt doing the business for you I would sell him on and try to bring in Huntelaar or Bianchi as both are great target men in my opinion.

[Mikal]

Mikal

To start with I would but Samba on the bench and bring Zapta in to replace him, as Samba is a good Jumper/header of the ball but not a great all round CB. Also in 8.02 Fernadez is much worse than in 8.00 and as such I would perhaps relegate him onto the Bench and replace him with Jiminez. I would also bring in Urby E into left back as he is better than Pander. As for English players I would try and bring in the likes of perhaps Jermain Defoe who becomes a very good striker, Micah Richards who becomes a very good CB/RB, Michael Johnson can become a very good CM and if you really want good english players just do a filter search with English players only and see who is valued highly.

Thanks for the reply... Samba has been with me from the very beginning and has never really let me down, as good as Zapata is I think rotating between the two works well for me. I agree about Urby. Fernandez has been one of my most consistant and top performing players I've had so Jiminez will just be playing in the lesser games as usual.

I've just bought Guilherme (AMC/ST), work permit permitting and I am looking to now offload Cardozo. I do have another problem now though. I bought Ilsinho and I am now playing him on the right, and I sold Borre. Utd have just come in with an offer of 16m + 4m after 20 games and 30% next sale for Chretien, which I think is to good to turn down. But would leave me with just Ilsinho on the right... Does anyone know of any other players who are similar to Ilsinho/Daniel Alves/Rafinha (he's just been bought)? Ideally not older than 25, and I'm onto my 4th season. I have something like 35-40m to spend (not looking to spend it all, though). Any recommendations would be great.

Here's a repost of my team incase you haven't seen it (minus and plus the players I have mentioned)

Or scroll up for a bigger version.

[simonlambert]

I would say you need a better GK and another RB which would mean you could move Vanden Borre to the AMR position I have heard he is better as a winger. Chygryinskyi although his natural position is CB has been wicked at RB for my Sunderland team I am just wondering how Michael Johnson can be playing so bad for you on my game he has an extremely high average rating and scores quite a few goals aswell. If Defoe isnt doing the business for you I would sell him on and try to bring in Huntelaar or Bianchi as both are great target men in my opinion.

I was thinking about a keeper upgrade in the summer keeping De Sanctis as a strong backup.

Michael Johnson has suffered as I have been swapping my formation around all over the place to try and find something that worked with the players I had. I am a bit overloaded with central midfield players and in this formation there are just two. Barry's place is safe but Arango has been playing surprisingly well in more of a deep-lying role. I am hoping Johnson will break through next year. When he has played he has been pretty good in patches and scored a few important goals.

Defoe has been as inconsistent as the rest. Sometimes good, sometimes useless. He is too lightweight to play upfront by himself though and the partnership between him and Carew just didn't really click.

Going to have to see what I can do with summer transfers.

Thanks for your input AcidBurn.

[AcidBurn]

Simonlambert

Not sure if you are against downloading tactics or not but there is a tactic by knap that would enable you to play Goalie a flat back 4 then Barry as a CM with a barrow to DM. Two wingers and then it has 2 AMCs with barrows to MC which is where Johnson has performed so well for my team along with a young Brazilian called Tales. If you dont mind downloading tactics check out one called Oxford to the Prem title in 6 seasons the thread is called.

[weeeman27bob]

Club - Liverpool

Patch - 8.0.2 (

Season - 2007/08 January

Transfer Budget - £11.47 million

Wage Budget - £1.5 million

Wage Budget Remaining - £1.17 million

Untouchables (people you wouldn't sell) - Torres,Agureo,Gerrard, Babel,

Screenshot of your squad and best 11

Players not in the ss for one reason or another: Torres, Pacheco,Nemeth,Wjinadlum(sp), Aquino, Sakho

[Jedzo]

Club - Bolton

Patch - 8.02

Season - 2010/2011

Transfer Budget - £14.87M (£10.88M remaining)

Wage Budget - £1.4M (£1.25M)

Untouchables (people you wouldn't sell) - Huszti, Nolan, Cahill, Crouch, Yakubu, Kacar

[AcidBurn]

You must be doing good to be 2nd but I think you need better CBs maybe someone like Fazio and Chygryinskyi they are both quality the rest looks pretty good although surely Jaaskelainen is getting on a bit now I would look at someone like Joe Hart I have managed to get him for as low as £3.5 million before and he has been quality for my Sunderland team.

[Jedzo]

Well if you think 2nd is good - i won the league last year! haha

Anymore thought for a goalkeeper?

Im in the process of getting Fazio, but Chygryinskyi has been bought already ad for £10M so dont have a chance there. I have enquired about Hart but he dosen't look too great anyway.

Cheers tho - good advice

Hope you can help more

[AcidBurn]

GKs are hard to get I think there is Cassio but he struggles to get a work permit Harts stats dont look great but he plays well for me. Theres the usuall Costil, Enyeama or maybe try Bogdan Shust he has always been pretty good for me before just dont let him throw the ball. Krystian Pearce is a good one for the future has stats in all the right places for a CB but not sure he is up to it yet.

How the hell did you win the league I am in my 5th season with Sunderland and have won the champions league but cant beat that damn Arsenal team and I hate Man Utd aswell.

[Jedzo]

Its the formation. Try it.

I beat Chelsea like 5, 6 7 - 1 normally! Its gets you baggs of goals.

Thanks for the help mate, really appreciated. If u get anymore ideas please PM me

[donGIORGIO]

Club : Man City

Patch : 8.02

Season : 1st

Transfer Budget : 25m e

Wage Budget : 1.4 m e

Wage Budget Remaining : 385k e

Untouchables : Elano, Fred, Richards

I need LB , and MC probably, but what do u think where can i improve else ?

[AcidBurn]

I think you need a LB for sure also I think a world class AML for next season would be great a another CM. I have Michael Johnson in my Sunderland team and he is awesome could do with someone like Veloso to play along with him and also you need another backup striker I found Boijinov too injury prone and Benjani is just rubbish in my opinion.

[arsenal_2111]

Sell:

Schmeichel: £2mil

Bojinov: £8mil

Benjani: £6mil

Isaksson: £1.5mil-£3mil

Ferreira: £500k

Ball: £500k

Hamann: Whatever

Etuhu: £4mil

Those are approximate prices.

Improve:

GK: F.G. Ochoa. Great buy for anyone! About £10mil

DL: Hmm... Pander from Schalke? About £6mil IIRC

MC(Fernandes): Denilson, on loan. Flamini also

AML: Matias Fernandez

If you can raise a few million from the 'sell' players, invest in youth such as Saivet, Sakho, Aquino, Wijnaldum. If you want English, try Bostock, Moses, the CB from West Ham.

Hope this helps:)

[donGIORGIO]

Team

Petrov

Petrov is doing pretty good job...Fred also is amazing...Corluka and Richards scored 18 goals together...

[donGIORGIO]

Fred

[SAFCrhys_keanoFTM]

Club - Sunderland

Patch - 8.01

Season - 2008/09

Transfer Budget - £20 million

Wage Budget - £500k

Wage Budget Remaining - Almost all of it

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell)- Craig Gordon, Flamini, Arshavin

Your best eleven:

Gordon

McShane....Addo....Anderson....Harte

Edwards....Flamini....Whitehead....Richardson

Jones....Arshavin

[AcidBurn]

To be honest I would say that your whole defense needs to be improved a player in every position. I would try Vidal for LB, Fazio for CB and maybe Gioda or Walter Garcia to partner him. Has Jones performed for you on my game he was terrible. Take a look at Biram Diouf he is great on the RW or upfront if he hasnt moved from his original club. Pisculishi and Sebastian Blanoc are worth a look but might struggle to get work permits. Whitehead remains a quality player but if you could get £5 million for him I would sell. Did you sell Leadbitter? You can get £5 million for him at start.

[AcidBurn]

Club - Sunderland

Patch - 8.0.2

Season - 2012/2013

Transfer Budget - £40 million

Wage Budget - £1.4 million

Wage Budget Remaining - 300k

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell)- Veloso, Messi, Torres, Tales, Michael Johnson, Any of the back 4.

http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sunderlandkl9.jpg

Not sure what to do as we won the league without losing a match I think maybe a backup for RB and maybe another striker as backup to Torres. Lansbury is on the team page but I have sold him for £30 million plus 50 percent sell on. I need a new RB as Chygryinskyi is injured for a few months thinking of Micah Richards but not sure how much he would cost.

[killface]

Ok I'm starting my 5th season and don't know what to do. The only interest for players is coming in Breno and Sakho. I could probably get 50m each with internationals, but I doubt I could get anyone better than them. Saivet is a 199 Pa so I'm not going to sell him and I will not sell Podolski, Lahm, Kroos, or Schweini. The right wing has been tough for me, since Nani is the only great player I can get there. Jesus Navas won't come to me...even though I have the 4th highest rep in the world. The left mid plays defense most of the time so ignore the farrow. It is the main place I'm going to work on this summer. If I could sell Didot and Lucas I would not be bothered. However, I will not sell either for less than 10-15m. Selling Babel wouldn't bother me a lot either. If I could get a lot for Kolarov I would definitely sell too. I just noticed that Hart is in goal in that ss, Ochoa is my starting keep.

Sorry I don't know why imageshack is being bitchy but that's the biggest it will go.

this is the starters.

ST: Saivet, Podolski

ML: Schweini

dMC: Lucas

aMC: Kroos

MR: Arda Turan

DL: Lahm/Kolarov/Jamsen

DC: Breno

DC: Sakho

DR: Clerc/Lahm

GK: Ochoa

Oh also Bourillon is going on Bosman and Oscar Trejo is coming in. Oops I have 100m for a budget too, but I like to be frugal

[killface]

@ acidburn, I suggest grabbing Philipp Lahm for cover on the full backs. He's one of the best fullbacks in the game and can play either one.

[Jedzo]

Club - Bolton

Patch - 8.02

Season - 5th (2011/12)

Transfer Budget - £2.50M (Im broke!)

Wage Budget - £1.90M

Wage Budget Remaining - £1.85M

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell) - Crouch, Agbonlahor, Ederson, Stendardo, Saivet

Screenshot of your squad and best 11 - Soz, my screenies aren't loading properly so this wil have to make do;

--------------------------- ----Tim Wiese------------------------------

---------------Guiglielmo Stendardo----Cristoph Metzelder---------------

---Ronald Zubar--------------------------------------Szabolcs Huszti---

---------Gabby Agbonlahor--Gabriel Tamas--Juan Manuel Mata---------

--------------------------------Ederson------------------------------

-------------------Peter Crouch----------Yakubu----------------------

S1 - Oier Olazabal S2 - Rafael Marquez S3 - Gojko Kacar S4 - Cani

S5 - Nordin Amrabat S6 - Henri Saivet S7 - Hugo Almeida

Others include;

Matteo Ferrari, Arthur Boka, Thomas Hitzelsperger, Danny Rose, Karadeniz Batuhan,

Claudio Pizzaro, Ricardo Olivera, Aquino, Anatoliy Tymoscuck, Neymar, Stijn Schaars,

Patrick Vieira

Cheers, hope yous can help

[Crayons]

I'm in 2014 and my squad is pretty big, mainly defence, who should I sell in this team?

http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture2mo6.jpg

[arsenal_2111]

Club - Bolton

Patch - 8.02

Season - 5th (2011/12)

Transfer Budget - £2.50M (Im broke!)

Wage Budget - £1.90M

Wage Budget Remaining - £1.85M

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell) - Crouch, Agbonlahor, Ederson, Stendardo, Saivet

Screenshot of your squad and best 11 - Soz, my screenies aren't loading properly so this wil have to make do;

--------------------------- ----Tim Wiese------------------------------

---------------Guiglielmo Stendardo----Cristoph Metzelder---------------

---Ronald Zubar--------------------------------------Szabolcs Huszti---

---------Gabby Agbonlahor--Gabriel Tamas--Juan Manuel Mata---------

--------------------------------Ederson------------------------------

-------------------Peter Crouch----------Yakubu----------------------

S1 - Oier Olazabal S2 - Rafael Marquez S3 - Gojko Kacar S4 - Cani

S5 - Nordin Amrabat S6 - Henri Saivet S7 - Hugo Almeida

Others include;

Matteo Ferrari, Arthur Boka, Thomas Hitzelsperger, Danny Rose, Karadeniz Batuhan,

Claudio Pizzaro, Ricardo Olivera, Aquino, Anatoliy Tymoscuck, Neymar, Stijn Schaars,

Patrick Vieira

Cheers, hope yous can help

Get a new

LB(replace Huszti)(Matt Hill?]

CB(replace Stendardo[He may be good, but i haven't heard of him)])(use Marquez)

MC(replace Gabby)(maybe use Oliviera)

Which will leave you with quite a strong squad.

Crayons:

Same as what Stu is going to say below TBH, you're squad isn't actually that big.

[DiscoStu94]

Jedzo, all you really to improve on is RB and LB, other than a few back up purchases, your fine for now.

Crayons, what tactic do you play? Your squad isn't too big imo, but it can depnd on the formation tbh.

[DiscoStu94]

weeemanbob, your squad is excellent in the first XI, but you might want slightly better back up all round, better the Harry Kewell anyway.

[arsenal_2111]

weemanbob - I'd get new FB, esecially on the right. Also, I'd consider only putting the FB's arrows to MR/L as your defence could be vunerable.

But judging by the name of the tactic, I don't need to be advising you on that!

I'd also replace Carragher. He's getting older now, and slower too. You want to replace him before he starts making mistakes, get Vidal, Burdisso, Barzagli to replace him.

Perhaps mix Babel, Fernandez and Gerrard around. I'd play Babel in Gerrards role, Fernandez in Babels and Gerrard in Fernandez's.

[DiscoStu94]

Just use Arbeloa instead of Finnan and Carragher is fine for the first season.

[arsenal_2111]

But he's still getting older, and there are better. Better to replace him whilst other players are still cheap(such as those I mentioned)

[Barnetboyz]

New Season And Need Some Opinions

Club - Man City

Patch - 8.0.2 Weegie

Season - 2nd

Transfer Budget - £9114

Wage Budget - £1.38M p/w

Wage Budget Remaining - £634k p/w

Untouchables(people you wouldn't sell)- Elano, Richards, Johnson, Fernandez, Chretien, Traore, Diarra

Screenshot of your squad and best 11

[weeeman27bob]

weeemanbob, your squad is excellent in the first XI, but you might want slightly better back up all round, better the Harry Kewell anyway.

weemanbob - I'd get new FB, esecially on the right. Also, I'd consider only putting the FB's arrows to MR/L as your defence could be vunerable.

But judging by the name of the tactic, I don't need to be advising you on that!

I'd also replace Carragher. He's getting older now, and slower too. You want to replace him before he starts making mistakes, get Vidal, Burdisso, Barzagli to replace him.

Perhaps mix Babel, Fernandez and Gerrard around. I'd play Babel in Gerrards role, Fernandez in Babels and Gerrard in Fernandez's.

Just use Arbeloa instead of Finnan and Carragher is fine for the first season.

But he's still getting older, and there are better. Better to replace him whilst other players are still cheap(such as those I mentioned)

I've bought Rafinha for the right back slot. I was also going to go for Bojan for a second season loan but he didn't want to come. So I bought Huntelaar instead.

I think i still need another left back, but it's not vital this season.

Backup-wise I've never used Kewell. I tend to use lots of youth team players as backup.

[tomtuck01]

Barnetboyz

You have a very good starting XI, and you just need to look at triming down your squad a bit as you have far too many players. Personally I would get rid of;

Nedum Onuoha

Michael Ball

Sylvinho

Wilfred Bouma

Martin Petrov

Mauro Zarate

The above players you either dont need, or are not good enough for a side looking to go on and dominate domestically and in Europe.

Id also defeinitely get rid of Orlando Engelaar, not because he's a bad player, but just because his position is wrong on FM. (He's really more of a DM in real life).

Id also look for a better back-up striker for Keissling as Jo can be very inconsistent. And retrain Jack Wilshere to be able to play on either the right or left, he performs very well there.

[arsenal_2111]

Normally I don;t like Rafinha, but as you're using him more attacking I guess he was the best choice.

Try for Vidal, he can be a first choice CB and backup LB. Eduardo from Bahia too.

[Barnetboyz]

Barnetboyz

You have a very good starting XI, and you just need to look at triming down your squad a bit as you have far too many players. Personally I would get rid of;

Nedum Onuoha

Michael Ball

Sylvinho

Wilfred Bouma

Martin Petrov

Mauro Zarate

The above players you either dont need, or are not good enough for a side looking to go on and dominate domestically and in Europe.

Id also defeinitely get rid of Orlando Engelaar, not because he's a bad player, but just because his position is wrong on FM. (He's really more of a DM in real life).

Id also look for a better back-up striker for Keissling as Jo can be very inconsistent. And retrain Jack Wilshere to be able to play on either the right or left, he performs very well there.

Ouuoha rejected a move to pompey for 5M so i'm trying to get rid, same for Ball & Bouma as they are not needed, Sylvinho has only just joined and will be back up to Traore as Mattock will probably go out on loan again, Petrov is my only cover for Fernandez so has to stay and the same is with Zarate & SWP, Engelaar may be in the wrong position but he is an awesome player with great stats so he will stay .. Zarate can also be cover for the 2 strikers

[Jaynm]

Zarate can't be sold ffs.

[AcidBurn]

I like Zarate he was brilliant for my title winning QPR side and my Crewe team when we were a champions league side. Plays alot better than his stats suggest. How does Michael Johnson do for you I bought him or Sunderland and would not sell him no matter what I was offered.