Nodge
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Posts posted by Nodge
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Hello all, it would be a great help if I could get some advice on this. I’m wanting a new laptop, budget around £600. I’ve narrowed it down to this one. Would this be a suitable option?
Asus Vivobook 16x, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, intel core i5-12500H.
Integrated Intel® Iris® Graphics. Full specs below £609.Looking at CPU benchmark it looks good. Only thing holding me back is that its i5 and not an i7 or a Ryzen 7…
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2 hours ago, npjones88 said:
Emi is THE MAN for Norwich. Guy carries the team. He will go missing and churn out a little run of 6.30s and 6.40s once in a while, but he's an enigmatic winger, what do you expect? When he follows it up with 8 games scoring or assisting in a row you don't really mind. Wouldn't sell him for 200m at this point.
He absolutely is. And as i say, best player i've ever seen play for Norwich. Was my best player in the second season as well. Scored more goals, got less assists. To be honest, i don't blame you for selling Godfrey for that sort of money. I think CB's are a little more replaceable than attacking players and that money is obscene. I'll see how i do in this 3rd season and potentially consider cashing in big money for someone so i can reinvest it in the right places.
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Season 2 - 2020-2021
The team had performed well the previous season despite limited depth and not too much money spent. Aside from Almada and Garner, who was on loan, the first team was not really improved until January with the arrival of Badiashile and Mattheus Henrique after some more money was released from the board. However, depth was an issue, the first team did need improving, particularly up front and on the LW.
Transfers In:
- Tonali - (£16m) Atalanta was relegated and i couldn't believe he expressed slight interest and for that cheap fee. Tonali would replace Toy Trybull as DLP. I went over my mental wage cap of 60k to sign him on an 80k wage.
- Finlay Robertson - (3.2m) For the future and sent straight out on loan to Mansfield where he became L1 Player of the season.
- Talles Magno - (18m) Brazilian wonderkid LW who would replace Cantwell
- Rhian Brewster (loan) Pukki and Brewster vied it out for a starting place in my team. Brewster managed just 8 goals, 5 assists from 27 starts with Pukki outscoring him but i got him on loan again for the following season.
- Lee O'Connor (1.8m) - future back up RB, straight out on loan.
- Gavin Bazanu (375k) - future GK prospect from Man city
- Adam Hlosek (9m) - Wonderkid RW signed in January who made a strong impact early on as back up to Buendia.
The longest running transfer saga was that of Buendia who had a series of suitors after being the 5th best player in the league last season and assist king. Utd, Spurs, Arsenal and more were all in for him. I speculatively kept negotiating for £95m and Man Utd actually matched it! I deliberated selling him but then remembered how much we relied on him the previous season and turned down the agreed negotiation. He wasn't happy but by October he was okay again and he signed a better 5 year contract before January. My constant praise of him i think had an influence as we were 'very close' before the bids came in
Transfers Out:
Plenty of loans and frees. Drmic, who i was disgusted to learn was on 50k p/w when i first fired up this save and failed to score a single goal, Phillip Heise (1.8,), Vrancic (550k), Leitner (4m), the permanently unhappy Sam Byram (2.5m) and Rocky Bushiri (15m) to China in January leaving me with 3 CB's for 5 months!
Season Review
I created an away tactic that was to prove crucial that was more reserved and better suited to the big sides. It still didn't prevent me losing 7-0 to arsenal away but made a huge difference in our FA Cup run and led to some much closer games than the previous season! Unfortunately, injuries were more of a factor this season and i lost Pukki, Badiashile, Buendia was several weeks whereas the previous season i barely recorded a serious injury. Whilst games were far closer in the league we only managed to get 5 points more than last season finishing in 9th with 60 points. The biggest 7 teams were outstanding with even 5th placed Liverpool recording 77 points when last season 5th got 64. Our best result was beating Leicester 5-0 at home (they still finished a place above us), we drew with Man City and lost 4-3 to them, drew with Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool away and lost narrowly 3-2 to MU at Old Trafford.
The season would otherwise be a bit disappointing if it wasn't for our FA Cup run. We played Rotherham, Huddersfield, Wolves and then Liverpool (quarters), Man City (semis) and Spurs in the final. I knew the season was heading for top half of table mediocrity and studied Liv, City and Spurs carefully before the game watching videos of their games and tweaking my tactics accordingly. We managed two 1-0 wins in a row before the final with Spurs. Annoyingly Mattheus Henrique was injured in the week of the final in training and so Lewis Ferguson stepped up the plate. Something similar had happened in the Liverpool game where Zimmerman on 85% had to come in because Badiashile was suspended and did a fantastic job. It was a frankly dreadful final and the stalemate was only broken when little used Tom Trybull unexpectedly came off the bench to tap in Almada's free kick in extra time at Wembley! I cracked open a beer at 3pm in the afternoon and ran round the house. Absolutely glorious stuff and access to the Europa League the following season.
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On 12/05/2020 at 11:59, npjones88 said:
How did you get on with Cantwell? I'm just getting ready for S3 and I think he's a great player in real life but had to send him on loan to italy in January as I can't get anything out of him. Ive tried him in the role you have him in but I think the rest of the attack moves too fast for him as he never performs. I think the PPM combo of tries tricks and beats man repeatedly are really reducing his effectiveness as he's not quick and agile enough to get away from defenders (certainly not if he insists on beating them more than once!)
Do I sacrifice one of the 'Holy Trinity' for a shot at the league title or continue to be patient with my young guns and look to find a truly elite partner for him? It leaves me short of the Home Grown four for this years Champions League too, until Almada, Verschaeren and Armini qualify at the start of S4.
Cantwell is a squad player for me now come start of season 3 (will post review of season 2 soon). I also had reservations about his lack of pace and his PPM's. I initially didn't want him cutting in as i wanted Buendia to do that from the other side and Cantwell to hold some width but he failed to manage it so i adjusted my tactic. My tactic in first season had most of the play on the right. Playing as an inverted winger attack he scored 9 goals and 3 assists in the first season from 37 appearances. I also rate him in real life but i'm not sure he's cut out to be anything other than a decent premier league squad player for a mid-table side. I haven't seen massive improvements (i only gave him 3 starts second season, 21 sub appearances) in his game either.
Of the holy trinity of Lewis, Aarons and Godfrey i would try to keep them all together as the English spine of the side for a while. Godfrey is a great defender, trains well, shows massive improvement and is a team leader for me now and vice-captain after a leadership course. The 90m figure is extremely tempting though but i like to keep the band together. This is personal preference though! You probably won't get anywhere near that for a CB again however... Something similar happened with Buendia for me in the 2020 summer transfer window and i held on. My ambition is to keep some of the old guard active in the club, particularly the English players as i do seem to keep buying foreign players on every FM. I'm trying to hold some form of club identity together from that winning Championship season. Zimmerman has been my captain despite not playing much for 2 seasons, Pukki is a team leader and a good back up for me, Cantwell is a squad player. Krul will stick around til the contract ends. Buendia is a God amongst men and possibly the most talented player i've seen play for Norwich so I plan on never selling him and Godfrey, Aarons and Lewis also fall into that bracket despite lesser footballing ability.
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Since lockdown, i upgraded my laptop and bought the full FM version after taking Cambridge to the prem on the Touch version. 86 hours later I've now just finished my second season so i'll go through chronologically, maybe over a couple of posts, to fill you in on the save. If anyone is unsure about a save with the Canaries, then hopefully this can commit you to them. Brilliant English youth prospects, fantastic facilities, a full stadium, a board that doesn't have massive expectations and decent finances mean that Norwich is an excellent club to start with. I'm also totally not biased.
Season 1 - 2019-20
After analysing the squad, i decided i wanted my fullbacks to attack and my attacking midfielders to roam with freedom, with a focus on dominating the ball and playing good attacking football. I settled on a 4-2-3-1 wide trialling with Buendia being my key player as an advanced playmaker from the right.
Transfers In:
- Thomas Ouwejan (£3.1m) - backup at LB
- James Garner (loan from Man Utd) - add some steel and height to midfield
- Lewis Ferguson (1.1m) - sent on loan for experience
- Thiago Almada (6.6m inc. add ons) - To play as AM central
- Noah Jean-Holm (1.8m) - bought in Jan. Sent on loan for future
- Badiashile (6m) - bought in January to be first choice CB
- Matthias Henrique (10.25m) - bought in Jan to be first choice CM
Transfers Out:
Numerous loans and frees from the bulging U23 squad. Perennially injured Onel Hernandez shipped out for 900k in January as needed free space on wage bill along with Grant Hanley for 2m who played okay in Zimmerman's absence at the start of the season but didn't suit the passing out from the back style i desired.
My first team was made up of Krul, Aarons, Godfrey, Badiashile (from Jan), Lewis at the back, Tom Trybull in DLP alongside James Garner in CM, with Cantwell as inverted winger from the left, Almada in AM, Buendia on the right, Pukki up front.
The season got off to a shambles with a 3-0 loss to Burnley after a good preseason. I wondered if we had it in us, such was the poor showing against premier league opposition. Fortunately, there followed 2 wins in the league in a row that settled us and gave us confidence that we were making the right moves. The highlights of the season included a 4-0 win against Newcastle (who then tonked us 3-0 in the Fa Cup 3rd Round), a 2-0 at home to Leicester and a 1-0 win away to Chelsea. Our problem was that we usually either won the game fairly comfortably or lost comfortably. I endeavoured to make a proper away tactic in time for next season. The season ended with Norwich in 10th, far removed from relegation which I was pretty happy about. Pukki was top scorer with 12 goals and Buendia was absolutely majestic. I already love the man, but now i'd die for him. Without him and some excellent luck with injuries we'd have languished toward the bottom of the table. He scored 5 goals but assisted 18, getting an average score of 7.49.
A successful season and one to build on now young players like Badiashile and Lewis had garnered extra experience at the top level. We certainly needed more depth for next season if we were to improve and i needed to keep key players. Unfortunately, my plans for doing business early in the transfer market were scuppered due to a board takeover. There were a couple of heart in mouth moments as i worried i might lose my job but fortunately they saw sense and let me continue. The new board were a little more ambitious, wanting me to avoid a relegation battle next season. I still miss Delia.
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This will likely be my last post on this thread because my save has moved away from the lower leagues now that Cambridge have been promoted to the premier league. Gone are the days of free agents, loan signings and poor attendances and it's hello to worldwide scouting, big money and wonderkids. I've been incredibly surprised by Cambridge's transformation, spending just one season in L2, 2 in L1 and 2 in the Championship. I've certainly found it easier smoother and faster due to playing the Touch version of the game but it has wetted my appetite for the full version - just need to buy a computer now!
Season 6 - 2024-25 - Cambridge United Premier League
I knew my squad needed strengthening in almost every area aside from CB, RW and in midfield, but even then reinforcements were needed. Luckily, the board armed us with a 400k wage budget and a £29m war chest in addition to upgraded facilities and a new stadium on its way as our previous one only had 8000 capacity. Whilst our 16000 seater theatre of dreams was being built we moved into Vicarage Road for the season.
Out went Robbie Gotts, Brandon Comley and Nathan Holland for a combined 13m and in came numerous faces, including some regens (most for the future or playing bit parts). Ethan Laird and Brandon Williams came for cheap at the end of their contracts, whilst Schubert, Van den Berg and Fin Robertson came in each for around a million. I was determined to pay max £25k in wages per week but broke that in January when i splashed out on 3 regens for a combined £40m (the board gave me an extra 20m when asked!). James McMahon was somehow back at the U's for the 3rd season in a row on loan and that has to be our biggest signing as he scored 38 last season in the champ. I have no idea how he came back on loan or why Arsenal let him go but i'll take it!
What i thought would be a very difficult season ( i lost 7-0 to Liverpool last season in the 3rd round) was in fact far easier than expected with the U's absolutely flying. I changed the tactic from a positive possession based one to a counter attacking tactic that was defensively solid. Surprise wins against Man City were incredible and i'm now hoping for a mid table finish with an outside shot at the Europa League - far beyond my wildest imagination. I'm sure the second half of the season will be more difficult now i am no longer a surprise quantity. My ambition is to one day win the league with Cambridge although i'm sure it will take a long time to crack the big teams who have such a wealth of players and money. There's a few screenshots down the bottom to take a look at if interested. Good luck to all!
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Season 5 Cambridge United 2023-24
Our first season in the championship was incredibly tough and without the brilliance of James McMahon we’d have struggled to stay up. I knew that the tactic I’d been roughly working with (tweaks every season) wasn’t great and was heavily reliant on set pieces. It seemed to have lost its defensive soundness in the championship as well. Combined with the better standard of player I was now able to attract and loosened purse strings, I was sure we could play a better standard of football and so changed from a more cautious, direct counter approach to one based around playing out from the back with a more positive mentality. I could barely believe the improvement, particularly in the first half of the season where it was like watching another team. I almost clapped some of our majestic team goals before I realised I was alone with an iPad in my living room.
The tactic caught a lot of teams by surprise because we were usually underdogs and favourites to go down. Games were tighter in the second half of the season and I had to adjust a couple of roles and attack/support duties. Here is adjusted said tactic with the team a year on (my seasons go fairly quickly on touch so my write ups are behind!).
In terms of signings, the key players were once again regen James McMahon who I again signed on loan, palversan, Bruno jordae and kitolano. The squad was a lot stronger than last year and I had more financial muscle by selling Conor gallagher and Ben sheaf (I was in love with Ben sheaf but the money was too good to turn down so I accepted it with a heavy heart). Here’s some of my signings, again mostly on frees.
The season was exceptional with McMahon relishing further creativity in the side. He scored 38 goals but I’m genuinely not joking when I say he could have scored 100 such is the incredible number of 1 on 1’s he missed. I could never hate my top goal scorer who fired us to the top but I did want to punch him in the face sometimes. Everyone played excellent with Brandon comley, Kyle knoyle, rawson, Hughes and Nathan Holland all long timers who all contributed hugely. Several CU players were in the team of the season.
Overall, an incredible season and one I never expected (I actually was aiming for a top half finish). Premier League would be a big step up but I did have the incredible riches of the top league to help me. I’ll post my prem write up shortly as I’m currentl6 halfway through the season there.
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I can’t quite remember the last time I filled you in on Cambridge’s season but think we’d just been promoted from league 1 in 3 rd place in our 3rd season. The following season in the championship was a difficult one but we managed to ensure we stayed we stayed in it, finishing in 17th place. I was keeping a similar tactic to what got me promoted in previous seasons but the championship had that edge of quality that we seemed to lack.
I got regen James McMahon on loan from arsenal who was excellent and toward the end of his time became a wonderkid scoring 21 goals to keep me up. In addition I managed to get Conor mcgallagher from chelsea and Noam emeran in addition to a couple of other players.
If I were to suggest a few players to get in the lower leagues that will continue to give you great performances and improve year on year it would be Sam Hughes, ferrend Rawson and Ben sheaf, with Brandon Conley on the cheap, all of whom were abolsutely superb, even into the championship. I’ll post the season and a bit I’ve done more recently tomorrow as there have been some exciting changes at Cambridge since and I’m a little behind on my write ups.
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Last time I posted I was 2/3 of the way through my second season with Cambridge.
We managed to come 3rd but lost to 6th place Luton in the playoff semi finals, a game particularly devastating as they are our rivals. The team needed much more depth and a better attack to go for automatic promotion the next season.
Season 3 2021-22 League 1)
- Transfers In: josh Laurent CM (free) - terrible, on transfer list in Jan but sadly unwanted
- ndjoli AML (26k) - 15 goals and fairly decent
- eddie brown ST (120k) - great until injured in feb which meant he missed the rest of the season. 16 goals and top goal scorer
- simon power RW (free) good but injured for large portions of season
- Gotts RW (loan). Signed on free at end of season after good performances
- reece Cole CM (130k) did well at end of season. Signed in jan and gave some good passing quality
- i also got Matt blake on loan, Reagan Riley who I loaned out, el abhd for backup CB/leadership, Cirjian on loan.
transfers out: Hannant (76k), Andy Dallas (37k)
Consistently in the playoffs throughout the season but incredibly reliant on set pieces, as shown by Kevin O’Connor, a LB who my coaches say is league 2 level, winning L1 player of season and racking up 15 assists. Tried tinkering with the tactic a little more this year and suffered a couple of dips as a result. Better squad depth helped us as injuries were worse this year than last. Defence were superb and much settled. Ended the league in 3rd place, just 3 points off Lincoln. If it wasn’t for 2 disappointing draws in the last 3 games of the season we’d have pipped them to second. After last years disaster in the playoffs I was apprehensive as we were drawn Rotherham, a team I’d never beaten. Sure enough in the first game away we lost 1-0 and looked abject. I tinkered heavily with a tactic I occasionally used for teams who we were better than to give us different shape and we won the second leg 2-0. The playoff final was a typically bitty affair with few chances for either team, but Connor Hall seized on a mistake and we were promoted to the championship! I was also disgusted to see that for the second season in a row I’d been snubbed for manager of the year.
Season 4 2022-23 Championship
Wage budget went up to 97k with a little for transfers which was nice but I am very much in the land of the big dogs in the championship with teams like Leicester just relegated. My wage structure which had 4.4k as the limit for star player Ben Sheaf was smashed to bring in a number of players as soon as I could on frees. A huge number of players had been on 2 year contracts and were released with all key players so far retained. I’ve signed Gotts, Callum Elder, C Gallagher (9.5k p/w), L McCormick, N Holland (9.5k p/w), Tom Flanagan and a couple of regens on loan from arsenal up front and in goal have been signed. I’m hopeful to stay up considering how well we did in L1 but there does seem to be some incredible quality in the championship. I think we could be here for a few seasons. In other news, Cambridge moved into new training facilities which had been on the cards since the game’s launch bringing our training up to 3* and I’m now allowed to scout Europe! I did get an offer from Brentford who came 4th in Championship last season that would triple my money but I’ve decided to stick with Cambridge at least for the first season.
This is now the season of the World Cup and the fixture list looks disgusting. I’ve got a small squad of about 19 useable players. I’m exhausted just looking at the number of games. How is this season and are there any tips to deal with fixture congestion?
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Cambridge United FC - League 2
It’s not been since 2015 when I last played football manager but after looking at some videos on YouTube I got the itch to fire it up all over again. I chose Cambridge because I have a friend who plays for the club and because I prefer to start lower down as I feel it’s too easy to start with Norwich in the prem. I’ve done well with Cambridge and it’s been a far cry from my last save on FM15 where I spent 3 seasons of mid table mediocrity with Morecambe (and inexplicably part time Jamaica manager). Perhaps the reason I’ve found it fairly smooth sailing is because I’m using the Touch version on iPad rather than on PC and have therefore not had the crazy player interactions i remember or tactical familiarity to deal with. Here’s a little write up...
Season 1 - 2019-20 - League Two
I’m a new manager with semi pro experience. Expected to finish in the bottom half of the table but had an surprisingly excellent season. Had 3 tactics on the go but mainly used the screenshotted counter 4-3-3 tactic for 90% of matches (has been tweaked over time). My aim was to simply do the bare minimum and I didn’t bring any players in with none bought or sold at the start of the season. The starting squad is good enough to stay in the division with a couple of good young players who I played as much as I could. Harry Darling and Leon Davies were good in defence alongside George Taft and star man Daniel Jones whose delivery from corners and free kicks gave him many assists. There are good CM’s and up front is well stocked. In January I got Kevin O’Connor (good LB who again provides set piece assists), Bigirimana on a free (good CM who somehow was voted worst signing of season in league despite some good goals) and Shodipo on loan who all helped push us up into the automatic promotion places where before we were in and out of the playoffs. Sam Smith was excellent on loan from Reading and scored 20+ goals to secure 3rd in the league. Shocked by the result but also delighted. Target for next season was to simply try to stay in L1.
Season 2 - League 1 - 2020-21
I used the increase in budget and boards delight to get a new contract and sign some players before their contracts ran out. There needed to be some extreme restructuring as the squad on paper was barely alright for the playoffs in L2 let alone L1. I signed some on cheap transfers. With my new riches I was quite brave at handing out contracts and was severely burnt when the new season rolled around as with promotion bonuses we became 10k over wage budget. Fortunately my signings were made early doors with quality wingers the only thing still on my shopping list. I’ve spent the entire season trying to get some money in by selling Taft and Carruthers in January, setting up a couple of pre season friendlies against man united and Chelsea. We lucked out and played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the 3rd round of the FA Cup finally getting the financial situation back on track. I was ready to sell the signed clothes off my back.
My key signings of Luke Southwood, Sam Hughes, Ben Sheaf and Majka have been excellent but Cambridge old boy (relatively) Harvey Knibbs has really stepped up as striker when given a run in the team with Connor Hall chipping in every so often for goals. Dale Grubb has mostly lived up to his terrible name.
To be in the playoffs is pretty incredible with key wins away at derby, Bradford and Rochdale. We had mixed results at the start of the season with a couple of good runs and a dip. I almost hope that we don’t get promoted as this squad is really not ready for championship football. I believe I will probably end up just outside the playoffs or lose in them. I did get a job offer from a Barnsley in the Championship which was tempting in December but think I will stick by Cambridge for now.
Last but not least, I have a very good regen at CB (screenshotted). Fulham etc. have been bidding for him but I held out for a million + 50% sell on from Birmingham. I was shocked they were willing to pay it and then rejected it. What should I do with this player? Sell for more cash? Keep?
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FM24 - PC/Laptop advice thread *** PLEASE READ OPENING POST BEFORE POSTING ***
in Football Manager General Discussion
Posted
Brill, thanks for the answer. Not very knowledgeable about computer specs so thought it was worth getting a second opinion.
I know this is £100 more, but this has been mentioned in the thread a couple of times. Would this Huawei Matebook 16 be much better than the Asus Vivabook 16x I initially mentioned?
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/huawei-matebook-16-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-512-gb-ssd-grey-10241914.html