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lomekian

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41 "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"

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    London, Uk - lying in the gutter looking at the stars

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    Sport! (all), art, theatre, film, people

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  1. Always do it with some freebies first season to some degree but FFP has also got me thinking. Some of my cheap starlets will help sigificantly even if they never get a sniff of first team action. Got some chap called alexander Murillo from RB Salzburg that my scouts liked for a grand total of £550! Going to be hard to make a loss on that one!
  2. Have attached my tactic - when I can work out how to post screenshots I'll share one. Have also attached my 3 option setpiece routine collection -largely based on what we've done this season. The tactic is my interpretation of what Arteta is TRYING to do IRL. All I can say is, if you play enough pre-season games to get it up to speed and your players fit, it REALLY works with this squad. I have noticed in this years FM that if you get on a roll, both within individual games and in general, you can really rack up some scores. Choice results so far: 7-0 away vs Brighton on the opening day (off only 2.5 xG - the opposite of real life) 5-1 at home to Liverpool 5-0 away at Forest (with Hulk scoring off the bench on his debut) 9-1 at home to West Ham (who were biazarrely awful and easy to create against.) 7-0 at home to Spurs (the AI making some seriously odd selection choices at FB and in midfield, and conceded 6.81xG with their first 11). And then the best ever result I've had in FM on any version - 11-0 vs Chelsea. However HUGE mitigating circumstances in this one as they had a red card (Reece James) and FOUR players injured (Thiago Silva, Sterling, Jackson & Chilwell), ending the match with 8 men, and that was after coming into the match with a huge injury crisis, missing Enzo, Gallagher, Disasi & Mudryk, Palmer & Mudryk on top of Fofana, Nkunku & Lavia already out. They've turned their form around since then and are 6th. I always find it interesting how players form varies from save to save. On my prior test run to develop a tactic, Saka was underwhelming, but in this one he is like Messi - 14 goals an 10 assists in 13 games - despite being used in exactly the same way with the same teammates. Havertz has been godly in this one too, having been so so in my test, whereas in that Zinchenko, Jesus and Nelson had been the leading lights. It is of course unsustainable that this form will last, particularly when the hard CL fixtures and other cup games kick in, but hoping to build up a nice points lead. Lomekian meets Arteta23-24.fmf mat Routine Collection.fmf
  3. Finally succumbed to FM24 and after a couple of test saves until Nov seas 1 to work out my tactic, get my head around the set pieces etc, have started my first real save. DISCLAIMER: Using some DB add-ons that 1) add real life youth players to the game (from some FM website), so have Obi-Martin etc 2) Add all Arsenal u16s myself (info taken from various websites) 3) Added BIG points deduction to Man City (the cheating bastards). Not enough to guarantee relegation, but enough to make it possible. I thought this a way to hedge bets re real life sanctions when they come 4) Remove Brexit. Yes I am still bitter. 5) Cancelled Tierney's loan (just read Sociadad won't buy him IRL so figured why not keep him in FM). No First teamers or existing youth edited by me. SEASON 1 Starting Transfers Obviously Arsenal are skint to begin with, so first thing is to grab some filler non-squad guys on Frees. Some old blokes for mentoring usage, who don;t mind the old Scott Carson role. Others who rate themselves and will ask to leave when I don't include them in my squad, so can be flogged ahead of first transfer deadline to raise some funds. And pure profit for FFP! Trial them first then hold off to get them on lower wages than day 1. Old blokes: Daniel Caliguri, Oumar Niasse, Marco Motta, Gael Clichy (yay!), Diego Lopez, Adrian Silva, Kazuyoshi Miura Frees to sell: almamy Toure, Kevin Malcuit, Jose Compana (will sell when fit in Jan-ish), Tanguay Coulibaly, Anwar El Ghazi, Lingaard, Jose Sumonovic, Peter Etebo, Jean-Paul Boetius, Nemanja Jovic, Suleyman Doumbia. Used same logic to pick up Alejandro Zendejas and Alvaro Fidalgo for a combined £528,000 from Club America in Mexico - Allowed me to be prepped for any opportunistic sales in attackers outside the first 11, and neither complain about missing out on squad registration. Both actual good performers too. Managed to get in 7.5m for Coulibaly, 8m for Toure & 10m for El Ghazi, and used Boetius in a p/ex signing later. The rest will be given league/fa cup minutes to maintain their value if the draws are kind, and to protect the real first teamers. Then it was loaning out guys - targetted scandi teams as they always seem to be willing to make big loan payments in the summer until their seasons end in late NOV, but even some championship teams seem to be willing to throw some decent cash about. Raised a 3-4 million in loan fees alone, including for the younger freebies I brought in. This income (and the use of deferred payments) allowed for some signings. Nearly all CHEAP prospects. Barco at £6.25m the most expensive - so effectively got him for having to train Coulibaliy for 2 months. Hoovered up some SUPER CHEAP prospects based on the Guardian's next Gen lists for the last 2 seasons and other youth players I had heard of who turned out super cheap. These included GK Nathanial Nwosu, AM Prince Ndlovu, Kebir Ali Canpolat, Marcus Bering, Hunor Nemeth all without fees. Lots of Africans can come for next to nothing (maybe this is because I removed Brexit?), but also lots of other randoms from the next gen lists or from English teams (and Real Madrid youth too) can be picked up for next to nothing, which when you defer payments becomes almost nothing. Managed to bring in about 35 prospects for under 1M budget total! It helps I am a football spanner and love scouting! Then as per, scouted Benfica & Sporting youth set ups, becasue they tend to have great mentals and personalities. Brought in Joao Veloso at the start for what will become £4.2m (and got 1m back in loan fees!). A few others I will try to pick up in January or the summer. Only first team squad signings were the aforementioned Barco, HULK for £4.5m (I'd always wanted to sign him), he provides cover up front and for Saka, and his PPMs are fun, Papetti from Brescia for £1.8m just to give 1 more u21 defensive option who can play the odd game in a push, and Ernst Poku in a £6m cash + swap deal for the aforementioned Boetius - because PACE. I did want to sell Partey and bringing Kephren Thuram, but despite lots of Partey interest, the offers were derisory, so we'll keep him for the time being. Also flogged Cedric in a loan deal that payed me£1m in loan fees with a guaranteed £4m in future income. Obviously improved the coaching staff, as some of what we have there is poor. Will continue to do so as more funds become available. So bar Cedric out and Tierney, Barco & Hulk in, we start as we are.
  4. Not sure why but my tactic seems to nuke Brighton, even though they've been boosted in the update. Played them 3 times: 7-0, 9-0, 12-1 all with their first team and with my season 1 starting 11 with only a couple of new subs.
  5. Here's my main one - (I also use Zinchenko as a more traditional IFB (A) as well) - I'm struggling with screenshots! Lomekian meets Arteta3.fmf
  6. Got this lad in my first intake. Shouldn't be a CB looking at his physicals, but might make a great DM https://ibb.co/J2B9CZN
  7. After a couple of partial season experiments, I finally finished a season on this years FM with work and kids precluding me before. Probably the 2nd best season I've had on any edition of the game since the original one in the early 90s! Won everything, went unbeaten in the league and found a tactic and rotation approach that worked amazingly, which is a slightly tweaked version of what I think Arteta has got the team doing this season, but with better set-pieces, and greater defensive solidity. Scored SO MANY goals, despite missing Saka and Jesus for a couple of months each. The signings I made, although cheap, were key. Main element was a desire for physicality or positional flexibility as I think this squad needs both. Summer: Vrsaljko came in on a free (as did a couple of others I then flogged in January who didn't impact much), to basically replace Cedric in the squad. Not much cop, but allowed me to rest others in the domestic cups, as I didn't bother registering him. Also brought in Quaresma (mostly for mentoring and to be on bench in LC & FA Cup). Brought In Olivier Ntcham from Swansea for 925k mostly to be a bench option in domestic cups, but also to be a HG option beter than Matt Smith. Cheap wages tasty long shots, which is part of my tactic. Hugo Veltesen - £3m. Was plannng to target him for a bosman in due course, but again moved early to stop Spurs getting him. Performed much better than expected and was key in the Europa League run January: Added numbers to protect first 15 as fixtures stacked up Zlatan! - 1.2m - Bought as a personal indulgence, a great mentor and some height to throw on up front if needed. Can't run, but an absolute demon off the bench in games we dominated. A goal a game in all comps purely as a sub coming on after 60-70mins. So good in the air, and occasionally belted one in from DLF. Performed far better than expected and improving the mentality of those around him too. Jake Cooper from Milwall - 2.5m - a cups only option to beast it in the air against physical opponents. 4 goals in 6 starts, including against Brentford in the Fa Cup final where he shut down Ivan Toney Roberto Gagliardini from Inter for £1.3m (listed/contract expiring)- basically resplaced Elneny who Man Utd bizarrely bought for 25m and played a lot. Great mentals and professionalism. Pretty meh like Eleneny, but randomly boshed one in from 30 yards in the Europa League QFs. Being listed meant he's on the same wages as Mo was. Sivert Mannsverk from Molde for £3.7m - wasn't going to go for him yet, but had to buy him to stop Spurs getting him. Like him in real life, and I think he's a touch overrated on FM. Good preferred moves and apparently good personality. Basically he'll replace Gagliardini in the squad. Only had a handful of games, but was v solid. Dani Ceballos - Free. Real Madrid released him, so I picked him up after Jan transfer window ended to boost my cup squad. Plan to sell him if I can, should be possible as on lower wages, but can cover Xhaka role to a degree if not. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain £3.4m - last minute of transfer window as needed someone who could cover right wing as Saka had a few knocks. Being home grown and givng sentimentality points was fun too! Was dirt cheap (though expensive wages at 100k). Turned out to be prescient as Saka got injured for the run-in, and The Ox stepped up as an assist machine, particularly in the Europa League. Alvaro Fidalgo £450k, America (Mex) - bought him on a previous experiment as cheap cup cover for Odegaard as F Vieira was struggling with a few knocks and ESR got an injury towards the end of the window. Tomas Lemar £6m - Didn't really need him, but I thought listed at that price, being so versatile, and potentially able to cover the way I use Zinchenko, it seemed like a sensible pick up. Didn't use him as much as I thought (partly because I somehow failed to register him for Europe like an idiot). Worst case scenario is he gets sold for a profit, but I think he'll see more game time next season. Nelson Weiper - Mainz - £3.4. Brought in the 17 year old after having a look at him after reading a story online about his goalscoring exploits. Well rounded, good size although not exceptional at any one thing. Though it turned out he was exceptional at scoring goals. I realised I was onto something when scored SIX goals against an under strength and tired Man U in the league cup Q4. He got 4 in 120 mins of Fa Cup football, and 16 in 9 starts and 5 sub appearances in the Premier League, which was very welcome after Jesus got injured and Eddie couldn't play twice a week. Scores all kinds of goals, Headers on set pieces, dinks after beating the offside trap, rifles from tight angles, scrappy ones off his knee. Has improved a lot too, suggesting he has good hidden attributes. Elsewhere, from the starting squad, Martinell, Saka, Odegaard, Jesus and Xhaka were all amazing, with the latter getting 13 goals and 20 assists in all comps as a Mezzala at LCM. https://ibb.co/C81Zqwf https://ibb.co/WWh8ZcR https://ibb.co/bd2CbKj Squad info in URLS above as I can't work out how to insert images without getting errors Think best results were beating full strength Brighton 7-0 away and then 9-0 at home
  8. Nah, just a massive Arsenal spanner who produced and hosted an Arsenal podcast and wrote articles for 7 years or so, who knows a lot more about the club and its youth prospects than the Arsenal researcher ;-)
  9. Started out at Arsenal before going to Celtic. I think his dad is quite famous in his field of work.
  10. But do you want to be a 442 in possession as well? Out of posession you can create the same to a degree by getting your AM & CF to mark respective centre backs (or to certain degree setting pressing in opp instructions).
  11. Easily done if you abandon symmetry. I've not had a symmetrical formation on FM for years, and my tactics tend to be very effective. With this challenge, its tricky because the best tactical coaches innovate quicker than FM can adapt, so the roles of Ben White and Xhaka in particular are not possible to fully replicate in game, because they fulfill multiple functions in matches. Same with Fabio Vieira when he was at Porto. That said I'm pretty happy with what I;ve come up with. I haven't got round to screenshots and image hosting yet, but I've uploaded my tactic if anyone wants a look. Martinelli is killing it as IW(a) - 18 goals, 13 assists in 16 games in season one (15 games in the EPL). Odegaard drifing into the right half space and playing diagonal balls behind the full back has accounted for half of those. Needs a bit more work to get the team doing more pull backs to arriving attacking midfielders. Not sure its possible to get White both tucking in and overlapping without the match enging nerfing the link with Saka, or indeed the Xhaka unique position combo of DLP, RP, MEZ, AM, IWB that he can regualrly play in the same game, but I'm pretty happy with the rest. Lomekian meets Arteta.fmf
  12. And of course, one of the major issues is that certain desired improvements to the game - development model, greater dynamic potential, more nuanced player ratings, latest tactical innovations etc - a) have come into widespread consciousness quite rapidly in recent years and b) would potentially require a ground up overhaul of so much of the entire game - and would involve a lot of work and expense, without necessarily seeing that reflected commercially or in terms of popularity. The issue (as it was with Civ in historical 4x games) is that 1 title has become so successful and market dominant (and rightly so I hasten to add) that other developers are loathe to really offer serious competition because the investment to likely return simply isn't worth it. And without competition, there is no impetus to accelerate the pace of development. That said, despite a few lingering issues, the new match engine IS a notable step forward, and probably makes a bigger difference to fans/customers than many of the other issues discussed. But yes, the press conferences are terrible, and have been for years.
  13. Thank you both for the patience and graciousness of your responses @MrPompey & @HUNT3R - I will have a proper look when I get a chance and stick my oar in in a constructive manner. I very pleasant contrast to when I questioned this in the past. I guess I'd probably start with the youth teams (particularly Arsenal as I write about them and work with some youth specialists on occasion), because they are so poorly researched that it should be a low bar in terms of offering something useful!
  14. Trust me, having been a part of this community since it began I do appreciate the roles of Assistant Researchers, but 1) ultimately those people performing the roles for free is more of a question for SI (ultimately FM's viability relies on its database) & 2) My previous attempts to input some years back were treated in a manner this discouraged further input. Given that you have been kind enough to engage in this conversation, what do you make of the points I have raised in the post directly above this one? I suppose the ESR one is just about detailed enough that you may be able to suggest how one might approach the point I'm making. I'd also like to have someone (anyone who knows!) respond to the issue around u18 ratings being so obviously incomplete, which given just how much data and footage is avaialable out there now, particularly for high profile clubs, really shouldn't be acceptable for something so database driven. I'm more than happy to contribute in a positive manner to addressing this, but would want some sort of knowledge about how this would work before spamming the data bugs forum.
  15. Thank you. I guess I'm just trying to make the point more generally though, bugs only really tend to cover clear data errors (ie factual absolutes) - the attribute ratings etc are of course subjective. I'm not really bothered about any one specific attribute or invidual player record. Its the cut and paste approach and the lack of knowledge re youth prospects that frustrates. Its been the same for a few years. I've raised the broader issue more than once in the past, previously giving specific examples, but have basically been told to do one. The question is, what can be done about opening the game and seeing 2/3 of a squad having almost identical attributes 3 or 4 years in a row, despite significant real life changes. To use an obvious example, why has Emile Smith Rowe, after a largely breakout season, England caps, 10 EPL goals in half a season and one of the best shot conversion rates in the country for those with any notable shot numbers, got very similar attributes to FM20 when he had barely played a first team game, and almost identical attributes to FM21 when he played twice in the top flight with very little impact.The Attribute distribution suggests a tiny CA increase from very inexperienced u21 player to England international. The u18 ratings are an absolute joke, with players known for their speed off the mark with accelleration and pace of 8 or 9, players heights and weights inaccurate - random stats at 1 or 2 which bear no relation to the players in question. Its like they are purely based on vague archetypes and then totally randomised. u21 players tend to be more fleshed out, but again there are multiple examples of players whose attributes are almost entirely unchanged in 2-3 years. Of course its far better than 10-15 years ago when every half decent youth prosepct had a chance of being a top international player, but given how much of the DB is pre-established and just needs updating year on year, its a LONG way short of acceptability when data update is such a huge part of what we pay for, and to my view is actully getting worse year on year. It also calls into question, as does the training elements, and the changing trends in football, whether the current CA/PA and attributes model is suitable for purpose any more. Although I appreciate moving away from that would be a HUGE undertaking and would probably take years of work to achieve.
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