Stan Free

Just want to add that this thread, more than any other, has been the one to trigger the "light bulb moment" for me on this year's FM. I've had a go at implementing Cleon's possession theories - with very limited success; tried using my dominant, near plug and play, 433 Assymetrical from last season - no joy; attempted to counter attack, but that didn't go well either. I'd just "got" tactics over the last couple of years, and had become lazy. This thread has helped me remember how using some common sense TI and OI within a base tactical framework can be so effective, and has taken my Sassuolo team from 12th-14th-16th to 3rd. Well played sir, well played.

End of season 4 in my first proper Dons game of FM13, and i finished third with 74 points. One point behind Celtic, who won the league. St Mirren were second, one goal better off than me. Bloody St Mirren. Playing a 3-1-3-1-2 formation, with Osbourne as anchor man at DMCr, Croatian lad Tibor Cica as a DLP in the MCr slot, 17 year old newgen Bill Anderson causing havoc at AMC. Cammy Smith and Tomas Necid up front as DLF and DF. Sold McGinn to The Rangers for £150k. He couldn't get near my team, and was only rated at 1.5 stars...

I've only just got to December in season 1. Sitting in 7th place, using a 4-5-1 formation with Nemeth/Chalali at inside forward on the left and Vernon/Josh/Nemeth as a poacher/target man up front. We're looking a lot more solid and starting to pick up wins. Folly's on his way out to Barnsley, which should free up funds for some squad bolstering, or to put together a package that persuades Arnason to stay. He's so far rejected all my new contract overtures. Kelvin Etuhu (age 23) has announced his retirement, after breaking a leg. He's set to retire at around the time he gets fit. If a termination of contract didn't cost £500k, i'd be binning him to save the £3k a week wage he's eating up.

Taking my time to get through this, but anyway... First three games drew 1-1 vs St Johnstone, lost 1-0 to St Mirren (87th minute penalty, FFS sake Jack min), won 2-1 vs Celtic. Signed Kristian Nemeth on a free and sold Mackie to Rochdale for £50k. Then lost 1-0 to Hearts and 3-2 at Ibrox. I have now ditched the 5-2-3, as it does not seem to be especially great. On the face of it, it should suit most of the players (Foster the only player not in a natural position), but it's just not happening. So now I'm about £2000 a week over my wage budget and looking for a formation to both suit my unbalanced squad and provide instant results.

Oooohh, a Dons thread. Right... Demo game: sacked in January. I was 10th, absolutely no consistency, yet only 6 points off third. I reckon my somewhat cavalier 442 was to blame. Mawene and Considine don't reslly have the pace to play that high a line. Anyway, proper go now. I've set myself up in an attacking 5-2-3 formation, based on a tactic i saw on here somewhere t'other day. Signed Brazilian right wing back Flavio and Kelvin Etuhu, after he scored 5 out of 7 in a friendly vs Cowdenbeath. GK - Gonzalez (Sweeper Keeper) RWB - Flavio (Auto) LWB - Foster (Auto) DCR - Arnason (BPD - Stopper) DC - Mawene (DC - Cover) DCL - Considine (BPD - Stopper) MC - Fyvie (BWM - Defend) MC - Milsom (MC - Support) RW - Pawlett (IF - Attack) LW - Etuhu (IF - Attack) CF - Vernon (TM - Attack) Considering deploying Josh or Chalali in place of Vernon, as i need a bit more mobility up front, and they have both adapted to solo front man work better than he has.

FM's probably about as advanced as my non PS3 gaming goes, apart from the odd burst of Trackmania here and there, so I think I'll go with the integrated. Cheers.

Option 1 (£420): ACER 5742 Core i5 laptop with 4GB memory - Black * Intel® Core™ i5-450M (2.4 GHz) * Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit * Memory: 4GB * 500GB Option 2 (£530): Lenovo G570 Part Number: M513ZUK Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Dual Core Processor, 15.6" HD Screen, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 1GB Dedicated Graphics (A 4GB RAM version with integrated graphics is also available for £480) I'm assuming the Lenovo will be the better option due to higher RAM and dedicated graphics, but is it better enough to justify the additional £110 outlay?

Maybe if the button was differently labelled...?

Had an 18yo Spanish regen called Eneko Megias at Parma. He was a wonderkid by the time he was 20. Sadly, he was also a picky get and refused to sign a new contract with me, so i ended up losing him for only £13 million plus 25% of next transfer. He turned world class at Udinese within 6 months, then Barca came in with a bid of £45 million for him. Got another one just now, Argentinian U20 midfielder called Basilio Iglesias. Got him tied up for 5 years, so i'm not losing out on this deal.

I'm in season 7 in Serie A now, and i certainly haven't found it unplayable after 3 patches...

Must be true then. I'm waiting for the demo before making any kind of judgment. It can't hurt to see what else is out there, after all.

First season with Aberdeen, i came second and was in with a shout of the title up to the last 3 games. Fluked my way into the champion's league groups the next season by packing the defence and playing for penalties, pocketed the cash and went on a spending spree. Bought a heap of youngsters who are due to come good in season 5, so i'll be disappointed if the league is not mine by the end of that year. We've started promisingly though.

I had a game that twice said it was unable to load. I put it down to a problem reading my HD due to my laptop being left on for a number of hours. Switched off, left it to cool down for a while and the third time i tried, it loaded up fine.

There was no keeper on the bench, but that Slovak(?) full back they've signed (Milan something...) was designated as back up keeper in case Boruc's replacement was injured, so i suppose they still had a keeper on the bench.

Dunno about Rangers as a club being under a favourite, but maybe the staff there...? Walter was his assistant at MU for a while, after all...