FM08 : Olympique Lyon : Les Gones

[Barnetboyz]

Champions Trophy \o/

8 starters were french \o/

Bodmer now my other AMC as he is just by far the best MC in my squad

[AJ (Manager)]

Nice result BB. Bodmer is indeed a class act, just a shame I lost him to Man Utd in my game, bloody chairman!

Now, I am 3 seasons in and only just realised my reserves dont play any games. Is there a way to rectify this?

[Barnetboyz]

you could give them some friendlies but iirc they aren;t in any league?

[razner]

Kinda hit a Captaincy impasse with my game... oops... mistake I don't plan on making again. Giving 8.02 a go again.

Plans:

DC - Bring in Felipe and possibly Samba

ST - Briand/Gignac and hopefully Bojan on loan

GK - Lloris? really undecided...

Youth - the usual suspects, though less of them as Lyon start with a rather young team to begin with (something that bit me in the ass on my save)

Not really looking to do anything special re: keeping the squad French etc, though looking to keep most of the existing midfield in place with the exception of Govou (has anyone kept him?).

Anywho any suggestions are welcome... I think I'll start it tomorrow.

[razner]

Also AJ, what I do with my reserve team is just use it as a "out for loan" parking lot.

[Spike]

It’s been about a week since my last post and in that time I have managed to complete my fourth season in charge of the mighty Lyon.

The season got off to a bad start with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Marseille in the Champions Trophy, with our only goal coming from Jeremy Menez in what was to be his breakthrough season. This was a disappointing defeat as it was the first time I had lost the Trophy in my reign. This was more than made up for however during the remainder of a very good season.

The league was a fairly comfortable affair as usual, and having wrapped it up with 7 games to go I was able to put my second string out for the remaining league games, leaving my first team fresh for the Champions League and French Cup. We did however end up with out lowest points tally in my four seasons, due to only managing draws in the last 4 games of the season. Our final standing was as follows:

W27 D9 L2 F85 A29 PTS90

Our players featured heavily in the end of season awards, landing the following:

Players Player of the Season – 2nd Benzema

Most Promising Player – 1st Menez

Manager of the Season – 1st me

Star of the Season – 1st Menez, 3rd Benzema

Most Assists – 2nd Morais

Star Goalkeeper – 2nd Lloris

The League Cup wasn’t going to be in the trophy cabinet this season, following our Semi-Final defeat at the hands of AJ Auxerre 2-1. This was made up for though by bringing home the French Cup. We had a fairly easy run to the final where we met Lille. We were trailing 1-0 for most of the game until Menez popped up in the 79th minute with an equaliser. Two goal in extra time from Benzema and an own goal meant the cup was coming back to Lyon.

It was the Champions League however where we played our best football of the season. We were drawn in what could have been a tricky group with Valencia, Lazio and Dinamo Kiev. This was highlighted by a 1-0 defeat away to Kiev in the first game, probably the weakest team in the group. This was however quickly forgotten with the following string of results: Lazio 8-2(H), Valencia 4-1(H), Valencia 2-2(A), Kiev 1-0(H) & Lazio 5-1(A).

This put us top of the group and into the knock-out stages where we faced Schalke first up. They were dispatched fairly easily 3-1(A) & 2-1(H). This was where things started to get tough with a Quarter-Final draw against Man U. The first leg was at Old Trafford and we were lucky to come away only losing 2-0. This meant we had to put in a massive performance at the Stade de Gerland. We made a promising start with Menez pulling one back on 11 minutes, and when Ben Arfa equalised on aggregate in first half injury time the come-back was on. The second half was end to end, and knowing a goal from Man U would leave us with a mountain to climb was very nerve wracking. However as we headed into injury time it looked like extra time was going to be needed to decide the tie. Then in the 95th minute and with virtually the last kick of the game Ignacio Camacho popped up with the winner, and in the process re-paid his £9m transfer fee.

The Semi-Final saw us given another tough draw against Juventus. However after 60 minutes of the first leg (at home) we were 3-0 up and cruising into the final. However two late away goals suddenly changed the game completely, as we now had to go to Juventus and get a result. I shouldn’t have worried however as the lads went to Italy and demolished the “Giants of Turin†4-1 (7-3 on aggregate). We were in the final again and looking for revenge for last years defeat at the hands of Liverpool.

This year saw us take on Sevilla and we never looked like not winning, as a totally one sided game ended as follows:

]Champions League Final[/url]

Again our players featured heavily in the Champions League Awards:

Best Player – 1st Keita, 2nd Menez & 3rd Ben Arfa

Golden Boot – Benzema

Dream Team – Lloris, Clerc, Barzagli, Traore, Keita, Menez, Benzema & Fred

Following such a great season we really only needed to bring in a second DL to rotate with Traore, and this was done when Gareth Bale was signed for £10m up front and £10m over 24 months. At only about 20 years of age he will fit into the young squad perfectly, leaving it looking like this for the fifth season:

GK – Lloris/De Gea

DR – Clerc/Abenzoar

DL – Traore/Bale

DC – Barzagli/Zapata/Tuia/Sakho

MR – Menez/Remy

ML – Ben Arfa/Keita

MC – Camacho/Bodmer

AMC – Fernandez/Morais

ST – Benzema/Fred/Briand/Lupoli

During the course of the season I have also been tying up all of my players to long term contracts, and this was a success with the exception of Barzagli (is not willing to sign a new contract at this time) and Menez (has not intention of renewing his contract). However funnily enough after winning the Champions League they were more than happy to sign on the dotted line, meaning this squad it going to be around for a few years to come.

Hope you enjoyed the read! I’m sure you did Purefun

[Purefun]

AJ

Good signing of Gignac and Aquino (on my game he is ace).

Kallstrom 20 goals i call that great mate.

As for your reserves you can't rectify this, you needed to select all the french leagues when you started the game and only than they had a league on there own. Just loan them all out.

Hopey

As hard as it is sell Fred makes me sick but you need to look at your game mate.

Cavani would still be great def. if he gets 7star training and easing into your team. Grax would be an option though. Higuain has double nat. so thats sort of french.

Saivet and Acapandie will turn out great will post a s.s. of the last one tonight.

BB

Great result and indeed Bodmer is class.

Spike

Good post mate.

Shame about the Trophy. But great results for the rest.

What about the French cup and League cup?

Good signing on Bale.

Did you have to pay a lot more on wages when renewing?

[Scott08]

Been a while since i've been on my Lyon game but my second season is now well under way.. the january transfer window is open and Roma have taken Fred from me for 15m + 3m in clauses, my chiarman feeling this was too good to turn down.

However, no problems .. as Gignac had already hit 21 league goals in 20 games this season for Toulouse. An 11m bid and 35k per week enough to bring him to Lyon. With a lot of pressure on him, Fred's boots are going to be tough to fill.

Never the less, a debut goal in the cup followed by two goals in 20mins coming on as a sub in his first league game look like he's going to become a legend for us.

Highly reccomend him to anyone

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Scott08:

Been a while since i've been on my Lyon game but my second season is now well under way.. the january transfer window is open and Roma have taken Fred from me for 15m + 3m in clauses, my chiarman feeling this was too good to turn down.

However, no problems .. as Gignac had already hit 21 league goals in 20 games this season for Toulouse. An 11m bid and 35k per week enough to bring him to Lyon. With a lot of pressure on him, Fred's boots are going to be tough to fill.

Never the less, a debut goal in the cup followed by two goals in 20mins coming on as a sub in his first league game look like he's going to become a legend for us.

Highly reccomend him to anyone

stupid chairman that bid was way to low for fred but gignac is doing the business i see

[Scott08]

I was quite happy with it to be honest, he's not the player he was. I made a little bit profit and Gignac now has 8 goals in 5 games so seems like it worked out well

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Alright guys.

Recently my Lyon team has been perfoming resonably well, although so far its been my most dissapointing season.

Despite bringing in the likes of Sunny, Lucas, Mascherano, Bojan, Leto, my team seem to be struggling still.

Matias Fernandes isnt performing as well as his last 3 seasons for me, instead of his usual 8's and goal flow from midfield, he now gets 7's and remains uneffective.

Just wondering if anybody else has had a season where you havent been happy, and if you could post me some of the things you did to rectify a poor run of form in your Lyon team.

I play a 4-1-3-1-1 formation, and my team is as follows at te moment:

GK: O.USTARI

RB: M.RICHARDS

CB: M.TORRES

CB: S.SEQUALLI

LB: G.BALE

LM: S.LETO

RM: M.RODRIGUEZ

DMC:J.MASCHERANO

CM: J.MARTINEZ

AMC:M.FERNANDEZ

ST: A.GYAN

SUBS:

BOJAN

BRIAND

LUCAS

SUNNY

SAMBA

TORJE

ABENSAOR

If you could reccomend a new formation for my team after looking at my players i would be really pleased, or new signings, anything to help me really!

Thanks guys.

Jimbob.

[Scott08]

I see you like to stamp your own authority on the team, with the only survivor of the original squad being Squillaci

I think you could probably do with some top class wingers, having sold Keita and Ben Arfa i dont think Leto and Maxi are of the same quality. Try looking at J.Menez, Di Maria or Dos Santos.

Also, id play M.Richards at CB over Torres, or even Samba depending on what patch your on.

Still, all-in-all a good looking side

[Agent Tiro]

I've never really been a fan of lone striker formations. I've also gone off wingers and prefer to use full backs to provide crossess whilst my midfield pass through the middle. Personally i'd remove the LM and RM, move one into MC and the other into ST

Formation I use is a 4-1-3-2, with the 1 being an MC rather than DMC

[Purefun]

Jimbob

Good squad but only two french players Squillaci and Briand. Really disappointed in that but its your game. No hard feelings.

Had the same thing in 3th or 4th season. My strikers wouldn't perform for some reason.

I would play with 3 defenders Richards, Squillaci, Samba and 5 midfielders the way your playing them but 2 cm's with one with a barrow (much more effective than in a dm spot imo) and finally 2 strikers Briand (on the left side) together with Gyan in rotation with Bojan.

No need to buy anybody imo. Maybe even sell Sunny. And if that happens buy back Bodmer or Toulalon.

Hope this helps.

[Spike]

Purefun

Won the French Cup and lost in the Semi's of the League Cup. I did mention it in my post, maybe you missed it

Barzagli signed a new contract on the same wage (£50k per week), whilst I had to up Menez's by about £10k per week and give him Key Player status. Not really too bad for two quality players.

Jimbob

I play a 4-3-1-2 formation, with the MC having a barrow to help out the Defence. It works perfectly.

[Purefun]

Spike

"The League Cup wasn’t going to be in the trophy cabinet this season, following our Semi-Final defeat at the hands of AJ Auxerre 2-1. This was made up for though by bringing home the French Cup. We had a fairly easy run to the final where we met Lille. We were trailing 1-0 for most of the game until Menez popped up in the 79th minute with an equaliser. Two goal in extra time from Benzema and an own goal meant the cup was coming back to Lyon."

Sorry totally missed that. I feel stupid now.

50k a week so thats 200 k a month how much is this in euro?

[Spike]

Purefun

Don't worry mate I forgive you

I think it works out to around 38,000 euros per week. Not too bad really for arguably the best DC in the game.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Spike:

Purefun

Don't worry mate I forgive you

I think it works out to around 38,000 euros per week. Not too bad really for arguably the best DC in the game.

No that is wrong i think 1 pound is about 1.5 euro iirc. So 50 k would be 75.000 euro a week and that is 300.000 euro a month. Don't want to be the smart one here i'm just with my father in law, he is director at a bank and i just asked.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Thanks for the help every1, i will now be using your advice.

Purefun m8, i understand what you mean, i am looking at young french players so that will be adressed asap.

[Scott08]

Has anyone ever signed Nasri for Lyon? From Marseille. I've managed to get on his favoured personel list and he's currently unsettled, my scout feels an offer of 22m would secure him.

Obviously this is too much for me, but im hoping he'll request to be put on the tranfer list soon.. meaning it may be a possibility to sign him. I was thinking for prehaps 15m he would be a great buy, being french and young. However, i dont have any real experience with him.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.

[Scott08]

Apologies for the double post.. but iv just been drawn the team that knocked me out of the Champions League last year in the Final!

Barcelona .. Time for revenge.. hopefully.

[Scott08]

We won 1-0.. Gignac scored in the 86th minute

Imo.. he's the Briand of 8.02. He finished with 36 league goals this season, incredible.

[Purefun]

Scott

Well mate tbh Nasri will always be more expensive for Lyon than the rest of the teams that will come in for him when he asks to be transfer listed you wil never get him for 15 mil. And this only due to rivalry. Tried the same road you would want to walk didn't work. But still do try if you succeed well that would be good for you.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Jimbob_BCFC:

Purefun m8, i understand what you mean, i am looking at young french players so that will be adressed asap.

My advice is worth gold mate.

[AJ (Manager)]

Originally posted by Scott08:

Has anyone ever signed Nasri for Lyon? From Marseille. I've managed to get on his favoured personel list and he's currently unsettled, my scout feels an offer of 22m would secure him.

Obviously this is too much for me, but im hoping he'll request to be put on the tranfer list soon.. meaning it may be a possibility to sign him. I was thinking for prehaps 15m he would be a great buy, being french and young. However, i dont have any real experience with him.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.

He is in my team Scott, and as purefan stated, he isnt cheap. Cost me just over £35m (see my season update post).

[Scott08]

Originally posted by AJ (Manager):

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scott08:

Has anyone ever signed Nasri for Lyon? From Marseille. I've managed to get on his favoured personel list and he's currently unsettled, my scout feels an offer of 22m would secure him.

Obviously this is too much for me, but im hoping he'll request to be put on the tranfer list soon.. meaning it may be a possibility to sign him. I was thinking for prehaps 15m he would be a great buy, being french and young. However, i dont have any real experience with him.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.

He is in my team Scott, and as purefan stated, he isnt cheap. Cost me just over £35m (see my season update post). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

He's transfer listed now, have had an offer accepted.

16.75m upfront with 50% sell on, 3m after 20 league apps and 4m after 30 league goals.

Seems iv got a pretty good deal

[Purefun]

Still a lot of money Scott and 50% sell-on is also a lot mate. Lulinha is better and cheaper imo. But its your game.

[Agent Tiro]

Well my second season is underway, with what i expected to be a tough start, especially with injuries to Benzema and Briand. Leaving me with only Saivet, Ben Arfa and Fred as my striking options.

But things went much better than i could have hoped, Fred netting 6 times in 6 games, van der vaart and ben arfa both chipping in with 4 goals each.

What made it even better is that I have played Bordeaux and PSG , beating them 3-1 and 5-0 respectively. Champions cup was easily retained after a 4-2 victory over LOSC

Rather than spending any more money on players i've requested the board to invest the 30 million from the sale of gasbarroni on further improvements to the training facilities.

[AJ (Manager)]

The Champions League returns just as we hit some form, we are 8 unbeaten and sitting 5 points clear at the top of Ligue 1. Real Madrid are the visitors, and surprisingly, we are favourites for the home tie atleast. Unfortunately for us, Real had Robinho and Casillas in their side, and by the end of the game, the tie was virtually over, we lost 4-1, Robinho netted a hat-trick and Casillas saved about 14 shots from my strike force. We faced a near on impossible task of winning in Spain.

In between the two legs we play the semi-final of the Coupe de la Ligue and we are away to Le Mans who we just beat 3-1 in the league. However, things don't go to plan and we go out 2-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

So, we travel to Spain, and Real Madrid on what is considered mission impossible, we are 4-1 down after the first leg, and to stand any chance of going through, we need to start strong. We go at them from the off, but Casillas is in inspired form and although we score, its in the 77th minute through Lulinha, but the hosts equalise through Robinho 6 minutes later and it finishes 1-1 and we go out 5-2 on aggregate.

Funnily enough the last 8 of the UEFA Cup featured 4 English teams and 2 Scottish sides, with 3 English and 1 Scottish side completing the last 4. Man Utd won it in the end, beating Arsenal 1-0 in the final, with Bodmer scoring the only goal.

Every season so far we have won the league with 3 games to spare, and this season looked like it would follow suite. We had 4 to play, and were 7 points clear of PSG. As fate would have it, we went to the Parc de Princes next, knowing a win would make us Champions, and what better way to do it than in the back yard of one of your fiercest rivals.

Regardless of the result I know we will, barring a miracle of epic proportions win the league, but I wanted to do it now, and get what has been a poor season alround over as fast as possible. We took our 18 game unbeaten run to Paris with only Squillaci and Aguero missing. The first half flew past, and if it wasn't for the PSG post and our Hugo Lloris, we could be looking at a rugby score, however, it was 0-0 at the break, and all to play for.

I went for it, I threw on Lulinha, Iago and Nasri at the expense of Kallstrom, Benzema and Marin, throwing Menez up front so that Lulinha can take his usual spot on the right wing, and asked for one last push. The ralling cry seemed to work and Menez put us in front almost straight away, the game looked over from that point, until 5 minutes from time we stopped playing, PSG scored twice and we lost 2-1. The game was lost, we had 3 to play, and only a 4 point cushion, surely we wouldn't, would we?

So, we had to play out our remaining games in a shoot out with PSG, next, we entertained Nice, and after Marin opened the scoring inside 10 minutes, Kim Kallstrom took over and scored a sublime hat-trick giving us a 4-1 win, at the final whistle, news reached us that PSG lost away to Lille, meaning we retained our title, and made it 3 in 3 for me. This title triumph put me 6th in the French Managers All Time Hall of Fame.

And so to the French Cup, we reached the final of the competition in which we are holders with a 2-1 win away to Marseille, thanks to goals from Lulinha and Kallstrom. The final will be against ES Troyes. We warmed up for the final with the final game of the season away to none other than Troyes. Wilson Palacious was sent off for the home side for a foul on Toulalan which saw him limp off injured, Lulinha converted the resulting freekick before we lost Kallstrom to injury 5 minutes later. Hatem Ben Arfa doubled our lead on the stroke of half time. No further goals in the second half resulted in a 2-0 win for us, and a repeat of this game, minus the injuries in the final would see us do the double.

Toulalan was out for 3-weeks so would miss the cup final, this would allow me to give Juninho one final swansong and hopefull the perfect send off. It would appear Kallstrom would make the final, as his injury was not serious.

So, the French Cup Final pits 5 times winners, and holders Lyon against Troyes, playing in the final for only the 2nd time in their history. It was to be Juninho's final game, and he was captain for the day. We started strongly and took a deserved lead after 16 minutes when Kallstrom drilled home, then Lulinha doubled the lead on 32 minutes giving us a solid 2-0 advantage at the break. Troyes came out fighting after the break and grabbed a lifeline when Francois Clerc put through his own net, but like the professionals that we are, we played out the last 30 minutes calmly to retain the French Cup, and make it 3 in 3 for me in this competition as well.

Awards Time:

Ligue 1 Players Player: Jeremy Menez, 2nd Karim Benzema

Ligue 1 Most Promising Player: Karim Benzema, 2nd Jeremy Menez

Ligue 1 Manager of the Season: Me

Ligue 1 Team of the Season: Hugo Lloris, Sebastien Squillaci, Jeremy Menez, Jeremy Toulalan, Kim Kallstrom, Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Lulinha

Ligue 1 Star of the Season: Hatem Ben Arfa, 2nd Kim Kallstrom, 3rd Jeremy Menez

Ligue 1 Top Goalscorer: 3rd Kim Kallstrom 24

Ligue 1 Assist King: Hatem Ben Arfa 17

Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Season: Hugo Lloris

Champions League Dream Team: Hatem Ben Arfa

End of Season Stats:

Ligue 1 - Winners - W26 D9 L3 F90 A32 +58 PTS 87

Couple de la Ligue - Semi Final - 1-2 (penalties) Le Mans

French Cup - Winners - 2-1 - ES Troyes

Champions Trophy - Runners Up - 1-2 - Toulouse

Champions League - 1st Knockout Stage - 5-2 (aggregate) Real Madrid

Lyon Top Scorer: Kim Kallstrom - 32

Most Assists: Hatem Ben Arfa - 19

Man of the Matches: Kim Kallstrom - 19

Total Team Goals 133 Conceded 54 in a total of 56 games.

Finances: Balance: £63.51m

Overall we were largely disappointing, although we won the league, we did so scoring 4 points less than last season, and scoring a staggering 20 goals less. However, that said, we conceeded 15 goals less than last season and only lost 3 times, but we did draw an unreasonable 9 times. The poor performance in the Champions League needs to be addressed, as successive 1st Knock-Out round defeats isn't acceptable after the first season heroics of the semi-finals, especially as we only just qualified this time around. However, that said, the board were pleased with our Champions League campaign.

We retained the French Cup for the 3rd consecutive season under my tenure. Our leading scorer Kim Kallstrom was off his best form, scoring a total of 17 goals less than that of last season. Shockingly, Hugo Lloris scored more goals than star striker Sergio Aguero with a record of 6 to 5, but Sergio did miss 3 months of the season.

Kim Kallstrom 45(7) appearances 32 goals

Karim Benzema 45(7) appearances 16 goals

Samir Nasri 11(27) appearances 14 goals

Andre-Pierre Gignac 30(17) appearance 14 goals

Hatem Ben Arfa 51(2) appearances 14 goals

The close season will see the departure of the retiring Juninho and Gregory Coupet leaving on a free. Sidney Govou is also departing on a free transfer. I don't need to strengthen the first team, as with the exception of Juninho they didn't play, so the order for the summer will be to keep hold of the talent, promote the talented youngsters and if the right man becomes available, maybe make a purchase.

Transfers Out:

Gregory Coupet - GK - Released

Fabio Santos - DM - Released

Juninho Pernambucano - MLC - Retired

Sidney Govou - AMRL - Released

A whole host of reserve team players are also advised that their not up to playing for Lyon, and its time to move on.

During the close season I was advised that the new stadium was now built, and from now on, we will be playing our home games at OL Land, our new 60,000 all seater stadium (not impressed with that poxy name at all).

We headed off for our customary pre-season tour to the states, and I decided to take promoted reserve team players Sakho, Aquino, Costil, Wijnaldum, Saivey, Saunier and Miguet with us for first team experience, and to see which ones will be of any use to us this term, and which need to be loaned out for further experience.

Columbus Crew 3-4 Lyon (Nasri 2, Aquino, Aguero)

New England Revolution 0-6 Lyon (Gignac 2, Nasri, Aguero, Iago, Saivet)

Colorado Rapids 0-5 Lyon (Kallstrom 2, Saivet, Menez, Nasri)

After the tour I decided to send a few of the promoted boys along with some reserve guys on loan to affiliates. Miguet (Cardiff), Saunier (Messina), Sakho (Messina)

It was now down to business, so far no new signings have arrived at OL Land (nearly forgot the name change) and no big names stars, Juninho excluded have left the club. It was the Champions Trophy, and we were up against PSG. After a thrilling 2-2 draw the trophy was to be decided on penalties, where Hugo Lloris was the hero saving two PSG spot kicks to give us a 4-3 shootout win, and the Champions Trophy was ours once more.

The morning of our 2nd league game of the season Roma tabled an offer for talent 20 year old holding midfielder Anthony Marin. Chairman Aulas decided that the £15.6m offer was too good to turn down and accepted the offer on my behalf. I promptly offered him an improved deal, as if he went, we were left with only Toulalan and Nordtveit as central midfielders. My fears were confirmed when after defeating L'orient 3-0 Marin advised me he was off to Roma, and we were £15m richer but a star lighter. So, off to the transfer market, and a central midfield man would be required, I hope the chairman backs me when I need to replace a talented player.

So, whilst out scouting the market I found a gem, he was unhappy, I was shocked, I tabled an offer and waited to see if it was true, if it was I am certain Lyon will have a new hero in their side by the weekend. Then, on a plus note, Chairman Aulas accepted an offer of £15m on behalf of the club for Brazillian Ederson from Real Madrid. I wasn't too concerned about this as although he was a good player, he wasn't getting a look in ahead of Kallstrom and Nasri.

The new signing hadn't agreed a deal by the time the visit of Sedan arrived, so Nordtveit took up a role in the heart of the midfield alongside Toulalan. Finally, after the game we get the call that confirms that our superstar has signed a huge £40m deal to join Les Gones, and already his shirts have sold out in the club shop. Our new signing, well, you will just have to wait until the next update.....

[Agent Tiro]

Nice write up AJ, shame about the poor season by your standards. Really intrigued as to who this star is that cost 40m...

Does the new stadium get filled?

[zychan1]

I've just started a game with Les Gones and am wondering why you guys get so much money at the start. I start off with only 9mil pounds and only 500k for wages and the board won't give me more. Believe me I've tried asking until they said that I was spending too much time in the board room. Is it because I am 1) Malaysian and 2) have no experience ?

[Purefun]

Originally posted by zychan1:

I've just started a game with Les Gones and am wondering why you guys get so much money at the start. I start off with only 9mil pounds and only 500k for wages and the board won't give me more. Believe me I've tried asking until they said that I was spending too much time in the board room. Is it because I am 1) Malaysian and 2) have no experience ?

Yes thats it mate give yourself european nat. with french second and inter. manager gives you a lot of money to start with. When you post again give us the version you play original, 8.01 or 8.02? thx

[Purefun]

Agent Tiro

I'm on original, i had all kinds of expansions and am now at 56.602 seats. The first game already sold out. Was against St-Etienne though.

AJ

Mate beautiful writing i'm going to give you up for a Pulitzer .

A league and a French cup isn't to bad but i understand what your saying about Champions League you should get at least one round further. Don't worry you'll get there next season.

And your new player is Bodmer isn't it!!

[Purefun]

Sorry just looked and i have a capacity of 58.638 all-seater with undersoil heating. And i just asked for another expansion and it was granted.

[Spike]

I'm glad you lot are getting somewhere with your stadiums. I've completed 4 seasons and have only had two 3,000 expansions, so only up to 47,044.

I wouldn't mind but having won the league in all 4 seasons, the Champions League twice, and the French Cup and League Cup twice each I would have thought we should be up to somewhere near 60,000 by now. It wouldn't be so bad if we were struggling for money, but we are the 7th richest club in europe.

I think I'm going to have to have another chat with the board

[Scott08]

Originally posted by purefun:

Still a lot of money Scott and 50% sell-on is also a lot mate. Lulinha is better and cheaper imo. But its your game.

Lulinha's not French though and he's been toned down in the new patch, thats my reasoning for giving Nasri the nod.

And hopefully he won't be moving on while im in charge, so the 50% sell-on doesn't really bother me.

One season to go until i move into the new Stadium, looking forward to it.

[Scott08]

Im not one for long updates.. so here's a short one

Second Season Review

League:

Lyon 98 Points (30 Wins/8 Draws) +65 GD

Marseille 70 Points

FC Sochaux 66 Points

French Cup - Winners (2-0 Vs Le Mans)

League Cup - Quater Finals (Lost on Penalties to Stade Rennais after a 4-4 Draw)

Champions League - Winners (1-0 Vs Barcelona)

Champions Trophy - Winners (2-1 Vs PSG)

So all-in-all, a great season in the league and very happy with the performances in the cups. Obviously the loss in the Quater Finals of the league cup was hard to take but my youngsters and squad players did me proud.

INs

Nasri - 16.75m + Clauses

R.Riou - 3.7m

OUTs

Flamini - 18.75 (Real Madrid - Very dissapointed as he won signing of the season in the league and was fantastic after his move on a free from Arsenal. Couldn't tempt him with a new contract)

My Team

GK Lloris/Riou

DR Clerc/Abenzoar

DL A.Traore/J.Mathieu

DC Squillaci/Sakho

DC Samba/Felipe

MC Bodmer/M.Veloso

MC Toulalan/L.Diarra

AMR Keita/J.Menez

AML Ben Arfa/J.Menez

AMC Nasri/Bodmer

ST Benzema/Gignac/Briand

Any suggestions/improvements are welcome. Still in July so plenty of time before the transfer window shuts. I have a transfer budget of 24m.

Sankhare, Saivet D.Buonette, Aquino and B.Costil are all out on loan for the season but will feature next season if all goes to plan.

[PoopyPants]

Has anyone got a good 442 tactic that effectively uses wingers?

[simo p]

just thought would make my first post just finished my first season with lyon.

with out requesting a bigger stadium, the board announced were moving to a 60,000 all seated under soil heating stadium.

won the league with 6 games to go, won all the domestic trophies, champions league go to the the first round knock out stages i drew chelsea -.- beat them 3-1 at home things looking good, then lost 4-0 away.

lost toullan to barca end of the season for 27.4 mill, wasnt to bothered as i just brought menez for 7mill as monaco got relegated, and brought in jimenz(sp?) for just under 2 mill, and van der vart for 25 mill, maybe payed a little over the odds for him.

my tranfers at the start:

canizares 1.4 mill, was brilliant as cover for coupet

hugo loris 15mill not cheap, but relgated canizares to the reserves and coupet to the bench.

huntelaar 12.5 mill has been awsome 40 apperances and 25 goals.

then the usual french youngsters(saivent etc)

samba for 1.2 mill been a rock in defence with squalli.

angulo one for the future will me immense at rb in a few seasons.

current squad:

gk: hugo/coupet

dl:grosso(vc)/ sahko

dc: squalli©/ samba

dc:cris/bellaid

dr:clerc/ angulo

mc:bodmer/kallstrom

mc:van der vart/ jimenez

Aml: menez/pernambucano

amr:keita or ben afra cnt decide.

fc:benzema/ fred

fc:huntelaar/ briand

atm very content with my squad if u can see any area's it needs improving feel free to tell me, coupet will be replaces by corradini next season.

also in my intake of youth team this yeah been informed i have just got the player of the generation ouattara patrice 15 year old striker pa of 189, so cnt wait for him to develop

[Scott08]

The Stadium is a perk of playing on the new patch

Good first season, unlucky with the away result to Chelsea. Im sure you'll do much better this year.

Shame that Toulalan left, as he's a great player but im sure your squad will cope without too many problems. Menez is a bargain, avergaed a goal every 3 games for me from AMR/AML last season. L.Jiminez is also a great bit of business, he's quality. I'd agree that you payed over the odds for VDV, espcially with the capture of L.Jiminez - who i feel may well keep him out the team if he develops as he has on some of my previous saves, but none the less im sure VDV will do the business for you.

Your squad looks strong overall. Keita is great at AMR, then I play Ben Arfa at AML with Menez in rotation but its just down to personal prefrence i think.

The regen sounds promising

[simo p]

yeah, i assume u'll sell either vdv or jiminez at the end of next season if their isnit enuf room or possibly kallstrom having to turn down 20 mill for him of liverpool and r. madrid

[Lisandro Lopez]

i have sigend Grax and he looks fairly good, i'm sure he can cut in CL Hopey

only cost me 2.5M aswell

Pft! £2.5Million! He is going to cost me about £8-10Million at January :/

Damn you BB

[Barnetboyz]

Originally posted by HoPeY:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">i have sigend Grax and he looks fairly good, i'm sure he can cut in CL Hopey

only cost me 2.5M aswell

Pft! £2.5Million! He is going to cost me about £8-10Million at January :/

Damn you BB </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

pfft you get last laugh as my game has corrupted

[Lisandro Lopez]

Unlucky mate

[zychan1]

Originally posted by purefun:

Yes thats it mate give yourself european nat. with french second and inter. manager gives you a lot of money to start with. When you post again give us the version you play original, 8.01 or 8.02? thx

On Ver. 8.0.2 Grrr.... Discriminating French... and the team starts off with very low moral because of my lack of experience...

[Barnetboyz]

Originally posted by HoPeY:

Unlucky mate

indeed but it finally gives me the chance to start up a Man City game, stupidly good finances

[AJ (Manager)]

Agent Tiro

I've only played 1 home game in the new stadium so far and it was a new record attendance. Will let you know a better outcome once more games have been played. The new superstar will be announced shortly. Surprisingly, in all the games I have ever played on FM08 I have never seen him being pleased to move clubs and stating he felt frozen out at his old club.

purefan

Nope, it isnt Bodmer, but 10x better imho

[Purefun]

Scott

Great results and a great team.

You only need back-up at amr f.e. Gouffran, Belluschi ... because Menez is natural at left. So your whole team would be covered.

Simo p

Welcome mate.

Good first season.

One question do you use vdv as an AMC or as a MC?

Canizares is imo.

BB

Has left again. But i'll welcome you back anytime mate.

Zychan

Ask these questions before you start mate makes it much easier.

AJ

Its in an MC(a) position i presume so maybe Kaka well i'm pretty shore about that.

[simo p]

purefun

decided to use him as an mc for now, as play with amr and aml, so dont want to have to many men forwards. but i will try both and see how it goes.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by simo p:

purefun

decided to use him as an mc for now, as play with amr and aml, so dont want to have to many men forwards. but i will try both and see how it goes.

I tested him in both positions (so did a lot of people) and he only performs great in amc. Just to help you out.