FM12: Manchester City Thread - Time To Build An Empire

[Raymubdo21]

Rekik can turn out to be quality, in my last save he was my 1st choice CB after about three years.

I've just started a new game on the new patch. It's taken a while, but I've finally sorted out a 4-2-2-2 that is getting the most out of Nasri, Silva, Dzeko and Aguero. I previously played a 4-1-2-2-1 but couldn't accommodate everyone I really wanted to. Only ten games in, but won all 10 including a 6-0 battering of Spurs. Silva has won player of the month with Aguero second. I'll hopefully finish the season over the weekend then post up some results.

Nice I always find that i also struggle to get them all incorporated, can you show a screenshot to get a better look at your team please?

[ReggaeBwoy]

Started a new game with Man City, currently on 26th November and Im 6th in the league having played 12 games, won 7, drew 3 and lost 2.

Signed quiete a few players alot of them young talent to make into superstars, here is my transfers so far

James Maw from Leeds for 1.2m

Mason Bennett from Derby for 1.7m

Robbie Cotton from Blackburn for 1.2m

Joel Valencia from Real Zaragoza for 1.4m

Daniele Rugani from Empoli for 1.3m

Luke Shaw from Southampton for 1.2m

Jake Sinclair from Southamption for 1.3m

Relu from Rayo Vallecano for 1.7m

Jamal Gordon-Hutton from Peterborough for 1.2m

Enzo Zidane from Real Madrid for 2.2m

James Ward-Prowse from Southampton for 1.1m

Jordan Grahm from Aston Villa for 1.2m

Solly March from Brighton & Hove Albion for 1.2m

Will Hughes from Derby for 925k

Lucas Anderssen from AaB Aalborg for 625k

Jean-Christophe Bahebeck from PSG for 5m

Juanami from Malaga for 5m

Richard Dunne from Aston Villa for 7.5m ( only signed him cos he was on the favoured personal for Man City )

Gareth Parkes from Leeds for 1m

Rafinha from Barcelona for 6.5m

Hervin Ongenda from PSG for 3.5m

Lassana Diarra from Real Madrid for 20m

Andy Polo from Genoa for 1.9m

Haris Vuckic from Newcastle for 15m

Mats Hummel from Dortmund for 20m

Nacer Chadil from FC Twente for 5m

Laurentiu Branescu from Juventus for 2.5m

Ganso from Santos for 20m

Marc-Andre ter Stegen from Boruissa Monchengladbech for 15m

I sold Stuart Taylor for 900k to Wolves

I sold Tevez to AC Milan for 10m

I sold Balotelli to AC Milan for 15m

ter Stegen has already ousted out Hart as my number 1 keeper but Hart complained so Ive been playing him a bit lately, Im also signing Cavani for 30m in January.

Mason Bennett is not even in the game so how would you of signed him?

[sonic1484]

well another brief update, in to my 9th season still enjoying it.

gk, hart,de la fuente

rb, luiz, angel

lb, fabio, riza saglam

cb,angloma,vinti

cb,sakho, leonard

dm, rodwell, abadie

cm, barkley, williams,wilshire

aml, hector, gotze

amr, neymar, leo

amc, hazard, hernandez

st, lopes, gracilliano

prem, 1,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,

champs lg, 13,18,19

fa cup, 11,13,17

lge cup,12,13,14,18

shield, 11,12,13,14,15,

super cup,14,19

ive finally made club legend for the 1st time as far as i have noticed, improved on my target of being more consistant in europe. main formation has always been 4-2-3-1 and worked well.

have to say my best buy so far has been a wonderkid striker called lopes for 25mill, his records for a 23 yr old are impressive.

2018 42 games 41 goals

2019 56 games 71 goals

2020 8 games 11 goals so far.

he was also

english player of year,players player of the year, top scorer,euro golden boot, world cup best player, world cup top goal scorer, club world championship best player, world player of the year, cant wait to see what else he can do.

[glyndav]

Raymubdo,

Set up is like this -

GK Hart (Sweeper Keeper)

RB Richards (Full Back Auto)

LB Clichy (Full Back Auto)

CB Kompany (Ball Playing Defender -Defend)

CB Lescott (Central Defender - Defend)

MC Toure (Box to Box - Support)

MC De Jong/Barry (Ball Winning Midfielder - Defend)

AMR - Silva (Advanced Playmaker Attack)

AML Nasri (Inside Forward Attack)

FC - Aguero (Deep lying Forward Attack)

FC - Dzeko (Target Man Attack)

Sometimes change a few of the front men to support depending on who I am playing and sometimes get Nasri and Silva to swap positions. Usually play with Fluid Control or Fluid Standard, short passing, more closing down, more creative freedom and more roaming.

Think that is about it!

[Raymubdo21]

Raymubdo,

Set up is like this -

GK Hart (Sweeper Keeper)

RB Richards (Full Back Auto)

LB Clichy (Full Back Auto)

CB Kompany (Ball Playing Defender -Defend)

CB Lescott (Central Defender - Defend)

MC Toure (Box to Box - Support)

MC De Jong/Barry (Ball Winning Midfielder - Defend)

AMR - Silva (Advanced Playmaker Attack)

AML Nasri (Inside Forward Attack)

FC - Aguero (Deep lying Forward Attack)

FC - Dzeko (Target Man Attack)

Sometimes change a few of the front men to support depending on who I am playing and sometimes get Nasri and Silva to swap positions. Usually play with Fluid Control or Fluid Standard, short passing, more closing down, more creative freedom and more roaming.

Think that is about it!

Nice does it work well when Silva and Nasri continually switch during the game??

As its easter weekend I am going to push myself to do a long file and crack this son of a b***h!

I am thinking 4-1-2-2-1

Gk

Dr

Dc

Dc

Dl

Dmc

Mcl

Mcr

Ifr

Ifl

St

I will be trying to mix youth with experience and get real team players no wasteful talents just because their technical stats look good (Although if Ronaldo is made available.......)

I think I will sell Dzeko as although I like him I don't seem to get the best out of him and will play Silva Ifr and try to get the best out of him.

[lambncw]

Playing as man city at the minute - first season and enjoying the squad. Currently top of the league, 3 points ahead of United, 8 games to go. Won the League Cup, and in the quarters of the Champions League, having just knocked out Bayern in the Last 16.

Made the decision at the start of the start to go with a First Team/Second Team approach, and that has worked well, (1st team play in Europe and tough PL games - second team play the rest), but hard at times with injuries.

1st team is: Hart, Richards,Kompany,Lescott,Koralov,DeJong,Silva,Nasri,Johnson,Tevez, Aguerro

2nd team is : Hart, Zabaletta, Savic, Toure (Rekik as a replacement), Clichy,Barry,Yaya,Milner,Hulk,Balotelli,Dzeko

Johnson has been a beast, and very excited about Rekik. Kompany should win player of the year though.

While this is very enjoyable, I've been losing money hand over fist (about $10 million a month). Which brings me to asking you all if you have ever tried the following??

Hopefully, we win it all this year (should at least add the league to the league cup we've already won). This should keep my job safe for another season, hopefully!

Ive noticed our money coming in to be about $4 million a month, including tv money. What I want to do is have a team assembled, in such a way that we still make a monthly profit.

From what I've seen that would mean that I would have to have a weekly wage budget of no more than 1 Million a month. I think that would mean that we would have to have a wage cap of $60-70k per week, in order to have enough players to have a 30ish man squad. This wage cap leaves me with less than 10 players from the squad of 25 I've described above.

Think this is going to be a huge chalenge but should be good fun, trying to get in players that are good enough for City but not good enough to want more than $70k per week! What do you all think?

[Raymubdo21]

Well boys lets keep our City heads up and try to finish the prem on a somewhat high!

To my file and a very productive season, I went for a 4-4-2 with the mind of playing a different way to I normally play....with some very interesting results!

Gk: Hart/Pantimillion

Dr: Zabaleta/Richards/Montoya/Vrsjalko

Dc: Kompany/Toure

Dc: Dede (pure class)/Lescott

Dl: Clichy/Kolorov

Mr: Nasri/Milner/Dempsey

Mc:Toure/Dempsey/Pizarro

Mc: V'vila/Barry/Hargreaves

Ml: Silva/Sinclair/Johnson

Fr: Aguero/Tevez (Target Man postion run onto ball)

Fl: Llorente (love this guy)/Dzeko

Just finished my first seasona and won the prem by 10 points but should have won by more hate it when you win the league early and the players don't play properly!!

BUT i also won the Champs final against no other than Barca (I beat Bayern on the route to final with a brilliant 9-0 ome victory to seal the deal )

We won 6-4 ET mammoth of a game I was 3-1 with 10mins to go but my team bottled it and could not defend the lead after Barce went 4 up front! To make matters worse they went 4-3 up in the 90th minute ......then in the 93 Dzeko came up with a loverly header and it was back on then first half of extra time someone scored (can't remember will upload a screenshot tonite after work to back up these claims!. Couldn't believe my luck and the emotions I went through that game.

No the season has finished I need to do a lot of squad trimming, I started by selling Clichy for £10mil although I like certain parts of his stats (pace, workrate etc) his concentration is shoking and more often than not cost me a goal or played poorly. I also sold Bridge, De Jong (first season) and looking to sell a few more only just the players back from their hols and will take stock of my team:

A few players who performed fantastic during the season:

1: Aguero goal machine, team player

2: Toure beast in my 4-4-2 scored 10 goals in Europe

3: Sinclair didn't score alot but came second in the assist stats in the prem and his pace was great advantage in Europe

4: Silva although not always consistent scored a lot (I am particulary chuffed as I never get him to perform)

5: Dede £16.5mil I knew about the hype of him and didn't disappoint I think he only had one bad game during the season and looking to improve

Not so great/disappointing:

1: Nasri couldn't find his rythem or place in my team I really like him as a player and will stick with him.

2: M'Vila average to good but his morale dips and cost me a big goal in the Champs league final.

3: Clichy kinda feel I am picking on him as I really like some of his stats but just not good enough.

4: Pizarro on loan I know but was quite wasteful but still like him

5: Dempsey had high hope for him as when Toure away on african nations duty, he did delivered in patchs but not consistent enough if only he could replicate his from in real life :0

Transfer targets next season I need to assess my squad and some players longevitity in the team but for a left back, funny enough Chelsea had an awful season and finished 12th and A.Cole is available for 12mil so I will see....

[Raymubdo21]

Champions League Final

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6923/screenshot20120411at182.png

9-0 win against Bayern

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6923/screenshot20120411at182.png

Prem table

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/170/screenshot20120411at183.png

[glyndav]

Very good season Raymubdo, I'm tempted to go back to 442. Im struggling to get defensive stability to the 4222 with the AML and AMR not tracking back. What team settings did you use for it? I struggled to get Nasri playing as well, you basically have to get him into positions where he can score, and he invariably will (won't work for your formation but he has always played best for me as an inside forward).

[Raymubdo21]

Attacking, normal creative freedom, mixed passing, slow tempo, a little width and counter attacking as well. Yeah hopefully can push on after his first season with us and nicely gelled together with the team

[Tricky-Jigsaw]

Sold Yaya Toure and the board and fans have went mad.

The reason I have sold him is because I don't want African players in my team as they'll go to the African Cup of Nations.

[glyndav]

Working much better as a 442, playing a control strategy, wide with quick tempo. Silva and Nasri on the wings with "cuts inside" and "try through balls often" are getting great results. I'm going to alternate between that and my initial formation where although I won the league, I wasn't particularly happy with the way the football was being played. I'll only use that in tough games and see how I get on.

Tricky, Yaya if played right is immense!

[Raymubdo21]

Woah sold Yaya, he was IMMENSE in my 4-4-2 tactic bombing on and smashing them in, he got 10 CL goals in 13 games for me when we won the double first season, plus your City buy a good youngster to take his place while he is away?

[glyndav]

Right, I am finally going to keep with a City save tonight after numerous attempts. I'm currently midway through January and leading the PL by 9 points. Aguero has just won World Player of the year, with Silva in third, Nasri and Kompany also made the World Team of the Year. So far, just the one loss to speak of in the CL away against Dortmund - one of those games where we hit the woodwork twice, missed a couple of sitters then they get a break away goal. We beat them 6-0 at home though, which more than made up for it.

Anyway, as I said, I'm currently in the January transfer window and I'm after some advice from you guys. I'm currently playing a 41212 formation with wingbacks like below -

--------Tevez/Dzeko-----Aguero------------

--------------------Silva-------------------

-----------Nasri-----------Toure------------

-Clichy-----------De Jong-----------Richards

---------Lescott/T.Silva---Kompany---------

------------------Hart----------------------

Just played away at Everton and although winning 2-1, the cost was both Clichy and Richards out for 6-8 weeks. Kolorov and Zabaletta are both already on the long term injury list, so it has left me in a position with no wingbacks (which are pivotal in creating the width in my tactic).

I've been using Barry and Milner in those positions, mainly through having no one else, and they have been doing ok. I However, need to get some cover for those positions, even if just for the short term. I didn't particularly want to bring anyone in in this window, but drastic times and all that!

Anyone got any ideas about possible targets?

[glyndav]

Changed my formation to cope with the injury crisis, I've gone through four completely different formations so far this season but now settled on two - one for home games and one for difficult away games and they are suiting me well.. I've already won the League Cup, I was 10 points clear in the league but (true to real life), some draws away from home have allowed United to cut the lead to two with four games to go. In the last week, I had to play United in the FA Cup Semi Final on the Saturday, Barcelona away on the Tuesday in the CL and then Chelsea away in the league the next game to keep my lead at the top.

Here's the United game -

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/1894/screenshot20120426at221.png

To say Dzeko is now a hero is an understatement! I managed to wake the kids up when the second goal went in!

Following that, the Barca away game -

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4858/screenshot20120426at222.png

More than happy with the result, I have only drawn once at home this year, won the rest, scoring 55 in 17 games and letting in 4 in the league so I think I can get a result against them back at the Etihad.

Finally, the Chelsea game.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4858/screenshot20120426at222.png

I've had greater wins at home in other saves, but this was probably the best football I have seen any of my teams play on FM. Tevez and Nasri both got 9.9 ratings, Chelsea were just ripped apart.

The quadruple is still on, but this is going to be a big few weeks for us. Aguero got injured in the United game and so will miss most of the rest of the season. He's had 42 goals in 45 games so far this season and won the World Golden Ball so will be missed. Having said that, Dzeko, after an initial goal drought lasting 7 games, has got 15 in 17 and Tevez has 27 in 32 so I'm hoping they can both see me through.

[Raymubdo21]

So finished my second season with sweat and regret!

I won the League again

Managed to win the FA Cup

I won the Community shield....

Lost the European Super Cup

Got to the League cup quarters with youth

Won the Club world championships

.....Managed to lose the Champions League final to Barca (second final in a row we met each other) this time Mancini is the manager after Guardiola took the spanish job end of the first season. We went one nil up coasting, 2-0 up beautiful football and should have been 4-5 nil up but Yaya's battle with Valdes was not going well.

Then they got one second half from a corner the bastards! then in the 88th minute they equalise with an offside goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So extra time and we are all over them again Valdes the beast of course pulling off saves left, right and centre.....

Sooooo penalties and it was a horrible and lost 3-2 on them (Tevez missed, Zabaleta & Hart) Yes i had ******* taking them

Positive note I got Nasri performing to his ability nothing changed just seemed he had gelled and was doing very well.

Leandro Dimao was s**t hot for me and done well to come in Jan and perform so well.

I have taken a few steps to weed out the crap in my team and get them flowing again:

Out: Tevez, Dempsey, Hargreaves, Ballack (made him a coach) & Kolorov

In: Bojan , Abate and will continue to scout and see what comes up

Wish me luck boys

[glyndav]

Nice Raymubdo,

Barcelona scored from a corner against me as well, certainly wasn't expecting it! I beat them in the home game so got a final coming up against United (i'm quietly confident as I haven't lost against them at all yet in 4 meetings).

Nasri, if played right, is just brilliant for me. I've just lost silva (again) to injury and I'm not particularly bothered as I always get more out of Samir anyway. Are you still playing a 442? What does that make your lineup look like for next year?

[Gungner]

How much money does City get to play with in season 2? (I know it kinda depends on what, if anything, you win in season 1).

[Raymubdo21]

Cheers glyndav

I know tell me about it! Nice good luck against them i had them in the semis and beat them 5-0 at home

Yeah and since he has fitted in is a beast on the right and silva on the left (who touch wood has not had too many injuries)

Yep he is how I line up now

Gk: Hart/Stegen

Dr: Zabaleta/Abate

Dl: Gibbs/Robinson

Dc: Kompany/Richards

Dc: Dede/Lescott/Boyata

Mr: Nasri/Milner

Ml: Silva/Sinclair/Muniain

Mc: Toure/Kovacic

Mc: Barry/M'Vila

Fc: Aguero/Bojan/Balotelli/Munian

Fc: L.Damiao/Dzeko

I went for english left backs because the talent over the years has been prominent and these boys will do nicely for the forth coming seasons

I managed to steal Munian on a free as he contract was up at the end of the second season and in jan offered him a contract straight away! Looking forward to see him perform, I love bojan and £5mil i couldn't scoff at, Balotelli has been loaned out for the last two seasons to French teams for some nice money and felt after his goals I felt he deserved a chance...time will tell.

I might leave it for the moment transfers wise and see how I get on!

[SpaceOwl]

I always do a City save but I can never seem to get Silva to reproduce his real life form in the game. In m most recent save I sold him to Arsenal for ~30 million where he struggled to get a 7.00 average rating. Ended up getting sold to Chelsea but spent most of the time in the reserves. I'm not sure why because his stats are perfect for a CAM but he wasn't that great in FM11 either. And Balotelli is just a whole other kind of frustrating, his unprofessional attributes ensuring he'll never get anywhere near is full PA.

[highlander]

Don't usually post on here so started up a man city save and decided to go crazy money wise to compete with the real life man city in trying to buy the league. So transfers as follows all over 48months:

In

Musacchio 9m

Areola 2.5m

Trapp 9.5m

Muniain 20m

Hazard 33.5m

Gotze 68m

Aurtenetxe 37m

Bale 70m

Out

Harry bunn 300k

Alex henshall loan fee 3.5k

Can't get rid of the deadwood for life or money

So as on to formation am playing a very attacking 4-2-4 with wingers.

As for pre-season was ok

HSV 5-1

Barcelona 2-2

Cantania 2-2

Al-Jazira 3-0

As you can see no problem scoring goals it the defence that's bit shaky but it's still early days had confidence it would sort itself out so up came the charity Shield well lost that 2-1 no surprise team still gelling but biggest shock was 1st game of the season against Sunderland team has finally gelled score as follows:

Manchester City 11 that's right 11 Sunderland 0 tevez the hero with 7 goals if I know how to post screenshot can show it but not sure how to as don't usually post.

[JD nawrat]

I've pretty much neglected the forum - and this thread as a result - in the last month or so. I'm back and I've got some news to share of my Man City career.

Season 1 went something like this (no screenshots unfortunately):

-Premier League Champions. I won the title on the last day of the season. I finished on 89, United on 87.

-FA Cup Runners-Up. Spurs beat me 2-1 in the Final.

-Carling Cup 3rd Round exit v Arsenal 2-0.

-Community Shield Winners v United 1-0.

Champions League Winners v United 2-0.

Transfers In:

Cesar Azpilicueta £12.5M

John Obi Mikel £7.25M

Stephan El Shaarawy £16.5M

Gerard Deulofeu £10M

Marek Hamsik £30M

Dennis Praet £5.5M

Transfers Out:

Denis Suarez £850K

Carlos Tevez £20M

Alex Henshall £300k

and that was that. fine and dandy. My best XI was:

Hart, Zabaleta (Richards had a serious injury, out for 8-9 months), Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, de Jong, Yaya, Hamsik, Johnson, Nasri, Aguero - all in a 4-3-3 (DM, MC-MC, AMR, AML, ST).

My second season isn't complete but here is what has happened until now:

Community Shield, Club World Championship, European Super Cup and FA Cup results; won the first three of these four competitions.

Carling Cup Champions.

Transfers for the season.

most used XI is hard to determine because I have rotated a lot. so far I'd say my best XI was:

Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Obi Mikel, Yaya, Razak, Nasri, Griezmann, Aguero - 4-3-3 same look as last season.

I'll update my Champions League and Premier League results in due course.

OH, yeah, I almost forgot. My result of the season (thus far):

[JohnSmart]

For those with City saves, I'm thinking of starting a new one. If I do I have some aims, and I'm interested in the success people have had with the following:

1. Finances

I'd like to become independent of owners injections of cash. Even if the finances are looking good, do they still inject money, or has anyone reached a point where the money generated by success has made it unnecessary?

2. Youngsters

Related to the above, obviously some youngsters will have to come through. In my current save Weiss and Boyata from the initial club squads have become rotation players, but I kind of squandered Guidetti's talent, and never gave Razuk or Rekik a chance. Is the concensus that other than Boyata, Weiss and Guidetti the other players rarely come good enough?

3. Ballotelli

On neither FM11 or FM12 have I managed to get the best out of Mario. He trains poorly, his attitude isn't great, and much like in real life he may never reach his undoubted potential. Has anyone achieved full potential with Mario, and if so, how? Tutoring, training tweaks etc.

[scrawney]

I took over at City following a spell at Newcastle on my career save. Obviously the squad was already pretty strong and Mancini had added Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Lucas Leiva and Ganso as well as Dede in the second season. In the first season of the game they beat my Newcastle side by 3 points to win the title but could only manage third in the second campaign. Mancini eventually left to manage Barcelona and City hired me.

With that out the way, here's my signings over the 2 and a bit seasons I've been in charge:

And here's the league table for last season:

That doesn't tell the whole story though - After I took over, I managed to blow a 5 point lead and was reeled in by Spurs and Liverpool. Eventually though we started to find our form (well, Aguero found his form) and we pulled away. We also won the League cup, FA Cup and reached the final of the Champions League and were beaten on penalties by Bayern (ironic much?) after we'd injured Robben, Ribery and Boateng and left Sakho with a knock. Unbelievably it went all the way to the goalkeepers and Hart missed while Neuer scored.

Last season I strengthened in a number of areas and we were much better. We dominated the league, except for a little wobble against Liverpool at Christmas which briefly allowed United ahead of us. They began slipping up though and we comfortably won. We retained the League cup (I've not lost a League cup match on this save yet!) but lost the FA Cup final to United 1-0 in a game where we simply didn't turn up. We beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the CL semi final including a remarkable 3-2 away win at the Nou Camp to face Real in the final. I genuinely thought we'd get destroyed but Real haven't been that impressive on this save and one year failed to make the Champions League altogether. We dominated from the kick off and won 3-0 with an own goal from Vertonghen, a penalty from Aguero and a volley from Shaqiri.

I was given £124 million to spend this season which I upped to £148 million by selling Lucas Leiva as he no longer warranted a place in the starting XI, same story with David Silva. I went after Messi and Ronaldo and got them both to the negotiating table but Messi wanted £375k a week! Ronaldo's agent was too greedy and demanded £14 million for his services which for a 30 year old player was too high for my liking. So I went for Neymar for less than half what either of Messi or Ronaldo would cost and for £100,000 less a week. Apart from that I've signed youngsters who all are meant to have the potential to be as good as my first team stars.

Overall, this game has been my favourite on FM12 so far. Not just because I've been able to assemble a brilliant squad and not just cause of the money but because it genuinely feels as though the game world is evolving with my side and both Barcelona and Madrid are building squads that are capable of challenging me. I want a couple more seasons at City just to enjoy competing for more silverware and having money to spend but then I think I'll move on to a club lower down the league or abroad as is the norm with my saves.

[FMachiavelli]

Who should i be looking to buy/sell in the first season? Looking to play a 442 formation!

[Raymubdo21]

you probably need a proper right winger, right back and a another CB plus ST!

[FMachiavelli]

Quite tempted by Neymar! Any ideas for a right back and CB? Only just bought the game the other day.

[Raymubdo21]

You should post in here mate - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/276689-FM12-Looking-For-Thread/page10

But as your new here are a few suggestions - CB Otamendi, Dede (Vasco) Vertoghen

RB - Fagner, G.Johnson, Vrsaljko

[JD nawrat]

JohnSmart - I've played up to 8 seasons with City and never managed to be completely dependent on my own income. I've come close and within 10 season perhaps could make it totally independent, but it's not easy (I didn't spend wrecklessly either, I have a good record at City where I spend large sums in the first two years and then make it all back by selling big in the following years with no spendings).

Concerning youngsters... on FM11 Boyata was my best CB and runner-up for the Ballon d'Or as well. World Defender of the Year twice and runner-up once as well. on FM12 I've not used him enough to make him amazing, but due to the fact he spends his first year at Bolton it's harder to develop him. Abdul Razak is brilliant and is a permanent fixture in my team - I play a midfield trio in a 4-3-3 with Mikel at DM, Yaya at MCR and Razak at MCL and I'm only three seasons in (just). the first season he should get cup games as well as tutoring from Yaya, the second season he should be a bench-warmer getting some time in games that are meaningless (I won the league rather easily so he got a lengthy run in my first team, starting my last 8 or so games). He's now good enough to start. Rekik I don't know. Guidetti I also don't know.

On FM11 Balotelli was great at AML Inside Forward Attack and one of my top performers but I've not bothered with him on FM12 due to Adam Johnson being very good and having other players like Silva available.

regarding the questions above:

RB - Azpilicueta for me has been brilliant and currently contends with Richards for first choice in Season 3.

CB - Yaroslav Rakitskyi is fantastic. He and Kompany are forming a formidable partnership for me at the back, both as BPD/D. He has a great ability to step up and play great passes and even hit shots from range. He's short at 5'11 but he's quick and strong and won't be beaten on the ground. He's practically unbeatable in open play unless he makes a mistake (rare in my experience). He can be beaten in the air but only by the best aerial attackers... he often scores from corners though so it proves he's good in the air regardless of his (lack of) height. He's scored 8 goals in 19 games for me, that's a mixture of shooting from freekicks (which he's great at), long shots (also great) and the majority (about 5 of them) from corners/freekicks to head it in.

[robbie]

Haven't been able to get into a save this fm so gonna go with city and see how I go! What can tevez be sold for beginning of season? Most updated database! Cheers

[Raymubdo21]

Haven't been able to get into a save this fm so gonna go with city and see how I go! What can tevez be sold for beginning of season? Most updated database! Cheers

I sold him to inter for £23mil

[Rakennusmestari]

Started a new save as City, and near the end of August I realized that me reserves hadn't played much, and when I checked their fixtures they didn't have any except for a few friendlies and Nextgen games. So apparently they weren't entered into the reserve league, but I was never asked if I wanted to. Is this WAD or a bug?

[bluemoon]

No bug, City didn't compete in the Reserve league in 2011/2012.

[Rakennusmestari]

Are there any club trained players worth getting back? I bought Schmeichel to be Hart's backup. I know of Sturridge, Onuoha, Barton and Ireland, but they don't look that good.

[CrD]

Are there any club trained players worth getting back? I bought Schmeichel to be Hart's backup. I know of Sturridge, Onuoha, Barton and Ireland, but they don't look that good.

When I was playing about on who I wanted to do I did a bit with QPR and Joey Barton was my stand out performer. Also I believe that Ireland might be a good player but I don't think that any of the mentioned will get a place at Manchester City if you're aiming to win everything.

[Gungner]

Started a "for fun" game with Manchester City, and I'm not hating it... Only bought one player in the pre-season, that being Aly Cissokho from Lyon for a fee of £10 million. In january, Sergio Busquets from Barcelona became available for £14 million, so I struck quickly and a deal was made.

I'm currently leading the Premiership, 4 points ahead of Man Utd in second place. Still competing in the League Cup (Semi-final against Liverpool coming up) and the FA Cup. Finished 3rd in my CL Group of Inter, Lyon and Dinamo, and is set to face PSV Eindhoven in the Round of 32 of the Europa League.

[JD nawrat]

yo.

back for more as Man City manager. Started a fresh game. I've decided I'm going to be much more careful in signings and not throw money about. Try and be astute and pragmatic, I suppose. Only strengthening a few positions as we barely need anywhere strengthened to begin with.

brought in:

Joe Allen (Swansea) - £6M

Nicolas Gaitan (Benfica) - £15M

Nicolas Otamendi (Porto) - £13M

all as 'back-ups' on their contract but I can see Gaitan playing quite frequently. Allen is one for the future and Otamendi will take over next year when Lescott inevitably begins to age and become more of a back-up. I was going to target an AMC but Gaitan can play there as can Aguero and Tevez, plus I have Silva and Nasri so I've not bothered with that.

not sold anyone. only player I'm looking to sell is Kolo Touré. Everybody else that's already there is fine. I might loan out Mario or sell him if anyone comes after him but I'm not sure at the moment.

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

Jdownie, what formation are you going to be using?

[JD nawrat]

I'll be playing a mixture between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. 4-2-3-1 is for games I'm confident of winning and 4-3-3 is for those more equal games that'll be tough to dominate.

-------------------Hart

Zabaleta-Kompany-Otamendi-Clichy

------------------de Jong

------------Yaya---------Allen

Nasri---------------------------Gaitan

-------------------Tevez

that's the team I've played for all of my first 4 games (United (CS), Liverpool (Lge), Arsenal (Lge), United (Lge)) to most success - won the first 3 games but then lost to United.

the only other shape I've played is the 4-2-3-1, which was:

---------------------Hart

Richards-Kompany-Lescott-Clichy

-------------de Jong----Yaya

Nasri-------------Aguero-------Gaitan

-------------------Tevez

I've only played this in one game (v Wolves) which I won in dominant fashion. I've not played any further yet unfortunately.

I also have a narrow formation so that I can go all out if I become really desperate for a goal. it's a 4-2-3-1 narrow with Silva, Nasri and Aguero and Tevez ahead of those three.

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

I'm surprised to see you're back to giving Tevez a chance again. Have you forgiven him?

[JD nawrat]

haha, I suppose in some ways I have - I always said towards the end of last season that if Tevez helped us win the league I'd forgive him and he did help (though I'd say Aguero and Yaya were more to do with it than he was) but I hadn't fully forgiven him. Even now I've not totally forgiven him, but I'm willing to give him another chance. If he shows himself to be the selfish man I thought him to be a few months back then I'll give up for good with him and want him away. For now, I'm willing to keep him at the club and give him the opportunity to prove himself. He's such a great talent that I feel he's worth keeping.

tl;dr I've not forgiven him completely, I'm just willing to give him another chance.

[JD nawrat]

(free, free, £8.5M, £1.7M, £10.5M (£5M when 50 gls scored), £3.5M, £1.3M, free, £1.7M, £2.8M)

[JD nawrat]

[JD nawrat]

so I re-started after the first save (where I signed Otamendi). went for Shawcross instead and I didn't regret that decision. great season overall, built a great platform for next year. hoping to sell off the following...

Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko, Gareth Barry, Aleksandr Kolarov, Pablo Zabaleta, Costel Pantilimon, Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and maybe others.

already got most of my replacements in, but will be looking for a good backup GK, a class MC and either Leandro Damiao or Edinson Cavani (might look elsewhere in the end). ter Stegen is the backup I'm looking at for now. he's young and has the potential to become a starter so that's always a positive.

[JD nawrat]

decided to hang on to Pantilimon because he never actually asked to leave nor expressed unhappiness (though I thought he would).

regarding signings... I went a bit crazy.

Leandro Damiao - £25M

Ganso - £25M

Neymar - £42.5M

Johannes Geis - £5.5M

still to get that top quality MC that I'm after. was trying to sign Lars Bender for £11M but he chose Marseille over me. then targetted Yann M'Vila who demanded to leave and was TL'd but Rennes want £30M... then Lucas but Liverpool wanted £35M. not sure who I'm chasing just now to be perfectly honest.

think I will chase Cheick Tiote in a pathetic attempt to curb my spending. will spend at the maximum £15M on him.

[Raymubdo21]

decided to hang on to Pantilimon because he never actually asked to leave nor expressed unhappiness (though I thought he would).

regarding signings... I went a bit crazy.

Leandro Damiao - £25M

Ganso - £25M

Neymar - £42.5M

Johannes Geis - £5.5M

still to get that top quality MC that I'm after. was trying to sign Lars Bender for £11M but he chose Marseille over me. then targetted Yann M'Vila who demanded to leave and was TL'd but Rennes want £30M... then Lucas but Liverpool wanted £35M. not sure who I'm chasing just now to be perfectly honest.

think I will chase Cheick Tiote in a pathetic attempt to curb my spending. will spend at the maximum £15M on him.

To be fair that is a good price for Neymar, who did you sell in the end?

[JD nawrat]

Carlos Tevez (Spurs) - £30M

Edin Dzeko (Chelsea) - £20M

Emmanuel Adebayor (PSG) - £7.5M

Mario Balotelli (Dortmund) - £15M

Stefan Savic (Torino) - £5.5M

then I loaned out Aleksandr Kolarov and James Milner to OM for £1.8M and £2.8M respectively as well as Gareth Barry and Pablo Zabaleta both to PSG for £875k and £2.5M respectively.

the rest to leave were frees or loans with no fees (youths). let go of Kolo for £500k and Wayne Bridge for £0 because they're a huge drain on the wages.

signing Tiote for £15M. I offered £10M and Newcastle demanded £20M but then the board intervened and accepted my £15M bid haha

going to be playing a mixture of 4-2-4, 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-1-2.

[JD nawrat]

Kerim Rekik is developing very nicely. hoping to turn him into a starter within 3 years. doubt I'll loan him out, I'll just look to gradually wean him into the team I think.

first league game of the new season. Damiao and Neymar both having their debuts (missed the Community Shield due to Olympics). very happy with that.

[ReggaeBwoy]

What training schedules have you got Rekik working on Downie?

[JD nawrat]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/245481-Raver-training-sets?highlight=raver+training

Raver training, for FM11. it bred some highly physical, very talented players in all positions for me and was very valuable in assisting me. I just kept it for FM12 where it seems to do well again.

so trying to juggle Neymar, Aguero and Damiao is both tricky and fun. I'm naturally using Aguero as a Trequartista and Damiao as a Poacher (both up top). if I'm playing Neymar, he replaces Aguero in the same role or Damiao in his role. Aguero and Damiao are always Trequartista and Poacher respectively, though.

this is my first four league games. it is insane. the 9-0 victory was a first half to Aguero where he scored a hattrick so I subbed him off. Neymar came on in the same role at HT and found the net four times. they've having the best competition ever with each other, but Damiao isn't exactly being kept quiet. he has the same number of (league) goals as Aguero, both of whom are only 1 ahead of Neymar on 5.

side notes... beat Stoke (FA Cup Champions) 5-3 in the Community Shield and beat Olympiacos 4-1 in the Champions League to begin my defence (other teams are Partizan Belgrade and Benfica). I lost the Euro Super Cup to Spurs 3-2. board weren't too pleased but I don't really care about it.