FM12 - Chelsea F.C. Thread - A Mix of Youth and Experience

[lacoste8030]

Hey Bracken what tactics do you use?

[nigelquelch]

I play a Chelsea save every year but I think I'm enjoying this one the most of any (probably because I'm not winning every game like usual). I'm in December 2012 now but I haven't reported anything of my game so I'll start with a summary of my first year.

TRANSFERS IN 2011/12

Summer:

James Rodriguez - 17.5M

Gregory Van der Wiel - 12M

Douglas Costa - 11M

Asmir Begovic - 10M

Leandro - 9.25M

Moussa Sow - 8.5M

Ciaran Clark - 5.5M

Sime Vrsaljko - 3.2M

Winter:

Fernando Llorente - 28.5M

Ibrahim Afellay - 7.25M

Lucas Piazon - 7M

Lassana Diarra - 6.75M

OUT

Summer:

Florent Malouda - 17.75M

Nicolas Anelka - 8.25M

Jose Bosingwa - 3.2M

Salomon Kalou - 2.9M

Hilario - 1.5M

Paulo Ferreira - 1.1M

Billy Clifford - 600K + 50% next sale

Ross Turnbull - 500K

Season long loans - Romeu, McEachran, Leandro, Vrsaljko + other irrelevant players.

Winter:

Didier Drogba - 15.75M

Sacked all the useless staff. Brought in Sidnei Lobo as Ass Man.

PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL POSITION - 3rd

It all went down to the final day. Us and Man Utd were level on points but I was top with a better goal difference, Arsenal were 1 point behind us. Ended up losing 2-1 away at Spurs and finishing 3rd. Not happy at all.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Runners Up (Lost 4-1 to Barcelona in the final)

I think our performances in this competition saved my job, especially the double victory vs Man Utd in the semis. Can't really blame the team for losing to Barca.

FA CUP - 5th Round (Lost 1-0 at home to 10 man Swansea)

Put out the second XI and they showed why they don't get in the first team.

CARLING CUP - WINNERS!

Woop dee ****ing doo.

2012 OLYMPICS - GOLD MEDAL!

Beat Brazil and Spain in the semis and final respectively in what was a somewhat easy competition to win. Obviously resigned straight after. Does this mean I can put Sir before my name?

THOUGHTS AFTER SEASON 1

Not good at all. Pressure is on now to win something in the second season. I've pinpointed three areas of the team that need changing. Firstly, I am not confident that David Luiz is the right man to partner JT in defense. Secondly, Lampard is too old, slow and uncreative to play in my system. Thirdly, Drogba was not playing well and the front line was not gelling (changed this in January and brought in Llorente and sold Drogba, performances from Mata and Torres seemed to improve). As much as I love all three of these guys in real life I feel like these issues need to be addressed.

SEASON 2

TRANSFERS IN 2012/13

Ganso - 20M

Nicolas Otamendi - 13M

Mateo Kovacic - 8M

Bosmans - Lodeiro, Grenier, Borini, Paloschi, Bertolacci, D'Alessandro, J dos Santos, Falque, Muniesa.

OUT

Raul Meireles - 15.25M

Michael Essien - 4.2M

Yossi Benayoun - 3.3M

Paddy van Aanholt - 1.3M + 50% next sale

Season long loans - All Bosmans, Clark, Kovacic, Vrsaljko, Leandro, Piazon, Romeu, Kakuta, Kalas, McEachran + other irrelevants.

Sacked Sidnei Lobo because he all he gave was **** poor advice non stop, brought in Mauro Tassotti from AC Milan who I've been delighted with so far.

CURRENT SQUAD

GK: Cech, Begovic, Courtois

DR: Van der Wiel, Ivanovic

DC: Otamendi, Luiz

DC: Terry, Alex

DL: Cole, Bertrand

DM (Defensive Midfielder Defend): Mikel, Diarra, Ramires

MC (Advanced Playmaker Support): Ganso, Lampard, Ramires

AMR (Inside Forward Attack): Sturridge, Douglas Costa, Afellay

AML (Winger Attack): Mata, Rodriguez, Afellay

ST (Poacher Attack): Torres, Sow

ST (Complete Forward Attack): Llorente, Lukaku

Currently still fighting on four fronts! KTBFFH

[bucket]

Nigel - how have you spent so much money in the first summer transfer window?

[thegr8anand]

I spent 66m pounds at the start. Just with 48 months installments and 0 or minimum upfront. In Oct I got 20m more to spend because of improvement in finances?? lol maybe cause i sacked all staff and saved a lot on wages.

[J.T]

After a short break from my Chelsea save to get another save going I have come back to it and think I am going to concentrate mainly on my Chelsea save now. In January, top of the league and still in all comps although Torres has just got injured for 3-4 months :|

[thegr8anand]

Went and bought Aguero and Otamendi along with Sime Vrsaljko who was bought by Newcastle at the start and I had to splash 9.5m release clause. Aguero had 39m release clause. So total cost in first season at 141m pounds and sale of 24m pounds

Edit: FFS just found out Sime cannot play for more than 2 teams in one year only if had known

[J.T]

Aguero has a release clause of £39M in the first season?!

[thegr8anand]

Haha ya. I don't know why... Is it the same for everyone?

[J.T]

I'll have a look in a minute. Just playing a fa cup replay against Birmingham...

[J.T]

Yeh he's got a release clause of £39MIL on my game too. Doesn't seem right lol

[nigelquelch]

Yep all £0 up front and everything over 48 months. Usually spend big in the first 2 seasons. Though I also do a lot of buying because I can sell the players for more in the future after loaning them out for a year, like all the Bosman's and some transfer listed players.

Aguero has a 39M release clause on mine too.

[MattieCoopz]

Copy arrived at my halls earlier this evening, expect a pre-season update sometime tonight or tomorrow!

[bucket]

Quick update:

Current date: 13th September 2011

Vs Liverpool (H)

Won 4-0 - Ramires (22,33,75) Ivanovic (52)

Vs Newcastle (A)

Won 4-1 - Torres (18) Drogba (38,73) Mata (67)

Vs QPR (H)

Won 3-0 - Terry (14), Torres (22) Ramires (48)

Vs Fulham (A)

Won - Torres (20,66) Alex (71)

Vs Leverkusen (H)

Won 6-1 - Alex (7) Lukaku (13,30,61) Ramires (48,77)

Not going to bad i think...

[Bracken]

Hey Bracken what tactics do you use?

I'm using a very similar formation to my FM11 save, it's still a 4-2-3-1, but with Mata in hole as a Trequartista (slightly amended instructions) and Sturridge at AMR and Donovan (soon to be Muniain) at AML as inside forwards, again with slightly amended instructions. I have to say I'm loving either the new match engine, or my new tactics. Whichever one it is, it's making my team play some really beautiful flowing football, cracking stuff. I'll do an update later when I'm finished with my latest round of essays.

Great going so far bucket, a Lukaku hat trick is a great way for him to start!

[Rohkey]

Just like to say that I'm two months into the season and Salvatore Bocchetti has been an absolute beast. 4 goals in 10 matches (3 off set pieces iirc) and averaging a 7.7 in 7 league games His potential rating is now 4 stars according to my coaches (and it's scary that his CA is 3 stars atm). The best part of this is his salary is only $70K/week. Hamsik hasn't done much yet and I'm beginning to wonder if he was the best buy with McEachran coming up in the ranks but I know eventually he'll catch fire - he always does. Does anyone have a shot of Bruma, McEachran, or Courtois a year into the future? Anyone that far yet? Or even Chalobah 1-2 years?

Highlight of the season so far was my most recent win - a 1-0 home victory against a perfect Man U (both of us had perfect league records actually, and had only allowed 2 goals). Mikel with a two-footed challenge in the 25th was promptly red carded and forced me to switch to defensive for the rest of the match. Lamps scored in the 80th off a free kick and we held out for the win.

[Bracken]

Right, an update from me now (a lot of games here but I'll show you all in case anyone's interested)

Premier League

Chelsea 5 - 0 QPR

Sturridge 35', 82'

Torres 43', 77'

Meireles 90+3'

Good win to get back to winning ways after a disappointing draw with Spurs

Champions League

Chelsea 3 - 0 Dortmund

Anelka 12'

Drogba 20'

Ramires 75'

Already qualified but a good win, Ramires has a great habit of popping up in the box

Premier League

Liverpool 1 - 1 Chelsea

Sturridge

Suarez 12'

Shame we couldn't win this one, but a draw at Anfield isn't a bad result

League Cup Quarter Final

Preston 1 - 1 Chelsea (Chelsea win 3-0 on penalties)

Anelka 55'

Clarke Carlisle 52'

The less said about this the better. We won, we move on

Premier League

Chelsea 3 - 0 Blackburn

Sturridge 35', 50'

Lampard 43'

Good win, Danny on great form

Champions League

Olympiakos 1 - 0 Chelsea

Rested everyone here, didn't really care about the result. We did dominate though

Premier League

Man Utd 1 - 2 Chelsea

Torres 17'

Berbatov 58'

Lampard 84'

Fantastic result. They were joint second with Arsenal (both 3 points behind) so it was good to put some distance between us, we played really well and deserved the win. Lamps with a vital goals was great too.

West Brom 2 - 3 Chelsea

Donovan 16'

Torres 22'

Mata 53'

Long 56'

Odemwingie 81'

We got complacent, no other explanation. Still, just about hung on for the win

Chelsea 3 - 0 Sunderland

Torres 3'

Ramires 27'

John Terry 60'

Vaughan Sent off 87'

Good win, Nando missed a pen though. We had 38 shots, that's real domination.

Chelsea 4 - 0 Stoke

Sturridge 19'

Mata 23'

Donovan 49'

Lampard 69'

Really good win, I'm loving the fact that the goals are really shared around my team in this save, the front 4 plus Lampard are on track for double figures, which will be great

Fulham 2 - 3 Chelsea

Dempsey

Torres 4'

McFadden 10'

JT 45+1

Malouda 70'

Tough one, had to rest a few players because of fixture congestion, but we came through it

Arsenal 1 - 1 Chelsea

Van Persie Pen 15'

Sturridge 41'

A decent enough draw, we probably deserved the win but Ivanovic gave away a silly penalty. Muniain made his debut off the bench, had one strong run but not really enough time to show me much.

Conclusions

As I said, enjoying the fact that my goals a shared among the forward players, though I would like Nando to rediscover his early season goalscoring form. Rooney is on fire with 24 goals in 19 league games, so it'll be tough for Nando to win the golden boot if he doesn't pick up his form. Mata and JT made it into the World Team of the Year, but nobody made it onto any of the player of year lists. Looking to slowly phase Munian into the team, also looking for a new young LB as Bertrand only has 2 star PA on my game, and Ash is getting tired of playing so many games. I'll keep you guys posted, well done if you read all of that!

[Bracken]

Transfers

Didn't expect to have much transfer news in this window I must admit, but I've let Kalou go for £10m to PSG and I'm in the process of selling Alex to Man City for £12.5m over 42 months. Kalou's departure is no great loss, he got very few games and didn't play well even when he got on the pitch. Alex I didn't really want to let go, but Luiz is first choice and it's a pretty decent offer. So I'm after a new CB, Raphael Verane of Real Madrid looks exceptional, my scouts rate in at 4.5 star PA, so he's my first choice target. He's interested, and his wages shouldn't be a problem (according to the scouts), so now I just have to convince Real to sell. That's the tough part. I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, Muniain on his full debut scored twice and set the other up for Lukaku in a 3-0 win. It may have only been against Burton, but he did play extremely well. Now to see how he gets on in the league, starting with a nice easy game against Norwich...

[Galvanize]

Oh how i've missed your updates Bracken!

Yet to start as Chelsea, but it's going to be my next save after I finish my second season with QPR. Before you all sharpen the pitchforks, I was playing as QPR on the demo and wanted to continue the decent half season I had on that.

A strikeforce of Torres, Drogba and Sturridge seems too good to ask for.

[J.T]

This probably isn't the place to ask, but I am really struggling to find facepacks specifically for FM12. Have any of you guys found any good megapacks or even league packs?

[buckyohhare]

J.T, I just used the ones I had for FM11. They work perfect, Specially the facepack.

[J.T]

Yeh i think i'm just going to do that because the megapacks take so long to download let alone find them!

Back to my Chelsea Save. I'm 25 games into my first season sitting top of the league 5 points clear of United in second. Still in the F.A Cup and League Cup and next match up is Inter Milan away in the first knockout round of the Champions league.

[Ranbir]

I've kept Essien and helping him in his recovery. I think I've stopped his collapse.

Also, HOLY CRAP, if I knew Aguero had a release clause I'd have gone for him no doubt. Sod it, I'll try to arrange a 2013 January transfer. But might be hard now that City are a favoured club of his already.

Drogba's was only extended a year and Torres seems to not be finding form in my system so I can see ways out for them.

[Kyle Seddon]

Hi there,

first time playing as Chelsea, enjoying Villas-Boas' Chelsea team so thought i'd give them a go on FM.

Currently in March of my first season.

Will post updates at the end of the season.

But just thought i'd leave you with this...

After losing my first three games, Liverpool (2-1) Liverpool (1-0) Wigan (1-0) i was contemplating quitting but a change of tactics has resulted in this:

[J.T]

Essien just doesn't seem the same since he came back from injury for me

Torres seems to be injured most of the time in my game, luckily Lukaku has stepped up scoring 20 in 16 apps

[J.T]

nice achievement there kyle

[Kyle Seddon]

nice achievement there kyle

Thanks,

It doesn't tell the whole story mind, have drawn way to many games away from home against much weaker opposition, something that'll i'll need to look in to.

[buckyohhare]

Finally got time to play my Chelsea Save. Just finished the end of the First Pre-Season.

Transfers In:-

Luke Shaw - 1.2 mil (Comp)

Edinson Cavani - 30 mil (10 down, 20 over 48 months)

Hulk - 30 mil (10 down, 20 over 48 months)

Sime Vrsaljko - 2.5 - why did I think he played for Real Madrid?

Alan Dzagoev - 7.75 mil

Marek Hamsik - 25 mil (10 down, 15 over 48 months) Only signed at end of window due to Mikel, Essien, Ramires & Mata out for long term

Transfers Out:-

Florent Malouda - 15 Mil (Over 48 months) Covers one of my installments.

Alex - 14.25 mil (Over 48 months) Same as above.

Hilario - 1 mil

Paulo Ferreira - 1.1 mil

Didier Drogba - 9.25 Mil (Over 48 months) Got the lynch mob at my door for that one :S

Nicolas Anelka - 5.5 Mil, Surprising but the fans didn't seem to care on that one

The season so far, A very underwhelming start after a great pre season. 0-0 drew at home to Wolves, BUT saved it by beating Liverpool 2-0 at home

[Kyle Seddon]

Nerve wracking:

[Benoit2]

Anybody having succes in the first season with the default squad? If so, whats your secret?

I've been appaling at home in the league. 12 goals in 11 apps. In total Ive scored just 38 from 23. In all competitions, Ive scored just 68 from 36, an average of 1.9. Considering its the same ME as fm11 and also largely the same squad, Im a little shocked at how difficult I find it to score.

Maybe my team talks are to blame? How do you guys fire up the team at home? (and away)

[Bracken]

Oh how i've missed your updates Bracken!

Yet to start as Chelsea, but it's going to be my next save after I finish my second season with QPR. Before you all sharpen the pitchforks, I was playing as QPR on the demo and wanted to continue the decent half season I had on that.

A strikeforce of Torres, Drogba and Sturridge seems too good to ask for.

It's nice to be back mate, finally found some time to get a bit of gaming in!

Anybody having succes in the first season with the default squad? If so, whats your secret?

I've been appaling at home in the league. 12 goals in 11 apps. In total Ive scored just 38 from 23. In all competitions, Ive scored just 68 from 36, an average of 1.9. Considering its the same ME as fm11 and also largely the same squad, Im a little shocked at how difficult I find it to score.

Maybe my team talks are to blame? How do you guys fire up the team at home? (and away)

I've only added one or two players, mainly out of the first team and I've had a fair bit of success. I usually passionately tell them to play for the fans at home, and show them some calm encouragement at half time. The first team talk doesn't usually do much, but half time is more important, we always play better in the second half.

I'm currently arranging a deal for Verane with Madrid, looks like he'll cost a lot, but definitely will be worth it.

[Bracken]

Had to post this, Munian's first league game for us and he does this:

Finished with a rating of 9.1 after laying a goal on for Torres too. My fans were disappointed by the signing, but I doubt they will be for long.

I'm close to agreeing a deal for Varane, it'll be around £28.5m, lots of that through clauses. I'll try not to keep spamming with posts, but you might get one more from me tonight.

[Galvanize]

Summer transfer dealings - season one

Transfers In:

Ganso - Santos - £22.5m

Amato Ciciretti - Roma - £1.3m

Ricardo Kishna - Ajax - £1.1m

Emre Can - FC Bayern - £750k

Tolga Cigerci - Wolfsburg - £7.5m

Sime Vrsaljko - Dinamo - £3.6m

Total - £36m

Transfers Out:

Nicolas Anelka - Real Madrid - £4.2m

Hilario - FC Porto - £775k

Jacob Mellis - Norwich - £900k

Paulo Ferreira - Newcastle - £1.1m

Aziz Deen-Conteh - Oxford - Loan

Billy Clifford - Blackpool - £600k

Jamal Blackman - Yeovil - Loan

Salomon Kalou - Valencia - £5.25m

Rhys Taylor - Southend - Loan

Total - £12.75m

Feel I did fairly well in the transfer market, only really brought in youth that can develop however. Didn't get a keeper in on time so i'm kind of short with just Cech and Turnbull. Could've got a lot more for Anelka and Kalou but i'm just happy to have got rid of them and freed up some wages.

August 2011 update

Fulham 1-3 Chelsea

Lampard 21'

Luiz og 66'

Torres 81'

Torres 86'

Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd

Fletcher s/o 45+1

Luiz 55

Swansea 0-3 Chelsea

Torres 18'

Torres 43'

Mata 90'

Brilliant start to the season, scoring seven and only conceding one. Technically we scored all eight, which is rather pleasing because it does show how dominant we've been. The 1-0 win over Man Utd was the best result out of the lot, especially when they had won 7-0 the week before but got absolutely nothing out of us when they played us. Torres is on fire, with four goals in two games. I hope he can keep it up!

[Ranbir]

It is a sad sad tale when Essien is now considered a 'lethargic' player. He's still useful and I refuse to get rid. He's finishing his career with us.

So xml parsing error made me lose four games I played, one including a 2-1 loss to Arsenal and another 4-3 slobber knocker victory vs Liverpool.

On the replay I still lost to Arsenal 1-0 and am coming up to the Liverpool game now.

I normally don't tell my players to relax but it really does work against crap opposition:

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/649869708006080664/D9402F3112F141C6CC2F4CA57720EA35FBDD1198/

[essien_5]

Just come into January and I've had a torrid December. I'll post an update of my first half of the season tonight, just haven't had the time to keep people posted due to work commitments and job interviews (because I hate those work commitments )

I went a run in December of drawing with QPR at home, losing to West Brom at home and losing to Man Utd away. I'm currently joint third with Everton, and find myself 7 points behind Arsenal, and 10 behind Man Utd! It hasn't helped with injuries to Kalou (broken leg - 6 months), Sturridge (6 weeks), Mata (3 weeks), Torres (6 weeks) in the same timeframe. I've been relying on Malouda and De Bruyne as my wingers with no backup.

I have the chance to sign Adam Johnson on loan for the rest of the season for £600k loan fee and future fee of £3.5m. I think that sounds a good deal to me but what do others think? It would allow me to free up a foreign space in the summer by shipping out either Malouda or Kalou, and gives me more options as Johnson can play on both flanks.

Still also pushing for a loan deal for Tevez in January aswell. He hasn't played once for Man City yet, and I have struggled to get Torres and Drogba scoring goals, so it may be the ideal solution if City agree to it.

[Galvanize]

Getting Johnson for under £5m is a complete steal, sadly it happens in everyone's games though. Think about the fact that he's going to improve as he's only hitting his mid-twenties. There's not really any other option to buy a player under £5m and have them start in your first team with the talent they have.

September 2011 update

Chelsea 3-0 Stoke

Torres 1'

Torres 6'

Ramires 65'

Chelsea 2-0 Trabzonspor

Torres 2'

Torres 10'

QPR 0-5 Chelsea

Lampard pen 9'

Ramires 26'

Ramires 72'

Cole 75'

Lampard 86'

Chelsea 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Lukaku pen 18'

Lines 28'

Sturridge 41'

Torres 47'

Vrsaljko s/o 81'

Chelsea 3-1 Spurs

Sturridge 10'

Terry 47'

Pavlyuchenko 60'

Sturridge 64'

Lille 0-0 Chelsea

Bit of a disappointing end to the month, although it's fully expected when you play your second string against the likes of Lille, completely forgetting about Hazard and co. My bad. Torres continued his scoring ability before he got injured during the Trabzonspor game. He did bag one against Sheffield Wednesday while he was massively unfit, but he's lost his ability all of a sudden. Cech' honestly had nothing to do either, FM please give me a challenge!

[Ranbir]

Essien, not going for Aguero over Tevez? He'd be cheaper, wage wise at the very least. Good luck on Tevez anyway.

Have to say players don't get unhappy too often anymore. I remember in FM11 I was able to raid so many players because they immediately were listed by request.

[Bracken]

Definitely sign Johnson Essien, that's a great deal, I nearly signed him myself actually.

A few updates from me:

FA Cup 3rd Round

Chelsea 3 - 0 Burton Albion

Muniain 34', 52'

Lukaku 74'

Great debut for Munian!

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

Chelsea 3 - 0 Portsmouth

Donovan 6', 49'

Lukaku 74'

Donovan is competing with Munian for the AML position, and both are really staking a claim for a place! Also, Lukaku got 2 in 2 games, both on 74 mins. Weird.

Premier League

Chelsea 4 - 0 Norwich

Muniain 6'

Torres 17'

Lampard pen 38'

Mata 58'

Fantastic team performance, with Muniain as man of the match. Looks like a good signing so far

Chelsea 1 - 0 Everton

Donovan 50'

Really tough game this one, but we got the winner and that's what counts, Donovan proving just as good at AML as Muniain

League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

Portsmouth 3 - 1 Chelsea

Varney 19'

Kitson 32'

Meireles 74'

Lawrence pen 81'

Well we're through to the final at least I guess...

FA Cup 4th Round

Everton 2 - 1 Chelsea

Bilyaletdinov 31'

Saha 64'

Anelka 67'

Not good enough, at all, especially following on the heals of the Portsmouth result

Premier League

Bolton 0 - 0 Chelsea

Again, not good enough. These three games were a tricky patch and we needed something to go our way.

Chelsea 2 - 1 Man City

Cech OG 19'

Donovan 23'

Torres 65'

And we got it in this game, it looked like it was going to be another bad day, but we managed to pull a win out somehow, and got something we could build on.

Newcastle 0 - 2 Chelsea

Torres 26', 51'

Back to playing well again here, tough game but we got a good win and restricted them to long shots.

Champions League 1st Knockout Round

Rubin Kazan 0 - 6 Chelsea

Sturridge 6'

Lampard 8'

Donovan 45', 74'

Torres 51'

Navas OG 71'

Boom! And that's back to what I've been looking for, a fantastic performance and result

Premier League

Chelsea 4 - 1 Aston Villa

Lampard 5', pen 15'

Torres 7'

Kakuta 83'

Bent 89'

Another good win, shame about the late goal conceded but never mind. Nice for Kakuta to get his first goal for the club

Transfers

In:

Muniain: £20m, £7 up front and the rest over 48 months

Varane: £28m all over 48 months

A lot of money spent I know, but these two will provide part of the core spine of the club for years to come

Out:

Alex: £12.5m to Man City

Loans

Conclusion

Man City came sniffing around Donovan at the end of the window, but I told them where to go. Muniain started on fire but hasn't scored for a few games now, sure it's just a blip though, he's been playing fairly well. Next up is Arsenal in the Carling Cup, it'll be tough with mainly the youngsters playing, but I'm confident we can do it. Essien is back from injury now, I'm going to do my best to get him back to where he should be, but I know it won't be easy. I will, as always, keep you guys posted!

[Bracken]

Also, I'm really annoyed with myself, in attempting to make sure I had as many players as possible in the game (to ensure a lot of regens), I forgot to change my custom database from 'small' to 'large', before adding the extra players

[Rykardh]

Second season doing well Essien is getting better game by game give him time. My issue is that Ashley Cole did his cruciate ligament in pre season and is out for 9 months but the big news is he has decided to retire at the end of the season. will try and put up a screen shot to show.

[Rykardh]

Strange one

[Bracken]

Ouch that's really unfortunate mate, very rare that players actually choose to retire

[lacoste8030]

Bracken could you please explain your tacttics you use to use before as i cnt remember. Sorry for being a nuisance.

[Jordannn]

Yo guys! Thought i would try out Chelsea as my 1st save of the new fm12.

my summer transfers:

IN:

Yann M'Vila for 30M (20M upfront and 10m over 48 monthes)

OUT:

Kalou for 5M

Anelka for 5M

Hilairo for 1M

my formation is:

4-1-2-1-2

&

4-3-1-2

Decided not to play with wingers. At least not this season anyway.

My preferred line up is:

Cech

Boswinga[wb], Terry[cb], Luiz[bpd], Cole[wb]

M'Vila[dm]

Lampard[cm-s], Mikel[dlp-s], Meireless[b2b]

Mata[ap]

Drogba[tm], Torres[p]

5 league games gone so far.

Man city away i won 2-1

Norwich at home i won 2-0

Stoke away i draw 1-1

Fulham at home i won 1-0

Basel at home 2-0

Arsenal away i draw 0-0

Bolton at home i won 6-0

Zenit at home i won 4-0

[nigelquelch]

Quick update. Currently in September 2013.

TRANSFERS IN - JANUARY 2012/13

Hulk - 32.5M

PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL POSITION - 1st

Won by a point from City, two ahead of Spurs and six ahead of United.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - First Knockout Round (Lost 2-1 on aggregate to Real Madrid)

Disappointing but understandable

FA CUP - Winners (Beat Blackburn 2-0 in the final)

Very happy. The real final for us was the victory over Man City in the semis.

CARLING CUP - Runners Up (Lost 1-0 to West Brom in the final)

Played reserves throughout, not a bad effort from them.

THOUGHTS AFTER SEASON 2

Very happy at how the team is developing and the performances of the front four Mata, Hulk, Torres and Llorente. We are more solid at the back with the addition of Otamendi. There is now fierce competition for places with Douglas Costa, Lukaku and James Rodriguez developing into world class players. Our target for next season has to be the Champions League and retaining the Premier League title.

SEASON 3

TRANSFERS IN 2013/14

Angel Di Maria - 13.75M

John Fleck - 3.4M

OUT

Ibrahim Afellay - 18.5M

Daniel Sturridge - 15.75M

Branislav Ivanovic - 14.5M

Nicolas Lodeiro - 13.25M

Jonathan dos Santos - 11.75M

Fabio Borini -10.5M

Andrea Bertolacci - 10.25M

Alberto Paloschi - 8.75M

Clement Grenier - 6.25M

Josh McEachran - 4.1M

Gael Kakuta - 3.8M

Milan Lalkovic - 3.7M

Marco D'Alessandro - 2.5M

Season Long Loans - Leandro, Courtois, Muniesa, Romeu, Fleck, Clark, Chalobah, Bruma, Falque, Kovacic, Delac, Kalas, Clifford

CURRENT SQUAD

GK: Cech, Begovic

DR: Van der Wiel, Vrsaljko

DC: Otamendi, Luiz

DC: Terry, Alex

DL: Cole, Bertrand

DM (Defensive Midfielder Defend): Mikel, Diarra, Ramires

MC (Advanced Playmaker Support): Ganso, Lampard, Ramires

AMR (Inside Forward Attack): Hulk, Douglas Costa, Di Maria

AML (Winger Attack): Mata, Rodriguez, Di Maria

ST (Poacher Attack): Torres, Sow

ST (Complete Forward Attack): Llorente, Lukaku

Beat City 4-0 in the Community Shield and currently 2-1-0 in the league. KTBFFH

[MattieCoopz]

Any suggestions with tactics at all, I'm really torn between a bread and butter 4-3-3/4-5-1 and a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation, just racking my brains to see what works.

Transfer budget doesn't lend me much room to manouvere either, need a striker/winger for both flanks as well as a good out and out RB and maybe a marquee signing in the midfield.

Looked at Lavezzi, Cavani, Hamsik, Hulk and Maicon and such but budget wise I can't get them outright. Help would be appreciated.

[Bracken]

Good going Jordannn and nigelquelch, looking on track for great seasons ahead, but why did you sell Josh?! And for just £4.1m!

Any suggestions with tactics at all, I'm really torn between a bread and butter 4-3-3/4-5-1 and a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation, just racking my brains to see what works.

Transfer budget doesn't lend me much room to manouvere either, need a striker/winger for both flanks as well as a good out and out RB and maybe a marquee signing in the midfield.

Looked at Lavezzi, Cavani, Hamsik, Hulk and Maicon and such but budget wise I can't get them outright. Help would be appreciated.

I'd highly recommend 4-2-3-1 (2CM's, AMR, AMC, AML), it works brilliantly, you've got the players to make it work already and it's very flexible. I'd also really recommend Landon Donovan for the winger/striker role, he's been superb for me, and even though he's not the youngest, he's definitely worth the £7m it cost me. Could even sell him for profit now if I want!

One game left in my season, Champs League final against Barca, then I'll update you all on how it's going.

[nigelquelch]

why did you sell Josh?! And for just £4.1m!

It's 4.1M + 50% next sale so hopefully I'll get some more later on. He just wasn't developing and only had 2 1/2 star potential, also was refusing to go out on loan so thought it best to cash in instead of him sitting in the reserves.

[Bracken]

Fair enough, I'll always keep him, just for the homegrown rules and stuff, even if his PA isn't too great.

Right here we go, end of season results and roundup. This will be a pretty epic post. Because of the number of games I've played, I'll just post the results and not the scorers, except in the important games

League Cup Final

Chelsea 3 - 2 Arsenal

Drogba 4', 14'

Van Persie 42'

Chamakh 53'

Fabianski OG 68'

First trophy of my reign as Chelsea manager - consider it revenge for IRL today

Premier League

Swansea 0 - 2 Chelsea

Champions League First Knockout Round 2nd Leg

Chelsea 1 - 1 Rubin (7 - 1 on Aggregate)

Premier League

Chelsea 1 - 0 Wolves

Wigan 0 - 3 Chelsea

Chelsea 2 - 0 Tottenham

Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg

Inter 2 - 3 Chelsea

Forlan

Ashley Cole 21'

Pazzini 72'

Sturridge 87'

Torres 90'

Great late win here, persistence paid off

Premier League

QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea

Champions League Quarter Final 2nd Leg

Chelsea 1 - 1 Inter

Premier League

Blackburn 1 - 2 Chelsea

Chelsea 3 - 0 Liverpool

Chelsea 1 - 1 Man Utd

Champions League Semi Final 1st Leg

Bayern Munich 2 - 3 Chelsea

Donovan 13'

Sturridge 32'

Ribery 35', 43'

Drogba 78'

Again, we kept plugging away after throwing away a 2-0 lead, and it paid off in the end.

Premier League

Sunderland 0 - 1 Chelsea

Champions League Semi Final 2nd Leg

Chelsea 3 - 1 Bayern Munich

Torres 2'

Robben 49'

Lampard pen 57'

Malouda 62'

On to the final we go, it's been a tough route with 3 of the biggest teams in Europe in the knockouts, just one big team left to go. The biggest team. Before then, if we win one of our last 3 league games, the league is ours

Premier League

Chelsea 2 - 0 West Brom

Muniain 3'

Torres 32'

And that's the league. Muniain's first goal for a long time, but worth the wait as he rounded 4 players and smashed it in. Good to have it wrapped up, it had been a tough fight with both Man Utd and Arsenal always close behind.

Stoke 1 - 1 Chelsea

Chelsea 4 - 1 Fulham

Champions League Final

The best result in my FM career. Despite being down to 9 men for a huge part of the game, and only leading 1-0 at that point, we not only held it, we pushed on and brought the trophy home in our first season. Torres and Mata were masterful, and we really deserved the win.

Conclusions

A great season, beyond my expectations. The team play some fantastic football, it's been mostly the same squad I started with, with only Donovan really making an impact from the start of the season, and Muniain and Varane being phased in slowly. The most pleasing thing for me has been the way the team has played, there have been standout players (Torres, Mata, Lampard, Terry) but the success has really been down to the team (a very AVB ethic here). This is most evident by the spread of goals across the team. Here are my top scorers:

Torres - 45 games, 41 goals

Lampard - 42 games, 19 goals

Donovan - 37 (5) games, 16 goals

Sturridge - 39 games, 14 goals

Mata - 44 games, 10 goals

John Terry - 48 games, 10 goals

6 first team players in double figures is great for me, usually my goals are more concentrated among just 2 or 3 players. And those are just the first team, some of the backups broke double figures too (Drogba, Anelka)

A special mention must go to Mata who got 39 assists in all competitions, and Torres who despite scoring 30 league goals was only 3rd top scorer (Rooney got 42 in the league which is insane for the AI, but at least made it more of a challenge.)

I'm now going to be starting to clear out the squad as the regens and new players I've brought in start to arrive, I'll let you guys know how it goes. Well done if you read all this! Come on the Chels!!

[Rohkey]

Any suggestions with tactics at all, I'm really torn between a bread and butter 4-3-3/4-5-1 and a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation, just racking my brains to see what works.

Transfer budget doesn't lend me much room to manouvere either, need a striker/winger for both flanks as well as a good out and out RB and maybe a marquee signing in the midfield.

Looked at Lavezzi, Cavani, Hamsik, Hulk and Maicon and such but budget wise I can't get them outright. Help would be appreciated.

I always used the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond and had success with it. Would average .5 GA a game, the main drawback though was it wasn't the best formation offensively, and often I'd find myself only up a goal or two against much weaker opposition only to concede some random late goal to allow them back into the game. Against good opposition it worked wonders, however.

Halfway through my FM12 season I switched to the 4-3-3 and it's worked wonders (in limited games). I mean technically it's the same thing, just with the defensive midfielder and the attacking midfielder moved up but with similar roles. With proper ball-winning midfielders and center-backs its still a good formation defensively with much improved offensive output. I moved the DMF from Deep-Lying Playmaker to Ball-Winner, changed my Advanced Playmaker to Deep-Lying (I don't think Trequerista and Advanced Playmakers are compatible, they seem to take on the same role and compete needlessly with each other), and kept my AMC (now a striker) as Trequerista. I play wide with a deep line and quick tempo on fluid with an attacking philosophy.

The results:

4-1-2-1-2

4-3-3

Preferred starting lineup:

Note that Anelka, David Luiz, McEachran, and Malouda also get a lot of playing time, I like to rotate my squad a lot.

My only (slight) concern about this formation is that I am still having problems getting my attack-minded midfielders to perform well. In the past I had issued with the AMC position as my Advanced Playmaker (generally Hamsik) would do really well, as would the strikers, and the AMC wouldn't contribute a whole ton. Now with Mata, however, this has been reversed (notice the relatively low average for Hamsik). Mikel/Ramires do well well as a Deep-Lying Playmaker, but Hamsik does not. The solution could potentially be to move these guys to the front line with the Trequerista role, but I don't know if that is correct, and Mata has been really good. I'm giving Hamsik every opportunity to perform but he's been quiet thus far.

I wanted to sell Malouda but early on I needed a backup left-back as Cole was injured long-term, and I was also still using the 4-1-2-1-2 where Malouda does quite well at AMC. His overall average is a 7.26 with mixed games at both left-back and AMC. It's difficult to get rid of a player doing that well, especially as a backup.

The only position where I am lacking depth is Trequerista, where I plan to sign Aguero once he no longer "has no intention to join your club." I'm considering trying Hamsik there too, and have Kakuta if need be. At poacher I have Sturridge and a 4-star potential Mbaye Niang who is averaging a 9.0 in the youth squad. I also have Anelka but am trying to sell him. At TM I have Sanogo and Lukaku. In midfield I have obviously McEachran & Romeu along a 3.5-star potential Julian Draxler and a 3.5-star potential Emre Can. I might need to find a box-box midfielder but am thinking Hamsik could potentially do this, perhaps (I really want to find him a good role). At fullback I have Digne and Da Costa, at centreback I have Bruma/Kalas/Ake/Chalobah who are all 3-4 star potentials. And at GK there's Delac and Courtois.

Also a note on Essien, he's about to return but is listed as a (gasp) 2-star potential. I'm so used to him being a key player. I'm hoping I can nurse him back into fitness and that his potential is listed again as 3-4 stars, but if not I won't be too gutted since I have some good defensive minded midfielders.

[lacoste8030]

Hey Bracken sorry I am asking you all these questions but do u play muniain as AML, and who do you play at AMR?