FM2012: Newcastle United thread - Triumphing by brave defending.....well maybe!

[Abramovic]

A season that had it all, ups downs you name it. Having initially indented on clearing out my staff fully and bringing in my own people I pushed forward with it irregardless of consequences on players. In my mind coaches that i bring in will inspire my team (determination 15+, motivation 15+)

Staff:

As you can see, i managed to bring quite a few coaches (the management allowed me more after a request) however quality scouts were hard come by.

Did take a risk with physios which in hindsight i shouldnt have. Injuries were partly to blame for how my season went.

Being impartial allowed me to analyse the squad without any rose tinted glasses so i thought but a combination of low transfer funds and several areas that needed improvement i didn't get my top targets. Messed up on good few loans because of the loan rule. Anyway on to how my season was going. With 21 games played i was 2nd on goal difference only and through to the semi final of the of the league cup. And unfortunately that was as good as it got.

My league form went totally to bits and we turned into relegation candidates (on form only) which was enforced when i lost 3-2 to Birmingham in the semis. The lowest point of the season, as at that time i was challenging on all fronts. Had my doubts on whether my team would sustain it but thought f it, take each game as it comes.

Having been knocked out of the both cups and my title challenge fainting away the moral went rock bottom and some cleaver team meetings combined with a decent result here and there we managed to finish 5th. If someone offered me 5th at the start of the season i would have taken their arm off but due to the first half of the season i am utterly disappointed.

Transfers:

Squad:

My strikers let me down big time, i couldn't get BA or Traore to preform. Need to make sure i get a class striker for next season. Their profiles indicate that they are good as target men on support but neither performed as that role nor as poachers. I must be doing something wrong here

and lastly league table:

[Abramovic]

can anyone teach me how to set up Ba and Paloschi for their roles?

Also the roles for Ben Arfa , Cahilll and Coloccini? i m using 4-4-2

I lost like 36 goals in 28 matches, and only score 4x goals, anyone help can me a bit I m new to FM thanks guys

Did you try setting them up, with their suggested roles in reports ?

[CaptainStarbuster]

Just about to start my first game...

Wish me luck!

[Geordie_Gaz]

Almost finished pre season now, which seems to have taken an eternity because I've been setting up individual schedules based on player roles etc.

I decided to go for Shawcross in the end, who set me back exactly £12m. I was happy with him, but then, out of nowhere, Milan started sniffing around Captain Colo. As a test, I decided to offer him out for £13m to try an get him off the wage bill. I was shocked to recieve two bids as a result: £4.4m from Fiorentina, and £12.75m from Milan. I wasn't gonna think twice about accepting the Milan offer, and I promptly signed Gary Cahill to replace him, so I got my two main targets.

Now, if pre-season performances are anything to go by, my team should be scoring for fun when the season eventually gets underway. Rodriguez scored 8 in his two starts, with one performance being given a perfect 10 score. It looks like I'll be switching from a target man to a poacher up front I reckon.

Current squad (first choice in bold, regen in italics, role in brackets):

GK: Krul, Smithies, Harper

DR (FB S): Santon, Gassama, Lemme

DL (FB S): M'Bengue, Digne, Bennett

DCL (BPD): Shawcross, Martial, Friedrich (CD)

DCR (BPD): Cahill, Saylor (CD), Kadar (LD)

MCR (BWM): Tiote, Hargreaves, McCann

MCL (DLP): Cabaye, Gosling, Cairney (when marking has improved)

AMR (AP): Obertan/Albrighton (W) (will depend on first few games), LuaLua

AML (AP): Marveaux/Ba (IF), Larsen, Ben Arfa

AMC (AM): Ben Arfa, Vuckic, Abeid/Cairney

ST (P): Wilfried/Rodriguez/Ba (decisions decisions), Ameobi, Bruno

I reckon I'm a bit light on cover for the left wing and in the hole, but as most of my budget has gone, strengthening those positions will have to wait. For now, I'm extremely happy to have the selection problems I've currently got

[DandyDon]

can anyone teach me how to set up Ba and Paloschi for their roles?

Also the roles for Ben Arfa , Cahilll and Coloccini? i m using 4-4-2

I lost like 36 goals in 28 matches, and only score 4x goals, anyone help can me a bit I m new to FM thanks guys

Paloschi is ideal as a Poacher-Attack. Has great pace and an excellent finish once he's developed a bit. Cahill I'd probably set up as a Ball Playing Defender, especially if he's starting alongside Taylor who I use as a Limited Defender. I was using Colo as a Ball Palying Defender as well until I sold him.

Ba never really performed for me, so I won't try and give you any advice there. Ben Arfa has played best for me in the AMC position as a Trequartista/Attack, but my coaches think he's best suited to the Attacking Midfielder role....we agreee to disagree on this.

I find it hard to fit Ben Arfa into a standard 4-4-2 to be honest as he's a little work shy to play in a central two I feel.

[DandyDon]

@Abramovic

I've rarely gotten a Target Man to work with the targetman settings on FM...only Tomas Necid on FM11 really seemed to work. Try Traore as a Deep-Lying Forward, I've had some success using that role alongside a quick poacher type.

[Walld]

i have the same feeling as yours, Ba never work out for me, only score 10 goals in many matches and the rate is below 6.8

but paloschi is a very gd striker and score almost 20 goals for me.

And i wonder how to set Ben Arfa as i m using 4-4-2 but sometimes 4-5-1

but his teamwork is very low..........

[Abramovic]

With a somewhat disappointing end to the season, I decided to re-evaluate all aspects of the club, lets face it buying players constantly is not the answer here.

With that in mind i signed a "work permit" feeder team. This is where Oțelul Galați come in. And just to make sure it works out well for me i added in the league so from next season everything should be in place for me to farm players.

I have started gathering talent already. Cobian already being sent there and some 15 year old turkish kid on the way(scouts were impressed)

Another aspect that was tackled was physios: 2 more signed so hopefully that should prevent niggling injuries or if nothing boost recovery time.

Here are the changes i made to the team:

@Abramovic

I've rarely gotten a Target Man to work with the targetman settings on FM...only Tomas Necid on FM11 really seemed to work. Try Traore as a Deep-Lying Forward, I've had some success using that role alongside a quick poacher type.

Surely a lone striker as TM was the way to go as he would bring in AMC into play and wingers. But i guess i have to reanalyze my plans, might just stick a Advanced forward to keep the line. thanks for the tip

[Church CM]

How are you all using your scouting network? With 9 scouts it seems there is a lot of ground to cover and not enough people to do it effectively. This is how I have it set up and am open to advice ...

James Carr (only survivor from day one blood letting on the office) ... World and Loan reports

Paul Montgomery ... World ... Main check this guy for 3 games if he may be good guy

Alexandre Ceolin ... Next opposition ... He's great but only knows Brazil ... seeing if this will get him familiar with the EPL

Stan Valckx .. Central Europe

Newton Motta ... South America

Malcolm "Jesus I can't believe you agreed to those terms" Elias ... UK & Ireland

Klaus Fischer ... Scandinavia ... his determination is a concern .. we'll see how he does

Jario Leal ... Ligue 1 France

Fiidi Geroge ... Western Africa

I am pretty sure this will change, I am still in the preseason and am still focused on other things but this is coming up quick on my to do list. Just curious how you manage your scouting network. In the past I have always had one guy per major region, a next op, a eng res and a eng u 18 scout. I am thinking now about having 2 world, 1 next op and then the rest scouting top leagues.

[DandyDon]

I've persuaded the board to expand the scout network to 13 in the second season, have several of them scouting major regions to expand the knowledge base at the moment. North America, Africa etc. One scout checking out the opposition, one scout kept free to check out any players I'm really interested in over a few games. Then I have a couple scouts checking out specific countries in a bit more depth.

Currently have a scout in Mexico as there seem to be some crazy good regens available there. If things go well over next few seasons and I can keep adding scouts I'll probably have a few monitoring the major youth leagues all the time.

[DandyDon]

Anyone looking for potential forward signings I would highly recommend Modibo Maiga by the way. I signed him as a sort of afterthought originally just as an alternative option to Sow and Paloschi, but he's impressed me so far.

He doesn't start every game, I tend to use him in the matches where I play 4-4-2 if I think we don't need to match up in midfield, but he's made 14 appearances so far and has 10 goals and 7 assists which is a very decent return for our third striker.

EDIT: Probably should have mentioned he cost 4 million in second season from French club Sochaux

[Church CM]

If you are looking for a good MC attacking prospect, check out Enzo Reale ... he's been fantastic in my previous saves and is very reasonable to get.

[DandyDon]

Slightly spooky for Halloween, finished watching Newcastle at Stoke on Monday night football, fired up FM and my first fixture was at Stoke...

...couldn't quite duplicate the real life success, had to make do with a dull 0-0.

I've dropped a bit of a clanger in the January window though, signed the young Liverpool left back Robinson for £6 million...only to find he's not eligible to play for the rest of the season as he's already played for 2 clubs.

One of these days I might pay attention properly.

[dburns1993]

Just started a save with Newcastle, halfway through pre-season coming upto the end of July. Have brought in a fair bit of money so far as well as revamping the defence, maybe a few too many changes but we'll soon see. Still looking to add to the team with maybe another striker. Will give a proper update after pre-season.

----

What is Demba Ba's best role?

[Church CM]

I play an attacking 4231 and play him as a poacher/attack in the top or a AML/wing/attack from time to time and he's actually been quite good there ... in two games, he has steamrolled his defender to put it in the net. I like him, even with his flaws, I like him a lot.

[haza555]

Finally bought the game and can now continue with the demo

Currently 7th after 21 games which isn't too bad considering I went for top half finish. Only players I brought in being Felipe Anderson and Mame Biram Diouf. Anderson has been solid backup but Diouf has hardly had a say, Ranger keeping him out the team. Also Vuckic is an animal, even in the first season. The system I play is 4-2-3-1 and they line up something like...

GK - Krul

DR - Simpson

DL - Santon

DC - Staylor

DC - Coloccini

CM (BWM) - Tiote

CM (B2B) - Cabaye

AMR - Jonas

AML - Marveaux

AMC - Vuckic

ST - Ranger

Some of those players I would never have given a chance but had a very bumpy start to the season, introduced some new faces and haven't been able to look back. Currently on 6 wins out of 7 and the front 4 work fantastically well together.

Hoping for a place in europe, we'll see!

[Geordie_Gaz]

How are you all using your scouting network? With 9 scouts it seems there is a lot of ground to cover and not enough people to do it effectively. This is how I have it set up and am open to advice ...

James Carr (only survivor from day one blood letting on the office) ... World and Loan reports

Paul Montgomery ... World ... Main check this guy for 3 games if he may be good guy

Alexandre Ceolin ... Next opposition ... He's great but only knows Brazil ... seeing if this will get him familiar with the EPL

Stan Valckx .. Central Europe

Newton Motta ... South America

Malcolm "Jesus I can't believe you agreed to those terms" Elias ... UK & Ireland

Klaus Fischer ... Scandinavia ... his determination is a concern .. we'll see how he does

Jario Leal ... Ligue 1 France

Fiidi Geroge ... Western Africa

I am pretty sure this will change, I am still in the preseason and am still focused on other things but this is coming up quick on my to do list. Just curious how you manage your scouting network. In the past I have always had one guy per major region, a next op, a eng res and a eng u 18 scout. I am thinking now about having 2 world, 1 next op and then the rest scouting top leagues.

I'm not as organised as yourself. I do have 13 scouts, but they're in the main "hotbeds" looking for different types of player:

Graham Carr: UK & Ireland (players under 20), loan reports and major competitions (Olympics etc)

Eduardo Macia: Central Europe (no age limits) & Spanish under 19's

Steve Nickson: UK & Ireland (no age limits), Scottish under 19's

Faustino Asprilla: South America (no age limits), Major south American competitions

Kim Vilfort: Scandinavia (no age limit), Europa League

Uwe Bein: Central Europe (no age limit), German Under 19's

Ronaldo: South America (aged between 20-30), Italian under 20's

Stratos Apostolakis: South Europe (no age limit), Champions League

Jurgen Milewski: Central Europe (4 star potential), Dutch under 19's

Alexandre Ceolin: World, further scouting reports of recommended players

Andrzej Crzyzniewcki: Eastern Europe (no age limit), European U21 qualifiers

Sef Vergoossen: UK & Ireland (4 star potential), Next Opposition

Benoit Thans: Central Europe (under 20), Belgian Pro League

Alessandro Beltrami: Central Europe (4 star potential), Italian under 20's

Mourlaye Soumah: Western Africa (no limits)

Jose Puche: Central Europe (under 18, 4 star potential), Spanish League

Think I might need to reorganise that, or at least broaden my horizons. I've always believed, though, that the more eyes looking for something the better. South America will probably get more attention if and when I get a good work permit feeder.

[jlawlor91]

Started a Toon save, but to make it different and similar to real life I unticked the box allowing first window budgets. This allowed me to look at the players we've already got. Now I'm in January Ashley the tight wad won't stump up any cash eventhough balance is £36 mill.

Before the season started I signed Daniel Sturridge on loan, he has been doing average-good, nothing spectacular. Coloccini has been terrible so I sold him to Genoa. Marveaux was awful too, so he was shipped to Villa. I've got a tiny amount of £4 mill to spend so I'm doing the 48 months to get Vertonghen, as well as Gaston Ramirez on loan and I desperately need a striker.

Not to mention we're in the semi final of the Carling Cup against Portsmouth

[col_nufc1]

I am now in January in the second season and I have found a amazing 20 year old goalkeeper from Borussia Monchengladbach called Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. He had a £9.25m minimum fee release clause in his contract so it looks like he will be a bargain.

[DandyDon]

Sounds like you're going well there Lawly I don't know if he'd be any use for you but I was able to persuade Alberto Paloschi to sign a pre contract deal with us during January of the first season, so his club might accept a cut price deal to sell him rather than lose him on a free like they did on my save.

[DandyDon]

I am now in January in the second season and I have found a amazing 20 year old goalkeeper from Borussia Monchengladbach called Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. He had a £9.25m minimum fee release clause in his contract so it looks like he will be a bargain.

Good deal Col...he's been getting rave reviews on the Good Goalkeepers thread but his asking price is usually somewhere round £18 million so getting him for hlf that sounds like a bargain.

[col_nufc1]

Good deal Col...he's been getting rave reviews on the Good Goalkeepers thread but his asking price is usually somewhere round £18 million so getting him for hlf that sounds like a bargain.

Let's hope so because Tim Krul is so underated on the game compared to real life it's untrue.

I put a £17.5m bid in for Jack Wilshere who is unhappy and in the Arsenal reserves and they came back with a counter offer of £50m .

[jlawlor91]

Sounds like you're going well there Lawly I don't know if he'd be any use for you but I was able to persuade Alberto Paloschi to sign a pre contract deal with us during January of the first season, so his club might accept a cut price deal to sell him rather than lose him on a free like they did on my save.

Cheers. I had a look at Paloschi but he's signed a new contract

In Jan I signed Ridgewell, Craig Dawson, Tomkins and Gignac which were basically to add numbers. Not sure which players are actually decent enough to keep for the future?

On a positive, just won the league cup on penalties, against Middlesbrough after drawing 3-3 in extra time. Was 2-1 down and equalised in the 91st minute. Then went 3-2 down

Passports at the ready...

[DandyDon]

Let's hope so because Tim Krul is so underated on the game compared to real life it's untrue.

I put a £17.5m bid in for Jack Wilshere who is unhappy and in the Arsenal reserves and they came back with a counter offer of £50m .

He was in the reserves on my save under the new Gunners boss Micahel Laudrup so I was trying to unsettle him.

....unfortunately all my praise seems to have backfired by convincing Laudrup to put him back in the first team and start playing him.

[DandyDon]

Cheers. I had a look at Paloschi but he's signed a new contract

In Jan I signed Ridgewell, Craig Dawson, Tomkins and Gignac which were basically to add numbers. Not sure which players are actually decent enough to keep for the future?

On a positive, just won the league cup on penalties, against Middlesbrough after drawing 3-3 in extra time. Was 2-1 down and equalised in the 91st minute. Then went 3-2 down

Passports at the ready...

Ridgewell and Tomkins should be useful squad players, and they'll help with the quotas for European competition. Dawson came highly recommended elsewhere in this thread, and I'd second that, he's been a regular starter alongside Steven 'Masked Avenger' Taylor in my second season and done really well for a relatively inexperienced player. Gignac looks like a bit of a stop gap when I scouted him, sadly declined from the player he was a couple seasons ago (which seems to be the case in real life looking at his form, seems to be bit of a make or break season for him in Grance)

Congrats on the cup win btw

[jlawlor91]

Ridgewell and Tomkins should be useful squad players, and they'll help with the quotas for European competition. Dawson came highly recommended elsewhere in this thread, and I'd second that, he's been a regular starter alongside Steven 'Masked Avenger' Taylor in my second season and done really well for a relatively inexperienced player. Gignac looks like a bit of a stop gap when I scouted him, sadly declined from the player he was a couple seasons ago (which seems to be the case in real life looking at his form, seems to be bit of a make or break season for him in Grance)

Congrats on the cup win btw

Cheers for the advice. At the end of the season I'll have a big decision to make about a few players - Gignac has scored 6 in 6(2) which is quality, I just wonder how long it will last for. Danny Simpson has also been my best player this season but I would prefer Santon. Would much prefer this situation than underperformers.

UPDATE: Unbelievably, I've just won the FA Cup! Played against Man City so was just happy to get there, but after being 2-1 down I brought Daniel Sturridge on and he set up the winner. Happy days! Bit of money would be nice now Mike...

Budget at 15 mill - Tiny considering I never had one last year

Also I've got the GB job for the olympics

[SeanH91]

just nicked a 1-0 away win at City to go top of the league after 12 games! We went 1-0 up with our first chance on target (third overall) with Coloccini heading in, only for him to be sent off 3 minutes later at the stroke of half time for a last man challenge on Aguero who was clean through. Cue me throwing everyone back (at the end I was playing 4-4-1, 4 defenders, 4 DMs and a MC) and despite City having 36 shots they just couldn't convert

[DandyDon]

Cheers for the advice. At the end of the season I'll have a big decision to make about a few players - Gignac has scored 6 in 6(2) which is quality, I just wonder how long it will last for. Danny Simpson has also been my best player this season but I would prefer Santon. Would much prefer this situation than underperformers.

UPDATE: Unbelievably, I've just won the FA Cup! Played against Man City so was just happy to get there, but after being 2-1 down I brought Daniel Sturridge on and he set up the winner. Happy days! Bit of money would be nice now Mike...

Budget at 15 mill - Tiny considering I never had one last year

Also I've got the GB job for the olympics

Good job on the cup runs. The budget however isn't too suprising, at least you got 6 million more than I got for the second season, but I did raise a fair old whack of cash by clearing out the squad.

[Geordie_Gaz]

Good job on the cup runs. The budget however isn't too suprising, at least you got 6 million more than I got for the second season, but I did raise a fair old whack of cash by clearing out the squad.

I was quite lucky with my budget then I guess - £17m for a top half finish.

[DandyDon]

I was quite lucky with my budget then I guess - £17m for a top half finish.

lol...lucky sod

Maybe you were a bit more effective in cost cutting during the first season though

[DandyDon]

I've noticed a few folks get that GB Olympics post...did you just get offered the job, or did you apply for it during the summer?

[col_nufc1]

I've noticed a few folks get that GB Olympics post...did you just get offered the job, or did you apply for it during the summer?

I applied for the GB job when something appeared in the news, then I got it and won the Gold Medal .

[DandyDon]

Who made your squad then Col?

[col_nufc1]

The January transfer window has just closed in the second season and these were our transfers.

These were the staff we added in the second season.

[col_nufc1]

Who made your squad then Col?

This was my Team GB squad and fixtures. There were quite a few injuries so I couldn't pick the likes of Gibbs, Baines, Hart, Sturridge, Welbeck and a few others.

[Geordie_Gaz]

lol...lucky sod

Maybe you were a bit more effective in cost cutting during the first season though

I guess so, though I don't know what I did that others wont have done. It's been a bit of a poisoned chalice though, with that budget (and real life stuff) I've taken forever to get through the pre-season and I'm only just kicking the new season off!

[col_nufc1]

My scouts have found me this little gem , he will cost £1.7m in compensation and he is rated as having 4.5 star potential. The only bad thing about this deal is he doesn't join until he's 18 years old, so I can't get him to work on his physicals .

[nufc1]

He looks fantastic Col and those physicals should climb a bit even under AI control. His 17 crossing may not be utilised too much from DM though lol

Im just into Feb in the first season on my game after having to restart. Heres how the table is looking:

Here are the transfers i have made in the first season.

Bandalovski is fantastic at right back and for such a small transfer fee, you can't go wrong. Wilfried was on fire but then got injured for a long time. Ive had terrible luck with injuries with Wilfried, Collocini, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Santon and Guttierrez sustaining lengthy set-backs.

The team is performing pretty well despite the injuries and im looking forward to pushing on to the end of the season

[nufc1]

Heres Bandalovski if anyone is interested

His attributes are on the rise even though he's injured lol

[AdamDK]

Absolute gem of a striker that my scouts found me, on my 4th season now. Best of all this guy cost me...nothing!

5 goals in 7 games for the reserves, and in the one cup game he's played so far for me in the League Cup before we got knocked out in the 4th round, he scored twice! This guy has potential.

[jlawlor91]

I have a couple of issues:

Transfers occasionally get cancelled without explanation - is this because wages/transfer fee are too much for Mike Ashley?

Kolarov couldn't get a work permit to join me on loan from Man City - how on earth would this happen if he's already playing in England?

[DandyDon]

I have a couple of issues:

Transfers occasionally get cancelled without explanation - is this because wages/transfer fee are too much for Mike Ashley?

Kolarov couldn't get a work permit to join me on loan from Man City - how on earth would this happen if he's already playing in England?

Not sure about the deals cancelled with no explanation, but I'm pretty sure a player can miss out on a work permit even if he's playing in the country already if he hasn't been playing internationally, his country have slipped out of the top 75 FIFA ranked nations and he hasn't been a regular starter for the club he was at. (Think that's roughly how it goes)

I've had players in the past fail to get work permits when they've been at my club and I went to renew their contracts and annoyingly had to let them leave on a free.

[DandyDon]

@AdamDK

looks great for a freebie signing, especially if you can get his finishing up a little, and his composure. Combined with his pace and off the ball he'd be a nightmare for opposing defenders.

[AdamDK]

@AdamDK

looks great for a freebie signing, especially if you can get his finishing up a little, and his composure. Combined with his pace and off the ball he'd be a nightmare for opposing defenders.

Yeah definitely. He's doing great in the reserves, going to get him to focus on finishing in training. I also just got an affilate link with Inverness CT, might loan him to them when the transfer window re-opens in January, I'm sure he'll get some games for them so the exposure to first team football will be good for him.

[jlawlor91]

Aahhh! Need a left-back in the 2nd season. Heres the situation:

Van Aanholt: Not interested eventhough he was on loan for us in the Championship

Kolarov: Can't get a work-permit

M'Bengue and Pieters: Moved to new clubs

[DandyDon]

Aahhh! Need a left-back in the 2nd season. Heres the situation:

Van Aanholt: Not interested eventhough he was on loan for us in the Championship

Kolarov: Can't get a work-permit

M'Bengue and Pieters: Moved to new clubs

Not sure what the budget is but how about Aly Cissokho at Lyon, Jose Angel (can't remember if he starts at Sporting or Roma), Alex Sandro at Porto or Pablo Armero at Udinese. They all got pretty decent reviews from my scouts, but I got Pieters pretty chep so didn't go for any of them. I know Armero moved from Udinese at start of the second season on my save for about 4.5 mill, so not too expensive.

Or maybe Martin Olsson at Blackburn if you preferred a left back with Premier League experience

[DandyDon]

Yeah definitely. He's doing great in the reserves, going to get him to focus on finishing in training. I also just got an affilate link with Inverness CT, might loan him to them when the transfer window re-opens in January, I'm sure he'll get some games for them so the exposure to first team football will be good for him.

Loan him to Aberdeen

I'm pretty sure we'd need him more than Caley Thistle

[jlawlor91]

Not sure what the budget is but how about Aly Cissokho at Lyon, Jose Angel (can't remember if he starts at Sporting or Roma), Alex Sandro at Porto or Pablo Armero at Udinese. They all got pretty decent reviews from my scouts, but I got Pieters pretty chep so didn't go for any of them. I know Armero moved from Udinese at start of the second season on my save for about 4.5 mill, so not too expensive.

Or maybe Martin Olsson at Blackburn if you preferred a left back with Premier League experience

Cheers for that, I will have a thorough investigation into all of those

[DandyDon]

Cheers for that, I will have a thorough investigation into all of those

No probs Hope some of them turn out to be useful for you. left backseems to be a real awkward bitch of a position to fill on the last couple FMs...well it has been for me at times.

[jlawlor91]

Another dilemma:

Should I get Pieters for £10 mill? Obviously could have got him A LOT cheaper 1st season. The players you suggested weren't interested and Porto wanted £13 mill for Alex Sandro.

&

My front line is: Ba, Nolan Roux, Christian Benitez and Gignac. Do I sign Gyan for £10 mill?