FM12 : Fulham FC Thread - Just Beat It

[iolodavanki]

My save with Fulham has both been exciting and a bit of a status quo so far but I hope it is gonna change soon!

A quick recap (I dont have the save with me here so it will have to be from my good memory!):

I came in at the start of the game with the notion that a il devasto 4-2-2-2 (442 with attacking inside fwd as wingers) would be great with Demebele (AML), Ruiz (AMR) and Zamora and Johnson/Dempsey up front.

I was not really able to sign anyone the first season and injuries ruined large parts of it. Despite this we finished 7th and reached the semis of the Euro Cup. Dembele and Ruiz particularly were out injured a lot.

Second season, I was given a good budget (25-30M) although the finances were in red.

In:

Gaston Ramirez 7M

Goodwillie 4M

Kyle Walker 4M

Bonaventura (AMRLC from Italy) 7M

Bodmer MC from PSG 3M

Ciaran Clark 3M from Villa.

In the winter Torje (6M) and Mathieu (2M) came in from Udinese and Valencia. Walker impressed, Clark played almost all games in the league, Ramirez had his moments, but largely the impressive ensamble of recruits did little out of the ordinary. Torje was injured a lot and also (again!) Dembele and Ruiz. We finished 11th in the league and were knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the Euro Cup in the last 16.

I am now in the summer of 2013; Ruiz has declined alarmingly and I am keen to hear from other Fulham managers how he has fared and developed for you.

I was given a budget of 35M and with the large amount of players on big contracts leaving, I have a lot of money! Transfers summer 2013 (so far):

IN:

Shawcross 9M (Stoke were relegated)

Gervinho 7.5M (50k/week contract)

Kompany 7.5M (transfer-listed by City!), accepted a 50k/week contract.

Bolat, GK from Belgian league on a free.

Wilfried, SC from Ajax, starts at Vitesse, 10.5M

Out:

Zamora 1M to Leicester (32 y/o)

Senderos free transfer

Most of the other 35-50k contracts from the start of the game. I have not been able to get rid of Ruiz, even on a free.

Danny Murphy and Andy Johnson will remain at the club on 5k/week contracts, even if Murphy had pace 7 the last time I checked.

I am still looking to sign a SC and a MC, depending on economic factors.

GK: Bolat/Stockdale/Schwarzer

DR: Walker/Kompany

DL: Riise/Mathieu/Clark

DC: Shawcross/Hangeland

DC: Kompany/Clark

MC: Bonaventura/Kompany/Kasami

MC: Bodmer/Murphy

AMR: Torje/Gervinho/Ruiz/Kasami

AML: Dembele/Gervinho/Ramirez

SC: Wilfried/Dembele/Ruiz

SC: Goodwillie/Gervinho/Ramirez

Goodwillie had a good season for me last year, getting 15-17 goals in the league and 22-25 overall. My problems last year was conceeded goals (Schwarzer/Clark/Hangeland) and maybe lacking a bit of steel in central midfield (Murphy/Bodmer a bit weak). I also lacked a set-piece specialist. I hope this can be addressed.

Potential targets right now:

Charlie Adam 4M (transfer-listed but on 60k/week)

Arouca (Arsenal, available for 4.5M)

Adam will bring some set-piece skill but hardly any steel to the MC. Arouca is the opposite IIRC.

Another task next season is to realise the potential of Torje who due to injuries have declined somewhat. The same goes for Dembele who is good but could be much better if he had been free of injuries. Also, the second season of Goodwillie will say a lot of him as a long-term striker option. Can he get to the 20 goal mark in the league?

Thoughts and ideas welcome!

[robchamp]

Will start as Fulham tonight. Needs what most have said above, Out with the old, in with the new! Oh & try to keep the afloat.

[elgreenio]

Busy Busy Busy

[video=youtube;PbXLowqB7Us]

[CarlosEsDios]

Hey Craig - Still taking a big interest in this! I'm in Deutschland with HSV - just finished 3rd and qualified for the Champs League 3rd qualifying. Never higher than 6th all season and then won last two games to get 3rd!

I'm sure that I'll return to the Cottage one day and start posting again

[elgreenio]

You got sacked didn't you? Can't remember how the game works but you may very well find it impossible to get the job again without adding a new manager.

iolodavanki, I found my wingers were taking the bulk of the injuries, though maybe you're putting too much on them in-game and in training. Have you got a seperate schedule for them? Dembele wasn't that great and probably should have been used more as a striker, when I did use him there he was no worse then Johnson. As for Ruiz, he certainly didn't live up to the real life hype but was a good impact player and I had him aroudn the squad until 2017 or 18 or whatever i'm in when I let him go on a free.

Any reason you still have Schwarzer btw? He looks 3rd choice on your list but must still be on quite a bit of money.

Little update on my game with the big fixtures that were upcoming after my above vid.

Man Utd (H) - Draw (0-0)

Man City (H) Lge Cup Qtrs - Win (3-0 iirc)

Chelsea (H) - Win (4-0 and missed a pen, Chelsea finished with 10 men)

A.Villa (A) - Win (think it finished 2-0)

Jan transfer window has started and i've done a big deal already. Firstly, David Ospina who is out favour this season (to a regen who looks to be the best keeper the club has ever had, a new, better VdS), sold to Barcelona for £10m.

Next was a bit of a swap deal, Moussa Sow who was sitting most games out and taking a fair amount in wages was sold to Villa for £1m. In return I raided the Midlands club of Carlos Fierro for just under the 20mil mark.

Now for the next game and Fierro's debut.

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

Ipswich 1-4 Fulham (it may have been 3, it was really late and I was falling asleep).

Went 1 nil down even though I was dominating, but Fierro earned his price tag already, scoring a debut hat trick and making me feel a little bit better about the money paid out for him.

[CarlosEsDios]

Oh - surely with my reputation improving, FFC will see what a silly mistake they made and welcome me back with open arms and a big fat pay check?

[AlanOB]

Just finished my first season with Fulham. Here's a summary:

League: Finished 6th, just pipped to 5th by Chelski. Looking good for top 4 at Xmas, but a threadbare squad paired with a fixture nightmare killed my challenge.

FA Cup: Champions! Beat Everton in the final 1-0 with a Bryan Ruiz goal. Could have been 2 or 3. Happy days.

Carling Cup: Finalists. Beaten 1-0 by Man U in the final, despite a close game. An error from Chris Baird cost me. Gutted.

Europa League: Quarter Finalists. This one hurt the most. Beaten 4-3 on aggregate by a Club Brugge side that we had the beating of. Fatigue and injuries caught up with us at last, with stand-ins having some appalling performances. Would have had Metalist in the semis and Sochaux in the final. Sickened.

Transfers: My only signings were...

- Daniel Jensen as backup for Murphy

- Rory Delap on a season long loan as backup for Sidwell

- Kolbeinn Sigporsson arrived in January to solve the problem of Zamora's profligacy in front of goal

- David Albelda arrived in January as a squad player

More or less went with the starting eleven I was given in other words.

Formation: Went with a 4-2-3-1 the majority of the time, switching between a control strategy and a counter strategy depending on the opposition.

------------------Schwarzer(G)/Stockdale(SWK)-------------

--Baird-------Hangeland---------Hughes----------Riise------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

---------------Sidwell(BWM)-----Murphy(DLP)---------------

--Ruiz(IF)--------------Dempsey(AP)--------------Duff(W)--

------------------------Sigporsson(P)--------------------------

[robchamp]

Right, Fulham on FM12 -

Great club with lots of potential. Did my usual at every club, spend big, get rid of oldies & rubbish. Always do season 1 deals on 48 months so I can spend more.

Out -

Baird - £3m

Hughes - £3.8m

Halliche - £2.8m

Duff - £3.3m

Kelly - £1.5m

In -

Vrsaljko - £1.4m

Jali - £475k

Kara - £975k ( Loaned out for work permit )

Digne - £1.4m

Vertonghen - £8m

Alderweirld - £6.5m

Hoilett - £8.75m

R Y Jenssen - £1.2m

Bressan - £1m

Reus - £14.75m

Eriksen - £7.5m

Recalled Stockdale

Gk - Schwarzer/Stockdale

Dr - Vrsaljko/Grygera

Dl - Riise/Digne

Dc - Hangeland/Alderweirld

Dc - Vertonghen/Briggs

Mcr - Jali/Etuhu

Mcl - RY Jenssen/Eriksen

Amr - Ruiz/Hoilett

Aml - Reus/Dembele

Amc - Dempsey/Eriksen/Bressan

Fc - Zamora/Sa/Hoilett/Dembele

PL - P10, W5, D4 & L1 - 6th in PL so far

CC - Out in 3rd Round

EL - Won all 3 group games so far

FAC - N/A

Good start to the season & the team are blending well.

Dempsey & Zamora have been poor. Might sell to raise funds. Want to get Grygera, Murphy & Sidwell off wages too.

Will start Eriksen at AMC from now but need a striker. Will wait until the summer & get L. Damiao (Hopefully)!

Hoping for a top 6 finish & a good run in the EL & FAC. C'mon Fulham!

[Dan.Morris24]

Not posted for a while currently into my 4th or 5th season have to chec. Still not been able to better a 6th place finish although looking like i could break the top 4 this year around 10 games to go and about 4/5 points off. Not been given a transfer budget for last 2 seasons but managed to pick up Benzema and Balotelli on free's last summer. Current team playing 4-2-4 is Gordan / Walker / Kelly or Hangeland / Kjaer / Gibbs / Wilshire / Cabeye / Ruiz / (Regen) / Benzema or Fierro / Balotelii or Rochina.

[elgreenio]

swear I posted in here a couple of days ago, hmm, guess it's showing as a random post in another thread (bloody multi-tab).

Don't think I said much however, mainly how 48month deals ruin the game, unless they are used as intended. At the moment being able to quadruple your budget by using the function is utter toilet. Not having a go at how you choose to play robchamp, because it shouldnt be allowed to happen like that in game.

Your finances that bad then Dan? though having gone through it myself you can pretty easily build a top 10 team on just freebies.

Just moved out of my flat so been a hectic week building up to it and probably another week or so until everything is sorted, but will try to get an update out this week.

[Robert the Spud]

Ok, so I sailed through the Euro qualifiers which was to be expected with the gash opposition. I'm playing 4-5-1, hoping for a bit of defensive stability. However, I was dominated in my opening EPL games. First match was Man City at the Cottage. We held them at bay for 60 minutes, but my team talk at H/T was apparently enough to send them all to sleep. My back four just let them walk through and we lost 3-0. No shame in that, they're world class afterall. Second match was at the Sports Direct Areana. We were dominated from start to finish and lost 2-1. Johnson missed a fuggin sitter near the end. Muppet. Still, Newcastle could have scored 5.

My problem so far is that my players are not inspired by anything I have to say, so I may just leave team talks for now. Also, my FB's(Kelly/Riise) are always out of position. Against the pace of Newcastle I set them deeper and to stand off, yet they still contrived to leave huge space on either flank. My CB's are constantly so far apart aswell. We look a bit toothless, but there again it's early days.

Oh, and I never sign anyone in the first window either. The squad is actually really good, so I will sell some deadwood in January and try to bring a CF in, and maybe a left back if one is available. Btw, does anyone replace Schwarzer with Stockdale?

[Robert the Spud]

Thoroughly enjoying the save so far. Just bested Rennes 1-0 in France, so we're in a good position in the group stage of Europa League. EPL form is sketchy. Almost held on to 0-0 at the Emirates, but that mug Kelly was caught out of position again and they snuck a 1-0.

My only real gripe is Murphy. I think he's finished. Instead of our creative play going through him, he just brings everything to a halt. Won't be getting a new contract...

[Robert the Spud]

Approaching January in 6th place. Last match was a 5-4 win over Sunderland! We demolished them in the the first half, but inept defending from Riise and Kelly were to blame for their comeback. Chilling.

Got Blandovski the right back from Sofia coming in for 500k, and Adam Vass, the midfield destroyer for 500k aswell.

[Robert the Spud]

Transfer activity in Jan;

Vass- 500k

Bandalovski- 500k

Caicedo- £7.5m

He made his debut, not the quickest but incredibly strong and holds the ball up. Hopefully he will score goals too because he cost alot for us. I also managed to nab Luuk De Jong on a pre-contract. Will arrive in the summer, thus allowing me to spend any money on other areas, such as LB, CB and midfield.

also, sold Halliche and trying to get rid of Ehutu! I've also decided to drop Schwarzer and replace him with the recalled Stockdale. He can't do any worse than that old man, and we'll see how he plays. If well, I won't buy Foster at the end of season.

[Robert the Spud]

Goddamn, we're in the semi final of the Europa League against Gent. This should be winnable. We beat PSV and shaktar to get through to the q/f, and then we demolished Ajax. My league form has taken a major dip due to the European adventure though. Caicedo hitting a bit of form, but really, it's Ruiz, Vass and Hangeland/Hughes that are winning us games.

I think i can finish about 8th or 9th this season. The EL would be nice but either Man City or Ath.Madrid will be too good should we reach the final i suspect. When it get's to the summer, I have my eye on a new CB(Dann, Tomkins or Clark), Ben Foster as my new GK, hopefully Neil Taylor from Swansea to fill the LB position and then i'm trying to wrangle Vladimir Veiss on a freebie from Citeh. Out will be Schwarzer, Kelly, Duff, Dempsey, Johnson, Senderos, Davies, Ehutu and probably Grygera. Might need another MC too. This will get the wage bill down and get rid of some aging players who don't really effect games(like Dempsey).

Finances look good, £25m in the bank. Not sure how, but the european run plus the fact i've only bought Caicedo for significant cash.

[CarlosEsDios]

Just entering January 2011 and I'm still with HSV - fluent in German, won my first league title EVER on FM12 last season. Yey to me!

[elgreenio]

I finished the 2017-18 seasona while back but it's taken the backseat to sorting the file for the upcoming patch. God knows how I did it but I managed to secure the clubs first Champions League win, beating Marseilles in the final. It was that long ago that I can't remember the score, think 1-0 .

I jumped on for a bit last night and will probably get the chance again tonight. Done a few deals with a budget of £29m set (had already spent a bit remaining from last season).

In i've brought a Brazilian striker to be my 2nd/3rd choice, and out will go my Asian lad as well as Camillo Di Franco who hasn't really had the chance and isn't the type to play up by himself.

In midfield long-serving Fernando has been sold to Blackburn for 6.5m, he was getting less and less games with Carlinhos running things nowadays, as well as freeing up around 80k in the wage budget.

My intention is likely to sell another CM (maybe Rodwell) as i've secured a 17m deal for a young CM from Sunderland labelled the next Wilshere.

I was in the running for a Russian winger but think i'll hold back and set my priorities on a centre back as i'm letting Bassong go on a free despite him being a regular this season, the time ahs come to move on. K.Papadopoulos has agreed personal terms on a 24m deal and i'm just waiting for that to go through.

For England i'm in the World Cup, beat Ivory Coast in my first group game 3-2 after Hart was sent off early on . Then came a tame draw 1-1 against Norway with myself having a couple of goals disallowed. Can't even remember who the other team in the group is , but I do know i'm 2 game days away from moving into the new 'Fulham Stadium' (should be named after me )

[elgreenio]

beat Australia 2-0 in the last World Cup group game and was drawn against Cameroon. Another sending off and a 3-2 loss in the end meant I was out in pretty poor fashion. SACKED.

Didn't take long to find my feet again though and I applied and was offered the Argentina job. Took that to try to win a Copa American and add that to my list of achievements.

As for domestically, started with a 5-0 and 6-0 wins as well as beating Liverpool in the community shield. Oh, and I wrapped up the Papadopoulos deal.

Team for this season :

De Haas*

Walker

Papadopoulos

Coates

Vanek*

Sigurdsson

Carlinhos*

Wilshere

Di Maria

Cortinovis*

Wilshere

[RvN#17]

I started the game with Spain U21 won the Euro for U21 players and resigned from the position (i was their manager from 5.7.2011 - 1.7.2013). Then i applied for the Brazil and they wanted me so i won the World Cup with them (from 7.7.2013 - 23.7.2014). In the meantime Fulham offered me the job and i accepted it. I started on 20.7.2014 and until now (31.1.2017) I am still manager of Fulham. Martin Jol finished 9th and got fired, so i told the board i will play in the Europe next season and that was a good decision, becaouse i finished 4th in my first season with 90 goals for and 42 against. I decided to play 4-3-3 (DMC-MC-MC-ST-ST-ST). Federico Macheda was my leading goalscorer with total of 40 goals in all competitions. This is the table for my first season (http://i.imgur.com/SDAs9.jpg).

My second season i aranged some free transfers (Khedira,Guaita and few others) and decided to keep the same formation. I forgot to mention i won the FA Cup so that ment i had to play City in Comunity Shield, which we won on penalties 3-2. My goal was the same as last season, but this one was for the books. We managed to finish 1st with 12 points ahead of Man Utd. This year we had 101 goals FOR and 42 AGAINST. Here is the SS of the table ( http://i.imgur.com/7WxNu.jpg). If we wanted to compete in the UCL we had to beat Juventus which we did, first game Juventus 3:4 Fulham and second game Fulham 3:1 Juventus. I can't remember the group but we finished 2nd and had to play Lyon (they won the CL last season). Amazingly we won 7:2 on aggregate and our next oponent was Real Madrid. First game took place home and Nestor scored in 89' for our victory. Game at Bernabeu was awfull and after 20 minutes we were 4:0 down with Salvio missing a penalty for me. So we ended our trip in 1/4 finals. I was pretty satisfied.

My current 3rd season is the best in FM i had for a long time, after 23 games we're sitting at the top with 22 wins and 1 draw (vs Chelsea, we were 1:0 up and Sakho got red card and they equalized). We scored 89 goals and conceded only 15 so far. Here is SS for the current season (http://i.imgur.com/adNeY.jpg). At the begining of the season we outscored Liverpool 3:1 in Comunity Shield. In the Champions League our group was: Bayern,Porto,Panathinaikos and me. First game away at Bayern 1:1, then 3 straight wins Fulham 7:0 Porto (with Cavani scoring 5 goals), Fulham 2:0 and 3:0 wins against Panathinaikos, then again draw against Bayern 0:0 and the last win vs Porto 5:0. In KO stage we were drawn against Shakhtar.

These are my transfers:

My Squad and Tactic:

So far my best players are:

Cavani - 46 GOALS in 31 GAME and 12 ASTS

Salvio - 13 goals and 22 asts

Wilshere - 7 goals and 10 asts

Moussa Sissoko - 5 goals and 7 asts

Mateo Kovacic - 3 gls 20 asts

Rooney - 16 gls and 13 asts

Thats it for now, i dont have this savegame on my laptop here, these are just some SS i took when i was in my apartment.

[Jamadinho]

Boys and girls, after 4 seasons of playing with Fulham in my career, I finally won the premier league and finished in the Quarter Final of Champions League losing to Porto,

[lpool14]

just started with Fulham was going to go and manage in Europe but im more suited to the english game. Any way have had a good start in the league i beat spurs 2-0 in my 1st game and then lost 3-1 to WBA but beat QPR 3-1. Window is shut i signed Welbeck on loan and signed Kilgallon on loan for cover also got Diogo on a free i sold Helge Riise and Kelly. Welbeck Just scored 4 for England against Wales in a qualifier he is on fire atm.

Forgot to mention Duff broke his leg and is out for 8 months so i got Deulofeu from barca on loan to cover.

[london boy]

Just started with Fulham too towards the end of the 2nd season after Martin Jol left for Birmingham!!!! Managed to get them into the FA Cup final (well, ok, I took over with them already in the semis and only had to beat Forest). Duff, Davies, Murphy & Schwarzer are all set to retire at the end of the season, so will be lots of changes on the horizon

[RvN#17]

Enough said.

Team

Trophies history

And the scoring machine

[FulhamFC1879]

Just thought i'd share my season so far, ive been a CM/FM gamer for many years, and i always manage my team fulham.. but its always a struggle managing them, im not moaning about it, i like it, its part of the job, i use to get bored of it pretty quickly like i'd do 5 seasons then janaury update would come out and i'd start again, or i'd play fifa on my xbox......but ive never won nothing, but i do well sometimes ha ha, i don't use all this cheating stuff where people search the net for great players in the game or search for the best young talents, im not saying all of you do it, but alot do.. i just play the game and don't bother with anything outside the game.. ive got too a few semi finals ect ect, but im not bad at it ;-) right lets get going

january update season1 july-feb

did'nt start off well lost my first two games against norwich 5-2 away and against rivals qpr 2-0 at home, players was not playing up to their level of there ability, then i got knocked out of the europa league so i didnt get to the group stage, i brang in adam allana not a bad player young and still improveing, as i need to bring in young blood as the fulham team is getting old... then i won my next 3 matches, beating man city in the carling cup 3rd round 6-1 away from home! OVER THE MOON! then i went on a little run of draws wins losses, beating wolves 1-0 in the 4th round and arsenal in the QTR 3-2, after beating arsenal i went on a bad run losing 6 games in a row, the older players you could tell was not playing right, none of the team was, but i got drawn against reading in the semi final, which i saw that as a morale booster! before the game i had a team meeting and it went pair shaped! everyone was down, even i was down! but we won the first leg and it done what i thought, got the team spirt up, every manager was against us saying we was'nt cut out for the premiership.

then we pulled are socks up 18th in the league and a run of games, which i thought we could pick up a few points, stoke 0-0 norwich 4-0 qpr 2-2 reading 2nd league 4-3 sunderland 1-1, i was hoping to of picked up more points then i did in the league, but getting through to the final was great! i sold steven kelly to swansea for 1.2 million, brought in aaron cresswell, and adam webstar, needed some young blood, cresswell started good so far. currently 17th, next 3 games blackburn wigan chelsea.. best player dembele 30 games 14 goals overall worse player pavel Pogrebnyak 21 games 1 goal! i tryed buying a striker but money was tight, and i couldnt get rid of any of the old guard as teams said wages was too high..

thanks for reading.. hope you enjoyed. next update will be end of the season, wish me luck in the final.... man utd i hope i win my first silverware. :-)

[JD nawrat]

Hey guys. Long-time admirer of Fulham as a football club (I am a Man City fan) but never before have I managed them on FM. Following the patch I decided to make Fulham my main game and will be spending most time with it. Usually when I start with English-based saves I set myself certain restrictions because otherwise I find myself signing the best young players around the world and dominating (I don't mean to sound arrogant but when it comes to the EPL, I can succeed with any team if I don't have transfer restrictions set on myself). So this save with Fulham would see pretty minimal restrictions, but hopefully enough to make my save interesting. I can only sign Scottish, English, Irish (Republican and Northern) and Welsh players. I am allowed to sign non-Brits if they are free transfers or have been transfer-listed by their club. Loans are a no-no, no matter the nationality of the player or their status on the loan list. I can loan players out, but not sign anyone on loan.

I have already completed season 1 so here is my transfers, tactics, results and other relevant images.

[JD nawrat]

and here is my business in the preseason of 2012/2013 and my planned tactical setup...

so overall a fantastic first season which saw me sitting top at one point with about 13 games to go. My team hit a very bad run of form where we only won 1 game in 15. It was awfully timed as we lost in the Carling Cup Final, FA Cup 4th Round (to QPR, no less...) and to Club Brugge in the Europa League. Still, it was a fantastic season overall.

My targets for the coming season are to challenge for top four but ultimately finish top 6 again. I want to try and win silverware as not winning anything this year was quite gutting - I genuinely believed we would beat Everton. All was going well, we were leading 1-0 at HT, but we conceded early in the second half and couldn't find a way through later. I'd also like to put together a strong run in the Europa League. Our run this year was quite good, but playing all of those qualifiers was tiring. We played 65 (!) games in our first season. I'll be glad to reduce that by quite a few because that many was very tiring on the squad at times and I suffered more than a few injuries to key players (Duff got injured so many times it was unreal).

I'm extremely happy with my signings. I couldn't believe it when Hernandez agreed to sign for me, and for so little (for someone like him, at least, it is a little amount). I am very excited at the prospect of a goalscorer because my first season we really lacked someone who could score consistently. Jordan Rhodes will also make for a good alternative to Hernandez should I need one. I feel like I probably should have strengthened my defence but I'm happy with it. Dawson had a good first season as my third choice CB, Hangeland is still brilliant (Bayern and Liverpool were sniffing around with offers of just under £10M but I turned them down), Baird makes for a good backup and Dann will probably work on a rotation basis with Dawson. Stephen Kelly is my first choice and was last season and I'm happy with how he has played. I was surprised he was on the transfer list to begin with because I rate him highly in the game. Riise is quality still. He was my fourth overall assister (behind Ruiz, Dempsey and Frei) and I hope he continues that form this season. I'll then look to bring in someone new and sell Riise on. Bardsley is a good option for RB and can also play LB so I'm pleased with that signing. Robinson was going cheap because Blackburn got relegated so I'm happy to have him. He's younger than Schwarzer, is a quality player, is English and has a lot of experience. He'll stick around for a few years then Areola will probably take over in goals - another signing I'm very happy with. I felt that £2.2M was a bit much for someone so young and unproven, but PSG wanted £5M for him on the TL and I managed to get it halved. Not much else to say on transfers really. Muntari is mainly a backup. He has PL experience and is a decent player so I brought him in.

Last season's transfers were satisfying. Both Dawson and Spearing were transfer listed and both were very good for me. Spearing won Signing of the Season as well so I'm chuffed with that.

Special mentions must go to Kerim Frei and Pajtim Kasami. Both were fantastic and have developed nicely and will be a part of my plans this season once again. I rejected a £10M big from Man City for Frei and the youngster signed a new contract with a minimum fee release clause of £15M so I'll hopefully have him around for a few years.

EDIT: I have since signed Rene Adler and Michael Ballack both on free transfers and loaned Alphonse Areola out to Bournemouth (League 1) so that he can get match experience since I now have two keepers that will rotate.

[TheBigBoss]

What team instructions did you lot play?

[pb_underdog]

JDownie: Well played

I have set my team up much like your, and it does seem to suit the Fulham team. Im playing with wingback instead of fullback, and its really working well. Beautifull football!

Impressive second season signings. Its allways a battle to improve the squad. Have startet over many times because I wasn´t satisfied with the transfers. I grow bored if i find the unrealistic. Like etting in some young brazillian who beats the **** out of PL first season. I´m starting a new game (again) and I´ll post my progress.

[pb_underdog]

First game of the season at home to Arsenal I won 2-0. They had only 5 shots and one on target. I won comfortably and the team played very nicely. We realy outpassed the. What a promising start!!

My new signing Thomas Kahlenberg playd well and seemed like a good outlet for the team. Bryan Ruiz played striker and scored one goal. I am looking for a new striker (everyone left for free). Maybe Ruiz will take the role.

[pb_underdog]

1st season is over and we finished 5th. I´m quite impressed we managed to pull it off. I´m running a new transfer update (think it’s called Weegie or something like that) and Fulham start with no strikers apart from Sa (who is useless. It´s an excellent update by the way. I got the manager of the year, and the board is super happy and invested in training, youth, stadium, and recruitment. Excellent!

We started playing 4231 in the deep version with 2 DM´s. It seemed ok in the beginning, but as the other teams got stronger, we were overrun. The dm´s got too close to the cb´s and all four seemed confused about their marking tasks.

So I changed in to the 4231, but had issues with consistency. One match excellent, the next was hopeless. I found that our possession change a lot. From 55% down to 35%. This was very annoying and meant we couldn’t get going. Watching a bit of highlights I found, that when not playing with an attacking strategy the build-up was to slow and with no reel scoring opportunities. So I went for the attacking approach and possession went up. Obviously this meant some counterattacking chances for the opposition.

A while ago I read somewhere about letting the player choose for themselves. This meant that no setting was set to often, because it would be the players own decision. I had noticed that a lot of the oppositions attack started with one of my player getting stuck and lost possession of the ball. They would the lounge a counter and with a lot of my guys going forward we often got caught and conceded.

To prevent this I used the idea of everything to mixed, and it has meant a world of difference. The strategy still works, because only run from deep, longshots, TTB, crosses and run with ball is affected. I can’t remember who wrote about the idea first, but it works very well. (If somebody knows please share)

[RvN#17]

52 games without losing and City craps all over me with two 30m goals. Messi and Gael Kakuta scored. Those where their only shoots on target.

[RvN#17]

This makes it 5 times in a row.

[ROESIDER]

Kelly/Baird or Grygera at RB? Thinking Kelly purely down to his faster pace than the others. Should probably try and play Grygera in Cup Games and Baird in Europa League?

Trying to sign M.Diarra on a free. Started up a new save so trying to bring in some new players/staff before the first game of the new season. Would Guti be worth a punt on a free?

Also, is Briggs more than capable for starting PL matches at LB in the first season?

[krushdeez]

i would start kelly over baird tbh, but id seriously look at improving that position? what season are you in? i got vrsaljko in for 1 mill and got montoya as a free towards the end of the season

[ROESIDER]

Lost my first game of the season at home to Spurs in the League on the 12.2 patch.

Signed Guti & M.Diarra.

Lined up as the following:

Schwarzer ; Baird Hughes Hangeland Riise ; Diarra ; Murphy Dempsey ; Duff Dembele ; Pogrebnyak

Pog didn't have a good game and missed a few chances - have set his hold up play to 'yes' so that he can try and bring the others in to play more and have also set my AMr and AMl to swap positions. Have Hughes and Hangeland as ball playing defenders with a stopper/covering defender partnership. Not all that convinced by Senderos due to his lack of mobility/speed and have sold Halliche so only really have Grygera & Baird as back-ups for the CD slots.

Sent Frei out on loan to gain 1st team experiences with Leeds.