FM 13 Tottenham Hotspur- Where 4th Place Is No Longer Good Enough

[Oli90]

Haven't posted in this thread in a long time because i haven't really been playing much. But I have now recently been playing quite a bit again and have revisited my Spurs save.

I have just finished my second season having won the league cup and finished 2nd in the league in my first. In this season i started with no tranfers budget in the first window so the only signing i made was Isco and Vaclav Kadlec in January (can't remember their prices as i'm at work)

I didn't even really make that many signings at the beginning of the second season. The only first teamers I bought in were Lewandowski for about £30Million and Vladimir Weiss on a free (a right winger who has been class by the way). I also bought in Jores Okore as a young back up CB.

In my second season i managed to repeat my league position of second behind Chelsea by 2 points. They beat me at Stamford Bridge 4-1 with about 4 games which proved the decisive result. Thought i would finish third but United lost their last 2 games to finish 1 point behind me! This does not tell the whole story of my season though. I also won the FA cup beating Newcastle 4-0 in the final and somehow, against all odds, I managed to win the Champions League. I was so proud of this, never expected it in a million years. Beat Citeh 1-0 over both legs in the Semis (set up shop for a 0-0 in the away leg before dominating them 1-0 at WHL- should have been more).

I didn't think i stood a chance in the final as i was drawn against Real Madrid. Here i took an early lead before they equalised through Ronaldo. Statistically they were much the better side as I was playing a 4-4-1-1 counter tactic that i use in away games. It is very high tempo so i don't get many shots or possesion but often proves very effective, especially with our pace out wide. The turning point came just before half time when they had Pepe sent off for a second yellow that also resulted in a penalty for me- Ade missed it... Moving on. From this point on we were much the better team as i switched to my normal 4-2-3-1 formation and really took the game to them. The game went into extra time though as i couldn't find the breakthrough. Just as i was resigned to penalties i got another penalty in the 119th minute. Sig, who i had just brought on with pens in mind, stepped up to convert it amid wild celebrations on my behalf! So happy at this.

My team:

GK (SK): Lloris, Friedel

RB (WB-s): Walker, Naughton

CB: Kaboul, Okore

CB: Dawson, Caulker, Vert

LB: BAE, Vert

CM (CM-d): Sandro, Parker

CM (B2B): Dembele, Sandro, Livermore

RW (W-a): Lennon, Weiss, Dempsey

CAM (AP-s): Isco, Sig

LW (IF-a): Bale, Kadlec, Weiss, Dempsey

ST (DLF-a): Lewandowski, Adebayor, Kadlec

The standout players were mostly defensive- Sandro, Kaboul, Dawson, Caulker. No one really stood out attacking wise but i was please to bits with the overall contribution from all my players. Goals and assists were very evenly shared.

Start of my 3rd season i've been given a £50million budget. Not been at all impressed with Dembele (So underrated) so i'm looking for a quality, versatile CM as Parker is leaving on a free. Thinking about spending big on Gundogan or Ayew. I'm also looking to sign some extra quality players to play as part of my 3 AMs. Looking at Lamela from Roma who i'm getting for about £19million and i then saw Gaston Ramires transfer listed from Southampton for about £12million and i couldn't resist him too. Worried i'm going a bit over the top by getting both but i couldn't resist. This will probably mean i need to offload Dempsey and possibly Lennon or Weiss

[DosSantosFC]

Ummm I have Ramirez but I must admit he is most effective as a LW and when you have Bale there,you cant really choose, he is quite versatile which is why I have him,I shall be doing a big update tonight,just starting season 4,looking at an average age of 23 and no less than 9 players in the England squad!!!! Dont rid urself as Dembele,where do u play him and how!?!?!?

[Oli90]

Yeah my plan for Ramirez was for him to be a high class, versatile player who will cover RM, CAM and LW positions with Lamela to be first choice RW hopefully. I'm not going to get rid of Dembele as im such a fan IRL but i don't plan for him to be first choice anymore. I've been playing him as a box to box midfielder. To be honest i don't think any of the default settings quite suit him so i'm tempted to tinker with his individual settings a bit but i'm just too lazy to keep having to do this. I've probably played better without him in the team to be honest and using 2 ball winners in midfield- Parker, Sandro and Livermore all have better average ratings than Dembele. Also he seems fairly injury prone so i need someone else anyway just to have adequate cover.

Looking forward to your update later.

[DosSantosFC]

Yeh its worth tinkering with,he is amazing running with the bale,can be abit injury prone. My save is an odd one,on my previous save I was quite sucessfull and didnt get alot of backing from the board. This save I have been given loads and loads of money and even a new stadium,it almost feels like cheating this save.My tactics are spot on thanks to tinkering,I can almost say if Im down at HT i will always turn it around by FT unless we are quite a few goals down which has happened occasionaly plus 1/2 really unrealistic signings have been made in Wilshire and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

[james_wilko]

I have a chance to pick up Holtby mid way in the first season. How would he perform as a striker? Think he could be a great deep lying forward.

[edgar555]

I have a chance to pick up Holtby mid way in the first season. How would he perform as a striker? Think he could be a great deep lying forward.

Not convinced he's suited. Plus he has the ppm 'looks to pass rather than shoot' or whatever it is.

[DosSantosFC]

SEASON 3 UPDATE

First ever clean sweep,never done this before but I must admit I was aided by poor opposition and easy cup draws,some interesting signings in and out but managed to make a profit,alot of players getting close to 30 wanting over £100k a week so a lot of them went,enjoy:

Youngsters:

The next Crouch and Defoe

Good thing is 9 players in England squad

[dyne]

Play Spurs and already reach season 2. I using 4-2-3-1 and here is some of my player for now.

GK:

Lloris, Butland

Lloris is good, but he have tendency to rush out, leaving the net empty for long range shoot or even a lob. Any idea to repair this?

Just got Butland this season and only play 2 games until now. 1 clean sheet and the other game concede 3 goals.

The 4 back

DC:

Kaboul,Vertogen,Zouma,Doria,Caulker

Best is Kaboul while the worst is Vert. I probably sell him next year since he make several critical mistake (most of the time is poor passing)

RB:

Corcia, Walker,Naughton

All three is amazing. Walker more defending while Corchia is more attacking. Naughon also perform every time I call him.

LB:

Alaba, Shaw, NewGen,Naughton

Alaba is great, while Naughton is a great back up. I try develop both Shaw and newgen and see their status. One of them will be sold while the others will become backup/main (depend on their performance)

The 2 Midfield

Fellaini,Sandro,Dembele,M'Villa,Gabriel,Parker,Cirigliano

Gabriel is a player that I plan to develop then sell (since I got him on free). Fellaini is the best here, followed by Sandro. I usually use Dembele if I want to play a more attacking games/search for goal. Parker will gone next season. M'Villa will be a backup for Sandro while Cirigliano will be a back up for Fellaini

The 3 AM

Bale,Gotze,Shaqiri,Isco,sigurdsson,Townsend,Adryan,Falque,Nem

Bale is amazing here scoring 19 goals and 24 assist. sigurdsson is the top scorer last season with 24 goals and 13 assist (around 1/3 of the goals are from free kicks).

Gotze and Shaqiri is a new recruit (trade Gotze with lennon since he is unhappy). Falque is out for loan right now. Townsend...I still undecided if I want to sell him or not. The reason that I keep him right now is he a HG player. Nem...he is not as good as my last save with MU. Will try to give him this season to prove him self to me

The lone striker

Destro, Ademilson, Falcao

Destro and Falcao is new recruit. Sadly Falcao is not performing for me. 5 games 2 goals 1 assist while Destro have 4 games 6 goal and 2 assist. I play Falcao as TM (a)/AF (a)/ CF (a) and none of that working.

@dosSantosFC

please, share your trick on training youth. In my MU save, Luke shaw improve greatly but not here. I don't know what did I do wrong >,<

[DosSantosFC]

dyne- give Falcao time,I found in my old save Destro settles quite quickly but Falcao will come good trust me. There wasent/isnt really a trick,I gave Bennett/Hughes/Shaw/Benzia lots of playing time in first 2 seasons whilst on medium workout on different positions,so Hughes has been doing 3 months of Deep lying playmaker,then 3 months of ball winning etc he hasent improved to much lately stats wise but he did win Europeon Golden Boy!!! Shaw is just a different breed,he just keeps on improving and plays amazing,they have all been tutored by 6/7 people by now. Asamoah is on loan to Everton now but before I had him heavy training as a poacher for season 2 and half of season 3 then I put him on target man but didnt really work. Same really with Mex although Liverpool suprisingly wanted him for last 2 months end of season 3 and he went there and scored 5 goals in 7 games so all in all quite good! Asamoah was from the academy and Mex I signed from Charlton when he was only 2.5* potential but at 6"9 and good stats for target man I wanted to see if I could make him a beast. Academy players have been really poor,only really had Asamoah,a 3* goalie who wont make it by looks of it and a 3.5* right winger who's stats are shocking!!!!

[sammo10]

Start of 201/17

Transfers

A few new players. Groetzka is a decent midfielder who is equally good in CDM as he is a DLP. Pretty sure he is a real player, hadnt heard of him. So far though he has looked quality and fits in perfectly to my new style of play.

Daniel Ayala is just in as 4th choice as Clark was unhappy and wanted to leave. Belhanda was signed as cover for Bale. New formation meant Tom Ince didnt really suit so sold him and brought in Belhanda.

Ayew has decreased dince his leg break so hopefully a loan will help him get back to his best. Wanyama was in his last year and I was not willing to meet his demands so I snapped Madrids hands off for £20m

New formation has seen my team playing a lot better football and I am creating much more chances and having a lot more possesion. Maybe not as solid but it should see me winning more games comfortably.

Results so far

West Ham (A) 2-0 - Benteke, Eriksen

West Brom (H) 3-1 - Kaboul, Benteke, Dembele

Burnley (A) 2-3 - Benteke 2

Liverpool (H) 2-1 - Benteke, Belhanda

Sparta Prague (A) 3-0 - Bale, Welbeck

Norwich (H) 3-0 - Welbeck, Eriksen, El Shaarawy

Huddersfield (A) 1-1 Lost on pens - Sigurdsson

Chelsea (A) 1-1 - Bale

[DosSantosFC]

I am really enjoying ur save sammo10,wish I hadn't gone OTT on signings tbh,how are you looking financially,must be good?1/!?!

[paulinho]

4th season underway & here's where motivation to continue the save could be hard to find having won everything the previous 2 seasons.

Bringing the youth players through is something I like to do but it's hard with so much quality in the squad but I've moved on a couple of older players (BAE, Fernandinho) to hopefully give the youth a chance.

2 positions where I needed more quality was MC (AP) and AMR (IF) so I brought in Pjanic & Willian at considerable cost.

I also shipped out Griezmann, Rui Patricio & Belhanda who were poor last season, brought in Butland for 11m & Benzema & Muniain arrived on frees.

Having an English keeper made my HG quota easier without having to keep hold of players that are clearly not good enough like Townsend & Carroll.

I was disappointed not to land Neymar but even after tapping him up for ages he went to ManU, gutted esp. as they missed out on CL.

Mourinho was boss at ManU last season but was sacked & is now at Arsenal who apparently are the richest club in the world in this save. The reason for this is probably because the tight wads don't buy any players. In the 3 completed seasons so far they've only bought Lamela, Anita & Phil Jones who are any good.

My squad now looks like this

GK Lloris/Butland

RB Santon/Walker

DC Kaboul/Caulker

DC Dawson/Verts

LB Baines/Smith

DMC Sandro/Yacob

MC (DLP) Moutinho/Honda

MC (AP) Pjanic/ Dembele

AMR Willian/Lennon/Aspas

AML Bale/Muniain

ST (treq) Lewandowski/Benzema/Destro

[RTHerringbone]

I've started a second save with Spurs.

First time round I was top of the League after 20 games and a struggling Barcelona made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

I spend 10 seasons there winning everything repeatedly. It became a bit dull but allowed me to spend three or four months really embracing the tactical side of the game.

Since then, I've tried a few saves in Brazil, France and Germany, but have decided to go back and start again with Spurs and stick with them.

I'm already at the same point as when Barca came calling first time round. I'm top of the league after 18 or 19 games (at work so can't remember exactly), having dropped points in just three drawn games.

The squad has had a minor clear out to accommodate how I like to play the game. Defoe and Adebayor have been sold (I don't use strikers), as have Gallas and Parker.

Main recruitment has been in central midfield with Strootman, Nainngolan and Pjanic coming in, and Andre Ayew doing very well as a Defensive Winger on the left.

The board have decided to build the inventively named Tottenham Stadium. It opens in June 2014 and will have a capacity just shy of 50,000. It is a welcome thing, but will obviously result in more debt being loaded onto the club (partly offset by the sale of White Hart Lane).

Hopefully we get some sort of transfer budget in the summer, as I really want to replace Friedel and Lennon.

Will try to post some screens tonight.

[sammo10]

I am really enjoying ur save sammo10,wish I hadn't gone OTT on signings tbh,how are you looking financially,must be good?1/!?!

Thanks ! Thinks it's as fun as I have had on a save. Finances do look good. Took a slight hit this summer when it come to contract renewals, as the likes of Kaboul, Sandro etc wanted big rises that they probably deserved. Really want a new stadium, but Levy will not let it happen, which is frustrating.

[Oli90]

Start of Season 3 update

I got a budget of over £50million at the start of season 3 so I had a bit of an overhaul of my squad bringing in some extra quality and increasing my squad depth

These signings are clearly paying dividends as the football we've been playing has been incredible. I'm currently 4th in the league but only one point off of top stop having played 2 games less than all of my rivals. After 8 games in the league i'm unbeaten having only dropped points once away at Everton. The only downer so far is that i've already been knocked out of the capital one cup- again away at Everton but i was playing my reserves and still really should have won so i'm not really that disappointed.

The highlight clearly being the 3-0 win away at a very strong United. I have to say that despite winning all these games the results often don't do my teams performances justice, they have been playing that well!

My top player so far has definitely been Bale who has been unstoppable with 3 goals and 14 assists from 12 games! He has been taking my corners and free kicks though which certainly helps and my CB's are monsters in the air. I'm also looking for to see how Lamela will develop as he's been great to watch at times so far.

[RTHerringbone]

Have finally found time for an update, so here it is.

I've reached February 2013, and am sitting relatively pretty at the top of the league. Man City inevitably remain a threat, and I do still have to play them, but fortunately it is at White Hart Lane.

Our remaining fixtures are generally OK, with the games against City, Arsenal and Everton being the toughest. The run in from Sunderland onwards looks favourable, and I'm confident that if we hold any advantage by that point, that we'll win the league:

How have we done it? Well a combination of tactical innovation and transfer expenditure. In tactical terms, I use the following three approaches, depending largely on the shape used by the opposition:

The transfer expenditure has been necessarily high to reshape the squad to fit the profile of my tactics. There are a couple of frees arriving in the summer (Douglas and Ospina), and I still want to replace Lennon with somebody more rounded.

The consequence of this spending, plus the loan taken for the new stadium is a pretty ropey looking balance sheet. Hopefully it won't bite me on the arse:

Signings have been in central midfield, and have cleared the initial budget, plus the increased one given when resetting expectations early in the year. We've sold Parker, Huddlestone, Adebayor, Gallas and Defoe and essentially signed all the good midfielders I could afford, with Pjanic and Kovacic especially critical to my tactics.

[paulinho]

Interesting formations RTHerringbone.

Just shows how FM can be played in a variety of quite different approaches & still be successful.

Personally I never change my shape 451 home or away against any opposition. The only changes I use are in the position roles, shouts & passing style but they will always be mid game changes.

[paulinho]

4th season completed & another clean sweep of trophies & I have now suffered just one league defeat in 4 seasons.

That 100 pt season still eludes me though & I drew too many games I should have won.

But beating Mourinho's Arsenal 4-3, 3-0 & 5-1 was particularly satisfying.

A couple of defeats in 2 legged cup games but I did enough to turn them around although Roma gave me the most problem in the CL.

Butland did ok as my 2nd choice keeper ( at least he didn't complain about not playing) but My home grown regen is probably as good as him now but typically with good back up in that area & unlike the previous Lloris didn't have a knock all season.

Vertonghen had his best season to date, still 4th best in the ave ratings amongst my DC's but improved never the less.

Hummels is now available though & will be my main transfer target for next season. Rotating Hummels & Verts as my BPD's next season is ideal but someone will have to make way.

Kaboul was players player of the season this time & Daws made the world 11 the season before & Caulker is a great HG to have too so that decision will be tough. I really want Hummels though.

Bringing in Will Hughes will certainly help on the HG front & I really should have bought him before as he's one of the few young English payers that are any good.

Of the new signings Pjanic has been great although he took half a season to settle but now I have great quality at CM.

Muniain has been good with 10 goals & but has been overshaowed a bit by my regen wonderkid at AML has now become 1st choice & ahead of even Bale.

Bale has been disappointing & blighted by injuries again, so I'm pleased that I have trained this regen up to such a high level, this is one of most satisfying aspects of the game.

Willian has been good at AMR if a bit injury prone, luckily Aspas has had another fine season, Lennon has been disappointing.

Benzema on the other hand has been an absolute disaster, injuries, poor performances & a bad attitude got him relegated to the U18 squad, luckily I didn't miss him at all & he will be shipped out asap.

Fullbacks have been excellent & Adam Smith needs a special mention, only really in the squad because of his HG status & normally back up, the sale of BAE & a long term injury to Santon meant he played a lot & he was really good, surprisingly excelling even more at LB than RB.

Upfront Lewandowski has been immense with 28 goals & 11 assists & made Prem team of the season along with Lloris & Baines, Pjanic made the subs & finished with a new record 19 assists.

Destro only came back from his long term cruciate injury at xmas but looked good in his 10 games he managed & will be kept.

Aspas continues to excel at ST or AMR.

Disappointed that Training facilities have been downgraded & tight wad Levy won't improve them.

I don't think I'll be using all of my transfer funds for next season though so hopefully he grant my request to upgrade when there's a bit more money in the coffers.

[RTHerringbone]

Interesting formations RTHerringbone.

Just shows how FM can be played in a variety of quite different approaches & still be successful.

Personally I never change my shape 451 home or away against any opposition. The only changes I use are in the position roles, shouts & passing style but they will always be mid game changes.

I played with one shape on my previous saves, but have found it simple to just quickly eyeball the opposition formation and pick one of my three. Having said that, I play the one with five players across the middle in 90%+ of games.

Season one closed with a domestic treble, unbeaten on 98 points in the league and a Europa Cup win against Leverkusen, all of which the board deemed to be "as expected?!" First league title for over fifty years....

The league was an odd one, as whilst we deserved it, we were helped by some pretty shoddy performances by other teams. City and Liverpool sacked their managers and Fergie is in trouble after finishing fifth.

Fortunately this improved the bank balance, and I'll be interested to see what sort of budget I get. Ospina is coming on a free to replace Friedel, Douglas coming from Twente. Not sure which DC will go, but it's likely to be Dawson.

I will sell BAE to raise funds, as Ayew and Bale can rotate on my left. Lennon will go, as will Dempsey, whilst I'll take a long look at alternatives to Holtby and Sigurdsson. Next season will be the last at White Hart Lane.

EDIT - budget is £5.55m

Dawson is going to City for £17m, BAE for £18m to City.

Dempsey is off to Saints for £7.5m. Nobody wants Lennon....

Nasri was offered for £12.5m and purchased for £12m.

Albiol bought in first summer window for £7m sold for £20m to Bayern, with £10.5m spent on replacement Ryan Shawcross.

[paulinho]

Without Daws or Lennon, how do you manage with the HG quota?

Not that I'd sell Daws anyway as he makes world team of the year in 3rd season of my save.

[paulinho]

I tried requesting a facilities improvement again & once more got a negative response from Levy but this time I replied with disappointment that he didn't share my ambition & he relented, seems to be the way to go with him.

[RTHerringbone]

Without Daws or Lennon, how do you manage with the HG quota?

Not that I'd sell Daws anyway as he makes world team of the year in 3rd season of my save.

Dawson replaced by Shawcross, Lennon not sold yet.

I've still got Walker, Caulker, Naughton, Lennon, then Shawcross and Bale.

I'm happy to lose ECL squad places to youngsters as Premier League consistency is my early focus.

Newgens are being signed and will be getting first team action soon, they'll ultimately be my homegrown players.

If you focus on developing newgens , it becomes almost impossible not to have 20+ homegrown players in your squad.

[paulinho]

Dawson replaced by Shawcross, Lennon not sold yet.

I've still got Walker, Caulker, Naughton, Lennon, then Shawcross and Bale.

I'm happy to lose ECL squad places to youngsters as Premier League consistency is my early focus.

Newgens are being signed and will be getting first team action soon, they'll ultimately be my homegrown players.

If you focus on developing newgens , it becomes almost impossible not to have 20+ homegrown players in your squad.

Sure, takes a while though.

Starting 5th season now & I've got one as 1st choice & 4 or 5 who can hold their own in the squad, I've got some great potential but most are some way off yet.

I find there seem to many newgens with 1 or 2 really low attributes in key areas & the rest really good.

For example I've got one DC who's got it all except jumping, try what I will I cant get that jumping attribute to increase, He's not going to get games in my 1st team with jumping in single figures & it's a shame because in every other key area he's great.

I've got a few like that.

Interesting that you bought Shawcross & sold Daws, they look so similar in attributes in my game.

[RTHerringbone]

Interesting that you bought Shawcross & sold Daws, they look so similar in attributes in my game.

Purely about age. I always try to get as much money for players as I can, which means selling them at 28/29 at the latest.

With regard to newgens, I'll pick up all the 4*+PA players I can afford and blood them as early as possible.

I had a Barcelona save where I was playing 15/16 year olds with no qualms, even though they have just 1*CA. As long as you have a solid system and a good mix of players, you can get away with it and watch their development soar.

I've had a very good transfer window so far and have been able to balance the books, bring in younger players and keep an eye on the future.

We've gone from £3m in the red to £30m in the black.

I expect season two to be really hard after our success last season, and am keen to at least get through my Champions League Group.

[tajj 7]

Hello Spurs players.

Just started a new network game with a mate, he's an Arsenal fan so I thought being Spurs would be a good choice, similar level and rivals.

I've had a bit of an indifferent start to the season and was hoping some people could help with a few questions, however I'll outline my tactics and signings first.

Signings - Stefan Jovetic, Andre Ayew (scored two on debut then injured for 3 months ), Albin Ekdal.

Sold - Huddlestone, Dempsey, Dawson, Adebayor on loan (couldn't give him away)

I've set up a 4-1-2-2-1. Counter, Balanced, Short Passing. Then shouts to push up, hassle high, run at defence and retain possession.

It's individual player roles I'm having trouble with. -

1. Bale, although injured now for 3 months due to a broken ankle, I've initially set him up as an IF(A) in the AML position, which I know it's on his wrong foot but I can't see Lennon suited to being an IF, so he's in the AMR as a Winger. What do people reckon are the best slots toget the best our of these two?

2. I have Jovetic as DLF in the SC, to bring the other two into play. (I'm also training Sigurdsson as a SC to provide back up). Any ideas on this, also does Defoe work ok as lone striker?

3. The midfield trio I'm not sure about. Dembele is quality, my initial idea was to have him as an AP, Sandro next to him and Vertonghen in the Anchor Man role but I'm wondering whether it's better to have Holtby as the playmaker and maybe Dembele as BTB and Sandro as the AM?

4. I have Lloris as a sweeper keeper and Caulker/Kaboul at the back as they all have decent pace and fit with the pressing high line.

I beat Norwich 5-0 on the first day (home), then lost 1-0 away at WBA, Everton 3-2 (Home) and have just lost 4-1 away at Newcastle. SO a mixed bag, away performances being poor. I don't like having different away formations unless I'm playing someone like Utd away. Surely Spurs are good enough to go away to WBA and be positive?

Any help is appreciated.

[spursglenn777]

Hello Spurs players.

Just started a new network game with a mate, he's an Arsenal fan so I thought being Spurs would be a good choice, similar level and rivals.

I've had a bit of an indifferent start to the season and was hoping some people could help with a few questions, however I'll outline my tactics and signings first.

Signings - Stefan Jovetic, Andre Ayew (scored two on debut then injured for 3 months ), Albin Ekdal.

Sold - Huddlestone, Dempsey, Dawson, Adebayor on loan (couldn't give him away)

I've set up a 4-1-2-2-1. Counter, Balanced, Short Passing. Then shouts to push up, hassle high, run at defence and retain possession.

It's individual player roles I'm having trouble with. -

1. Bale, although injured now for 3 months due to a broken ankle, I've initially set him up as an IF(A) in the AML position, which I know it's on his wrong foot but I can't see Lennon suited to being an IF, so he's in the AMR as a Winger. What do people reckon are the best slots toget the best our of these two?

2. I have Jovetic as DLF in the SC, to bring the other two into play. (I'm also training Sigurdsson as a SC to provide back up). Any ideas on this, also does Defoe work ok as lone striker?

3. The midfield trio I'm not sure about. Dembele is quality, my initial idea was to have him as an AP, Sandro next to him and Vertonghen in the Anchor Man role but I'm wondering whether it's better to have Holtby as the playmaker and maybe Dembele as BTB and Sandro as the AM?

4. I have Lloris as a sweeper keeper and Caulker/Kaboul at the back as they all have decent pace and fit with the pressing high line.

I beat Norwich 5-0 on the first day (home), then lost 1-0 away at WBA, Everton 3-2 (Home) and have just lost 4-1 away at Newcastle. SO a mixed bag, away performances being poor. I don't like having different away formations unless I'm playing someone like Utd away. Surely Spurs are good enough to go away to WBA and be positive?

Any help is appreciated.

I have played a few different saves and to be honest keeping tactics simple seems to work. Its quite boring but effective. I have tried a 4-2-3-1 but always find myself heading back to a 442. Retrain holtby and sig to wingers and you have good back up there. Buy a good striker like Ferrerya or even bigger depending on budget lewondowski or falcao. Spurs defence and mid are as good as any in the league.

[edgar555]

Tajj:

You have Bale, Lennon and Jojo set correctly IMO. You might want to try Lennon as Winger/support and Jojo as DLF/A so Azza helps more defensively leaving Jojo higher up while still involved. I've found Defoe ineffective on his own.

For the midfield 3 in a 41221 I use: DM as DLP/D Sandro can play this role but its not his most effective. Livermore and Parker are surprisingly good in that role but THudd is the obvious choice. MCr as BWM/S this is where Sandro is supreme MCl as AP/A or CM/A Dembele excels here and Holtby should be good though he's yet to prove that to me.

I wouldn't play JV in midfield but Kaboul and Caulks are excellent CBs. Lloris is the perfect SK.

I'd advise you to change to a standard mentality and change it as matches play out. Counter is a bit narrow for Spurs to get the best out of Bale/Lennon. Unless you use 'play wide' shout.

You might also consider setting Bale as 'target man - run onto ball' I've had huge success with this with Ronaldo in a Madrid save. I think it would work well with Bale.

[DosSantosFC]

Dembele definately best as a B2B midfielder,Siggy definately use as the Adv. playmaker,he is quality. I agree with the above,midfield is up there with best in league if used correctly,I use Bale as IF as well and works to great effect. Never used someone as DLF upfront so cant comment TBH. The tactics seem spot on but obv. something is going wrong away from home,perhaps come at them strong start of the game then go counter?!?!?!

[30.Beast]

Well seeing Spurs 'perhaps' miss out on CL football this season has caused me to yearn for another Spurs save. I've just got to finish my season with Sociedad and then I'm going to start with us again

Also, instead of using the counter mentality, but ticking the counter attack box instead, does that mean playing narrowly aswell, or just that we will counter as soon as we win the ball back?

[edgar555]

Well seeing Spurs 'perhaps' miss out on CL football this season has caused me to yearn for another Spurs save. I've just got to finish my season with Sociedad and then I'm going to start with us again

Also, instead of using the counter mentality, but ticking the counter attack box instead, does that mean playing narrowly aswell, or just that we will counter as soon as we win the ball back?

It means the bold bit

[tajj 7]

Tajj:

You have Bale, Lennon and Jojo set correctly IMO. You might want to try Lennon as Winger/support and Jojo as DLF/A so Azza helps more defensively leaving Jojo higher up while still involved. I've found Defoe ineffective on his own.

For the midfield 3 in a 41221 I use: DM as DLP/D Sandro can play this role but its not his most effective. Livermore and Parker are surprisingly good in that role but THudd is the obvious choice. MCr as BWM/S this is where Sandro is supreme MCl as AP/A or CM/A Dembele excels here and Holtby should be good though he's yet to prove that to me.

I wouldn't play JV in midfield but Kaboul and Caulks are excellent CBs. Lloris is the perfect SK.

I'd advise you to change to a standard mentality and change it as matches play out. Counter is a bit narrow for Spurs to get the best out of Bale/Lennon. Unless you use 'play wide' shout.

You might also consider setting Bale as 'target man - run onto ball' I've had huge success with this with Ronaldo in a Madrid save. I think it would work well with Bale.

Dembele definately best as a B2B midfielder,Siggy definately use as the Adv. playmaker,he is quality. I agree with the above,midfield is up there with best in league if used correctly,I use Bale as IF as well and works to great effect. Never used someone as DLF upfront so cant comment TBH. The tactics seem spot on but obv. something is going wrong away from home,perhaps come at them strong start of the game then go counter?!?!?!

Cheers guys. So the Bale as IF on the left is a good way to go? Even though he's left footed. I'll look into that target man thing, never thought of it like that, although I'll have to wait for another two months for him to get fit again, damn dirty Steven Reid. It's annoying you can't have a little rant about it in the post match interview when your player gets injured by a dirty tackle.(Also Bale with a long shots of 10, what's that about?)

I think I need to look at my mentalities to be fair and my midfield balance. Maybe with Bale moving into that 'no 10' space. I need Jovetic pushing forward more to occupy the centre-backs and create that space so I might take the DLF away.

I think I will go -

GK - Lloris - Sweeper Keeper - Defend

DL - BAE - Fullback - Attack (h) - support (a)

DR - Walker - Fullback - Support (h) - Defend (a)

DC - Caulker - Central Defender - Defend

DC - Kaboul - Centreal Defender - Defend

DMC - Sandro - Defensive Midfielder - Defend

MCL - Dembele - Box to Box - Support.

MCR - Holtby - Advanced Playmaker - Support/Attack (depends how it plays out)

AML - Bale - Inside Forward - Attack.

AMR - Lennon - Winger - Attack.

SC - Jovetic - either DLF/Treq/AF on Attack.

Jovetic will have to fill in AML whilst Bale is out and Sigurdsson/Defoe goes up front.

I'll look at adding a 'play wide' instruction to either my default shout or make a second version of it with that enabled and very it against who I play.

BTW Anyone manage to sell Adebayor? Long term aims for next transfers are to get rid of BAE (probably for SHaw), get another AP in and a different option to Lennon.

[edgar555]

In my current Spurs save I sold Ade end of 1st season for £18m. To Barca. Fans hate it when you sell him. Not exactly true to RL. I'd miss him though, most fickle bstards wouldn't.

[30.Beast]

Fair enough, but what would you miss about him though? The only Ade I miss is the Ade of last season. He was amazing. I don't care about his Arsenal connection, same with Gallas - but he got given a big chance with us when no-one else would have, plus a top earner contract and his effort has been dismal. If a player cares about the shirt but lacks quality then I can accept it, but If you don't wear the shirt with pride then atleast treat the job like a professional and do what you're paid to do. He doesn't obviously. I hope we can sell him this summer

In the game he's pretty handy though.

[edgar555]

Fair enough, but what would you miss about him though? The only Ade I miss is the Ade of last season. He was amazing. I don't care about his Arsenal connection, same with Gallas - but he got given a big chance with us when no-one else would have, plus a top earner contract and his effort has been dismal. If a player cares about the shirt but lacks quality then I can accept it, but If you don't wear the shirt with pride then atleast treat the job like a professional and do what you're paid to do. He doesn't obviously. I hope we can sell him this summer

In the game he's pretty handy though.

I just think he'll come good again. As last night showed, on his day he's unplayable.

[tajj 7]

In the game he's pretty handy though.

£100,000.00 a week is a bit much for a player that is 'pretty handy' though!

[DosSantosFC]

I got rid of him £15m start of 2nd season to Real Madrid. These clubs sign players for ridiculus amounts of money then never play them,had it with the majority of my big sales,one year later u can sign them back for half the price!!! Rant over!!!! The fans do hate it wen u get rid of him,quite funny cuz IRL they would love it although last night he proved he has still got it when he wants to!!! His wages are main reason I get rid of him specially when you have players like Bony,Aubangeyang,Damiao that will sign for less wages!!!!!tajj-7 tonight i can look into player instructions for Bale if u want,currently at work,he seems to get 20+ goals and assists for me,Il have a look for you

[dyne]

Sold Ade for 25 mil to Juve (I think), Sold Ba for the same amount use the money to buy Falcao. Right now I'm still regret the deals since Ade is good for 90% match while Falcao only good for 50-60% (hopefully will change in next season).

[tajj 7]

Like I said couldn't give Adebayor away for free. He's gone on loan to Twente.

Well after fiddling with my tactics it seemed to initially work as I beat City 3-0 away, but in that game I lost Walker for 10 months to a cruciate ligament injury, which means I now have Walker, Bale, Jovetic and Ayew out for various long term injuries.

I followed up this momentous win with two dour 1-0 losses at home where barely anything happened. First against Chelsea where I gave away a dubious penalty from a Chelsea long throw (when have Chelsea ever done long throws?), then another dour defeat to Anzhi in the Europa league where the team barely created anything and they scored their only shot on target in the whole game.

I can't really tell whether it's the injuries or the usually inconsistency you seem to get whenever you start a new game but I'll get sacked if I don't start putting together a few wins. My tactics seem sound enough but without 3 of my better attacking players I'm just not really scoring that much.

[paulinho]

Adebayor does really well for me.

I ended up selling him after season 2 but only because I got Lewandowski on a free & the much younger Destro was doing well.

In a formation that only uses 1 striker I couldn't really justify having 3 out & out strikers in the squad.

The way you play him is key, I use him as a lone trequartista striker & although at first glance his attributes don't look amazing for the role with dribbling, anticipation, creativity & composure at only 12 & passing & finishing not that good either, it's his physical attributes that make him such a good player.

In this version FM, players who are quick, strong with good agility & balance really thrive & can out perform others with seemingly superior technical stats in my experience.

[paulinho]

Tajj:

I'd advise you to change to a standard mentality and change it as matches play out. Counter is a bit narrow for Spurs to get the best out of Bale/Lennon. Unless you use 'play wide' shout.

.

I always play counter in every game & I hardly ever use the play wide shout tbh, it seems to work for me as I've only lost 2 games in 4 seasons.

Bale & Lennon do ok too but I set both up as IF's cutting inside.

[paulinho]

Hello Spurs players.

Just started a new network game with a mate, he's an Arsenal fan so I thought being Spurs would be a good choice, similar level and rivals.

I've had a bit of an indifferent start to the season and was hoping some people could help with a few questions, however I'll outline my tactics and signings first.

Signings - Stefan Jovetic, Andre Ayew (scored two on debut then injured for 3 hmonths ), Albin Ekdal.

Sold - Huddlestone, Dempsey, Dawson, Adebayor on loan (couldn't give him away)

I've set up a 4-1-2-2-1. Counter, Balanced, Short Passing. Then shouts to push up, hassle high, run at defence and retain possession.

It's individual player roles I'm having trouble with. -

1. Bale, although injured now for 3 months due to a broken ankle, I've initially set him up as an IF(A) in the AML position, which I know it's on his wrong foot but I can't see Lennon suited to being an IF, so he's in the AMR as a Winger. What do people reckon are the best slots toget the best our of these two?

2. I have Jovetic as DLF in the SC, to bring the other two into play. (I'm also training Sigurdsson as a SC to provide back up). Any ideas on this, also does Defoe work ok as lone striker?

3. The midfield trio I'm not sure about. Dembele is quality, my initial idea was to have him as an AP, Sandro next to him and Vertonghen in the Anchor Man role but I'm wondering whether it's better to have Holtby as the playmaker and maybe Dembele as BTB and Sandro as the AM?

4. I have Lloris as a sweeper keeper and Caulker/Kaboul at the back as they all have decent pace and fit with the pressing high line.

I beat Norwich 5-0 on the first day (home), then lost 1-0 away at WBA, Everton 3-2 (Home) and have just lost 4-1 away at Newcastle. SO a mixed bag, away performances being poor. I don't like having different away formations unless I'm playing someone like Utd away. Surely Spurs are good enough to go away to WBA and be positive?

Any help is appreciated.

I play 41221

1. I have Bale set as you do as AML IF (A) & 1st season had Lennon as AMR W (S) but I changed the tactic to use him as a IF & cut inside too & he' s effective often dribbling through from his own half & scoring or laying it off.

I think it's important to have your fullbacks on attacking mentality to overlap if your AML & AMR are going to play as inside forwards especially if like me you're set up as a counter attacking team.

I disagree with Edgar in that Spurs are not effective as a counter attack team, they are at their most effective like this in real life & it's not too difficult to mirror this in FM.

I don't play with a player in the AMC position & this helps the AML & AMR to find space when cutting inside, also having the ST as trequartista as opposed to DLF could mean that your St will pop up wherever he fancies rather than always dropping deep to the AMC position & potentially the space that you want your widemen to use.

Read Cleons thread in the tactics forum "understanding your tactic" even f you dont set your team up like that there's some great advice there.

2. I'm playing Jovetic in rotation with Lennon at AMR at the moment but he should do well as DLF, you could try him in the trequartistista role too, the role is similar to DLF but with more creative freedom. One thing about him he sure is injury prone ( a detail the researchers got spot on as he is IRL too) so make sure you have good back up. Sigurdsson in the role could work, sounds like a good idea.

3. Dembele is fantastic & his attributes are trainable to play a number of roles, I was playing him in centre mid as AP (A) & he does well but he's also a great DLP (S) too (make sure you have RWB often to utilise his dribbling) playing him support can make those dribbling runs even more effective. He can also do a job wide & even as a ball winner.

Sandro is at his best as a ball winning midfielder support IMO as he's surprisingly useful further forward, although I only play that role against the strongest teams tbh so for me he usually sits at DMC defend.

Ayew looks from stats as a natural B2B but he can pay well as a wide man or AP, strong versatile player.

Holtby was only back up for me but retrain out wide as he can do a job there & then becomes a useful sub who can play many positions.

I think it's often a mistake to dictate the way you play according to your players strengths tbh. Don't get me wrong I don't think you should put square legs into round holes but thinking about the way you want your team to play first is most important IMO.

4. I play sweeper keeper too but I don't risk my defensive line high tbh, 1 click higher than deep, only Kaboul could really be described as a pacey defender IMO.

[paulinho]

I just think he'll come good again. As last night showed, on his day he's unplayable.

I agree & last season he was mostly very good too.

I really don't buy this only plays well until he gets a contract nonsense, I cant believe any player has an attitude like that.

AVB's task is how to get him to perform like the other night on a more regular basis because When he's on his game he's perfect.

[paulinho]

Got a bit bored with my save so I went back to the end of season 1 using the experiences I've had with the players.

Firstly as I couldn't get rid of Friedel or Gomes I decided to keep Gomes as back up until my regen 5* keeper comes good. Having had problems with Ospina, Rui Patricio & Butland as 2nd choices , I think this is the way to go for me.

Fullbacks, whilst Baines was great & made Prem team of the year 1 season for me at 29, you're not going to get that many years out of him before he starts declining. Santon was a bit disappointing & injury prone for me so I decided to stick with what I have at fullback. Walker gets better, BAE s retty good, Smith is quality & Naughton is useful too. From my coaches advice he had trained to have a bullet long throw in & while I don't want to be Stoke it's a useful weapon to have.

Midfield, the DLP role has been the most difficult position to get good ratings in my experience, Moutinho was very good but cost an arm & a leg & I found that Dembele was as good a performer there as anyone (esp. when I tick his RWB to often). I bought Will Hughes to play DLP for the future too but tbh at this stage he looks like he has a long way to go.

Pjanic was great for me before & at the end of season 1 he is cheaper to buy than when I did before so he's been brought in.

Ayew was a Goon on the other save so I got him in too, very strong & versatile.

Yacob was ok in my other save but I decided to go for M'Vila in this one as my 2nd choice DMC, he is 1st choice in the tougher games when I move Sandro to CM ballwinner & Dembele to AP.

Strikers, happy to have Ade as 1st choice but I have to buy Destro again as he's so good & cheap it's foolish not too.

Leandro Paredes is being trained up in the ST position, he will eventually become a monster treq IMO.

I bought Jovetic too although he is probably best as a striker I'm playing him AMR at the mo'.Looks good there & should score plenty although he is really injury prone.

The other player I brought in was James Rodrigues, he looks good & can play in a number of positions too.

So my squad for the start of the 2nd season looks like this

Lloris/Gomes

RB (att)Walker/Naughton

DC Kaboul/Caulker

DC Verts/Daws

LB (att) BAE/Smith

DMC Sandro/M'Vila

MC (DLP/s) Dembele/Hughes

MC (AP/a) Pjanic/Ayew

AMR (IF/s) Jovetic/Lennon

AML (IF/a) Bale/Rodrigues

ST (Treq/a) Ade/Destro

I haven't been able to shift Defoe yet but I dont expect he'll get a game.

To finance this I got rid of players that either weren't good enough or didn't fit into the way I wanted to play like Siggy, Dempsey, Holtby, Parker etc.

These players can mostly be swapped around a lot to keep the quality of the team very high in rotation & it's generally a younger squad than I had before.

Things are going very well so far & even though I was dreading a tough CL group with Real, I managed to beat them home & away.

I had a very tough set of fixtures with Citeh, Arse & Chavs all together with Real home & away but I've won them all except Arse away. Leading 0-3 at half time, making subs to save my players fitness for the next game against Real then only drawing 3-3, gutted!

[tajj 7]

I play 41221

1. I have Bale set as you do as AML IF (A) & 1st season had Lennon as AMR W (S) but I changed the tactic to use him as a IF & cut inside too & he' s effective often dribbling through from his own half & scoring or laying it off.

I think it's important to have your fullbacks on attacking mentality to overlap if your AML & AMR are going to play as inside forwards especially if like me you're set up as a counter attacking team.

I disagree with Edgar in that Spurs are not effective as a counter attack team, they are at their most effective like this in real life & it's not too difficult to mirror this in FM.

I don't play with a player in the AMC position & this helps the AML & AMR to find space when cutting inside, also having the ST as trequartista as opposed to DLF could mean that your St will pop up wherever he fancies rather than always dropping deep to the AMC position & potentially the space that you want your widemen to use.

Read Cleons thread in the tactics forum "understanding your tactic" even f you dont set your team up like that there's some great advice there.

2. I'm playing Jovetic in rotation with Lennon at AMR at the moment but he should do well as DLF, you could try him in the trequartistista role too, the role is similar to DLF but with more creative freedom. One thing about him he sure is injury prone ( a detail the researchers got spot on as he is IRL too) so make sure you have good back up. Sigurdsson in the role could work, sounds like a good idea.

3. Dembele is fantastic & his attributes are trainable to play a number of roles, I was playing him in centre mid as AP (A) & he does well but he's also a great DLP (S) too (make sure you have RWB often to utilise his dribbling) playing him support can make those dribbling runs even more effective. He can also do a job wide & even as a ball winner.

Sandro is at his best as a ball winning midfielder support IMO as he's surprisingly useful further forward, although I only play that role against the strongest teams tbh so for me he usually sits at DMC defend.

Ayew looks from stats as a natural B2B but he can pay well as a wide man or AP, strong versatile player.

Holtby was only back up for me but retrain out wide as he can do a job there & then becomes a useful sub who can play many positions.

I think it's often a mistake to dictate the way you play according to your players strengths tbh. Don't get me wrong I don't think you should put square legs into round holes but thinking about the way you want your team to play first is most important IMO.

4. I play sweeper keeper too but I don't risk my defensive line high tbh, 1 click higher than deep, only Kaboul could really be described as a pacey defender IMO.

Cheers for your help, at the moment I think it's difficult to know what's working and what's not due to the injuries and the usually starting inconsistencies as the team adapts to new team mates, tactics and manager. I've used that Cleon thread quite a lot and developed my tactics from there really. I use shouts to determine my style going for Bielsa or Pochettino style of winning the ball high up the pitch and using possession football to break teams down but also have the ability to counter quickly. Spurs seemed suited to this style but I've obviously not quite got it right yet.

Once I have the 3 forward players back it will hopefully improve. My team is very up and down. Think I've had 4 wins and 4 defeats beating Norwich 5-0, Everton 3-2. Man City 3-0 (away as well) and Bordeaux 2-1 away. (plus a 2-0 Cup win away at Newcastle with a B team) then loosing 1-0 to WBA, 1-0 to Chelsea, 1-0 to Anzhi and 4-1 to Newcastle. Leaving the Newcastle game aside (where they scored pretty much every chance and my whole team played badly) the other 3 defeats followed the same pattern, I had decent possession but struggled to create against fairly defensive teams so this is where I need to improve but having Jovetic, Ayew and Bale playing would make a big difference here.

[tajj 7]

So update, I'm sitting fourth with about 7 games to go in the season. (Ahead of my mate's Arsenal in 5th) I'm still not 100% happy with my tactics as I'm struggling to get any striker to score regularly with Sigurdsson top scorer with just 16 in all comps, a lot of which are penalties and direct free kicks.

I did manage to go 22 games unbeaten in all competitions before losing away to Arsenal in the league cup semi.

I've finally got Bale on the pitch, he had 5 separate injuries starting in pre-season, this meant by January he had made just 1 start and 2 sub appearances. It then took him about 7 or 8 starts before he did anything, but he's now scored 5 in his last 7 with some assists including a superb winner against Man Utd in the FA cup where he beat 5 players.

Dembele has struggled to play well, tried in him a few different roles to no success, his average rating for the season is below 7 and in his last game he collected the ball from the back four before then just doing a half hearted pass between my entire defence that were pushing up (presumably a back pass but I'm not sure, it was an odd goal) gifting Lucas Leiva of all people a 1v1. He then followed that up by giving the ball away again to let Glen Johnson score so I hauled him of after 37 minutes. I reckon I will sell him in the summer as he fits neither the AP or DLP roles I want in the middle and the BTB role doesn;t seem to work for him either.

I also made a massive mistake at the start of the season, I sold off too many players (in fact some I let go on loan because I didn't get decent offers for them) to raise funds. This reduced the size of my squad and as most of my recent career games have been with Saints it's not been too much of a problem but that's because I didn't have any European games. I've really struggled for player fitness levels and it's quite amazing I have got as far as I have reaching the semi-finals of all 3 cup competitions, with a chance to win two of them still.

I've also had lots of injury bad luck, so far I've had -

- Walker out for 10 months.

- Ayew was about 2 months, came back then out for another 5 months.

- Bale picked up 5 separate injuries which basically put him out for over 6 months.

- Jovetic has been out for around 4 months with various injuries. (yeh I know he's injury prone)

- Ekdal out for 3 months (oddly my signings seemed to get injured the most)

- At one stage I had 9 first team squad members out injured. (although not as bad as Barcelon who I noticed in game had 14 first teamers out injured including Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Basquets and Villa)

My best players have been Caulker, Kaboul, Sandro and Lennon (9 league goals 15 assists in 28). Those four have been my most consistent performers. Sigurdsson and Holtby have been decent as well.

Bale, Jovetic and Dembele have been disappointing, although Bale and Jovetic have had lots on injury problems.

[spursglenn777]

So update, I'm sitting fourth with about 7 games to go in the season. (Ahead of my mate's Arsenal in 5th) I'm still not 100% happy with my tactics as I'm struggling to get any striker to score regularly with Sigurdsson top scorer with just 16 in all comps, a lot of which are penalties and direct free kicks.

I did manage to go 22 games unbeaten in all competitions before losing away to Arsenal in the league cup semi.

I've finally got Bale on the pitch, he had 5 separate injuries starting in pre-season, this meant by January he had made just 1 start and 2 sub appearances. It then took him about 7 or 8 starts before he did anything, but he's now scored 5 in his last 7 with some assists including a superb winner against Man Utd in the FA cup where he beat 5 players.

Dembele has struggled to play well, tried in him a few different roles to no success, his average rating for the season is below 7 and in his last game he collected the ball from the back four before then just doing a half hearted pass between my entire defence that were pushing up (presumably a back pass but I'm not sure, it was an odd goal) gifting Lucas Leiva of all people a 1v1. He then followed that up by giving the ball away again to let Glen Johnson score so I hauled him of after 37 minutes. I reckon I will sell him in the summer as he fits neither the AP or DLP roles I want in the middle and the BTB role doesn;t seem to work for him either.

I also made a massive mistake at the start of the season, I sold off too many players (in fact some I let go on loan because I didn't get decent offers for them) to raise funds. This reduced the size of my squad and as most of my recent career games have been with Saints it's not been too much of a problem but that's because I didn't have any European games. I've really struggled for player fitness levels and it's quite amazing I have got as far as I have reaching the semi-finals of all 3 cup competitions, with a chance to win two of them still.

I've also had lots of injury bad luck, so far I've had -

- Walker out for 10 months.

- Ayew was about 2 months, came back then out for another 5 months.

- Bale picked up 5 separate injuries which basically put him out for over 6 months.

- Jovetic has been out for around 4 months with various injuries. (yeh I know he's injury prone)

- Ekdal out for 3 months (oddly my signings seemed to get injured the most)

- At one stage I had 9 first team squad members out injured. (although not as bad as Barcelon who I noticed in game had 14 first teamers out injured including Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Basquets and Villa)

My best players have been Caulker, Kaboul, Sandro and Lennon (9 league goals 15 assists in 28). Those four have been my most consistent performers. Sigurdsson and Holtby have been decent as well.

Bale, Jovetic and Dembele have been disappointing, although Bale and Jovetic have had lots on injury problems.

Looks like you've had a shocker with injuries but you have done well with your league position and done well in the cups.

I'm surprised about Dembele. In a 442 DLP (S) hes been immense for me. Sig does chip in with alot of set piece goals and is great at taking corners for the centre backs to score.

I have found that with a lone striker that doesn't have blistering pace (Ade) there main role is bringing in other players to score rather than be the main goalscorer. With 2 up top the strikers score most of the goals.

[tajj 7]

Looks like you've had a shocker with injuries but you have done well with your league position and done well in the cups.

I'm surprised about Dembele. In a 442 DLP (S) hes been immense for me. Sig does chip in with alot of set piece goals and is great at taking corners for the centre backs to score.

I have found that with a lone striker that doesn't have blistering pace (Ade) there main role is bringing in other players to score rather than be the main goalscorer. With 2 up top the strikers score most of the goals.

I did wonder with my injuries whether it was the training but a lot of them have either been impact related (so Bale got a bad tackle and broke his ankle) or arm/shoulder relates so broken arms, dislocated shoulders. My mate who is managing Arsenal has also had a lot and has different training so we just seem to be getting bad luck. Number of games probably doesn't help.

Bale was just extremely frustrating, I'd get him back, give him a few run outs in the reserves to get match fitness and then he'd go down straight away on his return. 3 comebacks from injury all resulted in another injury.

Dembele should be good so it's probably how I've been using him but his playmaking attributes (passing, creativity, decisions etc) aren't great so I'll look to cash in him I think. He's also only rated 3 stars for my team.

[spursglenn777]

I'm into my second season and my problem is finding someone as a permanent replacement/backup to Dembele. My first season I had Thiago on loan and second season have Song on loan. No players have jumped out as a permanent signing. Pogba possibly.

Any recommendations for second season DLP?

[RTHerringbone]

I'm into my second season and my problem is finding someone as a permanent replacement/backup to Dembele. My first season I had Thiago on loan and second season have Song on loan. No players have jumped out as a permanent signing. Pogba possibly.

Any recommendations for second season DLP?

I've been using Dembele as a Defensive Winger with a degree of success.

My central DLP (Defend) rotates between Kevin Strootman and Jake Livermore.

I've picked up Jordy Clasie on a free, joining in the second summer transfer window. He's a bit small and close to his PA but has good attributes for the role.

[heron]

Have been using Dembele as DLP/S and CM/S with great succes.

He's also been filling in as defensive winger (support) on the ML position.

As for a 2nd season DLP: Koke (Atletico Madrid) has been my choice and he's been pretty good, albeit after a slow start.