FM13: The Swansea City Thread - The only footballing team in Wales..

[Mingus]

fwiw I go just as harsh for full time team talks, if the option is there for don't get complacent then i choose that. otherwise for home games @ 3-0 or worse i go not happy, away games @ 2-0 or worse the same. Worst case i get 1-2 angry players, in which case i choose i need you to calm down.

In conjuction with the strict team talks i always make sure to praise players through individual chats, anyone under 21 playing 8 or above gets a well done after the game, also if they have recent form of 7.0 or better i tell them there from has improved. for over 21s its the same but 9 and 7.5. Doing this should get you favored status with your players pretty quick, so if they get upset with me or want new contracts i can argue them out of it really easily.

I also only buy players with determanation of 15 or above, i look for players with proffesional personalitys in particular. after scouting someone i also check if they have big matches or consistency under weaknesses, imo it isnt worth buying anyone who wont perform in the big matches, i made an exception to this rule to bring in Oscar from chelsea and am currently regretting it. I find this normally means they react well to my team talks, and means they play well in big games and dont get upset when we go a goal behind.

The whole tax thing has meant i have pretty much stopped playing my swansea game, but fwiw my advice would be to play 3-2-3-1-1, taylor and rangel are amazing wing-backs. There is one simple reason i did well in my second season, and his name is javier hernandez. he is as broken on fm13 as he is was on fm12, him as target man with run onto ball is crazy, he has almost perfect stats. He ended up with i think 49 in 47, i think 15 of which were in the CL and he is normally unhappy in the second season. Also get rid of vorm, he is really bad.

[Welshace]

Has Rangel swapped allegiances to Wales for anyone else? awesome to see...

[f0rmat]

Has Rangel swapped allegiances to Wales for anyone else? awesome to see...

Yep, like that in my game too.

[jaaaws]

@Mingus: What do you mean by "the whole tax" thing? I wanted to start a Swansea longterm savegame on the weekend but if there are some issues I would think over it.

[bornyesterday]

Gaston Ramirez just did this when we were hanging onto a 2-1 lead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8RO1payCGM

He has been unhappy for the start of the season because I was too harsh in my team talks during a friendly match (trying to follow Mingus' advice) and it's really affected him, but I think he's finally starting to come good.

[Mingus]

@Mingus: What do you mean by "the whole tax" thing? I wanted to start a Swansea longterm savegame on the weekend but if there are some issues I would think over it.

As previously mentioned for some reason i cannot figure out in my 3rd season i am paying 4-5 million a month in tax, which is crippling my finances.

[MichaelBrown]

As previously mentioned for some reason i cannot figure out in my 3rd season i am paying 4-5 million a month in tax, which is crippling my finances.

Check General Discussion, quite a few people have been complaining about it.

[jlawlor91]

Just started a new Swansea save after my last one. Unticked allow first transfer window budgets and started in January 2013 to change the scenario.

The Swans were sitting in 16th place 3 pts clear of relegation when I took over. As no players could be bought for money, I signed Anderson and John Guidetti on loan.

Results:

1-0 Loss vs. Chelsea (A)

1-1 Draw vs. Liverpool (H)

1-1 Draw vs. Fulham (H)

3-1 Win vs. Reading (A)

3-2 Win vs. Stoke (H)

2-0 Loss vs. Newcastle (A)

1-0 Loss vs. Arsenal (A) Last kick of the game ffs, this game just gets better !!!

Currently sitting in 14th place, 8 points clear of relegation. The final 10 games are looking fairly easy apart from Everton, Man City and Arsenal.

[JD nawrat]

I got my Centre Back.

Jan Kirchhoff from Mainz for £8.5M. He's 4* CA, the same as Ashley Williams, so Chico will drop to the bench as a result.

edit: Kirchhoff was my eleventh signing of the window. Jesus.

[JD nawrat]

My first Champions League game was at home to Galatasaray, my easiest game of the groups for sure. If I couldn't win here, I had no hope whatsoever of progressing at any level...

it was stressful, but man oh man does it feel good... and Abel Hernandez aka KING ABEL...

he's pretty much repaid the entire £12.5M spending already, considering he scored 3 v Aston Villa in my previous game to help me to a 2-4 victory. He's incredible.

[JD nawrat]

where's the activity, fellas?

"I'LL SHOW YOU! I'LL SHOW ALL OF YOU! I'LL SET UP THE EQUALISER FOR ABEL AND THEN I'LL SCORE THE WINNER!...IN MANCHESTER!"

praise me. my favourite (and best) victory of FM13. was talking to a mate before that match - told him that I hated visiting OT no matter who I was because it felt like I lost no matter what... thought the same thing was going to happen here when Abel Hernandez missed from 3 yards out with nobody within 10 yards of him (he's scored around 70% of his goals from this range) and then when Fletcher scored from 25 yards out, first time, curling it into the top corner. but alas, Artem saved me. what a king.

edit: just realised that Abel Hernandez didn't score at all - it was Angel Rangel. no difference...

---

turns out my image isn't working. it's a scnreeshot of a 1-5 win at the Emirates with Kirchhoff (2), Hernandez, Milevskyi and N'Zogbia scoring.

we are in the form of our lives.

Swansea 2-0 Everton

Swansea 3-3 Juventus

Man Utd 2-3 Swansea

Arsenal 1-5 Swansea

next up is Juventus in Turin. if we win that...

oh yeah, and Milevskyi? 1 goal and 2 assists v Arsenal.

yeah so Turin...

just got beat 5-0.

in fairness, I lost Milevskyi through injury pre-match. then N'Zogbia got injured mid-match, so I brought Nem on for him who then got injured within 2 minutes.

[bornyesterday]

Great result, although their lineup seems to be a bit weaker than on my game where their front line is Neymar, Rooney, Van Persie, Kagawa! I just drew 1-1 with them at home and considered that to be a fantastic result.

Gaston Ramirez is absolute class, already repaid the 13 million and he is a joy to watch during matches, almost never concedes possession:

In my third season I'm top of the league with 9 games remaining, in the semis of the FA cup and second knockout round of the Euro Cup, I have a horrible habit of capitulating towards the end of the season though and my squad doesn't really have the depth for all these matches.

Admittedly I have replayed a few Premier League matches where I got something badly wrong (still learning the game and tinkering with different strategies) but I'm still fairly happy to have got where I am, watching only key highlights makes it more challenging as well, I wonder what you guys mostly use?

[Phenomenon]

Well, I've just finished my third season and once again, I've let myself down. Was sitting in 4th with 5 games to go..

Derby(Away): 1-1

Norwich(Home): 1-1

Blackburn(Away): 2-1 loss

Spurs(Away): 5-1 loss

Chelsea(Home): 2-2

So basically we bottled it. Should have won all of those games except Spurs, where 5-1 was harsh(both had 2 CCC's).

Finished 7th in the end. Luckily Man United won the League Cup, so I've bagged a Europa league spot for finishing 7th. Still gutted though.

Cup competitions have still been the opportunity to try out youth and back up players. Went out of league cup to Brentford(haha I know) and the FA Cup to Crystal Palace(once again laughable).

Top Scorer: Ibrahim Afellay(14 goals from AMC)

Player of the season: Ciaran Clark(Good debut season, finishing with 7.27 average rating)

Season Tranfers:

In:

Ciaran Clark: 5.25m

Kyle Walker: 9.25m

Jack Rodwell: 6m

Raheem Sterling: 3.8m

Nathanial clyne: 4m

James McClean: 2.6m

Paulo Gugliemotti(newgen ST): 3.9m(Signed by HoYD)

Peter Nielson(newgen RW): 1m(Signed by HoYD)

Paul Pogba: Free

Rafael(GK): Free

Ishak Belfodil: Free

Robbie Brady: Free

Out:

Danny Graham: 4.9m to Norwich

Royston Drenthe: 6.75m to Vitesse

Michel Vorm: 5m to Fulham

Angel Rangel: 1.4m to Aston Villa

Ki Sung Yeung: 3.5m to Valenciennes

Pablo Hernandez: 2.6m to R. Sociedad

Rory Donelly: 1.5m to Leicester

Michu: 5m to Real Sociedad

Jose Baxter: 750k to Reading

Jose Baxter: 750k to Reading

Matthew Lowton: 2m to Leicester

Daniel Alfei: 575k to Leicester

Ashley Richards: 700k to Westham

Gianluca Curci: 525k to Blackburn

Darnel Situ: 350k to Brighton

Lee Lucas: 250k to Preston

Released: Gwion Edwards, Jamie Proctor.

Chico and Cornelius are both being sold for 5m each on the 1st of July.

So yeah, still not happy with the tactical side of this game, can't seem to get a decent run going before slipping up and getting an undeserved hiding. Changed to a 4-1-2-2-1 now with a right and left mid and two AMC's. Here's my squad for the upcoming season.

GK: Rafael/Delac

RB: Walker/Clyne

LB: Taylor/Gibbs

CB: Williams/Okore

CB: Clark/Bartley/

DM: Rodwell/Andre Santos(Coming in for free on 1st July from Sporting)/Pogba/Britton

RM: Sterling/Dyer

LM: McClean/Brady

AMC: Dzagoev/Anderson

AMC: Afellay/Wellington Nem/Jon Williams

ST: Belfodil/Sanogo/

So I'll be looking to bring in a CB to compete for places with Clark and Okore when Williams gets too old. May also let Dyer go now and Brady is asking to leave so I might be looking for a winger or two. Have about 15m to spend but going to try to keep it British if possible. Don't like too many foreigners.

Born yesterday.. I'm also on key highlights only, but play on the fastest setting too, so it's difficult to tinker with tactics. I just don't have the time to wait ages for games.

Sorry for the lack of screens in this post by the way, cant seem to log into my imageshack account.

[JD nawrat]

Alright lads.

Great stats for Ramirez there, bornyesterday. Looks like he'll be a key player for years. Might even try and invest in himself since Nem seems to have a habit of snapping limbs unfortunately. N'Zogbia could do with some competition to keep him on his toes (although he's been phenomenal since I signed him so there's not that much need ha).

Unlucky Phenomenom, I'm sure you'll get there soon. You're clearly headed in the right direction and I'm sure the choke can be attributed to inexperience. To finish 7th with the Swans is still brilliant. Well done.

I'm loading up to continue after my humiliation in Turin... Stoke next up, my easiest game for about a month. jesus...

[Mingus]

Decided to continue my game despite the tax problems. Thankfully the EPL tv deal means i can still remain pretty stable even when paying out 3-4 mill in tax.

I was happy enough with my 3rd season, retained the EPL title with 2 games to spare, while managing to blood some good youngsters. On the downside i was terrible in the cups, went out of the CL @ the last 16 to marsielle and the kids let me down in the domestic cups.

Starting the 4th season and my starting lineup is:

Ter Stegen

bellusci williams capuano

schelotto taylor

jones lucas(regen) yttergard jensen

wilshire

hernandez

backed up with 5-6 5* regens from the bench. After much hassling of the board i have top training and youth facilities and will have 10000 extra seats in a year or so. I am really enjoying this save, you get enough money with swansea to buy good players but not so much that you can go mad. The regens available should mean i can compete with the big boys for the next few years.

[bornyesterday]

That side is quality Mingus, tried to get Ter Stegen as well but he went to Bayern.

Finished 2nd in my third season, and lost to Liverpool in the FA cup final! We capitulated just as I expected, Pablo Hernandez had 19 goals and then got injured with about 8 games left and we went on a terrible run. For the FA Cup final I neglected to rest my key players in the previous match and I think that was the main reason I lost, bear that in mind if you get to any cup finals, a fresh team is vital. Gaston Ramirez finished with the highest average in the league and the most assists!

I'm quite annoyed though because despite finishing second and qualifying for the damn Champions League my transfer budget was only 15 million. I thought you got something like 30 million just from qualifying for the CL? Anyway I couldn't bring in any big names like I wanted to but managed to pick up N'Zonzi for 7.5 mil and Taarabt for 5.5 mil. I'm not sure if that will be enough to improve next season though. Kind of ruined the save for me because I was expecting to really push on after such a good season.

[JD nawrat]

So my European adventure is over already, at Christmas.

Win v Galatasaray

Loss v Madrid

Draw v Juventus (GSK draw with Madrid)

Loss v Juventus

Loss v Galatasaray

Loss v Real Madrid

I ended with -10 GD, GSK's was only -6. the key was my over-reliance on GSK losing every game besides v me... when I drew with Juve I thought I had managed to seal 3rd place but unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. I'm gutted but it was always going to be a very tough ask with that group and to get 4 points isn't all bad, considering most would say 6 is the maximum likely there... I can now focus on winning in the league and FA Cup (out of the Carling Cup already) and trying to improve on last season. Some silverware would be amazing at one point as well.

edit:

just been offered the job at Aston Villa. they have a decent side, the likes of Marc Van Bommel and Michael Essien play for them now. however they've sitting 18th and I don't feel like they're an improvement (on any level) from Swansea. I'm here to stay.

[bornyesterday]

So my European adventure is over already, at Christmas.

Win v Galatasaray

Loss v Madrid

Draw v Juventus (GSK draw with Madrid)

Loss v Juventus

Loss v Galatasaray

Loss v Real Madrid

I ended with -10 GD, GSK's was only -6. the key was my over-reliance on GSK losing every game besides v me... when I drew with Juve I thought I had managed to seal 3rd place but unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. I'm gutted but it was always going to be a very tough ask with that group and to get 4 points isn't all bad, considering most would say 6 is the maximum likely there... I can now focus on winning in the league and FA Cup (out of the Carling Cup already) and trying to improve on last season. Some silverware would be amazing at one point as well.

edit:

just been offered the job at Aston Villa. they have a decent side, the likes of Marc Van Bommel and Michael Essien play for them now. however they've sitting 18th and I don't feel like they're an improvement (on any level) from Swansea. I'm here to stay.

European matches seem really tough, I wonder if they've made it harder in that regard. In both of my Euro Cup campaigns I've fallen short at the first contest vs. one of the stronger teams (Shalke 04 and Ajax respectively), and in fact most of the goals I conceded were from set plays for some reason, despite the fact I can keep a clean sheet away to Stoke, Shalke are apparently far more deadly from free kicks and corners!

[JD nawrat]

Aye, I agree with that assessment. I've gone all out this summer to strengthen in order to compete with European competition. I'll get round to that later. I'm going to post a quick summary of last season, unfortunately no screenshots though.

League: 3rd.

After what proved to be a harder and more stressful season than last, I was delighted to manage to match last season's performance. I aimed to improve on last season's results and I believe I did so. I picked up 4 more wins than last season but also lost two times more than last season. Perhaps the best thing of all was my improvement in home form. I went from 13th best home team in 2012/2013, to the 3rd best in 2013/2014. Overall we picked up 6 more points than the season prior so this is satisfying.

Cups: Failures.

I wanted a good cup run but I couldn't manage that. I went out in the third round in both cups, to Fulham at home and to Tottenham away in the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup respectively.

Europe: Pass Group Stages

I failed at this and I've already talked about it in detail so I won't bother with this too much.

I'll make another post shortly after talking about my transfers (some big, big news to share) and targets next season.

[Mingus]

I really like the look of n'zonzi this year, he was brilliant on a blackburn save for me in fm12, cracking signing @ that price.

Just sold hernandez in jan of my 4th season, his form really dropped off and i have some youngsters i really want to play. Regens seem really strong this year, got some really promising youngsters signed, to the point that i am struggling to find them all enough gametime.

As far europe goes i can't say i have any real issues in the group stage, though it has to be said i do seem to get pretty easy groups on this save. Do you guys alter tactics or anything for europe?

I'll stick up some screenshots of my regens when i finish off my 4th season, currently trailing tottenham by 4 points, seems like the better i do in the cups the worse i do in the league. Had some really poor home performances this year, i really need to invest in my defence, too many sloppy goals concdeded this season.

[bornyesterday]

How are you finding it since the patch? Only played a few games in my fourth season but we seemed very solid in those matches, won 5 out of 5 league games I believe, which is the best start I've had in any season so far. As well as a 2-0 win away to PSG in the Champions League which was astonishing and something I don't think I would have ever managed pre-patch.

I also started a branch off of my main Swansea save after I got offered the Arsenal job, the difference between playing with Arsenal as opposed to Swansea is astonishing, for starters the scouting network is actually useful and they recommend some real quality players, I had 40 odd million to spend and signed Gotze, Tomkins my former Swansea signing (the Swansea fans were furious with me lol) and Chicarito, absolutely walked the first two matches where as with Swansea I had to grind out every victory. Slightly concerned at the new match engine though and how drastically it seems to have altered the game.

[JD nawrat]

I've only played two matches on the patch. A 0-2 victory away to Sunderland and a 0-0 draw at home to Wolves. There's a marked improvement in my defence already thanks to the patch but there's still flashes of the ridiculous mis-positioning of CBs etc. I'll report back after more than just the two games, though.

Signings 2014/2015

Julien Rybacki - Free

I needed a third choice striker after offloading Artem Milevskyi to Birmingham for £3M and Gary Hooper for £2M to some foolish team who wanted such a useless striker. Rybacki was actually approached and dealt with by my Head of Youth Development and once I saw his ability realised he was good enough to play third choice.

Frank Lampard - Free

Released by Chelsea this summer after his contract expired, I thought I'd give him a chance. Reasonable wages and a short term contract, it can't really hurt me. I've got him tutoring the next signing I made, which is right below. A good signing due to his quality and a necessary signing because I sold Wellington Nem. His injuries meant he was a liability, really.

Paul Pogba - Free (Juventus)

Signed on a free from Juventus, Pogba doesn't really have a role to play in my team. However he's a young, promising talent and I think that with the right tutelage he can become a class player.

Dedryck Boyata - £1.7M (Man City)

The young City starlet was one of my best players on FM11 (at City) so I recognised the potential in this signing. He's given 4.5* PA, making him my most promising CB and one of my most promising players in the first team. For such a small fee I couldn't really say no. He's my third choice centre back so he'll get some decent playtime here and there.

Lee Wallace - £2.3M (WBA)

The Scottish international was transfer-listed after his side were relegated from the Premier League. I sensed the opportunity to buy a Left Back capable of pushing Neil Taylor out of the team. At a relatively low price I feel this could turn out to be good business, even if he has yet to play for me.

Nils Petersen - £2.7M (Bayern)

I spied this guy on the TL and for such a small fee I decided to take the plunge. He's got great qualities and I'm sure he'll be a hit as Abel's deputy. He scored 4 goals in his debut in a 5-3 victory over Arsenal and added another to his tally a week later in a 0-2 victory over Sunderland. Abel is back from injury now though so whether Petersen is going to start in the future I'm unsure.

Jonny Evans - £6.25M (Man Utd)

I found Evans on the TL for a cheap fee (well, cheap considering his ability). He looks absolutely quality and can play alongside Jan Kirchhoff too. These two will hopefully fix my defensive issues and help me challenge the league, which is my seasonal goal.

Ivan Strinic - £6.5M (PSG)

Another TL casualty whom I hope to benefit hugely from. My coaches reckon the LB is only 2.5*CA/PA, but I disagree wholeheartedly and rate him much better than Neil Taylor who has since moved on to Norwich for a healthy £5.5M. Strinic proves the doubters wrong in his very first match, setting up 3 goals in the 5-3 victory over Arsenal. The Croatian full back will be a great addition to what is beginning to look like a strong defence.

Mattia De Sciglio - £7.5M (Milan)

After being advised to sign Ignazio Abate and realising Milan wanted over £20M, I had a look for other promising right backs and stumbled across this man. Due to having Abate and De Sciglio sick of being second best, he was easy to sign. He is one of the very few (in fact, one of only two) signings who I didn't find on the transfer list. He has *SPOILER* -9PA *SPOILER* and is rated at 4.5* by my coaches. A huge improvement on Angel Rangel and one for the future. Unfortunately he's torn his knee ligaments and I'm without him for 2 months now but nonetheless, he'll be a great addition alongside Evans, Kirchhoff and Strinic to form a formidable defence.

Patrick Herrmann - £7.5M (Monchengladbach)

The young German is the only other player I didn't find on the transfer list. I'm pleased to get him for the fee I did and hope he'll be a strong addition to my side. He'll provide healthy competition for Nathan Dyer down the right. He's had an eventful start for me, so I hope he'll continue to impress.

James Milner - £7.5M (Man City)

The England international will be a hit for me, it seems, judging by his first few starts. I'm delighted to have brought him in and I'm sure he'll help form a strong central midfield with my biggest signing of the summer (the one below this). I'm excited about the potential of these two together in the middle.

Sami Khedira - £11M (Real Madrid)

I am extremely pleased to have attracted someone with the ability that Sami Khedira has. The German international and now-former Real Madrid man is my highest earner by a considerable distance (£80k p/w) but is no doubt my best player (on paper, at least). His attributes pack a real punch and so I'm hoping his performance and chemistry with James Milner will help do the same thing. For only £11M I am over the moon with this signing.

So I've managed to spend a whopping £53M on 12 players. However, I did manage to sell £32M worth of players as well releasing a number of players on a free, so all is well for me. The club is in great financial health and we are in fact now the 18th richest club in Europe.

My Champions League group is as follows:

Lyon

Olympiakos

Wolfsburg

Swansea

A tough group but compared to last season's this is a welcome change. I reckon with this I can get second for sure, ahead of the Greek and German sides. First isn't even out of the question, but that'll be tough. I'm very confident considering my team, though. We have the players capable of taking on the Champions League.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Right lads, finally started my Swansea save. Will post pics soon.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Transfers so far:

Tactics:

Dyer has been rather terrible for me, planning to replace him with Iago Aspas on the right who has been impressive every time he's come on/started

Star Player is Michu, took a gamble and played him upfront, has all the stats and has been great so far

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Ladder so far:

Results:

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Finished season 1, and managed to somehow secure Champions League football on the last day!

Star player for the season was Nathan Dyer, who after a few tactical changes performed fantastically.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Player Average Ratings, Ashley Williams was voted as 'Fans player of the Year'

My Favoured XI by season's end:

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Dyer's form meant I had to push Michu back down to put Iago Aspas in as he was performing far too well to be sitting on the bench.

Iago Aspas:

Michu:

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Transfers Made for the season:

I also signed Florenzi from Roma for 5 million in the winter market of last season. He looks like a beauty.

[Frankie 7]

Some interesting stuff in here. I have been thinking of starting a Swansea save see how it goes. Looks like a challenge. I have a few tactics i want to try with them that may work well.

[Wolves4Lfe]

Sorry for small text dunno how change images

Finally getting round to posting my Swanse game at the moment just finished the 2nd season and what can i say ? ive never done better with any other team on FM got a love for Swansea thanks to it ! anyway here's my season 1 and 2 summaries.

Season 2012/2013

First season went really well achiueved what was expected of the team which was mid table, also won the League cup aswell beating Man Utd 3-2. Helenius, Dyer and Nem were to vital parts of how the team worked and Strandberg arriving in January was an absolute rock in defence possibly my best signing yet. Disappointed with the amount of goals we conceded though even they we did score 67.

Final Table

Premier League results

Results missing off the list:

Stoke H 2-1 W - Dyer(2)

Fulham A 5-0 W - Helenius(3), Nem, Sung-Yeung (Pen)

Chelsea A 1-1 D - Michu (Pen)

Transfers

http://imageshack.us/a/img213/2351/swanseatransfershistory.png

League Cup Win

http://imageshack.us/a/img4/5157/manutdvswanseaoverviewo.png

Goal scorers

Helenius - 19

Dyer - 14

Michu, Graham - 5

Chico, Nem- 4

Hernandez - 3

Sung Yeung, de Guzman, Strandberg - 2

Rangel, Britton - 1

Season 2013/2014

What a season the team got used to my tactics and passing and game and sure hell did it pay off!. Nem awas the outstanding performer this season after Dyer failed to impress first half of the season and was eventually sold, knocked out in the early stages of the League which was disappointing at the time but we made up for that finishing a cool 3rd place in the Premier League which got us Champions League football ! We did the double in terms of cups, after the League cup win we were placed in the Europa League the minimun expection was to reach the group satge and go no further, well we defied that at the expensive of severe fitness problems but who cares we went and beat Wolfsburg in the final to win the first ever European title for Swansea and also the first FA Cup to be won by a Welsh team after beating Reading in the final. Two great regens i signed too Andrea Perrasso who secured a first team spot at the age of 16, an Italian striker who can play left wing too signed from Livorno, Tabare Carrusca a 6'2 Argentinian striker from River Plate signing next season looks an absolute beast unfortunatley I have to wait another year before i get my hands on him ! Cork has also made it into the provisional England World Cup squad sadly a injury may rule him out fingers crossed it doesnt !

Final Table

http://imageshack.us/a/img818/5029/barclayspremierleagueovf.png

Season Stats

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/3543/swanseatransfershistoryv.png

Perasso

http://imageshack.us/a/img651/3564/andreaperassooverviewpr.png

Carrusca

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/7422/tabarcarruscaoverviewpr.png

Transfers

http://imageshack.us/a/img841/2351/swanseatransfershistory.png

FA Cup Final

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/2134/swanseavreadingoverview.png

Europa League Final

http://imageshack.us/a/img72/4147/swanseavwolfsburgovervi.png

European Road To Gloryhttp://imageshack.us/a/img202/1888/swanseacityfixturessche.png

Nem

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5921/wellingtonnemoverviewat.png

On to season 3 and Champions League football ! Yannick Sagbo is a on his way in too on a free transfer to shoo up for strike force

[jlawlor91]

Has anyone's interface changed like below?

I find it quite hard to see. Is there any way to change it? Btw I've downloaded graphics and still using the default skin - it shouldn't make a difference though.

[jlawlor91]

Jheeez this topic is dead!

How has Vorm performed for everyone? Just finished the end of my first season, his stats have improved meaning he looks even more impressive; yet he was poor last season with an average rating of just 6.71!

Still, we finished 7th and qualified for Europe! Happy days.

[malaw86]

Approaching the end of my first season and I'm looking at a 5th-8th place finish - currently 6th but with 6 games to go I take on the bottom 2, the 2 teams immediately below me and then Man U (2nd) and Liverpool (3rd) both away last 2 games :s

I have only made 2 signings, both for huge money unfortunately, so I’m hoping to play the market a bit better next season! I brought in Gary Hooper for £11 million and then in January Jan Kirchhoff for £12 million following an increased budget and expectation.

Hooper has been playing well and has chipped in with 10 goals so far but I changed my tactic about 5 games into the season and he is now functioning as a Trequartista which is certainly not his strength and may have hampered his season – he will need replaced to complement my new tactic. Kirchhoff is brilliant.

For me Hernandez in particular and Dyer have been absolute beasts. I’m also a massive fan of Taylor and Rangel at full backs. Hernandez and Dyer lead my scoring charts from the wing functioning as IF with attack duty whilst Taylor and Rangels’ assists are through the roof playing as attacking wing backs.

Notable results are a 2-0 win at the Bridge and creditable draws at home to the Manchester clubs. A resounding 3-0 against Norwich away has been my favourite so far, with 72% possession and limiting them to no attempts at my goal.

As an interesting side note – with 6 games remaining of the season Arsenal are sitting 17th just 3 points off the relegation spots. Are they usually this bad? I’m starting to think that classic mode certainly has some flaws around transfer fees and club performances but could just be a freak season!

[f0rmat]

I bought in Kameni for £2.5m and he has mostly replaced Vorm, although I still like to give the latter runs in the team.

Taylor has been quite impressive for me at LB, but Rangel, not so much. Right-back has been a consistent bogy position for me really. For the last two windows I've been searching for a new one, but just can't get anyone that is both affordable and willing to come. Could have had Corchia for £22m but just not worth it for me. At the moment I have Sakai rotating with Rangel. I have Masilela (£600k) as backup for Taylor.

Bocchetti and Williams have struck up a formidable partnership at the back, both getting consistently high ratings and it is quite rare for either of them to have a bad game. If we lose goals its almost always through Rangel or Sakai. I bought in Doria for £500k and has done well with the chances I've given him, and is developing well. I also bought in Boyata on a free, I think he'll do fine for backup. Kyle Bartley is still kicking around too.

For my two centermid spots I have a pretty good pool of talent. I play with a combination of BWM (d) and either a DLP (s) or a B2B. Dembele plays pretty well as a B2B and I have either Ki or Ekdal to play as DLP, as well as Selneas if needed. I have Javi Garcia on loan from City for the second season running, as well as Jadson (£14m) from Botafogo, who I think will develop to become world class over time. I also have Simao (£250k) as backup.

For attacking mids (wings and CAM), I have Emannuelson on loan from AC Milan, Wellington Nem, Dyer, Nasir (promising regen) Selnaes (played as AP (s)), and Michu. Vukusic and Maupay can do a job on the wings if needed too.

Dyer has been pretty consistently excellent - not many teams can cope with his pace/crossing and he chips in with a decent amount of goals so far. As I type this I'm in October of my 3rd season and he's the top goalscorer in the league with 6 goals

Wellington Nem is also fairly consistently good, a decent amount of goals and assists and is always improving.

Up front I have Kweuke, Vukusic and Maupay (bought in from Nice at a costly £12m, but IMO proving to be worth it). More and more often I'm finding that Kweuke isn't working - I find more success playing throughballs to the pacy Vukusic or Maupay. Still handy to have around though to bounce defenders around!

Here's Maupay, who I';m confident will develop into something special.

[JD nawrat]

So I've taken a lengthy break from my Swansea save (you might have noticed ha) and tonight I decided to get back into it. I didn't realise how terrible I had been doing...

After 12 games I had 4 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats, sitting in 11th. Compared to last season and the season before where I finished 3rd both times, it's obvious I need to do a lot of work on my side.

I decided to totally scrap the formation and tactics I had - the 4-2-3-1 had served me well to this point but clearly it wasn't working with the £55M-worth of players I had brought in this summer. To a new formation and hopefully progress up the table. My first game was an interesting one - Swansea v Cardiff, the first ever South Wales derby in the Premier League. Cardiff were, astonishingly, doing better than me in the league. Two whole positions above me, but the same wins, loses and draws. An even match-up in this case, where perhaps the deciding factor would be home advantage. I didn't want that to be the case and I wanted to see my new outlook come good and my team to be victorious in style.

Missing the lines of Ivan Strinic (LB), Mattia Di Sciglio (RB), Sami Khedira (MC) and Abel Hernandez (ST), I was missing perhaps four of my best players. However, I entered the match with plenty of optimism and played how i would had I not been missing any players. The result? Pleasing...

Sensational Swans.

So many CCCs, dominated for 90 minutes, could've scored a goal or two more (with ease). I'm overwhelmed by the response of the players to the new style. Hopefully it'll prevail and we'll continue to be this dominant. I'm hoping to string together a strong run where we'll be back up into the top 4 before the final 10 games. I've got 15 games to try and get there. I had secret ambitions of winning the league this year but it's clear that this isn't an option because we've been so poor this season thus far. However, I am only 15 points behind City (I also have a game in hand) so I'm not too far from the top that it's unattainable to catch up. Winning is out of the question but retaining my top 3 status hopefully isn't out of the question yet. Currently 3rd is Arsenal who are only 7 ahead of me so I'm in with a great shout.

edit: I just beat Olympiacos 1-2 in Greece (was losing 1-0) and due to Wolfsburg and Lyon drawing 1-1, I have topped my group in the Champions League with one game to go! Superb.

was losing 2-0 away to Nottm Forest...just beat them 2-5. Charles N'Zogbia got 4 assists!

having topped my Champions League group, the possible teams I can face are:

Bayern, Juventus, PSG, Marseille, Benfica and Zenit (only 6 teams because Man City finished 2nd and I obviously can't play Lyon).

personal choices would be Benfica or Zenit but I have a fear I'm going to get reigning champions PSG or Juve, who I had in the groups last season.

got Bayern. ****. on the brightside, Lyon got Real Madrid so LOL.

[JD nawrat]

So with 10 games to go I wanted to be in with a strong shout of top four...

first fixture is where I started playing again the other night... the second part:

doesn't look good for my European dream but we won't give up.

A super run has put us in with a decent shout of winning the league. It's still going to be a tough ask (still to visit Man City) but it's looking a lot more likely than it was after 13 games.

[JD nawrat]

the lack of activity in this place is killing me here. ANYWAY, end of season update...

----------

This is how the league table ended. I'm quite disappointed that we couldn't win the league, especially considering how badly we choked. With four games remaining we were 4 points clear at the top and following a meteoric rise from 11th after 13 games to top with four to go, I genuinely believed it was our time. However losing to City moved us only one ahead and then an inexplicable choke against Villa cost us what we craved so dearly. We drew at Everton but in all likelihood we knew it was over because City were 2-0 up within 5 minutes and weren't letting go of this. This is how the first half of league fixtures went.

My European run was quite a success. We were unfortunate against Bayern that they were so strong at home. It's a great building block for next year where we can hopefully get past the 1st knockout round and into the final 8. That's the target, at least. Our coefficients have increased so much that we should finally be in Pot 3.

The Capital One Cup was a great success. Our first piece of silverware and hopefully the first of many to come... speaking of which, the FA Cup was also a great success, giving us a double and a our first FA Cup success (of many, I hope).

So 2nd, FA Cup and Capital One Cup winners. A fantastic season all in.

This is my transfers for next season (all except Canales are regens. Gularte and Garcia are straight into the first team) and they'll fit in and around a setup like this.

With any luck I'll retain one of the two cups, make the QF of the Champions league and win the league or get 2nd back at least.

[NorthernGooner]

Just letting you all know started a Swansea save and will be posting regular updates, hopefully will be a bit more active this thread then! anyway..

Only signing so far is Adryan, looking to bring in a AML who can cut inside and shoot. Playing a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, hopefully hitting teams on the counter with the pace in the team, and Michu upfront as a Deep-Lying Forward linking up play.

Short and simple quick update

[jeesh]

Pondering a Swansea save. But just a quick question. Isnt Michu a little underrated in FM, considering his ability/performance in real life?

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Crash Dumps just ruined my Swansea save.

Bloody hell.

[f0rmat]

Pondering a Swansea save. But just a quick question. Isnt Michu a little underrated in FM, considering his ability/performance in real life?

Very much so. I'd expect he'll be upgraded in the next patch.

[malaw86]

1st season done, managed to finish 4th which I'm extremely proud of.

Transfers in - Gary Hooper & Jan Kirchoff for a combined total of £23million (what the hell was I thinking!!)

Out - The usual suspects really, Monk and Tate included, which the fans are still moaning about pre season 2013/14!

My last 6 games were against teams in the top 8 and I could realistically have finished anywhere from 3rd-7th up until the last day when it shortened to 3rd -5th.

Win of the season came in the penultimate game of the season at Old Trafford - this is the match I had pencilled in as dropping me to 5th behind Liverpool and Chelski, however the boys produced a stunning performance, winning & holding onto the ball in midfield brilliantly whilst and breaking ruthlessly following their attacks to rack up a 2-1 victory.

Final game of the season came at Liverpool - I was sitting 3rd with Liverpool 1 point behind me in 4th and Chelsea also a point behind in 5th - I raced into a 2-0 lead in the first half and 3rd looked signed sealed and delivered but a 2nd half brace from Jordan (bloody) Henderson(!) broke my heart and we finished 4th behind Chelsea. Champions League football next year!

I have started pre season for season 2 and my transfer ins are pretty much done - Have a couple more players to leave, most notably Hooper (who got into double figures but really wasn't that inspirational) and Danny Graham which could potentially raise another £10m for me to spend if their valuations are met in full.

In

Nacer Chadli - PSV - Free - I had arranged this transfer in January and had shamefully completely forgotten it! All the best teams have Belgians these days though and he provides good options/cover either wing.

Mario Suarez - Atl. Madrid - 7.5m - Structured deal- replaces De Guzman who departs after his successful loan spell. Was Transfer listed.

Ademilson - Santos - £5m - Tip of the cap to this thread for this Brazilian gem - rotating first choice striker with bags of potential.

Andy Carroll - Liverpool - Loan - Had a £4.4m offer accepted but cant touch his wage demands. Different option to my attack and will rotate with Ademilson.

Raul Garcia - Man City - £6m - more quality in centre midfield - good technical stats which fits into my style of play - midfield 3 of Mario Suarez, Leon Britton and Raul Garcia - Michu and Ki back up.

Jores Okore - FC Kobenhavn - 1.8m - Quality CB - absolute steal - will start alongside Kirchhoff - end of Chico's Swansea career - looking to move him on now.

Out

Wayne Routledge - Bolton - £3m - played well off the bench last year but his back up spot usurped by Chadli

Unwanted List

Gary Hooper - £6.5m - Everton are interested and with their success with ex Old Firm players why not!? Might end up getting less but poor return on my £11m outlay (WTF was I thinking!!)

Danny Graham - £3.6m - various Championship sides have tabled offers

Chico - £3m - Sell now rather than have him rotting in the reserves as backup to my backup & losing value for a full season.

I'm hopeful that I have a bit more quality about my team now and hoping for a decent showing this season! Any comments/reccomendations welcome.

I play a 4-3-3 type formation with flat back four, 1 DM, 2 CM and 2 Wingers set to IF and a single central striker. Most of my goals come from Dyer and Hernandez on the wings so any good upgrades considered but it would be with a heavy heart they were replaced - Hernandez got EPL player of the year!

[kwazydavies]

@Rubentus_Juventus what type of team instructions do you use in your tactic?

[Phenomenon]

Sorry for the lack of involvement on this thread. Broke my laptop and only now had it fixed. Worst thing is, I have lost my Swansea save so I'm having to start again. I will be sticking to the formation from the OP(4-2-3-1), and will have the same transfer strategy as before, buying young players who preferably are British. Will keep you updated.

[jlawlor91]

On my save Michu looks underrated but certainly doesn't play like he is. Scores a lot of goals in my 4-4-1-1 formation.

[pedromanuelpinto]

Finished my first season with the Swans, and ended at 9th place.

I was playing in a 4-1-2-2-1 (with a defensive fwrd) with a possession ball, the team did very well against big teams, but we had a bad start of the season.

In the beggin of the 2nd season I don't know what to buy =/.

My team:

GR: Vorm / Austrian GR (don't remember the name, but a good number 2)

RD: Sebastian Jung / Dwight Tiendalli

CD: Williams & Chico / Bartley & Stefan Strandberg

LD: Neil Taylor / Ruben (from Maritimo)

DM: Britton / Ekdal

MC: Sung-Yueng Ki / McCarthy (from Wigan) / Michu / Ekdal

AMR: Vladimir Weiss / Pablo

AML: Drenthe / Dyer

CF: Leonard Kweuke / Graham

Thinking of send in a Loan 1 CD, but don't know if I have team to go for a place in Euro League.

[f0rmat]

AMR: Vladimir Weiss / Pablo

AML: Drenthe / Dyer

Not playing Dyer AMR? He's been a beast for me there.

Also, how has Ekdal performed for you?

[pedromanuelpinto]

Not playing Dyer AMR? He's been a beast for me there.

Also, how has Ekdal performed for you?

Ekdal is my best middlefield player, as DM or Box-to-box. In this new season I will try to put him as Deep PM.

In this team I don't know who to buy... any help? Have 7M.

[jkae]

Has anyone had the stadium expanded? ive just finished 4th in my 3rd season (chicarito 94 goals in 84 games 2 seasons) and i have completed buying the stadium but they board say the dont have the fan base. i had 90% of games a full house. What can i do???