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FM14: Southampton F.C. - Gatecrashing the top table


Matthew Le God

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Hi guys. I've recently started a Saints save and thought I'd update my progress so far here.

Pre-season was reasonably good with 3 wins, 3 draws and only the one loss to Napoli. I have scored quite a few goals, but also haven't kept a single clean sheet which is a bit of a worry. Transfers wise I sold Lee Barnard, Billy Sharp and Tadanari Lee for a combined £1.8million and sent 10 players out on loan. I then spent £6.95m on bringing in Nicolas Gaitan from Benfica. Spurs have been sniffing around Schneiderlin, but no official bid has been made so he is staying put.

I will be starting the season with a narrow 4-2-3-1 formation (3x Centre Attacking Mids) as shown in the OP. I haven't quite got my first choice line up finalised yet, as everyone has had good games in pre season , which I guess is good news.

At the end of the transfer window, we have played 4 matches (3 in the league and 1 in the cup):

Southampton 2 - 2 Liverpool

Starting XI: Boruc; Clyne, Yoshida, Lovren, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Wanyama (Davis 67); Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Gaitan (Gaston 67); Osvaldo

We started brightly with Osvaldo having a good chance about 15 minutes in which was saved well by Mingolet. Liverpool then came back in to it and deserved to take the lead when Sturridge scored after a Yoshida tackle on Hernanes fell to him in the 6 yard box. Liverpool were in control when Osvaldo intercepted a Agger pass to run clear in on goal to slot home to equalise just before half time.

Liverpool started the second half well, but Saints took the lead on the hour mark when that man again Osvaldo scored after a great pass from Lallana. Liverpool then cranked up the pressure and Boruc made a few good saves, but couldn't deny Sturridge scoring in the 81st minute. FT: Osvaldo 2-2 Sturridge.

It's a shame we conceded a late-ish equaliser, but to get a point against a top side is a great result.

Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

Starting XI: Boruc; Clyne, Yoshida, Lovren, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Wanyama (Davis 67); Ward-Prowse (Rodriguez 64), Lallana, Gaitan (Gaston 45); Osvaldo(Lambert 64).

Chelsea dominated pretty much from the off. Eto'o had a goal disallowed for offside about 20 minutes in. However there was no stopping the Cameroonian when he put Chelsea 1-0 up just after the half hour. At half time I was fearing the worst as we hadn't had a sniff.

A few tactical tweaks at half time helped us get back in it a bit, although Chelsea still looked very dangerous going forward and Boruc kept us in it with a string of good saves. Victor Wayanma equalised with a drilled shot from the edge of the area after Chelsea failed to clear a corner after 72 minutes. Adam Lallana then sent the home crowd into oblivion with a placed shot from 15 yards after a nice team move with 7 minutes to go. FT: Saints 2-1 Chelsea

A very pleasing result against one of the best teams in the league. Admittedly we got played off the park and it would have been a very different story had Artur Boruc not had the game of his life. But, as I said, a very pleasing win to put me top of the league (this was a midweek game to make up for Chelsea being in the Super Cup).

Aston Villa 2-3 Southampton

Starting XI: Boruc; Chambers, Jose Fonte, Lovren, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Davis (Wanyama 54); Ward-Prowse, Gaston, Lambert(Rodriguez 79); Osvaldo (Lallana 68).

Dejan Lovren gave us a cracking start to the match with a header from a corner in the 3rd minute. Ricky Lambert then did what he does best to score from the spot for 2-0 after just ten minutes. We then switched off for a bit and Agbonlahor sneaked in to make it 2-1 after a breathtaking quarter of a hour. After a frantic start to the match, the rest of the half somewhat petered out and the score remained 2-1 at half time.

The second half started as the first ended, with both sides not creating much. Villa started to push, but a mixture of good goal keeping & defending and poor crossing/shooting made it look like more goals would be unlikely. Chris Herd then got himself sent off for a poor tackle on Gaston with 10 minutes left. At this stage Villa were really pushing for an equaliser and when one of their attacks broke down we countered quickly and Jay Rodriguez scored in the 92nd minute. However, it wasnt quite finished as Tonev scored from a corner with the last kick of the game. FT Villa 2-3 Saints

This game was as good as over after 10 minutes, although ended up being closer than I would have liked. Happy with the results so far, but need to work on keeping clean sheets. After 3 games of the season, we are sitting 7th in the league so a good solid start really.

In the 2nd round of the Capital One Cup we were drawn at home to Milwall. I played a mixture of first team players, back ups and a couple of youths (Targett and Mells) and won 3-0 with a brace from Ricky and a goal from Jay Rodriguez. I have been rewarded with another home tie, this time to Watford.

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On paper, this month consists of 3 very winnable games. However, the reality was a bit different with 1 win and 2 losses. A couple of injuries as well makes it a below average month.

Southampton 2 - 1 Stoke

Starting XI: Boruc; Clyne, Yoshida, Jose Fonte, Shaw; Schneiderlin (Turnbull 85), Wanyama; Ward-Prowse, Lallana (Gaston 39), Rodriguez; Osvaldo (Lambert 66)

Jose Fonte partnered Yoshida at the centre of our defence due to Lovren getting injured on international duty for 2-3 weeks.

We started brightly again in this match when Jay Rodriguez dribbled past 3 Stoke players to open the scoring. We dominated the first half with Stoke only having one half chance, but Boruc swept up well behind the defence. James Ward-Prowse hit the bar from a freekick after Adam Lallana was fouled (he will be out for 4 months with a torn calf :( )

The second half was much the same, with Stoke playing pretty poor. Victor Wanyama doubled our lead with a header from a corner on the hour mark. Stoke then scored with their first shot on target in the game after a slight error of judgment by Boruc. Stoke pressed but we always looked comfortable and could have restored our two goal lead, but there were no more goals. FT: Saints 2-1 Stoke

The result doesn't tell the full story, we should have won 2 or 3 nil. It's a shame Lallana is injured until January, but we will just have to deal with it. Luckily it's a position we have quite a bit of depth in.

Norwich 2 - 1 Southampton

Starting XI: Boruc; Chambers, Yoshida, Jose Fonte, Shaw (Clyne 65); Schneiderlin, Wanyama; Ward-Prowse, Gaitan (Osvaldo 74), Rodriguez (Davis 65); Lambert

Norwich took the lead after 13 minutes when RVW finished off a good team move. We came back into the game and were the better side for the remainder of the half. Ricky Lambert equalised just before the break after Wanyama flicked on a goal kick.

We played well for the majority of the second half, but it was Norwich who took the lead with 25 minutes to go when Wes Hoolahan tapped in a rebound after Boruc saved from RVW. We had a lot of possession for the remainder of the half, but couldn't create any clear chances. FT Norwich 2-1 Southampton

Disappointing to lose, especially as we had 64% possession away from home with 13 shots, 10 on target. However, we did play well so I hope we can continue to perform like this, just hopefully with different results.

Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton

Starting XI: Boruc; Clyne, Yoshida, Jose Fonte, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Wanyama; Ward-Prowse (Gaston 64), Gaitan (Davis 73), Lambert; Osvaldo (Rodriguez 73)

Osvaldo hit the post with only 19 seconds on the clock and we continued to dominate the game. At half time we had 9 shots (5 on target) and 66% possession. Palace hadn't had a single shot. We just couldn't score.

The second half was more of the same with Osvaldo having a great chance to make it 1-0, but missed the target. We continued to dominate possession but Palace defended well and we couldn't break them down. Palace had their first shot in the 59th minute and their first shot on target in the 78th. Then came the hammer blow; Palace got a corner and Gaston 'fouled' Chamakh, who stood up and took the penalty to make it 1-0 with 6 minutes left. FT Palace 1-0 Southampton

Devastated to lose this match, especially with a dodgy penalty. A very winnable game, and on another day it could have easily been 2-0, if not 4 or 5 nil. Very very gutted. I criticised the ref after the game and got the "FA silent over criticism" message.

These two back to back losses at the end of the month means we have slipped to 9th in the league. Hopefully we can get back to winning ways in October and make sure we stay in the top half of the league.

In the cup, we met Watford in the 3rd round of the cup and won 2-1. I started with a similar team to the last round, with a few first teamers, few backups and a couple of youths. Watford took the lead early in the second half, but goals from Gaitan and Jay Rodriguez.

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Just finished my second season, sneaking in to 4th spot on the final day of the season! And the other big news being that I picked up Llorente in January!

Here's how the final league table looked...

http://s960.photobucket.com/user/Steven_Garth_Endersby/media/ScreenShot2013-11-24at214835_zpsa82cba8d.png.html?sort=3&o=4

And the squad and their key stats (note that Osvaldo, Clyne and Lovren are not included here having left the club before I thought to take these screenshots. They'll be replaced by Marquinhos, a young Spanish regen fullback, and Iker Hernandez).

http://s960.photobucket.com/user/Steven_Garth_Endersby/media/ScreenShot2013-11-24at215004_zpsf4f69fd9.png.html?sort=3&o=3

Our main tactic...

http://s960.photobucket.com/user/Steven_Garth_Endersby/media/ScreenShot2013-11-24at215116_zpsb4e89540.png.html?sort=3&o=1

Highlight of the season...

http://s960.photobucket.com/user/Steven_Garth_Endersby/media/ScreenShot2013-11-24at215152_zps1f497396.png.html?sort=3&o=2

And the lowlight, an extra-time League Cup Final defeat...

http://s960.photobucket.com/user/Steven_Garth_Endersby/media/ScreenShot2013-11-24at215212_zps55fda566.png.html?sort=3&o=0

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AAAARGH! Doesn't it drive you mad having players unsettled by bigger clubs? I've lost Lovren to AC Milan and, worst of all, I've lost Alvarez Balanta to Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg!! He threw a fit when I rejected offers from Madrid and PSG so he requested a transfer and I offered him out for a high fee and the only people who would pay it for Wolfsburg. I hope he's happy at a worse club with no continental football as we play our first season in the CL.

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Anyone else have issues with the under performing and very inconsistent Ramirez?

2/3 of the first season have passed, but his rating is still under 7.00, i am playing him as a shadow striker, what are your experiences with him so far?

btw, i'm having a great first season, at the moment i'm 5th, and its week 26, my aim was euro cup and i'll probably easily make it.

souttar, ward prowse, angel correa, shaw and of course balanta are my star youngsters, they have played magnificent thus far.

btw; i highly recommend the argentinian youngsters angel correa and luciano vietto, high ability and cheap bargain buys for sure.

oh, and also, balanta seems to be injury prone too :( is that the case in your save games also? or am i just unlucky?

i was planning on balanta-souttar partnership for years to come!

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AAAARGH! Doesn't it drive you mad having players unsettled by bigger clubs? I've lost Lovren to AC Milan and, worst of all, I've lost Alvarez Balanta to Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg!! He threw a fit when I rejected offers from Madrid and PSG so he requested a transfer and I offered him out for a high fee and the only people who would pay it for Wolfsburg. I hope he's happy at a worse club with no continental football as we play our first season in the CL.

Would be interested to know how much you got for these two? I've just had an offer of 25m from Real Madrid for Lovren.

Anyone else have issues with the under performing and very inconsistent Ramirez?

2/3 of the first season have passed, but his rating is still under 7.00, i am playing him as a shadow striker, what are your experiences with him so far?

btw, i'm having a great first season, at the moment i'm 5th, and its week 26, my aim was euro cup and i'll probably easily make it.

souttar, ward prowse, angel correa, shaw and of course balanta are my star youngsters, they have played magnificent thus far.

btw; i highly recommend the argentinian youngsters angel correa and luciano vietto, high ability and cheap bargain buys for sure.

oh, and also, balanta seems to be injury prone too :( is that the case in your save games also? or am i just unlucky?

i was planning on balanta-souttar partnership for years to come!

Ramirez was very inconsistent for me in the first season. Started to look the business in season two and then broke his leg and missed the rest of the reason.

So yeah I'm just starting season 3. Season two went well. I came 6th in the league, retained the league cup and got to the Europa League final but lost 3-0 to City. Happy with the season overall though. Got lots of interest in my players at the moment. Wanyama, Schneidlerlin, Borini, Osvaldo, Balanta, Lovren, Bellusci and Schmeichel are all wanted.

Just signed Vietto on a free and Tin Jedvaj for 2.5m. Looking to sign Krul for GK, Papadopoulos for CB(if Lovren leaves) and another Striker. Puncheon left for 900k, Rodriguez left for 7m and Gomis for 3.2m. Yoshida, Fox and Costil all left on frees.

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Thanks for the response enders. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't made a mistake because I just sold Lovren too. Managed to get 25m for him from Real Madrid. Also sold Wanyama to PSG for 39m just now. Got 112m sitting in the bank to be spent. Like a kid in a sweet shop!

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Thanks for the response enders. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't made a mistake because I just sold Lovren too. Managed to get 25m for him from Real Madrid. Also sold Wanyama to PSG for 39m just now. Got 112m sitting in the bank to be spent. Like a kid in a sweet shop!

Lovren was never really great for me and I have Souttar who my assistant seems to rate higher anyway. I may not have let him go if I'd known I'd lose Balanta 2 months later - I'm pleased with Marquinhos coming in (though he's not as well developed as either Lovren or Balanta yet) but Laporte is a stop-gap until I can find someone else. Not sure who though! I tried for Inigo Martinez after a bad spell at Madrid but he chose Atletico over me.

That's good money for Wanyama but not sure I'd sell him. Unless I could get Pogba. Pogba is my dream. One day. One day...

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Lovren was never really great for me and I have Souttar who my assistant seems to rate higher anyway. I may not have let him go if I'd know I'd lose Balanta 2 months later - I'm pleased with Marquinhos in but Laporte is a stop-gap until I can find someone else. Not sure who though! I tried for Inigo Martinez after a bad spell at Madrid but he chose Atletico over me.

That's good money for Wanyama but not sure I'd sell him. Unless I could get Pogba. Pogba is my dream. One day. One day...

Yeah Marquinos is a steal at that price. I bought Kyriakos Papadopoulos for 4.6m at Lovrens replacement. I wasn't sure about selling Wanyama but he ended up requesting a transfer so I took the cash, I only play 2 CM's so Schneiderlin and JWP will do just nicely for me.

I looked at pogba on my game yesterday. Unreal. I'll have to boost the rep quite a bit before he'd be tempted mind.

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Yeah I play a 3-4-2amc-1 formation. Retrained Shaw, Clyne, Cork and Davis as M/R/L depending where they were competent and play them as defensive wingers and I have a Target Man support up front with 2 Shadow Strikers behind him. Works OK, finished 7th first season, lying 3rd after 26 games second season. 10 points behind 2nd with 3 games in hand.

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great result enders!

my first season has ended, i finished 5th, very happy with my team's overall performance.

Wanyama, Souttar (wasn't my starter to begin with but played 25 games overall with 7.17 average), Prowse(retained him as a AMC and achieved a great result)

Angel Correa and Lallana also performed great.

Second Season:

3 great transfers and we are ready for our first game of the season (vs Chelsea, a home match)

1)Mitrovic is now our back up striker for Osvaldo, in case of an inconsistency by Osvaldo (which did happened last year) Mitrovic will step up for sure.

2)I was playing Will Hughes & Sean Davis at MC position alongside Wanyama, although they are still in our team, i brought Pedro Obiang, and he will be the new partner of Wanyama in MC position.

3)I brought Koen Casteels last season but i wasn't that happy with his performance & attribute improvement so i brought a great star for our team, Szczesny is now ours! (Casteels is still in our squad though)

New Transfers:

SZCZESNY-16.5M €

PEDRO OBIANG- 10M €

MITROVIC- 9.5M €

Current Squad: Szczesny-Clyne-Lovren-Balanta-Shaw-Wanyama-Obiang-Prowse-Lallana-Ramirez-Osvaldo (4-2-3-1)

Top 4 spot, here i come!!!

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Finally got round to playing my Southampton save properly today because of the latest update. Here's things just into October.

Southampton 1-0 Manchester United

Osvaldo '68

Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton

Lambert '46, '61; Shaw '90+1

Port Vale 0-2 Southampton (Capital One Cup)

Ward-Prowse '61; Lallana '68

Southampton 1-1 Tottenham

Lambert '21 (P)

Southampton 1-1 Stoke

Lallana '90+4

Crystal Palace 0-0 Southampton

West Ham 2-1 Southampton (Capital One Cup)

Yoshida '6

West Ham 3-3 Southampton

Osvaldo '1, '49; Lambert '45+1

Southampton 1-0 Liverpool

Lambert '42

Bit of a nosedive in form in the middle there, just couldn't buy a win. Out of the Capital One Cup already is a bummer, but I'm undefeated in the league with P7, W3, D4 so it's not all bad (just a shame I couldn't beat Stoke, Southampton and West Ham (who I was leading 1-3)). Fluked the victory against Liverpool but I don't care, we needed that win big time. Between the Southampton games I criticised Osvaldo for not doing enough and he responded positively, saying he'd perform better. I changed systems to play a 4312 instead of a 4231 and it produced. Osvaldo has 2 goals and 2 assists in 2 games now. Great performance v West Ham (MoM) and a solid 7.4 against Liverpool where he didn't get any chances but held the ball up well and won the freekick which Lambert scored from.

Transfers In

Eder Alvarez Balanta - £8M

Simone Pepe - £2.4M

Ricardo Alvarez - £3M

Originally I brought in Pepe and Alvarez for width but I've rarely used them. Alvarez has had a few games at AMC and not been too good. Pepe has had about two games and that's mainly because he got injured in the first. :thdn: Balanta scored the OG which led to West Ham finishing the game at 3-3, but otherwise he's been a beast. Got PoM against Liverpool with an 8.9 and has generally been very good. Avg. Rating of 7.27 after 7 games.

Transfers Out (not listing values)

Hooiveld, Kelvin Davis, Lee, do Prado and Sharp (loan) all for a total of £2.79M (terrible, I know).

As stated earlier, I am mainly playing a 4312 now which I had great success with on FM13 using it as Arsenal. I'm trying to play a similar style, flooding the midfield and allowing them to supply it to my creative forwards to run rampage. Basically playing with:

RB - FB/S - Clyne (Chambers)

RCB - CB/D - Lovren (Yoshida)

LCB - CB/D - Balanta (Fonte)

LB - FB/S - Shaw (Fox)

RCM - B2B - Schneiderlin (Cork)

CM - BWM/D - Wanyama (Schneiderlin)

LCM - CM/A - Ward-Prowse (Davis)

AMC - AP/S - Ramirez (Lallana)

SCR - DLF/S - Lambert (Osvaldo)

SCL - P/A - Osvaldo (Rodriguez)

The two I signed - Pepe and Alvarez - don't really fit into my system now. I'll probably sell them on later in the season. Alvarez might be kept because he is versatile and can play behind the strikers. I don't know for sure yet.

Enjoying this save so far. Still early on.

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Guys, as i have said i finished 5th in my first season and now second season started but i am playing a playoff round for the Euro Cup?!

I checked it on the rules section of the premier division and it clearly says, if you finish 5th, you qualify for the group stage, 6th place is for the play-off round.

any ideas of what happened??

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Im thinking of taking on a Saints save on FM for the first time. I'm a big fan of the football philosophy of Marcelo Bielsa, and Pocchettino being a disciple of Bielsa's thus adapting some similar methods it seems a natural fit for me to take this game on. Southampton seem to have good young promising players too which would fit in to my system well.

My favoured formation is as follows:

-------------------------GK-----------------------

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

--------------CBR----------------CBL-----------FBL

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

WBR---------------------DM-----------------------

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

---------------MC-------------------------------ML

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

AMR------------------------------AMC-------------

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

-------------------------STR----------------------

I hope the formation above makes sense.

From what i know about The Saints players and their abilities, my thinking was Wanyama as DMC , and Schneiderlin would be the MC, as possibly a box to box midfielder. That to me looks very strong. The AMR could be either an Inside Forward or advanced playmaker cutting inside with Clyne overlapping him on the outside.

The philosophies I wish to keep / incorporate are: high tempo, high presssing (win the ball in opponents half as often as possible), posession football yet not afraid to play "Vertical" football at times. I wish to create 2v1 situations down the flanks, Clyne and Shaw should benefit from this. I wish to utilise a high defensive line too.

Can you guys advise on what position each player should play in in my formation and what role / instructionns would you have set for them?

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For the high line I would look to get in at least one quick CB as Fonte and Hooiveld aren't quick enough and good enough mentally (even though Fonte does it well irl.)

My recommendations would be either Balanta or Doria. They both have masses of room to grow and are good enough right from the start.

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AMC could go one of many ways.. and would fit Rickie, Lallana, Gaston or JWP depending how you want the role to play out. the ML is interesting though considering you don't havde nay natural wide players...

With the AMC, my vision is this, i want him to at times drop deeper to provide an additional passing option but also to burst forward at times, overlapping the striker (the striker perhaps a false nine also dropping deeper hopefully bring an opposition centre back with him). The ML will probably be asked to stay wide and provide width and crosses, getting forward also. I would like the LB to overlap him too. Could Ward Prowse or Lallana be trained to play this role?

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God, I'm good at this game :cool:

Turned my form around from 4 draws in a row. Recent fixtures/results:

Southampton 1-0 Liverpool

Chelsea 2-2 Southampton

Southampton 2-1 Sunderland

Man City 1-2 Southampton

That last result a particular delight. First half they didn't get a sniff, went into HT with 40% possession and only one shot compared to my 6 (5 on target), including Rickie Lambert cracking the post unfortunately. Second half they came out flying and we were backs to the wall. Took off Ward-Prowse for Davis and contemplated taking off Osvaldo (ineffectual) for Rodriguez, but gave him another 5 minutes. About two minutes later, Osvaldo hassles Zabaleta from an Artur Boruc punt upfield and manages to get on the end of it (probably a foul tbh), slamming past Pantilimon and making it 1-0. I put Osvaldo into DLF/S and brought Jay Rodriguez on for Lambert as a Poacher, and on the 86th minute or so he found the net on the counter when City were throwing everything at us. They scored on the 93rd minute but it was too late (only 3 mins added). Such a good victory :cool:

P10, W5, D5, L0, F16, A10, GD+6, 20PTS, 3rd place. Only two off first place City.

Only undefeated team in the league, too. This season is going to be great for us. Not getting great performances from my MCL (MC/A), James Ward-Prowse but I'm working on it. Really enjoying this save.

My results against big sides are excellent:

Southampton 1-0 Man Utd

Southampton 1-1 Tottenham

Southampton 1-0 Liverpool

Chelsea 2-2 Southampton

Man City 1-2 Southampton

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I will post more details later when i get home from work, but in the 1st season and it has just gone into January and I am 2nd in the league...top 7 places are seperated by 5 points so it is quite close but had a great season.

At home i play the default system the 4-2-3-1 but with heavily modified team instructions and from memory I am unbeaten at home. Play a very aggressive pressing tactic away from home which has also gone well. Made quite a few changes - Alex McCarthy in goal from Reading, Micah Richards (deadline day bid), Nesta, Mangala, Balanta, Ibai Gomez, Jose Antonio Reyes, Stevie May (from St Johnstone I think, he is a good goalscorer when he has been used) and got Defoe on a season long loan.

Will post screenshots later!

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Against the bigger teams I'm playing like this (although United and Spurs games were 4231 narrow, which I didn't like so I switched to this):

1C991FC6686FD4309F19EBF209FF8D5C79D3F9A6

And it's causing my results to look like this:

3BE004A2BEA6BB4C174970184C2B5444E03CC69B

Still struggling to get the best out of my players, as you can see. Especially the midfield. Working on it, but still getting results.

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I have a quick question, how do i remove the "Italian player request" by our chairman?

I tried to negotiate that philosophy with the board but i can't really find which philosophy that really is.

I think, from what I remember, it's the ''I don't want to be judged on that type of signing'' option. Something like that anyway. On my Southampton save I kept asking but they kept rejecting.

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Against the bigger teams I'm playing like this (although United and Spurs games were 4231 narrow, which I didn't like so I switched to this):

1C991FC6686FD4309F19EBF209FF8D5C79D3F9A6

And it's causing my results to look like this:

3BE004A2BEA6BB4C174970184C2B5444E03CC69B

Still struggling to get the best out of my players, as you can see. Especially the midfield. Working on it, but still getting results.

What are the rest of your team instructions?

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I have changed my system ever-so-slightly since that screenshot (got three wins against Swansea, Hull and Everton, but then lost at home to Norwich and drew with Fulham...my home form needs so adjusting). Here's what I changed to and what my team instructions are:

90C9DA6CE60355B42B687C1BFD52CEFFE050F4F8

EE82270096546C05FB71EC19D985DC088203CE03

Most player instructions aren't adjusted but there is a few...

All defenders set to "Pass it Shorter" (I was having too many misplaced passes from defence).

Both fullbacks set to "Run wide with ball" (only natural width I have)

CM set to "Shoot less often"

RCM set to "More Risky Passes" (I want him to be doing more than laying it off to others)

LCM set to all of the following:

"Get further forward", "Close Down More", "Shoot less often", "Dribble more", "Roam from position"

AMC set to "Roam from position"

STCL set to "Move into channels"

Working a treat away from home, not so much at home. Two poor performances against Norwich (first league defeat of the season) and Fulham set me back a little, but away from home we're doing great for the most part.

e: although pointing out that I did rip Fulham open a number of times and should have beaten them but was unfortunate. Norwich were bottom comfortably but still smashed me, ridiculous, whatever. Lost Lovren to injury for the games (he's still out now) and Yoshida and Fonte averaged 5.9s in the games respectively. Missing Dejan big time.

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2013 finished! The first half of the season have gone over all expectations! No purchases yet on the squad, and it doesn't seem like it's needed either.

J7P3YFy.jpg

Table looking more realistic now. City struggling, with AvB probably regretting jumping ship from Tottenham.. :p

erXBI02.jpg

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x1bd.jpg

Attempting this tactic with current squad. Congesting the space between midfield and goal, and when getting hold of the ball, bombing forward with fullbacks and midfielders.

Are you still using this formation???

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