FM14: Liverpool F.C Thread - This Year is our Year!

[gerrardsrightfoot]

anyone got a good 4-4-2 diamond formation? Fancy trying to find a good one to give a shot after the Southampton game

I've used a 442 diamond a few times and had decent success with it. Beat PSG 4-1 in a friendly and Spurs 5-0 but I was pretty much forced to use it in that game due to injuries and I wouldn't feel comfortable using it for a prolonged period as the midfield seemed to be constantly overran.

AF DLF (Both A)

AP (S)

CM CM (Both S)

DM (D)

FB (A) CB (D) CB (D) FB (A)

Can't remember all the instructions but it would have been the usual possession based ones ie Much Higher Line/Push Higher Up, Retain Possession, Play Narrower, Look For Overlap, Pass Into Space, Drill Crosses, Work Ball Into Box blah blah.

I did tinker with having a BBM + DLP but it went a little tits up. BBM + CM(S) could work with Henderson and Allen. Could also change the DM to a DLP if playing against one striker.

[glenn28]

32 games played 2nd behind Everton & ive noticed since the update the free kicks are scoring most of the time before they hit the post alot

[chrisHickford]

I've used a 442 diamond a few times and had decent success with it. Beat PSG 4-1 in a friendly and Spurs 5-0 but I was pretty much forced to use it in that game due to injuries and I wouldn't feel comfortable using it for a prolonged period as the midfield seemed to be constantly overran.

AF DLF (Both A)

AP (S)

CM CM (Both S)

DM (D)

FB (A) CB (D) CB (D) FB (A)

Can't remember all the instructions but it would have been the usual possession based ones ie Much Higher Line/Push Higher Up, Retain Possession, Play Narrower, Look For Overlap, Pass Into Space, Drill Crosses, Work Ball Into Box blah blah.

I did tinker with having a BBM + DLP but it went a little tits up. BBM + CM(S) could work with Henderson and Allen. Could also change the DM to a DLP if playing against one striker.

Awesome thank you

[glenn28]

Completed my 1st season lost the Title on GD to Chelsea finished 2nd & SAS scored 47 goals between then they will be my pairing for season 2 not sure who ill bring in for season 2

[JRoberts2]

Completed my 1st season lost the Title on GD to Chelsea finished 2nd & SAS scored 47 goals between then they will be my pairing for season 2 not sure who ill bring in for season 2

For me it's 22 games (so far between them) and just 3 goals between them, luckily Gerrard and Mignolet are having great seasons to save me

[Nicko8]

Just finished me first season winning the double and here's a quick wrap and some stats.

So finally started my Liverpool save with the Jan update and was pleasantly surprised with the upgrades to SAS who I felt were 'underpowered' in the initial release. I chose to play a 4-5-1, similar to what we've been playing in real life, but with multiple variations of either a DM-CM-CM or DM-DM-AM. Sturridge started well and by the time Suarez came back he was leading the PL scoring charts, however I just couldnt get Suarez to perform well enough out wide and made the decision that though Sturridge had done well in his absence, Suarez is what I wanted to build my team around. So I moved Sturridge out wide to accommodate Suarez upfront, it took until around December for everything to fall into place (and for some reason to finally become 'fluid' with all my formations) but once it did the goals and wins started to pile up, prior to this I'd get dominated by the 'big 5/6' away and was nicking games 1-0 with indifferent performances. Coutinho struggled during the first half of the season and generally didnt have a great season but once i started playing regularly due to sturridge missing a good month and predominately in the AMC position he went through a nice purple patch. Sterling was fantastic throughout, dominating many games from either wing as either a winger or IF. After the busy Xmas/New Year period it pretty much became a two horse race between me and Chelsea. After beating them with a handful of matches to go I thought the title was mine but i would end up only winning one of those 5 games and the title would go down to the final day, as long as I won that match I would win the title. My last match had it all, I got an early pen which Gerrard missed, I got another pen right before half time which Gerrard scored, right after half time Enrique got sent of for a second yellow and then both Coutinho and Sterling picked up injuries and needed to be subbed off. Won the game 1-0, however Chelsea lost against west brom meaning that a draw would have done. I beat ManU for the Carling cup but lost to Everton in the semi's of the FA cup, that loss started my run of winless games.

In: Balanta 14m

Sandro 9.5m

Hughes (Spent season at Derby) 11m

Suarez won the Player's Player of the Year.

Sturridge won the Player's Young Player and Sterling came second.

Negredo ran away with the golden boot with 27 and SAS both finished 5th with 17 each.

Mingolet won the golden glove with 19 but did let in a few howlers.

The only stats that mattered belonged to SAS(AS) with my overall goals, assists avg. rating top three belonging to Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling.

Suarez 22/11/7.38

Sturridge 17/13/7.21

Sterling 14/10/7.18

SASAS 53/34/7.26

From 38/36/39 games respectively in all competitions but mostly PL.

Surprising thing I found which I'm not sure anyone has mentioned but I was able to tutor Henderson with Gerrard even though Hendo's pretty old. Also managed to get Lucas for Allen.

The youth players i gave game time to (due to my thin squad) were Ibe, Sinclair, Rossiter and Wilson. Wilson was the pick of them, he got the most sub appearances and got a few assists and even a PL goal (Now the Youngest PL Goalscorer). Moses was rubbish most times he played, Aspas didn't really cut it against lower league teams with my 'B team' but did okay when played with my 'A team'. Suso got alot of games for Almeria and managed double digit goals and 8 assists in 40 odd appearances. Luis Alberto is coming along nicely and along with the other four and Suso are all extremely promising and should make it.

Next season squad thoughts:

Gerrard is on the decline but between Hendo and bringing in Hughes I have my succession plan in place. Have also been playing Gerrard in DM for the easier games so I'm still not sure whether I need a Lucas backup next season (kinda like we do IRL). With CL I'll need more depth, Suso's coming back but I want a natural AML so that I have someone to rotate with Sterling and Sturridge cause there were times this season where I had to play Moses in non-cup games. I'm thinking I really want Reus but I heard he's hard to get out of BVB. My number one target for now. Was also liking the look of Perruzi of RB but with Johnson, Kelly and Flanno/wisdom coming back I'll probably have to sell before I buy. Pretty stacked all over my defence it seems. Will also see how Reina goes before deciding whether I want a real top class GK, Jones is gone aswell, he let in goals against league 1 teams with quality CB's infront of him.

I'd love to retain the PL and have a good run in the CL before have a good crack at winning it the year after with peak years Suarez/Sturridge/Lucas/Hendo and developed Sterling/Coutinho/Hughes/Suso/Sandro/Balanta/Sakho.

So onto next season. How have you guys found the best way to develop our promising youngsters? Loan them out as early as possible for as long as possible? Tutor them hard and give them cup games? Half/Half?

[Mark.]

Just finished me first season winning the double and here's a quick wrap and some stats.

So finally started my Liverpool save with the Jan update and was pleasantly surprised with the upgrades to SAS who I felt were 'underpowered' in the initial release. I chose to play a 4-5-1, similar to what we've been playing in real life, but with multiple variations of either a DM-CM-CM or DM-DM-AM. Sturridge started well and by the time Suarez came back he was leading the PL scoring charts, however I just couldnt get Suarez to perform well enough out wide and made the decision that though Sturridge had done well in his absence, Suarez is what I wanted to build my team around. So I moved Sturridge out wide to accommodate Suarez upfront, it took until around December for everything to fall into place (and for some reason to finally become 'fluid' with all my formations) but once it did the goals and wins started to pile up, prior to this I'd get dominated by the 'big 5/6' away and was nicking games 1-0 with indifferent performances. Coutinho struggled during the first half of the season and generally didnt have a great season but once i started playing regularly due to sturridge missing a good month and predominately in the AMC position he went through a nice purple patch. Sterling was fantastic throughout, dominating many games from either wing as either a winger or IF. After the busy Xmas/New Year period it pretty much became a two horse race between me and Chelsea. After beating them with a handful of matches to go I thought the title was mine but i would end up only winning one of those 5 games and the title would go down to the final day, as long as I won that match I would win the title. My last match had it all, I got an early pen which Gerrard missed, I got another pen right before half time which Gerrard scored, right after half time Enrique got sent of for a second yellow and then both Coutinho and Sterling picked up injuries and needed to be subbed off. Won the game 1-0, however Chelsea lost against west brom meaning that a draw would have done. I beat ManU for the Carling cup but lost to Everton in the semi's of the FA cup, that loss started my run of winless games.

In: Balanta 14m

Sandro 9.5m

Hughes (Spent season at Derby) 11m

Suarez won the Player's Player of the Year.

Sturridge won the Player's Young Player and Sterling came second.

Negredo ran away with the golden boot with 27 and SAS both finished 5th with 17 each.

Mingolet won the golden glove with 19 but did let in a few howlers.

The only stats that mattered belonged to SAS(AS) with my overall goals, assists avg. rating top three belonging to Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling.

Suarez 22/11/7.38

Sturridge 17/13/7.21

Sterling 14/10/7.18

SASAS 53/34/7.26

From 38/36/39 games respectively in all competitions but mostly PL.

Surprising thing I found which I'm not sure anyone has mentioned but I was able to tutor Henderson with Gerrard even though Hendo's pretty old. Also managed to get Lucas for Allen.

The youth players i gave game time to (due to my thin squad) were Ibe, Sinclair, Rossiter and Wilson. Wilson was the pick of them, he got the most sub appearances and got a few assists and even a PL goal (Now the Youngest PL Goalscorer). Moses was rubbish most times he played, Aspas didn't really cut it against lower league teams with my 'B team' but did okay when played with my 'A team'. Suso got alot of games for Almeria and managed double digit goals and 8 assists in 40 odd appearances. Luis Alberto is coming along nicely and along with the other four and Suso are all extremely promising and should make it.

Next season squad thoughts:

Gerrard is on the decline but between Hendo and bringing in Hughes I have my succession plan in place. Have also been playing Gerrard in DM for the easier games so I'm still not sure whether I need a Lucas backup next season (kinda like we do IRL). With CL I'll need more depth, Suso's coming back but I want a natural AML so that I have someone to rotate with Sterling and Sturridge cause there were times this season where I had to play Moses in non-cup games. I'm thinking I really want Reus but I heard he's hard to get out of BVB. My number one target for now. Was also liking the look of Perruzi of RB but with Johnson, Kelly and Flanno/wisdom coming back I'll probably have to sell before I buy. Pretty stacked all over my defence it seems. Will also see how Reina goes before deciding whether I want a real top class GK, Jones is gone aswell, he let in goals against league 1 teams with quality CB's infront of him.

I'd love to retain the PL and have a good run in the CL before have a good crack at winning it the year after with peak years Suarez/Sturridge/Lucas/Hendo and developed Sterling/Coutinho/Hughes/Suso/Sandro/Balanta/Sakho.

So onto next season. How have you guys found the best way to develop our promising youngsters? Loan them out as early as possible for as long as possible? Tutor them hard and give them cup games? Half/Half?

Impressive season there mate. Mind I ask what tactic you used? Was it AML - Sturridge, CF-Suarez, AMR - Sterling?

[Nicko8]

Impressive season there mate. Mind I ask what tactic you used? Was it AML - Sturridge, CF-Suarez, AMR - Sterling?

Thanks

I played them AML(IF-A)[sterling], ST(AF-A)[suarez], AMR(IF-A)[sturridge]

Pretty much the whole IF's cutting in onto their stronger foot. I only watch goals in classic 2D mode so I'm assuming that's what happened.

Sturridge played ST during Suarez's ban and definitely scored more goals there than from the AMR position. Anyone else notice how many cards Suarez picks up?

Sterling also played AMR(W-S or A) for an extended period when Sturridge was injured and performed pretty well there aswell, arguably as good.

[Sabine]

Almost thirty straight wins in the first season with no transfers.. Can't go wrong with that.

The dropped points was a 1-1 draw with Man City away.

edit: Won the league on the 29th game, concentrating on getting all my players up to league appearances now.

[Nicko8]

Ridiculous, star/standout performers?

[Babic]

Almost thirty straight wins in the first season with no transfers.. Can't go wrong with that.

The dropped points was a 1-1 draw with Man City away

edit: Won the league on the 29th game, concentrating on getting all my players up to league appearances now.

nice could u give me a shot of ure tactic and pi's plz, im struggling

[birkelse]

Here is my team in august 2016

[

[JoOSTAR]

Almost thirty straight wins in the first season with no transfers.. Can't go wrong with that.

The dropped points was a 1-1 draw with Man City away.

edit: Won the league on the 29th game, concentrating on getting all my players up to league appearances now.

This is just insane congrats!

I'm also very curious about your tactic, would be so nice if you could upload it or post screenshots of your tactic/teaminstructions/player instructions!

[Sabine]

I'll have an in-depth review of my season (including tactics) at the end of the season (currently in mid-April)

I don't have any time to upload any screenshots because I'm currently working, but I used this tactic as a basis. Maybe tweak it a little by using lower tempo instead of higher tempo and adding be more expressive.

Again, I'm sorry I can't go into too much detail with what I have tweaked, but the above is the basis that I worked on.

[JoOSTAR]

I'll have an in-depth review of my season (including tactics) at the end of the season (currently in mid-April)

I don't have any time to upload any screenshots because I'm currently working, but I used this tactic as a basis. Maybe tweak it a little by using lower tempo instead of higher tempo and adding be more expressive.

Again, I'm sorry I can't go into too much detail with what I have tweaked, but the above is the basis that I worked on.

Alright, I'm looking forward to that!

[craigd84]

Second season:

In's:

Puyol yes despite being 36 i just loved his mental stats and saw them as a great way to improve my young defenders like Shaw, Balanta and Sakho. I feel that the standard Liverpool defenders lack concentration... Puyol however doesnt. He scored in his second game, my coaches say he is 3.5 stars current abillity

Luke Shaw, needed a LB bad and opted for this lad ahead of the Bremen LB as Shaw has time on his side. Little bit inconsistant atm but will come good.

Drogba, again brought him in because of his mental attributes, mainly to tutor my top three potential strikers.

Deulofeu on loan, can get him though as he was listed at Barca!! looks impressive.

outs:

Mongolet i call him MONGO as he made soooo many errors and cost us points in my first season, i should of won the league easy but his errors made it a win by 1 point. 9mil to Spuds.

Skrtel, sold him literally as i had Puyol and Kelly at RCB, Skrt's was awesome in the first season, so i basically sold him for no reason other than to make way for Puyol. 6mil to Porto.

Quaresma, sold him to Olimpiakos for 1mil, didnt light up the league as i'd hoped, well as good as he did before my game crashed lol.

6 games in im sat second behind Chelsea, but i got Arsenal away next so thats going to be a loss. Plus points so far is the goals of Suarez, he has 5 in 7 not bad, Suso is playing well in the games he has played in scoring once and making quite a few.

Neg points seems we lack the ability to kill off teams, and give away silly goals.

Also why does it take so long for your team to learn tactics?

[wakey24]

I am going to start as Liverpool, the new update has ruined my Barnsley save. I am looking at developing the youngsters and and trying to maintain a British feel about the club.

[ashlfcowen]

Fifth season in. Not many still remain from the starting squad. So far I've won;

English Premier Division:     2015, 2016, 2017
European Champions Cup:       2015, 2017
English FA Cup:               2015, 2017
Capital One Cup:              2014, 2016
English Community Shield:     2015, 2016, 2017
European Super Cup:           2015, 2017
Club World Championships:     2015

Safe to say the good times are back at Anfie, oh wait. They've moved me to the City of Manchester Stadium as they are redeveloping Anfield. 60,000+ seats. I have top training and top youth facilities, with an extensive youth recruitment and exceptional junior coaching, all as of this year so I can really start to concentrate on creating my own superstars rather than buying them for large sums from other teams.

So who remains? Sakho, Rossiter, Henderson, Sterling & Sinclair - so not many by a long stretch of the imagination. Although a few that have retired are now part of my coaching set up, so all remains well & healthy.

So far, my total value of players bought stands at £279M, and to help balance the books I have sold £231M worth. I'm now considered the richest club in the world, with an estimated value of £1.24B. And this was with the 45K seated stadium previously so things will only get better! Probably helped by the fact I now consider my team to be pretty much perfect so the only time I will pay over the odds for a player is if I think he is legitimately worth it. Take Dursun as an example, who will be joining me in January for £30M.

I may consider changing my tactic next year as well, it's been a long, long time since I've used two up top on Football Manager.

[dan99]

Well done Ash. Sinclair looks amazing. What's his goal history like?

Keep in touch with Slayer?

[ashlfcowen]

Well done Ash. Sinclair looks amazing. What's his goal history like?

Keep in touch with Slayer?

Hi Dan. Long time! Occasionally on Facebook yeah, messaged him not long back to see if there's a new 'site' on the scene but apparently not.

Sinclair is incredible. He's only getting better as well, currently rotating his heading & technique to try and get both of those up to 15. He's only half a star away from his PA so not sure he'll get much better than he is ATM but we will wait and see. So far this season he has played 20 and scored 25. Last season 23 in 30 and season before 18 in 29, so not bad.

[Sabine]

Just played the last eight games in one sitting today. Took about four hours, which is sad considering I already won the league but I wanted an invincible season so I spent a lot of that time trying to develop a back up tactic for when some players are tired and I need a defensive midfielder instead of two and also a more attacking tactic to completely destroy teams in terms of possession and results. Obviously I got it.

FA Cup final to play and I'll give some insight on how I played this season out.

edit: The way I play this game is, before every game, I save it. Then play it and whatever result I get, I saved immediately afterwards as a new save.

I then go into the previous save, and tweak tactics around a little and see what I could've done better to get a better result, BUT not over writing the save I have after the game the first time around, because, that's cheating.

I am, I guess, somewhat of a perfectionist and I am still trying to learn this game and learn how the match engine fully works because I tend to completely dominate games, but not have many shots on goal, or clear cut chances. I want to change that next season, because I want to play more attractive football rather than attacking football - even though effective, I prefer to have six 1-0 wins than six 3-1 wins.

Anyway, I shall show tactics and my best players and all of that lark after this FA Cup final. 1-0 up at the moment.

[JoOSTAR]

Just played the last eight games in one sitting today. Took about four hours, which is sad considering I already won the league but I wanted an invincible season so I spent a lot of that time trying to develop a back up tactic for when some players are tired and I need a defensive midfielder instead of two and also a more attacking tactic to completely destroy teams in terms of possession and results. Obviously I got it.

FA Cup final to play and I'll give some insight on how I played this season out.

edit: The way I play this game is, before every game, I save it. Then play it and whatever result I get, I saved immediately afterwards as a new save.

I then go into the previous save, and tweak tactics around a little and see what I could've done better to get a better result, BUT not over writing the save I have after the game the first time around, because, that's cheating.

I am, I guess, somewhat of a perfectionist and I am still trying to learn this game and learn how the match engine fully works because I tend to completely dominate games, but not have many shots on goal, or clear cut chances. I want to change that next season, because I want to play more attractive football rather than attacking football - even though effective, I prefer to have six 1-0 wins than six 3-1 wins.

Anyway, I shall show tactics and my best players and all of that lark after this FA Cup final. 1-0 up at the moment.

Amazing season! Really looking forward to your analysis of your tactic(s)

[cezar.sl]

Great start to the thread. However, surely the title is an ironic joke?

Found this on the 1st page.

[ashlfcowen]

Just played the last eight games in one sitting today. Took about four hours, which is sad considering I already won the league but I wanted an invincible season so I spent a lot of that time trying to develop a back up tactic for when some players are tired and I need a defensive midfielder instead of two and also a more attacking tactic to completely destroy teams in terms of possession and results. Obviously I got it.

FA Cup final to play and I'll give some insight on how I played this season out.

edit: The way I play this game is, before every game, I save it. Then play it and whatever result I get, I saved immediately afterwards as a new save.

I then go into the previous save, and tweak tactics around a little and see what I could've done better to get a better result, BUT not over writing the save I have after the game the first time around, because, that's cheating.

I am, I guess, somewhat of a perfectionist and I am still trying to learn this game and learn how the match engine fully works because I tend to completely dominate games, but not have many shots on goal, or clear cut chances. I want to change that next season, because I want to play more attractive football rather than attacking football - even though effective, I prefer to have six 1-0 wins than six 3-1 wins.

Anyway, I shall show tactics and my best players and all of that lark after this FA Cup final. 1-0 up at the moment.

[ashlfcowen]

Any updates guys? Extremely quiet in here. Whose past the 5 season mark?

[Nicko8]

Well i just started my second season.

Only in was Reus for his release clause 29.5m though Hughes finally made his transfer after I let him stay at Derby for the previous season.

Outs were Skrtel for 5m, aspas for 5m and coates for 4m.

It's been a weird start to the season only a month in but won the CC and I'm top of the league undefeated in 4 including a 4-0 pumping of Citeh however it's come at a cost, Sakho out for 7 weeks in the CC match, Sturridge out for 3months in a 1-0 win and Mignolet out for 2 months from an international. Also got drawn with Barca in the champs league group stages (CSKA & Legia too). My depth is being put to use but I cant take any more injuries. Suso will be getting a bunch of games though, not just cups.

Edit: Just played my first Champs league game and beat CSKA 2-0 away (Goals from new SAS, Sterling and Suarez), Agger picked up a 3 week injury though, bare bones for a couple of games until Sakho is fit again. Toure or Kelly is now my biggest selection decision instead of who to use to best compliment Suarez: Reus, Coutinho or Sturridge?

[gerrardsrightfoot]

For people struggling with finding a working tactic, this thread might be of help. Some good explanations of what happens with certain instructions and some suggested tweaks and slight alternatives for different matches. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/378773-The-Guardiola-pressing-game-And-how-to-press-the-same-way-on-FM14

Anyway, haven't played much lately but managed to win both of my games (Chelsea & Palace, both away) and City's poor run continued as they drew both of their games.

http://i.imgur.com/I3rO5B6.png

15 points ahead now. Hoping to pick up a few bargains for next season in January if possible.

[bwadders76]

Do you need to download the update or is it automatically downloaded and used with steam?

Also I've downloaded a new skin but can't see how to change it on the game.

[redsforever24]

Just finished my third season. Won the league for the third season running, and also took home the Community Shield, FA Cup, and the Champions League. I beat Man City in the FA Cup Final and Man Utd. in the Champions League final. Suarez was immense for me, scored around 37 in all competitions. Barbosa has turned into a monster as well. I renewed Sturridge's contract but depending on how he does in season four I may try to ship him off. No major signings in the summer, just prospects for the future. I did sell De Bruyne to Real Madrid for 33 million, made a nice profit of 25 million on him after just two seasons.

[ashlfcowen]

I just won the Community Shield, Super Cup, Carling Cup, World Club Championship, FA Cup, Champions League & Premier league (W: 34, D4, L0) which is undoubtedly one of my strongest seasons every on the FM franchise. My only problem now? Boredom & all of my players wanting £150K+ A WEEK to sign new contracts. Thankfully I have this policy at hand were NO-ONE is unsellable, so if a club comes calling with the right money I'd rather sell than offer them undeserved contracts. I.e. Henderson, whose a squad player but wants to double his weekly income to 120K - err, nah.

[Sabine]

Warning: This is going to contain a lot of text and a lot of links.

So after an incredible and almost invincible season I have had quite a few questions on what I did. Well this post will explain (almost) everything.

First off, I will show you my player screen:

From this screenshot, I realised one thing that has not happened before: Every single player has an average rating of over 7.00 except Fulton but he played no games.

Even rotation players like Joe Allen, Luis Alberto and players like Jordon Rossiter had a rating over 7.00.

In goal is the obvious, Mignolet, who was upgraded in LFC Marshall's update was amazing, conceding only 23 goals in 52 games, a pass % of 82% and 17 mistakes across those 52 games. The way I set him up tactically is pretty simple and straight forward, GK/D with individual instructions as Pass It Shorter and Distribute To Defenders. Next season, I think I am going to take out the distribute to defenders instruction in attempts to cut mistakes because the defenders always seemed to pass it around the back line, even when opposing strikers were lurking. Instead, I might change it to Distribute To Specific Player and change it to either full back, depending on the best passer and player with best first touch.

The full backs were awesome. Especially John Flanagan, who is turning out great, by the way. He is going to be my first choice right back next season and I am considering selling Glen Johnson because of his injury proneness and inconsistency. But these stats throughout the season are pretty nice for the amount of games he played.

He did make a significant amount of mistakes though, 101 in 52 games, almost 2 per game. But Johnson was worse with 79 in 29.

On the left side, Jose Enrique was good, but he made an awful amount of mistakes, 120 in 27 games. Something I want to cut down by maybe having a shorter passing game, running with the ball less, something that I will work on in the next season. I also used Jack Robinson as a back up, who was pretty decent himself and has been tutored by Jose Enrique all season.

The central spots were mainly covered by Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson in the DLP/S role and Lucas Leiva and Jordan Rossiter in the BWM/D role. Gerrard and Henderson were the players who passed continuously in the middle of the park, breaking apart defences and creating chances and tracking back in the defending process. They made a total of 12 assists and 9 goals between them, which is quite average considering the amount of goals we scored. But that's okay, because if you can see from the player stats, most of the assists were in the attacking part of the team, which I'm very satisfied with.

Tactically, this role was a success. I saw a lot of closing down, which meant a lot of interceptions and tackles per game, they also marked zonally and effectively with a lot of interceptions, contributing to our great defensive record. (Individual Instructions: Close Down More, Mark Tighter and I started off with More Direct Passes but took that out due to giving up a lot of possession in away games.)

In the BWM/D spot, Lucas Leiva was obviously the main man. Although a low average rating, he did the job pretty well. He was a **** kicking machine and made tackles and intercepted the ball and was basically our hard man of the team. Jordan Rossiter came in when Lucas had a couple of injuries and bans and was really good for a 16 year old. (http://gyazo.com/ca941af51c17cb48b03b9e261e54650f.png)

Tactically, this role was a success. Shot Less Often was put in to avoid long shots, Pass It Shorter, as it's a less creative role and Mark Tighter to stick to the flow of the tactic. This role saw a lot of interceptions per game, and I wish there was a statistic for this in the stats screen because I can only imagine it being a large amount per game.

Out wide, we had two Defensive Wingers/Support. Now this is where it gets good. These roles were in the tactic I based this on, and I was skeptical about it because I had no real defensive wingers, but then I tested it out in the pre-season and it worked out extremely well. I experimented between the defend setting and the support setting, but didn't really make much of a difference so I stuck with support.

Out on the left, I mainly had Coutinho but also had had Luis Alberto and Harry Wilson to cover, but they didn't really play much. Coutinho was so much better in this role than he is as a inside forward in my last save and although he was playing as a defensive winger, he scored a lot of goals which I didn't expect but it was pretty nice to see.

He was a success, tactically. Although I might set it so they don't cross as often because crosses in this game are awfully flawed still.

Out on the right was my personal player of the season: Raheem Sterling. His stats are awesome and he made 20 assists and 9 goals in 43 games - which is superb (16 in the league, which was third highest). I also had Jordan Ibe as a backup who actually was the top scorer in the FA Cup with 6 goals. His goals/assists wasn't bad for a back up player at all, and he does have great attributes for someone his age.

They were successes tactically. Especially Sterling, who I didn't expect to play so well because he looked very average at the start of the season. The amount of assists from Sterling was awesome - he tore apart defences from time to time and was able to track back very well and made a lot of interceptions and had a very decent tackle rate (79%).

The individual instructions for these two roles were: Shoot Less Often, More Direct Passes (which is vital by the way, because shorter passes would mean they just pass around the opponents area but not make any progress) and Cross Aim Far Post which I might take out next season. I also had Get Further Forward in, but thought it was unnecessary because they are DEFENSIVE wingers and should act like advanced wingbacks when defending. I also toyed with Shoot More and Shoot Less Often to see if it made any difference and as I predicted, it just made them score more long shots. I did a lot of experimenting in this role actually - because it's a completely new role to me and I didn't know what to expect. But I was impressed and I do thank Mr Hough for bringing this role to my attention.

Now finally, the two strikers. Phew! What an absolute corker these roles were. I know a lot of people have been pointing out they are struggling for goals but I never had this problem whatsoever. I had two false nines and they were incredible. Daniel Sturridge got 35 goals and 21 assists! in 42 games and Luis Suarez got 42 goals!! and 20 assists in 43 games. I will also point this out but Jerome Sinclair is going to be a world class striker in the future. To the point where I am tempted to sell Luis Suarez for a near world record amount (or as much as possible) and play him and Sturridge up front with Borini and Ojo as back ups because he is that good (but I won't because that would just put me in danger if I get a long term injury from one of the strikers).

I believe the False Nine is a new role in this version of football manager and it my favourite. I did toy with using a defensive forward for a few games, but I got absolutely nothing out of it. What a false nine does, which I think is important to point out here - is that they drop back into the AM spot and draw out the centre backs out of position, enabling the current possesser of the ball to pass a through ball to the other false nine which does absolute wonders. This role can also be used as a solo striker, probably just as good, as it'll drag out both centre backs (for some reason, weird game engine I guess) and the two wide players can possess the ball then cross back onto the forward to shoot on goal.

The individual instructions I used were: More Direct Passes, because it's pointless passing around and outside the 18 yard box and Roam From Position to mainly get the centre backs out of position. I also had shoot less often for both roles but Suarez was TERRIBLE for some reason when I used that instruction and he could've probably had a more than 1:1 goal/game ratio if I didn't put that instruction in but I don't understand why that is.

Finally, here is my tactical screen and it was the final package on the 24th league game:

I will not go into full detail about the team instructions. It is a little different to the base tactic, but it's just due to personal preference. The base tactic itself is absolutely amazing and I do recommend everyone trying it before tweaking it, it is a plug and play tactic after all and I'm pretty sure a lot of you don't play this game as intensely as I do!

Finally, I will leave some images that show the cup finals and my best games of the season, just to close things out. That, and I'm feeling lazy because I have already typed out an absolute essay.

Actually, I'll put them in later because Gyazo is doing this stupid server error crap. Happy reading!

edit: I just realised that I missed out the centre backs. I shall include that section tomorrow if I remember.

[glenn28]

My defence is absolute crap

[craigd84]

Sabine, that is almost identical to the way i set up MrHoughs tactic too!

Im just done setting up a Barcelona style tactic that i havent lost with yet since tweaking it, and not conceading either, I will upload a beta if anyone is interested.

Oh btw, keep Reina, im glad i did, 20games 6 conceaded.....

[JoOSTAR]

Sabine, that is almost identical to the way i set up MrHoughs tactic too!

Im just done setting up a Barcelona style tactic that i havent lost with yet since tweaking it, and not conceading either, I will upload a beta if anyone is interested.

Oh btw, keep Reina, im glad i did, 20games 6 conceaded.....

Always interested!

[Sabine]

Sabine, that is almost identical to the way i set up MrHoughs tactic too!

Im just done setting up a Barcelona style tactic that i havent lost with yet since tweaking it, and not conceading either, I will upload a beta if anyone is interested.

Oh btw, keep Reina, im glad i did, 20games 6 conceaded.....

Yeah! When I looked at it this morning I was like.. "well.. that's almost the same as the actual tactic."

I would be interested in playing around with a possession-type tactic too.

I just sold him for £11 million, hah! Probably because I'm happy with Mignolet and I don't think I could've gotten any better than £11 million, considering Reina is now 31 in game.

I also got a transfer offer of £82 million for Suarez. Which I soundly rejected because he's staying with the club until he retired/wants a new challenge.

[craigd84]

Yeah! When I looked at it this morning I was like.. "well.. that's almost the same as the actual tactic."

I would be interested in playing around with a possession-type tactic too.

I just sold him for £11 million, hah! Probably because I'm happy with Mignolet and I don't think I could've gotten any better than £11 million, considering Reina is now 31 in game.

I also got a transfer offer of £82 million for Suarez. Which I soundly rejected because he's staying with the club until he retired/wants a new challenge.

What i meant was, is that the way you set it up is almost identical to the way i set it up.

I couldnt put up with Mingolets CONSTANT errors!

[Welshace]

Lfc Marshall's update change much in terms of attributes sabine?

[craigd84]

I think it does mate, updates Hendo, the SASAS, and a few others.

[Sabine]

Lfc Marshall's update change much in terms of attributes sabine?

Yep. From the top of my head, he has changed a lot of the players in general in all of the top european leagues - Reus, Mandzukic, Hazard, Suarez, for example, getting significant boosts.

With the Liverpool team, Henderson has 20 in stamina and natural fitness and is now around 165ish PA (as an estimate). Else than that, I noticed that most of the changes for Liverpool are identical to those in the .3 patch.

I also did a couple of changes myself to some players - Nemanja Matic, Blaise Matuidi and Negredo having a decent improvement, destroying Ashley Young and Tom Cleverly ( ) but else than that, I haven't touched the ingame editor at all.

[craigd84]

Yep. From the top of my head, he has changed a lot of the players in general in all of the top european leagues - Reus, Mandzukic, Hazard, Suarez, for example, getting significant boosts.

With the Liverpool team, Henderson has 20 in stamina and natural fitness and is now around 165ish PA (as an estimate). Else than that, I noticed that most of the changes for Liverpool are identical to those in the .3 patch.

I also did a couple of changes myself to some players - Nemanja Matic, Blaise Matuidi and Negredo having a decent improvement, destroying Ashley Young and Tom Cleverly ( ) but else than that, I haven't touched the ingame editor at all.

True about Young and Cleverly... so overrated on the standard database that im using tho i used FMTRE to copy the stats of sturridge and Suarez as i felt they were garbage.

[Sabine]

I haven't touched any of the Liverpool players because I'm obviously playing as them. I did accidentally remove Suarez's ban when I was checking for his new CA/PA, but I just didn't play him for five games.

[BoobyBlah]

Finally got around to starting a 14.3 game with Liverpool. Fixtures are pretty intense at the start of the season.

Haven't made too many transfers, brought in Pereyra for 7.5M, and about to bring in Munoz so that I never have to play Kolo again. I'd like to bring another winger in as back up but there's not many options available.

[Generation-Next]

Morning.

I'm thinking of starting a game with no wingers, just wing backs. So might take a season retraining Sterling to be a wingback.. what are peoples thoughts on this?

[Generation-Next]

Just looked at another problem too. Fitting Coutinho in. I'm playing like this...

GK

DC DC DC

CWB CWB

BBM DLP BBM

F9 AF

So I could potentially try and retrain Coutinho as a F9.

[Sabine]

Yep, that seems pretty much the standard 3-5-2. You could retrain Coutinho as a F9 because he has really good attributes for that role. Just work on his finishing too.

Call me crazy, but you could also retrain Jordan Henderson as a right CWB to add a little versatility in that role, as it is kinda difficult to find a fitting player from other clubs.

[dan99]

Yeah I've had Henderson fill in at right back before and he has been solid.

[Nicko8]

I sometimes play coutinho as a CM-AP and he does okay, though AM is where he really shines, F9 is an option but just like CM-AP feels a little like a square plug/round hole and playing him for the sake of playing him. So maybe if you do want to play a 3-5-2 coutinho wont be part of your team.

On my save half way through season two and it's going good because Suarez is carrying the team. He's scored 15 goals/10 assists but after him the next highest goal scorer 4 and assister on 5. Sturridge's injuries have robbed him of form and he lost a bunch of physical stats whilst injured and just can't get going like last term. Sterling has also been way down on his form this term and Reus has been borderline rubbish, might still be settling who knows...

Equal top of the Prem but ahead of Norwich(!?) on goal difference. Once again tight at the top with only 3pt's separating me and 6th placed Spurs. Romped through the group stages of the Champs league winning all games except a draw against Barca at Camp Nou. Have draw PSG in the next round. Still alive in the domestic cups aswell. (My match with Barca showed me that ter stegen had joined them and I was looking for a top goalkeeper for next season and now he's off the list)

Other squad thoughts:

-Gerrard is on the decline, behind both Hendo and Allen for CM spots and after 60mins needs to be subbed

-Finding it hard to get all three of Coutinho, Suso and Alberto games as I only play half my games with an AMC.

-I dont feel like i can trust the kid's (Rossiter/Sinclair etc) in games yet so may have to find them some 6 month loan moves

-Got a good offer for Borini who doesn't play much for me so may just sell him, thinning my squad though...

[Markybhoy67]

I fancied a Liverpool game seeing as the latest update has upgraded a lot of their players ability (Suarez stats are ridiculous now!). Thought i'd update this thread to how i've been getting on. Anyway, started off the first season with top 4 as my target, long as I could get into the Champions League I'd be happy. Signed Alex Sandro from Porto for £9 million, Ignacio Camacho from Malaga for £4.5 million and Quagliarelia on loan from Juventus as some back up. Anyway, started off the season very well, was never out the top 3 until the last few games, finished 4th however I also managed to win a cup double securing the League Cup and FA Cup so was chuffed with that, my main target was top 4, with the added bonus of 2 cups. However, not being in Europe helped massively and there was is a distinct lack of depth in the squad, if I was in Europe it may have been a different ball game.

So, done quite the amount of wheeling and dealing in my second summer and was very happy with the final outcome, needed to improve the squad to compete in both the league and Europe. Some of my outgoings included Migolet for £9.5 million, Reina for £4.5 million, Glen Johnson for £11 million, Skrtel for £5.5 million, Lucas £37 million, Camacho for £8.5 million. My incomings included Victor Valdes on a Bosman, Sebastian Rode on a Bosman, Franco Zuculini on a Bosman, Balanta for £6 million, Doria for £9.5 million, Claudio Yacob for £5.5 million, Sven Bender for £16 million, Kyle Walker for £17 million and Lucas Moura £27 million.

Somehow England also managed to win the World Cup in Brazil (unrealistic right?) - They done it with 5 of my players playing big parts - Walker, Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling and Sturridge all playing well, Sterling winning young player of the tournament and looking like he's going to develop into a class act, also how surprised how good Henderson is, actually knocked back a £32 million bid for him from PSG, decided to keep him due to the fact 1. He's homegrown in England 2. I'd finished my transfer dealings for the summer and was happy enough, I also didn't want to have to change the team anymore and 3. He played more or less every game last season, always fit, never injured or suspended and very consistent and every good team needs someone like him so decided to keep him! Saying that, if they came back in for him for £37mill or above he'd be gone, everyone has their price after all!

So, going into my second season my teams shaping up like this -

Valdes

Walker Agger/Doria Sakho/Balanta Sandro

Bender

Henderson Gerrard

Moura/Sterling Coutinho/Sturridge

Suarez

[Sabine]

If only we were this good in real life.

Sturridge got the golden boot, Sterling young player of the tournament.

[Dan Selby]

In a few of my saves i've used Hendo as CWB also, his stats aren't bad for the role. I remember using Gerrard as an emergency RB for a few months in one of them due to injuries also. Using the Look For Overlap instruction and you'll see him arriving on the edge of the box and hitting some screamers.