Sabine Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 He is pretty much the best in the world apart from Neuer and ter Stegen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan99 Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Always been put off by ter Stegen's poor handling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squash! Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Any advice on how to get Sturridge and Suarez performing? Both have only scored 2 goals each in 9 games, compared to Sterling who has scored 7 in 11 starts, even Moses and Agger have 3 goals each I'm usually playing a diamond formation with Sterling at tip and have Sturridge and Suarez up top together as Advanced forward and Trequartista respectively I'm thinking maybe making Sturridge a poacher and Suarez a complete forward like I did on FM13 Any suggestions? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rGade Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 He is pretty much the best in the world apart from Neuer and ter Stegen. My jaw hit the floor as I saw that Appearances/Conceded stat for Atletico until I saw his record for Genk and realised it doesn't count IRL goals conceded, but only conceded in the game. Jeez! Incredible buy though. I had a save with Barca (to see if I could emulate Messi's goalscoring records in FM) and after the first season Chelsea wouldn't even let him go to me for £60M.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althaz Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Any advice on how to get Sturridge and Suarez performing?Both have only scored 2 goals each in 9 games, compared to Sterling who has scored 7 in 11 starts, even Moses and Agger have 3 goals each I'm usually playing a diamond formation with Sterling at tip and have Sturridge and Suarez up top together as Advanced forward and Trequartista respectively I'm thinking maybe making Sturridge a poacher and Suarez a complete forward like I did on FM13 Any suggestions? Thanks My best results have been Suarez as the lone striker (Complete Forward, Support usually), with Sturridge lining up as an inside-forward (Attack) at AMR. In season 4, both guys have consistently been in the top 5 scorers for the league (Sturridge has had the lowest minutes:goals ratio of any player in the league every season at the halfway mark, but he keeps getting injured after that). Everybody had a go on the left (AML, IF-A) at times, but El Shaarawy is my main guy for that role (he's more of an assist-er than a scorer for me and really helps me vs teams that sit really deep and play with 10 defenders and a goalie). I then have a 3-man midfield (DLP-D behind a CM-A and B2B-S) and a pretty normal back 4. I played a heavy-pressing style with patient build-up play and short passing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRoberts2 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 10 points clear of Man Utd with 10 games to go. Anderlecht coming up in the Champions League and still in the FA Cup. I've never won anything but the League with Pool on FM14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 He is pretty much the best in the world apart from Neuer and ter Stegen. Great signing. He did brilliant for me as you can see I've just started my 18th season as LFC manager, 1st season in the Owen Arena Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 That record for you is absolutely ridiculous. I'm excited now. Youth intake time and I have a potentially world class Sammarinese player in the ranks now!! With maximised youth recruitment and a great head of youth development, I managed to bag not one, but two really good players. The Sammarinese player is something else though: The best mentals I have ever seen from a regenerated player. The man himself. Going to make him my ultimate project for the coming years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 You have absolutely no idea what I'd do to get my hands on him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Would it be cheating to use the editor to declare him for San Marino? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycrow Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Hey, Psycrow, I don't know if it's just me or anyone else, but I can't see the images at all from that hosting site. Just small thumbnails and when I click to enlarge them, they don't load.I would love to do the same as you're doing - having a fully British squad as well and I'm planning on doing that too. Great work so far. Ah, sorry to hear this, hopefully it'll work now: Yes, it's an interesting challenge because essentially you can't expect to get a team full of world-class players and sometimes have to go for just good and decent ones who can do the job. And obviously regen-hunting is important. But somehow this challenge didn't prove too challenging for me as I unexpectedly lifted the Premier League title in the very first season We & Chelsea had simultaneous winning streaks in spring, but luckily, they collapsed in the last couple of weeks and didn't capitalise on me dropping points against Tottenham. Losing out to Bayern in the first round of Champions League was disappointing but not unexpected. Losing out to Everton in the 3rd round of FA Cup at home, however, was, but maybe that's what helped us stay fresh for the title challenge. The beast that is Rickie Lambert won European Golden Boot (!) scoring 33 goals in 31 games (!!). I looked in the editor and saw that the summer database creator added him a couple CA points, but I seriously doubt it's all there is to this prolific performance. I urge everyone to give Lambert a chance because not only he's a great finisher and a threat in the air, but he will also score from set pieces and never miss a penalty. Sturridge was relegated to AMR position, and Rhodes only got his playing time in cups. Another surprising revelation was Ward-Prowse who won the place in the first XI by the second half of the season and was so amazing that he became PFA Player of the Year (!) with the rating of 7.54, 13 goals and 11 assists in 32 appearances. Barry turned out to be a great rotation option, whereas another free signing Ashley Cole eventually flopped and, moreover, I somehow let him sign for 3 years and now he's sucking 100k a week in reserves because nobody wants him. with Sturridge lining up as an inside-forward (Attack) at AMR. What are the personal instructions, if I may ask? Somehow he doesn't seem to score too much for me in this precise position and role despite getting a lot of clear-cut chances. Back to squash!'s original question, Sterling excels for me in AML position with IF(S) role and "Shoot Less Often", "Dribble More" and "Pass Shorter". He finished first season with 7.31, 8 goals, 19 assists (top in the league) and won the Young Player of the Year award. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Selby Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Those regens look incredible Sabine, i've never seen a player from San Marino look that good before! Nice work Psycrow! In my old save a few months ago i signed Lambert as backup for Suarez/Sturridge in my first season and he was great for me as an impact sub and changing games from the bench. Glad to see others having some success with him also I've started up a new save yesterday with a transfer updated database so it'll be interesting to see how Lallana, Lambert, Markovic and Can develop. I'm planning to keep this save till FM 2015 is released On a side note, looking forward to Pre Season kicking off today! Looking at the starting line up it'll be interesting to see Rossiter today and seeing how he fares. Also Ilori, Smith, Teixeira, Suso and Borini get a chance to prove to BR why they should be around the first team this season. Exciting times! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althaz Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 What are the personal instructions, if I may ask? Somehow he doesn't seem to score too much for me in this precise position and role despite getting a lot of clear-cut chances. Sturridge doesn't have any special instructions (as a rule I almost never give players special instructions), other than to exchange positions (usually with Suarez). Most of his goals come from through-balls from Suarez or Coutinho or low crosses from El Shaarawy. Some goals from longer diagonal balls from my DLP-D (Gerrard or lately, Vidal) he brings down and takes between the full-back and central defender too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRoberts2 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Just lost 4-1 away at Everton, 3 days before a Champions League Semi against Barca. The Wheels are starting to fall off Lost 2-1 in my FA Cup semi against Man Utd, 82nd Min pen and 88 minute winner. Injuries everywhere, Sturridge and Sterling are long term. Think Sterling might be back for the last couple of games Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Club record. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean0987654321 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Since when Getafe had 71M to spend?? Must be a tycoon taking over that team Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Selby Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 An update on my new save i mentioned a few days ago. As i mentioned before the plan is to stick with this save till FM 2015 comes out, with an emphasis on developing players from the youth team. I've loaded a 120k+ player database for the first time and have setup a strict scouting team that will be scouring the world to find unlikely gems (inspired by Sabine's San Marino wonderkid ) and will be keeping a very close eye on player training and rotating player's training focus rather than relying on my assistant to do most of it. The summer transfer window is closed now and the only signings i made were Eder Alvarez Balanta and Ryan Gauld. Gauld has been loaned out to Stoke for the season. Lots of players were let go, with Reina and Johnson going to Monaco, Assaidi signing for Southampton, Coates to Sunderland and Enrique out on loan to Arsenal for 60k a month and 100% wages. A few other youngsters were also allowed to go out on loan. I'm very a much a 4-2-3-1 manager and it's served me well in past FM's as well as this one but i fancied making a new unorthodox tactic using 3 at the back and 6 in Midfield as it's something i've never attempted before. After a terrible start to Pre Season as the players got used to the new tactic, results started to improve dramatically as the new season approached thankfully and with difficult games at Home to Chelsea and Away to Arsenal to kick off the new season i wasn't expecting much in terms of results. Before i show you how they got on, here's a preview of the system i'm using. Formation: The idea is to dominate possession in the middle of the pitch with quick, short passes and attacking quickly with a high tempo. Mignolet and the defence are instructed to play it short, while Coutinho is given the license to roam with Lallana staying wide and Sterling cutting in. It may only be 3 proper games in, but the signs look encouraging: Results: After the Chelsea game Sturridge was ruled out for a month with a hernia so in came Lambert with 4 goals in 2 games! Really excited to see how this team progresses and will post updates every few days. If the tactic's a success i'll upload it for anyone that's interested in trying it out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Since when Getafe had 71M to spend?? Must be a tycoon taking over that team It wasn't even announced, they just started to become interested in all of my world class players, and then made that bid out of the blue. Happy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycrow Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Sturridge doesn't have any special instructions (as a rule I almost never give players special instructions), other than to exchange positions (usually with Suarez). Most of his goals come from through-balls from Suarez or Coutinho or low crosses from El Shaarawy. Some goals from longer diagonal balls from my DLP-D (Gerrard or lately, Vidal) he brings down and takes between the full-back and central defender too. Thanks, guess I'll just try to give him some creative freedom and see how it goes. It's the middle of my second season and Sturridge is really struggling. He does get in the right positions - lots of good killer balls from Ward-Prowse as AMC or Lambert (CF) - but his finishing is absolutely erratic. After the Chelsea game Sturridge was ruled out for a month with a hernia so in came Lambert with 4 goals in 2 games! Ha! Just you watch him tear the league apart now! On a slightly offtopic note, what does it take to get Arsene fired in this game? Finished 6th last season, now they're hopelessly stranded in mid-table and on top of everything else lost at home to League 1 Rotherham in FA Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRoberts2 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 A quick season 2 review Won the League Champions League Semi:Lost to Barca FA Cup Semi:Lost to Man Utd 2-1 Signed Mandzukic (loan), Stancui and Josue in January after selling Coutinho for £30million (never performed for me) Been given £70m budget for season 3 Re-signed Mandzukic on loan after 17 apps 13 goals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Selby Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Ha! Just you watch him tear the league apart now! He's amazing! Unfortunately Lambert and Sturridge keep getting injured one after the other, but Lambert has 17 goals in 13 starts and 2 sub appearances for me as an Advanced Forward. He's been out with 3 seperate injuries for 11 weeks of the season. Quick question, has anyone seen Man Utd be relegated in the first season? They're currently 17th with 27 points after 26 games Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GR3NDAL Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Another season done and Alberto Cerri (now 33 years old) is still the man in front of goal setting new record of 60 goals in a season and a new premiership record of 41 goals. My AMC Wayne Fenwick set a new assists record getting 38 assists in 38 games (as well as 22 goals) Cerri has now passed 600 goals for the club but at 33 I am not sure how manty more seasons he has got in him : Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Your tactic is adapted from a plug and play isn't it Grendal? I'm going to resign after next season, I want to unlock the 20 seasons in charge trophy through steam and then look to unlock more by winning leagues and trophies abroad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycrow Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Quick question, has anyone seen Man Utd be relegated in the first season? They're currently 17th with 27 points after 26 games Since you're using a summer update, I assume it's with Van Gaal? He did get the boot before the end of the season in my save, but relegation was never on the cards for them. The second all-British season turned out to be just as successful as the first one, although no more than that: we once again won the league, incidentally, with the very same result (27W6D5L), and once again went out of CL and FAC pretty early. The league was a walkover for the first half of the season (I believe we had 10-point lead at some point in winter), but then our form slumped and we lifted the trophy only on the very last day, giving Hull a 5-0 hiding. The CL campaign was put to a halt in quarter-finals by damned Mourinho whose Chelsea thrashed us 3-0 in the first leg, and FA Cup was another embarrassment as we lost at home to Cardiff. Rickie once again began the season sensationally, but then the age caught up with him. He still won the top goalscorer award with 22 to his name. However, Sturridge's goalscoring form keeps worrying me as he only managed to net 5 from AMR and CF positions (even benchwarmer Rhodes got 19!). Sinclair seems to be developing well and I'm planning to give him a run in the first team next year: he already scored a brace against Chelsea in the CL quarterfinal. Another player who's visibly improving is Jack Grealish - by the end of the year he sent Sturridge to the bench and scored a couple of vital goals. Since I also have Ibe and Patrick Roberts up and coming, I'm thinking of letting Townsend go - he never really performed for me anyway. I also have a couple of promising regens, one of whom, Jamie Till, will definitely be involved in the first team next year as I'm letting Barry go at the end of contract. The Welsh playmaker Briers also seems interesting - my scouts found him playing in Welsh side Lido, we signed him for a 20k compensation, so even if he only turns out to be half-decent, I'll make a healthy profit on his sale. Finally, I wasn't intending to make a marquee signing, but at the start of transfer window Ward-Prowse damaged his ligaments for England U-21, ugh. Eight months out and I think until the end of season to come back to his level - hopefully that won't break him completely. Since I really need a creative MC/AMC, I'm going to sign Ramsey from struggling Arsenal, even for silly money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Just one more season here then I'll be jetting off. Maybe to France. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakey24 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 I haven't started again. Found a saved game before I bought every forward on the game. I know it's cheating, but saves me going all the way back again. Plus I don't class it as cheating as most of the signings were made when drunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycrow Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 img Not bad! Anything in particular keeps you going or just enjoying the domination? My longest save for Liverpool was in FM11, for some twenty years, too, I think. I got quite bored by 2025 when the first batch of the regens I nurtured peaked and started to decline, but then a young French playmaker started performing at Messi's level being just 18 years old, so I was intrigued and stayed for another four-five seasons. Ah, Jose. Couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you? I doubt goalkeeper is a problem position for Liverpool managers because we have both Mignolet and Reina at the start of the game, but you can do a lot worse than buying Fraser Forster. Celtic let him go for 2.7m + some 500k appearance clauses, and he has been a top, top keeper for me these two and a half years. Still plays for 30k p/w, too. Ironically, I spent a bit more on the reserve keeper Lee Nicholls that first summer, but he's also proving to be a good signing: I let him play in cups, easy Champions League matches and some home games against relegation fodder, he's developing well and is usually quite solid. Man United just sacked Ranieri after losing 0:4... at home... to Stoke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althaz Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 He's amazing! Unfortunately Lambert and Sturridge keep getting injured one after the other, but Lambert has 17 goals in 13 starts and 2 sub appearances for me as an Advanced Forward. He's been out with 3 seperate injuries for 11 weeks of the season. Quick question, has anyone seen Man Utd be relegated in the first season? They're currently 17th with 27 points after 26 games lol. In my games they are nearly always top 2. They are the biggest over-performers in my saves (with City the biggest under-performers - finished 5th, 4th, 5th in the last three seasons and are 7th in season 4). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 To many midfielders!! Hughes Ward-Prowse Ledson Christante Henderson Perez Iaco Gnabry Valdiviezo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Not bad! Anything in particular keeps you going or just enjoying the domination? My longest save for Liverpool was in FM11, for some twenty years, too, I think. I got quite bored by 2025 when the first batch of the regens I nurtured peaked and started to decline, but then a young French playmaker started performing at Messi's level being just 18 years old, so I was intrigued and stayed for another four-five seasons. I'll be honest, I want to move abroad. After finishing the 20th season I resigned, and was offered the job at Getafe who had a hellish team but a lot less money than I thought, not even enough to bring in some reinforcements so decided to stay at LFC instead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennisfreak Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Just one more season here then I'll be jetting off. Maybe to France. What tactic are you using? The 4-2-3-1? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashlfcowen Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 What tactic are you using?The 4-2-3-1? 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-2-1 if you prefer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRoberts2 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'm about to start season 3 have made a few signings Dier £1.2m Ravel Morrison £3m Giuliano free (worth £12m just for reselling really) Muriel £8.75m Mandzukic Loan broke his foot in pre-season though Also a few regens Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Cut my squad down a lot of late, still to many midfielders, hard to get rid of someone! Since i consider pace to be important for my tactic, Ward-prowse and Ledson are being sold off to cut down the amount of midfielders I have. Hughes remains as he is 15 pace. Anyone looking to replace Johnson at RB, Clyne is playing like a champion for me. Shaw on left, Balanta and Sakho/Lovren in middle. This defensive unit is quite good. 4th best defense in league.. Here is my team ----------------- Nethercott ----------------- -- Sterling -------- Isco ------- Markovic -- -------------- Can -- Henderson ------------ -- Shaw --- Sakho --- Balanta --- Clyne -- -------------------- Leno -------------------- Butland, Johnson, Cristante, Bakkali, Lovren, Gnabry, Meyer Make up the bench. Hughes, Sinclair, Ibe, Suso, only non regen players I have left. Nethercott is an English Striker I flogged from Man U, looks like he will be the next star forward for England. I ditched my striker (Negredo??) Ex man City player, he is 30 and asking to much cash, said good bye. Hence the 17 Year old Nethercott making his debut, in which he scored once in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I am in a lot of financial issues - $80m.. Paying over 48mths is bad! Need to get back in the green somehow. Wage budget is $1.6m, spending $1.5m. Looks like I will be selling and no buying next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Decided to start one final LFC save on this version, since 14 has been really boring me and killing me with the TC and complexity of tactics but i now have more of a handle on it. Downloaded one of the updates, so Suarez gone, Lallana, Lambertino, Markovic and Can are all in. I didnt want to go signings crazy, but the rest of the Suarez money was available so I had 2 starting slots i wanted to fill. IN Antoine Griezmann - The main signing. cost me £30mill but fits the role i have in mind perfectly and is only 22 and close to world class ALberto Moreno - I needed a left back to compliment Enrique and i wanted a flying wingback style. Moreno fits the bill and has great PPMs and is only 21. Cost me £11mill Alessandro Florenzi - A great versatile, talented, hard working midfield who can cover a number of positions and gives me depth. Cost 15mill but again is young and first team ready Those were the only first team additions, 2 other significant signings were both loaned back to there clubs: Will Hughes - Should develop into an England international within a couple of years, and possibly long term replacement for Henderson in my system. £8mill plus loaned back to Derby for the season Luciano Vietto - A pacey finisher.......almost a "Sturridge-lite" at this stage. I love this guy and signed him for £4.5mill and 6 months loan back Also signed a few regens from Spain and Germany for the youth team to bolster it Outs Oussama Assaidi - Deadwood, strange signing in the first place. Shipped him off to Stutgart for £3.6mill Brad Jones - Expensive 3rd choice keeper..........no thanks. £250k to Charlton Joe Allen - £8.5million to Southampton was too good to turn down for a guy who wasnt going to be in my first 11 and wasnt really a fit for my system Martin Skrtel - £4.8mill to Napoli. I had made up my mind to go with Agger and Sakho and wanted to give Wisdom some game time, with Martin Kelly still around as well Lucas Leiva - £25imill to Spurs. The big income generator to fund a few of my signings. He didnt fit into my system and its a big lump of cash to re-invest. Tactics I wanted to recreate a bit of the old "pass and move" (its the liverpool groove afterall............) so have a nice fluid tactic which is asymetric and had lots of thought for each and every role, and how they work together. It took a few tweaks to get right, so we dropped some points early season, but from end August to Xmas we were flying, smashing teams 3 and 4 everywhere and wining our first 4 CL group games (including Athletico away and Roma home and away) to qualify with ease. We dropped some points over the xmas break, one due to tiredness i think with so many games, and the one where it just didnt click on the day against West Ham at home. Then we had one of those games where i ended up jumping around my living room like an idiot. Man Utd at Anfield. They dont come any bigger. Utd were even with points with me in second place in the league and RVP has been smashing it all season. We had our first 11 all fit so i fancied our chances. First half hour was good, we were on top and Sturridge had missed a couple of great chances. They had a couple of half chances as well, but i was patient and felt it would come. Then on 39mins, Coutinho absolutely launches himself, 2 footed from behind at Carrick and snaps him. The scouse part of me is up roaring "good lad" but the manager part is cringing as the red card predictably comes out. 50mins with 10min, and need to find a way to win...........Griezmann moves in a notch from the left and we nudge down from Control to Standard. The game rolls on and we are still holding our own, but Sturridge just is not having a good day, missing another great chance. 65mins on the clock and im thinking its time to cut his losses today. I have Lambertinho on the bench, but also Luciano Vietto, who returned from this "loan back" in Argentina some 5 days ago, had a 3min cameo in our previous FA cup game. I weight it up. Lamberto will hold it up better, with 10men that might be good. But actually i want pace in behind since i am now countering. The kid from Argentina gets the call. 73mins - Sterling gets the ball in right midfield. Not much on so he clips one over the fullback and in behind the CB.......Vietto is off and his pace gets him there...through on the keeper, 8mins into your Anfield debut, against UTD........make a hero of yourself lad!! and he does, slots it past De Gea like a veteran. Superb. Time to shut up shop and take the win. We go defensive, waste time, lower tempo. Lets not throw this away lads 83mins - Sterling now back doing a defensive job gets it deep in our half. Spots Vietto on his own with the 2 Utd Centrebacks. He lofts a hail mary pass over the top and in behind......would you believe it, Vietto has the jump on them again. Through on De Gea again......boom. Never in doubt. Keeper barely saw it flash past him. By now i am grinning like an idiot at the substitution decision 85mins - UTd are now broken. Sterling gets the ball out wide and takes it a slow run down his wing, the fullback doesnt seem to close down so he whips in a cross....Vietto has anticipated this (Sterling set to drill crosses) and he gets across in front of the first man for a 3 yard tap in........I am now jumping around my living room. 12mins, an Anfield debut hatrick against Utd. The boy will never buy a pint again on Merseyside... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 January transfer window i decided to target squad depth, not feeling the need to strengthen the first 11. I had 3 specific areas in mind to strengthen. 1) Centre half - Agger and Sakho are doing great, but behind them we are shallow. Wisdom is not quite ready for this level, Kelly never going to be more than an occasional sub or utility man, and Kolo.......yeah. So i wanted a 3rd top centre back to compliment/rotate. 2) DLP - The conundrum of Stevie G......He cant go on for ever and i dont feel Can is ready to step in if required in a big game. I also have real worries about a couple of aspects of Can's game longer term. So i want a good level of back up for Stevie, with an eye to someone who can step in to his shoes more and more next season 3) AML - Griezmann doing nicely, but Llalana has been worse than a man down when given his chance. Florenzi is providing cover between MC and AMC, Suso is a good depth option but i need another top level player who can cover AMC and AML for me, and can be a real option off the bench. Markovic not ready and Llalana likely to be shipped out at end of the season I didnt want to disrupt my first 11, so those type of signings seemed ripe - bring in for squad depth, blend them in second half of the season and have a top class squad for season 2. So my signings in the end: In Eder Alvarez Balanta - £6million (including agent payment). I thought long and hard about spending my entire budget on Varane. He is world class and 20, and right footed. But i decided that Agger and Sahko are doing so well that i dont want to change them mid season. Balanta can become an absolute beast and will look to replace Agger long term Pedro Obiang - £13million - Another tricky one. Gave a lot of thought to Badelj for this role, but Obiang is younger with room to develop and learn from Stevie G, with a view to taking his place in the team. He was performing very well for Sampdoria and we have other spaniards at the club swung it for him Sebastian Giovinco - £12.5mllion - The impact player/AML back up i wanted. Can also play off the front or up top. Has experience at the highest level, is in his prime and can be explosive and a maverick either from the bench or to rotate in. Gives real depth. Martin Hansen - £425K - A back up keeper who is home grown (came through Liverpool youths before being released previously). I see back up keeper as an easy way to fill one of the "home grown" quota for future CL. Is never worth a place in my team but Reina is not injury prone so he is fine to warm the bench Out Simon Mignolet - £1million to Augsburgh. Never rated Mignolet at all, and i dont want a £40K per week sub keeper. Couldnt get anyone to pay more than a mill for him Iago Aspas - £4million to Sevilla - Loan made permanent, never going to get near my side so cut the loss Fabio Borini - £5million to Leverkusen - Actually gave him quite a few chances first half of the season, but he didnt perform and Vietto takes his place so out he goes Emre Can - Loan to Galatasary - With Obiang in, he needs to play to see if he can develop. Kolo Toure - Loan to FC Twente - Sadly no one would take the one man liability even for free, so popped him out on loan for 30% wages. In the league, after the epic Man U game we went to the bridge and absolutely thumped Chelsea 4 nil. It could have been 8 easily as we were rampant, and closed to within 3 of them at the top. Unfortunately we dropped points in an annoying nil nil away to burnley (nothing went in for us). Then one of those games where you want to launch the laptop. Home to stoke. 29 shots to 2. 67% possesion. Yup, we lost one nil to a crazy own goal by Moreno........... I think we are not going to catch Chelsea now, although our run in is not to bad. I will settle for a strong second this season, and we are still in the CL having beat Monaco 4 v 2 away in the first leg of the first knockout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Selby Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Good luck with the rest of the season Jambo! I loved the commentary of the Utd game haha. Vietto is someone i've seen lots of people sign but i've never had a save where i've bought him, might try and get him in January as Lambert is only getting older... I've finished my first season and ended up winning the League and Champions League against PSG. The league went to the final game of the season as Spurs had a crazy unbeaten run towards the end. A 4-0 thrashing of Burnley at Anfield on the final day sealed us as champions... Top goalscorers (80) and least conceded (24) for the league was pleasing. Top goalscorer was Lambert on 16 followed closely by Sturridge and Coutinho as goals were spread out the whole squad. I had 2 decent regens in the youth intake, 1 is quite possibly the best regen i've ever had at Liverpool, will post screenshot later. He's English too which helps. I'm currently 1st after 6 games in the second season, 5 wins and a 1-1 draw away to Stoke. We won the Community Shield against Chelsea 2-0 and the Super Cup against Zenit 1-0. I've never had this before but i have 7 away games in a row coming up. Weird... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycrow Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I have to say, I find my British talent challenge disappointing I expected to slowly build the team, keep qualifying for CL and hunt for regens with high potential, but I've just won my third consecutive title with the players I bought in the very first summer, as well as won the FA Cup final by 30th minute, going 4-0 against Arsenal, and narrowly lost to Barcelona in the Champions League final (we clawed back two goals after going three down but were unable to equalize despite throwing everyone forward... Forster got injured the day before the final, which didn't help things, too). [/url] So Chelsea must have thought: "They won last two leagues with 87 points - we beat that and we're golden". They did just that and got 88... sadly, we got 89 this year. Mourinho must be really hating me by now. The fact they lost two previous Champions League finals must be only fuelling it. Apart from the fantastic Champions League comebacks, the most memorable matches were 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea, 1-0 against Stoke with Jack Robinson scoring his first ever goal for the club, and the derby against Everton where we needed a win to keep the title dreams alive, and Lallana provided that win with a tremendous half-volley on 90th minute. Oh, and obviously the second leg against Bayern Munich: Ward-Prowse scored the vital equalizer in "Fergie time" - 94th minute out of 90+2 Jack Grealish is a world-class player now, as indicated by his 30m price tag, 20 goals and 31 assists this season. Ramsey started out strong but is yet to justify the money I paid for him, Ward-Prowse returned from his nasty injury just in time to help us win the two titles with key goals and assists. Sturridge did better this year but still can't hold candle to what Lambert had been in the two previous seasons as a goalscorer, and I'll also post the screenshots of Liverpool's original youngsters if anyone's interested about their development. I actually didn't rate Brannagan all this time until he returned from his latest loan and suddenly started making some pretty exciting cameos as AMC. Ibe is a decent rotation option, Rossiter will be slowly introduced to the first XI, and Sinclair is prone to horrendous dry spells despite occasionally being quite clinical. I also have a fantastic regen in my youth team: Liverpool born and bred, a supporter, too - very excited about him, hopefully will become a goal machine. Oh, and Gerrard is retiring despite still being able to boss the DLP role in the DM position. Quite sad, actually, that you only get one shot at trying to persuade a player to stay. If anything, he's indispensable as a tutor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Emre Can has developed into an insane player, however he wants out and is making that clear. Will have to sell, big shame really Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rGade Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Emre Can has developed into an insane player, however he wants out and is making that clear. Will have to sell, big shame really Would love to see a screenshot of him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Would love to see a screenshot of him It is July 2016, he is not quite fully developed yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan99 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I'd sell, I can't get past the 10 in both team work and work rate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastley Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I'd sell, I can't get past the 10 in both team work and work rate. Sold for $40m.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 When my season ends, I'm going to do a huge showcase of my squad to show you guys how I've developed each player and give you all an idea of how some of the players (Suso, Ibe, Sinclair) can look if you give them game time immediately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Forgot to mention in my posts, because i was being nostalgic and bringing back "pass and move", i also brought in a few legends to the backroom: Carra - U21 manager Owen - Youth coach Redders - Youth coach Didi Man - First team coach Paddy Berger - Youth coach Also brought back Terry McDermott as Ass Man. Probably 5 of my fave every liverpool players there, if only Macca was in the DB. The Didi Man gives great Opposition Instruction advice (as well as providing the beer and smokes side of things!) League is going to the wire. We were a point behind Chelsea with 6 games to go, and all 6 of our games against bottom half teams. A nil nil at home to QPR ('arry parked the bus) dropped us back though. Still a chance as Chelsea have Spurs (who are only a point behind me) and City to play. We are also into the CL Semi. In the quarters we smashed Juve. Went to Turin and gave them a 1 v 3 beating. In the return at anfield Hendo hit a cracking hatrick to end the tie. Had a few injuries, but Coutinho/Sterling/Sturridge/Hendo have been superb for me going forward. Pep/Dan Ag/Sakho/Johnson been very good at the back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan99 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 When my season ends, I'm going to do a huge showcase of my squad to show you guys how I've developed each player and give you all an idea of how some of the players (Suso, Ibe, Sinclair) can look if you give them game time immediately. And, since they have minus potentials, a bit of luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 And, since they have minus potentials, a bit of luck That too, especially!! I had a peek at some of the potentials and it does seem I have an astronomical amount of luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 At least they got an away goal, right? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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