Abaddon879 Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 You shouldn't be able to have an AF(s), that is an attacking role only, so I would wonder whether you have two very similar attacking roles up front and the supply has dried up a little? Your only real creative outlet is your DLP(s) who would be much further back, and then you are relying on the more direct running of you IF(s) and W(a). Remember that the BWM doesn't hold his position, so you will be opened up defensively. How about changing him to a CM(d) or dropping him into DM, possibly with a (s) role to help bring him further up the pitch but hold his defensive position? Who gets the poor ratings when you get opened up? Is it your central defenders, or your central midfielders? Might point to where the issue is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Sorry, i have Pog as a TM (not a AF)....or if ALF plays then its a P. I will try your advice bout the CM's - should the winger and IF be in line with them, or one step forward (like i currently have them) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon879 Posted November 22, 2013 Author Share Posted November 22, 2013 Your winger and inside forward should be fine in the AML/R positions I would think. See how those few teaks go to try and force a change in fortunes. Remember to watch your tactical fluidity. Hopefully those changes shouldn't upset it too much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam.1 Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Had a legendary save with Reading on 2011 so decided to re-kindle my love for the place on 2014, currently in November brought in two players in the summer, Tom Ince costing a suprisingly cheap 3.9m and Borja from Castilla for 1.4m, in terms of the rest of the squad it is pretty much the same the only outgoing transfer was Federici for 2m, had a decent start to the season currently 3rd due to Tom Ince's goalscoring - playing him AMR as an inside forward with Drenthe on the left, will be interesting to see if Zingarevich will put any more money into the club as he has just completed the takeover, anyone had him takeover in your games? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon879 Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 He seems to take over in Oct/Nov in every trial run I have held. The amount he pumps in can vary, but it can be as much as £20M. He pumped in £15M for me plus upgraded facilities worth an extra £10M or so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Started a Reading save a few days ago. I'm currently in February 2014, five points behind league leaders Leicester and with a six point gap down to third placed Blackburn Rovers. Got taken over by Zingarevich in October, who reportedly wanted to install Oleg Blokhin as manager. I luckily managed to keep my job, due to the high squad morale and promising position in the league. Have bought quite a few (David Bentley, Anthony Annan, Billy McKay, Danny Batth, Kieran Trippier, etc.), but my net spend isn't too bad at all, as I managed to shift quite a lot of deadwood. Formation/lineup (4-1-2-2-1 with wingers) : GK: Federici DR: Trippier DC: Batth/Gorkss DC: Pearce DL: Gunter Anchor man: Annan AP: Bentley BBM: Karacan AMR: McAnuff/Kasami AML: Robson-Kanu (had to sell Drenthe after he threw a tantrum when fined one weeks' wages due to a horrific challenge) AF: McKay Philosophy: Balanced Mentality: Control/attacking (depends on the opposition) Team instructions: Hassle opponents, pass into space, work ball into box My star men thus far have been Robson-Kanu, Karacan and Pearce. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Have you passed the January transfer window? Is it too late to bring any signings in?Generally the central defence is one of Readings strongest assets, so I'm surprised by this. What tactics are you playing your back four? It might be the complete wingbacks, are they venturing too far forward often? Can you check to see where most of your goals conceded are coming from in the analysis? So i decided to use your tactic, that you posted above (the 4-5-1) and it helped stop the goals being conceded. I am back up to 2nd in the league now, in January. I need to find myself a decent BBM as Karacan isn't cutting it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Just finished my first season as Reading manager - managed to sneak first place in the end! Tactics: I was thankfully given a budget of £25m by the board after I secured promotion, which will come in extremely handy. So far, I've brought in Cresswell (Ipswich), Fortounis (Kaiserslautern), Tom Ince (Blackpool) as well as Watford duo Fabbrini and Battocchio. More incomings are likely - I will look to offload Le Fondre and Pogrebnyak after both had a dire season in the Championship, so two new strikers are a must before the season starts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Why do QPR do so crap? - i've noticed this with most peoples saves. In my game they are 18th with about 10 games to go Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon879 Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 Congratulations on promotion Henrik. Bentley is an interesting choice for AP. I understand he has lost his pace, but I've never had him down as the most creative player. I take it you signed him on a one-year deal to get you promoted? I have a feeling QPR start with very poor morale, and struggle to regain it all season. Plus having Joey Barton in your ranks cant help. I am slightly surprised by their constant struggle, and think they may have been harshly represented. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 Congratulations on promotion Henrik. Bentley is an interesting choice for AP. I understand he has lost his pace, but I've never had him down as the most creative player. I take it you signed him on a one-year deal to get you promoted? Thanks! His creative attributes were decent enough, and he usually did alright as AP - much better than on the wing, at least. Signed him on a two year deal, but he won't play too much in the Premier League. I've spent quite a lot of money on new players since securing promotion, as the squad needed strengthening in pretty much all areas in order to have a fighting chance to stay in the division: Just finished my first match in the Premier League, away to WBA. Had the game wrapped up at 3-1 with 10 minutes to go, but let in two soft goals in the end - still, 3-3 away to a relatively strong WBA isn't too bad for a newly promoted team that has yet to fully gel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Lads............i did it, i got promoted (1st season) I finished 4th in the league and had Huddersfield in the play-off semi. 0-0 at their place, then 0-0 at mine.....into ET where ALF and HRK grabbed the goals in a 2-0 victory. Leicester in the final. I opted for a counter attacking 4-5-1 style and in the 17th min Drenthe raced clear and slotted home. Held on and won Now, i am thinking about next season in the Premier and i know i need to strengthen, but where? Mine starting XI is normally McCarthy Gunter Pearce Morro Bridge Williams HRK Guthrie Karacan Drenthe Alf or Pog I have bought in Cresswell from Ipswich and Macheda but apart from that, nothing else (bar a couple of hot prospects) Any tips for the best way to survive in the top division? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Lads............i did it, i got promoted (1st season)I finished 4th in the league and had Huddersfield in the play-off semi. 0-0 at their place, then 0-0 at mine.....into ET where ALF and HRK grabbed the goals in a 2-0 victory. Leicester in the final. I opted for a counter attacking 4-5-1 style and in the 17th min Drenthe raced clear and slotted home. Held on and won Now, i am thinking about next season in the Premier and i know i need to strengthen, but where? Mine starting XI is normally McCarthy Gunter Pearce Morro Bridge Williams HRK Guthrie Karacan Drenthe Alf or Pog I have bought in Cresswell from Ipswich and Macheda but apart from that, nothing else (bar a couple of hot prospects) Any tips for the best way to survive in the top division? Congratulations on getting promoted! Even though I managed to nick first place in the end, I still felt that my squad was lacking in depth even in the Championship. Thus, I went on a shopping spree after securing promotion (cf. my screenshot above). If I were you, I'd at least replace Bridge, Williams, Guthrie and both forwards. I'd probably get a solid centre back in as well. There are bargains to be had - take a look at the squads of freshly relegated Premier League teams and see if there are any good 'uns who have requested a transfer. In my save, a lot of the better teams were trying to offload players who didn't get much of a look in the previous season, such as Capoué and Guidetti - you might find a bargain this way as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Cheers will take a look. Ince was on my radar but Blackpool wanted £7.5m and so he ended up at Palace but they've just been relegated, so may try and pinch him... I was also looking at Fabbrini - he any good in Prem? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Cheers will take a look. Ince was on my radar but Blackpool wanted £7.5m and so he ended up at Palace but they've just been relegated, so may try and pinch him...I was also looking at Fabbrini - he any good in Prem? I've only played the one match v. WBA so far, but he did well - 7.40, I believe! Been decent in pre season as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 Easy run of fixtures to start off my first season in the Premier League What a baptism of fire! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 The points tally may not reflect it, but that's a pretty decent start in the circumstances! Good luck with the rest of your season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 The points tally may not reflect it, but that's a pretty decent start in the circumstances! Good luck with the rest of your season. Thanks! Yeah, I can't really complain about that start, I was expecting to be slaughtered in those games! The season's going quite well so far, I'm in 7th place after 14 matches. Really need to start getting wins instead of draws when at home against weaker opposition, though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 After a first FM2014 game with Arsenal (fun but really easy), I thought it was time for a bit of a challenge. While I typically don't play below the 'leading' league, none of the middling teams in the premiership really caught my attention. Scanning through the Championship, Reading looked like it would be fun: some useful players (incl. some you can actually sell for decent money), a nice transfer kitty, and great facilities. Before getting started and as it's important to maximise the available transfer money at clubs like these, I had a quick try putting the whole team on sale (don't tell me you've never done that!). After that experiment, I ended up with (all amounts in Euro): OUT: Carricao (1M agreed clause to Sevilla), Obita (700K to Derby), Robson Kanu (5.25M to Crystal Palace), Gunter (7M!! to Hull), Federici (3M to Bologna), Drenthe (loan to PSV with 100% wages and 40K/month - later sold to them for 6M), Karacan (loan to Bursaspor with 100% wages and 40K/month), Blackman (1.3M to Brighton), Pogrebnyak (2.6M to Anji), McAnuff (1.5M to Bolton), McCleary (loan to Middlesbrough - later sold to them for 250K), Jason Robert (at Xmas, 140K to Birmingham), Bridge (at Xmas, also 140K to Birmingham), Leigertwood (at Xmas, 200K to West Brom), Cummings (at Xmas, 1.5M to Wigan). IN: Berthod 600K, Benzia 8M, Pugliese 750K, Fierro 9M, Dos Santos (loan, 40% wages and 50K/month), Strandberg 500K, Silva 5M, Jerome Sinclair 1M, Vegard Forren 2.7M, Lequi (free), Insua 700K, David James (free at Xmas, as player/U18 coach, for tutoring), Neal Bishop (free at Xmas, useful BWM/D and good tutor), Trippier 5.75M (at Xmas). As should be obvious from the above, I wanted to play a wingerless formation, going against the prevailing trend in the Championship. A packed middle, attack-oriented full backs, and fast, talented strikers receiving the ball over the ground - that was my plan. My tactic throughout most of the season was a 4-1-3-2, balanced/standard, instructions 'hassle opponents' and 'drill crosses' with following players: GK: McCarthy, Henly DR (full back on A): Kelly, Cummings -> later Trippier DCR (D): Pearce, Strandberg DCL (D): Morrison, Lequi DL (full back on A): Berthod, Silva DM (Regista): Forren, Baird MCR (box-to-box): Dos Santos, Akpan MC (adv playermaker on A): Insua, Guthrie MCL (ball winner on D): Williams, Pugliese SCR (poacher): Fierro, Le Fondre (extra instruction: move into channels) SCL (deep lying fwd on S): Benzia, Sinclair As you can see I lacked a little bit of depth in some areas. Notably Lequi was weak, Baird hardly a superstar, I was never happy about Guthrie (but finding another Insua was never an option), Pugliese developed great but started at low ability, and similar story for Sinclair (he scored a few though so delighted with the lad). But my first line-up was ready to take all comers. In the end, promotion by winning the league was easy. Along the way I was also pleasantly surprised at the takeover, with the new owner not only allowing me to keep my job but sinking a load of cash into even better facilities (*spoiler*: including stadium upgrade after promotion). In the end there were 4 clear star players that made it all possible, all of whom I would strongly recommend: Federico Insua: I was desperate for a real playmaker, someone with flair, creativity and technique - and without the mental attributes of a clown. Going into the trusty player search, I suddenly came upon this guy. Perhaps a well known bargain around these parts, but I had never heard of him. To my delight, at age 33 he ended up as league player of the year, chipping in 12 goals (5 pens and a few free kicks) and 17 assists (corner taker on right), 5 PoM and 7.47 average in 36 games. At his age he's now obviously going into decline, and the premiership would not have allowed him to express his talent as easily anyway. But what a year - I'll keep him around as 2nd choice until he retires. Legend! Carlos Fierro: Carlos never fails to please me, I know it's a bit cheap signing a player who everyone knows is great, but he's not actually *that* cheap and I just loves what he does on the pitch with this speed, flair and decisions. Scored a few truly incredible goals, in a season that saw him net 23 and give 10 assists in 35 games, picking up 8 PoM along the way. Average of 7.46 put him third in the league. Sean Morrison: I don't know what they put into his drink before each game, but he ended up leading the average score chart at 7.53 in 31 games. I didn't always play him as I also wanted to give Strandberg time in the team, but whenever he went out there my defence was a rock. Yassine Benzia: Had a slower start than Fierro (not bad but... adaptability?), then caught fire in the second half of the season. Only lost the club goal scorer race in the last game when Fierro bagged two, leaving Benzia with 21 goals, 9 assists, 5 PoM and 7.36 average in 34 games. Picked up a second PPM (in addition to 'runs with ball'), having learned how to 'round keeper' towards the end of the season. Strangely enough, everyone else was pretty average. Good, solid, but average. The only other player I can remember breaking through 7.10 was Kieran Trippier. For this season, I've decided I want to shoot for the stars (OK - maybe Europe), and not leave any area of weakness in my team. Defence and attack were already rock solid and full of potential, so most of my spend went to the midfield. But with Stoke relegating, there was one opportunity I could not pass on (despite not *really* needing the player). So we ended up doing these transfers: OUT: Guthrie (1.6M to West Brom), Baird (free), Sheppard (free), Karacan (4.2M to Crystal Palace) + Williams and Lequi sales ongoing IN: Diamanti: 3.8M from relegated Bologna, an improved version of Insua, not the youngest at 31 but should tide me over until Vadala arrives in 2015 (700K from Boca, forgot to mention as transfer history does not show that) Jay Spearing: 3.1M from Bolton, not cheap you might say but look at his Regista stats - pretty great and that is a key position in my team Edgar Davids: free, player/coach, great tutor and 4* defense coach Huddlestone: 7.75M from relegated Hull, looked like Liverpool would steal him but the transfer fell through... best Regista I've seen so far (Forren will move to DCL this season) Hoefkens: free, still useable but mainly as tutor Andrea Cossu: free, also still useable but again main goal is tutoring Shawcross: Oh yes... did not need him per se, but Stoke relegated and at 8.5M who could refuse this bargain? Keisuke Honda: 6M from LOSC, I needed a great left-footed midfielder that can defend as well as create and few are better In all the excitement the wage budget jumped from 20M EUR to 40M EUR , owing in no small part to many wage and promotion increase clauses. Fortunately I had taken a big knife to wages when arriving. Then again it should be worth it, as I feel I now have a squad that if not this year, then at least next year should comfortably compete for Europe. To get the funds I had to promise the board a top-half finish, but if I can't get that with this side I should probably stop playing FM... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oi_oi_ginger_roy Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 lol so you basically got rid of the whole squad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrikmain Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Just finished my second season! My team performed above expectations, to put it mildly - finished 6th in the league, just two points behind 4th place. New signings (screenshot in post #61) Fortonuis, Vida and Capoue did very well, whereas Ince, Fabbrini and most of the other new guys also performed satisfactorily. Very pleased with clinching a Europa League spot in my first season back in the Premier League. League table: Squad - end of season 2014/15: Tactics: Transfers in/out so far in the 2015 summer window: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GylfiAsCharged Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Got halfway through November and was sacked and replaced with Alex McLeish, even though I was 2nd. Pretty annoyed, can't see myself trying another save with Reading for a while, which is a shame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STaphouse Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Decided i am going to give my save with Reading a good go now. Being a Reading fan, i usually get into a save with them fairly easily but this year I just can't seem to. Going to sit here for the next couple of hours on it and really get myself into it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Readingfanman Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 The takeover puts me off it every time, just makes the game way too easy when it hands you an extra £15m to spend on an already strong squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Skidmark Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Well, for me the takeover handed me £5.75 million, quickly followed by the sack, despite being 8 points clear at the top of the Championship! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie_start Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Looking forward to starting a Reading save tomorrow! Any tips? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon879 Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 I haven't tried Reading in the latest patch yet (just firing up a new game). I'll see what their player updates are like and report back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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