FM2009 - Official Manchester United Thread - The Home of the Champions

[studley1984]

Good start to my FM2009 career so far with a 3-0 win over Chelsea and a 4-0 thrashing against Wigan. Sold Fletcher for 18mill and brought in a number of youngsters. I was thinking of getting Matias Fernandez as well since people have been raving about him in the community.

How did you manage to get £18 Million for Fletcher???

Fletcher has been very good for me when i have had injuries and is now worth 10M and also Dimitar Berbatov has been sensational for me with 9 goals and 5 assists in 10 league games

What formation/settings are you using for Berbatov? He's only played well in one game out of about 12 for me!! Just cant seem to make him play well whatever i do.

[Evon]

Really? Rooney was the problem for a brief game which I managed to play. And Rooney has always been the easiest player to manage for me. Berbatov is easy. Normal striker settings and RWB often and TTB mixed with 17 CF. Easy. Maybe tick HUB if Rooney isn't on the pitch or if he's doing badly. I prefer 08 to 09 anyway purely because I can't play it on my PC and it's so damn slow on my laptop. So viva 08 and the Weegie update!!!

[manu legend]

Yeah, Rossi's probably the best short term bet if he's around £10m. Is that due to a buy-back clause? Surely he can't be worth only that much?

He has a release clause of £9.25m. A snipe at that price tbh

ML: Watson's a bit crap at scouting isn't he? He was the best in FM08 but not too good in 09. I think Jim Lawlor is the best at the start. And is that 4-2-2-2 with two MCs and AMR+L? I'm still using 4-4-2 and it's working like a treat, as proved by that result against Liverpool. I'm using a lovely attacking tactic in most games and it's even working away from home, which didn't happen in FM08.

Yeah having looked at Watson he does look crap. Shame really he was great in previous versions. And yes the 4-2-2-2 includes 2 MC's and the AMRL's. A bit of an experiment really. Didn't really get to grips with that tactic in FM08 so having a go now in the demo.

Hopey: ML is looking at Vucinic because he's my suggestion I'm hoping he's going to be the Jo of FM09. What a legend that guy was! (Not now that's he's joined City of course. Even my mate who supports them doesn't rate him)

He can't be the new Jo simply because he is pretty darn expensive while Jo could be bought for around £7m.

Looks great though.

Answers in quote.

[crazy gra]

Yeah, not a bargain like Jo I guess and he's got a much higher reputation than Jo had.

As for Matias Fernandez, he's not as good as in FM08. Also, I think he was toned down for 8.0.2 from earlier versions. First touch and finishing were most affected I think so not really a good choice for playing up front as he was. Also, his balance is crap.

And I found a decent DLC. I wanted Chiellini, but he's way too expensive, so had to stick with O'Shea, but on a Spurs game with a large database (currently using a small DB as that's what the first build of my demo came with) I found a guy called Sylvan Armand at PSG. Surprised I haven't heard of him before, but he's got very good stats except jumping is only 13 and should only cost around £8m

Just started a United game with experience as former international player. Bought Marcelo and hopefully the transfer with Defour will go through. Berbatov and Foster have problems trying to blend in. Anyone has that problem too?

What international team did you play for?

Berbatov takes over half a season to blend in (according to the ass man feedback during a match), as does Tevez for some reason, which is odd because he's very determined just like the rest of the squad and has already been there for a season. Foster's quality and has overtaken VDS as my no.1. His stats have risen well in less than a season.

Experience was set to none. Does being an ex-international makes the board gives you extra cash?

Arshavin was good on FM08. I played him in attack, on the right wing and even in central midfield, all these before he got famous during Euro08. On Fm09, seems he is only good if he plays the supporting striker and i've got rooney in that position already...

The injuries are piling up for me, I just wonder if this is a bug. I've had Berbatov out within 32 minutes of his first game (a friendly!! now it doesn't looks so friendly afterall). Tevez went next, so my front line is down to Rooney and Manucho. Probably need to loan some striker to tide over...

I thought giving yourself meant you got more money, or at least it used to in FM07/8. But it also takes away the problems with the squad at the start with them doubting you, which is a good challenge.

Arshavin's good, but composure is a bit crap for playing upfront.

[manu legend]

Knew about Armand from FM08 where he was also very good. And playing as an ex international does give you more money as I've found out in the demo. Agree with Gra though that it is more realistic and a better challenge to have the squad and media doubting you.

[ww7]

I'm not sure if Manucho is for real. His stats sucks, but he's bumped in 5 goals in 5 games now!

[Shalashaska]

What formation/settings are you using for Berbatov? He's only played well in one game out of about 12 for me!! Just cant seem to make him play well whatever i do.

Put all of Berbatovs Sliders up (RWB, TB and FR but crossing rarely) Give him high creative freedom and rarely close down then let him HUB to and hes a beast. However does anyone know how to get the best of C Ronaldo? Hes got about 6 goals in 13 but in my fm08 game i could give him a farrow to go upfront and he would average a goal a game but you cant do that in fm09 whcih is highely annoying! Anyone got the best out of him yet?

[2BitCharlie]

Excellent header for thread

Marcelo for £4.4m is absolute steal on the game for left side.

Not had a lot of chance to play too much yet but the injuries are a real dampner for trying out stuff, have read in another thread it will be fixed for release day.

[ham_aka_stam]

you can actually get him for 4.2, not that that's a huge discount...

Manucho was the man for me in pre-season, and now that rooney's injured he might have to come back to set the prem alight!

[UF91]

Ins:

Emerson (loan)

Javi Martinez??(R.Madrid)- Loan

Marcelo_£4.4m

M. Torres- £2m

Simao-£9m

Owen-£5.5m

Thc CB from barcelona-£11m over 24 months

Eneyema- £50k

Outs:

Kuzcachk-£5m to Man City

O'Shea-£8M to Man City

[ww7]

Out:

Manucho - 3.7 mil to west brom. fletcher - 7.2mil to tottenham

In:

Arsahvin - 13mil from zenit, Diarra - 4.5mil from portsmouth

Started the season winning the charity shield beating portsmouth 3-0. I have a problem with berbatov. he's always EITHER complacent or lacks confidence. Dang, in the 0-0 draw with chelski, he had an absolute sitter which he missed. Someone please tell me how to motivate this bloke to work his socks off.

[crazy gra]

As your ass man will probably tell you in each game, he doesn't settle in easily, but that message should go after half a season and he's my current 1st choice FCd.

Put all of Berbatovs Sliders up (RWB, TB and FR but crossing rarely) Give him high creative freedom and rarely close down then let him HUB to and hes a beast. However does anyone know how to get the best of C Ronaldo? Hes got about 6 goals in 13 but in my fm08 game i could give him a farrow to go upfront and he would average a goal a game but you cant do that in fm09 whcih is highely annoying! Anyone got the best out of him yet?

You don't want him on RWB often. Mixed is enough, especially with high CF. And you should always have your strikers closing down heavily.

[Shalashaska]

You don't want him on RWB often. Mixed is enough, especially with high CF. And you should always have your strikers closing down heavily.

Maybe you should but Berba's work rate is rubbish, Rooney/ Tevez are the ones that run for me Noone know how to get of Ronaldo yet?

[Evon]

I never have my strikers close down heavily. It means they're often out of position and not in a goalscoring positions. Especially since Rooney and Tevez have such a high workrate anyway.

[crazy gra]

A high workrate won't mean they close down anymore, it just means they'll put more effort into it.

[R00NEY]

started the game yesterday.

In

Balotelli

Matiaz Fernandez

Lassana Diarra

Lautaro Acosta (Loan)

OUT

Hargreaves

Kuzszcak

Manucho

Park

Now in December. Won the community shield, Club World Championship.

Lost to chelsea in the League Cup 3rd round.

in PL...1 point behind Newcastle() with a game in hand followed by chelsea,arsenal and liverpool.

Barely avoided elimination in the CL. Was in the group of Roma,marseille and Dynamo Kiev. Finished second behind Roma and 1 point above marseille.

balotelli started brilliantly on the right. Was topping the assist charts. But now is injured for 5 months.

Injuries are really playing havoc. Ronaldo was injured the first 2 months and 2 matches after his return was again injured for another 2 months. Anderson was out for 3 months. Berba for a month. Rooney followed the same footsteps of ronaldo. The only player who was devoid of injuries was Tevez and he is brilliant, topping the scoring charts.

Though berba was largely ineffective in the beginning, he is now really coming to form. He has been brilliant in november.

Now onto more fm....cya.

[crazy gra]

started the game yesterday.

OUT

Hargreaves

?????

[gandycoleuk]

I've just started the demo and I'm thinking of playing a flat 4-4-2, anyone got any suggestions on what my team instructions should like?

Thanks in advance.

[Sanityfm]

is it only in my save that giggs is performing better than ronaldo?

[R00NEY]

?????

Diarra in and he is amazing. And i also have fletcher and carrick to play as DM. So had to sell him.

Though in hindsight i feel i should have sold fletcher. Probably i will keep him in the full version.

[Mickyttudes]

Well, I've stopped playing the United save coz I couldn't figure out a good tactic. None of the players(those of which who were left uninjured) were performing above 6. May be coz of the manager being a rookie. But, I hope, when the full game comes out, they get rid of the injuries and way too much fatigue.

Also, don't understand, my strikers don't take shots on goal when in penalty area, like in FM 08. They just try to hold up the ball and eventually lose it even without any 'Hold up Ball' instructions.

And, in FM 08. if a player breaks free of the opposition defence, he would make a run to the penalty area and score. Here, doesn't matter how much space my ST has got, he just drifts wide instead of going straight.

See you guys after 14 Nov.

[Snowy]

http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=insandoutsbj5.jpg][/url][/img]i dont know how you lot sold darren fletcher so cheap cause the 2 games ive started ive sold him for 24 million a bidding war between man city and spurs and it then says its highest transfer fee recieved, previously being david beckham to real

ps csn anyone helpme upload my screen shot??

[mackemforever]

You should also check out Simon Vukčević of sporting, he's an ace little player

Scout him and see.

woo, he is back.

I remember this guy from CM4 and I always signed him in that game, then he kind of dissapeared for cm03/04, fm2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 lol.

[crazy gra]

Well, I've stopped playing the United save coz I couldn't figure out a good tactic. None of the players(those of which who were left uninjured) were performing above 6. May be coz of the manager being a rookie. But, I hope, when the full game comes out, they get rid of the injuries and way too much fatigue.

Also, don't understand, my strikers don't take shots on goal when in penalty area, like in FM 08. They just try to hold up the ball and eventually lose it even without any 'Hold up Ball' instructions.

And, in FM 08. if a player breaks free of the opposition defence, he would make a run to the penalty area and score. Here, doesn't matter how much space my ST has got, he just drifts wide instead of going straight.

See you guys after 14 Nov.

If you think there's problems with the match engine like that, then post them in the bugs forum (preferably with .pkms of the games where you saw this happen) so that they can get cleared up for a patch, if not the release.

[crazy gra]

i dont know how you lot sold darren fletcher so cheap cause the 2 games ive started ive sold him for 24 million a bidding war between man city and spurs and it then says its highest transfer fee recieved, previously being david beckham to real

ps csn anyone helpme upload my screen shot??

Get imageshack quickshot.

Diarra in and he is amazing. And i also have fletcher and carrick to play as DM. So had to sell him.

Though in hindsight i feel i should have sold fletcher. Probably i will keep him in the full version.

Might as well sell Fletcher. I like him and would be good to keep him, because along with Park, O'Shea and Manucho if you give them enough games here and there then you should be able to sell them for a bit more, but if you can buy Veloso for around £10m then he's worth it as he's meant to have similar ability to Hargreaves (best DM in the squad) as well as having potential. I don't think Hargreaves' stats are as good as they should be, but he's still got very good ability and you shouldn't sell. He's also English and you want to keep your team as British as possible.

Also, for those finding it difficult to start with, then you really need to be praising/criticising your players as much as possible based on their average rating over the last five games. I won't detail it all here, but for most of the squad below 6.75 av.rating is "below par"; between 6.75 and 7.25 is "acceptable"; over 7.25 is pleased; and below 6.35 is disappointing.

That's a guide for people with 16 determination (e.g. Ferdinand and Brown). For those with determination over 17 then increase the limits e.g. for Vidic (18) with av. rating of 7.29, I think he'd think that was acceptable, but a 7.30+ might be pleased. Even if you get it wrong and their morale is a bit lower for one or two matches, you should get it right with most of the players most of the time and it's worth experimenting to see where the boundaries for each player are.

Another note is that players with the same determination won't always react the same as you need to take into account their personality. For example, Giggs and Anderson are both 17 for determination but Giggs has always been a "light-hearted" player on the game so he'll react more like someone like O'Shea with much lower determination. Rooney is another - his determination is 18, but is so stubborn that even with an average rating of 7.40 he's still only thought that was acceptable.

Hope that helps

[ManUtdFan]

Since i'm a Man Utd fan and i will start as them on the demo i am curious . How many of you will play the half season with Man Utd and then continue the game when the full game comes out ?

[crazy gra]

I can play a full season on mine, but I'll start a new one with the full version.

[arsenal_2111]

I can play a full season on mine, but I'll start a new one with the full version.

Wha?

How can you play a full season?

[crazy gra]

Because I have a special version.

[H311]

I'm really excited at the prospect of my line up when 14th Nov arrives! A few questions to ask over here:

1) At the moment in the demo Van der Sat is better than Foster, but would Foster become good enough in perhaps the 2nd season to be Man Utd's no.1 GK? If not, which GK would you guys recommend I should buy?

2) I'm very upset at the poor stats of Rafael. Looks like I need a RB to replace my Gary Neville. Any one to recommend? I was thinking of buying Diarra and play him as a RB!

3) I bought in Velso, but had Scholes injured for 4 months. So in the center of the park I have Velso, Hargreves, Carrick and Anderson. I'm still undecided which two should be my first choice. I usually like to play one more offensive and the other more defensive. Anyone has got any suggestion?

4) Nani seems to be my star player in the demo, anyone else has this happening too?

5) Berbatov or Tevez to partner Rooney up front?

Thank you!

[Smack Ffloyd]

I'm waiting to start my season with United until the full version comes out and just having a read over these thread has got me very excited :) Some great tips on who to sign/how to play on here guys. And the guide about the coaches is absolutely fantastic because I'm usually pretty crap at managing my staff so I will try and follow that guide

[crazy gra]

1. Foster had already overtaken VDS as my no.1 by half way through the season.

2. Looks like the best bets are Ramos or Sagna. And both can play DC.

3. Just play whoever is playing best at the time. My current pairing is Carrick and Anderson, even though Hargreaves is better in the MCd position and Veloso perhaps better than Anderson. The good thing with Carrick and Veloso is they can both play either the attacking or defensive role and if you play them together you should have them swapping positions, like if you have Rooney and Tevez upfront or two of Ronaldo, Nani and Park on the wings.

4. Categorically no.

5. Like for no.3, whoever is playing best at the time.

And I just got a great note from my ass man:

He's doing well:

[Pope of Pot, King of Nothi]

It's such a shame that Rafael's stats are so poor. I watched him last night and he was absolutely ace. I don't see much of a future for Gary with Rafael lurking in the wings

[H311]

how do u guys get tevez and rooney to work well together? i can't seem to make them play well.

[H311]

also, currently i'm playing both Veloso and Anderson in my center mid, it seems that the attack from my team are usually from the left wing (Nani) as both of them are left footed. which means Ronaldo who is on my right gets to touch the ball less. anyone has noticed this before?

[Evon]

Evans is a good defender definitely but I usually prefer my defenders to be one type or the other or just very good at both. Great in the air or fast and great mentally or a mixture of both like Zapata. If Evans physical stats were better he'd be pushing Vidic or Ferdinand very hard for me.

[crazy gra]

Yeah, his physical stats aren't brilliant but they'll do for the moment and hopefully he can improve jumping and pace upto around 17/18 and 16/17 respectively.

[crazy gra]

What a game. Don't think I'd even scored four in one game before this, let alone five:

And that's only Tevez's 5th of the season (although was out for 5 months) but he's on top form now. Having him and Rooney upfront is great as you can have them changing positions.

[gandycoleuk]

What a game. Don't think I'd even scored four in one game before this, let alone five:

And that's only Tevez's 5th of the season (although was out for 5 months) but he's on top form now. Having him and Rooney upfront is great as you can have them changing positions.

That's pretty impressive, do you mind letting me know what tactics you are using please? (team instructions, formation etc)

[crazy gra]

Using Rule of One tactics designed by wwfan, although I made my own. You can probably download some that are similar to what I use. I used a "balanced" or "normal" version of the tactic in that game.

I think his TT&F thread should be in Tactics and Training for 09 already. The best new feature about them is assigning the right people to defence, support and attack roles. I bet most people have FWRs often for the MR/L, as I used to, but I always have them on mixed except for in the 'attack' version where I'm getting as many people forward as possible.

[Mezz Boms]

Holy ****! has anyone seen the amount of posts in the Sunderland thread!? Come-on guys get posting!

[crazy gra]

What's the point in lots of posts if they're just drivel? Quality > quantity.

And that's the FM08 thread anyway. Go to specsavers.

[nicholl2102]

Does it not annoy anybody else how when in all previous FM's, Manchester United always finish mid table rather than challenging for everything?? They always rip me apart when I play them but they go on massive losing streaks in all my games. Just wish it was more realistic in that it's almost impossible to break the top four

[crazy gra]

I think as a half decent Premiership club you should be able to break into the top 4. Everton, Spurs, Pompey, Blackburn, Man City (dare I say it!) and Villa should be doable.

[nicholl2102]

Yeah I agree totally but in reality, it's much harder than the game make it seem. Even Newcastle could do it, they always finish in the top six in my saves

[manu legend]

Haven't been here for a few days but looks like Gra has covered everything.

J.Evans looks great btw in you screenshot. Reaping the reward of playing him regularly.

[crazy gra]

A couple of great comebacks:

And then this beaut - Gerrard's 96th minute equaliser against Atletico last week IRL is put to shame:

[ww7]

Really? Rooney was the problem for a brief game which I managed to play. And Rooney has always been the easiest player to manage for me. Berbatov is easy. Normal striker settings and RWB often and TTB mixed with 17 CF. Easy. Maybe tick HUB if Rooney isn't on the pitch or if he's doing badly. I prefer 08 to 09 anyway purely because I can't play it on my PC and it's so damn slow on my laptop. So viva 08 and the Weegie update!!!

I need to ask a dumb question. What's thie RWB, TTB, CF and HUB you guys are talking about? Berbatov is driving me crazy. I turned on full game TV mode and Berbatov is nearly nonexistant.

[JawKam]

RWB- Run With Ball

CF- Creative Freedom

HUB- Hold Up Ball

not sure TTB though...

[Pope of Pot, King of Nothi]

Try through balls