Football Manager

[MARKakaJIM]

I've got way too many youth team drop outs littering my squad at Solihull now and seen as i'm still at the bottom of the active leagues there is no-one around to buy the players that aren't good enough for me, i need to hope i can get promoted this season and then i might be able to start ditching some of them.

 

[The Bear]

I've signed a paltry two of all the recommended players on this thread, Fierro and Erick Torres. And Torres popped up on a player search of my own anyway.

My shortlist is around 100-200 players deep already.

 

[Nando]

Fletcher, Fierro and Torres. Gods.

 

[Nando]

Well my unbeaten run has come to a very abrupt end.

29 victories and 1 draw from the last 30 Premier League games, I come up against out of form Chelsea, who are sat in mid-table and I'm 4-0 down. Haven't had this for a while!

 

[t3ch]

I inadvertently got Fierro as well, truly is a beast. He's only the 3rd best striker in my squad, but I always pull him out in clutch situations. Has a great record of putting them in when needed most.

 

[Nando]

I inadvertently got Fierro as well, truly is a beast. He's only the 3rd best striker in my squad, but I always pull him out in clutch situations.

He scored 62 for me last season, but I think I'm about to drop him for the first time in his 7 year spell here.

And there's 5-0!

 

[t3ch]

I rotate my forwards pretty heavily so none of them get that high. Wolves scored more than anyone else on a whole though, by far. I have a Brazilian named Carlao and a Russian named Kovalenko, both of which are ridiculous. Over 30 goals a piece, and about half as many assists to boot. I also play with an AMC who is beastly and nets a fair amount himself.

I have heavy interest for all 4 coming in, and have to constantly fend off speculation... hopefully my squad isn't picked apart in the summer.

 

[The Bear]

I think I'm just gonna play Torres just off Fletcher and use Griffiths and Doyle as backup until Fierro arrives next season.

I've always liked playing an AM in FM. I always seem to gravitate towards 3-5-2 as well, but I'm gonna stick with 4-4-2 for the first season to hopefully stay solid defensively.

 

[Nando]

That's where all his best work has been for me.

 

[t3ch]

4-3-1-2 has been very effective for me, and it's pretty much treated as a 4-4-2 in regards to familiarity, so you can modify as needed. I tried 3-5-2 (3-4-1-2), but even with 4 at the back I seem to leak goals so I stopped using it. I'll give it another run once I figure it out.

 

[The Bear]

4-3-1-2 is the long term plan, once I can get better creative midfielders and full-backs who can pass and cross the ball better.

 

[nimrod]

i play 4-1-2(narrow)-2(wingers)-1

which makes it increasingly difficult to keep several strikers happy. weirdly this tactic up to current season scored plenty of goals but also conceded a lot, even in a championship winning season last year. this season, what's ridiculous is that I've conceded only 7 goals in the league in 20 games. i can't explain why tbh - real madrid scored 3 times in twenty mins at the Mol and beat me 3-0 away as well. Admittedly I have some tough away games to play - Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool (I've lost pretty much every away game to these three)- but I did for Man C and Chelsea and only lost 1-0 at Spurs where previously I've been badly beaten. It seems a fluke.

 

[Boozad]

I play either 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, I don't deviate from those anymore as they seem to be the best two I've created. I don't like playing with just one striker though so I tend to lean towards 4-4-2. If you want any tactics emailing over to have a look at Bear just give me a shout.

 

[t3ch]

4-3-1-2 is the long term plan, once I can get better creative midfielders and full-backs who can pass and cross the ball better.

Ah yeah that'd do it. I have two AMC's that are pretty fantastic-- the Ozil's of my Wolves, no doubt. Wouldn't be nearly as effective if they weren't as good as they are, along with a very good MC.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I play 4-3-3 with three out and out strikers. Score loads but can be very leaky.

 

[Del Woppio]

I gave up on my Wolves game in 2018 after 3 successive PL titles (conceding less than 50 goals in total for the least two league titles) and finally a Champions League

Started a game with Worcester in the Blue Square North a few months ago, and got 3 promotions in 4 years taking us into League One. That's hard - the budgets down there make forward planning impossible; my player churn is ridiculous, basically every summer signing 15-18 freebies on a one year contract, unless they're 18 year olds with a bit of potential they'll get 2 year deals. Every season I think “If we stay up this year we'll try and build a bit more slowly, without such turmoil every summer”. There's only 3 players ever who have played more than 100 games for me! Promotion from League One followed in the first season, and then 2 seasons in the Championship before we snuck up in the play offs to the Premier League. To add a bit of weight to that achievement, my annual wage spend was £3.8m – Bolton’s at the top was over £27m.

I've been offered some tempting jobs - Stoke and recently Liverpool, but I want to stay here until we've won the Champions League.

The Premier League is a daunting prospect – again I’ve released about 15 players and managed to sell another 5. Brought in 13 free transfers, and also my first ever cash purchases. They’re pretty much all regens – my average age is extremely young, as the only decent players I can attract are youth team drop outs. I’ve got David Bentley and Danny Graham as my only PL experienced footballers. It’s now March, and we look safe – 34 points from 25 games has us in 14th position and 9 points off 18th. We’re only spending about £250k/pw, but I’ve been able to purchase some decent prospects this summer finally, so will hope for less churn next year, assuming we stay up. I’m still unable to attract any decent bosmans as my highest earner (Bentley) is on £18k per week so it’s going to be a very slow progression from here on in, hoping that a; my young players develop, and b; my cunt of a chairman gets his head out of non-league and stops selling them from underneath my nose for a fraction of what their worth.

Formation wise, I've got 4/5 that I flit between depending on the strengths of my opposition and the condition of my players, but it's generally either a narrow, deep striker isolating 4321, 4141 or 442. We've pretty much bored our way up the leagues, but one thing it's certainly taught me is how to close a game out!

 

[The Bear]

Any tips on team/player instructions for closing games out Del? Other than the standard Cautious/Defensive/Control with moving players back a bit.

 

[Del Woppio]

I start off just keeping the same shape but taking offsides off and go counter attacking, and in the last twenty minutes to the next most defenseive formation my players are familiar with - so I'd go from 442 to 451, or 451 to 4231, then to 4321, and finally if I'm really worried go a flat back 5, 3 DMs, quickest midfielder on their slowest side with a "focus" on that side, and stongest forward in a supporting AMC position with the instruction to hold the ball up. I found (and it's probably just a coincidence) that 'defensive' fucked things up, so I used either counter or contain.

That said there have also been times where going 4, 2dm, 1dcm and 3 central strikers with a long ball tactic has helped - still cause them problems but really, really solid at the back.

 

[Langers]

I'm requoting this because not only is it one of the best posts ever on this forum, but my work mate reckons he's addicted to the new FM, so I wanted to compare him to Del.

Del won.

I do a daily podcast for the fans on the way into work in the car.

When I was getting grief from the ex-wife for staying up all night, I'd go to bed at the same time as her, but set my alarm for 2 hours later. I'd wake up all ninja style, and sneak downstairs. First thing first - got a glass of water that I'd start walking up the stairs with as soon as I heard a noise as my cover.

I do actual press conferences post game, and for new signings. Not the game ones, *actual* talking.

I have also woke the family up whilst celebrating a goal. It was only an equaliser away at Man City, when I was firmly in midtable, but I'd came from 3-0 down and made some radical tactical changes (4-1-2-1-2 to a 3-2-2-3 (new to the players) and felt vindicated. I then went to a 5-4-1 to protect my point...

I've thrown a full can of Pepsi (I had a contract with them/lots in the fridge) at the wall when I missed out on the signing of Jonas Lunden one pre-season.

I've also put on a suit for a cup final.

My biggest achievement was on the 21st of May, 2022 - 4071 days after I took the job of managing League 2 Rotherham - the day The Millers became Champions of Europe.

165 players bought, for £301m. 245 players sold or released, for £269m. A game that I'd been playing for 8 days, 1 hour and 3 minutes. Never has a victory smelled so sweet.

I was rewarded three seasons later, after winning a further 2 CL's and one Premier League with this:

I fucking love this game.

 

[nimrod]

i play 4-1-2(narrow)-2(wingers)-1
which makes it increasingly difficult to keep several strikers happy. weirdly this tactic up to current season scored plenty of goals but also conceded a lot, even in a championship winning season last year. this season, what's ridiculous is that I've conceded only 7 goals in the league in 20 games. i can't explain why tbh - real madrid scored 3 times in twenty mins at the Mol and beat me 3-0 away as well. Admittedly I have some tough away games to play - Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool (I've lost pretty much every away game to these three)- but I did for Man C and Chelsea and only lost 1-0 at Spurs where previously I've been badly beaten. It seems a fluke.

lol, as suspected, United stuck 5 past me at OT. It was 3-3 at HT. I'll take the title though.

Booz, I'd be interested in trying your 4-4-2 given your success with it.