The FM Thread

[Jase 43,479]

I can't believe we've actually done the treble. We beat Real Madrid 1-0 in Munich, thanks to a masterclass in goalkeeping from Morgan De Sanctis (about time), Ricardo Carvalho deciding to get himself sent off, Jose Mourinho using his substitutes too early and having to play with 9 men for the final 41 minutes, and finally, a lovely, lovely own goal from Sergio Ramos.

Ryan Bertrand should be a club legend by now. What's the Italian for "He crossed the ball from the left, it landed right on Ramos' head and thats why we love Ryan Bertrand" ?

That's also got to be the only game all season where some dickhead on my team didn't get a booking. Though that night was all about Bertrand and De Sanctis, it was Cavani, Lavezzi and Sigurdsson who the season belonged to:

Sigurdsson:

Lavezzi:

116 goals and 60 assists. Those 3 players outscored all of Barcelona by a 12 goal margin.

Feeling curious. What formation are you playing with Napoli? Do share.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I may have a glut of strikers at the club but I just can't do without Dame N'Doye, who ranks just behind Salomon Kalou and on par with Gylfi Sigurdsson on cap's "Most loved players" list.

Unfortunately I can't get Kalou, because I edited him to be a superstar and Chelsea want 45 million for him . Still, this is what he managed:

Feeling curious. What formation are you playing with Napoli? Do share.

4-2-4. All out attack. Have some of that, Europe! If you want to download it, I think it's called "Il Devasto Matador" (the tactic was custom made for Napoli). I made a few tweaks on that and this would be my recommended player list:

GK: Anyone who isn't a complete donkey (that rules out De Sanctis)

D L: Bertrand

D R: Seeing as I created myself to play right back for Napoli, the rest of you can't really use him. Zuniga was pretty good for me there.

D C: Someone with pace is a must.

M C: I used Hamsik and Inler. You don't really need playmakers, just solid, well rounded midfielders.

AM R: Gylfi Sigurdsson. He is the only man for the job.

AM L: Daniel Sturridge, whom I loaned from Chelsea.

ST: Lavezzi and Cavani, swapping places to make them harder to mark.

No playmaker, and set one of Cavezzi to be the target man and tick 'run onto ball' for target man delivery.

[Jase 43,479]

4-2-4. All out attack. Have some of that, Europe! If you want to download it, I think it's called "Il Devasto Matador" (the tactic was custom made for Napoli). I made a few tweaks on that and this would be my recommended player list:

GK: Anyone who isn't a complete donkey (that rules out De Sanctis)

D L: Bertrand

D R: Seeing as I created myself to play right back for Napoli, the rest of you can't really use him. Zuniga was pretty good for me there.

D C: Someone with pace is a must.

M C: I used Hamsik and Inler. You don't really need playmakers, just solid, well rounded midfielders.

AM R: Gylfi Sigurdsson. He is the only man for the job.

AM L: Daniel Sturridge, whom I loaned from Chelsea.

ST: Lavezzi and Cavani, swapping places to make them harder to mark.

No playmaker, and set one of Cavezzi to be the target man and tick 'run onto ball' for target man delivery.

Aaah. The good old 4-2-4 or 4-2-2-2 as I would prefer to call it(4-2-4 sounds too gung-ho ). Won La Liga and Copa Del Rey with Villarreal using that but did get horribly exposed in Europe playing with that formation.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Aaah. The good old 4-2-4 or 4-2-2-2 as I would prefer to call it(4-2-4 sounds too gung-ho ). Won La Liga and Copa Del Rey with Villarreal using that but did get horribly exposed in Europe playing with that formation.

That's the most important thing. Your firepower up front must be enough to outscore anyone. Cavezzi are perfect for that. I conceded 54 goals but scored 176, in 55 games. It does leak like a 17th century seafaring vessel but if you've got a squad that can score 3.2 goals a game then you're set

[Jype 6,398]

Sigurdsson with 40 goals & 40 assists?!! WTF!!!

It seems I overestimated him just a tiny bit but I hadn't played that savegame for more than six months now and didn't remember the exact figures. I bought him for my Newcastle side in the first transfer window for £9,75M and he was still dominating the midfield in 2018-2019 when I was starting to lose interest in that save because my team was too good. His typical season looked like this:

That was the season 2012-2013 when I finished second in the league behind Manchester United and most of the other players in the team were still shit. In total he scored 230 goals and assisted 238 in all competitions in seven and a half seasons. On average that would make something like 30 + 31 a season but the first season he was still adapting and wasn't yet that good so in the other seasons he was even a little better than that average.

This is what he looked like in 2019. At some point Real Madrid tried to buy him for £55 million but he was too important for my team and I politely told them to fuck off.

[Jase 43,479]

That's the most important thing. Your firepower up front must be enough to outscore anyone. Cavezzi are perfect for that. I conceded 54 goals but scored 176, in 55 games. It does leak like a 17th century seafaring vessel but if you've got a squad that can score 3.2 goals a game then you're set

Have no issue scoring goals with Rossi and Nilmar upfront. Main problem was I came up against teams playing an AMC and was reluctant to change my formation to counter it.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I have just jizzed in my pants

I've been a regular Harry Redknapp in the transfer window. I've bundled in many players on free transfers. Everyone I signed, except Cahill and N'Doye, were transfer listed/released so I got some great deals done:

I've managed to shift out most of the dead wood, except for Donadel (shame he got injured/still is injured, he was key to my team earlier) and Campagnaro.

I promise to you, 39 year old Mark Schwarzer and 36 year old Clarence Seedorf will win places in the 2012 World Team of the Year. You'll see. You'll all see!

[capriccioso 2,545]

I'm going crazy with these free transfers. I've bundled in 37 year old Filippo Inzaghi, 37 year old Alessandro Nesta and 35 year old Massimo Ambrosini. I was in for Zambrotta and van Bommel as well but I was beaten to it. The average age of my squad is soaring

[capriccioso 2,545]

Meet the new Capocannoniere for the upcoming season:

[Spike 12,049]

Cassano degrades very fast. As soon as he hits 30 his stats plummet.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Here is the starting XI that just beat Inter in the Italian Super Cup:

GK: Schwarzer (39 years old)

DR: Hargreaves (31); DC: Cannavaro (31); DC: Nesta (36); DL: Canella (24)

MC: Hamsik (25); MC: Ambrosini (35)

AM L: Kewell (33); AM R: Seedorf (36)

ST: Cavani (25); ST: Inzaghi (39)

That's an average age of nearly 33 . Europe had better be on high alert, the pensioners are coming:

Oh and here is some top notch keeping from Julio Cesar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy0z03jO52s

Cassano degrades very fast. As soon as he hits 30 his stats plummet.

As long as his finishing, composure and off the ball stats stay high, he can still be amazing. That's all you really need, you don't need great physical stats if you spend 90 minutes in the opposition 6 yard box.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Heartbreak for my Atletico boys

[capriccioso 2,545]

Also, where did this come from?! I wasn't managing Chelsea or Man United, so to see the computer managers come up with a game like this is a bit lol:

[capriccioso 2,545]

Saint Vaguinho to the rescue (again)

And I'm getting a statue of myself built outside my stadium.

[Jase 43,479]

Also, where did this come from?! I wasn't managing Chelsea or Man United, so to see the computer managers come up with a game like this is a bit lol:

In my Bayern/England save recently, Sampdoria beat Valencia 4-0 in the 1st leg of Europa League away from home. Second leg is formality but that turned not to be the case. Valencia thrashed Sampdoria 5-0 in the second leg instead!