Football Manager

[Fappin Raptor]

Got drawn with Benfica in the first knockout round of the CL.

Finally suffered my first loss in Serie A to also undefeated Parma. Sitting in 2nd at 13-1-1 and a +35 (43 GF, 8 GA).

[Lanteri]

Lost Cigarini and Whitehead to multiple month injuries in the first two matches of the season. Good thing I got CM depth.

Snagged Jermaine Jenas on loan before the end of the window as I don't really feel comfortable going the first half of the season with Whitehead-Delap in center mid with Clifford covering .

Drew Porto, Inter, and Celtic in the group stage of the CL. Not my favorite draw in the world.

[Fappin Raptor]

The final day of the Serie A comes down to Napoli (me) and Inter. If Inter wins, they win. If Inter loses/draws and I win, we will win the league.

EDIT: And I lose Cavani, who has 51 goals in 50 apps, three days before the game.

[Fappin Raptor]

Well, Inter won and we loss. 2nd place will do.

[mgoblue2290]

I've had probably my most interesting FM season so far. Its my second year with LFC and we finished 2nd my first season. We started the year with almost every player losing faith in me because I congratulated them for dominating a friendly in which obviously they felt differently. So the first 2 months was rough with unhappy players and lackluster performances. I thought I might actually get fired. I finally managed to right the ship near the end of October and we began playing really well all the way up until Luis Suarez broke his leg at the end of December. So he's done for the year and Andy Carroll has been beyond awful. Thankfully Iker Muniain, who I signed in the first season, and Andriy Yarmolenko both stepped up big time. I also brought in Olivier Giroud for 7.5m and he's played well too. So those three have formed a pretty potent attack along with some clutch goals by Dirk Kuyt.

I've managed to win the League Cup by beating Everton 4-0 too. I made it to the CL knockout stages and barely got past Anji Machalaka (the Russian team with money) on away goals tying them 2-2. Then I drew Manchester United in the quarterfinal knockout round and I also drew them in the FA Cup semi final. So I played them 3 times over the course of 4 matches, with Sunderland in between the CL games. Drew them 0-0 at Old Trafford then beat them in Anfield 1-0 on a Martin Skrtel header. I should mention that Jose Enrique played possibly the best game of defense I've ever seen in FM. He stopped multiple breaks and at one point sprinted across the field to stop Anderson. I drew Real Madrid in the semi-finals. Then we beat them 1-0 to advance to the FA Cup final where I will be playing Newcastle.

Unfortunately my league form has suffered recently and I'm currently 5th and 5 points behind Man City who are 4th with a game in hand. I play them twice at the end of the season here along with a bunch of other games crammed into May. I'll be surprised if I make the top 4 as we've just got too much going on. Still though, its been to fun manage as things have gone very well in some competitions and have not gone so well in other areas. Hoping to win the CL and the FA Cup and crack the top 4.

[spiker]

This thread needs to be stickied again. I had to wade through too much EA Sports nonsense to find it.

[spiker]

Do you guys keep 3 tactics loaded into your match prep at all times?

Here's my issue: It feels like after about 15-20 games or so, the CPU AI starts to understand what you are doing tactically and all of your opponents adapt to that game plan and start to shut you down. So the first 5-10 games, your new tactics are blowing shit up and you're destroying teams left and right. Then your blowouts start to slow down and soon enough, you fall back into a rut of eeking out close games. So, if I keep all 3 tactics loaded up, can I switch back and forth between matches to keep the CPU on edge all season because it is relying on what tactics I've used in previous matches? Or does the CPU adapt to whatever I have in my match preparations so I have to "hide" my tactics by not preparing with them loaded? A very odd question, I know. I'm trying to understand the CPU's logic in how it adapts to me.

[calgaryballer]

FM13 is available now for everyone who preordered!! Firing it up now

[Bigpapa42]

Got it downloaded Friday night. Didn't spend much time with it yesterday, beyond the basics of taking a look. Fired up a game today and will probably toy with it a bit. Interested to see how the matches look, if they've actually impoved it at all.

[BigHouseUSA]

The interface is definitely a big change, and training is a lot easier, which I'm not against. The matches look pretty nice, nothing extremely noticeable except for the stadium exterior and a few other small things. Still moving around from save to save trying to get accustomed to it.

[Lanteri]

Downloaded it this morning. Haven't started up a save yet, since I'm anal about getting logos/player faces in the game, so I'm waiting for all that to copy over from my FM12 files. I really want this FM to be the one where I can finally get a legit long term save going. Preferably, starting with a lower league team and working my up, using my own tactics rather than someone else's.

[BigHouseUSA]

I've started a few saves but I'm going to wait until the full game releases. Too many bugs and I'll probably use someone's edit on Newcastle rather than what's there. I hated setting up training, but I kind of liked it more than this years setup, it was at least a bit more in depth. Overall looks promising though.

[Lanteri]

Damn, I thought FM12 was a resource hog. This thing's murdering my CPU right now lol. I need a new one soon.

[calgaryballer]

It's still in beta. Hopefully they optimize a bit more before full release

[Lanteri]

Anyway, I'm messing around with a Fulham save for now 'til the real game comes out. Going with a basic 4-2-4 (wingers of course).

Quick overview of my formation (tried to tailor it to Fulham rather than just making a formation then adapting)

GK: Normal GK
LB: WB - Attack (Riise)
LCB: CB - Stopper (Hangeland)
RCB: CB - Cover (Hughes)
RB: FB - Defend (Riether)
LCM: BWM - Defend (Diarra)
RCM: CM - Support (Sidwell)
AML & AMR: Winger - Attack (Duff and Ruiz)
STL: Target Man - Attack (Petric)
STR: Poacher - Attack (Berbatov

Team Instructions

Rigid
Passing Style - Default
Creative Freedom - More Disciplined
Closing Down - Press More
Tackling - More Aggressive
Marking - Default
Crossing - Default
Roaming - Stick to Position
Focus Passing - Through the Middle
Target Man - Petric (mixed supply)

Made a couple player instructions tweaks, but nothing too major (just adjusting long shots, and set both wingers to move into channels and to attempt through balls often)

Shouts

Play Out of Defense
Get Stuck In
Play Narrower
Work Ball Into Box
Retain Possession
Hassle Opponents
Exploit Middle

Fulham's a pretty slow side for the most part so I've decided to focus play to the middle of the pitch, encouraging both wingers to move into channels. I didn't want to set them to inside forwards though, as I do want them to have the option to play out wide. I also am electing to play a physical brand of football as I think we have the personnel for it.

Should be fun.