Football Manager

[calgaryballer]

Followed up my big win with a 4-1 loss to Blackburn. Missing a lot of regulars, but this was ugly

 

[Fappin Raptor]

I'm going to try and get everything set up before I start any saves. I still have to work the next two nights until I can even think about doing any of that.

 

[Lanteri]

http://footballspeak.com/post/2011/10/01/The-Life-Of-A-Football-Manager-Addict.aspx

Explain these scenarios to a non-believer and you would be met with concerned looks, perhaps followed by a suggestion to ‘seek help’. Spending your summer evening frantically trying to convince Diomansy Kamara to join your struggling Scunthorpe side on some computer game? You would have to be mad.

The life-absorbing phenomenon takes the form of a vicious cycle that can easily render you an unsociable, obsessive freak. While it can be hard ‘to get into a game,’ once you’re in, things progress quickly. A few months in and the need to make it to the January transfer window and rectify potential problems within your squad grows. “It’s only an extra month” I say, thus ploughing through another hour or two. After securing that one central defender to bolster you injury ravaged backline, or a plethora of slightly pointless loan signings, it’s only natural that you want to see how your acquisitions fare. Before you know it, you have reached the penultimate month of the season, and whether you are fighting to dislodge the Barcelona/Real Madrid monopoly of La Liga or scrapping for survival as Gateshead in the Blue Square Premier, the impulse to see it through to the bitter or wonderful end is remarkably identical. What’s next? The summer transfer window, the chance to re-shuffle, reorganise, and start the enslaving cycle all over again.

Standard human functions can become secondary. Sleeping? There’s no point even trying, Fabio Coentrão’s rumbling contract situation is unresolved, and it troubles me. I’ll make sure that’s sorted, and then I’ll call it a night. Showering? I’ll just play the first half of this FA Cup tie, start the second and have a shower while the remainder of the game plays out. Wait, it’s 2-2? Unconditional attention is now required. I’ll shower after. It’s not like I was going to leave the house today anyway…

Eating? Unless said it can be prepared in the time it takes to simulate one half of a game or progress through the mundane international break loading screen and be eaten with one hand, it can wait. The phone is turned off so socialising isn’t a problem. I can see friends any time, but this six-pointer with Nottingham Forest simply cannot wait.

FMA (Football Manager Addiction, soon to be listed in the Journal of International Medical Research) is a perplexing phenomenon. Many have beaten it, but many more are still consumed by it. If you believe you suffer from FMA, here are just a few of symptoms of the chronic affliction.

You start to refer to your family as ‘backroom staff.’
University/college text books have names of potential signings scribbled down on the inside page.
You possess the ability to reel off the names of Brazil’s U18 starting eleven (you have religiously scouted all of them, obviously), but struggle to remember what date it is in real life.
Retiring for the night at 5:30 am, rising at 3 in the afternoon for a light breakfast, before commencing with the afternoon’s contract renewals, is standard practice.
You have already lived in a universe where Gareth Bale and Sergio Aguero have moved into coaching after prolific, trophy-laden careers.
You felt an overwhelming twinge of pride when Eddie Johnson signed for Fulham in January 2008.

 

[Lanteri]

Couple of very promising players from this year's youth intake:

 

[calgaryballer]

I bought Diame from Wigan to provide cover for Tiote and Cabaye. Unfortunately, he has been hurt seemingly every fucking week. His fitness and such are all quite high as well

I have to resort to Danny Guthrie and Dan Gosling (9 mistakes in 4 appearances) in the middle of the park

Francois Clerc is having a nightmare of a time at LB as well. Need Santon to recover from his leg break ASAP

 

[Lanteri]

Well, we struggled mightily following the January window. Our peak came after 25 games where we found ourselves in 6th. Dipped all the way to a low point of 12th in the table by game #33, but we did recover nicely to win 5 consecutive to close out the season outscoring our competition 11-1, bouncing back to 8th in the table.

We defeated Wolves 2-1, Arsenal 3-0, Newcastle 2-0, Man City 1-0, and QPR 3-0 to close out the season. Our worst run of form saw us lose 7 out of 8 matches.

We lost in the Carling Cup semi-finals 4-2 to Man U on aggregate, despite a 1-0 win at Old Trafford. They came to Goodison and shit on us 4-1. We made it to the FA Cup Quarters, where we were eliminated by Chelsea, so no competition victories for us either.

League Table:

Squad Stats:

 

[calgaryballer]

Looks like goals were a problem...

 

[Lanteri]

Looks like goals were a problem...

Yeah, that and fitness. Tough to get any kind of consistency out of Saha when he got hurt every other game. Maynard had a decent pace of one goal every other game, so that was a promising sign for next year.

 

[calgaryballer]

Yup. Eerily close to real life

In my game, Moyes is on the verge of the sack with Everton on the bottom

 

[Lanteri]

Other random notes:

Rooney led the league with 34 goals, closely trailed by Adebayor who banged in 33 for Spurs.

In Spain, Barcelona went undefeated winning the league by 15 points, with a 31 win and 7 draw record. They scored 120 goals and conceded just 28. Fernando Llorente led all goalscorers in Spain with 28 for Athletic. Alexis Sanchez of Barcelona turned in 27. Racing, Levante, and Rayo were relegated.

Juventus won the Serie A with a much more tame 22 wins, 10 draws, 6 losses record, topping Milan by 5 points. Cavani led the league with 27 goals. Parma, Cesena, and Atalanta were relegated.

And lastly, Bayern won the Bundesliga defeating Schalke by a 6 point margin. Hertha and Gladbach were relegated.

Manchester United did the treble, winning the Carling Cup, Premier League, and defeated Barcelona 1-0 in the Champions League final.

Managerial-wise: Tony Pulis left Stoke for Newcastle. Neil Warnock was sacked by QPR after their relegation and replaced by Terry Connor. Alan Pardew took over at Stoke.

 

[Lanteri]

Transfer wise for me at Everton...

I'm letting Saha and Distin go upon the expiration of their contracts, as at their advanced ages and our current financial state, there's no reason to keep them around in playing roles.

I did decide to keep James McFadden around for one more year signing him through June 2013, at a wage of £17,750 per week. I will not be bidding to keep Stracqualursi or Drenthe on a permanent basis.

I do believe it's going to be another quiet summer window as our financial state hasn't improved at all, and my planned expansion to youth facilities was canceled by Kenwright. I may have to look in to selling Jagielka.

edit: The board has given me an initial transfer budget of £6.12m at the end of May before the opening of the June window. I do like how they do that on FM12 as opposed to FM11 where you had to wait until the end of June to get your summer budget. It says the budget can be altered later when our season expectations are declared.

 

[calgaryballer]

Santon is almost back from a broken leg, but he's lost a fair bit on his physical stats. Francois Clerc is also out, and Cabaye fractured his arm. Can't get a full strength team out there

 

[calgaryballer]

Wanted to bring Sturridge to St James full time. Can't beat the £60k/week he earns with Chelsea though He's got 10 goals in 11 games in the League

 

[calgaryballer]

Roman has a quick finger. Villa Boas out at Chelsea in December, club is lying in eighth and qualified for the second stage of Champions League

 

[calgaryballer]

Post this now, before it all goes wrong...

 

[calgaryballer]

Also, all you Steam users, make sure you know about F12 and the Steam cloud for your pics. No more using Paint and PhotoBucket to show off

 

[calgaryballer]

Van Gaal to Chelsea and Villas Boas to...Bolton. What a fall from grace

 

[Lanteri]

Van Gaal to Chelsea and Villas Boas to...Bolton. What a fall from grace

Bolton's better than where AVB wound up in my save, haha. Currently managing Parma, who got relegated. :shifty:

 

[calgaryballer]

Bolton's better than where AVB wound up in my save, haha. Currently managing Parma, who got relegated. :shifty:

At least he's ballin in Northern Italy instead of a dirty Manchester suburb

 

[calgaryballer]

I feel like I've had a fair number of Own Goals scored for me this season. Not complaining, but seems like once every 4 games or so I get an OG