MANUMAD's box of sweets

[metalface13]

Hmm ... I wonder if I should sell Gaitan to bring him in (my 3 foreigner roster slots are already taken) or I supposed I could loan out Carlos Fierro ...

 

[MANUMAD]

Hmm ... I wonder if I should sell Gaitan to bring him in (my 3 foreigner roster slots are already taken) or I supposed I could loan out Carlos Fierro ...

What I do is I get in the extra player (if allowed by the rules) and register them for different competitions.


Btw my FIORENTINA squad (now 2nd season) with an update (better than LFC Marchal's imho):

GK: Matia Perin (first time I used him. He was my main man in the first season. His star rating went up! quite good)/Ospina (free)/Victor Valdes (free!) - I actually use them all as Im also using a FIFA WORLD CHAMPIONS LEAGUE COMPETITION I downloaded from this site and Im as a result gunning for 4 trophies (Serie A/CUP/CL/WCL)

WBL: De Bock/Sanchez Mino (also dm)/Vargas

WBR: Cuadrado (one of best wbs Ive used)/Vrsaljko (also wbl)/Tomovic

CB: Campestrini/Capuano (free 2nd season)/Martins Indi (free)/Bellusci/St. Savic (now co owned with UDINESE who paid 2.6m for the privilege- the mugs!)/Hiram Mier (first time Ive used him. Was injured for 8 mths so cant evaluate him)/Strandberg/G. Burdisso

DM: G. Pizarro/Salifu (not bad at all and young. And I suppose cheap. Recommended)/Badu (his usual reliable self. Equally adept at dlp/dm/cm)/Bertolacci (love him)/Eldal (bought for 6m. About 10m less than his real value)/Manu Fernandes (free from Russian team) - awesome stats and performances. More of a cm/alp. Bit temperamental.

OTHER MFS: Ljajic (v good never complains for not playing) /Drage/ Matias Fernandez (loved his stats but didnt fit in my tactics. Rarely played him so wanted to leave. Retrained him as an IFL now a fixture)/Kelvin (19yo wonderkid free from PORTO. Out on loan at Braga)/Ryder (young Brazilian IF. Scores for fun in FIFACL where he's used)

CFs: Abel Hernandez (very effective)/Destro/Babacar (only plays in FIFACL so far where he ripps it a new a-hole)/Mario Gomes (AWESOME. ONE OF BEST CFS IN FM13)/ G. Rossi (lovely -was there from the start)/Chicharito (off the tranny list for less than 10m - a bit underwhelming but thats cos of my tactics - only one of 3 I use has a poacher)/Jovetic (tires quickly. Injures often. Still awesome)/Batshuyi (his usual awesome self. Was instrumental in first season when GOMEZ got injured for 3 months)

So far: won Serie A by one point last match of season. Won Europa League. Finalist to Juve in Cup (2-1). Italian Super Cup winner (vs Juve 1-0)/Lost Euro Super Cup 1-0 to Barca.

 

[metalface13]

I ended up buying Bernard, he was transfer listed for 30.5m and Liverpool were also rumored to be interested, so I bit. I offered 10m as down payment and the rest over 48 months. Of course, as soon as I start negotiating the deal Gaitan starts playing well. It doesn't hurt that Falcao is back from injury and is able to finish the chances Gaitan creates.

I'm knocked out of the Copa Del Rey so La Liga and the Europa League are the only competitions I'm in, so I'll be sending Carlos Fierro out on loan to another Spanish side to continue his progress on getting Spanish nationality.

I've always heard good things about Abel Hernandez but I've never used him. You've got a lot of good CFs. What formation are you using with Fiorentina?

 

[MANUMAD]

I've always heard good things about Abel Hernandez but I've never used him. You've got a lot of good CFs. What formation are you using with Fiorentina?

1. Abel is quite effective.
2. Regarding my cf situation, its a consequence of how I play FM - always with an eye to instant results and if I also develop the team then fine. First season Gomez got injured 3/4 months and Jovetic/Rossi kept alternating getting injured.

As two of my tactics need 3 attacking players and the other is a T with 2 IFs I had to buy in January or risk not winning Serie A. So I bought Abel and Batshuyi.

2nd season J Hernandez was on tranny list and I never used him aside from my first save on FM13 I could not resist. Destro I bought cos he's effective, Italian and cheap and Babacar was in my reserves from the start.

Nobody is wasted as I need fresh players for an assault on 4 fronts.

 

[metalface13]

Are the squad restrictions in Serie A pretty lax? I find dealing with squad size in La Liga to be tougher than EPL and Ligue 1 (bulk of my FM experience, also MLS but that's a whole 'nother bucket of issues). 25 man squad, 3 non-EU players and players U-18 don't need to register. In the EPL it's U-21s don't need to register. I fiddled around with starting a Bundesliga save and it appeared there were no squad restrictions.

 

[Ilvesfan]

You seem to play the transfer game different to me.I usually aim for one or two good young players with one or two promising cheap youths if the current young guys are not good enough.

 

[MANUMAD]

Are the squad restrictions in Serie A pretty lax? I find dealing with squad size in La Liga to be tougher than EPL and Ligue 1 (bulk of my FM experience, also MLS but that's a whole 'nother bucket of issues). 25 man squad, 3 non-EU players and players U-18 don't need to register. In the EPL it's U-21s don't need to register. I fiddled around with starting a Bundesliga save and it appeared there were no squad restrictions.

Yes they are, as far as I know there are no squad restrictions size wise. Only restriction there is is that you can only buy up to 2 non-eu players from outside Italy per season (its ok if you buy them from other Italian teams tho). There is no registration process.

Bundesliga is even laxer. No squad restrictions, you can bring in foreigners etc. But trying to get the better of Bayern/Borussia is a *******.

 

[MANUMAD]

You seem to play the transfer game different to me.I usually aim for one or two good young players with one or two promising cheap youths if the current young guys are not good enough.

1. I try to win stuff and get success as immediately as possible. Hence in my first season in any new club I buy with that in mind.
2. Once I get immediate success, I make money and both this thing trigger the "people upstairs" to give me more money than they would otherwise would. And thats when I start doing what you do (but again with one eye on the continued trophy success target.
3. I find that one of the most important factors in FM13 is squad integration/cohesion (as discussed elsewhere in this thread), especially to avoid the dreaded second season syndrome. So that is always on my mind when I buy people.

Btw with FIORENTINA I decided I need freshening things up (though my bosses only give me 45% of transfer funds despite my repeated protestations):

1. Sold Vargas cos I got fed up of his play acting resulting in repeated red cards (I fined him he got angry, I got angry, sent him to the 3rd squad, sold him for double his value to Everton).
2. Sold Matias Fernandes to Celta for double his value. Wasnt too happy to do this as he has great stats and performs great at IF having been retrained there but he was one of the few expendable people in my team.
3. Sold Hiram Mier to Samp again for double his value.
4. Started retraining all my wbs to play on the opposite flanks and Abel Hernandez to also play at AMR (to be able to also use at IF).
5. Sold Ospina to Milan for double his value (1.8). I liked him but 3 gks in a team of FIORE's means is a luxury.
6. Im currently on 22 Dec 14 points behind Miland at top (but I have 3 matches in hand) and Ill wait to see how things pan out in Jan to decide whether Ill sell Batshuyi as he's too young/raw for me at present and valued at 5.5m I might be able to get 11+m for him to use elsewhere).

I now have 16m+ to play with and will either:

1. Spend it all on FLORENZI from Roma.
OR
2. Buy a good cb plus SADIO MANE (I think one of my two EU slots is Hiram Mier) and try to loan in another wb.

EDIT: In the end this is what happened:

1. Tried to offload Batshuui for 10.25m which is double his valuation. Only got loan offers so decided to keep him.
2. Sold the 50% of Stevan Savic I had left for 2.9m (which is his current valuation btw) to Milan. He may be young and with good stats but I dont like cbs with less than 12 pace at the very least and he has 10.
3. With all the money I got from all my sales FLORENZI who has moved to GENOA was too exp (quoted 18m) so I bought GIOVINCO for 8.5m (partly instalments) off the tranny list, plus EZEQUIEL MUNOZ at cb from Palermo (5m partly instalments) and MATHIAS ZIMMERMAN from Gladbach for 2m.

I now must resist the temptation to use them for about a month (except the odd sub appearance/against VALERENGA in the FIFA CL) to ensure my form doesnt dip.

4. Brought in a couple 15/16 yo regens with 4/5 stars potential - they ll get games in the FIFA CL esp.

 

[metalface13]

All the co-ownership stuff of Serie A is what has kept me from playing there. And I've even played MLS before ...

Bernard is legit! He's got like 5 goals in 7 games or something, granted one was a penalty, but still! The whole team is playing much better and I've moved into third in La Liga with something like 13 pts over Valencia in 4th. Still 6 pts off Real Madrid in 2nd (who have a game in hand) but like 15 points behind Barcelona in first. I really had a horrible start to the season. Really hoping Arsenal sign Bernard IRL.

 

[Ilvesfan]

I find it interesting that you say it is hard to beat Dortmund and Bayern in Bundesliga because i am 1st with schalke in the first season in december without any losses and three point lead over Dortmund that is my next opponent and i already have beaten Bayern 3-1 in the league

 

[MANUMAD]

All the co-ownership stuff of Serie A is what has kept me from playing there. And I've even played MLS before ...

Bernard is legit! He's got like 5 goals in 7 games or something, granted one was a penalty, but still! The whole team is playing much better and I've moved into third in La Liga with something like 13 pts over Valencia in 4th. Still 6 pts off Real Madrid in 2nd (who have a game in hand) but like 15 points behind Barcelona in first. I really had a horrible start to the season. Really hoping Arsenal sign Bernard IRL.

1. The co-ownership stuff is quite nice if you are a smaller team as basically you re given money and you keep the player for up to 2 seasons so your squad is bigger/better. And its a simple arrangement really: when a team bids to co-own a player you must agree the price (usually the valuation of the player/ a bit more), where he will play and whether it will be for 1 or 2 years. When the decision for full ownership comes both teams bid and the one who bids more (you dont know how much the other team bids) keeps the player.

With Bologna it helped me get people like Badu/Cuadrado etc in who I would not have been able to buy otherwise.

2. Bernard IS great. As all Brazilians in FM13 he tends to go off the boil for short periods but he still provides assists.

 

[MANUMAD]

I find it interesting that you say it is hard to beat Dortmund and Bayern in Bundesliga because i am 1st with schalke in the first season in december without any losses and three point lead over Dortmund that is my next opponent and i already have beaten Bayern 3-1 in the league

1. Very nice!
2. I only tried with WOLFSBURG but it was horrible. In the same save I also managed Belgium and I managed to come 2nd in EUROS and then win the WC! It was so bad I actually resigned from WOLFSBURG in my fourth season in frustration! Maybe my tactics dont work in GERMANY, maybe I built the squad wrongly, I dunno. Im actually thinking to start a new save with KARLSRUHE from the 3rd div as the best save I ever had was on FM12 with BIELEFELD from the same division.

 

[Ilvesfan]

1. Very nice!
2. I only tried with WOLFSBURG but it was horrible. In the same save I also managed Belgium and I managed to come 2nd in EUROS and then win the WC! It was so bad I actually resigned from WOLFSBURG in my fourth season in frustration! Maybe my tactics dont work in GERMANY, maybe I built the squad wrongly, I dunno. Im actually thinking to start a new save with KARLSRUHE from the 3rd div as the best save I ever had was on FM12 with BIELEFELD from the same division.

I use a 4-4-2 tactic with wingers and sometimes defensive midfielders and it works a treat.I only signed Aspas(great quality for 10m,and Ter Stegen as i needed a good goalkeeper)

 

[metalface13]

If I do a German save, which team do you think I should be? Schalke, Gladbach, Werder Bremen? HSV? Leverkusen?

 

[MANUMAD]

If I do a German save, which team do you think I should be? Schalke, Gladbach, Werder Bremen? HSV? Leverkusen?

Gladbach or HSV to give yourself a bit of a challenge ...

 

[MANUMAD]

The simplest way to tactics (either downloaded ones and tweaked to suit your squad etc / ones you make yourself) is:

1. Have a basic idea of how you want to play (be realistic - no tiki taka with Crew Alexandra in the first season for example). We all love footy and have watched it all our lives. Think about what you like to see and what works in real life and try to implement it - eg having a slow cb like J Terry man mark C Ronaldo in real life is a recepe for disaster. Same in FM - so dont have slow defenders on man mark - or if you re Chelski on FM and your other 3 defs are ok pace wise and you want to use man mark you could try giving terry zonal (but then dont play with off side trap as he'll always play people on, etc

2. Time and again I see people coming on this site frustrated with FM13 / asking for tactical help/ wondering what they do wrong and when they post the tactics they are allover the place. There are loads of good blogs etc on tactics so read around at least for the basics - high defence line goes with offside trap etc. But I said the "simplest" way so here goes: Balance (and pace everywhere as I say elsewhere in this thread). You should have people doing different stuff per "line" ie: dont have all defenders defend (have at least one fb/wb on automatic), in a 4 man mf you should have at least one player attacking one defending one supporting (plus the other on defending/attacking/supporting/auto). Also try to have your forwards doing different things. Its ok having both on attack (as long as the def and esp mf set up has enuf support potential to them) but dont have them in same roles! In a 3 man attack with a Treq/Target man up top and two IFs, having all three on attack is not balanced. A nice idea is the TM on attack the left IF on attack with a fb on auto behind him and the right IF on support with a wb on attack behind him.

3. FM Blogs I say above. There's loads - google Shrewnaldo/The FM Veteran which is an awesome blog that can start you off and on it there's links to about 10 more which also have links to others ....

 

[MANUMAD]

Are you bored of FM13? - GIVE IT A LEASE OF LIFE!

Recently Ive downloaded and been using a number of stuff designed to pretty up the FM experience / make it more exciting/interesting/challenging:

1. Downloaded an update with not only the summer transfers but a number of other goodies as well (real agents/more varied media outlets/new real wonderkids). Not LFC Marshall's but Nik33's - find it at the EDITOR's HIDEAWAY in the SI forums. This makes a number of teams much more interesting to play as - eg Swansea/Palermo/Shaktar and esp Aston Villa.

2. Downloaded new skins and packs which make me think FM13 is a new game.

3. Downloaded a nice WORLD club competition from this site which you can enter once you win your league (additional to the normal CL) - Have a look at the (Stuttgard) Breaking Bayern Dominance story in the story forum. The chance of playing against African/Arab/Asian teams or having your S. American team pitted against European teams is one that I love.

3. Downloaded extra leagues for future use.

4. Downloaded a fantasy world league structure with regional league competitions and started a new double team save with Velez and AL AHLY (an Egyptian team I know nothing about). ****** interesting I can tell you!

 

[Ilvesfan]

Why not start a save with san marino.That is interesting i tell you.

Btw on my schalke save i am running away from Bayern at winter break with 9 points to differ us and knocked them out of the cup.So not that hard with schalke to break the dominance in germany,though probably it is more difficult to do that with wolfsburg.

 

[MANUMAD]

Why not start a save with san marino.That is interesting i tell you.

Btw on my schalke save i am running away from Bayern at winter break with 9 points to differ us and knocked them out of the cup.So not that hard with schalke to break the dominance in germany,though probably it is more difficult to do that with wolfsburg.

1. San Marino yes. I agree. I also like 3rd Div Germany. But I wanted to suggest quirky stuff.
2. I dunno what happened with WOLFSBURG as I say above. Nothing I tried which worked elsewhere worked with them but even if it did and even if I managed to beat Bayern/Borussia (which I did half the time I played them) they NEVER seemed to dopped more than a couple of points elsewhere which was ridiculous. Juventus are the same btw but I really got the hang of them / Italy so no probs there ...

 

[Ilvesfan]

1. San Marino yes. I agree. I also like 3rd Div Germany. But I wanted to suggest quirky stuff.
2. I dunno what happened with WOLFSBURG as I say above. Nothing I tried which worked elsewhere worked with them but even if it did and even if I managed to beat Bayern/Borussia (which I did half the time I played them) they NEVER seemed to dopped more than a couple of points elsewhere which was ridiculous. Juventus are the same btw but I really got the hang of them / Italy so no probs there ...

Odd,on my save Dortmund and Bayern drop points constantly(or did,Bayern has not lost in a month at least)

Could you give me a link to the world league you use as there are so many.

Also,start a save with editor data that has Monaco in Ligue 1 with their transfers,you have 200 million transfer budget (6)