Football manager 2012 -IPad

[Finnegan]

You've never been playing, had an amazing run of form and got beat by bottom of the league who have awful morale and had won one game all season? Because I have and there's no reasoning for it really. Yeah it happens irl but if it's down to the maths and formulas as you say then it shouldn't.

To be honest, no, no that doesn't happen to me. Sincerely.

I've been on a good run of form and lost to terrible sides because I've gotten complacent and rested players or because I've "experimented" with team talks and managed to demotivate half my side (I do think the game puts far too much stock in team talks) while the opposition have whipped up their boys into a fever to play me but I've never thought "that was retarded" or "that was unfair."

[Dan LCFC]

YEEEEEEEEES

What a display, I might've just found the team here, I was missing De Sanctis/Cannavaro as well.

I've drawn Barca in the Champions League alongside Shakhtar & Olympiakos, I think we could well nab 2nd even though we were 4th seed.

[RonnieTodger]

Started a Rangers file after downloading someone's updates so it's basically the 2012/13 season. Won every game comfortably as you'd expect. In the semis of the Challenge Cup too.

Drew Celtic in the 3rd round of the League Cup and outplayed them, winning 2-0!

[Dan LCFC]

You couldn't make it up.

Defence worries me a lot mind, we got absolutely belted 1-5 by Barca in the Champions League (I've lost two games in charge of Napoli and they've both come at home to Barca, weird) and we've not kept a clean sheet all season in any competition, the forward trio keep getting us out of jail - then again, that's very realistic and pretty much exactly Napoli's game plan.

Fvck this shite, I'm off to bed, another absolutely horrendous defensive display leads to our first defeat of the season - 4-3 at Cagliari.

Then again with the chances we had, we could've conceded more than that and won, so wasteful it was laughable.

Not worried though, bad day at the office for Lavezzi/Hamsik and as usual, the three "defend"ers. They're all a disgrace.

[Ozwin]

Because your continental reputation reflects the fact you're known all over, for example, Asia for winning their Champions League. Only the real football nerds in Europe will have heard of you.

How many times do you hear the phrase "a manager that knows this league" in real life when teams are looking for a new boss? It's realistic really.

You don't see a lot of managers with no history in England come in out of nowhere because they've been successful in Africa or Asia.

Try taking a smaller job to boost your local reputation in England or France or something. Holland maybe.

Took your advice and got the Kaiserslauten job in Germany. Signed Sneidjer on 24k a week and Lorik Cana (on a bit more than 24k though haha) and have won my first 4 games so far. Loving it.

[Finnegan]

Took your advice and got the Kaiserslauten job in Germany. Signed Sneidjer on 24k a week and Lorik Cana (on a bit more than 24k though haha) and have won my first 4 games so far. Loving it.

Yeah the Bundesliga is a cracking league on FM, I don't want to say "easy" as that sounds a bit disparaging and you don't actually get a lot of money at some of the smaller clubs but it's all very open and competitive so you won't get thrashed by a Barca or a Chelsea every other week.

But it's not too hard to get into the CL places and then the money and prestige that brings can get you some cracking players.

[Danizen]

United wanted £106Million for Jonny Evans even though he was fourth choice for them!

[GLC]

Just signed a player for Leicester, who was previously on loan to them 2 years before i arrived, he cost me 30Mil!! they could have signed him on a free!!!

Just signed a player for Leicester, who was previously on loan to them 2 years before i arrived, he cost me 30Mil!! they could have signed him on a free!!!

[GLC]

Managed to get 24Mil for Emmanuel-Thomas, He went to Spurs, Not a bad deal really,

[Dan LCFC]

Back on I go. Finally kept a clean sheet in a 0-1 win at Olympiakos, absolutely huge win for me that, real smash and grab too.

Standard, just killed Novara 5-1, another supreme attacking display yet another goal conceded.

My forward three just wow;

Cavani, played 7, scored 11, set up 2, rating 8.37

Lavezzi, played 7, scored 5, set up 7, rating 7.73

Hamsik, played 7, scored 3, set up 8, rating 7.83

I don't know if it's easier to get ridiculous ratings like that on 12, but this is sensational stuff from all 3, amazing.

The thing that I like however is the fact I actually have half-decent cover, I don't expect Pandev/Vargas to produce anything like that but they're definitely good enough to see off most teams in this league, I'll only worry if I lose more than one at a time.

[Dan LCFC]

Gutted, lost 3-2 at Shakhtar in the last minute following a comeback from 2 down. Shakhtar won at Barca

We score a ridiculous number, another 4 hit at Cesena and FINALLY a clean sheet at home to Lazio in a 2-0 win (they've been awful), but we were finally stopped ourselves, AC Milan beat us 1-0 to nick our top spot, criminally undeserved but FM threw up its standard trick of injurying every single player of a certain position, Dossena, Maggio & Zuniga all injured in the space of 4 days, the game is fixed, I'm certain of it. Had to play Vargas and Lavezzi wide mids, horrendous, but to be fair both played alright.

Shakhtar at home next for us, we need a big win and hope that Barca stuff them in the other game although 3rd wouldn't be a disaster, purely because I think the Europa League is winnable, we're absolutely scintillating going forward but I take no real credit.

Glad to finally get into a game though. Sums me up how I have more success with 3-4-2-1 in Italy than I do with anything at Leicester.

[Finnegan]

You're going to ship goals with that formation, as long as you're out-scoring people just go with it.

Man City played that system against my Betis side in the champs league last season and I absolutely trashed them. I play a 451 / 433 attacking and my AML and AMR ran riot. They're both converted strikers and they had oceans of space running from out wide.

The AMC enjoyed himself even more because there was miles and miles between the three defenders and the rest of the team.

I was literally counter attacking 4 vs 3. And with a tidy flat back four and a good DMC anchor man their extra attackers were wasted.

[Dan LCFC]

Fair play, got it spot on there, it's all about matching up who's your stronger players, I mean do you set up to protect your weak players or set up to accommodate your stronger?

I've accepted I'll leak goals but our defence is literally one of the worst in Italy, I'm not changing formation but I do intend to get better defenders in.

Well tell a lie, the only formation I'd consider testing is 4-3-2-1, so I've got my forward three in the exact same positions and I personally don't think Maggio/Dossena are contributing loads to us, they are but not massively.

[Finnegan]

Personally I'd make a tough decision and lose an attacker. Always play four at the back, even in the most offensive systems. Not just to keep your tally of goals conceded down but also to keep your possession up and, hence, create more yourself.

Have you considered wingbacks to give you width and cover with two CBS? That way you'd still fit a few AMCs in.

As for accommodating players, you always want a system that allows you to field your best guys but don't sacrifice the basics if you want to be successful.

[GLC]

[Richard]

It's 2018 and we're still getting an attendance of 32,000? Wow

[Dan LCFC]

My league form's gone a bit iffy, I've slipped to fifth.

Knocked out the Champions League, yet again I have drawn Celtic in the Europa like I always used to on 11, it's amazing how often I play them.

January saw me add two players although one of them joins in July, Jerome Roussillon his name is, fvck knows how good he'll be.

Also signed Dante for £7.5mil, even in our formation surely someone with attributes like his can't fail.

Look at the fvcking posession that is so daft.

[shen]

Look at the fvcking posession that is so daft.

That's what a classic FM 4-3-3 will do. My mate has played that very same formation, which I can't imagine was of his own invention, for the past two or three FMs now. Counter-attacking football that would rarely fail. Hate that it's still as effective now as it was then.

[Finnegan]

I don't have a problem with it, when it's done properly it is effective in real life. Look at the Arsenal teams of their championship years, all about winning possession and destroying teams quickly at speed. Most of my FM tactics are like that, you still need good players to pull it off.

What annoys me far more is how piss week Barcelona become on the game. AI for the major teams needs to get much better. I rarely take a save that long but, like GLC above, I have a Betis save in 2018 and Barcelona are a shit top five team that never replenish retired players by buying genuine world class.

Their star signings in the last season were thirty something Hamsik and Ozul and a couple of terrible regens.

Meanwhile Swansea are a top four club, Hercules are top three and Bari are challenging for Serie A.

If they can work it with smaller clubs they can do it with the big ones.

[shen]

I don't have a problem with it, when it's done properly it is effective in real life. Look at the Arsenal teams of their championship years, all about winning possession and destroying teams quickly at speed. Most of my FM tactics are like that, you still need good players to pull it off.

It's actually one of the least demanding formations player-wise. You don't need any wingers at all for one. Playing with 3 central midfielders and 3 strikers means you don't have to retrain anyone as they should all be playing their natural position, despite the outer two strikers effectively working as inside forwards. My beef is that the formation can be highly successful unchanged despite being a 'classic' formation.

What annoys me far more is how piss week Barcelona become on the game. AI for the major teams needs to get much better. I rarely take a save that long but, like GLC above, I have a Betis save in 2018 and Barcelona are a shit top five team that never replenish retired players by buying genuine world class.

Their star signings in the last season were thirty something Hamsik and Ozul and a couple of terrible regens.

Meanwhile Swansea are a top four club, Hercules are top three and Bari are challenging for Serie A.

If they can work it with smaller clubs they can do it with the big ones.

The top teams in England always do quite well on my save, Man City in particular. Barca and Real are also still top dogs on mine around 2017-18

[Finnegan]

Man City do alright, yes, but they, Bayern and Real are the only ones.

Barcelona, Chelsea, Man Utd, AC Milan and others are all scrapping about between third and eighth in their leagues. It'd just never happen.

Man City do alright, yes, but they, Bayern and Real are the only ones.

Barcelona, Chelsea, Man Utd, AC Milan and others are all scrapping about between third and eighth in their leagues. It'd just never happen. One of them maybe, but all?

Just makes the game too simple. I'm on the verge of a third successive CL. I usually only take a save four or five seasons because I tend to get bored once I've won everything but I really wanted to do some of the Steam challenges. Best in Europe, best in World, etc, but they're just too easy once you're established.

[shen]

Man City do alright, yes, but they, Bayern and Real are the only ones.

Barcelona, Chelsea, Man Utd, AC Milan and others are all scrapping about between third and eighth in their leagues. It'd just never happen. One of them maybe, but all?

Just makes the game too simple. I'm on the verge of a third successive CL. I usually only take a save four or five seasons because I tend to get bored once I've won everything but I really wanted to do some of the Steam challenges. Best in Europe, best in World, etc, but they're just too easy once you're established.

Chelsea are doing well on my game incidentally, but on the whole I agree that it gets a bit easy. As long as the AI doesn't recognise that key stats trump CA/PA and reputation, then I'm afraid it'll likely stay that way.

However, it would be odd if the game didn't appear easier once you've built up a great team. Games against most big clubs are still pretty evenly balanced with the odd thrashing in there. But the knockout nature of the CL means it still is very much a challenge.

[Finnegan]

I dunno, I feel my Betis side is so strong I piss everything every year. I'm not the worst in the world at FM but even being good at it there should always be a challenge.

For years, if you want a tough game you need to play as a conference team or somebody bankrupt and build them up but I can never quite get in to that because taking Acrington to the Champs league in five or six years is just so detached from reality I can't immerse.

Top level management is hard, incredibly hard, Ferguson is considered one of the best ever because not just everyone could do it, yet starting a save as Man Utd is like setting the difficultly to easy.

The game needs to be challenging at every level, is essentially what I'm saying, or I think 2013 will be my last purchase. It's getting stale.

[GLC]

Man City do alright, yes, but they, Bayern and Real are the only ones.

Barcelona, Chelsea, Man Utd, AC Milan and others are all scrapping about between third and eighth in their leagues. It'd just never happen. One of them maybe, but all?

Just makes the game too simple. I'm on the verge of a third successive CL. I usually only take a save four or five seasons because I tend to get bored once I've won everything but I really wanted to do some of the Steam challenges. Best in Europe, best in World, etc, but they're just too easy once you're established.

I Agree, On my save, Man utd have finished 7th 3 time, Chelsea have finished 11th and Arsenal have finished 9th

[shen]

I dunno, I feel my Betis side is so strong I piss everything every year. I'm not the worst in the world at FM but even being good at it there should always be a challenge.

For years, if you want a tough game you need to play as a conference team or somebody bankrupt and build them up but I can never quite get in to that because taking Acrington to the Champs league in five or six years is just so detached from reality I can't immerse.

Top level management is hard, incredibly hard, Ferguson is considered one of the best ever because not just everyone could do it, yet starting a save as Man Utd is like setting the difficultly to easy.

The game needs to be challenging at every level, is essentially what I'm saying, or I think 2013 will be my last purchase. It's getting stale.

But that's because as you so often state, this is a game of numbers. A player's ability or potential cannot be made into simple numbers in real life. No-one can argue that Man Utd have just about the best platform infra-structurally and financially in the world to be the very best. What makes management at that level tough these days is managing egos and the press, both of which are trivial, mundane job in FM. Taking Man Utd in FM will likely ALWAYS be easy...