Football Manager 2014 Discussion

[KyzBP]

Seriously? No "Congratulations" for the Judge on keeping his contract?  ;)

You must have some photos of the chairman in compromising positions.   I've been sacked in far better positions.  The question is can you improve during the next season and keep your job?

Keep us posted.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't want to know what positions your sack was in thank you kindly!

I'm definitely going to be looking deep into the squad...looking at weak points and building a better squad. The squad have a year under their belts now. I can see how their training has gone and their attitude. I can see match stats and go from there.

I think the key thing is to not let all the bad players go before I look and get better players (something I did in OOTP!)

The news reports two games previous to the end game reported my job as being in jeopardy. Now the board has come back to me with a mid table target...so I had better get my shit together.

Scrutiny will be the name of the game in the off season.

[KyzBP]

I don't want to know what positions your sack was in thank you kindly!

::) Lol, I guess I could've worded that better. 

[BanzaiCat]

Wiki is your friend  ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_Cup

Sure, Wiki is, but so too are you guys.

I'd rather get my info straight from people whom know what they're talking about. Not that Wiki is incorrect here, but you guys save me from a lot of reading. :)

I did look up Gloucester...not the greatest of teams.

And I went and played that game (took screens but I won't bore you with them). We won 4-3. My goalkeeper got a frigging red card halfway through the game and got put to pasture. I did not have the goalkeeper I replaced as a backup (oops). I'm rather shocked we won, actually.

Got an e-mail after the game that said Shaw (my very successful to date 42-year-old GK) was banned for one match.

I gotta wonder what the hell he did. In the scoring animation, I saw his dot literally CHARGE the hell out of the box and into the middle of a mass of players.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't think you thought I was - but just to be clear I wasn't trying to come across condescending by my post - I of course you know about Wiki.

The "Wiki is your friend" is just something I put in front of a wiki link as lots of people have done so with me when I ask questions about baseball for OOTP. Something I picked up on the interwebs.

Like you though, I'd rather ask experienced players and people with knowledge of the game than read a big boring page.

The Wiki page has lots of interesting links about aspects of the cup (winners for example) and various tidbits about "Giant Killers" and the like

ALWAYS take a spare keeper. Players are totally rubbish in goal. If a keeper gets sent off, it's normally bad news for that team unless they have a sub keeper. I've seen many games over the years "in the bag" go south quick because all allowed subs were used and the keeper couldn't be brought on.

I'm not a huge fan of football, which is why this game has caught me off guard. I prefer rugby myself and would love a rugby sim.

[BanzaiCat]

I don't think you thought I was - but just to be clear I wasn't trying to come across condescending by my post...

Not taken that way, sir. No worries.

I probably should have started there anyway.

ALWAYS take a spare keeper. Players are totally rubbish in goal. If a keeper gets sent off, it's normally bad news for that team unless they have a sub keeper. I've seen many games over the years "in the bag" go south quick because all allowed subs were used and the keeper couldn't be brought on.

I'm going to have to remember this.  :-[

I'm not a huge fan of football, which is why this game has caught me off guard. I prefer rugby myself and would love a rugby sim.

I thought there were some rugby games out there. But you're meaning a rugby game like FM 2014, right?

[JudgeDredd]

Yeah - exactly like FM or OOTP :-(

[KyzBP]

I'm still playing this rather religiously, with breaks for Distant Worlds. 

I just completed my most successful season on FM14 so far.  I added the English Lower Leagues (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=192403796) and, for no reason other than I liked their crest and colors, selected a club called Bashley FC.  The club is fantastic, a true lower league gem.  Maybe the club was the mod designer's favorite or something but it's almost perfect with which to get a career started.  The club averages 4000 fans a game and the Board is very understanding.  I went 85k over my wage budget and they were very understanding.  I was able to win the Southern Premier League title, get a stadium expansion and, training and youth facilities improvement approved.

You'll have to pick up a few players but this team is a lot of fun so far.

[CptHowdy]

I'm still playing this rather religiously, with breaks for Distant Worlds. 

I just completed my most successful season on FM14 so far.  I added the English Lower Leagues (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=192403796) and, for no reason other than I liked their crest and colors, selected a club called Bashley FC.  The club is fantastic, a true lower league gem.  Maybe the club was the mod designer's favorite or something but it's almost perfect with which to get a career started.  The club averages 4000 fans a game and the Board is very understanding.  I went 85k over my wage budget and they were very understanding.  I was able to win the Southern Premier League title, get a stadium expansion and, training and youth facilities improvement approved.

You'll have to pick up a few players but this team is a lot of fun so far.

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveengnl.htm

yeah sounds to good to be true. the largest attendance they ever had was 3500 back in 87/88 and they are currently averaging 168 fans per game so 4k a game is way out of whack!  what is your wage budget per week? my skrill south team has a wage budget per week of 4.8k and the team is bleeding money.

[KyzBP]

I'm still playing this rather religiously, with breaks for Distant Worlds. 

I just completed my most successful season on FM14 so far.  I added the English Lower Leagues (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=192403796) and, for no reason other than I liked their crest and colors, selected a club called Bashley FC.  The club is fantastic, a true lower league gem.  Maybe the club was the mod designer's favorite or something but it's almost perfect with which to get a career started.  The club averages 4000 fans a game and the Board is very understanding.  I went 85k over my wage budget and they were very understanding.  I was able to win the Southern Premier League title, get a stadium expansion and, training and youth facilities improvement approved.

You'll have to pick up a few players but this team is a lot of fun so far.

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveengnl.htm

yeah sounds to good to be true. the largest attendance they ever had was 3500 back in 87/88 and they are currently averaging 168 fans per game so 4k a game is way out of whack!  what is your wage budget per week? my skrill south team has a wage budget per week of 4.8k and the team is bleeding money.

I knew it was too good to be true.  Now I feel kind of dirty playing these guys.

The Board authorized me a wage budget of 675 per week but I ignored their limit and eventually had a budget of about 2300 Pounds a week.
Since my promotion, they've authorized a budget of about 6000 Pounds a week.  We've been moved to a temporary stadium this season while they increase our capacity.
I should have all the tools to blast through the Skrill South in one season.  It almost feels unfair now.

If it gets too easy I'll try to get hired by my fake team, which get relegated from the Skrill South last season.

[CptHowdy]

anyone have a good tactic for scoring on corners? i get 5-10 a game but cant remember scoring on them.

[BanzaiCat]

I think I'm playing the "little brother" version of this game and will refrain from posting here again unless it's pertaining to the *real* PC version.

I just probably didn't pay that close attention when I started up (or actually more likely, had no idea what I was doing) and just got lucky to start a team that had halfway-athletic players instead of couch-and-pint jockeys.

[KyzBP]

I'm so demoralized right now.  I was 10 points clear at the top of the Skrill South with 4 games to go.  My team then takes a huge $#&@ and picks up 1 of a possible 12 points.  I then fall to second and lose the automatic promotion bid.  Next, I have to suffer through the agony of the playoffs.  Now, by agony I don't mean that it's boring or monotonous, just the opposite.  It's incredibly tense and nerve wracking, especially when your team just dropped 11 of 12 points.

So the first leg is away and we lose 2-0.  Now I'm angry beyond words.  It took me nearly a month of real time to get to this point.  The second leg is home and we manage to win 3-0 but lose our leading striker, left wing, and veteran DC but at least we get to the final playoff game.

The game is at home where we've been pretty solid all season.  We go down 1-0 before half.  Then we begin trading goals until the score is tied at 2 each.  In the process we lose another striker and a midfielder.  Because of substitutions I'm now entering extra time (overtime) with only 10 men on the field.  With about 5 minutes left in extra time their keeper (goalie) gives me an own goal.  Things are looking good and I have a smile on my face...temporarily.  Not a minute later we commit a foul near our net and they score on a penalty shot.  My keeper didn't even budge and now it's 3-3.  Extra time ends and we go into a shootout.

The first thing I notice is the players who were subbed out are my best penalty shooters.  Things were looking good though because after 5 attempts we had put all 5 past their keeper.  Unfortunately, they put all theirs past mine as well. :(   We ended up going 9 players in before one of my players finally missed.  Their players, on the other hand, would remain perfect as the last one lobbed a shot past my directionally dyslexic keeper and just like that I'll be enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Skrill South...again. 

I may need a Combat Mission break or something less stressful.

[Nefaro]

I'm so demoralized right now.  I was 10 points clear at the top of the Skrill South with 4 games to go.  My team then takes a huge $#&@ and picks up 1 of a possible 12 points.

Tears the ass right out of your heart, doesn't it?

Never fails.. I nearly always lose early in the playoffs.  In any sports manager sims.  I can sim all season long with a decent team and game plan, get a nice winning record, and Murphy inevitably strikes in the form of losing my first playoff game.  Doesn't matter if I had been brutalizing everyone during the regular season or not.

I managed to win a couple Super Bowls with some, but those are few and very far between.  Probably with teams that I never expected to even reach the playoffs.

[CptHowdy]

just got promoted from the skrill south. I am playing redditch which had just been promoted to the skrill leagues. took me 3 seasons to get em promoted. hopefully I can stay up in the skrill premier. first playoff game I got a guy sent off early and held on to a 2-2 draw. second game I won 2-0. final playoff game I got a guy sent off again(first 20 minutes) but managed to hang on for a 1-0 win and got the promotion. found a great tactic  from this page. I picked the first one on the list!

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2014-tactics/148092-mantorras77s-tactic-testing-league.html

there are threads dedicated to the tactics. good idea to read em if you see a formation you might want to try out.