[Archived] Football Manager 2008

[Hughesy]

A big key is to make sure you have at least 6 pre-season friendlies, but not many more.

And dont change your 1st team dramatically - teams work your team out but if you change say 5 players, it takes time for them to gel and teams will beat you.

[RibbleValleyRover]

With a previous save i stuck with a 4-4-2 system, won all my preseason freindly's intertoto qualifer and my first 5 games in the league. Then suddenly i lost the next seven games against what i call considerably weaker opposition. I didn't change the team around majorly, didn't sign loads of new players as from experience that can ruin the harmony in the team. I did make small tweaks based on the opposition, if they had pacier strikers, key AMC in their side etc. Just couldn't fathom why my tactic just suddenly stopped working.

I think with this version its really hard to get a flat 4-4-2 system working and working well. It seems the game favours playing a lone striker with an AMC just behind him. I'm thinking of trying a 442 diamond next time round, or a 4-4-1-1.

I'm about to start again as the save became corrupted (knew i should of saved more than one copy of the save!)

I'm having major difficulty finding some good strikers to buy. Stancu costs a lot more on the 8.02 patch and the club usually wants far more than i'm willing to part with, Altidore is unable to transfer until January as he is under 18, The Turkish lad Kose has said he isn't interested in coming to Rovers. Anyone know any good cheap strikers who will be willing to come to Rovers during the first season and preferably at the start not in january?

[Hughesy]

I use a 4-4-2 formation always and it always works with the right players. How can I post my tactic on here to show you?

See if you can sign Ekra (French I think). In the 1st season there are some decent loan signings to be had to. Usually a good few from Chelsea are available. Maybe look at Saviet or whatever his name is, another french AM/ ST.

Pre-seasons are easy to win, dont go off them. Unless you make some decent changes to Rovers at the beginning then they are poor and you probably will struggle.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Tried Ekra and Saivet, both turned me down as they said they were too young and felt they still had a lot to learn at their current club.

[RoversSG]

If you have the money and if you're doing well enough, sinama pongelle would be a great buy. Excellent as a lone striker and he has a min fee release clause of about 7m (you can try bidding at 6, i got it accepted a few times). If you're looking for really cheap strikers like stancu pre 8.02, i would suggest just stick to benni or RSC. It's much harder to find cheap, young and good strikers in 8.02

[RibbleValleyRover]

If you have the money and if you're doing well enough, sinama pongelle would be a great buy. Excellent as a lone striker and he has a min fee release clause of about 7m (you can try bidding at 6, i got it accepted a few times). If you're looking for really cheap strikers like stancu pre 8.02, i would suggest just stick to benni or RSC. It's much harder to find cheap, young and good strikers in 8.02

I'm probably going to stick with the current strikers until either January or the summer. I've got Roque scoring and setting up quite a fair few goals atm, plus Benni and Derbs are chipping in so i seem to be doing ok now on that front. I might move for Altidore in January or the summer, plus i am sending a few scouts out to find some talent.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I would say get Altidore as soon as you can. I got him in season 1 and he is in his second season at Brugge and is scoring for fun, I think Milan and Barca are interested in him, and Diogo as well.

I think he hit 3 10-10-10 ratings recently.

I hope he's this good in the Premiership but I suppose the Belgian league is weaker.

[Hughesy]

There isnt a great need to change your strikers early on.

Im in the 3rd season with Blackburn - 16pts clear with 10 games to go.

My strikers are at the moment.

1st team squad, Altidore, Cruz, Derbyshire, Zeefuik, McCarthy, Ekra

but also got Ashley Young, Stokes and Saivet.

Reserve Squad (Potential builder) - De Vita, Luis Paez (Paid 600k worth £2.5m now), Guilherme, Victor Moses (Palace 90k, now worth £3.9m)

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Im in the 3rd season with Blackburn - 16pts clear with 10 games to go.

My strikers are at the moment.

1st team squad, Altidore, Cruz, Derbyshire, Zeefuik, McCarthy, Ekra

but also got Ashley Young, Stokes and Saivet.

You must have some midfield & defence to be that far clear, with such an average forward line.

[Hughesy]

Average forward line?? Altidore is class and Benni Mac is the top scorer in the league on 19 (although he just got injured for the nxt 5months.

Midfield squad contains - Young, Saviet, Stokes, Bangera, Mokoena, Denilson (From Arsenal), Pedersen, Sergio Mota, Carlos Alberton & Pablo Piatti - 10 midfielders for 4 slots, keeps them fresh for all the games we have.

Just got knocked out of Champs league Quarter final by Inter on away goals.

[Rover down South]

Sergio Aguero from Athletico is sheer class if you can get him, quite expensive but scores a lot of goals.

First time ever on Football manager that I've had a keeper score that wasn't from a set piece! A drop kick that fluiked its way in according to match report!

The keeper that scored was Akinfeev by the way. Not a bad keeper.

[Hughesy]

Hes one of the best keepers on the game but costs a mint.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Altidore has done his days and got his Belgian citizenship but he still has the WP icon. Do I need to apply again? And if so, how?

Annoying me now

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Average forward line?? Altidore is class and Benni Mac is the top scorer in the league on 19 (although he just got injured for the nxt 5months.

Midfield squad contains - Young, Saviet, Stokes, Bangera, Mokoena, Denilson (From Arsenal), Pedersen, Sergio Mota, Carlos Alberton & Pablo Piatti - 10 midfielders for 4 slots, keeps them fresh for all the games we have.

Just got knocked out of Champs league Quarter final by Inter on away goals.

There is no way on my game rovers would be 19 points top, with a first choice striking partnership with CA’s of only 140 & 165 respectively. When Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea & arsenal will have forward line with players with a CA of more than 180.

That’s unless you have edited there stats?

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Still need help, Diogo appears to be able to play but some (Altidore etc) are still needing a WP although they appear to have complete the days. I think this might be a bug as they went from 700 days or so and are now on over 1100.

I dunno how to get them to be able to play.

[American]

Offer a new contract. Usually they will accept what they are already on.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Doesn't appear to have worked....

[Hughesy]

The new contract usually does the trick - usually you can do it after 2 years.

As for the forward line bazza - McCarthy is top scorer (although now out injured) and then all my midfielders have got goals too. Young is on 11, Pedersen on 8, Stokes on 5 etc. Altidores stats are poor but he is still wanted by 4 massive clubs and still does the business for me with Benni.

Dont edit any stats or anything - the main thing i do is blood youngsters early on to really help their development. Even if I have better older platers, I still try to play the kids instead - except when its not a good idea - i.e. against Arsenal and the mancs. I dont allow my kids to play internationals for the under - x teams either once they are around my 1st team. I think my current set of players have developed so well because of the amount of games we play and cups we win.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Just thought i would mention a possible striker for any of you to look at.

Salvador Cabanas- Paraguayan striker, (one of Roque's international teamates) who i bought from America in the Mexican league. On my save he has finishing at 20, Heading at 17, decent jumping, pace and passing. His composure could be a bit better i'll admit, but he has been brilliant for me so far. Played three prem games and he has scored six goals, including a hatrick against Chelsea.

[bluebruce]

Still need help, Diogo appears to be able to play but some (Altidore etc) are still needing a WP although they appear to have complete the days. I think this might be a bug as they went from 700 days or so and are now on over 1100.

I dunno how to get them to be able to play.

Well, I'm using the original version with no patches. But, how I got out of that situation was to send them on loan again then recall them. Of course, in the original doing this gives them 300 days automatically, so for a similar result on a patched version you might want to loan them out for another season and recall them (or recall them halfway through to see if it has worked, then reload the game to before that if it hasn't, or send them out again, whatever floats your boat).

I won't even get started on how my team is now. Well, I will a little, just briefly. Unfortunately I currently have something like 180 players on my books, and I doubt this is a good idea...but I'm really struggling to sell people off. Well, if they're not that great I sometimes get about 10 million for them, but if they're awesome nobody is interested. I still can't get anyone to buy Moraes. So I'm choosing certain players I want to get off the books for wage reasons or because I think they're quality but don't want to renew their contracts, and giving them playing time in 'easier' games to see if they can attract bidders. Will see how it turns out. But yeh, struggling to sell as many as I'd like, and basically I buy every youngster with three or more star potential. Probably about 60 of my players are players like this. I shouldn't bother giving you names since 99 percent of them only exist on my version of the game. But I have three defenders with 190 potential ability, and I just signed some South American striker (Paraguayan I think) with a mind boggling 197 potential ability. I got a new keeper in the summer, Marco Amelia (this guy does exist in the real game) on a free with wages of about 9k p/w, with stats that I thought were just decent, and was shocked to see his starting value at 12 million. Checked and his ability is about 177, and he's playing pretty well so far. Got him, my young keeper Carlos (again, this guy won't exist on your games), with Friedel and Kuszcak too, and a horde of young talented keepers. I'm eagerly waiting for Petr Cech's contract to run out at the end of this season though, as he wants to leave and join me but the price tag is still huge. My club reputation is just short of worldwide, so when it becomes worldwide I hope to be able to attract Bojan, as I'm more than happy to pay his 42 million release clause (I'm absolutely loaded, with nearly 10 million a month coming in past player sales, and my merchandise revenue has doubled each year for most seasons, probably thanks to my financial feeder clubs).

I had a good, hard, long look at Sergio Aguero, Rover down South. Excellent player, but I'll have to part with 40 million to get him, and I'm absolutely choc-a-block with strikers at the moment. Kevin Doyle, Anelka, Kose, Floro Flores, Goitom, McCarthy (trying to get rid of him though, big earner and never really needed), and a bunch of players who don't usually feature unless I'm playing a naff team and trying to attract a bidder- Cameron Jerome, Derbyshire, Moraes, and about ten lads in the reserves. The main problem being, I only ever play one up front in my 4-1-3-1-1 formation. So it's very hard to keep them all pleased already, and although Aguero is probably better than any of mine, he has a few weaknesses that I'm not sure would suit him to playing as the lone striker. So with all that considered, it's a lot of money to splash out. Rooney was a little more suitable, but has a massive wage, would cost about 70 million, and I really don't want to give United 70 million.

These days I'm pretty much solely buying those youngsters with amazing potential...some of them are starting to blood really well now. Only defenders so far, if you don't count Lulinha and Miralem Pjanic who have been in the team for a few seasons now. And again, if anyone hasn't got these players, BUY them. They're just brilliant...lightning fast, brilliant distance shooters, they really trouble defences in my formation and score as many from attacking centre mid as you'd expect from a key striker. Rotating the two of them just keeps them ravenously hungry, although it does mean excellent players like Aimar and Fabio (or possibly Franco) Brienza rarely play. Also, I very easily retrained Pjanic as a striker (a role he'd excel in)...he went from having no ability there at all to having 18 (accomplished) in a year, and Lulinha did something similar at right wing. Shame it seems impossible to train them higher than that. Worst thing though was that I played Bosnia with my Czech Republic team, and they played him as a striker (where I've never ACTUALLY played him) and he pounded me with two goals in the first 15 mins! Fortunately he then obliged me kindly by getting himself sent off and we went on to win 3-2. Annoying though, to have trained him for use against me.

I've ranted more than I intended, again...oh, one more thing. I think I mentioned a full-back/winger called Fabio, who I sold to some French team for about 18 million a couple of months after getting him for free when United terminated his contract...well, they sold him on to Arsenal for 21 million, giving me a nice 30 percent or so slice of it! I'd recommend looking him up if you can get him cheap, did remarkable business. He's fast but I don't know why clubs are falling over themselves to get him, he's average otherwise. There are a lot of Fabios, and I don't know whether he's a generated player or not, but you might see him in the Brazillian national side youth teams (always worth scouting those anyway). He'll be very young unless you're far in.

Argh, one more thing, a question actually. I seem to be incapable of getting players that, in their personal section, are labelled 'world class' players. I have players with worldwide reputations, but they're never down as worldclass. I even bought Andres Guardado, who was playing for mid-table Newcastle, for 35 million, whilst he was labelled as a 'world class winger'...a season or so down the line I look and he's just a cultured winger now. Does anybody know why this is? It's almost as perplexing as why Antonio Floro Flores, who won European Player of the Year, has never been even called into the Italy squad, nor has the outstanding Lulinha (whose ability is now at 195) been called into the Brazil squad. Perhaps strangest of all, my fourth or fifth choice left back Marcus Williams keeps getting called into the England squad (uncapped though still), and Nedum Onuoha, who is just brilliant and plays at right back or centre back, has never been called in and usually isn't even watched if the England manager (Still McClown) attends a game. Anyway, enough rambling...damned game is destroying my life...

[RibbleValleyRover]

A player who i strongly recommend is Rinar Valeev. Very versatile player (Can play 7 positions), great mental and technical stats. Very cheap at the start as well.

[Hughesy]

My club reputation is just short of worldwide, so when it becomes worldwide I hope to be able to attract Bojan, as I'm more than happy to pay his 42 million release clause (I'm absolutely loaded, with nearly 10 million a month coming in past player sales, and my merchandise revenue has doubled each year for most seasons, probably thanks to my financial feeder clubs).

It's almost as perplexing as why Antonio Floro Flores, who won European Player of the Year, has never been even called into the Italy squad, nor has the outstanding Lulinha (whose ability is now at 195) been called into the Brazil squad.

BBruce!! Finally secured Bojan last night after 3 full seasons - 3rd season I just won the league by 8 pts and won the league cup. Had to wait until he only had 1 month left on his contract and he finally was interested. He wanted £75k per week but i managed to get him on 10k less than that.

Funny you mention the players getting into certain national sides. I have Ashley young who hasnt made the squad, but last night he made the world cup semi final as his debut and scored. If only they tried him sooner!!

My club rep is still just continental too so that musnt count against Bojan.

Was annoyed however last night. My stadium was up to 39,636 or something and the club decided we needed to go bigger. However i think in the original settings the max is 40k at rovers. So the board are now building the 'Parkes stadium' with a 52,000+ stadium at a cost of £206m. That now leaves me with just £30m in the bank - £29m of which is for signings and now a loan against the club at £750k per month!! Since then in pre-season im trying to release some players and get tha books back up. So far managed to recoup some money - sold Mokoena for £2m, Saviet for £7.5m + 25% sell on as he was unhappy with competition for places and also the norweigan defender norveidt or whatever his name is for £9.25m - although i didnt want to, but the board went over my head!!! so thats what im on with at the moment. Also Brazil manager has been sacked, so i may consider applying!

As for my average front line. I now have Benni, Altidore, Ekra, Cruz, Derbyshire and Iv just signed Bojan, Balotelli (!? not sure on spelling - From inter) and Defoe for £9m. Also have Zeefuik who is wanted by alot of teams, just about to go on loan and im trying to get rid of Derbyshire & Cruz.

[bluebruce]

The Parkes Stadium?!? Christ, we love Tony, but not that much! A Walker Park or something would be a bit more likely methinks. Oh well. I artificially pushed my expansion capacity to 50k, as I said earlier, because I reasoned that, with the Riverside up to the size of the Jack Walker stand (or a bit bigger if we wanted), and four corners are maybe up to 2.5k each, we could perhaps reach 50k capacity. However, I'm at that, and a look at the save game data editor shows me we could be getting average crowds of about 60k now...early into last season I asked the board to expand the stadium, and this summer they came back and said it can't be expanded further. They didn't announce plans for a new stadium though, so I've asked them again and hopefully they will say something at the end of the season. What did your board do about it? I thought they'd just say it can't be expanded, so they're building a new one. I hope that when they do finally build a new one the expansion capacity will be a lot higher, as I'm clearly going to have a huge fan base in future and would prefer not to have to build a whole new stadium twice.

You jammy git, securing Bojan. Club status does affect it (for a test I bumped my rep up to the max and he was interested). But you probably just got luckier with how much football he was playing for Barca. On mine when his contract was running down he said he was waiting to evaluate possibilities, which shows I wasn't too far from getting him interested. But now he's playing regularly and I think his contract runs for nearly 3 seasons yet. So I will probably have to pay out the 42 million in his clause when he is finally interested. Hopefully at the end of the year...at the moment I'm leading the Prem, won the world club championship, am in the semis of the league cup...I lost the European Super Cup Final to Chelsea though, irritatingly. But I reckon my club status will go worldwide end of the year, as I'm at about 8937 I think, and need 9000. Barca aren't even worldwide anymore, but Bojan is playing regularly there and is in love with the club. Plus his dad is a scout there, and he likes a couple more of their staff...but I have dos santos and Iago, who he likes too.

You probably won't get the Brazil job...when their manager got sacked I think I had a world class rep, had won the world cup with the Czech Republic, and was doing well in general...but they plumped for a Brazilian. I tried the same with Italy and France at the same time, and all went with managers of their own nationality. Probably happens with major international teams most of the time. But no harm trying. Steve bloody McClaren just won't get sacked though...I want that job!!! The only way the excellent Onuoha and Michael Johnson are gonna get a cap it seems.

Yeh Balotelli has good stats...I'm waiting on his contract to run down. Jimmy Briand is available on a free this summer, I should get him too. But mostly I'm concentrating on getting shut of players...which is resulting in some risky team lineups to try and get interested buyers. I have far far too many on the books who just won't ever play unless I'm trying to attract bidders. Sounds like I'll need the finances for the stadium!! I reckon a stable of about 100 players will make a good average (most of them youthies with great potential)...but the 180 or so I have (with about 20-30 out on loan) is just too much and too many players are getting unhappy and probably damaging team spirit.

Oh, Zeefuik is pretty average...I've been tracking him too but there's so many fish in the sea he doesn't stand out quite enough.

[BuckyRover]

I am currently the Italy manager in 2013.

My nationality in this game is Thai, so it definitely is possible.

(I am not Thai really, I just like to play with random characters i create, I am called "Thai Sabai" after a restaurant")

[Rover down South]

Has anyone tried these players?

Steven Defour - Centre Mid

Ezequiel Garay - Centre Back

Matias Fernandez - Left Wing

Rafinha - Right Wing Back

Found them all to be quality, value shoots up.