[Sussex_guy2k2]

Ok guys, I just thought I'd tell you about my new Milan game. This is only the second game I've had on FM08 and I wanted something that would set a bit of a challenge (I know Milan are a great side but as the original poster said, they're a side that is in transition).

Basically, at this moment in time I'm just starting February having gone through the January transfer window. I'm top of the league (only by 5 points though!) I lost to Sevilla 2-1 in the Super Cup after dominating, but I won the Club Championship, I'm through to face Inter in the Italian Cup Semis and I have to face Stuttgart in the Champions League. Furthermore, the only games I've lost have been to Inter and Juve away, both 1-0, both of which I dominated.

In terms of transfers I've had a lot of activity. I bought in lots of loans to give me options at the start of the season, particularly up front with Ronaldo injured.

Transfers In (pre-season):

Defoe (on loan, but been sent back)

Aaron Hunt (was sent back almost immediately after coming on loan)

Julio Baptista and Soldado (on loan, sent back after January signings, but didn't do well)

Pique (on loan, but hasn't had a look in)

Mata and Albelda (from Valencia on loan to give me width and solidity, sent back after being rubbish)

Dos Santos (same as above)

Pires (capture of the season. After changing my system to 4-2-3-1 his width on the right was crucial)

Barzagli 13.5m (he's been absolutely brilliant alongside Nesta and adds a younger spine to my team- well worth the cash)

Enyeama 1.5m (the FM 07 legend was signed to give Dida back-up. Hasn't had a look in though as Dida has defied his real life crap by being very very solid)

Transfers Out (pre-season)

Brocchi 1.6m

Gourcuff 4.7m

Digao 2m

Ba and Fiori released

As you can see, I signed some younger players and some experience to try and beef up my squad due to spending most of my budget on Barzagli. Luckily for me it paid off and I was able to spend some proper money in January.

January Transfers In:

D'Alessandro 8m (has been good in the limited games he's played. I had been playing Serginho wide left who played well but this lad has come in and added real versatility and quality to my attack)

Govou 7.75m (an interesting one. I didn't want to over spend as I had Pires playing well, but he adds width to my side and gets to the byline well)

Fabio Aurellio 2.1m (was transfer listed but has been well worth the money so far and gives me good options going forward)

Ben Arfa 7.5m (added youth to my attack and has been quite impressive so far. I'll try not to chuck him in too soon)

Saha 2.7m (a signing that hasn't been that well received, but I think he'll give me good options when Inzaghi leaves)

Diego 10.5m (signing of the window quite possibly. Kaka so far has been nothing short of rubbish by his standards and is fighting for his place in the team. I wanted real options in my forward line and this guy definately gives me that)

Transfers Out January:

Ronaldo free (barely played due to injury and personal issues and caused more hassle than his 72k a week was worth)

Favalli released

Simic and Bonera sent out on loan with option for free transfer (neither was good enough and I could get money for neither so I got rid this way)

Transfers arranged for the summer:

Matias Fernandez 14.5m (no doubt if you've read this far you'll be asking why I've signed him as well!? Simply I'd arranged this before the Diego transfer and I believe I can fit them all into my side over a season considering suspensions, injuries etc..he should be worth the cash)

Maxi Rodriguez free (bought to replace Pires at the end of the season)

Klasnic free (I don't honestly know why I signed him and no doubt he'll be gone soon after arriving. A shame as he is a quality striker)

Crespo free (Signed for a season to add back-up - still has it as he's shown for Inter so far)

Zaccardo free (the man to replace Cafu as of next season)

As you can see, I've signed a lot of players and I'm actually very pleased with my squad. My defence now looks solid and by the time Zaccardo arrives it'll have a rather youthful look. My midfield is solid with plenty of options and my attack looks like it will score goals, especially as I now have Gilardinho on form as a loan striker. Long term I'll need a new goalkeeper but if Dida continues as he is he wont be replaced for a while yet!

[Sir frosinone]

should have kept gourcuff as he is young and class.

[Tobinho]

Just finished second season, won Serie A again but nothing else. I'm in dire need of a world-class keeper, and also I've had trouble with no striker scoring consistently enough. I've got Gilardino, Pato, Zaraté and van Persie, but I think I'll try to get Aguero too.

By best team this season has probably been:


--------Pato---van Persie
------------Kaká
----Gattuso-Pirlo-Ambro
Marcelo--Nesta-Garay--Oddo
------------Dida

The squad is looking very good now, apart from GK:

GK:
Dida
Abbiati
De Sanctis

DC:
Nesta
Garay
Breno
Felipe
Kaladze

DL:
Marcelo
Janku

DR:
Oddo
Ninis (should work out well in this position)

MC:
Ambro
Gattuso
Emerson
Veloso
Luci

Creative MC:
Pirlo
Nasri
Seedorf

AMC:
Kaká
Montolivo
Gourcuff

SC:
Gila
Pato
van Persie
Zaraté
Oliviera

Promising young players:
Zeefuik
Saivet
Barkroth
Di Gennaro
Adrien
Piatti
Lulinha
Laudrup

[boogle]

Originally posted by skanky:
next update, or next data update?

sorry for the late response, it`s going to be rectified in the update that is supposedly going to be out sometime this coming week

[BoomAM]

Won the league, still got to play Lazio in the final of the Coppa and Chelsea in the final of the Euro.
And....ive signed Mascherano.
It took some doing, and giving him a 'first team' thing on his contract, as well as 62k/week, but considering i rotate players every game anyway, even my key players, im quite happy with getting him for naff all.

Emerson & Brocchi are definatelly getting sold/loaned out now.

My no.1 targets are now a DL/DC/DR.
Of which 2 of my 3 main targets for them are unsettled.
Im also tempted to sell Gourcuff and get Giovinco instead.

[skanky]

patched up the the 2nd beta and have started a new game, this time, i selected the top leagues from every country and more for the popular european leagues for a bigger selection of players. first thing i noticed was that kaka/gourcuff are natural at MC now. probably should've waited till the final patch if indeed ronaldo's sulkiness has been resolved, but for £93k/week i would've sold his fat ass anyway.

intend to have a more italian feel to the team this time around and to stick with the 4-1-2-1-2 as i'm more used to that formation than the 4-2-3-1 i previously used as i didnt seem to have the squad depth to swap between the two when needed.

1st season major in/outs were: (prices over 24 months)
[IN]
aarilato - £500k
richards - £30m
zaccardo - £10m + simic
cassani - £4m
van der vaart - £12.5m
veloso - £20m
barzagli - £12.5m
vailatti - £4m
de rossi - £15m upfront + £40m over 24months + £35m after 50 games + 50% sell on (jan)
breno - £6.75m (jan)
bale - £20m (jan)
daniel alves - £15m + 50% sell on (jan)
adriano - £6m co-ownership for 2 years (jan)
marcelo - £5.5m (jan, activated release clause)

[OUT]
seedorf - £25m + 50% sell on to juventus
kaldze - £22.5m + 50% sell on to fiorentina
zaccardo - £25m + 50 sell on (jan) to fiorentina
ronaldo - £10m (jan) to sevilla

van der vaart was a younger replacement for seedorf, richards was a replacement to play in kalazde's LB role, veloso will try and be pirlo's understudy.

i literally had to break the bank to get de rossi (best italian DMC in the game imo taking age/stats into consideration) and wasnt intending on selling zaccardo so soon, but after 2 and a bit months of

starting at RB, his morale was always stuck at good or poor even though he had no concerns about the club or training, so i sold the miserable sod for a tidy profit but i wanted him as cover for the backline. also daniel alves was transfer listed at £15m so it didnt hurt that much selling zaccardo. had to offer him a slightly larger contract that i normally would've as barca, inter and lyon had put bids in.

sent veloso/gourcuff/breno out on loan for the 2nd part of the season, they weren't getting a look in ahead of more experienced players and also veloso was getting absolutely slated by the fans as being a poor signing as he was largely restricted to sub appearances meaning he'd get about 10 minutes playing time every now and again.

signed adriano as he was transfer listed so tried co-owning him, got him but i cant offer him a new contract (he has a £30k appearance fee which is killing me!) now because his is unhappy that he has been transfer listed by request, at inter.. the funny thing is i distinctly remember not offering £30k appearance beacause a) thats too much for me and b) my board was limiting me to £18k, hmm..

despite that, he played brilliantly for the 2nd half of the season upfront with pato. he scored 2 goals in a 5-0 drubbing of arsenal in the CL final and vital goals in the end of the season to save my bacon, if it wasnt for his 2 away goals at old trafford, i would've went out of the CL as was totally outplayed by man united in the quarter finals and was lucky to scrape an overall win on away goals. met inter in the CL semis, won both legs 2-1 with a away game in the league with inter sandwiched inbetween but lost that 2-1.

won the league with inter 2nd by 8 points, partly due to my mean defence only conceeding 15 goals all season. dida was on fire but i have a feeling the nesta/barzagli partnership was vital, those 3 made it into team of the year along with a huge inter presence.

won the coppa italia against inter 1-1 in normal time then 5-4 on penalities, with chivu missing the vital penalty. crapped on jeonbuk in the club world championship with pirlo netting 4 in a 7-0 demolition.

vailatti out on loan won young player of the year, ahead of richards (bah!) and the fans player of the year was gilardino. kaka was just all over the place all season playing well but very inconsistent, i'd see random 5's and even a 4 from him once!

board handed me a huge £70m transfer budget and the second season signings are:
[IN]
aguero - £31m (arranged mid april)
ustari - £15m (arranged mid april)
pasenen - bosman
de sanctis - bosman
motta - bosman
guti - bosman
gasbarroni - bosman
sergio ramos - £31m (release clause)
de silvestri - £2.5m upfront + £7.5m over 24 months + 50% sell on
franceso bolzoni - £10m + 50% sell on
marek hamsik - £5m

[OUT]
ricardo oliviera - £15m to juventus

i went for a bit of youth with aguero (ST), ustati (GK), de silvestri (DR), bolzoni (DM) with an eye on the future and slowly starting to phase out older players like dida/nesta/ambrosini. gattuso/pirlo get a stay of execution as theres noone better at what they do, imo of course.

my team is now:
GK: ustari
LB: sergio ramos
DCl: richards
DCr: barzagli
RB: alves
DMC: pirlo (playmaker)
MCl: de rossi (attack minded)
MCr: gattuso (defense minded)
AMC: kaka
FC: aguero
ST: pato
S1: dida
S2: bale
S3: nesta
S4: oddo
S5: bolzoni/ambrosini
S6: van der vaart/maxi rodriguez
S7: gilardino/adriano

veloso/cassani/breno/gourcuff/vailatti/hamsik are out on loan for more 1st team experience, made sure the teams were offering them key member status, they're paying 100% wages and no cup games and with a recall clause.

guti/pasanen/abbiati/inzaghi/motta went to my feeder club, derby. hopefully to play well, put themselves in the shop window and make me some money!

bale was playing silly buggers not wanting to extend his contract past the year even though his agent says he is willing to accept a smaller wage, sent him out on loan, week or so later i offer him a contract and he is willing to take a pay cut: result! promptly brought him back off loan.

not sure if i should be playing ramos or richards at DC, richards has better technical/physical stats but ramos is better mentally. bale can only make the bench, though i might relegate richards to being the utility man on my bench as he is accomplished at DRLC/DM/MC, move ramos to DCl and play bale at LB. i want to play ramos as the fans will pick on him if he doesnt get a good run in the team like veloso last season. adriano was going to be a starter but pato played his heart out at the end of last season and deserves a start next to aguero and i get to avoid adriano's £30k appearance fees!

only keeping players like brocchi/oddo/maldini/ambrosini at the club until i can get pato/breno/saviet qualified as club trained for CL, not sure if i can get bale to qualify as i signed him about 3 months after he turned 18, spurs wouldnt accept a bid at the start of teh game. would've like at least 1 player in gk/def/mid/attack to be club trained but unfortunately bolzoni has just turned 19, so i doubt i got him in time.

i picked barzagli (charasmatic leader) as captain this year and de rossi (leader) as vice captain. due to his age and the youngsters i have, i dont think nesta will be playing every game this year so wouldnt be right to captain him, he didnt seem too unhappy when he was stripped of the captaincy.

had good fun with tutoring, i got de sanctis to tutor ustari, hes picked up de sanctis's "get crowd going" PPM and it still being tutored. got marcelo to learn from oddo and he picked up "runs with ball down right" and training him at DR too, he will be a great attackng full back on both flanks. i got pato to learn PPMs off gilardino, which finished very well as he picked up a fair few PPMs and was happy with the experience, just got gattuso to start tutoring bolzoni but best of all: kaka to be aguero's role model, so far in a month hes picked up "tries killer balls often" but aguero with kaka's moves? thats going to be absoltely fearsome..

just turned september 08, have £50m in the bank, bojan still resisting my advances, as is messi despite a £48m release clause which i am more than happy to activate. maybe i should go for fabregas to play alongside de rossi when i decide to retire gattuso..