Started as Blues, as I always do in new FMs, being a Blues fan and all.
Some random tips (I play a modified 4-4-2/4-4-2 diamond tactic):
- Djorou and Oubina are great, and the stars of the side. Get Djorou's loan extended as soon as possible - I don't think it's any coincidence that the only two league games he didn't play for me were when he was ineligible agains Arsenal, and we lost 6-5 and 5-0. Djorou won young player of the season, too. Oubina is good and Muamba is decent cover so don't worry about DMC until the end of the season.
- De Ridder, Larsson, and Kapo are decent (and Kapo and De Ridder are great for me in 08-09), and Palacios is reasonable backup. Don't worry too much about AMC/L/R positions - I just bought Maor Bozaglo on the cheap as good young backup, and then proceeded to dump him to the reserves for a bit because his performances were decidedly average.
- The strikers are all crap, and this is the one area you should focus on improving before any other. Forssell and O'Connor are probably the best of a bad bunch (and Forssell got a 'severe viral infection' a couple of months into the season, which didn't help). After selling Vine and Jerome as soon as I could after realising they sucked, I bought Marlon King for £4m (stop snickering at the back, he was my top scorer in the first season :p), Eddie Johnson for a couple of mil (he's been pretty crap though - he doesn't seem to fit into my system and as such he may be going bye bye soon), and Aaritalo late in the season (he'd already gone to Gothenburg by the time I first noticed him, heh).
- Doyle is a decent keeper and better than Taylor, though I opted for the more experienced Taylor in for some bigger games. Getting a keeper to replace them would be a good idea though as neither are great. I'm still playing Doyle in 08-09 but that's only because no keeper has taken my fancy at a price I like. I have Bouzanis and Lehtovaara for the future, though.
- Get a CB to play alongside Djorou, because Rafael is at best decent and all other CBs are pretty crap. Ignashevic is an obvious choice if you can fight off the competition for him.
- Get cover for Queudrue at left back. I didn't until the end of the first season (I'd already spent my budget before I noticed the lack of cover), and was lucky he didn't get injured or suspended.
Anyway, enough rambling, just some tips to get anyone who's interested started with Blues. We finished 6th in my first season, reached the semis of the FA Cup (losing to Everton after beating Man U in the quarters
), and we're third a couple of months into 08-09 after much re-jigging on a £20m budget (later adjusted to even more as the board allowed me an exorbitant wage bill and more still after selling four players to Derby and McSheffrey to the promoted Yam Yams for 5mil, hahaha). Team now is as follows:
GK: Doyle/Taylor
DR: Neill/Johnson
DL: Lescott/Queudrue
DC: Ignashevic/Lescott
DC: Dawson/Lescott (couldn't get Djorou on a permanent deal, otherwise I would have. Dawson is good though)
ML: Kapo/Sinclair (Sinclair is on loan from Chelsea)
MR: De Ridder/Torje
(D)MC: Thiago Motta/Muamba
(A)MC: Danilinho/De Ridder
FC: Aaritalo/Christian Benitez
SC: King/Johnson
Figure I need a GK and some cover in defence, but my transfer budget is of course gone.
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