If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
Im playing FM 2007 currently in pre season for the 2008 Russian season. I ve just been appointed manager of Spartak Moscow having taken Volgar from the First Division to the Premier League. I ve been given £25mil to spend and a wage budget that is half used and basically I want to build a new team.
I got Volgar up by relying up a direct high tempo 442 and stashing my team with players with good physical attributes (esp stamina pace and strength) and high aggression/work rate and basically trying to bully teams into submission.
Now I've decided that Im besmirching the beautiful game with these bully boy tactics and having basically been given a remit to build a new team I wanted a side that plays the game the way it should be played - with a high tempo short passing game ala Arsenal. Im perfectly aware that I shouldnt try to mould a team how I want it to be and I should adapt to the players I already have and build tactics around them etc blah blah but i figure sod it i want a team that scores goals that make me cry. Chances are it ll all go tits up but at least I can console myself wit the thought that I went down playing proper football.
However the problem is that as I used to be a much smaller team my only real scouting network is aimed a players at a much lower level, and Spartaks existing scouts/network was, well, crap. Therefore I have a very poor information on players outside Eastern Europe. Does anybody know of players that are acquirable for reasonable prices and would fit into this system, especially midfield players (i.e. very high technique stats esp passing/first touch/dribbling, good mental stats for creativity/decisions, high pace/stamina)?
Also does anyone have any tips on how to make this kind of tactic work?
£25m really isn't enough to buy an entire team of players like those of Arsenal or Barcelona and play a fast, short-passing game.
Most of the big talents in the game still cost almost £10m so to get a few Brazilian or Argentinian technical wonderkids in to make a dream passing midfield it would still cost about £40m... then you still need to make sure your back four can all play with the ball at their feet and distribute it well to the midfield which is very rare in the game (and irl).
Wenger didn't always have his Arsenal team play like they do now, he slowly found the players he wanted over many years.. and did the best he could with his first eleven until his youth was ready to go. So I think you should move more slowly towards the goal by signing maybe one or two passing and technical geniuses a season. Depending on how good your squad is compared to the other teams in the league, you might be able to play this kind of football in Russian league games and get away with it.. but if you try it in Europe the superior teams will annihilate you.
i take your points and i am aware that this is a little pie in the sky but as i say im bored of winning dull i want a little adventure - im fully aware that im not going to create a side to conquer europe in one pre season for 25mil - but the standard of the russian leauge, aside from CSKA who are strong favourites for the title anyway, isnt great. also i am only in the uefa cup, not the CL.
Also i dont need to build an entire team the building blocks are there already - both of my first choice centre backs are also dmcs and can play football and both full backs are techincally competent with high pace/stamina. i also still have titov, the old spartak stalwart who is exactly the kind of amc that this kind of tactics requires. i ve also picked up correa a braziliam dm/m rc for 4.5m from dinamo kiev who looks an absolute steal - im thinking of making him the anchor in a 4-1-4-1. what i really need are the wide players (my rosicky/hleb, or pires/ljungberg if you want to extend the analogy) and a striker with enough physicality to play up on his own but who can also score goals and play football (im fully aware that strikers of this nature are few and far between and have earmarked at least £12mil for this).
yeah exactly what im trying to do re the scouting but all the best scouts i can find who will come are ukranian (all from shaktar actually) and they probably couldnt find south america on the map. having difficulty finding a decent scout who has south american knowledge - may have to take a scout with crap attributes just for his knowledge.
Good idea mate.I'm thinking of building this kind of team as well.I suggest you take a look at Mads Laudrup(FC Kobenhavn).He seems fit to your tactics.
And btw, do you mind telling me on how to play this kind of football...Short pass with high tempo is start..How about creative freedom?What did you do?I seem cannot control the possession......
Yeah tactically Im struggling a little as well - I think the peril is that if you're players arent quite good enough to sustain the tactics (which mine probably arent...yet) then you are going to struggle to hold onto the ball - if they dont have the stamina to keep on moving and finding space or the technical ability to play themselves out of tight spots and play the right pass then you can get in trouble - a problem exacerbated if your forward(s) dont have the strength/first touch to hold the ball up.
this has led me quite a few times to slowing the tempo down a little during games to try and get a foothold. having a dmc or one of your mcs to hold up the ball seems to help too - especially if he has good enough passing/decision to be a playmaker.
As for creative freedom i think its pretty much a must - my team setting is on about 15 and the only individuals i change this for is the defence (even then i keep it on 7/8 for the fbs) , for the dm to 12 and for the striker to 10 (im basing this on 4-1-4-1 formation). actually thats more than half the team. but the midfield certaintly need to have the freedom to make things happen.
Thanks for the tip with the player - im at work atm but i shall look him up when i get in...
The problem with trying to play like Arsenal is that "short, quick passing game" is only 60% of the story.
A major part of Arsenal's success is very accurate direct passes from midfield to the striker(s) on the counter attack. Fabregas plays these long balls beyond the last defender a lot. Yet a counter attacking style is not how you'd describe their football. When building up from the back with ten opposition players behind the ball, it's all short, slick passing at a high pace but the big difference this season is they look for that killer pass when it's open rather than walking the ball into the net.
I think your midfielders and wingers (minus the Gilberto/Flamini player) should all have a good deal of creative freedom and mixed passing or at the very least the playmaker of your team should have a lot of creative freedom. Keep your defensive players set to play the ball short and not play it long up the pitch and it should sort of look like Arsenal.
Obviously it would need constant tweaking from game to game to get it right depending on how the opponent plays.
Building a beautiful team 
Linear Mode
