vickie_M

First of all the ranking is based on purely MY evaluation of each club starting 11 and notable substitutions at the start of the 07/08 season. Financial backing and potential ability won’t be judge on. The reason for that it’s because those two criteria contain too much randomness and varies from each game. Also the teams/players performance in real life will have no effect on this list at all; it’s all based on FM 2008 alone. Okay so without further a do lets move on to the list!


10th – Valencia FC
At the goalkeeping position they have the ageing Canizeres and his eventual replacement Hildebrand. Canizeres can still do a decent job for the first season if you keep faith in him, because Hildebrand isn’t really that superior that you will notice the different despite being Germany number 1.
The entire backline of Valencia is their weakest link with the exception of Raul Albiol and maybe Miguel. Moretti, Helguera, Marchena, Caneira and Alexis are all good but not good enough at the top level.
The direct opposite of their weak defense is where Valencia main strength lies, the sheer quality of their midfield players threaten to overflow. The experience of Baraja and Albelda provide good cover at the center for younger players like M.Fernandes and Sunny or vice versa. Out wide at the wing they have Joaquin, Vicente and the supreme David Silva. Juan Manuel Mata Garcia can do pretty good if you decide to play him, especially if you lose one the the 3 wingers mentioned to other clubs.
The ways to transform Valencia from a great club to world-beater depend on whether you can find the correct formula upfront. Whether to play the game ultimate scoring machine David Villa as a lone striker or pair him up with the gigantic target man Zigic will be key in Valencia Europe conquest. Morientes and Arizmendi will do just average unless they are on form.

Goalkeeping - 7.5/10
Defense – 7/10
Midfield – 9/10
Attack – 8.5/10
Overall - 32/40



9th – Bayern Munich
Bayern suffer the same goalkeeping problem as Valencia. Kahn is fast fading into history and his replacement Rensing is well below par compared to Valencia Hildebrand and that pretty much hurt them.
Bayern defenders are vital in protecting their weakness. Lahm, Lucio, Van Buyten, Sagnol give you a solid back four and with Demichelis and Jansen giving cover up when needed they are pretty much set.
Ribery, Schweinsteiger and Altintop will provide the width and flair through both flanks. Andreas Ottl and van Bommel will be looking to add some physical presence at the centre of the field. Jose Sosa can link up play between midfield and the strikers if given the space and chance.
Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose. Bayern Munich intentions were clear when they bought these two strikers. They wanted silverware this season and for that you need goals. Both of them can put away chances with their head and feet so that’s what you ask from you striker. In real life they are keeping Podolski on the bench will you do that in FM as well?

Goalkeeping - 7/10
Defense – 8/10
Midfield – 8/10
Attack – 9.5/10
Overall - 32.5/40



8th – Olympique Lyonnais
With Coupet out for several months at the start, the goalkeeping position proved to be a tricky situation for Lyon. But bearing in mind that when a fully fit Coupet is back he is one non-nonsense GK that does the job required from him.
Grosso, Cris, Squillaci and Clerc make up the backline of Lyon. On paper and real life this four don’t seems to be great players but in FM2008 it’s a totally different story. Clerc especially surprises me as a good solid right back.
Lyon seems to be lacking in width as they don’t have natural wingers instead many of their strikers have been converted into AML/AMR sort of position to solve this problem. Ben Arfa, Keita, Govou and even the likes of Baros and Delgado might have themselves operating in wide positions or rather closes in from the wings. And to make the problem worse they have FOUR establish midfielder at the center. Juninho stats have been pretty much tone down from FM2007 to make it more realistic but Lyon still have Bodmer, Toulalan and Kallstrom to call up. Large squad anyone?
The more recognized strikers for Lyon are Fred and Karim Benzema. We all know what a beast Fred is and Benzema is immerse even at the beginning much less to say when he reaches his potential.

Goalkeeping - 8/10
Defense – 8/10
Midfield – 8.5/10
Attack – 9/10
Overall - 33.5/40

ShaneFrost1

Love this thread already mate. :thup:

One thing though (about Lyon ) irl Clercq and Grosso are great players.

retired_genelia

Interesting thread mate, looking forward to your top 10 selections cheers

retired_issie

very good - eagerly awaiting your next instalment ....?

richard300

Spoiler:

1st- Real Madrid

Real Madrid is the best club in the world.Do I need to say more?Yes!The goalkeeper is Saint Iker Casillas absolute awesome player,no goalkeeper can keep the pace with Casillas so Dudek is far from him,but if you have Casillas you don't need something else.If you have Casillas in a good day,even the aliens can't penetrate his goal.
Defenders,defenders,defenders...This is the big problem for Real Madrid since Fernando Hierro retired.But these years the defence improved.We have Sergio Ramos who im my opinion is the best right-back(he can play centre too),Canavarro,Metzelder,Pepe,Marcelo,Drenthe,Torr es,Salgado form a very goo mixture of defenders.Metzelder and Pepe,Canavarro are rock solid in defence,but their problem is that they make many fouls.Torres is the jolly joker in defence,he plays in every position and that is a very good thing because if 1 of the defenders is suspended or injured you can easily replace him with Torres but be careful Torres may keep that on the fringe.

Midfielders are very good in Real Madrid squad.We have Robben and Sneijder as versatile players they can play in the right or the left and Sneijder plays in the centre too.So the wingers are magnificent they have pace,dribbling and sizzling moves that can provide assists or goals.I reckon Sneijder is a very good long-shot taker.As holding midfielders we have Diarra and Gago.They are good but they can't compare with Fernando Redondo...Gago is better as a DMC than Diarra so they need to work harder there.
As a playmaker you can play Guti,Baptista,or Raul.Guti is really awesome in that position but he is getting old like Raul but still the quality is world class.
Strikers have always been the match winners for Real.Van Nistelrooy adapted very well in this squad and Robinho who plays as a second striker or winger is quite what Real needs upfront,with Raul who can play as a striker or behind the strikers with Guti as a playmaker or as a simple centre midfielder,they rock.


Goalkeeping 10/10
Defence 9/10
Midfield 9/10
Attack 10/10
Overall 38/40

vickie_M

duh! sorry mate but you got it wrong. at least for my list.

some info before i post the clubs that rank from 5th-7th are that Liverpool and Roma came in 11th and 12th respectively. but it was a tough decision for me to make.

retired_belfanmcreole30

Pretty well put for Lyon, nice read. Shame some people are trying to spoil it :/ keep it up :thup:

Michelle!

Nice thread I hope you add to it soon.

I can see that top three being Inter, Man Utd and Barcelona

richard300

[/QUOTE]

duh! sorry mate but you got it wrong. at least for my list.

some info before i post the clubs that rank from 5th-7th are that Liverpool and Roma came in 11th and 12th respectively. but it was a tough decision for me to make.[/QUOTE]

can you bring arguments?

vickie_M

7th – AC Milan

Dida find himself in the spotlight from time to time for the wrong reason. Sometimes he cracks under the intense pressure of high profile matches and let in some howler. Fortunately, in FM 2008 he perform as a much more reliable shot stopper and deal with crosses without much problem. He is also not consider too old for a GK and are properly in his prime right now.


AC Milan offers you the oldest backline in top tier European soccer scene. Experience might come in handy in real life but does it really matter in FM? I’m pretty sure Jankulovski, Kaladze, Nesta and Cafu should be the first choice defenders whoever that choses to start as AC Milan and this four give you a average age of 31.5 not exactly young huh?


Personally I don’t think it’s possible for Milan to be playing ball out wide and exploit spaces available on the flanks. Ambrosini, Emerson and Gattuso will be standing firm in the middle of the park ready to bully any kind of players that attempt to come through from the center. Seedorf is the only player capable operating out wide to give some width for the team. You can risk and give young Gourcuff a try on right side of the field and hope that it turn out good.


Gilardino is quite a complete striker. He does everything well but not exceptional, 20 goals a season is still possible for him though. Inzaghi and the unfit Ronaldo is your typical box to box striker that still finishes chances clinically. Both of them won’t have the fitness to last the whole 90mins and that why you need to rely heavily on Milan best player Kaka. Kaka is listed together with the strikers and not midfielder because if you found a tactic that click for him, he can and will end up as Milan top scorer. Pato is worth mentioning but I don’t think he is ready during the 07/08 season in FM.


Goalkeeping – 8.5/10
Defense – 8/10
Midfield – 9/10
Attack – 8.5/10
Overall - 34/40


6th – Chelsea FC


Cech will be ever reliable and solid for Chelsea. He will show great consistency through out the whole season and that virtually leave number 2 Cudicini unhappy. To be honest Cudicini ability is actually good enough not to play second fiddle to anyone…tough luck though!


Cole, Terry, Carvalho and Belletti. Quite obvious the only weakness is at the right back position. Essien can actually slot in at the right back position and do better than Tal Ben-Haim, Belletti and Ferreira combined. Terry in my opinion is the best centre-half at the start of the game and Carvalho compliment with him very well.


Okay let’s see…another case of overcrowding in the midfield area. Maybe not the case during the African Cup of Nations. On the flanks Joe Cole will be impressive, Malouda and SWP will get the job done as well so not much problem there. Lampard is not untouchable for me. John Obi Mikel on the other hand was my favourite player in the centre of the field. I reckon him as the most complete midfield player in the beginning for Chelsea and that’s the reason players like Ballack, Sidwell and Makelele listed my name under their Most Hated Personnel. Essien will do well in any position he plays.


To be brutally honest, Drogba is the only striker in Chelsea that will strike fear against world-class defenders. Highlight Drogba name and “tick” every available options for a striker to do something and he will still do good. Shevchenko and Kalou will be good enough for anything that aren’t world-class. If you decide to play 2 strikers you will be rotating both of them I guess.


Goalkeeping - 9/10
Defense – 9/10
Midfield – 8.5/10
Attack – 8/10
Overall – 34.5/40


5th – Arsenal FC


Lehmann stats are unbelievable for a 37years old and even more so when you compare his ability in contrast to real life. But we are talking about FM here right now so it doesn’t matter. Fabianski and Almunia, both of them are good enough to act as cover if you find that Lehmann is starting to perform like himself in real life.


The combination of Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Sagna is pretty much good enough against anyone. Backup aplenty too...Senderos, Eboue, Traore and Djourou potentially immerse but will do fine in the beginning.


Many people are trying to pull off the same tactics of how Arsenal midfield functions in real life. The Passing stats of Arsenal midfield players averages out close to 17points. Impressive huh?
Walcott and RVP can second up as wingers if Hleb or Rosicky pick up an injury or two. In the centre you have the almighty Cesc Fabregas and you can select who to tag with him. Gilberto? Denilson? or even Flamini if you keep faith in him.


Adebayor is like your slightly weaker but 6years younger version of Drogba, having said that he will still do pretty good job in EPL but as I mention many times…if you put him against the very best defender in the business it will be a totally different story. Eduardo being another next door pacey striker actually do very well in FM2008. So it’s your choice to play RVP or Eduardo.


Goalkeeping – 8.5/10
Defense – 9/10
Midfield – 9/10
Attack – 8.5/10
Overall – 35/40