super bicycle tony

Hi all,

Well I have played this game and the previous ones for a while and haven't had too much joy. I seem to get off to not a bad start but in the end my teams run out of steam after leading the competition for most of the season or I get sacked or similar nastiness.

Anyway what I was hoping was if I start a fresh new game as the manager of West Ham and play through the season then I could get some expert advice from you guys as to what mistakes I am making or what I could do to improve my squad/training/tactics etc.

So I am starting as my favourite English FA team: West Ham. Note, I am not from there or even England but I have always liked the Hammers.

I have 3 News items, the usual welcoming me to the club, notification of the first league games (Tottenham(h), Villa(a) and Man City(h)), and the Board expectations which are cup success and respectable league position. They have given me 4.4M pounds to get started.

I have 31 players in my squad. I guess the first decision is what formation to try. I am leaning towards either Jambo Dave's 3-5-2 or Ridley's 4-4-2.

There are a lot of players I want to dump, but I recall from other attempts that I end up with a lot of unhappy players and a team that doesn't work well together when a lot of players go and new ones come. Is it a good idea to try to offload a lot of chaff at the beginning of the first season?

Looking through the lists of good players (old and young) I would look to pick up
Bojan (as backup for Ashton and Bellamy, come on as sub, get rid of zamora and cole)
Fleck (put out on loan for a year or two)
lulinha or dos santos for the CM role if go 352. I try to usually pick these guys up but find they get injured a lot.
some decent defense (ideas?)
if 352 then another decent D MC to go with Parker. I seem to recall that Jambo Dave liked to play 2 D MCs beside his MC/AMC
Maybe a better GK than Wright as backup


Starting Squad 352 (before transfers)
Green
Upson, Ferdinand, Gabbidon
Dyer(ml), Ljungberg(mr), Mullins, Noble, Parker
Ashton, Bellamy

Starting Squad 442 (before transfers)
Green
McCartney(dl), Faubert(dr), Upson, Ferdinand
Ljungberg(ml), Dyer(mr), Noble, Parker
Ashton, Bellamy

So what does everyone think?

Thanks
Tony

super bicycle tony

Of course I mean Ridley's 424 not 442

Marc Vaughan

Still getting over the fact that you're getting rid f the mighty Zamora ...

(yeah I'm a Brighton fan )

ComeontheArsenal

I'd say definatelty snap up Bojan straight away when he's cheap, you'll probably find him pushing one of your strikers out aswell. Other than that I would say buy quality youngsters, theres a thread her full of them

good young players

What's your budget like?

Also if your using Jambo's tactic buy a Diego type player who has everything shooting,dribbling,passing etc and stick him in the middle, he should bang in the goals.

Add to that a couple of good defenders and midfielders and you shouldn't have too many problems. I know they won't have played together before but as long as there quality it shouldn't matter.

:thup:

ridley99

look to sign a few free agents to bolster your squad get Henrik Larsson asap as he is available on a free as his contract is expiring also Daniel Carvalho is another to get and again is available for free. Bojan and dos Santos are def players to sign.
As for GK Enyeama is the best option will normally cost abut 1 million but turns into one of the best GKs in the game.
Try for Pique on loan if you can. Dervite is another good young CD
DMC go for Eduardo Costa a good back up but can score a few goals!

Hope that helps

ridley99

Freddy Guarin and Leandro Lima are also good players to sign if you can