desjardfan

So, first season at Rangers, win the league safely by about 5 pts but don't pull down any other awards and get dropped in the first knockout stage of the UEFA Cup. Make some moves in the summer to add some depth: Dessena for 3.2m pds, Kuszczak for 2.1m, couple other pieces. The key was in inability to provide a quality pairing for Cuellar at the back. By the time the January transfer window rolled around I was 9 pts adrift of Celtic, all but gone from the CL, out of the CIS Cup in the semi's, McGregor was ready to go and the board forced my hand on a 4.5m offer from Charlton. Wasn't looking pretty.

So sent the scouts out looking for the centre-half to hopefully save my season. A scout in Germany comes back with Arturo Vidal, highly recommended, so I have my whole staff give me a report. All good, I start working the press and send an enquiry. Vidal's enthused about the potential move and Leverkusen seem happy to oblige. I land him for 4.25m, a 20% sell-on clause, and 250k after 30 games.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT. Him and Cuellar became a wall in the middle, only conceded another 13 league goals the rest of the way. Run down Celtic and overtake them with a week left, last match of the season hold out for a 0-0 draw at Ibrox to take the league by a point and take the FA Cup. Vidal finished with 13 goals, nearly all off headers on corners.

Next season the club looked unbeatable. A few pricely pickups (Gouffran for 3.2m, absolutely clutch) and I was on my way. Pulled off the treble, finished undefeated at 29-9-0 in the league, running a 55 match unbeaten run back to the previous season. Lost in the UEFA Cup final to Liverpool 2-1. Vidal with another 13 goals, overall PR above 7.4, and the big clubs came calling: Milan, Inter, Barca, ManU, Real... Newcastle outbid them all with 16m straight up and I accepted (one draw back: despite his "loyalty" or happiness "to stay at the club," he gets pissed if you turn down offers). A week or so into the summer Newcastle offered me the managing gig after finishing 15th in the EPL and getting dropped from both cups early. After some serious consideration I accept.

So Vidal back under me, and an incredible season followed. Playing more than ten matches at four different positions (CB, RB, DM, CM) covering for outrageous amounts of injuries, he netted 9 goals and set up 13 more. Dragged the team to 9th in the PL and bagged the FA Cup, beating Sunderland 1-1 on penalties. Again the offers roll in, Arsenal top bid with 23m and Vidal didn't want to stick around. I'd been working Wenger since the start of the game hoping to land the Arsenal gig and it looked like it might happen. But he re-signed for 2 years, Liverpool came calling on 63k/week and a 50m transfer budget and I grudgingly accepted (yeah, right, tough to take). Hopefully two good years on Merseyside and I can rejoin him at the Emirates.

Anyway, Arturo Vidal: CB, RB, RWB, DM, Football Jesus, CM, whatever... you could probably leave him up top as a lone striker and he'd net 20/season. Absolute must buy. Go do it. Now.


And if this match keeps going this way I might go shoot myself. Come the f*ck on! Nakamura's only good for anything if he's got ten yards clear in front of him!

*going to stab eyes out*

Bozza

Great story mate! And indeed, Arturo Vidal is an immense player. You love, I love him.. everyone loves him!

I knew him before we went to Leverkusen and at that time, he was amazing as well. With FM07, he even had the media prediction "touted as the next...." and with FM08 he keeps doing what he does best...

Thanks for sharing this one with us mate. Appreciate it!

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WozzaWolves

Fantastic read mate! Took me 5 minutes but it was definately worth it!

Keep us updated on how your game goes, i'll be reading it ;)

desjardfan

Okay, first of all, second time this happened where I typed up a big, huge thing and then lost it because "I wasn't signed in." What's the story??? Does it sign you out if you're stagnant for too long or what?

Anyways, lots has happened since I took over Liverpool, and I'm not going to go as in-depth with the narrative because if I lose it again that's another 20 minutes wasted.

Coaches were had to come by, and most clubs are asking for ridiculous fees. However Michael Watt, whom I brought into Rangers initially and subsequently moved to Newcastle with me, resigned from Newcastle upon my leaving and has since rejoined me as a first-team coach at Liverpool.

The rest of the staff fell into place on the eve of the season but I'm not too happy with it. Definitely be some changes forthcoming, and more than likely Watt will end up my right hand man in the summer. Definitely a good coach, highly recommend.

I was given 50m pds (!!!!!) which is ridiculous because I've never had more than 15m but once and that was because I downed the wage budget to a shoe-string level.

Out: Arbeola demnaded a move after Rafa left. On to Milan for 15.5m, 50 sell-on clause paid to Deportivo. Lucas for 7m, Skrtel for 7.75m.

In: Burdisso to fill the right-half at 19m. Bale for 11m. Michael Johnson demanded a move from City, gathered him for 7.75m. Mancienne on a free from Chelsea, signed for 33k/week and have already received one offer for 8m from Villa. Good piece of business I'd say. Also brought in Didier Digard, who was my final purchase at Rangers, for 6.75m. If you're going to get a defensive midfielder I figure he might as well be French.

Michael Laudrup was brought into Newcastle and has spent a TON of money. I have no idea where it came from because part of the reason I left was the club was so cash strapped. They'd just refinanced their debt at the end of last season leaving me with scraps to work with. I know the PL TV gave him some to work with but seriously... he brought in a big Danish contingent that wasn't cheap, then, and this is insane, he signed Gouffran from Fulham for 19.75m!!! With the potential for it to increase to over 21m! This is the same Yoan Gouffran whom I paid 3.2m for at Rangers, sold to Fulham for 5.75m after 9 months, and who Fulham have turned around for a 14m profit a year later. And it's not like he set the world on fire: 14 goals in 39 games for Fulham. Newcastle should be worth 6 points for me this year. The fact I kept that team mid-table was accomplishment enough, let alone bagging the FA cup. That club's not in good shape.

6-1-0 on the season so far, 13 for-1 against. Torres is a world beater with a hat-trick at Middlesbrough and two braces already, Gerrard with two and some beautiful passing off the right, Xabi's a force in the middle, Burdisso's picked two off corners already.

Formation:

----------------------------Reina----------------------------
Burdisso---------Agger--------------Mancienne---Insua/Risse-
----------------Digard/someone else (can't remember, damn)---
Gerrard-----------Xabi Alonso--------------------Bale/Babel--
------------------------------Pandev/Babel------------------
--------------------------Torres----------------------------

It's a staggered 4-1-3-1-1, has worked wonders for me at every stop. Have to have a strong attacking midfielder to play behind and to the left of the striker. I play the ball down the right mostly with the left mid as a holding/distributing position letting him and the left full back overlap a lot

That pairing between the CM/AM is crucial. I had Ferguson/Adam at Rangers, Defour(Vidal)/Lampard(Eagles) at Newcastle, and now Xabi/Pandev. Gerrard's by far the best right-mid I've had in this system and it's working better than ever. Either the centre-halves concentrate too much on Torres freeing up space for Gerrard/Xabi to make runs off the right, or they spread the defense to cover the wings leaving Torres and Pandev with room to roam in the middle. Balls off the wing to Pandev, Pandev through balls to Torres, Dangerous.

Okay, so the narrative was just as long. Guess we could move this to Your current game or whatever it is. And I should probably get back to work....

Cheers

Bowser

Good story mate, but i think a mod should move it to current game section xD...

Hartynips

I agree, yeah it is good, but is turning more into a current game or even story status with each post

natedog17

Yeah its a very good story I'm enjoying the read allot buddy :D

WozzaWolves

Wow, your doing great at Liverpool :D Hope you can keep it up!


***Moved to Your Current Game***

desjardfan

Figured I'd throw in a few pics for good measure. Haven't gotten to play the past couple days because of work and whatnot, miserable... Shitty weather tonight though, and since the girlfriend's at work think I might just stay home with a six-pack and a pizza and try to win me a EPL/FA Cup double, maybe pull out the UEFA Cup too.


Formation...



Zapater/Palombo/Digard rotating through that CDM spot. Babel and Bale rotate at LM, likewise for Bale/Insua/Riise at LB. Insua's only down for a week or two and I think, if I remember, we're on an international break right now. Maybe? I don't know.

Think I'm going to sell off either Carson or Reina, not sure who yet. Cech has already said he won't re-sign with Chelsea next year so I may make a run for that. I've got to find some cover for Gerrard down the right, too. The nice thing is I still have 20m to spend AND I'm about 500/k under my wage budget, so I can definitely make some big moves still if I so choose. We'll see what happens in January. I know one thing's for certain...



...I won't be spending 30m on that. F'ing crazy, really. Laudrup's lost the plot and it's only September.

Also, note the scoreline second from the bottom of the news feed... yeah. We're coming.

Cheers

desjardfan

Alright, so I drew at Tottenham 1-1 (do they become unbelievably wealthy in everyone else's games?), beat Genk 4-0 in the first leg of our UEFA Cup tie, beat Everton 2-1 in the League Cup, 3rd round with an absolutely cracking goal from Gerrard: beat three men down the right and unleashed a rocket from 30+ yards across the goal mouth. No better way to get a win at Goodison, eh?

So here's my issue, and I've tried working with this but I'm running out of ideas: I've noticed my DM doesn't seem to contribute much in this system. It's rare for anyone in that spot to put together a string of games with 7+ ratings. I like how I'm setup though because it allows for quick and easy changes depending on the game situation: I can go 4-1-2-1-2 very easily by moving the CAM forward and slotting the CM in behind. 4-1-4-1 to hold leads. 4-4-2 by sliding both the DM and CAM forward... you get it.

It just seems as though my DM isn't getting involved enough. Only when I play the ball through the middle and then he's often on the backend of a triangle passing exercise. I already allow both the RM and LM free roles with them often switching sides, making runs to the far posts, etc. I guess I still want my DM to stay home in the middle but take a bit more role in the offense. Ideas........................................

Oh, and also, does Arsenal become a club with the GDP on level with most modern industrialized nations? I think their worth in my game is somewhere around 760m pds or so.

Other interesting notes: Rangers completed work on expanding Ibrox to over 63,000 seats. Wish I could've had those gate receipts when I was there.

Portsmouth moved into a new 41,000 seat stadium, Solvent Stadium. They've stabilized in the upper part of the league, in the 4-8 spots every year. A job I turned down during my undefeated campaign.

Wigan expanded to just over 30,000 seats, Fulham got a new park (should be called Gouffran Memorial Bank Roll Park), Upton Park was expanded. I don't know if this is standard in the game but I'm currently in "New Anfield," with a capacity just under 60,000.

desjardfan

So I did a few tactical changes since I didn't get any assistance here: put my CDM into a free role, upped his closing down and set his tackling to hard. Everything else was a little tweak to the existing system, and I finally set up a more open home system and a tighter away set up. The key was setting Torres as a target man.

Immediate results:



That's 10 goals from nine games for Torres. Absolutely outstanding.

All I've got for now. Saw Plant/Krauss tonight, got time to squeeze in a couple games before bed.

*edit: Figured I'd toss in the main screen update while I was here. Back-to-back 5-0 drubbings at home. Obviously the Chelsea win was nice. Followed up the Genk win with a solid performance against a Wigan side that had won three on the trot.



Torres had one called back, BS call but whatever. Michael Johnson hit a beautiful ball after coming on for Gerrard in the 68th, his first league goal for the club.

No complaints so far, to be honest. That +20 goal differential looks pretty nice, much like the 33 for/4 against. I think I've allowed 4 shots on goal in the last four games. I know Genk didn't get a single shot away, and Wigan's only attempt was a header off a corner that landed in row F, I believe.

Defense is definitely doing it's job. Torres on 10 still, Gerrard on 5, everyone else is pickup up their share. It seems like every set-piece lately has led to either a goal or a series of very good chances. I'm sure that can't keep up all year but for now I'll take what I can. The easier the early part of the season is the easier the latter will be.

Cheers

Toukai

Nice story, and lol chelsea called their new stadium Zola park in mine.

liveru

Pretty impressive run at The Pool you've got going there.

One question though? Why did you sign Burdisso? He's always been poor in my games and isn't exactly the youngest choice for right back.

Great result against Chelski by the way.

desjardfan

I like versatile players, and Burdisso can cover the whole back line. My average squad age is only 26 so I wasn't too worried. Plus I'd like to make a real challenge at a double, and he was the best product available for the price. It was him or 33m for Alves, who's available on a free after the season.

He's been a force so far, no complaints. Just netted again at Sunderland, three so far.

liveru

If you put it like that then it's fair enough.

I take it you'll be going after Alves when his contract's up.

desjardfan

Already working on him and Cech. No takers on Scott Carson as of yet; I'd like to get at least 9.5m for him but I don't think it's going to happen unless I start playing him a lot more.

Hartynips

Cracking 5-0 victory over Chelsea, Team is coming along really well mate

RyanTheGunner

Great team mate, looks like youve had a good career so far. A few questions =]

Have you been offered any international jobs yet?

What was you manager history status when you started e.g. Sunday league, International football?

And whats you status now?

Link to current game

Real Racing Club de Santander - 2007-Present

desjardfan

Thanks and thanks. That Chelsea win is definitely one of the highlights of my career. It sent them into a tailspin, believe they've lost 4 of 5 since and are sitting 13th in the table. I ran my mouth a bit too much leading into the ManU game and got mine, 2-0 with Rooney and Tevez scoring. But I've beaten Blackburn away 3-0, and Parma and Villa at home 3-0 in the matches surrounding.



I'm happy with that, to say the least. I've already gotten one over on Everton in the League cup, looking forward to dashing any aspirations of winning a title that they have.



Gerrard's been outstanding playing on the right. Seven goals in league competition, another five assists I believe. Torres has been streaky though he's strung together a few good performances as of late. What's the best way to go about coaching him up? His morale is always superb but there seems to be a disconnect...

As for me:



I was offered the Nigeria job during my first season, right after the ACN. A couple other low profile positions but nothing I'd really consider yet. I'd much rather prefer to stay at club level anyway.

I started out at Sunday footie, yes. According to my profile I'm a "popular manager," which I guess has to do with the players liking you? There's about ten players at Rangers who rate me amongst their favourite personnel, even a couple at Newcastle (namely Lampard, who I made my captain). No one at Liverpool yet but I think if I keep this up that'll change. I made Torres vice-captain because I was afraid of losing him if the club slipped at all; don't think I'm going to have to worry about that.

A lot of the other managers "feel we could become friends," too. Wenger used to love me, still listed on his favourite personnel, but now he's one of the people starting stuff up in the media. I just figure after I win the league and the FA cup this year that I could have his job if I wanted, so he can say what he will. The only managers I intentionally piss off are those of my rivals and anyone who says I can't live up to expectations/can't win the league/whatever.

Good enough. Cheers

woodsy

I'd love to have that team xD. Suprised to see chelsea go down to 13th place though as they're one of richedt clubs in the world

KUTGW

The Career Of Alex Woods!