My first official save on the game. You're thinking ''Ahh he picked the best team in the game (easy mode)''. No, personally I think FC Bayern are the most dominant team and I want to use this save to try and see if Barca still have their magical spark in Europe.
First season signings: I bought David De Gea from Man Utd to replace the soon-to-be-leaving-on-free Victor Valdes for a fee of around 30-40m not too sure. I bought Thiago Silva from PSG for a fee of 40m, definitely worth it.
I then bought Leandro Damiao from Internacional, didn't cost me too much and was a fairly good signing.
I sold Adriano because he would never make my first 11 or bench.
Summary of first season; started off the season with a disappointing draw at home but then went off on a great streak in all competitions. We had a comfortable lead at the top of the table, won all group stage matches in the UEFA CL and things were falling into place.
We get Galatasaray in the 1st knockout round of CL and we beat them over the two legs. We then draw PSG, playing the first leg at home. One of the most difficult ties I have played, we dominated both legs but just failed to make use of our chances and didn't defend set pieces too well. I believe we went out on away goals.
We also got knocked out of the Copa del Rey but I didn't really care about that cup. With our form in the league and our arch-rivals Real Madrid not playing too well, I always knew we'd do well in the league. Towards the end of the season we were like almost 20 points ahead of Madrid but we began to get very complacent. We were still able to lift the title with about 96 points overall but was very disappointed with our performance in Europe.
End of season; I had already agreed the transfer of Arturo Vidal and some other young prospects who will join at the beginning of the transfer window. I felt with Mascherano and Xavi getting older he would be the perfect replacement. His versatility alone combines both Xavi and Mascherano (just my opinion) but obviously not Xavi's creativity.
Anyway, I received a bid from Chelsea for Pedro for a fee of 35m with no installements, just the money upfront. I accepted it without thinking twice, Pedro wasn't in my first 11, the bid was much more than his actual value and I was thinking about getting a new winger anyway seeing as Sanchez wasn't good enough too.
I bought the Brazilian winger Hulk for about 30m (not too sure). I feel he is a good, tough winger who could dominate the right side of the pitch with Dani Alves supporting him. I also bought two backup keepers, Jefferson and Joel to replace Valdez and Pinto who both left on a free. The board were unhappy at Valdez' departure even though he is set to leave on a free before the game starts :S (Good job SI)
I forgot to mention I sold Jordi Alba, can't remember who to but I felt he was a good player but he never performed well in crucial matches. To strengthen the left side I bought Alex Sandro and David Alaba. Two great wing backs.
FYI England won the World Cup beating Germany in the final 2-0 but i find that to be very amusing considering Germany doesn't have a proper team in the game lol. A positive note was that both Thiago Silva and Gerard Pique were in the World Team of the tournament or something like that, so I felt like I had the best defence in the game. I also decided to strip Puyol and Xavi as captain and vice-captain as they just wouldn't play enough games to be the new leader, Puyol agreed with me about this but Xavi was a bit upset about it at the time. I appointed Pique as the new captain and Iniesta would be his stand-in.
2nd season: Pre-season went well and we're ready to give the UEFA CL another go. We had a bad start in the League with 2 wins and 2 losses in the first 4 games. After a few tweaks and the players getting used to the tactics again we began to show our true colours. We are currently at the top of the table by 1 point but on a very good win streak breaking records as we go along. the first Clasico was at our home so we were able to use that game to catch up to Madrid. We have finished our group stages winning all the games 6 out of 6 against FC Porto, Monaco and Olympiakos.
In the league we have scored about 40+ goals in around 12-15 games and have only conceded around 6 goals so I would say we have a pretty mean defence right now.
I am currently on a short break from this save as I'm waiting for my new PC as this one barely runs FM14 without crashing. If you enjoyed this post please leave a comment with any advice you can offer me or maybe you have some players you can recommend.
EXTRA INFO - I have adapted Pep Guardiola's style of football to the game and it works perfectly in terms of always having possession and creating chances, our biggest problem in the first season was wasting the chances. I also feel like SI have toned down Messi big time, for a player with 20 for finishing, high composure and all the other high mental attributes he wastes so many chances it's obvious that there is a problem. My best player in the 2nd season has been Hulk, all Messi does is score penalties, his average rating is around 6 and even when I talk to him about his form nothing changes. I understand SI maybe tried to tone him down but then why give him such high stats? 20 for finishing and he hits the target 1 out of 10 times, come on guys...
First season signings: I bought David De Gea from Man Utd to replace the soon-to-be-leaving-on-free Victor Valdes for a fee of around 30-40m not too sure. I bought Thiago Silva from PSG for a fee of 40m, definitely worth it.
I then bought Leandro Damiao from Internacional, didn't cost me too much and was a fairly good signing.
I sold Adriano because he would never make my first 11 or bench.
Summary of first season; started off the season with a disappointing draw at home but then went off on a great streak in all competitions. We had a comfortable lead at the top of the table, won all group stage matches in the UEFA CL and things were falling into place.
We get Galatasaray in the 1st knockout round of CL and we beat them over the two legs. We then draw PSG, playing the first leg at home. One of the most difficult ties I have played, we dominated both legs but just failed to make use of our chances and didn't defend set pieces too well. I believe we went out on away goals.
We also got knocked out of the Copa del Rey but I didn't really care about that cup. With our form in the league and our arch-rivals Real Madrid not playing too well, I always knew we'd do well in the league. Towards the end of the season we were like almost 20 points ahead of Madrid but we began to get very complacent. We were still able to lift the title with about 96 points overall but was very disappointed with our performance in Europe.
End of season; I had already agreed the transfer of Arturo Vidal and some other young prospects who will join at the beginning of the transfer window. I felt with Mascherano and Xavi getting older he would be the perfect replacement. His versatility alone combines both Xavi and Mascherano (just my opinion) but obviously not Xavi's creativity.
Anyway, I received a bid from Chelsea for Pedro for a fee of 35m with no installements, just the money upfront. I accepted it without thinking twice, Pedro wasn't in my first 11, the bid was much more than his actual value and I was thinking about getting a new winger anyway seeing as Sanchez wasn't good enough too.
I bought the Brazilian winger Hulk for about 30m (not too sure). I feel he is a good, tough winger who could dominate the right side of the pitch with Dani Alves supporting him. I also bought two backup keepers, Jefferson and Joel to replace Valdez and Pinto who both left on a free. The board were unhappy at Valdez' departure even though he is set to leave on a free before the game starts :S (Good job SI)
I forgot to mention I sold Jordi Alba, can't remember who to but I felt he was a good player but he never performed well in crucial matches. To strengthen the left side I bought Alex Sandro and David Alaba. Two great wing backs.
FYI England won the World Cup beating Germany in the final 2-0 but i find that to be very amusing considering Germany doesn't have a proper team in the game lol. A positive note was that both Thiago Silva and Gerard Pique were in the World Team of the tournament or something like that, so I felt like I had the best defence in the game. I also decided to strip Puyol and Xavi as captain and vice-captain as they just wouldn't play enough games to be the new leader, Puyol agreed with me about this but Xavi was a bit upset about it at the time. I appointed Pique as the new captain and Iniesta would be his stand-in.
2nd season: Pre-season went well and we're ready to give the UEFA CL another go. We had a bad start in the League with 2 wins and 2 losses in the first 4 games. After a few tweaks and the players getting used to the tactics again we began to show our true colours. We are currently at the top of the table by 1 point but on a very good win streak breaking records as we go along. the first Clasico was at our home so we were able to use that game to catch up to Madrid. We have finished our group stages winning all the games 6 out of 6 against FC Porto, Monaco and Olympiakos.
In the league we have scored about 40+ goals in around 12-15 games and have only conceded around 6 goals so I would say we have a pretty mean defence right now.
I am currently on a short break from this save as I'm waiting for my new PC as this one barely runs FM14 without crashing. If you enjoyed this post please leave a comment with any advice you can offer me or maybe you have some players you can recommend.
EXTRA INFO - I have adapted Pep Guardiola's style of football to the game and it works perfectly in terms of always having possession and creating chances, our biggest problem in the first season was wasting the chances. I also feel like SI have toned down Messi big time, for a player with 20 for finishing, high composure and all the other high mental attributes he wastes so many chances it's obvious that there is a problem. My best player in the 2nd season has been Hulk, all Messi does is score penalties, his average rating is around 6 and even when I talk to him about his form nothing changes. I understand SI maybe tried to tone him down but then why give him such high stats? 20 for finishing and he hits the target 1 out of 10 times, come on guys...
