FM13 - The turning of the tractor

This will probably be my one and only story I do on here as you guys make mine look extremely average but I like to give it a go that way you can possibly pick ideas out for yourself

First of all my name is Nick so no need to call me by my account name and I am an FM addict have played it ever since 2005. My first career game is always with Ipswich as they are my local team and have supported them since I was 6.

Ipswich are now the longest serving team in the championship at 10 years, I am looking to change that using there brilliant youth system and doing it "the ipswich way" bringing through my own players.

Here is a screenshot of my team/tactics screen.


As you can see Ipswich really do lack in natural CM's. So too avoid this I have created a tactic which avoids using them, so far I have found I lack width when going forward unless the full backs get forward (they are set as wing backs). But I have found I keep the ball very well, every game I have had over 60% possession.

Well here are my signings I have made.


Quite frankly a bargain was Tommy Spurr at just 275k from Doncaster, this addressed the other weakness Ipswich have, a lack of CB's.

This next signing I was rather over the moon with, superb DM and absolutely bags of experience to pass on and judging by his stats and my coach reports will easily be able to cut it at this level and even the next.


These last two signings are just for back up or the future as I had a lot of interest in my back up keeper I thought I would get a replacement in incase.

The next signing that could be happening within a couple of days is this guy.



This will be on a season long loan, he has a host of clubs after him including a top French side in OM. Will be a good signing if he chooses me and a good bit of competition for Michael Chopra.

My team is very much being built around Paul Taylor, I see him as my best player and has the falir and ability to change a game, I feel in the summer when Ipswich bought Taylor they paid a bit over the odds. But he is a Town player now and I look to get the very best out of him, He is playing at AMC which is his natural position along with ST and I have him playing as a trequartista.

So far I have had a very ordinary but eventful pre season. Having lost to a lower league club, beating one and drawing too another. The team look good going forward and really do hold onto the ball like it has glue on it, but I seem to be conceading cheap/soft goals and that is bugging me. However the team is only just starting to form, there are a lot of new players in there including the GK Scott Loach who is in fact an Ipswich fan himself.



I am rather worried about my next friendly as I believe it could be a cricket score. I will definately being adopting a more defensive/counter attacking approach against the mighty Barcelona. But I will update at the end of pre season.

I look forward too any input from you guys!!!!

Come on, Nick. Don't even think about not doing another story because it is average. Most stories rely on results, and I'm sure a 7 year veteran like you will grind out some fascinating wins.

Good luck with your Ipswich adventure.

Thanks I am only passionate about one club (Ipswich) anyway and I will probably be playing this save for a good 6 months.

Well I just played the Barcelona friendly and I was suprised to say the least. For 50mins we dominated and kept it too 0-0 and probably should have even been winning. The end scoreline does not reflect the performance and my boys deserved a lot of credit for the way they played.



Just look at the matchs facts bottom left. They had a full strength team out too except for Messi coming off the bench (was probably the turning point).

More transfer activity at Portman Road. After realising Daryl Murphy didnt really fit in with my set up as I dont use wingers and only use 1 ST I sent him back when I had the opportunity of another AM with real talent.



I give you his replacement Craig Conway, on loan for the season paying 50% of his wages and 22k a month for his services. If he is a success I will definately look to sign him up on a permanent deal as his stats look like he will fit in well with my tactics/formation.

An FM13 story!

Happy to see a FM13 story already! Hope you keep it going for a long time.


Coming to your tactic, your trequartista Paul Taylor will automatically be assigned as playmaker, and that worries me, because his passing and creativity are a poor 10 and 8. He looks okay as a poacher, maybe rotation to Chopra though.

Thanks Arvind K - Yeah is that automatically done is it??? I wasnt aware of this, thankyou. I will change his role in that case to an inside striker or something then, he has scored a couple already this season as trequartista. Chopra has been banging them in for me as you would expect. For some reason when you start the game on fm13 Chopra is down as not being needed and on the transfer list. I cant understand why, he isnt in real life and he is the best striker along with Taylor.

You could change who gets the playmaker role, even if he is playing as trequartista. Go to Tactics -> Team Instructions, and at the bottom there should be playmaker, target man etc..you can change it there.(My guess, it was like that in FM12)

Well I am now 17 games into my season, been having a bit of a rough time only 3 matches ago I was 20th in the table and level on points with 21st. But I have had 3 back to back wins and things are looking up.

I had a fairly strong start to the season having won a few games and drawn a few BUT after that I have had woeful form and I have been quite frankly awful, tried different tactics but nothing could stop the rot. But I persisted and when I loaded the game up this morning my form seems to have changed and now morale is picking up. I have found giving team talks and giving morale very difficult, with Paul Taylor and Michael Chopra living up to there reputation of being "bad boys".

Anyway here is the current league table, it was a lot grimmer than this I assure you. I am still not happy with how its working out but I am enjoying the new game!



And here is my fixture list to show you what I mean by decent start and then just pure downhill.



Nick

One problem that is bugging me is the form of some of my "star" players.

Paul Taylor, was basically going to build a team around him but he was injured for a month so I had to come up with some different ideas, but even when he has been playing him form has been pretty poor.




Michael Chopra, I guess I have always hoped he would be the next Bogdan Stancu but just doesn't ever seem to set the world alight.



Aaron Cresswell, player of the year last year for Ipswich hasn't been very good at all for me and always seems to get worn out very early on in games.

Im now in mid January and have continued to work my way up the table, I had another stutter but am on a good run again at the moment.

Latest league table




I have also made another addition to my team in January, I have absolutely no money but had a fair bit of wage budget going spare. I welcome/give you Ferrie Bodde.




I have made some bosman/pre contract agreements with two players as well, I am well happy with both of these freebies and look forward to having them in my team next season.



I am extremely happy with this next one.

Well this second half of the season is really entertaining and SO up and down. I still have a very outside chance of making the play offs but I dont think I am going to make it. Here is the latest league table.



I have also had some more movement on the transfer front even though the window is shut. I terminated Guirane N'Daw's loan as he was on the highest wages at the club 20k. His replacement was a player I had been scouting all season until he would join me on low wages. I give you Owen Hargreaves, only a short term deal but I may possibly extend it another year.



Paul Taylor is driving me nuts though, he will set the world alight with moments of magic and then have 3 awful games, drives me nuts! Cross your fingers for me to make the play offs. The foundations are in place now for me to make a big promotion push next season.

With 5 games to go I am now only 2 points off the play offs after back to back wins.

I have just agreed a deal to sign a very special player too. A player with a very very long Ipswich Town career ahead of him. Just 15 years old! I reckon he may even go straight into the team next season when he joins.