Aston Villa Help Please

hi guys,
i am relatively new to this site and have found it very difficult this year to succeed with me beloved Villians!
i am really just looking for some answers as to why its so hard and any suggestions you guys might have to signings and selling players? especially bent and agbonlahor not sure whether there worth keeping or selling more? also any tactics that you think would work i usually try 4 at the back a DM 2 CM 2 W and a lone stricker but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

There aren't really any signings I can recommend, never been a team like that. Maybe look to get Rodwell on loan from City? New careers with teams like Villa are often difficult, but just stick with it

My advice is dont expect too much in the beginning. Think about it, in real life Villa are a mid table team so they need a lot of work to get higher.
Personally you will have loads more luck if you concentrate on a Youth policy and produce your own players and look out for 16/17yr olds and buy them. In 5yrs your youth players should be awesome and better than most of the other teams players, PLUS its cost effective! Let the likes of Man Utd, Man City, Real Madrid buy the 28yr old world class players for £30m+ on £100k+ a week, those players will very soon age and will have been a poor investment. Whereas you will be buying your 16/17yr olds for £2-3m and they will eventually be as good as the world class players and they'll be on half the wages of the players City, utd, Madrid bought.

Also you need to realise that every player in FM2013 is different for each save. So my Darren Bent will be different to yours (due to the random potential ability generator code), so me recommending players to you wont necessarily be any use to you.

You should have a 3yr plan, buy awesome youth and in 3yrs you should be aiming to win something (if not before).

Ok thanks so much! everything has been a help, Blue unfortunately Man city won't let rod well go but thanks and Robp thanks a lot i guess i have been expecting to much at the start and will try what u recommend. thanks

2013-03-04 19:49#83441 VillaAllTheWay : Ok thanks so much! everything has been a help, Blue unfortunately Man city won't let rod well go but thanks and Robp thanks a lot i guess i have been expecting to much at the start and will try what u recommend. thanks

That's strange, he always goes to Spurs on loan in my saves

Darren Bent is quality - you'd better keep him! In one of my saves (I wasn't Villa manager) Darren Bent banged in 40 goals in 38 apps. When I took charge as Villa manager he banged in 17 goals in 34 apps for me first season. Lethal!

In my Leeds save I took over Aston Villa in 2015, barely any players from the first-team had left but they had been relegated. I bought in and would recommend for you; Leonard Kwueke, Danny Batth, (If available) Alexander Buttner, Wilfried Zaha and Magnus Wolff Eikrem.*

*Magnus Wolff Eikrem has been a consistent performer and fluent in both central and right-attacking midfield role. Can be signed from Molde for £3.8-5m.

I did find money was an issue at Villa, especially after relegation but honestly, if you are a patient player and do fancy a 3-5 season plan, Aston Villa are the team to be. Its a shame that they're suffering like this being European Cup Winner's and all, but this world of football is just an industry now.

In your second season alot more players will be available to you from bigger clubs who havnt enjoyed their season on the bench (Which is how I got Buttner and also Sami Khedira), so keep going in your first season then enjoy a good second season.

Let us know how you're getting on and I'll load up my save to give you some more in-depth help, I did get them automatic promotion when they took the drop and Im comfortable in the Premier League.

thanks again guys still struggling though and can't seem to get past feb without being sacked just started a new save for the 1000th time haha but I'm determined with villa. a problem I've also some across is in the centre with who's worth keeping i have weswood , el Hamadi, bannan, gardner, delph and ireland who's the best? and which is the best prospect? also in Defence how good does Lowton turn out? and is Warknock good enough? also struggling with cb with dunne clark vlaar and bake. i don't no whether to go with experience or youth? i know this is a lot of questions but please any help would be greatly appreciated!

maybe try tactics you dont often see in premiership 352 3cb 2dm defensive wingers cam 2 strikers benteke as complete forward bent as a poacher

try keeping things simple like you would with a lower league manager just a theory if you try to out play like of united city etc probs gona out classed


also when i start at a new club i kinda always set season expectations to the lowest available less chance getting sacked although you may not get the money etc you can edit budgets or try ask the board a month ot two down the line and spend in january

2013-03-12 05:56#84325 VillaAllTheWay : thanks again guys still struggling though and can't seem to get past feb without being sacked just started a new save for the 1000th time haha but I'm determined with villa. a problem I've also some across is in the centre with who's worth keeping i have weswood , el Hamadi, bannan, gardner, delph and ireland who's the best? and which is the best prospect? also in Defence how good does Lowton turn out? and is Warknock good enough? also struggling with cb with dunne clark vlaar and bake. i don't no whether to go with experience or youth? i know this is a lot of questions but please any help would be greatly appreciated!

I sold El Ahmadi in 2014/15, sold Bannan at the start, and sold Ireland in 2013/14. I've kept Westwood, Gardner and Delph. Both are all definite keepers if you play them regularly. Delph won Young Player of the Year in my first season, and Gardner likes to bang in a lot of goals. Westwood is also very reliable. All quality youngsters.

Lowton plays very well but his stats say otherwise - I sold him to Celtic in 2014/15 to make way for Glen Johnson who came in from Liverpool. Warnock is good enough in the first season but I think you'd better let him go by 2014/15, because he's going to become even shittier.

Baker is a definite SELL, he becomes pretty shite, but Ciaran Clark and Ron Vlaar are keepers - especially Clark. ESPECIALLY Clark.

Richard Dunne plays very well too but if you can't find a spot for him in the team I suggest you let him go.

Ok thanks at I've kept most but Baker is my best player at the moment with an average of 7.41, i am currently 19th though and struggling with games and balancing the books aswell. gardner and delph playing together well.

In my first season I played El Ahmadi-Delph/Gardner (rotation). El Ahmadi is class first season but he starts to get shittier and shittier by the year.

Baker is also really good first season but then he starts to become shite, he went on loan three times in my second season and by the third season he was released.

My advice is just to not expect much in the first season. You've got no budget, and half your squad are just there to fill the gaps. If you scrape through without being relegated you should be happy. Try signing players in a pre-contract in January in the first season, and hopefully if you manage to stay up you will get a decent budget and with the money from selling the waste you can bring in some quality players that will get you a top half finish in the second season.

Get some top 4 players in on loan and stay up. Then aim to be mid table. Hen aim fro the top. Three year plans are very beneficialand thats what i'd aim for. Look at people like Rodwell, Sinclair, Buttner, Zaha, Powell, Lukaku, De Bryne, Marin. Even players like Holtby go out on laon on my saves. Aim big loan wise, basically anyone who doesn't start thats young and should.