Deleted User #151676 - Comments

Aye, I still remember going to that Carling cup semi against you guys that finished 5-3 or something. One of the best games I've ever been too.

I think he fell out with Lambert, He's apparently walked out before the game today.

And he's the only player who Villa can rely on for a regular supply of goals. I think they are in real trouble this season.

edit: Eric Licaj's Movember attempt is of Michael Owen esc beauty.

October 2012

This month was supposed to be the kick-start to our campaign, However that failed to materialize and we have remained almost exactly where we were last month.


The month got off to a good start as we eased to a fairly comfortable victory over Wigan where we looked very much in control in all aspects of our play, Which certainly could not be said in the next game....


5-0 down after an hour!!! My fury at the team was such that I even hauled Shay Given off for his sh*t performance. This was the worst performance I think I have ever overseen in any FM save and had me swearing loudly at the laptop.
Having said that my squad suddenly kicked into gear after the fifth goal and pulled three goals back, It looked as if we could complete the most epic comeback in Premiership history but unfortunately the revival ran out of steam.


After the mauling by Reading we really needed to bounce back against another newly promoted side, However Southampton had other ideas, The Saints were on top for much of the match as my demoralized team rolled over and died on their arse's.


We started this game really well, carving out some excellent chances, However Kyrgiakos's red card saw Stoke take the momentum off of us, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen up front caused us no end of problems and in the end we were lucky to escape with a point. At least it brings the losing streak to an end.


So we remain in the bottom half after a poor month, Things may well get worse in November as we face Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester City in succession as well as West Midlands rivals West Brom who the fans will be demanding a win over.

Thanks mate, Yeah, I was fuming after that one!


Haha glad your enjoying it mate.

Kyrgiakos is on a season long loan and I have the option to buy him for £150k but I will wait until the end of the season to see if his stats begin to head south as you say. He is great as a limited center back, His lack of pace is a bit of a hinderence but Clarke and Vlaar are both quick enough to compensate.
Stoker has only really featured from the bench thus far as I have been using Gabby Agbonlahor on the left flank as an inside forward, A role I think he is more effective in than out and out striker. Stoker does look a talent though, I had my scouts watch him several times as well as watching one of Basel's Champions League qualifiers myself where he impressed me even though it was only against a Moldovan side. He has a four star potential rating from my coaches so his future could be bright.

League wise September proved to be a fairly good month for us, defeat to Fulham was atoned for with our first win of the campaign at Sunderland and a point against Manchester United courtesy of a brilliant fight back.
Unfortunately our League cup hopes were dashed rather cruelly by West Ham despite us being dominant throughout.


I was hoping we would pick up our first victory of the league campaign at Craven Cottage however my defense's inability to get to grips with Berbatov or the insatiable Petric cost us dear. Full credit to Fulham they were the better side by a million miles.


Much better! We controlled the play well and could have won by more, Still I'm quite happy just to take the narrow victory. A massive relief to get that all important first win.


When we found ourselves 2-0 down to Man United at half time it seemed more a matter of how many Fergie's men would put past us rather than if we could come back. However Gabby Agbonlahor's goal against the run of play suddenly roused the crowd and indeed the team, Four minutes later Gabby raced clear of the United defense who just couldn't handle his pace, The former England international pulled the ball back for Darren Bent who was never going to miss as he placed the ball past De Gea. From there on it was us who ran the show, Although we didn't quite manage to snatch the points it was still a result to be proud of for sure.


How we managed to lose this League cup tie I will never know, We registered 18 shots on target to West Ham's three, However Christian Benteke who was returning from injury was wasteful with his chances. Former Villain Carlton Cole denied us late equiliser when he blocked former Hammer Nigel Reo-Coker's pile driver on the line to ensure they advanced at our expense.

So after five games we sit in 15th position, Not where we want to be but there have been signs of improvement this month.

October could really kick start our season with games against Wigan, Reading, Southampton and Stoke, All of which are teams I feel we should be aiming to beat.

August 2012

After the aforementioned defeat to Arsenal we welcomed Everton to Villa Park for my first home game in charge and although we didn't manage to take all three points the players did put on a good performance and were unfortunate not to win...


There doesn't see much point in print screening the league table after just two games but for anyone who is interested we are 18th at the moment with the one point on the board, Hopefully we can take that tally to four against Fulham next.

Following Everton we made the trip to Rotherham for our League cup tie with the Millers which after ten minutes was threatening to go horribly wrong...

In fact the League Two side could have been several goals ahead by half time if not for some sharp goalkeeping by Brad Guzan, My decision to rest most of our big names looked to be a disastrous one. Thankfully we made it to the interval without any further embaresment and I was able to give my team the kick up the arse they needed to but the Yorkshire side back in their place.
Andy Weimann's rather speculative effort from 25 yards somehow found it's way past Rotherham keeper Andy Warrington to pull us level, It wasn't long before debutante Graham Burke put us into the lead when the Irish U21 was on hand to sweep home a cross from Fabien Delph. The 18 year old looks a bright prospect.
Weimann's second goal more or less made sure of the result before Ciaran Clarke put the icing on the cake late on. In addition to Graham Burke there were also professional debuts for striker Callum Robinson and winger Jack Grealish, aged 17 and 16 respectively as well as first start for Jordan Graham (17) although he did come off the bench late on against Everton.
We were later drawn to face West Ham at home in the next round.

Deadline day saw us make moves for several players, Although I was unable to broker a deal for my #1 target Gary Caldwell. Here's who I did manage to snare....

An exciting young Swiss international who arrives from FC Basel for £4M, My eventual aim is to sell Charles N'Zogbia once he has recovered fro injury, I think Stocker will be a more than worthy replacement for the lazy Frenchman.


Admittedly Kyrgiakos was not my first, or even second choice in strengthening my back line, However when I was unable to get Gary Caldwell or Ryan Shawcross I took a punt on the the 33 year old former Liverpool man. He is still an active Greek international and is brick wall at the back, He lacks speed but that can be compensated for if I partner him with Ciaran Clarke. Initially he is on a season long loan but I have the option to sign him for £150k if he impresses.

__________________________________________________________________________



Thank you, keep reading!



Thanks mate, I shall be making use of the club's youth system in the long term but for now I want to toughen up and make them an intimidating team to face, I'm not going to turn them into a new Stoke City but try and give Villa the backbone they have lacked in recent years.

My first game in charge of the Villan's ended in defeat, There was however some signs of encouragement as we played reasonably well, Particularly in the first half....


I set up stall with a formation designed for counter attacking football which held well until Giroud eventually managed to penetrate our stubborn defence...


All three of my new players impressed me, Reo-Coker and Hubersman were solid in defense and Janssen created several chances for Darren Bent. Unfortunately as you can see from my subs bench the squad is still threadbare with Gabby Agbonlahor, Richard Dunne, Marc Albrighton, Carles N'Zogbia, Christian Benteke and Joe Bennett all out injured for at least a month or so, causing me to heavily rely on untested academy players. I will hopefully be able to add a new player or two before the visit of Everton next week.

Hope you continue to enjoy all the site has to offer.

Pre-season has gone reasonably well, we suffered only one defeat and that was an injury time goal to Valencia.


The 7-2 win over Den Haag was a particular highlight, Darren Bent had secured his hat-trick within ten minutes which was encouraging, Unfortunatly he then failed to score again in any of the other games.

Transfer wise I have moved to trim the fat in my squad, Several no hopers have been moved on as well as big money players such as Alan Hutton and Stephen Ireland...


Incoming I am not finished yet, there are still several positions I want to strengthen, Here's a look at the new faces so far...


Nigel returns to Villa Park after being released by Alex McLeish when he took over, The tough tackling midfielder spent last season with Bolton Wanderers but was released as a cost cutting measure following the Trotters's relegation. He his just the sort of robust and hard working player that I want to add some steel to my team.


Another hardworking lad who is also quite technically gifted and shall provide a useful option in midfield.


Signed on loan from Shakhtar for the season with the option to buy for £3.5M should I so choose. Thomas is a solid full back who continues my theme of adding hard working and brave players to compliment the young whipper-snappers in my squad.

As I mentioned there are still targets I want to snap up before the window shuts, Wigan's Gary Caldwell is currently top of my list, Moves for Blackpool's exciting starlet Thomas Ince and a Villa Park return for Peter Crouch are also possible if I can shift Charles N'Zogbia and/or Gabriel Agbonlahor.

I shall receive a baptism of fire in my first competitive game as Villa manager as we travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal before Everton visit Villa Park the following week. We then travel to New York!...New York Stadium, Rotherham to be exact for a Capital One Cup tie, A competition we shall be taking seriously in a bid to give Villa's long suffering fans something to cheer at last.

Here's a closer look at the club and it's facility's...




With such good facilities we should be able to produce some more high quality youngsters which will be my highest priority.

Our pre-season kicks off against Dutch side Den Haag before travelling to Germany for a three game tour there and returning home for a game with Valencia.

The past few decades have been a tough time to endure for the claret and blue half of Birmingham, The inside of the trophy cabinet is scarcely visible to to all the dust and cob webs which have accumulated since Villa's finest moment in 1982 when they triumphed over Bayern Munich to lift the European cup in Rotterdam. The following season they went on to defeat Barcelona for the European Super cup. Unfortuantly for the Villans their fortunes took a sharp downturn shortly afterwards and found themselves relegated just four years later.
Although they were founding members of the Premier League Villa have yet to win England's top prize in it's current incarnation, In fact they have not won a thing since beating Leeds 3-0 for the 1996 Coca-Cola cup unless the Intertoto cup is counted.

Things were looking up under Martin O'Neill who brought in a clutch of exciting talent including Ashley Young and James Milner which helped Villa to two Wembley appearances in 2009/10 where they were narrowly beaten by Manchester United in the Carling Cup final and then by Chelsea in the FA cup semi final, After O'Neill quit on the eve of the 2010/11 season Villa have found themselves regress at an alarming rate, Gerrard Houillier had to quit for health reasons leading to the appointment of former Birmingham manager Alex McLeish which provoked furious fan protests outside Villa park as the Scot had not only come from the arch enemy across the city but overseen their relation despite winning the Carling Cup that season.
Villa narrowly survived relegation themselves in 2011/12, leading to American owner Randy Learner sacking McLeish, Which brings us nicely to the present....

Objective

2012/13 - Remove some of the crap McLeish and Paul Lambert have signed as well as the players who are earning far more than their worth. and bring in some experience to give squad some backbone. Aim for a top ten finish.
2013/14 - Push for the Europa League places
2014-onward - Begin to try and mold Vila into a top Premiership side and do what O'Neill failed to do in qualifying for the Champions League.

The Squad


GK

Shay Given: The most capped Irish international of all time, Given is a reliable goalkeeper, his wealth of experience perhaps gives him the edge over the up and coming Guzan, but to be honest there isn't much to choose between them, as Given isn't what he used to be. He is on a rather high 52k per week, and on top of that is contracted until after his 40th birthday.

Brad Guzan: The American is paid less than a third as much as his rival for the No.1 jersey, but in terms of ability is more or less equal. He returned to the club in the summer after initially being released at the end of last season. At 27 years old and with 20 international caps under his belt he is hardly inexperienced either.

Benjamin Siegrist: The Swiss youngster has been at the club since he was 16, and could one day make an able No.2 one day, but he is unlikely to ever be good enough to be a serious first teamer.


RB

Alan Hutton: Hutton was a McLeish signing last summer from Spurs. He is average at best, and you would expect more for 45k per week. His poor positioning and marking make him a liabilty defensively, though he is relatively strong going forward.

Matthew Lowton: Plucked out of League One obscurity this summer by Paul Lambert, Lowton is certainly outstanding for a League One player, trouble is he is now a Premier League player. He is slightly more defensively sound than Hutton, but a little less of threat going forward. At least he is on sensible wages, and has some potential to expand into

Eric Lichaj: He is not Premier League standard and never will be despite being a US international.


LB

Stephen Warnock: A similar story to Hutton at RB, Warnock is an average player earning more than he should. He has been at the club for 3 years now and has had a mixed time, he went from being in the 2010 England World Cup squad, to playing in the reserves under Gerard Houllier.

Joe Bennett: Another Lambert summer signing, Bennett is not ready for Premier League football, though he does have to potential to one day get there. Would be ideal for a loan spell in the Championship if he wasn't the second best LB at the club.

Edna Stevens: He was signed from Shamrock Rovers last January, but already looks unlikely to ever make the grade, there is little doubt he is more suited to Championship level football.


CB

Ron Vlaar: Vlaar is a Lambert signing, and possibly his best. The Dutch international is a good all round CB without an obvious weakness, he is excellent in the air and comfertable with the ball at his feet. He is also one the outstanding candidates for the vacant captincy, despite his recent arrival at the club.

Richard Dunne: Own goal machine Dunne is 32, injured at the start of the game, and one of the clubs top earners on 55k per week. But he is also pretty good, and could potentially form a solid partnership with Vlaar, though his lack of pace is a serious concern.

Ciaran Clark: The 22 year old youth academy product is developing into a solid Premier League player, his versatility is a real bonus, he can play at LB or in midfield, but is most comfertable at CB. Given enough playing time he could turn into a real asset.

Nathan Baker: Baker is another academy product and could develop into a decent Premier League player, though he is not ready yet he may suffice as back up.

CM

Karim El Ahmadi: Another good signing that Lambert has made during the summer, the Morrocan international is throughly dependable in a deep lying playmaker role. He is very good technically, but his tackling can let him down.

Stephen Ireland: Ireland can be a very good footballer, if he wants to be. He is another of the club's top earners, but if I can get the best out of him he may well prove to be worth the money. His excellent off the ball, composure, and anticipation stats mean that he is potentially a serious goal threat if played behind a lone striker.

Fabian Delph: At 22 years of age Delph is now in danger of not fulling his significant potential. Delph's problem is that he is a bit light weight for the centre of midfield at this level, He could make a decent deep lying playmaker, though he isn't a good enough passer for my liking and pace is his best asset, so I may try to develop him into a box-to-box player.

Barry Bannan: A very similar story to Delph, Bannan is an academy product, with the potential to be a decent player at the top level. If its possible Bannan is even more light weight than Delph, and so, although he is naturally a central midfield player, I think he has more of a future on the left wing. He is technically quite good.

Gary Gardner: Craig's brother is another academy product with the potential to become a first team player. He is a bit of a blank canvas in the sense that he is fairly well rounded with plenty of potential to grow into, so I should be able to shape him into whatever kind of midfielder I want, and he could be rather good.

Chris Herd: The Aussie is yet another one from the academy, he has great mental stats and is pretty versatile, so he could be decent as back up, though he just doesn't have the technical ability to ever really establish himself in the top league.

Ashley Westwood: Not one of Lambert's better signings from this summer's window, Westwood is better suited to Championship football, and is unlikely to have much of a role in the team.


AMR/L

Brett Holman: Alex McLeish's final contribution to the club was the signing Aussie Holman on a free transfer. He is a workhorse of a player, and will put in a shift if nothing else. Technically he is far from excellent, but he should do as a stop gap, I can look to replace him in the medium term.

Charles N'Zogbia: McLesih spent around £10m on the Frenchman last summer and he has been somewhat of a flop, he is undoubtedly talented but equally undoubtedly unreliable. If I can get the best out of him he is a potential asset, but that may well prove to be a big if, on top of that he is another of those players who is most probably overpaid.

Mark Albrighton: Another academy product with decent potential. Albrighton should thrive with a target man such as Christian Benteke as he is a good crosser of the ball. He is also a hard worker, though he lacks the yard of pace neccesary to become a real top winger.


ST

Darren Bent: Bent is the club's highest paid player, he is also, suitably, one of the best. Given the right service Bent should score goals, his high Anticipation and Off the Ball stats make him a real threat in the box. However he won't create many goals for himself or others.

Gabby Agbonlahor: Clinical he is not, he will miss plenty of one on ones. He can be deadly though, he is strong, and very very quick, Perfect for counter attacking football.

Christian Benteke: The last of Lambert's summer signings, the Belgian international has all the ingredients needed to develop into a quality target man, he is a decent finisher and can score plenty of goals in a poacher role as well.

Andreas Wiemann: The Austrian is potentially a decent poacher type striker, but he will need game time to develop so a loan move may well be on the cards.

There is no transfer money at all to spend so I will have to sell to buy, The problem is I only have a handful of players who are worth any decent amount of money, Darren Bent could fetch £15M or so but I can't see us been able to replace him with anyone of an equal of better quality. Stephen Ireland and N'Zogbia are more preferable options as is Agbonlahor if anyone will take him.

Wish me luck!

Never mind, It appears to have resolved it's self.

I have an infuriating problem with my game,
When I set up a new game I can't seem to progress between the manager details screen onto the chose a team one, It freezes every time I press the continue button, But only on career mode, FMC works fine.

I've tried verifying the cache, deleting all added graphics and clearing the settings folder. I don't know what else to try.

Help.

Good challenge mate, I've never been that interested in San Marino but Wales should be good.

Anybody here interested in buying a ball signed by Ruud Gullit? I won it in a competition run by Castrol during Euro 2012. I finally got round to sticking it on Ebay recently but it didn't sell for what I asked.

Asking on a football site seems like a logical thing to do before I bother re-listing.

Not sure if they still do but the Job Center used to pay businesses to take on those who were otherwise unemployable.

In my defense of the three careers I've started on FM13 only the one was me getting bored, The other two were poorly configured add-on leagues and a laptop fuck up. Proper annoying though.

You can keep the first £10 of your wages, The rest is deducted from your JSA.

I'm afraid that a corrupted hard drive has brought this career to an abrupt end. If someone can delete it please.

I'm especially annoyed this was the first FM13 career I've managed to get into thus far. Do yourself a favor and never buy an Acer laptop.

Straight from Steam surely?

Who are the mods now?

Yeah, I tried to download a skin which makes career mode look like FMC but you also seem to lose functions.

Have you given classic mode a whirl? The whole point of it was to cater to people such as yourself who yearned for a return to simpler time.

October 2013

After all my pessimism and negativity we have started the season fairly well...


It's early days but we have been playing reasonably which comes as something of a surprise given the spectacular flop of last season and the poor friendly routine.
I am currently utilizing a 4-3-1-2 formation which is good for getting the ball forward but can leave my full back exposed if the opposition posseses tricky wingers, Thankfully most A-League clubs seem to favor this sort of line up as well.


So after four games we lye in seventh place, My target for the season is sixth in order to qualify for the play-off's, Anything above that is a bonus.

No. Shame because I'm sick of waiting for the new Flex to be finished.

What training levels do you have set? If you train players with low stamina and natural fitness levels too hard they will get injured a lot.

Hmmmm.

Pre-season hasn't gone as I hoped it might, a humbeling by amature Sydney United was the low point and one that had e on the brink of chucking in the towel in Australia already. However I hung in there and pressed ahead and although things didn't get much better during the friendly's I shall be leading the club into the 2013 season.


I have one more signing to reveal...

To be fair I think you should walk this division as well as the next.