HELP! - Football Manager 2010

[rva]

Tell him to change his name to Wagner?

You can ask him to recommend a player, and then even if you don't sign him it'll bump his morale up.  But that just gets him up for the games; it still doesn't change the underlying problem that he doesn't like you.

My guess is he thinks there is too much competition for spots and he feels you've mistreated him in some way.  He does have a driven personality so he will still likely continue to play hard.  And it also means whatever gripe he has is probably somewhat legitimate because he's not all diva-like.

You can't offer him a bigger contract with your budget maxed out.  Can you bump his squad status up to key player or important first team player?  That might help a little.  Basically, if he really is that good and that important just let him know it via press conferences, ingame talks, letting him tutor someone, asking his opinion, etc.  Don't kiss his ass or anything, but make sure you treat him as an important part of your team and give him the respect (and responsibility) he deserves.

But OTOH, he's a good player and young and I'm guessing despite his unhappiness he's still probably playing decently for you.  So you can probably just use him for the rest of the season and sell him for enough value that you can replace him.

When this happens to me, I generally make a half-decent effort to make amends but draw the line.  You have to show whose boss.  And also, if the player is unhappy now they could just be a temperamental type and I don't want to have to deal with that shit.  So I'll do a few things to try to make up for whatever I may have done wrong, but I'm not going to put any player ahead of the team.  If a limited amount of ass-kissing doesn't change his attitude by the end of the season, he gets transferred.

[Dan]

Thanks. Yeah, the only thing I did wrong was I made that mistake about his eligibility in the first games we played in the EURO Cup. Obviously he's been registered in the next two rounds, and he's been playing well (and a lot, as I said) so I'm actually fine with everything. But I'd like him to be happy, as I get all these rumors about how so-and-so is unhappy and looking to move. I've put his 'asking price' down to like $20 million or something, which seems reasonable to me. Double his estimated value seems good for the guy who last year was the best right midfielder in the EPL. Oh and last I checked his morale was "superb" so you're about that. He's a professional and all.

I'm guessing that during the next transfer window I'll end up selling him simply to get the problem off my hands... but only if someone comes asking for him. I'm not going to offer him to clubs or anything.




Edit: One other thing: Ochoa is listed as a "slight concern" because he thinks I don't have good managerial discipline. I'm not sure what that means though.

My guess is that he thinks we foul too much on the pitch. I've always played an aggressive defense so that would make sense, but I didn't ever think of it as a concern. Or perhaps he thinks I rotate my players too much? I dunno. None of this really makes sense to me.

[rva]

Yeah, failing to include one of your best players in Europe is going to rightly piss them off really, really bad.  But if you've included him in the following rounds maybe he'll get over it.

As far as Ochoa goes, Ochoa is worried that *you* don't have discipline, not that the squad doesn't have it. 

Of course a failure to discipline your players after getting carded could be seen as reflective of your own personal lack of discipline.  But there could be other reasons.  It could be you've been complaining about bad calls, or trash talking the other team/managers, or yelling at your players a lot.  Basically, he doesn't think you're being professional.  Figure out what might have triggered that.

[Dan]

Random Update:

I actually kinda forgot what’s happened and such as I’ve been playing a bit less b/c it got warm out. But here’s what I remember. As of this writing it’s February 5th, 2015 in the game.

First off – Euro Cup. This has been tremendously fun and it really reinvigorated me in this game. I love it. We’re still in it as we advanced out of the group stage with a dramatic 2-0 victory over Sevilla to take 2nd place in our group. Spartak Moscow were ousted along with Gencerbligi or whatever their name was. We play Udinese next and although we’re the underdogs maybe we can make something of it. Woo.  But I can’t stress enough how much this has interrupted what has become a rather repetitive game…especially on my slow-as-molasses computer.

Second off – EPL. We’re having a rough go of it as we currently reside in 9th place. Although that’s precisely what I suggested our expectations to be in the game, I privately was hoping for much better than this. We just can’t get it together. We went on a run of 5 or 6 games without a win, and then we went on a run in January with 3 straight wins plus a draw to earn me Manager-of-the-Month. We’re as inconsistent as the current real-life Southampton squad. Aargh. It’s probably b/c I don’t know anything about tactics, but hey, that’s the way it rolls I guess.

Third off – League Cup. We did well. Not as well as last year (winning the damn thing) but we made the semi-finals. We ran up against Chelsea and although we win our home leg 1-0, when we went to their place we couldn’t pull off the draw or win. In fact I even tried the reset cheat on that 2nd game, but when I lost to them twice I figured “meh, it’s meant to be.” In the quarterfinals we played Arsenal at home, which was interesting b/c 4 days prior to that game we had just played Arsenal on the road for an EPL game and lost like 4-1 or something. We took them to penalties and advanced that way. It was quite something to take down that juggernaut just a few days after “a heavy defeat” as the game phrases it.

Fourth off – FA Cup. Umm, pretty good? I dunno. We played Exeter in our first game and I had all the subs and such in there and we won 3-0. Then we drew Aston Villa – my arch-nemesis in this game. We’ve never beaten them. Period. So we play in Birmingham and are able to scrape together a draw. NICE! On the replay I admit I do my second reset cheat (no more this season, I hope!) as they do one of those 93rd minute scores to win 2-1. RESET. So in the second game Winters scores early to go up 1-0. Cool. Then in the 31st minute Otocka goes in too hard on someone and gets sent off. BOO. They score instantly to tie it up, but resilient Southampton manage to hold them to nothing more despite being down a player due to my awesomely creative formation of 3 center-backs, one DM, 3-man midfield, and 2 forwards. We got to extra time and then to PKs with nothing exciting happening. In PKs I set it up so that my best PK taker goes 1st, then my worst, and then Wagner, a guy who I’ve never seen miss one in about 8 tries, gets the 5th slot. Ochoa stops not one but two of Villa’s PKs, but sadly Surman misses his. Wagner coolly and calmly steps up… and …. SLOTS IT HOME! Win 4-3 on PKs. So that’s where we are. We play ManUre next. They aren’t as good as they should be in this game I’ve noticed, so perhaps we can take them. Unfortunately it’s at Old Trafford so probably not. I dunno. I really want to play Europe again next year as that’s been my favorite part of this season, and that means I need to either beat ManU or really start winning in the EPL. It’s not looking good.

Fifth off – transfer updates. Well, I can’t remember much other than that I sold John Edge and Lloyd James this winter. It was sad to see them go as both of them have me listed as a favored personnel AND both love Southampton. But I realized I wasn’t using them. James had been in like 3 games and those were only out of pity. Edge, on the other hand, had been loaned out EVERY year since he arrived. At some point he has to get the idea that I wanted him to be awesome but it just wasn’t happening. I tried to sell Lukaku as he’s been the odd man out in my striker rotation, but no one would take him. EVEN ON A FREE! Argh. Then I tried cutting him, but the board said no way since we’d owe him $1.1 million if we did that. But um, guys? We’re paying him $875k to sit on the bench for both this year AND next year. That means your total cost to keep him would be $1.312 million. So cutting him would SAVE you money. Ugh. Dumbasses.

Sixth off – player developments. David Allen is still unhappy but is at least professional enough that he’s playing well. There was some speculation of interest this transfer window but no one made an offer. Stevie Winters has been really great. There have been flashes of brilliance when he’d score 2 or 3 goals per game. He’s cooled off lately, but he’s still really freaking good. Roger Teague ended up being the November Player of the Month. That’s right. Not the “Young” Player of the Month. The full fledged legit award. He scored 4 goals in 4 games that month and I barely even noticed. He’s been hurt for a few weeks lately but generally speaking he’s been great too. There’s no way I could loan him to someone. He’s one of the best in the EPL and he’s only 18. Winters and Teague have actually caused Fan Favorite and Team Icon (yes, that’s right – icon…that’s what it says!) Robert Lewandowski to be relegated to my number 3 striker. It’s sad b/c we all love him, but looking at his stats he’s really not as good as other strikers in the EPL. Then he went on a 500 or 600 minute drought without scoring a goal, so even though he scored one a couple games back now, he’s still not exactly rolling through the league. I guess that’s the way it goes. My old guys have all gotten really old really fast (except for Frank Lampard). Manuele Blasi, Sergey Ignashevich, Wayne Bridge, and Geovanni are all wanting more playing time. Bridge gets some from time to time I suppose, but the rest of them kinda stink. All of their contracts expire at the end of this year, so they are all going to be released on a free. I might try to get some of them as coaches (not sure how to do that, really) but otherwise they are out of here. Atanas Velikov is my young keeper who is stuck behind the god-like Guillermo Ochoa so he whines about playing time too. I give it to him occasionally, and he does well, but what am I supposed to do? Thanks rva for the tip on Ochoa. Wow. He’s good. Hmmm. David Faulkner I’ve given up on as a bust. He got hurt right away and then I moved on and forgot about him. Oops. Flemming Wagner and Jose Moreira have been decent with lots of potential so that’s exciting. Gerrit Wagner was sent out on loan but might have a back up role next season behind Mehdi Rafik at DL. Liam Rosenior is still my back up defender – he can play all four positions so he’s uber-useful in that role. He’s the only guy who has an expiring contract this summer that I’m not sure what to do about. He’s a professional so that’s cool, but he’s on the wrong side of 30 now and I’m wondering … maybe I’ll be loyal to him and keep him around with one year contracts until I don’t want him anymore? I dunno. Otherwise most of the other players are pretty much the same as usual, I think. I can’t wait to get Teague back b/c he lists Winters as one of his favorites, so playing them together is usually pretty magical.

I was messing around looking at the South American Under 20 Championships and I noticed that some 20 yr old on Brazil was valued at $11.75 million. I scouted him and he looks like he might be the best player I’ve ever seen, attribute-wise. It says he has no interest in playing for us, but I’m thinking maybe if I complement him enough he’ll come here? He’s only in his first year at Cruziero (sp?) so he’s pleased to have joined that club after playing in eastern Europe before. But man – he could be my Messi… hmmm…

[rva]

[Dan]

Okay, he's not THAT good, but I don't know how you do that. My tutoring guys aren't that good or something? Or my coaches aren't? Or I don't know how to get the elite players? Whatever it is... your team would destroy my team.

[rva]

That was just raw luck.  Oddly, I got the guy from Genclerbiligi.  My U-18's played them in a friendly and my coach reported back to me on a promising prospect.

I took a look at him, and he was indeed awesome at a young age and looked like he would improve a great deal.  At the same time, I didn't think of him as "the one."  In fact, I took two other strikers that same year who seemed equally promising.  But Kaya had the advantage of being natural at AMC which meant I could get him more playing time.  And he also seemed to be a fast learner, which meant he improved quicker and that got him even more playing time.

But in the end, it was raw luck.  Those two other strikers also became very good and the lack of playing time didn't hurt them because I think they have maxed out their potential.  It's just that Kaya for whatever reason, has an unreal ceiling and just keeps getting better.

He's by far the best player I have ever seen in the game.  He actually kind of makes a mockery of FM, to be honest.  He averages two goals an appearance and I think his average rating last year was something like 8.0.  I didn't even tutor him, or come up with a special training schedule for him.

[Dan]

He has better defending skills than my best defenders. That's all I've got to say. I hope you're having fun with him then. I sure could use him on my team. We are good, but not that good. I even tried figuring out the corner kick cheat and although I couldn't get it to work it did teach me about yet ANOTHER tactical aspect of the game that I've been ignoring (I ignore almost all of them). And I tried the 4-1-2-3 Narrow formation that I heard about. We beat ManUre 3-0 so that was awesome, but then it hasn't helped much since then. Perhaps the computer figured out how to defend it? Or I just got lucky with that first game and then I'm not actually doing anything more than what I've just said, which isn't actually the strategy. I dunno. Still... hopefully we can start winning. I don't know if I need a 2 goals per game guy, but how about a one goal per game?

[Dan]

How do I have my U-18 squad play international (erm, I mean foreign) sides?
How do I have my coaches for those squads make reports like the one yours did?

[rva]

The same way you set up Friendlies for your senior squad. 

Click on the U-18 squad tab, then click on "matches."  Look near the bottom right and there is a button for "Arrange Friendly."  Pick a date and side.  The coach who you have coaching your U-18's will give you a brief match report just like they always do when your U-18's play. 

I have to tell you though, I don't think I've ever signed a player based on a match report other than Kaya.  And it's possible my scouts would have turned him up at some point anyway.  I mostly just arrange U-18 friendlies to get my squad an extra game or two. 

[Dan]

Oh. I must have a setting turned off then b/c I don't get match reports for my U-18s or my Reserves. Thanks for the heads up.

[Dan]

Another random update, if anyone cares. Heh.

So yeah, I had a blast with the 2014-2015 season due to the EURO Cup. We got out of the group stage, as I said, and our first game was against Udinese. I admit I did the reset cheat here, but I also admit that once we got past that Italian side, we hit our stride. We played Girodins Bordeaux to a 0-0 Away draw, and then David Allen slotted home two goals in the home leg of that match. FC Bayern Munchen were next up, and we won 1-0 at home on a Roger Teague goal, and followed that up with a 2-1 win at their place on two more goals from Mr. Teague. We then advanced to play Sevilla in the semi-finals, a team from our group stage that we went 1-1 against, losing 1-0 and then winning 2-0. So I was optimistic but concerned that maybe it was a fluke from before. But no! Teague scores the only goal of them game in the first leg in Spain, and then Lampard strikes one home for the only goal in the second leg. I really couldn’t believe it! Finals of the EURO Cup, and I only cheated once. Wow. At this point in the season I’m basically playing my best lineups for these competitions and slotting in a lesser squad for the EPL games b/c I want my best players to be energetic. We face Wolfsburg in the finals, and even though it’s played at Anfield (a pseudo home field advantage, right?) they take us out 2-1 on two goals from Vagner Love. Arrrgh, if I’d only signed that guy a few years ago when I had the chance. Teague scored our consolation goal, but we were never really that close in the game. I thought about resetting it, but then I decided that 2nd place was pretty freaking good. So that was fun.

Our EPL fortunes were less glorious. We hovered between 12th and 8th for most of the season, never really threatening the leaders. Of course, we almost always had a game in hand, but that didn’t really matter. We end up finishing 7th and ignorant me was disappointed that we didn’t make it to 5th to qualify for Europe again, but I was quickly shown my stupidity when I got a message that says by virtue of our 7th place finish we’ll be back in the tourney. Is it normally like that? I dunno. Not sure if we got the invite b/c 7th place is normal, of if b/c the other teams in front of us qualified for Champions League or had already earned an invite or something. But whatev – we’re back in. Yay. It was actually interesting b/c our last game of the season was against Chelsea when they had locked up their spot regardless of how they played. We won 3-2 on goals from the trio of Ledezma, Winters, and Marquinhos, which was rather unexpected. I mean, Winters scored a lot early on but then his output dried up during the second half of the season. Marquinhos scored one goal ALL SEASON… and that was it (note that he scored 12 goals his 1st season and 17 goals his 2nd season). And Ledezma is an MC so he doesn’t get a lot of goals. So I was surprised.

Roger Teague ended up tying a record for highest rating in a season with 7.39 – that was Ryhor Filipenko’s Championship season score. Obvi that he hasn’t come close since then due to playing in the EPL. So Teague is promising. And everyone thinks Winters is our best striker, so that’s a nice combo. I keep playing Robert Lewandowski although I’m thinking he isn’t as good as those two. He’ll be my 3rd striker for now. I hope this doesn’t piss off the fans since they seem to love him so much. Stevie Winters won the fans player of the year, ending Guillermo Ochoa’s two year reign for that award.

Post-season I re-sign Frank Lampard to another one-year deal. This time he costs $1.2 million, down from $2.1 million. Pretty happy with that. But I let Manuele Blasi go, as well as Kelvin Davis and Wayne Bridge. Sergey Ignashevich and Geovanni both announce their retirements, and for giggles I sign them as coaches. I felt it was the least I could do. In the same vein, I also am poking around at former players and notice that Marek Saganowski is coaching somewhere, and I offer him a contract. I know he’s not much for SFC in the real world, but he was dynamite for me in that first League 1 season. I like the move. I end up selling David Allen to OM for $13 million. I notice even the fans are fine with this, even if was one of our best players. He just wasn’t a happy camper. I sell David Faulkner to Sunderland for $750k, which is clearly a loss, but hey at least we recouped something. Liam Rosenior was the one loss that I was sad/mad about. I tried to re-sign him and he asked for $575k. I decide to low-ball him (my fault, I guess) and go with $500k. He says he wants a bigger contract, so I say fine $550k. He says he wants a bigger contract, so I’m like, huh? Really? Okay, fine – here’s what you asked for: $575k. But now he wants $600k I guess, so he says no. When I see that final rejection, he’s now asking for $800k. Out of principle, I say “peace out, dude” and withdraw my offer. I notice a few months later that he’s still unemployed and see if he wants to sign. His agent tells me that he’s not interested in playing for SFC. Wow. I guess that low-ball offer really insulted him. Damn. Too bad – he was VERY useful as my defender sub.

 New signings are:
Anthony Etchemendy, an 18 yr old ST/AM LC from Stade Malien for $190k. I actually made this signing like 3 yrs ago or something and didn’t realize that he wasn’t legally allowed to transfer until he was 18. I couldn’t cancel it, either, so it just finally went through. Entertaining b/c prior to SFC, he was making $350. Yes, per year. Haha. That’s it. Much to my surprise, my staff actually thinks he has some potential and may develop into a decent Premier player. His attributes don’t look like much, tho. If I can sell him in a few years for profit it’ll have been worth it.
David Maclennon, a 22 yr old DC from Rangers for $22 million. He’s a “towering centre-back” which amuses me. He pairs up with Simplice Terren pretty well as my two guys back there, and Wagner and Filipenko are my backups.
Valdo, a 20 yr old DL, WB L, DM, MC from Cruzeiro for $35 million. This was the guy I briefly looked at once and thought he could be the best player in the game. Boy was I dumb. I mean, he’s good for sure – much better than Mehdi Rafik, our starting DL, but he’s not $35 million worth of good. In fact, there was another player, Fitim, who I could have had for about $20 million who was actually comparable or possibly slightly better. Oops. I messed that one up. At least Valdo is flexible and I can use him in multiple formations.
Denis, a 22 yrd old D RLC from Villareal for $2.5 million. This guy will replace Liam Rosenior as my defensive substitute who can come in anywhere. Hopefully he’ll be as good as Rosenior was for us. He’s kind of all-around-solid but nothing spectacular.

I also realize that I only have Guillermo Ochoa, one of the top 10 GKs in the world, and Atanas Velikov, a potentially leading EPL keeper, as my keepers. So I sign a guy Zimmerman (18 yrs old) on a free, and then about two weeks later one of the guys I scouted who was out of my price range ends up on the transfer list for $1 million, so I go after him and get him. His name is Mohammad Reza Mirhosaini, a 22 yr old Iranian. Now I’ve got 4 keepers instead of 2, but yeah, whatev.

Also interesting is that my staff gave me a rundown of how we compare to the rest of the EPL going into the season. They basically said that we are the youngest, fastest, and shortest team in the league. We are the least physical, but most technical. Which after thinking about it, I realized that yes, those are the guys who stand out to me, so it makes sense. I mean, I don’t want a guy who’s going to get beat off the dribble, so I’ve always gone after the speedsters. Maybe I should be trying to mix it up a little bit…  It also occurs to me that a psychologist would have a field day with the team I put together – am I subconsciously creating a bunch of players who resemble me, but can far exceed my soccer skills? Am I projecting? Haha.

My team is alright – I’m pretty solid in the striker dept, in the left and middle defensive spots, and I’ve got a number of midfielders. What I don’t have is depth at a number of individual positions. Right defender is Peter Otocka… and new guy Denis. But that’s it. Stephen Thompson has been loaned out, but when he comes back he’ll still only be Championship quality. And MR is really weak. However, I decided that instead of finding another David Allen, I’m going to play young Jose Moreira there and trying to make him develop by playing him. My staff all think he can turn into a leading Premiership player, so maybe we’ll just have to suffer through his growing pains the way we did with Gergin Aleksiev a few years ago. Hopefully it works out. And if Moreira isn’t playing MR, then Marquinhos can do it, but that’s it. I’ve got NOBODY else that likes that position. Vincent Acapandie lists AMR in his positions, but I rarely use an AMR lately. I like formations that give me two strikers so I can use Teague/Winters/Lewandowski a lot, and that means AMR gets cut out.

That’s about it for now. Our EURO Cup group stage are Partizan, Molde, and FC Bayern Munchen. So yeah, hopefully we can finish 2nd again in the group stage. That stuff is fun.

[Dan]

I've had about 5 different guys mention to the media that they are concerned about lack of locker room harmony. I don't know what this is about, let alone what to do with it or how to get that wonderful locker room spirit back. Any suggestions?

I do know that at the beginning of the summer, Peter Otocka reported that he couldn't stand Ryhor Filipenko. About two or three weeks later he reported that they'd put aside their differences. Is this incident related to my current problem?  I thought this was odd b/c those guys have been on the same team together for 5 years. By now I'd have thought they were on the same page. If someone had a problem with a new guy I'd understand, but two old hands? (hah - Otocka is 21 or 22. Yeah, old.)

[Dan]

I feel like a girlfriend is breaking up with me. Guillermo Ochoa wants to move to a bigger club.


He won the reserve spot on the World Team of the Year, so I guess he's one of the top two goalkeepers in the world now? And he wants to leave b/c he thinks that when he's at another club...what's going to happen? He's going to win trophies?

Hey Guillermo - we're leading the Premiership. What more do you want? UGH! I'm pissed.

[rva]

Can you offer him a new contract?