Print Page - [Football Manager 2013] From the pits of carnage to Gloriam Aeternam

PLEASE NOTE

- This is my first radicalthon/let's play/AAR/whatever on any website. Suggestions are VERY welcomed, but please be patient and clement :grin:
- English is not my native language: I consider myself decent enough when writing in italian, but of course the result in another language may vary :P
- I'm a VERY slow player in general, but with any FM edition in particular, I REALLY like to take my time and get off the path, so to say.

- With this radicalthon, I hope to give you a sense of why, year after year, this game confirm itself as one of the greatest sim ever created; it now plays more and more like some sort of CRPG, which I think you should try even if you don't like soccer/football.
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Some initial game annotations/settings:

- I'll start this game unemployed; for those interested, I'll show you a screenshot of what teams I can apply for at the beginning of the game (plus some other interesting tidbits about them), and you will decide what I'm going to manage. The only thing is, I don't want to start in any english league: too common, would like something a tad different.

- At the beginning, I'll load some of the main european leagues, plus some more "obscure" ones (together with Argentina and Brazil). As the game goes by, I can always load more.

- I'll try to play and report back "live" as much as I can: I really don't like to accumulate days of playing then blurt out everything in a couple of posts two minutes apart. Don't expect a regular schedule: as I said, I'm quite slow and unfocused, but for once, I would like to complete something like this (which might mean ending this radicalthon around the time FM 2014 comes out...That means end of october, by the way ::D).

- I also hope to provide Youtube highlights of my most important matches.

Ok. That is all for now ;D

Here's the initial league selection:

For now, Argentina and Brazil are view-only, I don't intend to get a job overseas.

So, this is me:

(http://i.imgur.com/CMgJodp.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/FxOdqoP.png)

just like in RL, an average dude, AC Milan fan who pretends to know something about football because he has been playing FM for the last 21 years. The only problem is that, now, I consider football players as faces on a computer, with their human values undoubtedly judged on a scale from 1 to 20 :why_so_serious: . I'll be sure to let them know about this as soon as I get an actual team to work with.

So, let's take a look at the available jobs. I feel so ready :oh_i_see:

The list goes on, but they're mostly reserve/under-19 teams. The "proper" list stops at about the middle of the screenshot, with the " FC Municipal Targu Mures"
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Now, like I said above, I would gladly avoid starting in England altogether. Also, I would like to start *below* the premier division of any league. Which means no Jupiler Pro, Eredivisie, Greek Superleague; also, the RUS and the FRA team are placed even lower than the min. league I set for those championships, so I don't want to choose them either.

That leaves us with (sorry if I don't use special characters):

Norway:

- Egersund
- Frigg
- Randaberg IL
- Vidar
- Algard
- Ostsiden
- Mandalskameratene
- Birkebeineren
- Nesodden
- Buvik

In July 2012, the start date I chose, the norway leagues are well underway.

Romania:

- FC Otelul Galati
- FC Botosani
- FC Municipal Targu Mures

Sweden:

- Vasalund
- Vasby United

Again, leagues are well underway in Sweden too

Portugal:

- CD Santa Clara

Netherlands:

- AGOV Apeldoorn

Ukraine:

- Krymteplytsya Molodizhne - AWESOME NAME :drill: :drill:

In Ukraine and Romania, leagues are about to start, friendlies have already been played.

Quite unsure about what to choose; they are all horrible :heart:

...And Wikipedia is my initial friend, of course:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molodizhne,_Simferopol_Raion

Here's a pic of the town and its denizens, passing some quality time together:

Err...no wait, wrong pic :drill:

Here's a fantastic aerial view with Google Earth:

Yes, ladies and gentleman, this district was probably put together by an OCD SimCity player even before the game existed!! :awesome_for_real:

There is no street view, but just a few photos here and there. Now, let's pick one:

Lovely, uh? I can already imagine zombies crawling up to me at night :ye_gods: :ye_gods:

Here's the house I'll take as mine, "with fire and blood" !! :rock: (not really, but it looks scary enough)

In the first Google Earth pic I posted above, at the top you can notice a 360 pic: that will be my theatre of dreams, the apotheosis of my ego. It's the KRYMTEPLICA STADIUM (or KT Sports Arena)

http://www.360cities.net/it/image/simferopol-fckt#0.00,0.00,70.0

(back later or tomorrow for the real start :D)

Quote from: Megrim on June 13, 2013, 04:13:29 PM

Can I sign up as a player, or can you not do that in this version of the game?

In this version they noticeably opened up the online portion and made it easier, thanks to Steam. Among other things, you can create an "hot seat" game for multiple users playing on the same computer. Or, you can create an online save with one of the players acting as a host (plus the interesting "versus" competition)

http://www.footballmanager.com/manual/?game=33&locale=en_GB&id=278

Personally, regarding this playthrough, I would prefer to do it alone, mostly because, like I said above, I'm quite unfocused and it's also my first radicalthon. But hey, maybe you can find someone else in here interested in playing together (and maybe post a radicalthon of it :D)

oooooh, lol, ok :grin:

Yeah, you can via the game editor, something I never dabbled with, sorry :).
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Oh, and about this, a couple more annotations:

- On the official forums and other fansites, there are sections dedicated to tactics, finding the best player values (the so called CA Ability and, more important, the PA, potential ability) via the editor, but I don't do that. The only help I usually look for is with the training, which is an aspect of the game that, in the past, I always put on the sidelines ('til two or three editions ago), leaving it on "general" and to my assistant manager/coaches. Now I try to micro-manage it too.

I like to play this game arming myself with only my knowledge of football (of course I'm no expert, but watching matches LIVE at S.Siro stadium since the mid-eighties, and on TV, and also having a passion for the game in general somewhat helped :D) and, regarding players, via personal and external scouting (meaning, my scouts). Yeah, like in any other game (but FM has a lot of hidden "dice rolls" and mechanics that can progressively crack down the efficiency of your team), FM has a dedicated portion of fans that try a "min/max." approach, trying to exploit the flaws of the match engine, but that's not my case, I opt for a "realistic" approach to tactics and match management in general.

further down the road, I'll probably create some sort of index of this radicalthon, modifying the first post of the thread. Not right now, though.

First Approach

So, with my bag full of ~~dreams~~ condoms, I somehow arrive in ~~Zombieland~~ Molodizhne, an adventure in itself that my stomach will never forget :P.

At the KT Sports Arena, I meet with the absolute monarch of the team, Mr. Olexandr Vasyljev, and the contract discussion can get underway:

(http://i.imgur.com/iOYwaTb.png)

Yes, generally I like to play possession football, not really Barcellona-style, more akin to AC Milan during the 2002-2007 period. Regarding the wage, it's ok, I guess enough to sustain my booze, girls and the excellent ukrainian microwave food :oh_i_see:

In other news, I swear, I tried to keep this fundamental meeting seekret, but somehow it reached some ears over at Fifa.com, who promptly posted the news on the website :(

(http://i.imgur.com/it4FMWV.png)

Bah :why_so_serious:

Oh, and in more news, looking at the newsfeed, all norwegian managers are being sacked and substituted with war mechs.
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YAY! Application accepted, and now I can look forward to a fantastic meeting to know the past glory and achievements of the team:

Next: we'll start to get deeper into the team (story, finances, staff and, finally, players) and the Persha Liha itself: general rules, transfer market etc.

Sooner or later the normal "week to week" match grind will start. Bear with me: the initial stages of a full FM game are normally slow and boring while you get accustomed to your new team and league, especially if it's in a region you are not familiar with.

First Approach Part 2

Here's how the meeting with El Presidente went:

(http://i.imgur.com/O3aeL5e.png)

I couldn't stand any more babbling, so I delayed the meeting with the Assistant Manager 'til the afternoon; plus, as you can see, I'm not sure about the Wage Budget, and infact:

I upped the season expectation to promotion, in order to have slightly more margin with the wage budget.
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Now, if you are totally in the dark about the league you're going to play in, first thing to do is read the "rules" section of your league to get a good overview:

Yep, no real differences compared to the more famous central european leagues, beside some transfer deadlines and the foreigns rule (similar to pre-Bosman in central europe).

Here's the rest of the Persha Liha roster, by the way:
(http://i.imgur.com/V5un791.png)

Yes, one game has already been played (before I could get the job), but more about that later in the radicalthon :)

Then, let's take a quick view (because there is not much to see, really :P) at the glorious history of the club:
(http://i.imgur.com/kRfNKMF.png)

Yep, they never reached the top Ukrainian division, so that's a legit goal I'll strive to reach before escaping this hellish place :P

Another thing to do when setting up the season: check your staff, what positions they cover and if the boardroom will allow more.

(http://i.imgur.com/zgRPelH.png)

Yup, as you can see in the last, spoilered pic, I can recruit two more coaches (beside the scouts...And nice to know about Brazil), and that's VERY important for training, otherwise the various training duties would be covered by the Assistant and my (currently) dearest Mykola Fedorko only (GK coaches should really stick to GK only), maybe duties they really suck at (we'll see when we take a look at the training screen).

Last but not least, Finances are good enough, for now (I still have to get the confirmation about the increase in wage budget, but I'm sure I will get it).

(http://i.imgur.com/3tvYiMC.png)

Next: some more initial, necessary steps before we start advancing the calendar: my first official game is in just three days!

First Approach, Part 3 (Staff Hunting)

Ok, first of all, let's take care of the staff.

My assistant manager has average values, but at first I thought I would make them suffice; same goes for my only coach, but he's pretty low on the fitness deparment, something that is quite important in nowadays football, so I started looking for more coaches giving the priority to fitness training (at least 14).

It gave me 2 results (basic staff/coach search, unrealistic targets filtered by the Assistant):

Not bad, and it's always good to have high values of man management and working with youngsters.

But it's the other result that was quite interesting. I compared him (left numbers) with the values of my Assistant Manager (right numbers):

(http://i.imgur.com/UL1e14K.png)

As you can see, Mr. Ischenko has quite good numbers, perfectly suitable for an Assistant Manager: hence, I think I'll try to quickly sack my current one and hire Ischenko; meanwhile, I'll try to get Mora too, of course (plus another coach, see below). On the short term, my players could suffer because of this Assistant Manager change, but I think it will benefit them in the long term.

I'm not sure I want to hire the head of youth development, for now.

I also looked for another coach, and I ended offering a contract to this guy:

Well, decent values where I lacked with the others: attack & defense, tactica & technical. Anyways, I think you don't really need to lose sleep over training min./max. in lower leagues, especially if you don't have a very young and promising team at your disposal or if you don't plan to stick around that team for long. Just be sure there is a good fitness trainer, decent enough physio and a good assistant manager that can help you to keep the squad morale high.

Next: since my first match will happen in only three days, my staff situation might be still unresolved by then. Like I wrote above, I sacked by current AM, tried to hire the new one, plus I contacted the other two coaches. Before I advance the calendar, my next post will finally take a closer look at my team, with the first attempt at putting a tactic together)

MY ~~SORRY BUNCH~~ AMAZING ENSEMBLE

Here they are!

Now, I won't post the profile picture for each player right now; I'll post them as the need arises (goals or anything interesting involving any of them).

First glance: yeah, the situation on the flanks is dire, especially for the defense: even looking at the player position in the profile, I have only one player that can adapt as a Defender Right (Lutsenko, my vice-captain) and no one who can play as a D L :ye_gods: . I need some quick free sign or a couple good loans.

Let's take a look at 3-4 players. I have a good GK:

(http://i.imgur.com/9lxTCo3.png)

Yep, could be better at Handling, but the good reflexes, paired with nice physical qualities and some important mental ones (Decision, Determination and Bravery) are a good recipe.

And hey, look at my second choice:

Beside looking 20 years older than his age and like a STASI covert agent, I'm almost tempted to make him a full back. Look at those damn physical values :P

Here's the captain of my team, Volodymyr Romanenko (WB/M R )

(http://i.imgur.com/fITv9yw.png)

Well, I hope he does his job on the right flank :P. But hey, you can't go wrong with someone who played in the Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk team and over at BANANA Yerevan! :drill:

And last but not least, my most physical (and, by far, complete) striker, Igor Tymchenko:

(http://i.imgur.com/m3SxdUd.png)

The other two strikers are typical, rapid poachers/advanced forwards.

For these reasons, I think that, at least on a very short term, I absolutely need:

- Two D R (or that can also play as such)
- Two D L (see above)
- One more physical striker that can make some space in the area, acting as deep lying or Target man, whenever Tymchenko gets injured or tired.

SCOUTS, A LOOK AT THE FIXTURES AND ADVANCING THE CALENDAR

So, a brief step back: I should try to hire a couple scouts, so I approached the following two (they requested wages that IMO were a bit high, but hey...):

At least Leonenko might advise about some good player in mother Russia (and both have some knowledge of Brazil, which is ok, since the boardroom will allow for some scouting there) :D
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So, the fixtures screen:

Unfortunately I'll have to stay in the dark about my previous performances, 'cause the matches were carried out the moment the game was created, without any detail (no highlights, in other words).

Notice that there is a 3-month gap between November and March; no league games will be played (tad cold, I guess :P).
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Here's the player who scored my first official goal for this season, Ruslan Zeynalov:

(http://i.imgur.com/PQoDHZI.png)

At least on paper, I definitely like him as a trequartista/advanced playmaker. Passing and Technique are nothing to die for, but the mix of First Touch, Flair, Off The Ball and decent quickness makes for an unpredictable (for the opposition) player on the pitch.
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Ok, at this point, let's advance the calendar, which stops the following day, July 16th 2012. I have a wonderful and VERY crowded presentation press conference to attend! :oh_i_see:

I bravely faced a barrage of eleven questions, that the local news properly summarized as follows:

:awesome_for_real:

A couple more interesting items came up when I advanced the calendar, but those (and other stuff) will be the subject of my next update: it's getting late over here, and the ukrainian girls are waiting for their sugar daddy.

FIRST SCOUTING, STAFF AND TEAM MEETING,

So, after the press conference, I've been contacted by a couple ~~vampires~~ agents about their respective clients, but in both cases I had to immediately reject because, like we previously discussed, I have no transfer money and at least for now, I don't intend to adjust the wage budget in order to increase the transfer one.

It's kinda tricky: when you're totally ignorant about the playing field of a (obscure) league, and the previous data isn't exactly abundant, you really have no idea how your amazing ensemble will perform against the rest (yeah, you can compare the market value of your players with the other teams, but it's not reliable data). In other words, like we've seen in the "rules" section of the Liha, the transfer window ends on August 31st, so I still have time if I want to make adjustments to the budget (and, by then, with league matches played).
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So, having said that, I have to start looking for someone affordable (out of contract or loans). Let's start with a full back that can primarily play as a Defender Right. In the end, I've come up with Victor Melnyk (amongst other players who were equally interesting or even better but requested VERY high wages) :

(http://i.imgur.com/roew3kK.png)

We'll see how it goes: he's wanted by other six clubs, and I've been the first to make an offer (that he accepted), which I may adjust if the competition gets tight. I also like the fact he can play on the left side and in the middle.

Regarding the left defender, after much scouring and lots of pain in the ass by the President, I think I'll first try with this loan:

(http://i.imgur.com/DlfVQ84.png)

Yeah, beside some masked attributes, I'm not that happy, and infact I'll keep diggin' for something better (also because I need one more no matter what); also, he might turn down the move to my club, I'll have to wait and see; also, I badly need some more direction by the new Assistant Manager (which still has to agree to the transfer) and a couple scouts.

Ok, let's end this very preliminary approach to the transfer market and let's move on. Backroom Advices :

Not really interested in any of them for now: already made up my mind about scouts and Assistant. I'll wait to have the full staff roster before thinking about individual training; finally, I'll change the squad status only when I recognize the player deserves (for better or worse) it (ie, lemme see him on the field).

Moving on, let's have a talk with my FELLAS in the locker room. After all, I have to pretend I care about them as human beings, right?!? :why_so_serious:

(http://i.imgur.com/VVO2fQA.png)

See? They already love me. Nothing can possibly go wrong from now on.

..IN WHICH I MESSED UP BADLY WITH STAFF SEARCHING

See what I meant when I told ya I would have sunk in vodka during my nights in Molodizhne??

Yeah, about the staff I tried to hire a few days ago, I don't know why I slightly :P overlooked the fact that for those already employed (like Ischenko below) elsewhere, I would have needed transfer money, that, again, I don't have unless I adjust the transfer/salary budget meter (*FACEPALM*), which I don't want to, for staff members. After all, I'm pretty new at this, it's not like I've been playing every incarnation of FM/CM for the last 21 years :| :

(http://i.imgur.com/wFMOC3n.png)

So, wheeeee!!! It's back to the drawing board with the coaches and the assistant manager: meanwhile, I advanced the calendar, tomorrow (July 18th, 2012) it's matchday and my Assistant Manager is nowhere to be seen. On the other hand, my first scout arrived, and he's got a baggage full of ~~condoms~~ goodies:

Ok, I'll take a look at his report and I will tell ya if someone in particular grabbed my attention.
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But not today. In the next installment, we'll finally get deep into the heart of football: tactics and formation for my first match, a look at my opponent and the match itself!!

July 18th 2012, Matchday n.2 : Obolon Kyiv vs Krymteplyskya Molodizhne - Presentation

- Fixtures:

- Standings before Matchday n.2:

It was another "forever alone" (in this case, pre-match) press-conference, with only a reporter from a newspaper. Worthy of note is the fact that my main striker (I talked about him a couple posts ago), Tymchenko, is an ex Obolon Kyiv player, so the media (or, actually that lonely press guy) asked the usual, boring staff about how could he react and yadda yadda. I downplayed the importance of this so I hope he'll be a tad more relaxed.

Looks like the bookmakers don't like my chances (after all, my opponents have been relegated from the top league):
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Tactics

I opted for a 4-4-2 :

(http://i.imgur.com/5rutu71.png)

As you can see, it's quite plain, a bit aggressive on the opponent. While on the flanks I opted for my players to act as wide midfielders, I told them to run often with the ball, same goes for my full backs, at least in the beginning. In the midfield, Zeynalov as an Advanced Playmaker. Tsoy the other midfielder is quite dynamic on paper, so it would be wasted as a "simple" ball-winning Midfielder:

Finally, I want to experiment with my GK, infact he'll act as a sweeper keeper instead of a "plain" one, because of his high values in rushing out and kicking.

Of course I plan to heavily tailor my team's behaviour via match shouts, as the need arises. I really don't know what to expect, so I could start yelling at them like 30 secs into the match :P .

- Lineups:

They'll adopt a more aggressive 4-4-2, with advanced wingers, so I expect my wide midfielders to be quite busy on the defense :P

I tried to ease up the atmosphere in the locker room just before the match, and hey, apparently it worked:

Ok, time to KICKOFF, then!!!!

From now on, my team will be known as "The Kryms" : boring, but much more practical :P)

Obolon Kyiv vs The Kryms 0-0; Highlights, Comments, Post-Match

(http://i.imgur.com/Fah0E9l.png)

Here are the highlights (tell me if you can't visualize them! I'm pretty new to both the "upload highlights" function of FM 2013 and Youtube videos: I never uploaded a video on YT before this one. I hope to get better at organizing the highlights):

Obolon Kyiv 0-0 The Kryms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PozDXf8DdBY) (ahem, I'm the red team. 720p and full screen advised :P)

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Complete fixtures for Match day 2:

And here's the League Table after MD 2:

The post-match atmosphere in the locker room was good:

So, all things considered, I'm satisfied: my two strikers could have definitely been better in front of the keeper (I guess the "On target" statistic in the first screen speaks for itself :P). My best chance, beside the initial header by Tymchenko, was the incursion by Symonchuk toward the end of the first half, but he wasn't in a favourable position to score. Their best chance undoubtedly came with a shot just outside the area by Sibyriakov, but he couldn't angle it enough (nice job by my keeper).

Anyway, I preferred to play it safe for the entire duration of the match, meaning that I wanted to avoid pushing my luck too much by attacking and leaving my defense naked, for example by using my lateral midfielders as pure wingers or my other central midfielder as a constant support for my advanced playmaker. I really have to know my team better (but I'm starting to get an idea, more about that in a subsequent post when I'll talk again about tactics) and also the rest of the playing field.

Yeah, the usual, lonely reporter from the "Agrarne Football Messenger" was bored too, that must means something (actually, no, he's simply starting to get on my nerves)

But look! More reporters! I don't think I can't handle them all the same time:

Surprise, surprise, press-conferences in FM are boring, just like interviews and conferences with players/managers are boring in RL too; but actually there are nice little features in the game like "storming out" of the conference or adding personal comments that you write yourselves (which have no impact). I plan to make ample use of "SHUT THE FUCK UP" :D
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Ok, that is all for now: I still have to take care of a few aspects before getting in the week-by-week match grind (evaluating transfers 'til the end of the transfer window, training, taking a closer look at my team); then, hopefully, things will get speedier and funnier :)

I plan to change the game skin, from time to time. Here's "OPZ Beam 5". Download link: http://www.fmscout.com/a-fm13-skin-opz-beam-v5.html

19th - 21st July 2012 PART 1: NATIONAL CUP 1ST ROUND DRAW, STAFF ROSTER COMPLETE, TRAINING, RAMBLING ALL OVER THE PLACE

On matchday, the Ukrainian federation also made the draw for the 1st round of the KUBOK UKRAINI, the national cup. Here is it:

(http://i.imgur.com/dTsmA8g.png)

I'll play on August 1st. Should be a comfortable debut, right? :oh_i_see:

My next match is in only three days, on July 21st 2012. I absolutely have to dig for more players and complete my staff roster, so that I can compile my training assignments and schedules.

One more thing you should do in the beginning phases of any FM game: check the squad status of every player and decide if you want to change it (your staff will advise you on this matter too). It's not something you should do right away, but with these peculiarities, the database is not always right: a very good player might not always be in your first team selection, but it doesn't mean that he should be listed as a "backup for the first team", like my GK was at the beginning :P

Once you start to understand your players' capabilities, have a check on every one of them, and change accordingly (team selection screen ---> right click on player---->transfer---->squad status). Pay attention, though: he might not be happy to pass from "important first team player" to "rotation". On the other hand, if a young player see himself promoted too quickly, he might feel the pressure. Player's morale is one of the most important attributes to manage, in Football Manager (some say it's the most important factor in the game, even more than tactics...And that reflects reality if you think about it).
-----------------------

My staff roster is now complete. I have a new Assistant Manager (who earns more than me, the BLOODY BASTARD), two new coaches and one more scout:

Let me show you my new Assistant, at least:
(http://i.imgur.com/hazRJYb.png)

Nice man management,level of disciple, tactics training; no good at motivating, but that would be more important if I left half-time and post-match team talks to him, something I never do in any game (for those who don't play the game, you can leave those talks, as well as press conferences and match preparation, which means specific training the day before a match, to your assistant manager via a game option.)

Now let's take a look at the coach assignments:

Yeah, a pretty average set-up, I'll keep experimenting, but like I said a few posts above, for my objectives with this team (no real "long-term" planning), it will do.

General Training Screen:

- For now, I'll leave the specific match preparation to my Assistant Manager. I'll give the players a day of rest after a match (but not always).

- I'm no expert with training, but regarding the "default focus" (upper left), with lower/obscure leagues, just like in reality, you should strive for the following three things, in order of importance:

*Your players should get less tired than your opponents as the match goes on (in other words, work on fitness) ;
*Your players must learn to play as a team (team cohesion) ;
* Your players should try to understand your tactic as the season goes on (tactics) .

Now, normally, if I could start during pre-season, I would put them on a heavy fitness schedule, but no, we're already in the heat, so they must learn to play together on the field; then, let's try with Team Cohesion

Finally, I'll wait 'til next in-game week to take a look at potential individual training regimens.

Next: a new player should arrive! A bit more scouting. Matchday 3 incoming!

19th - 21st JULY 2012 PART 2: A NEW PLAYER ARRIVES, SECOND THOUGHTS ON A LOAN, MORE SCOUTING

Matchday n.2 will have to wait 'til tomorrow, but let's see what happens with my transfer market before calling it a night (and what a night it will be :D).

Victor Melnyk (see post n.21) is mine!!

(http://i.imgur.com/RtcrSP8.png)

Good addition for the entire defense, I hope :)
---

On the other hand, I had second thoughts on the loan of Bochkur (again, see post n.21), so I rejected it, especially now that I have scouts and an Assistant Manager ~~as slaves~~ to advise me.

He was soooooooo enthusiastic, what a pity :why_so_serious: :grin:

Goin' on, after being advised by Leonenko, I made an offer for Artem Savin. See the ~~homicidal~~ wary and intelligent expression on his face? I can't wait to have it here at the KT Sports Arena :facepalm:

(http://i.imgur.com/fgDS7W8.png)

Having said that, I still have to look for a strong Target Man/Deep Lying Forward that can substitute Tymchenko, plus one more full back and maybe see if I can add something for the attacking flanks, especially because I'm thinking about experimenting with an asymmetric 4-2-3-1 tactic. Finally, I'm starting to eye a couple of my players for a possible sale.

JULY 21st 2012, MATCHDAY N.3: THE KRYMS vs ARSENAL BILA TSERKVA - PRE-MATCH PRESENTATION AND TACTICS

I'm so in love with Ukrainian team names :heart:

So, before dwelving deeper in MD 3, I made an offer for another striker, georgian Lasha Jakobia. We'll see how it goes.

Hey, at long last, I finally found someone who vaguely resembles a normal human being!!! :grin:

Now, he's decent, although I was looking for a stronger one (strenght 9 is a bit low, and at 31 yrs old he can't really improve with training); I like the fact that he can play as an advanced midfielder too, a position which I suspect I'll prefer for him (cutting inside, maybe): he's not a "penalty area" man, no matter his quickness: finishing is average, "positioning" and "off the ball" are below average. The Heading/Jumping combination is good though (but 180cm and low in strenght are not good values for Target Man/Deep Lying, at least on paper).
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Matchday 3 - Complete Fixtures:

- League Table before MD 3:

My opponents, Arsenal Bila Tserkva:

"close match", the bookmakers say. It will also be a "clash of newbies", 'cause their manager took the team's hot seat only 3 days ago, on the previous matchday:

------------
Tactics

Yes, risky, but I want to experiment with a 4-2-3-1. Here it is:

Still miss a couple of players in some key positions, and also the general condition is not ideal, but the sooner I try this formation (with the players getting a bit familiar with it), the better. Of course I'll be quick to switch to a plain 4-4-2 if the match requires me to do so. While not attacking from the get go, I'll try to be more daring but, as usual with this league, I don't know the level of my opposition at all, beside the fact that they won 2 out 2 (not really telling at this stage :P)

Melnyk will of course make his debut; my promising 18 yrs old, Redvan Memeshev, will play as Advanced Midfielder:

My first team pick, Zeynalov, is a bit tired from the previouis match, but I'll throw him in as soon as possible.

(Almost specular) Lineups:

Let's have a talk with the players:

Ok, it's KICK-OFF TIME!! :oh_i_see:

JULY 21st 2012, MATCHDAY N.3: THE KRYMS - ARSENAL BILA TSERKVA 2-1; HIGHLIGHTS, COMMENTS.

Highlights (still not perfect, will make more improvements. By the way, if you don't hear sound, it's normal. I think the game mutes the sound when enconding the video for YT):
The Kryms vs Arsenal Bila Tserkva (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dyLtum8NGQ)

Match card:

Player ratings:

Matchday n.3 complete results:

League standings after MD 3:
----

So, a very complex match that required a lot of tweaking on the fly.

- After about two minutes, one of my central defenders, Dytyatev, took a knock, but he managed to stay on the pitch. Then, unfortunately, on min.34, as you can see by the match card, my captain was forced to go off after a push from behind by an opposition player while he was almost clear on goal (sorry, forgot to put that on the highlights). What made me mad was the fact that the referee didn't even show him a yellow card! I immediately got up from ~~my chair in front of the monitor~~ the bench, shouted something in italian to the referee who luckily was ~~just a fictional sprite in a computer game~~ too far away on the pitch to hear me.

- Because of those injuries, degrading fitness of a couple players at the end of the first half, and the new tactical module that left me somewhat unconvinced (too early for it), I switched to a 4-4-2 in the second half (the initial line up is in my pre-match post):

- I liked the way my wingers played, and I was satisfied by Melnyk's debut. He had to face a ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS by the name of Mykhaylo Dyachuk-Stavitskyi: you can get a glimpse of his runs on the flank in one of the initial highlights. My player got used to him as the match went on and eventually managed to control him better 'til he was substituted because of a change of module by their manager. But IMO he was the last that needed a substitution :P. Lucky me.

- My 18 yrs old AM C is definitely unexperienced, made some blatant mistakes with short passes: I would have liked to change him with Zeynalov (see post #18), but the deteriorating condition of Tymchenko (no matter the nice goal) convinced me to put Zeynalov in his place.

- The second goal was a nice "get in" by my other central defender (and man of the match), Mykhaylyuk after some confusion in the area by their defenders; another great move by him was the header at goal he attempted from the near post during a corner. Here's the player profile:

- Their goal was a well structured, quick action, but my players had to be tighter and wary back there, too much space was left to the attackers when they got the ball. As you can see, they almost deserved a tie. After their goal, I tried to play some possession football, with very narrow distances between the players, short passes and some time wasting. It worked :)
----------

Ok, 'til tomorrow for further considerations and the post-match reactions/news (wanted to proceed further today, but RL got in the process :( )

Ruining mine since 1992!! :drill: :drill:

Before going to bed, some annotations about the Real Life Persha Liha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012-13_Ukrainian_First_League

Beside the final league standings and a nifty map, you can also read this VERY interesting tidbit :D

Quote

Krymteplitsia Molodizhne completed the season but withdrew from the PFL. The team's administration informed the PFL that their club will exist only with a youth sports program.[14] (11 June 2013)

I'M SO DOOOOOMED :ye_gods: :ye_gods: :popcorn: :popcorn: :thumbs_up:
---

Finally, screenshots of the various incarnations of Championship Manager/Football Manager (don't really mind the dates: just like with FM, a Championship Manager came out every year):

1992:

(http://www.abandonia.com/files/games/864/Championship%20Manager_4.png)

(http://www.abandonia.com/files/games/864/Championship%20Manager_5.png)

1995 Championship Manager 2

2001 Championship Manager 3 - Season 01/02

2003 Championship Manager 4

2005 First edition of the "modern" version (as opposed to the '80s one by a different developer) of FM by Sports Interactive

July 22nd - July 28th 2012 - PART 1: IMMEDIATE POST-MATCHDAY 3, EVALUATING MY TEAM A BIT BETTER

Looking at the news after the match, I was glad to learn from the infirmary that both Romanenko and Dytyatev didn't pick up any serious injury. I'll give my players a well deserved rest day: hopefully, this full week of preparation will get us to a decent condition: I'm tempted to focus on fitness, but I don't want to arrive tired to my next match, away against the current league leader and regional neighbors, FC Sevastopol. So this is the current training schedule:

Team Cohesion still gets the priority, as I said before; but given the very busy schedule, I'll focus a bit on tactics too. The beginning of August will be hectic and I'm fine with giving the post-match rest day. It's not like they'll get distracted :P

- I also had a real "first pass" at reviewing my players in detail, in order to see if there is the potential for some sales and other actions. Here's the outcome:

Tutoring

* Tsoy (28) will tutor 19 yrs old Topchevskyi:

Yeah, they don't seem particularly happy about this collaboration :P

* Similarly, I intended to do the same for Zeynalov (30) and Memeshev (18 yrs old), but the in-game option during the player talk was greyed out. Duh. Will try later.

On the subject of parent/feeder teams

- I took a closer look at my Under-21 and Under-19 squad: they're basically non-existant :P

- I also have two feeder clubs, Spartak Molodizhne (minor league) and Karpaty Lviv. Let's take a look at the benefits:

"Players may move freely between Spartak and the Kryms" w00t! :awesome_for_real:
I'll pay no wages to Karpaty during the loan spell of one of their players at my team :awesome_for_real:

Spartak roster (those in dark grey are imaginary/not usable players):

Well... :P. Two (including that other Melnyk :P) are more or less useless, but HEY, look at Bidlovskyi!!

Ok, nothing to die for, but what the hell a 525k player like him is doing over there (damn database) ??? Come at my court!!!! (I moved him immediately, great to see him potentially covering so many roles on the left flank)

I'll also take a look to Karpaty Lviv (they play in the top Ukrainian league, Vyshcha Liha) for some potential loans.
------------------

Next: waiting for my next two transfer bids, more evaluation/individual training, advancing the calendar

JULY 22nd - JULY 28TH 2012 - PART 2: BACKROOM ADVICES, INDIVIDUAL TRAINING, THOUGHTS ON SELLING/LOAN PLAYERS

Just a few backroom advices after the match:

Now, the IF (Inside Forward) is a role that is useful for advanced midfielders on the flanks, who then take the opportunity to cut inside whenever possible (so that you basically have three strikers): a typical example of such players is FC Barcellona's Pedro. But, if you take another look at Zeynalov profile (post n.18), he can't really play on the flanks, just in the middle, and looking at the description of the role, IMO Trequartista would suit him better (beside Advanced Playmaker, which he's natural at).

The other advice regarding Symonchuk: improve his tactical role as WB (wing back): the wing back role is quite peculiar and not easy to apply: the most typical examples of wingbacks are brazilian defenders, for example Barcellona's Dani Alves. You have to get prepared to be a little naked behind them as they advance forward, something I don't really want to do with my current team. Eventually, I may start experimenting more with Wing Backs, but I never really like that kind of role in any FM.

- I put Andryi Topchevskyi (see the tutoring in the above post) under an invidual training regimen to improve long shots. He's young, so he should be able to learn something, also considering that his tutor, Tsoy, has a value of 13.

- My GK, Rad, like I said he's good, but I agree with the assessment of my (competent) GK coach, so I want to make him improve his Positioning (as you can see, it's below average).

- Finally, for now, let's take a look at my 18 yrs old Memeshev. Yep, he really needs to build some muscles to matter what :P

Possible loan out

- I was thinking about my other GK, Bazilevych (see post n.17). While younger and less experienced, he's almost as good as Rad: I think he would be wasted as a permanent substitute (minus the national cup): now, if I took a "gamey" approach, I could alternate them, so that both can keep some decent match form. But, as you know, unless a GK gets injured he ALWAYS plays in the first team, so I prefer a realistic approach. The best move, then, would be a loan so that Bazilevych could hopefully get some regular first team football, but my only other GK beside those two is a under-19 one (16 years old, ugh).

Now, remember that I have Karpaty Lviv as an affiliate that I can loan players from at zero wage. And yes, they have a under-21 GK available for loan, Roman Mysak (look at the right side of the profile, he already played for my team!):

Now, there is one more issue with this kind of action: the ukrainian area consist of only two leagues, it's not like I have two or three more tiers above and below me. In other words, he could end again on the bench, so that my intentionwould become fruitless. Anyway, let's try this and see how it goes:

Transfers Out

I'm thinking about two defenders in particular, Komendantov (D C) and Ablyametov (D C, DM) :

Both are regarded as average by my coaches. Now, let's say I sell them now, my Defensive/Defensive midfield roster would look like this:

- Melnyk DR / DC /WB R / DM
- Lutsenko D C (can also play as D R)
- Mykhaylyuk D C
- Dytyatev DC
- Karamushka (D C /DM)
- Topchevskyi (DM / MC)

And hopefully I'll be able to add Savin (D L but who can play in any role of the defense, including DM). In other words, I wouldn't miss them (even with a couple injuries, and in that case I might go for an emergency loan) while raking in some money (70+55k at full price), and saving about 17k in wages. I'll see if I can bring Savin home, then I'll decide.
-

What Amarr said...Eccentricity makes the GK more unpredictable, meaning that he could rush out to stop a striker, attempt crazy saves, try to dribble a striker who is pressing him and so on.

@HaemishM

Yep, it's a pitch retexture (you have to be registered to the official SI forums in order to see the topic):
http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/331597-NPT-amp-C-2013!!!-(New-turf-textures-for-FM2013) (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/331597-NPT-amp-C-2013!!!-(New-turf-textures-for-FM2013))

Here's the direct link to the 1.17 version:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?42iid9kc77r7696

If you can't unzip it, try with the previous version, 1.16 (which should work for sure, and it's basically the same. Download only one of the following):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ac1a7ibbbq9afn1 (zip)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?c6no71ji3lt7h28 (WinRAR)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?89ds59a24fcen7x (7-zip)

It replaces the entire "pitches" folder in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Football Manager 2013\data\sigfx . As always, make sure you first backup the original "pitches" folder.
------------------------------------
I won't be able to play the game 'til Monday. I've been away from my main PC, and and currently I can only access a wonderful 1GB Ram netbook at my GF's :P

JULY 28th 2012, MATCHDAY N.4 - FC SEVASTOPOL vs THE KRYMS : PRE-MATCH PRESENTATION AND TACTICS

The bookmakers are skeptic toward our chances:
----

Anyway: complete MD 4 fixtures:

League Table before MD 4:

My opponent, FC Sevastopol:

€13 for a season ticket...I wish I could spend that to buy an AC Milan one :P; and hey, Kryms' is only €10: before the end of the season ticket campaign I sold a grand total of 685. My ~~soviet encampment~~ town really loves its team (but, after all, the capacity of my hole is about 5,700) ! :grin:

The Dev Team introduced another interesting screen (which is data fictionally provided by your Assistant manager or whoever else is in charge of scouting the next opposition) this year (I think), if you want to ~~get a headache~~ study your opponent even further:
I feel this is going to be hard :P

Beside the "tactics used/faced" or "last match", on the upper right you can see some other sub-sections of this report, which makes for a very detailed infosheet. I still have to gain the most out of it, though.
-----

Tactics

Ok, my defense is now complete; also, I have slightly more variety with my strikers.

On the other hand, like I said above, I feel this is going to be quite a hard match, and it's an away one. Here's the tactic they employed in their last match:

If they often go for a "through the middle" strategy, they might play narrower, so I could get around that with a very wide tactic, crossing from both flanks (or moving into channels from there). Now, do I want to do that with a traditional 4-4-2, or maybe try the 4-2-3-1 again?

I opted for the latter (MUCH MORE risky), but with two deep DMs (one as deep-lying playmaker; compare it to the other one I used, message #33), and the advanced midfielders on the flanks acting as Wingers instead of Inside Forwards. It's riskier also because my new players (Savin and Jakobia) are not exactly match fit, yet.

Lineups:

Locker room team talk (AKA "please don't take three goals in 10 minutes" :P):

Nice, I made my 19 yrs old ready for an horrible performance!!! :why_so_serious:

Ok, KICK-OFF!!! (This is going to end sooooo bad :ye_gods:)

JULY 28th 2012, MATCHDAY N.4: FC SEVASTOPOL - THE KRYMS 4-1; HIGHLIGHTS, COMMENTS.

Highlights (having trouble with the encoding, and unfortunately I don't have time to compose more detailed highlights. Goals only this time,sorry!):
FC Sevastopol vs The Kryms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNdoLmld4XU)

Match card (stadium was sold out!):

Player Ratings:

MD 4 Results:

League Table after Matchday n.4:
------

See? Told ya it would end well :grin:

- I've been utterly dominated from start to finish, can't really add anything else. They could have easily scored two or three more to say the least.

- They have great cohesion on the pitch; their main striker, Kovpak, is a beast, always getting first on the header and moving all along the attacking area. Nice movement on the flanks, and Lewandoski is the real mind behind all their actions. They always got me in trouble whenever they got a set pieces (no matter my assistant worked on them during the match preparation).

- At half time, I tried coming out attacking more for a surprise effect (while relaxing my players in the locker room), and it worked (fantastic vision by Zeynalov and nice finishing by Tymchenko). I should have switched immediately to a more conservative style, but instead I kept pushing a little more, and it was fatal: two goal in the space of three minutes (meanwhile, they switched to a very effective 5-3-2).

- Nothing much I could have done by then; I switched to a 4-4-2 because I wanted one more attacker up there. Yes, I played a more coherent and polished football, but my team was already discouraged, of course. Finally, yes, I think my GK could have done better on a couple goals (rushing out) but I think it was also a matter of communication with the defense.

Err, my post-match team talk didn't really add to the locker room atmosphere :ye_gods:

Ok *sighs* back to the drawing board: my next match will be the first round of the national cup: hopefully I'll be able to bounce back immediately while trying something different.

JULY 29th - 1st AUGUST 2012: POST-MD 4, TRANSFERS, ADVANCING THE CALENDAR, WORLWIDE MARKET

(as the season proceeds, I will also update you on the status of other leagues/cups around the world, which still have to start. Below I'll give you an update on worldwide transfers)

New Skin!! It's called "Bergkamp" (yeah, the former dutch player) and comes in white and dark versions. I chose the white, given the darker nature of OPZ:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/356061-Bergkamp-s-white-skin-lt-FMKorea-gt
-------------

My fans are definitely happy about my latest result, and especially with the performance of my two new defenders :oh_i_see:

During the post-match conference, I tried to send an indirect "wake-up call" to the team:

Like I anticipated before the match against Sevastopol, I now put Ablyametov and Komendatov on the Transfer List. It looks like there's some initial interest around them (my Director of Football will take care of the details)....

....but not without some hurdles:

Since it's quite an universal opinion, and I'm surely not trying to sell Messi, it's better if I lower the asking price (which is equal to the player value, 55k) a bit.

After doing that, I noticed that interested remained for both players, but I'll have to wait further for some real offers.

Meanwhile, I haven't changed anything about my training schedule: fixtures are close by, so I'll wait 'til I have a chance to plan a full week ahead.
----

But anyway: I have to sit on the bench again, since it's already time for my next match, the national cup 1st round against Girnyk-Sport Komsomolsk (writing these names drain all of my energies :) ).

First, though, since it's the 31st of July, let's see how the big european teams have operated on the transfer market during the last thirty days:

Some interesting stuff :)

1st AUGUST 2012, KUBOK UKRAINI FIRST ROUND - GIRNYK SPORT vs THE KRYMS: PRE-MATCH PRESENTATION AND TACTICS

The majority of the first round matches have already been played on July 31st:

Here are the rules of the competition: beside the obvious single match knockout format, I'll be able to substitute only 3 players instead of four: actually, 3 substitutions, AFAIK, is the norm among the main european leagues, and infact, during the league matches, I tend to forget that I have one more player that I can replace.

Here is my opponent:

During the usual pre-match conference, I tried to infuse some confidence, while warning against complacency:

And hopefully, I'll be able to satisfy my fans, this time :P :
-----------

Tactics:

No matter what, I want to get a win and a confidence boost, so I'll play it safe with a plain 4-4-2. My new, "eccentric" GK will start in the first team, and I'll pair Jakobia with Palagnyuk, giving Tymchenko some rest. Some rest for Zeynalov and another two or three of my first team selection; finally, I'll try Bidlovskyi (M L) for the first time, the player I moved from my affiliate, Spartak Molo.

It looks like my main problem is possession, the style that ironically I prefer, so I'll attempt more narrow play while working the ball into box

Lineups (let's break this damn 5-3-2!):

Locker room talk. It's always great when you manage to instill passion in your players, and in turn they express it :oh_i_see: :

Ok lads, let's do it! Kick-off!!!

1st AUGUST 2012, KUBOK UKRAINI FIRST ROUND: GIRNYK SPORT - THE KRYMS 2 - 3;HIGHLIGHTS, COMMENTS

Highlights (I tried to include more cameras. Sorry for the mess around the 1:35 mark and other weird, sudden changes. It's my 1-2 goal, dunno why it changed camera right after my defender scored, duh. Will get better at this :P):
Girnyk Sport vs The Kryms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXR_jEI4foM[[b)

Match Card:

Player Ratings:

Complete 1st round results:

---------

Damn, was almost ready to :tantrum: :tantrum: :argh: , but hey, a win is a win :yahoo:

They played a more than decent match, surely played better than me, I admit.

- What made me scream at my monitor was that, when I was ahead 1-2, I made all the necessary corrections (playing with a more conservative style, substituting a couple players)...And when I exited the tactics screen, they scored the 2-2 goal, with a superb action, Barcellona style....FUCK IT :uhrr:

- Both my first goal and theirs came because of horrid errors (hehe, nice mess up between their GK and the defender);

- The 1-2 was another good finishing in the area by my central defender, who already scored against Arsenal ;

- My VERY late goal was the usual FM nail biter. Their players accused Melnyk (first goal for him, great) of a handball, but I'm sure he's INNOCENT :awesome_for_real: ;

- I did a better job at possesion in the second half, but during the first half I was quite overwhelmed in the midfield, and they played some nice short passing, possession football themselves, so it wasn't easy at all.

- I'm slowly realizing that Tsoy, my "plain" central midfield is not up to the task: I think I'll have to find another experienced M C for loan and use Tsoy as a backup.

- Quite baffled at Memeshev being considered the best player on the pitch: I really don't agree, I feel he's still not ready to play from the first minute as the central playmaker for the team (not surprising, he's 18 after all).

- Finally, I was surprised with Romanenko (M R, my captain): when he came up from the bench he really started pushing forward, making some good runs, and the whole team seemed to perform better. In other words, that's how a captain should influence the rest of the lads, so I'm happy about it.

1st AUGUST - 4th AUGUST 2012: NATIONAL CUP SECOND ROUND DRAW, LOOKING FOR A COUPLE LOANS, TRAINING, NEW TACTICS

So, here's the 2nd round draw for the Kubok Ukraini:

Well, at least I avoided Shaktar (against my Sevastopol friends :P) or Dynamo Kyiv! :grin: . Anyway, that match is still far away, on the 26th of September.

Much more important league matches are incoming, especially the next one against Odesa at home: a fall in morale is VERY risky in FM like I wroter earlier in the Radicalthon, and may have horrid consequences on every other aspect of the game.

For this reason, like I anticipated above, I'm still not entirely satisfied with my team: it has a certain potential, it can perform better, but I need a couple more players in the midfield who know how to handle the ball.

At this point, I prefer loans, and I identified the following three players:

Lokomotiv Moscow reject my loan offer, it was considered too low. On a hindsight, Zakuskin isn't that good, anyway.

scary face :P

Both these two players expressed no interest in a loan, presumably because they already train in a top class environment, which is the Dinamo Kyiv structures. Maybe their president will accept, but then the players will probably refuse to move. Hence, I have to keep digging (and the market is pretty barren for me, at the moment).

- Training: I'll switch to Tactics for the next couple matches, which are close to each other.

Tactics: ok, sigh, I'll stick to a boring 4-4-2 for now; I also prepared a 4-4-2 diamond (want to experiment with a trequartista behind the strikers and a deep-lying playmaker) and 3-5-2, which in theory is my favourite formation (but it will require massive testing and tweaking).

Next: pre-match against Odesa

4th AUGUST 2012, MATCHDAY N.5, THE KRYMS vs FC ODESA : PRE-MATCH PRESENTATION AND TACTICS

It looks like I have good chances against my next opponents:

Complete MD 5 fixtures:

League Table before MD 5:

My opponents, FC Odesa:

So they're newcomers: year of foundation is 2011.

The pre-match press conference was pretty short, just 3 questions. Here's the brief roundup:
----

Tactics:

Well, it's very simple: I want to start determined, will attack from the get go and adjust as the match goes on.

- I'll rest Savin and Jakobia: they're new players who still have to build up some match preparation, but I had to throw them in immediately, so they need a break. In an attempt to find a more solid partner to Zeynalov, I'll try Svyrydov as CM, although I would prefer him as a left winger. But now I have Bidlovskyi too, so I feel there's more cover there

Lineups:

I'm discovering that plain 4-4-2s are not that common in Ukraine, so this will be a good test for my specular formation.

Pre-match team talk:

WAKE UP!!! :heartbreak: I need to learn some Ukrainian :oh_i_see:

Onward!!!

f13.net

f13.net General Forums => The f13 Radicalthon => Topic started by: Lucas on June 13, 2013, 03:00:55 AM