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

[Lucas]

No need to buy: you can download the free demo on the dedicated Steam page:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/207890

Restrictions:

- I think you can only quickstart a game in three different leagues
- It lasts only 6 (six) in-game months

But both full-featured game modes are available for you to try (Career, which is the one I'm using, and "Classic", a simpler version). The size of the demo is less than 1GB, I think.

And believe me, if you are totally new at Football Manager, you'll spend A LOT of time  on this demo trying to understand the game (while having fun in the process, hopefully)  :)

[Amarr HM]

Loving the fact that you're building your squad like a typical, pragmatic, Italian manager. I'd splash all my money on a star striker, then after 3 games he'd get injured for 3 months and I'd be stuck searching the free transfers for players with good attributes but hidden personality defects.

[Lucas]

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

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

[Falconeer]

[Lucas]

Ruining mine since 1992!!  

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

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  
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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:





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

[Lucas]

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!  
I'll pay no wages to Karpaty during the loan spell of one of their players at my team  

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

[Lucas]

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.
-

[Lucas]

JULY 22nd - JULY 28TH 2012 - PART 3: INCOMING TRANSFERS, ADVANCING THE CALENDAR

Savin and Jakobia are mine!!!  


Both Karpaty Lviv and their GK himself (see the above post) accepted the loan to my team...Now, about loaning out Bazylevych :P

Now I can really think about selling my other two defenders as detailed before. Advancing the calendar, unfortunately I got some bad news:


Well, nothing major, at least  
----

Bur let's take a look at our Salary situation, after the recent purchases:


Houston, we have a problem: a problem that can be fixed if I sell my two defenders (341 - 17 circa = 324), like I already said.

[HaemishM]

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

Is there a mod you downloaded to get your grass to look like that? I don't remember my 3D view being that pretty.

[DevilsAdvocate25]

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

This guy looks interesting. What is Eccentricity? He seems to be very high in that stat.

[Amarr HM]

Eccentricity is a keeper stat. Think Rene Higuita, he'd be a 20.

Means he's batshit insane.

[DevilsAdvocate25]

Eccentricity is a keeper stat. Think Rene Higuita, he'd be a 20.

Means he's batshit insane.

Which ... is ... awesome! An athletic crazy guy as goal keeper. That might be worthy Radicalthon material if he actually shows it in a game.

[Lucas]

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)

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.
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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

[Lucas]

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) !  

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!!!  

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

[Lucas]

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

Match card (stadium was sold out!):

Player Ratings:

MD 4 Results:

League Table after Matchday n.4:
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See? Told ya it would end well 

- 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 

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.

[Lucas]

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

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 :)

[Lucas]

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  :

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

[Lucas]

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

Match Card:

Player Ratings:

Complete 1st round results:

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Damn, was almost ready to , but hey, a win is a win  

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  

- 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   ;

- 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.

[Lucas]

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!   . 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

[Lucas]

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:
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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!!!  I need to learn some Ukrainian 

Onward!!!