You can’t deny that you’ve never banged your desk, nearly punched the scream or shouted at a relative for ‘disturbing’ you. It just seems in the last 3 series of FM, losing big games just doesn’t leave the same guilt-edge as it used too- my brother used (key word, used) to say I had a problem, but fortunately for him only the computer desk, the keyboard and my pride would have taken a beating.

Have we maybe just accepted the fact it’s football, and these things happen? (Istanbul, for example). I’d like to know what your take is on this, are you still a die hard fan and cry every time you lose a big game, or do you just grunt and continue with your game?

Take note, with some thoughtful tweaking, fixing this home-sickness issue could be dealt with.

Formation
Let’s talk a little about the formation- It’s a basic 4-4-2, which I loathe. I can’t get my head around the fact the 8.0.2 match engine despises the formation. It uses two attacking wingers, which again could be a downfall away from home if it’s not tweaked. I noticed that whilst I was playing away, the opposition wingers would exploit the space between the DL/R and the AML/R and whip crosses is. As you can tell from the screenshots that follow, nearly ¾ of the goals scored against me were from the opposition strikers. The formation is pretty much attacking and focuses most of the passing down the flanks.

Formation – Strongest Starting 11

Results
As I previously stated, the downfall of the tactic seems to be the away results. I’ve collected some of the most disappointing screenshots to show you how disappointed I was with the results. Despite boasting a pretty effective attack, the defensive qualities were poor. One of the core disappointments of the season was being knocked out the F.A Cup to Chelsea in the fourth round, getting raped by Villa in the Carling Cup 4th Round and falling at the knees of Barca in the Champions League first knockout round.

Away Results
Arsenal Away
Birmingham Away
Chelsea Away
Everton Away
Schalke Away
Villa Away

As you could probably tell, the board were disappointed with all of these results- most notably the Arsenal and Everton defeats

There’s not much screenshots to boast about at home, even though the results were a little more satisfying.

Middlesborough Home
Olympiakos Home
Wigan Home

My two strikers, Kuyt and Torres, when fit, finished with 49 goals between them. This is something worth boasting about because it’s not often you find a tactic where both strikers score.

Final Position
Much like the Kimz tactic, I firmly believe had I purchased stronger wingers instead of having to rely solely on Benayoun and Babel, I probably would have finished in a stronger position then fourth. It was a tight battle contested between me and Man Utd for third, but they managed to sneak the whole 3 points against Arsenal at the end of the season.

With some tweaking, mainly with the defence and away instructions, I firmly believe this tactic could be a winner.

Final Position

Throw-In Thread
Direct Download Link
Rating: 3/5

Name: Jahmir Hyka
Position: AMC
Sale Value: 125k

Hyka at the start of the game
Hyka’s potential ability

Hyka’s talent is clear to see from the start of the game – while only being 19 he holds a 15 for his dribbling attribute which will improve as he matures as a footballer. He can also be a danger from set pieces with his good freekick taking ability and average corner ability – again though, work permits may be a problem.

English League Suitability:Low level Premiership sides will be more suited to Hyka than anywhere else in my opinion, could do well as backup in higher place sides and will be a standout performer in the Championship.
My Rating

Name: Leonard Muzha
Position: AM/FC
Sale Value: Free at start of the game.

Leonard Muzha at the start of the game
Muzha’s potential ability

Again with great pace, Muzha could adequately perform the duties of a fast strker in a little and large partnership upfront – with greater mental stats than Arezu, he will more than likely score more goals despite the lack of natural finishing ability. Work permit certainly going to cause bother.

English League Suitability: Muzha would be suited to playing in League One/Two and maybe could perform as backup for a low level Championship side if necessary.
My Rating

Name: Erald Turdiu
Position: MR
Sale Value: 30k

Turdiu’s potential ability

Whilst being the owner of a marginally hilarious second name, Turdiu’s footballing ability is actually quite decent – his freekick and passing ability are good and doesn’t have too many weaknesses – bar his finishing. Work permit as always will be problematic.

English League Suitability: Turdiu would be suited best to playing low end Premiership football and would play well in the Championship.
My Rating

Albanian’s outside of Albania

Name: Lorik Cana
Position: DM
Sale Value: £5.75m

Lorik Cana at the start of the game
Cana’s potential ability

The most talented thing out of Albania since Zidane’s mother – Lorik Cana’s midfield prowess has not gone unrecognised. Cana’s strong tackling, ankle biting, harrying and harassing midfield style of play has infiltrated the minds of Premierleague scouts recently and it is not hard to see why – with very strong mental stats and exemplary physical attributes; Lorik Cana is a potentially world class centre midfielder. Work permit shouldn’t prove too much trouble either.

English League Suitability:Sides challenging for Europe, good backup for title challenging sides too.
My Rating

Name: Besart Berisha
Position: AM RL/ST
Sale Value: £800k

Besart Berisha at the start of the game
Berisha’s potential ability

Already made his home in English football – Besart Berisha is currently employed at Burnley and therefore work permits shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Good potential attributes in all of the necessary areas to make a good winger bar pace – Berisha could be a decent signing for your team.

English League Suitability:Championship/League One.
My Rating

Name: Edgar Cani
Position: ST
Sale Value: Free at start of the game

Edgar Cani at the start of the game
Edgar Cani’s potential ability

Edgar Cani’s second nationality is Italian – and therefore work permits should also be no problem with this young striker. Decent potential, with no standout attributes, Cani will be decent backup for low level premiership sides and a good player in the Championship – definitely worth the massive transfer fee of erm, nothing.

English League Suitability:Low level EPL and Championship.
My Rating

Name: Hamdi Salihi
Position: AM RC, FC
Sale Value: 900k

Hamdi Salihi at the start of the game
Salihi’s potential ability

Good striker for peanuts – words that many FM’ers like to hear. Hamdi Salihi is more than cut out to play in the Premiership with great pace, finishing and free kick ability. Hamdi Salihi will bang them in season after season and is still only young too, and the fresh age of 23. Work permit possibly a problem.

English League Suitability:Premiership.
My Rating

Guide by Joe

Name: Karim Ziani
Position: AM RLC
Sale Value: £8.5m

Karim Ziani at the start of the game
Ziani’s potential ability

A great talent from the French league, Ziani is a fast, creative and flairy winger. The Algerian is yet to see his best years standing at the age of 24 and would be a good signing for most clubs in the Premier League and maybe could perform adequately in Europe too. Work permit is not a problem due to his French second nationality.

English League Suitability: Premiership
My Rating

Name: Salim Arrache
Position: AML
Sale Value: £2.5m

Salim Arrache at the start of the game
Arrache’s potential ability

Arrache is another winger from France, although not in the same talent bracket as Ziani. With no real standout attributes bar his pace and crossing – Arrache would be a great signing if you could tempt him away from Toulouse to join your championship team. Work permit again not a problem due to French second nationality.

English League Suitability:Low level Premiership would suit Arrache, and he would be a standout performer if signed for a Championship side.
My Rating

Name: Nadir Belhadj
Position: D/WB/AM L
Sale Value:£6m

Nadir Belhadj at the start of the game
Belhadj’s potential ability

With great pace, and great crossing ability – Belhadj can potentially become one of the greatest left wingers in the game. Slightly let down by poor flair and finishing, Belhadj is a bargain not to be missed at 6m, and like all players so far has dual-nationality with France so work permit’s should not be a problem. Great.

English League Suitability: Belhadj would slot into most teams in the Premiership rather easily, and can be a potentially world class left winger.
My Rating

Name: Ahmed Reda Madouni
Position: DC
Sale Value: £900k

Ahmed Reda Madouni at the start of the game
Madouni’s potential ability

Madouni is another Algerian-French player and therefore work permits will not be a problem. Madouni is also playing close to his full potential and with little room to develop he can quickly become an experienced member of your team. Approaching his peak years as a defender.

English League Suitability: Low level Premiership clubs will find Madouni good backup – while Championship managers will find him a solid member of their team.
My Rating

Name: Anther Yahia
Position: DC
Sale Value: £1m

Anther Yahia at the start of the game
Yahia’s potential ability

A rather expensive backup player, Yahia currently ply’s his trade in Germany for Bochum – with no real stand out attributes at all, Yahia will never have the ability to make it in the Premiership, and will be more suited to middle/lower Championship sides.

English League Suitability: Middle/lower championship.
My Rating

Name: Rafik Halliche
Position: DC
Sale Value: £105k

Rafik Halliche at the start of the game
Halliche’s potential ability

An all round superior backup centre back than Yahia, Halliche is more talented and less expensive than his international colleague – with good heading ability and good bravery – Halliche will be strong in the air. His pace lets him down, though.

English League Suitability: Championship
My Rating

Name: Sofian Dilmi
Position: DC, DM
Sale Value: Free at the start of the game.

Sofian Dilmi at the start of the game
Dilmi’s potential ability

Free signings are always good, especially when the player is young and has great potential – like young Sofian. A budding defensive midfielder with a cracking freekick, Dilmi will progress into a decent Premiership player. Also with French dual nationality.

English League Suitability: Low level EPL and Championship.
My Rating

Name: Mehdi Sennaoui
Position: GK
Sale Value: £55k

Mehdi Sennaoui at the start of the game
Sennaoui’s potential ability

Goalkeeper that is well suited to the lower leagues, with a good 15 attribute in reflexes and relatively good in the air – Sennaoui will serve lower league sides well for a reasonable price. [/salesman>

English League Suitability: League One/Two.
My Rating

Guide by Joe

When I’m not online, I’m thinking of ideas on how we could improve the site and generate activity from the members- when I am online, I’m continuously talking to people to gather their opinions and feedback. This is why I’m so down-hearted about not being able to fulfill these ideas at the minute. When there’s no progress been shown for a couple of days, members start losing their inspiration and stop posting- it’s always been a problem on Throw-In.

This is not a plea, it’s asking for a favour- just because you don’t see any progress being made, it doesn’t mean we’re not working behind the scenes to improve the site and forum. If you’re still playing Football Manager, get involved with the discussion, if you’re not, get involved with the off-topic discussion. It’s only a matter of time before things turn and start working in our favour.

I don’t agree with people who take control of a club who are already world beaters and turn them in such a force they go 1,430,003 games unbeaten- I’m had my fair few careers with Liverpool and thoroughly enjoyed them but when I try and stray away from them, I don’t get the same excitement. I strive off success, I need to be winning games- when I lose it turns my tongue sour, I tend to quit the game after a loss but find myself jumping straight back into action a couple of hours later. Like a drug some would say. If you’ve ever touched drugs, and had a crazy comedown the next day, it puts you off, but doesn’t stop you.

I suppose I’m probably looking into this a little deep if I’m comparing it to drugs, but it seems like an issue that’s stopping me from jumping into the core experience of the games. I’ve never had a successful lower league career because results are inconsistent and that fucks me off.

I realize I can’t live as a sore loser all my life, so I’ve decided to start a game unemployed and see how I fare. Hopefully it’ll refresh ideas for this blog, too!

I’ll be running a large database on patch 8.0.2

Team
I’ve decided to try these tactics with Liverpool- they’ve got the potential to be title winners, but to make things even more interesting I won’t sign or sell any players- I’ll see how the tactic fares over the course of a year and inform you all with what happens- results wise, player wise etc.

Kimz V2
The first tactic I’ll use is Kimz 8.0.2, It’s a tactic well known across the scene as it’s guaranteed to score goals, no matter who you are. People use this tactic for lower league teams and still manage to gain promotion or find themselves in positions they never expected. What most people seem to notice is the lack of defensive qualities the tactic has, as it mainly focus’s on attack. If you fix this problem then you’re onto a winner.

Kimz has released a few versions of this tactic, however I’ll be testing the v2.

Formation
Let me talk a little bit about the formation. You might be familiar with the 4-2-3-1 lineup, however the barrows and farrows will most likely leave you a little confused- why the two defensive midfielders end up in a wide striker role? to be fair, there’s no real reason. Someones trying to prove a theory that the farrows and barrows exploit the games match engine. Despite advancing into these roles, the defensive midfielders don’t score from that position. The formation is attack minded, therefore the creator of the tactic wants pretty much every position bar the two central midfielders up the field- which is probably why the tactic leaks so much goals.

Formation - Strongest Starting 11

Results
Well I knew when I first started using this tactic that the results would be hit-or-miss because the defensive qualities of this tactic are far less effective as the attacking qualities. I knew I’d suffer with most results away, and some of the screenshots below show that.

Away Results
Sunderland Away
Man Utd Away
Wigan Away

Needless points were thrown away from home, merely because the tactic is so attack minded. Had I maybe brought in two new fullbacks the results could have been different, what with Finnan ageing and Riise proving to be useless on FM8.

The home results, as shown are much more appealing,

Home Results
Chelsea Home
Man Utd Home
Spurs Home
West Ham Home

This proves that the tactic does score goals, but as the away results and the Spurs result shows, it leaks them too.

Final Position
With what I class a weak squad (Benayoun, Finnan, Riise etc) playing, I don’t think the final finish of fourth was too bad of a result. Had I spent the £30M provided on stronger players, then I firmly believe I could have gone for a title push.

Final Position
Sigames Thread
Direct Download Link
Rating: 4/5 (Possibly a 5 if defense is sorted)

I do boast enough knowledge to turn a middle tabled club into a force when I‘m given a few seasons, although I never use a 4-4-2 simply because the match engine refuses. I’ll always have to employ a formation which I don’t agree with to get success- a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-3-1-2. It seems using a basic back 4, basic middle 4 and a top 2 just doesn’t work. It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, impossible. What adds salt in the wound is the fact Arsenal are possibly the best team on the game using a 4-4-2 that seems impossible to duplicate. Adebayor seems to link the whole play together, playing V. Persie and Febergas in, who seem to just slice through your defence like a hot knife through butter.

It seems the match engine for FM08 is against the 4-4-2 formation- from experience, the only way to create a half decent one is if you employ the corner ‘cheat’. I’ve tried numerous of times to create something that’ll work, spending weeks trying to tweak- but I always find a certain area of the tactic doesn‘t work- in my case, it tends to be the strikers, who always average a 6 rating at the end of the game.

I’ve done my research and found a few 4-4-2 tactics that claim they’re the “best”- they usually provide a screenshot of the team, which alone tells you why they claim it’s the best.

Is the match engine too complex to design a simple 4-4-2 nowadays?

Little did I know, they were building a forte themselves from my players. Whilst buying them for a relevantly cheap price, they were also winning games, and slowly gaining more experience. It seemed Sven got better out of the apparent ‘dead wood’ then I did- and now I’m not too sure if selling them to Man City was a wise choice.

In season 6, they still have Xabi Alonso, Goran Pandev, John Arne Riise, Martin Skrtel and Vicente- all of whom were bought from Anfield for cut prices. Man City are now sitting first in the premiership (with one game on me, mind) and are still fighting in all competitions- and it doesn’t seem to be a one season wonder, they’re second to me in scoring the most goals and second to conceding the least

This leaves me with a question in mind, all of the players listed aren’t world class, aside from maybe Huntelaar, who could be questioned further. They haven’t really got any world class players- so how have they managed to become such a force in the Premiership? They’ve been labelled sleeping giants for some time now, and with Alex Mcleish as their manager, it’s a mystery how they’ve managed to perform so well from sponging.

Anyone had the same experience?

For now.