How Are You Doing On CM?

[King Pietersen]

I'm Borussia Dortmund. Have only made 14 points in the first 9 games of the Bundesliga. It started pretty well but has gone to **** recently, lost in the cup and the league to Gladbach lost 4-1 away at Benfica and just lost the Revierderby 4-1.

Play a 4-2-3-1 with pressing and a direct attack. Lewandowski is OP but he's my only goal threat. None of the front three who I play (and I've got loads of option) do anything really. I've tried switching around between them being on support and attack but can't really find a combination where they create any goal threat. My defence has managed to get worse in recent weeks despite me devoting more training time to defensive positioning and defending set pieces.

Here's my team at the moment: Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

You have too much space out wide for opposing teams to attack, and then going forward you're far too compact, so none of the attackers have space to do anything. Reus should definitely be out wide as an inside forward, and you're playing Blazs way out of position. First thing I'd do is set your wing backs to Complete Wing Back, set the two wider players to to either Wing attack, or Inside Forward. I'd also think about utilising a deep-lying playmaker, I've recently been using a Regista a hell of a lot with massive success. It breaks up the midfield, and gives your team much better balance, as your attacks build from the back. Gundogan should be your main man, has all the attributes to be a fantastic Regista. I'd line up with:

------------------------------------Weidenfeller--------------------------------
---CWB---------------Hummels-------------Subotic-------------CWB----
-Grobkreutz----------------------------------------------------------Schmelzer----
--------------------------------------Regista-----------------------------------------
-------------------------------------Gundogan-------------------------------------
--------------------------BWM D---------------AP S---------------------------------
-------------------------Bender----------------Mkhitaryan---------------------------
---Winger A--------------------------------------------------------Inside Forward A------
---Blasz---------------------------------------------------------------Reus----------------
-------------------------------------False Nine-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------Lewandowski-----------------------------------------------

Then play around with the team instructions, but I use control, fluid, retain possession, be more expressive, higher tempo, tighter marking and hassle opponents.

Signed Bale for Bayern for £63m and he has been immense. 23 goals in 29 games, plus 11 assists, been absolutely superb playing as an Inside Forward on the right. Bale, Shaqiri and Diego Costa up top, so good. If you ever get the chance to buy Shaqiri, do it, he's absolutely awesome. Best young AML Inside Forward on the game!

 

[Pothas]

Finally enjoying a game. Gave up on Sevilla and started with Schalke, very early days but is good fun so far, so many brilliant young players. Does not look like I am going to get close to Bayern this year but hope to be good for second. Arsenal were generous enough to give more than the release clause for Farfan, really wanted Pjanic but could not quite get the deal done so had to settle for Parejo and Begovic.

 

[GIMH]

Just about to start my 14th season on my game with my self-created club. Fallen short on qualifying for Europe in each of the last three seasons but this season it is a board expectation so the pressure is on a little more.

Game is pretty much 95% regen players, all the managers seem to be players who played for me at one time or another. Normally would be fed up by this point but having worked from the bottom am determined to see this through

Does the game force you to retire at any point? Never gone more than ten years before now

 

[sledger]

I think there is an upper limit on the amount of seasons you can do, but I think it's pretty high. I think the furthest I have ever gone in a game is about 10 years.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah think I may have done 8 once but people go for decades don't they?

2nd spot and the German cup for me with Schalke. Quarter-finals of Champions League, 2-0 up at home to City but a blunder gave them an away goal and then got a player sent off after 2 minutes in the away leg.

Pjanic, Balanta and Bradley have all come in this summer, Atletico gave me lots of money for Matip and Neustadter. Max Meyer is going to be so good.

 

[GIMH]

Tbf I'd never go this long on the full version, seasons so much quicker on the handheld version, like the old CMs

 

[sledger]

I had to go back to an old Auto-save on my Inter game after I accidentally saved over the top of my proper save and lost about 4 months of progress - was fuming.

Have at least managed to avoid going out of the Champions League to Celtic this time around at least. Have decided my defence is really not up to scratch though. Really regretting not signing Balanta earlier on, as he's my main target now, but his value has skyrocketed.

Kovacic out for 4 months with a broken foot has also been a huge pain, but it has led to a mini revival for Siem de Jong who would otherwise have been sold.

Strangely playing Fabregas up front and a 6ft5 target man on the wing has proved to be a really effective tactic haha.

 

[Pothas]

Testing my patience very much at the moment, very much in the title hunt this season but my god the amount of chances we miss are beyond stupid, 6 or 7 clear cut chances in each match in the last few I have played.

 

[sledger]

I get the feeling I'm due a spell like that.

My Inter have been steamrollering as of late. Have won the last 5 matches by 4 or 5 goals, and am on a 17 game unbeaten streak. Worryingly though, Milan are level on points with me, and I am only top on goal difference. I think I must be due a downturn in form.

Fabregas having to play every game up front at the moment. What had been a novelty, occasionally used, tactic has now become the norm due to injuries. Not sure what I will do if he gets crocked. Will have to give Ruben Garcia or Ben Arfa a go there I suppose.

 

[Pothas]

Just happened again 7 clear cut chances, 33 shots, draw 0-0.

Rooney come on a free in the summer and has managed 1 goal in 15 league games.

 

[sledger]

Haha, you rarely see it quite as bad as that. Which year are you in now?

 

[Pothas]

3rd season now, team is good but **** they are annoying.

 

[GIMH]

Got ****ing sacked

 

[sledger]

Well, creating 33 chances in a game is pretty impressive in itself, I suppose.

I hardly ever create anything near to that, but my team seems to be clinical enough to score highly. The team seems to have a really strange style actually, apparently I am ranked as the best passing side in all of Serie A, but I am also apparently the roughest, and ranked highest in terms of fouls and cards. Samuel Umtiti currently sitting on a big ban after picking up his 3rd straight red (not counting the occasion he was booked twice in a game) and it's only January...

Ruben Pardo is the latest in my long history of expensive flops. Regretting paying £30m for him in a big way.

 

[Pothas]

Rooney is beyond a flop but then Dzeko is just as poor. Regretting letting Huntelaar go at the end of last season, he did nothing but at least he could score.

If Meyer could finish he would be stupidly good.

 

[sledger]

I've not had many flops on this save. Fernando Gago was pretty poor, but he was relatively cheap and did a (just about) serviceable job when needed. Stefano Denswil was pretty bad, but I managed to sell him on at a profit after a poor year.

Really, really, want to get Balanta, but he's just too expensive. It's probably stupid on my part, but over £30m is just too much to spend on a defender.

 

[King Pietersen]

£30m for Pardo? How good are his attributes to warrant that price? Surely you could have got someone like Goretzka, and had change left over?

Won the World Cup and Euro's with England, then lost in the Confederations Cup final 3-1 to Colombia, thanks to a Falcao hat-trick. Team were starting to really drop in quality, with a dire midfield, so resigned, and took over at Man City, who after 3 consecutive Title wins dropped to a miserable 6th, resulting in Pellegrini's sacking. Made wholesale changes in the Summer, selling £160m worth of players including:

Pantilimon - £3.4m
Dzeko - £1m
Fischer - £32m
Savic - £15.75m
Rekik - £4.4m
Bony - £16.75m
Milner - £1m
Bernard - £56m

And then added £130m in transfers in the form of:

Mitrovic - £29.5m
Romagnoli - £13.75m
Kondogbia - £44.5m
Rugani - Free
Griezmann - £30m
Leali - £14m
Bianchi (Beast defender Regen) - £4m

With those changes, my Strongest XI, is the very home-grown:

----------------------------------------Hart------------------------------------------
--Danilo-----------Bartra-----------------------Kompany-----------Baines-----
------------------------------------Kondogbia-------------------------------------------
---------------------Toure--------------------------Hughes--------------------------
---Lamela----------------------------------------------------------------Draxler----------
--------------------------------------Suarez------------------------------------------

So only 3 English players in the XI, and not many City original players left. Incredibly strong squad though, with the likes of Shaqiri, Greizmann, Mitrovic, Witsel, Rugani and Chalobah as back-ups, so I should be able to lead back to the title comfortably. Not sure this save will last much longer though, not really a squad I can improve much more, and it's never particularly fun playing as City. Need to find another decent long-term save.

 

[sledger]

£30m for Pardo? How good are his attributes to warrant that price? Surely you could have got someone like Goretzka, and had change left over?

Yeah, it wasn't very clever. It seems he's a fair bit better on my save than he generally turns out in most tbf, but still, it was not the best use of money. I just wanted to get a player who would help with my "pass the other team to death" tactics, and he came out on top when I did a search for players who had 20 passing, positioning, teamwork and creativity. He's not managed to really get in the side though, due to being kept out by an aged Hernanes and a Brazilian youth player.

Unless he really turns it on between now and the end of the season, I will try and flog him (no doubt for well below what I paid for him) and cut my losses.

At least Memphis Depay has turned out to be really good.

 

[King Pietersen]

Pardo has decent stats, and always seems to end up at a good side (At Monaco in 2017 on my save), but I've never seen him average particularly highly, or do anything remarkable. I've signed him a couple of times myself, and he's been pretty average every time. Whenever I need a midfielder, I always look to Goretzka. He's so versatile, with brilliant stats all-round (I've seen him have straight 10's on all stats), and always has excellent passing. Pick him up early in a save, and you've got a world-class midfielder for years, that with the right training can easily become the best in the world.

Be interested to see how Kondogbia goes in my game. Has all the stats to be awesome, especially for the role I'm playing him in (Regista), but £44m is bloody expensive, so hopefully he'll deliver. Any of you guys managed him on '14?

Lamela's just broken his ankle, bit gutted. Was signed by Pellegrini before I took over for £34.5m and I was looking forward to using him. Been bloody good for Spurs, especially last season, where he scored 31 goals in 36 games playing up top. Averaged over 7.5 every season for them as well. Just hope the ankle injury doesn't cause his attributes to drop.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah Goretzka is class, delighted that nobody has come in for him yet.