FMStyle - Football Manager Forum

I would like to take a moment if I may to link you in the direction of FMStyle, a Football Manager Forum, that I and a friend set up in August 08. It has had a slow start, and then it all went a bit quiet late September, with everyone awaiting the new release. But now we have over 1, 000 members, 15, 000 posts and it's a really friendly atmosphere. Give it a shot!

Ruby Tactic - Release Set 2

UPDATE
Ruby Release 2 is Done!
The main change is in the new conservative tactic:

There is also Ruby_Norm_V1.3 - this is the normal tactic you should use for most of your games. HERE IS THE ORIGINAL BLOG POST
Added as well is Ruby_SUS_v1. This tactic is to be used in the last 15 minutes, when the AI is pushing for a goal.

Use Conservative when against better opponents, or when you are away against even opponnents. If you start a game on Normal and are being dominated, switch to conservative.

You will notice the RB in the Normal tactic now has no attacking role - this is to try and secure the defence. You might think this has weakened the attack but it hasnt.

I have now gone 19 games unbeaten in the league, including a 5-1 win against Ath. Madrid, and a 1-0 win away at Barcelona (only team to win at Barcelona all season). In those 19 games I have W17 and Drawn 2. In 24 league games I have scored 54 goals and conceded 24, although more of those goals were conceded earlier on in the season with V1, this latest release is the best yet.

Your feedback is welcome.

DOWNLOAD HERE -> http://files.filefront.com/jf+ruby+r.../fileinfo.html

Feedback, comments, ideas anything is highly appreciated. Remember, give it 5-10 games. Both my losses so far were in my first 5 games, since then I have won 8 and drawn 1 of my last 9 matches. Including beating Madrid and Sevilla, so it does work for me.

Also, I built it on the 2nd Patch, 9.2 so it may or may not work for 9.1

Real Sociedad - The Story So Far [Part 2]

At the start of my 2nd season all my staff told me we needed to heavily strengthen. I disagreed, reckoning my current squad could hit expectations of safe midtable. I aimed for 10th place as my personal goal but reckoned that 12th onwards would keep me in the job. My signing I had secured in season 1, Daniel Aquino completed his move, costing me a total of 4million but well worth it as he has 9 league goals to his name and has played superbly. I then brang in Jonathan Soriano on a free, he was to be my only free signing. Loanees were Davide Santon, an Italian right back who has played there all season as No1. choice, striker Jefferson from Fiorentina, Sebastian Leto from Anfield and Daylon Classen from Ajax as MC cover. I also broke into my 3 million budget with left back Laszlo Sepsi costing 0.9mil and DC Zoro costing 1.5. I sold Mikel Labaka for 950k and Sergio Rodriquez from 300k. I let Gerardo, Moha, Hernandez and Kovacevic (sob) go.

The season was tough. A 0-1 defeat away at Osasuna followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Las Palmas indicated this was gonna be tough, but a 2-0 away win at Deportivo set us back on the right path. We then held Ath. Madrid 0-0 at home before losing 2-3 to Sevilla in a super game which we were unlucky to lose. A 1-3 defeat to Barcelona followed as we went 17th in the table. Things picked up though, a 0-0 away at Sporting moved us to 16th before a 2-0 win against Malaga pushed us to 12th, 6 points clear of the drop and only 3 away from 6th! We then beat Recreativo 3-0 with an Aquino brace to move to 11th, before we lost 2-3 at Valencia, leading until the 89th minute before combusting. I was so gutted! But we got going again, beating Villarreal 3-1 at home and then Almeria 5-2 away! However Real Madrid took us down 1-3 at home, although having checked the stats we had more shots on target then they did! Then we drew 0-0 at Betis, a good result against a side who had won their last 5, then beat Espanyol at home 3-1, however we then lost to rivals Atheltic 1-2 to drop to 9th before a 3-1 win over Zaragoza in one of the most entertaining games ever so far on FM09 for me.

The 2nd half of the season was never going to be a superbly entertaining story - a decent midtable club just hoping to maintain a good position, and we managed to do that very well. The mian highlight being a 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp -coming from 0-3 down to take a 3-3 draw, with a 90th min penalty from Xabi Prieto. We also won 3-2 at Villarreal and took a point from a tough trip to the Bernabeau.

I'm not going to bore you with the details, but we ended up 9th overall, and for me I was very happy with a high finish, given hardily any money to spend with a very average squad, 9th is a very happy position for me.

My Highlights:

Deportivo 0 REAL SOCIEDAD 2 (Ansotegi, Jefferson).
It's always nice to get your first league win under your belt when you are a promoted side and to do it away from home at Deportivo was a nice feeling. Ansotegi headed us into the lead on 33mins and Jefferson secured the win with a good strike on 77mins.

REAL SOCIEDAD 3 (Ansotegi, Jefferson, Aquino) Villarreal 1
This proved that we are better than people think. Most think we will go down but we outplayed, outclassed a good Villarreal side that recently drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. Ansotegi headed in on 31minutes, and it remained 1-0 at the break. We started well in the 2nd half and Jefferson was put through by Enama to double the lead. Star man Dan put us in dreamland with a good freekick, and despite Rossi getting one back late on Sociedad completed a super victory.

Almeria 2 REAL SOCIEDAD 5 (Ansotegi, Aranburu, Ismodes, Aquino, Leto)
Almeria were bottom when we travelled there but away from home we had been poor so I was nervous, but it turned out I didn't need to. Aqunio took a freekick short to Ansotegi who scored from 25 yards, and Aranburu chipped the keeper from 30 yards after 18 minutes. After some neat build up play Daniel Aqunio set up winger Ismodes to strike home from close range, but a sloppy bit of defending let Almeria get one back just before half time. In the 2nd half I was desperate to make it 4-1 just to close the game out, and thankfully on 54 minutes Aquino was put through, dribbled past 2 defenders and rounding the keeper to make it 4-1. Leto then volleyed home from a corner after 80 minutes to make it a rout, but it was spoilt by conceding another in the 89th minute. The first time I have scored 5 goals in a competitive match on FM09!

REAL SOCIEDAD 3 (Aquino, Jefferson (2) Zaragoza 1
The derby! Although it's not an official derby after last season Zaragoza are my rivals and at home we were desperate to win, but they have a very good squad. Arizmendi struke for them on 30 minutes, but Aquino levelled shortly after and it was 1-1 at the intervel. The 2nd half was dull, but when Enama got sent off for a 2nd yellow, I was worried and expected to concede. Thankfully just 2 minutes later Zapater got his marching orders so with 10 minutes to go both sides had 10 men. Into added time - 4 minutes of it - and I was resigned to a point. However up stepped Jefferson to scored from 35 yards, a truly amazing goal, and then as Zaragoza pushed forward he broke away, beating 3 defenders and slotting home to make it 3-1.

Effective Strike Partnerships 1 - Little n' Large

To win football matches you have to score goals, right? (I am a genius!) and usually you will be looking at your strikers to get the majority of your goals. If you can't get your strikers firing then you are going to struggle to get anywhere fast in FM. But what makes an effective partnership? In this series of posts I'll be writing about 4 different partnerships that work. This is Part 1.

Little n' Large
A partnership which works well IRL and also in FM is the little n' large version. Here you have one small, fast good finisher playing alongside more of a "target man" (TM) - someone who is strong, agile and can win the ball in the air and hold it up.
Real Life Examples: Crouch + Defoe, Heskey + Owen

Does it work in FM?
It can yes, I think many players have proven this in the past, with the little striker getting a lot of goals, the TM most of the asists, but also sometimes the TM will get some goals - but not as many.

How should I set it up?
Little Striker -> An attacking mentality, forward runs often, run with ball often, CF normal, short passing.
TM -> He should be your target man, and have the ball supply at either "To Feet" or "To Head". His mentality should be normal, low CF and a mixed passing style. Forward runs mixed, run with ball mixed, Through Balls mixed (Often if he is good enough). Hold Up ball should be ticked.

Players make the Formation

Lots of people go out of their way on FM to sign players that will fit their killer formation they used in previous games. I think this is silly, your formation should fit the players, even if that means making a formation that is not "the norm". Take my Ruby tactic, when I was developing it, I realised with my current squad at Real Sociedad, I had no recognisable right winger. I had a good left winger, very good AMCs and good strikers. I knew I needed to have a AMC and also have two strikers, but without a right winger I wasnt sure what to do.

It seems I was being too rigid, that infact I should just put players where it made sense. So I ended up playing with a AML, AMC, two strikers, two MCs but not a AMR. Blimey you say! No AMR? Surely that leaves me outnumbered on my right flank?

It does but not as bad as you think, the MCr often comes across of his own accord to protect the flank, and with a good RB this is fine. Originally I made the mistake of making the RB more attacking, but all that happened was that my RB would be stranded up the pitch, so I gave up with that idea. Now my back four are just there to defend, and it works well. It's no killer tactic, but I'm now 16 games unbeaten and it could not be going any better.

If I had decided to play with a AMR it would have meant either:
1) Buying One. I think my team needed strenghtening else where so this was not an option.
2) Sacrificing the AMC for an AMR. Not good, as my AMCs (Mata & Jimenez) have both set up countless goals and scored a few as well.
3) Sacrifice a ST for an AMR. With 5 strikers, there was no way I was playing one up front.

So all I am trying to say, is don't be afraid to break the rules.

Real Sociedad - The Story So Far [Part 1]

As you might know I started playing a popular challenge for Football Manager. It's called "The Real Sociedad Challenge". They start in Liga Adelente, one below the top tier of Spanish football. Your challenge is simple - win La Liga in 5 seasons. You can find more information in the challenge thread created here. I am currently in season 4, but to bring you update I'm gonna tell you about the previous 3 seasons 1 at a time, and this is the first.

I was given 80k to spend and a low wage budget at the start of the season. The squad I had was already good enough to gain promotion but I wanted to strengthen and try to win the league. Firstly I sold Markel to Zaragoza for 1.3million, Zubikera to Villa for 0.5mil and Daniel Estrada to Reading for 1.9. This gave me 3.7 million to use.

At first I worked with loan signings, bring in left back Razvan Rat and left winger Leonardo on loan for the season. Then came my first purchase. As recommended by kovacevic I bought.....kovacevic! Darko Kovacevic came for 300k, how could I not? Then I got busy, AMRLC Perico added for 275k, and MC Binya added for back up along with keeper Bernabe Angel for 120k. Then on the final day of the transfer window I loaded striker Andrej Rendla from Twente for the season.

For tactics I went with a simple 4-4-2, not going to show you the formation as it's nothing special. My best line up at the start of the season was:

GK: Bravo
DL: Rat
DC: Martinez, Gonzalez
DR: Gerrado
ML: Leonardo
MC: Rivas, Aranburu
MR: Prieto
ST: Kovacevic, Rendla

My defense has been rock solid, only 3 times have we conceded more than once in the league and in general my back line is very tight. THe midfield does see some rotation (Marcos and Leonardo especially) but Rivas is one of my top performers. Upfront Kovacevic plays the role of the "FCd" dropping back and playing balls through to Rendla which works great, and Renla is my top scorer with 7 in 13.

My friendlies went fine, with the scores all in my favour: 4-0, 5-0, 5-0, 1-0, 2-1, 2-1.

So, here are the league fixtures so far:

Alicante (A) 2-1 Win
Las Palmas (A) 1-2 Loss
Tenerife (H) 1-1 Draw
Eibar (H) 2-0 Win
Cordoba (A) 3-2 Win
Alaves (H) 1-0 Win
Gimnastic (A) 3-1 Win
Huesca (H) 3-0 Win
Murcia (A) 1-0 Win
Albacete (H) 2-0 Win
Sevilla Atletico (A) 1-1 Draw
Zaragoza (H) 3-2 Win
Levante (A) 1-1 Draw
Castellon (H) 3-0 Win
Girona (A) 2-0 Win
Celta (H) 0-1 Loss
Salamanca (H) 2-0 Win
Rayo (A) 1-4 Loss (No idea what happened)

As you can see I went 13 games without defeat but ended the year with 2 wins from 4 games, but I'm sure it will pick up. So here is the league table:



Home Record:


Away Record:


As you can see it's my away record that puts me on top as I havent got the best home record but away I am better than the rest.

In the Spanish Cup I lost 0-1 to Alaves in a poor performance.

This was my star result:


And my squad:


Rendla:


Prieto (Best Av. Performer):


Achille Emana (New Signing for 1.8mil):


Damian Ismodes (New signing for 775k):


I brang in Ismodes and Enama in January and they struggled to settle, and in March I was upset that I had wasted 2.6mil on them. But something clicked and they both played with, at one points Enama had scored 8 goals in 10 games, and Ismodes had hit 2 goals and 7 assists, as he and Prieto caused chaos on the wings.

I'm afraid I can't show many screenshots because I am a season ahead but I had a super 2nd half of the season, after my update I lost just 3 times in the entire 2nd half of the season (Las Palmas (H) 0-1, Zaragoza (A) 1-2 and Hercules (A) 1-4 (No idea what happened)).

Unfortunately for me Zaragoza decided to hit form and won 23 games in a row which is insane, so despite my good form I could only watch as they stormed the league with 101 points. I managed 94 points in my quest for 2nd place, which in any other season would have been enough to see me walk the league but not this one.



In the first season I spent 3.5 million and brang in 3.7mil so I made the club 200k as well which was a bonus. Season 2 coming soon ;)

Tactic - Ruby V1.

People who know me through FM will know I always love messing with tactics. It all started back in 2008 when I decided to stop using other people's tactics and figure out my own. It was hard but finally I seemed to get it and now I try to release as many tactics as I can. This is my first big tactic for FM09, called Ruby.
The main tactic is above, and there is also a SUS version (Shut Up Shop) for defending a narrow lead later on.

Key Points
->If you have a AMR but not AML, just move the AML to AMR, the instructions should stay the same.
->Pacey strikers are important, if you can have all four of your attackers with pace, but if not you must have one ST with pace. If you only have one, put him at the right ST. Although from testing it makes little difference.
->Your MCd (The left MC) must be good, he has to hold the tactic together.
->Your RB needs to have good stamina, as he is doing the work of the RM as well at times. He will go forwards but not all the time.
->Your AMC will get a lot of chances so make sure they can shoot!
->I don't use Opp Instructions.

Tweaks/Ideas
->Something I have yet to try is moving the RB to WBR to try and compensate for the lack of an MR.
->Also if you told your MCr to man mark the opponent's left winger, that might help, but it would also drag your MC out wide, leaving just your DM.

You can download it from FMStyle - HERE DOWNLOAD RUBY V1. You will need to sign up.

What is in the download:
Ruby_N_V1, Ruby_N_V1.1, Ruby_SUS_V1
Start with V1 but if you dont have success with that try V1.1 The changes are minimal but I find V1.1 better, however I left V1 in as some people have done better with that.

Screenshots of success will come when I update with my current game, which will be tomorrow I hope, but I can tell you with Real Sociedad I have beaten Real Madrid 2-1, Sevilla 3-1 (away) and have Won 7 league games in a row. More to come on that soon!

Cheers!