FM Dynasty

[st.cronin]

I have just acquired this game. I am playing as UD Almansa in Spain. Spain, Mexico, and USA have all leagues active.

I really know nothing at all about soccer.

[st.cronin]

UD Almansa plays in the Spanish second division, b4. (I don't know what b4 indicates.) We are among the favorites for the "drop."

I have no luck getting any transfers, or even signing any of the gray players on the U18 team. So it looks as though we'll be going to battle with the roster we have.

[st.cronin]

Using Mr. Vaughn's hints and tips, I have come up with the following depth charts:

Goalkeepers
Aranda, 29
Jose Galisteo, 27

Aranda is clearly superior.

Defensive Centre Backs
Luis Lopez, 30
Juan Carlos, 20
Dani, 24
David Aguilar, 17
Pepin, 22

Carlos is proficient at all defensive positions. He may play at DL or DR. That would make Dani and Lopez the middlemen.

Fullbacks

Kisko, 31
Juan Carlos, 20
Javi, 19
Rubio, 23
Francisco Jose Septien, 25

Kisko and Juan Carlos will be the fullbacks.

[st.cronin]

Midfielders
Felipe, 24
Raul Manrique, 25
Ruben, 26
Juan Ignacio Piombo, 23
Oscar Rico, 19

Felipe and Manrique, in addtion to having all the right stats for playing defensive midfield, will be the captains.

Wingers
Charly, 30
Pablo Garcia, 19
Irazoki, 29

Irazoki is valued higher than Charly and Garcia put together ... not sure why. Garcia and Charly will be the offensive playmakers on the wings.

Strikers
Eloi, 24
Gregorio, 27
Sergio, 23
Siver, 25

Eloi and Gregorio are both well rounded strikers, who hopefully will mesh. Eloi is on loan from Levante, a Spanish club.

[st.cronin]

Btw, anybody with tips on the game feel free to post. I have arranged for a tour of Switzerland with my club, plus a couple of other pre-season friendlies.

[Marc Vaughan]

Good luck - as far as tips go tactics wise. as you're a newcomer to the sport and FM I'd suggest keeping things as simple as possible tactically to start with and tweaking individual positions one at a time so you can see the effect that a change has rather than attempting to tune the entire tactic all at once.

[flere-imsaho]

What Marc just said - "starting slowly" has been true for every version of CM/FM, in my experience.

[st.cronin]

Going in to our pre-season, I have the following line-up, with the players best attributes:

GK: Aranda (tendency to punch, eccentricity, teamwork, agility)

DL: Juan Carlos (teamwork, bravery, acceleration)
DC: Luis Lopez (positioning, heading, marking, strength)
DC: Dani (bravery, teamwork, heading)
DR: Kisko (aggresion, tackling, flair, pace)

AML: Charly (composure, penalty taking, creativity, acceleration, pace)
MC: Felipe (pace, acceleration, teamwork, tackling, flair, workrate)
MC: Raul Manrique (all mental attributes, heading and jumping)
AMR: Pablo Garcia (pace, acceleration, dribbling)

ST: Eloi (pace, first touch, work rate)
ST: Gregorio (pace, penalty taking, teamwork)

There is very little depth behind the starting 11. I am working on picking up somebody for loan or transfer. I go with a 4-4-2, with the outside midfielders running forward, and the interior midfielders playing more defensively. I give the wingers (Charly and Pablo Garcia) slightly more creative freedom. Passes will be short and down the flanks, width slightly narrow.

[st.cronin]

Friendly results:

at Fatima - win, 2-1
at Neuchatel Xamax - loss, 3-4
at Lausanne - loss, 0-3
at St. Gallen - loss, 0-3
at Wil - loss, 2-4

Observations:

I'm not sure what the quality of opposition is. The starting 11 generally played well in those games, but I subbed everybody out at the half, and the second team makes a lot of mistakes.

Charly (AML) and Eloi (St) stand out as being clever and creative offensive players. Pablo Garcia (AMR) is the leading goal scorer. Juan Carlos (DL), regardless of what orders I give him, is always joining the attack, often playing forward of Charly.

We have drawn UD Merida in the Spanish Cup preliminary round leg 2.

[st.cronin]

UD Merida plays in the same division as we do. This is our first important game of the year. We have two games scheduled, first at their stadium.



36 minutes in, Charly puts a sick move on his defender, and gets free in the corner. He throws a cross into the box, where Manrique gets a shot on goal, which is saved, but the ball bounces around and eventually goes in off Merida defender Puski. The score at the half: 1-0 Almansa.

In the second half, Merida comes at us very hard, and Javier Dopico and Javi Vicente eventually capitalize. A disappointing loss, but I tell the team they played well.

[st.cronin]

UD Merida plays in the same division as we do. This is our first important game of the year. We have two games scheduled, first at their stadium.



36 minutes in, Charly puts a sick move on his defender, and gets free in the corner. He throws a cross into the box, where Manrique gets a shot on goal, which is saved, but the ball bounces around and eventually goes in off Merida defender Puski. The score at the half: 1-0 Almansa.

In the second half, Merida comes at us very hard, and Javier Dopico and Javi Vicente eventually capitalize. A disappointing loss, but I tell the team they played well.

[st.cronin]

Our first home game of the year, attendance 167

5 minutes in, Charly is hurt, and has to be taken off. The team plays well without him, though, dominating time of possession in a scoreless first half.

Minute 50, Manrique scores on a header off a freekick near the right corner. Almansa up 1-0 ("as it stands, Almansa will win on away goals!")

Minute 86, Eloi intercepts a pass on our side of the pitch, and dribbles away from the defense for a tremendous breakaway goal! 2-0 Almansa ... and we win 3-2 in aggregate. I have no idea what's going on, but it's tremendously exciting!

[st.cronin]

Opening game of the season, at home against Alcala de Guadaira: they are heavily favored to win.

Galisteo is in goal, and Martin Irazoki is in for Charly. At halftime, Irazoki is replaced with Juan Ignacio Piombo, more of a DM type, but at minute 85, he breaks a scoreless tie with a TREMENDOUS shot from 25 feet - a swerving long ball that goes right around the goalie. Alcala responds 3 minutes later with a similiar goal of their own. Eloi has several tremendous opportunities in the closing minutes, but is unable to finish. 1-1 tie.

[Blade6119]

welcome to the dark side buddy

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

welcome to the dark side buddy

heh

I had actually tried a demo for I think the first version of this game, and was very impressed, but not being a soccer fan, never took the plunge. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing.

[st.cronin]

ugh

heart-breaking loss on the road at Linares - down 1-0 at the half, we come out blazing, with Garcia and Eloi scoring fantastic goals. Our defense breaks down in the last ten minutes, giving up goals at 82 and 92 (12 seconds before the final whistle).

[st.cronin]

tips on scouting, anybody?

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

tips on scouting, anybody?

Send a scout to spain, a others where ever you feel like it(usually in the EU). At this level, bosman and free are you best options(bosman being huge)

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Send a scout to spain, a others where ever you feel like it(usually in the EU). At this level, bosman and free are you best options(bosman being huge)

Twice the scout has come back from spain finding no suitable players.

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

tips on scouting, anybody?

if you want to play a lower league team and are new to the game. "meaning a team that is down on a lower division and doesn't have alot of money etc..." I would suggest you start over in England and grab a conference team or the tier below that.

You can get players from all over the UK and scouting is easier "at least for me".

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by astrosfan64

if you want to play a lower league team and are new to the game. "meaning a team that is down on a lower division and doesn't have alot of money etc..." I would suggest you start over in England and grab a conference team or the tier below that.

You can get players from all over the UK and scouting is easier "at least for me".

took your advice and have been playing as Dorchester Town - lot of quirks that I still don't quite understand, but at least my scouts are now finding players.

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

took your advice and have been playing as Dorchester Town - lot of quirks that I still don't quite understand, but at least my scouts are now finding players.

I good plan is to decide on what style of team you want. Do you want a defensive minded club that is disiplined. Or do you want to try and develop a pacy team that tries to rack up the goals.

In LLM, I usually try and get a good dribbling Midfielder and use him to move the ball upfield. Try and get some fast strikers. It is ok to have strikers with lower finishing attributes, if they have a good work rate and team work attribute.

In LLM, look for physical attributes more then skills. You can win by just being a "fit" team. Quick, strong, aggressive etc... If you get them to gel you can dominate the Lower League.

You can at times get loans on a lower league team. Higher tier teams, will loan out young studs so they get competive playing time.