Matt Cruse - football manager blog - Football Manager 2011 - Tactics, Football Manager 2011, Sotiris Ninis, End of Season, Tactics - Team Instructions, Tactics - Lineup, Transfers (to date), Welcome to the mattcruse

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Football Manager 2011 - Tactics - Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Ok, so I started a new game managing Arsenal - time to win some trophies! I started the season with the same formation that I used in FM2010 but found that I wasn't winning as many as drawing - see previous post! I've created a new tactic with a slightly different formation - see below.

As you will see, I've made a couple (3) additions to the squad - just to give some extra depth (p.s. ignore the strip colour - I borrowed the screenshot from FM Fanboy's tactic creator - which is excellent btw, check it out here) These are:

Elini Dimoutsos - Greek Midfielder, signed from Panathinaikos for £250K, a true bargain!

Sotiris Ninis - Again, another Greek youngster - great prospect and though the fee was £8.5m, the return justifies the outlay.

Thierno Bah - Swiss born defender - signed for Free and though he was only signed as back-up, has proved that he is a better first choice - especially against taller opponents.

You may also notice that I have Szczesny as first choice - I played all the goalkeepers in the pre-season friendlies but found that he was the most consistent out of them all - plus, as I've been playing through the season, he holds a record of 7 clean sheets.

In my next post, I'll go into more details of the tactics.

Labels: 2011 Arsenal Football Manager Signings Tactics

Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Football Manager 2011 - Thursday, 4 November 2010

I just got notification that my copy of Football Manager 2011 has been dispatched :) Will update when it arrives!

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Sotiris Ninis - Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Find another young gem of a player - Sotiris Ninis, Greek AMRC. Quick and skilled on the ball, will help set up those penetrating attacks.

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

End of Season - Friday, 16 July 2010

Ok, I've almost finished my first season and haven't really written a lot about it - here's a brief overview: currently 1st in the Premiership with 9 games to go, in the quarter finals of the Champions League, knocked out of the FA Cup (fourth round) by Liverpool and lost the League Cup final 1-0 to Chelsea (Didier Drogba 93rd minute goal :( ).

I would imagine that the next update will be at season end, hopefully crowned Premiership Champions. Not sure on the Champions League yet could go either way.

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Tactics - Team Instructions - Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Passing: The squad is full of players who have good passing technique - ensure in your training that ball control is a paramount - passing and keeping the ball will win you games. Set this to Short

Tempo: Quick (as a default) but for those teams that you are likely to lose out to in the air, keep it slow as it will keep the ball on the ground.

Crossing: Drill Crosses - the combination of V.Persie and Ronaldo mean their quick reactions will beat the defenders. Plus, any wild clearances will be picked up on by Appiah/Denilson.

Target man: Set Ronaldo/Bendtner as Target Man

Playmaker: Set Fabregas as Playmaker

Starting Tactic: Start out the game on Counter - if you're playing a good opposition team, you may want to change this to Contain (once you have taken the lead obviously)

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Tactics - Lineup - Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Above is an overview of the formation I'm using (4-2-3-1) with notes on each position for setting the player instruction. Depending on the players you have, you may need to tweak certain things to get it right. I appreciate that this is probably too small to see so click on the following link to view it larger - click here

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Transfers (to date) - Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Start of season transfers:

Right, along with setting up tactics, training schedules etc. which I'll cover later, it's clear that we would need to make some new signings to bulk up the squad a little and here they are (Since I've reached the January transfer window already, I've also added new signings here):

Ronaldo: Older and slower than used to be, however, signed for £1.4m and is a great target man - no need for pace in the box when winning headers and knocking it back to the attackers behind him. Also has a clinical finish when one on one with the keeper. He is likely to last only a season but at that price and for the amount of return in terms of goals, not a bad signing.

Appiah: Signed on a free at the beginning of the season - strong defensively and has a great long shot on him.

Boussoufa: One of my better findings - like having Overmars back. Signed for £7m. Great Playmaker - will get the crosses in but can score as well.

Campbell: Sol will sign for free at the start of the game and is a good backup - not as much pace but great in the air. Update: With the signing of Mathijsen (below) is now surplus to requirements and l'm looking to cash in on him with a little profit to boot.

January Transfer Window:

Mathijsen: Signed midway through the season due to defensive frailty of backups Campbell and Gallas. Signed for £10m but well worth it, solid defender and doesn't let anyone past.

Currently scouting:

Benaglio - Swiss Goalkeeper

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Matt Cruse - mattcruse.com - latest football manager blog entry...

Welcome to the mattcruse - football manager blog - Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Welcome to the mattcruse - football manager blog...

I know there are a lot of these, however, I've been playing the game for a while and thought I would share.

I started a new season not long ago with Arsenal and will share my signings, tactics etc. during the course of the season.

Any feedback/thoughts etc. welcome...