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FIFA 09: Who is Gosling? What is Aston Villa thinking?
Gosling
Looking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, ProbablyWatertown, WIRegistered User regular
Looking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, ProbablyWatertown, WIRegistered User regular
Or so it said when I started Manager Mode. (The Sun is wise.)
This is, of course, a general thread for the game, as well as what will in all likelihood end up as my personal lifeline so I do not end up embarrassing myself. Let us begin with what's happened so far (I'm using the Wii version, All-Play):
*As you may have guessed, I'm managing Aston Villa.
*The board expects me to finish in the top half, win the FA Cup and extend two player contracts to 3+ years.
*My sponsor, Joi Soi, also wants me to finish top half for a small payout, reach the FA Cup semis for a big payout and have the most clean sheets in the Premiership for a decent payout.
*After initially sending a scout (all my trainers and scouts are level 7) out for a lengthy African expedition (I've always been of the belief that Africa is filled with scary good players but they take some effort to find), my budget stands at $45,865,000. (We're using dollar figures.) The search is needed as there's only one guy in my youth academy.
*I've managed to get agreements to two pre-season friendlies, both home games. One is against the Columbus Crew and the other is against Wolverhampton.
My current dilemmas:
*The training schedule. My inclination is to schedule one training session each non-matchday, alternating positions FW/MF/DF/GK so each individual player only has to train once every four off days. But I have no idea how often a soccer player actually trains.
*Expiring contracts. I have a bunch of them: Taylor, Young, Knight, Routledge, Salifou, Carlos Cuellar, Guzan, O'Halloran, Osbourne, Gardner. Remember Aston Villa is notorious for keeping a small roster.
*Transfer market. The top names and others I may be looking at:
Sergio Ramos (RB from Real Madrid, rated 86, age 22, $17 mil)
Gonzalez (CM from Porto, rated 85, age 27, $13 mil)
Sereni (GK from Torino, rated 84, age 33, $3.6 mil)
Nihat (CF from Villarreal, rated 83, age 28, $12 mil)
Donovan (CF from LA Galaxy, rated 82, age 26, $9 mil)
Lincoln (CAM from Galatsaray, rated 81, age 29, $8.7 mil)
Papadopoulos (ST from Panathinakos, rated 80, age 26, $5.7 mil)
Abbiati (GK from Milan, rated 79, age 31, $1.8 mil)
Everton (ST from Fredrikstad FK, rated 75, age 22, $3 mil)
Emando (CB from Golania, rated 73, age 20, $1.6 mil)
Watson (CM from Crystal Palace, rated 75, age 23, $2 mil)
Zuniga (RWB from Siena, rated 73, age 22, $1.3 mil)
Josse (RB from Angers, rated 70, age 21, $890K)
Sahar (ST from Portsmouth, rated 68, age 18, $2.4 mil)
So lead me through this so I know what the hell I'm doing, please.
This is, of course, a general thread for the game, as well as what will in all likelihood end up as my personal lifeline so I do not end up embarrassing myself. Let us begin with what's happened so far (I'm using the Wii version, All-Play):
*As you may have guessed, I'm managing Aston Villa.
*The board expects me to finish in the top half, win the FA Cup and extend two player contracts to 3+ years.
*My sponsor, Joi Soi, also wants me to finish top half for a small payout, reach the FA Cup semis for a big payout and have the most clean sheets in the Premiership for a decent payout.
*After initially sending a scout (all my trainers and scouts are level 7) out for a lengthy African expedition (I've always been of the belief that Africa is filled with scary good players but they take some effort to find), my budget stands at $45,865,000. (We're using dollar figures.) The search is needed as there's only one guy in my youth academy.
*I've managed to get agreements to two pre-season friendlies, both home games. One is against the Columbus Crew and the other is against Wolverhampton.
My current dilemmas:
*The training schedule. My inclination is to schedule one training session each non-matchday, alternating positions FW/MF/DF/GK so each individual player only has to train once every four off days. But I have no idea how often a soccer player actually trains.
*Expiring contracts. I have a bunch of them: Taylor, Young, Knight, Routledge, Salifou, Carlos Cuellar, Guzan, O'Halloran, Osbourne, Gardner. Remember Aston Villa is notorious for keeping a small roster.
*Transfer market. The top names and others I may be looking at:
Sergio Ramos (RB from Real Madrid, rated 86, age 22, $17 mil)
Gonzalez (CM from Porto, rated 85, age 27, $13 mil)
Sereni (GK from Torino, rated 84, age 33, $3.6 mil)
Nihat (CF from Villarreal, rated 83, age 28, $12 mil)
Donovan (CF from LA Galaxy, rated 82, age 26, $9 mil)
Lincoln (CAM from Galatsaray, rated 81, age 29, $8.7 mil)
Papadopoulos (ST from Panathinakos, rated 80, age 26, $5.7 mil)
Abbiati (GK from Milan, rated 79, age 31, $1.8 mil)
Everton (ST from Fredrikstad FK, rated 75, age 22, $3 mil)
Emando (CB from Golania, rated 73, age 20, $1.6 mil)
Watson (CM from Crystal Palace, rated 75, age 23, $2 mil)
Zuniga (RWB from Siena, rated 73, age 22, $1.3 mil)
Josse (RB from Angers, rated 70, age 21, $890K)
Sahar (ST from Portsmouth, rated 68, age 18, $2.4 mil)
So lead me through this so I know what the hell I'm doing, please.
I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.
Gosling on
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As for players, not sure if its just a coincence or not but you seem to do the same thing I do (Try not to sign players from the same league your playing in).
These are off the top of my head, so some might be influenced by real world over game stats
Forwards
Salpingidis is a better striker then Papadopoulos at Panathinaikos (Ninis is another good youngster (16/17yr old) from Pana as well).
Sergio Aguero - Athletico Madrid
Klass Jan Huntelaar - Ajax.
Amauri - Juventus.
Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina
Midfielders
Yohan Gourcouf (sp?) CM - Bordeaux
Marcos Senna CM/DM - Villareal
Baraja CM - Valencia
Defenders
Giourkas Seitaridis RB - Athletico Madrid
P. Mexes CB - Roma
As for keepers, never really bought any but you can try looking for some of the younger German keepers, Wiese and there's another one whose name I can't remember at the moment. But these players with Villa's players will get you a pretty formidable squad
I got every player on my team to be > 90 skill after 2 and a half seasons. Was extremely easy on professional.
Now I'm playing as Exeter city, going to take them up, got from half a star to three and a half with only three transfer windows. This game is actually extremely easy on any difficulty less than Legendary.
Ah your only looking at the players listed for sale, you can still buy players that arent on the transfer list. As long as your negotiator is maxed and you offer a little bit higher then what they're worth you'll usually get them. Though it's a bit harder at the start to get players from big clubs cause they'll give you that crap about wanting to sit on the bench for a big team instead of playing for you.