Crab Lungs

What the actual f*** to those dippy Sunderland fans, what the actual f*** to people slating him on here. Best keeper since Niemi, arguably better (though more mental) than Niemi. Jesus H.

Now's your chance. Hope you're well bud. x

This, very much so. Yes, life will go on and it's not the be all and end all... but it could be the end of becoming something special. Instead, we'll probably get an average suit happy to do the minimum required and revert to "type" as a club, selling our best players, aiming for midtable etc..

Um, oh f**k.

Well, they probably couldn't sell the club with Cortese in charge unless it was to Cortese himself. He might well return.

Kelvin Davis is the go-to guy.

"very much wanted him to stay" - HMMMMMMMMMM

Seriously, just how far can we go, assuming we keep our squad fit/free of suspension for the rest of the season AND next season, if we add 2,3 quality players - can we realistically challenge for a Champions League spot or dare I say it, a title tilt? No, I haven't gone mad - neither do I believe that we will (though it is possible, yet remote and fanciful). The only reason I ask is that in other countries, seemingly smaller/similar sized clubs have managed to challenge the bigger sides and achieve it against all the odds in recent seasons (Villarreal, Celta Vigo, Deportivo La Coruna, Osasuna, Real Sociedad, Montpellier, Lille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Twente, Heerenveen, Vitesse, Bayern Leverkusen, Freiburg, Wolfsburg, Parma, Udinese, Palermo, Sampdoria, Genoa etc). Obviously, some of the above could be pure flukes with no show or promise of sustained success (think Osasuna or Palermo qualifying for the Champions League qualifying rounds or Montpellier beating moneybag rivals Marseille and PSG to the title). As wonderful as it was, they never maintained the dizzying heights - some, in fact did more than struggle. Deportivo, and Celta Vigo both done time in the Segunda (like Villarreal), as have Nantes in France whilst in Italy, Sampdoria, Parma and Genoa dovetailed divisions during the 00's. However, some clubs have made qualification for European football against the odds on a regular basis - the likes of Villarreal, Leverkusen, Udinese and Lille have always been there or thereabouts. Sure, some are more decorated than others but it's clubs of a similar stature, and similar size to us that have in other leagues achieved what we aim to do. It could be argued the financial climate and competition in their respective divisions are far more favourable than ours in the Premier League. Serie A is no longer the powerhouse it once was and anything beyond Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent years could be considered a Champions League potential. In France, it's started to develop into a two-horse race with the re-emergence of Monaco after years of differing champions (Nantes, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier) and the Bundesliga is now completely sewn up barring catastrophe by Bayern Munich. That said, clubs have still achieved what was deemed the impossible in recent seasons; Villarreal became regular CL competitors, Twente beat off the predictable three big dutch clubs and Udinese have regularly overcome the big northern Italian powehouses. Can we seriously, honestly challenge the monopoly of the Premier League by the "Big 6" or have we almost reached our "glass ceiling" - as someone else so aptly put it on another thread? Over to you...

Gazzaniga's save ratio

that looks like El Sadar...

Yup! And without looking, it's Dartford's ground

haha, definitely not - that's initiative!

Yes! Boundary Park,, Oldham!

In and around that area, but unfortunately not.

Anyone who has been to a particular part of Southern Spain may have been past this little beaut a few times...

Crewe? Looks like their ground... small stands, then one humungous grandstand...

He's always been a half-decent guy. The whole Bridgey thing was blown out of proportion anyway, people who were criticising them have probably banged their mates' missuses anyway..

I

Uh oh...! To be fair, I experimented a few different team instructions in the first 4-5 games, then decided to "stick" to my original formula. For some reason, the season then turned around and we were gradually getting better. Hopefully I won't expect your 2nd half of the season crash, but I'm now bracing for it!!!!

Hey Tokes x Well, only tested for half a season but so far... You do get caught a couple of times because of the high-line but so far, it seems to be working out ok. Still trying to get them to pass more though, we're only the 4th highest passers in the league; that said, the calibre of players at my disposal aren't exactly that of my rivals! I can't find a way at the moment to get any set piece routines working at the moment... you got any tips? We've been awful from set plays!

Hi all I've been at the tactics creator again and have managed to fashion up my first version of the "Pochettino tactic" for this year's version of FM. I haven't got time to go into massive detail about it but as you know, it's a 4-2-3-1 formation, high-pressing, two defensive midfielders, ball playing centre halves, distribution via the goalkeeper is almost always on the floor and the fullbacks provide the width. An attacking trio support the lone striker and there is a significant emphasis on passing. Here's the file; http://www.filesnack.com/files/c7tiy93u You may want to alter this to suit who you're playing, but here's the default "team instructions" setup you must enter for it to work; - retain possession - hassle opponents - stay on feet - higher tempo - shorter passing - much higher defensive line - roam from positions There has been individual tweaks to suit players per their position too but that's within the tactic so you don't worry about changing them, just set the above. The main key to this tactic is persistence - it'll be awful for the first couple of weeks before suddenly everything clicks as the players adapt to the formation, tactics and become familiar with it. Then you'll start to see the results (and performances) radically changing! You'll often dominate possession against 85% of teams and this will be reflected in the statistics (often 60% dominance) and if you watch the game, the performances. I'm still working on it being an exact replica, but it's as good as I can muster up for now! Enjoy!