Second Season Syndrome

glenjamin

I recently got hooked on FM08 again as Middlesbrough. I sold most of the team to make way for new signings like Modric, Belluschi, Campbell, Ignashevich and Makelele. My first season was a sucess finishing in 6th place though my cup runs were pretty bad.

I was playing a 4-2-2-1-1 formation with 2 defensive midfielders and a midfielder playing the hole. I only scored 42 league goals but conceded only 30.

Anyways my second season was a disaster. I was given a small budget to spend on players (£11M) compared to other teams that had between £30M-£60M to spend. I refused to sell any of my stars after a hell of a lot of interest from other 'big' clubs. I brought in Muamba, Diarra, Foster and Cassano with the money I had availible.

THEN it all went downhill! My board let most of my best for peanuts without my permission. Saying the offer was too good to turn down. £15M for one of the best young left backs in the game isn't all that good an offer seen as though clubs are splashing that amount of money round for players to fill up their reserves. I wasn't able to replace any of the players sold due to time restrictions and chasing players who had no intention of joining. I started the league season with several defeats and a lot of draws after conceding 89 90 minute goals. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

By the way in my first season I had 12 goals disallowed and only 1 against. Just thought that I'd bring that up AGAIN!

CHD

Nice rant!

Happens in FM07 aswell.Really annoying when you build a decent team at one of the ''weaker'' clubs and u get a offer of 10M+ and the board accepts the offer saying ''its too good to turn down''.

Nothing you can do but if you can continue your success and the club grows(going the distance in the cups,Decent league finishes,doing ok in europe,filling your stadium) then after a couple of seasons it doesnt happen anymore.Basically just have to establish yourself as a top team.

MrJoeSoap

Brilliant rant. I HATE the second season!

Death or Glory

I usually get sacked 2nd season, whoever I manage

armour87

Still sounds like you have a pretty decent team there.

I would only play one DM holding player in front of your back 4, Makelele.
He's still playable for a couple of seasons at the top level. Best DM ever.

You can then have Modric and Muamba going forward, supporting Cassano with a big man maybe needed a step above him. Do you still have Mido, Alves?

Play Diarra right back (thats providing it's Lassana, if it's Mahmadou, he can play anywhere but he's more of a natural successor to Make).

Foster is as good as you'll get really.

Everyone gets the late goals, which is why the game is so annoying if your only sittings on a one goal lead. You generally need to score at least 2 a game.

You may be getting alot of own goals / disalloweds because your version is buggy.

Get your update here

glenjamin

Cheers for that. I actually decided to let Makelele return to Chelsea, big mistake!!! Alves is still with Heereveen in the game and Mido was dirt so I let him go in January.

How exactly do I download the patch? Do I have to download Megaupload first?

Jugs82

Sometimes when you are getting alot of goals disallowed, it might be that you have the attacking instruction for your strikers up too high - if so they end up offside ALOT!!!

glenjamin

I have finally downlaoded the patch. Had to downlaod WinRar first. Thanks for the link.

But I got to say I'm a little disappointed by it. I haven't started a new season yet so I can't comment on the gameplay but every thing else just seems totally weird. Its great that I now have Afonso Alves and I'm looking forward to be able to choose 7 subs instead of 5 but overall for me it'll do more bad than good.

I am now without Jonathan Woodgate and Paul Barron (goalkeeping coach) and the players that I would normally go for in the original database are now all out of reach. I used to be able to buy Modric for a fee in the reign of £3.6M but now hes valued at £6.75M. Fernando Belluschi joined Olympiakos in January and some of the foreign youths that I used to go for are now at the likes of Chelsea, Real, etc.

Do yous think it would be wise of me to continue with 8.0.2 or just stick to the original?

CHD

glenjamin wrote: »

I have finally downlaoded the patch. Had to downlaod WinRar first. Thanks for the link.

But I got to say I'm a little disappointed by it. I haven't started a new season yet so I can't comment on the gameplay but every thing else just seems totally weird. Its great that I now have Afonso Alves and I'm looking forward to be able to choose 7 subs instead of 5 but overall for me it'll do more bad than good.

I am now without Jonathan Woodgate and Paul Barron (goalkeeping coach) and the players that I would normally go for in the original database are now all out of reach. I used to be able to buy Modric for a fee in the reign of £3.6M but now hes valued at £6.75M. Fernando Belluschi joined Olympiakos in January and some of the foreign youths that I used to go for are now at the likes of Chelsea, Real, etc.

Do yous think it would be wise of me to continue with 8.0.2 or just stick to the original?

Go with the patch......you just gotta BELEIVE

LanceStorm

or try the newer patch again 8.0.3!!
the wonders it brings, oh the wonderous wonders!!

CHD

LanceStorm wrote: »

or try the newer patch again 8.0.3!!
the wonders it brings, oh the wonderous wonders!!

So is your face

Rob_l

LanceStorm wrote: »

or try the newer patch again 8.0.3!!
the wonders it brings, oh the wonderous wonders!!

The newest patch is the way forward gets rid of the annoying little glitches

mchurl

Rob_l wrote: »

The newest patch is the way forward gets rid of the annoying little glitches

Where can i get this patch from lads?

glenjamin

Another patch??? Awww!!!!!! Now I'm gonna feel incomplete without it. Thanks a lot!!! >:(

ozt9vdujny3srf

nooo! i'm in the third season on 8.02. Do nay have the time!

If i patch to 8.03 wilit bugfix without ruining my savegames?

Vokes

There is no v8.03 patch :S




...?

ozt9vdujny3srf

Ahh, i never researched that, presumably the mentions of 8.03 was a joke?

crillix

On the subject of second season syndrome, i get all the time with every team and it's really annoying. In my first season with man utd i won a treble of PL, CL and CC and then next season finished 7th or 8th in the league with the very same players!!

Do teams get used to the way you play or is it just some sort of bug? Or am I just fairly **** at Football Manager?

Mr Maroon

The toughest secoond season is in FM 07 with Juve (provided you gain promotion in your first season).

Season 1:
I won Serie B no problem. I could only afford to buy one player, Sulley Muntari. I sold Boumsong for about €2M and Zebina for a little more. By the end of the season I was in debt.

Season 2:
Back in Serie A. I had set a target of CL qualification for myself. I quickly realised this wouldn't happen though. I got very small transfer budget and practically no increase in wage budget (despite the fact my whole squad had 25% wage increase after promotion!). I finished 7th - UEFA Cup. My debt increased all the way through my second season. It ended up being quite large.
I scraped my way into 4th and a CL in the next season and that helped out my financial situation.

leninbenjamin

crillix wrote: »

Do teams get used to the way you play or is it just some sort of bug? Or am I just fairly **** at Football Manager?

yeah, your team gets reranked at the end of the season depending on your performance, and i think all other teams do relative to this. and using the one tactic all the time is relatively useless. you'll find success early on, but then even the smaller teams cop on to your tactics. better to have a rotating system of tactics and formations than you whip out as you need. took me a while to get a working system. i have an attacking 4-2-3-1 i play mainly, but i throw in defensive variations as well as the odd 4-4-2. the game calls me a tinkerman now who 'keeps opponents guessing'. have gone over 50 games undefeated in the league now i've perfected it. and i'm pretty **** at the game really.

Galvasean

I generally swap between a 4-1-2-1-2 and a 4-4-2 and rotate players based on form, fitness and attitude.
Bad PR people (nervous etc.) get left out of the match day squad while those with good PR (looking forward, excited) will generally get in the starting 11.
That usually gets me the tinkerman monocle. Funny, since I'm Irish in the Dutch league I taught the media were making a racist jibe at me at first.