Andria Challenge: Transfers for Serie B

As promised, I am showing you today the players I have signed to help us avoid relegation from the Serie B this season. I wasn't able to spend too much - actually I wasn't able to spend anything, since Andria is completely broke, but I did manage to snap up a few player - great ones, given the circumstances.

Players IN
I am most excited by this Uruguayan central midfielder Manuel Sanchez, who will probably take the place of my best player three seasons ago, the great Yann Schneider. But since his skills are lower, he might have to become a substitute. Hopefully he will do well, he has great passing skills and creativity and even though his mental skills are not good, he's one of the best players in the squad now.Second, I am impressed and have high hopes in Younes Gimenez, another regen, this time French, specially build as a central defender. His only problem is Marking (just 8), and I do employ a man marking system, but I hope that his other incredible skills will compensate for that. Anyway, he's the best defender in the squad!
I needed badly a right defender, since Antonio Carnevali can't rise up to the challenge anymore, so I signed Dutch winger Nigel Van Dijk, who will probably become a first team instead of the older (and skill-less) Algerian DR, Karim Azizou.
Finally, since I was disappointed by my wingers this season - especially the left wingers Sorin Ciobanu, Mario Rebecchi and Ousmane Sy - none of which played well, I had to sign new players there. For the left side I signed Vittorio Triarico with great teamwork and work rate, but still not looking like the player I need. However, I do hope he will do a better job than the others...
And finally, the last transfer in is Andrea Verdenelli, basically planned to take Sorin Ciobanu's place as the back-up right midfielder. He's again a good team player and crosser, but he's slow and has pretty poor mental attributes. He should do well as a backup, though.

Players Out
I plan to let go quite a few of my players, who are not ready for Serie B. The awful strikers Eugen Nita and Sami will be simply thrown away since they were absolutely rubbish, Mario Rebbecchi and probably Stanescu will also leave. Also, I would like to get a new goalkeeper, a better one than the Romanian one Gabriel Ignat, and if I do, then I will have to sell Sebastien Scherer, Luxembourg's national keeper. Lets hope for the best!

Andria Challenge: Season 4 Final Update

Wow! That's everything I can say about my fourth season with Andria in Football Manager 2009. I am impressed, amazed and blown away by the progress we have managed to obtain: dubbed for a mediocre season, my Andria Bat challenge went extraordinarily and we've managed to promote to the Serie B! Yes, that's right, we are now part of the real football - impressive, having in mind that four seasons ago, when the computer was randomly placing me at the helm of Andria, the team was dubbed for relegation from the Serie C1/C.

I must admit that I was completely impressed by how the players played. I never expected to obtain promotion and I was only hoping for them to gel and build up for the next season when I was planning to attack the promotion to the Serie B. However, thanks to Rozman and the company, we are up and ready for the real challenge: Serie B, a division in which I'll most certainly have trouble staying in.

As you can see, we've placed six and won incredible battles (incredibly easy also) in the playoffs. There was a point in the final when I thought about losing the game with intention, since there's no way my team is ready (or has the financial power) to go one division up, but then thought that if the players want it so much, maybe we'll be able to do something next year, too. Congrats to the lads, they were impressive!
As you can see from the standings below (and above), Andria's main strength was the defense. We never lost hard, and we battled bravely for every result. We're not yet a scoring, powerful team, but we do have strength back there and, even though the games are not always a joy to watch, we're still doing a great job getting the results. First we'll get the results, next we'll focus on making a real show for the fans.
From the players, I must signal out, once again, Bostjan Rozman, the young striker which might turn into a legend if he keeps playing like that (a legend for the club, and at least until we get to Serie A :P) - he scored 9 goals and was impressive always, creating goals and playing well. Also, I was surprised by the strength proven by Johnny Giansante, a striker Roma (my parent club) sent to me and who managed to score an impressive 8 goals, despite I didn't have any plans to play him. But due to bad performances from Sami (gambling on a striker without pace was not worth it) and Marco Di Matteo (who simply can't gel with the squad), he proved a great loan.
Also, Ivan Vellucci was considered the second best signing of the season, so I must say I am impressed with him as well. Hopefully we'll build on this incredible, unbelievable feat next season and manage to stay in the Serie B. I do hope we'll finally get over the financial crysis we have in the team and I will finally be able to purchase some players and not be forced to keep my eye on expiring contracts. But about transfers and plans for the future, in another post!

Best Football Manager 2009 Attack Tactics

Although I have to play a defensive tactic with my Andria Bat team in Football Manager 2009, I am a keen admirer of fun, exciting, attacking football. So I went a did some scouting about the best attacking tactics for Football Manager 2009, which will give you victories and many goals. It's pretty find to find the "best" or to declare which of these FM2009 attack tactics work (since player stats matter), but here are some of those that looked most impressive:

1. The first and most productive attacking tactic seems to be one from the TrueFootballManager website, one used by the author with his Hull challenge (we all have challenges, see?). This tactic is a very offensive 4-1-2-2-1 tactic which seems impressive. Check it out HERE.

2. The second attacking tactic which seemed quite nice and brought great results to Man City is a straightforward 4-3-3 tactic, especially good for those who don't like to play football on the flanks. Check it out with a bag of details over at the FM Diary blog.

3. And finally, the best attacking tactic for Football Manager 2009: the one YOU will create. That's the real challenge, that's the real manager in you. So head on to this website and read evrything one has to know about tactics, players, and creating the right attacking tactic. Good luck!

Rean on Everything Football Manager even more about tactics!

Side-challenge for Andria: Armando Carnevali Youngster

If you do remember, I have launched a little while ago a small so-called side-challenge for my Football Manager 2009 game, basically taking the youngster which is described as "the best to come" and offering it a contract, first team chances and so on, just too see how well he develops.

My first and only player until now was Armando Carnevali, a rather poor central defender (but good for the Serie C1/C I was in back then). Although he doesn't have the necessary skills, I also trained him to play as a right back, just to get even more playing chances. He does play well, but unfortunately, he won't be a name to add to my wonderkids list. Check him for yourself. With coaches twice as better and with two more years in his back, he still didn't improve much at all!

Andria Challenge: Season 4 Middleseason Update

Hello everybody and welcome to a new update on my Ultimate Football Manager 2009 Challenge: Andria Challenge. I'm already in my fourth season during the fantastic spell at Italian club Andria Bat and I must admit I'm really pleased with what I accomplished thus far, even though I did not win any awards: however, I am constantly improving the squad and I am satisfied with the tactic I found, even though it's not a spectacular one at all and we don't score too many goals.

However, we do pretty well on the football field since my players have shown great attitude and an incredible desire to beat the odds once more and maybe gain promotion. To the Italian Serie B in four seasons, with a team dubbed for relegation from the fourth division - that's something I'm really not expecting to happen but with a bit luck it might come true! Incredible!
However, it's still a long way to go as we're only in mid-season right now, but things are looking impressive. As you can see, Andria is at number 4 in the charts, which means we're promotion candidates! However, the battle is very tight and if my team gets complacent or something bad happens, I might be quickly down the table. Which might not be necessary a bad thing, since the Andria squad is not 100% ready for the much better and intense Serie B.

Although I don't have any specific players to not now at mid season - we're doing well as a team and there are no particular highlits - I must admit that I am absolutely unhappy with the lack of lack I had with one of the best signings during the pre-season, young and promising Spanish midfielder Jacinto Navarro: as you can see from the screenshot below, he only managed to play three games (all as a substitute) because he was plagued by injuries. Actually, every time he recovered from an injury, he got a new one - which is driving me mad. Unfortunately this means that he's very prone to injuries and I can't do anything with such a player which can't play. I will be very sad to see him go, since I had high hopes invested in him... but that's football.
Now I don't want to go over excited with Andria's placement in the Serie C1/B, but I do wonder - if my Football Manager 2009 challenge takes me to a point where I will be promoted together with the team in the Serie B - would that be a good thing? I have lots of players which would be sub-standard for the Serie B competition. Time will tell for sure and I will certainly keep you updated!

Ultimate Team Logo Collection for Football Manager 2009

Football Manager 2009 is a pretty complete game and a very solid simulation, but it still misses some things (which is understandable). Right now I have found a link towards a Logo Collection which promises to be the full team logo collection for Football Manager 2009. Finally, something like that to make our simulation closer to reality!

Have in mind that the download of the team logos for FM09 is quite big, weighting exactly 810MB so for those with poor connection might take a while!

Also have in mind that this file, being so big, is available via a Torrent download. Do not worry, it's not anything illegal, it's just a way of sharing it. You can grab the torrent here.

On the website I have pointed you to there are also other torrents with graphics for Football Manager 2009 and you can download them too.

How to install the Ultimate Team Logo Collection in Football Manager 2009.

Copy the downloaded file into My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009
Start FM09. Go to Preferences -> Display & Sound. Uncheck Use Skin Cache and check Always Reload Skin On Confirm.

Please remember to keep seeding the file after downloading, so more people can enjoy this comprehensive FM09 Team Logo pack.

Cheat at Football Manager 2009 with Real Time Editor

We all know that cheating, especially in a game like Football Manager 2009 simply ruins the fun and is pointless, but if for any reason you decide to cheat and “boost” the stats of your players, club or whatever, there is a handy tool called Real Time Editor for FM09. With this tool, you can edit the Football Manager 2009 database while you're playing, so if you want to do something like that, download the tool.

NOTE: Make sure to create a backup to your game because unforeseen problems might appear.

Requirements to install the tool: Have FM2009 patch v9.1.0 installed, have Microsoft .NET 3.5SP1 installed.

Download Football Manager Cheat tool Real Time Editor here.

Wonderkids Update: Five New Top Young Players

Today I am adding my latest findings to the wonderkids list for Football Manager 2009, with five new names of great youngsters to be written for all of you to enjoy. As always, I have posted some screenshots of their stats, so you can check them out before purchasing! Here are the latest wonderkids!

Haris Vuckic (AM/FC) - a bit slow for an offensive player, but great stats for his age

Marco Martina Rini (MC) - simply a jewel, a must have player that will boss the midfield for sure!

Nordin Amrabat (AM RLC/FC) - a grea all around player which can be used in any position. Have in mind that he's a right legged football player!

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (DC) - impossible name, great skills for this young defender

Vaclav Kadlec (AM/FC) - quality youngster which can improve his stats a lot with proper training.

Remeber to check back to this personal FM09 blog for more advice of Football Manager 2009 players, challenges and much more! Add us to your bookmarks or subscribe using the button in the upper right corner, to stay always updated!

Andria Challenge: End of Season 3 Update

The third season with Andria has ended and, unlike what media and board were expecting, Andria Bat managed to stay in the Serie C1/B. I could say that we even managed to grab a great position, ending the season in the Top 10 :) Also, I am happy we only lost 11 matches, which means that my Andria Challenge is going on great and I hope we'll be able to build on this for the next season!
As you can see from the charts, our defense was not a great one, scoring one goal less than those received, but compared to other mid-table teams, we did well. It's worth noting that Gela, the team that won the Serie C2/B last season and who promoted together with me continued its series of incredible results and won the division. From Serie C1 to Serie B in two seasons, that's something I would've loved for my Andria team, too!

My recent signing Vincent Beduer topped the performers chart - actually, in my Top 5 best performers, it's just winger Ciobanu who's an offensive player, which means that our defense was really great and indeed it was, helping Andria a lot. The strikers were good too but you all know that Football Manager 2009 tends to offer very low scores to strikers... I was pleased with Marco Di Matteo, though, who scored 10 goals and even though he's still trying hard to blend in, I hope he'll do OK. My own wonderkid (for the C1 level) Bostjan Rozman didn't score as much, but I am pleased with the players' performance.
Exceptions are Otman Djelliahine, an AMC in which I invested lots of hope, but who was simply unable to cope with the Andria squad, and Eugen Nita, the striker which scored just 3 goals in 26 matches...

TRANSFERS IN

Next season will see a stronger Andria squad (I hope), with a couple of transfers making me really happy. I do hope they perform well and manage to blend in and won't prove to be poor signings like Djelliahine. First of all, I'm most excited by the prospect of Jacinto Navarro, a young defensive midfielder with incredible stats, who can also play as central defender. If everything works fine, I think I'll be seeing a lot of Navarro in the future :)
I have also signed a very skilled Striker, 22 years-old Guinea-Bissau born Sami. His technical attributes are simply impressive and hopefully the very poor physical ones (especially a very low speed) will not hurt his performances too much. I consider him a good prospect, and hopefully a pleasant surprise for next year.
I have also signed in Ivan Vellucci, basically back-up for Sorin Ciobanu (but with potential to become the first choice is he plays well) and Daniel Popescu, a decent left back who will replace the old Luigi Di Simone as Beduer's backup. The two players are below.
PLANS FOR SEASON 4

Hopefully I will manage to sell a few of the dead weight players and hopefully the club will start making a profit. Ever since I started we've been struggling financially, and I don't have anything to do to help - I have a lower wage total than permitted and I rarely spend money. Still, we've recorded losses every season - less than 10k overall, but it's not a progress and it doesn't help. And since I need quality players to obtain promotion, this should be fixed. I'll do my best.

Therefore, the plans for the fourth season of my Andria Challenge in Football Manager 2009 are to keep a steady growth of the team (maybe finish close to the promotion battle) and prepare the team for a hopefully promotion in two seasons. Serie B, here I come!

Andria Challenge: Season 3 Middleseason Update

This weekend I was at home and spent a lot of time playing Football Manager 2009 and doing my best for my Andria team, recently promoted to the Italian C1/B division.

With a glourious media prediction of "last placed" and finances going down instead of up, I can say that I did the best I could with my team which is performing above all expectations and now, at half-season, we are comfortably standing away of the relegation zone, at number 12.Actually the season started even better for Andria who was well motivated by increased bonuses and the two new signings: we recorded two draws and 2 wins in the first four matches, but then an incredible six games without a win followed.The team managed to get back on track after I made a few changes to the lineup and small tweaks to the tactic (the winning FM 2009 tactic I presented you), mainly turning it into a bit more defensive one. Also, my new signings started to make an impact, with Vincent Beduer - the wingback I presented in the previous post starting to make my defense more solid, while on the other end Marco Di Matteo started to score goals. However, both have to blend into the squad...Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about Oscar Djellilahine, the attacking midfielder I had purchased as a wondermaker - he proved to be unfit for my tactics and with his low ratings is the biggest disappointment I had since starting playing Football Manager 2009. Unfortunatelly, things are not looking too good for my last season's second top scorer Eugen Nita, who was plagued by injuries and played very poor, only scoring 1 goal in 16 matches...But my confidence is high and I do believe we have the strength to stay in the Italian Serie C1/B after the season's end. Wish me luck!