Change of name

Starting today, the blog will be named "Everything Football Manager" and not only "Everything Football Manager 2009" since I am planning to turn it into a little bit more than just a website for the challenges, especially since creating a post about the challenges is a quite time consuming task :P

Therefore, this website will not die when Football Manager 2010 gets launched and I will make a strong comeback then with tons of tactics, players and advice, while I will also continue offering tips and advice on Football Manager 2009. However, it was a quite slow start with that and now I'm seeing the results: my Andria challenge is way down the line and bigger clubs are waiting. So let's play Football Manager!

Andria Challenge: Incredible Series of Results

My Andria team certainly finished their first season in the Italian Serie B in style, with 5 HUGE victories in the last 6 matches (and no, I won't tell you just yet if we're still in the Serie B or not :P)

But please enjoy, together with me, the success of our last games: an incredible and anthologized win against Chievo (5-1), the same score recorded in my win against Cagliari and one goal more than the victory against Rimini. Simply awesome results, let me tell you that. I am pleased like I never was until now. Well done, Andria!

Andria Challenge: Season 5, Middle Season Update

As I have promised, I'm updating you again on my ultimate Football Manager 2009 challenge with Andria Bat, the team I managed to bring from the Serie C2/B to the Serie B in the Italian football competition in four seasons (which, to be honest, I consider quite a performance).

Unfortunately, following a great form shown by my players during the previous season, due to new signings (probably) and less overal value, we were not too competitive in our first season in the Serie B. However, we still did much better than anybody anticipated (like the memorable victory against Frosinone, the biggest thus far) and we are now in a somewhat safe position at 17th, but just 5 points away from relegation.As you can see in the table above, we have only managed to win 6 games and lost 9 (out of 20), and only scored 16 goals - which is less than 1 goal per match - and if we think that 6 of the goals were scored in just one game... well... things are not looking THAT great. However, even though I had hoped for a pleasant surprise for the entire world, not relegating can also be considered a good result :)
My best player during this first half, just as suggested by a previous post, was Jacinto Navarro, the Spanish midfielder playing absolutely great football. So did Bostjan Rozman, who took on the helm as the best Andria striker and finally proved his value: scored 10, which is impressive. Except for that, everything works as planned. Hopefully the end of the season will see us still in the Serie B. Wish me luck! Heh.

Football Manager 2010 Features I'd Love

Even though it's still early and I still didn't get enough Football Manager 2009, I think it's time I let you know (and maybe you let me know, too) which features you'd like to see implemented in Football Manager 2010 - a game which we know is in the works at Sports Interactive.

Therefore, on my wish list for Football Manager 2010 are:

- a better, improved 3D match engine with less stupid movement from players and so many misses.
- improved rating system of the players
- More detail in 3D, and more cameras
- Some new improvements to the tactics screen (I don't know what, but I'd like to see something new - but not something to completely change the game)
- less repetitive and boring press conferences and press interaction. Make it as varied as possible!
- Some more "personal life" aspects to our manager lives, but without trying to do too much. A few touches won't hurt, after all.

I can't think of much else right now. What do you say, though? What features would you like to see in Football Manager 2010?

FM 2009 Fun: Stupid Assistant

The fact that assistant managers in Football Manager 2009 are pretty stupid is no longer a surprise - after all, if they don't have the skills, they can't speak right. The same can be said about my assistant manager, a guy I will probably quite employing when his contract runs out.

Until then, Mr. Bertolani considers that, because of some good performances followed by praise from the fans, my star midfielder Jacinto Navarro will suffer. Hopefully he was wrong! :)