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HullPlayer positions that should be strengthened…
Hull story continues! 
The season 2010/2011 is over and I want to share my minds with you about the weakest player positions in formation. It will be some kind of squad analysis that allows to make correct decisions on a transfer market. It’s very important because I’m going to set next season expectations – get to the Euro League!
The most of you know that formation of my tactics looks in the following way:
So I’m going to think over each of these 11 player positions and try to understand which of them should be strengthened.
Goalkeeper
Ochoa was the most successful transfer of the previous season! A lot of saves, MoM awards, fantastic performance! So I have no need to buy Akinfeev instead of him as some of you advice me in comments. Fabian Carini is reserve goalkeeper and it seem like he fills ok about that.
Conclusion
No changes on this position.
Central Defenders
Andriy Rusol is absolutely good central defender and my another successful transfer of the previous year 
. Though Olexandr Chyzhov is even more confident centre back but he has problems with injuries. When he misses matches I move versatile Pashaev from DMC on his position. This Ukrainian three is pretty good looking back to the previous season. Moreover, Chyzhov and Pashaev are quite young, and their attributes can be increased during trainings.
Matt Mills and Antony Gardner are substitution central defenders who perform not so confidently.
There is also talented youngster in Reserve team capped at U19 English national team – Phil Moses:
But he has problems with Jumping and Strength attributes as you see.
Conclusion
I will buy one new DC exceptionally in that case if he is better than all my Ukrainian defenders. So it can be some highly experienced centre back like Rio Ferdinand but more accessible one.
Left Defender
Kamil Zayatte was a leading left back till the end of the last season. But newcomer Henri Bedimo showed himself very confident in tackling ball (many successful sliding tackles) and managed to displace Zayatte a bit. Edgar Villamarin from Peru is number 3 here. I have also Michal Jonas who is average but good replacement for both DL and DR positions.
Conclusion
No changes needed.
Right Defender
This position is completely closed by Jonathan Spector – stable player of national USA team 
. He defends very well and supports attacks in quite creative way scoring goals and making passes sometimes. His closes competitors are already mentioned Pashaev and Jonas. Versatile Zayatte is also good player for this position.
Conclusion
No changes needed.
Central Defensive Midfielder
There is high competition on DMC position. I can give a comparison in percents:
50% – Maxym Pashaev
35% – Damien Plessis
10% – Eugene Shakhov
5% - Paul Codrea
Conclusion
No changes needed.
Central Midfielder
Here the main guy is Diego Buonanotte because of his great vision, pass making ability, technics and speed. Interesting thing that he is not so good on AML position because of weak ball strikes and low number of goals as a result. His partner in centre of midfield is Nuri Sahin. Turkish youngster showed quite disappointing performance in the 3rd season having such statistics:
Moreover, he is unhappy now because he “feels that it’s time to move on” 
.
His closest competitor for position is 20-years old Eugene Shakhov – really prospective and creative Ukrainian guy but unstable one. There are also some substitution players - David Obua and Paul Codrea – who don’t perform confidently often.
Conclusion
I think I need creative and experienced MC who will become a real threat together with Bounanotte.
Attacking Left Winger
Now we’ve come up to the most problematic positions of Hull: AML, AMR and FC.
AML is taken by Abdou Rasack Traore. He is nice young flank player with high dribbling and speed skills. But he doesn’t score almost all one-on-one moments which happen rather often for both AML and AMR. Look at the attributes:
May be Traore can be trained in better player, but I think his level is not enough at the moment.
When substitution is need then Victor Moses comes out:
Well, you see that these attributes are even more below level of top Premier League clubs.
Conclusion
New quick AML who can score goals and make accurate passes is needed very much. Now we miss a lot of goal moments due to poor finishing from the left flank. Marquihnos will be one of candidates!
Attacking Right Winger
Situation on this flank is somewhat better. Here Hull has flamboyant Irish youngster who is wanted by Chelsea now – Blaise O’Brien. His stats are pretty good, 7 goals here and 5 assists (not so much assists):
Iain Hume and Victor Moses perform as replacement AMRs and doesn’t excite fans with their performance on a pitch.
Conclusion
If I have enough money I will think about strengthening this position as well.
Forward
When I look to the statistics of the previous season I understand that this is the most problematic place in my tactical scheme.
Falcao (fans and me had high hopes about him) started well scoring 5 goals in 9 matches. But after 4 months injury – only 1 goal in 12 games 
. I’m still thinking about him 
.
Substitution player David Clarkson is very poor finisher and should be sold somewhere 
. Another our forward Iain Hume scored 4 goals in 20 matches having half of them played as AMR.
Conclusion
I will think whether it’s better to sell Falcao. And, of course, some new forwards will be bought then.
By the way, in season summary Falcao is the second worst signing of the season:
hi its the lad from ireland again,what about lars bender he has a brother that comes good to!they are young and good cm,dm...also stilic from lech in poland he is very good...
foti,forestieri are good attacker's.and you should know about seleznyov!also ochirosil good young att-winger..let us know if they come good or not!good luck in the up and coming season...
andy
Hey Vitaliy, i just finished my 4th season managing greek team Panathinaikos. This season i have managed to reach the Champions League final where lost from Inter 4-2 plus doing the double relatively easy.
I use a very similar formation, but i usually use 2 forwards and no player at the DM position or 1 forward and 3 AM.
Anyway i will try to help you with your transfers since i have pretty much the same budget but it is harder for me to attract quality players because of the lower reputation of greek superleague.:)
For the FC position check Guilherme from Cruzeiro if you can get him for around 7m he is an excellent player. Relatively fast but very effective. His stats are fairly good but he plays very very well.
He is like Henok Goitom who although has average stats scores like crazy.:)
Some quick stats:
2011-12: 40 appearances plus 6 as a subsitute, 26 goals
2010-11 39 appearances 25 goals
2009-10 42 appearances 20 goals
Keirrison is even better but i think is difficult for you to sign him. He is a real life target for barcelona and in FM 2009 is playing in inter [and he scored 1 goal against me in the final!!:( ]
Now for the AML check Sergio Mota. He can also play AMC and is much better than Traore and even better than Buonnanote. You can get him at around 5.5-6 million.
Also check Coutinho, Salvatore Foti, Sergio Floccari and the absolute class Thiago Neves (plays all AM positions)
Looking forward to following you through this season as the expectations is to get in the Euro league, its a tough goal but i do believe you have the chance of making it.
Also for other people here if you are interested i just opened up a blog myself and need votes on what team to manage.
http://linkimanager.blogspot.com/
also i fogrot to recommend players for the DC and the MC position.
For my DC i have a young greek talent Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Olympiacos. It has all the good stats a DC should have.
he is now just 20 and has
19 marking
14 heading
15 tackling
17 positioning
16 jumping
15 bravery
plus very good mental and physical attributes.
The other players i have are youngsters from the fm engine so i can't really recommend them.
For the MC position i use among others Marco Zambelli from Brescia. He can also play as a right back, DM and he is relatively fast (14) which is enough for an MC and has good defending skills,
creativity, good technique, good crossing, good long shots and even good composure (everything above 16). He is also very influential (19). He also scores quite often especially from long shots.
I believe that you should stick by falcao unless you can find some one to buy him for what you paid, or maybe a bit more ;). I can recommend from first hand experience the following players:
Marquinhos 18 goals from left midfield.
Kierrison 12 goals in 16 starts, 12 man-of-the-match and my player of the year.
Balotelli 26 goals in 18 starts! Phenomenal player!
Jovetic 14 goals from centre midfield!
Tosic Prems top assists (22) and highest average rating.
Sakho second highest average rating and played in every match.
These players would sort all your problems and would easily help you reach your targets. I have won the prem with leeds in 2014 and these players rock my world! John Fleck and Wilkshere are unstopably good on my game for arsenal. Bojan just won the golden boot at man city with 43 goals! Theyve won the champions league 2 seasons in a row on my game. Scottish Scott!
Scottish scott again. Michalis players papadopoulos and guillerme are doing wonders for chelsea in my game also ( both worth over 30 million and average ratings over 7.80). However, i signed mota and he was awful! Lost out in the air regularly and in 18 starts didnt get a goal or assist with an average rating of 5.6. Sold him after a year for free because i didnt want to waste his wages. Worst thing was with his previous club he was quite promising! Of course he will be different in other games but I wouldnt risk it. Only good thing was his stats which were amazing!
in the central defence you can have demichelis from bayern (if you can) miguel veloso is great as adefensive midfielder and as a central midfielder. ched evans for the fc role he grows alot in 2011-2012 season and he is just great can buy him for around 4mil and he scores alot. wilshere is probably available for free in that season so good luck
buy alex teixiera and marquinhos from brazil for both strikers and attacking midfielders and arda turan for both AMR and AML from turkey good luck for the next season
I am in my 5th season managing Atletico Madrid winnig La Liga all 5 seasons.
If you are looking for an experienced DC try phil Jagielka he a quality performer.
MC you want to get Angelo Palombo as he is one of the best in the game, maybe you can try lassana Diarra as well.
AML: Joe Ledley is a great player,when i played man city in Champions league last year he gave my right back major problems.
AMR: Axel Witsel buy him trust me.
St: I have to young players you can choose from
Robert Lewandowski bought him my third season for 2m. Last season on loan to Mallorca he bagged 29 goals in 32 games.
Denis Alibec bought him for 35k first season. He is 17 so in the frist three seasons he was in my under 19's where in total he scored 64 in 6o so i sent him to Mallorca as well where he scored 11 in 26 games.
Have a look at Oscar Cardozo, he is quite easy to obtain even with lesser teams and has killer stats. Plus he should be older by now and you may end up signing him for 5-6 mln.
Have a look at Valeri Bojinov :)
a good young dc is bjarsmyr,also gerson from gremio
andy
Hi Vitaliy, you are doing great job with analysis your team strength and weakness and set which position need reinforcement. Hope you can get the best players to fill your weak position..Now i'm playing with Swansea City. If you have leisure time, please to have you visit and give a comment in my blog..
hi vitaliy..
i would like to share my opinion with u...
i am currently managing Q.P.R..this was the richest club in championship..im in 5th season now..
for cenral defender i advice u to buy leo fom gremio..he is only 22 but 1 facts if u want 2 know,he scores 15 league goal in last season and was the top scorer for my team...!!!absolutely a bargain and pure inspired signing...
for the right and left flank..u should buy a player that can play in both right and left wings..
e.g tranquillo barnetta
andrea gasbaronni
kazenga lua-lua
for ur creative MC,buy gaetano d'agostino...he already 28 but is a real talent or maybe juan arango,the venezuela captain..he is a real star...
for ur forward,buy alberto paloschi,a great wonderkid taht can play alone upfront...one fact i want u to know,when he came to my club,he has no preferred move but now he has 4 preferred move that i train him taht is:
1-round the keeper
2-move into channel
3-like to beat offside trap
4-places shot...
it all my suggestion,it is up to u to decide..
gud luck with ur hull..
nafeesh from malaysia....
i think you should stick with falcao, give him a chance to settle in the team.
how do you get the season summary up?
also if your looking for a striker check out yepes from celta just bought him in a real madrid in 4th season looks like a great prospect.
congratulations on the good performance and the good position for aml i recommend for u aquino he is fantastic can also play as fc
in mc andrea luci from juventus very good can also play as dm
dc u can find ayila yussuf he is a strong one he spent with me a season and now he is wanted by inter and man u
for amr look for fernando belluschi great one can also play as amc
eggert jonsson is a great midfielder that can score a lot of goals from outside the area if you teach him to shoot with power and can grow alot with intense training
for striker have a look a Kerrison
Sorry but some of these players are barely west brom standard so to suggest them to some looking to improve to reach the european places is slightly ridiculous. Some of these guys have very little clue about the game, life etc. However, one of the players here are quite AMAZING which i had forgotten about! That is Paloschi from milan. Had him on loan in 2012 and he scored an unpresedented 33 goals.....in 20 games. AS A LONE STRIKER! He was then worth 18 million so i couldnt afford him and bought kierrison instead. Given the choice i would rather have kierrison because he plays overall far better for the team whereas paloschi would play 4 passes in a game yet have 11 shots and score once and bizzarely seemed unable to get a goal one-on-one. SO STICK WITH MY ADVICE! Believe me i have seen the future...............................in fm ;) leeds for the champions league 2015! Good luck vitaliy! Scottish Scott always here for a hand ;)
Hello Vitaliy I love your blog and think it is great (-;
but you could give dates on when you will do your blog e.g monday and friday but great blog also on the striker problem you could buy pavel pogregenybak
he worked great on my newcastle game and on my new city game he is a star for sunderrland
Hi, I feel that Falcao deserves to be given another chance in the coming season at least until January and if he is still not banging them in the sell him in the winter transfer window. Moving on from Falcao, I think in my opinion that your attacking side to your game is far weaker than your defensive. For this reason I would sell Chyzhov as with his injury problems is a unneeded liablity and then use the money aquired to invest into your striking department. I personally would have a look at players such as Lewandowski, Guilherme, Elmander,Marquinhos, Keirrison,Liedson(Sporting CP), Postiga and Makukula.
Anyway Good luck and I will comment again soon while looking at your progress!!
Also if anyone is interested I have just started my own blog at
http://footballmanagercareer.blogspot.com/
and am looking to grasp some readers attention so have a Look!!!
I always sign an unknown italian called Allesandro Matri. You can buy him for 200k in first season. He scores on average every second game which in my opinion is decent for a striker. Also Simon Vukcinic from Sporting . Killer stats plus 10-12million should secure his signature.
Vitaliy, have no doubts about Marquinhos, he is definitly one of those "must buy" players.
For MC I would definitly have a look at Simon Vukcevic from Sporting CP.Excellent midfilder in all areas with the advantage of having high spot kicks atributes.Plus he shoots very well from distance and is an extremely consistent performer.
As for FC,once again I advice you to sell Falcão and get one of these 4: Oscar Cardoso, Lisandro López, Aquino, Laurito. They all should be avaiable at reasonable prices at this stage, and while the first two are usually goal scoring machines (experience from 3 different saves) the other two are definitly in my opinion the 2 most promising strikers in game avaiable at reasonable prices.Better then these 2, in my opinion, only Benzema and Bojan, and they usually have prohibiting prices.
Finally for DC, if no one has hired Sakho or Bocally so far I would make one of them my priority target. Fazio would be another great asset,but at the 4th season he should already be a really expensive player. If all these are taken,then I would check Zapata or Méxes.
Also,don't forget to look out for regens, there's a very good chance you will find for these positions already a much better player then the one mentioned.
Meanwhile...Go Hull! :)
Oh,forgot to mention,if for some reason you can't get Marquinhos,have a look at Cristian Rodriguez.
He usually turns into one of the best left wingers in game,he makes lots of assistances,but also scores a lot.He's a true star player!
Hi Vitaliy, i think if you a targetting a place in Euro Cup, i reccomend you try signing a few English player, Chris Cohen and Fabian Delph were leading midfielders in my Leeds team in premierleague until i sold Cohen for a better player. Delph is solid, have a look at Man City reserves and see if any decent player are there such as Nedum Onohua or Michael Johnson just to name a few.
Really awesome blog. I enjoyed reading this review from you. I found that you really update your site regularly that made me more interesting. I've bookmarked your site for my future use.
Thank you
sagar
Dear 31st of march 18:40. Please have a listen to what you have just said. You 'reccomend' (lol) two players who are average then state 'sold Cohen for a better player' so how can you justify recommending him to some one aiming for european places if you sold him for someone better? Then, to what can only be descibed as ignorance, you suggest looking at a reserve player such as 'Nedum Onohua '. Yes this guy is 'decent'........................................for leeds! How about you share the guy you believe to be better (is it by any chance Keith Gillespie?!!) Vitaliy, you are holding back. Be ambitious! have a pop at the title! You can do it! New formation needed for the lesser teams though because one striker by himself can be crowded out against team that sits back. One that attacks with emphasis on the wing backs (your wide men will have to track back) may also isolate him. Possibly this is the problem with falcao............. pre-season games are an ideal time to give some new things a try! Scottish Scott, always with something to say lol!
I don't think you need another creative man in your midfield, you already have Buonanotte for that, I'd go for a box to box midfielder, good to cover and to attack.
for AML i have to advise you to take a look at Razvan Ochirosii, he is at Steaua Bucharest and is almost 800.000 E. Quite cheap judging on players potential. After 1 season he starts to be a star (if you get credit to him and use him match after match..)! well..it's my opinion, you could take a peek to see the player tought:P
Hi Vitaly,
Try Sotiris Ninis from Panathinaikos, he plays likes Giggs & beckham in n one body..hehe..
Artem Milevsky is also very good
Milevskiy is already owned by Tottenham in my game :)
Guys,
thank you all for the advices. My transfer window is finished and I'm writing the post about transfers I made. I promise it will be very interesting! :)
Andre schembri is a great signing for league 2 and below teams.
Stephen Defour from Standard Leige.....i think thats how you spell his name, captain ofe leige and on my game, Belgium too. Brilliant CM with amazing mental attributes
Umm Hi There.. What Club Does Blaise O'Brien Play For?
Hey Vitaliy, you should try and sign Papadopoulos from Olympiakos as an extra DC..
And, check out my fm blog, http://blogfootballmanager.blogspot.com/
, cheers..
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
http://ramupgrade.info
Blaise O'Brien is a regen.
Sorry... Whats A Regen?
hi, i'm also managing hull and am up to the 2013/2014 season. last season i missed out on a champions league spot on goal difference. :'(
good to see you're doing so well and good luck in getting into europe.
Spreading the word! Again :P
http://footballmanager09story.blogspot.com/
Regen is a player generated by Football Manager engine.
It was done for simulation of new players appearance in football world.
How do you find players that are football manager generated?
Several ways to do that:
- scouts
- search using Player Search and different filters
- manual search checking U21 and U19 national teams
Azazel you signed almost all the same players as me!
I played as Spurs so had a pretty good transfer budget from the beginning but I would say.
Fast striker: Definitely marquinhos and you can pick up alexis sanchez from udinese for about 4millioon if your club has high enough rep for him to move. I play marquinhos on the left wing and sanchez on the right, both very similar players with similar stats but sanchez has less flair but more consistency than marq.
Striker: Laurito definitely becomes an absolute gem. Cardozo scores a ridiculous amount from free kicks; think he scored about 19 free kicks in one season once, top top player, has a lot of games where he'll go off on one too and score like 4 goals! Pavel Pogrebnyak from Zenit is also top top quality. Pretty stupid signing him for tottenham as he is almost identical to Pavlyuchenko just a lot lot better. Probably my biggest steal was Andre-Pierre Gignac from Toulouse. Starts off with fairly average stats but give him one season and he is INcredible. Bought him for about £7million and sold him to barcelona after 2 seasons for about £30million!
Midfield - Vukcevic, Kuzmanovic is incredible 20 work rate, strength, stamina great passing creativity decisions determination...a definite purchase. I got him for 8 million but never been able to sign him again in different games. Bosko jancovic is similar to cristian rodriguez after a season or 2. Cant believe more people haven't mentioned lassana diarra. Dont know about the patched version but at beginning of the campaign you can pick him up for between 4 and 5 million, an absolute STEAL...he will ask for a lot of money in wages though...flat out incredible though, I played diarra and kuzmanovic in the middle in a 4-4-2 formation; absolutely unbeatable.
In defence...whatever you do, if you are in a team with a high enough rep, sign daniel opare..17 year old ghanain right winger who starts off with about 19 acceleration 19 work rate 19 stamina 17 speed and about 15 tackling. Corluka got injured for a few months on mine so I had to put him in as replacement, even at 18 he got better ratings than corluka! Signed him for something insane like 50k and had offers coming in for like 25 million from all the top teams...kept him though, he's too good. Tried to sign him as Wolves in another season I did though and he wasn't even tempted, so he might be a bit picky with his team. On the left sign domenic criscito..on loan at genoa from juventus but juventus never want him when he comes off and pick him up for as little as £4 million, becomes one of the best left backs in the game, sold him for 27 million to inter after 2 seasons. I signed Fazio from sevilla, incredible in the air but lacking a little elsewhere. Chygrynskiy was my diamond CB, started every game for 4 seasons (then I stopped playing) makes very few mistakes. I somehow managed to sign Pique on the cheap from Barca...no idea how though never been able to do it since.
So availability/budget permitting I'd say definitely buy: Opare, Criscito, Gignac, Laurito, Cardozo, Pogrebnyak, Diarra...the rest can all be a bit pricey. If you're looking for a check DM too go for Fernando Soriano, very good stats and only costs around 3m...looking for a cheaper striker definitely go for Ikechukwu Uche from Getafe, get him for about 3m very fast and strong.
Check them out!
no one beats Juan Manuel Vargas , although he's a winger , he scored more than 30 goals in just 48 matches getting the Best player of the World award :P , several other players are wonderkids like, Stevan Jovetic, Davide Santon, Balotelli, Barrachina, Gabriel Scatolaro and Finally a very strong medfielder Miguel Veloso :P
BTW good choice for Armand Traore his pace is awesome