FM 2010 Site Rankings
Follow me on Twitter
Advertising
The Author
HullLeeds United squad analysis
Let’s start Football Manager 2010 story with Leeds! The first thing every new manager should do is an analysis of the squad. It has to be done at first because it will influence on decisions of tactical schemes, transfers and signings and targets for a season.
So here is my Leeds United squad analysis…
Goalkeepers
It’s certainly the weakest line of the club. Shane Higgs and Casper Ankergren – two pretty poor keepers that doesn’t deserve to be in the first squad. It means that I must buy a good goalie very soon!
Defenders
I didn’t look through the squads of other League 1 clubs but I am quite sure that Leeds has one of the best defensive lines in the league.
Take a look at Australian DC - Patrick Kisnorbo:
He is good defender for Championship, I think, not only League 1.
Leigh Bromby. Decent central defender with good natural fitness. He has good chances to be in the first squad if I don’t buy better DC.
Lubomir Michalik is pretty average DC that will be backup player together with Richard Naylor if I don’t sell them both.
Best left back in the team is Irish guy Alan Sheehan. His level is probably enough for League 1 but not for Championship. Ben Parker is slightly worse and should start matches from substitution bench.
Regarding right backs I can say that there are two guys: Jason Crowe and Andy Hughes. The first one has good Work Rate and Natural Fitness values + average values of other important attributes. So he is my preference for sure.
Midfielders
Jonathan Howson. MRC of 21 years old. He has quite average values of attributes but his Work Rate (15) allows me to think of some his prospects in the club.
David Prutton. Another MRC. Determined pitch fighter that will start any match from substitution bench.
Bradley Johnson. MLC. 22 years old. Good for backup. Most of attributes are between 10 and 13.
Michael Doyle
Central midfielder loaned from Coventry. And I will not cancel this loan because this player seems very useful.
Neil Kilkenny is a bit better than Bradly Johnson but costs much – $875K. So maybe he will be sold if I need additional money.
Andy Robinson. Poor AMRL with high salary of $11.5K. I have to try to sell him!
Robert Snodgrass
Young Scottish star of Leeds United! Of course, he is left-right winger with somewhat poor speed (Pace=10, Acceleration=12)… But his other attributes including Work Rate promise bright future for this youngster.
Forwards
5 forwards here. The best of them is top scorer of the previous season - Jermaine Beckford:
By the way he has the highest transfer price in Leeds United - $1.4M.
The second forward is Luciano Becchio who costs $800K. Well, he is not enough for promotion from Championship but perhaps good for League 1.
Prospective young striker Tom Elliott makes me to think about his destiny. From one hand he can develop in decent forward, from the other hand I can sell him for at least $325K…
American Mike Grella and Nigerian Enoch Showunmi are quite weak attackers in my mind.
great! i'm also managing leeds utd! you have similar ideas as i do on the team analysis! for those weak positions, i signed a few pretty high profile players from free transfer and just won the season and got promoted!
what players did you sign? i am also manageing leeds united but i have got 5 wins and 2 losses in league one so far???? not so good in my opinion. Whom did you sign in ?
Goalie
right back
right midfielder
striker
I have signed michael briggs as left back. very good for hus age definetly a good prospect.
Thanks mark j
Vitalyi,
What tactic do you use in FM2010 ?
I saw in your previous career with Hull City that you use a 4-1-2-2-1. Also I've analyzed your results against strong teams and it seems that tactic isn't so good in FM2009 (FM2010 seems to be the same).
I've played also with Hull and I won the EPL 3 times, UCL 3 times in just 7 seasons. Also I've tested "my" tactic with other teams and I have the same results (EPL, which is harder to win than UCL).
So, I want to recommand a better tactic for you, isn't mine, it's "Reo_4-2-3-1" from fmbritain forum. You can adapt this set of tactics to your players (long shots, etc).
Beckford is as good in game as he is in real life, 30 goals in 40 games atm.
I haven't replaced the keeper, higgs and casper aren't great, but when you have an awesome back 4 who cares? That said it is top priority to fix now that we're heading to the championship :)
Howson was awesome for me thru the season, just set him to ball winning midfielder and watched him run rampant in the middle, had a knack of hitting the box late and knocking a few crosses into the net :)
do you know where to get logos n facepack for fm2010?is there any direct download link?
hey, can you state the most important attributes for defender, midfielder, striker etc etc.?
are notts county down as a rish club in the new game?
Thanks
hi vitaliy, will the old facepacks for FM09 work, some players dont have real pictures still. hope someone makes facepacks soon! as for the tactics i would like to know if there will be changes with the best tactics you used for hull city, since i feel the fm10 tactics dept is easier to understand and use now. thanks!
Looking at your team, Patrick Kisnorbo, will serve you well in the Championship, so in League One he should be brilliant.
Good luck with offloading Andy Robinson. I tend to find selling players like that to be tough, as his current wage is scary for teams of the level that should be interested in him.
In my QPR game am in January and we've hit some poor form, just 7 points from the last 6 matches, and yet somehow Newcastle have only gained 4, so we've moved into 1st place. The chasing pack is closing in now. Could make the remainder of the season more interesting than I was hoping.
tom elliot turned out 2 be sikkkk in footy manager 08
facepacks vitaliy? do you know any for this game
First of all Vitaliy good luck with Leeds! Good players to get you out of league 1, also looking at them they are relatively young and will only improve!
I don't whether he'd be interested but in my Newcastle game i was able to buy Vincent Enyeama for a small fee, great attributes too, with Leeds reputation he may sign!
Also Verratti who plays for Pescara will make you a fortune, bought him for 300k first season by the end of the season Real, Barca, Man Utd were after him and i ended up selling him for 9.75million to Barca.
Hey vitaliy,
I totally agree with you for getting a new goalkeeper.. I suggest you try and get Asmir Begovic on loan for the whole season.. Portsmouth doesn't need any compensation for him, so he wouldn't cost you a sweat!
Good luck!
Blog is back after close you can see it here:
http://ultimatefootballmanagerblog.blogspot.com/
GK Sebastian Viera "free transfer"
FW Henri Camara "free transfer"
CDF Sölvi ottesen sönderjysk costs about 600-800.
ive started wiv wolves. I have made sum quite tasty signings like:
Loic remy, guardado, mcgeady, sulejmani, affellay, and pedersen. and have got rid of many of the players only good enoguh for the championship. Lets get the season started:P:P:P
Hi. i am managing leeds to. Until middle of december everything was going very well(only 1 lost game to milwall and few draws) but after that my scoring machine stoped and in next 2 month 3 losses(one of them was really humiliating 6-1(3 own goals...) to man city becouse my team makes shoots from good places but shoots poor)and about 6 draws couse cant score... i hope ill bounce back with my scoring
players i got was almost all older but very decent free transfers
gk-ian walker(lifesaver!!!)and youth stubhaug(for future sale)
defender-soley, campo(both only backup), stefanovic(i use it in my rotation system) and 2 loans de laet and little(mark) both good first team players. u should loan them too;)
for middle-zenden(unrealer player, makes many chances),ze maria(same as zenden both good captures), n'gom camara(not uch to say, didint found very useful) and vrsic(110k good for bench)
forwards- vieri and smolarek(omg i guess hes best player in all league 1)
and in winter i bought rae for 75k (good puchase) and freebee lindpere(poor playing soofar)
and sales
snodgrass 975k(damn it he is worth 2m now)for stoke
grella for 120k
johnson 190k(both debrby co.)
ankergen for 10k(brondy) and few sold for free(couse not needed and noone wanted them and pices were very low)
webb, hughes, naylor, falkingam, marques, shownumni and n'gom camara(as aid poor one)
Hi Vitaly,
what database (leagues / nations) are you gonna play with?
Thanks W
get:
Sol Campbell
Marian Had
Both for free and maybe go for Viduka or Smolarek
get lars stubhaug as a potential keeper, get bryn halliwell as the number one goalie
Hey mate, any keepers you like the look of to buy yet? also will you be creating a best tactics and formations for this leeds team? keep up the good work!
Hi
I got
- Ebi Smolarek (free transfer) attacker 4,5 star
- Henri Camara (free transfer) attacker 3,5 star
- Lauren (free transfer) right back
3,5 star
- and some youngster from Man. City. (free transfer) 3,5 star
This is just in the demo... Wenn i get the FM10 ill proberly try to get Viduka, Alan Smith, Jonathan Woodgate and Harry Kewell later in the game... did that in FM09, and they played really good for me wenn i got to EPL. :) Good luck Leeds Fans!
I think I must have found the unluckiest player, Clement Grenier. He suffered an injury that put him out for 4 months. First reserve match back in training he got injured and out for 3 weeks. A couple of days after returning to training he had a fall and twisted his ankle and out for a further 4 weeks.
Vitalyi, PLEASE have a look at these four
you say you have a week keeper - Silviu Lung Jr- hes 20 years old, great stats, low wage, costs about 200k
CB- Muniesa! i know leeds have a decent back four, but this lads only 18ish, barca try sell him in 1st season for just 130k, he becomes imense!
RB- Mark Little- on loan, plays well every game
RM- If you sell Robinson, get Andy Van Der Meyde- free transfer, good signing, rates 7.10+ every game
To the people leaving comments based on demo stuff... lung jr is a million pounds in the real game, and muniesa is definitely not going to be let go be barcelona in the real game. Buy the full game and play it before trying to give stupid advice based on the demo.
Hi
I also managing leeds. Try these players, maybe you like some of them:
GK
Mike Pollitt(old(only temporary solution for 1 season), but he stopped 3 penalietes in a row against Preston)
DL
Petar Zanev 35k pound, 5games 1ast
DMC, MC
Soley Seyfo free 4g, 2gls
AML
Rudi Skacel free,6g, 3ast
AMC
Sandrinho 40k, 5g, 4ast
I also have Smolarek and Campbell but they don't need any introduction. I play 4-2-3-1.
hi i got sol campbell, danny mills, jose baxter and more to norwich on first season. And Norwich is in coca cola league 1.
Hey there vitaly,
I'm a frequent reader of your blog.
Anyways, i would like to suggest Emad Motaeb for a striker.
He's an egyptian and really is a goal poacher ^^
cheers.
loan macheda from man utd is very nice foward and antunes for roma nice full back left
http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd317/kaiballss/?action=view¤t=fm1.jpg
look at the picture
its such a joke of a game -.-
and my equalizer was a total fluke just pingpong in the penalty area
and it came at the 87th minute!
i am having some trouble with my newcastle game, i can't seem to get my tactics right, i have some really good players macheda (from man utd), ameobi, carroll, jonas, nolan zenden, lovenkrands, steve taylor, colochinni, harper, ryan taylor, smith, barton. i just cnt seem to wrack up any wins and im losing in the last minutes and cnt hold a lead. wondered if u have any tips which could help me stop the rot. thank you
Anonymous,
The players i suggested are on the full game version, and are available right at the start. I wouldn't make it up!
Adam what formation are you currently trying with Newcastle, and how attacking are you trying to be? Newcastle should be one of the easier sides to do well with in the Championship, but once you get low morale, it's hard to turn that around.
In an average game how many shots are you making? It sounds very similar to when I started playing FM09, where even when I tried a good side, we were a disaster. I hope we can help you turn things around, as I know how frustrating it is when it's going badly.
what about getting macheda on loan, try ragnar sigurdsson DC in IFK Göteborg, rúrik gíslason AMRLC is great in real life don´t know much bout him in the game, Kristján Örn sogurdsson DC, Stefán logi magnússon GK in Lilleström is fairly good, Ingólfur Sigurdsson in KR is a great prospect for Iceland he is 16 or 17 and man utd tried to get him on trial in real life,
Hello Vitaliy, how are you keeping? I must admit, there's a good core to Leeds, however I think if you're to make Leeds dominate League One, getting rid of Robinson is a must! After having a short go with Leeds to see what it's like to be a team in the lower leagues, I decided to keep him, as he had the experience of promotion from Swansea. However, this proved to be a terrible choice, with his best rating in the 10 games he had being a 6, and that was after playing 20 minutes in a game. May I also take this opportunity to tell everyone that the voting for my blog runs out in a few hours so if you don't want the results to stay as they are, go onto www.thelifeofafootballmanager.blogspot.com and vote! thankyou
Dan, I look forward to seeing how you do with the team that wins the vote on your blog. I think it'll be tough, especially if you get Portsmouth.
My QPR game is now well into February and despite some periods of poor form we're in 2nd place. I've been documenting the progress on my own blog at http://theziggy-football-manager.blogspot.com/
I'm trying to make it more of a narative style. Definitely been anguish and swearing so far during the season, but somehow we're holding in there. Our high point was a 6-0 demolition of Ipswich at Portman Road, and our low 2 weeks later was a 5-2 crushing at Blackpool, who were bottom at the time. lol
Hey Vital and everyone else im liking your analysis on Leeds UTD Also i started a blod myself on http://crazybhoysfootballmanager2010.blogspot.com/2009/11/hi-everyone.html
Can u guys see what u think for me and have any ideas what i could do with sunderland thanks guys.
i am using a 4-5-1 with a deep lying DMC and 2 high attacking midfielders. sorry to have confused but im in the premiership now, tbh i barely got out of the championship through the play-offs. i thought with the good side i have i'd do better but i even struggle against the lower teams in the league its very annoying. i'm not having that many shots and if i do win its by like 1 goal. the worst is the late goals conceded is very annoying. any advice would be highly welcome
Adam, I'm pleased you managed to get through to the premiership via the playoffs.
On the whole I've found using 4-5-1 as you describe usually results in a lot of shots, when I used it in FM09. Hard to put the finger what's causing it not to work so well here. Whether it's one or even two players that are just not quite up to playing that formation.
The leaking of late goals is something I've suffered a fair bit too. For QPR I went with a 4-4-2, with the left and right midfielders playing as wingers, a ball winning midfielder and a box to box one. The strikers are one forward lying and one back. Even in a game where we're poor we tend to make at least 10 shots, and in a good game nearer 30.
As an experiment in the demo I did try a 4-5-1 formation and it just didn't work with these players. The striker became isolated. It was a formation I used a lot in FM09 to great effect, so hopefully someone else can tell why it's not working so well for us.
Overtaking future posts... for those who is interested in tactics I chose for Leeds:
3-5-2 is my current formation.
It's my new tactical experiment!
Anonymous,
I will inform about signed player in the next post.
One of them is Sol Campbell! :-)
Patrick Kisnorbo and especially Jermaine Beckford are very good footballers in my mind
I tried to buy Verratti - his club agreed with price suggested by me, but the player rejected my offer
Anonymous,
I play Large database with leagues of England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Ukraine and Russia included
U know nohting about leeds shane higgs is awsome robert snodgrass is the best winger in our division and Mike grella is our 2nd best striker mate if you want to learn and be a good manager do research on the club.
Curently i am manging Kettering town adn have a home tie at man u in the F.A cup and 5 in the division so i wudndered if u cud give me any more tips
Hi, i took to manage Leeds,like many of here. At the start i couldt choose between Southampton, Leeds, QPR and Blackpool ,but took Leeds. I bought striker Christian from portuguesa for 110k, he is monstrual in 19(1)he scored 14 times and gave 3 assists. with beckford,they are league 1 all team fearers. christian is really good, i think he could very well in cola championship too.i got Ze Maria in dwbr positions. in 19 apps,he cored 1 time in gave 7 assists. at the start of the season one of my engines was Andy van der Meyde, in first 7 games he gave 7 assists and 1 time scored,but now is calm. I have also Ivan Campo, at the start he played relly good,but now,like Meyde sit on the bunch.
Now i have played 23 games(half of all league games),im am in postion nr 1. I won 13 games, 8 draws and 2 times losed. on defeat i got against Millwal 1:4. after this horrors i won 10 times and 3 times played draw(FA cup included). and my good games serie continues.
Pudzinsh,
I signed Andy van der Meyde as well. He can do good crosses but his stamina and other physical attributes are poor...
yeah, Meyde has really bad physical atributes,but he at the moment luckily isnt so injurial,how he could be
YESS! Great. im a leeds fan and i love your site im so glad at this. Ill be following you all the way.
i managed leeds united and won the league quite easily. I found the majority of the players to be more than good enough for league 1 really, and i only needed to bring in a keeper, RB, and 2 wingers.
I sold dead wood such as Sheehan (worst defender at the club!?), Michalik, Rui Margues, Robinson and Hughes.
I bought in Alex Smithies, from Huddersfield (does a decent job in League 1 and has excellent potential) for 750k, Max Gradel from Leicester for 250k (God, you have to sign him!), Andy Van Der Meyde on a free, and Elliot Omozusi on a free as well. All four are excellent signings, and with them, I found promotion all too easy.
Beckford was the main man (30 goals in 28 games) although special mentions to Becchio (25 goals in 34 games) and Grella (21 goals in 31 games). Also Snodgrass, Gradel and Howson who lay chance after chance on for the strikers.
But yeah anyway, promotion's piss.
Im playing leeds and i cant seem to buy any of the listed free transfer players like sol campbell, gareth williams. They rejected all my offers even when i offer better wages. you guys made it so easy.
Gradel is a must! I played as Leeds and thought I'd see what he was like as he's doing pretty well for us in real life!
Got him on a 3 month loan, as he drops down to league 1 his price slowly falls and during the loan snapped him up for 150k, money well spent as he can play on both wings and is interchangable with Snodgrass.
everybody has been spending a good ammount of money but during the england trials i found that willy topp was key ... signed him for free ... and for the first 6 games of the season he scored at least 2 goals average per game... also got ex-arsenal midfielder rui fonte for about 200-300k can't remember exactly ... 19 year old joe bennett also has done well as left wing back ... never liked parker tbh
can someone tell me during one on one why my striker always wrack the ball towards the goal keeper? I using man city. always got half attack more than opp. team. but everytime one on one keep wrack keeper. any idea what wrong? is there a tactic when i can press to ask my player shoot toward the side?
Try looking at Novikovas. He's a Lithunian somewhere in Scotland.(Premier league. I think its Rangers) Christian Lell from Bayern is quite nice too. With him, my Koeln thrashed 9-2. Credit to Podolski and Novakovic for the goals though. That match was wonderful. I scored five before half-time. I like Leeds too, but I haven't got to them yet.(Are they that rich?)
Another good performer is Koeln II's Daniel Brosinski. Although his stats aren't much to look at, he performs well. FYI,Koeln has excellent youth facilities. Koeln has produced players such as Patrick Helmes and Lukas Podolski. Make sure you keep an eye out for them too but don't sign Mondragon. He's stats are good but his performances are not. he actually managed to concede 2 goals in my 9-2 thrashing. Those, you can't blame the defenders. Those were easy shots if you ask me. If you still don't know where is Koeln, It is in Germany, First Division. It's name is 1.FC Koln(proper pronouciation Koeln)
Hi, Im managing Leeds too, A gd targetman will be Yaser Al-Qatani from Saudi Arabia....Gd in the air, scores losta goals ....to complement him in attack, partnering him will be Radoslav Vasilev 17yr old bulgarian (bought him at 500k. He is super fast and a gd finisher.
Hi,im also managing leeds..just finish 1st season and become champion..im just using 4-4-2 formtion..doin well..my players are..higgs-lauren-bromby-huntington-doumbe-van der meyde-howson-johnson-snodgrass-camara-beckford...superb
hi,im also managing leeds united and im doing good at leeds promote to coca cola league..im happy with 4-4-2 formation.