It’s just a massive spreadsheet simulator, but it’s still fun. The depth of all the leagues, players, and competitions is remarkable. I’ve always enjoyed taking a team from the bottom to the top. American sports it’s your basic worst to first. In England (in FM) it’s bottom of Conference North, Conference National, 2nd Division, First Division, Championship, Premier League, Champions League. Back in 98 that team was Forest Green Rovers, who since then have actually moved up to the First Division from Conference N/S.

Yeah right now I am playing a third division team from my dad's home town. I'm trying to get them into the top league before they grow broke because their stadium and catchment area are too small.

But it helps me learn the game, like how there are holding vs playmaking midfielders.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

started out at 0, zero. played ecuador in game 1 and now the final is here. i did the same for the last euro.

yes, i did, years ago. a co-worker was from sheffield, england. big blades fan. anyways, he would bring me back the box set (championship manager) whenever he went back to england. got to the point that my better half started making comments about how much time that game took away from more important things. haven't bought nor played anything related for years. preferred and will always prefer the simulation and never the joystick. the better the AI, the better the game.

which club?

this is why it's 4-3-3 and not 4-2-1-3. i detest the double pivot (2 deep CMs in the 4-2-1-3 and glad the some managers are going away from it. it's the safest, but also most negative, for most managers of the tops clubs. those clubs can afford a world-class attacking center mid, the '1' in that scheme, along with top-class wide forwards and center forwards that make up the '3'. based on that, many other managers adopted this scheme and we got a lot of negative football.

most clubs and NTs today usually use only one center forward/striker and we're getting 4 defenders and 2 deep center midfielders. negative and boring.

i believe that a club should have 5 potential position players to realistically score, during open play. a 4-3-3 allows this. that's the scheme. if a manager has particular tactical nuances, things change - for better or worse.

with the bankroll at $2.5k, going to play:

$500 both teams to score (even money)
$500 france to win final, regular time, extra-time, PKs (even money)
$500 over (2.5) +135.

allez france

Astrellas Vlahioti. I had to get a league patch db to add the third division as the regular game database only goes to two. COVID fucked up the league structure badly so my first season was with the relegated team from the second division but with a year passed. Had only one loss and got promoted by a single point, came in third in a split second division the second year, and am a few weeks into the third regular season. But now they've put the second division back together into something like 22 teams and only two get promoted with no playoffs and no prize money.

Once I get fired there because they will run out of money, I will turn it into more or a journeyman save. I plan on skipping FM23 and buying FM24 about this time next year.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

really disappointing france in the first half. argentina wants to play, they engage - while the french passing sideways, backwards...walking. dembele with some dumb defending, he had to know di maria was going to trip over a blade of grass. the left back hernandez, with a terrible first half. deschamps taking a chance by subbing off dembele and giroud.

That looked bad for 80 minutes.

I think it's safe to say this game will be much much more fun than Eagles-Bears today.

really? i'd say that it looked good for 45 minutes. 2-0 at the half, with 2 out of 3 plays looking good. mbappe was due, super goal. di maria ruled the french right side and not sure if scaloni made a huge mistake or di maria still has lingering problems with his leg.

i'm walking away with $$ from this, french win gives me a tripletta for the final.

Snuck in a free bet $5 for a full time draw +950. Swish.

I'm annoyed by all the commentators assuming the pronouns of the players.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

That game was incredible.

ok, not familiar with it. i'm sure it's asteras, for star.

it was a great match, a tale of two halves and then goals and opportunities in extra time. after that, to me..the penalties are a lottery. the french have to be regretting their sleepwalking performance for the first 75 mins. despite the last world cup, never thought much of deschamps, but he pulled a rabbit out of his hat and subbed off proven talent for speed and grit to match the argentines' motivation. a salute to argentina, who were jacked and ready to go from the opening whistle.

my favorite wc was 82, which i watched just about all matches on the spanish channel. i was 15 in the early summer of 82 and a great time to be alive. can't compare generations, i'd have to say this world cup was excellent for scoring and will never be forgotten by moroccan, croatian and argentine fans. there is no doubt that this mid-season world cup saw the best talent fresh and entertaining.

on to the 2024 euro in germany.

France seemed listless early on, was it the virus? France was over run in the midfield, losing players like Kante and even Pogba (whose game usually rises when he plays for France) definitely hurt France. Then you don't have Benzema, credit to France to getting this far. Argentina was the better team for most of the game.

Overall thoughts on the tournament, I like the fact you have more substitutions from 3 to 5. I like the added extra time. Still think VAR main purpose is to help prevent the big clubs and countries from losing. A clear penalty on Croatia wasn't called by the referee in the third place game and VAR did not act. Get the feeling in the same exact situation that VAR would have been used if an Argentinian, Brazialian, or English player had been taken down.

i pretty much agree with all, not sure about this:



amrabat of morocco chopped down gvardiol of croatia and it was a 100% penalty missed. i felt that morocco were fifa's darlings and VAR didn't matter. it was 2-1 croatia at the time. 3-1 would have been insurmountable for fifa's darlings.

mbappe is the new portugese ronaldo (same position of left fwd/wing, same skill-sets of speed, quick feet and dribbling - ronaldo much better in the air) but mbappe has a better surrounding cast than ronaldo ever did. france will be back. not so sure about argentina. the 19-21 y/o coming out of argentina's club academies are excellent. gold. but, there is no new messi on the horizon. what a final by CM mac allister.

my biggest take is that a mid-season world cup saw higher quality football. the best players who have long seasons were spared that long season.

Did the US win?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yes.

Literally three seconds after the winning kick, viewers were told to switch over to FS1 for the coverage of the celebration and trophy presentation because the regular FOX had to show NFL games.

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Nope.
Amazing that a world championship game did not feature two teams from the United States. How dare they hold a tournament to decide the world champion that has teams outside the US compete. Have they not learned anything from the Super Bowl, World Series or NBA Finals.

Seeing as none of these yearly tournaments determine their winner by a Field Goal kicking contest, a home run derby, or a free throw contest, you would have to say no they have not learned anything from those events.

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I'm glad the world found a niche to compete in.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

They found it long ago and boy, what a mistake.

I don't hate soccer and the finals match was certainly more exciting than most of the tournament, but I have to agree with Frank's comment. That method for determining the "world champion" is just a bit of a letdown.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

I thought about that during the shootout. What would you suggest as an alternative? More OT I guess? I wouldn't be opposed to that. But it would probably kill the players due to no stoppage in play. At least in basketball you've got timeouts and football players only expend short bursts of energy before a TV timeout for miller lite ads runs for 45 minutes. Baseball players wander around the field picking their ass anyway so no concern there about fatigue.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Sudden death OT. I get the argument about being tired, but both sides had great chances toward the end of the 2nd OT period. It’s not like offense disappeared at the 90 minute mark.

Just play the actual game until somebody scores a winner.

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Soccer knows people eventually want the fucking match to end so they can go do something else. People joke it’s like deciding a baseball game with a home run derby. Good. That’d be more entertaining. End basketball with dunk contests. End hockey with (more) shootouts. End NFL games with wonderlic tests. Don’t be boring.

yep. I don’t know enough to offer a perfect answer but a halftime style rest and maybe a more lenient substitution rule could help address fatigue. Anything is better than the randomness of a goalie guessing which way to jump.

_________________
“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb