I decided to start a new game with Espanyol, one of my favourite clubs in the Spanish La Liga (arguably the best league in the world). So, I also decided to write down things which I usually do when starting with a new club, which is not much of a fed-up spoon guide, but more of how do I play the game.


Let’s start with some dry facts? The full name of the club is R.C.D. Espanyol de Barcelona S.A.D, now I hope someone can do a little research and tell me what the hell R.C.D and S.A.D stand for because I honestly have no idea and these letters are quite common in the Spanish team names. Anyway, as you probably concluded from the name, we are the fierce rivals of the almighty Barcelona.

If you are interested in some more facts on the club such as the year the club was founded at, or squad personality then click F11 o your keyboard. As far as I see it, what you should be interested in is first and foremost the chairman status, finances, and media prediction. These should give you a general idea of what type of club you’re at and what you’re expected to do.

My chairman (Daniel Sanchez Llibre, but who cares?) has ‘Happy to Stay’ status which usually suggests the club is doing okay, and a potential acquisition of it may take place in later stages depends on the financial status. No fear though! Our chairman doesn’t seem to be the financial bastard that sacks manager every weekend, you can learn this by the personal message that chairman “sends” you at the start of the game.

Finances are described as okay, this means I’ll have to look further into our company books (later on). I’m predicted by the media to finish 8th out of 20 teams. For me, top half finish is principally keep a good home form and winning the weak teams away. Predictions and guessing aren’t really indication for team’s capability though, more of its reputation.

We have an assistant manager, his name is Bartolome Marquez. Even before reading his team report I check his profile for the ‘judge player ability’ and ‘judge player potential’ attributes. They seem to be pretty decent, 12 and 11 respectively. Nevertheless, his report will be taken into limited consideration. He says we need to be heavily strengthen and our best player is 31 years old, attacking midfielder, Ivan De la Pena.

On we go to our seasons expectations message, here what I usually care about is the numbers. The jumps between each of the expectation is minimal, about £100K-£200K in the transfer budget (TB) & wage budget per month (WB).

Top half finish - £700K TB, £2.4M WB
Continental qualification through league finish - £900K TB, £2.6M WB
Title challenge - 1M TB, 2.8M WB
Winner - 1.1M TB, 2.9M WB

In this case the decision is pretty obvious, since the gaps are minimal and don’t worth the risk, but with other teams I usually check my team players, finances, transfers, affiliated clubs before I take a decision. I’ll go for top half finish as 200K won’t make much of a difference.



Players are integral part of the game, we all know this and act accordingly. One of the exciting things you can do in Football Manager is dealing with the players, if it’s tutoring, renewing contracts or buying players, this part will give you a quick look on how I deal with the players of my new club, Espanyol.

Let’s start from the beginning. I often look onto my senior squad, and the reserves team; Sometimes a hidden diamond is rottening at your reserve team, or even a rotation player for a weak postion such as a left back or sweeper. Always check your B teams.

So I click on the ‘Show Filters’ on the top right corner of the squad screen. This is a very useful tool when handling teams with many players (especially when having youth academy and great deal of youngsters in your youth team, Ajax Amsterdam for example). Using this tool I’ll filter in and out players for each position and side, then I’ll write here a short review of the player.

Goalkeepers

Carlos Idriss Kameni - The first goalkeeper of Cameroon, which means I’ll lose him frequently to the African Cup of Nations. He has French nationality, and looks decent on almost every aspect of goalkeeping. Bad team work, stamina, aggression and throwing - I’ll have to adjust his training slightly, and make sure his distribution will be to my right side (has weak left foot), using a long kick/defender collect.

Inaki Lafuente (on loan from Athletic Bilbao) - 31 years old, looks decent but not as good as Kameni. On the positive side he doesn’t seem to have any real weakness with most attributes on 11-13 but he won’t save the goals Kameni will and there’s no tactical instruction to rectify that.

Francisco Casilla (from B team) - Assistant manager reports claim I should offload this guy as soon as possible, but considering my transfer budget and Kameni absence I believe he’ll be a worthy substitute later on. I’ll promote him to the senior squad once Kameni’s gone, meanwhile he’ll have some minutes in the B team.

Defenders

Left

Clemente Rodriguez - 25 years old Argentinean left/right back. In first glance he appears to be the kind of defender that can be used when using possession and/or attack style of game. He’s pacey, with good deal of dribbling, technique and flair. Yet, his defensive side of the game, especially aerial ability keeps him from being used against a more athletic AMRs.

David Garcia - Injured for a month at the start of the game with strained knee ligaments, his natural fitness and stamina suggests this injury is a rare occasion. Good on the air, also a decent maker but may struggle against pacey opponents because he lacks tackling and mental attributes that support it.

Centre

Daniel Jarque - Looks decent, good heading, jumping, marking, and tackling. Not top quality but sufficient for a club such as Espanyol. I’m a bit concerned with his salary - £81,000 per month, quite a lot.

Marc Torrejon - He’s the key of my defense line, only 21 but looks very impressive on whatever a centre back may need to keep that ball out of his goalkeeper net. Definitely have to extend his contract (until 2009 at the moment).

Alberto Serran - He’s a backup, at least until I’ll manage to sell him for a decent price. Might give him some minutes against the weaker teams at the Spanish Cup just to get his reputation on high level. Weak on the fitness side, poor decision-making, and generally below average attributes. Bye-bye!

Right

Jesus Maria Lacruz - 29 years old, looks nice but nothing more. Good team work and work rate, decent defensive attributes but surely not the defender I’ll have for backs-attacking style of game. Might offload him after a season or two if I’ll get a decent player.

Francisco Javier Chica - Incapable of attacking with below average attributes of creativity, technique, passing and ball-control skills. Better than Lacruz on the defensive side, but there isn’t too much of a difference. Might be useful on the left when I’ll play the big teams, using two defensive-only full-backs.