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Letou Decide: Mlog 5th January

Before going into the press conference, there’s the small matter of switching vice-captain to Alfie Mawson to be done. Ángel Rangel has served the club with distinction but realistically he is now a distant second choice behind Kyle Naughton at right (wing) back. We need some English grit and fighting spirit, God knows we need […]

CM9798 tackles FM18 – Part 3: The Sho must go on

Here in the county of Nottinghamshire, it’s not all Robin Hood this and…Trent Bridge that. No no, football has its place on the map and yes, our neighbours have the more illustrious history, but one day, we might emulate their European Cup win. In the meantime though, we have a friendly. Away to Didcot. I’m […]

#Tempo10 Episode 18: New Years Resolution

Mike is back in the hotseat this week after getting jealous of Matt’s time as the big man on the podcast. This guys talk about some different goals and aims to keep your save fresh, or give you some motivation to push on with that save you’ve been putting off. Perhaps you fancy signing players […]

Letou Decide: Charlie Tango Arrives

I was happy in Romania. I was successful in Romania. Dinamo Bucharest were top of the league, progress being made in Europe… but I couldn’t say no. Not to the Premier League. As a player I never played a full game in the Premier League, only managing a few substitute appearances with Sam Allardyce’s Bolton […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 7: Pushing Through Crucial Tests

I’m really not sure how I feel about our league campaign. Like last year, we never expected to be challenging for the title just yet but we found ourselves with a chance. However, once again, we’ve dipped away and defeat in the North London derby has seemingly ended any lingering hopes of success. We’re not […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 6: Cup Magic Is Our Specialty

Welcome back to the North London fire sale, where the latest news is that Olivier Giroud, Mohamed Elneny and Santi Cazorla are set to leave. The former is rejoining Theo Walcott at Lyon and Elneny is off to China, whilst Cazorla is set for a stint to Espanyol. I thought I had Perez off my […]

Hopped it to Hamburg Part XXXII: How I set-up my training

Catch up on the ISL leg of the journey here For the Hamburg part of the story so far, go here In this bumper day of content I’ve talked you through how we got promoted at Hamburg and how I recruited the squad. Now we are going to look at how I set-up my training. […]

Hopped it to Hamburg Part XXXI: How I recruited my promotion winning squad

Catch up on the ISL leg of the journey here For the Hamburg part of the story so far, go here So if you read the piece published earlier today, you’ll be aware that we got promotion at the first time of asking by finishing second to Stuttgart. What made this quite special was that […]

Hopped it to Hamburg Part XXX: Can I do it on a cold night in Frankfurt?

Catch up on the ISL leg of the journey here For the Hamburg part of the story so far, go here It’s been a while since I’ve written an almost whole season roundup, so here we go. I’ll break it into the following parts. How we did (as in, do I still have a job?) […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 5: Flying High As We Enter January

If you thought I’d moved on from that drubbing of Bayern Munich, you are wrong. I plan to bring it up as much as possible. We’re through as group winners, with our opponents in the Round of 16 to be confirmed, and top the Premier League. It’s worth mentioning that we were unstoppable in December […]

Behind Enemy Lines Episode 14

FM18 Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines | Ep 14 | No Shots Lads | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to my channel and welcome to Football Manager 2018 and the current series to the channel Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines, me and my team of Ex Tottenham Players take control at the Emirates to get Arsenal […]

CM9798 tackles FM18 – Part 2: Masterplan

Welcome back to Meadow Lane, as we once again we try to find out if a man who has spent most of the last 10 years playing exclusively retro Championship Manager can be a success on FM18. League Two will not know what has hit it. In Part 1, I set up a coaching structure […]

Letou Decide: Southampton vs Swansea

A poor result for Swansea heaps a huge amount of pressure on manager Stuart Reid as his Swansea team slump to 18th in the table. The next game against Burnley is massive… The Match Southampton looked full of attacking swagger from the off and got an early goal as Romeu headed home after just 16 minutes. […]

Letou Decide: Swansea vs Burnley Match Preview

This is the very definition of a 6 pointer as struggling Swansea face fellow strugglers Burnley. Both teams have been in poor form of late and there’s rumours that this could be Reid’s last game in charge if he fails to get a win… Lineups Swansea: Burnley: Join us over at the HigherTempo Twitter for […]

The Last Tango in Bucharest: Ep. 7

Rivalry Intensifies THE MISSION: Enter the unforgiving world of Football Manager 2018, beat your bitter sibling rival to claim prestige in Romania and earn the honour of being named the Last Tango in Bucharest. THE SNAG: The Rivalità Tra Fratelli series on Football Manager 2017 raised more questions than answers in Tango Towers. Is Charlie […]

Letou Decide: Southampton vs Swansea Match Preview

Both teams are in a rotten run of form which doesn’t fill me with hope in terms of excitement, but here’s how the teams will line up. Southampton: Swansea: Join us for all the action over at TheHigherTempo Twitter account for all the action live at 3 PM!

Letou Decide: Mlog 29th December

As is routine the day before a match, it’s my favourite time of the week – press conference time! Reporter: Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho has taken perhaps the bold step of placing Marcos Rojo on the transfer list. Is that a decision you agree with and indeed, if put the same position, would you have […]

CM9798 tackles FM18: Part 1 – Like riding a bike (whilst eating an apple)

Greetings. The festive period is a time for traditions. Carols are sung, presents are exchanged and footballers are forced to play more than once a week. A lesser known tradition is that I try and play the latest version of Football Manager, after spending the previous 51 weeks of the year stuck in a retro […]

Behind Enemy Lines Episode 13

FM18 Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines | Ep 13 | Do or Die | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to my channel and welcome to Football Manager 2018 and the current series to the channel Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines, me and my team of ex-Tottenham Players take control at the Emirates to get Arsenal back […]

FM18 Formation Guide: 2-4-3-1

Unorthodox at Best The reason people love Football Manager so much is that you can do whatever you want. You want to take Shrewsbury to the Champions League, you can. You want to develop great youth products, you can. You want to break goalscoring records using the top teams, you can. This formation is one […]

Hopped it to Hamburg: A new beginning (Part XXIX)

Catch up on any parts you have missed right here! The title gives it away. Having resigned from Mumbai City after five back-to-back ISL titles I was offered interviews by PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord and Hamburg. I won’t lie, I would have preferred any of the Dutch jobs but they went elsewhere – but Hamburg heard […]

The Land of Opportunity VI

The United States Men’s National Team has made it into the World Cup, but how far can we go? I wanted to push for advancing beyond the group stage in this run, since getting past the group stage has been the average final position for the USMNT in recent World Cups. Want to know how […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 28th December

It’s time to talk tactics for the Southampton game. 3-5-2 has been a bit hit and miss for us but I’m leaning towards keeping it for this match. If the analyst is correct and Southampton line up like this then it should hopefully play into our hands. The big advantage of the 3-5-2 is obviously […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 4: Road To Recovery

We’re still in the title race but christ, that defeat to Manchester United was bleak. We were absolutely awful and Kolasinac is really rattling me up at the moment, I have no idea why he’s trying to kill everyone. If PSG come in for him again, I’ll carry him there myself. There’s two weeks to […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 27th December 2017

Well, that was a disappointing festive period with 2 losses from 2 very winnable games with an astonishing lack of discipline within the team that contributed to 3 penalties over those 2 games (proving to be the deciding goals in each game). I don’t instruct my players to tackle hard so I’m going to chalk […]

The Madness of Mumbai Part XXVIII: A change of destination?

Catch up on any parts you have missed right here! Season’s greetings to you all. Welcome back to India where we actually have some news for once. I’ll cut to the punchline immediately, following the end of the 2023/24 season I left Mumbai City FC. Why? We’ll get to that. Did I leave on a […]

Tempo10 Ep17: Christmas Special

Matt and Mike join you this week for a Christmas and new year special. They chat about some of their favourite Football Manager moments across years gone by, and for them, a lot have. This is something all players of the game will relate to.

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 3: The Big Tests Drop Quickly

It’s been a big week away from Football Manager and, amidst it all, I’m preparing for a new challenge. I don’t want this save to end but I’m keen on what I’ve got planned. Is it possible to run two saves together? I’m not sure. Let me know what you want to see, my Twitter […]

Behind Enemy Lines Episode 12

FM18 Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines | Ep 12 | Bull or Bust | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to my channel and welcome to Football Manager 2018 and the current series to the channel Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines, me and my team of Ex Tottenham Players take control at the Emirates to get Arsenal […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 2: The dawn of the season

Good news guys, somebody actually wants Theo Walcott! Lyon have made me an offer worth an initial £26m and a further £14m in bonuses. I bite their hand off, mostly because he’s been a pain in my arse ever since I started this save. However, I do expect some slack from the squad as he’s […]

The Last Tango in Bucharest: Ep. 6

The Great Derby THE MISSION: Enter the unforgiving world of Football Manager 2018, beat your bitter sibling rival to claim prestige in Romania and earn the honour of being named the Last Tango in Bucharest. THE SNAG: The Rivalità Tra Fratelli series on Football Manager 2017 raised more questions than answers in Tango Towers. Is […]

Letou Decide: Swansea vs West Brom Match Report

The first half of the match was a largely boring affair, with little of note happening. Swansea dominated the first-half with plenty of possession but struggled to convert the possession into any meaningful chances meaning the teams went into the break goalless. Half-time stats: The second half looked to be much the same until Mesa […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 24th December 2017

The loss to West Brom still stings, but we have a jam-packed schedule ahead of us before the new year with no fewer than 3 games between now and the 1st of January – all against teams around us (16th, 14th and 18th) meaning this run in could be crucial in deciding our season. With […]

The Madness of Mumbai Part XXVII: A change of philosophy and a nice surprise

Catch up on any parts you have missed right here! Welcome back to the Mumbai Express. The last time we spoke there were seven regular ISL matches left and we were working our way through the AFC Champions League group stages. Because I’ve been a little bit slack in doing updates, I’ve bombed ahead so […]

The ICT Crowd #4: Can I switch it on and off again? No? S**te!

This week’s update doesn’t need screenshots. Good old fashioned text will do the trick here. Spoiler: we got promoted. You may remember last time that we were well on our way to securing the league title with Inverness and, with East Kilbride in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, a cup run was looking […]

Letou Decide: Swansea vs West Brom Match Preview

Stuart Reid’s Swansea team have been picking up a bit of form recently, with 2 wins out of their last 3 matches (and one massively unlucky defeat!) – he (and you) have chosen the team to lineup like this: Tony Pulis has gone for a change in formation to the 4-4-1-1 formation that was expected, […]

WHAT IF N’golo Kante couldn’t be bothered anymore?

Webster’s Dictionary defines an experiment as… “an operation or procedure carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law, to test or establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known law” In our continuing series of exploratory experiments, we look at the effects of a set group of mental attributes. […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 22nd December 2017

Friday, which means press conference time! Reporter: Bournemouth have been the feel-good story of the Premier League so far with their brilliant performances defying expectations at every turn. What have you made of them? Me: Can we talk about Swansea please? Reporter: There has been lots of speculation this week surrounding the future of Sean […]

FM18 Formation Guide: 4-4-2 Diamond Wide

No Centre Midfielder 4-4-2 diamond can come in two forms. Last week we saw the narrow diamond, which packs the midfield at the expense of wide-players, and allows two strikers to batter the defence. The other variation is the wide diamond which, as the name suggests, uses two wingers rather than CM’s. As the formation […]

The Land of Opportunity V

Welcome back to our so far ill-fated attempt to see if I can outdo Bruce Arena. As we saw in the last update, we are barely holding onto automatic qualification right now following a series of draws and losses. With one international break left for World Cup qualifiers, it’s now or never! Before we get […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 21st December

Time to finalise the tactics ready for Saturdays game (provided there’s no last minute injury scares!). You’ve chosen Ayew to lead the line with Abraham so we’ll line up like this: We’ll set their wingers to be forced onto the opposite side (so left wing will be forced onto his right foot etc) to run […]

Gunning For Glory Season 2 Episode 1: Preparing for our second year

Welcome back to North London, where I’m drowning in central midfielders (more on that in a bit). We’re preparing for what will be a difficult season, with Manchester City determined to spend all the money in the world but have been unsuccessful in their mammoth £110m bid for Mauro Icardi. Anyway, my team is set […]

The Madness of Mumbai Part XXVI: A week is a long time in FM

Catch up on any parts you have missed right here! Christ alive, over a week has gone by since the last update from Mumbai. I do apologise to the two-and-a-half people that might have noticed and, frankly, one of them is probably one of the dogs. Quite a lot has actually happened since then so […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 20th December 2017

Yet another day where nothing happened (except an U23s game) so it’s time to do some preliminary analysis on Saturday’s opponent. The 4-4-1-1 formation they’re likely to deploy means the 3-5-2 tactics that we’ve deployed over the past few games will likely work again as long as we try to force the wingers inside. Not […]

Tempo10 E16: Is This Real Life?

Or is this just fantasy? You never know when Mike and Matt get in your ears for another Tempo10. The boys are back and joined by excellent writer Vincent Van Ram to discuss blurring those lines between reality and the game. How far can it go?!

Gunning For Glory: Season One Recap & Review

One year at Arsenal under Josh, how have things gone? Enjoy the recap below and catch up with the journey so far here!: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11. My first season at Arsenal has come to a close, […]

Irons in the fire – Episode Two

The international break came to a close, and I was about to embark on a vile run of matches. Of course, you all read Episode One numerous times so you all remember that! Basically, Arsenal had clobbered us and Javier Hernandez was only capable of scoring goals against Charlton. Which was, by any stretch, rather […]

Letou Decide: Mlog 19th December 2017

Nothing ever happens on Tuesdays. Nothing. Gives me time to reflect on the weekends game though and to check out the next opposition. Saturday was a roller-coaster of emotions and shows that despite switching to a 3 at the back system, my tactics still aren’t perfect as we’re conceding too many goals so I’ve made […]

Gunning For Glory Episode 11: Our first season comes to an end

Josh’s Arsenal are coming to the end of their first season. It’s been a massive decline but trophies remain on the line. Catch up with the journey so far: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10. I’m not sure what’s gone on in […]

Behind Enemy Line Episode 11

FM18 Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines | Ep 11 | Delight or Despair | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to my channel and welcome to Football Manager 2018 and the current series to the channel Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines, me and my team of Ex Tottenham Players take control at the Emirates to get Arsenal […]