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Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Stoke City Preview
Before I have a look at the expected formation for Stoke City, I’ve actually just been given some good news. Both Wayne Routledge and Renato Sanches will get through 60 minutes of action and Leroy Fer could play if required. Considering I wrote Fer off completely, that’s a comeback on the scale of Lazarus. Stoke […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 17: The Next Steps – Fourth Season
Welcome back to Atlanta. This post comes a little sooner than I would initially plan for but I decided to talk you through some things, then showing you how we’ve managed to do in the first exchanges of the season. Firstly, a little perspective. The year is 2020 and Atlanta, for the second time in […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 23rd February
It feels like I’ve spent all week in the medical bay, monitoring and checking in on injured players. Wayne Routledge came through another 45 minutes in midweek in an U23 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion but both him and Leroy Fer are only fit enough for the bench tomorrow according to what I’m told […]
FM18: 5 Things To Signal You Need A New Save
Remember when you first started your Career Save? You had your pad and pencil ready for notes, you researched the team and their history, you even named the save “Hadjuk” because you knew this was the one? How quickly the gloss can start to fade from a save even if it’s not going badly. Here […]
Vive la Révolution Part XIV: Consistently inconsistent
Catch up on the story so far… “Inconsistency is the one area in which we are consistent,” I said to the media. And it was true. We are still very much the club that could beat top of the table and then lose, like we seem to always do, to the side sitting bottom. And, […]
AFC Bournemouth: Cherry Picking Episode Three
Welcome back to the south coast, where I’m attempting to steer AFC Bournemouth away from the drop and to a respectable Premier League place this season! At the end of the last episode, I’d written that I was happy with the start of our league campaign. But, on further reflection, I have no idea why. […]
Letou Decide: A Dearth Of Right-Backs
I knew it was coming. Today I must make a decision on the right-back position for Stoke City this weekend. I can’t put it off any longer. Kyle Naughton was injured at the hands of those League One hoofers and cloggers at Portsmouth, which was particularly unfortunate as I was only giving him an hour […]
Beating Nuno – Prologue
Wolverhampton Wanderers are flying at the moment. It’s the best football that Molineux has seen in years, decades and perhaps longer. I’m a Wolves fan so it is a joy to behold at the moment, however, unlike previous seasons, it posed an interesting question, could I do better than the actual team? In any normal […]
Making Blackburn Rovers Great Again – Episode #2
It’s a Tuesday afternoon. I find myself strewn across the sofa with various crumbs and stains on my shirt, endlessly skipping through Netflix as we so often do. I decide to take my search for mild entertainment to Sky where I’m greeted by an omnibus of one of my favourite programmes – Premier League Years. […]
Letou Decide: Stoke City’s Season
This weekend we will be visited by Stoke City for a 5:30 pm kick off and we’re back on television. It seems every week the TV stations are calling us to help boost their ratings. I’ll do the usual match preview on Saturday but it seems like a good a time as any to take […]
Tempo10 – The Loan Market
We’ve got the perfect line up over at Tempo Towers so don’t often delve into the transfer market. What are your options if you have to though? This week Mike and Samo discuss the merits of playing the loan market. Does it depend on the level you’re at or can any team be improved with […]
Canary Corner – Part 12
Welcome! It’s the end of season 4 and if you’ve stuck with me through the good and bad at Carrow Road then I am very grateful. You are the Darel Russell of the operation. If you’re new to these parts, well, I guess the summary is we had no money and we got promoted. Then […]
Vive la Révolution Part XIII: Les possibilités qu’il vous manque dans la vie
Catch up on the story so far… “Let me get this right. Every single one of you in this room said we would get relegated. And now you are suggesting we bottled getting promoted? Seriously? Do you understand what we achieved this season? Can you actually comprehend what we did? Yes, we were close to […]
Letou Decide: FA Cup Draw Reaction
Those who joined us last night on @TheHigherTempo will have found that we have drawn Reading in the FA Cup Quarter Final. The draw is an interesting one because the only team I really fear is Arsenal but the Premier League leaders are chock full of fixtures. They contest the Carabao Cup final this weekend […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 16: The Club World Cup
My geography skills aren’t great so if you ask me about Atlanta, I don’t know much. What I do know is we’re the football capital of North America. The Falcons? Nope. We’re the biggest club in the city- and we’ve now got a chance to make our name known to the world. Now let’s be […]
Bringing Back Brum Episode 11
FM18 Birmingham City | Bringing Back Brum | Ep 11 Not Again!! | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to a current series on my channel where we try to return Birmingham City to the Premier League, after 4 managers in just over 12 months stability is key. In Episode 11 we travel across the city to […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Portsmouth Match Review
Turning up for training this morning feels like making a funeral march. I knew selecting Kyle Naughton was a risk in the FA Cup tie against Portsmouth, I just knew it. I had planned to only play him for a half hour before replacing him with young Mael Davies. Kyle took a big hit from […]
Inept International Manager: Ep. 5
Click here to find previous episodes of the Inept International Manager Last time on the Inept International Manager we left Louis Henrik taking a notepad, a pen, a pot of tea and a bag of mint imperials into a dark room. He has since emerged with a scrawled squad list in hand. He hands it […]
Chronicles of a Chancer Part III: Final Leg
Spanish Inquisition Barcelona B: Part 3 ‘Hi Marc, take a seat.’ Marc Cardona sits down opposite me. ‘I’ve asked you to come here because I need to discuss your recent performances.’ ‘Right,’ he said, bemused. ‘No problem boss.’ ‘I need you to improve your form if you want to stay in the first team.’ ‘Eh? […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Portsmouth Preview
Later today (kick-off at 5:30pm, live coverage on @TheHigherTempo) Swansea welcome League One side Portsmouth to the Liberty Stadium in the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup. It’s one I am desperate to win, although I’m not exactly sharing that fact with the players. In fact, if you read yesterday’s press conference then you’ll […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 15: Play-Off Promises & Potential
We’re into the play-offs yet again after a record-breaking season where we secured the most ever points (83) of a side in the MLS. It’s all very nice but I want to go all the way- particularly as we fell short at the final hurdle last season. I’m unlikely to lose my job but from […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 16th February
After last Saturday’s debacle of a press conference when I was asked just two questions, I’m assuming today’s engagement will be brief and I can go back to selecting my team to face Portsmouth. It’s an interesting consideration because Portsmouth are actually doing really well under interim boss Stuart Pearce in League One, they’re second […]
Tactics Tested: Manchester City
Barca Style of Play Pep Guardiola started to implement his playing style upon his Man City team almost as soon as he arrived last season, but with an ageing squad and after a disappointing season with Bayern, he couldn’t reach the dizzying heights of his old Barcelona side. Last summer, however, he made significant signings, […]
FM18: 5 Things To Do When Setting Up A Tactic
Welcome to a new series here on The Higher Tempo as a collection of our best Football Manager writers take a look at guiding you through ‘5 Things’ to do when undertaking a particular task on Football Manager 2018. In this guide, we’re looking at setting up a tactic, which is something we all do […]
Bringing Back Brum Episode 10
FM18 Birmingham City | Bringing Back Brum | Ep 10 Bang Bang | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to a current series on my channel where we try to return Birmingham City to the Premier League, after 4 managers in just over 12 months stability is key. In Episode 10 we welcome Sunderland to St Andrews […]
Letou Decide: Player Profile – Daniel James
I spent last night at Holmes Park to watch Leicester City U23’s vs. Swansea City U23’s. My brother, the oft-forgotten Mike Tango, tells me that the sign of a good team is a strong U23 side but I’m fairly sure he picked that up from a book I forced him to read. In the end […]
Vive la Révolution Part XII: Amateurs doing amateur things
Catch up on the story so far… “It’s been mentioned quite a lot already, but Cannes will now end the first half of the season in 6th place, just four points off automatic promotion. Considering you are still an amateur team, that is quite incredible especially when you sit two points above St Etienne who […]
AFC Bournemouth: Cherry Picking Episode Two
Welcome back to Cherry Picking for Episode Two. The last part saw me traverse pre-season, struggling to work out my best starting XI whilst also conceding the usual sloppy goals typically associated with the majority of my defenders on every save. After winning five games out of the six, I came into the start of […]
Making Blackburn Rovers Great Again – Episode #1
Once upon a time at Ewood Park, a man named Kenny Dalglish led a Blackburn Rovers team which included Alan Shearer, Tim Sherwood and Chris Sutton to their first and to date, only Premier League title. That was 23 years ago. Today the club finds itself in English football’s third tier, but with the use […]
Letou Decide: League Update
As it’s Wednesday and nothing good ever happens on a day referred by some of my players as ‘hump’ day, I’m taking that to mean the crossing of the bridge over the middle of the week and not a more Netflix & Chill version, I’ve sent the players out onto the training pitch with Nigel […]
Tempo10 – Questions and Answers
Mike and Samo bring a host of questions with them this week. Celebrating the new Tempo10Podcast twitter account reaching 100 subscribers, we asked #Tempo10Podcast on slack, and via Twitter, for questions. Mike tells a story which involves Mikael Forssell on a birthday card, and Samo gives us a sneak behind the scenes revealing he is quite similar […]
Canary Corner – Part 11
Hello and welcome back to Norfolk for some more CM01/02 madness. It’s the middle part of season 4, which to be brutally honest is where my previous couple of seasons have gone badly awry. Results have been decent but Moukoko’s impending bitch fit about not getting a move to Chelsea is a cloud hanging over […]
Letou Decide: Crystal Palace vs Swansea City Match Review
I think it says a lot about me as a Football Manager that after last night’s victory over relegation rivals Crystal Palace and despite having amassed a fairly impressive record of six wins out of eight, I think there might be something wrong with me because I’m still angry about Arsenal. If we’d have avoided […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 14: Domination In The Nation
The MLS should now just be known as ‘Josh Challies’ Atlanta United & some other teams to make up the numbers’. With six games to go, we clinched the MLS Supporter’s Shield for the third season in a row and we’ll start in the Play-Offs at the conference semi-final stage once again. You may wonder […]
Tempo Tactics: FM18 Defensive Play
“If I want to win 1-0 I think I can as I think it is one of the easiest things in football. It is not so difficult.” – Jose Mourinho I don’t believe he plays FM18 – noted sponsorship with alternative mobile football management sim aside. In my experience trying to get a 1-nil win […]
The IC…Geracao de Ouro #9: I raid the teams of Africa
I didn’t think I’d have the time to quite get through enough to justify an update this week but the gods of time have conspired with me and I got through a fair whack including finding maybe the first great young star of this save. Transfers As you can see, I’ve been a very busy […]
Bringing Back Brum Episode 9
FM18 Birmingham City | Bringing Back Brum | Ep 9 Magic Of The Cup | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to a current series on my channel where we try to return Birmingham City to the Premier League, after 4 managers in just over 12 months stability is key. In Episode 9 we travel to National […]
Letou Decide: Crystal Palace vs. Swansea City Preview
After a weekend where I was able to check out the other results, I’m feeling rather content whatever happens this evening. The Premier League results over the weekend were: Apologies for the way the graphic has been thrown together, but the information you need is all there. Of the teams below us, Leicester City lost […]
Inept International Manager: Ep.4
Click here to find previous episodes of the Inept International Manager Last week we left our protagonist Louis Henrik being ushered in to meet the press before selecting a squad for the upcoming World Cup play-off against Azerbaijan. Dave Gallop and Steven Lowy are nowhere to be seen, leaving Louis to face the journalists alone. […]
Chronicles of a Chancer Part II: Winter Blues
Spanish Inquisition Barcelona B: Part 2 ‘–Merry Christmas – everyone!’ ‘My favourite, this one.’ The dressing room was silent. All of the players where sat on the club benches after getting changed and prepped for the game. I skipped over to the iPod speaker and twirled the volume to make it blast out louder. My […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 10th February
Already this morning I’ve batted away Sky Sports’ Bob Bell with a question about whether I’ve effectively replaced Wayne Routledge with André Ayew. Considering Routledge has been injured for my entire tenure in Wales and only made eight substitute appearances under Stuart Reid, I don’t think it’s a case of Ayew replacing Routledge as Wayne […]
Vive la Révolution Part XI: Cannes we do it? Yes we Cannes!
Catch up on the story so far… It feels right to start today’s little update with my emotions iinterpretedthrough the medium of dance. AS Cannes, that amateur team I keep banging on about, are that Championnat National 1 CHAMPIONS. Yes, champions. We’ve finished ahead of the four teams spending more than €3m a year on wages. […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 13: International Frustrations & MLS All-Stars
I’m sick of the MLS schedule, I really am. We’ve enjoyed a storming campaign but things have become a bit more difficult over the course of the summer months as my squad has been completely ravaged by international call-ups. The U20 World Cup, Copa America, African Cup of Nations and Gold Cup saw many of […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 9th February
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Hey, it’s Friday! It’s time for some press conference goodness as old Charlie Tango can be relied upon for some wit and football related banter.” And while you would be 100% correct, this weekend’s game is actually on Monday night. We’ve been selected for television coverage, which is […]
AFC Bournemouth: Cherry Picking Episode One
Having played a ridiculous amount of hours on both Football Manager 15 and 16, I’m ashamed to say that I took my foot off the gas last year. All sorts of things got in the way of a consistent save on FM17, despite occasional highlights at various minnows around Europe. But this year, it’s time […]
Bringing Back Brum Episode 8
FM18 Birmingham City | Bringing Back Brum | Ep 8 Tactical Genius | Football Manager 2018 Welcome to a current series on my channel where we try to return Birmingham City to the Premier League, after 4 managers in just over 12 months stability is key. In Episode 8 we take on Norwich City at […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Manchester United Match Review
If you don’t follow the live coverage of games @TheHigherTempo, get on them. It’s a lot of fun to see the goals go in, the cards dished out and the substitutions in real time. Last night we welcomed José Mourinho’s Manchester United superstars to the Liberty Stadium. There’s been a lot written about the Busby […]
Vive la Révolution Part X: C’est votre tactique, mon ami
Catch up on the story so far… “I wouldn’t say we’ve changed what we are doing too much. Just a little tactical tweak to our system and some good recruitment and yeah, we are happy with where are at right now. It’s up to us to keep going. Of course, the teams trying to catch […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Manchester United Preview
According to SportPesa, we’re only ‘slight’ underdogs to beat Manchester United, I can’t help but feel that’s generous. I wouldn’t put more than a quid on us even at 11-5. For reference, Mourinho’s United are Evens. We go into this game at the Liberty in sixteenth place, but a win or a draw takes us […]
Tempo10 – Youth Intake Day
Join Mike and Samo this week as they touch upon many FM fans favourite time of the year, Youth Intake Day. Is it a golden generation or a bunch of flops? And does that really matter or can a player still make the first team? The discussion then moves to what we can do as […]