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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 […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 18th December 2017
A quiet Monday is ruined by the news that Wayne Routledge will be out for 2-3 months with a torn hamstring. With nothing to do but reflect back on Saturday’s vital win against Leicester (that leaves us 17th) it gives me something to think about – Should Ayew be rewarded for his heroics against Leicester […]
Letou Decide: Leicester City vs Swansea Match Report
A dramatic comeback from 2-0 down saw Stuart Reid’s Swansea steal the three points in some style. Swansea dominated the first-half but were punished by the referee for a push in the box, leading to a Mahrez penalty to make it 1-0 to Leicester. Leicester doubled their lead just three minutes later with a fantastically […]
The Last Tango in Bucharest: Ep. 5
European Dreams 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: Leicester vs Swansea Match Preview
Swansea manager Stuart Reid is still under pressure after only winning 4 points from his 6 games in charge so far, he finds himself with a great chance to pick up 3 points as his Swansea side face off against bottom of the table Leicester. Joins us over at TheHigherTempoPress Twitter for all the action […]
WHAT IF we invested millions in Indonesia?
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” Following on from the success of last week’s Old Firm experiment we have decided to Go East! The Asian […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 15th December 2017
Time for the pre-match press conference and time to sort our tactics ready for tomorrow’s game against Leicester! Reporter: It’s fair to say Swansea didn’t have the best of times against Tottenham, so are you looking for a reaction from your players in this game? Me: The whole team wants to bounce back with a win. Reporter: A […]
Behind Enemy Lines Episode 10
FM18 Arsenal FC Behind Enemy Lines | Ep 10 | Knock On Wood | 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: 4-4-2 Diamond
Square Pegs, Round Holes Some teams are simply not blessed with wide players. This generally isn’t the case with club sides, as they tend to ensure they are fully stocked in every position. National sides, however, have to work with what’s available. In some cases, this can lead to an abundance of players in one […]
The Land of Opportunity IV
Back again with another international break down. I wish I could say things were going great, but it’s on the low end of average, at best. If you want to brush up on what’s been going on so far, you can check out parts One, Two, and Three at the provided links. In this international […]
Letou Decide: Tottenham vs Swansea Match Report
Despite their fine win over Liverpool last time out, Swansea were always tipped by the bookies to lose to Tottenham last night. Spurs came into the game 5/2 on to win the match. Swansea must be absolutely devastated after a heartbreaking defeat to Tottenham. It was a game of few chances but Swansea opened the […]
Gunning For Glory Episode 10: All coming apart at the seams
Josh’s Arsenal side have started to encounter problems and he now faces a battle to save the campaign. 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. March has been frantic. After a draw to Newcastle and a defeat to […]