Fifa 12 Career Mode Discussions

[Scorpio]

So I just lost Sako (Knee), Boateng (Keeps getting concussions), Aubameyang (Knee), Chandler (Shoulder), Coutadeur (Ankle), Lemoine (Ankle) and Legear (Another Knee injury for him).
So I'm having to play fringe players and I recalled every loan, fell to sixth place with just a few months to go, and most of the injuries are a month minimum.

That's a true life simulation hitting you hard in your digital world. It sucks but it's awesome...

 

[daikirai]

Yea, I've found a few good players amongst those that didn't get much playing time at all.
I figure I'll finish around 6-9th on the season if I keep up current form, and I might just stick with Etienne unless I get a good offer elsewhere.

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

I bought Clyne for this season after reading about him here, and he's awesome, Daprela as my LB is doing almost as good as Clyne, they both go up amazingly well, and they've both scored in this season.

I tried to sell Carcela-Gonzalez when the season began, but didn't get a convincing offer, and I wasn't going to give him away easily, despite being a 78 Overall he's performed very well, I bought Reus to play in him position as a starter, but I've had to use him as RCM too and even if he's not really meant to play there I've gotten advantage of his dribbling skills to create chances there.

The thing is, his morale is really low (like in red), how am I supposed to win him back?

I think it comes down to playing them regularly, playing in a position they can naturally play, and failing that, single them out for praise during pre-match press conferences. Are they under contract or been negotiating a new one? This affected one of my player's morale, they refused a contract extension due to feeling like I'd not offered enough money and it upset him.

But if they're still unhappy, perhaps a romantic candle lit dinner for two may be in order, though how that affects the club budget depends on which restaurant you choose.....

 

[Velocity5]

Fortunately, purchasing up young talents, all I have to do is buy them some Happy Meals and they are good to go!

 

[PaulP]

Does it happen to you that the last two or three attacks in a match by the CPU seem unstoppable? Luckily I'm playing div 2 and forwards are crap, so shots tend to go wide, but I get the feeling that, were I playing Chelsea or some other attacking powerhouse, the AI would regularly score 1 or 2 goals during the last minutes of the game. I think i was mentioned before that the CPU seems to "cheat" in important matches with goals right at the end, but even in non-important games this tendency is clear. Going ultra defensive doesn't help much because it's as if the opposition suddenly got insanely good at getting past my defenders. And it happens everytime! I've yet to end a match in the CPU's half of the pitch...

But no complaints about the game, though, I tend to miss a lot of chances so I'm always clinging to 1-0 victories. My defensive work is quite good until those last minutes when all hell breaks loose.

 

[Perfectio]

Does it happen to you that the last two or three attacks in a match by the CPU seem unstoppable? Luckily I'm playing div 2 and forwards are crap, so shots tend to go wide, but I get the feeling that, were I playing Chelsea or some other attacking powerhouse, the AI would regularly score 1 or 2 goals during the last minutes of the game. I think i was mentioned before that the CPU seems to "cheat" in important matches with goals right at the end, but even in non-important games this tendency is clear. Going ultra defensive doesn't help much because it's as if the opposition suddenly got insanely good at getting past my defenders. And it happens everytime! I've yet to end a match in the CPU's half of the pitch...

But no complaints about the game, though, I tend to miss a lot of chances so I'm always clinging to 1-0 victories. My defensive work is quite good until those last minutes when all hell breaks loose.

Have you tried changing the defensive/attacking setting? It changes things and if you already have the game "won" or you're happy with the result you can hang on to it like that, the other team will obviously come forward, and that'd leave gaps too, so you could also have a chance to get a nice counter-attack and finish the thing.

 

[PaulP]

Have you tried changing the defensive/attacking setting? It changes things and if you already have the game "won" or you're happy with the result you can hang on to it like that, the other team will obviously come forward, and that'd leave gaps too, so you could also have a chance to get a nice counter-attack and finish the thing.

Yep, I usually score first, go "defensive" and look to keep possession and build patiently from the back, or counter (as my team is not particularly good at passing). Then, during the last 5-10 minutes of the game, I set the mentality to "ultra defensive". That way I usually get away with a win.

I was referring to the fact that during the last 5 minutes or so (when I'm winning), the other team goes kamikaze and I just can't deal with that very well. They lock me in my box. I guess that's down to the fact that I'm not that good at the game yet, I've been a pro-evo player almost exclusively until very recently, but FIFA 12 has really won me over.

 

[PaulP]

Actually, Perfectio, I'm a PES 6 online player mainly, and I can see that you like the game too. I haven't felt excited for another football game until this year! That's a pretty big statement for how well-balanced I think this edition of FIFA is.

 

[Perfectio]

Actually, Perfectio, I'm a PES 6 online player mainly, and I can see that you like the game too. I haven't felt excited for another football game until this year! That's a pretty big statement for how well-balanced I think this edition of FIFA is.

Tactics, my friend. If they trap you in your box you need to find a way to stop that, either with the system, or with the players.

Maybe cutting their options once they get close to the box, or playing attention to who is the main threat (there's always one that commands the attack or hurts you the most).

I love tactics, but one of my problems is precisely solving problems, not to keep the result (I try to keep possession and going more defensive) but when I'm losing and should be changing stuff to improve. I'll never be a real manager unless I can learn to do that (yeh, I'd like to be a real one)

As for PES6, I loved it, but I felt that it was very limited for my needs and the newer PES versions lacked something, the FIFA 12 videos looked good, I gave it a shot, and it's awesome.

 

[Velocity5]

I haven't felt cheated, typically if I do, I end up realizing that I should have stopped playing the game about two/three matches ago. Sure, occasionally the CPU seems to have the upper hand, but the late goals I have given up were usually because I gave the CPU too much space to launch a shot or I over-committed on a challenge to open up space in my back third. It's cool though; I agree with everyone that mentions digging deep into your tactics to play well for the situation. You just need to take the time, look at the positions your players favor, look at the formation your playing, and ensuring the tactics you have set cater to your players' strengths.

BTW, has anyone received any superb management offers to coach big name clubs? The best I have seen in my 5 year career is Real Betis...

 

[Savage19]

Hello fellas, long post from a first time poster. Summary: (1) Derby takeover where I got to control the team. (2) youth squad questions. Before I posted I read all the posts over the last week or so during breaks at work, Clap your hands if you’re working too hard. I haven’t found any posts of people who had this happen to them.

In my first CM, I started as Sheff Wed and built a pretty solid team of average 75 (pretty much the US Olympic team you’ll see in August, full disclosure I’m American) and got myself promoted the Premier league in my fifth season or so (I mostly simulated except cup games until this season ). During the spring of that season Derby was taken over. When I got my job offers there was Derby, with $190 million in transfer just waiting for me. I know from reading the posts that user controlled teams won’t be taken over so this has to be the closest to that scenario. Anyways, I sold every Derby player except Wheater within a season, signed up the top players in the world, Ogbonna, Clyne, Gibbs, Smalling, Neymar, Wilshere, Schurrle, and some other guys over two seasons. They gave me $175M to spend my second season. It was cool, but for me, the whole fun of the CM is to build a team with financial constraints and work for your successes so I quit that CM after season 7. Anyways thought you guys would be interested in hearing about the amount of money. It was too crazy to be fun, although you guys who like to play with the Man City’s of the world would have loved it.

Second part is a couple questions I had about development, scouting, and youth players (I’m looking to build a consensus about the process). After the Derby experience I started over with the plan to play with a team made up entirely of scouted and recruited youth players. In order to pull that off I swapped Derby for Shrewsbury Town to get a team in League 2 with enough money to employ top scouts but the time to build a team. I just finished season 3 now and have about 25 youth players on my team, about a fourth of which seem like the real deal. I’m using two 5 star/5 star scouts and one 4 star/4 star who I keep in England and Scotland to produce enough British players for the Premier League. So here are my questions:

1. What’s the best potential you’ve seen from a youth player before he’s signed to full team. I have never seen a player with a potential higher than 91, though someone posted a while back that they had a 95.

2. What’s the best current overall you’ve seen from a guy once he’s signed. I had a 66 forward (potential 83) and a 68 CB (potential 88).

3. In my experience (7 seasons) the game is producing young players with enough potential to keep the game world rolling along but the computer teams are not signing them. I intentionally leave players with decent potential on my scout’s list just so other teams will sign them. On a 9 month scout I lose 3-4 guys with 80-85 potential. Anybody played out 15-20 seasons and know if the game world stays realistic?

4. I should know this one, but do 14 year olds who spend two years in the youth team increase in the current overall before they get to 16?

5. Anyone actually developed one of those 40 overall as a 16-year old with potential 91 players into a 80+ player? I generally give them two to three years if they don’t dramatically increase I give up on them.

6. Anyone ever had a youth player who can play two positions? They all seem to be one only, which is pretty annoying considering their stats could fit in several positions.

7. Any other youth team/scouting observations. I noticed there is an unnecessary amount of fullbacks with no defensive skills.

Anyways, I have no FIFA access until the holidays are over so I hope you guys give me my fix by getting a discussion going.

 

[PLF]

Good post dude.

Don't have time to answer all those questions right now nor am best one to answer it anyway but yeah I'd say the best promoted YOUTH player I've seen was probably rated 67 which is quite high! Maybe even a 68 but nothing higher.

Potential wise, I had some that the range of 6 was even something like 87-93! But that was the highest I think.

I've noticed the same thing about all of them having 'one' position which is silly and a lot of useless full-backs as well. Guys with NO pace whatsoever for example (Speed in 40's!) and short, plays RB only, nothing good on the guy but high enough potential.

 

[daikirai]

For a youth player the best I've seen is 93, I actually scouted a player who was a 68-75, when looking at the prospect screen, with potential 93 max. Sadly another team stole him immediately, I really wanted that one too!
Haven't added a scout with Etienne, not sure why not, probably would have helped, but the season is winding down now so we'll see if I even remain there, the board is looking at me after a bad run of games due to several injuries.

 

[Ern Dog]

Your League 2 Team had enough money to buy 2 scouts???? And 5/4 star ones at that! Did they get taken over aswel? My League 2 team(Wimbledon) gave me 15,000 to buy a scout, that wont even buy me the worst one.

 

[Placebo]

Far too many wrong footed players generated, maybe 1 in 30 fullback will be the wrong foot IRL ( I can think of Newcastle's Santone, Fulham's former Mexican and didn't Spurs have a Korean?) as for wingers it's maybe 1 in 20? that are wrong foot, Pires and Waddle two very famous ones that spring to mind...

 

[PaulP]

As for PES6, I loved it, but I felt that it was very limited for my needs and the newer PES versions lacked something, the FIFA 12 videos looked good, I gave it a shot, and it's awesome.

Exactly the same I feel now. When I go back to PES 6 I feel limited, and newer versions of PES are just... a bit dull.

I should learn to solve tactical problems too, I'm always too lazy for that

 

[Homey D. Clown]

Speaking of wrong footed, do you guys know of any players that are wrong footed in FIFA 12 as opposed to real life? I'm not sure but I think Matavz from PSV and Clasie from Feyenoord are right footed IRL, but in the game they are left footed.

 

[daikirai]

What a collapse. Team has fallen to 13th, with the possibility of 8th with a win on the last day and a few teams losing/drawing.
Injuries screwed me hard. I lost 6 of my starting players on rotation
Lost/Drew 10 games in a row, board kept me on though. Lost the Coupe Nationale, won the first cup (Do not know Ligue 1 cup structure). Both against Marsielle.

Team has had incredible difficulty finding the back of the net, Le Tallec scored one goal in that 10 game stretch and it was a rebound. My defense couldn't stop anything, midfield was non existent.
Looking forward to the offseason now. I don't think Etienne will keep me around though!

 

[BobbyBox]

Finished my Arsenal season, just came first by one point ahead of Chelsea! very nailbiting. I beat them 4 games from the end of the season at the Emirates with 2 lucky goals. So I went 3 points clear and with games against the lower league teams I though I was well on my way, until the next game I drew 2-2 with stoke! I managed to see out the last two games.

I also won the League cup, but got kocked out first time by West Brom in the FA cup

Hazard was great and also my VP. Van Persie got 17 goals, Hazard 18 and my VP 19 goals, Suarez came top for Liverpool with around 25 goals and two Chelsea players Mata and another came 2nd and 3rd.

table was Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool. Man united came 5th. Blackburn got taken over by a rich bloke and are spending willy nilly.

I got 40mill to spend this season and decided that Fabregas had a terrible season with Barca and wanted to return to Arsenal, so I spent 37 mill getting him back and paying him 190,000 a week....now he is back to where he belongs (Look it can happen http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/7394850/Cesc-could-return-to-Gunners)

Lets see how I get on in the next season in the champs league etc. I have been told I need to win the league, win a cup and also get to the semis of the champs league

Also got some good offers from Napoli and Sevilla to manage them, but I obvoiously stayed at Arsenal.

I am trying to bed in youngsters, the Ox, Miquel, Jenkinson, Miyaichi and Frimpong (and of course Ramsey and Wilshere) all played a healthy amount of games last season and did well, so will be playing them alot more and also my VP.

I have also bought in a couple of youngster from my youth team with potential in the late 80s. At the moment they are only on late 50s I think, so I will try and loan them out for a season.

I lost 4 games in the league included a humping from Bolton 4-1 which was a shock.

Anyway next game charity shield against Liverpool and a return for Fab! Yipee!

 

[daikirai]

Finished the season and ended up 14th. Kept my job but very disappointed with the season overall. Started really strong and then just fell apart. Once I lost Bayal Sall my defense was non existent it seemed.

Took the Gladbach job for something fresh. My other options were Catania, Nancy, and two other lower french and spanish sides. Looking over the team I don't think I need anything immediately, and I also don't have the transfer funds to get much. But I received two offers for my starting CB and a midfielder, and accepted them both as they were up there in age and I have younger talents who I want to start in those positions anyway. I now have 15m for transfers so I'm looking to buy defensive for now and set up scouts for Germany and maybe another also.

 

[nerf]

Just had an enjoyable league fixture against QPR. Dominated the opening stages, forcing Paddy Kelly into some saves and also hitting the post, before a defensive lapse allowed Bothroyd to put QPR ahead via a counterattack.

Managed to come back from 0-1 down to take a 2-1 lead thanks to two Agbonlahor goals, then N'Zogbia was put clean through to seal the points in the 86th minute... but Kelly saved again. In the 90th minute, Wright-Phillips was able to sweep one through a defender's legs to make it 2-2... gutted! They only had three shots on target as well!

Missed the chance to move ahead of QPR and back into the top half of the table. I've conceded far too many late goals this season.

The thing that keeps me coming back is that I'm getting quite into the tactical aspect. I've devised a fun system that starts off as a 4-5-1, but the right fullback moves forward to become an extra midfielder in possession, with the centre backs shuffling across to form a three at the back (3-6-1):

Then I deliberately try to do most of my build-up down the right flank, to overload that side of the pitch, hoping to pull the opponent across and open up as much space as possible for Gabby Agbonlahor to arrive from the left.

Here is a 14-pass team goal that put all that into action:

YouTube - FIFA12 - Villa Team Goal.avi

In the transfer window I signed a new central defender, who I hope will help shore up the defence a bit (and will probably signal Dunne's departure in the summer), and the midfield has been boosted by the return from loan of Jean II Makoun, from whom the rest of the midfield now pivots. Just have to turn all this into some more points now!

 

[Nobleknight]

nerf
I'd like to know your game slider

 

[374]

Started a new career mode with Malaga as my CSKA one was becoming boring. I'm currently 10 games into the league season and we are sitting in a respectable 5th place.

My most amusing moment so far was when Duda complained that he was finding it difficult to settle in a foreign country with strange food. Bearing in mind the guy is Portuguese and I'm a Spanish team, it should hardly be a massive culture shock to him(!)but it's touches like these that have really made this season's career mode fun to play.

 

[Savage19]

Your League 2 Team had enough money to buy 2 scouts???? And 5/4 star ones at that! Did they get taken over aswel? My League 2 team(Wimbledon) gave me 15,000 to buy a scout, that wont even buy me the worst one.

Because I specifically intended to only scout and play youth players I swapped Derby County ($11M transfer) from the Championship for Shrewsbury in League 2 so I'd have the cash. I started with 2/3 star scouts but eventually sold enough original Derby players to get 5-star scouts.

 

[PLF]

Started a new career mode with Malaga as my CSKA one was becoming boring. I'm currently 10 games into the league season and we are sitting in a respectable 5th place.

My most amusing moment so far was when Duda complained that he was finding it difficult to settle in a foreign country with strange food. Bearing in mind the guy is Portuguese and I'm a Spanish team, it should hardly be a massive culture shock to him(!)but it's touches like these that have really made this season's career mode fun to play.

Especially when you consider Duda's been at Malaga and in Spain for years!

 

[daikirai]

Ended up selling a few players from Gladbach, all 28 or older. Got myself 20 M to play with so I went after what I thought were my two weaknesses, LM and a CB. I wanted to get young(ish) German players only, and have also sent my three scouts to Germany, Austria and Netherlands.
First transfer I went after was a LM, I wanted to get Babel but he was not available, neither was Fabian Johnson (USA! ), but Vukčević came up in a search for 25 and under German LMs and he looked decent on paper (His only pre-season game he didn't do much and was thrown off the ball very easily). For my CB I wanted to get Vertonghen but he was a bit too much, I ended up taking Alderweireld from Ajax and I think I have a pretty decent squad, starting Hanke/Jones up front. Hanke seems pretty damn excellent although he's not rated all that well. Fairly powerful, okay pace, great shot, good touch. And Jones is just a speedster.
I think if I get any decent LB/RB prospects come up from scouting I will be signing them and giving them cup time at the very least. I am unimpressed thus far with the two I'm playing, neither really pushes up all that far, but somehow they are always out of position making my CBs have to stretch to cover.

Pre-season results were actually all poor, played against Ligue 1 teams in all three (Lorient, Bordeaux and PSG), managed a draw and two losses, but I was switching things around a lot and could keep the ball when I wanted/needed. So there is promise, and maybe it's just me but I always find that when I add a new player into a team there's a period where everyone performs a little worse. Like they're all acclimating to the new signing.

Going to get some games in on season one tonight

 

[BobbyBox]

Well my season in the champs league was very dissapointing didn't get out of the group stages in a group with Spartak moscow, Galatasaray and Bayern Munich.

Drew the first two games 1-1 with Galatasaray and Moscow and then lost to Bayern 4-1 with a Rooney inspired show (He requested to leave Man U and they bought him). So I was in the poop.

I then just about beat Spartak 3-2 with a great performance from Walcott. Then I beat Galatasaray 4-1 again with a Man of the match performance from Walcott, he seems to shine when the pressure is on.

So all I needed was a win or a draw to get through against Bayern at the Emirates (Bayern seem to struggle against the two other teams aswell). I started off very well and created lots of chances, but another awesome Rooney display, saw them bag 3 goals late in the second half which destroyed any hopes I had

I was given a target of semi finals, so hopefully by the end of the season I don't get sacked.

I also got knocked out of the League cup by Mk Dons in the first round. Played all inexperienced youngsters. It was a great game I scored to make it 2-1 in the last minute (Had to bring on a couple of experienced players to try and tie up the match), then they scored again almost straight away! it went to extra time and pens with Podolski and the Ox both missing

It is nearly xmas though and I am tearing up the league 11 points ahead of my nearest rival Man City having lost only 1 game all season. I need to have a good showing in the FA cup I think to keep my job though.

Manager Mode really is great, I have a reletively young side, tearing it up in the domestic league, but they were found wanting in the champs league, I just couldn't get my groove together and the better quality of oponent in Bayern just highlighted my weaknesses.

But I am going to keep going with my youngsters and hopefully we can do better next year in the champs league, if I am still managing them

 

[Ern Dog]

Here is a 14-pass team goal that put all that into action:

YouTube - FIFA12 - Villa Team Goal.avi

This is a perfect example of one of the things that bothers me about FIFA, there is no pressure on the ball! I am pretty certain that I could end a game with 100% possession if I did not go for goal. I tried to fix this with the sliders and custom tactics, but putting everything to the extreme sets the pressure and tackling frequency to what it probably should be like on normal. You cannot make a team like Barca play their high pressure game because the game wont allow it, its pretty odd. The game has a sedate feel to it, you are never rushed into a pass or forced to use a bit of skill to evade an opponent unless you are running right at them.

 

[nerf]

This is a perfect example of one of the things that bothers me about FIFA, there is no pressure on the ball!

The game has a sedate feel to it, you are never rushed into a pass or forced to use a bit of skill to evade an opponent unless you are running right at them.

I completely agree, and it's one thing I miss from FIFA11. However, that's the feedback EA were given: almost everybody said the CPU pressure/aggression in 11 was too much, so they eased it off.

In 11 on the higher difficulties, protecting the ball was almost a game in itself. It would be nice to be able to bring some of that back - maybe a new slider for next year, or something.

Edit: Although that goal was on World Class. I went back up to Legendary for my subsequent fixture against Newcastle and felt that I had a lot less time on the ball. In fact the CPU shaded possession 51%-49%.

 

[374]

Especially when you consider Duda's been at Malaga and in Spain for years!

Really? Haha, that makes it even worse.

Anyway, I'm just into the January transfer window and he's asked to leave so I think I'll probably sell him as he was only my 2nd choice LM anyway.