Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Fm 2010 Guides : Picking The Right Target Man

Intro: What is Target Man?

Target Man is referring to a player who operates up front and acts as the target of long ball and direct passes.Target Man is usually deployed in defensive formation for underdog teams.An effective target man will be able to hold the ball well and keeping it in possession while waiting for supports from on-rushing midfielders.




Advantages of having Target Man

The biggest advantage of having a Target Man is their ability to transform a mediocre team into a winning side.Their physical presence and aerial ability will be the best weapons to disrupt oppositions' defense and opens up spaces for their striking partners and supporting midfielders.

It also come handy when it comes to set pieces if you have target man in your team.Their jumping and heading attributes will prove to be vital in beating the keeper in close range efforts.


Jump and beat the defender in the air

Types of Target Man

For now, in FM 2010, there are two types of Target Man.

1. Target Man who supports
- This kind of Target Man will look more likely to play simple passing to keep the possessions and bring others into play.

2. Target Man who attacks
-This kind of Target Man is different from those who support the others. Their job is to lead the line of attacking and open up spaces for teammates to move into.

Hold the ball is one important attribute needed by a Target Man

The Important Attributes of Target Man

You can't simply put on any player as target man because they simply wont play well.Some people tend to think that it doesn't matter as long as the players' overall attributes is good but it actually backfired.You don't need a Rooney, a Messi or a Torres to be a target man.You just need strikers with the RIGHT attributes.

For Target Man who supports others, these are the important attributes:

-First Touch
-Heading
-Long Shots
-Aggressions
-Bravery
-Determination
-Team Work
-Work Rate
-Jumping
-Strength

For Target Man who has the duty of attacking, these are the important attributes:

-Finishing
-First Touch
-Heading
-Anticipation
-Bravery
-Determination
-Team Work
-Work Rate
-Jumping
-Strength

Using Them The Right Way

Even when you know the important attributes, you still have to use them the right way.Take Wayne Rooney as example.



Based on the stats, he is deemed to be weaker in terms of heading and jumping.With good first touch and finishing, he would play better if the ball meets his feet and not his head.

Step 1:

Go to the team instruction section and look at the lowest column.

There are 3 options - Primary playmaker, Primary Target Man and Target Man Supply.

Step 2:

Tick Target Man Supply.

You can see 4 options available.Pick the one you think is appropriate. If you ask me my opinion, I would pick "To Feet" .

My Personal View :

I have been using Target Man since day 1 because QPR is not a strong team.The formation ought to be a little defensive in order to ensure the team stop leaking goals.The good thing about using Target Man is my team often score against big team like Chelsea, Aston Villa and ManUtd even when we were small little team in Championship.

Out of 7 matches against big team during my days in Championship, I have never lost...Not even once and since then have won 4 of them.In 7 matches, I have already scored 8 goals and only one match, my team fired blank.

The advantage of using a target man is that we will be able to attack using his dangerous physical presence and aerial ability with long ball, direct passes and bombing in crosses .Thus, we don't have to risk conceding goals upfront when our wingers and wingbacks and cross from far away, still in their position and the target man will do the rest.

In addition to that, it also works well when you are playing against small team who plays 9 players in penalty box.Setpieces and the aerial ability of Target man will be able to help you in breaking up the deadlock of the game.

Hope this will help to clear up your doubts and folks, a post on the Top 7 Target Man in FM 2010 will come shortly.Stay tuned!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Of Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger



Just a short post to show my progress with Q.P.R.I'm almost at the end of my 3rd season with Q.P.R.Now the team is sitting top of the table after 31 games.Yes, it's unbelievable.Baros is in rich vein of form and his partnership with Keirrison fires us to the top of the table since the 28th game!

Now, 2 of the Big Four clubs manager back Q.P.R.

Benitez think that we would end up champion while


Wenger said we are strong contenders after beating Arsenal 2-1 at their own turf.


There is nothing sweeter than getting recognition from your rivals.

Fernando Gago and Luli Fernandez

Following last post on Alberto Aquilani and his WAGs, Michela Quattrociocche, someone actually emailed me and ask me to continue posting some WAGs.In case you didn't know, you can actually reach me via the contact me button up there. I guess a random post on WAGs wont hurt, right?Sometimes we do have to take our eyes off FM for a little while. *evil grins*

Today's WAGs will be Luli Fernández who is the girlfriend of Real Madrid footballer Fernando Gago.



Luli Fernández is an Argentinian model and actress who is only 21 of age.You can click the image to enlarge and view it clearer.








All these photos are taken from fightingoverme.com . Thanks to them we have the chance to look closely at Luli Fernandez.If you wish to see more of her, kindly click here. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

New Feature Added to Football Manager Freak Kid

I have added a new feature into the blog.A translator is added to make life easier for foreigner.





Just select the language you want and click the play button to translate. On the left handside widget area, the play button MIGHT not be fully visible but you can still click it.No worries.Anyway, enjoy and I hope this will be handy and useful to some of the foreign visitors drop by.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas !!!





This is the 1st Christmas for fmfreakkid.blogspot.com .Let's hope that there will be more Christmas ahead for this little blog of mine.

Whenever Christmas comes, it signals one thing to me.A new year is ahead.Then we have new hopes and new aims for a new year.

For 2010, I hope I will be able to expand my blog and attract more people to read it.I hope I will be able to contribute more USEFUL and HELPFUL articles that will help out FM players out there like me.If you guys happen to notice, there are a few changes made to the blog recently. Widgets switching places and donations button is added.I hope I will be able to move this site to a new domain with a possible forum included by next year.To do that, I will be hoping to gather as much fund as possible.So guys, if you wish to help out, you are more than welcome to donate.Every penny counts.And we are not forcing anyone to donate.Just donate if you feel like to.

When I started this blog, I only planned to spend my time in a more meaningful way.As time flies, the passion to blog more starts to grow and I really enjoy myself interacting with other FM players out there.A new domain will allow me to put on more features that I plan to put in the blog that is currently restricted by blogger.com

Let's hope my wish come true. =)

Anyway, new posts will come even during Christmas .There is no holiday for FM Freak Kid like me.So ,stay tuned.

Lastly, Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

FM 2010 Backroom Advice Guides

FM 10 Backroom Advice is a newly added feature for this year Football Manager.

It's an exciting addition that makes the game better but how many players actually use it...the right way?

Using it the right way as in not believing everything the backroom advice given to you.Human make mistakes.So do your assistant and coaches.I will pull out an example to make it simpler and easier to understand.

I will take my next match as an example.

So,I'm playing West Ham United away next match.As usual, the scout will send in a report beforehand, highlighting what formation West Ham usually play with, who's the match winner and so on.


My scout, Hamilton, reported to me that West Ham normally play with 4-1-2-1-2 and their attacking midfielder Landon Donovan has the ability to be a match winner.So, I went on to the backroom advice after this scout report.


Gerhard Baier then highlighted 8 issues as his advice of which "coincidentally" , all agreed by my assistant manager, Richard Hill.


See the second opinion part? Yes, that's an important part.If someone disagree with this advice, then you have to take a close look into the advice and analyze who's the right one.Failing to do so might actually lose you the game.

An important reminder to all.Some people tend to treat the goal analysis like some spam advice given by the coaches in every single game but it's actually an important element.


For example, my coach reported to me that West Ham United scored most of their goals between 61st to 75th minutes of the game.If my team are only hanging on a goal lead,I will then put on defensive tactic in that particular 14minutes .The opponents are usually dangerous during that period of time.

Anyway, back to the last part of the back room advice given.The assistant manager himself has suggested that Jack Collison as the danger man of the team.



And another coach, Sergio Corino disagrees with him.


Remember what the scout report earlier? It mentions that Landon Donovan is someone who might caused us problems.So, it's 2 vs 1 now. David Hamilton and Sergio Corino vs Richard Hill.Who should you and I believe?

This is an interesting feature added, isn't it?There are disagreements between coaches and assistants which make the game even more interesting than the previous few versions.

Do remember one thing, singling out different danger man before the man might have different impact on your match later on.

What I do now is to see which one of them perform better in recent games.

Jack Collison assisted 3 goals in 10 league appearances so far while Landon Donovan

only started 5 league games(another 5 being subs) but already scored 6 goals and assisted another goal.

Who is more dangerous?I believe it's Donovan.

Some people wouldn't even bother to check out before following their assistant manager's advice and in the end, they ended up losing their match.For this new Backroom advice feature, you gotta be smart.Sometimes, your assistant manager can make mistakes too.He too, can provide some rubbish, pointless advice.

On another note, I'm not sure if anyone realize this but I would like to point it out.It seems like different advice are given based on different staff attributes.


The Danger man advice is actually related Man Management of your staff while the goal analysis is part of tactical area.

So, next time when you might want to consider the attributes and compare it with the scout reports.Do a brief research on the form and stats of the players mentioned before following it blindly.

Hope this little guide of mine will help you guys out.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Aquilani and Michela Quattrociocche


Aquilani FOR SALE!




Don't get me wrong.He is still with Liverpool but Aquilani is for sale in my game!!!The 20m pound midfielder is only for sale for 6.5m!!!Sadly, I missed out on him as he prefer a bigger club and he went on loan to Aston Villa.

Nicknamed Little Prince, Aquilani sure has his own little Princess.Yes, a little off topic but I'm sure someone is interested in knowing Aquilani's WAG.


Came across this little princess of Aquilani called Michela Quattrociocche who happens to be an Italian actress.



Hot and sexy both of them are.Sweet little couple.

Back to what I said earlier, I can't believe I missed out on him!!!I blame the board for not giving adequate wage budget.*sigh*Never mind, will deal with what I have in my squad for now.Hopefully, we can be among the elites come end of season.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Football Manager 2010 Patch 10.2.0 Is Out!

Yes, the latest patch is out now.

The download link and the list of fixed bugs and new updates are available here.

Friday, December 18, 2009

My QPR Team Current Progress

They dont call him Keirrison anymore.

They call him King Keirrison!!!

Definitely one of the best signing I made so far. Already scored 16 from 16 appearances.Few injury setbacks caused him to missed few matches.Came back as strong and as good as before.His partnership with Baros is fruitful.Successful and effective, the very least I can say.

By January, the team sat not so comfortably on 2nd.


Spurs is just one point behind with one match in their hand.Found any weird part in the league table? Yes, ManUtd is not there.Apparently, they lost their way in league, losing and drawing matches they should be winning.Now, they are fighting just a little above relegation zone, sitting on 15th in league table after 22 matches.

February is probably the best month ever.The team managed to win all 5 matches.

I got the best manager for that particular same month !Along with me, Baros received his own personal award as well.


Despite the fact that he is now in his 30's, Baros is as strong as ever.He had been in a rich vein of form so far, scoring 9 goals in just 5 games!

I'm looking forward for the next month!Hopefully, we can do better and exceed our expectation of the season by finishing within top 4!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Big Blow!

Big blow it is. One of the key player in my team just get himself injured and will be out for the rest of the season.

Cattermole just get himself injured in my FM10 game :(

Considering this SS was taken in February, yes, Cattermole is out for 6months until June .

Because of that, I'm left with only

Jones, Rowland and Buzsaky for my midfield.I decided to buy another replacement in January and I brought in

Gojko Kacar

Only 3.4m was paid for his service, with his impressive stats, I guess it's a bargain?He didn't arrive on Loftus Road alone.Another signing was made but this one was free.Olexandr Aliev
joined the club after his existing contract expired.




This is another good signing.Not only it's free, the player is still pretty young and came with impressive stats.Let's hope he will do well and adapt well to our team!

Finally, a good news!

Ghana want me as their manager.Now, I'm trying to lead them to World Cup Final :)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Do The Impossible-Superb Comeback!!!

In the League Cup quarter final,the team was drawn against Newcastle.I never get serious with League Cup.Thus, I only fielded 2 1st team player.

Only Cattermole and Otamendi remained in the lineup.

E.Johnsen replaced Joe Hart in front of goal.Santa Cruz get chance to prove me wrong that he is not a flop.Santos, a regen wonderkid get another start.

The team started the game horribly.Cattermole was sent off on 12minutes and opponents managed to score 1minute later.When Half times arrived, the team is already trailed by 2 goals.

When the 2nd half started, I thought the team would play better after my scolding but it turned out that they played worse.Andy Carroll scored the 3rd goal to ensure that we couldn't win the match.

On 56minutes, I decided to change things up, putting all 3 subs on the pitch, hoping that it would change the game.

Santos came off for the in form Baros.Jones came on for Buzsaky.And Kerrison replaced Borrowdale to make the formation now, 3-4-3.

I removed one of the wingback and put Jermaine Jones as Anchor Man to act as an additional defensive cover to allow the rest of the team to go all out for the match with the mentality of the team set to Overload.

Miracle did happen. Baros was the hero.Just 2minutes on the pitch, he already start scoring.His 1st came on 58minute.

On 61minutes of the game, Jones scored a stunner from 30yards out to give the team a glimspe of hope.

On 76minute of the game, Baros scored his second and completed his hat trick 3 minutes later and single-handedly won us the game.

We came back from 3 behind to score 4 and won the game.Greatest game my team ever produced!

3 super subs ultimately changed the game.

I learned one thing.

Never afraid to try and take the risks.Anything is possible.Impossible is nothing.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Training for Nicolas Otamendi

When I 1st bought Otamendi, he already has impressive stats.But,according to the scout report I get, he can still improve further and can be a world class players in few years time given the right training.

Otamendi 2 seasons ago

So, I decided to take things seriously and made him a personal training schedule to improve him further.

36months later, he is no longer the old Otamendi.


He has improved a lot both physically and mentally.Given that the training facility in Q.P.R is lousier than the big team, I would say my training schedule is a successful one.Thus, I would like to share it out.

Here's how his training looks.


Have fun trying.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Early Season

August:

The 1st game of the season was against away, playing Pompey.Unsurprisingly, we won the game 2-1.Keirrison scored a brace and that was only his 1st game.

However, the next game was a disgrace. We lost 2-0 at home,against Middlesbrough who just get promoted this season.The fans were furious with the defeat...



But the next 2 games pleased them..We won the next 2 games at home with big margin.Something positive.August ended with us sitting on 12th with 6pts in hand.

September:

September is the perfect month for both the team and I.Not only we managed to beat big spender Manchester City at their own turf, we also kicked Aston Villa's ass once again with the same scoreline we had last month.


September ends with a victory over another strong team - Everton. 9 points from possible 9.The team sat comfortably at top 3.

Because of these positive results, I managed to get the Manager of the Month award.


October- November:

Keirrison scored again in the 1st game of October.By now, he already scored more than anyone else in league and league cup.

8 league goals in 7 league games and 4 goals in 2 appearances in league cup matches.

Joe Hart doesn't want to lose to Keirrison in scoring.So, he decided to score few himself too.



His penalty taking isn't that bad huh for a GK?

After 11 league games, the team now sit 2nd on the table, trailing 2 points behind Tottenham.


All thanks to the great Baros-Keirrison partnership.Because they gel well, we managed to steal a lot of points from those big teams.

Baros already scored 6 league goals, assisted another 5 in his 9 appearances in league.What a signing.He came on Free and did a splendid job for us. Bravo!

Santa Cruz, on the other hand, is another flop like Saha.

In 11 matches, he only managed to score 2.He assisted 5 goals though which is pretty decent...But he has to start scoring goals now or else he will be losing his place to Baros.


After 12 matches,the scoring chart is now led by Fernando Torres from Liverpool.


Keirrison get himself injured after scoring the 8th.If only he is fit, he will be able to top the scoring chart.


The provider chart is led by Luka Modric from Spurs.

Baros and Santa Cruz both have 5 and easily make into the top10 of highest assists.

December next and I think I need few reinforcement in January.