Thought I'd write a little a walkthrough with my impressions at the end of my first season with Monaco.
Transfers
- Given £10M to spend, first I transfer list any dead wood, old players, youngsters who wont make the cut etc. Here I'm I notice the first impressive thing. Clubs will bid less than market value for old players with little resell value and if stalled for more money will usually end their interest. Do this with a younger player however - and they will often come back, begrudgingly meeting the market price (and often higher still!)
- To replace the outgoings I sign Vito Mannone in goal, Sebastian Prodl at CB (71 with strength shield) and to be my new captain, Mathieu Flamini who is listed by Milan for about £5M (and somewhat realistically I have to pay him considerably higher wages to tempt him to this level). I also loaned Frimpong, Ramsey and Coutinho to add some options in midfield. I'm happy with my squad and the pundits predict promotion for Monaco (nicely summed up in the news section.)
- Overall this part of the experience is decent, with realistic fees and wages and a nice two stage negotiation process (club and player). Lots of transfer stories and deadline day is awesome, with clubs coming in for your player last minute with big money causing you a dilemma! My one big gripe as others have said is not only the crazy number of transfers (seems like big players are moving club every season!) but also slightly unrealistic ones - nani to spurs, silva to arsenal etc.
Injuries
- Here I am SUPER happy. I set the sliders to around 90% frequency, 70% severity and seem to have a realistic stream of small and large injuries, both to myself and amongst the CPU. Highlights include losing my defender for 7 months to ligament damage, Coutinho and another player to broken legs/ankles for around 3-5 months. All in all the injuries are awesome, forcing you to use your squad (lots of little injuries for between 3-7 days too.)
Growth
- Again a very welcome addition, with all my regular players growing between 1-4 OVR throughout the season. Coutinho also gained an acrobat shield that was nice to see! At first I thought growth was a little slow but now that loaning works (i.e. players grow on loan) I think its quite perfect, as you can loan out a 19 year old of 70 OVR for a few seasons and have him develop into a solid 80 OVR first teamer. Any faster and players would be hitting 90 left right and centre.
Player Stories
- This addition I absolutely love. I had an old striker of 35 who told me at the start of the season he was considering retirement as training was getting too hard. As we went on our cup run (to win the Ligue cup) he begged me to be involved, even from the bench, as he was aware it was his last chance perhaps of a trophy. This I did, and at the end of the season after a few goals as a sub he declared his love for the game too strong and announced one final season! Elsewhere I've had players beg to play even though the physios are unsure, others asking for rests ahead of the final push of the season, and others demanding more playing time.
Other Points
- Form, Morale and Fitness all work well, if a little on the conservative side, and have definitely noticed a striker in form banging them in and getting the luck of the green with deflections etc.
- The whole football world seems alive and the commentary is awesome, mentioning end of season predictions, injuries, signings etc etc - so much better than last year - it feels like they are talking specifically about your team and this match.
- Player individuality and AI are much improved, now that I've been promoted I'm finding it so much harder in Ligue 1 where teams are shooting and passing much better. And likewise I often look for specific players who I can feel are better at dribbling/long balls etc.
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All in all it is SO much better than last years game. If they tone down the crazy transfers we've got the solid base in Career mode we've always wanted! I'll update with my Ligue 1 adventures soon (the board want me to finish mid table cheeky buggers!)
