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An old debate which would never be resolved, not even on the most biased football management sim forum, which is better, the old Classic Championship Manager’s or the modern management game and award winning Football Manager. There is no question the game has certainly developed, with a lot more information on the database and graphically a lot better but in terms of enjoyment does FM live up to the enjoyment factor of CM.

It was a series which spanned more than 15 years and generations grew up on it’s fast tempo and un realistic transfers, did any other game offer the chance to sign a 16 year old Swedish striker and turn him in to the next Ronaldo. The pace of the game was intense and although the graphics were a bit dull, there was so much gameplay it could keep you entertained for years. Many people would play for up to 30 years and see the likes of Michael Owen become England boss. It was that type of wackiness and intrigues that made the game loveable.

Of course, Championship Manager was nothing when they broke off with SI, they struggled with the addictive gameplay and have now have been shown up by the boys on the town, Football Manager ..

Although FM has been going for little more than 3 years it is already in Football Management folk law. It’s beautiful graphics combined with huge fan bases and great gameplay has made all Management games step up a gear. The level of accuracy and realism has significantly improved since the days of CM 3 and 4 and the data is now on a huge scale, it has made such players as Sherman Cardenas names on every FM fan’s lips. It is truly a revolution in Management gaming.

So how do the two compare, both are hugely successful and although the CM series and fetched more money than FM (mainly because more have been released) the awards have come in thick and fast for FM. The realism is far better and graphic quality Is amazing. However this isn’t just a walkover for FM, Championship Manager can safely go into the hall of fame because of the excessive playing of so many footie fans across the globe.

FM may have moved up a step, but CM is still the ultimate myth!

Background Information

Nation: England
Year Founded: 1874
Status: Professional
Reputation: National
Chairman Status: Loves the club
Favourred Personnel: Brian Little, Ian Taylor, Peter Withe, Juan Pablo Angel, Dion Dublin
Fierce Rivals: Birmingham, West Brom
Other Rivals: Coventry, Wolves, Leicester
Finances: Rich
Esimated Value: £44.5 million
Stadium: Villa Park, Birmingham
Stadium Capacity: 42584 all seater, with under-soil heating
Reserve Stadium: The Bescot Stadium, Walsall
Training Facilities: Good training facilities
Youth Facilities: Average youth facilities + Youth academy
Continental Competition: None
Media Prediction: 15th
Squad average age: 25
Squad Personality: Determined

Kits

Home

Away

Expectations
After recent events with new chairman Randy Lerner succeeding Duug Ellis as the owner of Aston Villa Football Club he has promised to give money to the club to help in there bid to start to fight for European places season in and season out. Rather than being another ‘mid-table’ club with no ambition you are expected to fight for the European places and hopefully gain some trophies within a few seasons. With the new boss giving a whopping £20 million to spend money certainly isn’t an issue and a fight for Europe could certainly be achieved within your first season incharge; if you buy and sell wisely in the market.
Note: As soon as you begin in charge if you ask the board for more money your budget will be increased to near £39 million.

Goalkeepers
One of your key area’s for position; the goal keeper, for this position you have to players, both have a good ability although there are better options around. First of all; the first choice keeper, Thomas Sorensen the Danish keeper has over 50 caps to his name which shows his ability and this keeper will certainly be a reliable option in goal. His stats are high for a keeper and at the age of 30 he still has a few seasons infront of him; his three top stats are; One on One’s (16), Reflexes (16) and Strength (17). For your back-up option you have Stuart Taylor; at only 25 he has a lot of ability and will certainly challenge for a first team place. Although when taking over as you have a lot of money it may be a better choice for you to sign a better keeper and maybe offload Taylor or keep him as a third choice; If you do this he will become unhappy and maybe a short term loan move could be a better option with an option to recall him at any time, in case of injuries. His three top stats are; Reflexes (17), Handling (15) and Jumping (17).

Defenders
This position is certainly the area where you would need to improve. To begin at left back you have two main choices; Jlloyd Samuel and Wilfred Bouma. For me my first choice starter would be Bouma; He is good going forward and has a strong challenge on his; his strength his high meaning it’ll be difficult for him to be pushed aside by an on-coming attacker. Samuel, isn’t as good but he is a more pacier option; coming against slow and old wingers he would benefit from playing as he would be able to quickly counter; leaving the winger far behind. For the centre back position you have multiple choices. The main three that i would choose from would be strong Swedishman Olof Mellberg followed by two young Englishman; Liam Ridgewell and Gary Cahill. The two first choices I would choose from would be Mellberg and Ridgewell. To begin Mellberg is a big presence at the back with Heading ability at (16), Marking at (16) and Tackling (17) meaning he is one of the top centre backs in the Premiership. Ridgewell would be his preferred partner because he has a little more experience than Cahill. Ridgewell is quite small in comparison to other defenders at only 5 foot 10 but with a Heading ability of (16) and a Jumping ability of (17) he is no slouch in the air. Cahill is back-up due to inexperience but in future seasons he will take over the spot of any other defender if there are any injury worries. For right back you have an attacking version in Didier Agathe and two other more defensive options in Aaron Hughes and Mark Delaney. My recommendation for this is to play Hughes and use Agathe as back-up, whilst selling Delaney. Hughes will be able to cement a place in the side with ease, so to add real competition for places a right back would be a potential buy. Hughes and Agathe have similar stats but with Hughes you have a more defensive and more reliable option, although his stats are average he does perform well.

Midfielders
The midfield area in the Villa side is quite strong. For the left wing there is a more or less guarenteed slot for Gareth Barry. Barry is a player you must hold on to as in future seasons he is amazing and he usually stars for England. He is probably your best player in the team and is definately a player who will bag you goals coming from the wings and a player who will get plenty of assists; A crossing stat of (16) backs this up. Youngster Peter Whittingham could be used as a back-up winger although he is preferred as a centre mid so purchasing a left winger is a must. Steven Davis is the first player to be mentioned for the centre mid role. He is a fantastic young player and turns out a star in future seasons. He will pick up interest from big sides so holding on to him may be difficult, but if you succeed in keeping him at the club it is for your benefit. Although there are no real other centre mids that are ‘world class’ Gavin McCann would be your next best option; although not brilliant he will be a performer none-the-less and this brings to the simple conclusion that you must buy a centre mid capable of first team football straight from the off. For the right wing position there are two choices. First choice will be new recruit Stiliyan Petrov, the great thing about him is he is versatile and can play as a defensive midfielder if you wish to play a dimaond formation. Playing him on the wing would be the best position for him as he has the ability to run past defenders and put top balls into the box to support the strikers, an attacking minded player in an attacking position producing many goals would certainly see him being a big aspect in your team.

Strikers
You have many players who can play in these positions but goals are not really going to come from this position with the players you already have at the club. Gabriel Agbonlahor is a good player now, but loaning him out to a Championship club would be a good idea for him to get first team experience and for him to develop into a top player for later. Luke Moore is a pacey young striker but his goal flurry usually comes later on in future seasons so holding him in the side and using him as one of your two strikers would be a good idea. This leaves Juan Pablo Angel and Milan Baros stats say Baros is the better player but I have had experiences with both of these player and both of them were not really players who could score 20+ a season. Although out of the two I would choose Baros as he has a better alround game with a better ability to finish off his chances. But this is another position where you need to improve, more so than others possibly as you need a striker who can score 20+ goals straight from the off to give you a shot at Europe.

Potential Signings
Joe Lewis – A cheap young goalkeeper who can be bought for around 400k, signing him would be a great aquisition as he turns out a great player in future seasons, loaning him out is a possibility and he will definately be first choice later on in his career.

Tomas Sivok – Another player who’s great for seasons and only costs around £1-3 million he is a consistent performer and will certainly be a great asset to your squad, you may have trouble signing him as he is wanted by Barcelona some of the time.

Billy Jones – Young and versatile player who can play in defence and midfield. Can be signed for around £2-3 million and is well worth it who is a consistant performer right from the off.

Danny Szetela – Young American from Columbus. Can be picked for a small fee of 180k and can play on the right wing as a back-up to Petrov. Would be a quality signing who develops a lot over the years.

Darren Bent – Can be bought for a big chunk, around £11-15 million. But for the price he will certainly be the player you need for you to bag 25+ a season from him.

Sales
Mark Delaney – Not needed and can get a little something for him.

Juan Pablo Angel – With Darren Bent arriving there would be no place for him.

Eric Djemba-Djemba – No place for him in the first 11

My Team Selection

Conclusion
You as manager, a new and ambitious chairman, plenty of cash. These are surely some great ingredients for a club that can reach high levels in football, challenging for Europe could come earlier with good signings in the market, and challenging for the title could come in a few seasons.

Name: Alan McGregor
Age: 24
Club: Glasgow Rangers
Nationality: Scottish
Value: £325,000
Screenshot: Alan McGregor

Overview

Alan McGregor is a Scottish goalkeeper who has just recently made a name for himself with some great preformances for his club, Glasgow Rangers. He was told he could leave the club this summer but when he got given a chance in the first team he proved to be one of the best keepers in the league.

His first season at the club was in the 1998 season when he signed a contract with the old firm club. He pushed for first team action and got a loan deal with St.Johnstone in 2004, six years after he joined the Gers. He kept six consecutive clean sheets at one point for the Perth club earning him a loan deal with SPL club, Dunfermline Athletic the next season.

The consistant keeper is known for making outstanding saves that keep Rangers in games and is now being tipped to push for a place in Scotland’s national squad.

Consistency

McGregor like real life is a consistant player on football manager. Having experience with him myself, he comes out with regular 7′s, 8′s and 9′s, maybe even a some 10′s if your lucky. You could expect his average rating come the end of the season to be between 7.00 and 7.50 which is pretty decent. He makes great saves at vital times which helps your team out drastically and pulls them off quite alot.

Strengths

McGregor is a decent keeper and will improve in the future. He is very brave (16) and is not scared to get stuck in when trying to catch the ball. His great concentration (16) makes him very unlikely to make huge mistake which will cost you games, this in my eye is a big bonus. His decision making is also great (16) and will not make stupid decision’s that are unnecessary.

His reflexes are very decent (15) making him a great shotstopper, which is backed up by his great agility (15) in which he gets to the ball, to tip, punch etc quickly. He also has a decent influence (15) from between the sticks so he could be a candidate for the captain’s arm band.

Also, he his eccentricity stat is a just 3, this being very good for a 24 year old keeper. This meaning he keeps his head and maybe could lead to his great consistancy.

Weaknesses

The most notable and maybe one of his only weaknesses is his, rushing out (2). He tends to be poor when rushing out to get to a player on an one on one situation but some players may find it hard to get past him never the less.

Final Verdict

McGregor is very consistant in all areas of his games, he may not have alot of huge strengths but his stats are quite decent all round and he only a 1 major weakness. Also being a very consistant player on the pitch, conceding rarely if he has a decent defence in front of him but when called upon he gets the job done most of the time.

He is sure to improve as a keeper and can be bought on the cheap, between £500/750k. A would recommend him to most non world class clubs (Maybe world class if your looking for cheap back up but in all honestly there is better options such as Enyeama out there) like teams such as, Rangers, Portsmouth, Cardiff etc if you get me.

Theo Walcott History in Real Life.
Walcott grew up in the small village of Compton near Newbury, Berkshire and played for local side AFC Newbury in his youth. Walcott also scored over 100 goals (including mini tournament) in his one and only season for Newbury, before leaving there for Swindon Town. He then left Swindon Town for Southampton.

In the 2004/05 season, he starred in the Southampton youth side that reached the FA Youth Cup final against Ipswich Town. In addition, he became the youngest person to play in the Southampton reserve team, aged just 15 years and 175 days, when he came off the bench against Watford in September 2004. Despite having not yet played in the first team, at the age of 14, Nike agreed a sponsorship deal with Walcott.

The striker went on to become the youngest-ever player to play for the Southampton first team when he made his first team debut aged just 16 years and 143 days, after coming on as a substitute in Southampton’s 0-0 draw at home to Wolves in the Football League Championship.
Walcott made his full first team debut away to Leeds United on 18th of October 2005, scoring his first senior goal in the same game. He continued his scoring spree four days later away at Millwall before scoring again on his full home debut against Stoke City the following Saturday. His rapid rise to fame also led him to be named amongst the top three finalists for the prestigious BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award on 11th of December 2005.

His performances soon attracted attention from the British media, who saw him as one of the most promising young English talents of his time. There was speculation that Walcott would move to the Premiership and media reports linked him with some of the league’s top clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, as well interest from the likes Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Barcelona. After much tabloid speculation and intense and protracted interest from Chelsea in particular, Walcott ultimately signed for Arsenal on 20th of January 2006 for an initial fee of £5m, rising to a possible £12m.

Since then Theo Walcott has continued his meteoric rise to fame. He Scored on his England Under 19 Debut at the age of 17. He also boosts being included in the 2006 England World Cup Squad, although he failed to play in a competitive World Cup Game. Since returning from the World Cup in Germany he has made his Arsenal league debut and made significant strides into living up to his hype.

Walcott on FM.
When many Arsenal fans and football fans finished their download of Football Manager 2007 demo they fired the game up as soon as possible and went on a search for Theo Walcott, and I was one of them. I had always been excited by the prospect of Theo Walcott on this game, would SI live up to his hype. Would he be World Class already or would they have gone the way of caution and underrated him. When I found him, I was genuinely happy with the job that SI had done. Whilst the game was loading I would have bet money that his stats would have been fantastic and he would be way overrated.

Walcott Screenshot

In my opinion, SI have done Walcott justice. Looking at his stats there are obviously areas where he flourishes and areas of weakness. On Football Manager, Theo Walcott’s most able positions are Attacking Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder right side, And Forward Centre.
Looking at Walcott’s stats it’s obvious he’s not the finished article yet, and that he needs a couple of year’s good exposure to First Team Football, tutoring and Sensible-training regimes. As you can see Walcott’s set piece stats aren’t his strength but if you look around, the majority of 17 will be the same, again it’s a matter of training and he will improve.

You can see that Walcott’s best stats are by far and away his Acceleration, Pace and first touch. These three stats are vital for an attacking player, many young player on the game don’t have such a natural ability like Theo has. With Pace of 19, Walcott is able to run past most defenders in the game and leave them for dead, this is a superb attribute for a youngster to have and will lead to him creating a lot of chances and making many good runs forward. Acceleration of 19 again helps with his pace it shows that he can go from walking to sprint in the matter of seconds. This is dangerously good as many defenders who maybe be quicker won’t be able to keep up as he will have the extra yard on them because of his acceleration. Again this will leads to plenty of chance. His passing ability is fairly good, at a rating of 13 he can produce some fairly good passes without ever doing anything spectacular, this mean he will keep it simple which can often be the best way to go. Suprisingly for a player so young his technique is too a good level as well, 14. Technique is often something that can be a young players downfall, all their other stats can to adequate to Good but if their technique isn’t good they won’t be passing, Shooting, Dribbling the right way. This often leading to problems such as losing the ball, missing the target and subsequently poor performances. This gives Walcott good starting points too improve his stats through training and tutoring. Although Walcott’s heading ability lets him down, for a forward player you would expect a lot better heading ability, but on the other hand, at 5ft 9 Walcott wouldn’t be winning many headers even if his stat were 20.

Theo always displays a very good set of Mental attributes for a young player, particularly one so young. His creativity is at a good level at 12 allows him to turn games and create opportunities for himself and his team-mates, a valuable asset. Walcott has good anticipation and coupled with his speed this will create a deadly ability to get on the end of through balls again giving Walcott all the chances of scoring. With determination at 16, Walcott will always give his best for the cause and asset that many young footballers are missing in this age of High wages.

All together Walcott has a good set of stats for one so young, but a lot is expected of him, with the right training and game practise he should turn out to be a star and become one of the world’s finest.

My Experiences with Walcott
I played a 6-month game with Arsenal on the demo, and Walcott turned out to be one of my star turns. Going into the season I doubted that I would play Walcott at all with Henry, Baptista, Van persie and Adebayor ahead of him in the pecking order. But due to injury to Henry, and a lot of Baptista suspensions, I gave Walcott the nod over Adebayor. He turned out with a fantastic first game, scoring one and setting one up as well. I kept him in my team and he gradually built up some good form with regular 8’s and 9’s. Unfortunately he got a small injury and Baptista forced his way back in. But Walcott stayed valuable as a bench player who I would throw on at 60 Minutes and his pace and freshness off the bench would cause him to run rings around the opposition’s defence creating and scoring regularly. Linking up especially well with Baptista. Walcott continued although his form can, at times, be sporadic and he can have a storming game one week and slip back into obscurity the next week, although if you give him a prolong run in the side he tends to play better. His works especially well with a tall powerful striker playing up-front with him so that he can run after knock downs and use his pace.

In conclusion Walcott is a very promising young player that I am sure becomes one of the best in the world in a couple of years time. I feel he is well worth spending your budget on in the first season. The payback for parting with your money might not be evident straight away but when you have the world’s best striker in 2008 you’ll be jumping about remembering you managed to get your hands on Theo for around 11-14 Million first season.

It started last year, a n00b called Lukeyman joined FM Stands. Often posting spam and making story’s about himself to get a better rep. After the closing of FM Stands, Lukeyman fancied posting on a larger stage and joined TI. It is here where he was at his most famous. Being banned once he then created a second alias called Damio. Damio was apparently SI staff as well as a Black American living in Britain. Although soon found out, he later tried 3 or 4 more aliases on the site. This was the start of one man’s siege on the FM scene.

Now you may be wondering what posses me to write this article, well Lukeyman for me, throughout the time I have spent on the scene, is the most annoying member I have come across. What posses someone to lie, saying that they have a fatal illness just to be re accepted into the fm community. Who is Lukeyman ? Is he really called Lukey or is he just some 41 year old from Southend-on-sea, getting kicks out of creating aliases on FM forums. Well in this article, I will go through some of the essential things to look out for when Lukeyman may be lingering in a shape of a made up Internet somebody.

1. Lukeyman craves attention, this may be saying a certain lie which , as ridiculous as it sounds, you believe so you don’t look in anyways rude. As time goes on certain things don’t match up. It is then you should make your move, when people question who this new member really is.

2. Especially of late, Lukeyman aliases create graphic portfolio’s claming wonderful pieces from popular GFX artists are his own. You go along, totally gob smacked at this wonderful pieces, but in your brain you see the pieces of work as oddly familiar. Then the big tell tale is when he reveals his Photoshop has just broken and that “Oh No, looks like I won’t be making anything for a while” Despite now being appointed Graphics Mod for his wonderful work, he does little working out how to become Global Mod, then requests a piece in the Request section. So a warning, when you see a Portfolio with pieces you have seen before, and then he asks to be GFX Mod, ffs say no.

3. Wanting to start a Football/Graphics site. Not surprisingly if you are a well known name around the scene and you log in to a forum, Lukeyman may of sent you a PM with the following message. “hey lol J lyk wanna crte a site, erm I cnt pay lol but yhe I would likez be admins wid u, get somme mattes to join ” Of course the normal person would say no, but perhaps say yes. See what happens. Ask him for a quick chat on MSN (Oh My God, Shock Horror! He doesn’t have MSN) then follow up with loads of personal questions. This should come to the bottom of matters

4. Finally, Lukeyman will always look for power. He loves to have a site of his own, but still hold a position on a small (normally free) FM site. The chances are he will apply for a spot, but this is key, if you have an incling it’s Lukeyman, looking at all the evidence we have covered, then say “Not Today”. The number of site’s I have seen make this mistake and appoint him. The next time I visit I seen him banned. But the forum still has been messed up, 60 posts from a utter idiot.

So, if you are interested in creating a site, or perhaps already an owner of a site then have a glance of this article, then look at this new member, possibly called Ed or manni and decided for yourself, is this just another alias of the scene’s worst enemy Lukeyman.

Background Information

Full Name: Joe Lewis
Date of Birth: 06/10/1987
Place of Birth: Norwich (England)
Languages: English
Favoured Clubs: Norwich
Favoured Personnel: None
Description: Young Goalkeeper
Personality: Balanced
Reputation: Local

Screenshots
2006

2010

Overview

Joe Lewis is a young talented keeper sitting in the 2nd tier of English football in the Championship with Norwich City. Lewis is a young prospect and will definately be involved in the England set-up with the right levels of training and opportunities for first team football. As Lewis is young, he won’t mind being a back-up player, although it is recommended that you give him the odd game in the first season for him to shine in later seasons.

Consistency

Lewis has been a top performer for me in my experience with him. He has been playing for my Premiership, table-topping Norwich team for the past 5 seasons and he has been undoubtedly one of the best prospects i’ve seen. With average ratings of 7.47 (in 32 games, season 1), 7.46 (in 28 games, season 2), 7.61 (in 18 games, season 3), 7.44 (in 32 games, season 4) and currently 7.22 (in 9 games, season 5) he has definately been a top keeper. During this time his goalkeeping skills have earned him a call-up into the England squad and has even been capped 6 times, and this is still only at the age of 23.

Strengths

One of Joe Lewis’s main strengh’s is that he is ready to go into first team action despite his tender age, which is always a big bonus, as you will always know that Joe Lewis will be able to step in and fill the gloves left by your injured/departing goalkeeper. Also the goalkeeper is tall, meaning any high balls into the area, Lewis will be out to get to the ball first, with his aerial ability at 13/20, and a height of 196cm, 6 foot 5. Another factor with Lewis to go with his aerial ability is his bravery. As a youngster he is very brave and won’t be frightened to go into strong challenges, and the rating 18/20 clearly shows this. His physcial stats are average and will improve in the near future.

Weaknesses

For a goalkeeper, Lewis does have a few weaknesses, but due to his age, this would be expected. In future seasons these stats will definately improve. First of all, his communication, now for a goalkeeper you would want him to have good communication skills so he can order his defence and aim to keep clean sheets. But with a lowly rating of 9/20 Lewis will need to improve on this as soon as possible. Also another stat you would expect to be good for a goalkeeper is his kicking skills. Lewi’s kicking ability is below average in my opinion with a rating of 10/20, so when playing him, don’t be too shocked if the ball ends up away from the intended targets, short goal kicks will be used a lot to help keep possession. Finally his throwing ability is similiar to his kicking, with the same rating out of 20 he is expected again to go for the short throws instead of the long distance throws that would go for a quick counter.

Other Information

Joe Lewis’s value is only £12,000, therefore he will not cost as much when you want to buy him. Being as he is a top prospect, he will cost around 400-600k, but for what he becomes later on in the game it is worth it. Another thing you may want to note is that his contract expires at the end of the first season (30/6/2007) however, in in my experiences, other than being Norwich of course they have always signed him up on long term contracts so signing him early on for a smaller fee would be most recommended.

Final Verdict

Joe Lewis is obviously an amazing talent and judging by the screenshots produced you can clearly see that he is a star of the future. I recommend Lewis for any team in Europe, at first as a back-up keeper giving him some opportunities, ready for when he becomes a top talent in future seasons.

Background Information

Full Name: Daniel Sturridge
Date of Birth: 01/09/1989
Place of Birth: Birmingham (England)
Languages: English
Favoured Clubs: None
Favoured Personnel: None
Description: Promising Striker
Personality: Fairly Professional
Reputation: National

Screenshots
2006

2011

Overview

Daniel Sturridge is a young talented centre forward who is a major part of the youth system at the Premiership club Manchester City. Sturridge has definately got the potential to go all the way and become the star of football in the future, playing for both club and country. Sturridge has so much potential he has been labelled the next Gary Linekar, showing that he is definately one to keep if you are the Manchester City manager, or definately one to buy if you are looking for a future star.

Consistency

Sturridge over past years has been playing regularly for Manchester City, however, as he attracted so much interest from bigger clubs over the years he refused to sign a contract meaning that he had to be let go on the cheap, £4.2 million was the fee paid by Manchester United to there neighbours which turns out to be a bargain. Sturridge has been loaned out many times so he had much time to settle in the Premiership for along time. In the 2006-07 season he only managed 3 appearances, with an average rating of 5.33 shows that he isn’t ready for Premiership football just yet. For the 2007-08 season he was loaned out to Championship club Leeds, he went on to winning a winners medal helping them to promotion with 17 goals in 38 appearances. 2008-09 gave him more of an opportunity with Man City, with him featuring in 8 games, scoring 2 goals and an average rating of 7.25, before a loan spell with Bristol City. He was also on loan at Championship club Blackburn in this same year for 9 games managing 4 goals in that time. Featuring for both Man City and West-brom the following season gave him a joint stat of 2 goals in 21 games. Maybe he wasn’t going to make it after all? Well that was proved wrong after securing a move to Manchester United 2 years later to be apart of there new and improved squad. United had a lot of forwards, however injuries gave him his chance, and with 3 goals in 3 games he is finally living up to the high expectations people had of him.

Strengths

Sturridge is so young but yet he has so many strength’s straight from the off, as a striker you would need him to have a high level of finishing, and at 14 it is definately a platform to build from, meaning he will chip in with a few goals. His fitness is high and with a fast acceleration stat (16) he is definately an ideal partner for a tall striker. His pace overall is 14 and with his stamina at 11 he will be ok for most matches, although playing him too much could lower his morale as you will not be getting the best out of him.

Weaknesses

As Sturridge is only 16 he does have a few weaknesses, but with lots of training and hard work they will soon be forgotten. To begin his set pieces are poor, but as he is a striker you would rather see him in and around the 18 yard area, rather than delivering crosses into the box for his fellow team-mates. It is recommended that you leave him up the field if you are playing him straight away as with a tackling stat of a lowly 5 it would be pointless having him there. Jumping is another stat that is poor, only a 6 for this one which would definately rule him out of a target man role. At the age of 16 his strength also low, only a 10, however with age and future training it is a stat that’ll definately rise. There are also some low rated mental attributes that need to be considered, Composure (7) and Concentration (8) are definately stats that need to be improved, but these stats will definately rise quickly with several training sessions.

Other Information you need to know

Daniel Sturridge has a value of £2.2 million when the game begins in 2006, this will definately rule out lower league clubs getting him, however making a loan offer will mean you will have a shot of getting him. His wages are only £55 a week but when he becomes more of a star over time he will demand higher wages, this is beneficial for the lower teams wanting him on loan as you will have enough to spend 100% of his wages whilst on-loan, sweetening the deal with his club. His contract also expires at the end of the 2009 season in England, but getting him on a free transfer maybe difficult as there will be a lot of interest, so a cash deal would be advised.

Final Verdict

Daniel Sturridge is definately a striker you will need to look out for, with plenty of years on his side and bags of talent you will definately want him in your team, rather than against you.

Background Information

Full Name: Mauro Esposito
Date of Birth: 13/06/1979
Place of Birth: Torre del Greco (Italy)
Languages: Italian
Favoured Clubs: Udinese, Salernitana, Napoli
Favoured Personnel: None
Description: Winger
Personality: Fairly Professional
Reputation: National

Screenshots
2006

2011

Overview

Mauro Esposito is a versatile player who can play on either wing and upfront from Italian side Cagliari. At the age of 27 he is in his prime and is a player you must consider if you are looking for a versatile player for a few seasons. He has been capped by his country, Italy on five occassions which shows his ability.

Consistency

Since I signed Esposito from Cagliari for £5 million; playing as Inter Milan, he has been a top performer. In just under 20 games of his first season he has managed plenty of assists and has also chipped in with some goals; He is good at taking free-kicks and is a consistant performer at the top level.

Strengths

Esposito’s main strength’s are his Dribbling at a rating of (18), his Crossing (16) and his pace (18). With these stats they show that he is definately a top level player and will terrorise the defences of most of the defenders on the game. With his pace and his crossing ability being so high he will be able to escape from the full-back and put in plenty of balls into the box many times during a game; These stats also show that he’ll get many assists during the season. His dribbling shows that he can run far distances along the pitch and still have the ability to take on players and produce moments of magic.

Weaknesses

With strength’s come weaknesses. Strength is definately a weak point of Esposito’s game. With a rating of a lowly (6) he is sure to be out powered by a strong full back such as Wilfred Bouma. Links to his strength is his balance and that is also a low stats showing that in a one on one power battle he’ll usually come out second best, this stat for balance is (8). His first touch is also very low for a winger at only (9), spreading play wide to him from far distances may end up with him taking too heavy a touch so close passing would be essential if you are playing Esposito in your team.

Other Information you need to know

Esposito’s value varies every time you start a new game; the lowest i’ve seen it is £3.1 million and the highest i’ve seen it is £3.7 million. To a big club it’s not a lot of money and he will be a top performer for a few seasons. From past experiences I have found that he’ll cost around the £5 million bracket, but that is a bargain for a top quality and versatile player. Another note is his contract expires at the end of the 2008 season, however he’ll be much older then so it’d be wise if you signed him as early as possible.

Final Verdict

Esposito is a quality player who can play in almost any side as a first choice starter. Although he is getting older he will still be able to play at the top level; running past defenders and scoring goals is what he does and if you can buy him it’ll be money well spent.

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The FM Pluse Staff Team