Hey guys and welcome to my Football Manager 2012 Malaga story, season 6 report. Apologies for the delay and lack of updates, the scouting network seems to have had a real buzz lately so most of my time has been spent around that side of FMS. For those who don’t remember, season five finished with Malaga triumphant in the Copa del Ray, CWC and Champions League but not La Liga. Real Madrid pipped us to top spot but a nice consolation presented itself in the England job. We are now in season six and today you see me lower the squads average age further and try to regain the La Liga title, but we’ll begin with transfers.
As already mentioned my main aim is to lower the squads average age and make this team evolve around youth….to do that older players must leave so the next generation can fully develop. Some massive names left Malaga in the summer of 2016 including Badelj and Kagawa. This was a very risky move but helped raise £76 million and as part of the Y2G system I already have the replacements raring to go.
To extend my youth policy further 3 wonderkids joined the club for a combined £46.5 million (ignore Marcao as he was a bad signing that I instantly looked to sell.) The first player is Petras, Malaga’s future star between the sticks but one that will have to wait his turn. The second is Kagawa’s replacement Lefebvre who will be rotated with Hazard. This kid has an incredible scoring record in France. The last is Adriano who I’m raising to become the clubs next ball winning midfielder.
Club World Cup results
This years Club World Cup was much more difficult than years gone by. While we beat Chivas 3-0 the performance was less convincing than the scoreline. Then we drew Sao Paulo for the final, Moura, Teixiera and Casemiro looked major threats but I was still confident enough to field a second string XI. We played well but only just squeezed the victory 2-1.
Copa del Ray results
After winning this competition three years in a row I had become accustomed to victory. The early rounds were won with ease against Alcoyano and Villarreal where I even offered the second string players a run out. However, drawing Real Madrid in the quarter-final proved a step too far as we lost on away goals…very harsh in my opinion but an early exit all the same. :(
La Liga results — first 20 games
Some of you said Malaga would require 100 plus points to win the league this season and I agree. With Real looking stronger than ever after acquiring Neymar, I had to up my game. And that is exactly what happened, Malaga won 18 matches, drew two and lost none. The perfect start to the new campaign that included four matches in which Malaga scored six or more goals.
This brilliant early form translated well in the table. Malaga hold a six point lead over Barcelona and Real Madrid as well as a game in hand.
La Liga results — last 18 games
For the second half of the season I decided to experiment tactically. I created a 4-4-2 very similar to that of Johnny’s ‘Bulldozer’ with both wingers pushed forward into the AM positions. I now have a vast array of strikers with many different qualities…this new tactic was used in all La Liga matches to offer these strikers more game time and the results were fantastic. We won 16 games, drew once away to Real Sociedad and lost narrowly away to Barcelona.
More massive scorelines led to another record breaking year. Not only did Malaga hit 105 points but we broke the record for goals scored with 130. Despite all this we still only finished 9 points clear of Real Madrid, had the season gone differently and we lost one of the ties against Real then this gap would have been just three points!
Champions League results
My Champions League group was rather interesting with Anderlecht, Leverkusen and Liverpool pulled out of the hat. I managed to field youth for the majority of these matches winning all six including a 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield.
Malaga obviously qualified in top spot and Liverpool followed us into the next round. I was most impressed by our scoring tally of 21 which equates to an average of 3.5 goals per game and the 2 conceded wasn’t bad either. :)
Into the First Knockout Round and an easy draw brought about Zenit of Russia. Playing such easy opposition led me to using the new attacking 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2 as I should call it.) The new tactic worked wonders and Malaga won 11-3 on aggregate. The quarter-final pitted my side against Real Madrid, I decided to stick with my usual 4-5-1 due to Real’s attacking talent. The first leg was drawn 0-0 at home before we won the second leg 1-0 away. My semi-final opponents were Marseille, the French side may seem easy but I have found them tough opposition bar one one sided match. Another opportunity for my 4-5-1 to shine and Malaga squeezed out a 4-3 aggregate victory to reach the final where Manchester City await after beating Barcelona.
Champions League final vs Manchester City
Venue: Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels
Attendance: 50,000
Starting formations:
Not much to say about City’s side other than wow, just look at their attacking talent. Torres, Aguero, Holtby and Dzeko are sure to cause problems while Vidal can really break up play before making that killer pass. Having said all that I think Hart will be the match decider as he can be unbeatable on his day. I had a full strength squad to pick from and had to go for a 4-5-1 formation with counter strategy…I honestly wasn’t sure how else to deal with Man City’s threat. This match was a corker so please watch the match highlights below.
Match highlights: click here to watch the Champions League final highlights
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Match stats:
This was by far my most thrilling Champions League final. Manchester City gave us a real game and came from behind to level the match before Kara scored two vital headers. Aguero came back with 19 minutes to go but my boys held out for the 3-2 victory.
Squad stats and finances
After enjoying one of our best seasons yet Fierro really shone through with 36 goals while Hazard was top of the assists with 32. One of my most pleasing aspects though was Badelj’s replacement Guida who scored 15 and assisted 8.
Due to some good business in the transfer window my finances had racked up £68 million. This would have been more had I not invested in numerous facility upgrades.
Results with England
As you may remember last season finished with me rejecting Spain to manage England. Well below are my results for the season, we managed to win 5 World Cup Qualifiers and draw just one. However my first defeat came away to a very strong France who beat us 3-2 during a Friendly. I still don’t feel like the side has settled into my 4-5-1 tactic and this could call for a change.
We may have been a little bland in the qualifying but we’ve certainly been getting the job done and lye top of the group two points clear of second and 7 points clear of third.
Well that is all for season number six, I have more big name departures approaching in season seven so hope to see you then. Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below.
Deepak Nepal
13 декабря, 2011 at 19:23
nice story again but how did kara managed to score that much goal in my save he dont score goals that much he only score few he is your best player ever year.
Darren Smith
13 декабря, 2011 at 19:30
Its all in the delivery of the corner, you can’t have a player score unless you have the correct set piece and a great crosser. Fierro is definitely better than Niang now…in fact Niang’s mental attributes are holding him back so a transfer may be on the way sooner or later.
Deepak Nepal
13 декабря, 2011 at 19:25
who is better now fierro or niang?
Stromson
13 декабря, 2011 at 19:44
Oi! I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall for the Champion’s League final; that must’ve been intense. Finances are looking stellar, and it’s nice to see the Y2G system transition so nicely into FM12. I love our completely different perspectives on the CL draws.
For you, Anderlecht, Liverpool, and Leverkusen are a cake-walk group. I viewed them as «4 goal loss, 7 goal loss, 5 goal loss» (from the perspective of a Welsh manager of course). :-P Glad to see things going well for you mate, keep up the good work!
Darren Smith
13 декабря, 2011 at 20:10
lol, yeah it was a rather nervy match. I remember just three or four weeks ago (real life time of course) when a group like that would have seemed daunting too, amazing how fast things can change :) Thanks for the well wishes Jon.
mario
13 декабря, 2011 at 19:47
wow look at hazard…amazing…what role did you gave him?inside forward I guess?
Darren Smith
13 декабря, 2011 at 20:12
He has been a real legend for me, I’ve used him as inside forward from the left.
Riggsy
13 декабря, 2011 at 20:24
Congratulations on another great season Darren! Your squad seems to be getting better each season, and your finances are improving also. Great work with the Y2G system, and good luck for next season!
Darren Smith
13 декабря, 2011 at 20:33
Thanks Riggsy, things do seem to be going well and this Malaga save is feeling more and more like the Newcastle one of last series with every season that passes.
Johnny Karp
13 декабря, 2011 at 21:25
Congratulations on getting that well-deserved title back, you should have won it last season too so I guess this is sweet revenge. The Champions League went smoothly as well but it’s a shame that you didn’t lift the Copa del Rey, that would have made it perfect. Well done on the England job too, you did well except that loss against France but it might take a bit more time to turn that team into what you want it to be.
Darren Smith
13 декабря, 2011 at 21:34
Thanks Johnny, last season was revenge for sure and I was delighted to lift the title again. As for England, we just don’t seem to be clicking yet but hopefully 2017 will be a better year.
Devilfish
13 декабря, 2011 at 22:05
Brilliant stuff Ana, you have really created a European powerhouse in Malaga! Like the Barcelona of today!! :) Well done and I hope you can continue your success
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 11:56
It’s Darren by the way, though I can see why you may get confused with Ana been Spanish and loving La Liga :) Thanks for the well wishes though.
Ana Garcia
14 декабря, 2011 at 20:12
Easy mistake to make. ;)
LoL! :)
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 20:34
Sorry Ana, I personally save my game a lot but it has nothing to do with cheating and I always say if there isn’t proper evidence which save games isn’t then you should not assume. I have lost many saves due to power cuts, parsing errors and crashes so I’d rather be scrutinized for over saving then lose my progress.
Ana Garcia
14 декабря, 2011 at 21:57
What?
I never mentioned anything about save games and havent assumed anything.
The easy mistake to make was supposed to be an ironic comment that someone would mix me up with you seeing as I am a Spanish born woman and you an English born man.
The LoL was a response to what you replied in your comment about me loving la liga which is true.
Am not sure if you have your wires crossed or if I have miss-read anything but I have never said anything regarding how often anyone saves their game.
Darren Smith
15 декабря, 2011 at 18:57
As soon as I read ‘What?’ I realised what happened…huge apologies Ana! I was in a mad rush to reply to everyone’s comments and just finished replying to one with reference to over saving when I started my reply to yours. I automatically assumed your comment was reference to something completely different then what you were meaning (I was replying via the admin area so can’t see the order that comments are made.) Big misunderstanding and I feel like a right idiot, very, very sorry Ana…must admit my first thought was ‘that’s a weird comment.’ when I read yours…wish I’d gone onto the actual post first now. Sorry again.
Devilfish
14 декабря, 2011 at 22:22
Hahaha, just noticed my mistake, I am sorry haha!! Guess I got confused!! Anyway, well done Darren! :D
Darren Smith
15 декабря, 2011 at 18:37
@ Devilfish, thats OK mate and thanks.
Kevin
14 декабря, 2011 at 00:42
Hey Darren
Well done on yet another fantastic season with Malaga, Carlos Fierro has an amazing scoring record for you and 130 goals in La Liga are just phenomenal. Yet again dominant in the Champions League and you are really building a high value squad here ready for selling!
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 11:55
Thanks Kevin, it was a great season and the squad is very high value…I like a player to worth more than £15 million before I move him on to raise the next youngster. That way I can demand at least £22 million for him.
Lye
14 декабря, 2011 at 01:11
Hi Darren,
You won back the La Liga title in style. Great results in the Champions League too. It was an epic final against Man City. The three young players you have brought in are solid too, especially Lefebvre who has awesome pace.
I have a question on your transfer. The players you have sold, is the amount their exact value? Did you transfer them or simply set on a price and offer to clubs? I probably need some guide as i am trying to get the most out of the players i will be releasing.
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 11:53
Thanks Lye, it was a great season all round.
The players I have sold were offered to clubs at double their valuation…6 times out of ten the club comes back with an offer around 20-30% less than what I’ve asked for, 3 times out of ten a club gets very close to my asking price (of double the players valuation) and 1 time out of ten no clubs make a bid. These are estimates of course but the key is to sell a player when he’s at the top of his game and played first team football. Thats why I have youth raised and ready to step in, because otherwise you wait too long to sell a player and attracts worse offers.
CsAtlantis
14 декабря, 2011 at 02:45
Great job bouncing back to win the league Darren, giving Real Madrid THAT scoreline at the Santiago Bernabeu was amazing
Everton looks pretty rich in your save, I would’ve thought that Danny Wilson would be worth a bit more, but overall good buys, wonderkids are really the best buys you can make (and from my experience any youngster that gets the wonderkid tag tends to play just as well as any first team squad member)
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 11:50
Thanks mate, must admit I was shocked to thrash Real as we did.
Everton have a new owner and couldn’t be further away from what they are in real life. :) Wilson just hasn’t developed as he does on FM11 so I wanted to focus on better CB’s as I had five.
EP
14 декабря, 2011 at 06:03
You always manage to sell your players at v high prices! how do you manage that?
Carlos Fierro has been an underperformer for me. Which role do you play him in? Complete Forward?
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 11:46
Selling at a high price only happens if the player is world class and playing regular first team football. If those two things aren’t there then you could struggle to even get his valuation. However, I play my players and never sell them until they are at the top of their game, then I offer to clubs for double their valuation and just see what offers come in. It doesn’t always work but 9/10.
Rob Yeats
14 декабря, 2011 at 12:06
Congrats yet again Darren!
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 19:01
Thanks Rob.
Josh James
14 декабря, 2011 at 13:07
Please could you show the amount of game saves ;)
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 19:02
How would this help you?
rolando
14 декабря, 2011 at 19:21
Some peeps believe that a large number of saves means you’re saving just before the match and reload again if the result is not good enough.
In other news, well.. a magnificent season yet again, Y2G starts generating cash and regens are wonderful. The tactics are spot-on as usual and tbh, I’m running out of superlatives, this is just too amazing to handle. I wish I could be a bit like you cause it took me over a decade to win the CL and EPL and implement Y2G (which is just superb) with Alfreton
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 19:31
I am well aware of that and couldn’t disagree more with people who share that opinion, I just want to know what ‘Josh’ would gain from finding that information out as we don’t entertain trouble causers around here.
Anyway, back to the important bits…thanks for the kind words, the save has all gone far better than planned tbh and will hopefully continue that way.
Sears
15 декабря, 2011 at 17:27
Ignore him Darren … I reckon he’s just jealous :D
Darren Smith
15 декабря, 2011 at 18:29
Will do :)
Martin - F.M.J.S
14 декабря, 2011 at 13:20
Another great post Darren. You walk the league this season and a good win in the CL final. Unlucky in the Copa del Ray but you got your revenge on Real Madrid in the League and the Champions league. Good Luck with next season.
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 19:03
Thanks Martin, it was a great season all round and should hopefully continue into next season.
Ana Garcia
14 декабря, 2011 at 20:21
What can I add? LoL!
Another amazing season in the best league in the world ;) you score an amazing amount of goals and always have a great defence might have a look at your tactic and see if I can pick up some tips!
You seem to score a lot from set pieces also, presumably you play Kara as a center back but do you concede a lot from corners?
I am really struggling with that I would say 60 -70% of goals I concede are from corners or deep free kicks into our box its driving me crazy!
Anyways congrats on the title win and on the champions league am sure there are many more trophies to come, so good luck!
Darren Smith
14 декабря, 2011 at 20:39
Thanks Ana, I think getting everything right is vital and have spent hours perfecting the tactic, coaches, training etc…in fact I check each players progress in training every month at least. I like to think attention to detail is what brings the results but I probably don’t need to do as much as I do…its just fun to play a manager :)
As for set pieces, I think Kara has been instrumental there and while I do concede more goals from corners it isn’t so obvious to be annoying. Though if I lose a big game its usually down to a set piece :)
Malhar Bhadbhade
15 декабря, 2011 at 08:49
hey Darren,
brilliant as always. seems like you really have a hold on the champions league. and the youngsters you signed were pretty great too. it will be difficult managing england..just out of curiosity, how did they do in Euro 2016? was there a manager firing after that due to their bad performance or something? and do they have any good regens? coz otherwise the 2018 world cup might be really difficult. anyway, keep up the good work…love these season posts as i’ve mentioned a billion times before :D curious to know who the big-name departures will be, so looking forward to our next post. Cheers!
Malhar Bhadbhade
15 декабря, 2011 at 08:52
oh and another thing i wanted to ask..i’ve been playing with PSG, and i feel i have a pretty great side with some awesome regens. ..but i havent managed to get past the semi-finals of the champions league yet what with injuries at the wrong times and pure bad luck with some of the draws. this is mainly because i;m still in pot 3, and i get ridiculous groups for eg.: real madrid, lazio, liverpool was one. Barca, Sporting, Olympiakos was one…so it’s hard to finish top. i’ve been winning everything domestically. around when do u start to move up the Pots? do u have to do exceptionally well in the champions league? when i move up to pot 2, and hopefully eventually pot 1?
Darren Smith
15 декабря, 2011 at 18:34
Hey Malhar, England actually came runners up in the Euro’s but not sure if the manager quit or got sacked. As for regens they don’t have anyone incredible just the odd decent talent but the better RL players are all under 29 so the squad isn’t bad at all.
I reckon you’ll be moving up seed very soon mate, if not this year certainly next…if you dominate domestically that counts for a lot but doing well in Europe adds that extra boost.
Sears
15 декабря, 2011 at 17:24
Well well well …. Another breathtaking season by you Darren! Some mega transfers, and tons of goals. Just what I like to see :D :D No seriously, congrats on a terrific season mate, you must be at least an icon at Malaga now if not a legend already….?
Darren Smith
15 декабря, 2011 at 18:32
Thanks Sears, it was an amazing season and one that moved me upto legend status alongside Kara :)
Alex
15 декабря, 2011 at 23:41
Another great season. I’m intrigued due to the fact you’re now sometimes using a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 as you once said you felt the key to a successful tactic was dominating the centre of midfield (I completely agree), surely that is considerably harder with just two players in there. I’m now also quite glad I didn’t start a Malaga save (I was tempted) as La Liga looks incredibly difficult to win.
Darren Smith
16 декабря, 2011 at 12:09
That is correct, I always go for a 4-5-1 to dominate the middle but when you have a very strong side against weaker opponents the two upfront works. You do need a very solid squad though with good physical skills to cover the gaps that are left.
Nik
16 декабря, 2011 at 06:16
Congratulations Darren on yet another excellent year. I really love reading these stories but I started commenting only this week (in Karp’s story).
Do you think this years FM is easier? I’m in my first attempt and I finished 4th in the Bundesliga with Freiburg, in my first year, 2 points behind the second and third place teams (they had the same amount of points). This year, we are just starting the second round and I am first. I am not boasting here. I don’t even know the players that well yet (although your scouting is excellent and has helped me a lot).
Anyways keep it up! You are doing a great job and with a young squad which is the way I like it as well.
Darren Smith
16 декабря, 2011 at 12:05
Thanks Nik, I must say that this years FM does feel a little easier in areas…but don’t worry, from what I’ve heard a few things are getting tweaked for the next update so should be made a little tougher if I understand correctly.
vaibhavc
16 декабря, 2011 at 08:33
People are idiots Darren ignore all those comments about you ‘cheating’? I trust you and I know that you wouldn’t do such a thing. Great season as usual, you have come back on won everything.
Darren Smith
16 декабря, 2011 at 12:02
Thanks for the support mate, for everyone one idiot there are 20 great, respectful readers and that is what keeps me motivated.
Deepak Nepal
20 декабря, 2011 at 19:01
when is the new one coming darren?
Darren Smith
20 декабря, 2011 at 19:09
I’m not 100% sure tbh but hopefully before Christmas day…who knows, maybe we’ll have a Christmas special :)
Deepak Nepal
20 декабря, 2011 at 19:19
ya i hope we will u should try to make it more special somehow for the christmas gift?
Deepak Nepal
20 декабря, 2011 at 19:20
sorry i mean u should make it more special.
Darren Smith
20 декабря, 2011 at 19:27
We’ll see, although I have the World Cup coming straight after I do the post so may have to make it the usual and the World Cup post a new years gift or something :)