Hey guys and welcome to my Football Manager 2012 Malaga story season 7 report. Let me start by wishing you all a Merry Christmas, Christmas is an extra special season for me as I share my Birthday just three days prior on the 22nd. In fact as I write this post its actually my Birthday, some may think it a little sad but I can’t think of a better way to brush aside a few hours before the festivities begin. :) Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and enjoy your break from school/college/work…
And with that lets get back to business. Over the last few seasons my Malaga side have fallen short in at least one competition per season. Season 5 saw us miss the La Liga title, while season 6 ended with an early Copa del Ray exit. Alongside the usual rituals of offloading the old and making money, I want to get our domination back on track this year. There’s a lot to get through today so I’ll skimp on the writing, but mainly because I have the World Cup waiting for me and I’m busting to get back to my save ;)
We’ll begin the post with transfers, I have compressed all players joining and leaving the club into one screenshot below. You’ll notice I only signed one player, Nene is a prospect upfront. While the players leaving Malaga were of a higher reputation in Martinez, Canales and Pirovano. A total of £51 million was raised making this the third profitable season in terms of transfers.
Club World Cup results
This tournament is becoming common place for Malaga with this been our fourth consecutive participation. Needless to say it doesn’t get much tougher every year, so I’ll just let the screenshot below explain all. Santos made yet another final but it was same old, same old.
La Liga results — first 20 matches
The domestic season started with a bang as Real Madrid were beaten on their home patch 4-2. This set the tone with Malaga going onto win 18 matches and lose just two.
The league table was also shaping up nicely as Malaga sat top of the pile 5 points clear of Barcelona.
La Liga results — last 18 matches
With the title edging closer, I just needed to maintain the form and keep all my players happy. This was achieved as Malaga won a further 15 matches and drew three from the 18 remaining games. These results included the 6-1 thrashing of Barcelona.
Needless to say the title was wrapped up rather quickly. Malaga notched up 102 points scoring 126 goals and conceding just 19 along the way. Our nearest competitors were Barcelona who finished 13 points behind and never really felt like trouble.
Just to offer you an idea of Malaga’s dominance domestically, take a look at the player stats below. Its crazy to think that 6 of the top 7 performers in the league are Malaga players and just look at Fierro’s scoring record, 41 goals and that was in the league alone!!
Copa del Ray results
After Real Madrid knocked us out last season, I felt the need to win the Copa del Ray this time around. We brushed easy opposition aside early on before beating tougher sides like Villarreal and Valencia. To reach the final we had to beat Real Sociedad which was done with ease and to my delight neither Real nor Barca had made the grade, instead At. Madrid were our final hurdle.
Copa del Ray final vs At. Madrid
Venue: Vicente Calderon (At. Madrid’s home ground)
Attendance: 65,057
Starting formations:
Both sides had a full strength XI and I decided that in light of our recent form an audacious 4-2-2-2 was in order. This attacking tactic has been used all season bar two matches (against Barcelona and Real Madrid.) I had full confidence in it, that is until the the match got under way. The scores were level at half-time, I was worried about At. Madrid’s dominance so made a bold move. I switched my formation to a 4-5-1 (the Arsenal tactic) to try and regain control of possession and therefore the game. Watch the match highlights below to see what happened next.
Match highlights: Click here to watch the Copa del Ray final highlights
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Match stats:
It certainly wasn’t pretty but we regained our composure and took full control of the match after the tactical switch. After a fair few chances it was the legend Kara that came to my rescue. The 1-0 victory may not look glamorous but I’m still delighted as it felt like a tactical victory.
Champions League results
The group stage draw went well again, all three sides left me the opportunity to rest key players and develop my youth. Bordeaux, Shakhtar and Napoli were beaten both home and away. My most pleasing result came away to Napoli as we brushed the Italians aside 3-0.
Malaga finished top of their group with a perfect record for the third consecutive season while Bordeaux provided a shock clinching second place.
The First Knockout Round was fairly kind drawing my boys against Juventus. The Italians used the same formation as myself (4-2-2-2) and it provided some end to end Football of which we were always going to finish on top. The tie finished 3-1 on aggregate. My quarter-final opponents had made massive improvements over the last two seasons and looked like one of the stronger outfits in this years competition. However, I stood by my attacking tactic and it paid off. AC Milan struggled to hold back wave after wave of attack and my boys won 5-1 on aggregate. One more hurdle before the final and Liverpool stood in my way, the Merseyside club have invested well and bought wonderkids that even I’d enjoy buying. But that just wasn’t enough as my boys destroyed the English club 4-1 on aggregate. In the other semi-final FC Bayern were thrashed by Manchester United meaning I’d meet the Red Devil’s for a second time in the Champions League final.
Champions League final vs Manchester United
Venue: Swedbank Arena, Stockholm
Attendance: 50,000
Starting formations:
Man Utd seemed to be missing a few big names such as Hernandez and Phil Jones. The English champions still had a good team but I certainly held the advantage. Having said that, I wasn’t about to take these guys for granted and opted for my Arsenal 4-5-1 tactic with attacking strategy. I wanted to dominate this final, but to see if that happened you know what to do…
Match highlights: Click here to see Champions League final highlights
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Match stats:
That’s right, Malaga achieved their second highest scoring Champions League final and to some very good opposition injuries and all. There’s not much to say, but I put our success down to consistency. While I am always signing and selling players the backbone of the team remains the same bar maybe 1-2 changes a season. The Malaga side seem to have formed a Barcelona like understanding.
Squad stats, finances and others
OK there’s still a lot to get through so less talk and more images. :) After such a great season there are far too many names to mention, so I’ll let you examine the squad stats below and then list my top 3 performers.
Top performers
3. Manuel Reich
2. Eden Hazard
Financially the club is more than all right, we finished the season with an impressive £148 million bank balance. Most of this is down to a well controlled wage budget and profit in the transfer market.
OK now we move onto two pieces of news that I’ve been busting to share. As most will already know I am on the clubs ‘legends’ list and the owners have decided to build a new 53,677 stadium with retractable roof. But guess what they have named the new stadium ;)
On top of that amazing news I also found out that Malaga are officially the best club in the world (reputation wise anyway.) We pipped Barcelona to the spot that they have been merely warming up for us. :)
OK we’re almost there guys, just stay with me a little longer as we still have to cover England. This is the World Cup year of course, so please go to the next page to see our warm up to the greatest show on earth and what happened in the tournament itself…
Go to the next page by clicking the number 2 situated just above the comments box…
TheMightyMcPhed
22 декабря, 2011 at 15:20
Congrats on another amazing season mate! An Happy Birthday too. Hope you have a great day and enjoy Christmas and Hogmany too.
Looking forward to the next part of the story.
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:29
Thanks mate, the next part shouldn’t take me too long to get up…probably a few days.
Mikulas Nemeth
22 декабря, 2011 at 15:25
hhehehe..nothing better than to see united being trashed so bad! Great season Darren. Stadium with your name on it says it all. Well done.
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:32
Thanks Mikulas, it was a fantastic season and the stadium was the cherry on top of the cake :)
Rob Yeats
22 декабря, 2011 at 16:06
Magnificant achievement Darren! Your own stadium too……………………
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:32
Thanks Rob.
George Dobson
22 декабря, 2011 at 16:16
Happy Birthday Darren also congrats on another great season good luck with England !!!!!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:33
Cheers George, I should have the World Cup post done within three days.
Johnny Karp
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:08
What an amazing season Darren, almost perfect. Then again, it was perfect since you will even have the stadium named after you! Great job with England as well, you qualified in style and got into a fairly easy group. Congratulations mate and have a wonderful Christmas!
P.S.: Happy birthday! (mine is tomorrow :) )
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 17:35
Cheers Johnny, it was a great season all round and I can’t wait to participate in the World Cup…the last time I did that was near the start of my FM11 career with Argentina, but they were so ridiculous that is felt like an inevitable outcome, this time will be very different.
Thanks for the Birthday wishes and have a great day tomorrow.
MRDNRA
22 декабря, 2011 at 18:11
When you mentioned it was your birthday it reminded me it is also my cousins birthday today, so to start I will say happy birthday and happy Christmas.
Wow, you really are dominating everything at the minute. Short of the chairman going crazy and selling all your best players there should be nothing to stop you continuing your domination.
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:19
Thanks mate, it does feel like Malaga are set to maintain the dominance. Though I’m offloading a lot of great players this summer due to age and my Y2G system so we’ll see if that effects things.
Callum
22 декабря, 2011 at 18:12
Great season Darren! I love reading this story as it makes me want to buy young as I see how well you do with it! I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but do you know how good eyal golasa from maccabi Haifa becomes? He seems a good prospect? And also, I can’t find Kara!? Do you need to have his country loaded up to find him?
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:18
Thanks Callum, I’m glad you like reading this story. I find that investing in youth and watching them grow extends my game length enormously, so happy to pass that on. Golasa is a good player, not sure if he can be World class but that comes down to his develop from the club and first team football I’d say. As for Kara, I just have a medium database loaded and don’t need the Norwegian league though if you can’t find him loading Norway should bring him to light.
Callum
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:21
Ah thanks, I have been using a small database, but I’ll increase it on the game I’m about to, he is a player I need to get!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:24
No problem, he is a bargain not to be missed.
Laxeyman
22 декабря, 2011 at 18:16
Incredible season Darren! Your side just keep winning and winning, you’ve created a truly incredible team :) Happy Birthday mate, and looking forward to seeing how you get on in the World Cup!
Merry Christmas!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:14
Thanks mate, I am looking forward to the World Cup as there are many teams better than mine making it a real challenge.
Malhar Bhadbhade
22 декабря, 2011 at 18:18
hey johnny,
that german defender of yours is an absolute beast…really great that you found him…and i find myself congratulating you on your fantastic achievements..it’s almost become mundane :P anyway, getting a stadium named after you is the ultimate success according to me, and i hope i can get somewhere near that in this game, cannot wait for your next post with the world cup in it…it’s going to be really thrilling. good luck and keep up the good work. cheers!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:13
Thanks Malhar, Reich is an awesome player…I tracked him since the age of 15 and eventually got him on a free transfer at the age of 18 so delighted with that one. I agree with you on the stadium front, having the honour of a stadium named after you is the ultimate in my eyes and hopefully we can give a good showing in the World Cup.
Ana Garcia
22 декабря, 2011 at 19:21
Terrific season as usual Darren, but I couldn’t help notice the league table!
Betis 4th and Granada 5th! Made me smile. :)
Fierro looks amazing even his international record is amazing!
Best of luck in the world cup! But no offense I may be cheering on a team from group H. ;)
Hope you have a fantastic birthday and a wonderful Christmas!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:11
Thanks Ana, I hadn’t really looked below the top three but seeing Betis and Granada making up the top 5 is a little weird :)
Fierro has been a little magician and don’t worrying, I won’t hold supporting Spain against you :)
Godders
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:46
Happy Birthday D.
You are a true Don Dadda of Mano.
Top Man, keep up the good work D.
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 20:59
Thanks mate.
Jon
22 декабря, 2011 at 22:23
Mate you quite clearly reload the game when you lose and you use FMRTE.
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 22:37
I don’t need to reload and I most certainly don’t need any editors which I think ruin the game…actually very offensive to even be accused of that one. Get proof (though I’d suggest not wasting your time), go away or get banned…its that simple, I’ve seen at least two comments from you that haven’t even been worth typing. Last warning mate.
Sears
22 декабря, 2011 at 22:29
I said happy birthday to you on FB already, but I’ll say it again, happy birthday pal, no doubt you’d a great day!
Another incredible campaign from your team. Easily won the domestic double and thrilled you hammered Man Utd in the CL final! That’s an awesome team you’ve assembled too. Congrats on getting the new stadium named after you, must have felt very proud :) Btw, will you be making your 4-2-2-2 tactic available for download soon?
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2011 at 22:39
Thanks mate, it was a very nice day indeed. I’ll be uploading the 4-2-2-2 at some point but a little worried it’s specific to my team and may be tough to use…don’t really know how to express what I mean but basically some users may struggle with it.
harv
22 декабря, 2011 at 22:52
Darren your 4-5-1 tactic is great but I just can seem to beat barca. Also I don’t seem to be scoring many goals. Victories are usually 1-0 or 2-1 and sometimes I draw. Any tips? P.S. Happy Birthday ;)
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:11
I would suggest that the players are the problem here, or you aren’t motivating them too well. The tactic makes up for 30% of success in my opinion.
P.S. Do you realise you are writing from the exact same location as Jon? Someone who just accused me of cheating, ow and also took the piss out of Johnny’s Barcelona post? (I keep tabs on every single negative comment) Doesn’t seem like something you’d do, but then again this is the Internet so you never actually know someone.
Kevin
23 декабря, 2011 at 00:48
Hi Darren
What a fantastic season and a great finish in beating Man United 7-0, no wonder the board is going to name a stadium after you! Very nicely done in leaving the story on a cliffhanger though best of luck in the World Cup.
Have a great Christmas and hope your birthday celebrations were fabulous :)
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:24
Thanks Kevin, sorry to thrash your team so close to Christmas :) I’m glad you noticed the cliffhanger, but don’t worry the WC results will follow soon.
denson
23 декабря, 2011 at 00:56
What a season Darren!
Love the stadium name too Lol!
And another massive score in the champions league final
Hope you had a good birthday and a happy Christmas.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:19
Thanks Denson, have a nice Christmas.
CsAtlantis
23 декабря, 2011 at 00:58
Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Darren, so you switched targets this season and inflicted the 6-1 on Barca, and Barca and Real just do not seem to dominate as much too with your team around, you won just about everything this season with Malaga, do you mind posting the England squad for the World Cup (the full 23 players :D), you seem to have a simple World Cup group, Belarus and Cameroon could pose a challenge of course but going through should be simple
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:17
Thanks mate, it was a really good season. I won’t post the entire squad but what I will do is post the main XI and any other players that will have an impact. Should be a fun tournament.
Lye
23 декабря, 2011 at 06:14
Hey Darren,
I am late in wishing you «Happy Birthday» but i hope you have a good time yesterday. What a dominating season for you. You have swept every teams aside including the 7-0 win against Man Utd. Awesome mate considering you just brought in one player. That show the quality of the squad at your disposal.
I don’t see any problems in qualifying for the next stage in the world cup. Will be waiting for your next report on the world cup tour.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:01
Thanks Lye, I had a great Birthday cheers. My thoughts are firmly on the World Cup now, it’s by far the most exciting experience on FM.
Bhargav
23 декабря, 2011 at 06:31
Happy Belated Birthday and Merry Christmas! This is a nice note on which to take a holiday from FM ;) Really, the only achievement you have left is to pull of the undefeated season!
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:00
Thanks Bhargav, when you mentioned the unbeaten season I thought maybe I’d done it and not realised…so I took a look back and it turns out I went the whole of 2014/15 unbeaten bar losing to Tottenham in the Euro Super Cup :)
Dylan
23 декабря, 2011 at 07:03
Well done Darren, your own stadium is fantastic. Carlos Fierro really looks to be out performing when you look at his stats and Hazard, as ever is godly. Congrats on the stadium, and I hope you had a great Birthday and a Merry Christmas with family and friends.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 09:35
Thanks Dylan, I agree that Fierro is performing incredibly well…if I showed someone his career history for last season without saying who it was they’d probably guess Messi or Ronaldo and this guy doesn’t have those sorts of attributes so certainly punching above his weight. Merry Christmas to you too mate.
nielsneutron
23 декабря, 2011 at 07:10
First of all happy birthday Darren a day late.
The stadium is a nice touch I might add.
Great season with Malaga but I am furious at the World Cup results. It is not enjoyable to see Denmark finishing 4th.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 09:33
Thanks mate, I agree the stadium is a very nice addition and don’t worry about Denmark just yet…the screenshot shown is of the draw not the groups after results.
nielsneutron
23 декабря, 2011 at 12:13
Denmark finished fourth in the qualifying rounds I should have been more specific and didn’t qualify. but you need to pay some attention too, Denmark was in your qualifying group.
I do agree that Denmark should miss the world cup and even the European championship around half the time but somehow we manage to qualify almost every time. Guess there is a limit to the realism in FM.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 12:21
Ahh I see, sorry about that. I forgot that the qualifying group was shown also as my mind is on one thing alone at the moment :)
vaibhavc
23 декабря, 2011 at 08:13
Happy Birthday! What a season that was, winning against United 7-0 is just crazy again! And its great to see that you have a stadium named after you! You have managed full dominance in Spain.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 09:32
Thanks Vaibhav.
Birdy
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:28
Very good season Darren. Well done on smashing Barca and then trashing M.UTD. Good luck in the world cup hopefully you can re create 1966 and bring it back to england.
P.S Don’t be put off by haters they all come when they cannot emulate your successes.
Also not all John’s are bad look at me
:D
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 10:32
lol Thanks Birdy.
Daniel
23 декабря, 2011 at 13:51
Merry christmas Darren and happy birthday for yesterday.
I can only think this has to be your best story yet?! Getting renamed on the stadium and making malaga the best club in the world (reputation wise)! Do you think you will move onto another club as you have pretty much won everything in spain and europe.
Dan
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 17:44
Thanks Daniel, it certainly does feel like the best story yet, but that would be confirmed by a WC win. :) I will stay at Malaga for a little while longer as there’s a twist in the tale yet. :)
harv
23 декабря, 2011 at 17:17
Johnny I don’t know who made that comment about you cheating but it wasn’t me. It might have been my younger brother on my laptop. Sorry ;)
harv
23 декабря, 2011 at 17:18
Sorry I mean darren.
Darren Smith
23 декабря, 2011 at 17:45
As mentioned, it didn’t seem like something you’d say as all the comments under the name of ‘Harv’ have been positive.
harv
23 декабря, 2011 at 17:58
Thanks and sorry about my brother :)
Nicholas Phipps
24 декабря, 2011 at 10:31
Happy Christmas and birthday! Another record breaking season for Malaga and your team, especially Fierro, are phenomenal! :) Looking forward to the world cup post :). btw sorry for my absence on the scouting network but I am getting a new laptop for Christmas so I should be able to start writing reports again :)
Darren Smith
24 декабря, 2011 at 15:08
Hey Nic, hope all is well. The season went really well thanks, and hopefully the WC will live upto similar standards. I look forward to hearing from you with regards to the profiles.
Malhar Bhadbhade
25 декабря, 2011 at 07:05
hey darren,
is there an email or something that i can contact you on if i wanted to ask advice? because commenting on your stories and asking for advice doesnt seem too appropriate..i promise i wont be asking rubbish questions or spamming you or anything…this is just in case i need any help on training/signing regens and stuff like that..or even selling players…because you seem to be an expert and the Y2G system clearly works a treat. obviously i will make my own decisions and the final decisions, but would love to have your opinion..thanks in advance.
Malhar Bhadbhade
25 декабря, 2011 at 07:07
and sorry for not wishing you happy birthday!! completely skipped by mind..so hope you had a blast that day..and Merry Christmas to you and your family :)
Darren Smith
25 декабря, 2011 at 10:33
Yeah I can be contacted at darrensmith360@googlemail.com.
Jack
28 декабря, 2011 at 21:53
Will we be able to download this game when you have finished?
Darren Smith
28 декабря, 2011 at 22:29
Yeah I always try and make my games available for download once the story is over.
Jack
29 декабря, 2011 at 15:27
Thanks! How can you make your club be profitable? Every time my club loses money! I make good friendlies, keep a tight wage control, never spend too much! Please help, thanks!
Darren Smith
29 декабря, 2011 at 15:44
The only way to make a club profitable is in the transfer market…I’d suggest reading these two posts to get a proper grasp on my concepts. https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2011/04/football-manager-financial-guide-part-1-how-to-create-a-stable-club/ This post explains your current dilemmas.
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2011/04/football-manager-financial-guide-part-2-youth-to-gold-system/ This post shows how to get the club rich and explains what you should be doing to ensure the future of your team.
Jack
8 января, 2012 at 15:20
This helped so much, thanks!
Darren Smith
8 января, 2012 at 18:25
Glad to hear it. :)