We’ve got a special bumper episode this time round. We’ve got not one, not three, but two guests. First there’s Lee Scott, from FM Analysis, and then we’ve got Shrewnaldo, who’s been playing FM and CM since 1993. Which is a long time.
The pair of them now run their own blog called The Dugout. Ed casts a bit of shade, in every direction, and then George has a rant about his namesake.
The question of the week is about squad rotation. It’s a simple one – how often do you rotate your squad and what’s the reason behind it?
Shrew likes to rotate early to ensure that he’s got a solid team towards the end of the season. He’s also pretty brutal when it comes to strikers and youngsters. Lee has a pretty similar idea – squad rotation is about getting players minutes rather than getting them out of the fray.
Ed has two really strong starting elevens because of the strength of his Stoke side and the amount of games he’s playing and likes to rotate them. Well he did, then he got bored, stopped, and won 21 games on the trot. Everyone seems to get really annoyed at various things as well.
George likes to rotate, but it all depends about who he’s managing. It’s all about the squad depth for him.
And then we’ve got all of this stuff as well –
- We have a chat about player personalities. Do we ship out or give them a second chance when they kick off? Yet again it depends on the players who are having a complain.
- George hasn’t played any FM because he was too sad about a variety of things. He’ll be back though.
- Lee’s just reached the end of his first season with Ajax. He won the league, but got dumped out in the semis of the Dutch cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League.
- Shrew’s progress is slow. His current save is with Rapid Wien, who he plays with most years. He likes being at that slightly average level. He’s also made a central European super league because he was bored of playing the same teams over and over.
- Ed’s Stoke save is on the back burner, so he’s looking for a new save where he doesn’t win all of the games. He’s creating a Deep Lying Podcast team to write a story about how they play on and off the team.
- Our discussion for the week is all about the evolution of Football Manager and the blogging community that surrounds it.
If that wasn’t enough, well there’s loads more stuff as well, and you can listen to it all in the SoundCloud player below. Or if you’d prefer head to iTunes and search for Deep Lying Podcast.