2012 Oscar and Rafa's Guide to Figueirense

[Oscar]

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This is a joint effort from Oscar and Rafa. Oscar was in charge of in-game player analysis and suggestions of formations. Rafa brought a bit of his knowledge from real life, including 2011 season stats.

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Basic facts

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Expectations

The Figueirense board expect the club to 'battle bravely against relegation', but you have three more options as well. You could stick with the boards suggestion and get yourself an 18k transfer budget along with £65k p/w, or pick one of the others. They are:

Winners - £23k transfer budget, £80k p/w wages.

Respectable league position - £19k transfer budget, £70k p/w wages.

Stay clear of relegation - £18k transfer budget, £65k p/w wages.

As seem by real life achievements, you can safely pick 'Respectable league position'. However, if you're an average player that wants to play it safe, you should select 'Stay clear of relegation'.

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Meet the squad

Goalkeepers

Figueirense has three keepers, the young Pedro Henrique, the mentally poor Ricardo Ernesto and 1st choice Wilson. All these keepers are strong enough for you not to worry about bringing in another. Wilson is decent and will come up with some great saves just when you need them. Pedro Henrique has good potential, so we recommend offering him a new contract, as his current one expired quite a while ago.

Ricardo Ernesto (£625k) may supply cover for Wilson, but his attributes are quite weak. He has a '2' for Communication, not quite the command you would expect him to be having over his defence. Poor teamwork, stamina and strength add to the long list of why this guy shouldn't be starting in goal for your side.

Pedro Henrique (£110k) is talented, and young too, being only 19 years of age. He shows weaknesses similar to those of Ernesto, but with a little bit of intensive training, and the odd first team appearance, this guy could turn out to be a regular.

Wilson (£1.7M) is the best goalkeeper your team has, high strength and far better communication compared to the others make him stand out. He has good positioning, good reflexes and a good aerial ability as well, he is perfect for a team like Figueirense.

Wilson has played 30 times this season, conceding 36 goals and keeping 8 clean sheets.

Defenders

Figueirense seems to have a good defence as well. João Paulo and Bruno caught our eyes, and this is a defence perfectly capable of blocking out even the best players in this league.

You have Bruno (£1.1M), a 26 year old right back, with very good attributes. He is apparently 'twice the player' of your second best right back, Leo (£525k), however his contract has expired and you need to offer him a new one. This guy will not let you down.

Hélder (£1.2M) is one of two left backs, probably the poorer of the two. It's a good idea to sell him on, and possibly claiming roughly £1M - which you could spend on a better player than him. Juninho (£1.1M) is your other left back. He shows fantastic potential for a 21 year old, and he should play constantly in the left back role. He can end up as one of the best left backs in the league.

Juninho is the best left-back in the squad. He played 30 matches this season, scoring twice and assisting 3 times. He will probably move to a bigger team next year.

You have four options for the centre of defence, Edson Silva (£700k), João Paulo (£1.8M), Roger Carvalho (£725k) and Sandro (£1.1M). Figueirense normally fields the central defenders marked in green. But we suggest Paulo and Carvalho as first choices, although all four deserve some first team action. Give Silva and Sandro some first team games, but when you are serious, it's Paulo and Carvalho for sure.

Edson Silva was the most used central defender this season. He played 28 times, recovering the ball 37 times throughout the season. He also boasts 3 goals and 2 assists.

Midfielders

This midfield is class. It is of a very high standard and has players who could challenge the best in the league. Elias and Wilson Pittoni have bags of quality, and along with the other midfielders you could take control of the field with ease.

There are three reliable defensive midfielders available, assuring that you will never be short in this area. Ygor (£2.3M) and Coutinho (£1.4M) are actually very good players. Even if you don't like to play DMs, we're sure that the quality of these guys will change your mind. In real life, Túlio (£300k) is preferred ahead of Coutinho.

Defensive midfielder Túlio played 26 games this year, recovering the ball 41 times.

On the more creative side, Wilson Pittoni (£2.2M) is a good surprise, with great attributes. Be sure to make a spot in midfield for him, he has great passing and dribbling, exactly what you want in the middle of the pitch. You can't miss out the AMs either - Elias (£2.5M) will prove to be a key figure, and Leandro Chaves (£1.6M) can play a similar role as well. Manager Jorginho (former national team right-back) plays Figueirense in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The 3 offensive midfielders are normally Maicon (£2.6M), Wellington Nem and Fernandes (£600k). The latter is the biggest idol of the club.

Maicon is a first team regular this year, but his numbers are far from impressive. He managed only 4 assists and a goal in 27 games.

Forwards

The strike force consists of four players, Júlio César (£1.2M), Rhayner (£550k), Aloísio (£1.1M) and Héber ($1.6M). Júlio César isn't getting any younger, but is still the number one striker in the club. Aloísio needs some more experience before he can become a regular. Jorginho normally fields only one striker. For a two-forward setup, choose Héber to pair with Júlio César up front. But if you're one of the 4-3-3 fans, Aloísio is your third choice. This is probably the area of the squad you should aim to improve.

Júlio César has played only half a season in Figueirense, but has already caught the eyes of Corinthians. He has scored 9 goals in 17 games.

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Possible Transfers

Transfer budget is small, so it is hard to sign a player who will be starting regularly. Your best bet is setting 'Contract Status' to 'Unprotected' in the player search screen.

Here are some players from that filter worth looking at :

Roberto Sousa - Marítimo - DM C

He has good attributes and definitely has the quality to be a regular, but you may feel you already have enough defensive midfielders.

Luke Daniels - West Brom - GK

May provide better back-up than Ernesto, or may even challenge for your number one spot.

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Formations

We all know Rafa is a master tactician, but sadly he doesn't have a PSP , so I will give it my best shot.

For a team that may possibly struggle in this league a tactic with a slight defensive bias would be recommended. luckily, the team already has great DMs! Here I suggest a possible 4-1-2-1-2 line-up. Here's a good tactic by Patrick if you want one - Patrick's 4-1-2-1-2

Wilson

Bruno - Paulo - Carvalho - Juninho

Coutinho

Pittoni - Jonatas

Elias

Júlio César - Héber

As 4-3-3 is a very popular choice of tactic, we also suggest the following line-up:

Wilson

Bruno - Paulo - Carvalho - Juninho

Jonatas - Elias - Pittoni

Júlio César - Aloísio - Héber

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Now you're ready to bring Figueirense to glory! If we managed to convince you to play with them, don't forget to post your success here!

Oscar and Rafa

[John O'connor]

Nice one

[samhardy]

Nice guide, very informative. Now to learn how to pronounce their name

[Dec]

Nice guide, surprised Rafa would choose such a bad team .

[rafa]

Nice guide, surprised Rafa would choose such a bad team .

+1 for the funniness

They're from my hometown, and they're quite decent actually. I think we could beat Sunderland easily

Now who has chosen such a bad team, samhardy?

[United58]

Woo, my formation ^_^

[rafa]

Yeah, and your name in red and bold! See, see!

[United58]

Childish gasp of ecstacy!! ^_^

[samhardy]

Nice guide, surprised Rafa would choose such a bad team .

+1 for the funniness

They're from my hometown, and they're quite decent actually. I think we could beat Sunderland easily

Now who has chosen such a bad team, samhardy?

Where did that come from?

And i thought we agreed on Sam

[Oscar]

May I suggest that all who decide to +1 the OP, also +1's one of Rafa's posts in this thread for his efforts towards the guide as well

[rafa]

Nice guide, surprised Rafa would choose such a bad team .

+1 for the funniness

They're from my hometown, and they're quite decent actually. I think we could beat Sunderland easily

Now who has chosen such a bad team, samhardy?

Where did that come from?

And i thought we agreed on Sam

Just kidding how's Sunderland doing in reality?

[samhardy]

14th after ten games

And a Swede is our star player

[rafa]

Luckily only 3 get relegated

[ImABlueToo]

Just an idea but you know how you said for formations Rafa doesn't have a PSP, maybe (obviously I don't wannna give you more work if you don't want to but) Rafa could give his idea of tactics for iOS. Would enable people with both to be able to play and you could possibly expand on that to suggest players who might not be on PSP or inform us of those who might be on PSP but not on iOS. (If there are some players who are like that)

Obviously you don't have to but I reckon it'd be a good idea.

[rafa]

Just an idea but you know how you said for formations Rafa doesn't have a PSP, maybe (obviously I don't wannna give you more work if you don't want to but) Rafa could give his idea of tactics for iOS. Would enable people with both to be able to play and you could possibly expand on that to suggest players who might not be on PSP or inform us of those who might be on PSP but not on iOS. (If there are some players who are like that)

Obviously you don't have to but I reckon it'd be a good idea.

Great idea, but we have to wait for FMHi 2012 to be released first

[Sunny]

Great idea, but we have to wait for FMHi 2012 to be released first

Only noticed this guide until now...have no idea why I missed it

What Rafa said, and Marc did mention it'll be different from FMHi2011. Let's hope it means more tactical roles

[JeffreyA]

Maybe they'll add in False 9's...

[Sunny]

Maybe they'll add in False 9's...

Technically it's not a role...and the "Deep Lying Forward" role would be very close to it, perhaps less playmaking/passing.

It's just a part of a rather complicated system(that I've always wanted to do an article on), perhaps the most important part.