FM15: Newcastle United F.C. - Sack Pardew.com

[brussels]

hey guys,

I'm about to finish my first season as NUFC manager, and I thought I'd drop by, say hi, and join you.

When I finish I will post a brief summary. So far I've enjoyed it, we started bottom, loosing the first 2 games. Eventually reached 4th position but now in April we are choking.

4 games to go, will bring the news tomorrow.

btw.... Sack Pardew.com

I watched that game and I was ROFL when I saw those 2 guys with the banner at the end.

[Dodds']

Newcastle United 2nd Season Roundup

Well after a dreadful start winning 2 games out of the first 8 and sitting 17th the squad kicking off wanting to leave. I spoke to each individual about their good training to get the morale back up, then we went on a really decent run. Obviously finishing 5th was fantastic, I didn't want to qualify for Europe so early to be fair but hey it's all good.

Showing how good Anita was this season, he was fantastic last year too. Honestly I couldn't have a better roaming midfield in the Premier League for two seasons. However so close behind was Balanta, he's normally a CB but he's been incredible at CDM. I will continue to play him their in the future seasons.

Danny Ings was also amazing this season.

[brussels]

Well... finished my first season. It took me 2+ weeks.

I was enjoying it immensely until a couple of hours ago. In fact I waited a bit before posting a summary to cool down.

We started at the bottom loosing our 2 first games, then picked up and eventually reached 4th. Then our form started to decline, but I was confident of keeping our awesome home form to qualify for CL or EL.

Today I played just the last 4 games (I alternate between full game and comprehensive highlights, I take it slow). Despite the win in the last game, what happened really spoiled the experience and the season for me.

The lowest point of the season was Figueroa's horror tackle + red card + penalty 20' into the game vs. Arsenal, and to add insult to injury I decided to continue the game with 3 at the back, since in previous years it used to work well. As soon as I restarted the game I realized I had made things much worse. The 3 CBs were playing too narrow and I don't have wide midfielders able to cope without cover from FBs.

That was just the "cherry on top" of a really bad end of the season: slump in form and players/team not reacting to tactical instructions, players agreeing to come in as subs and next week complain again that I didn't keep my word to playing them, players thinking their form was fine and a long list of utter bs the game gave me.

The positives:

- First time I play a 442 in FM, and I feel I was succesful.

- Also first time I play without FM Genie. Instead of spending most of the time looking for potential signings I concentrated in making the most of the players I already have. I will try to continue with this philosophy (hope my scouts pull their heads from their arses and start doing their job, and I need a new AssMan, whenever I followed his advice I made things worse)

- I was expecting a boring season sitting in mid-table and with the flames of relegation licking me from time to time. In the end we finished 6th and due to the cup finalists we will qualify for EL next season, which is very nice. Despite a media prediction of 8th I feel I have overachieved, compared to my usual first save.

Janmaat, De Jong, Coloccini and Figueroa will leave. Low performance and lack of attitude. Will probably sell Santon too. Coloccini has been a real pain as he doesn't want to play but doesn't accept any other club's offers neither. 4M/yr that are going down the drain.

Ferreyra... I'm doubtful wether to sign him or not. As it also happened to some of you he stopped scoring towards the end of the season.

Will try to sign Ings, Romero and Balanta or Veltman. Also need 2 FBs (first choice).

I want to sign only first choice players, otherwise I will use players from the youth system as cover. I think with 2-3 new players I will have enough to put up a fight next season both in the league and cups.

On the tactical side of things I need to work on a 4141 to face bigger teams and not get thrashed. I plan on using a counter attacking 442 again next season.

[brussels]

Any Assistant Manager suggestions?

I have Clarke and McDermott in my sights.

Already decided to set my goal for my second season: EL (CL can be a bit too much, and I will make a push for silveware through cups and EL).

[DandyDon]

Looks like a pretty decent first season there Brussels, unlucky with the form slump at the end there but these things happen. I'll be very happy if I mange 6th place in my first season this time round.

Can see you obviously weren't very impressed with Jack Colback....straight out the door in January I see

I brought Steve Clarke in to replace John Carver very early in my save and he seems to be a pretty solid choice as Asst Manager....still very early in the season mind you.

[DandyDon]

Plodding along pretty slowly on my save at the moment. I'm liking the scouting in this version, but does mean I've been taking things a lot slower (even by my usual snail's pace standards) as I wait for reports on certain players.

Finished my summer spending by picking up Erik Sviatchenko a 22yo Danish/Ukrainian DC from FC Midtjylland. He's not world class, but he had a pretty affordable release clause and he should provide a more reliable option in defence that Taylor or Williamson whilst Vellejo develops. Krul, Gouffran and Tiote were all unsettled by interest from clubs with European football on offer and I agreed to accept any worthwhile bids for them, but none materialised so they're all still in place till January at least.

Our pre-season form wasn't great as the squad have been pretty slow adapting to the formations and tactics I set up and we had a fairly difficult start to the campaign with away trips to West Brom and Swansea, followed by visits from Man Utd and Chelsea.

A bunch of niggly last-minute injuries meant I switched from the 4-2-3-1 formation we'd been playing in all the friendlies to a 4-4-2 for the first game at West Brom. We somehow struggled to a 1-1 draw although we were outplayed for long stretches of the match. Followed that up with the trip to Swansea, still playing 4-4-2 (only had 2 fully match fit central midfielders at this point) which seemed to catch them rather by surprirse. We raced off to a 2-0 lead, but got pegged back to 2-2 before managing to snatch a late win.

We had another away trip to Port Vale in the League Cup and I was now able to play my preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. Giving some of the younger players a run out we secured a fairly comfortable 3-0 win and some more confidence ahead of the visit of Man Utd. Certainly seemed to make a difference as we took a 2-0 lead and went on to win the match 3-1 (despite a bit of a second half comeback from Man utd) with our best performance so far.

The last match we played saw us face up against the Chelsea juggernaught and I was pretty heartened by our performance overall. Chelsea managed to snatch a late, late winner as the match finished 3-2, but the game was very even throughout....and we hit the woodwork twice and Ayoze unfortunately fluffed a one on one chance while the scores were still at 2-2. Even after they scored in the last minute we went straight up the other end and almost levelled immediately after. I'm not entirely happy with the quality of our defending so far, but much happier with the fight and resilience the team are showing so far.

Of course things don't get any easier as our next match is an away trip to an in-form Everton side. They're currently in 5th place and we're just behind in 6th on goal difference.

Anita, Cabella and Ayoze have been the most impressive players so far, a nod to Ryan Taylor too who has popped up with one cracking free kick goal and a couple of assists. De Jong and Riviere both scored on their debuts, but have both so far only been able to make one appearance due to injury. Kranevitter has seen more 1st team action than I intended this early due to injuries to Tiote, Sissoko and Colback, and looks to be getting to grips with the new league.

[Dodds']

3rd Season Preview

As you can see I lost Ferrerya by stupidly forgetting to offer a new contract and get rid of that £20m release clause. I wangled like £30m out of Chelsea but then Juve came in with a straight £20m offer and off he went. I then searched for a striker with 15+ in finishing, pace and composure... I was massively impressed with Vadala. He's also a Argentinian striker like Ferrerya so hopefully he'll be as good, yea he's also a wonder kid Also we bagged Benzia on a free as well as a couple of youth prospects for the u18's.

Chieck Tiote was 30 and banging on about loving the club but 50k a week was silly money, he signed for a newly promoted side in the Seria A. I didn't need to sign anyone for the position as Balanta has been incredible at CDM as well as having Colback to fill in there too. The usual younger players have gone out on loan at affiliated clubs to push them up the league, like Armstrong got Carlisle promoted singlehandedly last season.

Oh yeah, Vadala got injured in the first Premier League game

We've had a pretty decent start to the Prem too. Best under my reign so far as well as our first competitive game in Europe...

[brussels]

Hey DD,

yeah Colback reacted badly to my team talks a couple of times and he didn't perform (7 BPL games played as sub, 6.72 avg. rating).

I also had started the season with a 4231DM and switched to 442 due to lack of midfielders and excess of strikers. I was skeptical as I didn't ever play with a 442 before in FM, but I'm happy with the result.

Looks like a pretty decent first season there Brussels, unlucky with the form slump

I'm happy overall. 6th place wasn't bad at all. The slump was a bit infuriating because it felt like the game was trolling me, including the AssMan pointing me in the wrong direction, spoiling an otherwise spotless home record, and some small details. But it's fine, football can be a cruel bitch at times (well simulated in FM).

Those unsettled players are a bit annoying but if bids don't arrive they eventually are happy again. Idk if this is a spoiler but I had a couple of low offers for Santon and I rejected them. In hindsight maybe I should have sold him as players wanting to leave never perform well.

Negotiating with Danny Ings. He demands really high wages but Burnley accepted a 0€ transfer fee and I need HG players.

It probably means giving up on Ferreyra or signing Ferreyra and selling Cisse (big dilemma).

How are you playing Ayoze? I have been trying to play him as CS/s and CS/a but he has been quite iffy. After a long goal drought he scored, performed a couple of games, then he lowered his form again.

Will talk to Clarke (thx for the tip), if he doesn't want to leave Stoke I'll hire McDermott. I feel bad about ditching my AssMan but he failed to help me when we were in trouble.

UPDATE:

I gave up. Hired a Director of football... and decides to accept to pay De Jong 775k per year until 2020, as a compensation for leaving for Ajax. So I loose another 4M and there's no way to turn back, other than moving back to my last save and loosing about 1hr of progress.

This game is completely ********.

[DandyDon]

I went for Clarke straight away in first season as he was out of a job, so no compensation required.

Ayoze has played a couple different roles for me so far. Inside Forward out on the wing, and he's been an Advanced Forward and Deep Lying Forward up front in different games. He has 2 goals and 2 assists from his 5 appearances so far. Always looks like making something happening for us, misses quite a few chances at the moment but his finishing and compsure aren't that great yet.

[DandyDon]

Not feeling very well disposed to Jack Colback on my save at the moment. He came and whined about not starting games, so I started him against Spurs, let him keep his place against Burnley and now he's missed three sitters and given away a penalty.

[col_nufc1]

Not feeling very well disposed to Jack Colback on my save at the moment. He came and whined about not starting games, so I started him against Spurs, let him keep his place against Burnley and now he's missed three sitters and given away a penalty.

He's been poorly edited by the Sunderland researcher, he's a decent Championship player on FM, even though he was arguably there best player last season. I have just managed to get rid of him in the third season after spending the last year and a half in the U21's.

[col_nufc1]

Not a bad way to mark your debut with a brace against you're former team

I think I've finally got my front three roles sorted now, Cabella as a Shadow Striker, Lukaku as a Targetman Support and Gabigol as a Poacher. It looks much more fluid than the other combination of roles that I have tried so far.

[Jonny2J]

Still struggling to find a formation that's working away from home consistently for me like.

Seems impossible on this game for you to try and just keep things tight and counter, as you just invite far too much pressure on the whole team and give the ball away as soon as you get it.

[DandyDon]

Still plodding away slowly on my save at the moment, near the end of October and the squad still aren't fully comfortable with my tactics. Strikers looking very goal shy so far, Siem De Jong looks like he could be a real goal threat for us with 2 goals from 2 starts, but he's missed every other match through injury.

Thankfully the midefield are picking up the slack, Cabella and Dockal in particular have impressed. Sammy Ameobi was playing very well too and had grabbed a couple of goals, so inevitably he got injured and will be out for 3 months. We lost away at Everton in a pretty close game, but managed to progress in the League Cup by beating the red half of Merseyside when they visited a few days later. Followed that up with wins against Stoke and Burnley which have us in the top 4 (for a week at least). Still not looking great defensively, the 3-0 win against Port Vale is our only clean sheet so far.

[brussels]

Hey guys,

yeah I struggled in the beginning to keep clean sheets, and my away form was awful:

I wasn't too concerned about clean sheets because until my 3rd season I don't really get clean sheets for several games in a row. But the way the team played in away games and also the games against superior opponents are a cause for concern.

I will be trying to fight the bigger teams with a 4141, but away games idk yet how to approach them.

Countering is difficult indeed. It ends up being more efficient wasting time and keeping possesion to hold a lead, rather than sitting deep and try to counter once you win the ball back.

[Dodds']

Anita doe 8)

[lewis999]

Roaming playmaker?

[Dodds']

Into the next round of the Europa, btw Stoke are 20th in the Prem :twisted:

Abeid <3

[brussels]

Into the next round of the Europa' date=' btw Stoke are 20th in the Prem :twisted: [/quote']

Was it a case of impressive defending or clinical finishing?

Nice long shots from Abeid btw

[Dodds']

Newcastle United 3rd Season Roundup

As you can see the league was very close this year, Tottenham were 1st until April then just dropped off. I think if we didn't have Europa League semi final games we would have finished easily in Champions League spots. Also Danny Ings scoring 13 goals in the first half of the season then not being able to score after Vadala came back wasn't a big help.

Arsenal dominated the second half of the season and rarely dropped points, Sanchez literally tore teams apart. That's also their second league win in a row.

Player stats as you can see Ings even though he didn't score after January he still was our top goalscorer, Benzia had 12 and so did Vadala after his injury. Also Vurnon Anita with our most assists and just a 0.01 behind on the highest average rating, I'm not surprised however Balanta has been a god at CDM for the second season in a row. Which gave him a £70k p/w contract just to get rid of that release clause he had.

Shirt Sales;

[jlawlor91]

Just witnessed the biggest load of **** I ever have in my 10+ years playing CM/FM.

Beat Leicester 4-0 in the First Leg of the Carling Cup semi final. Bear in mind I'm sat in 2nd, they're in 13th. Second leg, 5-0 to them.

Before you say 'it can happen in football' - utter ridiculous. The amount of outrageous comebacks in this game is so far fetched its not worth playing. Yes football's unpredictable but at the end of the day IT'S A GAME. I literally can't believe what's just happened.

[kamikaze_josh]

Just started a save as Newcastle and am just about to play my first league fixture. Looking forward to the challenge.

I can't say I've been particularly original with my transfers, but delighted with one sale in particular!

Out:

Gouffran (Monaco) - £22M

Obertan (Burnley) - £2.1M

Dummett (Burnley) - £1.4M

Williamson (Palace) - £2.2M

In:

Balanta (River) - £6M

Ayew (Marseille) - £5.5M

Romero (Velez) - £6.5M

I might bring in a couple more youngsters, but want to see how the squad goes for the first season. I just couldn't say no to the Gouffran deal and brought in Ayew as a replacement. The rest, in my opinion, were deadwood.

[Dodds']

4th Season Preview

Look at that signing of Jese Rodriguez for under £4m, that was incredible and so surprised no one jumped on his transfer listed ass. Honestly it took me about 10 minutes of negotiating him wanting £110l p/w down to £70k as well as getting rid of the yearly wage rise. It only took a £3m signing on fee and 10% of the sell on. Which I'm pleased about as his stats are incredible, although it may stop Lingaard and Aarons getting game time - but we have a lot of games again with Europa League which I'm aiming to win this season.

Schar to Real Madrid for £20m+ was a great piece of business after buying him for £7m two seasons back, as well as our youngster defender needing a load more games. It was literally perfect timing for him to go. Atsu also only played one game last season due to ACL tear, making a few million on him whilst I could. This will be the last season for a load players are hitting the 30 year old mark so they'll be getting moved on.

I really want to push into the Champions League this season or if I don't win the Europa League I wouldn't mind just missing out on 4th spot as I really want to get the Europa League title under my belt. We already had a fantastic game against West Brom where Yanga M'Biwa got 2 goals and 2 assists.

Should be a group I can qualify from...

[ShearToon]

Where are people playing Ayoze, looks like I need to get more out of him!

[ShearToon]

Also could every give more information on the tactics/instructions they use and how you are adapting to other teams? Always something that I find most interesting with how everyone plays FM differently...

[col_nufc1]

Newcastle United End Of Season 2016/17 Season Review.

I had to generate cash from selling players as the board only give us £275k transfer budget and would not let me adjust the wages even though we weren't spending about £300k of it. We brung in two good players from Manchester United on Bosman free transfers in Chris Smalling and Javier Hernández and the other big name we signed was Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa for £8.75m although we had to pay his agent about £7m for his share. In January we signed three big targetmen, Romelu Lukaku who would play up top with Gabigol and Harry Kane and Ezequiel Rescaldani to provide back up to the big Belgian.

We also managed to get rid of some of the deadwood at last either by seliing them or there contracts coming to an end. Two players I didn't really want to sell but did because I thought the cash on offer was to good to accept was André Ayew to Inter Milan for £30m and Facundo Ferreyra to Chelsea for £29.5m with 20% of his next fee.

Cash/Claused Transfers l Free Transfers l Loan Deals l Staff Transfers

Players On Loan

Premier League

We won our first Premier League title this season, we drew far too many games but we only lost two games although it would still be nice to turn some of them draws into wins next season.

In The Cups

Capital One cup 4th round, Swansea 1-0 Newcastle United.

FA cup 6th round, Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle United.

European Super cup, Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle United.

Champions League final, Chelsea 1-3 Newcastle United.

FIFA World club cup final, Corinthians 1-3 Newcastle United.

The Squad

The Future

I am debating wheter or not to change my formation to include wingers or to change my AMC into a DMC beacuse I think the AMC is getting in the way and stopping the strikers getting better goals to games ratio.

There is some decent players on the transfer list with the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Ross Barkley, Kurt Zouma, Álvaro Morata and Jesé Rodríguez to name a few. All of them would strengthen the squad but first I am going to have to decide on how I want us to play next season. One transfer already arranged for next season is Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa going to Monaco for £31m, he is unhappy about a lack of first team football and wanted to leave.

[james_wilko]

Does anyone know if Armstrong and Aarons will be improved in the January update? I'm holding off on my traditional Newcastle game because I want those two to become stars for me.

[col_nufc1]

Does anyone know if Armstrong and Aarons will be improved in the January update? I'm holding off on my traditional Newcastle game because I want those two to become stars for me.

Hopefully they will be as both are very under rated but the best place to ask is in the Newcastle data issues thread.

[Stu_UBJ]

Back(again). Not been around as my laptop decided to kick the bucket, and i lost all saves, including the newcastle one Have been enjoying my other save, started with Rosenborg, spent 5 seasons there, and have just moved to Marseille!

---

Anyhoo, going to give my beloved Toon another go, it doesn't seem right not having at least one save with them

[HCFC_Clark]

Alright lads, Hull fan here but after struggling to get a save going with my team I decided to give Newcastle a go. Currently about to start my fourth season and really enjoying it. I think Newcastle have a good foundation to build off and once the dead wood is replaced it's a really enjoyable save. Here are my transfers from first to my current season. I always find these helpful just to see who other people are buying.

14/15

15/16

16/17

17/18

Notable mentions go to the obvious Balanta and Romero. Both outstanding and a MUST buy as i'm sure most of you already know. Traore is coming along nicely and Sisto is another I would highly reccomend. Both extremely good wingers and both offer something a little different. Had offers of £20m+ for both of them.

Ferreyra has been incredible playing as an advanced forward. Last season he was top scorer in the league, with 25 in 34 games. Juventus came in with an offer of £75m and I turned it down purely because of the percentage I would of got back to spend on a replacement. Him an Ayoze make a great partnership and are my main front 2.

With regards to progress in my first season we finshed 12th. Nothing special obviously. After that we jumped up to 7th and qualified for the Europa League. We got to the final in the following season and lost in extra time to Tottenham. Very dissapointing. However, we did finish this year 2nd, only 5 points behind Chelsea. Really looking forward to Champions League and hopefully putting on another title challenge.

This is my current XI.

Very happy with the squad. I rotate M'Villa in for away games and Robertson for Santon depending on form. Usually use Traore's pace for slow full backs or late in the game when we are in need of a goal.

Any questions/tips/comments fire away

[robinthebest]

i have no idea, i cant even win one game in 10 games in both of my saves, i have no idea what i have done wrong tbh

[jlawlor91]

Season 2 Overview:

Transfers -

League Table -

I reached all 3 cup finals, winning the Carling Cup with a last minute winner from Aubameyang against Everton. I lost the Europa League final with a late winner from Sampdoria (this was my fourth game in 8 days) and won the FA Cup v Liverpool on penalties.

Observations

- Zoet and Santon were average at best

- Lucas Romero's performances weren't good either

- Lacazette was a monster

- Aubameyang was an unbelievable signing for £4m, with the winning goal in the League Cup Final and the winning pen in the FA Cup Final

- Facundo Ferreyra was poor for me, too many inconsistent games so I've sold him going into the 3rd season

I'm currently in pre-season of the 3rd and bearing in mind we're the 10th richest club in the world, we just qualified for the Champs League and won 2/3 Cup Competitions my budget is ridiclously low. I've sold £45m worth of players, spent £10m and I only have £5m to spend!

[shorty11857]

Just finished off my second season and it had such a depressing ending, ended up finishing 5th tied on points with 4th but lost out on goal difference, was so close to Champion's League

To make matters worse now several of my players are demanding to leave for bigger clubs

Ferreyra

Cabella

Savitskiy

Janmaat

All asked to leave, although thankfully Cabella backed down after we beat Chelsea in the FA Cup

Not sure what I'd do without Ferreyra, he managed to score 45 goals this season

In terms of transfers I'm more willing to make De Jong and Darlow both want first team football and there's pretty much zero chance they're getting it with me

In terms of performances this year

Ferreyra was a complete beast

Cabella was consistently putting in great performances

Coleman was very underwhelming not sure why just never seemed to deliver

Bigririmana was a surprise for me, he got a few games when I had an injury crisis and was really impressive went from being someone I thought nothing of to being above De Jong in the pecking order

Gonna need to put some time in to looking at transfers if I lose some of my players, do have a few promising youths so we'll see how it all goes

[jlawlor91]

Ferreyra was a complete beast

Just out of interest, how did you get Ferreyra firing? I found him too inconsistent in my 4-2-3-1 with 1/2 advanced playmakers and an inside forward behind him. I've sold him now for £15m and replaced him for Javier Hernandez (funds are low), but got frustrated with him after a while.

[Dodds']

Newcastle United 4th Season Review

Well as you can see Arsenal have won the title 3 years in a row More importantly I've regained my spot in the Europa league, even though I was sitting in the top 3 for most of the season. Mainly the new patch has changed the way my team now to play, as well I have far better passers so it will suit next season hopefully better and push into the Champions League places.

We had a really good year this year and missing out on Europa League title and the Capital One cup buy one last step, we played brilliant in both and only got beat by one goal. The Europa was the worst, Stuttgart who were sitting 7th in the Bundesliga scored in the 89th minute and then the 117th minute to win it. I was actually gutted

Ayoze again was fantastic, the goals he scores from RW are incredible. Anita, Balanta and Lingaard need a massive shout out too, Anita mainly because of the key passing. Being top of the key pass chart for 3 years isn't bad, Balanta I've said before playing CDM is a god and I won't change that review of him. Lingaard had scored 16 goals this season from LW which I wasn't expecting when I brought him in for £2m from Man Utd. He's still only young and can only get better...

A lot of players will need moved on in the summer due to them not wanting to sign contracts, thats fine by me due to the youth I have brought in with the help of Phil Cannon and the scouts.

[robinthebest]

who can share a working formation for me, i cant win any games with my newcastle

[jlawlor91]

I only had 25% of transfer revenue available, but I also needed to replace players. Ended up selling 7/8 players and replaced them with 4 and now I've got no money to spend (and players to sell!), revenue to spend has been increased to 100%, cheers Ashley!

Thread's quiet this year.

[Dodds']

Newcastle United 5th Season Preview

We've started off the season well again, without a loss in our first 3 hopefully it goes up to 10+ like last year. But I very much doubt it will, we also qualified for the Group Stage of the Europa League what I am aiming to go one place further this year and win it... as well as pushing on for Champions League football.

Transfers were a going to be a massive part this year due to players wanting to leave who had just signed last season, as well as players wanting not to sign a new contract. We made a massive, massive profit on Jese selling him to AC Milan for £33m. We only paid around £4m last season, he also had a really poor season compared to Lingaard and Ayoze. Yanga M'Biwa also left for £20m+, with Joel Matip coming in from Liverpool.

This is the striker I've been waiting 2 years for, he's been banging them in for his Brazilian team the past 2 seasons. He's also scored 3 in 3 so far, Vadala and Ings will have to look over their shoulders.

This is our CB that we got from Chester 3 seasons ago, now a wonderkid he looks and plays fantastic behind Balanta.

[DandyDon]

Making painfully slow progress on my Newcastle save......mostly due to plowing a lot of hours into Dragon Age: Inquisition. Only just about reached Novemberin the first season.

We're still sitting in the upper reaches of the league, 'in or around' the European spots in Andy Townshead parlance, so far. Still not utterly convincing at the back and injury problems mean none of the strikers has really put together a run of games yet. Cabella been impressing the most so far, though Gouffran has turned in a couple of surprise starring roles in the last 2 or 3 mathces.

The board have given me some nice news though, saying they're making some transfer funds available. Looks like I'll have around £10 million to spend in the january window. I doubt I could get a 1st team ready striker for anything like that at this stage of the season, so I'm planning to try and add either a good centre back, or a creative wide man to the squad.

[brussels]

I'm planning to try and add either a good centre back, or a creative wide man to the squad.

I'd say look for someone to play wide, which IMHO at the beginning it's one of the weak areas of the team. Other than Obertan I didn't find any real good "wing specialist", and had to use Gouffran and Cabella as interim left midfielders in my 442.

I'm going really slow in my second season, 2 weeks to finish the pre-season and tbh it has been horrible. I did not plan the squad well enough, and come the first BPL game some important players weren't still match fit. Pre-season games were a bit iffy (narrow wins and losses). I think I let myself get dragged by the poor end of the first season.

But I believe we can achieve again a top5-6 position and the players are motivated to win a cup.

[DandyDon]

Yeah I'm planning to try and find a good left sided creative player so I can keep Cabella at AMC.

Obertan has had a couple of good games for me, but only when he's come on as a sub. Any game he's started he's been woeful so far. Gouffran as I mentioned has done pretty well playing as an Inside Forward, nipping in to grab a couple of goals, but when he's been bad he's been very bad.

[HCFC_Clark]

For wide players I'd reccomend either Sisto or Adama Traore.

[trueblue]

who can share a working formation for me, i cant win any games with my newcastle

know how you feel. I just started a save with NC last night and so far played 5 , 1 draw and 4 defeats,,even got nocked out cap 1 cup second round by Leeds,, even the prev round which I did win was a 1-0 against some really lower lg side.

I tried 442, 4132 and 4231 ,, in one match I was 3-1 up and still ended up with a draw at home. My Defense keep leaving huge gaps and I keep getting hit on the counter,, thats when I tried dropping in a DM between defense and midfield , but made no difference. Now morale is the main enemy and as my next match is against Man City I dont see it getting any better.

For me I am putting it down to mix of bad luck ie key players out injured or not fully fit (or away on loan from the start),, and some poor choices from me as I learn my way around the new features,, only just got the game. I also told Krul I would allow him to leave when he asked to go to PSG as nothing I tried to say to change his mind worked,, I held off hoping they would come in with a big bid then they just didn't,, so he aint happy at being left to stay

Hopefully they give me time to turn it around

[Jonny2J]

Managed a sixth place finish in my first season after I ditched a 4-4-2 diamond and moved back to my usual 4-2-3-1.

Cabella was fantastic for me but only managed 10 starts (7 goals) as he kept on getting injured. The amount of times he picked up an injury whilst returning to fitness was excruciating.

The star piece of business for me was managing to pick up Markovic from Liverpool on loan on the last day of the January transfer window. He was my standout player in the second half of the season and one of the main reasons I surged up the table to finish sixth. (Well after selling Cisse for £7 million and being able to buy Dyabla for the exact same price!)

Pre-season is now being becoming a huge annoyance as all of Balanta, Yanga-Mbiwa, Anita, Ben Arfa, Kimmich (you must buy him at the start of the game) and Sissoko have all told me that they want to leave. If it's not players wanting to leave it's then players whinging because somebody else in the squad has got a new contract so they want one.

Tied Ben Arfa down to a new deal but in the end sold him to Milan for £10 million due to his moaning. Also sold Anita to Liverpool for £15 million as well as I haven't got a pot to **** in.

So far I've managed to get Jese on loan from Real and also brought Jose Enrique back on loan (because I love the ****er :aww:).

Still after a central midfielder as I play with a DM, and a DLP so only have Abeid and Kimmich to play as my DLP as I play Sissoko further up, or if I am playing a weaker team at home tend to play him as a B2B midfielder.

Trying to sign Ward-Prowse who my scouts told me I could pick up for £8 million, yet Southampton wanted £23 million for him!

Was keeping an eye on Ruben Neves as well as he looks like he could be the best defensive midfielder on the game, but PSG bid £17 million for him and that was that.

Also signed Declan Rudd from Norwich as my backup keeper as loaned Darlow out and got rid of Elliot at my first opportunity. Rudd's stats look absolutely class for a backup but his acceleration of 1 is quite concerning! Still not convinced by Krul longer-term as his kicking is attrocious so wanting to replace him really. Can somebody recommend anybody who would be attainable?

[NLH]

Koval or John Ruddy

[brussels]

this game is ridiculous

AI is adamant my 442 does not work any longer. I say... OK I'll change to my good old trusted 433.

I start scoring... great!!!

Can you guess the result? And how goals came?

1x 30' yard fluke

1x cross

1x corner

1x Shane Long troll-dribbles past my 2 CBs

By the time I was winning 2-1 Southampton had 1 half chance, and I had already a bunch of CCC and HC

I hope the board sacks me soon and puts me out of my misery.

Or maybe I should fire myself and take a long break from FM.

Thanks for allowing me to rant&vent a bit.

Edit: now this...

[jlawlor91]

I've been offered £45m from Bayern for Lucas Romero. Looking at his attributes I don't want to sell, but looking at his match ratings of 6.8 and 7.05 for 2 seasons makes me want to.

How can I get the best out of him / would you sell? With the money I could get in Will Hughes, Dier and Zaha and have some English players in my squad for once, but I fancy trying a 4-5-1 with a DM, 2 x CM and 2 wingers in midfield as opposed to my current 4-2-3-1 which is working well but not getting the best out of my roaming playmaker.

[brussels]

Based in previous years I'd sell someone that isn't performing. With that kind of money you can probably buy someone useful. (think Mourinho - David Luiz, Ancelotti - Ozil)

[col_nufc1]

Newcastle United End Of Season 2017/18 Season Review.

We brung in a few English young players to add more strength and depth to the squad and of course hopefully over time become first team players. I also bought some wingers into the club as I was going to change my formation but then I changed my mind again and so I either sold them on again or loaned them out to sell them next season. One of my star players was sold in January when PSG came in for Rémy Cabella and offered £57m, which I thought was too good an offer to turn down and let him leave.

Cash/Claused Transfers l Free Transfers l Loan Deals l Staff Transfers

Players On Loan

Premier League

We were on course to finish the Premier League unbeaten like the Arsenal invincibles but in the penultimate match we lost at Old Trafford against Manchester United. That defeat ended our games without losing to 67 games going back to the previous season and is a new Premier League record along with the 97 points that we got this season.

In The Cups

Capital One cup semi final 1st leg, Newcastle United 1-0 Watford.

Capital One cup semi final 2nd leg, Watford 2-0 Newcastle United.

FA cup semi final, Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle United.

European Super cup, Lyon 0-2 Newcastle United.

Champions League semi final 1st leg, Newcastle United 4-2 Chelsea.

Champions League semi final 2nd leg, Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle United.

FIFA World club cup final, Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2-4 Newcastle United.

The Squad

The Future

Tim Krul is going to have a testimonial match next season in what will probably be his last as the Newcastle United number one goalkeeper. I think we need a World class goalkeeper and after missing out on Jerónimo Rulli who chose to sign for Juventus on a bosman free transfer I have sent my scouts out to look for the next Manuel Neuer.

I won the World cup with France after beating England in the final and I have now applied for the vacant managerial posts at Brazil, Germany and Spain. If I could chose then I would prefer the Brazilian or German team posts but if not then I'll stay withe the French until something else comes up, maybe even the England job .

[trueblue]

know how you feel. I just started a save with NC last night and so far played 5 , 1 draw and 4 defeats,,even got nocked out cap 1 cup second round by Leeds,, even the prev round which I did win was a 1-0 against some really lower lg side.

I tried 442, 4132 and 4231 ,, in one match I was 3-1 up and still ended up with a draw at home. My Defense keep leaving huge gaps and I keep getting hit on the counter,, thats when I tried dropping in a DM between defense and midfield , but made no difference. Now morale is the main enemy and as my next match is against Man City I dont see it getting any better.

For me I am putting it down to mix of bad luck ie key players out injured or not fully fit (or away on loan from the start),, and some poor choices from me as I learn my way around the new features,, only just got the game. I also told Krul I would allow him to leave when he asked to go to PSG as nothing I tried to say to change his mind worked,, I held off hoping they would come in with a big bid then they just didn't,, so he aint happy at being left to stay

Hopefully they give me time to turn it around

Just beat Man City 4-1 !!! Didnt see that coming