safcrhys Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Well after two years with Rangers, winning promotion in 14/15 and winning the title and cup double in 15/16 I started 16/17 relishing our participation in the Champions League. In truth we overachieved last year and Celtic still had a much better squad even after my Summer transfer business but I started to get a little bored after the first couple of months, there are only so many times you can play the likes of Inverness and Ross County before you get bored. We were 7 points clear of Celtic in the league by October but our Champions League group included last years winners Man Utd, Lyon and Valencia so I had little chance of progressing. United beat us 3-1 at Ibrox before a 2-1 loss to Lyon in France and a 3-0 thumping in Valencia. After that game against Valencia I decided to move on and noticed Sunderland languishing in 21st in the Championship. They had finished 18th in the first season and then just avoided relegation from the Championship the season after. I took over and after a mixed start we began to put a run together and with 8 games left we are lying in 6th place so just about clinging onto a play off place. We have a difficult end to the year though with 5 away games to play so I doubt I will be able to maintain a play off push. The likes of Wickham have left and we have a very old squad, so need a clear out in the Summer! In truth we will struggle next year if we get promoted so I wouldn't mind another year in the Championship building a team capable of competing in the top flight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelBrown Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Not sure how u guys are doing it but well done! 6 league game nd I've lost 5 won 1 v hull. Still in league cup I've beat wolves and west ham but really struggling for goals. I'm in every game nd have majority of possession just don't make it count. I'm using same system as I have used in my Stockport game so it's not that my tactic is shocking just poor finishing and some horrendous goalkeeping. That's the issue. Stockport aren't Sunderland. Sunderland aren't Stockport. They're two different teams, with two different styles, and plug-and-play tactics are irrelevant. That probably explains the losses and poor gameplay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Started the 2017/18 season back in the top flight with four wins in a row. Started the campaign with a home derby against the Mags and we managed to overcome them by 2 goals to 1, Tomlin and Soldado hitting the net. We were then slightly fortunate to beat Norwich 1-0 away, Soldado capitalising on a defensive slip up in the first half to score the only goal of the game. We then lost to Tranmere in the Carling Cup away from home, nice to see the Prenton Park curse is still in place. Up next was a Nottingham Forest team featuring Fabio Borini up front, the little Italian scored twice for the visitors on his return to the Stadium of Light but it wasn't enough for Forest as we scored four goals, Lee Tomlin running the show although he did give away a penalty which Borini scored from! We then had the relatively easy task of facing Manchester United at home, we were excellent in the first half and found ourselves 2-0 up at the break, Bakary Sako scoring twice, the first was a lovely finish from a brilliant team move, we could have been 3-0 up but Soldado was ruled offside after he also found the back of the net. The second half was all about seeing the game out and although United pulled one back in the 90th minute through Falcao it was too little too late, meaning the supporters in the away end faced disappointing journey's back to Ireland, Scandinavia and Surrey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Decided to have a crack with The Lads following the release of the new patch. Settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation and following some help from the kind posters in the tactics section, we are doing well. I thought it would be hard to integrate Defoe into such a system (as I thought he would play better with another forward alongside him) but he has scored 13 goals in 17 matches and has just bagged a hat-trick against Spurs of all teams in a 5-1 win at the SoL. We are about to play Newcastle at St James' Park on Boxing Day and currently sit in fourth place in the league having scored the 3rd highest amount of goals in the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Right, I've decided that after witnessing their shocking start to the season, I will use the new update to see if I can do any better with Sunderland! I will keep my experience as 'Sunday League Footballer' as always, making this tough challenge all that more difficult. My aim is to stay clear of relegation in the first season, where I can then make plans on how I want to play and how to take the club forward. At the end of the season I'll then look to ship out the enormous amount of deadwood the Black Cats seem to have lumbered themselves with. I'm going to focus on defending and hitting teams on the counter this season with the pace of Defoe / Lens / Borini / Johnson etc. It's going to be a struggle, but I'm up for one last tough challenge before my attentions turn to FM16. Hopefully this will re-ignite this thread a bit too! Wish me luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatlastbiliousbead Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 Right, I've decided that after witnessing their shocking start to the season, I will use the new update to see if I can do any better with Sunderland!... It's going to be a struggle, but I'm up for one last tough challenge before my attentions turn to FM16. Hopefully this will re-ignite this thread a bit too! Wish me luck Consider yourself luck-wished! I saw your post after I'd taken the plunge myself and agreed with all I've quoted. I find it insane that anyone can win the league inside two seasons and I'd be interested to see what the other end of the transfer activity scale can achieve - I'm going with original database and disabled first transfer window. This is the save I wanted to do when the beta came out but never got round to it. So I thought let's have one last hurrah (with obligatory sacking at the end of the season) in a league I can't believe I've not played in on this year's FM. What formation(s) are you looking at? I'm going to begin with a mixture of 4-4-2 and Gus' 4-1-2-3 DM Wide for familiarity's sake but will have my favoured 4-2-3-1 Narrow trained. Sacked the old gaffer's four acolytes (Taricco, coach, GK coach, and scout who arrived at the same time - October 2013) and promoted Stockdale to Assistant as he likes the 4-2-3-1 Narrow formation too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Consider yourself luck-wished! I saw your post after I'd taken the plunge myself and agreed with all I've quoted. I find it insane that anyone can win the league inside two seasons and I'd be interested to see what the other end of the transfer activity scale can achieve - I'm going with original database and disabled first transfer window. This is the save I wanted to do when the beta came out but never got round to it. So I thought let's have one last hurrah (with obligatory sacking at the end of the season) in a league I can't believe I've not played in on this year's FM.What formation(s) are you looking at? I'm going to begin with a mixture of 4-4-2 and Gus' 4-1-2-3 DM Wide for familiarity's sake but will have my favoured 4-2-3-1 Narrow trained. Sacked the old gaffer's four acolytes (Taricco, coach, GK coach, and scout who arrived at the same time - October 2013) and promoted Stockdale to Assistant as he likes the 4-2-3-1 Narrow formation too. Cheers mate I'm looking at a 4-4-2, but I'm really struggling to find what other formations I want to implement. I like 4-2-3-1 with a pass and move philosophy, so I may try and use that when I see fit. I'm probably going to go for a high structured 4-5-1 for away games and take any point I can get. My main aim is to survive relegation and then try and properly implement my possession football. I've not changed any of the backroom staff, again it's something I'll look to do should I stay up. How do you separate your three tactics? Like 1 for counter attacking, 1 for attacking etc? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatlastbiliousbead Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I tend not to fiddle with mentality or fluidity until I've played a good few games and know what to expect from the players' natural play. I like to be able to loosely fit my best 16-ish players into a couple of interchanging formations so in my first friendly I'm going to play a first and second eleven as per the pictures below. Generally I'll start with the players who were at the club last year and I'll only make three role changes before a ball is kicked so I can assess the strengths of the three signings who are most likely to force their way in. Once back from injury I want Giaccherini and Jones to replace Larsson and Vergini - and perhaps Coates and Vergini to replace O'Shea and Brown before the season is out? I thought what the hell, I'll take charge of the youth teams while I'm waiting on responses to their respective manager adverts: The Narrow has a slight switch in the placing of the central player mentalities - Support rather than Attack binds the double-pivot. There's a little bit of overlap with a few players available for two teams (I like to make sure there's always a 23 to choose from!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Nice approach and set up mate Mine is a bit different as i'm using the latest update. Just started the season with a pleasing 1-0 win away to Watford. Got battered in the game but managed to stay firm and score with just 6 minutes remaining through Adam Johnson. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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