FMC15 Save Updates Thread

[Maw74]

Ahhhh, grand so!

Yeah using a few unlockables in this game.

So I can get away with being rubbish (doing a great job at that right now) and I can safely go through the highs and lows with my club, well as long as it doesn`t go too low.

[safcrhys]

I'm tempted to use the unsackable unlockable too Maw.

Started a new game with Nuneaton Town, board told me to attempt to avoid the drop. No money for transfers, no money for wages, a god awful squad but we are chundering along in mid-table half way through season one. Going to be a long hard slog to get this club promoted over the coming years.

[BoxToBox]

Yeah using a few unlockables in this game.

So I can get away with being rubbish (doing a great job at that right now) and I can safely go through the highs and lows with my club, well as long as it doesn`t go too low.

I quite like the idea of Unsackable, rather than follow a managers career, follow a clubs path, both good and bad, bouncing about the leagues could be entertaining in it's own right.

[Maw74]

Well it's not 8-0 but it's revenge anyway.

It's a great result, rode our luck at times but this performance just makes my mind boggle, we can perform like this so what the hell has been happening for most of this season.

We have one game left now and it's Arsenal.

Edit - we beat Arsenal 4-2 and finished 10th.

[tyro]

Nicely done, Maw.

We're currently 3rd after 14 games played with 31 points.

Chelsea 35 (15)

Everton 34 (14)

Newcastle 31 (14)

Man U 28 (15)

Man C 28 (14)

We are currently on a 13 match unbeaten run and I'm most excited about our comeback against Sunderland to win 3-2 after going 2 down in the first half. I had abandoned my 424 and gone with a traditional 442 but things just didn't work out. At half time I switched things back and we won.

Man U broke our 6 match winning streak with a draw. Hopefully we can keep up this form. Facundo is top goalscorer for us with 13 goals. Sissoko, Remy, and Ayoze are also outstanding with assists and goals. Almost finished first half of the season.

Chelsea is next and I fear they will break my unbeaten run. They have not lost yet. So hopefully a draw at least at Stamford bridge.

[john1]

Good updates Tyro

I am going to have a quick bash with MLS, dunno who to manage tho.

[BoxToBox]

I wanted to play in the MLS but it bugs me that they play like European teams, despite the MLS rules baffling me.

[john1]

My thoughts exactly on the rules

[BoxToBox]

I haven't played in over a week, only turning it on to check the odd thing.

Started getting too dominant with Avellino. Really did like that 4-4-1-1 though, will be trying it again in future.

[john1]

Didn't last that long with MLS save Gone back to PSV, just beat FC Twente, away, 2-1 with Jansen and Smalling getting the goals.

[BoxToBox]

What team did you try in the end?

[john1]

What team did you try in the end?

Real Salt Lake

[BoxToBox]

Real Salt Lake

Cheers! I always try with New England, as they're the MLS team I follow IRL, always last about as long as you did too.

[tyro]

I always wanted to try to play in the MLS. Not quite sure on the rules and if they are properly translated into FM. Maybe for FM16.

Erevidise is another league I like to try out. Seems like many talents start out there.

The 4411 has become one of my favorite formations in FM15. I use it a lot. If I manage to get further with my Newcastle save then I have the chance to change the squad a bit and form it into a 4411 or 4141/433. I already kind of have the players for it but there are so many strikers at the beginning of the season that anything but a 2 striker formation seems a waste. I see this changing soon though with 3 remaining. Riviere and Cisse are probably out next season. I did not want to buy Facundo and let him go after the loan but 13 goals so far make this hard. And when I thought to myself Riviere has to go he comes on as a super sub and scores two to win us the game. I think they can read minds.

[Maw74]

Our start to the new season saw us play the teams we finished against last season.

Rubbish start but nearly managed to get a point.

We then put another 4 past the Gooners.

We had 2 goals disallowed in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. and then in this game.

We had 3 goals chaulked off, the first at 0-2 and then the others at 0-3.

Annoyed? yeah that's one word for it.

[Maw74]

_______________________________________________

Season 17 - 2031/2032

So far this is a complete contrast from last season, can we start dreaming?

Well tbh I don't think we will keep up the challenge but some great results so far

and just look at the result against my beloved Spurs, I wanted 9 & 10 though.

Despite thes stats I have been doing a fair bit of moaning at my players.

He's doing okay so far.

[BoxToBox]

Good stuff, hopefully it continues!

[john1]

Brilliant results there Maw!

[john1]

Lucky Zenit! Second goal was parried shot I am confident of turning it over in 2nd leg.

[john1]

Wrapped up the league title with 5 games to go. Now we got injuries crisis up front Anthony Martial, out for 2-3 months and Basualdo, out for 4 weeks. Sticked Souza, up front against SC Cambuur, scored twice to win 2-0. Still in KNVB Beker, will play FC Twente in semi final.

[john1]

[john1]

Another best draw for us

[BoxToBox]

So, looking for something to do, I went back to my old save that went through Galway Utd, Falkirk, OM, and there was an offer on the table in May 2020 from Man Utd. Their squad was quite old, and average, needed a shake up, and they hadn't done much of note in a few years(FA Cup in 2017), having just qualified for next seasons Europa League.

Went to work, and had about the craziest window possible, overhaulling their squad, and academy. Added more English players, as they had only few, and one Irish(Republic) as Man Utd should have an Irishman in their squad. Should have added a Scot too, might in January. Also knocking 5 years off the squads average age.

What you don't see here is about 30m of future transfers set up.

I started with 80m, fwiw.

[safcrhys]

Everton 2014/15 Review

So I decided to start a new game with Everton because I have this weird obsession with taking over club's with great histories who are failing to live up to what they achieved in the past. Everton is a (little) bit more challenging because of the large debt and relatively smaller stadium although they do still have some fantastic young players like James McCarthy, Ross Barkley, John Stones and Romelu Lukaku.

Transfers

There wasn't much scope for bringing players in with a transfer budget of only around £5m in the Summer. I ended up waiting until January when the board had increased our transfer budget to bring in Eder Alvarez Balanta from River for £7.25m. He's the only player I have signed so far and we have struggled to move players on too - the only players leaving have been youngsters on short term loans.

Europa League

We were drawn in Group L of the Europa League with some decent teams - Lyon, Sociedad and Malmo. We dropped points in our first group game - a 0-0 draw in France but apart from that we won the rest of our five group games to easily top the table and earn a first knock out round draw with Villareal. The first leg took place on February 19th in Spain and we played very well to win 3-1 before we eased to a 2-0 win at Goodison in the return game to go through to the 2nd knock out round against Besiktas. A trip to Turkey is not for the faint hearted but we blitzed the home side in the first half - it was 4-1 at half time. They pulled another goal back in the second half but we had a considerable advantage ahead of the 2nd leg on March 19th. I played a second string outfit in that game such was my confidence of winning and it was a tight encounter but Leon Osman's goal meant a 5-2 aggregate win and a place in the quarter final.

We were handed a nice draw in the quarters - Metalist, and once again we had the advantage of playing the 2nd leg on Merseyside. The first leg was an easy 2-0 win thanks to goals from Besic and Lukaku and we repeated that score at Goodison in the next game to seal a 4-0 aggregate win and a semi final date with surprise Dutch outfit Feyenoord. The first leg was at the intimidating De Kuip stadium and we were second best for much of the game but managed to eke out an undeserved 1-1 draw whilst the home side were also reduced to ten men late on. We only needed a 0-0 draw at home to make it to the final and it looked like a certainty when the visitors were once again reduced to ten men early on thanks to indiscipline. We bombed forward creating chance after chance but we just could not put the ball in the back of the net and on 55 minutes we were made to pay as van Beek scored with a good header from a corner and we were unbelievably staring defeat in the face. My misery was doubled when Lukaku was forced to come off with ten minutes left - only for his replacement Steven Naismith to power home a great header with just two minutes left! Both teams looked to have settled for penalties as there wasn't much action in extra time and thankfully we triumphed 5-4 on spot kicks to put us into a final with Benfica.

Anyone who knows anything about football will know about the bizarre curse of Benfica not winning a European trophy despite reaching something like 9 finals since the late 1960's. It was up to us to make sure that trend continued:

It was a very even game, when they scored an equalizer with just five minutes of normal time to go I feared they would have the momentum to go on and take the game to us in extra time but up popped John Stones after 111 minutes with a towering header! It was a fantastic game of football and important for me to win a trophy in my first season in charge as it has brought to an end a run of 20 years without a piece of silverware for the Toffees.

Domestic Competitions

The Premier League season began with a solid if unspectacular 1-0 win over Southampton at Goodison and in our first away game we had the difficult task of trying to see off Manchester City at the Etihad. We put in an unbelievable first half performance and were 2-0 up at the break but some sloppy defending in the second period allowed the home side back into the game and the match ended 2-2, I was disappointed to drop two points but before the game I would have taken a draw. Up next were hapless Sunderland and they couldn't live with our quick passing and movement as we handed out a 6-0 hammering to the wilting Wearsiders. We drew our second away game in a row with a 0-0 result at Swansea before a first loss of the campaign arrived at Stamford Bridge - Chelsea showed us just what we were up against if we want to match their achievements in the coming years with a painful 5-1 rout in West London. So bad were some player's indvidual performances and so annoyed was I that I had little hesitation in handing out 2 week fines! Some players were unhappy but to be honest I didn't care.

We got back on track with a 1-0 home win over Man City in the League Cup 3rd round before back to back draws against Spurs (0-0 at home) and Villa (2-2 away). An unconvincing 2-1 home win over Stoke on October 18th where we needed a last gasp Aaron Lennon goal to claim the three points led to me altering my tactics somewhat and we played a lot better in our next match - a 2-1 win over Hull at the KC Stadium. We were out of the Capital One Cup a few days later though, deservedly going out to Stoke on penalties after they had battered us for 120 minutes in a 2-2 draw at the Britannia. We were back to winning ways on November 1st with a steady 2-1 home win over Leicester before we dropped more away points at West Ham in a 1-1 draw.

We had to play Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal in three of our next four games although they were all to be played at home. We saw off Man Utd with a good 2-1 home win thanks to goals from McCarthy and Lukaku before a fantastic performance against Liverpool saw us emerge as 3-0 victors. Such was our dominance over our neighbours that I was disappointed we didn't score more goals! Baines also missed a penalty in that game. Given how well we played in that game I was a little aggrieved that we could only draw 1-1 at Loftus Road on December 6th against QPR, our inability to see games through on the road was starting to worry me. We were about to hit a purple patch of form though that would see us comprehensively destroy teams over the Xmas period.

Probably our best performance of the season came at Goodison December 14th against Arsenal - it seemed every time we went forward we would score. Kevin Mirallas was outstanding in a game that would end 5-0 to Everton and the Gunners barely got so much as a sniff at goal throughout the 90 minutes. Confidence was high and six days later we thrashed Burnley 4-1 at Turf Moor before another 5-0 victory on Boxing Day against Crystal Palace. There was a bit of a blip two days later when our tired group of players could only draw 2-2 at West Brom but there was much to cheer on New Year's Day as we went to St Mary's and outplayed Southampton on our way to a 4-0 win.

I wasn't impressed with our defending in a 3-2 away success over Brighton in the FA Cup 3rd round but the fact that we had progressed was all that mattered to me. Consecutive 1-1 draws at Newcastle and at home to Manchester City signaled the start of an amazing run which would see us win ten of our next eleven games. By now we had Balanta in to bolster the defence and he played very well in a 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. A week later Preston were easily beaten 3-1 in the FA Cup 4th round before an easy 3-0 home success over Swansea. Chelsea were the only team in the league to have beaten us all season and they showed how good of a team they are when they came to Merseyside and beat us 1-0 on January 31st, in truth the score flattered us, it could and should have been more.

A massive away win was achieved on February 7th when we went to White Hart Lane and beat Spurs 2-1, that result gave us some breathing space in the race for a Champions League spot as the Lily-Whites had been breathing down our necks for most of the season. Three days later we beat Villa 3-2 at home in a game where we showed good character to come from 2-0 down and win. On Valentine's Day we beat Swansea 2-0 in the FA Cup fifth round to progress through to the quarter final before beating Stoke 2-1 at the Britannia and then Hull 3-0 at Goodison. On March 8th we welcomed Spurs to Merseyside in the FA Cup last 8 in a game that was supposed to be evenly matched - we won 6-1.

On March 16th we dominated West Ham at home to win 3-0 before we suffered a third loss of the season at Old Trafford - our defenders were very poor in a discouraging 3-0 defeat. We returned to winning ways after the international break with a 3-0 win over Newcastle but two disappointing away results (2-2 draw at Leicester and a 2-1 loss to Liverpool) put our position in the top four under threat. On April 18th we headed to Wembley to take on Arsenal in the FA Cup semi final and we absolutely destroyed the Gunners to win the game 3-0 and book a final place against Manchester United who had beaten Derby in the other semi final. We were playing scintillating football and on April 26th we beat QPR 7-0 at Goodison.

Given our recent dominance of Arsenal I was quietly confident of our chances ahead of the trip to the Emirates on May 2nd. It turned out to be a nightmare as an even game somehow ended 4-0 in their favour, indeed we were 3-0 down after 16 minutes! More warnings and fines were handed out to several defenders after that shocker. The players responded well though and we ended the league season with a three successive 4-0 wins over West Brom, Crystal Palace and Burnley to seal third position and a place in next season's Champions League.

We just had the small matter of an FA Cup final to look forward to now against a Man Utd team who were baying for blood following the final day surrender of the title to Chelsea. In truth we played very poorly in this game and were lucky not to be on the end of a serious hammering:

Player of the Season

I'll plump for Kevin Mirallas who was fantastic all year round coming inside from his inside forward position on the right. He ended the year with almost thirty goals and numerous assists. Lukaku was a close second but he had a dry spell over the Winter months so for sheer consistency it has to be Mirallas.

[safcrhys]

Just sold Kevin Mirallas to Manchester City for £30m, didn't think I could turn that sort of fee down for a 28 year old. Used that bulk of that money to bring in a pair of quality wide attacking midfielders although I failed to agree a fee with Velez for Lucas Romero who went on to join Napoli instead. Looks like another year of alternating Gareth Barry with Muhamed Besic in defensive midfield. Nevertheless we have started the year brilliantly, wiping the floor with Bayern (3-0) in the European Super Cup before thrashing Cardiff 4-1 in the first Premier League game of the season. We have also asked planning permission to expand Goodison to 45,000 capacity, kind of wish I'd requested a new stadium but I doubt the club would be able to afford such a move.

[BoxToBox]

Worth sticking with Besic, he's excellent.

[BoxToBox]

Going well in Manchester.

[safcrhys]

God we are blowing teams away. We went to Hull and won 6-1 before destroying Man Utd 3-0 at Goodison, we had 31 attempts at goal. Bernard has six goals and 2 assists in three matches.

[BoxToBox]

Sounds like you're doing some cracking work there.

[BoxToBox]

That's the end of season, breaking Villa's goals record, and Chelsea's points record. Total of 62 wins and 3 draws in 65 games.

Also breaking Man Utd's biggest win with that Brentford game, and my star striker broke Law's record with 47 goals in all comps.

Won the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa. Spurs will be disgusted with me, a 16-4 agg scoreline across 4 games, including the FA Cup and Europa finals.

Team record of 229 goals in 65 games.

[Maw74]

That's the end of season, breaking Villa's goals record, and Chelsea's points record. Total of 62 wins and 3 draws in 65 games.

Also breaking Man Utd's biggest win with that Brentford game, and my star striker broke Law's record with 47 goals in all comps.

Team record of 229 goals in 65 games.

Firstly I will get rid of the Spurs bit, no real need for that anyway.

Ok that season is just crazy, considering your record it was a close race because Chelsea's record is hardly too shabby.

[BoxToBox]

Firstly I will get rid of the Spurs bit, no real need for that anyway.

Ok that season is just crazy, considering your record it was a close race because Chelsea's record is hardly too shabby.

That's probably what Spurs manager said too.

[BoxToBox]

Into Dec. of the next season, and still unbeaten in all comps, but I have a tough run of games coming up.

It's a minor miracle too, never had such an injury blighted season before, at one stage I was missing 3 of 4 CB's, both AMC's, and my first choice AML. Always have at least 3 players out, usually 4-6.

[Maw74]

That's probably what Spurs manager said too.

The funny thing is that if I don't like your results against them I shouldn`t like mine.

We beat them 8-1 and 5-2.

[BoxToBox]

The funny thing is that if I don't like your results against them I shouldn`t like mine.

We beat them 8-1 and 5-2.

It kinda sucks having to hurt your own(irl) team. I've often played towards the end of seasons, with nothing to play for, wondering should I send the kids out to get a negative result that would help a team I like along.

[tyro]

Whenever i play against a team I like it comes to a point where I'm thinking I should start a save with them. And sometimes do.

[safcrhys]

Everton 2015/16 Review

The aim this year was consolidation in the top four, reach the knock out rounds of the Champions League and try and win one of the domestic cups.

Transfers In

Bernard (£13.75m, Shakhtar) - 22 year old left winger came highly recommended by my scouts and given that last year our options on the left flank were limited to either Pienaar or McGeady it made sense to bring in a younger player with great potential. Went on to have a storming season scoring 17 goals and creating 10 others in the league before injury ended his season.

Douglas Costa (£8.5m, Shakhtar) - We also needed quality on the right wing so it was a no brainer to bring this guy in. Started off well with 3 goals and 4 assists in the opening few weeks before a broken leg ruled him out for six months. Upon his return he suffered a twisted ankle and missed another month or so. An injury plagued first season on Merseyside and he never looked the same player after his long lay off.

Matias Kranevitter (£5.5m, River) - January signing, the young defensive midfielder slotted straight into the first team and went on to make a huge contribution in 2016.

Transfers Out

Kevin Mirallas (£30m, Man City) - Our player of the year last season, couldn't turn down an offer of £30m for a player heading towards his 30s. By all accounts he has flopped in Manchester, scoring 0 goals and recording only 2 assists in 24 appearances during 2015/16.

Muhamed Besic (£12.25m, Leverkusen) - Played a key role in the first few months of the season but once we had signed Kranevitter he faded into the background. Once Leverkusen started showing an interest in January I tried to get £15m for him but £12.25m was as high as they would go. I decided to cash in on a player who would be playing second fiddle to Kranevitter if he had stayed.

Premier Division

We started our Premier League season with a 4-1 rout of Cardiff on the opening day and followed that up with a 6-1 mauling of Hull at the KC Stadium a week later. We ended August with a 3-0 home success over Man Utd and already I was dreaming about just what this team could achieve at the end of the season. Our first loss was right around the corner - a 2-0 reverse at the Emirates in mid-September but a 2-0 away success at Chelsea in the very next game was more than I could have asked for given just how superior they were to us last year. The wins kept on piling up - Villa (4-0 at home), Sunderland (3-0 away), West Ham (3-1 at home), Blackburn (3-1 away), Swansea (1-0 at home) and Leicester (1-0 away) were all seen off ahead of a trip to the Etihad in late November.

We are yet to lose to Manchester City since I took over from Roberto Martinez and that run continued as an Aiden McGeady goal sealed a 1-0 win at Eastlands. A week later we battered hapless Ipswich 4-0 at Goodison before we finally dropped points in our next game on December 1st when we drew 1-1 with Spurs at home. We immediately returned to winning ways with a 4-1 success at West Brom but another 2 points were then dropped on Tyneside where we drew with Newcastle. Six days before Xmas it was the first Merseyside derby of the season and we were at home. We chose this game to put in one of our more memorable performances - it was 5-1 going on 10-1 in the end, a superb display of attacking football blowing away the Reds who were breathing down our necks at the top of the table just a point behind. On Boxing Day we beat Stoke 3-0 before we ended 2015 with back to back 3-1 away wins over Southampton and Cardiff.

9th January saw us draw 1-1 at Old Trafford - a result I would have taken before the game. We soon returned to winning ways by beating Hull 2-0 and Arsenal 3-1 both at home. We were in an unbelievable vein of form and after Aston Villa were seen off 2-0 in Birmingham no-one could have predicted what we were going to do to Chelsea on January 30th. The West London side were lurking behind us and Liverpool in third place so it was vital we did not lose this game, in the end it was like a Sunday morning stroll as we wiped the floor with the Blues on our way to a 6-1 home success. A week later it was Sunderland's turn to feel our wrath as we eased to a 4-0 win at Goodison.

We dropped our first points in exactly a month when we drew 1-1 at West Ham on February 9th but the unbeaten run continued with three successive 2-0 wins over Swansea, Blackburn and Leicester before a 1-0 win at relegation certainties Ipswich in mid-March. By this point we had opened up an 8 point gap on the chasing pack but we were to suffer a rude awakening with a harsh 4-1 loss at White Hart Lane, we defended very poorly and it brought to an end a mesmeric run of 29 games unbeaten. Thankfully the team responded with a 2-1 home win over Manchester City before we stuffed West Brom 3-0 on April 9th.

Everton's first title in 29 years was now in sight, our squad had been severely depleted by injuries though and we were without Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley, James McCarthy, Bernard and Douglas Costa at this point all to long term absences. As a result we needed a last gasp Leighton Baines' freekick to claim a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle. On April 30th in our final home game of the season we needed a point to make sure of the trophy against Southampton. We took an early lead through Lukaku but we couldn't hold on and Cristain Rodriguez levelled late on. Nevertheless the point was all we needed, I would have liked to win the game in front of our supporters but at least the title was now secured with two games to spare. The season ended with a 1-0 loss at Liverpool and a 4-0 away win at Stoke.

European Super Cup

Following our Europa League success last year we were to be involved in the European Super Cup this season, in the end we somehow trounced Bayern 3-0 to secure the trophy.

Capital One Cup

This is the one competition we have struggled to make an impression on since I became manager and this year saw another poor showing. We went out at home to Swansea in round four.

FA Cup

Having lost in the final to Man Utd last year there was a determination to win this trophy this season for the first time since 1995. We saw off Leicester, Palace and Derby on our way to the quarter finals where we met Chelsea. We would beat the Blues for the third time this campaign with a 2-0 win at Goodison. The semi finals saw us knock out Man City with a 2-1 win at Wembley to set up a final with Stoke who we had beaten 4-0 at the Britannia on the final day of the Premier League season:

We repeated the scoreline with ease to secure our third trophy of the campaign.

Champions League

Considering we were a 4th seed we landed ourselves a great group in the Champions League, Schalke, Lyon and Kiev were the three teams we would be competing against for a place in the first knock out round. We drew home and away with Schalke but won our other four group games to progress through to face of all teams Barcelona in the last 16. We were battered in the first leg and found ourselves 2-0 down at half time courtesy of goals from Neymar and Suarez. Aiden McGeady pulled one back after 67 minutes with a low shot into the bottom corner but an unfortunate Leighton Baines own goal after 80 minutes made it 3-1 to the home side. Bernard made it 3-2 in the 90th minute but any hope that goal gave us looked to have been eroded when Pique scored from a corner just a minute later and the final score of 4-2 was just what Barca deserved. We had it all to do in the 2nd leg:

One of the best games of football I've seen on Football Manager, for us to score two goals in the final few minutes and progress through the last 8 was simply amazing. We landed Real Madrid in the quarter final and we lost the first leg 2-0 in Spain but once again we turned it round at Goodison. Darron Gibson gave us an early lead but it looked like we were heading out of the competition until Leighton Baines fired home a 30 yard rocket with just seconds of normal time remaining. We lost Bernard to an injury which would end his season in extra time and had to play the final 12 minutes with ten men but we held on and the players showed great character to emerge victorious on penalties.

Our reward for seeing off the two Spanish giants was a semi final with AC Milan, a team I felt we could beat. We won the first leg 7-1 at Goodison and I played a weakened team in the 2nd leg at the San Siro which Milan won 3-1 but there was no way they could erase such a heavy deficit. The final was to be played against Bayern Munich - who we had beaten 3-0 in the European Super Cup earlier in the campaign.

We were the better team in the first half and it was harsh that we found ourselves a goal down. In the second half Bayern took control but they couldn't kill us off until Coleman fouled Gotze in the box and earned himself a red card. The penalty was promptly scored and we lost the game 2-0. Still very proud of the players though, its been an incredible season.

Top Goalscoer

Romelu Lukaku managed 19 goals in the league, 30 in all competitions.

Player of the Season

Leighton Baines was outstanding all season, he even made it into the world team of the year. He scored 18 goals in all competitions including 14 in the Premier League as well as contributing 13 assists.

Next Year

We have a very strong first eleven but once we start to suffer from injuries and suspensions it definitely hurts us more than it should. A key example being in central midfield where we lost both McCarthy and Barkley for the final two months of the campaign and ended up having to play Gareth Barry and Darron Gibson... we need to target good young players to remain competitive on all fronts during 2016/17.

[ThePixie]

Napoli 2030/2031 Review

History

I originally started the game with Portsmouth and spent 8 season getting them to the Premier League and European football. After that I decided to go on holiday for several years just to clear the current players and to see how the leagues progress. After about 5 years of holiday I wanted to get back into management so in November 2028 I had a look at which jobs were available. The most interesting jobs on offer were Valencia & Napoli (other than some Div 2 teams) both of which were the bottom half of their respective tables. I have managed many Spanish teams before therefore I decided to choose Napoli. They quickly offered me a contract and the rest was history. Before I joined it stated that their finances were good therefore I knew I was going to have to be careful with my spending...apparently having a £180 mil balance is only good...wtf its excellent!!! Instead of boring you with the last 1 and 1/2 seasons I will just list my silverware...also I am playing on the iPad therefore I cant review past tables

2028/2029

Serie A - 2nd (Juventus won the league)

Italian Cup - Runner up (against Inter)

Europa League - Winner (against PSG)

2029/2030

Serie A - 1st (Went the season unbeaten...no joke)

Italian Cup - Winner (against Juventus)

Champions League - Winner (against At Madrid)

Fast forward to 2030/2031.....

Board Confidence

I have received my minimum expectations for the season which are to challenge for the Serie A title, win the European Super Cup and reach the semi final of the Champions League..everything else is not important. I had job offers from Real Madrid, Barcelona & At Madrid but turned them all down. My job status is currently untouchable but that could change very fast. I scored 114 goals in Serie A last season (new record) and I am about 8 games off beating AC Milan's record of 58 games without losing which dates back to 1991 to 1993.

Transfers

Transfer budget is £158 mil for the season with the club finances sitting at £239 mil. I tend to focus on bringing in young players into the club although at the moment it is very difficult to get a decent younger for under £5 mil. I have just spent £58 mil on 6 players as I am starting to show gaps in my squad (also released 9 players with most of them being on £50k+ per week). I brought in 3 Brazilians for a combined total of £45 mil

Champions League

The group stage has yet to be drawn but hopefully I will be seeded in the first pot this time.

European Super Cup

I have been drawn against Man City who were the winners of the the Europa League

Team

I use a 4-2-4 formation (screenshot show below) and my player of the year Jorge Morales (for the last season) I bought from Juventus for £8.5 mil as he was on the transfer list. He was certainly my best buy as I played him AMR and he scored 22 goals and 12 assists in 31 appearances.

I will show more stats for the season as I work through it and will update this thread with results and player performances etc. If anyone would like to know more about the team, players, best players in the world etc please let me know.

[safcrhys]

Good going there ThePixie.

[BoxToBox]

Found something else to do, as that Man Utd save went ridiculous, won every game in every comp of my 2nd season.

So I found an old save game, where I had an offer on the table in Dec. 2016 from a relegation battling Lazio. I chucked some players, stretched the hell out of my funds, and brought in 72m worth of players. Admittedly most went in two large deadline day deals, after Real Madrid came in for Candreva and re-upped my coffers.

Cristian Tello for 4m, Nicola Murru for 170k, Chris Smalling on loan(from Arsenal), Jeronimo Rulli for 14.5m, José Mária Giménez for 30m, and Grzegorz Krychowiak for 17.25m were the main deals, but I took 5 prospects from my old club(Stabaek), for a grand total of 5.8m, maybe they won't be Serie A level, but most should be good.

What was odd, was they asked me to make mid table, and a few weeks later when I went to check the competition screen, it had changed to reach an Europa spot. This is what made me splurge rather than play it safe.

Starting 11 looks like this now, in Feb 2017.

Klose

Keita------------------------Tello

Sosa--------Parolo

Krychowiak

Ghoulam---Giménez---Smalling---Henrique

Rulli

Next summer will be fun, with limited funds due to my splurging, Klose retiring(real shame, still good), Sosa and Parolo quite old(still fine if they don't decline quickly), and no proper right back.

I do have Ravel Morrison, which leaves me with options. Keita can be trained as striker(he scored 4 up front for me already in one game), and have Ravel take his wing spot. If I get a striker, Ravel can take Sosa's spot.

[bestbrother]

Box2Box has ruined FMC for me by raping it, now I believe its easier

[Maw74]

Oh the frustration, the anger, the agony and my poor Tivo control (that went flying out of my window the other night, didn't mean to throw it out of the window)

anyway all that then there is this.

the joy, pure f'ing joy............ anyone would think this game was real, I celebrated like it was anyway.

I know he didn't score the winner but

I could kiss that guy.:o

[BoxToBox]

Right before my big CL fixture with Man City, both my strikers get injured. They dominated us, but we took the lead with a lovely Keita/Tello link up. They snatch a late equalizer off a corner, and we take a creditable 1-1 draw back to Italy for the 2nd leg.

Slowly creeping up the league table, from 18th to 12th. This would almost have been good enough under the specification I was hired with, but now I must aim for 6th(I think, maybe 7th) after the bait and switch of expectations. 8 points behind that target, not insurmountable, 15 steps left.

[Maw74]

1-1 is that all you could manage

Now you will probably go and win 2nd leg 8-1 or something silly.

[BoxToBox]

I'm afraid not, 3-3 agg loss after extra time. Luckily, making it out of the group stages was already overachieving.

With this injuries, and squad holes, it'll be a while before we can challenge the better European sides, when we get back in. If we get back in, still bouncing around 11-13th in the league. I think it was the CL and Cup keeping my job stable. Nice whack of debt too that'll need working around.

[ThePixie]

BoxToBox I would still be proud of the players by keeping in the game and scoring 4 goals on aggregate against Man City.

At least you can focus all your energies on the league.

[ThePixie]

Just a quick update...

After thrashing Bayern 6-2 in a friendly (6-0 up) I had my first 2 competitive matches of the season...first up was Man City in the European Super Cup.

I went into the game with most of my first team (from last year) fit enough to play with Bosshard (CDM) & Carlos (MC) playing their first competitive match for Napoli since joining in the summer. It was good start by us and we could have been ahead twice in the first 8 minutes bar two brilliant saves from their keeper. Man City eventually took the lead on 10 mins and went 2-0 up before half time. After such a good start it seemed that they could go on and score more but two excellent goals in the space of 3 minutes (60 & 62) brought us back to 2-2. Our player of the year last season Morales was influential again as he scored the first goal and set up Santos for the second.

The game then proceeded to be a back and forth encounter with neither side able to break the deadlock and it ended up going to penalties. We eventually won on penalties as Man City missed two of the first 3 penalties.

Next up was the Italian Super Cup against Juventus. Unfortunately after a grueling game against Man City none of my starting eleven were fit to play (other than the keeper) so we had to go with a completely different team. A couple of players were awarded debuts but on the whole it was a strong second team.

The game started fairly evenly with both teams defending well but we broke the deadlock on 14 minutes Wolski scored from a close-range header. It went from bad to worse for Juventus as last man Martin was sent off on 16 minutes for a foul just outside the box. We went on to win 3-0 thanks to further goals from Cardozo and Alvarado. We should have had more but their keeper kept it from being a rout.

Finally the Champions League Group Stage was announced and as expected we were in the first pot. The draw really took a turn for the worse for us as we were drawn against PSG, Porto & PSV.

The start of the Serie A season is in 10 days!

[BoxToBox]

Season finished up nicely. A lovely late surge and we scraped 5th, taking the Europa League spot, and finished up by winning the cup in Klose's last game.

Given 25m to spend, and 60% of sales, I've managed to build fairly nicely.

I couldn't find an established, yet affordable striker, which was my main need. Young lad from Sevilla named Carlos Fernández will hopefully do the business. I had forgotten that one of my starting centre backs was a loanee, but managed to replace him well, with Phil Jones for 14.5m. I also picked up a transfer listed Lucas Moura.

[john1]

Nice to see you posting your updates on here ThePixie Juventus are mental to place Morales, on the list when he's amazing

Good luck with Lazio, BoxToBox Such a shame your Man Utd save got too silly.

Will play my PSV save when I get back from football later Hoping to complete the season tonight!

[BoxToBox]

Good luck with Lazio, BoxToBox Such a shame your Man Utd save got too silly.

Cheers! It's a real shame, young 17/18 year old AMC in the 2nd half of the season had a massive growth spurt. Lad had walked into the first 11 from getting 10 mins once a month. Wanted to rebuild the team around him.