FM16: Newcastle United - Lifting The Fog On The Tyne

[IronicRabbi]

So I've started my first save. Currently into December in the first season, 9th after 18 games with 27 points. Started off quite slowly, an opening day win over Watford was followed up by a run of 1 win in the next 7 in the league. I've found my formation and I've started to climb the table, beating the likes of Arsenal and Man City (In the Capital One Cup).

Mitrovic is in great form at the minute with 8 goals in 13(5) apps but a lot of those goals have been since I've settled on my formation.

Transfer wise, I thought I'd be able to hold on to the likes of Krul, Janmaat, Sissoko etc. and I did for the most part, except Chelsea came in with a bid of £18m for Krul, to be their reserve keeper. Also out of the door were; Gouffran (2m), Williamson (800k), De Jong (7.5m), Anita (7.5m) and Colback (5.5m).

With that money I brought in Ashley Cole (300k - Bad decision but I didn't want to rely on Haidara AND Dummett), Timo Horn (6.5m), Thomas Delaney (1.6m), Daniel Amartey (3.5m), Marcelo Meli (5m) and Dede (3.7m).

So my team looks like this (4411 and 4141)

GK - Horn (SK-D)

DR - Janmaat (FB-Au)

DL - Haidara/Cole (FB-A)

DCs - Coloccini/Mbemba/Dede (CD-D)

MR - Thauvin (W-S)

D/MC - Tiote (HB-D/CM-D)

MC - Meli (CM-S)

A/MC - Ayoze (SS-A)/ Sissoko (RP-S)

ML - Wijnaldum (WM-S)

ST - Mitrovic (DLF-A)

Finding a lot of joy down the flanks with this formation, tried out a 433 but my fullbacks were left too exposed when we were out of possession, pulling the wingers back has helped a lot defensively but in doing so it's also allowed my full backs to bomb forward and chip in with a few assists.

I've been having to play Ayoze out of position a lot so far this season due to Thauvin's tendency to get a few injuries but even from the right wing he's bagged himself a few goals and assists. Although when Thauvin's fit that MR position is his as he's scored 5 in about 7 games where he's actually managed to take to the field.

I feel like I need to start fading Coloccini out, he seems to be responsible for a high number of breaches in our defence. That being said, we're currently on a run of 3 games without conceding so I may have to wait to drop him.

[Stu_UBJ]

Tactics and transfers updated lads, both are a wip as far as anything else can be added to either post

[NLH]

I would add Galloway as a transfer target, can be bought for £7m-£9m and is a LB/CB. Lucas Romero/Gaston Gil Romero to back up Tiote when he gets suspended/injured if you sell Colback as well.

Finally finished my first season, got a decent rb from the intake and found a gem from Crewe.

[james_wilko]

Think I'll be selling Sven Bender at the end of season 2, 18 yellows & 1 red in 27 games. I've just switched his instructions to ease off on tackles, if he improves through the remainder of the season I'll consider keeping him.

[DandyDon]

Think I'll be selling Sven Bender at the end of season 2, 18 yellows & 1 red in 27 games. I've just switched his instructions to ease off on tackles, if he improves through the remainder of the season I'll consider keeping him.

I might change his instructions a little too, though he's not been quite so bad for cards on my save. Tiote was far, far worse. He'd already had a few yellows and 1 red early in season, but he was my only real back up for Bender so still needed to use him going in to last few months. But he was a disaster at times in April & May. Got a straight red just minutes after coming on against Sunderland when we were 2-1 up (replacing Bender who was on a yellow....was trying to avoid going down to 10...sigh), ended up with a 4 match ban for that. Then got sent off for 2 yellows in a cup tie against Norwich....but the team dug him out of a hole and got through the tie regardless. Then we make it to FA Cup final and with no other defensive minded midfielders available through injury I gave him a chance against Arsenal......we took the lead, held it for quite a while but late on in second half they start to get some momentum and equalise. 5 minutes later Tiote gets 2 silly yellows and is off. Arsenal win 2-1 with a goal in last 3 minutes.

Fined him after that one and he threw a strop so he's gone in summer.

[james_wilko]

I might change his instructions a little too, though he's not been quite so bad for cards on my save. Tiote was far, far worse. He'd already had a few yellows and 1 red early in season, but he was my only real back up for Bender so still needed to use him going in to last few months. But he was a disaster at times in April & May. Got a straight red just minutes after coming on against Sunderland when we were 2-1 up (replacing Bender who was on a yellow....was trying to avoid going down to 10...sigh), ended up with a 4 match ban for that. Then got sent off for 2 yellows in a cup tie against Norwich....but the team dug him out of a hole and got through the tie regardless. Then we make it to FA Cup final and with no other defensive minded midfielders available through injury I gave him a chance against Arsenal......we took the lead, held it for quite a while but late on in second half they start to get some momentum and equalise. 5 minutes later Tiote gets 2 silly yellows and is off. Arsenal win 2-1 with a goal in last 3 minutes.

Fined him after that one and he threw a strop so he's gone in summer.

I can't understand why he's booked so often, yes he has high aggression but he also has the PPM "does not dive into tackles". High stat for tackling and good ones for position & decisions, the only reason I can think he's getting booked is his high aggression causing him to go in with too much force.

9 games left of the season, so will see how he does. Have Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Liverpool to play in the league and in the quarter finals of the Champions League, ideally I'd not be playing Colback in those games.

Also, is anyone else finding their players not getting called up for national teams due to the size of the club? Both Lucas Moura and Bernard have been dropped by Brazil because we're too small. It's not caused any issues yet, I'm just worried they'll request a transfer if we keep getting labelled a small club.

[DandyDon]

I was constantly having messages about Wijnaldum not getting called up on my beta save. Other than Krul I don't think any of my squad were considered likely call ups in first season on the current save. I've also had some strange ones being asked should Callum Wilson be called up for England due to good form (we signed him from relegated Bournemouth in summer) despite fact that he hadn't started a game for me at that point.

[james_wilko]

Weird.

It makes no sense as in one and half seasons we've won two capital one cups (not a great trophy but still...), finished 3rd last season and are currently top with 8 games left. We're also into the quarters of the Champions League. All of which should be decent reputation boosters. I mean, it's not like we fluked into the Champions League and got kicked out before the group stage.

Just seen Real Madrid are eyeing up Ayoze. Don't feel confident of keeping him if they come a knocking.

[DandyDon]

Yeah I'd imagine Real Madrid would be hell of temptation for Ayoze...however clubs seem very reluctant to bid the £36 mill release clause he has on my save and so far he's gotten over any upset at not being allowed to move for lesser fees, so you might still hang on to him.

Can't decide if I've made a rick or not on my game, was looking for an upgrade at left back yesterday and spotted Fabio Coentrao transfer listed for a decent price of £5.25 mill. Bid accepted and I've gotten him to accept a contract...but he's on over 100k a week and some pretty big bonuses. Worried I'm opening the floodgates for a load of contract demands from existing squad when Coentrao arrives in January.

[NLH]

End of Season 2015/16 Review.

It was an average season I thought. Poor away from home, only winning 4 and drawing 6. Only lost twice while playing in St. James'.

Transfers In/Out

The league table ended up as

Beat Sunderland in both games winning 2-0 at home and 3-0 away

Ayoze Perez finished the season with 7 goals & assists, also managed to be offside 57 times in 30(5) games. I was expecting more from Perez. Hopefully an improvement next season, if he's still at Newcastle

Gabriel Barbosa finished the season as the teams top goalscorer with 12 goals and 1 assist in 23(7) matches.

Lewis Cook Signed for £7.5m in the summer. Should be first choice DLP next season.

The gem from Crewe bought for £5.25m. £4m and £1.2m in clauses. Hopefully he develops into the next No. 9 of Newcastle.

Another Youngster signed from the Championship, Fulham accepted £750k upfront and £1.3m in clauses.

Cartwright has came from the youth intake. hopefully he can develop into a solid Wing Back.

The plans for next season are

• Sell Thauvin
  
• Sell Krul
  
• Sell Tiote, too many yellow cards
  
• Sell Wijnaldum
  
• Buy a RB, Chambers or Sidibe
  
• Win more away games
  
• Try and change the Squad Personality to Professional
  

[NLH]

Got Interviewed for Man Utd job, not going to take though. Sold Tiote for £4.4m, can't get rid of Riviere and Spurs are bidding for Perez, I'd sell him if I could get around £40m for him.

[Saint_Lane]

Some of these stats? What were they thinking?

As a benchmark Williamson here is stronger than Raphael Varane, G.Pique & T. Silva. Better at Heading [as a stat] than N.Vidic, M.Klose, C.Chiellini. Better Tackling and Marking than L.Bonnuci, T.Vermaelen & D.Godin. He has more Balance and better Jump Reach than C. Ronaldo.

Written as a bit of light hearted fun. Certainly not a dig at this (great) game or the player.

[james_wilko]

Yeah I'd imagine Real Madrid would be hell of temptation for Ayoze...however clubs seem very reluctant to bid the £36 mill release clause he has on my save and so far he's gotten over any upset at not being allowed to move for lesser fees, so you might still hang on to him.

Can't decide if I've made a rick or not on my game, was looking for an upgrade at left back yesterday and spotted Fabio Coentrao transfer listed for a decent price of £5.25 mill. Bid accepted and I've gotten him to accept a contract...but he's on over 100k a week and some pretty big bonuses. Worried I'm opening the floodgates for a load of contract demands from existing squad when Coentrao arrives in January.

Wouldn't worry about it, I've not had that kind of issue from a number of the old squad who're still hanging around.

Except Perez who went from 30k to 98, but that was more to stop people trying to sign him than anything.

[james_wilko]

Absolutely gutted.

Came second in the league, one point behind Chelsea. Went into the game a point behind, needing to better Chelsea's result. Chelsea went on to draw with Reading, but we couldn't get the win V Bournemouth. 100% of the blame is going to Adil Rami, who stupidly got sent off in the 50th minute leaving us with 10 men and a near impossible task.

We fought, dominated the game but just couldn't get the goal to win the game. We'd had a poor run at the end of the season, drawing to Liverpool, Spurs and Man City and losing to Chelsea & Arsenal. We also got knocked out the quarter finals of the Champions League on penalties to Porto. Again, Rami got sent off in the second leg meaning we couldn't push on for the win. The poor games coincided with Kolasinac and Bender missing a few games due to too many yellow cards, leaving us relying on Haidara and Colback - a huge downgrade.

But, second in the league and Capital One Cup winners again isn't something to really groan about. Hopefully next season will be our season.

On a bright note, Mitrovic got 34 goals in 45(2). He tailed off at the end of the season, only 3 goals in the last 8 games. Perhaps if he'd put a few of his chances away in the games we drew/lost, we might've had a few extra points.

Oh well! Onward and upward, won't be looking to sign too many new players in the summer as I think we're potential title winners already. Just look to strength the squad, replace the likes of Colback and Haidara with better to provide some decent back up.

[Welshace]

Some of these stats? What were they thinking?

As a benchmark Williamson here is stronger than Raphael Varane, G.Pique & T. Silva. Better at Heading [as a stat] than N.Vidic, M.Klose, C.Chiellini. Better Tackling and Marking than L.Bonnuci, T.Vermaelen & D.Godin. He has more Balance and better Jump Reach than C. Ronaldo.

Written as a bit of light hearted fun. Certainly not a dig at this (great) game or the player.

Yes he's strong and aggressive, but he's donkey when it comes to being in the right position to use his mindless attributes... what's the point in being able to head the ball or tackle aggressively if he can't read where he needs to be to make the tackle... seems spot on for Mike imo.

[james_wilko]

Just negotiated 38mil from Juventus for Mangala. I'm taking it, obviously. But, who should I replace him with?

Bids accepted:

Samuel Umtiti - 21mil (23yo)

Kurt Zouma - 20mil (22yo)

Bruno Martins Indi - 13mil (25yo)

Marcos Rojo - 15mil (27yo)

Antonio Rudiger - 14.5mil (24yo)

Never Subotic - 7mil (28yo)

Who should I get?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Zouma mate, youngest and probably best one out of the lot there, or failing that Umitti and Rudiger would be good choices.

[james_wilko]

Opted for Umtiti,less wages by 20k than Zouma and slots in better in place of Mangala.

Thinking of picking up Ward-Prowse for 18mil. Willing to be a rotation player too.

[Hamzterz]

Just had the most crazy ending of the season!

After leading Premier League in the majority of the season, we had a bad run with results away, resulting in City taking first place.

With 3 games left of the season, City was 3 points ahead. After a loss to Chelsea in the 37th game, it all came down to the very last game...

[albatrosszen]

Hey all!

Looking for help with a formation and team instructions for Newcastle.

Not going to sign anyone first window, may loan/sell a few off but nothing big!

I want to play 2 up top (Perez and either De Jong or Mitro)

Tried a 4-4-2 but either its not a good formation fullstop or i set my Team Instructions really bad!

Not expecting to be up the top but certainly dont think this team should be down the bottom!

Any advice?

[kalou-less]

About to start season 3

after finishing 6th both seasons and winning the uefa cup end of season 2 but ive got both Manchester clubs coming in with a 32 million bids for Sissoko both non negotiable

has anyone successfully replaced him ? He's been a beast and is club captain for me . playing a 442

[NLH]

What position/role does he play in your 4-4-2?

[kalou-less]

What position/role does he play in your 4-4-2?

RM

and ive occasionally played him in CM as an advanced play maker

[james_wilko]

Lucas Moura from PSG if he's available, plays RM for me and he's great.

[NLH]

Has anyone managed to get rid of Riviere? I got offers for him but they include a wage contribution of around £10k p/w.

[james_wilko]

Sold him to Bournemouth for 2.7mil in January of the first season. When I get offers involving wage contributions I just remove and exclude and most teams agree to it.

Mitrovic has just got his 50th league goal in his 72nd game, great record from the Serbian. Ayoze got his 50th in the same game, though it took him 109 after his slow start in 14/15. Can tell these two are something special and they perform really well together.

Beat Chelsea in the Community Shield 4-2 at the start of the season, followed that up with a 3-1 win in the league at home to Chelsea, 3-1 away to Bournemouth, 2-0 at home to Bournemouth and 3-1 V Swansea at home despite Kolasinac being sent off.

My change to Bender's instructions (ease off tackles) and resulted in an improved disciplinary performance - 5 games and no bookings! Considering his previous record was roughly 2 bookings every 3 games, it's a hell of a step up. Also switched him the right side of the CM pairing, so the CM-D is now on the side of the offensive fullback which seems to improved us defensively as well. Not sure why it took me so long, makes perfect sense to have the defensive midfielder covering the attacking fullback, rather than having him on the side of the defensive fullback.

[NLH]

Just got another £30m transfer budget increase in November 2016, and a feeder club in Partizan with first option on their players. Currently sitting 8th in the league, Knocked out of the Capital One cup after being 3-1 up against Norwich losing 4-3 in injury time.

[james_wilko]

Ouch, sounds like you might want to spend some of that money on some defenders

[james_wilko]

Managed to convince Fat Mike to expand the stadium part way through season 3, the work will start at the end of the season and will take us up to 59306. Means we'll be behind Spurs, Man City, Man Utd and Arsenal as the 5th largest stadium.

Was surprised to see Spurs have a 90k seater stadium. Had a look and apparently they've moved into Wembley. Despite that their highest attendance was 51k. Seems a bit of a waste.

[luca3084]

Hi guys, fantastic thread. I played a bit on the unemployed challenge, but it was gonna happen at some point. NUFC it is. Sold Obertan for 2mil and loaned most of the Under-21 out at 50-70% wage contribution. I have brought is so far Ajer (900k) and Augustinsson (at 2.5 mil quite a lot). I am in the process of selling De Jong and Gouffran (should I sell them?).

I am playing 4-3 (flat)-2-1. Is Perez Ok upfront as trequartista alone? Gini on the left (IF) and Thauvin on the right (IF I sure hope he is better than in real life). The three are Colback (DLP-D), Tiote (BWM-S) and Sissoko (BBM). Can Mitro and Perez play together? What tactic?

Should I get another CB? Advice?

Ah, by the way, I couldn't resist, I brought Kevin Nolan back to the Toon.

[NLH]

Was surprised to see Spurs have a 90k seater stadium. Had a look and apparently they've moved into Wembley. Despite that their highest attendance was 51k. Seems a bit of a waste.

What does it say about a planned move in the facilities overview? moving into New White Hart Lane, a 61k seater on 1/7/2018.

Hi guys, fantastic thread. I played a bit on the unemployed challenge, but it was gonna happen at some point. NUFC it is. Sold Obertan for 2mil and loaned most of the Under-21 out at 50-70% wage contribution. I have brought is so far Ajer (900k) and Augustinsson (at 2.5 mil quite a lot). I am in the process of selling De Jong and Gouffran (should I sell them?).

I am playing 4-3 (flat)-2-1. Is Perez Ok upfront as trequartista alone? Gini on the left (IF) and Thauvin on the right (IF I sure hope he is better than in real life). The three are Colback (DLP-D), Tiote (BWM-S) and Sissoko (BBM). Can Mitro and Perez play together? What tactic?

Should I get another CB? Advice?

Ah, by the way, I couldn't resist, I brought Kevin Nolan back to the Toon.

If you're not going to use SDJ, Gouffran you may as well sell them. Formation/roles sound okay but I'd use Anita as the DLP or change Colback to a CM-D and have Sissoko as a RPM. If you have sold S. Taylor & Williamson it's probably worth buying 1 or 2 Cb's depending on where you play Dummett. I'd recommend signing Partizan's A. Zivkovic and Leeds L. Cook

[james_wilko]

Took 24 games, but Sven Bender has his first yellow card

[Stu1892]

Getting very little from Lone striker in a '433'.

The odd game they'll be involved, score. Nothing like you lot are getting.

Scores 1 every 12 hours and so on.

I don't like donwloading tactics and I won't. Had a look at James_Wilko's to see how he was getting in so many crosses. But still not getting as many as that attacking tactic. Whoever's at the byline just want to pull it back, all the time.

Still, finished first season in 4th, knocked out off of ****ing Bayern in the Qualifier. 5th on January 5th.

[Welshace]

Please stop trying to bypass the swear filter...

Tactics this year really do favour simplicity.. I'd suggest always just getting a basic shape with balanced roles with no TI's at all and you will perform fine. You can then tailor it with a few (only a few) TI's etc , but really, they aren't that needed this year.

If you've got more than 3 players on attack duty, you've probably got too much btw, it's the one thing I see people doing and tearing there hair out.

[james_wilko]

Stu

Can you put pictures of your tactic, team instructions and player instructions up? People in the thread may be able to help if we can see everything.

[Stu1892]

Please stop trying to bypass the swear filter...

Apologies. It's been a while.

If i get a chance, i'll upload some pics etc.

Pretty basic, i reckon. Can't be doing too badly, getting top 4 with only one signing, in my first season.

[Welshace]

Wow, that is good going with the original squad

[james_wilko]

Looks like I'm about to lose Mbemba, one of the few players I didn't want to sell.

But, Barcelona came in and he kicked off I didn't agree to sell him. They came back for him and I've managed to convince 41mil out of them, plus 10% of whatever they sell him for.

Looking at Smalling as his replacement, should allow some of my newgens to improve enough to slot in once he gets on a bit.

[Scott1892]

I'm not able to get Perez to perform consistently enough, too many games where he just hasn't performed and got low 6s as his rating. Any suggestions how to play him as one of two upfront, I've just started the second season and have signed Babacar to play alongside him as Mitrovic hasn't developed well enough and is more inconsistent than Perez.

[Drinky_08]

Currently sitting 5th on 45pts in the league in January, 3 points behind Manchester City in 4th and 5 points off of 2nd. Liverpool are in 6th on 41pts. In August I managed to sign Kannemann from Atlas, loan Bruno Zuculini from City and also Sam Byram from Leeds whose currently on a season long loan there. January saw Berbatov and Zapata join.

Managed to beat Manchested United and Liverpool at home and Chelsea away. Have run Aresnal and City close. However out of both cups.

Cisse, Wijnaldum and Sissoko have been utterly outstanding with special mentions to Mitrovic, Haidara, Anita and Jaanmat who have been superb also. Perez has been poor as has Coloccini, Mbemeba, Williamson and especially Tiote. Siem De Jong has not been able to really prove himself with Mitrovic and Cisse in amazing form. Thauvin, Reviere, Gourcouff and Colback have been excellent squad players.

Next season i'm looking to sell Coloccini, Mbemba, Perez and Tiote and replace them with some good solid English players, does anyone have any recomendations?

[james_wilko]

I'm not able to get Perez to perform consistently enough, too many games where he just hasn't performed and got low 6s as his rating. Any suggestions how to play him as one of two upfront, I've just started the second season and have signed Babacar to play alongside him as Mitrovic hasn't developed well enough and is more inconsistent than Perez.

I think you have to just keep playing them, both Mitro and Perez are quite young so need that experience. Both have improved for me, and now they're arguably my two best players.

But, Perez should in theory be great as a creative forward and a finisher and Mitrovic does both really well for me so they should (again, in theory) go really well together.

If you're still playing your 4-4-2 then probably play Perez as the creative one (maybe a Treq or False nine) and Mitrovic as either a TM-Attack or CF-A. I use him as a CF-A and he's been great for me with 46 goals in his last 57 league games - all of which have been as a CF-A. But, Mitrovic needs crosses.

[Scott1892]

I think you have to just keep playing them, both Mitro and Perez are quite young so need that experience. Both have improved for me, and now they're arguably my two best players.

But, Perez should in theory be great as a creative forward and a finisher and Mitrovic does both really well for me so they should (again, in theory) go really well together.

If you're still playing your 4-4-2 then probably play Perez as the creative one (maybe a Treq or False nine) and Mitrovic as either a TM-Attack or CF-A. I use him as a CF-A and he's been great for me with 46 goals in his last 57 league games - all of which have been as a CF-A. But, Mitrovic needs crosses.

Cheers for the feedback, Mitro is a no go due to him asking to leave and missing training as he didn't agree with me selling Sissoko for £50m, but Babacar seems like a similar player albeit an upgrade, so will try those roles with him.

[Scott1892]

Currently sitting 5th on 45pts in the league in January, 3 points behind Manchester City in 4th and 5 points off of 2nd. Liverpool are in 6th on 41pts. In August I managed to sign Kannemann from Atlas, loan Bruno Zuculini from City and also Sam Byram from Leeds whose currently on a season long loan there. January saw Berbatov and Zapata join.

Managed to beat Manchested United and Liverpool at home and Chelsea away. Have run Aresnal and City close. However out of both cups.

Cisse, Wijnaldum and Sissoko have been utterly outstanding with special mentions to Mitrovic, Haidara, Anita and Jaanmat who have been superb also. Perez has been poor as has Coloccini, Mbemeba, Williamson and especially Tiote. Siem De Jong has not been able to really prove himself with Mitrovic and Cisse in amazing form. Thauvin, Reviere, Gourcouff and Colback have been excellent squad players.

Next season i'm looking to sell Coloccini, Mbemba, Perez and Tiote and replace them with some good solid English players, does anyone have any recomendations?

I managed to sign Shawcross to replace Coloccini after the first season for £8.5m, and then there's the likes of Lewis Cook, Josh Vela and Zach Clough who all could do a job as rotation players who could improve. Also check the transfer list as there was a load of players going cheap there, especially some of the English players from Spurs.

[Drinky_08]

A really poor run of form saw us pick up just 10 points from January untill the end of the season. We finished 8th and missed out on the UEFA Cup, properly fuming. Cabella turned down Marseilles and decided to stick with us. There was plenty of activity in the transfer market;

IN - Lewis Cook, Asmir Begovic, Zach Clough, Sam Byram (end of loan), Johnny Evans, James Tarkowski, Danny Drinkwater, Tom Huddleston and Tim Kolodziejczak.

OUT- Tiote, De Jong, Perez, Gouffran, Riviere, Coloccini, Williamson, Mbemba and Krul.

Predicted line up;

Begovic

Janmaat----Evans----Tarkowski----Kolodzie

Sissoko-----Wijnaldum----Anita----Cabella

Mitrovic-----Cisse

Really pleased with my transfers, managed to increase the amount of English players at the club, signed 3 really good prospects and added more strength in depth. Hopefully we can be more consistent and get into Europe.

[Stu_UBJ]

@Drinky_08 well done on the spelling of Kolo

Some great saves going on here lads, keep it up!! Haven't been able to get into a Newcastle save on this FM yet...

[james_wilko]

Season three finished, and it's the season where everything's clicked beautifully.

The league? 93 points, 87 goals for and 27 against. Comfortable Champions and top of the scoring charts and the meanest defence. Mitrovic led the way with 31 goals in 34 matches, Ayoze our next highest with 22 in 34. Second place went to Andrea Belotti who's at Bournemouth and he managed 28 goals. Good effort from him.

Capital One Cup - Won it twice in a row but couldn't make it three, a weakened team losing 2-1 to Liverpool in the Quarter Finals.

FA Cup - As with the C1C, a weakened team went out to Spurs in the 6th round. A shame, would have liked to have won that.

Champions League - Won our group, 5/6 games and only losing 1-0 away to Bayern, but we did tank them 3-1 at home. Marseille, including Remy Cabella next in the first knockout round, beating them 5-1 on aggregate. A 1-1 draw away followed by a comfortable 4-0 at home. Next up Liverpool in the quarters, beating them on away goals. A 2-0 home win followed by a 3-1 away loss. Their 3rd came in the 93rd minute so it wasn't as close as the score suggests. Now the semis, still powering through and who do we get? Bayern again. A 0-0 at home was followed by a 1-1 at the Allianz, away goals to the rescue again! But who cares, we made it to the final!

Last game, neutral ground at the San Siro. But it's against PSG, we've beaten Bayern, why would PSG prove a threat? But it's a final, anything can happen. Made a small tactical change, switching Wijnaldum from his usual roaming playmaker role to a DLP, and set the OIs to force them to play wider by pushing their wide men onto their right/left foot for the right/left winger. They had Gabriel Barbosa up front, a short pacy striker who would fail in the air against Umtiti and Liam Moore ( ridiculous he's playing in the Final but Mbemba left us for Barca and Smalling was inelligible).

We start brightly, and 8 minutes in Bernard puts us ahead from a lovely cross by Perez. Perfect start, but 7 minutes later Cavani levels it, a hopefully boot into the box by Andrija Zivkovic and Cavani gets between Umtiti and Kolasinac to hammer a header home. Disappointed but it's fine, still plenty time left.

We push on, we're dominatic and we're creating chance after chance. PSG are barely getting a shot in and we're just pushing forward, creating but Jan Oblak is saving everything, Perez hits the bar and the post before half time and we go in level.

Second half starts, and just like the end of the first we're controlling things. Our efforts finally pay off and in the 63rd minute Mitrovic powers a header home after a lovely passing move. We keep our pressure up, and the final whistle comes. We've won. Champions of Europe!

Match ended with us having 5CCCs and 3HCs, PSG only managed 2HCs and no CCCs. A deserve victory, and while you can't complain about winning the biggest cup in club football, it should have been more.

So there we have it, 3 seasons in and Newcastle are pushing forward to be seen as one of the biggest and best. 2 Capital One Cups, 2 top 3 finishes, 1 Community Shield, 1 PL title and a Champions League to add to it. The best thing? Most of my star players haven't hit their peak yet. Mitrovic is 23, Ayoze 24, Lucas Moura and Bernard are 25 and Rulli is only 26. Hoping Barcelona don't come sniffing again, as they were interested in Mitrovic and he was a little annoyed I didn't agree to sell him, and I had to give Ayoze a pay rise mid-season to stop him wanting to join PSG for the extra money. Still, 125k pw for 29 goals and 6 assists in 49 games is worth it.

Just checking my squad and Bernard is wanted by Man Utd (good luck lads, you finished 6th), Perez by City (again, good luck when they finished 5th), Lucas Moura by Bayern and Real Madrid (genuine worry for him), Gini by Man Utd (I'd let him go for 40mil, Ward-Prowse was just as impressive so it'd be no big loss).

Feel I should mention, I signed Grealish from Villa for 9mil in January too. He did alright, nothing special, but at 22yo and English he was a necessary signing as we do struggle for HG players. Hopefully over next season he'll improve and push Bernard for the AML spot.

So, on to season 4. Got a bit of time off work coming up, and while I'm out the country over the weekend I'm hoping to get some serious game time in around Christmas. Not sure what to do, assuming no one major leaves I don't really need to make any signings.

[dirtyprettymagpie]

Has nobody used Adam Armstrong? I used him sparingly from the bench when he returns from Coventry on loan in season one and by the same time the following year he was easily outscoring Perez and Mitrovic. He develops really quickly given the game time and I don't mean as in "he's solid backup", I mean he is capable of becoming a world beater by the time he's 21.

[DandyDon]

Some very decent saves going on here, congrats.

Just haven't had the time lately to really get going on my current save and not 100% happy with it either. Results were good, but wasn't totally happy with changes I'd made to squad. Think as I'm off from Monday I'm going to start from scratch again, not buy or sell anyone till the January window and have a bit more focus in the transfer market. Aim is to build a Determined and Professional squad overall, also want to make more of Mitrovic this time round if I can.

[Drinky_08]

Has nobody used Adam Armstrong? I used him sparingly from the bench when he returns from Coventry on loan in season one and by the same time the following year he was easily outscoring Perez and Mitrovic. He develops really quickly given the game time and I don't mean as in "he's solid backup", I mean he is capable of becoming a world beater by the time he's 21.

I've brought him into the first team squad for the second season as backup/cup games. He really impressed me during pre-season, and has scored against Rotherham in the cup. I like him so far.

[james_wilko]

Well someone major did leave

Gini Wijnaldum has joined Barcelona for £52mil. Not bothering to replace him, just promoting James Ward-Prowse to the number one CM. The only transfers we made were a couple of newgens in, and Jon Flannagan from Aston Villa (formerly Liverpool). A few players left, Trippier went to Fulham, McManaman to Brentford, Lascelles to Stoke, as well as a few young players released and a couple others out on loan.

Season has started well, tanked all the teams in pre-season before starting off against Tottenham in the Community Shield, who we beat on Penalties. Next up was Arsenal in the European Super Cup and we beat them 2-1.