[FM18] The Dynamics of telling you to shove your transfer request up y- a journeyman career

[BoxToBox]

1 hour ago, noikeee said:

 

Gunn found outside stadium, beaten with 2x4.....

[ManUtd1]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

Gunn found outside stadium, beaten with 2x4.....

In a strange development, more than 3 dozen supporters have confessed to the crime...

[BoxToBox]

Just now, ManUtd1 said:

In a strange development, more than 3 dozen supporters have confessed to the crime...

Along with five team mates and three staff...

[noikeee]

10 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Gunn found outside stadium, beaten with 2x4.....

 

8 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

In a strange development, more than 3 dozen supporters have confessed to the crime...

 

6 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Along with five team mates and three staff...

Must've missed that episode. Or series, even.

 

 

edit: nevermind, I had a bit of a reading comprehension fail and didn't know what a 2x4 was, had to google it. 

[yatesiboi37]

That is one of the best own goals I have ever seen... what did the commentator have to say about it?

[SmileFaceGamer]

2 hours ago, noikeee said:

 

... I think

Watch some Lollujo for what NOT to do when trying to not bottle promotion

[noikeee]

3 hours ago, yatesiboi37 said:

That is one of the best own goals I have ever seen... what did the commentator have to say about it?

Nothing. Stunned silence. Left speechless by the moment.

[noikeee]

February 2024

Another really good month, with 4 wins in 5 in the league, only dropping points away at Watford. We're only clinching these wins by fine margins, but it's working. We're not missing the sold Björn Engels neither the injured Matej Vydra, with Ollie Watkins doing surprisingly well in Vydra's place as false nine (scored in the last 4 matches), and Che Adams also looking on killer form, regularly scoring drifting in from the left wing. With all this we've climbed back to 1st and we're now looking really good for promotion! MK Dons have fallen way back, with ourselves and West Brom opening a big gap over the rest.

In the cup we were doing great opening up a 2 goal lead against Southampton... then they scored 4. Oh well.

 

[noikeee]

 Youth intake 2024

 

 

 

 

This is one of the reasons I wanted to move to Derby, the kids are at a whole different level in here. There probably isn't a real top player here - although the first two midfielders are interesting - but you can see by the depth that sooner or later we're bound to get a star.
 

[noikeee]

March 2024

Uh, things might be starting to get a little interesting after all. Our defence has collapsed with lots of conceded goals (it's been 7 matches since our last clean sheet), and whilst often our attack has managed to compensate for it, we went slightly off-form here now in March with 1 draw and 1 defeat, which has allowed things to get closer in the promotion race. We're still 1st but on equal points with West Brom, and now Huddersfield has moved within 5 points of us both.

April is going to be the most critical month, with a hectic fixture that includes 2 consecutive midweek matches. I'm concerned that we might be melting down due to fitness since I've not really rotated that much. But if we can survive those two brutal weeks, we should be fine.

 

[kidthekid]

right back into the EPL. I guess the move to the championship is looking like a good choice

[noikeee]

2 hours ago, kidthekid said:

right back into the EPL. I guess the move to the championship is looking like a good choice

Hey, it's not done yet, we can still **** it up! 

[SmileFaceGamer]

19 hours ago, noikeee said:

 

 Youth intake 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the reasons I wanted to move to Derby, the kids are at a whole different level in here. There probably isn't a real top player here - although the first two midfielders are interesting - but you can see by the depth that sooner or later we're bound to get a star.
 

Danny Johnson looks quality, good determination. If you get it right, dare I say it, possible wonderkid?

[SmileFaceGamer]

9 hours ago, noikeee said:

Hey, it's not done yet, we can still **** it up! 

WE ARE GOING UP, SAY WE ARE GOING UP

have I jinxed it yet?

[Hootieleece]

Danny Johnson looks good for 15!  Too bad he has no leadership skills.   Would have made a decent Steve Gerrard Type to build the team around.

[ManUtd1]

9 hours ago, SmileFaceGamer said:

WE ARE GOING UP, SAY WE ARE GOING UP

have I jinxed it yet?

[noikeee]

18 hours ago, SmileFaceGamer said:

Danny Johnson looks quality, good determination. If you get it right, dare I say it, possible wonderkid?

 

17 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Danny Johnson looks good for 15!  Too bad he has no leadership skills.   Would have made a decent Steve Gerrard Type to build the team around.

I'm not seeing it tbh, sure he's very young and will improve a lot but his technical skills are poor.

[noikeee]

April 2024

I was right to be wary of April. With the sheer number of matches and our intense game, we suffered with injuries, players in less than optimal fitness, and it showed in the results as we only won 2 matches. And although we showed some serious determination, getting points from the West Brom and the Newcastle matches after going 2 goals down in both, the league table has gotten less comfortable. We slip to 2nd, 4 points behind West Brom, and now Huddersfield is putting us under some pressure, 3 points behind us.

The 2 remaining matches in May will decide everything. Happily, we have both of them at home, against Boro and Sunderland. We also have a huge goal difference advantage over Huddersfield so really all we need to do is win one of these 2 home matches. On paper this looks comfortable, but our recent slump in form and fitness makes me uncertain of promotion yet.

 

[SmileFaceGamer]

13 minutes ago, noikeee said:

 

I'm not seeing it tbh, sure he's very young and will improve a lot but his technical skills are poor.

That Determination stat will help develop those technicals, he will want to improve. You need to give him some guidence and first team football

[SmileFaceGamer]

10 minutes ago, noikeee said:

 

April 2024

 

 

 

I was right to be wary of April. With the sheer number of matches and our intense game, we suffered with injuries, players in less than optimal fitness, and it showed in the results as we only won 2 matches. And although we showed some serious determination, getting points from the West Brom and the Newcastle matches after going 2 goals down in both, the league table has gotten less comfortable. We slip to 2nd, 4 points behind West Brom, and now Huddersfield is putting us under some pressure, 3 points behind us.

The 2 remaining matches in May will decide everything. Happily, we have both of them at home, against Boro and Sunderland. We also have a huge goal difference advantage over Huddersfield so really all we need to do is win one of these 2 home matches. On paper this looks comfortable, but our recent slump in form and fitness makes me uncertain of promotion yet.

 

 

 

Sorry m8 I think I jinxed it

[noikeee]

Round 45 - penultimate day

 

Welcome to round 45 of 46 of the English Championship, 2023/2024 season. We follow Derby's home match against Boro which could clinch promotion for them; whereas on another pitch, chasers Huddersfield play Coventry away. Derby have a 3 points gap and a massive goal difference advantage so effectively a win seals promotion. Meanwhile, West Brom have already booked their place on the Premiership and as a bonus have also already become league champions, with their win over Leeds yesterday.

 

Minute 10: GOAL FOR DERBY! 1-0! A lateral freekick sees Joseph Olowu touch the ball and then it falls to Aboubakar Keita who puts it in the net!!

Minute 26: GOAL FOR DERBY!! 2-0! This is proving way more comfortable than I expected as Boro have set out far too negative, playing into our hands. It's a combination between the 2 strikers, kind of, recently returned Matej Vydra gets tackled but it falls to our top scorer Mason Bennett, the latter putting it into the net.

 

Minute 44: GOAL FOR BORO! 2-1! Maybe there's still a match here, as a rebound falls to Jayson Molumby who utterly smashes it into the net!

 

Half-time: Boro suddenly woke up in the final few minutes after we had dominated the match earlier on, but as results stand we're getting promoted today. Coventry-Huddersfield still 0-0.

 

 

Minute 60: The news come in from Coventry that the home side has just scored! Coventry 1-0 Huddersfield! Brilliant news for us, it's looking even more likely we party today.

 

Minute 72: GOAL FOR BORO! 2-2! Uh-oh, this wasn't on the program. Boro have done a 180º, from their defensive 4-1-4-1 at the beginning of the match, to an attacking-looking narrow 4-3-3 now, and it pays off as Zé Luís' low cross is tapped-in by Sam Vokes, our keeper Will Mannion looking stupid in the picture.

Minute 83: GOAL FOR DERBY! 3-2! We want to clinch promotion in style and not just because Huddersfield loses, and it's a Di Nolfo through ball that puts Alex Ratnage clear for our 3rd goal of the day!

 

 

Full-time: Derby County are back to the Premier League!!

 

[pheelf]

Great stuff, your 4-4-2 is looking strong. When you win, you win well and score loads which should put you in good shape for the Premier League.

[noikeee]

28 minutes ago, pheelf said:

Great stuff, your 4-4-2 is looking strong. When you win, you win well and score loads which should put you in good shape for the Premier League.

Thanks! You've reminded me I've been looking to do a tactical update in ages, might just be the time...

[noikeee]

Tactics review

Just a quick update on what I'm using. It has not really changed for over a season and a half, it's the system that won me both promotion to the Premiership and the Russian Cup, but I don't think I showed you guys the final form of it:

 

 

This is the main system, it almost clicked instantly at the very beginning when I switched to the 4-4-2 in Russia, I had to mess with a few TIs but 5 or 6 matches later I had already reached it's final form.

I might as well just copy-paste what I wrote then to explain the changes:

Quote

 

As for the tactic this is what I've changed from my initial idea:

• added close down more (we were too deep/passive)
• added pass into space (we were surprisingly not incisive enough even on attacking, i suspect it was because of the shorter passing+all the support duties)
• added play much narrower (IWs were too wide and not influencing inner game enough)
• changed left-back from FB/S to FB/A (provides that nice width on that flank as well, with the IW now narrower under the much narrower TI)
• changed keeper from SK/D to SK/S (to try to help with through balls fed to the backs of our defence)

This essentially puts me much closer to Knap's tactic which is less original, but I'm enjoying it.

 

Alternative version 1

After a while I realized that whilst our tactic is great, it asks a hell of a lot from the players in terms of fitness, so I devised this alternative, less intense version to try to nurture them for whenever we go into a clear lead in a match. We drop mentality to Control and use a high line instead of high pressing, also there's a slight switch here to try to be more direct (CF/A instead of CF/S, no "shorter passes") since we're gonna be slightly deeper in the field so this should suit us slightly better. This was also because earlier on I tried to use Fluid instead of Very Fluid in this version, so the more direct changes complemented that, but after trying it a few times I reverted, as I felt Very Fluid simply worked better for the system.

Alternative version 2

The alternative version 2 takes some of the tweaks from AV1, but is not intended to run out games and save the players' legs, but instead only to try to be more direct. I switch to this somewhat routinely against aggressive teams that leave space on their backs, but usually the original version of the tactic is stronger.

Other tweaks

• exploit the flanks against narrow formations
• when the AI uses a narrow 4-3-3, I switch both fullbacks to support duty and sometimes I even pull back the CM/D to a DM position and make him a halfback, the narrow 3 strikers is just too dangerous
• ease off tackles against card-happy refs
• take a breather and/or retain possession on the AV1 tactic if I'm really confident I can win the game without any effort, and/or if I'm really in exceptional need to rest players

No PIs or OIs in any of the versions, but I use my set piece routines in all of them.

Future ideas

I've got this persistent idea of trying to use this whole basis of TIs, mentality, etc etc, that I've built here, but apply it to a classic wide 4-3-3 with 2 inside forwards and a lone striker. I reckon it would inevitably be weaker, because so much of our style is based around the combination of the two forwards, and how they drift, together with the IWs, to a band of wide-ish areas where the AI struggles to defend. In fact that effect is so powerful that sometimes it feels exploit-ish! But this idea for the 4-3-3 keeps lingering on my mind, and I reckon I might try it at some stage, although for now it's probably safer to stick to this, specially because we're up against it next year in the Premier League!
 

[noikeee]

May 2024

Our promotion season finishes with a rubbish home defeat as we struggled after Aboubakar Keita saw a 6th minute red card.

It's great to be up to the Premiership but I'm slightly concerned for next season. It's a big jump, and we didn't exactly blitz the Championship apart, not sure we're up to the standards at the moment. I will need to study the transfer market pretty well - but the transfer market can be difficult under the current Brexit rules.

 

[noikeee]

Derby - 2023/2024 - Season review

A good year as Derby return to the Premier League after a 15 year absence.

Statistics, best 11, and top 5 players of the season

 

5. Dujon Sterling (DR, DC) - A 675K€ bid for him in pre-season ended up being a great move, as the lightning-quick former Chelsea player excelled in both centre-back and right-back positions, as he was often needed in both places. Not a very easy combination to pull off in my system where fullbacks are told to go up!

4. Matej Vydra (ST) - A surprise. The veteran Czech was not supposed to be an influential player this season, but had an insane run of form midseason as the false nine, before a big injury stopped him for the later half. 16 goals and 7 assists.

3. Francesco Di Nolfo (MR, ML) - Utterly sensational in the first half of the season when he was the single best player in the league, the Italian loanee's form tanked later on. Still, I'm trying to activate the 2,3M€ clause on his loan which would be a steal. 10 goals and 17 assists.

2. Che Adams (ML, MR, ST) - On the other wing Che was the other way around, growing in importance as the season went on, although he later got injured. By the end, he had the league's highest average ratings. 14 goals and 8 assists.

1. Mason Bennett (ST) - Slightly lower ratings than my two wingers, but there's no way I'm not gonna choose the guy that scored 31 goals. The bizarre thing is that this guy was already at the club - which he's been contracted to since he came out of the Derby County academy - but I didn't even know about him at the beginning. He was loaned off to Preston last year and languishing in the U23 squad... I brought him back and thanks to his incredible pace, would become our top scorer by a distance.

Major youth prospects

Warren Jenas (18, ENG) (ST) - On paper he's already as good if not better than Mason Bennett... but isn't playing like it. Which is frustrating as he's got the potential to be amazing. I think it's because of a trait to be inconsistent. An injury has set him back the last few months, when I was planning to get him more and more minutes.

Kristian Bradley (17, ENG) (DC) - I sent him to Coventry to get games but this kid has the potential to be an absolutely excellent homegrown CB. Unfortunately, he is also inconsistent. Goddamnit.

Career progress table

Season   League                  Cups                              Continental                    Other
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panserraikos (Greece)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17/18    League - 15th           Kupello Hellas - 1st round                                       Relegated, sacked 1 match to go
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naestved (Denmark)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18/19    2.Div - 3rd G2, 3rd PS  DBU Pokalen - 1st round                                          Lost promotion on goals scored
19/20    2.Div - 4th G2, 1st PS  DBU Pokalen - Quarter-finals                                     Champions, promoted
20/21    1.Division - 1st        DBU Pokalen - Semi-finals                                        Champions, promoted
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amkar (Russia)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21/22    Prem'er Liga - 7th      Kubok Rossii - 6th round
22/23    Prem'er Liga - 5th      Kubok Rossii - winners                                           Won the cup
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Derby (England)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23/24    Championship - 2nd      FA Cup 4th rnd, Lge Cup 3rd rnd                                  Promoted

[Rikulec]

Well done.

[yatesiboi37]

Superb effort to win promotion!

How do you think you'll get on in the Premier League? How big is the budget looking?

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

Well done.

Thanks!

59 minutes ago, yatesiboi37 said:

Superb effort to win promotion!

How do you think you'll get on in the Premier League? How big is the budget looking?

We've got a healthy looking 36M€ transfer budget. So that looks fine but we really do need to use it, this squad is a bit weak for the Premiership IMO.

The issue is that it's a pain to hire players now that everyone needs a work permit, either they're current internationals and/or from UK&Ireland nationalities (who are all overpriced), or forget it. Even EU guys that are already in England, for example I'm trying to sign Di Nolfo permanently but his work permit got rejected, so I tried to extend his loan and it was rejected too because I "already have too many loans from Everton this season".

[noikeee]

European football - 2023/2024

UEFA Champions League

In a repeat of the final 2 years ago, Bruno Genésio's Chelsea falls at the hands of PSG again - who are now managed by a Pep Guardiola that finally wins a Champions League with another team beyond Barcelona. The increasingly impressive current Man City side only lost to the champions in the semi-finals, and previous champions Liverpool were absolutely smashed by Chelsea in the other semi-final. The Premier League continues to emerge as the dominant league in European football, with 3 out of 4 semi-finalists and pretty much all the biggest stars in world football save for some exceptions, such as PSG's.

 

This is all very recognisable and reads as the who's who of European football at the moment, all 11 players pictured here have turned out some kind of legends of the game. You'd expect the newer generation to start taking over soon.

England

 

Man City under Jorge Jesus finally take full advantage of their Fantasy Football-like squad, which retains all the Guardiola-era stars Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, but now also adds triple Ballon d'Or Thomas Lemar and others like Renato Sanches and Andrea Belotti. So City become champions whilst Man Utd, now managed by Diego Simeone, come closest, with a team now all based on the strikers duo Lukaku-Dybala. European champions Liverpool come 3rd, previous English champions Spurs drop to 5th, but the real shock is how far Arsenal keep on falling: just 10th place this season.

Next season, the Premiership will obviously also feature a certain Derby County team...

Spain

 

It's the 4th straight title for Barça, the 2nd since Luis Enrique's return to the club, but this time Real came really close - now you wonder if they can rise to the title for next season, as they just hired Marcelino as manager who seems to do magic everywhere he goes, as he previously won Italian and German league titles with Napoli and Leverkusen respectively. Cristiano Ronaldo plays his final football season as he prepares to become an assistant manager.

I can't help but feel this league is fading in importance despite being 2nd best, it's been a long time since Barça and Real have done anything in Europe, and whilst there's still quite a few top players around here, the Premier League feels much more stacked with talent.

Italy

 

It's an entertaining 3-team scrap between Juve, Roma and Milan, but Juventus bounce back to win their first title in 4 years. They are still managed by Allegri who has been there for a decade now. A 33,5M€ move for veteran forward Alexandre Lacazette at the beginning of the season might've been what made the difference (despite losing Dybala to Man Utd!), as he was the best player in the league this season.

Germany

 

The ever-dominant Leverkusen cruise to their 4th straight title, but there's a shock at the end of the season as manager Marcelino leaves for Real Madrid. Leverkusen's Pietro Pellegri is top scorer yet again, but now he seems to have an even more exciting team-mate ready to take over the league, the 21 year old Mexican striker Santiago Soto.

France

 

Guardiola's PSG do the league/CL double, but really had to sweat in Ligue 1: Monaco finished on equal points. Neymar at the age of 32 is still an absolute monster with crazy ratings, but doesn't seem to score that many goals.

Portugal

 

Benfica domination is over! Frank de Boer did not do well in Portugal, taking the previously dominant side to a mere 3rd place, 12 points behind Sporting. Ricardo Sá Pinto on his return to the Lions engineers a surprisingly comfortable title. Porto are now a dismal 11 years without a title. Benfica's Darío Herrera continues to be the best player in the league and is now wanted by all the big English sides - there should be a huge transfer for him soon.

[noikeee]

Hahahahaha

I'd have taken this over Derby one year ago. But I'm not going to leave this now to go back to Russia...

[noikeee]

UEFA Euro 2024 - Spain

Well look at that! Surprised much at those winners? The Spanish Euros ends up with a glorious run by England to their first European title, knocking out the hosts (who were also the reigning champions), Italy (on penalties!), and then Germany in the final, who lose a 2nd Euros final in a row and continue to be without this trophy since 1996. Gareth Southgate worked magic with a team that's packed full of Premier League players, but perhaps not really the top stars in the world's finest league apart from Spurs' Dele Alli and Harry Kane.

There was few surprises of note in the tournament, biggest probably being Switzerland beating Portugal in the round of 16; and Serbia managing to reach the semi-finals although without beating any truly top side in their run.

The Spurs midfielder is nominated as the tournament's top player, with his dominant performances in midfield a highlight, despite scoring no goals in the competition.

 

The Dream Team is essentially a mesh of the English and German sides. A weird feature of this tournament is no player scored more than 3 goals. There were several that scored an exact 3, with the Golden Boot going to German winger Kai Havertz, who has just signed for City for a eye-catching 96M€ fee from the domestically dominant Leverkusen side.
 

[john1]

Congrats on getting promoted  

[ManUtd1]

Nice stuff with the promotion, but that line-up of who's who in European club football is almost enough to make the eyes bleed.  Fiorentina reaching the quarterfinals was nice to see, at least!

[noikeee]

9 hours ago, john1 said:

Congrats on getting promoted  

Thanks. I think I did it wrong because I got promoted with a hangover (1st of January), instead of getting drunk to celebrate the promotion...

9 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Nice stuff with the promotion, but that line-up of who's who in European club football is almost enough to make the eyes bleed.  Fiorentina reaching the quarterfinals was nice to see, at least!

Things are slowly changing already, as you can see by the slow decline of Bayern (5th place again) and Arsenal (down to 10th). Just a couple more years until Oostende and Dijon rule Europe.  

[BoxToBox]

Surprised to see Mason Bennett still there, and doing so well at that.

[deltablue]

That doesn't sound like a massive budget for the Premier League, especially if you're anything like me and want to get in as many players as you can

[noikeee]

8 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Surprised to see Mason Bennett still there, and doing so well at that.

I'm about to enter a Premier League season with him as main striker. Not ideal but to upgrade my striker I'd have to splash my whole transfer budget in one, and pass up on several other great signings. He's super quick and scored 23 goals in the Championship so we should be fine anyway, and there's the super-promising (but frustratingly inconsistent) Warren Jenas as another pacey alternative. 

3 minutes ago, deltablue said:

That doesn't sound like a massive budget for the Premier League, especially if you're anything like me and want to get in as many players as you can

Well yeah I quickly realised that, but I did manage to hire 4 really good players, will show them off later. 

[SmileFaceGamer]

On 01/01/2018 at 14:17, noikeee said:

Round 45 - penultimate day

 

Welcome to round 45 of 46 of the English Championship, 2023/2024 season. We follow Derby's home match against Boro which could clinch promotion for them; whereas on another pitch, chasers Huddersfield play Coventry away. Derby have a 3 points gap and a massive goal difference advantage so effectively a win seals promotion. Meanwhile, West Brom have already booked their place on the Premiership and as a bonus have also already become league champions, with their win over Leeds yesterday.

 

Minute 10: GOAL FOR DERBY! 1-0! A lateral freekick sees Joseph Olowu touch the ball and then it falls to Aboubakar Keita who puts it in the net!!

Minute 26: GOAL FOR DERBY!! 2-0! This is proving way more comfortable than I expected as Boro have set out far too negative, playing into our hands. It's a combination between the 2 strikers, kind of, recently returned Matej Vydra gets tackled but it falls to our top scorer Mason Bennett, the latter putting it into the net.

 

Minute 44: GOAL FOR BORO! 2-1! Maybe there's still a match here, as a rebound falls to Jayson Molumby who utterly smashes it into the net!

 

Half-time: Boro suddenly woke up in the final few minutes after we had dominated the match earlier on, but as results stand we're getting promoted today. Coventry-Huddersfield still 0-0.

 

 

Minute 60: The news come in from Coventry that the home side has just scored! Coventry 1-0 Huddersfield! Brilliant news for us, it's looking even more likely we party today.

 

Minute 72: GOAL FOR BORO! 2-2! Uh-oh, this wasn't on the program. Boro have done a 180º, from their defensive 4-1-4-1 at the beginning of the match, to an attacking-looking narrow 4-3-3 now, and it pays off as Zé Luís' low cross is tapped-in by Sam Vokes, our keeper Will Mannion looking stupid in the picture.

Minute 83: GOAL FOR DERBY! 3-2! We want to clinch promotion in style and not just because Huddersfield loses, and it's a Di Nolfo through ball that puts Alex Ratnage clear for our 3rd goal of the day!

 

 

Full-time: Derby County are back to the Premier League!!

 

Flip I didn’t jinx it...

congrats though, you’ve proved the doubters (and me) wrong

[SmileFaceGamer]

3 hours ago, noikeee said:

I'm about to enter a Premier League season with him as main striker. Not ideal but to upgrade my striker I'd have to splash my whole transfer budget in one, and pass up on several other great signings. He's super quick and scored 23 goals in the Championship so we should be fine anyway, and there's the super-promising (but frustratingly inconsistent) Warren Jenas as another pacey alternative. 

Well yeah I quickly realised that, but I did manage to hire 4 really good players, will show them off later. 

What is the budget

[noikeee]

5 hours ago, SmileFaceGamer said:

What is the budget

At the beginning it was 36M€ but in reality it was way shorter than that, as we massively stretched the wage budget and then there's agent fees, signing fees etc.

[noikeee]

Leaves champions Man City with effectively the best squad in the world, to go join Liverpool, just about 2 weeks before the season starts. Realism.  It was a merry-go-round started by the Euros, the Spanish national manager resigned so Luis Enrique left Barcelona to take over, Ancelotti left Liverpool for Barcelona, then Jesus went there.

Earlier on I was thinking how much my tactical system resembles Jesus' in real life, both are attacking 4-4-2s that ask from more intricate interior play of the wingers than to just stay way wide, although Jesus doesn't like wrong-foot wingers like I do, and he's slightly less possession-based than I am. But nevertheless the similarities are striking, also assuming that in-game Jesus plays similar to real life, it shows just how effective this style of play is in FM18 because I've been successful lately with it, and Jesus has had a sensational career the last few years: won the league twice with Sporting, twice with Leverkusen and now once with Man City.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2024/2025

 

A surprisingly subdued pre-season for a club like us that has just gone up and started swimming in cash from the TV money. There were few exits with the highest profile the sale of winger Rabbi Matondo to fellow relegation rivals Norwich (they won the Championship playoffs and gone up with us as well). And there were also few signings, as I pursued a policy on hiring only top quality players, but as many as them as possible, although that meant we only had cash to hire 4, and not all for the most needed positions. For example, I badly wanted a pacey striker, and nearly had a 20M€ deal completed for a superb Japanese striker. But it would've meant cancelling at least 2 other deals and hiring only 1 player instead, plus by then we didn't have the budget anymore anyway. He ended up signing for Dortmund.

I also renewed the loans of Francesco Di Nolfo, Mark Taylor and Alex Ratnage. But here's the 4 new faces, the 4 big signings that I'm confident will be a huge boost for us:

 

This Turkish international (JUST managed to get a work permit past an appeal) is probably best as a #10, which we don't use in our tactics, but also looks a great fit for false nine. Picked up an injury in pre-season though and might miss the first 2 Premier League matches.

 

This American kid could sort out the left-back position for years. However, he's tired after playing the Olympics for USA, all the way to a 4th place finish.

 

Not a perfect fit as he looks much more suited to a classic winger role than the inverted kind I prefer. However, he was just far too big a talent to pass up, and I suspect worst case scenario he'll give us a big profit after a laughable mere 5,25M€ we paid for him. I might just have to bench Di Nolfo for him.

 

Another #10, who could play as the most attacking of our 2 midfielders or as the false nine, however I'm expecting to use Mark Taylor and Atalay Babacan for those 2 positions, and I see this Korean guy as an upgrade for the ML position over Che Adams instead. Will need retraining but I'm playing him there straightaway.

 

 

Squad

 

 

This is not a Premier League level squad, I feel the 4 new signings plus Mark Taylor are good enough for this level but the rest probably not. So my plan is to progressively pick up more star players to cover the other positions, whenever chances to do so open up, as I progress.

You might notice we have 3 loanees, this is a bit of a cheat, I renewed all of them whilst we were in the Championship, but apparently we're only allowed to have 2 loans in the Premier League. Well... I'm not returning any of them now, I had planned my squad around them and need them, even if just for depth.

 

Fixtures

 

The most interesting thing about the pre-season is that we held a testimonial for our loyal midfielder George Thorne, I don't think I'd been in one of these testimonials before.

I'm really excited to play in the Premier League, I don't think I've played here since my first FM12 career (!) with a Spurs that had a tycoon, but these days the Premier League is different. It has reached a new level with the bags of money it has, in-game it's almost dominating the European scene, and I'm not so far out into the future that I don't recognise most players yet. So I'm pretty much fighting at the very top of world football now with a mix of generated players and real players still at the top of their game, which is a scenario I've not experienced in my careers for a very long time and look forward too - can't wait to play against people like Hazard, Lemar, Bernardo Silva, Dybala, although I expect they'll all destroy my defence! For us, the goal is just to try to stay out of the relegation fight and slowly start to build a competitive side.

[noikeee]

Pretty surprised at this one, Mannion makes it to the England national team as 3rd keeper behind Butland and Pickford!

[noikeee]

August 2024

Well this was a great start. I was a little concerned that we looked like we badly lacked ideas against Norwich and lost fair and square, but then we smashed the Saints and got an absolutely superb away win over Man City, in a crazy open match! I'm pretty damn happy with this, and Mason Bennett's hat-trick there even earned him the Premiership Player of the Month award.

In the League Cup we comfortably beat @Jupjamie's Roterham.

 

[Bedese]

Booooo!

(Great start to the season )

[noikeee]

By the way, if Lemar doesn't make it to the Ballon d'Or top 3 this year again, it might be partially our fault cause we kinda broke his ankle on minute 94 there.

Just imagine this start for Man City: lose their manager days before the season starts, lose at home to a team promoted from the Championship, and then lose your triple Ballon d'Or player for 3 months with a 94th minute tackle there. Ouch.

[noikeee]

 

 

[noikeee]

September 2024

 

Wow, talk about a dose of reality. Our optimism quickly tanks as we record a month with only defeats, showcasing the difficult opponents we have to face here in the Premier League. The disease even spread to the League Cup, in which we endured an humiliating and tiring 120 minutes against Barnsley - who didn't follow us to the Premier League and stay in the Championship - to be knocked out by a 116th minute goal.

We're still 14th in the league, but if this continues, soon we're gonna need points. Now, the next 2 matches are against Spurs and Arsenal...

 

 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

12 hours ago, noikeee said:

September 2024

 

Wow, talk about a dose of reality. Our optimism quickly tanks as we record a month with only defeats, showcasing the difficult opponents we have to face here in the Premier League. The disease even spread to the League Cup, in which we endured an humiliating and tiring 120 minutes against Barnsley - who didn't follow us to the Premier League and stay in the Championship - to be knocked out by a 116th minute goal.

We're still 14th in the league, but if this continues, soon we're gonna need points. Now, the next 2 matches are against Spurs and Arsenal...

 

 

Gutting but at least you're still clear of the drop.