FM18: The English Football League Thread - EFL in FM18

[Adzke]

5 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Great updates everybody, and aren't you all doing very well - hardly any of you losing games!

I've won four from my last ten since bragging on here. Serves me right, I guess...

[Jogo Bonito]

@Adzke Best of luck for the rest of the season.

[Gunner 101]

7 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Adzke Best of luck for the rest of the season.

You're just jinxing us all cause I've lost 2 since your comment above. 

[Adzke]

@Gunner 101

I am one match away from securing promotion! I hope the luck will turn!

I am always having a hard timing winning after Christmas.

[Gunner 101]

8 minutes ago, Adzke said:

@Gunner 101

I am one match away from securing promotion! I hope the luck will turn!

I am always having a hard timing winning after Christmas.

Maybe take a look at your tactics. I think the AI figures them out around that time of year so if you’re constantly playing the same way you’re open to be exposed as they set up to deal with you accordingly. 

[Adzke]

1 minute ago, Gunner 101 said:

Maybe take a look at your tactics. I think the AI figures them out around that time of year so if you’re constantly playing the same way you’re open to be exposed as they set up to deal with you accordingly. 

Certainly for next season! I lost 4-0 against Wolves, but as Sunderland against Derby, I will be setting my sights on the Premier League next year!

I've been given a huge transfer budget of €35 million. So now the hard part starts.

[Jogo Bonito]

My Rovers side faced up to the final six fixtures comfortably in the play-off spots, and with no hope of achieving anything better

But after gaining one point from the first six available, a run of three straight wins put a different complexion on things

With Barnsley stuttering, we managed to overhaul them in the penultimate week, and ended up needing a point at Fleetwood to seal promotion

Mathematically, the Tykes could have pipped us even then, but would need a massive goal sway to achieve that on goal difference

As it turned out, we started poorly at Fleetwood, but kept our natural shape until Humphrys rescued us with a 90th minute leveller

Here is the final table showing our strength (goals) and weakness (conceding)

It looks comfortable, but it was only afterwards when I checked other results that I saw Barnsley had drawn at home to Gillingham

On closer inspection, I realised that the Gills had equalised in the 94th minute

So without our 90th minute goal, or their late stoppage time heartbreaker, Barnsley would have actually been up instead of us

 I guess the positives outweighed the negatives, and considering I almost walked away in the autumn, it was a remarkable turnaround

I'm delighted to see that Barnsley regained their composure and won the play-off final at Wembley

Birmingham were different class, Wigan rallied well (relegation zone in the autumn) and Charlton scrambled clear right at the death

Humphrys and Eisa were the stand out performers, the overachiever was Dennis playing as an inverted winger on the left in my 442 system

Here is a review of our season in the various competitions

And the player stats showing the regular performers, key contributions and underperformers

In the player awards, it was no surprise to see Humphrys and Eisa at the top of the tree

With 30 league goals last season in League 2, and now this, Stephen has been amazing for us until now

And I'm delighted to see Eisa justifying the £150k transfer fee we paid Cheltenham midway through the previous season

And there was a pleasant surprise for the manager too

Roy Race living up to his billing as the legendary Roy of the Rovers with the League 1 manager of the year award

The transfer budget for next season has been set at a really generous £2.32 million

And I was delighted at first to see the stadium expansion plans

But I was disappointed to see the capacity would only be 7,701 when completed though (I wanted 10,000)

And I was very disappointed to learn that if I continue we would have to play at Swindon for the majority of the next season

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

a run of three straight wins put a different complexion on things

A great sprint to the finish. Congratulations! Deserved win for Roy of the Rovers, too.

It's weird what AI management makes of different clubs. In my save first season, Birmingham pushed me all the way for promotion until the last few weeks and then they lost in the playoffs to ultimate winners Ipswich, when it looks like they had two relegations in three years in your save.

Onwards and upwards!

PS: I'm having a bit of break - it's too darned hot to sit with my hands on a heater (my laptop) for the last couple of days. Thermometer is pushing 30C right now and likely to climb a couple of degrees this afternoon .

[Adzke]

@Jogo Bonito

Congrats on the promotion! Your transfer budget is actually higher than the one I had with Blackburn in my second season!

I hope the stadium will still be energy efficient and serving vegan meals!

[Gunner 101]

@Jogo Bonito Absolutely unreal performance, congratulations on your promotion! Nice transfer budget for next season too, I'm sure you'll work well with that and bring in some very good players. 

P.S I see Humphrys IRL as joined Scunny on loan next season, expect to see you playing as them in FM19 at some stage? 

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks guys, it was a really unexpected promotion. In reality, the club is looking to build an exceptionally good new stadium, the plans look really interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for the burger vans in FM to see if they're staying true to the club values!

It's funny you should mention Scunthorpe as I managed them many times in my early FM days. I've been thinking about them recently as FM18 gives the last chance to manage before Wallace and Adelakun leave. FM19 with Humphrys is going to be tempting if I don't get around to it!

[smplfc123]

@Jogo Bonito Congratulations mate. Excellent job.

I've finally chosen my team, will do an update at some point later this weekend.

[Jogo Bonito]

3 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

@Jogo Bonito Congratulations mate. Excellent job.

I've finally chosen my team, will do an update at some point later this weekend.

Cheers mate. Welcome back, apparently it's coming home!

[IgnorantLobster]

I've never seen this thread before, it seems like a nice thread for sharing our experiences. Congrats to @Joga Bonito on your success with Forest Green  - a really interesting club. I live only a half hour drive away, I really should get down there for a game some time.

I figure I may as well share my progress 20 games into my first season with Bristol City - a club at which I have a season ticket in real life. 

As you can see, it has been a great start to the season! We are comfortably sitting in the automatic promotion places. Our record against the top 6 is fairly decent, beating WBA and Forest, while drawing to Wednesday and losing only away to Stoke. I wasn't expecting to be in such a strong position this early - the goal of this save was to steadily progress the young core of players we have at the club, aiming for promotion 2/3 years in, but it looks like the Premier League could be close in year 1.

Here you can see my (somewhat) first choice XI. The idea however is to build an all-round squad where each player has a backup option who is either young, or of a similar ability. This allows me to create a culture of rotation at the club where an injury crisis, or a packed schedule, is not as big a problem as it might be for other clubs. This is helped by the fact City seem to be taking this transfer approach in real life, which is of course exciting for next season 

In terms of tactics, I am keeping it relatively simple. Press hard and fast, making the game uncomfortable for the opposition. This is my belief of football both in FM and in real life - if you can make the opposition feel uncomfortable, your chances of winning are far higher. This is exactly why my strike partnership is a Target Man and a Defensive Forward. The idea is to not give the defenders time on the ball, pressing them hard and giving them a tough game physically. This is why I love Djuric - 6'7" and incredibly powerful in the air. The most aerially dominant striker I've seen play for my club.

As mentioned, the idea is to be consistently rotating my options around. This is the perfect example - 4 strikers with relatively similar minutes played, all poised to hit 10 goals for the season, which was my goal at the start of the save. Diédhiou would have more minutes, but has missed 5 weeks due to injury. Also nice to see that Djuric and Weimann are going to have their career highest goalscoring seasons! Note that Taylor (who was transfer listed at the beginning of the save) has an absurd goalscoring record -  averaging a goal every 74 minutes in the DF role. He is a personal favourite player of mine. Can you see why? 

In terms of transfers, only one. This is because I want to start with a squad similar to what Lee Johnson will start the season with, and also wish to give everybody a chance to prove themselves. The signing I made was Jed Steer on loan from Aston Villa. He offers competition to Fielding in goal, and is coming in handy currently due to a 3 week injury to Fielding (who is my first choice goalkeeper for the season). As I have updated the squad with the 5 signings City have made this summer in real life, making too many new signings did not seem appropriate.

Not a bad loan signing, and I also managed to sneak in an optional future fee of £350,000 - good value if you ask me.

Finally, our fixtures thus far. As you can see the team is in a good place right now, unbeaten in 12 games. My favourite results were the wins away to Middlesbrough and West Brom - the former with a 95' winner from Adelakun, and the latter with an incredibly dominant display. It was also great to beat rivals Cardiff in the cup - a 4-3 thriller with a 117' winner from Weimann. Looking forward, the Swansea and Middlesbrough games will be tough tasks, and ideally we'd have more than 2 days between them. But such is the nature of December football in England!

I hope this was an okay contribution to the thread, and not too long! It's nice to read all of your stories.

[Jogo Bonito]

@IgnorantLobster Welcome and good to hear that you're enjoying the thread. That's a great contribution to the thread and you've got off to an impressive start at Ashton Gate. I've had some enjoyable times managing City in FM myself, so always nice to read about them in here. It's a shame to lose Reid and Flint, but they have made some good signings and I really like the manager there. Best of luck for the rest of your first season,

[Adzke]

Blackburn 19/20 - Players in, players out

The transfer window for my first season in the Premier League has shut, and it has been quite busy. Despite the promotion, the club's finances weren't very good, and I was quite cautious with my spending. Nonetheless, I bought Scott McTominay from Manchester United, as I was in need of a holding midfielder, as I fear Richie Smallwood will be too slow in the Premier League.

I also wanted to strengthen my defense, and as Charlie Mulgrew had a hip injury in the first friendly of the offseason sending him out for 4 months, I had to get two new players. I've bought John Souttar and Brendan Galloway for those two spots, and I hope they will serve me well. I've bought Sam McQueen as my left back, and Jason McCarthy for the right back, but I am not sure if any of those two will start...

No big sales, though I did get a handsome price for Bradley Dack, as I don't play with an AMC in my tactical setup.

In attack, I am looking forward to seeing what Ormerod and Smith can do in their first full season together.  We start out against Watford, who barely survived last season, and I am hoping for the best!

[Jogo Bonito]

@Adzke They would seem to be sensible and somewhat modest signings, but I like the look of the two young strikers! Good luck, it's going to be a tough season isn't it?

Whilst we are on the subject of transfers and squads, here are my current squads at Fulham & Forest Green Rovers.

Fulham season 3 - Premier League

Transfers In: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield £21.5m), Kieran Trippier (West Brom £12.75m), Kieran Tierney (Celtic £18m), Lucas Piazon (Chelsea free), Odsonne Edouard (PSG free), Shane Duffy (Brighton £6.25m), Matthew Targett (Southampton £3.1m), Dwight Gayle (Newcastle £3.7m)

I renewed the loan of Declan Rice (West Ham) who is the only temporary player at the club now. I'm delighted to have two new starting full backs of real pedigree in Trippier and Tierney, and Duffy is also expected to help tighten up a leaky defence. Targett and Piazon return on permanent deals as I know the club is trying to do this in reality for all of the loan men who drove them to promotion. Mooy gives more quality and depth in midfield, Edouard just seemed like a value deal for a third striker, and Gayle joined only because Mitrovic can't play for us yet. Still at the club and in the U23 squad are Mo Eisa and third choice keeper Karlo Letica.

Transfers Out: Connor Goldson (Bournemouth £1.1m), Samir Nasri (Burnley £5m), Marcello Djalo (Plymouth £200k), Aboubakar Kamara (Angers £650k), Abdoulaye Toure (Metz £40k p/m loan fee), Ryan Fredericks (Sunderland £3.3m), Aden Flint (Sunderland £100k p/m loan fee), Ryan Shawcross (West Ham loan), Rui Fonte (Hull £2.3m), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Saint Etienne £150k p/m loan fee), Taye Ashby-Hammond (Kidderminster loan), Stephen Humphrys (Bristol Rovers loan)

Joe Bennett was among 15 players released at the end of their contract, but he was the only one that ever got in to the first team squad. Since signing Mitrovic for £1.9m back in January 2019, I have never been able to use him at Fulham as he permanently fails to get a work permit. It's very disappointing and the only reason he is sent out on loan this season. We are being paid 100% wages on all of the loans, so I've managed to shift a lot of unwanted debt from the club with these and the other players sold on. Hopefully my third choice left-back Maaloul will be off soon, he's done ok but I now have two better options ahead of him (plus Ryan Sessegnon).

 

Forest Green Rovers season 4 - Championship

Transfers In: Ben Wilmot (Stevenage £205k), Adam Lewis (Newcastle loan), Josh Bowler (Everton loan), Ben Stevenson (Wolves free), Ethan Ampadu (Chelsea loan), Calvin Miller (Celtic loan), Ezri Konsa (Brentford loan), Jamal Lowe (Portsmouth free)

I renewed the loans of strikers Stephen Humphrys (Fulham) and Tyrese Campbell (Stoke). I'm looking to convert at least one of the loan signings in to a permanent transfer as I am not able to include them all in the match day squad at the moment. I have just over £2 million to spend, but won't pay more than £350k to do any of those deals. I plan to use Konsa and Ampadu as my new centre back pairing, and Miller will be an automatic pick at left-back. The others are just improving the squad and strengthening my bench options.

Transfers Out: Sam Habergham (Oxford £20k), Lee Collins (released), Isaiah Osbourne (released), Harrison Dunk (released)

I had signed left-back Adam Lewis on loan from Newcastle whilst not making progress with the transfer of Calvin Miller. He isn't needed now but until I can terminate the loan, he will wait in the U23 squad. Lee Brown is currently in talks with Scunthorpe ahead of a potential £40k transfer. I didn't renew the loans of Josh Emmanuel or Regan Poole from last season.

 

[warlock]

4 hours ago, Adzke said:

I bought Scott McTominay from Manchester United

An excellent choice, and a good price as well. I've currently got him on second-season loan at Derby and would love to sign him to a permanent deal but United are holding out for £12-£14m and while I could afford it it doesn't look like good business. At your price, I'd snap him up (anything under £10m would do).

@Jogo Bonito I have no idea how you can run two saves at once - I've tried it and can't keep everything straight! Have you played on from there? I ask because my scouts are not rating Edouard in my save, nor Matthew Targett. I've not played with the latter this year, although in FM17 he was one of my favourite players and I signed him in several saves, including at Man Utd. He always did well for me.

[Adzke]

@Jogo Bonito I hate spending lots of money on players! No idea why, but I always have. In this particular case I erred on the side of caution as I wanted to reinforce the entire team, but somehow I ended up not doing that, and without revealing too much, I can say that I propably should have spent a bit more, at least on defenders, so yes - it's going to be a tough season indeed!

I see you got Kieran Tierney! Arsenal bought him on my save for a similar amount, so I likely wouldn't have been able to sign him, but I regret not trying harder!

At Forest Green you will be very happy with both Calvin Miller and Eisa! I considered both for my Premiership squad, and Eisa was actually the League One topscorer with Fleetwood, I think, though I may be wrong on that.

@warlock Glad to hear it! I was very much in doubt whether to sign him or not! My scouts didn't give him too high of a grade, but I'm hoping that he will turn out to be a bargain for me! I was a bit surprised that United hadn't been playing him at all, as he had gone on loan for the last two seasons.

[warlock]

20 minutes ago, Adzke said:

I was very much in doubt whether to sign him or not!

Yeah, he isn't an obvious star. But first season on loan he won Championship young player of the year - and deservedly so. Second season, I renewed his loan and while he hasn't been quite as good, he hasn't been far away. Both seasons I've played him a Car-S and he's outplayed older, more experienced players in central midfield. His pass-completion rating is excellent and he chips in with the odd goal and assist. I guess, for me, he might not be brilliant, but he's never let me down.

[Jogo Bonito]

@warlock I have to play it in blocks, I definitely can't switch from one to another constantly. I've played a few games with Fulham but Targett and Edouard haven't had a chance to impress yet as they're just understudies. I've set a wage limit of £50,000 per week as I'm always looking to run a tight ship.

@Adzke I'm like you with money, but really struggled with my Fulham defence in the PL. I'm not surprised to hear you might be having the same trouble. I'm happy with my defensive reinforcements at Fulham but it didn't stop me turning a 4-1 lead at home to Liverpool in to a 4-4 draw even with these better players! Hopefully it's just a case of me improving as a PL manager and not the fault of the individual players. At FGR, I am delighted to finally get Calvin Miller as I have been trying to get him to the club for two seasons! Eisa and Humphrys should make the step up, but again it will be the defence that determines how good our season will be. On the money front, I spent £200k of my £2m transfer budget, you would be pleased with that right?

To both of you, I had McTominay on loan at Preston and also found he was a very good performer with consistent ratings. 

[Adzke]

@warlock I am playing him as a CM(d) in central midfield, and I am hoping he will grow into that role. Four games in, he has the highest completion percentage on my team.

@Jogo Bonito Ha! £200k is great, the thought of having all of those millions in the bank and not spending them on a damn thing to make the squad better makes me very happy indeed! I am having a very hard time with the defense, and I think that neglecting to sign Adam Webster of Ipswich is hurting me a bit. I preferred Galloway and Souttar as they very a bit cheaper combined, but Souttar is performing poorly at every chance, and Galloway is simply not good enough to be on the bench right now.

[Dong21]

@Jogo Bonito Interesting to see your Fulham squad and what signings you’ve made - thanks for sharing!

Getting Tierney to Fulham is a real coup! (Especially if he’s under £50k p/w wages in line with your policy).  I assume you must have had lots of competition for his signature!

Interestingly on my save I currently have a £20m bid for Trippier accepted but not sure if I’m going to complete it or not. Aurier handed in a transfer request after interest from Monaco but I haven’t had any decent bids so I might just see if he changes his mind about leaving...

[karanhsingh]

Guys, can anyone give me a quick step by step guide to uploading and embedding screenshots in my posts? Just finished my season with Bolton and wanted to update. 

Great to read about everyone else’s games. This has got to be the best thread on here hands down!

[Adzke]

10 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Guys, can anyone give me a quick step by step guide to uploading and embedding screenshots in my posts? Just finished my season with Bolton and wanted to update. 

Great to read about everyone else’s games. This has got to be the best thread on here hands down!

I save my screenshots using Paint (there is propably a way smarter way of doing this!), and I then upload them to Imgur. I open the image in a new tab, so I can link directly to the image in full size, and then copy the URL. When you click "Insert other media" in the bottom right corner when writing a post, you then select "Insert image from URL" and it should appear in your post.

[Jogo Bonito]

39 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Guys, can anyone give me a quick step by step guide to uploading and embedding screenshots in my posts? Just finished my season with Bolton and wanted to update. 

Great to read about everyone else’s games. This has got to be the best thread on here hands down!

Thanks for the kind words. I make an effort with the opening bits and pieces about the clubs and players, but after that the thread is only as good as the contributors. It's an ideal way to capture the interests of people managing any of the 72 clubs, so I admit we are lucky by having quite a wide target audience!

I'm by no means an expert at images, but I take screen shots by holding down 'alt & F9' which puts the photo in to FM18 screenshots folder. I then go in to paint, find the FM18 screen shots folder from there, select and crop then save. To get it in here, I click on 'choose files' in this reply box, and when it is loaded, click on the bottom left corner of the image (I think it says add or has a plus sign). It's even easier if you don't crop the image - just hold 'alt & f9' and then straight to choose files here (which will find your image in the FM18 screenshots folder). It's probably not the best or only way. but that's how I learned to do it.

@Dong21 I thought you would appreciate the squad comparison for Fulham, I'll get back to it at some point - even if it isn't before the PL season starts up again!

 

[Dong21]

@karanhsingh My two cents...

I use Gyazo to capture screenshots - super easy to use, you can capture as much or as little of the screen as you like and it automatically uploads it to a host and provides the link instantly.

[Adzke]

Blackburn 19/20 - Wayne Who?

So far, so good. I have played the first 10 games in the Premier League, and things are looking really promising. After a troublesome start to the campaign with only one victory in five matches, a routing of Everton kickstarted the season, and we are presently on a six match unbeaten run, having held Manchester United to a draw away and defeated Tottenham on penalties in the Carabao Cup. The defense has started to hold together a bit, and Souttar and Scott Warthon are starting to form a pretty decent pairing in the back.

My two young strikers are amazing (trying not to jinx them, but there is just no escaping it). Paul Smith has so far scored 12 goals in his first 9 Premier League games, and one on top of that in the Carabao Cup. And he is still six months away from turning 17! Wayne Rooney has nothing on him, if you ask me, and while I am still hoping to raise his determination and have him training better, he is looking quite decent. Luke Ormerod is also coming along nicely, and while he isn't training very well when I took this screenshot, his development during this season has been nothing short of incredible. 

McTominay is doing alright if unspectacular in midfield, and I am considering benching Hicham Khaloua on the left wing, as he just isn't playing up to his quite decent attributes. I am considering replacing him full time with a young French player I signed in the summer for €600k from Stade Lavellois in France, but I am also a bit wary of fielding too many youngsters this early in the season.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Great stuff @Adzke and now that the defence is generally better hopefully you can continue to defy the odds.

I've now got my first Championship win of the season at Forest Green (won't tell you how many games in it was!) but unfortunately Mo Eisa got injured in that fixture and is now out for around six weeks. Still, it gives a rare chance for club legend Christian Doidge or Tyrese Campbell to get some minutes.

I've also just broken our home attendance record, with the 5,771 watching us against West Brom beating the previous record set against Gloucestershire rivals Cheltenham in 2018 (two years earlier). I knew there had to eventually be a positive about playing in Swindon!

[Adzke]

Just when you think the tide is turning in your favour, life hits you in the back of the head, @Jogo Bonito!

Luckily, the season in the Championship is long, and even with a good amount of losses, you will still have a chance to finish near the top. Have you brought the vegan concession stands with you to Swindon, I would like to know!

[karanhsingh]

Bolton season review 2018-19

So I have just completed my first full season in charge of Bolton, second season in-game. First the transfers - with very low budgets I decided to use the loan system to full effect. In came a number of promising young players in need of some football. The only cash transfer was Marc Roberts for some badly needed pace at the back.

After getting in these players, I was quietly confident of aiming for the play-offs at least. But they far exceeded even my expectations and we eventually got automatic promotion very comfortably. We were top for a while but eventually Wolves were too strong and we finished 2nd. Top scorers in the league by quite some distance, with several high-scoring games. Great entertainment all-around, although the defending left a lot to be desired!

Here are the squad statistics, ranked by number of games. The two missing here are Le Fondre and Wheater who played bit part roles and will probably be leaving on a free. However, the best performers were -

Harry Wilson - absolutely unbelievable played as Inside Forward at AMR position, 23 goals 24 assists and won Championship player of the year. 

Sammy Ameobi - really stepped it up, playing as IF at the AML position, 24 goals and 20 assists and his value has been sky-rocketing.

James Wilson - 24 goals despite a couple of injuries. 

Joshua Onomah - was a beast in the Mezzella role from CM, with 10 goals and 12 assists. 

Josh Vela - the club academy product has really come on leaps and bounds, he was amazing as box to box midfielder chipping in with 11 goals 10 assists

Lys Mousset - rotated with both the Wilsons and did really well as either AMR or SC, 20 goals and 24 assists.

And finally in defence, Mark Little and Marc Roberts were the stand-out performers.

Fun fact, 3 of my first choice back 4 are named Mark and both my CMs are Josh, I wonder how they avoid confusion on the pitch LOL.

A quick mention about the Cups as well, while we went out in the 4th round of the Carabao, but we had an amazing FA Cup run all the way to Wembley although we had some decent luck with the draw until then. However what I am most proud of is the way we fought Arsenal and took them right till the end, eventually going out on penalties. Here however I made a tactical error, in the 115th min I used my 4th sub to take out Harry Wilson (who was exhausted) for David Wheater and play 5 at the back since I was playing for penalties. I however forgot that Wilson was one of my best penalty takers. Eventually it went to sudden death and it was Wheather himself who stepped up for the 8th penalty and missed. 

Anyhow, all in all a really fun and amazing season! I have some more updates from the summer but will get through it and then post.

[Dong21]

Well done @Adzke and @karanhsingh - good updates and both doing very well 

[robterrace]

So.. The end of the season.

 

The title was secured at the beginning of March, with victory over Rochdale seeing that taken care of.

 

 

Unfortunately, we didn't survive unbeaten until the end. 38 matches went by, until we were defeated by Bolton, 2-1 at the Macron Stadium, it didn't stop us in our pursuit, however, of a record points and goals total in League 1.

 

122 points, and 116 goals, with a difference of 73, left us 36 points clear of 2nd place, and 52 clear of 6th place, this saw us go up with Bolton.

 

 

Goals came from everywhere in the side, like I wanted them to. Kazaiah Sterling hitting 37 in 60 (30 from 45 in the League) from his position on the left wing, John Marquis chipping in with 24 from 50 (16 from 34 in League), and Alex Kiwomya 23 from 57 (19 from 42 in the League). Only a couple of players failed to score.

 

Competition wise, upsets of Fulham, Aston Villa (in a ridiculous 6-5 victory) and Liverpool in the FA Cup saw us face Manchester City, who eventually knocked us out after going to Extra Time.

 

The Carabao Cup was never on the cards, and a 2-0 defeat to Leicester (the only time we failed to score all season) in the 2nd round put us out.

 

In the Checkatrade Trophy, a success was had, blitzing the group, then qualifying for the final after beating Bolton on penalties, setting up a match with Shrewsbury. This was won before half time, being 3-0 up by the 40th minute, before James Coppinger scored a 64th minute winner to secure a 4-0 win.

 

Theres a heck of a lot to try and do before next season, a lot of the players expect us to get relegated, I think a mid table push is on. However, there will be movement of players, as I shift some deadwood out, and hopefully replace them with the sort of talent that I can get a couple of seasons hard work out of before moving them on.

 

Staff wise, my U23 and U18 managers are leaving at the end of the season, being replaced by Andy Butler and James Coppinger, both of whom are retiring.

 

Elsewhere, Arsenal won the Premier League, with Bristol City, Ipswich and Leeds all being relegated. Tottenham won the FA Cup 

 

West Brom bounced straight back to the Premier League, along with Stoke, who won the Playoffs, a Steve McClaren managed Wolves finished 2nd. At the bottom, MK Dons and Charlton returned to League One, and were joined by Nottingham Forest, who were relegated on the last day.

 

Luton joined ourselves and Bolton in going up, defeating Peterborough 3-1 in the playoffs, at the bottom, Gillingham, Scunthorpe, Lincoln and Walsall were relegated.

 

Newport and Eastleigh dropped out of the league, with Colchester, Exeter, Barnet and Stevenage promoted to League One, the latter through the playoffs.

 

Accrington returned from the Conference at the first opportunity, with Hartlepool also gaining promotion.

 

I've got a few irons in the fire for signings and staff, more on that in the next installment. 

[warlock]

10 minutes ago, robterrace said:

122 points, and 116 goals, with a difference of 73, left us 36 points clear of 2nd place, and 52 clear of 6th place

That deserves a "Wow!". Bummer about the 'invincibles' season, though. Something to aim for!

In other news, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I've binned my Derby save. After a good start to life in the PL - we were sitting in the top 10 in early October - things fell apart completely. I think we managed a single win between then and early January, including some truly horrendous results - a 5-1 against Leicester, home and way defeats to Southampton, losses to Newcastle, Watford, Swansea - you name 'em, we lost there. That's not even including the 6-2 spanking from Liverpool, the 4-0 to Man Utd, the drubbings against Arsenal, Man City, all of the leading clubs. You don't mind losing to the top teams, but we were getting stuffed by everyone. And nothing I tried worked - I changed formations, a little and then a lot, went three at the back, then five at the back, tried control and then defensive. We could score, but we couldn't stop them scoring more. Morale crashed. I tried the arm around the shoulder, and then the hands around the throat. Nada. It wasn't a challenge, it was wretched.

In better news, I climbed straight back into the saddle. Figured it was time a city like Bristol had a Premiership team, and I'm the man to do it. Hopefully... 

 

[karanhsingh]

Guys quick question.. I’m wrapping up my transfers at Bolton for our first season back in the Premiership. Have got 7.5 million left now and one attacking winger / inside forward to bring in. 

Ive negotiated a rather expensive looking deal for Lewis Morgan from Celtic which will blow my transfer budget and also make him one of my best paid players. His stats look great though. Anyone have experience with him? 

Orheriwse I have my eye on André Green but I’m not convinced he can cut it at this level. Was trying for Tammy Abraham but he moved to Huddersfield. Izzy Brown is available though. Thoughts?

[Adzke]

6 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Guys quick question.. I’m wrapping up my transfers at Bolton for our first season back in the Premiership. Have got 7.5 million left now and one attacking winger / inside forward to bring in. 

Ive negotiated a rather expensive looking deal for Lewis Morgan from Celtic which will blow my transfer budget and also make him one of my best paid players. His stats look great though. Anyone have experience with him? 

Orheriwse I have my eye on André Green but I’m not convinced he can cut it at this level. Was trying for Tammy Abraham but he moved to Huddersfield. Izzy Brown is available though. Thoughts?

I had a deal with Lewis Morgan on my Blackburn save, but I cancelled at the last minute, as I just wasn't convinced he was good enough (and he was a bit expensive for my liking). So no real experience other than not having bought him.

[karanhsingh]

On 06/07/2018 at 02:47, robterrace said:

Just curious, how do the inverted wing backs work with inside forwards? Isnt everyone basically trying to cut inside? I would have thought WB goes better with IF.

[karanhsingh]

On 07/07/2018 at 00:49, Adzke said:

Blackburn - Towards The Premiership!

I have 10 league matches left in my second season with Blackburn, and things are looking great so far. We are looking very good in the promotion races, and the team has generally been playing very well. 

The autumn was great, and we hardly lost, but winter part of the season has been a bit of a struggle. Still, we are the most scoring team, but still haven't been able to catch Wolves who are absolutely superb, even though they botched promotion last year. Charlie Mulgrew is still doing excellent, and though I sold a couple of defenders in the January window, we still do okay at the back.

In midfield, Joe Rankin-Costello is an absolute star. He has the highest average rating of any Championship player and has 12 assists from his role as deep lying playmaker.

In attack, I am given a lot of playing time to Luke Ormerod who came through my academy last year, and he is doing well. I am hoping to turn him into a sort of Rooney Light with the ability to both assist my main striker or score himself, but I am spending a lot of training time on training his quickness right now. Still, I hope he can be a good Premiership striker for me, when that time arrives.

I just had my second regen intake, and I got the greatest regen I have ever seen, I think. He had a four star CA when he came through, and the plan is to use him for the remainder of the season, as he is actually my best striker right off the bat at 15 years old! I have given him Elliott Bennett as a tutor to increase his determination, and I hope it wilk work.

Really enjoying reading about your game! Rankin-Castello attributes don't look that good, except his physicals. But he seems to be doing the business.  Are you playing him as a  MEZ? I tried to bid for him in my game right now but Blackburn want way too much money. 

Also, Nyambe looks good in my game. I was thinking of getting him, but he moved to Stoke and I went in for Tyrone Mings instead. Must be doing well for you?

Both new-gens look great, wasn't there an Ormerod at Blackburn earlier? Maybe this is his son!

[karanhsingh]

@Joga Bonito super stuff on both games! How does Sessegnon look in your Fulham save now, and is he playing for England?

@IgnorantLobster great progress your end too, love the basic 4-4-2 formation, don't see enough of it. Are you able to keep enough possession? Do the wingers get involved a lot in the goals too?

@robterrace damn what a season!! That's an insane amount of goals. Good luck with your crack at the Championship.

[Jogo Bonito]

@karanhsingh Excellent stuff with Bolton, that's another great achievement. They're still in League 1 in my Forest Green game, and I would have thought their squad was more that level than the PL, so that's quite something. At Fulham, Ryan Sessegnon has a few caps, he was first picked during my first season which was not bad for a young Championship player. He's a great asset to Fulham and the main reason I took them on. I'm lucky he loves the club and has me as favoured personnel, so I keep convincing him to sign new contracts despite plenty of interest from bigger and better clubs.

@Adzke Have things turned sour at Blackburn? Unless I missed it, you were doing well and then said things then took a turn for the worse...

@robterrace Amazing success with Doncaster, you must feel confident of a similar season next time. 

@warlock Sorry to hear that things turned bad at Derby. I had a very similar situation with Fulham after promotion to the PL in season 1. Good luck in Bristol, although you never said it was City and not Rovers! 

[warlock]

26 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good luck in Bristol, although you never said it was City and not Rovers! 

Yeah, City it is. Just working my way through pre-season. Looks like a good squad with no obvious weaknesses.

Don't like to think of myself as a quitter, but the Derby save just wasn't any fun and life's too short.

[Jogo Bonito]

16 minutes ago, warlock said:

Don't like to think of myself as a quitter, but the Derby save just wasn't any fun and life's too short.

Exactly how I felt in season 2 with Fulham. That was the first time in years that I continued beyond the Championship, and that season was an awful experience (at a really great club). Good luck at Ashton Gate, another good club to take on.

[robterrace]

Just going through a load of scout reports, and already been linked with 2 Premier League jobs.. 

[robterrace]

I've just shelled out some money on this guy.. Walks straight into my side.

[karanhsingh]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@karanhsingh Excellent stuff with Bolton, that's another great achievement. They're still in League 1 in my Forest Green game, and I would have thought their squad was more that level than the PL, so that's quite something. At Fulham, Ryan Sessegnon has a few caps, he was first picked during my first season which was not bad for a young Championship player. He's a great asset to Fulham and the main reason I took them on. I'm lucky he loves the club and has me as favoured personnel, so I keep convincing him to sign new contracts despite plenty of interest from bigger and better clubs.

@Adzke

 

Thanks for the kind words! However now the real test begins  

Ive been given games against Man City Liverpool and spurs all in the first 5 - fantastic. 

[karanhsingh]

Just wrapped up my transfer activity for the summer a couple days before our pre season tour. I managed to permanently purchase 4 of the players who did really well on loan last season so quite pleased with that. The only one who I couldn’t get was Harry Wilson who Liverpool are apparently going to play in their first team. We also just broke our transfer record for James Maddison. Hopefully he does well. 

Have kept the signings mostly English  as I want to build a strong home grown side. I also tried to bring back Zach Clough but he wanted 40k a week so chose more money at WBA. Another Bolton youth product Rob Holding just became available on loan but I feel we have enough defenders now so no point. 

So my squad for our premiership crack will be - 

Keepers - Pope, Alnwick

defenders - Roberts, Beevers, Little, Mings, Douglas, Walker-Peters

midfielders - Vela, Onomah, McTominay, Karacan, Osede

attackers - Wilson, Ameobi, Mousset, Maddison, le Fondre 

[robterrace]

Couple of small things before my start of season update...

 

Current incomings..

 

 

[robterrace]

And another... :P 

[smplfc123]

17 hours ago, warlock said:

Yeah, City it is. Just working my way through pre-season. Looks like a good squad with no obvious weaknesses.

Don't like to think of myself as a quitter, but the Derby save just wasn't any fun and life's too short.

Welcome to Bristol  I know it's spoilt my update you've all been anxiously waiting for, but come and pay us a visit at the Memorial Stadium sometime @warlock, the home of the soon to be biggest club in Bristol.

[warlock]

3 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

Welcome to Bristol  I know it's spoilt my update you've all been anxiously waiting for, but come and pay us a visit at the Memorial Stadium sometime @warlock, the home of the soon to be biggest club in Bristol.

Ah, so you went for the wrong side of the city . Bigger challenge, greater glory!

It'll give some added interest to both of our updates, though. And some of us are still anxiously awaiting yours; I'll try to get one sorted today but not sure how much time I'll have. Need to lay in supplies for this evening, and promised Mrs W that I'd go down and water the allotment later. My protests of, "But I'm retired!" didn't cut much ice .