FM18: The English Football League Thread - EFL in FM18

[robterrace]

Oh yeah, and this guy is a bloody god for me.

 

[robterrace]

So, we've reached December 31st 2020. I'd like to say that its been a bit of a hit and miss season.

 

The buildup to the season was good, players were fit, and keen to make a start on trying to go a step further than last season.

 

On the eve of the season, Miguel Luis, the Portuguese midfielder, who has been at the heart of everything we've done over the last couple of years, gave an interview to the press where he said that he hoped the Premier League interest in him would lead to a bid being made. This then caused him to come and speak to me, asking to leave.

 

At this point in time, there had been no offers, so he was told that unless there was an offer, he wasn't leaving. This, and the fact he was appointed captain placated him, however, his mind was obviously on other things, as the 4-0 defeat to Huddersfield on the opening day showed.

 

As you can see, for the first few games of the season, our form was a bit off, we got caught flatfooted by Huddersfield, as they exploited the holes left by a defence that was still getting to know each other, let a 2 goal lead slip at home to Middlesbrough, and the same against Blackburn. 

Looking at reasons for goals conceded, highlighted Eoghan O'Connell. The defender who had performed admirably in the back 4 when signed last season, had seen his lack of pace highlighted by the defensive line our new style was asking for, and as such, he was caught watching as balls were fed over and round him for opposing players to run onto, and whilst Perr Schurrs could cover some of them, 5 of the first 8 league goals conceded were from balls played through him.

 

Delving into the scouting lists, for players with pace, who could fit into our system, and not need work permits or anything to delay their potential purchase, brought up 2 names, the first of these was Ezri Konsa, who had come through the Academy setup at Charlton, and made over 100 appearances for them, all by the time he was 23. He fitted into the relevant attribute range I wanted, being quick (14 pace, 13 acceleration), and strong in terms of team work and work rate. A bid of £600k was tabled, and following a small amount of negotiation, he was signed for a fee that would potentially increase to £1.1m depending on international appearances.

The second player highlighted, was Jack Hendry. At 25, he was slightly outside of the age range I wanted, but, at the same time, fitted into the same sort of attributes that had highlighted Konsa. Whilst not fantastically quick, he was good in the air, and, at 6'4" could operate against teams where the opposition strikers were more physical. He was at Celtic, and on the transfer list, but, with several clubs after him, there was no guarantee an offer would be successful, but, an offer of £225k was tabled.

 

Another thing that came from looking at reasons for goals being conceded, was an issue with the goalkeeper, Thomas Glover, last season, with the defensive line sitting deeper, he was able to parry balls out, and the defenders could cover. His positioning for a couple of the goals wasn't the best, and a replacement for him was needed, as Pombo wouldn't be ready for Championship football for a couple of seasons yet.

 

Again, the scouting lists came in handy here, highlighting a young Italian goalkeeper, with good reflexes and positioning attributes, as well as being very good when one on one with attackers. Stefano Taroli had made over 120 appearances in recent years for Foggia, Reggina and Manfredonia in the Italian Leagues, At just over £700k, he would also be one of the cheaper options available to us, and as such, would probably be more inclined to leave Italy to attempt to make it in England.

 

The new style we were trying to play was having an effect, and this showed in the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup, as we welcomed local rivals Barnsley, and proceeded to decimate them, scoring 3 goals either side of half time, one on the counter attack, and restrict their chances to long range efforts in a 3-0 victory, our reward would be a visit to Eddie Howes Bournemouth.

 

Konsa and Tarolli signed shortly after the offers were made, and we welcomed them to the club, the offer for Hendry was taking slightly longer to sort out.

 

As deadline day rolled up, another midfielder was earmarked, this one, Jordan Rossiter, had been playing in Scotland, at Rangers for a few years, and hadn't broken into the first team for any length of time. Finding himself transfer listed, he was brought for £67k, and sent straight out on loan to MK Dons, with the intention of 'flipping him' for a profit on the back of a successful season.

Another player leaving on loan was Dries Wouters. The Belgian hadn't impressed since coming in from Genk, and MK Dons showed an interest in him as well, paying £70k a month for him, as well as 100% of his wages.

 

One more signing was made on deadline day. With the clock ticking round, the news feed reported that David Brooks had been transfer listed by Sheffield United. He was a player who had quite literally been on the radar for a couple of seasons, and an attempt to sign him in the summer just gone had seen a response of Sheffield United wanting at least £8m for him. Instead, a fee of £800k was paid,. and he made the short move up the M18 to Doncaster.

 

An 8 match unbeaten run, combined with a victory at Bournemouth in the cup,came, and it was the last match in September which saw that come to a halt. Taking an early lead through Jon Walters free kick (the 17 year old standing in for Max Clark, who had suffered a hamstring strain that would see him miss a month), Leeds fought back and won 3-1. The signs of a potential poor run of form coming were there, with injuries occurring (first choice keeper Thomas Glover broke his shin in training at the end of August, Ben Thompson fractured his femur in a match against Newcastle, and Linus Wahlqvist tore his groin in the 5-1 defeat at Old Trafford against Manchester United. 

 

The 5-1 defeat was in the middle of a run of 6 defeats in 7 games, which saw me rotate players out of the side in order to try and find some answers to our issues. Max Besuschkow, David Brooks and Papis Dembele all came into the side, and it was the efforts of Dembele which finally saw our poor run end with a victory at Preston, where the French forward scored one and supplied 2 in a 3-1 win.

 

My somewhat anal approach to scouting and looking for improvement found an improvement on the right wing, where Ryan Hedges and Paul McMullan had been struggling with both form and injuries. It came in the form of 24 year old Italian, Vittorio Parigini, who had been without a club since leaving Torino in the summer. He came in on a free transfer, and due to fitness concerns with Hedges and McMullan, would make his debut in the away match against Sheffield United.

 

With the hosts missing players due to injury, it was felt that we could take advantage, it just wasn't expected that we'd do it as clinically as we did. 

Pedro Marques scored after quarter of an hour, with Dembele breaking away after the kickoff to round the keeper to score a quick second. The evergreen Billy Sharp replied for the Blades (his first of 2), before Dembele hit another, followed by Parigini scoring a placed effort from the edge of the box, Dembele completing his hat trick before Sharp and Luis traded penalties. Rafa Mujica, who had come on for the hat trick scorer, completed the rout in injury time.

 

The next couple of games saw Pedro Marques make his mark. The young Portuguese striker had been averaging a goal every 3 games since arriving from Lisbon, but, in the game against Reading, he scored a hat trick, had a goal disallowed, and caused an own goal to be scored, His movement causes issues, as he drops deep and players come past him on the overlap to flood the box, but he then drifts in unseen to shoot from close range as he picks up rebounds and knock downs from other players. After 25 league games, he leads the division with 19 goals (he has 23 in 29 in total).

 

Miguel Luis has let his early season distractions go, the 21 year old, captain of the side, was convinced to sign an extension to his contract, giving him potentially another 2 years at the club

 

One more bit of transfer business was done, with young Nigerian Emeka Nwabueze joining from Kano Pillars. Surprisingly, his work permit application went through first time, due to his 6 caps for the national side.

 

 

There has been one coaching change, with Mikel Arteta coming in to replace Paul Gerrard. 

 

Other than that, recruitment continues, with a large amount of players being targeted for the U19 and 23 sides, with the intention of using the better developed ones in less important matches in the future.

 

I'll put an update out at the end of the current transfer window, complete with details of the players out on loan.

[warlock]

13 hours ago, robterrace said:

Other than that, recruitment continues

You do surprise me .

I'm impressed by your patience and determination with the save. I have, once again, abandoned mine (at least for the time being). Bristol City seem to be fairly secure in the Premiership, destined for another mid-table finish. But it's proving difficult or impossible to improve the squad. I have millions available for transfers but no-one of any quality will contemplate joining us (perhaps if I put as much effort into scouting as you do?) So, for the time being I'm plying my trade with Blyth Spartans in the VNN where the potential for growth is substantial.

KUTGW .

[robterrace]

57 minutes ago, warlock said:

You do surprise me .

I'm impressed by your patience and determination with the save. I have, once again, abandoned mine (at least for the time being). Bristol City seem to be fairly secure in the Premiership, destined for another mid-table finish. But it's proving difficult or impossible to improve the squad. I have millions available for transfers but no-one of any quality will contemplate joining us (perhaps if I put as much effort into scouting as you do?) So, for the time being I'm plying my trade with Blyth Spartans in the VNN where the potential for growth is substantial.

KUTGW .

Thanks.

 

Think I may have just picked up a wonderkid from under the noses of Manchester United, Bayern, Arsenal and Real. I'd been scouting him for months, had him on a shortlist, and got a notification that his contract was expiring. His agent said he wasn't sure that he wanted to talk to me, as the above clubs were interested, I persevered, and picked him up on a 4 year contract, with no release fee  . Its this sort of stuff that'll keep me plodding on, even when I've sold the original squad off.

[Jogo Bonito]

@Dong21 @warlock @robterrace and to anyone else I may have missed out in the name check since I last posted, thanks for all your updates.

It's always good to see how you have been getting on with Fulham (I admire this one due to my enjoyable time with them), Bristol City (congrats on the promotion, I now have a dilemma on whether to try them now and sign Eisa, or wait for FM19) and Doncaster (I love the detail of your posts, the enthusiasm is really coming through - even though my head is always spinning with your transfer activities).

I've not been able to play any FM in a few weeks, let alone visit here. But hopefully I may be able to do so again soon as I am determined to see out my Forest Green Rovers adventure until the end of the Championship season before picking a new club.

Is anyone else still actively playing in the EFL, and if so where? KUTGW everyone

 

 

[robterrace]

9 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Doncaster (I love the detail of your posts, the enthusiasm is really coming through - even though my head is always spinning with your transfer activities). 

 

Thanks Yogo, I've got a plan in mind with a lot of my signings, which, I hope becomes more apparent over the next couple of transfer windows, however, a lot of the recruitment stuff at the moment is aimed towards stockpiling youngsters to develop for the next few seasons.

 

I've got a couple that are breaking through now, and another couple who'll be ready at the end of the season, so, hopefully, I'll have to spend minimal amounts for whichever division I'm in.

[robterrace]

A quick update to show a few dealings during the transfer window.

 

Coming in were young US midfielder Gavin Johnston, and Nigerian 18 year old centre back, Monday Paul, for a combined £250k, as well as young Finnish striker Niklas Jokelainen, also on a free. Paul went out on loan to Italy to gain experience, and Jokelainen to Partick in Scotland.

 

Two large outgoing transfers were agreed, for Swedish internationals Erik Andersson and Linus Wahlqvist. Midfielder Andersson was courted by Augsburg of the Bundesliga for most of the season, with an offer of £6.25m with a potential to go to £8m, and a sell on fee added, No other offers came in, and he departed, and will be replaced in the side by Max Besushkow or David Brooks.

 

 

The offer for Wahlqvist came from Wolves, and was for £3.2m, with the potential to go towards £5m depending on appearances. This offer was easy to accept, as in Jon Walters, we have a young player (17 years old), who had already shown his versatility this season. 

 

 

As well as the departure of Wahlqvist and Andersson, Regan Slater and Ben Whiteman departed on loan to get match time, along with Inaki Pena and Eoghan O'Connell. 

 

The list below illustrates the players away from the club at this time.

 

 

The stand out on the list has to be Nigel Girvan, on loan at Northampton in League One. At 17, hes one of the younger players to head out, but, has shown a large amount of maturity and skill in leading the line for Stephen Kennys mid table side. 

Other notable loanees are Darragh Shaughnessy, who is finding life at Fleetwood in League One slightly harder than he found the Conference, but, in adding assists to his game (he has 8 to go with his 7 goals), hes showing the sort of improvement I want to see.

Also proving himself is young centre back Glyn Gardner. The 17 year old left to Exeter for the season, knowing that he had to impress. He has played a large amount of games in the centre of defence for the side managed by Paul Tisdale, providing the pace alongside the more experienced (and slightly less mobile) Mark Beevers, and has helped them to 2nd in League One. He will definitely be in contention to be a first choice option on his return.

[smplfc123]

15 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

 

I've not been able to play any FM in a few weeks, let alone visit here. But hopefully I may be able to do so again soon as I am determined to see out my Forest Green Rovers adventure until the end of the Championship season before picking a new club.

Is anyone else still actively playing in the EFL, and if so where? KUTGW everyone

 

 

Same mate. Was really hoping to get a Bristol Rovers save going but it turns out moving in to a new house means constantly doing new jobs.

Going to get a fun / challenging championship save going today.

[Adzke]

Thanks for all the kind words, guys! I haven't had time to update the save, but I am working on it now!

On 10/07/2018 at 13:24, karanhsingh said:

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!

Rankin-Costello is far outplaying his attributes, I think. He doesn't look all that good, but he has had a nice progression, and he is averaging pretty well, even in the Premier League for me. In my first season, I was playing him as an advanced playmaker in central midfield, but I have moved him back, and he is playing as a deep lying playmaker for me now, as I needed more balance in midfield.

Nyambe is pretty good physically, but his technical abilty just doesn't cut it for me. I used him for two full seasons as a starter in right back, but I am using him as a reserve now. Were you looking to play him in central defence?

And yes, I think there was an Ormerod in Blackburn, but I couldn't search him up, but I like to think that he is carrying on the legacy as well! 

On 10/07/2018 at 19:33, 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 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! 

Things are still going well, real life just reared it's ugly head at me (vacation), and I haven't had the time to play lately!

Blackburn - Expensive teenagers and dreams of glory

So far things are looking really promising in the Premier League. I have played my first 22 games, and I am just outside of the European places. My defense still isn't too good, but at least it is kind of stable right now. So far, the greatest achievements have been beating Liverpool 2-1 at home and Chelsea 1-0 at home as well. Ormerod scored all three of our goals in those two matches.

Both Ormerod and Paul Smith are doing really well. Ormerod is developing into the kind of player I was hoping for, and he is fairly good at providing both goals and assists as a deep lying forward. I still envision him being a Rooney Light type of player for me. Chelsea are interested in him, though, and I am not sure if I can keep him through the winter transfer window. He has already approached me telling me that he wants to join Chelsea, but Charlie Mulgrew diffused the situation for me - for now.

Paul Smith is a superstar. Still four months away from turning 17, he has so far scored 20 Premier League goals, and his development is finally picking up a bit. I've managed to improve his determination through tutoring, and I am hoping to see that continue.

I have bought one player in January, Oscar García from Deportivo Cali in Colombia, and I hope he will be the long term-heir to Elliott Bennett on my right wing.

[warlock]

15 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

Going to get a fun / challenging championship save going today.

Hope to see you back here soon. My Blyth save ran it's course over the last two days - just missed out in the playoffs (have I mentioned how much I hate the playoffs?). So - having recommended them to you - I've just tonight started an Ipswich save. Pre-season has been satisfactorily completed and with a bit of luck I should have an update report some time tomorrow (um... today! Just realised what time it is).

[karanhsingh]

Hey Guys, I am back in this thread with yet another new save. I've been finding it hard to maintain long term interest in the last few games, so I have decided to try to do things differently this time. I am going to only buy British players this time around, the only exception being players that have come through the club's youth system. 

Have decided to go with Blackburn, for a couple of reasons. Good youngsters coming through the academy who can be developed - Rankin-Castello, Nyambe, David Raya. Plus an opportunity to take the club up the leagues through progressive development. My aim would be to hopefully win the Premier League within 5 seasons. Also, the club is owned by fellow Indians (unfortunately  much maligned in real life)!

I fired up the game in January 2018, the club was sitting in 3rd place then. We didn't make any transfers, just changed the tactics around to my favoured 4-3-3 and we eventually won the league by a few points. 

Our best performers were Elliott Bennett who won League 1 player of the year, Charlie Mulgrew set piece king at the back, and Adam Armstrong the young loanee from Newcastle up top.

I also used the first season to make improvements to the backroom staff, bringing in a few specialist coaches. Mark Venus my assistant left for WBA, so I got in Phil Neville as my new assistant and defensive coach. Didn't add any scouts as we won't have too much of a range to cover, mainly only the UK!

I also discovered that we have a few senior players with excellent mental stats & professional character, like Smallwood, Lenihan and Graham. Immediately got the youngsters being tutored and gave them a lot of playing time second half of the season. As a result they are all coming along well. There is another youngster Lewis Khoury who has been getting bid on by a number of big clubs, so his potential must be good, but he isn't anywhere near ready for the first team squad yet.

Second season Christmas update coming up shortly.

[karanhsingh]

So currently we are on 2nd Jan 2019, and here is a proper update for Season 2 so far. 

Transfers

Jack Marriott - brought in to compete with Armstrong & Graham up front. 

Marcus Edwards - on loan for a season, looked good for the AMR spot as inside forward being left footed 

Kyle Walker Peters - have had him before, dependable full back can play either side

Axel  Tuanzebe - was happy he chose to move to us, definitely a cut above my other defenders

Jonathan Leko - competing for the AML spot 

Ben Sheaf - looks super versatile and well rounded attributes, pretty young. My scouts found him at Arsenal wanting a move.

Yan Dhanda - my scout found him, he hasnt progressed much but we now have an Indian player on the books

Junior Hoillett - actually all my work was done but then noticed he was on a free, with his history at the club decided to bring him in. He promptly got sent off in his first game

Adam  Armstrong - not showing up here but we renewed his loan for another season

In terms of transfers out, we got rid of some players who weren't playing much, got some wages off the book too. The only major outgoing was Corry  Evans, who is solid but I felt with Lenihan & Smallwood there we didn't really need him. I have also retrained Mulgrew as DM with his pace attributes going down, using him more there now.

As you can see, so far in the league things have gone very well indeed. The team is coming together well, everyone is contributing and getting along. The goals are very well spread out and I have been rotating the squad a fair bit as well to keep everyone fresh.

 

Bennett and Armstrong have carried over their fine form from last season. Other notable performers have been Edwards, Leko, Mulgrew. Actually as I said the entire squad is really doing well. The players missing from the screen above are Graham, Downing, Hoilett. 

In other news, 

Just got Nyambe and Rankin-Costello tied down to new 3 year deals. They were both asking for it since a while, I thought I'd wait till end of the season but with their constant complaints I decided to go for it now that the transfer window opened up. 18 million release clauses have been agreed for both, hopefully I can hold onto them though.

Bradley Dack was also asking for a new deal, and he hasn't exactly been setting the world alight so I declined him. Now WBA are sniffing around him and he said he wants a move.  I just tried offering him a new contract and now his agent says he's not interested. So if I get a good offer for him this month I may just have to let him go.

Bennett is also complaining about his contract, but he's already well paid and 30 years old so I ain't giving him one either. 

The club finances are pretty screwed, primarily due to the 120m debt we are carrying! We are making a loss every month, so we do need promotion sooner rather than later.

Our attendances haven't gone up all that much, despite doing very well in the league and the promotion from last season. We are averaging around 20k - hoping for some full houses soon. 

Oh also in the League cup we got beat 0-4 away at rivals Burnley, fans weren't too pleased about that. 

Now we have some really tough fixtures coming up against close rivals in the league, starting with Forest away. Hopefully we can keep the run going.

 

[robterrace]

Marcus Edwards is very good. Hes been ripping defences apart in my save..

[Adzke]

@karanhsingh Bennett is an absolute stud on my save as well. He is even playing really well in the Premier League at age 31!

My finances didn't turn around until I was promoted to the Premier League, but you may still be able to ward off creditors if you sell some players. I sent Dack on loan to Norwich in my second season, as I wasn't using him, and I ended up selling him for €3.9M, so that might be a lifeline for you.

Good luck with Blackburn, they are really a cracking save!

[karanhsingh]

@Adzke yes I am enjoying it so far! Dack actually looks good but I don’t play with a central AM so have retrained him as an MC on mezzella role. He does score a stunner every now and then. But will sell him if the right offer comes in. Hopefully I get a couple of good regens like you did too  

[Adzke]

@karanhsingh I had the exact same problem. Just couldn't find room for him in my system, but he has actually been a regular in the Championship the last two years, I see now.

I hope you do! I just terminated the loan for a goalkeeper, as I have sold Raya to Everton as his release clause was met by them. So the pipeline is still hot, even though I didn't get anyone spectacular in my third intake. What are your tactics like?

[karanhsingh]

I just turned down an offer from Hudds for Raya. Now he wants a new contract too. I definitely don’t want to lose any academy players. 

On that note bringing back Hoilett was definitely a mistake, when he’s not injured or getting himself sent off he’s performing terribly on the pitch. Unfortunately gave him a 3 year contract too. Will have to try and get rid. Leko at 0 wages per week is a far better bet ! 

Tactics are 4-1-2-3 

back four with attacking full backs 

DLP in the DM role 

two Mezzellas on attacking role 

two inside forwards on attacking 

and advanced forward as SC 

if I need to chase a game I either go 4-2-3-1 and put Dack as AM, or 4-2-4 and move the DM to an extra forward 

[karanhsingh]

What about you @Adzke guessing two up front?

[karanhsingh]

Oh and did you keep Mulgrew on for the PL? His physicals are declining but technically he’s such a beast! I do love goal scoring defenders. 

[Adzke]

@karanhsingh How do you avoid getting too narrow with that system? Are the mezzale drifting wide? I considered signing Hoilett as well, but my DoF had already signed Hachim Khaloua, so I had no need for him.

Yes, I have two upfront. Part my reasoning for playing as Blackburn was that I wanted to play a 4-4-2, but that hasn't really come to fruition. I play a 4-4-2/4-3-3 hybrid of sorts, and it is working fairly well, even though I can't really get consistent good play from my inside forward on the left side.

[Adzke]

Just now, karanhsingh said:

Oh and did you keep Mulgrew on for the PL? His physicals are declining but technically he’s such a beast!

I did. He's a reserve, but he is a great leader, and I play him in big games, as he brings some stability to a young backline. He's a great player!

[karanhsingh]

9 minutes ago, Adzke said:

@karanhsingh How do you avoid getting too narrow with that system? Are the mezzale drifting wide? I considered signing Hoilett as well, but my DoF had already signed Hachim Khaloua, so I had no need for him.

Yes, I have two upfront. Part my reasoning for playing as Blackburn was that I wanted to play a 4-4-2, but that hasn't really come to fruition. I play a 4-4-2/4-3-3 hybrid of sorts, and it is working fairly well, even though I can't really get consistent good play from my inside forward on the left side.

The mezzale do drift wide from time to time. I do play pretty narrow though. The inside forwards do a lot of damage in the box. Width comes from attacking full backs also. 

I used to have one mez and one box to box mid but this works better. Maybe I’ll try one of them as CM with attack duty. 

Who else is turning out for you from the original squad? 

[karanhsingh]

10 minutes ago, Adzke said:

I did. He's a reserve, but he is a great leader, and I play him in big games, as he brings some stability to a young backline. He's a great player!

Him, Lenihan, Smallwood and Graham are also excellent tutors! 

[Adzke]

1 minute ago, karanhsingh said:

The mezzale do drift wide from time to time. I do play pretty narrow though. The inside forwards do a lot of damage in the box. Width comes from attacking full backs also. 

I used to have one mez and one box to box mid but this works better. Maybe I’ll try one of them as CM with attack duty. 

Who else is turning out for you from the original squad? 

Raya would still be, if Everton hadn't signed him. He is a very fine goalkeeper. Scott Wharton is a rotational player, Smallwood is as well, Bennett is a starter for me still, Mulgrew obviously. Rankin-Costello is starter everytime. Nyambe is still here, but is finding playing time hard to come by.

[karanhsingh]

49 minutes ago, Adzke said:

Raya would still be, if Everton hadn't signed him. He is a very fine goalkeeper. Scott Wharton is a rotational player, Smallwood is as well, Bennett is a starter for me still, Mulgrew obviously. Rankin-Costello is starter everytime. Nyambe is still here, but is finding playing time hard to come by.

Wharton looks decent too, although I sent him out on loan to Coventry this season as he wouldn't have got enough playing time with us.

[Adzke]

4 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Wharton looks decent too, although I sent him out on loan to Coventry this season as he wouldn't have got enough playing time with us.

As did I. He's played 16(3) games for me this year, and he's been alright if unspectacular.

[Adzke]

Blackburn - Football on Thursday nights

Our first Premier League season is over, and what a ride it has been! We ended up in 5th place by beating Preston on the last day of the season, and have qualified for the Europa League as a result. That is absolutely stunning if you ask me, and I think a lot of the players can carry over their form and grow even further next season. We also managed to get into the FA Cup final, but lost against Arsenal. We were missing both Paul Smith, who was away for international friendlies, and our first choice goalkeeper, Derek Nugent, who is cup tied, as he played the first half of the season at Bristol City before I sold Raya. Nugent came through in the same intake as Ormerod and has really come on strong this year.

Paul Smith ended up scoring 33 league goals, but Divock Origi of Liverpool just had to score 35 and ruin his chances of becoming topscorer at age 17. Still a very nice tally for the lad who has just signed his first professional contract. The same can be said of Ormerod, though a year older. He tied hazard's record of 15 assists in a season, and I hope both can further improve on those numbers for the coming season.

In other exciting news, the board has set out to build a new stadium if they can find investors and a suitable ground for it, and thus I have no idea what capacity or price will follow - or if it will even be completed at all. The youth and training grounds are also getting a fresh upgrade to the tune of €10,75M, and we are finally in the best youth category.

For next season, I am looking to aggressively upgrade both my right and left back, as Jason McCarthy and Jay Dasilva just aren't good enough long term. The board has given me a huge budget of €97,45M, so I better put that to good use. I am also looking for a new central defender if the right opportunity knocks, but so far I have been unsuccesful in trying to get Ignacio Gómez from Estudiantes. I am still hoping to convince him, but I am facing competition from Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona, and I don't think I will stand much of a chance unless I can get to him before they do, and as of right now, he isn'r even willing to discuss terms with me.

 

 

[warlock]

15 minutes ago, Adzke said:

We ended up in 5th place by beating Preston on the last day of the season, and have qualified for the Europa League as a result.

Very well done! 

[karanhsingh]

@Adzke well done! Amazing season. And your two young strikers are coming along amazingly well. 

What formation are you playing? Who else been doing well?

also congratulations on the stadium - I must say I have never seen this TBC plan based on investment - interesting 

[robterrace]

Theres always problems that are caused when you sell players, especially ones who form a big part of your style of play.

 

Selling Andersson knocked the cohesion out of the team a bit, but, losing 3 centre backs in a game, didn't help either. Manu Hernando, who has been a lynchpin in the centre of the defence all season sprained ankle ligaments and would miss 4 weeks, the sub that came on for him, Ezri Konsa, broke his ankle 5 minutes after that, and Jack Hendry suffered a head injury in injury time, which would keep him out for a couple of weeks.

With what can only be described as an injury crisis setting in, we lost Vittorio Parigini for a couple of weeks with concussion, which, when coupled with trying to get other players back to a level of fitness and conditioning, meant we had to resort to somewhat desperate measures.

Enter Dean Brown. The 15 year old is a product of this seasons youth intake, and was rated by the Head of Youth, Vincent Kompany, as being the best to come through the setup at Doncaster in a long time. Normally, he'd have been sat in the U18s, training and preparing for next season, but, he was called up, and made his debut against Bolton in a 5-1 defeat, and becoming the youngest player ever to appear for Doncaster. That match also saw the debut of another one of the youngsters at the club, this time, Spanish U19 international, Tomás Pombo, who had been making an impression in the U18s, was on the bench, and was brought on at 4-1 down to replace Stefano Tarolli in goal, as the Italian had been responsible for 3 of the goals conceded, and was clearly struggling.

 

 

Pombo hasn't looked back since, and has kept the Italian out of the squad, as well as Thomas Glover, who has returned from his broken leg.

 

Also returning to the club was Glyn Gardner, who, despite being very impressive on his loan at Exeter, has ruptured his achilles, and will miss the end of this season, and the beginning of next.

 

In the league, the form saw us drop to 11th, before managing to break the poor run with a 4-3 victory at home to Birmingham, before Everton sealed the title with a 2-0 victory the following Monday.

 

3 more victories pushed us back into the playoff places going into the last game, needing to better the result of West Brom to seal the deal. They were at home to Sunderland who needed to better Huddersfields result against Nottingham Forest to seal promotion. Sheffield Wednesday, our opposition, were 11th, and had nothing to play for except local pride.

 

 

A 4-3 defeat can be described as disappointing, especially when you consider we were winning twice. But, given the way we've performed in the second half of the season, qualifying for the playoffs is a bonus.

 

 

It means that we have to play Huddersfield. They've got the top scorer in the division, Erling Haland, and have to try and pick themselves up from the last day draw against Forest, which saw them leapfrogged by Sunderland. I feel we've got nothing to lose, and as such, we're going to go out and go for the win. We've beaten them once this season, and just need to make sure we're better than them over 180 minutes.

[Adzke]

21 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

@Adzke well done! Amazing season. And your two young strikers are coming along amazingly well. 

What formation are you playing? Who else been doing well?

also congratulations on the stadium - I must say I have never seen this TBC plan based on investment - interesting 

I am playing what I consider a 4-4-2/4-3-3 hybrid with three attacking players and three deeper holding players. The thinking is that either of the backs or the wingers are the wide player in attack, and that the others (Ormerod, Marie, Richardson-Daily) can then exploit the room they create on the inside. It is working very well in attack, not so well in defence. But I have bought Gómez now (he suddenly wanted to negotiate), and I hope that will help.

In this picture, Novotny, Gómez, and Macdonald are all new in the side, so I can't really say anything about them, other than I am exciting to see how they develope. But Rankin-Costello is doing really well, the two strikers likewise, and I expect Richardson-Daily to take Bennett's spot during this season. He'll have every chance to do so, at least. Marie is coming on really well, and I am considering playing him instead of Khaloua this year. Like I wrote earlier, I'm having a hard time getting the inside forward to produce anything but the odd assist or goal.

@robterrace Nothing better than giving a youngster the chance and seeing him run away with it! Congrats on the playoff, I'm sure you'll give Huddersfield a run for their money!

[robterrace]

There is something I don't like about the Playoffs, perhaps its to do with the fact I've never seen my team win a match in them, but, I go into them every time with some strange sort of optimism.

 

Hudderfield are good, I'll say that. They come in with the Premier League level talent that you expect, the Erling Haland (on loan from Spurs) scoring goals up front, and the plethora of players who could walk into any team. Then, theres us. Doncaster Rovers. We've been predicted for relegation the last 2 seasons, but, theres a determination to beat the odds, a never say die attitude, that has kept them going.

 

Within half an hour of the first leg kicking off, we're in trouble. Two down to Erling Halands brace. We need some sort of miracle. Five minutes after that, we have an inkling of hope. George Savile, the metronome in the middle, makes a rash challenge on Jon Walters, and picks up his second yellow, and as such, his marching orders.

 

Huddersfield survived to half time without conceding, although, Pedro Marques had the defence in trouble, before having his shot deflected behind off Kyle Walker-Peters.

 

At half time, we had to roll the dice to get back into the game, and take advantage of Huddersfield being down to 10 men. Duarte Valente was taken off, and in his place, came David Brooks, playing in his preferred role just behind the striker.

 

It took 10 minutes for him to make a difference, starting a counter attack on the edge of the box, before breaking clear with the rest of the team, and poking home from Vittorio Parigini's cross.  It was a proper momentum swing, and gave us a solid foothold to get back into things.

 

45 seconds later, we were level.

 

Once again, Brooks was at the centre of it. Picking the ball up deep in our half, before half a dozen passes later, finding Vittorio Parigini on his own, 25 yards out, feeding him the ball, and the Italian hitting it past the despairing Costel Pantilimon into the top corner.

 

Football. Bloody hell, as someone once said.

 

It wasn't all easy. Erling Haland was still more than a handful, and with 15 minutes left, he proved it, managing to get goalside of Jack Hendry, and completing his hat trick. 3 chances, 3 goals. This was why he finished as the top scorer in the division.

 

It finished 3-2. Haland with the man of the match performance. We matched them punch for punch for long periods of the game, and, we still have a chance of something.

 

 

We had until the following Thursday to sort ourselves out, and get the best opportunity to get to Wembley.

 

Matchday came. One change was made. Out went Ryan Hedges, the left winger having a tight hamstring, so dropping to the bench, in came Jakob Kristensen. The Danish Under 21 had made a handful of appearances since signing from Silkeborg last summer, and was a more direct and pacy option than Hedges.

 

10 minutes in however, a goal came. This one came from a source I'd seen score many times this season, and the supplier was the most accurate right foot in the division. Duarte Valente spotted his compatriot, Pedro Marques between the Huddersfield centre backs, with a yard of space, and his ball took both defenders out, putting the striker through for his 29th goal of the season, lashing the ball past Joel Coleman before he could even move. 

 

1-0. Game. On.

 

5 minutes before half time, came a hammer blow. Steve Mounie was gifted space by Jack Hendry, who had taken a knock to his shin, and beat Tomás Pombo at the near post to put the hosts back in front in the tie. The first chance they'd had all game, and they were back in the lead.

 

10 minutes after half time, the hosts extended their lead. Tommie Hoban poked the ball home from a corner, making it 2-1 on the night, and 5-3 on aggregate. This prompted the introduction of Brooks once more, giving him the opportunity to weave his magic from behind the striker.

 

Shortly after that, Huddersfield went further in front, Erling Haland breaking clear as we pushed for another goal, before Perr Schuurs scored an own goal, tackling Che Adams and knocking the ball past Pombo. 

 

Game Over.

 

Dean Brown was introduced to get some experience, but, we were unable to get anywhere near the hosts goal, being marshalled well Tommie Hoban and Jay Dasilva.

 

Schuurs game got even worse with 5 minutes left, playing a poor pass across the goal, leaving Che Adams to round the keeper and hit it into an empty net.

 

The game finished with a 5-1 victory for Huddersfield, 8-3 to them on aggregate.

 

 

It was obvious from the performances, that some players froze in the headlights. This would make my decisions on changes to make somewhat easier, as, I didn't want the same to happen again, even if it meant getting a nasty, Sergio Ramos style defender in there.

 

Coming soon, the End of Season review.

[Jogo Bonito]

Unlucky @robterrace but still a great effort. I've tried to sign Haland before for a Championship side and couldn't even get close to it. I've got Konsa at Forest Green and he has done well for me. One of your other players, a player I have wanted to manage for a while, is definitely on my radar at another Championship club.

To the Blackburn boys (apart from thinking I was in the wrong thread ) it's good for you to have that chance to compare your games with each other. Very detailed updates there.

And @warlock, good luck with Ipswich. A fine, traditional club with great staff - but a squad that is quite limited (although I recall somebody here not long ago getting them promoted easily). Will we be seeing Dan Maguire in blue and white?

[robterrace]

@Jogo Bonito - Haland is ridiculous to watch. He just batters centre halves at that level. I need to find a way to stop that sort of centre forward..

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice, have never seen the players offering to repay the fans in FM. I probably should have seen that 20 times when I was managing Fulham in the PL considering some of the batterings I took!

[Adzke]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

To the Blackburn boys (apart from thinking I was in the wrong thread ) it's good for you to have that chance to compare your games with each other. Very detailed updates there.

I hadn't given it a moment's thought that this was for the leagues below the Premier League for one second! Sorry for clogging up the thread, I will see if I can find somewhere else to post on here, if not I will have to start a Blackburn thread... 🤔

I'll still stop by now and then to read your updates, guys! Keep it going

[robterrace]

After the disappointment of the playoff defeat, plans were well underway to improve the Doncaster side for next season.

In the Premier League, Manchester United secured another season of dominance under Jose Mourinho, winning the title by 1 point from Chelsea, and by 2 points from Manchester City. Spurs finished 11 points behind in 4th. Watford, Cardiff and QPR dropped back down into the Championship. Uniteds title victory added to their Carabao Cup and Community Shield victories earlier in the season.

The FA Cup was won by Liverpool, defeating Chelsea on Penalties after a 3-3 draw.

In League Two, AFC Wimbledon were promoted, alongside Hartlepool and Southend, with Mansfield winning 2-0 at Wembley over Swindon. Lincoln and Carlisle dropped into the Conference. They were replaced by Crewe, with Tranmere coming up through the playoffs.

League One saw Millwall win promotion as Champions, with Derby coming up in 2nd. Colchester defeated Rotherham to get promoted via the Playoffs. At the other end, Peterborough, Barnet, Plymouth and Scunthorpe were relegated.

In the Championship, as previously stated, Everton and Sunderland were promoted, with Leeds winning the all West Yorkshire playoff final 3-0. Hull City, MK Dons and Barnsley dropped into League One.

---

European competitions saw Real Madrid defeat Manchester United on penalties to win the Champions League, with Liverpool winning the Europa League against Sampdoria on penalties.

---

From the Doncaster loanees, Nigel Girvan finished in the top scorers of League One, his 19 goals in a side that finished 20th, putting him in 5th on the list. 

Charlie Brown scored 16 for Mansfield as they got promoted to League One, and 17 year old Ernesto came away with 20 goals for Billericay as they got promoted from the Conference South, despite missing the last 2 months through injury.

Two other Doncaster loanees scored double figures in goals, Sameron Dool chipping in with 15 at Wycombe, and Conor Egan with 13 at Altrincham.

 

Every loanee made a large amount of appearances for their respective clubs in the period of time, only Ben Whiteman failed to make an impact with low average ratings and performances.

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, Adzke said:

I hadn't given it a moment's thought that this was for the leagues below the Premier League

I believe we have a long tradition in this thread of following lower division clubs on their journey to, and in, the Premiership. So there's no reason to stop posting here.

[Jogo Bonito]

26 minutes ago, Adzke said:

I hadn't given it a moment's thought that this was for the leagues below the Premier League for one second! Sorry for clogging up the thread, I will see if I can find somewhere else to post on here, if not I will have to start a Blackburn thread... 🤔

I'll still stop by now and then to read your updates, guys! Keep it going

As said by @warlock it's cool to continue. Any of the FL72 clubs can be written about in here, please feel free to carry on. Was just joking about whether I was in the Blackburn thread, with all the activity from Ewood Park! Sorry for not making that clear, the only clogging going on here is if anybody manages Dirty Leeds in 70's stylie....

[Adzke]

7 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

As said by @warlock it's cool to continue. Any of the FL72 clubs can be written about in here, please feel free to carry on. Was just joking about whether I was in the Blackburn thread, with all the activity from Ewood Park! Sorry for not making that clear, the only clogging going on here is if anybody manages Dirty Leeds in 70's stylie....

Glad to hear it! Will certainly keep on going then. Soon, it will no longer be Ewood, it will be TBC Stadium (how ever my board will finance and construct it...).

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Adzke said:

Glad to hear it! Will certainly keep on going then. Soon, it will no longer be Ewood, it will be TBC Stadium (how ever my board will finance and construct it...).

I hope it will be slightly more fit for purpose than my expanded New Lawn stadium with a capacity of around 7000

[robterrace]

Not naming the player, but, he fits in well with what I wanted. 

 

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

I believe we have a long tradition in this thread of following lower division clubs on their journey to, and in, the Premiership. So there's no reason to stop posting here.

Yup @Adzke keep it going - enjoying the updates! And hopefully I shall join you in the premiership soon!

sorry also for your inside forward, try giving him the sit narrower option, and playing a right footed player on the left side. I find that helps. Leko has been tearing it up for me. But my entire team shape is also narrow 

[karanhsingh]

@robterrace unlucky with the playoff defeat!  Really enjoy the detailed nature of your updates. Hope you can do one better next season 

[robterrace]

Just now, karanhsingh said:

@robterrace unlucky with the playoff defeat!  Really enjoy the detailed nature of your updates. Hope you can do one better next season 

Thank you. I'm off work at the moment, so its giving me something to focus on.

[smplfc123]

@warlock  Are you still playing with Ipswich? I feel like a friendly challenge is something that can really get a game going for me.

[robterrace]

Currently doing my favourite bit, searching released lists for potential signings

[warlock]

1 hour ago, smplfc123 said:

@warlock  Are you still playing with Ipswich? I feel like a friendly challenge is something that can really get a game going for me.

Yeah... If I can stay awake long enough, I was just planning on doing an initial report. 

I can tell you it's a good squad, but a big challenge. Of the obvious first 11, you start the season with three long-term injuries, and two of your best young prospects are also out for months. There's very little transfer budget, and you start with five loans (and I'm sure we all know you can only play five loans in a Championship match-day squad) so bringing in extras brings its own problems. In turn, this means you're limited in terms of formations - it's a struggle to get play two CBs, so a back-three is pretty much out of the question. You have a bunch of wide players (all of them natural right-footers) so playing a narrow formation is equally difficult.

I've played through pre-season two or three times and it's the usual story. Won the pre-season games comfortably, and then I collapsed with the first competitive games. So I've been experimenting with tactics - all based around 442, 4141, or 4123dm - before finally settling on a pretty simple 442. Although it is a good squad, I don't feel it's as good as Wolves, Derby or Bristol City - my other three triumphant teams. Despite losing the opening game (at home!) we're now on a three-game winning streak (woohoo!) so I'll be sticking with what I have now.

I have to say this thread has been the making of FM18 for me... the feedback from the regular posters here and seeing what they're doing in their saves has been great. So if you want to take on Ipswich for a bit of friendly rivalry, that would be great; if you want to do a different FL save and post here, that would be great, too. Just dive in!

[karanhsingh]

8 hours ago, robterrace said:

Currently doing my favourite bit, searching released lists for potential signings

I don't think I've ever seen someone who likes wheeling & dealing as much as you do! The Harry Redknapp of the FM world

[karanhsingh]

Quick update from our second season - we are now approaching the end with only 6 games to go.

Here is what the Championship table looks like -

You would think it's pretty comfortable, but actually it's anything but. Particularly because our recent form has been pretty appalling.  Just one win in the last 6 in the league.

We have been fortunate that our rivals haven't been able to take advantage but we do need to get  our act together to see this through. It started with an undeserved 2-3 home loss against Fulham, they got a dodgy penalty award in the 94th minute. Before this, we had a creditable 1-1 draw in the FA Cup against Man Utd despite Dack getting sent off in the first half. In the replay at Old Trafford, again we went down to 10 men inside 20 minutes, already 1-0 down at that stage. The team capitulated and we lost 0-6 to one of our regional rivals. That was a very hard defeat to take, especially after having beaten Premiership sides Leicester & Watford already in the competition. I feel we haven't really recovered from that, and are now winless in 4 games in the league. 

Now it's the international break and then we have 6 games to go, including a couple of tough away trips but really every game is hard now. Going to do a team meeting to try and get the morale back up, hopefully see us through to the end.