FM20: The English Football League thread

[Jogo Bonito]

8 minutes ago, warlock said:

Tell me about it . Pretty much what I had right up until we won the title.

But it looks like your save is mirroring mine - similar results, with Blackpool and Fleetwood pushing hard (although it looks like Lincoln have slipped up in your universe). Looks like yiou're getting more goals out of Norwood than I did.

I have every confidence you'll be in that No.1 position at the end of the season 

Cheers mate, time will tell whether I can see the job through. And then let me see how the board are after that.

Norwood is doing better now, ironically since I took your early success with him as an Advanced Forward. Unfortunately, Connolly has gone off the boil at the same time.

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Unfortunately, Connolly has gone off the boil at the same time.

Ain't it always the way? 

[robterrace]

So.

End of October..

The little team that is Cambridge United keep rumbling along.

Another draw at the start of the month, coinciding with missing several players through suspension and international call ups, however, we plod along and keep picking up the points.

Cernaz and Symons now have 15 goals each this season, and keep trading matches where they're scoring, however, there is interest in the Argentinian from Serie B side Crotone. I've got my eyes on a couple of potential replacements within the U23 setup, as well as one coming in to replace them, should they have to make the step up.

However, we've still got a couple of months before the window opens.

[warlock]

2 minutes ago, robterrace said:

Cambridge United keep rumbling along

Ticking like a Swiss watch at the moment 

[robterrace]

2 minutes ago, warlock said:

Ticking like a Swiss watch at the moment 

Theres a couple of ways I can improve the way we're playing, but, I don't want to make the changes just yet. As its set up currently, the squad are responding well to the tactics we're using, so, I'm mindful of making big changes in case it ruins the harmony, but, I've got them ready in case I have to switch.

[warlock]

Birmingham: Season 1 - September

Meant to post an update at the end of the transfer window but I've been having too much fun .

Transfers

Almost all of the outbound and most of the inbound were completed before I took over. The club made nearly £24m from sales, but before I came in had spent only around £7-£8m of that and they gave me just £5m more. They'd had FFP issues before, so the financial caution is sensible. And the squad is largely fit for purpose, although there were the usual positional weaknesses that needed to be remedied. First they had only three CBs - unless you count Wes Harding, who for me is an RB all day long. Looking at who was available, I decided to splash the cash and sent my scouts to Monaco to look over Badiashile. He looked a solid prospect, was somewhat interested, and he was very affordable. Done deal.

The second issue was up front where we had just two natural strikers, one of them Lukas Jutkiewicz, a solid TM but not offering much in the way of mobility. Liverpool prospect Rhian Brewster was available for loan, at £6k a week wage contribution, and looked a good choice for rotation. Another deal done.

The trickiest problem was central midfield. Club mainstay Maikel Kieftenbeld (more than 150 appearances in 4 years) was set to miss nearly half the season and although there was good cover at DM, and the Gardner brothers rotating in the B2B role, our only creative force was former Arsenal graduate Dan Crowley. So I turned to the loan market again and an old favourite in the form of Southampton's Callum Slattery.

Early form

I'd settled on a 433dm tactic and it performed very well in pre-season. I opted to go slightly more counter-attacking than I normally would, but given our predicted finish in 15th place I expected most opponents to push on. Forest did, and we destroyed them, but few others have tried. We've been getting goals from all over, but we have developed a distressing tendency to take a lead and then switch off. Against Swansea we were leading 3-2 before allowing them two late goals; against Preston in the league we took an early two-goal lead and then gave it up. The slight drop in form, I think, is explained by the absence of Fran Villalba, who had been our best player and source of most assists, who is out for a month with a knee ligament injury.

Our early form saw us briefly top the division before slipping a little, but I'm optimistic that we can get back to winning ways. In any event, it's a great start to the season. Top performers have been Villalba with 2 goals and 4 assists, Slattery with 3 and 2, and Bela also with 3 and 2. Biggest disappointments have been Maxime Colin, arguably our best fullback but not showing it on the pitch, and our supposed star, Ivan Sunjic at DM, who has all the attributes but rarely bothers to turn up. Brewster has yet to show what he's capable of after breaking his arm just before the season kicked off and has made only a couple of appearances from the bench.

If I can solidify our defence without sacrificing too much in attack (we joint-top of the scoring chart), and improve our passing - the fact that GK David Stockdale is our best passer tells you everything - then I think it will be a very good season. We are probably not promotion candidates, but we should be able to to do better than the predicted finish, and hopefully better than the board expectation of Top Half.

Edited December 3, 2019 by warlock

[The Art of Drowning]

We're about to see how good young Tommy Smith really is as the board just sold Aaron Hickey for £11m to Leicester on deadline day   Things going unbelievably well in the CHampionship up until this point as we are currently top of the league, just hope it doesn't derail our season.

[Rollin93]

Hmm I’m wondering if it’s time to start up a charlton save since I steered clear of them in fm19 

[The Art of Drowning]

26 minutes ago, Rollin93 said:

Hmm I’m wondering if it’s time to start up a charlton save since I steered clear of them in fm19 

They got themselves rich Egyptian owners on my save, paying players £35k pw in League One

[Rollin93]

4 minutes ago, The Art of Drowning said:

They got themselves rich Egyptian owners on my save, paying players £35k pw in League One

Well I’m debating skipping a season on the hope they go down then building them up again! 
 

[robterrace]

Just doing some prep for the upcoming transfer window..

Got this guy highlighted.

Plays right wing, and with a bit of work, could be OK.

Also looking at potential strikers who can come in should I lose Cernaz.

No name on this one, but, hes got a 80 Scout Report.

[robterrace]

So.

November. A slightly disappointing month in terms of performance, but, we're still unbeaten. 30 games in total now.

12 points clear now at the top, and still managing to churn out some results.

Our next match, Peterborough at home in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup, with the winner going to Wolves in the 3rd Round.

[fairsy]

Interesting to read those who are managing Ipswich, I also am and am currently top of the league in November. I lost to Burton on the opening day but haven't lost since, although way too many draws and I struggle to score goals.

I've tried to recreate a Jurgen Klopp style 433 with wingers and inside forwards and it is going quite well, Gwion Edwards and Curtis Jones main source of goals from the IF roles, but struggling with a striker and rotating between jackson, keane, Norwood and Dominic Samuel (loan) - none are really cutting it so guess the role may be too difficult for them.

Youngsters have done well when they played, I sold Judge for £600k in pre season and brought in Joe Riley and Nathan Cameron as back up defenders in areas I was weake. Nsiala struggling big time in a high line as a ball player so I will try and sell him in January.

Board don't rate me very highly still, but Sears and Bishop have just come back to fitness and hoping they will help me be a bit more creative - Downes is being watched by everyone and I'll likely sell him in January as plenty of depth in midfield

[Jogo Bonito]

22 hours ago, warlock said:

Birmingham: Season 1 - September

Meant to post an update at the end of the transfer window but I've been having too much fun 

An excellent start there, I hope you continue to enjoy at a club with less ambition than Ipswich.

15 minutes ago, fairsy said:

Interesting to read those who are managing Ipswich, I also am and am currently top of the league in November. I lost to Burton on the opening day but haven't lost since, although way too many draws and I struggle to score goals.

It's good to have the ITFC researcher among us, I look forward to seeing how you get on. I'm really enjoying the 532 formation but it's tight at the top and I appreciate anything other than promotion probably means the sack. IRL who are the highest rated young prospects at U21 & U18 level?

[fairsy]

19 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

It's good to have the ITFC researcher among us, I look forward to seeing how you get on. I'm really enjoying the 532 formation but it's tight at the top and I appreciate anything other than promotion probably means the sack. IRL who are the highest rated young prospects at U21 & U18 level?

I don't really like 532 but that is a real life bias playing out. Think most of the better prospects are noted in the thread - obviously Downes, Dozzell, Woolfenden are ready to be key players straight away, Lankester is probably the pick of the bunch but long term injured.

Dobra, El Mizouni, Clements should be ready to contribute plus Liam Gibbs and Elkan Baggott out of the very young players, A few others like Dylan Crowe and Zak Brown should be able to kick on but most should hold their own in League 1 initially - just too big a squad to give out enough game time for me

[warlock]

45 minutes ago, fairsy said:

Downes is being watched by everyone

in my save Dozzell performed somewhat better so although both were on Premiership clubs' radar, only Dozzell received an offer. I promoted El Mizouni to the first team to replace him and he did very well.

[fairsy]

Just now, warlock said:

in my save Dozzell performed somewhat better so although both were on Premiership clubs' radar, only Dozzell received an offer. I promoted El Mizouni to the first team to replace him and he did very well.

I always find Dozzell a hard player to get much out of, I am playing him as an Anchor currently as doesn't have the physicality for the 2 midfield roles I'm using (BWM - Downes, CAR - Nolan, Huws, Bishop)

[warlock]

1 minute ago, fairsy said:

I always find Dozzell a hard player

 

1 minute ago, fairsy said:

I always find Dozzell a hard player to get much out of

I guess it depends how well they fit your tactical setup. For me Dozzell was AP or Mez on support. Downes was BMW or CMd or DMd but was mostly anonymous, not bad but never great.

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers guys. I also promoted El Mizouni and haven't got much trust in Dozzell so he doesn't get much game time.

I'm the only one that seems to have fast-tracked Simpson - which says it all about most of the striker options. I'm looking forward to seeing how Lankester does if he ever returns.

I've appointed some staff with ITFC connections, which I try to do at all clubs where possible. Unfortunately, George Burley is rated rubbish as DOF and doesn't fancy the AM role. Terry Butcher is on the shortlist if he ever wants to return to Suffolk, but he is happy abroad at the moment. 

[The Art of Drowning]

Sheffield Utd paid £7m for Dobra at the end of season 2 after a good half season at Port Vale and a few fixtures for me at the end of the season.  A nice unexpected bonus.

Gave El Mizouni game time too but also sold him but only for £1m.  lankester did really well first half of the year at Newport so I recalled him in the hope he would get a league one move instead of league two, unfortunately it wasn't to be but he did even better at Scunthorpe at the same level.  Thinking of maybe keeping him about as 3rd choice next year.

Can't even think who Simpson is without looking at my save so that probably says a lot.  Season 2 is over now, will do an update when I get in but it went well beyond what I expected!

[fairsy]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I'm the only one that seems to have fast-tracked Simpson - which says it all about most of the striker options. I'm looking forward to seeing how Lankester does if he ever returns.

The difficulty I've got is I am playing 1 up front and have 4 senior strikers (I signed Samuel before settling on a formation), trying to retrain Jackson to be an IF from the left which will help - but now Seas is back fit and Edwards playing well there and is my stop scorer! 

I've played Ben Folami a couple of times too who has done well so Simpson not had a look in but still early days

[The Art of Drowning]

So after the sale of Hickey to Leicester for £7m I was a bit worried that our form would drop off after January but the likes of Tommy Smith actually did step up and we were never in any danger of throwing the league away.  I was honestly expecting us to be good enough to stay up but not much more than that but players like Manquillo, Angel Gomes, Fosu Mensah and Pellegri added to the good young players already at the club were some how better than Palace (Still with Zaha) and an immense looking Newcastle squad for the level.

So far to prepare for the Premier league I have signed the following

Bellingham (after Birmingham got relegated to League one)

Lewis Cook (Bourenmouth)

Alex Collado (contract up at Barca)

Tashan Oakley Booth (back up from Spurs with his contract up)

Pietro Pellegri (paid mega money for him in instalments but I couldn't face not having him)

Dan Axel Zagadou (Transfer listed by Dortmund)

Simmonds from City and Elemby from Chelsea have been signed for me on free transfers.  I'm also in the process of getting transfer listed Fosu-Mensah in on a permanent deal.

[The Art of Drowning]

Fosu Mensah did end up joining as well as a couple more signings:

Ben Woodburn (Liverpool)

Brandon Williams (Man Utd)

Also signed Joshua Zirkzee & Juan Castillo on loan and continued the loan of James Garner for a 3rd year, he's now actually agreed to be here next season on loan too.

[fairsy]

I've just dropped down to 3rd in the league. P18 W10 D7 L1 (Which was the first game of the season)

Goals are hard to come by, have only scored 24 goals in the league, but conceded only 7! 

Recent form is 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 2-0, 0-0, 1-1, 0-0. It can't be much fun for the spectators.

I'm playing a high energy 433 so it shouldn't be so dull, but it is and is basically working!

 

Edit: And then my next game is a 6-2 win......!

Edited December 4, 2019 by fairsy

[Jogo Bonito]

@The Art of Drowning Congrats on an unexpected success there. Good luck in the PL after your busy transfer window.

@fairsy You and me are finding it less straightforward than others, but it's good to experience some testing times! Hopefully the 6-2 will set you off on a good run. I've only played one or two more fixtures, but Blackpool have gone top so the challenge is on.

[fairsy]

A few screenshots, decent time for an update - 1st January and my 24 game unbeaten run in the league has just come to an end - and I apparently now face an inquest.....board expectations are so, so high it is tough.

Happy with how the league is going and just about settled on a strongest team - still questions at CB though were Nsiala does ok but not as well as Woolfenden so am trying to push Woolfie on.

It seems as though promotion is the only thing that is acceptable and hopefully I can carry on with recent improved form. January coming up now, so will try and rejig the squad a little bit. A lot of interest in Downes and his form has dropped a bit, despite a good goal return from midfield I feel well covered there so won't worry if he goes.

[warlock]

Birmingham: Season 1 - Christmas

So here it is, Merry Christmas. I hope everybody's having fun .

I'm having a productive season here at St Andrews - we've largely continued our early season form, although we still struggle to hold a lead, and I've not managed to get much out of my strikers.

Largely, we've lost the games I'd expect: Leeds, who are running away with the division; Fulham, who have been best of the rest. The loss to Reading was a bit of a disappointment. Of more concern were some of the draws, particularly at home. If you put three past Blackburn at home you really should take all the points, and the home draw against QPR - who are firmly mired in the relegation zone - led to much harsh language in the dressing room. On the positive side, away wins against two of the very-recently Premiership sides in Huddersfield and Cardiff were encouraging.

After the toothless display against QPR I decided to try a change of tactic and moved to a 442 in an attempt to get more out of the strikers. As you  can see, it paid immediate dividends against West Brom as we scored 5, including a hat-trick for Rhian Brewster. It was less effective against Hull, but I'm pretty sure we'd have lost that playing the 433dm and tactical familiarity has room for improvement after just two games.

We're still firmly among the playoff places and - barring a complete collapse - look good for the Top 10 finish I'm looking for. Brewster's hat-trick against QPR suddenly pushed him into the leading scorer spot, where Montero and Gardner Sr have 5 apiece. The rest of the midfield have contributed another 20-odd goals. In contrast, my two other strikers have just 3 between them. Gimenez certainly looks your typical journeyman striker - two decent seasons in the Spanish lower leagues and then rubbish everywhere since. Most assists have come from Villalba, who I like a lot. Despite struggling with injuries, he's contributed 8 assists in 13 starts. In defence CBs Harlee Dean and Badiashile have performed well, as has LB Kristian Pedersen.

Looking ahead to the January window, I have some money available for a cheap deal or another loan. A decent right-winger as backup to Jeremie Bela would be handy. The only other choice is Kerim Mrabti, who has been OK but is horribly inconsistent. Longer term, the backline needs considerable improvement, a reliable striker will be a priority, and a first-choice GK will be a must. David Stockdale is OK but at 34 his physicals are declining rapidly, and Lee Camp is worse, so Camp will be released in June and Stockdale may get a one-year deal as backup or he can go as well.

Next up is a visit to Blackburn on Boxing Day. No doubt it will yet another season of good cheer for fans in the Championship. For me, the good cheer will depend on whether we can extract a measure of revenge for that 3-3 draw at our place.

[Burnley92]

I ended my Southend save before it even got going and have now taken charge of Reading.

 

Pre season has just finished and it has gone very well. We started with a 3-0 win over Eastleigh, followed by a brilliant 2-1 win over a very strong Spurs line-up. Next up was a 7-0 away win over Coleraine, a 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague, a 1-0 win away at Sunderland, a 4-0 win against Hungerford and finally a 3-0 home victory against Tranmere.

 

Next up is our first competitive match of the season at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

 

We have only made one signing so far in Tyrell Warren as a back up CB on a free transfer. Our club captain Liam Moore was subject of an £8,000,000 bid from Palace (he is valued at £10,000,000) so I asked for a deal worth £12,000,000 which I thought was reasonable. Palace said no, Moore kicked off and said I priced him out of a move. I told him if Palace bid £10,000,000 I would let him go and he replied I was being ridiculous   Hopefully I can keep him happy and maintain a tight knit squad.

 

I am playing a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide. Cautious and direct, very much like Burnley 

[Barnetfan]

40 minutes ago, Burnley92 said:

I ended my Southend save before it even got going and have now taken charge of Reading.

 

Pre season has just finished and it has gone very well. We started with a 3-0 win over Eastleigh, followed by a brilliant 2-1 win over a very strong Spurs line-up. Next up was a 7-0 away win over Coleraine, a 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague, a 1-0 win away at Sunderland, a 4-0 win against Hungerford and finally a 3-0 home victory against Tranmere.

 

Next up is our first competitive match of the season at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

 

We have only made one signing so far in Tyrell Warren as a back up CB on a free transfer. Our club captain Liam Moore was subject of an £8,000,000 bid from Palace (he is valued at £10,000,000) so I asked for a deal worth £12,000,000 which I thought was reasonable. Palace said no, Moore kicked off and said I priced him out of a move. I told him if Palace bid £10,000,000 I would let him go and he replied I was being ridiculous   Hopefully I can keep him happy and maintain a tight knit squad.

 

I am playing a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide. Cautious and direct, very much like Burnley 

Speaking as someone who has just been sacked by Reading, the board are very tight. There is a lot of deadwood that are hard to budge. I don't think the burnley approach will work with Reading they have a lot of technical players in Swift, Ojaria, Loader & Olise. If you can get Olise into that team you will not regret it, will be able to sell him for 20 odd million in a year or two.

[Burnley92]

17 minutes ago, Barnetfan said:

Speaking as someone who has just been sacked by Reading, the board are very tight. There is a lot of deadwood that are hard to budge. I don't think the burnley approach will work with Reading they have a lot of technical players in Swift, Ojaria, Loader & Olise. If you can get Olise into that team you will not regret it, will be able to sell him for 20 odd million in a year or two.

It seems to be working very well at the moment. Which season were you sacked?

 

Olise played a couple of times in pre season, I will take a closer look at him, cheers!

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Burnley92 said:

have now taken charge of Reading

Good luck - another club overdue a change in fortunes.

[Barnetfan]

53 minutes ago, Burnley92 said:

It seems to be working very well at the moment. Which season were you sacked?

 

Olise played a couple of times in pre season, I will take a closer look at him, cheers!

Second season, finished 11th first season. They wanted a mid table finish second season, I was 20th but only 3 or 4 points from12th and I got the chop. They're flying now with my old assistant manager.

[warlock]

Vengeance is mine...

Brewster takes his tally for the season to 10. Sadly, he suffered a calf strain in the match and will miss at least a month. Massive blow . Shoutout to Dan Crowley, who was absolutely immense - creative up front and put in a shift defensively.

[robterrace]

So, trundling through December, taking a little bit of time due to a few things.

Had a small change of style for a couple of games, mainly to change a few things up as we didn't seem to be breaking teams down like we used to.

Out of the EFL Trophy is no sad loss really, allows us to rest a few players.

Cernaz and Symons also had quieter months than usual, which also explains why the change of style is coming.

In other stuff, the Cambridge train rumbles on..

18 clear, with under half a season to go.

Star player for me, isn't Symons, although, with 20 goals by the end of the year, hes close.

Its Jack Evans, who has done everything I wanted at the base of the midfield.

Wolves to come in the 3rd round of the cup, and 6 League games on top of that.

Also, confirmation of the first signing to come in for next season

At 17, hes one for the future, and a natural right winger, although, theres potential to train him as a striker in the Symons type role.

As well as that, our 25 games this season, plus the playoff run last, has led to this. 

[warlock]

10 hours ago, robterrace said:

18 clear, with under half a season to go.

Amazing performance 

[robterrace]

2 minutes ago, warlock said:

Amazing performance 

Thanks, still keep thinking the wheels are going to come off, as some games we're not fantastic, but, it just seems to work. I think using quick strikers at this level is very advantageous.

Although, a small job has just appeared that interests me.

He took over after the current incumbent left after losing in the playoffs last season..

[warlock]

1 minute ago, robterrace said:

Although, a small job has just appeared that interests me.

That's a surprise 

[Jonthedon26]

Hi all,

Been an avid stalker of this thread during the FM19 era and now finally decided to get involved for FM20!

As always, my first save is with Birmingham City. Finished the first season in 3rd place with Jukewiecz finishing 2nd top scorer in the division behind Mitrovic. I lost in the semi finals of the play offs to Swansea on penalties having beaten them away from home 3-1 in the first leg, only to lose 2-0 at home and subsequently on pens.

Second season started fantastically, was top of the league after about 10 games, went on a run of 7 without conceding a goal, however I have hit a bump in the road and only won 1 of my last 5 which has seen me drop down to 4th. Board are expecting play offs and I hope to deliver. Really enjoying this save so far.

[warlock]

18 minutes ago, Jonthedon26 said:

finally decided to get involved for FM20!

Welcome! Impressive work with Jutkiewicz - he hassles defenders and holds up the ball in my 442, but we're halfway through the season and he's scored just once. Hope you can recapture your early form in season 2.

[Jonthedon26]

30 minutes ago, warlock said:

Welcome! Impressive work with Jutkiewicz - he hassles defenders and holds up the ball in my 442, but we're halfway through the season and he's scored just once. Hope you can recapture your early form in season 2.

Thank you Sir. I originally played a 4231 at the start of season 1 and had mixed success, I went to 4411 wide play and got plenty of crosses into the box and he flourished from there. None of my other forwards can score to save their life though so it is a worry when he is off form, needs a rest or injured.

[robterrace]

So.

Applied for the job at Forest, didn't get shortlisted, although, they did feedback that they appreciated how my use of U23s fits in with their plans.

Cernaz and Symons have found a little bit of form again, and at the other end of the pitch, Mitov is turning out the clean sheets.

Due to a few injuries and niggles coming round, mainly short term ones, but leaving me short in the centre of midfield, I've gone out and got another loan signing.

At 22, Ethan Hamilton fits into what I want, and has great physical and mental attributes for the midfield role I'm wanting him to fit. 

As well as that, he can play on the left side of defense, and in the left wingback role I'm starting to use more in the new system.

The unbeaten run came to an end towards the end of the month, at Bristol Rovers, Cernaz missing an early penalty, before Ollie Clarke scored for Rovers, and Sylvain Deslandes was dismissed for 2 bookings.

Now that monkey is off my back (so to speak), I can get on with getting promoted, having scored 2 less goals after 31 games, as I did after 46 last season.

On top of everything, Introducing my first 2 youth prospects who are on the verge of first team action, both found as a result of Luke Chadwicks knowledge of Belgium. If Cernaz leaves, I'll have no issue with giving one of these two an extended run in the side.

The 3rd one, Benito Rodriguez, is on loan at Torquay, and has made 30 appearances for them this season, hes still a season away from being near the first team.

 

[Brads-Wigan]

Hi, just thought I would share my save, started off with my team Wigan to see if I could do any better than in real life.

Had a very surprising first season, just missing out on the playoffs and reaching the carabara cup semi final, loosing 5-1 on aggregate to Man City 

 

Currently in February in my second season and challenging for the title, had a little lead at Christmas but a poor January has opened it up. 

I always turn the first transfer window off so not much transfer activity in the first season and only brought a few players in this season. A major blow was selling Kipre in January, but he didnt want to sign a new deal so cashed in before he left on a free. God knows what will happen if I do get promoted with little funds to play with. 

 .      

I did cheekily apply for the Leicester job recently as they are struggling in the prem with very much the original squad, got an interview but wasn't successful. 

[robterrace]

Erm..

This is a surprise really. They offered £50000 to start, I managed to get it to this, despite 3 or 4 other teams sniffing around.

Biggest deal of deadline day, I keep Cernaz and Symons until the end of the season, and I get a bit of money in the bank.

[robterrace]

A little taster, I'm running to the end of the season for my next update, but...

[warlock]

Birmingham: Season 1 - February

Got to the end of the winter transfer window and while not much business was done, it has fixed a couple of problems. With the injury to Brewster, and hence the loss of our key striker, I decided the main priority was to find someone who might score every now and again. The transfer budget I had available (around £3m) wasn't going to buy much, so I looked at the loan market and found Kun Temenuzhkov at Leeds. He isn't a star in the making, but he has decent attributes all round and for about £4k a week was affordable. And he's been great with 2 goals and 2 assists in just 3 appearances.

The only out-bound transfer was the departure of spare-wheel RB Agus Medina, who was shipped back to Spain for £500k. But with the return of Kieftenbeld from injury and the switch to a 442, we had a surplus of central midfielders so I reluctantly concluded that we should terminate the loan of Callum Slattery.

The 442 is working well for us and - bar a loss to Fulham in the FA Cup - we went 4 games unbeaten in January.

We remain in 3rd place, but Leeds and Fulham are running away from us, with a 10pt gap to 2nd, while only a 5pt cushion keeps us in the playoff places.

[Rollin93]

Currently 14 games into my charlton save Sitting in 11th 

possibly looking at a takeover and I get told my job could be at risk!!! I’m 11th and I’m expected to fight against relegation! 

[Dong21]

Sounds like your season's going really well @warlock! Have you had a chance to give Jude Bellingham any minutes yet? Intrigued to see how he develops. Just looked to see how he's getting on in my save (which I will be updating on shortly) and he's just made his Championship debut and got given MOTM for his contributions.

@Rollin93 Hopefully just media speculation as it sounds like you are currently overachieving!

[Rollin93]

26 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

Sounds like your season's going really well @warlock! Have you had a chance to give Jude Bellingham any minutes yet? Intrigued to see how he develops. Just looked to see how he's getting on in my save (which I will be updating on shortly) and he's just made his Championship debut and got given MOTM for his contributions.

@Rollin93 Hopefully just media speculation as it sounds like you are currently overachieving!

I think I’m on my way out since the news I’m on a run of 5 defeats and Lyle Taylor has been ruled out for 5 months!

[Jogo Bonito]

Good to see Wigan, Charlton, Reading and Birmingham getting some love and attention in addition to Cambridge. And a Bolton update on the horizon too...

@Brads-Wigan That's a really good first season and even better second year, good luck

@Rollin93 Nice start, but what is it about Charlton and their owners

@warlock Cracking work with Birmingham, great update as usual. Also interested too hear how Bellingham is doing

Meanwhile, I have just completed season 1 with Ipswich and my update will follow soon.

[robterrace]

Picked up a couple of Precontract signings from the Premier League as I look to go forward.

Both quick, I'll probably look to use Sraha out on the left side of defence, as he has the Stamina to do well, I just need to improve his crossing a little bit.

 

Arrgggghh..