Ronaldo Beckham Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 24 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Yes doing just that! Good lad. Looking forward to seeing who you bring in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 On 28/09/2020 at 15:51, Ronaldo Beckham said: Good lad. Looking forward to seeing who you bring in. Already made some mid-season moves update coming up! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Just now, karanhsingh said: Already made some mid-season moves update coming up! Looking forward to seeing who you sign. I will be doing a season review on my Leeds save later as well and I think you might be impressed with some of my signings as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 Season 3 - January update First the transfer business. There was one significant departure. During the past 2.5 seasons Wesley has indeed developed into a good targetman, but just never been a consistent scoring threat. This season he still had not scored a single goal. As a result he moves to Germany where he can hopefully come into his own. And there were two significant additions. Timo Werner was transfer-listed at Chelsea, so I immediately added him to the targets list. He joins a growing German contingent at the club alongside Havertz & Tah, and hopefully will give us some added quality up top. The other move was a loan deal for Harry Winks with an option to buy, in view of Karbownik getting a 6 month injury. I was upset to miss out on Marcos Antonio who moves to Hertha from Shakhtar and looks absolutely beast-like. We have also made some more changes tactically, and this is how we are now lining up. I believe it has helped us keep more possession in games and also be more balanced in our play. Finally, here are the results for January. A solid month, even if the early FA Cup exit at home to Chelsea was very frustrating. Again, it is a game we did not deserve to lose. We then recorded fantastic away wins at Man City & Arsenal along with clean sheets in both. Werner has started well and I hope will be a shrewd acquisition for us - with him, Havertz & Grant we finally now have 3 quality forwards to pick from. Here is the league table at the end of the month. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 2 hours ago, karanhsingh said: Season 3 - January update First the transfer business. There was one significant departure. During the past 2.5 seasons Wesley has indeed developed into a good targetman, but just never been a consistent scoring threat. This season he still had not scored a single goal. As a result he moves to Germany where he can hopefully come into his own. And there were two significant additions. Timo Werner was transfer-listed at Chelsea, so I immediately added him to the targets list. He joins a growing German contingent at the club alongside Havertz & Tah, and hopefully will give us some added quality up top. The other move was a loan deal for Harry Winks with an option to buy, in view of Karbownik getting a 6 month injury. I was upset to miss out on Marcos Antonio who moves to Hertha from Shakhtar and looks absolutely beast-like. We have also made some more changes tactically, and this is how we are now lining up. I believe it has helped us keep more possession in games and also be more balanced in our play. Finally, here are the results for January. A solid month, even if the early FA Cup exit at home to Chelsea was very frustrating. Again, it is a game we did not deserve to lose. We then recorded fantastic away wins at Man City & Arsenal along with clean sheets in both. Werner has started well and I hope will be a shrewd acquisition for us - with him, Havertz & Grant we finally now have 3 quality forwards to pick from. Here is the league table at the end of the month. Werner an awesome signing. I would never think Villa could get players like Havertz and Werner. Harry Winks will give you the creativity for Werner to bang the goals in. Also awesome results in January. Can I ask how are Louie Barry and the Ramsey brothers doing for you ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 23 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: Werner an awesome signing. I would never think Villa could get players like Havertz and Werner. Harry Winks will give you the creativity for Werner to bang the goals in. Also awesome results in January. Can I ask how are Louie Barry and the Ramsey brothers doing for you ? Unfortunately not much, they are all on loan at Championship clubs doing well. However I don't see a future for them at Villa. The sad truth with competing towards the top of the Premier league is that blooding youngsters (unless they are generational talent like a Mason Greenwood) is almost impossible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Unfortunately not much, they are all on loan at Championship clubs doing well. However I don't see a future for them at Villa. The sad truth with competing towards the top of the Premier league is that blooding youngsters (unless they are generational talent like a Mason Greenwood) is almost impossible. That is a shame. I was tempted to do a youth only save with Villa when FM2021 comes out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 6 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: That is a shame. I was tempted to do a youth only save with Villa when FM2021 comes out. Youth only with a Premier league club would be VERY hard I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Youth only with a Premier league club would be VERY hard I think. I did it with Reading quite well and they were a Championship team. Leeds or Southampton would be a good choice to do a Youth only save with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
engamohd Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 29 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Youth only with a Premier league club would be VERY hard I think. Agreed, I found it quite difficult. Actually, the Scottish league is an excellent choice for youth blooding and youth only saves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 4 hours ago, karanhsingh said: A solid month Very good, I'd say. Tactic looks better balanced, too. Hope you can keep it up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 15 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: I did it with Reading quite well and they were a Championship team. Leeds or Southampton would be a good choice to do a Youth only save with. I believe youth only works best when you are going through the leagues - so ideally your youngsters are progressing with your team. Of course it can also be done with an EPL side but is just harder, and I suspect would be even harder if you're trying to be one of the top teams. The league really is brutally competitive. 15 hours ago, engamohd said: Agreed, I found it quite difficult. Actually, the Scottish league is an excellent choice for youth blooding and youth only saves. Absolutely, I have found the country produces a good quality of new-gens as well. 14 hours ago, warlock said: Very good, I'd say. Tactic looks better balanced, too. Hope you can keep it up Thank you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Season 3 - February update Finally, a month with a normal number of games. Again it was almost perfect. The home leg at PSG, we did absolutely everything except score the winner. Mo Salah scored an excellent free kick for them - may have left Liverpool but is still tormenting us. Especially after they went down to 10 men, we absolutely battered them but just could not grab the goal we needed. This means we will be facing a really uphill task in Paris in the 2nd leg. After that however, we finally got one over Klopp's Liverpool side with a very hard-fought 1-0 home victory. This took us level on points with them, and the win at Saints means - We are top of the table for the first time since I have been here. Liverpool have a game in hand since they were playing the Carabao final (because they essentially get to the final of every single tournament they play). They are still heavy favorites with a much better GD and a very easy fixture list to end the season. I am trying to tell myself that this will be an amazing season no matter what happens hereon in, but I also know that I am now quietly dreaming of actually doing the impossible! The Feb run also saw me win Manager of the Month after what felt like a long time. Now onto the bad news though - our players have been falling like a ton of bricks the last few games. First it was club captain Grealish (who's already missed the entire month) - now basically ALL of our wing-backs are out injured, which of course is a very important position in the way we play. Here is the current injury table: Karbownik of course is a long term injury, but the next few weeks are going to be very tough to get by. Looks like we will have to play Ox at RWB and a kid at LWB for a while. I am really hoping we can pull through and that we definitely do not have any other injuries to compound matters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Right, so a shock Liverpool defeat at Fulham meant we had the chance to go 3 points clear at the top, by beating Crystal Palace at home. Should be simple enough right? What's the last thing you want when your squad is decimated by injuries and you have one fit wing-back? Ideally, to get through half an hour of the next game without any further injuries, and your only wing-back getting a straight red . Of course, that's exactly what happened. We were lucky to escape with a point, although we really needed all 3. It's getting REALLY tight at the top. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 35 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: What's the last thing you want when your squad is decimated by injuries Football, eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 2 hours ago, karanhsingh said: I believe youth only works best when you are going through the leagues - so ideally your youngsters are progressing with your team. Of course it can also be done with an EPL side but is just harder, and I suspect would be even harder if you're trying to be one of the top teams. The league really is brutally competitive. Absolutely, I have found the country produces a good quality of new-gens as well. Thank you You would be able to do it with Chelsea or Arsenal easily I reckon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 53 minutes ago, warlock said: Football, eh? Seriously. The injuries have really taken a toll. In the next game against PSG, Junior Caicara outdid himself once again by giving away a needless penalty. We were will in the game till then. And now we are out of the Champions League. I'm convinced that if we had Grealish, Rico Henry and Ola Aina available we would have got past them. Argh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 58 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: You would be able to do it with Chelsea or Arsenal easily I reckon. Yes Chelsea could potentially work because of the talent of the playing squad and the number of youngsters already breaking through. Definitely. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Season 3 - March update So after the draw against Palace and the defeat to PSG (as described above) we did bounce back with consecutive wins against Norwich & Bristol City. Kinda feel bad for Bristol, they were down to 9 men by HT, then had a player injured on 55 min and had to play out the game with 8 men against us. That leaves the league table looking like this. Pretty much everyone has games in hand on us as you can see, as they have been busy with European ties and/ or the FA Cup. We of course are already out of all other competitions. I am hoping that will work to our benefit. So, seven MASSIVE games to go. Our remaining fixture list is not the easiest though. Burnley A Bournemouth H Fulham A Tottenham A Chelsea H Everton A West Ham H Wish me luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 1 hour ago, karanhsingh said: seven MASSIVE games to go Oh yeah! Some potential banana skins there, but given your form so far this season I'm backing you to get the job done Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 Mid-April update Going about the business well so far - 3 good wins which means this is what the table looks like. We basically need 10 points from the final 4 games to bring home the title! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 Spurs away A phenomenal performance, I really think one of the best from my time at Aston Villa. Complete in all aspects. Chelsea home Another great performance TBH, but as you can see club captain Grealish missed a crucial penalty which would have got us a well deserved win. Man City as expected racking up the wins and Liverpool are there as well - this means due to the dropped points against Chelsea we will have to beat both Everton & West Ham if we are to stay at the top! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 15 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Spurs away A phenomenal performance, I really think one of the best from my time at Aston Villa. Complete in all aspects. Chelsea home Another great performance TBH, but as you can see club captain Grealish missed a crucial penalty which would have got us a well deserved win. Man City as expected racking up the wins and Liverpool are there as well - this means due to the dropped points against Chelsea we will have to beat both Everton & West Ham if we are to stay at the top! I tight gap between you and the other 3 teams below. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you buddy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Everton away Potential banana skin averted. Another professional performance against a mid-table side with not much to play for. One win away! City and Liverpool both won, so we go into the last day 1 & 2 points ahead of them respectively. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 The Final Hurdle While we are up against West Ham at home (who are battling relegation to make it more interesting) - Liverpool go up against Arsenal away while Man City visit a Wolves team with nothing to play for. I definitely anticipate a City victory so we need to pick up the 3 points as well. Here is how the two sides lined up: Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long to take the lead. That man Timo Werner again - what a revelation he has been since joining in January! We go into the half-time break one goal to the good. Which of course means anything can still happen. City are winning comfortably so we absolutely must hold on. Fortunately a second goal arrives soon after to settle the nerves. It's the other slightly good German fella who gets it And then another to make it safe... yes this is actually happening! A solid 3-0 win is confirmed - we have done the business! Which means... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Season 3 wrap-up The final league table makes for some great reading! We had 5 players in the Team of the Year - all well deserved too. I also won Manager of the year finally! While we did well in an attacking sense, I think more than anything it was our solid defense that won us this title. Farinez broke the Premiership record for clean sheets in the process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 The final squad stats: For me, the best players of the season - Club captain Jack Grealish has been inspirational for this entire save, creating & scoring from midfield. We missed him for 2 months when he was out injured and that's when we crashed out of the CL too. Kai Havertz definitely delivered the goods as well in his first season in England, with 15 goals and 10 assists. He can do even better though. The three first choice center halves have been imperious - Mings, Tah & Ajer. Definitely the best defense in the league, and chipped in with 20 goals between them too. Also very well backed up by Farinez in goal. And finally a shout-out to Timo Werner - thank you Chelsea! He is the man who turned it around and got us the crucial goals in the second half of the season to carry us over the line. Absolutely electric and took our play to the next level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Finally, some general musings to wrap this up. It's been a hugely enjoyable journey which I think now comes to an end. We set out to develop a new tactic, and we certainly did a fair bit of experimentation! After some trials & tribulations it seems like we have arrived upon a very solid, working, functional 3-5-2. I am happy to get success this way rather than using the usual 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 setup for once. The DoF experiment has also been largely successful. While a lot of the targets were identified by me, Juninho was also responsible for some shrewd moves like Ajer, Rico Henry, Junior Caicara, and top-scorer of the save Karlan Grant - all of whom have played a huge role in the success. This is only the second time I have won the English Premier League on FM20 - it indeed is a brutal & ruthless league. The standards are so high that I think it's almost impossible to win without investing in a world-class squad - unless you are a tactical genius of sorts. While I have enjoyed this, I don't think buying up 80 million pound players is necessarily my "thing" on FM - so I feel like I am done with England for this edition at least. I have some unfinished business in Italy, so will be taking that up while we await the arrival of FM21. Thank you to everyone who followed this! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Very impressive, and especially so with Villa, given their starting point in FM20. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Well done on your success with Villa. I am glad you bought silverware to Villa. Are you doing any other saves on FM2020 or just going to wait for FM2021 to come out? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 23 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: Well done on your success with Villa. I am glad you bought silverware to Villa. Are you doing any other saves on FM2020 or just going to wait for FM2021 to come out? Thanks guys! I had started a "challenge" save with Palermo - to win the UCL. Thinking of returning to that. Was in season 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 12 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: Thanks guys! I had started a "challenge" save with Palermo - to win the UCL. Thinking of returning to that. Was in season 2. Good luck with Palermo. Maybe you could try bring back some of their previous players like Dybala lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 6 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: Good luck with Palermo. Maybe you could try bring back some of their previous players like Dybala lol. LOL highly unlikely. BTW while browsing the challenges forum I noticed you completed the Ultimate one How in the world did you manage that?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 11 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: LOL highly unlikely. BTW while browsing the challenges forum I noticed you completed the Ultimate one How in the world did you manage that?! Through sheer determination lol. It's a slog but I enjoyed it. I was lucky in some of the jobs I got. You should give it a go mate. You would probably enjoy the challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said: Through sheer determination lol. It's a slog but I enjoyed it. I was lucky in some of the jobs I got. You should give it a go mate. You would probably enjoy the challenge. I did actually. But got a bit much for me. Asia was interesting & annoying in equal measures. Don't think I could deal with Africa & North America. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Just now, karanhsingh said: I did actually. But got a bit much for me. Asia was interesting & annoying in equal measures. Don't think I could deal with Africa & North America. I hate the rules of the MLS so I don't enjoy that bit of the challenge. Maybe you could give the challenge another go for FM2021. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Congrats on winning the league with Aston Villa and what a close run it was! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 11 hours ago, john1 said: Congrats on winning the league with Aston Villa and what a close run it was! Thank you! Yes it was a nail-biting finish indeed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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