FM21: The English Football League thread

[Dave92]

@Jogo Bonito - Great to see you managing Vale, will follow this with great interest to see how you get on. Already a very different squad to mine, Smith and Gibbons still key players (captain & vice-captain) even though we are now just starting season in Championship. Look forward to seeing your successes.

[Jogo Bonito]

39 minutes ago, Dave92 said:

@Jogo Bonito - Great to see you managing Vale, will follow this with great interest to see how you get on. Already a very different squad to mine, Smith and Gibbons still key players (captain & vice-captain) even though we are now just starting season in Championship. Look forward to seeing your successes.

Cheers. I probably made one or two more signings than necessary, but at least it's exciting managing this group rather than all of the originals. 

@WelshaceNot sure, but I believe Shrewsbury might have a decent £100k budget too. But nobody below the second tier would give enough for a complete re-build.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@Welshace I think the new update has Sunderland's new chairman who is loaded so it might be the perfect time to start a save with Sunderland.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I will just leave this in here lol

 

[robterrace]

A few little updates since the end of my season, and the initial signings made to prepare for the Premier League.

A few players have gone out, for some big profits.

First to depart, to Germany and Schalke 04, was Benjamin Rollheiser. The 23 year old found it difficult to cope with the English game since arriving, and spent last season in France on loan at Troyes. Schalke got him for £8m, meaning we make a profit of £5m on him.

Bruno Zuculini was the next to go. West Brom paying £4.5m for the 30 year old, meaning we made a profit of just over £4m on the holding midfielder. He wouldn't have made many appearances in the coming season.

I fell out with Callum O'Hare, the Irish midfielder wanted a new contract, but, I felt that the money would be better spent on new arrivals. We were able to get £6.5m, rising to £8m for him, which, for an initial outlay of £1.5m just over a season ago, makes a great profit.

Next, a playmaker came in, Argentinian, Matias Zaracho for a fee that will eventually reach £17m

[warlock]

Peterborough, September 2021

With the transfer window just closed, it's time for an update on the Posh's progress.

There were no major outbound transfers - returning loan players Ryan Broom and Serhat Tasdemir were allowed to move, raising an additional £500k in transfer budget. Which we found difficult to spend... my scouts struggled to identify likely targets and almost none of them were prepared to join a newly-promoted side. As a result, the only fee paid was £300k for CB Mark McGuinness from Arsenal. Having seen what he could do on my recent Ipswich save, I was confident that the young defender would do a job for Posh. The only other business of note involved three loan deals - Southampton's AMC Callum Slattery, Brentford's young LB Dominic Thompson and Norwich AML Przemyslav Placheta joined for the season for wage contributions. The remaining deals were for two young prospects who might play a backup/rotation role: Southampton LB Thomas O'Connor and Sheffield United striker Tyler Smith, were snapped up after being released by their clubs.

We started the season with a convincing 3-0 win against Huddersfield, but quickly came unstuck in our next two league games, and thoroughly embarrassed ourselves against Oxford in the Carbao Cup - Oxford were cemented at the foot of L1, and despite leading twice we couldn't see out the win. Worse, in all of those defeats we had a bad habit of conceding 20/25-yard screamers that we seemed unable to defend against. That prompted a shift to a 433, where I hoped the presence of a DM might reduce those chances. And so it proved, as we cut out those opportunities and turned in a sequence of 4 games without defeat, and 3 victories in a row.

That form has seen us rise up the table:

The only issue right now is the inability of our strikers to score - only RJJ has found the net for a single goal. We're entirely reliant on goals from midfield - Slattery leads the scoring chart with 5, and Szmodics has 2, with most of the rest coming from corners and freekicks via our CBs. But star man, so far, is LB Dan Butler, who has 4 assists and the highest rating.

Board expectation, and the media prediction, is a relegation battle so I'd be more than happy with a top-half - or even a mid-table - finish. So far, so good 

[smplfc123]

Great start there @warlock. I find it always feels great to get quite a few early points in the bank when you're expected to struggle, so that you have some in storage should the inevitable bad run happen.

I know you've alluded to his solitary goal, but how is RJJ developing overall?

[warlock]

1 hour ago, smplfc123 said:

how is RJJ developing overall?

He's doing well. I'm mostly playing him off the bench at the moment, partly because I don't want to overload him and partly because he missed all of pre-season being away with the England u20s and he's been struggling for fitness in our first few games. Last season he scored 12 in 22 appearances so no complaints there.

[smplfc123]

 

Bristol Rovers - 2020/21 Season Update

So with just about a quarter of the season done, I thought I'd give an update.

So why Bristol Rovers? I wanted a team in League 1 that gave me room to build without expecting too much initially. The media's prediction of 13th was slightly topped by the boards expectation of a top half finish, so 12th place was my aim, with anything higher being a bonus. For no particular reason I can pin down, I've always preferred them to their city rivals too, so it would be nice to build them up and compete with them on a regular basis.

The plan is to really go deep with this one. Normally I set up a tactic to get me through and just add players to fit that tactic. With this save, I'm going to trial building a 'DNA' and 'Club Philosophy' if you like. I've set my stall in playing a certain way, with me wanting us to be comfortable on the ball in all areas of the pitch and being hard-working when out of possession. I've filled the training calendar with the technical sessions, with the aim to improve my current crop of players, giving them a chance to prove their worth as I'm not one for major overhauls.

As always I started with transfers off and with a local pro reputation. Here's how the results have gone so far:

I really don't think I could have asked for a much better start. Our 2 excellent wins in the Carabao Cup came at a price, with our league form taking a hit from the off, although I'd argue narrow defeats to Sunderland and Ipswich are hardly embarrassing. Man Utd ended our fairy-tale in the cup and our squad rotation cost us away in Doncaster, although again, we went down to a solitary goal.  

With the mayhem of September behind us, we started October on fire. A completely dominant performance over Northampton in front of a bumper 'fan day' crowd was followed with a win over Walsall that guaranteed our place in the next round of the PJ's Trophy. The only blot on our record was a 1-0 defeat to Accrington Stanley, who were sitting 2nd at the time. What didn't help in that game was that Jack Baldwin recklessly got himself sent off after just 4 minutes 

Since then we've recorded some excellent results. 2 dramatic injury time goals from Hanlan meant we took all 3 points against league-leaders Hull and a win against Chelmsford means we've progressed in another cup competition, with League 2 outfit Salford up next at the end of November.

The results mean the league looks like this:

Again as I said earlier, I don't think I could have asked much more from the first quarter of the season.

The only problem I'm having is picking a regular CB partnership. Luckily we've had lots of cup games, so I've been able to give them all plenty of action, but should we exit, I have 4 CB's that are all arguably good enough to start. As they say, it's one of those 'nice problems' to have!

Hanlan has been superb up top, netting 11 in 17 games as a lone striker in a 4-3-3 (DM Wide) formation. Upson and Oztumer have also been excellent in midfield, with the hope that I can convince the Turkish Messi to stay beyond his current loan duration.

Onwards and upwards, hopefully we can keep our form up through the busy winter schedule!

Edited March 31, 2021 by smplfc123

[hasdgfas]

Blyth Season 2031/32 Review:

I'll take 17th! While we continued to have a rough end of the season, we ended very safely in 17th, 16 points out of the relegation zone. For a team that got a surprise promotion and had to do a lot of panic transfer activity to try to get players that could survive in the Championship, that's a huge success. Hopefully I can find a few upgrades this summer and just slowly build up the team. But 17th with by far the smallest payroll budget in the league is a massive success. Hopefully our continuing reputation increase can lead to us getting the players we need to rise up the table.

[hasdgfas]

I forgot to mention, we've got yet another academy player on "snapped up by a Prem team" watch:

He immediately became one of my starting central defenders. At 16! And you can see that he also got a full senior cap with Albania. It's honestly just amazing how good our youth players have been this entire save. I made sure to immediately sign him to a pre-contract, and was able to get away with a 9M release clause, so if any Prem team comes sniffing around, they'll have to pay.

[warlock]

58 minutes ago, hasdgfas said:

I'll take 17th!

Nothing wrong with surviving your first season! Onwards and upwards 

[Welshace]

20 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Cheers. I probably made one or two more signings than necessary, but at least it's exciting managing this group rather than all of the originals. 

@WelshaceNot sure, but I believe Shrewsbury might have a decent £100k budget too. But nobody below the second tier would give enough for a complete re-build.

Yeah essentially by rebuild i just mean there are a few particular players I would like to bring in and build the team around, but it has to be lower than a top league as from the get go they are too young and not good enough for the first team... so a league one or champ side it would have to be..   

 

I'll update when I've settled on a side.

[Jogo Bonito]

Great updates from Blyth, Bristol Rovers and Posh. Well done all, and I look forward to reading more.

I've not had a chance to progress in the last few days due to returning to the office. Much easier to work there than at home but it takes away vital FM time going to/from work which homeworking was better for. 

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Much easier to work there than at home but it takes away vital FM time

Swings and roundabouts, eh? I can highly recommend retirement 

[Jogo Bonito]

9 minutes ago, warlock said:

Swings and roundabouts, eh? I can highly recommend retirement 

Absolutely.

Done that once, only lasted a few years going back and forth between continents but ready for a 2nd and permanent effort again now 

Should add that despite our jokes about your staying power in FM, you did a much better job at retirement than me and your durability on that is commendable 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[StePratt]

Stop the count!

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

you did a much better job at retirement than me

Well, natural talent will out 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Well, natural talent will out 

I can see it now. Retirement Manager 21, created by Warlock 

[warlock]

8 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

I really don't think I could have asked for a much better start

Sorry mate... overlooked this update somehow. But yes, that's a very good start. And if you're aiming for 12th, I'm afraid you're missing it by miles 

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Retirement Manager 21

Sounds like a lot of work 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

So my 4th season with Norwich will be my last. I was going to do a Tanzania league save but I am thinking of doing a save with a Spanish, French or Dutch team save and buying East Africans etc and also managing some of the East African nations like Tanzania to see if I can win a AFCON with them.

@Jogo Bonito Any reccomendations on teams in Spain, France or Netherlands to bring through East African players as you are my go to for African players.

[StePratt]

Do Ceuta or Melilla have teams in the Spanish leagues?  @Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, StePratt said:

Do Ceuta or Melilla have teams in the Spanish leagues?  @Ronaldo Beckham

After doing a quick google search they look like they do.

Just curious why you mentioned them teams specifically ?

Is there an African connection ?

[StePratt]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

After doing a quick google search they look like they do.

Just curious why you mentioned them teams specifically ?

Is there an African connection ?

They are Spanish owned,  but on the continent of Africa. I think they are in Morocco. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, StePratt said:

They are Spanish owned,  but on the continent of Africa. I think they are in Morocco. 

Oh ok ideally I would love a team in Europe that produces East African regends but I will consider them teams as well.

There is a Ceuta team in Spanish lower leagues called AC Ceuta.

[StePratt]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh ok ideally I would love a team in Europe that produces East African regends but I will consider them teams as well.

There is a Ceuta team in Spanish lower leagues called AC Ceuta.

Not sure on that one then, mate. Good luck in your search.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, StePratt said:

Not sure on that one then, mate. Good luck in your search.

Thank you buddy. I appreciate your help.

[hasdgfas]

Well, I was wrong about who was the next player to get snapped up by a Prem team.

 

[hasdgfas]

Also, it's wild to me that I signed a player I recognize from this season in the Prem to Blyth:

I'm not sure how impactful he'll be at 34 years old, but this was more of a "look how far I've come" signing anyway.

[warlock]

Peterborough, December 2021

After a good opening month to our first season in the Championship it was probably inevitable that a reality check would arrive, and arrive it did at the end of September. 

We were forced back to the 4231 against Brighton because of injuries - we're not blessed with DMs in the squad - but that defeat, and the one against Forest carried no shame as therun of games through October were nearly all against promotion contenders. We did brilliantly to salvage a draw against the Hammers, and even better to hold on to a win against West Brom. The only real disappointment was the defeat to Swansea who were a mid-table team at the time, but have since shown their quality. 

But November saw an upturn in form:

I made the switch to a 433 with a DM to try to counter the number of goals we were conceding from 25-30 yards but I eventually came to the conclusion that those goals are a "feature" of the match engine. Nothing we tried - and we tried lower LoD, higher LoD, deploying a DM, tighter marking and more aggressive closing down - nothing worked. In the end I decided that we might as well play to our strengths and switched back to the 4411... and we'll be sticking to it!!! After dipping down to mid-table in October our form in November has carried us back in to the Top 10:

We're not really struggling for goals, but we're not getting them from our strikers - Szmodics is our top scorer with 7 from the AMC spot. In my last update Callum Slattery had that honour with 5 from the same position but he hasn't found the net since. RJJ was our leading striker with a single goal then; he just bagged his second of the season 3 months later. JCH has just 2 goals so far.

Regardless of our mixed fortunes in front of goal, I'm very happy with our performance so far. We're closer to the playoffs than the drop zone, and avoiding the relegation battle is all that we need this season.

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by warlock

[smplfc123]

A good recovery in November there @warlocksees you sitting in a great position after 19 games!

It's a strange one for me with the 4-4-1-1 / 4-3-3 (DM). I usually hate playing without a DM and the latter formation was always my go to, yet my most successful saves so far on FM21 (Wolves, Schalke, Aberdeen) have all come from playing a flat 4-4-1-1. However, I've managed to finally get a 4-3-3 (DM) working with this BR save in most areas (for now at least), it's the lack of goals from my wide attackers that are hindering us a little, although that could be down to lack of quality rather than a tactical fault.

[warlock]

51 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

it's the lack of goals from my wide attackers that are hindering us a little

There's always something, isn't there   I often refer to the 433dm as my comfort blanket - I know it will, at least, allow us to be competitive. In previous FMs I've usually opted for a 442 until I'm up in the Championship, and then switch to the 433dm. But this year I've found AMCs much more productive and used the 4411 and 4231 pretty regularly.

The problem at Posh (and it was similar at Ipswich) is that we're short of defensively capable CMs - everyone wants to be a playmaker, which leaves us a bit flaky in a system with just 2 CMs.

[Mackem742]

Oh man, my Championship season with Sunderland is going down to the wire. Currently joint top with Brentford on 60 points. Sheff Utd in 3rd on 58. Just going into February now. The board expect me to reach the playoffs and im confident that, barring a massive collapse, will happen. Ill do a proper update when I get home. 

[Jogo Bonito]

19 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Any reccomendations on teams in Spain, France or Netherlands to bring through East African players as you are my go to for African players.

All are reasonable destinations with manageable foreign player limits for Africans. Just be aware that there are minimum salaries in Holland for senior & youth players.

Holland would be nice, but East African players would have to be paid more than they are probably worth at the start.

@warlockReally good effort so far. 9th after 19 games, and not far from those PO spots is very commendable. If you get the results, it's less important who is scoring - but I also always prefer my strikers to get the majority so can understand your slight disappointment there.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

All are reasonable destinations with manageable foreign player limits for Africans. Just be aware that there are minimum salaries in Holland for senior & youth players.

Holland would be nice, but East African players would have to be paid more than they are probably worth at the start.

@warlockReally good effort so far. 9th after 19 games, and not far from those PO spots is very commendable. If you get the results, it's less important who is scoring - but I also always prefer my strikers to get the majority so can understand your slight disappointment there.

Cheers Jogo. I will tag you in my next save wherever I end up.

[Jogo Bonito]

Half way report with Port Vale, where after a slow start we have settled comfortably in to a top-six position in League 2. That has been largely down to the form of strikers Danny Johnson & Paddy Madden who both scored a bundle of goals early on. That has slowed down in recent months, and Madden has just left after his contract ended on 31st December. He scored 9 in 19 (1) league appearances and a total of 17 goals in 25 (1) appearances in all competitions.

The 442 has been deployed permanently and has done quite well for us. The transfer window is open and we have just replaced Madden with Mai Traore, who had been playing in the lower leagues of Sweden with Vasalunds IF. He has a good scoring record there though, and should manage League 2 here. We are out of all Cup competitions apart from the Papa Johns Trophy, unfortunately. The league form is really all that matters though, and we will have to keep this form up as it's still quite close in and around us.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

28 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

we have settled comfortably in to a top-six position

Off to a decent start there. And how typical to lose to Wigan in the Carabao Cup, then immediately beat them in the Pizza Pot . 

Are finances a concern? That graph looks a bit steep.

[Jogo Bonito]

5 minutes ago, warlock said:

Off to a decent start there. And how typical to lose to Wigan in the Carabao Cup, then immediately beat them in the Pizza Pot . 

Are finances a concern? That graph looks a bit steep.

Yes, cheers not going bad at all. We threw away the Carabao Cup game after leading, but yes you are right we lost the one that mattered most. We threw away the FA Cup Round 2 game with Bristol Rovers too, after going ahead in extra time. But such is life.

Married to my wife, finances are always a concern. Oh, I see what you mean. Yes it's going rapidly downwards and will soon be negative, but hopefully when end of season payments are made we will be almost back to break-even. I might look to sell someone in the transfer window, but I doubt the small sums of cash our players would command will help very much.

[warlock]

3 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I doubt the small sums of cash our players would command will help very much

Yes... options are limited down in L2, but we know the dangers of trying to spend your way out of the division. Of course, promotion will help enormously 

[Jogo Bonito]

I might have to go back to York to enjoy vast sums of cash 

Apart from loan players Hughes & Clark, there are only two Port Vale players valued (just) over £100k. They are Taylor and Tol, who are both important and it's not worth selling them.

[smplfc123]

Great update as always @Jogo Bonito. Did you not want to keep Madden? Or did he not want to stay? I know you said his form dried up a little, but 17 in 25 is a cracking return.

Hopefully you can cement that play-off spot in the second half of the season. You may be surprised to hear that I'm in a similar position in the league above you with BR  I've just entered January, so will probably post another update once the window is done.

[Jogo Bonito]

39 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

Great update as always @Jogo Bonito. Did you not want to keep Madden? Or did he not want to stay? I know you said his form dried up a little, but 17 in 25 is a cracking return.

Hopefully you can cement that play-off spot in the second half of the season. You may be surprised to hear that I'm in a similar position in the league above you with BR  I've just entered January, so will probably post another update once the window is done.

Cheers mate. Yes I could and should have kept Madden, his attributes were not dropping and still strong. But I only gave him a six-month contract and had a replacement striker coming in on 1st January so it would have been too many. I also have a couple of young strikers who should really already be getting occasional minutes. One I signed for free and sent on loan to Hereford (scoring a goal per game for them), and the other is an original 17 year old who is scoring at a 1:1 ratio for my U23 side.

Pleased to see hear you are doing well with Rovers, and will look forward to your next update.

[hasdgfas]

JANUARY 2033 UPDATE:

A decent first half of the season. I'm actually much happier with this than last season, even though we were higher at this point last season. We're more...consistently inconsistent, I guess? We haven't had a giant unbeaten or winless run, so I think we're much closer to where we ought to be right around 12th.

But you can see that we've got Man City in the FA Cup, like we had them in the Carabao Cup last season. How do we think this is going to go?

Yeah, that's about right.

[hasdgfas]

Also, it's, uh. It's time. Glad I stuck on that release clause:

Edited April 2, 2021 by hasdgfas

[warlock]

Peterborough, February 2022

December was a very good month for Posh; we even got a couple of goals out of RJJ up front. Unlike Jonson Clarke-Harris who continued to stink the place up with a string of terrible performances. That run of results pushed us up into the playoff places. 

But, as is traditional, December was followed by January...

One major bit of transfer business of note was the departure of JCH. Coventry came up with a £1.2m bid out of nowhere and, in light of his poor form, I decided to accept. His departure was made easier by the fact that, without any input from me or my coaches, Szmodics had transformed himself from a natural AMC to a natural pressing forward, and he immediately matched JCH's strike record in his first two games in the role. The other talking point was a bit of AI nonsense over Callum Slattery. Southampton recalled him from loan because he wasn't playing at AMC often enough, then they immediately transfer-listed him, so I bought him for a bargain £275k.

With injuries to Szmodics and Jack Taylor, I was forced into a tactical switch for the games against Charlton and Ipswich, both anchored in the relegation zone. Against Charlton the 4231 left us open at the back and we were unable to hang on for a victory. Against Ipswich, the 433dm proved rather better and they couldn't muster a single shot on goal. Sadly, the same system wasn't as effective against a promotion-chasing Birmingham side and we recorded out first defeat in 10 league games. And the 7pts dropped in January cost us our place in the playoff hunt.

Which is fine by me. We've achieved this season's goal of avoiding a relegation battle, and we're nowhere near ready for promotion so the playoffs would be a couple of games I don't want to win. And February might remove us from the picture anyway: we face Blackburn, Brighton, Derby, Forest, and West Ham - 5 of our nearest rivals . From here a Top 10 finish would do us very nicely.

[karanhsingh]

Just popping my head in here to say "hey" to everyone, I see a lot of the usual suspects and also some new faces! Seems like there are some really quality saves going at the moment. I am not managing in England right now but will no doubt return at some point soon, the Wigan challenge still calls out to me!

[Jogo Bonito]

@warlockSteady progress there, dipping a little but as you say 7th is way above where you need to be. The £1.2m for JCH would seem to be a sensible sale as he was in poor form for you, which is actually somewhat surprising. Smodics new role sounds interesting, but he has a good record scoring goals from deeper so nice to see him doing well further forward. Good luck for the rest of your season.

[Gunner 101]

STOCKPORT COUNTY - SEASON ONE - UPDATE ONE

[AUGUST 2020 - DECEMBER 2020]

After enjoying a good spell with Stockport County on FM20 I am back to take control again. A busy summer saw plenty of player movement so the squad is a little different than last season. The additions of Richie Bennett and John Rooney provide an exciting partnership at the top of end of the pitch whilst Mark Kitching and Macauley Southam-Hales should offer plenty from the wing back slots. Having taken a good look at the squad available I decided to go with a 4-2-3-1 formation; this differs to what I used in FM20 and so helps me to detach from that save/players. 

Expectations for the club are a little different this time around too with the minimum expected being a play-off berth. However the starting squad offers plenty of quality and overall I'm not too concerned. In fact I was happy enough with the squad to only make two signings prior to the season kicking off. 

The first new signing was that of former Manchester City youth product Donal McDermott. I was in need of a back up to Jordan Williams on the right wing and McDermott was available for free. Squad management is key to me and so getting someone in who was happy to play second fiddle and not be kicking off for a lack of playing time was ideal. It also made sense from a realism POV that he would return home to Manchester now he's the wrong side of 30. There's also the bonus that he's comfortable playing in numerous positions which is ideal when in the Vanarama National League you can only name the 5 substitutes. 

The other new signing was central defender Ethan Wassall who arrived on a free transfer (15% sell on clause) from Championship side Derby County. Like McDermott, Wassall was happy to come in as back up which is what I wanted as I didn't want to upset team leader Ashley Palmer. Wassall, unlike McDermott, as the potential to grow though and so he's been given more chances to play and he's performed well. Despite not being the quickest or tallest centre back he's adapt at using both feet and his professional personality will hopefully see him develop nicely. 

There was very little movement out the doors with just two youngsters in Hopkins and Greenhalgh departing the club on loan to Nuneaton Borough for the season. Nyal Bell (behind Bennett and Reid in the pecking order) was also allowed to leave the club on loan for game time. 

Pre-season to me is all about fitness and getting some sort of understanding of the tactic you're wanting to play, especially when it's a tactic that you, yourself, are not used to using. I stuck with the friendlies that were already lined up which was a mix of lower quality sides from the home nations. The issue with playing against lower quality opposition is that it's much harder to understand whether you're winning because of your tactics or just because you're much stronger on paper. However you can take a look at things such as positioning of your players e.g. are your players where you want them to be? Does the team shape reflect what you're trying to achieve? And how many goals you concede; because if you don't concede then you cannot lose. Overall it was a success with just the one defeat coming against Scottish League One side Alloa, a match in which we decided to concede two penalties. The other benefit and one that's very useful at this level and within the first season is that trialists are free to play in these games. This means you can get a better look at the player before making a decision. This is exactly what I did before signing Donal McDermott. 

Vanarama National League: Expectations - Reach Playoffs

The league season couldn't have started better with SEVEN straight wins in October (so weird starting the season so late!) After such a perfect month and picking up the Vanarama National Manager of the Month award it was nailed on we would lose our very next game and that's exactly what happened. Wrexham had one shot on goal, a penalty in the 89th minute which stole all three points. A sign of a strong team though is the ability to bounce back and we did that with a deserved victory over 8th placed Torquay in the next game. Two goals inside the first 15 minutes enough to secure three points. We would go another 6 games without defeat (7 in total if you include the Torquay match; starting to see a trend here..) before we would taste defeat in the league again. Following our extra time exploits in the FA Cup we had two days rest before a trip to second placed Hartlepool. With no less than 9 changes in the starting line up we was on the end of a 4-0 thumping. However we would bounce straight back the next game with a solid 2-0 victory over Bromley. We saw out the year with another 2-0 victory, this time against newly promoted Wealdstone. 

Those results see us easily top of the league with a 12 point gap back to second placed Hartlepool, even though they do have a game in hand. Our goal difference is also far better than any other side. 

FA Cup: Expectations - Reach First Round

Our FA Cup journey started with a routine 2-0 win over Southport from the Vanarama National League North. Our First Round draw couldn't have been harder though as we was handed a side joint top of League One in Oxford United. However with a goal on 4 minutes and a strong defensive performance we came through it with a 1-0 victory. Our Second Round tie was another home game against higher league opposition in League Two side Crawley Town. Crawley sat second so even though it was less of a gap between us and Oxford we would still go in as underdogs. In similar circumstances to our previous match in this competition we took an early lead as Tom Walker slotted in after 3 minutes. Crawley equalised through Ashley Nadesan before John Rooney missed a penalty which saw the tie go to extra time. There was tired minds and legs and with many key players subbed off due to fitness/injury concerns up stepped Connor Jennings to seal the victory and our place in Round Three with a goal after 116 minutes. 

FA Trophy: Expectations - Reach Semi-Final

Our first game in the FA Trophy saw us paired with Hartlepool, having previously played and lost 4-0 to The Monkey Hangers just two games before this tie. An even tie tilted in our favour as just after half time a red card was shown to Hartlepool's Tom Brewitt. Connor Jennings solo goal after the hour mark ensured we progressed to the Fourth Round and got a little bit of revenge for our league defeat. 

The first three months of the season have been very good indeed. We sit comfortably top of the league and remain on course to achieve our goal within the FA Trophy whilst reaching the 3rd Round of the FA Cup means we have exceeded expectations set by the board. Key to our success has been the successful partnership of John Rooney (10 goals, 7 assists in 16 starts and 2 sub appearances) and Richie Bennett (12 goals, 1 assist in 16 starts and 2 sub appearances), both are far too good for this level. My tactic sees Rooney playing behind Bennett in the Shadow Striker role whilst Bennett is playing the supporting Target Man role which he is ideally sorted to being 6'4" with 15 strength. Two other players who have been good are Kitching and Southam-Hales (who I mentioned before), both having set up 6 goals from the wing back positions (probably all crosses to Bennett's head!)

Edited April 3, 2021 by Gunner 101

[Jogo Bonito]

@Gunner 101 Welcome back, great start with Stockport. Looks like you don't need Madden to win the league