The Journeyman - FM22

[BoxToBoxFM]

Another job offer, this time from Valencia in Spain. 

This is a slightly annoying one as they've came to me towards the end of the summer after I've complete my transfer business at Leicester which I'm pretty happy with, so I will attend this interview out of curiosity but ultimately it comes down to money I think, both in terms of the wage they can offer me and the transfer budget as well because during my time at Leicester we've never really been backed by the board which makes it difficult for any big progress to be made. 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Another one!

Now I had an incredible time at Lazio in my save last year, turning them from a mid table side to Serie A champions in 5 seasons and absolutely loved it, by far my favourite spell in charge of a team in any FM save. I'm not openly looking for a new job but I am willing to attend the interview, we could be on for a sensational return!

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - Summer Transfers

Well we didn't get either the Valencia or Lazio jobs but honestly I'm not too disheartened by that, I'm looking forward to the season ahead at Leicester. 

Outs

One big sale this summer and that's star midfielder Emilio Carlos going to Juventus for 70m. We got a pathetic budget from the board so somebody had to go to make money for the new signings.

Ins

First up, Gil comes back on loan but this time, he will be joining permanently for 10m at the end of the season. Should hopefully be a good deal given he scored 24 goals in the Premier League last season.

Next up, the replacement for Emilio Carlos who left to Juventus for 70m in order to make some money for signings. Big risk replacing him with an 18 year old but with that potential I think he's got a big future. Already he's shown glimpses of quality in the first two games.

Now for our new winger. Probably our best player brought in this summer in terms of quality, he got 18 goals and 13 assists last season in 20 Brazilian Serie A games. Hoping he smashes in the goals for us! Comes in at 13.25m, our most expensive signing of the summer.

And finally, the steal of the summer. Rafael Rodríguez joins as an 18 year old from Mexico for a mere 750k! 5 star potential and an absolute giant at 6"6, that's all you need in a centre back isn't it!

Media prediction 

The media predict us to finish 12th, although I'm hoping we do a little bit better than that. 

Tactic

We're going with the 4231 control possession to start off with this season. 

Squad overview

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - August

3 games played of the season so far and 3 wins. We're off to a good start in the league picking up 6 points from 6 and also into the third round of the EFL Cup, where we'll face Championship side Brentford at the end of September. 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - September

After a good start to the season last time out things have started to slow down. We beat Nottingham Forrest in derby which is always good and looked comfortable in doing so as well, winning by three goals to one. Then we had two of the toughest games of the season back to back in the form of City at home then a trip to Anfield and understandably we lost both of them. Then in the final game of the month we scraped past Championship side Brentford on penalties after going a goal up in the second half. 

It's worth noting our goalkeeper got injured for 5 weeks (which seems to be happing quite regularly with this guy) so we have leaked quite a few goals this month that maybe we wouldn't normally as our backup isn't exactly the greatest. Although saying that, he did save a penalty in the shootout against Brentford so I can't complain about him too much. 

Back down to a much more realistic 9th place after 5 games, hopefully we manage to pick up a few more wins next time out. 

[BoxToBoxFM]

600 games in, not too bad!

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - October

An unbeaten month!

We started off with a 2-0 win against Southampton before actually the most dissapointing result of the month came against Chelsea. We were 2-0 up against Chelsea away from home and had limited them to no chances before we blew it towards the end of the second half, the last goal in particular was our own fault as we gave the ball away in midfield. A point at Stamford Bridge isn't a bad result but it's annoying knowing we were so close to all three.

The next game was Crystal Palace who are absolutely flying this season so we knew it would be a tough test and it was, we had to grind out a 1-0 win and saved a penalty late on so we were definitely full value for the result. Finally, we played bottom of the league Burnley and as expected it was a routine victory at Turf Moor and even featured a first goal for the club from new Brazilian midfielder Roberval.

This good run of form has sent us flying up the table into third, but it's all very congested in the Premier League at the moment as we're still relatively early on in the season.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - November

Things have slowed down a bit this month with just the one win in the league. To be fair, we got a very impressive draw at home against Manchester United and also held on for a point with ten men against Everton in the league so it's not too bad given the circumstances. We also played Everton in the EFL Cup 4th round but sent the backup brigade out and I'm not too disappointed to go out of that, the board didn't care about it so there's no reason for me to take it seriously either.

12 games played and we sit 4th in the league, hopefully in a jam-packed December we're able to add a few more wins to our tally. 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - Youth Intake Preview

Well as usual at Leicester the youth intake preview isn't very inspiring, pretty much all hopes are on the striker to have some decent potential.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - December

December I feel was split into two halves.

The first half, Watford Fulham Newcastle and stoke, were really dissapointing. Yes we beat Fulham but we shouldn't have drawn to Watford, Newcastle a draw isn't awful but there's absolutely no way we should have lost to Stoke (albeit away). It was a shocking performance, one of the worst I've seen during my time at Leicester and we didn't deserve to win at all.

However then in the second half, Ipswich Arsenal and Tottenham, we were so much better. We beat Ipswich as expected really but then put in an incredible performance to beat Arsenal, and not just through luck - we beat them 4-1 and were absolutely outstanding! I believe that's the first win we've had against a 'big' team since joining the club, it's definitely the first of the season anyway. We did come crashing back to earth in the next game though against another North London club in the form of Spurs, we didn't even play that bad but conceded two similar goals down the left hand side, probably something I should have dealt with after the first time it happened.

Halfway through the season and we're still up in 4th at the turn of the year but Liverpool are breathing down our necks and have a game in hand on us as well. I'm really hopeful this is the year we qualify for Europe but I've got a bit of a record of falling apart in the second half of the season after January!

[BoxToBoxFM]

🤣🤣🤣

No thanks.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - January

Overall, a very positive month where we conceded just 3 goals and scored loads.

We started with a 2-1 win over Palace before our second big win of the season, hammering Chelsea 3-0 confirming the fact we've gone unbeaten against them in the league this season. It was then onto Southampton in the FA Cup third round and they were dispatched with ease before Aston Villa were then victims of the same treatment as they were beaten 3-0. Our final win of the month came at home to Burnley where we scraped past them, before losing to Arsenal at the Emirates 2-0. The arsenal game was a shame as we'd just beaten them in the league very recently, but we were not up to the standards required away in south London.

The league table is still looking very healthy with us up in 3rd, although Chelsea can overtake us if they win their game in hand.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - February

We started off with a smashing off Wolves, at this point it was back to back defeats and I was starting to get worried, but luckily we were off to League 2 Newport in the next game in the FA Cup and we won that 3-1. It was then onto Norwich and these two games against Norwich and Ipswich were massive as these teams were 17th and 18th so we had to win them both, and we did. We looked very good in both these games really, scoring 7 goals across both games and we also kept clean sheets as well which is important. 

27 games played and we're still in 4th, 4 points clear of Everton in 5th. We're only one point behind Chelsea in third, it's so tight!

We've also made a new signing on transfer deadline day...

We've signed a third striker to add to the squad for £13m. He's already scored a brace against Newport and came off the bench to score against Norwich and his value is already up to £50m, hopefully we've got a good long term striker here as he's still young with a lot of potential.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - Youth Intake

Absolutely woeful. 

I swear these intakes get worse every year. The thing is, I've signed all but one of the players you can see purely out of sympathy, there's no point in a youth intake if I don't sign any of them up. At least the majority are on youth contracts which are cheap and don't require any negotiations.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - March

A bit of a mixed month I'd say.

We started with a 2-0 against Stoke which was good but then crashed out of the FA Cup shockingly against Championship side Sheffield United 4-1, a really terrible result and there's no way we should be losing it even with the rotated team we sent out.

We then struggled in the next game as well, not really getting started and largely we were lucky to get a point. It was back to winning ways to round off the month though with a 4-2 win against Fulham which was good and then we finished up with a 1-0 win against Watford, not the best result but a win none the less.

7 games to go and we're 3rd in the league, however Chelsea will be breathing down our necks if they win their game in hand which will take them just 2 points behind us.

[DomD]

I've been catching up on this thread for the past few days. What a career!

And now you're on the verge of European football with Leicester. Nicely done. Hope you keep this going for a few more seasons.

[BoxToBoxFM]

11 hours ago, DomD said:

I've been catching up on this thread for the past few days. What a career!

And now you're on the verge of European football with Leicester. Nicely done. Hope you keep this going for a few more seasons.

First of all, thanks for catching up, I’ve really enjoyed playing it as well!

I also thought I was just going to keep playing this save through the whole of FM23 as well, but all the first look videos from the big creators and the blog they released yesterday convinced me and the new game was pre ordered last night.

Don’t worry though, my main save for next year is going to be another realistic journeyman career very similar to this one and hopefully we go even further, I’m very much looking forward to it!

[BoxToBoxFM]

Leicester 34/35 - April

The FM23 beta should be coming out tonight but we've got a season to finish off in The Journeyman first! I was so close to not buying the new game and continuing on with this save for a while longer, but with all the excitement around the new FM I finally gave in last night. Don't worry though, I'll be back for FM23 with another realistic save very similar to this!

What a weird month this has been.

We started off with two dissapointing 2-0 defeats, first against Everton which was such an important game as they are breathing down our necks in the league table, then to United which I guess isn't that bad a result. 

Then we turned it around with two more very difficult games, beating Spurs 2-0 at home then going away to league leaders City and humbling them with a 4-2 victory! Absolutely brilliant! The City game was the only one I played this afternoon and I remember this happening last year the day the FM22 beta was announced, I was trying to finish off my season and beat Real Madrid 9-0 in the El Classico! I might have to start playing my saves just as the new game is announced and always be a year behind...

It was Matias Ayala who stole the show against City with a hatrick and he's been absolutely brilliant this season. You might remember a few years ago I was desperate to sign him and had to break the bank to do so, I'm so glad I did! What a player he is!

We've got 3 games left of the season but have already secured Conference League football for next season which is great, but I'd love to end the save (for now) by securing Champions League football to look forward to for next season!

[DomD]

9 hours ago, BoxToBoxFM said:

First of all, thanks for catching up, I’ve really enjoyed playing it as well!

I also thought I was just going to keep playing this save through the whole of FM23 as well, but all the first look videos from the big creators and the blog they released yesterday convinced me and the new game was pre ordered last night.

Don’t worry though, my main save for next year is going to be another realistic journeyman career very similar to this one and hopefully we go even further, I’m very much looking forward to it!

What have they shown that convinced you to get FM23? The way the 3d matches play out looks a bit better and hopefully the scouting improvements are as good as they seem. But I'm not sure there is enough for me there.

The start to my own save is kind of similar to yours. But instead of waiting I applied for jobs right away. So, I got one of the jobs that is hard coded to be available, Cefn Druids. Now I wish that I had waited or just picked my own club in one of the lower leagues.

[BoxToBoxFM]

13 hours ago, DomD said:

What have they shown that convinced you to get FM23? The way the 3d matches play out looks a bit better and hopefully the scouting improvements are as good as they seem. But I'm not sure there is enough for me there.

The start to my own save is kind of similar to yours. But instead of waiting I applied for jobs right away. So, I got one of the jobs that is hard coded to be available, Cefn Druids. Now I wish that I had waited or just picked my own club in one of the lower leagues.

I quite like the squad planner and as you say the new 3D stuff is decent, I just can’t beat a new game dropping. Not missed an edition since I started playing. To be fair I was also very on and off with FM22, never seemed to really love it so I’m hoping I get attached to the new game a bit easier. Good luck with Cefn Druids!

[DomD]

For sure, the new one is definitely tempting me too

In my current save we won the Welsh league in my first season. But in the following seasons TNS strengthened so much that we couldn't compete with them any more. So after three seasons I resigned and applied for all available jobs. Gubbio in the Italian 3rd tier hired me, and we came 2nd, but missed out on promotion. Now I'm in my second season there.

More details in my thread if you're interested.

[BoxToBoxFM]

1 hour ago, DomD said:

For sure, the new one is definitely tempting me too

In my current save we won the Welsh league in my first season. But in the following seasons TNS strengthened so much that we couldn't compete with them any more. So after three seasons I resigned and applied for all available jobs. Gubbio in the Italian 3rd tier hired me, and we came 2nd, but missed out on promotion. Now I'm in my second season there.

More details in my thread if you're interested.

I’ll check it out!