[FM24 Beta] Promising Plymouth [Youth Centric Save]

xray1324 · October 21, 2023

What is this save about?

So, in 2020 I did a save where I managed a bunch of different clubs including Plymouth who were at the time in League Two. They are now in the Championship. In this save I will be slowly moulding Plymouth into a very young side that does something similar to what Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Brighton do. Buy young and cheap (ish) and mould those players into sellable assets that while they're at the club can do a part and make the club prosper, going from what I hope will be one high to another high. At first likely those players will be British, and will range from 18 to 24, but as the club gets more of a foundation of young players, I will sign even younger players, and the nationalities will vary. Some players will be kept if possible at the club to become legends and help young players grow.

I'm not much for tactic creation, so I've downloaded one from online. It is a set of tactics created by someone called PPM on FM Scout, which go between a 4-2-2-4 (which we will likely not be using but will be training it, at-least initially), a 4-5-1 and a more defensive likely for away matches, a 5-2-3. The manager profile I am creating is a young and upcoming manager called Michael Mitchell, who's key attributes will be related to motivating and dealing with youth. Usually when I do a save in FM over the last few years, my manager's name has been Michael Mitchell. You can expect a Wolves Save potentially after the beta depending how I feel about continuing this save past the beta. We will be using the Real World gamemode for this save.

The locations this save will have loaded are the following. Sky Bet League Two and Above, Spanish First Division, Italian Serie A, Eredivisie and the Bundesliga. We will be skipping ahead to after the friendlies are done, starting the championship off.

Achievements

N/A

Goals

Enter the Premier League.

Become Midtable in the Premier League.

Become Top-half or Top 6 in the Premier League.

Enter the Championship Playoffs.

Rules

I must sign players for cheap while they are young.

To help our cause, loan players from teams better than us.

Stay at the same club. You get sacked? Save ended.

Tactics

Primary Tactic.

Secondary Tactic

Main Tactic when we go into the Premier League. Hopefully.

Who's Coming In?

These three players are coming in, two in August and one in September.

Set Pieces

We will be going with Hybrid.

We will be going with Near Post.

We will be going with Counter Attack.

We will be going with Far Post.

We will be going with Balanced.

We will be going with Outswinger.

What Next?

I will be updating this thread when we finish our first month at Plymouth Argyle.

xray1324 · October 22, 2023

August 2023 Results

Huddersfield, League, Home, Tactic: 4-5-1
Hazard, Gillesphey, Gibson, Pieguezuelo, Kesler Hayden, Wright, Azaz (who recently came in), Randell, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Edwards, Butcher, Waine, Scarr, Wright, Issaka (who is really young and really promising), Halls and Endacott.
Match Info: First Half: Hazard conceded on the 20th minute, but it was offside which was very lucky for us. Then on the 24th minute, Whittaker having a bright game so far scored from a deflection making it 1-0. Our defense so far has been having a bright day. Then, 33rd minute later, Whittaker asisted Hardie to make it 2-0. It's the Whittaker show today so far. Hardie then on the 44th minute assisted Azaz, who has been having a fairly bright game today, making it 3-0 before half-time. Second Half: One of their players got a yellow card on the 47th minute, then another on the 66th minute, meaning Huddersfield are down to 10 men. We end the match with nothing else happening of note, winning 3-0.

Bristol City, Carabao Cup, Home, Tactic: 4-5-1
Hazard, Butcher, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Kesler Hayden, Cundle (who recently came in), Azaz, Edwards, Issaka, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Randell, Gillesphey, Waine, Scarr, Wright, Mumba, Halls and Endacott.
Match Info: First Half: Nothing of note happened. Second Half: Nothing of note happened. We drew 0-0, then we won on penalties. Conor Hazard had a man of the match performance, making 6 saves.

Watford, League, Away, Tactic: 5-2-3
Hazard, Gibson, Gillesphey, Pleguezuelo, Hackett, Houghton, Edwards, Kesler Haden, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Scarr, Randell, Waine, Butcher, Wright, Issaka, Earley and Cundle.
First Half: We conceded on the 36th minute with their player Chakvetadze scoring, and then 6 minutes later we conceded an own goal from Gillesphey. Though, they couldn't convert a penalty very late into the first half. Second Half: We got a consolation goal on the 64th minute from Whittaker, which gave us a chance of drawing this match, but we couldn't score another goal, luckily neither could they thanks to the heroics of Hazard.

Southampton, League, Home, Tactic: 4-5-1
Hazard, Hackett, Gibson, Scarr, Edwards, Azaz, Cundle, Randell, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Wright, Miller, Waine, Butcher, Wright, Halls, Earley and Houghton.
First Half: We looked bright from the beginning but quickly fell off against a better Southampton side than what we possessed. HArdie scored on the 4th minute, then 21 minutes later they scored, making it 1-1. Second Half: We went on to concede 2 more goals, finishing with 39% possession overall, and only 1 shot on target. Not brilliant. We currently sit 16th as of this match.

Birmingham, League, Away, Tactic: 5-2-3
Hazard, Gibson, Butcher, Scarr, Hackett, Cundle, Randell, Edwards, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Wright, Azaz, Houghton, Earley, Waine, Halls, Miller and Gillesphey.
First Half: Two goals conceded early on meant by half time we were 2-0 down. We could barely get a shot on target. Second Half: We conceded another goal on the 62nd minute. It's clear that both of these tactics simply aren't working, so for the last game of the month we will be switching tactics, and experimenting with tactics until we find one that actually works. I'm going to go with a 4-3-3 by DavyDepuydt1.

Exeter, Carabao Cup, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Hazard, Hackett, Gibson, Scarr, Edwards, Houghton, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Burton, Gillesphey, Randell, Waine, Butcher, Miller, Issaka, Halls and Earley. First Half: We looked fairly bright all throughout the first half, but were unable to get many shots on target. We didn't score, but neither did they. Second Half: Throughout the entire game, we got 1 shot on target, and 12 shots overall. We then went to penalties, and unlike the last Carabao Cup game... We lost on penalties, with them scoring every penalty, and to be fair, so did we, the only time that we were unable to convert came from Randell's penalty. 0-0, but lost on penalties. Defensively we looked strong though, with them having a paltry 2 shots all game, and none on target. An improvement.

Transfers

Azaz, Cundle and Bundle were already going to happen at the start of the save, but Hackett and Soares are signings I made.

Azaz

Reliable first team player, and looks like he should be pretty creative at this level.

Cundle

Reliable first team player that also slots into midfield like Azaz, I'm happy with both and hopefully they'll both develop at the club, and we might be able to extend their loan deals, maybe.

Hackett

Useful squad player that can give us depth at left-back.

Bundu

Squad player on a lot of money, looking fast ish for the league though and should work well when he comes in. Mentally he isn't the best, though.

Soares

Excellent young goalkeeper who came in from Benfica, will help our cause massively. If he does well, we might be able to extend his deal. We'll see.

New (singular) Tactic (for now)

We'll see how this tactic works out, but with the 1 match we played it with, it seems defensively strong, though definitely we could use more attacking threat, and we might see that more the more we use it.

Sizeman21 · October 23, 2023

Hopefully you can find some rhythm with the Argyle. Let's go Plymouth!

xray1324 · October 23, 2023

September 2023 Results

Blackburn, League, Home, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Hackett, Gibson, Scarr, Edwards, Randell, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Gillesphey, Wright, Bundu, Butcher, Miller, Waine, Houghton and Issaka. First Half: Defensively we looked okay, only conceding once and that was on the 40th minute. Second Half: Offensively all game we've been lacking. I've decided to try a 4-2-3-1 with 2 dms for our home matches from now on with the 4-3-3 being for away matches.

Preston, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Gillesphey, Hayden, Randell, Cundle, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Bundu. Subs: Hazard, Scarr, Wright, Hardie, Butcher, Halls, Waine, Houghton and Hackett. First Half: Bundu opened the scoring, bringing us to 1-0 before we conceded on the 40th minute before half-time. Second Half: Whittaker scored too on the 72nd minute, making it 2-1. We finally have a second win on the board! We now sit at 17th in the league.

Bristol City, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Edwards, Scarr, Butcher, Hayden, Randell, Warrington, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Bundu. Subs: Hazard, Hackett, Houghton, Hardie, Gibson, Wright, Waine, Earley and Gillesphey. First Half: Scarr scored on the 40th minute, then they scored an own goal leading to it being 2-0 before half-time. Looking bright already. Second Half: Whittaker late on went on to score two goals in fairly quick succession, on the 77th and 89th minute, making it 4-0, which allowed us to beat who were top of the table in Bristol City. 3 wins in 7, and it brings us to 13th.

Norwich, League, Home, Tactic: 4-2-3-1
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Butcher, Hayden, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Houghton, Scarr, Wright, Gillesphey, Halls and Randell. First Half: We looked leaky at times with us conceding 3 goals in the first half. Second Half: We managed to score 3 goals, 1 on the 48th minute, one on the 66th minute and one on the 84th, coming from Azaz, and 2 from Hardie. We were level at 3-3 with not much time to go. We would then go on to concede another 2 goals in stoppage time, but we looked promising. We had 5 shots on target and they had 12, and Soares got a 7.0 rating despite conceding 5 goals. It was after this I decided to do a team meeting praising our current form. The entire team agreed with me and said we could push on from here.

Hull, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Butcher, Hayden, Houghton, Cundle, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Warrington, Scarr, Wright, Earley, Gillesphey, Halls and Randell. First Half: Hardie again showed some promise scoring a goal on the 32nd minute. We led 1-0 and didn't concede all throughout the rest of the half. Second Half: Hardie scored again on the 57th minute and closed the scoring. We led 2-0 and it stayed that through to the end of the match. We now sit 12th in the league.

We've started to pick up form a bit, though I accidentally played one match in October without realizing it, so we actually sit in 13th (which we lost narrowly). Not bad though for a team that were supposed to get relegation.

Home Tactic

This is the new tactic we will be using, with Cundle/Azaz in the DLP role making long range passes to try to open the other team up.

Current Injuries

We've got a fair few injuries plaguing us.

2 hours ago, Sizeman21 said:

Hopefully you can find some rhythm with the Argyle. Let's go Plymouth!

We've found a little bit of a rhythm, luckily!

marktonge · October 23, 2023

GREEEEEENNN ARRRRRMYYY!!

Sorry, couldn't resist! Looks to be a great idea for a save! Mid-table at the moment isn't so bad! What's your aim for this season?

xray1324 · October 23, 2023

1 minute ago, marktonge said:

GREEEEEENNN ARRRRRMYYY!!

Sorry, couldn't resist! Looks to be a great idea for a save! Mid-table at the moment isn't so bad! What's your aim for this season?

aiming for top half, but mid-table would be good too, with the upcoming injuries I might start fielding a younger side now that we're okay likely not going to be relegated. Soares has been an excellent goalie for us, but we've got a decent GK in Mike Cooper that was already at the club coming back from injury, only thing is he doesn't suit the type of GK we use a bunch. He is young though so I might develop Mike Cooper into more of a sweeping GK, haha.

xray1324 · October 24, 2023

October 2023 Results

Millwall, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Scarr, Hayden, Cundle, Houghton, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Warrington, Miller, Wright, Earley, Gillesphey, Halls and Randell. First Half: We weren't able to score at all throughout the first half. Second Half: Late on with their only shot on target, they scored. We lost 1-0.

Swansea, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Gillesphey, Hayden, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Wright and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Houghton, Miller, Bundu, Earleyy, Scarr, Halls and Randell. First Half: We opened the scoring with Hardie scoring after only 3 minutes. Then Mumba would score twice, once on 10 minutes, and again on 20. Just before half time, they got 1 goal back with their Joe Allen scoring. Second Half: They scored again making it 3-2, but on the 70th minute we scored from Joe Edwards. I'd never seen him score before this season, and probably why, he's a 32 year old versatile left and right-back. Interesting. Though something I've noticed is we don't have much depth in our front 4, apart from Bundu who can slot in at left wing, right wing and up front, though he's not exactly great in the positions we have, so he might not stay beyond this year.

West Brom, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Gillesphey, Hayden, Houghton, Cundle, Azaz, Mumba, Wright and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Warrington, Miller, Pleguezuelo, Earley, Scarr, Halls and Randell. First Half: It took 23 minutes, but Mumba scored, then on stoppage time before half-time, they scored. Second Half: Cundle went on late on the 89th minute to score allowing us to win 2-1. Houghton was injured late on in this match. Up to a month out. To top it off, though, the board and fans both expected us to lose here.

Sheffield Wednesday, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Edwards, Galloway, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Endacott, Miller, Gillesphey, Earley, Scarr, Halls and Randell. First Half: We conceded on the 36rd minute, however we managed to score 1 minute after making it 1-1. Nothing else happened of note in the first half. Second Half: We conceded a goal on the 50th minute, then Luke Cundle was sent off after 2 yellow cards on the 89th minute. They then scored a penalty on the 90th minute, meaning we lost 3-2. Cundle is now banned for 1 match, and may be banned for a further two, potentially.

Ipswich, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Randell, Wright, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Wright, Endacott, Miller, Gillesphey, Scarr, Halls and Warrington. First Half: They scored early on. Nothing much else happened, though. Second Half: Hardie scored on the 59th minute, then Whittaker on the 63rd minute, allowing us to win 2-1. We have 7 wins and 7 losses in 14 games, not bad for a team supposed to be in contention of being relegated. Hardie also now has 9 goals in 14 games, which isn't a bad return, that's just a bit above a goal every other game!

We move up to 12th, consolidating on our midtable place, which is really nice. Hardie is joint second top goal-scorer, which is promising.

New Home Tactic

I would like to report that this and our 4-3-3 tactic will be staying as it is actually producing results.

abulezz · October 24, 2023

Hardie making things happen! Good read.

MrTepig · October 24, 2023

Good read so far, I'm surprised at the lack of draws haha

Hope you can turn the good times into even better times as it looks like you're not too far off from being in the playoff conversation.

xray1324 · October 24, 2023

10 minutes ago, MrTepig said:

Good read so far, I'm surprised at the lack of draws haha

Hope you can turn the good times into even better times as it looks like you're not too far off from being in the playoff conversation.

getting in the playoffs may be a bit premature especially first season, but getting a chance to get into the Premier League would be nice and would give us a chance to build a stronger team.

48 minutes ago, abulezz said:

Hardie making things happen! Good read.

He actually suits a pressing forward role according to his player profile, but I don't think he has the strength or tackling to be good at actually pressing, his marking is a little subpar too. So for now I'm playing him as an AF as it's getting him to score every now and then haha

xray1324 · October 24, 2023

3 hours ago, MrTepig said:

Good read so far, I'm surprised at the lack of draws haha

Hope you can turn the good times into even better times as it looks like you're not too far off from being in the playoff conversation.

Well, we have one now!

Plymouth Lifted!

November 2023 Results

Middlesbrough, League, Home, Tactic: 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hackett, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Cundle, Earley, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Wright. First Half: Whittaker scored after 40 minutes, then Hardie scored a penalty in stoppage time before half-time. Second Half: They scored a goal on the 52nd minute, then we scored from Ben Waine, and then late on in stoppage time, they scored again. The match ended with us winning 3-2, with Soares getting a 7.5 rating.

Leeds, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Randell, Cundle, Azaz, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Wright. First Half: They scored after 9 minutes, then Hardie scored after 22, and then before half-time, on stoppage time, Daniel James from Leeds scored. We were losing 2-1 just before half-time. Second Half: Nothing much good was happening for us, with their third goal coming at 69 minutes with their Luka Romero scoring. Three names I recognize, all of them scoring. To be fair, losing to top of the league Leeds was expected, but maybe we could've lost a little less. Oh well.

Sunderland, League, Home, Tactic: 4-2-3-1
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Randell. First Half: Whittaker scored just before half-time. Other than that nothing. Second Half: They scored on the 55th minute, then Mumba scored on the 81st making it 2-1. They'd score on the 90th minute, making it 2-2... We scored on the 92nd minute, making us look like we could win 3-2, but with them scoring at the last minute on the 98th minute, the match ended 3-3.

Coventry, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Randell, Azaz, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Cundle. First Half: They scored two quick-fire goals 1 on the 2nd minute and one on the 6th, then they scored again on the 27th and our Gibson scored on the 29th, making it us trailing 3-1 by 30 minutes. They would score again on the 39th minute. 4-1 at half-time. Second Half: We managed to score from Mumba on the 60th minute, and we ended the match losing 4-2. I decided to make a tweak to the away tactic to give us 3 centre backs in defense with our DM working as an aggressive half-back.

We remain in 12th after not a great record in the last 3 games of the month.

xray1324 · October 25, 2023

Huh.

xray1324 · October 25, 2023

Well, Soares is out for up to 2 months now!

So's Houghton, too.

DavidBeckham · October 25, 2023

Unlucky with the intake and injuries mate did you keep them on the pitch when they were tiring? I noticed this tends to lead to increased no. of injuries!

xray1324 · October 25, 2023

2 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Unlucky with the intake and injuries mate did you keep them on the pitch when they were tiring? I noticed this tends to lead to increased no. of injuries!

To be completely honest with the injuries the GK does play every minute of every day but I have a skin for FM24 that sims matches for me basically putting the ass man in charge. Same tactic and stuff just the ass man takes control of subs. So most matches I do this apart from important matches or ones I've wanted to watch, but for the most part I've wanted to just get a month over with, having limited time. I'm honestly looking forward to the Jan Transfer Window as it's likely we'll have some budget come for us, especially since some of our players are wanted by Oxford United, which might get some money in for some free transfers. Though the intake might be different when it actually comes around, it was like that in FM2023 except the other way around sometimes. I won't be able to have a post out until later today though as I'm out pretty soon. Thanks for commenting!

xray1324 · October 25, 2023

December 2023 Results

Stoke, League, Home, Tactic: 4-2-3-1
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Azaz, Warrington, Edwards, Mumba, Wright, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Cundle. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: We weren't able to score at all throughout the first half, but neither were they. 0-0. Second Half: Luke Cundle, coming from being subbed on, scored on the 71st minute, then Wright scored on the 73rd and 86th minute to make it 3-0. They then scored an own goal, making it 4-0. Then, they scored twice, once at 88 minutes, then once at the 92nd minute, bringing the amount we had won by to 2 goals instead of 4. The match finished 4-2.

Leicester, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Houghton, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Gillesphey, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Halls, Wright, Waine, Galloway and Azaz. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored on the 29th minute, making it 1-0. That goal came from Jamie Vardy. Nothing else happened. Second Half: Vardy scored another goal for them on the 56th minute, making it 2-0, but we were able to bring the deficit to only 1 goal down by scoring from Whittaker on the 64th minute. Not bad. Though, they had been unbeaten for 9 home games before this one (home for them)

QPR, League, Away, Tactic: 4-3-3
(deciding to rotate the team a bunch here) Soares, Hackett, Galloway, Pleguezuelo, Warrington, Randell, Earley, Jenkins-Davies, Issaka, Wright and Whittaker. Subs: Hazard, Gillesphey, Endacott, Miller, Halls, Houghton, Bundu, Hayden and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: Wright scored on the 3rd minute, then they scored from Ilias Chair on the 35th. 1-1. Second Half: The match finished 1-1.

Rotherham, League, Home, Tactic: 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Houghton, Randell, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Galloway, Wright, Issaka, Earley, Warrington, Jenkins-Davies, Cundle and Waine. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored on the 8th minute, then Joe Edwards scored for us on the 44th minute. 1-1. Second Half: On the 93rd minute, they scored again meaning we lost 2-1. We've dropped to 14th. I decided to do a team meeting, deciding to challenge the players since we've had a bit of a blip, we can still stay up. That helped bring the morale back up. Soares is now injured for up to 2 months, though.

Birmingham, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Cooper, Earley, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Cundle, Randell, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Galloway, Wright, Issaka, Edwards, Warrington, Jenkins-Davies, Gillesphey and Waine. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They opened the scoring on the 4th minute, then Hardie equalized, scoring for us, making it 1-1. That's his 12th goal of the season, now. Second Half: They scored again on the 51st minute, bringing themselves ahead with a Jay Stansfield goal. Whittaker would then score 25 minutes later on the 76th minute, allowing us to equalize again, and the match finished 2-2. That's our third draw this season. Hardie is again joint second top-scorer in the league!

Cardiff, League, Away, 4-3-3
Cooper, Hackett, Gibson, Scarr, Edwards, Warrington, Randell, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Earley, Cundle, Bundu, Galloway, Wright, Issaka, Gillesphey and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Watched -- First Half: They scored on the 14th minute with their only shot on target so far... Whittaker was tired on the 40th minute so I subbed Bundu on who has returned fairly recently from injury, or at-least it feels that way. Other than that goal, nothing changed, we did get the same amount of shots on target and a similar XG to them at the end, but we were unable to score... yet. Second Half: At half-time, I subbed Hackett off for Earley, Hardie off for Issaka, and Wright off for Cundle. I then said in the team talk "What was that?! Get your acts together and start playing football.", which got them fired up, which is good. We were passing well up the field then they got the ball and scored! 2-0! Cooper honestly so far has been a terrible keeper in two games, both times bad rating for him. On the 57th minute I decided to change tactics to a 4-4-1-1, and subbed on Tyreik Wright in the AM position. A minute later they scored again making the deficit 3-0. Not great. On the 74th minute we got a penalty!! Randell scored it and the goalkeeper hardly moved, 3-1! Next match I am definitely playing Hazard, Cooper is transfer listed. We did have chances this game but most of the time we couldn't score from them just squandering the chances. I decided to give Cooper another chance, but if he drops another stinker he is dropped and potentially on the exit door.

Southampton, League, Away, 4-3-3
I've changed the half-back to a BWM, and the CM(a) to a MEZ(a). Cooper, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Randell, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Hazard, Earley, Warrington, Issaka, Galloway, Jenkins-Davies, Scarr, Wright and Bundu. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- Since we didn't score or anything all game I'm not bothering with the first half or second half, and from now on I'll only mention them if we actually scored, though Cooper, Randell, Pleguezuelo and Kayden all had good games, though Hardie had a poor game, and got a short-term injury.

We drop down to 15th with us having a difficult month, though I hope we will start picking up form, but now it's looking pretty unlikely that we will go to playoffs. There's still time, definitely, but... Well, we'll see. We'll see.

New Board Expectations

I've done this in order to effectively give ourselves another 15kish in wages to spend, which should allow us to get some new players in without selling anyone major.

xray1324 · October 25, 2023

Updated Tactics

(Home)

(Away)

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

Late on in January Hardie's injured and will be out for a month.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

January 2024 Results

Watford, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Cooper, Earley, Galloway, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Wright, Warrington, Miller, Butcher, Issaka and Bundu. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- Again we drew 0-0, with Cooper, Galloway, Hayden and Earley getting good ratings. Pleguezuelo was injured on the 28th minute, and Warrington was sent off on the 54th. Still, it was a fairly even game. Pleguezuelo is out for up to a month.

Arsenal, FA Cup Third Round, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Scarr, Hayden, Wright, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Miller, Issaka, Butcher, Waine, Galloway and Wright. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored three times in 30 minutes on 11, 25 and 27 minutes, then a penalty on 31. Cundle managed to score our only goal of the game on the 33rd minute, and that was the scoring for the first half done. Second Half: They scored again on the 61st and the 83rd minute, ending the scoreline at 6-1, where they won.

Huddersfield, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Earley, Gibson, Scarr, Hayden, Wright, Azaz, Cundle, Miller, Wright and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Mumba, Waine, Galloway, Butcher, Whittaker, Gillesphey and Edwards. Watched or Simmed: Watched -- Nothing happened of note in the first half. On half-time I subbed off Scarr for Galloway, Gibson for Butcher, Azaz off as he was tiring for Edwards, and Hardie off for Whittaker. We just couldn't finish, but Soares, Earley, Wright and Hayden all had good games. I might make a new tactic as a third one, a vertical tiki taka 4-2-3-1. The ass man later said I should probably do a team meeting, so I did one and say we're not doing great right now, and we need to do better. This helped morale a bunch as they all agreed.

Cardiff, League, Home, 4-2-3-1 (new one)
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Scarr, Edwards, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Earley, Miller, Issaka, Galloway, Jenkins-Davies, Bundu, Waine and Hackett. Watched or Simmed: Watched -- First Half: We've had most the possession in the first half, just unable to do much with that. Both goalies have been playing well today. We've started to come into the game late on the first half, but we've not scored yet. They have better XG than us despite only having 36% possession. On half-time I subbed Mumba off for Issaka, put Hayden into DR and subbed Earley on in place of Edwards. Second Half: Hayden just scored for us on the 48th minute making it 1-0 to us! Then on the 57th minute Azaz assists Wright to give us the second goal! We're 2-0 up with 30 minutes or so to go. ...Hardie's injured on the 71st minute. I'm subbing Ben Waine on in place of him. 90th minute, they score making it 2-1 from a corner rebound. The match ends 2-1!

West Brom, League, Home, 4-2-3-1 (new one)
Soares, Edwards, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Hayden, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Issaka. Subs: Cooper, Scarr, Earley, Miller, Galloway, Bundu, Warrington, Waine and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Watched -- First Half: We concede on the 8th minute and I shout at the players, I demand more. ...We conceded again. What. On 30 minutes and I berate the players. We're starting to do better as we're starting to win the ball back more and keep possession a bit more but we keep throwing the ball away missing the target, while they've scored both of their shots on target. We got a penalty very late on in the first half!! Callum Wright scores it! Second Half: At half time, I swap Issaka with Mumba, and subbing Mumba off for Waine, then I sub Edwards off for Earley, and Pleguezuelo off for Galloway. We've just conceded a third goal on the 55th minute. I demand more from the players. 62nd minute, I sub off Hayden for Warrington, and Issaka for Bundu. We just conceded a fourth goal, I guess some games we're just destined to lose. Azaz scores from 20 yards on the 65 minute! 4-2! We ended up losing the match 4-2, but we didn't do too badly, I just wish we could've had more shots on target.

We move up to 13th with a rough month that only saw us win 1 match.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

Jan Transfer Window

In

Akinwale

I mainly got them for that trait honestly, though physically he is pretty good for the championship.

Out

It was a big offer and he was only a squad player anyways.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

February 2024 Results

Watford, League, Home, 4-3-3 (new one)
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Bundu and Akinwale. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Houghton, Waine, Earley, Miller, Wright, Scarr and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored on the 1st minute, then we scored from a Hayden goal on the 15th minute. Second Half: We looked like we could draw until the 93rd minute on which they scored a second goal meaning they won 2-1. Pleguezuelo and Hayden had good games.

Sunderland, League, Away, 4-3-3 (new one)
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Wright and Bundu. Subs: Cooper, Earley, Issaka, Waine, Scarr, Houghton, Akinwale, Gillesphey and Miller. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- Nothing happened in the first half. Second Half: They scored on the 54st minute, then Wright scored on the 56th minute, and we went on to draw that match, and we were expected to be well beaten by them.

Coventry, League, Home, 4-2-3-1 (new one)
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Bundu. Subs: Cooper, Scarr, Wright, Hardie, Earley, Issaka, Akinwale, Gillesphey and Houghton. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: Mumba scored on the 19th minute, then Whittaker scored on the 28th, then Azaz on the 43th minute meaning we were 3-0 up by half-time! Second Half: They scored twice, once on the 50th minute, then once on the 77th minute. We would then get two quickfire goals in stoppage time on the 93rd and 97th minutes, meaning we won the match 5-2!

Leeds, League, Home, 4-2-3-1 (new one)
Soares, Hackett, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Houghton, Mumba, Wright, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Earley, Azaz, Bundu, Scarr, Issaka, Akinwale, Galloway and Miller. First Half: They scored twice in the first half, once at 16 minute and then again at 42 minutes with Luka Romero scoring. Second Half: Despite having 5 shots on target, we couldn't score any of them. They'd score again on the 47th minute, then on the 71st minute Luka Romero scored again.

Middlesbrough, League, Away, 4-3-3 (new one)
Soares, Hackett, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. First Half: They scored on the 26th minute. That's it. We had one shot on target all game and couldn't finish, though Pleguezuelo and Hackett both had good games. Enough said about Hardie, though, who was one of the worst performers this match.

I think at this point we are settled in midfield, though we do drop to 15th. We are struggling for points right now, though. Conceding a lot of goals. Hardie has stopped scoring, too.

New Tactics

(Away)

(Home)

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

Youth Intake

Only Myers is worth giving a deal.

Though, he definitely needs some work.

Good personality and stuff.

March 2024 Results

Ipswich, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Earley, Wright, Bundu, Scarr, Issaka, Waine, Galloway and Houghton. Watched or Simmed: Watched -- First Half: On the 26th minute, Hayden assisted Whittaker to give us a 1-0 lead! That's our first shot on target, too. Hayden gave away a penalty on the 30th minute, and they converted it, meaning we're now drawing 1-1. Hayden then scored on the 44th minute meaning we were now leading by a goal, it's 2-1! Second Half: Whittaker scores a free kick on the 50th minute! 3-1! On the 70th minute I decided to sub off a bunch of players who were tiring. Hayden, Whittaker, Edwards, Mumba and Hardie off for Scarr, Earley, Wright, Issaka and Waine. We won 3-1.

Sheffield Wednesday, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Issaka, Bundu, Scarr, Houghton, Waine, Earley and Miller. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- Nothing happened of note with neither side scoring, we did have 3 shots on target and 60% possession though, but hardly did much with it. Soares, Pleguezuelo, Gibson, Hayden, Wright, Cundle and Warrington all did well.

Blackburn, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Hackett, Galloway, Scar, Edwards, Houghton, Earley, Wright, Bundu, Issaka and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Pleguezuelo, Cundle, Waine, Whittaker, Azaz, Akinwale, Hayden and Mumba. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored on the 41st minute, meaning we were losing 1-0 by half-time. Second Half: They scored again on the 46th minute, but Hardie scored on the 59th minute, then we got a penalty and converted it with Wright scoring it, meaning until the 83rd minute we were 2-2, but they managed to score again and won the match 3-2. Not too bad, though. They were a fair bit above us.

Preston, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
(Soares is now injured for a month) Hazard, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Baker, Hackett, Wright, Bundu, Scarr, Houghton, Waine, Earley and Miller. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: Thanks to Azaz and Mumba scoring on the 3rd and 5th minutes, we won 2-0. Hazard, Edwards, Pleguezuelo, Gibson, Azaz, Cundle, Whittaker and Mumba all had good games.

Norwich, League, Away, 4-3-3
Hazard, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. First Half: We conceded a goal on the 27th minute, but nothing else happened in the first half. Second Half: Hardie scored, then Cundle scored on the 53rd and 58th minute, then they scored making it 2-2, then Whittaker scored on the 85th making it 3-2, and we won 3-2.

This has been a good month for us, with us moving up to 13th. Hardie has started scoring again a little. 15 goals in 31 starts and 3 sub appearances.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

This has been the most interesting one that's happened.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

Trials

These three are the ones I like the look of most.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

April 2024 Results

Bristol City, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Houghton, Warrington, Mumba, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Scarr, Wright, Bundu, Earley, Butcher, Waine, Galloway and Cundle. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: With their only shot on target all half, they scored on the 43rd minute. Nothing else happened all game, despite us having 4 shots on target we couldn't finish any of them.

Rotherham, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Scarr, Wright, Bundu, Earley, Houghton, Waine, Galloway and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored on the 10th minute, then we got a penalty on the 49th minute in half-time stoppage time, and Hardie converted it, bringing us to a 1-1 draw by half time. Second Half: On the 52nd minute Hardie scored again giving us the lead and that was how we won, with a 1 goal lead over Rotherham. Edwards, Pleguezuelo, HAyden, Cundle, Warrington and Hardie all had good games.

QPR, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Cundle, Houghton, Bundu, Wright, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Azaz, Waine, Earley, Issaka, Akinwale, Scarr and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: Bundu scored twice, once on the 10th minute and once on the 16th, making it 2-0. Then, they scored on the 20th. Nothing else happened, though we did have 57% possession and 7 shots on target, 14 overall, it was a fairly narrow win all things considered.

Leicester City, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hackett, Galloway, Scarr, Edwards, Houghton, Warrington, Issaka, Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie. ...I forgot the subs. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored twice, once on the 30th minute and once on the 43rd minute, both by the same guy, some guy called Stephy Mavididi. Second Half: Jesse Lingard scored on the 77th minute, meaning we were losing 3-0. 92nd minute, Bundu shoots in a consolation goal. 3-1.

Stoke, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Houghton, Cundle, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker and Hardie. Subs: Cooper, Hackett, Azaz, Waine, Scarr, Issaka, Akinwale, Galloway and Butcher. Watched or Simmed: Simmed -- First Half: They scored twice in the first half, one at 20 minutes and one at 25 minutes, the second one coming from a guy who's surname sounds like "mmee". Second Half: They scored another. We lost 3-0. Against a team that was 18th, god dammit.

Millwall, League, Away, 4-3-3
Soares, Hayden, Gibson, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, Warrington, Azaz, Cundle, Mumba, Whittaker and Bundu. Subs: Cooper, Scarr, Wright, Hardie, Galloway, Houghton, Waine, Earley and Miller. First Half: They scored on the 34th minute, and that was it for the match, a 1-0 loss.

We stay in 13th, managing to get 2 wins in all of the matches this month. Not bad.

xray1324 · October 26, 2023

May 2024 Results

Hull, League, Home, 4-2-3-1
Soares, Hackett, Galloway, Scarr, Warrington, Houghton, Earley, Issaka, Jenkins-Davies, Wright and Waine. Subs: Hazard, Gillesphey, Butcher, Akinwale, Hayden, Endacott, Miller, Halls and Cundle. First Half: I decided to rotate the team heavily since there was nothing to play for in this match. They scored twice, once at 11 minutes and again on 32. Second Half: On the 77th minute, we got a penalty and Jenkins-Davies converted it. 2-1 loss.

We finish the season in 14th, with 16 wins and 8 draws, with the remaining matches being 22 losses. Not bad for a team that was supposed to be relegated.

Budgets for Next Season

I believe these are the new budgets anyways.

Season Review

My Best Players this season

Mumba was useful at times, scoring 7 times and assisting 3. Dependable left winger, who has the potential to be developed in midfield too.

Whittaker had a great season for us, scoring 15 goals and assisting 7.

His stars say a different story for his performances, and he will still be valuable next season just maybe not starting nearly every game now. He scored 17 goals in total in all his league appearances, 3 goals below the league's third top goalscorer, and 5 off the top goalscorer.

Next Season

My next post will likely be Sunday or Monday, as I am going away for the weekend tomorrow. My aims for next season are to build a different style of tactic, and I already have a bunch in mind, and also to try to aim for the playoffs. At-least finish a bit higher than this season, but it was a good season regardless. I have a bunch of young players already coming in, though with the 4m Transfer Budget plus ample room for loans and frees in wages too potentially, we will be able to improve the squad.