warlock

Going well, and some useful business. I've never managed Coleman but he always seems to play well against my sides. If Williams can help you to promotion he'll be a good buy, but I found him very hit and miss in the Championship with Hull.

Oxford United, May 2022 The season is over and after battling with Ipswich for the title down the final straight, how did we do? Despite the rigours of a packed fixture list - and continuing injury problems - we were unbeaten in February, dropping just a single point in a goalless draw with Crewe. But things went a bit Pete Tong in March: The FA Cup loss to Brentford was expected, but the home draw against a Burton side we should have beaten was a disappointment. Worse was to follow with a league defeat to struggling Shrewsbury. That allowed Ipswich to open a 3pt lead at the top of the division so our home game against the Tractor Boys became hugely significant. A fantastic 3-0 win took us back to the top on goal difference but we ended the month with a defeat to promotion-chasing Plymouth that allowed Ipswich to overtake us once again. We opened the final month of the campaign with a morale-boosting win over Wednesday to claim the Pizza Pot. It looked to have at least been good for finances with a £100k reward- until we promptly paid out £103k in player bonuses. As we arrived at the last two games, we still had a chance to claim the title, especially when Ipswich lost their penultimate game - unfortunately, we had already secured promotion and it seemed that everyone simply switched off. We never looked like winning either match. So we finished the season in 2nd - a fantastic performance from a squad never expected to do better than top-half but which produced the best attack and second-best defence in the league. Mark Sykes's performance as top scorer was a credit to him - and a black mark against our strikers who were horribly inconsistent all year. Luke McNally emerged as our most important player, as the 22-year-old earned the highest average rating and most PoM awards. Brannagan kept up his production of assists (although he did fall away badly in the latter stages) and, despite his poor disciplinary record, Seddon overcame a poor start to the season to become a solid, reliable presence at LB. I'm not yet sure I'll continue the save in the Championship - there's a huge rebuild to be done with 5 loans expiring, plus another 5 players on expiring contracts. The latter group includes new signing Billy Bodin, who missed most of the season with injury and was abysmal when he returned. It also looks likely we'll go into the summer with only Matty Taylor as a striker, and I'm far from convinced he can perform in the Championship. The same is true of another 3-5 first team regulars. Time will tell...

That's about right, I think. Really thought you could make the playoffs but no shame in coming up just short. Great start to season 2 as well - one defeat in 20 is promotion-chasing form indeed!

Some compensation for a "disappointing league campaign" . And European football secured for another season. Yeah, the winter months are a grind in the EFL. I thought things would ease off a bit after January, but they haven't - 7 games in February, 7 games in March. I've got a conveyor belt of injuries - as soon as one player returns, another goes out injured for weeks, and I've had to playi 17-year-old in central defence.

Looks like the tactical tinkering is working, and I agree - not too much to worry about in those results. I wouldn't be surprised to see you finish in the playoff spots.

It's a fair exchange - I've learned a lot from your posts this year and last

Can feel your pain in this post . Late goals are certainly a thing, as Pep found this week. But I've never found it to be a particular problem - sometimes there's nothing you can do (they want it more than you), but mostly I've won more games in the last 5 minutes (and added time) than I lose. In recent FMs I've played mostly on a "positive" mentality; this year it's been more "balanced". Typically, I play "shorter" passing and either standard or higher tempo, standard or higher LoD/LoE (those are general tactical settings). If I'm defending a lead, or holding on for a draw, I make the following changes: * lower tempo, to control possession. * time-wasting to "sometimes". * tick on "pass into space", to keep the AI honest at the back or hit them on the break when they've over-committed. It doesn't always work, but I can honestly say my feeling is we score as many late goals as we concede. Sometimes I might change an attacking role to support, or a support role to defend, but usually the above is enough. If we're really under the cosh I find "shoot on sight" to be helpful as lashing the ball into "row Z" can be a good time-waster. On the other hand, I never drop mentality below "balanced", and never drop my LoD to "lower" - just seems like you're inviting a huge amount of pressure/shots that way. My opinion, and worth exactly what you paid for it

Agreed . Your players could be completely traumatised by that schedule, but if they do better than 1 win out of 5 it could be great. As for tactics, I wouldn't be playing with lower lines /and/ a 'cautious' mentality, but I've been wrong before. I just think you're setting yourself up to be under pressure for 90 minutes every game. But I hope it goes without saying that I wish you all the success in the world

Unbelievable, Jeff! Imagine the scenes at Shrewsbury - not just a Champions League debut but absolutely owning the competition. And the PL, too. Amazing season - congratulations

New save incoming?

I've been delighted with him - stepped straight into first-team action and acquitted himself well. Can also play the AMR role, too. Ipswich have been relentless - best attack, best defence, most clean sheets. My board is being typically board-like... Expectation: top half; "A+ delighted" when we were overperforming massively in first; "B+ pleased" now that we're only overperforming massively in second .

Oxford United, February 2022 In my last update I said we were heading into the tough winter schedule. Actually, I had no idea how tough it was going to be: having played 7 games in each month of October and November, it turned out we had 7 games scheduled in December and 8 games in January . For the first time in an FM save I had to rest players for 1 or 2 additional days between games, even when that meant no training was possible. And even so, we suffered a string of injuries that meant we were operating on the slimmest of margins. Between the end of November and the end of January we lost AM Mark Sykes for a month; AM Ryan Williams for 5 weeks; and AM James Henry with a hip injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. And those are on top of earlier injuries that have kept out AMs Billy Bodin and Marcus Browne since before the season started and who are unlikely to make a return before March. But despite that litany of woe, we managed to continue our good form on the pitch: At least in part, the fixture congestion was caused by our continued success in cup competitions, made worse by the fact that it took us two games to see off MK Dons in the FA Cup. The January window saw two departures from the club: hopeless striker Sam Winnall went to Gillingham for a princely £9k, and DM Jamie Hanson (who missed the opening months through injury) went to Peterborough for £26k. Those small fees gave us the budget to think about a couple of signings. With our injury troubles at AM, that was my first priority but I failed to come up with a likely target. Instead, we had been playing Anthony Forde, a natural AMR, at FB where he had done very well. But we had an opportunity to bring in youngster Taylor Gardner-Hickman, a natural FB, on loan from West Brom and he joined for a £1.4k weekly wage contribution, allowing Forde to revert to his best position. Second priority was to find a more reliable source of goals but strikers who we could afford and who were willing to join proved elusive and we ended the window with that need unfilled. On the pitch, the cracks started to show - although it's probably fairer to say we perhaps reverted to the kind of performances that were expected from the start of the season: I certainly expected us to exit the cup competitions this month but we saw off Spurs u23s in the Pizza Pot, and then produced a fantastic result to breeze past Wolves in the FA Cup. The draw against Lincoln was disappointing but they are fighting for a playoff spot. The defeat to Wycombe was easily our worst result - and worst performance - of the season, particularly having taken an early lead. Worse still, we surrendered our hold on first place to Ipswich. And although we did very well against the Owls, the draw against struggling Gillingham means we now trail the Tractor Boys by 7pts. The only disappointment has been the patchy form of our strikers - both Taylor and Baldock have reached double figures but both have had long dry spells. Fortunately, the midfield have filled in spectacularly with Mark Sykes leading the scoring chart, Brannagan leading the league in assists, and Nathan Holland producing 9 goals and 10 assists from the wings. The latter, incidentally, will be joining permanently in the summer - Motherwell popped up with an end-of-contract transfer bid which alerted me to the possibility. Would parent club West Ham be willing to let him sign with us on a free in July? Happily, they would! If only we can avoid a further injury crisis, it could be a very good season.

Excellent! Three good possibles there, all with different strengths and weaknesses, I think.

A tough season off the pitch, but very respectable otherwise. Those work permit application fees can be a killer if you're not paying attention (ask me how I know ).

Sorry, but it is indefinite until a date for the end of the ban is announced. That's literally what 'indefinite' means - no end date has been defined.

The announcement doesn't say that. The specific measures announced are to clarify the position for the 22/23 season. The statement also says, "given the uncertainty as to when the suspension will be lifted" - in other words, the ban is still indefinite.

Certainly not a common choice and would be interesting on that basis. As an expatriate of Darlington I couldn't possibly manage the monkey-hangers but would follow a save with great interest. Another north-eastern prospect might be Gateshead if you wanted to go as low as the VNN. Good squad and currently tearing it up in real life. It goes without saying that your return to the thread would be most welcome

TS Eliot famously opined that April is the cruellest month. He obviously never managed in FM

Well, if it wasn't a "coincidence" you'd never notice. Humans are very good at creating patterns out of random noise.

You're telling me you didn't win L2 in your first season? Second season is more like it! Just need to repeat in season 3

Cheers, mate! When you were managing them last year I remember saying I'd give them a go at some point but I never got round to it. So when I was looking for a likely candidate it seemed like the right choice. It is a very good side by L1 standards - only the lack of pace up front bothers me. I've gone for a much more possession-oriented approach than usual... seems to be working . Edit to add: I've already had a takeover, but the new board have invested nothing. We're losing about £200k a month so we'll be in the red by Jan/Feb - be interesting to see what happens after that.

Oxford United, December 2021 On arrival at Oxford one thing seems clear: the transfer window is a non-event. There's no money for transfers and just £1k a week in the spare wage budget. Moreover, the squad already features four loans, so there's little room there. Happily, it looks as though no transfer business is required - the squad certainly isn't perfect, but there are decent starters and at least adequate cover everywhere. And apart from the loans, the club has been busy in the market before arrival, having signed the likes of Ryan Williams from Portsmouth, Marcus McGuane from Forest, Billy Bodin from Preston, Sam Baldock from Derby, Marcus Browne from 'Boro, and Steve Seddon from Birmingham. Although most were free signings, some fees were paid. At first sight it seems there are too many wide AMs and not enough CMs, but it turns out that James Henry and Mark Sykes - natural AMRs - are more than capable of playing as B2B or mezzalas. There are several good DMs, but no natural AMs, so a 433dm system was an easy choice. In FM, however, things are rarely that simple. Somehow, before a ball has been kicked, AML Marcus Browne is out for 6-8 months with a ligament injury but has apparently been replaced by Nathan Holland on loan from West Ham. Then before pre-season had ended, new signing Billy Bodin suffered exactly the same injury and is expected to miss the entire season. So Henry moved back to his natural position at AMR and I signed CM Jaakko Oksanen on a season-long loan from Brentford. Also on loan at AMR was Cardiff's Gavin Whyte who started really well for us. Until he suffered a groin strain that would sideline him for around 2 months. Paying £6k a week to have him occupying a treatment table didn't seem like good value, so I terminated his loan, moved Sykes back to AMR, and looked for a replacement in central midfield. Since Brentford asked for just £250 a week for Oksanen's services, I wondered if they'd be as generous with CM Paris Maghoma and they outdid themselves, allowing us a loan for absolutely zero contribution. There were a couple of other squad issues. We had only 3 CBs, a problem resolved when I found the ageing John Musinho in the u23 squad. At 35 he's barely mobile but still looked capable of doing a job. We were also short of a backup LB, Again, a look in the u23s revealed 20-year-old Michael Elichi. Tall and fast, he looked decent. My last concern was up front. We have 3 veteran strikers: Matty Taylor (31), Sam Baldock (32) and Sam Winnall (30). But they all look like they were stamped from a mould - slow, poor technical ability, not great in the air, but hard-working. I wasn't sure how reliable they'd be in front of goal. Early form Whatever my concerns, we got off to a great start: Although the strikers were slow to find the net they picked up the pace by the end of the month, while the midfield were outstanding in creating and scoring (Oksanen's goal against Charlton came from his first touch of the ball in an Oxford shirt). And while we couldn't continue to rack up the wins in September, we made it through without defeat: And in October we actually moved up a gear: Hat-tricks from Baldock bookended the month, and Taylor bagged another couple, while we were very solid in defence. This was beyond my wildest hopes - 16 games played and undefeated. Inevitably, it couldn't last: A visit to Portman Road gave us a reality check as we suffered our first setback. But, for now, it appears to be no more than that, as we put that result behind us and picked up another 7pts from our remaining 3 fixtures. Not surprisingly, that good form sees us top of the table - just! - as we head into the difficult winter months: What might be surprising is that Mark Sykes - playing as a supporting winger - leads the scoring charts, although just ahead of Taylor and Baldock who have 7 apiece. Brannagan is our main creative force with 13 goal contributions from 19 starts. The only disappointment has been the performance of Seddon at LB, not just the worst disciplinary record but match ratings that tend towards 6s more than 7s, and youngster Elichi is now my first choice in the role. We've done as well as expected in the cups. In the Carabao we saw off Crawley before succumbing to a 0-1 loss to Premiership outfit Palace. In the FA Cup, we beat Bradford and will face MK Dons in the second round as our first match in December. And we're still alive in the Pizza Pot having topped a group featuring Spurs u23s. Our financial position - precarious! - means there's unlikely to be much business in January, if any. Board expectations are for a top-half finish, which I'm confident we'll achieve. We could, of course, do much better but I'm trying to enjoy the ride and not worry about playoffs or promotions.

No mean feat, given the limitations the club faces. You're doing really well, finding some good signings and getting the best out of them. Tough competition, too - looks like Fulham and Brentford (among others) continue to bounce between the top two divisions. KUTGW

Good to see you back in the saddle, and not a bad first season at all. I expect you'll be back in the Prem by Monday dinner time

I'm sure it will surprise nobody that I've called time on my Fulham save. Just couldn't turnaround the bad form, morale was in the tank and the losses just kept on coming. Played through to early December and we were mired at the foot of the table... had plenty of money for the January window but no real targets to sign. Still, the save achieved its purpose - I can now say I've successfully completed a promotion season in the PL. After a few days out of the game, I've taken over at Oxford United in League One. The club is financially strapped but the squad is more than good enough to achieve the board goal of a top-half finish. I'll try to post a proper update tomorrow.