FM2012: Newcastle United thread - Triumphing by brave defending.....well maybe!

[ChrisNUFC]

Hard Coded finances based on club reputation/size - basically electrical bills, gas bills, etc.

[col_nufc1]

@col_nufc1

That was a bit mean wasn't it, nicking both Ajax's best defenders?

I tried to sign Gregory Van Der Wiel as well but he wasn't interested in talking to us.

I wish I had only signed Jan Vertonghen to be honest, as Toby Alderweireld has been terrible for us, although I am retraining him to be a natural DMC as he has been playing better there.

[col_nufc1]

I am in January now and I have finally got Alan Smith to agree mutual termination for a very reasonable £375k . I still can't sell Ryan Taylor, Danny Guthrie or Mike Williamson though, even when I offer them out for free .

We are through to the Carling cup final and will play West Brom after a easy run which saw us beat Southend, Birmingham, Bristol City, Wigan and Reading along the way.

[dishy91]

I am in January now and I have finally got Alan Smith to agree mutual termination for a very reasonable £375k . I still can't sell Ryan Taylor, Danny Guthrie or Mike Williamson though, even when I offer them out for free .

We are through to the Carling cup final and will play West Brom after a easy run which saw us beat Southend, Birmingham, Bristol City, Wigan and Reading along the way.

I'm just going into December in the first season and Guthrie who has played 3/4 games for me is wanted by Wigan and Williamson has been in the reserves all year and when offered out for his value gets a load of responses saying he'll cost too much, too high wages, not interested, etc... I also managed to sell Smith at the beginning of the game for 500k, I am paying him 20k a week til end of his contract though, looking at it wish I'd just terminated and paid the compensation costs!

[DandyDon]

Joy oh Joy.......3 games into his comeback and Hatem Ben Arfa has his ankle broken by Ramires at Chelsea

[Abramovic]

Balls wish i never bragged about my start earlier, im down to 6th and barely ended a run of 4 losses with a draw. Im out of my depth with this team it seems.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Adam Campbell looks a brilliant prospect, son't think anyone has mentioned him which is a surprise. Other than that who is best to have as a target man and where should he be played into?

[DandyDon]

Adam Campbell looks a brilliant prospect, son't think anyone has mentioned him which is a surprise. Other than that who is best to have as a target man and where should he be played into?

I think Campbell will get a lot more mentions once more folks are a couple seasons in as he's a real prospect but he is only 16 at the start, and very raw. He's gotten 29 goals from 33 games in the under 18s and reserves for me so far. I'm planning to start blooding him next season hopefully, using him as a poacher.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Wow, 29 goals in 33 games, thats excellent, Man City keep approaching him in mines which is annoying, but regarding targetman I meant your first team, eg if someone like Demba Ba is your TM, where do you have him played into and any tips on how I should play him?

[DandyDon]

Wow, 29 goals in 33 games, thats excellent, Man City keep approaching him in mines which is annoying, but regarding targetman I meant your first team, eg if someone like Demba Ba is your TM, where do you have him played into and any tips on how I should play him?

I haven't really been playing anyone as a TM, generally been rotating Ba, Best and Vossen as the lone striker, playing as an Advanced Forward. None of them have really set the heather alight yet to be honest, we've been relying on goals from the midfield and defence.

[DandyDon]

Chose to rest several of the main squad for our League Cup Quarter Final against Villa. Cabaye, Tiote, Ba, Taylor and Coloccini all left out of the starting lineup as we sneaked a hard fought 4-3 win in extra time.

Giving them the rest paid off though as we put in probably our best performance of the season so far in the next game.

Maybe not an amazing scoreline but was very happy with the style we played, how comfortable we looked in defence.

[ReggaeBwoy]

You beat Manu, what else could you ask for, Brilliant, wheer are you in the table?

[DandyDon]

You beat Manu, what else could you ask for, Brilliant, wheer are you in the table?

Currently sitting 3rd at the end of November, Liverpool are top with 33 points then Man Utd, ourselves, Chelsea and Spurs all on 29 points

[ReggaeBwoy]

Quite impressive

[GeordieInExile]

@DandyDon Have you tried the lone forward with a poacher role? I have Wilfried playing there and he's doing pretty good in a 4231 wide formation (wide players are set as Advanced Playmakers). Not many goals from our midfield though, but some decent performances and currently sit second in the table a week into October.

[DandyDon]

@DandyDon Have you tried the lone forward with a poacher role? I have Wilfried playing there and he's doing pretty good in a 4231 wide formation (wide players are set as Advanced Playmakers). Not many goals from our midfield though, but some decent performances and currently sit second in the table a week into October.

I haven't tried it with the Poacher role yet, but might try Ba in that role once he recovers from his latest injury.

EDIT: To be fair, I think I did Ba a slight disservice in the earlier post, checking his stats he's got 5 goals from 7 appearances. Shame he's not been able to start more often for us.

[dirtyprettymagpie]

My first season is going amazingly well although a fortunate fixture list has definitely helped. I basically have to play all the big sides in the last 6/7 games of the season so after managing to be 6th on the turn of the new year I've since won 11 games on the trot in all competitions meaning I'm up to 3rd in the league with a game in hand (which if I win would keep me third but leave me just 2 points off Chelsea at the top), I've won the Carling Cup and I'm in the FA Cup quarter final.

I only signed Pieters in the first transfer window and brought it Sturridge on loan. Both have been immense, especially Sturridge who has 25+ goals already. I brought in Owen Hargreaves on loan in January to cover Tiote during the African Cup of Nations (which was a great decision as Tiote picked up a month long injury during the competition) and it's proved a very shrewd signing. He's bound to be released by Man City come the end of the season so I'm hoping his wages won't be too extortionate as I'd like to bring him in permanently as cover. I want to bring in Sturridge permanently too and had a £4.5m bid accepted in January but he didn't want to discuss terms. The way he and we are going he's set to become a club favoured personel and I think he may fall in love with the club so come the end of the season I'm hoping he'll want to join. I expect I'll have to pay more than £4.5m by then though.

My key players have been Sturridge, Pieters, Coloccini, S. Taylor, Santon, Cabaye, Tiote, Jonas and Obertan. I play the latter two as defensive wingers and Obertan in particular chips in with a fair few goals. I've re-trained Vuckic as a left-midfielder and Abeid as a right midfielder and both have been great when used whether on their respective flanks or as cover for Cabaye in the middle. Ben Arfa is currenly injured again with a broken foot.

The run I'm on is incredible but I fear for the worst once I do eventually lose as, like I said, all my really tough fixtures come at once. One defeat could mean a major slump. The top 6 have pulled away from the rest though so I'm thinking the worst case scenario will be a sixth place finish which was the best I hoped for at the beginning of the season. A part of me thinks it would be too soon to qualify for the Champions League but I'd take it I suppose. I just don't want to pay large transfer fees or big wages so I think we'd struggle in that particular competition. Wouldn't do the already secure finances any harm though I guess.

[Yohan4Cabaye]

Finished 1st season finishing 4th place and winning the League Cup.

Transfers first season

IN: Darwin Quintero 2.7m

Sturridge loan

Lallana 500k + Perch

Alderweireld 4.5m

Pieters 2.1m

Vrsaljko 2.5m

Diame 4m

Bressan 3.5m (PSG bought him at start and I bought in jan )

OUT: Ameobi 2.5m

Best 2.5m

Starting my second season now, buzzing that I will be in the Champions League . Only brought in 3 players with the 16m available which were Sturridge(5m), Bangura (6.5m) and Weiss(4.5m)

[Spedding]

so first season was a mixed bag started off with a 4 5 1 formation which seen us 13th by december and in danger of getting sacked so i changed formation to a 4 1 2 1 2 narrow tactic and ended up finishing 7th.

Second season still in pre season and have at a clearout have sold Xisco, Jonas, Perch, Elliott, Ba, Guthrie, Gosling, Marveux, Lua Lua,tiote for a totol of 25 million

while signing for a total 23.5 million

Jack Butland 19 (birmingham) 1.25 million (back up goalkeeper as sold forster)

Baba 24 (celtic) 7.5 million replacement for Ba, carr rated him paid quite high as he only joined celtic in january where he scored 15 in 15appearences)

Diego Buonanotte 24 (malaga) 2.7 million (replacement for marveaux as i am not playing with wingers wanted a more natural attacking midfielder to rotate with ben arfa)

Tom Cairney 21 (hull) 2.5 million (back up centre midfield)

Lorenzo Crisetig 19 (inter) 850k (probably first team defensive midfielder)

Carlos Fierro 18 (chivas) free (rated quite highly by staff striker for future)

Mohammed Abu 20 (man city) 2.5 million (will be fighting with crisetig for the defensive mifield spot)

Juhani Ojala 23 (young boys) 1.6 million (back up defender)

Ruud van Nistlerooy 36 free (brought in for his experience as i have a young squad)

Phil Hodson 16 (wigan) 1.1 million (great prospect for future centre midfield)

Frank Parkin 16 (brighton) 1.4 million(as above)

Fernando Gago 26 (real madrid) 1.8 million (replacement for tiote)

GK - Krul (Butland)

DR - Vrsaljko (Santon)

DL - Aldrete (Santon)

DC - Taylor (Dawson)

DC - Coloccini (Ojala)

DMC - Gago (Abu)

MC - Crisetig ()

MC - Cabaye (Cairney)

AMC - Ben Arfa (Buonanotte)(Vuckic)

SC - Van Nistlerooy (Baba)

SC - Wilfried (DeJong)

i see myself rotating the midfield and strikers as so far they've all played well in pre season.

[OutClassed]

Hard Coded finances based on club reputation/size - basically electrical bills, gas bills, etc.

Ah ok, so there's no way to get this cost down? Looks like I'll be trying to get some money in the coffers over the summer.

[ChrisNUFC]

There's no way to manage it.

[Geordie_Gaz]

Things finally starting to look up! Started the season with a 4-4-2 advanced wingers formation, with the intention of switching to a 4-2-3-1 when Ben Arfa returned. Things didn't work out as well as I'd planned though, at the end of November I was sitting just above the relegation zone with the fear of losing my job. A team meeting later, and with Ben Arfa fit again. 19 points from 8 games has seen me sitting nicely in 7th place now, 2 points ahead of Man City who, oddly enough, were below me in the relegation zone at one point.

I've stuck a bid in for Wilfried too. Originally wasn't too keen because of the Cup of Nations, but he missed selection due to having a minor injury - funnily enough the same thing happened with Ba. Not that I'm complaining. My only other signings in January so far have been Emil Larsen (right wing cover/prospect) and Owen Hargreaves on loan to cover Tiote. Hargreaves scored a

too. Just hope he stays injury free now.

[wagend]

how are you getting wilfried to score? he's not playing great for me as the lone striker in a 4231, ive played him as a poacher and advanced forward and hes not setting the world alight, neither is my team tbh. ive got the wide men playing as support wingers, do you think i should change them, will that unlock wilfrieds scoring potential???

he always gets injured as well!

I set Wilfried as a poacher, but then made him the target man so he's working a little harder for the team. He has the strength to hold the ball up and allow the rest of the team to move around him. Try setting your wingers to attack so that they aren't leaving the lone striker so alone. Make one of them an inside forward (if they can play on opposite flank to strongest foot). For the type of injuries look at the type they are -- if it's strains then reduce physical training.

Everyone seems to love the 4-2-3-1 (old Denmark) formation, but I'm enjoying a flat 3 in the middle with 4-3-2-1. I just don't think Ben Arfa and Vukic are good enough to dictate a formation. I play a BWM:S in the centre, an AP:A and a DLP:S in the middle, with an inside forward and a winger up front. Working pretty well, i finished (albeit 12 points) behind Man Utd for 2nd place in my first season.

[paulyash]

Finished my first season 2nd in the Premiership with 80 points.

W 25 D 5 L 8. For 87 Ag 42.

Knocked out in the Quarter final of the League cup to Fulham 2-0.

Knocked out to Huddersfield in the 4th round of the FA cup 2-1. It still hurts!

Players in:-

Sturridge - Loan (Just tried to sign him for 4mil having finished first season, wouldn't even consider a contract)

Pieters - 3mil

Vrsaljko - 2mil

Wilfried - 2.5mil

Eriksen - 6.5mil

Vertonghen - 9mil

Alderweireld - 9mil ... Yep, I raided Ajax for half their squad

Total - 32mil

Players out:-

Ameobi -Southampton - 3mil

Lovenkrands - Rangers - 1.5mil

Simpson - Southampton - 3mil

Williamson - Southampton - 3.5mil

Best - Reading - 2.2mil

Guthrie - Southampton - 250k ... apparently Southampton were pretty kean on my rejects :S

Coloccini - Napoli - 8mil

Marveaux - Betis - 500k

Smith - Blackburn - Free

Total - 22mil

I played a 4-2-3-1.

GK - Krul (Harper)

DR- Vrsaljko (R.Taylor)

DL- Pieters (Santon)

DC- Anderweireld (Kadar)

DC- Vertonghen (Taylor)

MC- Tiote (Gosling)

MC- Cabaye

AMR- Ben Arfa (Obertan)

AMC- Eriksen (Vuckic)

AML- Sturridge(Gutierrez)

ST- Ba (Wilfried)

Mentions go to Sturridge-Appearances 33 7.62 Goals 25 Assists 9

Eriksen Appearances 25(6) 7.50 Goals 5 Assists 19

Ba and Wilfried also pinched in with 21 and 10 goals each.

Roll on season 2! Looking for a new MC as well as browsing for some top notch wingers! Maybe a ST too, although Ba scored a few he missed so many clear cut chances it was painful to watch at times!

[DandyDon]

@dirtyprettymagpie @Yahon4Cabaye @spedding @GeordieGaz

Looks like some decent seasons being had there (sorry if I missed any other success stories out there!)

Can anyone who has made it into their second season give us a clue what sort of budget to expect btw?

[DandyDon]

1-0 down to Aston Villa after a mistake by Tiote and he seems to be trying to redeem himself by duplicating his wonder goal against the Gunners....oh and by kicking seven shades out of Agbonlahor any time he gets near him

[JizzleyBear]

@dirtyprettymagpie @Yahon4Cabaye @spedding @GeordieGaz

Looks like some decent seasons being had there (sorry if I missed any other success stories out there!)

Can anyone who has made it into their second season give us a clue what sort of budget to expect btw?

I got 9.5 mil start of second season, not done much with it at the moment though to be honest apart from signing Dzagoev for 8mil over 48 months

[DandyDon]

Start of January and the board offered me the chance to change the season expectations, I decided to let them stay the same as they still offered an increase in Transfer money and wage budget. The increase in money available for promising a higher finish wasn't worth the risk of the increased pressure.

Hoping to use that 11 million to add another couple faces during January to help us stay in the European spots till the end of the season. Primarily looking for a quality player for the AMR position. Might make a move for a good young central defender to learn from Colo, have the scouts out looking for one. I've also made a couple moves to bring in some quality next summer with the young Italian midfielder Andrea Bertolacci arriving from Roma for a bargain £700,000 (I'd have liked him in January but he's on a season long loan at the moment) and another Italian the striker Alberto Paloschi will be joining on a free transfer.

[paulyash]

@dirtyprettymagpie @Yahon4Cabaye @spedding @GeordieGaz

Looks like some decent seasons being had there (sorry if I missed any other success stories out there!)

Can anyone who has made it into their second season give us a clue what sort of budget to expect btw?

I got 17.5mil second season for a top half finish!

[Hamzterz]

Finished 3rd in the First season, and won the F.A. easy 5-1 against Burnley.

Ba's playing solid, but i prefer Wilfried and Damiao up front, and Ben Arfa and Shaq on the wings.

[DandyDon]

I don't know if this is worrying, or an indictment on modern footballers...but anytime I use the 'Lets do this for the fans' Or 'Give the fans their moneys worth' the only player who looks motivated is Steve Harper.......bunch of ingrates

[JizzleyBear]

I got 17.5mil second season for a top half finish!

I got skanked lol

[Geordie_Gaz]

I don't know if this is worrying, or an indictment on modern footballers...but anytime I use the 'Lets do this for the fans' Or 'Give the fans their moneys worth' the only player who looks motivated is Steve Harper.......bunch of ingrates

I can honestly say I dislike the new team talk setup. I've tried all sorts, and the best reaction I seem to get is "looked happy" when I assertively tell my players I have faith in them. Nothing else - though I'm yet to have a bad reaction.

[DandyDon]

Ohh here we go.....

[Curuedhel]

I can honestly say I dislike the new team talk setup. I've tried all sorts, and the best reaction I seem to get is "looked happy" when I assertively tell my players I have faith in them. Nothing else - though I'm yet to have a bad reaction.

I'm really liking it. And I've had a few bad reactions - "Seems Stressed", "Seems Demotivated", "Seems Angry" - usually after the general team talk, and then I fix those individuals by giving them an individual talk in a different tone. I also often go through players who have "Nothing specific noted" and try to stir them up with some more extreme individual talks.

[nufc1]

DAMNIT! My 'save game could not be loaded'. I assume theres still no fix for this lol time to start again

[MrMick]

Ohh here we go.....

I used to think that in fm2011 but surprisingly i kept most of my players i wanted to keep , can anyone that is in there second season or more tell me how santon is developing i know he has a good potential but was interested how quick his stats increase , i am only in october first season and him & simo are showing signs of improvement already , going to hammer the game at the weekend until i finish the first season at least .

[james_wilko]

For people using Ben Arfa, I can't recommend playing him as a Treq in the CAM position highly enough. Godly.

[DandyDon]

Lost Steven Taylor to a bad hamstring injury just after New year...and it seems to have mentally unhinged Colo!

In the three games since Taylor's injury he's rated 6.0, 5.4 and 6.6, made mistakes leading to goals in two of the games, and then gave away a penalty in the third. The bench beckons

[col_nufc1]

The January transfer window has now closed in the first season and these were our transfers.

We have agreed to sign Luuk De Jong, Carlos Fierro, Andres Guardado, Zakaria Labyad and Thiago Neves on Bosman free transfers at the end of the season.

[DandyDon]

I tried to get Neves to agree a contract with us, but his agent just would not budge on the minimum fee clause (he was insisting on a £3 million release which was way too low for my liking) and eventually broke off talks with us.

[col_nufc1]

I tried to get Neves to agree a contract with us, but his agent just would not budge on the minimum fee clause (he was insisting on a £3 million release which was way too low for my liking) and eventually broke off talks with us.

I think he has got a £20m minimum fee clause in his contract on my save but I wouldn't of signed him either if he wanted a £3m minimum release clause.

[dan_manager91]

so after fm11 where i had my most success with Newcastle in a manager game (8 titles, 5 champos, 3 fa cups, 1 uefa cup, 3 super cups, 3 club world championships, 4 charity shields, 2 league cups) in 10 seasons

i decided for fm12 i would manage Newcastle as i would if Mike Ashley was really my owner

Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias opperate a policy of

*Low wages (not exceeding 65k)

*Low Transfer fee's (nothing over £15mill)

*Selling on older, higher wage players

*Signing young hungry players with good sell on value

so this is how season 1 is going so far

Starting budget: £8,000,000

SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW (SEASON 1)

OUT:

A. Smith £1.2mill - QPR

F. Coloccini £8mill - Man City **Cries

IN:

J. Cebral £2.7mill * (L/RW)

D. Wilson £7.5mill * (CB)

S. Bassong £4.5mill * (CB)

G. Bong £6.5mill* (LB)

WINTER TRANSFER BUDGET (Increased to £17mill by owner)

IN:

F.Koita £5mill *

I. Affelay £7mill * (CAM)

D. Gibson £1.1mill (CM)

SEASON 1 RESULTS

League Cup: beat Wolves on pens

FA Cup: beat Man city on pens

League: 3rd (qualify for champo)

Manager of year

STaylor+Gutierez as subs on team of the year!

[DandyDon]

Good first season there Dan, how did Gibson work out in midfield for you?

[OutClassed]

Finished 6th in the League in my first season. Won the League Cup. Standout players:

Goalscorers:

Wilfried - 16 in 25(12)

Craig Dawson - 9 in 38(1)

Jonas Gutierrez - 9 in 35(4)

Yohan Cabaye - 9 in 31(4)

Hatem Ben Arfa - 7 in 23(9)

Asissts:

Yohan Cabaye - 17 in 31(4)

Hatem Ben Arfa - 9 in 23(9)

Jonas Gutierrez - 6 in 35(4)

Sylvain Marveaux - 6 in 12(9)

Eyong Enoh - 4 in 19(11)

Adrian Aldrete - 4 in 26(5)

Wilfried - 4 in 25(12)

Which makes the possibility of selling Jonas quite hard as he did come up with the goods, unlike Hoilett who only grabbed 1 goal and 1 assist in 15(12). De Bruyne, Labyad, Montoya, Vertonghen and 2 regens join in the summer so I'll mainly be selling players after that. Also just got given the GB23 job

P.S What would people say is a good price for Cabaye? Knocking down offers of £18m, but think if it goes over £20m I might accept it.

[nufc1]

P.S What would people say is a good price for Cabaye? Knocking down offers of £18m, but think if it goes over £20m I might accept it.

Not sure there are many better hard-working playmakers in the game tbh. He looks like he's doing extremely well for you aswell so i say keep him unless you're offered silly money lol

[DandyDon]

P.S What would people say is a good price for Cabaye? Knocking down offers of £18m, but think if it goes over £20m I might accept it.

I'd agree with nufc1 here, considering Cabaye's stats for you in the previous season, you'd be hard pushed to find someone with his work rate combined with his skill. There are some out there, but you'd probably end up paying a fair whack of whatever you get for Yohan, and no guarantee they'll fit in right away.

[DandyDon]

2011/12 Season Update - October to January

After our solid start to the season we continued in fine form throughout Novemeber and December to keep ourselves in the running for Europe. Despite narrow 1-0 defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool we were in the top four heading into the crowded festive fixture list.

The Results so far

January turned out to be a very strange month for us, early on it looked like being a disaster with a bad injury to Steven Taylor, and Diarra, Tiote and Tshabalala all off on international duty. I used the increased transfer funds to add a few new faces to the squad, bringing in Adam Johnson for £4.4 million, Owen Hargreaves for £625,000 and Craig Dawson the West Brom central defender for £2.3 million. All three were bought with the possibility of European football on the horizon, I wanted a few more English players available for selection.

We had a couple of horror show performances against Watford in the FA Cup (needing a last minute equaliser to grab a replay) and in the first leg of the League Cup Semi Final at home to Reading we were even worse. The away win at Blackburn seemed to steady the ship slightly abd the players took their rollockings to heart for the 2 cup games and we won the Watford replay easily before securing an appearance in the League Cup final (where we'll face Chelsea). Craig Dawson marked his debut for the club with a brace against Rochdale in the FA Cup but then we turned in our worst performance of the season in a 6-1 mauling by Man City

Despite that slaughter our form had pushed us up to second place in the league, just one goal better off than Spurs (even with the hammering our goal difference took at Mancini's hands) and 2 points behind current leaders Liverpool (admittedly they have a game in hand over us though).

The League on January 31st

Still not entirely happy with the strikers so far, although Leon Best turned in some very useful performances in in the last few weeks, Demba Ba is out again just after returning from injury, straining knee ligaments in the 2nd leg against Reading and he'll miss the next 7-8 weeks. Fortunately the fixture list has thrown up a couple of very winnable home games after that nightmare at the end of Jan, so hopefully the players can redeem themselves.

EDIT: Pierre Wome had his contract mutually terminated after moaning once too often about number of games he'd played. Alan Smith then had the temerity to throw a strop when I offered him a mutual termination of contract so I decided to just take the hit in terms of compensation and released him on a free....was getting sick of him being constantly suspended even in the reserves (5 yellows and a red by December) and draining massive amounts of money from my budget

[Ladyb1rd]

Just got my copy yesterday, and started a game with Newcastle. First time Managing Newcastle in my 11 years of CM/FM.

I wanted to emulate the real Newcastle United so I didn't sell off a lot of players even though some of them looks crap.

Players In

1. Ruben Yttergard Jennsen (Tromso) - 1.3m - Nice stats for the Fees. He can cover for Cabaye and Tiote easily and has been in my starting line up for first 4 games.

2. Shabalala - 300k - Very cheap, so I bought him with an intent of selling him after 1 year for a decent fee. Scout said injury prone, and I'm hoping he'll get through the season unscathed.

3. Daniel Sturridge (Loan) - Free loan with 50% wage contribution. He's not going into my line up yet. Ba is too good.

Players Out

1. Alan Smith - 1m - QPR - My favourite player who is useless. Sold him to reduce wage bill. Still paying 25k a week until 6.2012.

2. Jame Perch - Loan

I'm using 4-1.2.2.1 with Gutierrez, Ba and Oberton up front just like in real life. Give Stroller Ameobi a chance. He might chip in with goals.

Started the season with 1win and 2 draws. Hoping to get more actions tonight after my whole day of class.

[SeanH91]

Finally got the game the other day, and started up my proper Newcastle save last night. I didn't want to return the the old days and splash out huge amount of money on players who could flop, so went with a couple of sensible signings to start off with. In came Erik Pieters for £2m, and also Danny Sturridge on loan, no fee up front just paying 50% of his wages. Nobody has left apart from 4 or 5 youngsters on loan.

I still haven't settled on a formation yet, but that's mainly due to not having Ben Arfa fit yet, once he's back I'll more than likely go for a 4-2-3-1. But for now I've been playing a flat 4-4-2 which has served us reasonably well so far with 2 wins and 2 draws from my first 4 competitive games which included Sunderland away (0-0) and Man Utd at home (2-2).

Nobody in particular has set the place alight yet, but it's early days so hopefully come January someone will have hit blinding form