FM13: Newcastle United - Alan Pardew and The Eight Year Plan.

[tommonufc]

2015/16: Half Way

Premier League (Results)

After 19 games I'm sitting joint top with Chelsea, but haven't really been setting the world alight I feel. Losing at home to Bolton at the start of the season was a bit of a shambles, and since then I've been able to avoid defeat in quite a few games, whilst only really drawing against the bigger sides in the league. Tactically I've been switching between my tried and trusted 4-1-4-1, and a 442 - allowing me to play with Mathias Destro and Adam Campbell.

Title race looks to be pretty interesting this season, with me not being on such red-hot form as last year, and an improved Chelsea side. Media predictions have me at 3rd, despite me being 2nd last year - and winning the title too. That's a bit strange, as was me losing out on the Manager of the Year last year to Alex Ferguson.

Champions League, I was placed in the same group as Benfica - the current Champions of Europe, and the side that knocked me out of last years Semi-Finals. Interesting stuff. Managed to progress through into the Knockout rounds fairly easily - where I'll play some more Portuguese in Porto.

Player of the Season.. so far

Moussa's been devastating from midfield. Has scored around 60 goals for me in the three and a bit seasons I've been managing him, but looks to be just getting better. Sissoko, he's magic you know..

[tommonufc]

Moussa in World Team of the Year! Jack Wilshere on the bench.

[tommonufc]

What on earth is Steven Taylor's problem? He's always wanting out of the club..

Telling him I'm going to win the Champions League, and he's asking how long that'll take! What on f' does he think he's going to achieve away from Newcastle! Could sell him to Liverpool, and he can have fun finishing 6th every season..

[Tellos]

Trying to find a left midfielder who is left footed and is on a par with Jonas is currently harder than I thought it would be. In fact finding anyone who isn't overpriced seems quite difficult. Managed to get Redmond and Will Hughes, as well as Ospina on a free as backup to Krul seeing as my Director of football sent Alnwick out on loan and sold Elliot. Guidetti is coming in on loan as cover as I couldn't afford to match PSG's bid for Aubamayeng.

[tommonufc]

"is on a par with Jonas is currently harder than I thought it would be"

Finding an improvement on Jonas, for the money he should be able to be sold for (£10-15M), really shouldn't be hard at all..

Giaccherini? Lallana? Gaitain? Two of those are two footed, so in essence left footed. Giaccherini could be transfer listed at Juve.

Probably lots more as well - Luke Shaw if you can get him away from Southampton could turn into fantastic left sided player.

[tommonufc]

Carlin Cup Semi Final

Lost first leg vs. Liverpool 3-1, so needed to win this game 3-0.

Robbed

[Tellos]

Unlucky there Tommo. Will have a look into Lallana, Shaw and Gaitan in the morning. Giaccherini I remember watching and missing out on, think he went to Liverpool in the end. I think I've been putting too much faith in my scouts, who tell me that nobody I look at under £20m is as good as Jonas Will see who is around and shift Marveaux to free up space and additional funding.

On the plus side, my coaches rate Ferguson as having the potential to be better than Jonas, so just need to get him the game time to unlock it.

I noticed after the first few pages of this thread that people stopped talking about Directors of Football - is that because they stopped being used? Or is it that people got used to what to expect from them and just let them sell people? I went for some Russian guy over Comoli this time and he seems quite effective at selling people for their value but doesn't seem particularly capable of bringing anyone in.

[JD nawrat]

Viktor Fischer

No work til Friday so I can finally play some FM again. Loading up now.

[tommonufc]

Unlucky there Tommo. Will have a look into Lallana, Shaw and Gaitan in the morning. Giaccherini I remember watching and missing out on, think he went to Liverpool in the end. I think I've been putting too much faith in my scouts, who tell me that nobody I look at under £20m is as good as Jonas Will see who is around and shift Marveaux to free up space and additional funding.

On the plus side, my coaches rate Ferguson as having the potential to be better than Jonas, so just need to get him the game time to unlock it.

I noticed after the first few pages of this thread that people stopped talking about Directors of Football - is that because they stopped being used? Or is it that people got used to what to expect from them and just let them sell people? I went for some Russian guy over Comoli this time and he seems quite effective at selling people for their value but doesn't seem particularly capable of bringing anyone in.

Wouldn't put too much faith in scouts. Jonas works hard and does a job in a side, but isn't really creative or anything worth raving about going forward.

Ferguson, yeah, he'll turn out to be a Premier League player; but the other players mentioned will be far better.

Yeah, forgot about Fischer! He's bloody marvelous. Can become one of best players in world very easily.

Directors of Football can be very useful, just make sure you set them up accordingly. You don't really want them buying your players without you giving the final say-so, or selling the players without your rubber stamp.

I orginally brought in Les Reed, from Southampton; but he retired end of last season, so hired Juventus' Director of Football. I set them up to bring in players for first team, but I have final confirmation - and have them hire all my staff. That's the main reason for me having them, as them getting my staff sorted makes everything a lot easier for me - as I'd just forget without it.

I've had very little success with DOF's purcashing me players this year - I think I've only ever signed one deal that they've set up without my knowledge, and have very little success them signing players I add to transfer targets.

[tommonufc]

Colo's going to be leaving me Tried giving him an extra year, but he snubbed me to return to AC Milan.

[tommonufc]

The definitive 'Game of two halves'.

Edit; Picked up a little nugget of info in the Tactics section not so long ago, and put it into my system - resulting in me changing from Balanced, to Rigid due to the number of specialist roles I've got in my side; this also coincided with me moving from 4141 to 451 - with the first game being that Liverpool second leg game. Got to say it's working fantastically, and has injected a great boost into the side. Latest result being;

[JD nawrat]

Massadio Haidara out for 5-6 weeks so Vurnon Anita will play LB and Juan will come back from the youth side to fill in behind Mariga at DM

e: I'm not having a great season so far but I'm still in line to win plenty.

Final of the Capital One Cup v Man United

Easy-ish match-up in the FA Cup v Leeds/Millwall which should see me to the Semi-finals

Only 7 behind Man City

Champions League Last 16 v Atletico Madrid

Already won the Community Shield.

I could win a treble possibly.

edit:

So I bring Juan up and start him in the next game. Some dirty ******* breaks his leg and he's out for 5-6 months Furious.

His PA instantly dropped from 5* to 4* because of that injury. So angry about this.

[JD nawrat]

I'm about to play Man United in the Capital One Cup Final... and to be honest, if I don't win I'll be furious.

They've got Destro up front with Rooney in behind in AMC and Hamsik at MC. Dedé is playing centre-back with De Gea in goals. Oh, and Kagawa is on the left flank. Quite a strong line-up, eh? ...No. Wilfried Zaha is at AMR, Nick Powell is playing the defensive anchor (8 Marking, 10 Tackling, 9 Positioning)... in defence they have Joe Hurst-May, a 16 year old regen left back who is 2*PA according to my scouts. His opposite at RB is Pedro Faria, a 16 year old regen. He is 4.5*PA, but only 5*CA (Silver). Dedé's partner is Bram Niewenhaus, a 17 year old regen centre-back who actually looks like he could be the real deal. My scouts say he's 5*PA and understandably so. He is only 2.5*CA though... in short, they've got no defensive qualities whatsoever except for Dedé. I should destroy this side. I'll be so disappointed if I lose, especially with what I regard to be my strongest side possible at the minute:

Krul, Mallo, Yanga-Mbiwa, Papadopoulos, Santon, Anita, Clasie, Sissoko, Hernandez, Lallana, Jovetic

Hernandez's average in the last 5 games is a staggering 8.18 with 5 goals

edit: My god, a lot harder than it should've been.

Went down 0-1 after only 17 minutes. We kicked off and scored within 2 passes (Chantome to Hernandez, Hernandez to Jovetic, 1-1). 18th minute goal. We then made it 2-1 soon after half-time with Papadopoulos nodding the ball in from a corner. Looked to be coasting, dominating the game and then United scored on the 88th minute to my fury - they'd had 10 shots in total, we'd had 24. We went into extra-time and I threw everything I had...penalties wasn't an option, not with that side they put out. Griezmann stepped up to take a freekick on the 107th minute literally on the edge of the box and slammed it straight into the wall. De Gea dived for it and fortunately the ball fell straight back to Griezmann who had the whole goal to tap the ball in to. 3-2, Capital One Cup Winners. Yas.

Griezmann got man of the match from the bench with a goal and an assist 8.60 rating, same as Jovetic who got a goal and an assist too.

[css_matt]

Failing to find a tactic we had a very slow start to the season.

I eventually went with a 4-1-3-2 in December and plan to stick to it.

8th in the league in Feb and looking to pip the last CL spot

[JD nawrat]

Been considering the positions of a lot of my players following a so-so season from a lot of them.

Lallana has gone from likely to move on to a great choice; same for Abel Hernandez who's still not even classed as a wide player but continues to be electric from there (unconvincing in AMR, despite having played there for a year now) and Antoine Griezmann is a great choice too. Garmash is proving a great acquisition and Jordy Clasie is slowly but surely improving and becoming better and better. Papadopoulos is great, Alderweireld is making for a brilliant utility/rotation/back-up type player. Remie Streete is developing very well now and it turns out he's not going to go to waste like I initially had expected. Mallo is a brilliant choice for RB and Davide Santon who I was contemplating trying to cash in on has proven he has what it takes to perform in the big ones. Brilliant from him.

Fabio Quagliarella is awful. Cannot wait to get rid. The fact his Teamwork is 16 is insulting to be honest. All he does it turn and shoot, never passes. Despise him tbh. He's gone in the summer on a free transfer. Thank ****. Moussa Sissoko is having a shocking season by his regular standards. I think at this point last season his average was around 7.40 and now he's at 6.99. I don't want to get rid but with the way he's been playing I don't really have an option. With his value of £14M I can cash in on him big time. Garmash has outshone him wonderfully. Clement Chantome is great. Really great. But this season has been a season of two halves. Up til Christmas he was unplayable, literally. Destroying opponents. Then he got himself sent off at Old Trafford and slipped out of the team as Jordy Clasie improved himself and proved to be useful. Chantome might be on the road out with Victor Petrov on his way in. With Tachtsidis coming to the club as well, I think McDonald Mariga's days are numbered too. He's improving this season...after the great performances he put in last year I was bound to be disappointed with anything less than the same this year round and unfortunately he hasn't delivered. Finally, Ross Turnbull will be on his way out because all he does it moan moan moan.

Coming in I'll only need a box-to-box midfielder or a back-up to Tachtsidis (I might move Anita to the B2B role). I was considering getting rid of Debuchy because Mallo is so good but to be honest Debuchy makes for a great rotation with Mallo so I don't think that's necessary.

EDIT: A quick update on my silverware prospects...

Capital One Cup Winners

FA Cup Semi Final v Everton or Middlesbrough, with a match-up against Arsenal or Wigan if I get into the final

2nd in the League, 5 points behind City, 9 games to go

Out of the Champions League, Atletico won 3-4 on aggregate. Furious about the way it happened. We drew 2-2 in Madrid and then back in Newcastle they got a dodgy penalty to go up 1-0 after 75 mins. We equalised with 6 minutes to go and I went contain. They won a freekick and I'm 95% sure they were offside when they eventually scored to win 1-2. 90+1 they scored. My first home defeat since...wow, ehh, I don't actually know. April 1 last season when Barcelona won 3-1 apparently. It was only my 5th ever home defeat (Athletic in season 1 Europa League; Southampton Season 1 Premier League; Man United Season 2 FA Cup; Barcelona Season 2 CL; Atletico Season 3 CL).

Pretty pissed off that we went out to Atletico. The draw favoured us so much and after drawing 2-2 in Madrid I was confident we'd go through. They'd only had 2 shots before they won the penalty.

At least I can now put all focus into trying to retain the Premier League and hopefully win my second FA Cup in three years. If we do the double I'll be chuffed. If we manage the treble I'll be over the moon.

[Stu232]

Loving the thread lads.

Tommo How much did you get Wilshere in for and what season?

[JD nawrat]

The gap is down to three

Stevan Jovetic continues to be GOD. Top goalscorer with 18, top assister with 15. Even when he's not scoring he's still finding us goals.

[Tellos]

Ended up signing Fischer, as Gaitan had just moved to Porto, Lallana chose a new 5 year deal over me, Giaccherini moved to Liverpool, and Southampton weren't budging for any less than 30m for Shaw, despite the £850k value. Bigi managed to break his ankle putting him out for 3 months just before pre season, which made me slightly aware of how he and Cabaye were my only real CMs (currently playing with a DMC, CM and AMC) so looking into Jon Williams as well.

[Newcastle United FC]

I'm about to start the 2nd season. In the 1st we made a 7th place finish which were quite dissapointing. I haven't really found the right tactic which I suppose is the answer to my problems. I love to deal in the transfer market. My line up is:

Krul (going to sign Ter-Stegen or Courtois before the season starts.

DR Debuchy

CD Phil Jones

CD Dede

DL Armero

DM M'Vila

CM Cabaye

CM Isco

RW Ben Arfa

LW Willian

SC Jovetic

On the bench I've got Santon, MYM, Sissoko, Capoue, Maher, Lamela, Carroll etc.

Can some of you 1st season champions post up a tactic? Furthermore I don't like using shouts and changing tactics in a save.

[tommonufc]

Loving the thread lads.

Tommo How much did you get Wilshere in for and what season?

Brought Jack Wilshere for the start of my third season - so July 2014, for £22M.

Arsenal had had a pretty poor couple of seasons, I'd just won the League and Champions League; Manchester City were going to sign him, so he was willing to look at offers at different clubs, so managed to ponce in front of City for him.

I'm about to start the 2nd season. In the 1st we made a 7th place finish which were quite dissapointing. I haven't really found the right tactic which I suppose is the answer to my problems. I love to deal in the transfer market. My line up is:

Krul (going to sign Ter-Stegen or Courtois before the season starts.

DR Debuchy

CD Phil Jones

CD Dede

DL Armero

DM M'Vila

CM Cabaye

CM Isco

RW Ben Arfa

LW Willian

SC Jovetic

On the bench I've got Santon, MYM, Sissoko, Capoue, Maher, Lamela, Carroll etc.

Can some of you 1st season champions post up a tactic? Furthermore I don't like using shouts and changing tactics in a save.

You can't necessarily plug in and use another managers tactics into your side - every one has different styles, different players etc.

How on earth have you managed to sign so many players, for I'd imagine so much money?? Phil Jones, Dede after the first season must be costing you something like £40M a pair, minimum. M'Vila, and Willian have just moved to Russia, so they would be costing £40M+ each too.

With those players, it's going to be harder for you not to win the league - so don't think you really need other peoples tactics!

[tommonufc]

Into the Champions League final this season. Had four fantastic ties against the two clubs from Manchester - beating City in the Quarters, and Manchester United in the Semis.

Quarter Final - Manchester City

First leg was going to plan up until the cusp of half time. Score was 1-1, then Edin Dzeko scored a dubious offside goal that put the side 2-1 up. Jack Wilshere was already on a yellow card, he then chased over to the linesman contesting the decision, and was sent off! That threw the game right into City's favor, and I struggled to compete in the second half. Thankfully I came out of the game with the away goal, and City not too far in front.

Second tie at St. James' I was confident I would be able to score two goals to level the tie, but main concern was stopping City scoring. City seemed very defensive, and that played into my hands. Paul Pogba, in for the suspended Wilshere scored early to get the comeback underway. Adam Campbell leveled the tie by making the score 2-0, affirming the dominance I had on the game. That score stayed until very late on, and whilst I could have made it 3-0 on a few occasions, I decided to shut up shop and keep the ball for the final throws of the game. Destro was brought on to keep the ball better up front, and had a wonderful impact - setting up Sissoko's goal with a classic headed knockdown, and then would get onto Santon's cross to make the score 4-0!

Semi-Final - Manchester United

Inside 30 seconds of the Semi-Final, Adam Campbell punished a defensive mistake between Azplicueta and De Gea to walk the ball into the net, and put us 1-0 up. Raphael Varane leveled for Manchester United from a corner as the Manchester side asserted some dominance into the game. Second half was pretty level, and ended all square - with Man Utd taking the advantage of a away goal into the deciding game at Old Trafford.

Adam Campbell again scored the opener, leveling the tie inside the first twenty minutes. Varane again scored from a corner, this time before half time, edging Man United back in front before the second half. I struggled to break through their defence, but soon realised, probably too late, that going through the middle was futile. Man Utd's midfield contained Phil Jones and Sandro, with Dede and Varane in defence. Their weakness was on the flanks, so decided to funnel everything out wide - that's when my attacks started to look a lot more threatening, with Luke Shaw eventually overlapping on the left to deliver a cross for Ben Arfa at the far post.

[Newcastle United FC]

Brought Jack Wilshere for the start of my third season - so July 2014, for £22M.

Arsenal had had a pretty poor couple of seasons, I'd just won the League and Champions League; Manchester City were going to sign him, so he was willing to look at offers at different clubs, so managed to ponce in front of City for him.

You can't necessarily plug in and use another managers tactics into your side - every one has different styles, different players etc.

How on earth have you managed to sign so many players, for I'd imagine so much money?? Phil Jones, Dede after the first season must be costing you something like £40M a pair, minimum. M'Vila, and Willian have just moved to Russia, so they would be costing £40M+ each too.

With those players, it's going to be harder for you not to win the league - so don't think you really need other peoples tactics!

Well, my signings are brought with a view to pla a back four. One DMC, two MCs, a RW, a LW and a SC. Just startet the second season and my record is 2 wins and 2 losses. I like my wingers to cut inside. Willian from the left and Ben Arfa from the right.

The prices for my buys were:

Lamela £28m

Dede £26m

Phil Jones £20m

Isco £30.5m

Jovetic £22m

Willian £32m

M'Vila £15m

I've sold players for £162m and brought all players over 48 months. 25% up front.

[tommonufc]

Well, my signings are brought with a view to pla a back four. One DMC, two MCs, a RW, a LW and a SC. Just startet the second season and my record is 2 wins and 2 losses. I like my wingers to cut inside. Willian from the left and Ben Arfa from the right.

The prices for my buys were:

Lamela £28m

Dede £26m

Phil Jones £20m

Isco £30.5m

Jovetic £22m

Willian £32m

M'Vila £15m

I've sold players for £162m and brought all players over 48 months. 25% up front.

Who have you sold to make £162M :saywhatnow: - I'm guessing Tiote, Anita, Cisse? That's like £90M at the very most. So then you've made up around £70M on selling Jonas, Mike Williamson, and Ryan Taylor..

Each to their own, but you've wasted a lot of money on those transfers - dread to think what your spending out on wages. Could have spent a fraction of that and built a equally great and effective side

Tactics wise, go have a read the 12 point Guide in the Tactics forums - it's pretty hard to tell somebody what they should or should not be doing, without that person understanding what they are doing in the first instance. If you do want a sort of quick fix, in terms of getting your wingers cutting inside, there is a screenshot further up this page of the set-up I've hard success with.

Playing Isco as a central midfielder isn't reccomended - had him on my last save with Newcastle, and was never effective playing in central midfield. Cabaye and M'Vila would be a great duo Those two will give you a good balance in your side - remember you need to be able to defend effectively to win games, and win titles - so having a luxury player like Isco in your midfield, that can't win the ball back, and is only ever good in possession - isn't a good approach.

[Tellos]

Turns out it is actually possible for my side to put in a good performance without Cabaye...

Not a bad start to a league season

[tommonufc]

@Tellos

Nice going Not changed the side much I see; no major signings, just supplemented the original squad with Redmond and Fischer?

[Tellos]

That was the original plan, ended up with quite a few going out and mainly youngsters coming in so it's pretty much the same starting XI, and players for the future now in support. Will get up some more detailed stuff when the window closes, just so I don't say I'm done and then sell Cisse or something

Damn Guidetti, who was brought in on loan, is now wanting his loan terminated due to not getting games. After 3 games, including one he couldn't play in, with Gouffran and Cisse on form. Request denied.

[Tellos]

2013-14

Summer Transfers

I started the window with a shopping list of:

left midfielder

right winger

Consistent striker

AMC backup for Sissoko

These were the actual dealings done -

So Fischer is the left midfielder, Redmond the right winger. I decided against another striker on a long term basis, instead going for Guidetti on loan as he would only be playing if both Gouffran and Cisse were out, and provided an important home grown slot for the league. Ospina replaced Harper as back up, and Bardi was brought in by the DoF as further back up as he felt that Aidan Grant wouldn't cut it as 3rd choice. Will Hughes and Jon Williams joined to provide cover and back up in both CM and AMC. I hadn't intended to sign anyone else but there were constant bids for Simpson, whom I had given a new contract at the end of last season. After the 4th bid I relented, and went in for Clyne who I feel on the whole is better cover on both flanks.

Transfers out are pretty self explanatory. Didn't get as much as I'd have liked for some people, but most deals were done before the turn of the season so prices were still low, and I wanted to just clear out and see what was left.

No regens yet, thanks to only starting the game in February 2013. I spent more than I'd have liked to, but I consider it two seasons worth of deals done in one window.

[tommonufc]

Season	League		C'League	Cups     		Player of Year       	Young POY  	      Top Goalscorer   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13 2nd (78pts)     N/A             EL RU, FA SF, LC SF     Fabricio Coloccini	Moussa Sissoko	       Papiss Cisse (24)
2013/14 1st (90pts)     Winners         FA Cup, LC4               Fabricio Coloccini     Davide Santon          Oliver Giroud (21)
2014/15 1st (101pts)    Semi-Finals    FA, LC, ESC, WCC        Samuel Umtiti         Stephan El Shaarawy Adam Cambpell (25)
2015/16 1st (90pts)     Runners-Up    FA4, LC SF                 Moussa Sissoko        Adam Campbell         Adam Campbell (45)

Newcastle United: 2015/16 - Premier League Champions.

Transfers: Cash/Claused Loans

Premier League		Winners			[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8594043040_b736f22ec1_b.jpg]Table[/url]	        [url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8247/8594043366_15e15c8436_b.jpg]Results[/url]

[b]Champions League[/b]	Runners Up		[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8104/8592917139_d3b2fbe620_b.jpg]Group Stage[/url]	[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8594000596_9bc073d866_b.jpg]Knockout Stages[/url]		[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8097/8592916993_ce8cabb39c_b.jpg]Results[/url]

[b]FA Cup[/b]		        4th Round vs. Peterborough		[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8099/8592943641_4bde245baf_b.jpg]Results[/url]				

[b]Captial One Cup[/b]		Quarter-Finals vs. Liverpool 		[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8507/8594044566_5819341d98_b.jpg]Results[/url]		

Another very good season, retaining the title for the second season running was the main objective, and one achieved with relative ease. A young side, that has previously had players of supreme potential, has now started to really grow into a squad containing real world-class ability. Luke Shaw stepped up and made the left back position his own, and was just superb; as was Adam Campbell, who started his first season as the Toon no. 9, after having his break through season in the second half of last year. He didn't disappointing, scoring plenty of goals, and looks not far off being the most dangerous striker in the world.

Champions League was a bit of a disappointing. Was a fantastic route to the final, triumphing in two fantastic ties against the Manchester clubs to reach a final at the San Siro against Bayern Munich - but just on the day I couldn't break through the Germans. Two injuries in the last league game of the season may have proved costly; possibly naive to field a full strength side in a dead-rubber, with Jack Wilshere, and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa seeing injuries for the final.

PFA Players' Young Player of the Year: Luke Shaw

PFA Players' Team of the Year: Luke Shaw, Moussa Sissoko, Hatem Ben Arfa and Adam Campbell

My Player of the Year: Moussa Sissoko

My Young Player of the Year: Adam Campbell

Top Goalscorers: Adam Campbell (44), Hatem Ben Arfa (18), Moussa Sissoko (18), Stephan El Shaarawy (12), Mattia Destro (12),

---

England

Took control of the National side after their First Round Knockout against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup; have managed national teams, and club sides in previous saves, and quickly lost interest in managing on the International stage. This time I've been very much into managing England; have decided to head down a developing English talent with Newcastle, so only seems right that I should manage the National side.

Qualifying was pretty straight forward, finishing top, with the only slip up being an away defeat in Poland. I was still finding my feet at the start, toying between 451 and 442, but towards the end I had settled on a 442 system that would allowed me to get the best from Wayne Rooney, and Adam Campbell. These two have proved to be a potent partnership, supplemented with the creativity of Jack Wilshere and Tom Cleverley from midfield - with the added goal threat of Nathan Redmond coming in off the left wing, I'm highly confident heading into the Euro's.

Pretty confident that I'll be able to get out that group without suffering defeat, but the main threat I think will be from Vicktor Fischer and Cristian Eriksen's Denmark side. Have lined up a heavy program of friendlies ahead of kick-off against Greece, and have selected a 30-man preliminary squad containing the following players;

Name			Club			Age	Caps	Goals

Joe Hart		Manchester City		29 	54		
Fraser Forster		Celtic			28	9 
Jack Butland		Stoke City		23	0

Micah Richards		Manchester City		27	25	1
Glen Johnson		Liverpool		31	64	2
Nathaniel Clyne		Southampton		25	8	0
Luke Shaw		Newcastle United	20	11	0
Leighton Baines		Manchester City		31	37	2
Steven Taylor		Newcastle United	30	8	0
Ryan Shawcross		Stoke City		28	22	0
James Tompkins		West Ham United		27	11	0
Nathaniel Chalobah	Newcastle Unietd	21	7	0
Chris Smalling		Manchester United	26	25	0
Phil Jones		Manchester United	24	40	7

Jack Cork		Southampton		26	8	0
James Milner		Liverpool		30	30	0
Tom Cleverley		Tottenham Hotspur	26	16	3
Jordan Henderson	Arsenal			25	5	0
Nick Powell		Manchester United	22	0	0			
James Ward-Prowse	Newcastle United	21	1	0
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain	Arsenal			22	36	3
Nathan Redmond		Newcastle United	22	13	6
Will Hughes 		Newcastle Unitde	21	13	2
Adam Lallana		Newcastle United	28	12	1

Wayne Rooney		Manchester United	30	105	43
Jermaine Defoe		Tottenham Hotspur	33	67	24
Theo Wallcot		Chelsea			27	32	4
Danny Welbeck		Liverpool		25	33	6
Adam Campbell		Newcastle United	21	13	6

---

[Tellos]

@tommonufc - Well done on another title, unlucky with the Champions League. Next season should be your year given the progress made in the last couple

2013-14

August

Community Shield

Newcastle 2-0 Man Utd

Man Utd were expected to walk all over us, and if they did I didn't really mind as it would give some indication of where we were this season. Both sides gave a start to a new signing, Fischer for me, Vidal for Utd. They started brightly, attacking straight from the off but it was us who took the lead, a counter leading to a lovely defense splitting pass from Cabaye to find HBA on the edge of the area. He beat Evra for pace and squared, with last season's top scorer Gouffran tapping in. Gouffran added his second before 10 minutes were out, Cabaye finding the forward with a lovely deep free kick. Gouffran brought it down on his chest inside the crowded penalty area and volleyed past a confused de Gea. Unfortunately soon after that goal went in Man Utd started targeting Cabaye, leaving him with a knock which saw a drastic reduction in his effectiveness. He was withdrawn at half time and replaced with Will Hughes. We stepped off the gas in the second half and Man Utd pounced on that, forcing us to do some good defending to keep our lead.

A pleasing result, but I would have liked to have had Cabaye for the full game to see just how much damage I could have done. Cabaye was put out of action for 2 weeks due to the injury sustained, meaning he would miss the start of the league campaign.

Premier League

Fulham 1-5 Newcastle

With Cabaye out I moved to a 4-4-2, and Cisse repayed me for the start with his first goal in a very long time, inside of 4 minutes of play, striking HBAs pass under the keeper. We had a second when Gouffran chased down a long ball and pulled it back from the byline to the edge of the area for the waiting Sissoko, who had no trouble putting the ball home with a rocket of a finish. Gouffran added a 3rd on the half hour after Tiote stopped a counter in its tracks and quickly played the ball forward for the French striker to fire into the bottom corner. Our defense went to sleep just before half time, allowing Berbatov to tap in from close range. We had another counter attack on the hour, this one ending in Baird felling Gouffran in the box. He was the last man and probably should have been sent off but after HBA sent the keeper the wrong way I wasn't complaining too much. We won a second penalty with 10 minutes to play, Hughes pulling down MYM at a corner. HBA had gone off just after converting the first penalty, so Debuchy stepped up and cooly converted for 5-1.

Premier League

Newcastle 2-0 Liverpool

A much stronger test than Fulham, Liverpool came to town with a much improved team. It took until added time at the end of the first half for the breakthrough, with Santon cutting in from the left flank and firing into the top corner. With the game nearing its end, and nothing much happening, Winston Reid shoved Cisse over in the box as he tried to connect with HBAs cross. Unfortunately for us, Reina guessed correctly and stopped HBA scoring his second penalty in as many games. Reid gave away another penalty 5 minutes later, this time pushing over Colo as he tried to connect with a Santon corner. HBA had a second chance, and this time decided to put it in the top corner, well out of Reina's reach.

Premier League

Man City 3-3 Newcastle

Reluctant to change much after the past couple of victories, Cabaye came in for Sissoko but the 4-4-2 stayed. This started out as a good choice, with Jonas beating Maicon to the byline on a loose ball, which he pulled back to Cabaye on the edge of the area. His shot was blocked by a defender, but with Pantilimon having dived for it and missed, Cisse stole the ball and passed it into the empty net. The lead didn't last long though, with Aguero firing in 5 minutes later with a long range curling effort. Deep into the 3rd minute of 2 minutes of added time Kompany headed City into the lead from a corner. City made it 3-1 thanks to another long strike, this one from Dzeko. With just under an hour played, I made 3 changes at once, and they paid off on the counter, with Cisse finding Sissoko on the overlap, and he fired high into the top corner. We leveled the game up with 15 minutes to play, with Redmond getting past Clichy and crossing. Campbell stopped it dead, and Cisse smashed it in. Both sides could have had another, but it stayed at 3 a piece.

September

Premier League

Newcastle 3-0 Arsenal

Our lovely fixture list continued with a visit from the Gunners, and we put them under constant pressure from the off. Eventually a scramble in the box after a corner resulted in MYM poking home his first goal for the club. 10 minutes into the second half we won a penalty, Koschielny barging over a couple of players in the area from a corner. Cabaye stepped up and passed it straight down the middle, the keeper diving to avoid it. Not long after, Monreal hauled down Cabaye in the area and the ref pointed to the spot again. Stepping up for the second time, Cabaye this time put his penalty low right, the keeper diving the wrong way.

Europa League Group Stage

FC Admira Wacker Modling 0-1 Newcastle

What's that? You've never heard of them? Neither had I. Cool name though. Cabaye was suspended and Santon injured, so a quick shuffle and back to one up front. Guidetti and Sissoko combined early on and Anita somehow made his way up from DMC to get into the box and rifle in the lay off from Guidetti to give us the lead. We had a few chances after that, but nothing of real interest until Sissoko managed to get a shot away that hit both posts and bounced out again. Campbell hit the post late on, but we didn't add another goal. After 11 shots on target, I told the lads to look "clinical" up in the dictionary.

Premier League

West Ham 2-5 Newcastle

Santon still wasn't fit, so Haidara made his first start of the season at left back. We were awarded our 7th league penalty of the season 15 minutes in, Gouffran felled by Scharner. Cabaye stepped up and converted his 3rd penalty in 2 matches. Within 5 minutes he had supplied the second as well, a corner finding MYM who turned and smashed the ball past the helpless keeper at the near post. A lovely run from Redmond, who started to let HBA rest, along the edge of the box allowed him to slip a ball through for Gouffran who made up for not scoring for a while by finding the bottom corner for 3-0. A bad backpass from Collins straight from the kick off gave Cisse the chance to race in and grab a 4th. West Ham didn't let their heads drop, and it wasn't much of a surprise when Kweuke headed in a Jarvis cross on the counter. What was surprising was the second they got soon after, another counter, this time Collison passing in at the far post. I took action, moving to one up front, getting Sissoko on for Cisse to shore up the midfield. It worked, as nothing else happened until 10 minutes from time when a well worked corner fell to Jonas on the edge of the area. He played it in to Colo, who turned on the spot and drove it low into the corner for number 5. It was irritating to conceed twice so quickly, but making the formation change helped a lot as it stopped us getting hit on the counter. Another interesting stat is that we only had one CCC to their 3.

Capital One Cup 3rd Round

Everton 2-3 Newcastle

MYM somehow contrived to put the ball into his own net early on, but a long ball from Debuchy found Guidetti, who confidently finished off his first goal in Toon colours. 10 minutes into the second half a long ball lofted into the Everton area was headed down into space by Guidetti, and HBA cut in off his wing to slide it into the bottom corner to give us the lead. A third was added just after the hour when Guidetti stole in between Neville and Howard as a backpass was attempted and poked it just out of Howard's reach. Osman pulled one back with a long range effort, but they couldn't find an equilizer.

Premier League

Newcastle 4-1 QPR

Williamson made his first start of the season, replacing MYM. Made a few other changes, but forgot to change out Ospina for Krul so he made his league debut. Williamson gave us the lead, heading in Cabaye's corner. Not long after, Haidara crossed for Cisse to head in. Unfortunately, the other Cisse on the pitch pulled one back. Cabaye gave us back our 2 goal lead from just inside the penalty area. After the effectiveness of the 3 man midfield against West Ham in closing the game I switched to it again at half time. This meant that action at both ends died down, but this didn't stop Redmond scoring a lovely individual goal, starting at the halfway line and ending at the edge of the box where he fired into the top corner.

League Table

Top of the tree 6 games in. Still unbeaten since joining the club in January. Cabaye won player of the month for September, and I won manager of the month.

[Spedding]

just finished 6th season

finished 2nd in premiership

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got to the final of the carling cup but lost to spurs and got knocked out of the fa cup in the 4th round by swansea.

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won champions league which was steven taylors last game for us as hes stated hes achieved everything.

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squad

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adam campbell unfortuneatly broke his leg end of january so out for the rest of the season and this being his first season as main striker.

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remie streete

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B Niang bought as a 15 year old for 10 million second season

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[Tellos]

Ah crap

And he was playing so well. 7 apps, 7.71 rating, 6 goals and 3 assists. Good job that Bigi is back finally.

Bloody great. A week later and Krul gets injured on international duty so is out for a month.

[Welshace]

Can I ask.. what did everyone do regarding staff changes in the first window?

[Tellos]

Staff wise nobody left, but Dmitry Selyuk came in as DoF and Soren Lerby joined as a scout. After that I've just let the DoF do as he pleases in hiring people and he hasn't done a bad job so far.

[tommonufc]

Can I ask.. what did everyone do regarding staff changes in the first window?

Hire a Director of Football, and let him go wild

I took a lazy approach perhaps..

[Newcastle United FC]

Who have you sold to make £162M :saywhatnow: - I'm guessing Tiote, Anita, Cisse? That's like £90M at the very most. So then you've made up around £70M on selling Jonas, Mike Williamson, and Ryan Taylor..

Each to their own, but you've wasted a lot of money on those transfers - dread to think what your spending out on wages. Could have spent a fraction of that and built a equally great and effective side

Tactics wise, go have a read the 12 point Guide in the Tactics forums - it's pretty hard to tell somebody what they should or should not be doing, without that person understanding what they are doing in the first instance. If you do want a sort of quick fix, in terms of getting your wingers cutting inside, there is a screenshot further up this page of the set-up I've hard success with.

Playing Isco as a central midfielder isn't reccomended - had him on my last save with Newcastle, and was never effective playing in central midfield. Cabaye and M'Vila would be a great duo Those two will give you a good balance in your side - remember you need to be able to defend effectively to win games, and win titles - so having a luxury player like Isco in your midfield, that can't win the ball back, and is only ever good in possession - isn't a good approach.

The £162m i made over three windows. I have even sold some players I brought in the first window. I haven't got a lot of money for any of my players but have moved on 32 players. The most expensive were:

Subotic £20m

Ayew £17m

Abel Hernandez £8m

Tiote £15m

Albiol £15m

Cisse £15m

Anita £8m

Diame £9.5m

I've got a great squad now. I think my problem is I don't wanna use shouts and change tactics before and during games. I'm used to find a tactic and stick to it 100%.

[ramie]

Started my Toon army save, not changing much around first team yet.

Sold a few players:

Jonas 12m

Perch 3m

Williamson 2.5m

Gouffran 6m

In came:

Redmond 4m

Lucas Ramos 2m

Muniesa 200k

Fletcher (loan)

Paredes 3m

Bennet 2m

Max Meyer compensation

Ben Amos free

Haragreaves free

I added a lot of youth to the team, from first glance at the cuRrent crop of youth players aint much to get excited about, other than Adam CAmpbell and Streete.

As for first team improvements I will see how they perform until Jan. Would like to bring in either Carlos Vela or Lorenzo Insigne and a creative mid maybe Benat.

[SeanNUFC]

Not posted in this thread before but just want to say, great effort! It inspired me to start a Newcastle save once I got a good tactic sorted out. Here's what happened:

Won the League Cup V Man City this was to be one of 3 times that i beat them within a few months, had serious injury problems to and was down to ten men from the 7th minute but won it with Sammy Ameobi/Colociccini scoring the winners(iirc).

Lost in the FA Cup final to Swansea SOME HOW. Went 1-0 up on 78th min with a goal from my star signing of the season for 7.5m Giaccherini from Juventus(was transfer listed) sold Cisse for 10.75m to Dortmund to fund that because he was awful so thought I might as well get money for him and bring in someone better. Anyway, I thought I had it one but should've gone defensive when I didn't and Swansea made me pay the price with a 92nd minute(literally last second) header that makes it 1-1. Nothing happens in extra time and I lose 5-4 on penalties(computers too good on those for me to ever win a big shoot out).

Managed to finish 4th in the league so qualify for the CL, it was cool that a dominant 2-0 win at home over Sunderland was what confirmed that. And just before that had a great 2-1 comeback win v Man Utd(ha). I went until December only lost one game and a long long winning streak. Not had anything like that before,. all using my own 4-4-2, first time i've had success with it, literally ever.

In the euro cup all went well until the 2nd round when I had to face who were to be the Serie A champions Napoli, lost 2-1 to them on agg. Wasn't that fussed, group stages were actually fun due to the style of football we played.

All in all probably my most fun season in FM.

edit: Forgot to add I bought in Dzeko on loan, scored a few key goals for me in the end to.

[ramie]

I cant seem to get Sissoko to perform for me. I have him as box to box and tweaked long shots to rarely because he already has the horrible shoots from distance PPM.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Does this guy always have theses 20's? (I edited my DB to create a Newcastle B, So I might had messed with this guy)

[shoonaldo]

Richardson always has those.

I use Sissoko in two different roles. The first is as a B2B with long shots set to rarely and his creative freedom right in the middle of the bar to restrict his long shots a little more. The other is as an AP support from the MC position again with long shots to rarely and this time his passing all the way to the left.

[Dark Demon]

First season in the euorpa league and against Bilbao, they are 2-1 and Cisse is having a very quiet, decide to put on Adam Campbell at the 70th minute as a risk and ends up scoring twice to give me a 3-3 draw, including scoring in the 92nd minute, i love him already

[Tellos]

@ramie - One of my coaches suggested teaching Sissoko to get forward whenever possible and adding that to putting long shots to rarely has worked wonders. He plays as either an AMC set at AM(s) or now, while Cabaye is injured, as CM at AP(a) and he always seems to be around the box, either scoring goals or setting them up. He still lashes shots all over the place, but most players do that if I let them.

[JD nawrat]

I've got a great squad now. I think my problem is I don't wanna use shouts and change tactics before and during games. I'm used to find a tactic and stick to it 100%.

No harm in this mentality to an extent... you need to be willing to initiate Plan B (and maybe even Plan C) when the time is right because banging your head against a brick wall will only lead to a headache. if it isn't working you have to change it.

I'm determined I'll finish this season sooner or later...

[JD nawrat]

I just got into the FA Cup Final

Viktor Fischer always turns it on for me at the end of the season. Rapidly becoming MVP for the run-in. Scored the winner v Everton after setting up the first for Hernandez. Played without Stevan Jovetic (out for 3 weeks) and genuinely didn't think we'd get through. Arsenal or Wigan in the final. Confident-ish regardless of who I play. Wigan are Championship now and Arsenal are currently sitting 8th so...

5 games remaining:

Man City v Newcastle

Stoke v Newcastle

Swansea v Newcastle

Newcastle v Tottenham

Blackburn v Newcastle

so many away games it will be tough. If we can win against City I'm gonna feel semi-confident of stealing the title from them. Currently 7 points behind them thanks to careless home draws (probably best that we're away because we've been better away from home recently).

Man City v Newcastle

Man City v Blackburn

Chelsea v Man City

Man City v West Brom

Liverpool v Man City

A win in the next game reduces the gap to three...they can drop another 4 points against Chelsea (3rd) and Liverpool (9th).

The odds are truly stacked against us but we're gonna give it our all. Capital One Cup Winners and FA Cup Finalists (possibly winners) is a great season, with or without the Premier League...

e: Arsenal humped Wigan 3-0 so that sets up Newcastle v Arsenal. Played Arsenal 6 times (all league, never outside the league), winning 3 (2 at home, 1 away), drawing 2 (one at home, one away) and losing 1 (away). Feel that we will win this.

[SeanNUFC]

No harm in this mentality to an extent... you need to be willing to initiate Plan B (and maybe even Plan C) when the time is right because banging your head against a brick wall will only lead to a headache. if it isn't working you have to change it.

I'm determined I'll finish this season sooner or later...

That's what I had to do when my team started falling a bit, just adapted the 4-4-2 slightly then plan c was a 5-3-2 which did ok. Sometimes you have no choice but to change things. Gets annoying seeing so many chances wasted.

[JD nawrat]

My reluctance to sign and use AMCs is my greatest downfall so far with Newcastle. I've struggled to finish games off because we often lack the incision and clinical finishing needed to retain the Premier League crown. As things stand, I can finish on a possible 92 points which would see me destroy my previous record of 86 (with Newcastle anyway)... I'm doing much better now at this point than I was last season. However Man City are just incredible... I cannot keep up with their pace and barring a huge downfall at the end of the season, I'll not win the title. They've got the semi-finals of the Champions League along with trying to win back the title though so it won't be easy for 'em. Harder for me though. I don't think I've won at the Etihad with Newcastle. Time to change that...

[JD nawrat]

Drew 1-1 at the Etihad. Gutted.

I set up with something I've never done before... I realised the importance of Zabaleta and Clichy in City's 4-2-3-1 (narrow) formation. I moved Griezmann (AMR) and Frischer (AML) up to extreme wingers (ie, so far forward they were standing next to the fullback) and I set them to mark their respective fullbacks. As Inside Forward Attacks, they'd be able to mark them out of the game and spring counters easily. Doing this, I then set my fullbacks to Wing Back/Supports and gave them freedom to bomb forwards and get up wide alongside my IFs and get crosses in. It worked wonders as we went 0-1 up after 30 minutes and went into HT with 8 shots to their 2 (none of which were on target). Second half and a big change from City which I didn't notice for a good 5-10 game minutes rather frustratingly. They subbed off Clichy and brought on Nasri, brought on Samba for Tevez and switched to a 3-5-1-1, with Nasri on ML and Zaba on MR. I immediately dropped Fischer and Griezmann back to their standard AMR/AML positions and changed their man marking from the CBs (as it changed to because of their extreme positions) to the wingers because again, width was the most important tool to them in my view. I set Fischer and Griezmann to mark out the wingers but I made a grave error - I set Fischer to mark Griezmann's side and Griezmann to mark Fischer's side. This all meant that the time it took Fischer to get over to mark Nasri and Griezmann over to mark Zaba, they were left too much time and space and it proved HUGE as Zabaleta crossed, unmarked, to an unmarked Nasri to tap in. Gutting. Had I noticed my mistake just minutes before we would probably have won that game. We totally marked them out of the game and looked so dangerous on the counter. Oh yeah, I played Overload for the whole game...

Gutting really. Chelsea have moved above me now. I want to finish 1st but if I can't and end up 3rd I'll be gutted.

EDIT: Lordy. Never on FM have I used Man Marking because I've always thought of it as a bit of an out-dated system but I'm really using it to my advantage now. Destroying Stoke because they're unable to link two passes together because my players step in and steal the ball with ease. I'm not gonna use it every game, only when I recognise big problems (occurring or likely to occur) I'm getting with certain players/dangermen.

Hahaha, Stoke came out flying in the second half and Premier League top goalscorer Gary Hooper added to his already 20 goals this season by netting another 4. Lost 4-1. Ridiculous. Papadopoulos' marking of 20 is pointless it seems because he can't man mark Gary Hooper now...

[SeanNUFC]

What I would've done(and do) now if we get a lead v a big side and suddenly can't get control, is rather than fussing about with aload of instructions, just change aload of players to defensive roles and then try to contain, as long as you have a good squad it should work. (do not touch the mentality slider)

[JD nawrat]

Team is in freefall atm. Lost to Stoke 4-1 then went to Swansea and lost 2-1. They scored their only two shots of the game and we couldn't find the net to save ourselves. Playing Spurs and if we lose that we'll finish 4th... genuinely not even going to play it tonight. Don't have the patience with my players underperforming horribly.

[Tellos]

Hate fixture pile ups, and it's not even Christmas or the end of the season!

Saturday 23rd November - Man Utd

Tuesday 26th November - Everton

Friday 29th November - Spurs

Monday 2nd December - Spurs (cup)

Thursday 5th December - Admira Wacker Modling

Sunday 8th December - Cardiff

[shoonaldo]

Just had this really weird match. I had already played against Man Utd in the league 3 days earlier (1:1) so a lot of my players were tired. I decided to rest them all and just let the back-ups and youngsters play. Then this happened