jlawlor91 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Could anyone recommend a decent LB? Sold Santon to PSG at the end of the 1st season for £26m and I've been priced out of Luke Shaw and Alex Sandro who would've been perfect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Season 2 - 2014/15 - Update Continuing the slow progress on my latest save, though it was some fairly lengthy multi-player sessions on Civ5 that slowed things up this week. Having quenched my megalomaniacal urges for a while, I've dipped back into things today. West Brom 0 - 0 Newcastle A lot of huffing and puffing, lots of shots from both teams and we managed over 60% of possession, but neither team created any clear cut chances. Newcastle 3 - 1 Watford 6' Cabaye 11' Angella 45' Lambert 74' Hughes Salvio Injured 66' Made things a little harder than we needed to with some sloppy passing giving the ball away frequently in the first half, but we sharpened up in the second half thankfully. Will Hughes with an excellent performance scoring one and creating Lambert's goal. Swansea 2 - 0 Newcastle 8' Taylor 43' Putsila Went into this game missing several key players due to mix of condition, injuries and suspensions. Debuchy, Santon, Bartra, Cabaye, Ayew, Salvio, Ben Arfa and Lambert were all unavailable or needing rest. Despite that I was rather disappointed with how easily Swansea swatted us aside in the first half. Ajax 1 - 1 Newcastle 34' Lambert 80' Benzia Lambert missed penalty 67' A very even game and draw was a pretty accurate reflection, but the score meant we missed our opportunity to top the group as Madrid got a win away in Steau to join us on 13 points. We've drawn Lyon in the 1st knockout round though, which is probably one of the better ties we could have landed. Newcastle 1 - 0 Everton 52' Campbell Solid but uninspiring performance is how you'd describe this I reckon. Campbell continued his development though, popping up to grab the winner with a nice finish when Lambert put him through on goal. West Brom 2 - 3 Newcastle 14' Thorne 41' Santon 45' Ben Arfa 45+2' Van Ginkel 60' Coloccini Mulumbu red card 85' We still have the League Cup in our sights after a real battle with West Brom, neither team looking very useful defensively in the first half especially. We managed to grab the lead from a corner in the 2nd and then hung on a bit until Mulumbu's sending off. Newcastle 2 - 0 Fulham 1' Debuchy 47' Campbell Reither red card 43' Pretty comfortable game even before Reither's sending off. Hoped we might push on a bit in the second half against the 10 men but wasn't to be. Aston Villa 2 - 2 Newcastle 8' Lambert 26' Benteke 58' Sylla 80' Lambert Another mixed bag performance against Villa. We got off to a great start and then seemed to fall apart in the middle period of the game. Switching in Ince and Hughes for a strangely off form Ayew and Ben Arfa seemed to improve things and Lambert grabbed us a late equaliser. Arsenal 1 - 4 Newcastle 1' Ben Arfa 4' Giroud 13' Lambert (Pen) 24' Lambert (Pen) 83' Lambert (Pen) A fantastic but very fortunate result for us in the last game of 2014. The game was fairly even overall in terms of possession, shots and chances really but we were gifted the result on New Year's Eve by an absolute horror show performance by Vermaelen. With Arsenal struggling for defensive cover due to injuries the Gunner's skipper had to play the full 90 minutes despite being destroyed by Andre Ayew time and time again. After the break neck opening few minutes where Ayew waltzed into the box to set up Ben Arfa and then Yarmolenko doing the same to us to set up Giroud, Vermaelen handed control of the match to us by first shoving Lambert over at a corner, then upending Ayew. He finished the match with a rating of 3.6 after adding to his misery my handling a corner late on to let Lambert complete his hattrick of penalties. The Halfway Stage That rather freakish result means we've reached the halfway stage of the season top the league with a 6 point advantage over second placed Chelsea. January is going to be a make or break month for us it looks like with the 2 legs of our League Cup semi final against Southampton to come, plus a tricky first tie in the FA Cup against Leeds. Those three penalties against Arsenal means that Lambert currently heads the goalscoring charts with 16 (He has 23 in all competitions), 2 ahead of Soldado and Ayew has the most assists in the league with 11 so far. I still have over £12 million in transfer funds available after the board made another £5.5 million available in November, so I'm planning to live by that old Fergie cliche of 'strengthen when you're on top'. I've made a bid to bring in Denys Garmash for the midfield as Sissoko is out for a couple months yet and Anita is looking a bit jaded. I might try and bring in another right back as Revelliere hasn't performed well when asked to cover for Debuchy, although I've seen that River Plate have accepted a couple of bids for Balanta and I'm sorely tempted to match those. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamzterz Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Season summary 16/17 Finished the season in greatly manner. United only draw in the last game of the season, and with af narrow 2-1 win against the seasons overarchiever, Aston Villa, we managed to win the Title once more! Been playing with 3 different tactics over season. 4-2-3-1, 4-1-2-2-1 and 4-2-2-2 - the last being very effective in the CHL! Lukaku was once again over topscorer, but a couple of youngsters really played impressive. Will show more of them before the next season. Speaking of the Champions League, we won the final against Bayern, 2-0. Our scout reported that they had struggled against 4-4-2, so deciced to use my 4-2-2-2. Won 2-0, the never really did anything. The most impressive in the Champions League, was our goalscoring though. 6-0 home against Schalke, 4-0 home against Marseille, and 5-1 home and 3-1 away againt Barca! Set the record for most goals in the CHL - surpassing Real Madrid with a couple of goals. A couple of the older players will be sold in the summer, giving more chances to our young players. Maybe i'll even sell Sissoko or Anita, if the right offer is ticking in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Could anyone recommend a decent LB? Sold Santon to PSG at the end of the 1st season for £26m and I've been priced out of Luke Shaw and Alex Sandro who would've been perfect. I brought in Kieran Gibbs for 6.25mil at the end of the first season and he`s been very good since I brought him in. Marcel Schmelzer from Dortmund looks like a good buy too. Great looking squad you`ve got there Hamzterz, and congratulations on the title win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FulhamFc14 Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Update - January 2017. Last season was another successful season, winning the league comfortably and also winning the European Super Cup and World Club Championship. Lost in the semis of the CL to FC Bayern and went out in the domestic cups since I only played the kids. Southampton beat us 1-0 in the quarter finals of the C1C and Everton knocked us out of the FA Cup in the 5th round. The board decided to extend SJP by over 7000, meaning we now have a 60000 seater stadium. Think next season I may start bugging them for a new ground provided we are successful in the league and Champions League. So I went into the Summer feeling good about the team, knowing with a little tinkering we could keep ourselves top and push back into the finals of the CL. First signing was Ross Barkley from Everton, another English player to up the domestic players at the club. I also brought in Maya Yoshida from Southampton to take the place of 4th CB as Colo was retiring into a coaching role for us, and Fraser Forster returned on a free from Celtic. Following those three came a batch of great young players, the best two being Gordon Baxter for 8mil from Celtic, a CB who already looks lower prem level and in a few seasons will be a starting CB for us. He was touted as the next someone who I can`t remember, but some Scottish CB. No idea why it wasn`t Moncur, seems an obvious choice to me... Also brought in a young striker/AML from Southampton called Wayne Alderton who looks like he`ll be brilliant too. Needs a bit more work than Baxter, but with some time and effort he`ll be a star. One of my potential stars was sold for 10mil to City, mainly cause he was a little s***. Fell out with everyone I tried to tutor him and hadn`t improved in the two season I had him so I kicked him out. Can have all the potential in the world but if you won`t put the work in you won`t get a game here. He was a CM and currently I have Tielemans, Wilshere, Cabaye and Hernanes for that role, as well as a couple new youngsters who look to have the potential for first team football. No point wasting my time with him when I have better players already. No worries from me letting him go, and on top of the 10mil I`ll get a chunk of his next sale too. Doesn`t look like he`s getting a chance at City either, never played a game for them and doesn`t get a chance in the reserves. In January I sold Batshuayi to Atletico Madrid for 10mil + 25% sell on clause, and Alnwick went to Man City for 1mil and 50% of his. Batshuayi was too greedy on the ball and kept shooting when he could set someone up, and he was just so inconsistent I lost patience. For the half season I`ve played so far Gouffran has out performed and out scored him. Replacing him is Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for 16mil. Not a bad signing for Newcastle eh? Also have signed Meyer from Schalke and Bakkali from PSV for a combined 6mil. Both out of contract at the end of the season so I jumped in to get them first. Doubt they`ll become stars but Meyer can cover all of my attacking mid roles and Bakkali should be able to cover either wing. The future`s bright... The future`s black and white Links to my best young players below, includes known ones such as Campbell and Tielemans, but also a lot of regens: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/wpux.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/26ze.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/isyt.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/ael2.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/841/iwxw.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/833/t4nb.png/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/s8xr.png/ Campbell has finally started fulfilling my Ginger Aguero hopes. Apparently has two more stars of potential to fill in so he is only going to get better. The two right sided players (Matthews - RW and Patterson RB) are both playing somewhat often in my first team already. Patterson will be replacing Debuchy soon, and Matthews will eventually take over from Schurrle. May be a bit of an ott view, but I honestly see Matthews being for us what Ronaldo is for Real Madrid. Honestly, look at those physical stats at 16! 5* potential, and I believe that. Strangest thing about those two is they are both 6ft5, meaning my right hand side in a few years is going to be giant. New season, new tactics: Well not so much new, just a slight twist on my old variations of 4-1-1-3-1. Switching the CF to a DLF(S) means he is playing better (no more >6 games from them) and the team is performing much more consistently. Ross Barkley is loving the Shadow Striker role and Schurrle... well you`ll see the player stats soon. and the stats to follow that. 21 goals and 10 assist from the right, sure half those goals are penalties but that doesn`t matter. I don`t think he knows how to have a bad game he is just so consistent and so good. Chelsea tried to resign him at the start of the season and I laughed them off. He currently has a 32mil buy out clause which I`ll be getting rid of at the end other season as well as giving him a big fat pay rise. If it wasn`t obvious, we are top of the league and still in the Champions League, FA Cup and C1C. Premier League is a bit easy, 14 points clear after 21 games. Top goal scorers, second best defence and only 1 loss (away to City) domestically. Recommendations for you guys: Just a few suggestions I have from my time as Newcastle manager, feel free to ignore what you don`t agree with. #1 When training Campbell, don`t just focus on him being a poacher. It seems limited strikers in this game struggle, much like they have been IRL. Start him off as a poacher to up his important goal scoring stats, then give him a supporting/creative role to develop. I started off with a Trequarista and now he`s on as a DLF. #2 Sign Schurrle. If you`re lucky he`ll be available at the end of the first season from Chelsea, he only cost me 10mil and I would say he`s been my best player these past 2.5 seasons. If you can`t sign him try and get someone like him because players like this are perfect for any team. #3 Similar to the above, SIGN CAULKER! England`s most valuable CB now, 31 caps at 25 and very consistent for us. Brought in for around 12mil at the end of the first season and has basically been an ever present for the past 2.5 seasons. #4 Hold onto Sissoko/Anita/HBA for at least one season. The combined fees I got for these three is pushing 100mil, and the only one playing regularly for his new club is Anita with Sissoko on the transfer list at PSG for 10mil (been debating bringing him back actually) and HBA never getting a game for Real Madrid. Don`t sell them early as they help push the squad into European football, and if you do decide to sell them you`ll be making your entire transfer budget with some spare change to bribe the agents. #5 Force the board into putting money into your youth teams/recruitment and bring in as many good scouts for judging potential as you can. Without my scouts I wouldn`t have signed half the youngsters I have and a my giant stars Matthews and Patterson would be wasting away at West Ham and Wolves respectively. Also look at bringing in a good DoF, my new one brought in three young players, including Baxter who look like cracking prospects. Don`t let him have the ability to complete the signings but let him make the bids so you can decide at contract level whether you rate the youngster. Very interesting tactic. Would you be able to provide a download link or failing that are there any player instructions to include? Think this system would work well with my squad, only downside being I don’t have a natural AMC but sure Honda could do a job there, although perhaps as an AP rather than a SS. I tried to implement this last night and although I certainly gained a lot more possession than my previous formation but I struggled to create chances and have shots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodds' Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Just finished my second season, had a nightmare though. However won the FA Cup with literally the last two kicks of the game. Also the youngsters are looking decent. Adam Campbell Adam Armstrong Alex Gilliead David Hogan Olivier Kemen Gael Bigirimana Tin Banzina Thanasis Thomaidis - Youngster through the academy this season! Look at my update thread too if you wish. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/372250-FM14-Do-it-for-Bobby-Newcastle-United-Story?p=9220414#post9220414 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Started a new save with Newcastle and really enjoying it. First transfer window is turned off to give the game a bit more realism, but also i feel it's more of a challenge as the squad isn't that deep so i'm already having to give youngsters a lot more game time. Results so far: Newcatle 0-0 Villa Man City 2-0 Newcastle Newcastle 4-1 Chelsea Everton 2-2 Newastle Newcastle 0-2 Leicester - COC Not a bad start. Best result obviously being that pounding on Chelsea, Ben Arfa playing as a Treq behind the ST and he was just unplayable. Everton away could have been up there but we let a 2 goal ht lead slip away. I really wanted to do well in the cups so i was disappointed with the 3rd round defeat. Will have to focus on the FA Cup. My aim is to finish in the top half, whilst improving the defending and trying to bring a few more britsh players back in to the squad, whether that's new signings or youngsters! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamzterz Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Season 5 on the way I'm in November in the 5th season, leading the BPL and nearly qualified for the 2nd round in CL. Won both Super Cups, so everything is going well! Sold a few backups - Kakuta (£5.25M), Jefferson (£5.5M), Niang (£9.25M).Also sold Anita for a record fee - £45M to Arsenal. Then brought in M'vila on a free transfer. Hulk & John Ruddy also joint for free, making great backup/rotation players. Finally I sold Rondon to Schalke for £23M - a year after i got him for free. Now your young guard of players can really got at chance in the first team: Had a talk with the board, and we decided that in stead of buying young players for the first team, we would give the chance to our youth players - I'm ready for that now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted November 22, 2013 Author Share Posted November 22, 2013 Very interesting tactic. Would you be able to provide a download link or failing that are there any player instructions to include? Think this system would work well with my squad, only downside being I don’t have a natural AMC but sure Honda could do a job there, although perhaps as an AP rather than a SS. I tried to implement this last night and although I certainly gained a lot more possession than my previous formation but I struggled to create chances and have shots. Yeah, here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/pukixp Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
si4uk Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 After winning everything in 2013 I decided to give the new game a shot. It's a shame I can buy Hazard now but that's life . Quarter of way through and Ashley is threatening to sack me !. Time to adopt to some new tacts . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMick Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Could anyone recommend a decent LB? Sold Santon to PSG at the end of the 1st season for £26m and I've been priced out of Luke Shaw and Alex Sandro who would've been perfect. I bought Ben Davies from Swansea and also have Timothee Kolodziejczak from OGC Nice and even though he was scouted as a two and a half star ability player he seems to play pretty good for me . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMick Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 I have finished my second season and slightly improved over the first season by finishing 5th in the premier league but should have really been 4th and lost it to Chelsea by one point at the end of the season , lost in the quarters of the FA & Capital Cup's and made it to the Euro Cup final only to lose 2-1 to man city in extra time . http://imageshack.com/a/img15/8992/0ihj.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img826/6160/zhh2.jpg Into my third season and played 9 games won 7 drawn 1 lost 1 so far and think I have a better overall squad to try and win some silverware . My transfers for this season . http://imageshack.com/a/img14/6026/sylz.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayahr Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Ok, first season finished at last. Finished in an astonishing 3rd position Never expected that. Funnily beat the hell out of the big five at times, but struggled against Norwich... However, I have to confess that this was helped a lot by MYM being the league's topscorer with 18 goals, all from corners of course. That said, corner distribution is set to mixed and I haven't put any of the better finishers on the first post. Match day squad in second half of season: Krul, Debuchy, Colo, MYM, Santon, Tiote, Cabaye, Honda, HBA, Gaitan, Leandro Damiao /// Haidara, Taylor, Diame, Sissoko, Ince, Cisse, Zaha (plus Elliott, Souttar, Pantsil, Anita and Marveaux unused subs, missing names were sold) What puzzles me though, is that the transfer budget for season 2 is a meagre 12m Euros (i.e. 10m GBP). That's even though CL group stage is reached and a profit of 30m was generated in the first season. Thus, if I use the entire budget, I should still make a profit of 40-50m this year... I'd rather use that on trying to recreate the success of last year while also coping with the added international challenges Anyone else found them being stingy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajax_Barcelona_Cruyff Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Finished Season 1 as Champions! Man City and Chelsea 3 points back. (prob my most successful ever season in 15 years of this game). Regular starting 11: Krul, Debuchy, Santon, Coloccini, Yanga Mbiwa, Anita or Tiote, Honda, Cabaye, Sissoko, Guitierrez, Cisse. Have now sold Santon to PSG (£25M) and Yanga Mbiwa to PSG (£25). Both were brilliant last season but the money generated and the prize money for winning the league has helped bring in these guys: Luke Shaw, Doria, Balanta, Mitrovic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajax_Barcelona_Cruyff Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 make that : Yanga Mbiwa to PSG (£25M). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordieboy52 Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 At Christmas of 3rd season - won FA cup but finished mid table for a couple of years. Just been taken over and board look as though they are going to appoint their own man! Bollocks, I have really been enjoying this save and to top it off the favourite for the job is Brendan Rogers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinthebest Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 this game is too hard for me i think, i shouldnt play this game anymore. i never get any single formation to work for my team, especially i wanted to play with a 442 target man poacher partnership, it never seemed to work for my team. i am totally mad with this game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
si4uk Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Almost 10 games in and sitting in the top. Sold Tiote for £15m in pre-season,Jonas G for £5m. and Marveaux for £5m. Loaned it Zaha, Jonathan Dos Santos and bought Ricardo Alvarez from Inter to be left winger and Honda for midfield. Hoping to finish to 6 and maybe try to unsettle Pato and see if I can buy him What happened to Ganso in 2014, my scouts only rate with a PA of 3 stars . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 this game is too hard for me i think, i shouldnt play this game anymore.i never get any single formation to work for my team, especially i wanted to play with a 442 target man poacher partnership, it never seemed to work for my team. i am totally mad with this game 4-4-2 is a difficult formation to make work, most teams play 5 in midfield so you`re likely to get over run there, and then you have a gap between your strikers and midfield which can be difficult to close if you`re losing out in possession. Plus, Newcastle don`t have a particularly good target man (only option really being Shola) and none of our strikers are very creative so you will find it difficult to create and score. How are you set up? Strategy, outline of the tactics (with roles) and any instructions for players/the team. If you post up your tactic I`m sure there are plenty people here who may be able to help. Personally with a 4-4-2, I`d look at dropping the two CMs into DM, push the LM/RM into AML/AMR and go for a counter tactic. Get Cabaye to play as a DLP/Regista and depending on that have a holding midfield on defence (if using Cabs as a Regista) or set Cabaye to DLP D and play Sissoko as a DM support with the instruction to get further forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 @ MrSundlofer Some result against Sunderland there, especially given the absentees Hope that wasn't too serious an injury to Remy though. @ robinthebest I'd echo James on the 4-4-2, can be difficult to get right on this version of FM. I've used a version of the formation with the wingers at AMR/AML positions with some success, but we've never had the advantage in terms of possession as the midfield can get a bit overrun. Also I've only really played it once I had Lambert in the squad and a selection of decent, creative wingers. Might be worth asking Hamzterz about it as he looks to have had some real success with 4-4-2 on his save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_karl Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 The £71,000 weekly wage cap is killing me. Does this get removed? After finishing 2nd in the league joint on points with first i noticed no-one picked up Lewandowski and he was clubless. I went to offer him a contract but £71,000 weekly cap. :s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted November 30, 2013 Author Share Posted November 30, 2013 There isn`t a cap, until the club is earning more money the max wage stays low-ish. When the first season properly ends and you get your new budgets you`ll be able to offer more money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_karl Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I'm second season despite profiting from transfers thus far both years i can still only offer 71k Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted November 30, 2013 Author Share Posted November 30, 2013 Weird. Do you have a lot of transfer budget and not much wage budget? If so, go to the board and adjust your budget. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spedding Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 Current game finished third was first till february but then started dropping points. current squad don't like loans so sent remy back sold cisse and brought in muriel for 13 million unfortunately he got injured for the season in his 8th match so that left us with gouffrann, ameobi and campbell as my strikers but even before muriel got injured campbell was showing him up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordieboy52 Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 End of 2015-16 finished a wholly expected 10th but won league cup. Not good enough for some players and now Koval and Balanta are refusing to sign new contracts, one expires 2017 and one the next so I need a massive improvement to keep them - have some good regen DC coming through so may just sell Balanta (even though he is an animal) if I get over £30 million. Just had youth system upgraded back to category 1 after losing this 1st season. Got a dearth of good MC though - could be a problem as my middle three get tired very quickly. On the plus side I had a gander at the transfer list and found that a 5 star 18 y/o had been transfer listed for £400k, snapped him up straight away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Season 2 - 2014/15 Update Well I had planned to keep playing this save slowly, just a few matches at a time and keep doing the monthly update things...but got a little wrapped up in it over the weekend and battered through the whole second half of the season over a couple nights. Turned in to a pretty successful season overall, though we did make a pretty decent stab at sabotaging ourselves at one point. The League Cup After scraping through against West Brom in the quarters I put out a pretty strong side in the semis against Southampton, figured we might be a little more comfortable over the 2 legs. Turned out as I was wrong as we had to scrap like mad to come from 2-0 down in both legs. We were 2 down in the away leg within 15 minutes and were very lucky to pull one back before half time totally against the run of play. The second half saw a much improved performance and Campbell capped his MoM showing by grabbing an equaliser. I hoped we might have got the slow starts out of our system, but we were 2-0 again within 20 minutes and being played off the park at home and I was fairly certain we were crashing out. Fortunately another half time bollocking seemed to help and Yanga-Mbiwa nodded home a Candreva corner to set us on our way. We couldn't quite grab a winner before full time though and had to play another 30 draining minutes with a penalty shootout looming before Campbell pounced right at the death, nudging home a close range finish after an uncleared corner led to a bit of a scrum in the goalmouth. In the final we faced Championship Brighton who had absolutely hammered Arsenal in the quarter finals. They gave us a real scare too, constantly catching us out in the first half with swift counter attacking play, they took the lead on 10 minutes with a real route one goal though. Keeper kicking it long, almost to our 18 yard line where it was flicked on to the unmarked Ulloa to smash a volley in, not sure the ball ever touched the ground during the move. We had a chance to get a grip on the match in the 31st minute when they conceded a penalty for a foul on Campbell, but for once Rickie Lambert missed from the spot kick. The real turning point came 9 minutes into the second half when Rohan Ince got himself a second yellow card for a foul on Candreva. From the resulting freekick Cabaye able to roll a nice through ball into Campbell in the box and he turned it in from 6 yards out. Then late on and with Brighton tiring they made the mistake of trying to play their way out of defence only to lose the ball after a slide tackle from Cabaye, in the resulting scramble Candreva reacted quickest and just walloped the ball past their keeper. The performance was scrappy and we'd toiled throughout this tournament, but it meant the first piece of silverware for me so I wasn't too bothered how it was achieved. The FA Cup We made very heavy weather of our start in the FA Cup, held to a rather dull draw by Leeds at SJP we had the complication of a replay away in the middle of a run of important league matches. I chose to rest a few key players like Lambert, Ben Arfa, Cabaye and Anita whilst Andre Ayew was also missing due to international duty. Fortunately the youngsters Hughes and Campbell really stepped up and they were helped by Antonio Candreva who had been having a bad run of form the couple of months prior to this, but started putting in some excellent performances from January onward. After the replay our next few Cup ties were dealt with in rather more convincing fashion as Villa, Birmingham and Millwall were all beaten pretty comfortably. By the middle of April though the cup and european runs were taking a bit of a toll on the squad and we had to face Man Utd in the semi final with injuries and suspensions leaving us down to the bare bones. Santon, Debuchy, Caulker, Yanga-Mbiwa, Anita, Ayew and Salvio were all unavailable. Lambert was exhausted and so only really fit enough to make the bench, while Ben Arfa and Sissoko both returning from injuries only just made the bench as well. I was forced to recall Steven Taylor who'd barely played all season after demanding a transfer because he wanted a bigger challenge. Despite the makeshift nature of the team I put out, we actually dominated the game for the most part. We just couldn't turn our 60% of possession into the goals we probably warranted. We had to rely on a penalty in the second half to open our account. Tom Ince taking the spot kick himself after he was tripped by Smalling. After Fellaini equalised from a corner we just couldn't force a winner and had to play another period of extra time at a point of the season where I was really hoping every game would be over and done with inside the 90. Taylor managed to redeem himself somewhat in my eyes by popping up to grab the winner in the second half of extra time. Scoring after he was first to the rebound of his own header from a corner smacked off the post. We probably should have grabbed our second piece of silverware in the final against Man City. We had lost Marc Bartra and Rickie Lambert to injuries not long before this match, and Lambert's absence particularly hurt us in several key games at this point. We were dominating the game in terms of possession and chances despite the setback of Cabaye being stretchered off, but fell behind to a David Silva freekick right at the end of the first half. We continued to dominate after the restart and Tom Ince managed a fine solo goalcutting in off the left wing to level the match. However we conceded a really sloppy corner with a sliced clearance and Nastasic beat Yanga-Mbiwa in the air to give them the lead again. Unfortunately as we continued to dominate possession and chase the game Debuchy then got himself a second yellow for a stupid foul on the halfway line, and that pretty much sealed our fate. The fallout from the red card probably means I'll be selling Debuchy in the summer. This was his 4th red card of the season and the one that annoyed me the most, not surprisingly I fined him for it but he threw a strop about that and has demanded a transfer. The Champions League After finishing second behind Real Madrid in our group we actually got a pretty favourable draw for the 1st Knockout round. Lyon were no pushovers but we avoided the likes of Barcelona or Bayern. After a late goal from Davide Santon gave us a slightly more comfortable result than we deserved from the home leg we were able to grab an away goal there and hold off their late fightback to progress. Our French connection continued as we then drew Marseille in the Quarter Finals. The first leg was a very dull affair, but I was happy enough with a 0-0 draw. In the return leg at SJP a very early effort from Ince gave us the start we wanted and although we had to wait to the last minute of the game to be sure we were pretty comfortable throughout. Marseille only managed 5 shots on target across both matches. We faced yet another French team in the Semi Final, but now it was PSG and their mega squad. (Don't think I've ever had 3 clubs from the same country one after another like that before). I chose to rest Lambert for the first leg as his condition was around 90% and I wanted him fully fit for a key league match that we had to play 2 days after this match. That decision backfired on me as he played in the next league match but picked up a thigh injury that meant he missed the second leg of this tie and also the FA Cup final against Man City. Campbell put in an excellent performance and we looked like we would have at least a 1-0 lead to take over to France, however Cavani managed to grab a late, late goal one minute into injury time. Over there we got off to a fantastic start with a long range effort from Candreva in the first minute and actually went in 2-1 up at half time thanks to a Honda freekick. Unfortunately we just couldn't keep Cavani and Ibrahimovic out in the second half, Cavani grabbing a hattrick after the break to see PSG into the final. (Where they ended up facing another of the oil rich clubs in Man City, Cavani did for them too) I couldn't be too disappointed by our exit overall. We got far further in the competition than I'd expected, (almost too far in some ways as I was starting to worry about our league form being seriously derailed) and got well beaten by the better team in second half of the match away to PSG. Do wonder how it might have turned out if I'd had Lambert available upfront considering his form during the season. The League We went into January top of the league and after a disappointing gubbing at Old Trafford that let Chelsea close the gap we recovered with 3 good wins that kept us top. By the end of that month ourselves and Chelsea had opened a pretty big gap back to the other clubs and was pretty certain that the title chase would be between us. February was a bit hit and miss with a poor draw at home to Birmigham and a very wasteful showing away in defeat at Southampton, however we offset that by scrapping to a vital win over Chelsea to keep us 5 points clear of them. We put in a shocker of performance against Watford, falling apart in the second half even though we were 2-0 ahead. The defeat at Everton meant that Chelsea were only 3 points behind by this point, but luckily for us they dropped points against Stoke and Arsenal. With 2 games left we were 6 points ahead again and only needed a draw to secure the title. In the end though Chelsea gifted it to us when they drew their second last match against Norwich. Winning our last couple of matches and with Chelsea dropping more points to Crystal Palace meant we finished 10 points clear in the end. A more impressive gap than had looked likely a few weeks before that. While all this was going on Ashley also sold up with a takeover being completed just 2 weeks before the end of the season. The new owners were a consortium and the new chairman Karl Olsen apparently wanting to bring in Brendan Rodgers to replace me. Fortunately they eventually decided to let me stay on after a few weeks of a transfer embargo. We had a few key performers through the season, Andre Ayew winning the Footballer of the Year award scoring another 9 goals and making 18 assists. Santon, Ayew and Bartra all made it into the team of the year as well, but there was no real doubt as to the star of the show. Rickie Lambert, signed for less than a million finished as the league top scorer with 33 goals and was the Player's Player of the year winner. All in all he bagged 45 goals for us from 46 appearances, even without his penalties he would have finished as top league scorer. He finished as the top scorer in the European leagues, winning the Golden Shoe award ahead of Falcao. He's 33 now and no doubt will start declining soon, but I think it's still going to be the best £925,000 I spent for Newcastle. Lambert's stats Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordieboy52 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Well, still not started season 2016/2017 but decided to cash in on Balanta - got two offers £32.5 + 20% sell on from Real or straight £40 million from Man City, he joined City citing financial reasons Just going to have to hope that MYM can hold together a defence consisting on youngsters until they mature. Not signed anyone of note, just a couple of newgens - was offered the Arsenal job a few weeks ago, which I immediately rejected, thinking they'd sunk down to be asking me only to find out they are now the richest club in the world. Oh well, when it's in your blood... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakebarratt Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Currently playing an online 4 player with 3 friends [Man Utd, Chelsea, Southampton and Newcastle]. We're coming towards the end of season 3 and Newcastle have just been taken over and given 700k extra to spend on wages and 70 million extra transfer money and they have pumped 20-30 million into youth/training facilities... The chairman said he would 'allow' me to keep my job. I am currently in the Champions League and top 4 in the league. Anyone else doing a save with Newcastle had this and has any more information about it? I don't think it's a tycoon take over though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 @jakebarratt I had a consortium takeover just recently on my save, the money they have pumped in combined with big windfall in prize money from winning the league meant they offered me a budget of about £58 million, but biggest change was they almost doubled the wage budget. I'm still being tightfisted with the wages though Pretty random just what sort of takeover you get though....I've had local businessmen before who actually decreased wage budget following takeovers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 When I got taken over, we got more money for transfers and the wage bill but I had won the league again so that probably had a part to play in it. The new owner wanted to bring in someone else, think it was Brian McDermott (Leeds manager?) but he quickly wound his neck in when I kept winning games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordieboy52 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Same here, pretty low-key takeover, nothing really much happened. Kept job and the status quo was maintained. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakebarratt Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Yeah - sounds very similar to mine having been given a good transfer budget and a major increase in wages. Not sure who to buy for the 4th season! Probably a pacey attacking world class LB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bene_man27 Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Hay Guys, Havent posted on here for years but here is a good time as any. Ok so im in my second, into Europe. Looking to boost my funds and been able to eventually recieve an offer of 14.5 mill for sissoko. I would recieve 65% of the funds for my transfer budget. I was thinking of reinvesting that money in Will Hughes and maybe Bryam the Leeds right back. Should i sell, could get more, or is he just too good to let go? Thanks all in advance Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Hay Guys,Havent posted on here for years but here is a good time as any. Ok so im in my second, into Europe. Looking to boost my funds and been able to eventually recieve an offer of 14.5 mill for sissoko. I would recieve 65% of the funds for my transfer budget. I was thinking of reinvesting that money in Will Hughes and maybe Bryam the Leeds right back. Should i sell, could get more, or is he just too good to let go? Thanks all in advance Will Hughes is a very good player and I'd highly recommend signing him, but in this case I'd say you might want to hang on to Sossoko if you're not going to receive the full transfer fee. If you have a decent second season you'll probably get much better bids than that for him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bene_man27 Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Thanks Dandy much appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Mid-Season 2013-2014 So, away I go with my first Newcastle save of FM14. On first look at the squad, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the tactics, and knew which players I wanted to sell to help the revolution. TRANSFERS So, huge incoming money, including a massive £18.5m for Papiss Cisse from Monaco which I really couldn't turn down, especially since he is a player I haven't had much luck with on FM. The rest were sold as they were simply not for me. Mattia Perin comes in as my young no2 to Tim Krul, and a player that can only improve. Promptly I had Krul start tutoring him. Mason Bennett is a common NUFC transfer on FM, and his PA reading was one I thought was worth the £600k fee. Currently on loan at MK Dons. The mega-signing for me is that of the "atomic ant" Sebastian Giovinco, in an £11m deal from Juventus, to replace the departed Papiss Cisse. After spending a while searching for a "creative forward" to complement Remy, there was really only one option. Frickson Erazo is a nice cheap DC that will provide cover for the Colo-MYM partnership along with S. Taylor, and whilst I wait to find a youngster to step up(whether that is a purchase or Mbabu). Albin Ekdal comes into add some depth to a midfield that is already very strong, as I planned a three man midfield for the forthcoming season. Luciano Vietto was a must-buy, offering a decent backup option to Remy/Giovinco/Gouffran/Ameobi, whilst keeping an eye on the future. Also not on that list are the loan deals for Eduardo Salvio(£175k p/month) and Yacine Brahimi(£78k p/month), along with a cluster of youngsters loaned out. PRE-SEASON Great pre-season, especially starting with that against LEMANS. Even held our own against the mighty Barca, only been undone by two very Barcelona-style goals, that were simply exquisite. PREMIER LEAGUE What a start!! Only losing once to early pace-setters Spurs. Great wins over Man Utd and Arsenal, but some frustrating draws too(S*nderland, Cardiff, Stoke, Norwich). Let's hope I can keep going in the second half of the season... Sitting nicely in 3rd. Hopefully will stay in and around the top teams for the rest of the campaign. CAPITAL ONE CUP Going well in the CCC. Waiting at the semi-final stage is Tottenham. On our current form, I fancy our chances against anyone!! -- So, a great start to the career, hopefully the signing of Keisuke Honda in January will propel us into Europe. Having lost two strikers to torn hamstrings(Giovinco out till March/April, Remy until Feb), maybe a striker will be joining in January. Lots of interest in Tiote(Shakhtar), Santon(Arsenal, Man Utd), Cabaye(PSG, Shakhtar), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa(PSG, Monaco). Preferably none will be leaving anytime soon, although if bids come in that cross the valuation of each player I have, I will sell, with one or two targets already shortlisted should they leave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Got a crash dump on laptop, so re-starting, only having to replay 4 games, so not too bad. EDIT; Won vs Stoke(4-0), and Norwich(1-0), just about to visit Everton before the Palace game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Is there many more of you still playing with the mighty Toon Army? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Hay Guys,Havent posted on here for years but here is a good time as any. Ok so im in my second, into Europe. Looking to boost my funds and been able to eventually recieve an offer of 14.5 mill for sissoko. I would recieve 65% of the funds for my transfer budget. I was thinking of reinvesting that money in Will Hughes and maybe Bryam the Leeds right back. Should i sell, could get more, or is he just too good to let go? Thanks all in advance It all depends upon... - Is he a key player? - Or, can you replace with equal or better player? Simple choices. Try and get the board to up the amount of transfer funds you get. 65% is around £9.5m(ish), which is not a lot, especially when I have seen much bigger offers for Moussa. He is a key player for me, and I don't see the need to sell or replace him in my save yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 - Stuart Pearce was appointed Newcastle U21 Manager in August 2013 but joined Reading at the end of the season. - Alan Thompson has been appointed Newcastle U21 Assistant Manager. - Pavel Srnicek has been appointed as a Goalkeeper Coach. - Andrew Cole has been appointed Newcastle U18 Coach. - Faustino Asprilla has been appointed as a Scout. Nice to see a very "Newcastle" setup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Delph Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 My first career on this game I haven't quit after a few games so I'm quite happy with it. I'm 5th in the league on 36 points, just entered the January transfer window. Chelsea are top with 52 points and 2nd/3rd/4th are on 39/36 points. Cabaye started moaning that he wanted to leave, I dumped him in the reserves offering him out but no one wanted to buy him, only Napoli made an offer of £12m. Told them to jog on, he's stopped moaning and now I've promoted him to the first team. At the same time Anita started moaning because I rejected Juve's bids for him. Sissoko is an absolute beast in AMC, he's been my best player so far. As far as transfers go, I've had an offer accepted for Damiao on loan from Barca edit/ What makes it more funny is Stoke are 2nd, Southampton are 3rd and Man Utd are 4th Liverpool, City and Spurs have all had new managers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 Right, finally finished the 4th season. Taken me a lot longer due to work getting in the way. Apologies for the wall of text that follows. How`d it go? Alright I suppose. We`ve won our 3rd Premier League title in a row, and our 2nd Champions League title. We also won the Capital One Cup, a first for me. The C1C is even better as most games involved the youth and back up players. The PL ended up being relatively easy, only lost two games and finished on 98 points with 83 goals scored (best in the league) and 27 conceded (second best). Only lost twice all season in the league so that was very pleasing. Champions League was a bit of a battle, having FC Bayern in our group and then again in the quarter finals. In the four games played we lost the first away to them 1-0, then 2-1 at home in the group stages. We then drew 1-1 in the quarter finals away, before a 0-0 at home. After them we had PSG in the semis which I wasn`t confident with, but we smashed them 4-1 at home before scraping by having lost 3-1 away. Close, but we made it through to the finals V Chelsea. I expected another tough game, but we battered them 3-0 at the San Siro with a Campbell brace and a header from MYM. Great for us. Despite our success, I`ve managed to upset Schurrle by rejecting Barca`s 40million bid for him. Sorry but he`s been my top goalscorer three seasons in a row, he`s not going anywhere. Fernando is also in a bit of a strop because I won`t give him a payrise after Spurs tried to sign him. He`s 30 now and I could cash in but the youngster who will be replacing him is still a little short and I don`t need the money so saw no reason to sell up. When I went to offer him a new deal he wanted 80k per week for 4 years. I`ve no intention of paying a guy that old that much for that long so he`s just going to have to live with it. Barkley, Campbell and Caulker have all signed new contracts until 2022. Each of the three is now earning 90k per week and I convinced each to accept an option extension by the club into the contracts. Caulker has three years, Campbell two and Barkley one. Ideally I`d have got three in each of them, but it`ll have to do. Transfers are fairly minimal. Jack Cork and Hernanes left on a free and Debuchy (now 32) left for 10mil to Schalke. Replacing Debuchy is Gregory van der Wiel from Heerenveen for 2.3mil. VD Wiel is the one who starts at PSG and would cost a bomb at the start, not forgetting his wages on top of that. Thankfully after being released by PSG he went to Heerenveen and accepted a much lower contract, and now he has signed for us as a rotation player on 28k per week. Love getting quality players on the cheap. He has declined a bit, however I had only intended on using him as a rotation player for young Alex Patterson, my 18 year old 6ft5 newgen wing back who already looks great and is going to improve further. Also signed Daniele Rugani from Napoli on a free, only 23 and will be fighting for the back up CB slots alongside Mbabu and Gordon Baxter (aka the new Bobby Moncur despite what the game claims). Adam Campbell has been upgraded to the #9 for this season. He`s 22 now, and he is absolute quality. He has responded to my faith in him, by scoring this goal to win us the Community Shield V Spurs. Not sure why it`s so blurry, but you get the gist. Having some issues with my internet so I can`t upload any images for some reason. But Campbell now has the stats of one of the best strikers in the world. 19 finishing, 18 composure, 20 off the ball, 17 first touch, 15 passing, 15 dribbling, 17 pace, 15 stamina and 13 strength. He chipped in with 23 goals and 12 assists last season, playing as a DLF (support). This season I expect more goals as I`ve changed him to an Advanced Forward. In other news, Moussa Sissoko and Hatem Ben Arfa were both up for sale from the new clubs. Sissoko who I sold for 37mil ended up at Wolfsburg for 8mil, and HBA is still rotting at Real Madrid but is available for 6.75mil despite me selling him for 30mil at the start of the 15/16 season. I would sign him back, but he turns 31 this season and I have better players now. Shame, he didn`t play at all last season for Madrid... Why did they waste 30mil on him?!? Not that I`m complaining... About to start the 5th season properly now. Have no intention of making any more signings, have quality youngsters to cover every position, and also have some experienced players in the likes of Cabaye, Gouffran, Jackson Martinez and Fraser Forster. Martinez has been getting interest from Juve though, and as he`s approaching 31 I may consider letting him go if they give me 10+mil for him. Here`s the squad at the moment | Pkd | Inf | Name | B Pos | Role | Duty | Ability | Potential | Rec | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Ross Barkley | AM © | Advanced playmaker | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMR | Unh | André Schürrle | AM (L) | Inside forward | Support | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | Tut | Jack Wilshere | AM © | Trequartista | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STC | | Adam Campbell | ST © | Poacher | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCR | | Steven Caulker | D © | Central defender | Stopper | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AML | | Alexis Sánchez | AM ® | Winger | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Tim Krul | GK | Goalkeeper | Defend | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCL | PR | Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa | D © | Central defender | Covering| | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | Wnt | Jackson Martínez | ST © | Poacher | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Wnt | Yohan Cabaye | AM © | Box to box midfielder | Support | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | WBL | Wnt | Kieran Gibbs | D (L) | Complete Wing Back | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DM | Wnt | Fernando | DM | Anchor man | Defend | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Fraser Forster | GK | Goalkeeper | Defend | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S10 | Wnt | Youri Tielemans | AM © | Trequartista | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Marc Wilson | DM | Deep lying playmaker | Support | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Yoan Gouffran | ST © | Trequartista | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Maya Yoshida | D © | Central defender | Covering| | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | WBR | | Gregory van der Wiel | D ® | Complete Wing Back | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | | Paul Dummett | D (L) | Complete Wing Back | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | Loa | Maximilian Meyer | AM © | Advanced playmaker | Attack | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S12 | | Zakaria Bakkali | AM (L) | Inside forward | Support | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Daniele Rugani | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Kevin Mbabu | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S11 | | Alex Patterson | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Gael Bigirimana | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | Wnt | Simon Woods | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S8 | Wnt | Andy Matthews | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S9 | PR | Gordon Baxter | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | Yth | Richie Porter | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Looking very good then james_wilko. How is Campbell looking on your save? Progressing nicely so far, had Nuno Gomes tutoring him to get him a little more creative. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_wilko Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 Like an unstoppable goal machine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 @james_wilko Have you been feeding the poor boy steroids?!?! You've done a great job there, turned him into an excellent all round attacking player His strength is still languishing down at 7 for me at moment. He's got a bit of catching up to do to where he is on your save, but I'm a few seasons behind. Seems to be responding well to training in one of the more creative forward roles at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 End of Season 2013-2014 Well, after a productive start to the season, we found ourselves sitting pretty in the top 4, well above what was expected of us. The question was whether I could keep the team up there, or would we fade away to obscurity? TRANSFERS Three transfers in January. First player in was Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda, who will add some more quality to an already solid midfield. Dusan Tadic signed next, giving us a really good winger who can deliver for our strikers. Finally, Danny Ings joins Newcastle, as a young English backup option to the front-line, along with keeping an eye on the future. Also, the loan of Yacine Brahimi was terminated. Mathieu Debuchy; Mr Consistent was one of the side's top performers this season PREMIER LEAGUE 1 - PREMIER LEAGUE 2 A terrible start to the second half of the campaign. Two straight defeats. We thought we found our feet, with two wins and a draw, but another 2 defeats and 2 draws, saw us drop even more valuable points. After that, we regained ourselves, and started to pick up some momentum on our quest for European football. Hit a blip against Norwich, but ended the season with two wins, including a thumping of Crystal Palace, who were relegated in the 88th minute of that match, after West Brom scored late on to seal safety. To finish fifth was pleasing, but if it wasn't for that run of inconspicuous form, we could have been tilting at the title race. But, not worth thinking about what might have been, as we have managed to qualify for Europa League, which is a step in the right direction, especially with the starting XI being relatively unchanged from the side I inherited. The title race went down to the last day, and Chelsea won it in the 85th minute. Maybe next year... FA CUP CAPITAL ONE CUP A poor FA Cup run came to an end against Arsenal. We were so close to a final appearance in the Capital One Cup, losing to a late goal in the second leg. PLAYERS As expected, key players such as Hatem Ben Arfa, Moussa Sissoko and Mathieu Debuchy among the top performing Magpies this season. Much more will be expected of Giovinco, Vietto, Ings and Remy(should he return) next season, with the strikers struggling to find any meaningful runs of form throughout the season. Giovinco made up for his lack of goals with an assist haul of 15, mainly due to quite a bit of time playing out wide at AML. Key Players Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa - Mathieu Debuchy - Moussa Sissoko - Hatem Ben Arfa The four best players this season, and all four are French internationals. Mbiwa was a defensive rock, forming a formidable partnership with captain Coloccini. Debuchy was good defensively and attacking, performing almost every game. Sissoko was a real handful for many teams, making excellent runs and bossing midfield. Ben Arfa was as you would expect, a real livewire, constantly a thorn in the side of full-backs. Top Scorers; Hatem Ben Arfa(14 goals), Loic Remy(7 goals), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon(6 goals) Assists Leaders; Sebastian Giovinco(15 assists), Eduardo Salvio, Loic Remy(10 assists), Hatem Ben Arfa(9 assists) Finally, the youth intake was very pleasing. Four players of 3.5* PA or above were signed, but this young man stands out as one to watch... High hopes for this AML, apparently could be 'one of the finest of his generation'. No pressure then!! Also, I have managed to twist Mike Ashley's arm to upgrade the Training Facilities, having already had the Youth Recruitment upped earlier in the season. Also, an expansion to the wonderful St James Park is imminent, taking capacity up to around 58,000. ------- Aims for Next Season Well, after a good season, we need to continue to push on. Breaking the top four is now the main aim, whilst a good run in the Europa League would be nice. Maybe even a trophy... I need more goals from the front men, that is obvious. Giovinco is a more creative forward, so he has a little less pressure to find the net, providing he is creating for others to do so. Transfer-wise...We need to make the squad more English. A squad of predominantly foreign players, the Europa League will make sure I do make it more English. Adam Campbell and Danny Ings could become prominent figures, whilst other English players will be scouted and hopefully signed before the season kicks off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 @Stu_UBJ Good season mate, shame to be so close to a Champions League spot and miss out. Hope the Hope the Europa Cup won't prove the hinderance for your team the way it seems to for some real life clubs. How's Danny Ings look for you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 @Stu_UBJGood season mate, shame to be so close to a Champions League spot and miss out. Hope the Hope the Europa Cup won't prove the hinderance for your team the way it seems to for some real life clubs. How's Danny Ings look for you? Currently bulking the squad to deal with it! If nothing else it will keep more players happy due to more games & more rotation. Ings hasn't really featured, but this season should get him some game time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_UBJ Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Replaced Remy anyway, which was always going to be the tricky part of this summer. In comes Duván Zapata from Napoli for £6.25m, having scored 14 in 28 last season for them, most of which came from the bench. Eduardo Salvio is returning to Benfica, who won't budge on their £20m valuation of the Argentine. Dusan Tadic started to perform as the season wore on last time, so hopefully he can step up to the plate. Also a confirmed transfer is that of Spurs youngster Adam Smith, who will provide backup to Debuchy at full-back. Not expected to grow a huge deal, but will provide adequate backup for Mathieu until someone worthwhile comes along(and also is homegrown). Sammy Ameobi has left for Birmingham for £1.1m. He hadn't progressed at all during a loan spell with the Blues, despite playing 30-odd games. It also looks like the end of the road for Shola at the club, along with Conor Newton, and Remie Streete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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