Dexter_Morgan Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 One win and you could have forced the playoff ffs On a positive note you've been superb for most of the year so hopefully that runs in to next season mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeedsUnitedForLife Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 unluck hhhehehe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Bamogo looks ace! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 One win and you could have forced the playoff ffs On a positive note you've been superb for most of the year so hopefully that runs in to next season mate Well, on such fine margins do the footballing fates rest sometimes. Not sure about 'superb for most of the year', though certainly we showed what we were capable of in those last few months. unluck hhhehehe Hopefully we'll be the ones laughing next time. Bamogo looks ace! He does indeed. Bayern and the like have very much been sniffing after him and thankfully he's got a few years left on his contract otherwise we'd run the very real risk of losing him soon. Given he'd played a major role on all our really good performances (which unfortunately weren't that many) there's a bit of a 'what-if' regarding the fact that he missed the last game due to international duty. He's been a little young to do it as regularly as we need but hopefully he's coming of age. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Summer 2028 The board were very clear, we needed promotion, plain and simple. While the squad didn’t need much improvement there were still a few holes to fill and little money to do it with. I did at least have a new 3-year 6.5kpw contract under my belt so while there wasn’t a fixed ‘playoff zone’ if we were at least in it and close to the automatic spots I’d probably be fine but otherwise this was ‘make or break’ stuff. The first priority was a second goalkeeper. De Micheli had gone for financial reasons and Raimondi would probably miss a few games due to being on youth international duty (which is especially annoying when you have a lot of talented young players in a squad, as I often like to do), so we definitely needed someone else to fill in for a handful of games a year for a while. Another right-back and a playmaker were also needed in the squad as Ali and Karamidas couldn’t play in those positions by themselves all season long. Another winger and central defender/defensive mid would be useful as well. For once I actually kept to a plan to only sign a few players, though that was partly enforced by the fact that only a small number of potential signings were anywhere near good enough (which shouldn’t be a surprise given realistically it’s tough to get much better on paper in Serie B) and a lot of those that were wouldn’t come. I did manage to get what I needed with the ‘would be nice’ positions also covered but hopefully squad harmony would still be pretty strong. In general this was very much a ‘depth’ window rather than an ‘improvement’ one, a final patching up here and there before taking on the challenge of gunning for promotion 325k from Cluj (though I've just realized he's a potential youth international as well which partly defeats the object of signing him, at least in the short term. Whoops!). Free Agent (because one old but very good Greek playmaker just wasn't enough) 275k from Avellino 230k from Dinamo Zagreb (Again, because we needed yet more Croatian defenders, they seem to be doing a good line in them these days. He wasn't even my first choice '17yr old Croatian DC/DM' signing) Free Agent (Much needed backup/alternative to Bamogo) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Hopefully the new signings will add the extra needed looking back at FM11 and comparing it 13+ even youth players like the deal you got for Radu are really rare now. I've paid £1.5M for a 16 year old Danish striker worth £42k and was rejected a bid of £7M for 16 year old Belgian worth £65k yet the Danish lad is miles ahead of the Belgian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 Hopefully the new signings will add the extra needed looking back at FM11 and comparing it 13+ even youth players like the deal you got for Radu are really rare now. I've paid £1.5M for a 16 year old Danish striker worth £42k and was rejected a bid of £7M for 16 year old Belgian worth £65k yet the Danish lad is miles ahead of the Belgian Well I do remember being able to do good deals for youngsters on FM13 as well so it's a case of 'you win some, you lose some'. Sometimes you get high prices quoted as well on this version but you can mostly keep it below £10M even for top class teenagers. Aug 2028 Ravenna 1-2 Verona (CI) Bamogo (2) We started off at Ravenna in the cup, Bamogo getting things off on a great note with a first-half brace. We could easily have had at least a couple more as we looked very good indeed, in contrast to most games last season even when we won, and their consolation 5 minutes from time gave the game a misleadingly close scoreline. Verona 1-0 Portosummaga (B) Iuliano The league began against Portosummaga and unfortunately we were unable to be anywhere near as convincing. If they had finished better they might have snatched it but we hadn’t lost our knack of pulling results out of the bag right at the end and a stoppage time Iuliano penalty allowed us to start off with a win. Varese 0-2 Verona (B) Costanzo There was a lot more battling to be done at promoted Varese but Costanzo bundled us into the lead in the 35th minute. On balance we deserved this one a lot more and got another from an own goal with a few minutes left. Sept 2028 Verona 1-0 Livorno (B) Euler Livorno were potentially more of a challenge, especially with numerous international absences. It was a game of missed chances at both ends but Euler just about delivered a win right at the end and without being particularly convincing we were the only team to have won all 3 so far. Foggia 1-1 Verona (B) Keramidas We went to Foggia who seemed oddly defensive which allowed us to go at them, taking the lead from Karamidas in the 18th minute. Costanzo had another disallowed which proved costly when they were awarded a penalty late on which allowed them to take a share of the points. Verona 2-1 Avellino (B) Euler, Bamogo Relegated Avellino were potential promotion rivals so I hoped to get a result over them. For most of the game we dominated but just couldn’t find a way through. Thankfully a penalty by Euler had given us the lead after 25 minutes but I was never at easy with just a single goal lead. Bamogo finally gave us one from open play with 5 minutes left which was just as well as they got one back (though that was maybe just because we eased off) in the last minute of the regular 90, the first time our young keeper Raimondi has been beaten from open play in the league this season. Benevento 0-3 Verona (B) Ali, Karamidas We faced a lot of early pressure at Benevento but an own-goal gave us the lead against the run of play in the 28th minute, soon followed by Ali somehow making it 2-0. We lucked out a lot in the second half as they had a goal disallowed and were denied a penalty, with Karamidas giving us a 3rd in stoppage time, giving us a winning margin that very much flattered us. Cosenza 2-4 Verona (B) Euler (2), Massimo (2) We had only lost a single game since February and we went to Cosenza hoping to pay them back for it. Despite being bottom of the league they still seemed to have a bit of an Indian sign over us and took the lead after 5 minutes. However we fought back with Euler and Massimo putting us 2-1 ahead after half an hour. The German got another before the break and Massimo pretty much sealed it in the 66th minute. They got another goal with 5 minutes left but otherwise it had been pretty much our first excellent performance of the season. Oct 2028 Brescia 2-3 Verona (B) Costanzo, Euler (2) We went to Brescia for a top-of-the-table clash. Both our ‘international week’ games had been postponed (which meant that we were on a run of 5 away games in a row in all competitions) so we had two games in hand over them (and pretty much everyone else) while still remaining a point ahead, thanks to the fact that the only got one point from the two games they played. Frustratingly, just like last year only Euler had made a passable impression of a decent forward so far but Costanzo ‘woke-up’ to give us a 3rd minute lead, followed by a brace for Euler as he kept up his form, giving us a 3-0 lead after just 21 minutes. Costanzo had another disallowed in the second-half and we remained under pressure at the other end. They eventually got a goal back and scored another near the end but the game had easily been won before that. Novara 3-2 Verona (B) Markovic (2) Something was bound to give soon and it did at Novara, who had already caused us problems at the end of last season. We huffed and we puffed in the first half but couldn’t get anywhere against their house of brick while they snatched the lead in the 20th minute, getting another a few minutes from half-time. Potential salvation came from a very unlikely source. Markovic had been on a goal drought of over 18hrs, stretching back an entire year, but he had had one disallowed in January and I felt that if he could break that run he might be able to rescue himself from ‘flop’ status, and a knock to Costanzo against Brescia allowed him what was by now a very rare chance (along with the fact that while he was a great super-sub last year, I had just as little faith in Odstrcilik to perform as a starter). He scored each side of half-time to level it but our comeback was derailed by a straight red card for Karamidas and a fairly poor day for the defence was capped off by a Novara winner with 5 minutes left, ending our run of 12 league games without defeat. Foggia 0-1 Verona (CI) Iuliano Attentions turned to Foggia in the cup, the last of our long run on the road and Iuliano gave us the lead shortly before half-time. The rest of the game was a bit of a rear-guard action but we survived to unconvincingly go through. Verona 1-2 Cavese (B) Costanzo Cavese was our first game back home at the Bentegodi for almost a month and a half but the games were starting to mount up and it was definitely showing. They took the lead in the 8th minute and could easily have had more. Costanzo equalized on the stroke of half-time which revitalized us somewhat but not enough and we couldn’t pull a late winner out of the bag this time. In fact in the 7th (!) minute of added time they headed in a corner to get a winner themselves. Nov 2028 Verona 4-0 Cremonese (B) Massimo, Tournier (2), Bamogo Cremonese was one of the postponed games from earlier and knowing that we couldn’t afford letting our form slide for too long we went at it. Massimo gave us the lead in after 25 minutes and Tournier quickly got another. Bamogo made it fairly comfortable with a 3rd goal before the break and a second Tournier header finished off a 4-0 win. SPAL 1-2 Verona (B) Costanzo, Euler We went to SPAL just a few days later and it showed as we were under pressure early on and despite going down to 10 men, they still managed to take the lead in the 25th minute. We just about pulled a result out of the fire in what was now pretty much our trademark fashion. Costanzo equalized in the 74th minute and a Euler penalty gave us all 3 points, but only just. Verona 1-0 Salernitana (B) Massimo Again we had just a few days before playing Salernitana and while Massimo gave us the lead just a few minutes in, we struggled to build on it and yet again just about edged the victory. Ravenna 0-1 Verona (B) Bamogo The trip to Ravenna was our 7th game in 21 days and we didn’t exactly race out of the blocks. They had all the early pressure and though we had a spell on top late in the first-half, they looked more likely to get a winner near the end. Fortunately for us it was Bamogo that clinched it for us with 5 minutes left. Torino 0-0 Verona (B) We had a first midweek break for a while before going to Torino and we started strongly, in contrast to our recent game. However also in contrast to our recent games we couldn’t break through and after we faded away a draw ended up being a good result. Verona 0-0 Bologna (B) It was only a brief break from midweek duties as we played Bologna. Again we had the lion’s share of the chances early on but had to settle for 0-0. Verona 0-0 Cittadella (B) Cittadella were going strong but we had to settle for a 3rd 0-0 in a row, this one rather less interesting than the others. However Avellino lost so we actually gained an extra point over them. Taranto 1-0 Verona (CI) We went to Serie A strugglers Taranto next in the cup. I kept a few rested players out of the team as we weren’t done with the tough marathon of games and just about lost it to a goal shortly before half-time. So far so very good indeed. The start to the season wasn't quite as impressive as it looked as just like last year, we were generally fighting for most of our wins rather than be the superior side, and that made me feel less safe than the position we got into would suggest. However what we did have was a lot more consistency and after the October break and the Brescia win we looked comfortable albeit partly due to the two games in hand rather than having 'cashed' them in for a big points lead. Thing then looked wobbly as we lost two games we'd probably have expected to win (or at least got 4 points from) with a heavy run coming up but we somehow managed to keep it together to get some more wins together and despite hitting a few 0-0's in a row we've managed to hold position with a small lead over Avellino, even though that critical margin to 3rd has narrowed quite a bit in the process. Certainly once things got busy things could have gone a lot worse than it did. There's still a long and tough road to go but we should hopefully be capable of remaining in the top 2, maybe even pushing on once we get some wins together again to avoid things getting too tight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Good start this season, seems bar a run of 3/4 games your defence has been really solid so far too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Good start this season, seems bar a run of 3/4 games your defence has been really solid so far too I've been impressed by that so far, especially with Raimondi having been thrown in as first choice keeper. Admittedly he has a lot of defensive players in front of him, not just a flat back-5 but Iuliano in midfield which like the formation itself started out as a case of making do with who was available (as we entered the season with a couple of injuries in that position) but has worked well enough to keep, but that's not a guarantee of a tight defence and he's still done a decent job himself. Unfortunately January has brought two pieces of bad news... Erm, WTF Mr Chairman! Starting with Ali, aside from the stupidly low fee that was somehow considered to be too good to turn down, he has has easily been our best player in terms of consistently performing very well since I bought him a couple of years back and is very much an under the radar key player as far as I'm concerned. The money for Bamogo was at least much more reasonable (and there were more bids later so he ended up going to Hoffenheim for 4M), it wasn't entirely unexpected that something like this would happen with him, and he hadn't done much in his last handful of games but while he didn't have Ali's consistency he was nevertheless instrumental in our stronger performances both this season and last. I had to put up with a lot of this at Chornomorets and Slavia and hopefully this'll be the only time I get hit with this for a long while to come (I don't remember any specific instance from South America and I doubt it'll happen if we get up to Serie A). It's something I'm willing to accept every once in a while (and in fact it can be very helpful financially) but aside from the rather low thresholds, having this happen while we're on a roll mid-season is just absurd! Generally our success has been down to a hard-fought team effort rather than relying on individuals so it might not be all that disastrous but losing two of our standout players will probably mean losing a handful of points we might otherwise have got. Thankfully we've won 5 out of the 6 matches played since the last update and are 10 points clear of 3rd so we've got plenty of breathing space but having been on top the entire time so far having to settle for a distant 2nd or even the '10 point margin rule' in 3rd (which could very well happen actually) would be a bit of an anti-climax. While it was probably just a heat of the moment feeling, I must admit that I was thinking 'If those sales mean we blow it, I'm off' but I doubt it'll come anywhere near coming to that thankfully. Here are the replacements... 850k from Avellino 230k from Mallorca Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Hoping to get all the way through to the end today. Taking a bit of a break but hopefully will pick it up later and it seems a good point to do an update in terms of post length. Dec 2028 Verona 4-0 Modena (B) Odstrcilik, Bamogo Odstrcilik had barely appeared this season but he got his chance against Modena and scored a brace in the first 11 minutes. Bamogo gave us a 3rd and an own-goal late on sealed a 4-0 win, avenging the 6-2 defeat from the same fixture last season. Padova 0-3 Verona (B) Euler, Odstrcilik, Tournier Padova away seemed potentially tricky but with Keramidas pulling the strings in midfield, Euler and Odstrcilik gave us a 2-0 lead after half an hour. The former went off injured (though thankfully would be out for less than a week) but Tournier gave us a 3rd in added time, and favourable results elsewhere saw us 6 points clear as the half-way point of the season approached. Verona 0-3 Bari (B) We had a major off-day against Bari. They took the lead in the 2nd minute and had another after half an hour, having also had one disallowed. They sealed it with a late 3rd as we were totally outplayed. Grosseto 1-2 Verona (B) Odstrcilik (2) We went to Grosseto just before the winter break and took the lead from Odstrcilik. The Czech got another just before half-time and was unlucky not to claim a hat-trick. They got a goal back with 15 minutes left which made it a little tense but we got the win in the end. Jan 2029 Portosummaga 0-2 Verona (B) 100th Verona Match!!! Euler (2) The second half of the season started at Portosummaga, which was my 100th match at Verona but was also set to be Bamogo’s last, as he was following Ali in being sold above my head. Portosummaga had actually been early front-runners but had very quickly dropped to relegation strugglers and Euler had no trouble picking them off with a first-half brace. Verona 1-0 Varese (B) Odstrcilik Additional bids meant Bamogo was still around to face Varese, but he hadn’t done much of note for a while and didn’t this time either as the first-half was disappointingly flat, especially since it was top at home to bottom. We improved after a minor kick up the backside and Odstrcilik gave us a 57th minute win. Livorno 0-3 Verona (B) Euler (2) The post-Bamogo era started at Livorno, and after an own-goal gave us a 3rd minute lead, his replacement Krouchi set up Euler for 2-0 after 12 minutes. They pushed hard late in the first half and the other ‘replacement’ signing Barretta inherited his predecessor’s ability to make goal-line clearances, continuing to have periods of pressure after the break, but Krouchi set up Euler again late on for a misleadingly easy-looking 3-0 win. Feb 2029 Verona 4-1 Benevento (B) Odstrcilik2), Iuliano, Tournier Odstrcilik stepped up against Benevento, giving us the lead after 30 minutes and scoring again on the stroke of half-time. Iuliano had thrived in an unexpected midfield role and gave us a 3rd early in the second-half. They got a goal back after the hour mark but Tournier’s late header sealed a deserved 4-1 win as we moved 8 points clear of Brescia in 2nd and a massive 14 over Ravenna in 3rd. Verona 0-1 Foggia (B) Foggia were the only team who could beat (or even get near) our defensive record this season (not surprising given their set up was a 5-2-2-1 with 2 DM’s) and despite dominating the first-half we couldn’t find a way past them. They snatched a goal on the break early in the second-half and we were rather more subdued after that. Thankfully Brescia dropped points as well so it didn’t cost us much. Avellino 2-2 Verona (B) Odstrcilik Avellino had dropped off the challenging pace quite a bit in the past few months but they’d still be a tough team to go to and they had us on the ropes early on. An own-goal gave us the lead very much against the run of play in the 28th minute, followed by Odstrcilik 8 minutes later but they weren’t done yet, scoring twice in the first 20 minutes of the second-half to pull it back to 2-2 and coming very close to a winner. I must admit that it was the least they deserved (and despite our 2-0 lead could still be considered as us holding them to a draw rather than the other way around) and a defeat for Brescia meant that we could afford to be generous. Bologna 5-0 Verona (B) The trip to Bologna ended up being a disaster. They took the lead in the 3rd minute and an own-goal by the normally reliable Raimondi made it 2-0 after just 10 minutes. It was 4-0 by the break and they even got a very late 5th. Brescia got back to winning ways and Modena also looked like they’d close in if we kept dropping points. Verona 2-2 Cosenza (B) Krouchi, Euler We needed to do much better against Cosenza, a team who had started poorly but had since risen up the table. Krouchi gave us the lead in the 42nd minute, and though they equalized in the 52nd, Euler quickly restored our lead. We couldn’t quite hold on to it however, leaving us with just 2 points from the last 4 games, but the gap didn’t narrow any further thankfully. Mar 2029 (Part 1) Cremonese 3-1 Verona (B) Euler We went to a Cremonese side who had some dangerous players and they proved it by quickly going 2-0 up. We managed to avoid another ‘Bologna’ with Euler pulling a goal back after 15 minutes but they looked set for a 3rd and got it just before half-time. The fact that Raimondi still had a rating in the mid 7’s didn’t reflect well on everyone else. Like in a lot of these games, we were much improved in the second-half but it wasn’t enough. Thankfully results elsewhere kept going our way as we remained 6 and 7 points clear of 2nd and 3rd, but we’d need wins soon. Verona 3-1 Brescia (B) Keramidas (2), Capobianco If ever there was a good time to break our bad run, a top-of-the-table clash with Brescia was definitely it. Even if we drew, Modena would likely leapfrog them and close to 4 points. Karamidas edged us ahead after half-an-hour. They equalized a few minutes before the break but Capobianco had come on for the injured Euler, a very rare appearance since the German started firing a year ago, and he made up for lost time by restoring the lead in the 56th minute and Karamidas soon sealed a 3-1 win. It continued to look very good indeed for a while and after Benevento I thought that we were going to ease home for the rest of the season. However things suddenly took a bit of a nose-dive as our 'luck' suddenly ran dry. Thankfully we still benefited from Brescia stuttering as well in recent weeks and in-form sides like Modena having large gaps to make up to limit the short-term threat and hopefully with a relatively comfortable run in the next few games (though it gets tougher later including Modena away) we can get back on track and have enough of a margin to not have to worry too much for the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Mar 2029 (Part 2) Verona 2-0 Novara (B) Karamidas, Euler Novara were a sort of bogey side, as we’d only got one point from our last 3 encounters but we finally made up for it this time. Karamidas gave us the lead in the 10th minute with Euler adding another on the half-hour mark as we cruised to victory. Verona 3-0 SPAL (B) Krouchi, Euler (2) We struggled to make a breakthrough against SPAL, but Krouchi gave us the lead just before half-time and Euler built on it with a 2nd half brace. Cavese 2-0 Verona (B) Euler, Odstrcilik We strolled on at Cavese. Euler went off injured again but not before giving us the lead. Unfortunately he’d be out for about a month and a half and would only be back for the last few matches. Thankfully Odstrcilik made it safe after 70 minutes. Apr 2029 Salernitana 0-2 Verona (B) Capobianco, Sow Despite having Euler and Krouchi injured for going to Salernitana, we managed to keep on going without them as both their replacements scored. Capobianco gave us the lead in the 27th minute, later setting up the rarely-used Sow in the 72nd minute. Verona 0-0 Ravenna (B) Things were rather tougher against Ravenna, who had a goal disallowed after 25 minutes and could easily have gone on to win anyway. Cittadella 1-1 Verona (B) Markovic We looked on course to win again when Markovic gave us the lead near the end of the first-half at Cittadella, but a massive defensive mix-up saw them equalize early in the second-half so we had to settle for another draw. We were 10 points ahead of 3rd with 5 games left so were pretty much up but Modena (who we still had to go to) closed to 7 points so might still spoil the party at the top. Verona 0-2 Torino (B) Modena had dropped points before we played Torino so the league was pretty much ours if we won. Unfortunately we went behind in the 9th minute and didn’t get much better for the rest of the first-half. An equalizer seemed only a matter of time in the second-half but instead they hit us with another with 15 minutes left. May 2029 Modena 3-0 Verona (B) We had a few tough games to finish off with starting at nearest challengers Modena. Unfortunately we got into a complete mess late in the first half, allowing them to take the lead from a corner after half an hour, then conceding an own-goal before the break. A potential fight-back eventually faded away and they even got a late 3rd. Verona 2-0 Padova (B) Euler, Capobianco Euler was thankfully back against Padova, and while an early knock limited his effectiveness, it was probably no coincidence that we were able to get a win again. Massimo put us ahead after 10 minutes, and with the rest of the game remaining very tight indeed I threw on fresh attacking players later one and was rewarded with a Capobianco goal with 15 minutes left which sealed promotion at last, and in fact with Modena losing and a better head-to-head record (despite one big win each the score was 4-3 in our favour) the league was ours as well, even if the game doesn’t register it if teams can still be mathematically level on points. Bari 2-0 Verona (B) We went to Bari, who had three forwards all named ‘Francesco’ and frustratingly two of them scored in the first 2-0 minutes. Our second-half comeback attempts seemed to be all huff and puff and no actual results and it was the same here. Verona 2-0 Grosseto (B) Massimo, Odstrcilik We finished the season against Grosseto. At risk of sounding too much like a proud parent talking about his baby’s first words or first steps, it saw Raimondi’s first penalty save, which was very much awarded against the run of play. Massimo was back from suspension and finally gave us the lead before half-time. Odstrcilik was restored to the team and repaid the faith with a second goal on the hour-mark as we finished off a mostly excellent season with a win. That has to be one of the least convincing ‘convincing’ promotions on record. Aside from having an inferior GD for the first couple of weeks we were top all season long and the gap was never less than 3 points after the first few months. Our early good run was down to fighting hard for the result more than performing genuinely strongly, then we benefited from a lack of a really strong rival who would have stayed a lot closer to us and really punished us for those couple of really bad runs in the second-half of the season, though Modena made a decent go of it eventually. At the end of the day we were probably good enough for long enough to deserve promotion but not anywhere near this easily. Oddly in comparison with the previous season and a half, the second-half of this season saw a transition from fighting to get results to either being a lot more convincing or a lot more rubbish with result to match, no rescuing results like we did so well for a while. I couldn’t help noticing a pattern in said results as we seemed to build ourselves up into a position where we were high and dry (including with the potential advantage of those games in hand in October), drop off the pace wildly until we were under threat and then pick up again, though less so at the end of the season when it was all pretty much done and dusted. In the context of the career this is a big promotion. Aside from the fact that I needed to get it to survive at Verona, it’s the 3rd of the career (topping the league every time) and having already been linked with some reasonably interesting clubs (in a ‘big name in a middling league’ sort of way mostly, but also struggling La Liga and Serie A sides) which might have vanished with a sacking (just like after Brazil, which is why I felt Verona ended up being my best prospect in the first place) and being in Serie A (as long as I leave Verona there) will open a lot more doors. Not that I’m planning on leaving anytime soon as long as things go smoothly as I think we can do better in the longer-term than simply consolidating, though as always after promotion, survival is pretty much the only think I’ll be thinking about during the first season. In the shorter term I think we’ve got a decent base to build on in various positions and while this summer will be just the same as always after a promotion to a big league, basically trying to upgrade with as many players as possible, we’ve also got enough players who will be just fine for the time being that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we missed out on getting in new blood in various positions. We certainly don’t need a new keeper, the bar is pretty high for a new winger, we need youth a lot more than we do quality in a central midfield playmaker and while we definitely need a couple more central defenders we don’t need anything like a complete overhaul. ‘Proper’ Full-backs and defensive CM’s are another matter entirely unfortunately, maybe reliable forwards (though Euler and Odstrcilik did alright in the end) as well. The Serie A season will start at home to Milan! Also the first signing might be a former Slavia favourite. Star player: Since last spring, Euler has been easily head and shoulders above the other forwards (which admittedly isn't saying much) and while you might expect a side who 'cruised' to promotion to have a star forward with a far better record it's still a good one nonetheless. It' a shame he's getting on a bit and can't rely on him much longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Good to see this is still going strong. Well done on your promotion, despite your chairman's best efforts to sabotage you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Good to see this is still going strong. Well done on your promotion, despite your chairman's best efforts to sabotage you! Thanks, it's nice to be on a bit of an FM roll at the moment. In fact I think it was only a few weeks since the thread passed 10,000 views and it's already closing in on 15,000. The sales were really frustrating. In the close-season and/or when there's nothing major at stake isn't so bad, but the timing was just stupid. As it happens we were able to get one of them back which either means it was alright in the end or underlines the pointlessness of the original sale. Summer 2029 The board gave me an initial 10M to strengthen, which was actually more than we had in the bank so while I’d have liked a lot more it was actually a little bigger than I was expecting we’d get. I felt I needed to supplement it as much as possible so started off with a bunch of sales of players I wasn’t keen on keeping, and even though it meant not having replacements yet I felt that with much better players potentially available and the budget to get at least a few new faces in I felt it was worth it. There were a couple of familiar faces signed first. 11 years after I signed Vesely as a promising young defender for Slavia, he had been released (though he was still a first-teamer performing very strongly over the past few years so I have no idea why they did that) and I snapped him up as an experienced and reliable old head. The other one was from rather more recent times. It’s fair to say that I didn’t think much of the chairman selling Ali above my head in January so I leapt at the chance to re-sign him just 6 months later, as if to show what a nonsense it was. I really hope he didn’t rush into selling his house. It also meant that I had a couple of players under our belt who not only looked good enough but who I also knew from experience were very strong and reliable performers (albeit in weaker leagues). The Slavia reunion didn’t end there. Kalinin was available as a free agent but he would have counted as my only non-eu signing from abroad allowed and he was nowhere near good enough to be worth using that slot up on. However the hunt for forwards dug up Slavia youth product Patrik Balaz at Taranto. Godwin was even offered out which I might have gone for but his wages were too high. I pretty much managed all I hoped to accomplish, with the exception of a winger which was more a ‘would be nice’ than a necessity, as the current ones are high on technical ability but not so much on pace. I very nearly managed to get a very good one in as well but as we dipped into the red, the remaining budget suddenly shrunk considerably (and the amount we could get back in from sales was minimal) so it was no longer possible, and so that would probably be near the top of my list next time around. I doubted we’d be making any waves this season but we still looked like we might cope alright. Hopefully if we survive I’ll have a lot more to work with in future years. (Free Agent) (2.2M from Catania) (Free Agent) (2.3M from Lens) (2.1M from Sunderland) (2.4M from Taranto) (4.2M from Germinal Beerschot) (1.3M from Torino) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 I've had a bit of a thought on my mind all evening. Even considering the fact that the money we got for him initially would indirectly helped our transfer budget, if it wasn't for the money spent buying Ali back I probably would have got that winger I was so keen on, who wasn't amazing by any means but had excellent pace (something we're lacking) and still had pretty good technical ability along with it and was the one option who would have been enough of an improvement to be worth buying. As it happens Ali was easily the standout candidate in a high-priority position so it's not like I bought him back for the sake of doing do (which would have been really stupid given the need to stretch the budget as far as possible) but we wouldn't have really needed to spend money on a right-back at all if we had kept him all along! This is on top of all the nonsense of selling our best-performing player (he had topped the average ratings in his only full season and had was doing even better up 'til that point that year) in the middle of a promotion campaign for a relatively low fee. Seriously in what universe is a 1.1M bid on a player with a 'base value' of 750k too good to turn down! (Especially as it constituted a 500k loss on his original fee, as if the chairman's business sense didn't already leave a lot to be desired). At least Bamogo was a fairly reasonable deal and didn't prove to be as big a problem though otherwise it was similarly stupid. One thing I haven't mentioned is that given we needed to rely on having a much more gelled squad for our promotion season, and I was pushing it with 5 summer signings so I really didn't want to be making two more to replace the sold players, though it's hard to tell if that had a negative impact. I really didn't expect the initial sale in the first place. Firstly I had managed to avoid chairman interference at Verona up to that point. Secondly it had always happened with very good younger players (like it did with Bamogo just afterwards) and I had always been able to reject much larger bids for players beyond their early 20's, so there was a sense of 'why him and why now?'. When I saw the bid in my inbox (with the giveaway lack of 'yellow' to indicate that I couldn't respond because the chairman had already accepted it) is really was a major 'WTF!' moment. Sorry to go on about it but the entire affair was such a farce in an impressive number of ways that it's worth highlighting. I don't really care that part of that comes from re-signing him (especially since as I've pointed out he was the standout player available for that position anyway, and always was) since I feel I was making a strong statement along the lines of 'He belongs with us and that's final!' It's almost worth it for that alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Well done on the promotion mate:thup: Odd situation with Ali but at least he's back now even though it cost more than the chairman let him go for. Good luck with the new season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Well done on the promotion mate:thup: Odd situation with Ali but at least he's back now even though it cost more than the chairman let him go for. Good luck with the new season Unfortunately he's been a shadow of the player he was before, but he's not alone in finding it a massive step up. Aug 2029 Verona 0-0p SPAL (CI) The season began in the cup against SPAL, which was much harder-fought than I expected. For the most part everyone played well enough but we just couldn’t quite do it, and even though we looked more likely to score as the game wore on we just couldn’t do it and it went to penalties, which I really didn’t want, even though we had a full week before the start of the league. Raimondi saved the first but that was negated by another for the SPAL keeper from Sow (who was brought on precisely for penalties). Markovic missed the second while they made no mistake but Balaz and El Mrini kept us in it. Raimondi pulled off another save to give us hope but Conte missed our 5th as SPAL did to us what we did to Udinese a couple of years back, though we had other priorities this season anyway. In a way the shoot-out summed up the game perfectly. Most of the team going strong (with a certain Norwegian yet again being our best performer on his return to the team) but being let down at the top, that was something we couldn’t get away with in Serie A. Verona 2-2 Milan (A) Balaz Milan at home was a heck of an opener, especially given it’s historically been their ‘bogey game’ in real life. A Balaz shot was deflected in for an 8th minute opener but that was as good as it got as it was mostly one-way traffic from that point on. They equalized after 20 minutes and always looked like taking the lead, which they did from a penalty just before half-time. We looked a bit of a mess but somehow stopped it getting any worse and even I was surprised when Balaz gave us a very late point, from our only shot on target in the entire match. You’d think opponents would learn by now. Never underestimate the boys in blue and yellow because we have a habit of snatching things late on, an invaluable survival skill if we could keep it up. Sept 2029 Parma 0-0 Verona (A) We had a few games afterwards that we could get a few more points from, starting at Parma, our predecessors as Serie B champions. Again we lucked out a bit as they had a goal disallowed after half an hour and failed to beat Raimondi afterwards. If there’s an official ranking of saves made I think the 19yr old is making a pretty good case to be near the top of it. Krouchi and Conte got sent off in the second-half and Dukic went off injured but we still held on for our second ‘point of gold’, though we’d need some actual wins to go with them soon. Verona 2-1 Frosinone (A) Barison, Massimo Frosinone were a slightly surprising name to become an ‘established’ Serie A side. Barison gave us the lead after 10 minutes, but they soon equalized and seemed more likely to win. In the end however Massimo headed us a winner with 15 minutes left, and after 3 lucky results we had 5 points whereas the bottom 3 all had none. Atalanta 2-0 Verona (A) Before we went to regional rivals Atalanta we got the worrying news that Raimondi would be out for a few weeks. Unfortunately we fell behind in a limp first-half and despite a brief second-half flourish, deservedly fell to another later on. Verona 1-1 Palermo (A) Barison The games started getting tougher starting with Palermo, which as pretty one-sided from the start and they eventually took the lead in the 39th minute. It looked over when Ali (who aside from an impressive re-debut had been poor on his return to the club) got sent off but Barison struck with 5 minutes left to give us a point. Napoli 4-0 Verona (A) Two of the worst games came up next starting at Napoli, who were top at this point. They took the lead in the 15th minute and were 3-0 up after half an hour. We were completely impotent all across the board in the face of their quality and conceded again in the 67th minute as we went down 4-0, not that I expected much else. Oct 2029 Roma 3-0 Verona (A) Roma had been champions for the past three years so I wasn’t exactly expecting much from a trip to Rome. We actually gave them a few scares in the first-half but reality struck just before half-time, and they were more comfortable afterwards to win 2-0. Verona 2-3 Verona (A) Massimo, Odstrcilik Things briefly got a bit easier against Genoa, helped by the return of Raimondi in goal, as well as Dukic. The Serb actually got sent-off late in the first-half but there was still time for Massimo to give us the lead. It actually looked like we might hold them off but an El Mrini own-goal gave them an equalizer in the 68th minute after which they upped the pressure and took the lead 7 minutes later. We still nearly pulled something out of the bag, Bubalo had a goal disallowed followed by the return of Odstrcilik’s super-sub act but this time it wasn’t enough and I let out a cry of anguish (yes really) when they got a winner right at the death. Verona 0-2 Pescara (A) Balaz For once luck was very much against us when we played Pescara. They took the lead in the 22nd minute but we kept getting close to an equalizer only to fall further behind in the 63rd minute. Balaz soon pulled a goal back but we couldn’t get anything. Nov 2029 Inter 7-1 Verona (A) Conte I fully expected to fall to a 5th defeat in a row at Inter, and it certainly looked that way when they took a 7th minute lead but Conte fired home an equalizer in the 28th minute. That was as good as it got and they scored twice in the first few minutes of the second-half. They were awarded and scored 2 penalties and ended up winning 7-1 as everything that could go wrong (including an injury and a sending off) did after the break. Verona 1-1 Catania (A) Odstrcilik It didn’t look much better when we went behind in the 5th minute against Catania, but Odstrcilik (who was actually on the verge of being released in the summer before I realized that I might need potentially reliable players, not just ones that looked good on paper) equalized in the 33rd minute and we managed to keep hold of it for what seemed like our first point since the Berlin wall fell. Modena 3-4 Verona (A) 800th career match!!! Odstrcilik, Massimo, Conte, Euler The trip to Modena was the 800th match of the career and we very much took full advantage of facing another promoted side. Odstrcilik gave us the lead after 10 minutes. Conte followed it up just a couple of minutes later and 10 minutes after that saw Massimo give us a 3rd. They had pushed hard for a while and got a goal back on the hour mark, starting a siege that was thankfully relieved by a 67th minute Euler penalty. We were able to ease off as they got another, and a 3rd in stoppage time, which made the game look deservedly close at least. Verona 0-1 Cagliari (A) Cagliari were the bottom side but still looked fairly good on paper and we failed to take advantage. It was still a tight game but they deservedly edged it near the end. Fiorentina 2-1 Verona (A) Krouchi Things got tough again at a Fiorentina side who were currently top and while it was not as bad as various other trips to the big boys they picked us off efficiently enough, scoring a goal in each half. Krouchi actually got a goal back in the 67th minute and we still had time and a few chances to equalize but I didn’t get my hopes up and sure enough it didn’t happen. We've kept our heads above the relegation zone almost all season long (after the Inter game being the only exception) but otherwise it's been a very tough season so far, no doubt about that. We managed to scrape a handful of early points but it's mostly been down-hill from there. If we continue like this it's hard to realistically see us surviving. Yes we have had some tough games early on but even the 'mid-table' sides have been clearly stronger so trying to use that as an explanation is clutching at straws. Despite the number of goals conceded, Raimondi has actually been one of the few players to have stood out (which may seem strange but 'It would have been a lot worse if it wasn't for the goalkeeper' situations do happen and this season has had plenty of them already), though given the run of games we had when he was injured it would be wrong to claim that we'd have done much better with him. Admittedly Inter was on his watch but I think that might have been the match where he was unfit after a knock, and when you get promoted to a big league like this I guess a heavy defeat or two (though not necessarily as bad as it was) against the big sides isn't unusual. While I dislike jumping ship, especially mid-season, I have to admit that if I'm right about the potential opportunities available after promotion (and the fact that going down again would be a step back in the career) than if one of those became available than I might actually consider it. So far (with sackings only starting to occur recently) it's just been teams struggling in other big leagues which obviously isn't going to appeal too much, even if one of them was Liverpool which I did admittedly find tempting for a minute or two but decided it was far too early, and as it happens that was right before the Modena win which gave me a little more hope for Verona. A strong club in a smaller league would definitely be to my liking and as I was linked with a lot of those in Serie B, it's potentially only a matter of time before a door opens in that direction. However for now we'll just see how things go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 At least you've got some points on the board and are out of the relegation spots at the minute. One thing though is the amount of goals you've let in, obviously in a higher division there will be some difference but you've been pretty solid the previous 2 seasons, especially last year so is there a tweak in the tactic or do you think Raimondi played a lot better last year in goal than you realised? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 At least you've got some points on the board and are out of the relegation spots at the minute. One thing though is the amount of goals you've let in, obviously in a higher division there will be some difference but you've been pretty solid the previous 2 seasons, especially last year so is there a tweak in the tactic or do you think Raimondi played a lot better last year in goal than you realised? Well, as for the first line, firstly aside from the Modena win all of those points have been very much scraped, but also some teams had really poor starts otherwise we would have dropped a lot more and a lot quicker, and now the bottom teams are picking up a few points here and there so it's not a situation that gives me much optimism. Regarding the defence, we haven't actually conceded that many more than the teams around us (and in fact 6 fewer than Modena just below us), but I'm reminded of an assessment of Mascherano at West Ham and Liverpool. He was regarded to be no good for West Ham because he was overwhelmed whereas at Liverpool he had less to deal with so was better able to focus on what he needed to do and do his job as a defensive mid very well indeed. The set-up has been (and still is) a flat back 5 as well as a BWM, and that rather than Raimondi (and his predecessor De Micheli) is probably to thank for being so solid at the back in the previous couple of seasons, at least when it works (as that Modena hammering a couple of years ago proved, when it doesn't it's an epic fail) and we've been far more reliant on that than I've been comfortable with. Now we're in Serie A even the 'lesser' teams are still pretty strong, and there are still a bunch of genuinely strong teams, not just the usual 4-5 but I've seen a dominant Parma on FM11 before (though very much not in this save), Palermo as title-challengers to my Magical Milan (so if I treat them as stronger than they appear, that's why) and the likes of Catania being a 'best of the rest' side, so we're not likely to be able to cope defensively any more. The trouble is now we've lost that it doesn't leave us with much else to go on. The performances of the individual players themselves haven't helped. Ali was a defensive rock in Serie B (and against SPAL, a Serie B side in the cup), including pulling off numerous vital goal-line clearances, but he was shockingly poor for a lot of games after that, and his alternative Barretta has managed to be even worse, no other defender has covered themselves in glory and when the defensive line doesn't work, you're in trouble. It's not just defenders, various new signings have been mediocre. Krouchi on the wing did virtually nothing at all before the last few games, Trotta has been so underwhelming that Karamidas as played a lot more as the midfield playmaker and we've never been strong in prolific strikers, though Odstrcilik has managed to do well in a recent run. That's probably why the focus was on Raimondi as it's fallen so much on him at just 19yrs old as the key to surviving matches that go very much against us on balance of play (which is a clear majority of them), and while the fixtures may have played a part, the fact remains that 9 of our 10 points have been won him in goal (compared to a 10:4 appearance split with Radu) and things started going badly when he got injured. 800k was a lot to pay in Serie B for a keeper we didn't need at the time but as potentially the best young keeper in the country I knew he'd soon prove to be worth it and while it's unrealistic to expect him to save us consistently, especially with so little experience, he's certainly repaying the faith. We could so easily have one foot back in Serie B already. it would be nice to be able to point to someone else in the team performing as well next time, if there is a full Verona update. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Dec 2029 Verona 1-2 Juventus (A) Barison I wasn’t looking forward to playing Juventus, especially given how I was there for ages before losing all those seasons and having to take a longer and tougher path to the top (which isn’t entirely a bad thing admittedly). They also had my former Mineiro defender N’Diaye. We actually looked good enough that I briefly forgot how out-classed we were on paper but reality struck when they took the lead in the 39th minute. They effectively finished us off with another in the 63rd minute. Barison did pull one back but that was soon followed by a potential Juventus 3rd disallowed so I didn’t kid myself that we were capable of fighting back and getting something. Udinese 0-0 Verona (A) The defence thankfully stepped up a gear at Udinese, we even got to see Ali back to his old self and as one-sided as it was we still walked away with a 0-0 draw. Sampdoria 1-0 Verona (A) We went to a Sampdoria side who were just below us in what was a very tight bottom 5, and unfortunately went behind just before half-time as they very much had the measure of us. Cosenza 0-3 Verona (A) Conte, Odstrcilik, Bubalo The last game of the year was at fellow promoted side and strugglers Cosenza and we took advantage to take an 18th minute lead (a very rare sight indeed!) from Conte. It wasn’t comfortable but late goals from Odstrcilik and Bubalo sealed a vital win, just our 3rd of the season. Jan 2030 Verona 1-0 Lazio (A) Balaz We returned against Lazio and proved to be more solid than earlier in the season. There was still a heck of a lot of luck involved but Balaz gave us a win in the 70th minute, giving us as many wins in the past 2 games as in the other 17, and our first back-to-back wins since the start of last April. It also took us 4 points clear of the bottom 3 and the pressure was at least slightly off for the first time in a while. Milan 1-0 Verona (A) I didn’t expect much from going to Milan and though we failed to spring any surprises and went down to a 23rd minute goal we at least managed to restrict them to that with a good defensive effort, and we didn’t lose any ground in the league. Verona 1-1 Parma (A) Krouchi Parma was a great opportunity for another result and we were actually on the front foot (if not particularly convincingly so) for only the second or third time all season. Krouchi looked like he had given us a winner in the 80th minute but a Bubalo own-goal meant we had to share the points. It was all bad though as they were still some way behind us and it allowed us to gain an extra point on 18th placed Modena, whose terribly leaky defence (which had conceded on average 2.76 goals a game) would hinder their efforts to catch up, even if there were other teams to worry about as well. Frosinone 1-1 Verona (A) Euler Raimondi had a very mixed game at Frosinone, putting the ball in his own net after half an hour. He did also pull off a penalty save early in the second-half which gave us the breathing space for Euler to snatch a 77th minute equalizer. Feb 2030 Verona 2-1 Atalanta (A) Trotta, Massimo Atalanta was potentially our last realistic chance of getting a result for a while and we made sure to take advantage of it. Trotta had been probably the biggest disappointment this season but coming on for the injured Karamidas allowed him to partly make up for it and give us the lead in the 65th minute. It didn’t last long but Trotta set up Massimo for a very late winner that gave us a 7 point margin that I felt would be needed in the coming weeks. Palermo 3-0 Verona (A) As expected we were easily taken down at Palermo. Pescara 3-1 Verona (A) Bubalo We looked like we could get something at Pescara but just like in the first game with them, luck wasn’t on our side. A questionably won free-kick provided them with the lead after half an hour and resistance soon faded as they scored again each side of half-time. Bubalo at least got a consolation but a win for Sampdoria closed our safety margin to 4 points. Verona 0-2 Napoli (A) We went begind against Napoli in the 5th minute, but we were also unlucky that Euler had a goal disallowed 10 minutes later and they finished us off with another before the break. Mar 2030 Verona 2-5 Roma (A) Markovic, Euler Roma were struggling to get a 4th title in a row but they tore through us easily enough. They took the lead in the 5th minute. Markovic and Euler scored in the second-half but only after their 4th and 5th goals respectively as we crashed 5-2. Genoa 2-0 Verona (A) We might have got something at Genoa but we couldn’t step up, conceding in the 17th minute, later getting another. We did rather better against Inter than last time, but they eventually broke through our resistance with a second-half brace. Balaz still got a goal back with 15 minutes later but that was as close as we got. Catania 1-1 Verona (A) Trotta We finally broke the losing run at Catania, but only just. They took the lead in the 17th minute and we didn’t look like getting much but Trotta pulled an equalizer out of the hat in the 55th minute and we survived a lot of wayward shooting by the Sicilians to hold on to a point. Verona 2-0 Modena (A) Markovic, Trotta Modena’s defence this season could be prosecuted under the trade descriptions act and we managed to take full advantage. Markovic gave us the lead in the 17th minute and while things looked shaky for a while, Trotta gave us another in the 39th minute and we had few worries after that. Thankfully the bottom teams have been woeful this year, or we'd really be in trouble. As it is getting some points together in the middle of the season has proved more than enough to survive the bad run that I knew would follow, only losing 5 points worth of ground in that run of 6 defeats in a row, and taking the opportunity to get 4 points in the last 2 games is proving to be pure gain as the gap is back to 6 points with 7 games left. Not only that but it's not impossible we might get something in the next game at Cagliari and our last two home games are against Cosenza and Sampdoria so having worried in the last update that we were heading for a hiding for nothing, the odds look in our favour now. We can't claim too much credit as even when we've held on to results it's more been due to extreme wastefulness from the opposition than anything else than anything else, but you take what you can get I suppose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Apr 2030 Cagliari 3-1 Verona (A) Odstrcilik The final run-in started at Cagliari, and for once we were unlucky. We made a great start and Markovic had a goal disallowed. They took the lead in the 32nd minute and got another early in the second-half. Odstrcilik pulled a goal back in the 58th minute and we might have equalized but they got a stoppage time 3rd. Verona 1-0 Udinese (A) Balaz We took one step further towards survival against Udinese. For a while it looked we’d have to settle for 0-0 but Balaz finally gave us the win with 5 minutes left, putting us 9 points clear with 5 games left. Verona 1-1 Fiorentina (A) Balaz Raimondi saved a penalty early on against Fiorentina, but they inevitably took the lead shortly before half-time. That seemed to be that but again Balaz got a late goal which gave us a point. Juventus 2-0 Verona (A) We fell to the expected defeat at Juventus, though it took a while to come. They had a goal disallowed early in the second-half but did get a brace later on. May 2030 Verona 0-1 Cosenza (A) We weren’t quite out of the woods yet, and fell to defeat in a poor match against Cosenza. They had a goal disallowed in the first half but still got a winner in the 63rd minute, coupled with a win for Parma which meant they closed to 5 points. Lazio 3-0 Verona (A) There were only 2 games left but theoretically relegation was still possible. The last trip was to Rome to face Lazio, and for a while it looked like we might survive constant pressure and snatch a point, even though they had a goal disallowed. They broke through and ran up 3 goals in the last 15 minutes to win 3-0. Parma won again taking the battle to survival to the last game. Verona 2-0 Sampdoria (A) Markovic (2) Parma had to win at Fiorentina which took the pressure off us against Sampdoria, and as expected the Florentines did our job for us and won. Not a lot was happening in our game for my attention anyway, even Inter pipping Milan to the title was more notable, but in what was already set to be my final game in Verona, Markovic gave us a win with a second-half brace, a nice send off from the Serb who had been a near complete failure but with everyone else struggling this year he had at least proved a little more capable in recent months. It was at least a little fitting that after managing an unconvincing ‘convincing’ promotion last season we managed to do the same regarding survival this time. Even when getting results we were almost always clearly outclassed and in a way we were lucky that we didn’t have one foot in Serie B as early as December. The woefulness of the competition helped and many other seasons we’d have still been very much down and out. The step up was quite a bit bigger than expected and the fact that we somehow managed to stay out of the bottom 3 (with a bit of a safety margin for the second-half of the season) didn’t make me feel that much better about our performances. There is no ‘star player’ this season because while Raimondi had his moments he still wasn’t good enough over the course of the year to be notable. It says it all that Markovic’s brace against Sampdoria on the last day was the only time all year that someone scored multiple times in a game. It is time to say farewell to Italy. As I hoped getting promoted to Serie A eventually opened the sort of doors I was hoping to. Before the Sampdoria game I got an offer (the first time that’s happened while I’ve already been at a club, as opposed to merely being the favourite) that I decided to take, though I did delay it a week so I could properly finish the season first. Had we looked better this season and had potentially a lot more to work with in the summer (as we were maxed out on the wage budget and had just 6M in the bank with end of season prize money) then I’d probably have stayed at build Verona up further but as it stood I felt there was a lot more struggle ahead and was delighted to have an opportunity to leave for something far better. London’s calling… Chapter 6: Bringing out the Young Guns (Arsenal): Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Low points total to survive in all honesty but you did it which is the main thing and that's a fantastic move for you there so good luck with it as you deserve a big job like that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 Low points total to survive in all honesty but you did it which is the main thing and that's a fantastic move for you there so good luck with it as you deserve a big job like that I know, and we were lucky to get a majority of those at that so it was hardly convincing stuff but by some miracle we somehow did it. Arsenal should be interesting. I've never really gone for Premier League clubs much but this seemed a great post to take. It was also a big surprise to get the offer as I hadn't been linking with anything like that before. When I arrived the club were actually over 20M in the red but prize money and a bit of a cash injection soon fixed that, and it wouldn't have been hard raising a lot of money anyway with a few sales. However that still doesn't leave much to fund ongoing transfer activity and I don't like the wage bill being anywhere near as high as 1.9Mpw either. That's why I'll be adopting my 'Delta's Darlings' transfer policy so I can keep building without needing a large budget, and the high quality of a lot of players already (and unusually I'm arriving at a club not overloaded with players in their 30's) here means that I can hopefully avoid rushing it with the expectation of European qualification next year. The fact that the club only just squeaked into the Europa League in 7th means there's still a bit of 'improving fortunes' potential, which matters to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Summer 2030 The summer was meant to be the dawn of a new era, for the club and myself. This was the idea opportunity to snatch up the best young talent and grow a top class side, with the quality of player already in place that I could do so relatively gradually. However there weren’t that many options out there and those that did weren’t cheap, either in terms of fees or wages so it wasn’t quite the bargain-hunting and cost-cutting exercise I hoped (though I still managed to take over 300kpw off the wage bill). However numerous sales did mean that there was plenty of money available and aside from having hoped to get another defender we still were able to get some serious young quality in, plus they were generally in the 19-20yr old range (which would partly explain why they generally wanted first-team wages as opposed to a youngsters pittance) so were reasonably well-developed. It would have been nice to do more with the defence but the midfield saw some much-needed improvement and there was a hot young German forward joining a top-class array of attacking talent, including my former Juve forward Laplace from the ‘lost’ seasons and an England forward who had just been voted into the World Cup dream team. The rest of the squad was for the most part still pretty good and given it would have been unwise to go too young or do too much right away I felt it was a pretty well balanced first summer in terms of activity which hopefully wouldn’t take too long to start paying off. Signings Future Signings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Nice jump there Delta. Are Arsenal still '4th place is good enough' or have things changed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Some good signings there, Cate is outstanding for his age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Nice jump there Delta. Are Arsenal still '4th place is good enough' or have things changed? Yep, 7th place is potentially good enough Well that's where they finished last season, just scraping into Europe and Europa League qualification is the board expectation. While I might have taken it anyway at that point I generally don't like take clubs that are already title-challengers as a rule (in the 'lost seasons' I turned down the opportunity to manage top-class Napoli and Milan sides and soon decided to take a seriously struggling Juventus instead), as you can't do better than meeting expectations and it doesn't feel like I've earned it as much. At least as things stand there's still a little potential to properly achieve progress. Some good signings there, Cate is outstanding for his age At just 1.8M he slashes the average price of the summer's deals considerably as well Pity we've still got a couple of years to wait for him but he should be a fantastic full-back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Yep, 7th place is potentially good enough Well that's where they finished last season, just scraping into Europe and Europa League qualification is the board expectation. While I might have taken it anyway at that point I generally don't like take clubs that are already title-challengers as a rule (in the 'lost seasons' I turned down the opportunity to manage top-class Napoli and Milan sides and soon decided to take a seriously struggling Juventus instead), as you can't do better than meeting expectations and it doesn't feel like I've earned it as much. At least as things stand there's still a little potential to properly achieve progress. That seems like a good philosophy to have in this kind of save, Mr Fixit Deltablue. Would give a better sense of satisfaction and ownership of success as apposed to in herited successes that comes from stepping im after someone elses hard work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 That seems like a good philosophy to have in this kind of save, Mr Fixit Deltablue. Would give a better sense of satisfaction and ownership of success as apposed to in herited successes that comes from stepping im after someone elses hard work. Very much so. Regarding the 'Mr Fixit' aspect I actually did my FM13 career based on taking over lower league clubs only (called 'Thunderbird Delta: International Footballing Rescue'). Even with Ipswich I'd much rather be rescuing them from League 1 (or even League 2 which would virtually be an automatic 'jump in and save them' scenario, unless I was in the middle of something I really didn't want to leave) rather than the Championship (which has long felt a bit samey) and the one time I did so was potentially my favourite ever stint with the club. What was especially odd about an underachieving Arsenal was the opening league game was against an Aston Villa side competing the the CL, which seemed rather a strong contrast to their real-life fortunes. I haven't been able to play so far this week due to feeling a bit ill but just a little update on Langner. He seemed a very expensive gamble but he hit 5 goals in the opening Europa League tie! It may have 'only' been Fehervar but that still gives him at least as many goals this season already as all-but-one of my Verona side last year. Who knows we might potentially have a German Thierry Henry on our hands Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Looks like an interesting jump... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Looks like an interesting jump... Indeed, and looking like a good one so far. Aug 2030 Arsenal 2-1 Fehervar (EL Q3) Langner (2) The season started against Fehervar in the Europa League. They took the lead after a few minutes but new German wonderkid Langner gave us an equalizer in the 9th minute, and gave us the lead before the break. We dominated the rest of the match and were unlucky not to have a couple more. Fehervar 1-6 Arsenal (2-8) (EL Q3) Langner (3), Dziri, Yokuslu (2) Langner took less than 3 minutes to get a brace in the away leg, French defender Dziri giving us a 3rd in the 7th minute. Turkish midfielder Yokuslu got a second-half brace, but it didn’t entirely go our way. Our best defender Valenzuela went off injured (adding to a list of injuries we started the season with) and would be out for 3-4 months, they scored a penalty with 5 minutes left, and our world-class winger Cruz was sent off, but Langner completed a hat-trick and a 6-1 win on the night. Arsenal 0-1 Aston Villa (PRM) The league started against Aston Villa, who had qualified for the CL last year, and unfortunately looked far too good for us, eventually taking the lead in the 39th minute. We had a brief second-half burst but fell to a deserved defeat. Sturm Graz 1-1 Arsenal (EL Q4) Poole We went to Sturm Graz in the next round and after over an hour of battering them we found ourselves shockingly going behind. However as so often in that sort of situation that helped us focus a bit more and England star forward Poole quickly equalized. Blackburn 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Poole We went to Blackburn between the legs and Poole gave us the lead after 35 minutes. Langner got sent off and we were under some pressure for a while but a Poole shot was deflected in for 2-0. Unfortunately he then went off injured and would be out for almost a month. Arsenal 4-0 Sturm Graz (EL Q4) Lillo (2), Carioca, Langner We easily saw off Sturm Graz at the Emirates. Lillo, Carioca and Langner all scored in the first 20 minutes. Lillo scored again after 50 minutes and we could easily have had at least a couple more. Lazio, AZ and Legia wasn’t too bad a group draw. Sept 2030 Arsenal 2-1 Man City (PRM) Carioca (2) Man City was an open and competitive game from the start, and unfortunately they eventually drew first blood in the 52nd minute. We kept going and equalized through Carioca with 15 minutes left. The match ended in incredibly dramatic fashion as they had a winner disallowed after 4 minutes of stoppage time only to see Carioca give us one at the other end immediately after. Definitely a situation to be on the winning end of. Everton 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Marcio, Dziri We went to Everton after the international break and took the lead from Marcio in the 17th minute, Dziri adding another after 70 minutes as we edged it. Arsenal 2-0 Lazio (EL) Marcio, Laplace Lazio were the latest team to be beaten with fairly little fuss. Marcio gave us the lead in the 29th minute and the veteran forward Laplace secured his place as a player who has scored for me for two separate clubs in separate ‘timelines’ in giving us another later on. Arsenal 2-0 Bradford (PRM) Carioca (2) Bradford went down to 10 men in the first minute so we had no trouble from them. Carioca gave us the lead in the 25th minute and though Laplace was unlucky to have one disallowed before the break, Carioca struck again just before the hour mark. Arsenal 2-1 (aet) Man Utd (LC R3) Carioca, Poole We had unluckily drawn champions Man Utd in the League Cup, which in a way was a win-win as long as it didn’t drag on. If we win then we progress (I never deliberately sacrifice a game) and get some credit for beating such a tough team, if we lose then it gives us a clearer schedule and there’s no shame in losing to them. It was a rather cagey affair for the most part but it opened up later on and they took the lead with 15 minutes left. I was only partly pleased when Carioca took it to extra-time but Poole sent us through with a goal in the 100th minute, though there were a few close calls later on. Leicester 1-0 Arsenal (PRM) We were unsurprisingly a little subdued at Leicester, going down to a 9th minute goal though I felt we would have deserved an equalizer. Oct 2030 AZ 1-0 Arsenal (EL) We went to AZ and were still far from our best. They got a penalty after 25 minutes that gave them the only goal of the game. Arsenal 3-1 Middlesrough (PRM) Langner, Marcio, Poole Things didn’t seem to be improving against Middlesbrough as Langner had a goal disallowed in the 20th minute and they took the lead very much against the run of play shortly afterwards. However the German got his goal to equalize after half an hour and second-half strikes from Marcio and Poole gave us a deserved win in the end. Sheff Utd 0-3 Arsenal (PRM) Lillo, Langner, Smith We got the chance to play both Sheffield sides this month, starting at United (who had my former Verona defender Daniel) in the league. They didn’t have a single point so far this season and that was never going to change here. They had a few early chances but Lillo gave us a 29th minute lead followed by Langner in the 40th. Poole had an early second-half brace disallowed, denying us as big a winning margin as we deserved but winger Smith still gave us a 3rd. Arsenal 3-0 Legia (EL) Poole (2), Langner We hoped to get our Europa League campaign back on track against Legia and thanks to Poole we did so comfortably. He gave us the lead after 10 minutes, scored again in the 50th minute and it was a rebound from his shot that allowed Langner (who had earlier had a goal disallowed) to give us a 3rd with 5 minutes left. Arsenal 3-1 West Ham (PRM) Poole (3) Poole also starred again against West Ham. He gave us the lead after 10 minutes, ending up with a hat-trick by half-time. They got a goal back but we comfortably won again. Arsenal 4-1 Sheff Wed (LC R4) Poole (3), Langner Sheffield Wednesday were our next League Cup opponents and Poole (who else?) gave us the lead after 10 minutes. We could easily have had at least one more, probably even two, by the 20 minute mark so it was a massive shock to concede an equalizer in the 35th minute lead. However it stung us into action as Poole finally gave us a second goal just before half-time, completing a hat-trick him the 50th minute (taking him to 12 goals in as many games, with 8 in the last 3) and he set up Langner (who had a ’10 in 11’ record himself, though half of those were against Fehervar) a few minutes later as we cruised through 4-1. So far, so very good at Arsenal. It's such a refreshing change from Verona, where last season was essentially an entire year of hanging on for dear life, and I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a capable goalscoring side that peformed confidently. It's not necessarily been spectacular but 'tidy' is I think an apt word to sum things up so far. After the Aston Villa defeat and with an away game and Man City next up I was worried we'd get off to a slow start, especially with a bunch of European games as well but we've managed very well so far. When getting in a lot of young players in the Premier League it's always nice to see your signings dominate the 'young player of the month' awards and we've already got our first clean sweep in October: Marcio, Langner and Lillo in that order I believe. I may have bought expensively in the summer but I very much splashed out on the right players it seems. It's been incredibly busy (and it would admittedly have helped if I'd bothered to cancel the friendlies from just before the first European game) and will be so for most of the rest of the season. We have 6 games next month (with Liverpool and a trip to Man Utd back to back), then the usual Christmas marathon, probably the Europa League knockouts and the League cup should we make the Semi's at least (and we've drawn West Brom, mid-table in the Championship in the Quarters so the chances of that are very high), the rest depending on Europa League and FA Cup progress. Even with all that I think CL qualification is likely but there are still a lot of hurdles to jump first. For once I'll probably be looking to do some transfer activity in January (which normally only happens if it's my first window at a club or if I have to replace players sold above my head) since there are still a couple of players we really need. Top of the list is a central defender. Having bought in Lillo I focussed on a few other areas and I didn't have enough left to meet the asking price of one of a couple of excellent potential targets but I've identified at least one big sale of an un-needed player I can make (plus the potential fees might be a lot more affordable this time), with Laplace (more due to his 175kpw wages than expecting to get that much for him) potentially providing another big source of necessary budgetary room. In fact I renewed his contract just so I could sell him in January rather than have everyone else wait to get him on a free in the summer. Since I feel we should probably look to get in a new right-back as well, if I identify a specific player then one of the two existing ones would also be a decent sale to help cover it. I inherited a great set of attacking players (and couldn't resist adding Langner as well), sorted out the midfield (though we still need more depth somewhere down the line) with the signings of Junior and Marcio (who have both been very good) but the defence remains an area where I feel anything I can do in January could make a real difference to how the season goes. However if it continues to be as promising as it has been so far then it bodes very well for the future. Verona by the way are bottom of Serie A without a single win so far. Definitely the right move at the right time I feel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Cracking start so far and good to see something go right for you straight away I know you're only a point off the top at the minute but do you see making the top 4 as priority or do you think you can compete for the title straight away given with the cup games you are going to have potentially a long season in terms of fixtures? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Cracking start so far and good to see something go right for you straight away I know you're only a point off the top at the minute but do you see making the top 4 as priority or do you think you can compete for the title straight away given with the cup games you are going to have potentially a long season in terms of fixtures? I have thought a couple of times that a title challenge is possible but otherwise have felt that CL qualifications is the limit of our ambitions so far. If you offered me 3rd right now I'd definitely take it. Throw a cup into the bargain and that would make a season I'd be delighted with. It's not just about all the fixture congestion, as we don't have the quality across the board yet, only really in the front few positions. We're got a strong midfield pair but aside from depth they're not quite world-class as things stand (though hopefully they can develop a little further). We've got a few very good defenders (though the best has been injured most of the season so far) but still need to improve and are much weaker out wide (hence the future signing of Cate and a right-back being second on my transfer priority list) and the keeper can best be described as 'he'll do nicely for now but we'll need someone much better for the longer term'. It's still a good side but there's still roo much room for improvement to be confident of reaching the top right now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Nov 2030 Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal (PRM) Poole, Dieudonne I faced my first trip to WHL to face a dangerous looking Spurs side and went behind after 12 minutes from an own-goal. Poole equalized in the 35th minute but it wasn’t a good day for the defence and they were back in front just a few minutes later. French winger Dieudonne gave us a share of the points with 10 minutes left but it was just about the most we deserved. Legia 0-3 Arsenal (EL) Poole, Junior, Carioca We were nice and comfortable in Warsaw against Legia. Poole gave us an 18th minute lead but went off injured and a red card for Langner blunted us up front even further. We were still able to extend our lead from a Junior penalty just before the hour mark and Carioca finished off a 3-0 win, taking us 4 points ahead of AZ who we still had our home game against, though we also had to go to Lazio who were just 2 points behind so the race for top spot was still tight. Arsenal 2-2 Burnley (PRM) Dieudonne, Langner We went behind to an own-goal for the second league game in a row against Burnley. Dieudonne equalized before the break but I had definitely under-estimated Burnley and they retook the lead at the start of the second-half. Langner scored after 70 minutes to give us a point but I really felt we should have grabbed all three. Man Utd 1-2 Arsenal (PRM Lillo, Carioca There was no rest in sight as we went to Man Utd and after surviving early pressure a Lillo header gave us an unlikely lead after 20 minutes. Their first-half superiority still showed as they equalized 15 minutes later, almost immediately having another disallowed. Carioca put us ahead again just after the break and the wind had very much been taken out of their sails as they didn’t bother us that much, and we even had a goal disallowed ourselves. Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool (PRM) Carioca Carioca was once again our man of the moment and he gave us the lead in the 12th minute. He got another in the 65th and came achingly close to a hat-trick late on. Huddersfield 4-2 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca We got a bit of a shock at Huddersfield, going 2 goals down after 10 minutes. Carioca scored in the 27th minute but had an equalizer disallowed. He got his second goal in the 65th minute but they scored twice more in the meantime as we went down 4-2. Cardiff 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Dziri (2) We bounced back at a Cardiff side that were surprisingly challenging for the European places right now, a brace from Dziri being enough to get the better of them. Dec 2030 Lazio 0-2 Arsenal (EL) Laplace, Valenzuela The trip to Rome was a critical European game but even a draw would put us in a great position to finish top. The early stages were hectic and we soon took control but were a bit rubbish up front with no available alternatives. We were under a lot more pressure in the second-half and Brown in goal had quite a few saves to make but Laplace belatedly gave us the lead, followed by Valenzuela as a 2-0 win secured top spot in the group as well as qualification with a game to go. Arsenal 1-1 Wolves (PRM) Poole We looked set to beat Wolves with a Poole goal in the 34th minute but a failure to build on it cost us and they equalized from a suspect penalty with 15 minutes left. West Brom 0-3 Arsenal (LC QF) Laplace, Cruz We hoped to continue our League cup run at West Brom. They had a goal disallowed at the start but Laplace gave us a 4th minute lead on the counter. It was pretty comfortable afterwards as Cruz and an own-goal gave us a 3-0 win just 20 minutes afterwards. Bristol City 1-1 Arsenal (PRM) Cruz Our league form remained patchy and we went behind at Bristol City in the 5th minute. Luck wasn’t on our side as Poole had a goal disallowed and we were denied a penalty but Cruz at least rescued a point in the 69th minute. Arsenal 2-1 AZ (EL) Laplace, Poole The pressure was off against AZ in Europe which was just as well as we went behind in the 22nd minute and didn’t look like getting anything for most of the match. Top spot was already secured whatever happened but Laplace and Poole scored in the last 10 minutes as we finished off the group stage with a win. Ajax were an interesting draw in the next round with Real Madrid as potential opponents if we won that! Who says the Europa League is full of 'no-name' teams? Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal (PRM) We had generally performed very well against the big sides but not so at Chelsea. They had an early goal disallowed but took the lead anyway in the 29th minute and we were lucky it was just 1-0 at the break. We had a penalty denied but they still got a deserved 2nd on the hour mark. Only then did we liven up but we were well beaten and we knew it. Arsenal 4-0 Stoke (PRM) Carioca (3) It had been a few games since we last got a league win but we bounced back in style against Stoke on Boxing Day. Carioca tore them apart with a hat-trick in the first-half and a late own-goal sealed a 4-0 win. Aston Villa 3-1 Arsenal (PRM) A trip to Villa a few days later would be a lot tougher and we went behind after 10 minutes. Again decisions went against us as Cruz had an equalizer disallowed before the break and though an own-goal levelled it in the 52nd minute, they soon re-took the lead with a penalty, later getting a 3rd. As expected the busy season has caused us to wobble a bit in the league, though for the most part due to 'draws that should have been wins' rather than having a bunch of defeats so it's still not too bad on the face of it. Having already beaten both Manchester sides we followed that up with the back-to-back Man Utd (again) and Liverpool wins showing that even now we're capable of getting results in the tougher games but as we've faded we've been sitting ducks for Chelsea and Villa (yes I know, odd isn't it) and I'm not really looking forward to the upcoming trip to Man City. CL qualification has been under a lot more pressure but there's still a bit of breathing room with the board expectations set simply for European qualification. Half-way through the season (calender-wise) and we've already played 33 matches, almost 1/3 in Europe, and getting to the semis of the League cup is a bit of a double-edged sword in terms off adding to congestion next month as well (especially if we beat Liverpool in the FA cup and/or need a replay). However that might not be such a big issue later on as we drew Liverpool in the FA Cup and might face a relatively early European exit to Madrid (maybe even Ajax) and while it would be a pity not to challenge for either (and I never throw any game away) under the circumstances early exits (especially in the Europa) wouldn't be the worst things in the world. Unfortunately it looks like I can only get in one of a right-back and a centre-back in January. Being a bit in the red financially means I can't get anywhere near raising the money for both and in fact I'll need to get all the budgetary room I can from a few sales to get the right-back (which is the higher-priority) as he's slightly out of range as things stand. At least the centre-back is just about within our current budgetary scope giving me a fall-back option. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 How the hell did you have enough reputation to switch from Verona to Arsenal? :confused: Rep points from winning Serie B + nationality factor of being an English manager? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 How the hell did you have enough reputation to switch from Verona to Arsenal? :confused: Rep points from winning Serie B + nationality factor of being an English manager? Hi Noikeee, haven't seen you on my patch for a while I don't think it's that strange, not least since a few years ago I joined what would become my legendary Milan side having come from a club in Slovakia (though it wasn't a direct move and there was a WC appearance as Ghana manager in between), so I've certainly made bigger and more surprising leaps. There's also my record in the career so far, which includes some major trophies (none for a while but I guess Serie B did give me a recent 'minor' one) which has given me a comfortable 'continental' reputation for some time, and even a single national cup is often enough of a rep boost to open doors. In fact in the seasons I lost with the failure of my last laptop, my Czech record was enough to give me Juventus (though seriously struggling). Verona gave me a 3rd promotion (all as league winners and to a top division) on my record with no relegations and as the league you've most recently been managing in does seem to make a difference regardless of rep, being a Serie A manager at the time also helped, maybe along with past 'big league' experience in Argentina and Brazil and a bit of European and Libertadores football to my name as well. Admittedly I wasn't really expecting it but it's not like I've been stuck in obscurity with no achievements. I feel I've managed enough that it wasn't that odd to get an offer from a big club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Jan 3031 Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn (PRM) Langner (2), Laplace Langner gave us the lead just a few minutes into the first game of the year against Blackburn, but Marcio got sent off after half an hour and they really pressed home their numerical advantage in the second-half. We broke free of their onslaught and Langner extended our lead in the 69th minute, with the departing Laplace finishing off a flattering 3-0 win with 5 minutes left. Man City 1-2 Arsenal (PRM) Langner (2) I expected a tough time at Man City and they really hammered us from the start but somehow we held firm. They eventually broke through in the 49th minute only to see Langner equalize less than 10 minutes later. They still had a reduced upper hand but Langner struck again with a few minutes left and sometimes you just have to feel sorry for the opposition. Arsenal 2-0 Everton (PRM) Carioca (2) Being tired didn’t stop us against Everton, where a first-half Carioca brace saw us just about deservedly make it 3 wins from 3 in 2031 so far. Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (FA R3) The big Liverpool cup tie was already our 4th game of the year and it was just Jan 11th. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t the most spirited of games but we still had the chances. They took the lead instead from a 55th minute penalty and for once I was glad to see us miss a lot of chances to equalize. In fact they even scored another near the end for what I felt was whatever the opposite of a pyrrhic victory. Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham (LC SF) Poole, Valenzuela Cup action resumed with the home leg against Spurs in the League cup, and with Leeds and Leicester being the other semi-finalists I felt we had a good chance of winning if we could rise to the occasion. Poole gave us the lead in the 18th minute and we looked like getting more but only got another from Valenzuela in the 72nd minute and they scored in stoppage time to keep the tie a lot closer than I felt it should be. Bradford 2-0 Arsenal (PRM) We were disappointingly flat at Bradford, going behind after 5 minutes and didn’t look much like coming back. They got another in the 65th minute but we retained the upper hand in the battle for 4th, 3 points ahead of Chelsea and 6 of Liverpool. Middlesbrough 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Poole, Carioca We had our first mid-week off since November before going to Middlesbrough but still found it difficult going for a while, only eventually pulling through. Poole gave us the lead incredibly deep in first-half stoppage time. Carioca later got another. Tottenham 2-2 (3-4) Arsenal (LC SF) Carioca We went to Spurs with the League cup tie firmly in the balance. They levelled the tie with a 3rd minute goal but Carioca restored the advantage in the 20th minute, soon followed by an own-goal to give us the lead on the night as well. It wasn’t quite over yet as they had a goal disallowed early in the second-half and got an equalizer on the night with 10 minutes left but we still won the tie 4-3 to go through to the final. Feb 2031 Arsenal 2-0 Leicester (PRM) Poole, Junior Leicester was a dry run for the League Cup final in a month’s time. Poole gave us the lead after 10 minutes with a Junior penalty making it 2-0 after just 18 minutes. It was amazing that we didn’t get a 3rd but it boded well for our next encounter. Arsenal 2-0 Sheff Utd (PRM) Langner (2) Sheffield Utd had one foot in the Championship so it was no surprise that Langner saw them off so easily, scoring after less than half a minute. Marcio went off injured which may have contributed to only getting one more, also from Langner, in the 32nd minute. West Ham 1-1 Arsenal (PRM) Langner We went to West Ham who were struggling just as much and took the lead again from Langner in the 39th minute. We were saving ourselves for the trip to Amsterdam a few days later which cost us as they won a penalty which gave them a 69th minute equalizer, with Valenzuela getting sent off at the same time, but we still came very close a few times to winning anyway. Ajax 0-0 Arsenal (EL KO1) Europe resumed as we went to a decent Ajax side. We still were easily the better side in the first-half and were incredibly unlucky not to go ahead, especially with a stoppage time goal disallowed. We pushed just as hard for a while in the second-half before fading but at least Ajax didn’t snatch a winner themselves, which they were easily good enough to have done. However a 0-0 draw in the away leg means we have to win in London, admittedly the odds are pretty good on that if you are able to hold your opponents at their place but still… Arsenal 3-0 (3-0) Ajax (EL KO1 Langner (3) One advantage of our early FA cup exit was that we actually had a free weekend before the home leg, though we were also without both main left-backs in the squad for a few weeks. As it happened it proved easy enough thanks to Langner. He scored a brace in the first 20 minutes, taking him to 20 goals for the season, and a late penalty allowed him to complete a hat-trick and put him on double figures for the competition. Unfortunately we lost our first choice right-back Redzepi to add to our full-back injury troubles. Real Madrid was a potentially epic tie in the next round. Mar 2031 Arsenal 2-1 Leicester (LC Final) Langner, Carioca I had high hopes of claiming a trophy already with the League Cup but with Valenzuela’s suspension on top of everything else we had no spare defenders. Langner gave us the lead in the 29th minute but a Bulgarian midfielder who I showed the door just after I arrived at Arsenal got his revenge by giving them an equalizer on the stroke of half-time. The second-half was tough going but Carioca gave us a winner near the end. Unfortunately we sustained yet another injury to Langner and a red card for Lopes which strained the squad even further. Arsenal 1-0 Spurs (PRM) Poole Poole gave us the lead in the 5th minute against Spurs, though he ended up being the latest injury (though thankfully only for a week). They besieged us for the rest of the game but an incredible goalkeeping performance from Andrew Brown (who got a rating of 9.2!) somehow gave us a blatantly stolen win. Burnley 1-5 Arsenal (PRM) Valenzuela, Smith, Carioca, Cruz (2) We were down to the bare bones at Burnley, with Real Madrid on the horizon as well. We still managed to win comfortably, starting with Valenzuela giving us the lead after 20 minutes. Smith and Carioca scored each side of half-time and either side of half-time and even though they pulled a goal back, a Cruz brace gave us a 5-1 win. Real Madrid 3-0 Arsenal (EL KO2) I braced myself for the challenge of the Bernabeu and we actually started very strongly but were severely punished by a failure to convert good chances and they scored twice after the half-hour mark. We were mostly there for the taking after that and while they didn’t seem too inclined to finish us off they still got a late 3rd. Arsenal 1-0 (1-3) Real Madrid (EL KO2) Poole Once again we had a free weekend before the home leg and well as having nearly everyone available again but we still had a mountain to climb. We threatened well but it looked like an inability to finish would be costly, just like in Madrid. Poole finally gave us a goal in the 30th minute but our periods of pressure were all too infrequent after that and I knew before the halfway point of the second-half that we weren’t going to do it. As so often in these situations I felt that a much better first leg performance would have given us a good chance, and we were deprived a potential North London Quarter-final (as Madrid drew Spurs). Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal (PRM) Langner Luck really wasn’t on our side at Liverpool as we appeared to be suffering a bit of a hangover from the Madrid defeat. They took the lead in the 40th minute while Poole came agonizingly close to equalizing, a scene that was all too familiar against Madrid. Carioca had an equalizer questionably disallowed after an hour, shortly before they got another, while Langner (one of only a couple of players to lift themselves above average) at least got a consolation. There was bad news at the start of January. As we were a little in the red the board took away the transfer budget that was left so even though a couple of players were already set to be sold there was no opportunity to get a badly-needed defender, as well as leaving us a couple of players down which didn't actually leave us that short but given the spate of injuries (and a couple of suspensions) in February/March time, we could have used the extra manpower. The Liverpool FA cup tie was very much the right match to lose. Discounting International breaks, we've only twice had free mid-weeks from the first league game up to the end of January and that's mostly continued up to our European exit so having a few weekends spare instead (especially in the middle of European ties) was a great relief. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have halted our strong league progress as we sit comfortably in 4th (and with our financial situation we need CL quaification badly), even though an excellent Aston Villa side (yes, really) look very tough to challenge for 3rd. We've still got to play Chelsea and Man Utd (both at home at least) so the former could still seriously challenge us. It's great to have a trophy win so soon, even if it's the 'least' of the major competitions and it wasn't exactly convincing but I felt early on that CL qualification and a trophy (which I knew was likely to be this one) would make for a successful first season at Arsenal so it's looking very good so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenzar Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Looks very tight up there. Any chance of another team nicking the 4th slot through winning the CL? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Looks very tight up there. Any chance of another team nicking the 4th slot through winning the CL? I hadn't actually thought of that but I knew I had little to worry about as the rest of the top 4 was the same as last year so the odds of the single exception (which I didn't check but was probably Chelsea or Liverpool) denying us that way were pretty slim. As it happened when I checked the CL, Man Utd were the only English team in the Quarter-finals and given they were top at the time (though didn't managed to retain their title in the end) I knew that wasn't going to be a problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Apr 2031 Arsenal 3-0 Huddersfield (PRM) Langner (3) The run-in started against Huddersfield, who had beaten us earlier in the season. We easily got revenge thanks to Langner. The German wonder-kid got things rolling with a penalty in the 20th minute, getting one from open play 14 minutes later and he even completed a hat-trick later on. Arsenal 6-0 Man Utd (PRM) Poole (5), Marcio Anything Langner could do, Poole was determined to do better as it was his turn to tear the opposition apart, which would be impressive enough without the fact that he did it to Man Utd, reigning champions and league leaders. My jaw dropped as he hit them for 4 goals in the first-half, despite Cruz on the wing going off injured. He got a 5th in the 50th minute and Marcio finished off an incredible 6-0 rout with 5 minutes left! In my FM13 career I did a list of 10 memorable matches, I plan to do the same this time and this was definitely a match to be screenshotted for posterity. Cardiff 1-0 Arsenal (PRM) We had a much tougher time away from the Emirates in Cardiff, and after facing a lot of pressure we went behind in the 36th minute. We pushed hard to no avail to equalize and our full-back troubles returned later in the game as Redzepi got sent off and Szabo was injured (though was thankfully alright). Arsenal 2-1 Bristol City (PRM) Smith, Langner Our great home record was threatened by Bristol City of all teams as they took a 4th minute lead after we already had a goal disallowed. The frustration of lot of chances missed was too much for Poole who received a straight red card in the 55th minutes but after a lot of worrying, we pulled through with goals from Smith and Langner in the last 20 minutes. May 2031 Wolves 3-2 Arsenal (PRM) Langner, Carioca We could secure a top 4 finish with a win at Wolves, and it started brightly enough when Langner gave us the lead after 5 minutes. However they equalized in the 10th and took the lead 10 minutes later when the normally excellent Brown dropped the ball in front of a Wolves player who took full advantage of the gift. Carioca equalized before the break but Langner had a potential winner disallowed while they got one of their own with a couple of minutes left. I guess it was just one of those days but it ended our briefly re-kindled chances of 3rd. Arsenal 3-2 Chelsea (PRM) Carioca, Langner (2) We needed our great home form to continue against Chelsea but it started very badly as they went 2 goals up in the first 20 minutes. A quick double from Carioca and Langner around the half-hour mark suddenly levelled it and we pushed for a winner. We were denied a penalty in the second-half but Langner struck in stoppage time to get a CL-securing win. Stoke 2-0 Arsenal (PRM) The last game was the Arsenal fans’ nightmare, Stoke away, which went about as well as you might expect. It was a defensive nightmare as they took a 12th minute lead and as we pushed to equalize, they caught us on the counter with another in the 59th minute, making for a disappointing way to end the season. This was an appropriately ‘Arsenal’ season. 4th place secured reasonably comfortably and a relatively early European exit to a big side, with a poor first leg performance followed by a much improved not-quite-comeback (though it wasn’t that close) in the second. Not to mention all the bad results away to the ‘lesser’ sides. Unless you’re properly challenging for the CL year on year (a position I’ve not been in for a while, Ipswich FM13 being the only time for almost 3 real life years) then it’s always exciting getting the opportunities to take on the big boys, even if that involves a lot of defeats, especially early on. However there has been rather a lot more promise than that. Firstly was the League cup with the prospect of bigger prizes to come before too long. There was also our great home form, as after our opening day defeat to Aston Villa we only dropped 4 points at the Emirates and have a 100% record so far in 2031, and it was such a pity that our away form in winnable games cost us a top 3 finish which I felt we might otherwise have deserved, and the fact that we got a lot of wins at the big sides. Then there is our excellent goalscoring record, with Carioca, Poole and Langner getting 23, 26 and 30 goals respectively, the Brazilian actually having a good claim to be the most consistent despite his slightly inferior goal count. It’s not necessarily going to be easy to build further as the club dropped pretty dramatically (to the tune of almost 5 million a month) further into the red, and the squad is unfortunately too small for me to be able to offload anyone without having identified a strong replacement, and they are going to be hard to come by at a good price. The defence especially needs so much more work, and midfield depth as well. Hopefully the end-of-season prize money and the lucrative CL qualification will persuade the board to give me a decent enough budget to try and do something with, and a couple of good players from the youth system before too long wouldn’t go amiss either, especially as we’re rather short on home-grown players. Star player: Langner was a gamble of a signing in that we already had some very good line-up of attacking players and there were other areas of the team that could have used the £35M investment far more. However I wanted to mark my Arsenal territory by bringing in a young star forward and he's very much delivered already with 30 goals, the joint-highest number of assists and the only player to get into double figures for 'man of the match'. It didn't take me long to start thinking of him as the 'German Thierry Henry' and he's definitely got what it takes to become one of the most dangerous forwards in the world. Indeed what really made me sign him despite the other priorities is the sense of 'We'd better make sure he's playing for us rather than against us!' Squad Stats Match of the season I've been thinking of doing this as a feature for a while but while sometimes there won't always be a particularly standout match, this time there very much is and it'd be a pity not to show off the Man Utd win, though I'm not sure their fans would thank me for it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenzar Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Always lovely to smash United and make Surrey cry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 A trophy and 4th is a decent season for a side in progress Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Always lovely to smash United and make Surrey cry. Not as sweet as smashing Norwich but you take what you can get I suppose A trophy and 4th is a decent season for a side in progress Thanks, I think things are coming along nicely so far Summer 2031 We were thankfully slightly in the black by the reset date so had a transfer budget of £22.5M, which could have been better but gave me something to work with. At first it looked like it wouldn’t go far with players being generally just as expensive as last time but a secondary search (it’s amazing how new players keep appearing on the player search list so soon after the reset date) suddenly threw up a few players with far better value, and while it was a pity that a 300k transfer for a Kenyan didn’t go through due to work permit reasons (which would have been a heck of a deal!), the ability to sell a couple of players enabled me to sort out the issues in central midfield as well as defence, as well as a 4th forward for the squad. We were still fairly weak for full-backs, which would be helped by the arrival of Câte next year, and the ‘first 11’ hadn’t really improved but the squad in general looked a lot better. The board merely expected European qualification this year but I was wondering if we could make a title challenge or make the top 3. A strong CL performance was also something very important financially, despite managing to make further reductions to the wage bill, to the tune of around 250kpw. After the Kenyan deal fell through I sort of forgot that I had only signed one central defender but 5 would do us (with Junior retraining as well but that wouldn’t be any use to us for at least a year) for the time being. There was a 16yr old at Leicester who seemed ideal and I had my eye on a 17yr old Italian winger as well. We could do without them for now but I wanted to make sure I could get them and others. We were still very much a work in progress but nevertheless managed to take another strong step towards being the sort of team I hoped to have. Perhaps just a few more ‘missing pieces’ for the squad in defence and then I’ll be able to focus just on signing players that really interest me rather than needing to fill positions. Signings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Aug 2031 Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Marcio, Poole We went to Liverpool first in the league and after a dire first-half, the game got half-decent after the break and Marcio gave us the lead in the 67th minute, Poole giving us another with 10 minutes left. Arsenal 1-1 LASK Linz (CL Qual) Aguirre LASK Linz looked like a comfortable CL qualifying draw and Aguirre gave us the lead in his 3rd minute in an Arsenal shirt but they equalized a few minutes later and pushed surprisingly hard for the rest of the half. Cruz had a winner disallowed after an hour as we messed the home leg up a little. Arsenal 1-1 Man City (PRM) Poole Champions Man City were the first league visitors to the Emirates and we took the lead from Poole after 10 minutes. Dziri had a second goal disallowed later which proved costly as they equalized with a little over a minute of the regular 90 left. LASK Linz 0-2 Arsenal (CL Qual) Aguirre, Dziri It would be rather embarrassing to go out to Linz but I knew we’d be able to focus and make our superiority could. Poole had an early goal disallowed but Aguirre gave us the lead in the 29th minute, with Dziri eventually getting another after 70 minutes. Langner had a 3rd disallowed (the 4th goal we’ve had chalked off in 3 games) but it didn’t matter too much thankfully. We were in the 2nd group of seeds for the group draw and got a very competitive group with PAOK, Villareal and PSG. In fact pretty much all groups looked very open with Leverkusen, Madrid and Galatasaray in A; Inter, Barcelona and Shakhtar in B, Man Utd; Feyenoord and Napoli in C; Aston Villa (stop laughing at the back, they only missed out on the title on the last day last season!), Lyon and Dortmund in D; Porto, Atletico and Bayern in F; Man City, PSV and Fiorentina in G and while H wasn’t quite of the same calibre it still looked unpredictable with Roma, Fenerbahce, AZ and Zenit. Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal (PRM) Dziri, Poole, Carioca Things got off to a bad start at promoted Sunderland, as we went behind in the 10th minute and we remained a mess for ages afterwards. We thankfully got our act together later on, Dziri equalizing in the 72nd minute with Poole and Carioca giving us the win in the last 10 minutes. Sept 2031 Arsenal 2-0 Burnley (PRM) Marcio, Langner We had chances from the start against Burnley but it took a Marcio penalty at the start of the second-half to take the lead. We deserved a bigger win and got it from Langner with 5 minutes left. Arsenal 1-0 PAOK (CL) Pedro The first CL group game was also the easiest on paper, PAOK at home. It was similar to Burnley in that it was hard fought despite a lot of chances but a Pedro header meant we got the win we needed to get to start things off. Leeds 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Langner (2) We managed to get an earlier goal at Leeds, Langner giving is the lead after 10 minutes. He scored again early in the second-half as our strong start to the season continued. Morecambe 0-4 Arsenal (LC R3) Langner (2), Smith, Carioca A trip to Morecambe in the League Cup was a far cry from having to face Man Utd at the same stage last year and it was far easier. However they were at least a Championship side, as lower league sides drawn in cups seem to mostly be even when you’d expect them to be lower. A quick brace from Langner and Smith gave us a 2-0 lead before 15 minutes were up, with Carioca getting a 3rd before the break and another Langner goal sealed a 4-0 win. Arsenal 3-1 Middlesbrough (PRM) Marcio, Junior, Langner We ploughed on against Middlesbrough, with Marcio giving us the lead after 25 minutes. Junior extended the lead just before half-time and Langner made it safe in the 69th minute, a later consolation notwithstanding. Villarreal 0-0 Arsenal (CL) The Villarreal games would likely be the ones to determine our qualification from the group, and if we got a result in Spain we’d be in a promising position. It was pretty hectic at each end, the sort of game where both managers would feel their team should have been more clinical up front and claimed the win, but on balance a 0-0 draw was a result I’d have accepted beforehand. Oct 2031 Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea (PRM) Carioca (2), Smith We had a very tough couple of games in the league, starting against Chelsea but Carioca gave us the breakthrough in the 34th minute. He got another in the 48th minute, ably assisted by Langner to put us in a more comfortable position and a great win was wrapped up by Smith, probably man of the match, in the 77th minute. Aston Villa 1-4 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca, Marcio (2), Langner We then had to go to Villa but Carioca again gave us the lead, after 10 minutes. As we kept battering away I felt we needed more and Marcio got a brace early in the second half. They got a goal back but Langner got a much-deserved goal as we won 4-1. Arsenal 1-1 PSG (CL) Langner Langner gave us the lead after 20 minutes against PSG, but they equalized just a couple of minutes later and and we were frustrated in our attempts to take control of the group. Leicester 1-1 Arsenal (PRM) 900th career match!!!! Langner I reached the 900 game mark in the career at Leicester but we went behind after 5 minutes. Langner equalized in the 25th minute and even though we didn’t get a winner, our lead remained 3 points. Arsenal 2-1 Birmingham (LC R4) Langner (2) Birmingham were our next League Cup opponents and Langner got his 10th goal of the season in giving us a 32nd minute lead, making it 11 goals in 12 starts in the 40th minute. They pulled one back in the second-half and though Langner was denied a hat-trick from a disallowed goal, we cruised through alright, though lost Marcio to injury for a few weeks. I'm cautiously optimistic about how the season is going so far. I definitely believe we can win the title but it's a long tough road to go yet with a few potentially very dangerous challengers. We haven't faced Man Utd yet though soon will and the second-half of the season will see trips to Chelsea and both Manchester sides. It was the surprisingly convincing back-to-back Chelsea/Villa wins that seemed to confirm our challenging credentials in my mind, though we had proved often enough last year that we could win the toughest games on a reasonably regular basis. It won't be easy keeping it up, as so far the only real difference regarding fixture congestion from last year is having had just the one European qualifying round instead of two and things are about to get very busy once more, especially if we end up with the double-edged sword of making the League Cup semi's again and don't get so 'lucky' with a tough early FA cup tie like Liverpool last season (which remains the only game lost at the Emirates in any competition since last year's opening day defeat against Villa) so I feel we might be in for a bit of a slowdown before too long. While Langner already shone last year, so far this season he's shown a consistency he very much lacked before and is already looking like 35M very well spent indeed (not something you can say that often). I discussed when I got Markovic at Verona how an expensive forward signing can really boost a team like it did at Ipswich on FM13 multiple times, and while the Serb really didn't work out, this looks like one of those times where it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Excellent start there delta Your defence seems really solid but you don't seem over defencive with the amount you are scoring too, hopefully this carries on and you have a strong season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Excellent start there delta Your defence seems really solid but you don't seem over defencive with the amount you are scoring too, hopefully this carries on and you have a strong season Maybe this has something to do with it... I hit upon it entirely by accident at Mattersburg (hence the name, and my saved 4-3-3 is named 'Aalesund' for a similar reason) on FM13 and adopted it on a longer-term basis at Hoffenheim a little later in the career, where it's been my main tactic ever since. The defence doesn't always manage to be that solid (and in a way it means more defenders to be a potential liability) but when it works it's invaluable and even at Verona it played a major part in that team's tendency to survive matches that should have been lost on a regular basis. The instructions differ depending on the situation but having that defence there means there is plenty of freedom to be ambitous, especially with a strong set of players. Often the wnger is the key as there was Yakovenko at Chornomorets, Patras at Slavia, no one at Velez (and it's not a coincidence that's been the main failure of the career), Rogerio at Mineiro, Bamogo at Verona and Smith so far this season at least (though he's otherwise second-choice). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I remember this tactic now Do you not find it a bit unbalanced with just the one winger? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I remember this tactic now Do you not find it a bit unbalanced with just the one winger? Oh that's nothing. I have a friend who has joined in my games as a second manager when he was staying down here and his set-up looked something like this... -----ST ST ---- AMC ----AMR ---------------MR WBL DMC ----DC DC DR -------GK I thinked he liked using a sweeper as well but I can't remember which position was sacrificed. I remember thinking exactly the same about balance but he just told me it was overrated and it actually seemed to work pretty well (though depth in some of the postions was obviously an issue). I actually did revert back to the conventional 4-2-4 at Mattersburg which backfired, and after the mess of Fiorentina I arrived at a Hoffenheim side in deep trouble and thought 'Well I might as well take a chance on it again' and for the rest of that career and in this one it's proven to be (mostly) consistently successful. No doubt there are a bunch of other things that a tactical expert would point out is less-than-ideal about the set-up but it certainly seems to be working well enough for my liking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Nov 2031 Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham (PRM) Dziri, Carioca The derby was a game of considerable pressure at both ends throughout, but we managed to make the breakthrough. Dziri headed in a corner after 35th minutes (in a relatively rare positive example of when you somehow know an attack is going to lead to a goal) and with Spurs threatening as we wasted chances to make it more comfortable, I threw on Carioca who got that all-important second goal less than a minute after coming on. PSG 2-4 Arsenal (CL) Poole (3), Carioca The key CL trip to PSG was a cagey affair to start with but Poole gave us the breakthrough in the 32nd minute, followed a few minutes later by Carioca. They pulled a goal back after 40 minutes but Poole scored again each side of half-time to put it clearly beyond them, though they did get a second goal later on, the first time this season we’ve conceded multiple goals in a match. This lead to an interesting situation in the group where we were top with 8 points with PSG and Villarreal both just behind on 7. Everton 0-6 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca (3), Poole (2), Smith Poole and Carioca once again combined to deadly effect at Everton. Carioca gave us the lead in the 7th minute with Poole getting a second in the 29th minute. The Brazilian then took control with two more before the break. It was back to England in the second-half with Smith getting a deserved goal in the 50th minute and Poole rounded off a 6-0 hammering with 10 minutes left. Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (PRM) Carioca We needed to keep up our impressive Emirates record against Man Utd and their defenders were so worried about Poole after last time that it allowed Carioca to give us the lead in the 14th minute. They equalized after half-an-hour however and despite dominating the second-half we couldn’t get a winner, even though on balance a draw suited us better than it did them anyway. Newcastle 0-3 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca (2), Langner Carioca gave us the lead after 15 minutes at Newcastle, and having another disallowed from Smith didn’t seem to matter until they started pushing. Redzepi got sent off at the start of the second-half which didn’t stop Carioca from quickly giving us another anyway, later missing a penalty that would have given him a hat-trick, and despite injuries to Smith and Poole, Langner (who came on for the latter, who would be out for almost 2 very busy months!) was able to give us a late 3rd. PAOK 0-3 Arsenal (CL) Cruz, Aguirre We had the chance to seal qualification from our CL group in Greece and managed to take the lead from Cruz (restored to the team after a few months of seeing Smith shine in his place) after 20 minutes, with an own-goal making it more secure a few minutes into the second-half. Aguirre sealed a 3-0 win at the end while a win for Villarreal against PSG in the other game also meant we were mathematically through, though the other way around would have done just as well. Arsenal 1-2 Blackburn (PRM) Langner We had a very frustrating time against Blackburn, failing to really get anywhere and even going behind in the 58th minute. It looked like we’d rescue our long unbeaten record when Langner equalized with 5 minutes left but they got a 90th minute winner for our first home defeat in any competition for almost 11 months and ending an unbeaten run of 22 matches. Dec 2031 Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle (LC QF) Langner, Aguirre We cruised past Newcastle into the League Cup semis, with Langner giving us the lead after 10 minutes. An Aguirre penalty soon after was enough to make it safe. Bradford 1-2 Arsenal (PRM) Langner (2) We seemed to be fading a little in the league and were hit with a surprise goal at the end of the first-half at Bradford, and Aguirre missed a penalty. It looked like we’d be conceding top spot for the first time since August but a brace from Langner late on rescued a win. The pressure still seemed very much on though. Arsenal 1-1 Villarreal (CL) Carioca The pressure was thankfully off in the CL and when Carioca gave us the lead after 20 minutes against Villarreal we were free to sit back as they kept coming at us. We couldn’t quite keep them out and they equalized with a few minutes left but that didn’t change anything and we still went through at the top of the group. Unfortunately we also sustained a couple of injuries in defence that we could ill-afford to bear. Fiorentina was a reasonable draw in the next round. Bristol City 1-2 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca, Loe We continued doing enough at Bristol City in the league with Carioca and Loe giving us a 2-0 lead after 5 minutes but we couldn’t do much else afterwards. They got a late goal back just in time to give us a couple of scares at the end. Arsenal 7-0 Huddersfield (PRM) Valenzuela, Carioca (4), Langner, Loe We suddenly burst into life again against Huddersfield who really didn’t know what hit them. Valenzuela got things going in the 2nd minute, with Carioca getting the first of his 4 goals after 15 minutes. Langner soon made it 3 but we had to wait until after the hour mark for Loe to give us a 4th, almost immediately followed by another from Carioca who scored twice more as we won 7-0. Arsenal 2-1 Cardiff (PRM) Cruz, Redzepi We looked pretty comfortable against a tough Cardiff side (who are sort of like Spurs/Liverpool right now) with Cruz giving us the lead after 5 minutes and Redzepi scoring another in the 25th minute. However they got a goal back with 10 minutes left and we came very close to dropping points in the end. Stoke 0-2 Arsenal (PRM) Carioca, Aguirre The year finished off at Stoke, who we were thankfully able to get the measure of this time. Carioca gave us the lead in the 36th minute with Aguirre managing to make it comfortable with 5 minutes left. Despite fears of a wobble in early December and a hectic schedule we seem to be carrying on very strongly indeed. A margin of 4-7 points looks like a lot when you're chasing it and nowhere near enough when you're trying to defend it and there's still a tough road ahead (we've still got to go to 3 of the other top 5 sides, with Man City as the second game in January) but I'm genuinely starting to believe a little now that we might do it. It's especially good that all 4 forwards keep grabbing a good rate of goals (with it being Carioca's turn to really shine this update) and if they keep it up this should be a very good season indeed. As for the cups, I don't actually know who we've got in the League Cup. Our Quarter-final tie was the only one played at the usual time, with two more just before the new year, leaving Chelsea-Huddersfield still up in the air. We've also got the exact same FA Cup tie as last year, against Liverpool which I'm torn between wanting vengeance for and repeating my opinion of last year's tie that it was the right match to lose. In the CL Fiorentina were definitely one of the easier draws to get, especially as their star forward is injured and even though he's set to return just before the first leg he won't be that fit and while their squad is decent enough they have very few really good players so I think we've got a very good chance of making the Quarter-finals and seeing what we can do from there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Does your Left Winger have licence to roam the pitch or does he just stick to the left? I could see that being a nightmare to mark expecially if he wanders infield a lot. I know I hate following some guy in field just to have him sprint off back to the sideline. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Doing very well twin! Aston Villa seems to be doing well on my save too, much better than they are in real life! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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