[FM17] We Are the Sunderland Bootboys, Oh We Are Mental and We Are..Bad..

[Sabine]

My love for Sunderland AFC goes way back to the days of the last time we were actually any good..  the year we were able to produce a player who could score 30 goals in a premier league season in the great Kevin Phillips.. 

Long have those days gone now, as Sunderland in real life, are a pretty mediocre team who somehow many to stay afloat every season.  Just.

And when we do manage to get a great footballer, or a great manager, they get unsettled. and then they leave.  and then it's back to square one.

 

Anyway, my name is Niall and welcome to a career save that is most certainly my first to be posted on this sub-forum, but we all have to start sometime. 

As a life long Sunderland fan, I do love playing as them in any football games, but lately they have been extremely lacking in the Football Manager department.. crap transfer budgets, unsellable players.. it's honestly been frustrating and I end up going elsewhere.  This season, despite what it may seem like in real life, the club have a fantastic set up;

A great transfer budget when terminating the loans of Denayer and Januzaj (couldn't terminate Manquillo's for whatever reason) gives me quite a bit of room in the transfer market.

Sunderland's facilities are also pretty fantastic, among the best in the country in fact..

My goals for this save are a little ambitious, especially for a first save of a new game, but they are as following;

• Top table finish within the first season.  This means tenth or above, which I believe with the right transfers can be easily done.
• European football either from a cup win or a league position within the next three years.  I mean, if West Ham can do it, why can't we?
• To qualify for the Champions league within the next four years.   I mean, if Leicester City can do it, why can't we?
• Win the league within the next six years.  I mean.. oh you get my drift.

After that, it all goes from there.  I would love to eventually win the Premier League with an all English side, or develop a world golden ball player from the youth ranks, but those are in the back of my mind for now.

Since this is my introductory post, I won't post much more..  A lot of it will be in my next post, including my transfer policy, tactics and maybe a further outlook of what I want to do with this save.

[Sabine]

Meet the Team!

So it appears that I may have went a bit overboard with the transfers, but all for a good reason.  Sunderland have a very, very small squad by premier league standards.  Only one left back, three players who can play in the attacking midfield position and quite honestly, not a lot of creativity in the team. 

There are two players who you might recognise are missing (or probably not, because who else really cares?), those being Papy Djilobodji, who despite being at the club for a mere week, was able to transfer to Southampton for a staggering £20 million..  £12 million profit!  Fools..  I have also sold Sebastian Larsson (well not yet, but he's going to Montpellier as I'm typing this) for £2.6 million because he really doesn't fit my playing style whatsoever.

So without further ado, here are my  transfers:
Zeca - Left Back, £7.5 million from SAN(tos) - My new starting left back is the most expensive signing of the transfer window.  He fits absolutely perfect in the team, as he's an inverted wing back (more on that later), and is already far better than PvA, who I still love and will still be getting games. 

Frederico Venacio - Centre back, £2.5 million from Vit. Setúbal - A straight up replacement for Djilobodji, who is on less wages, cost way, way less and can do the job just as well in my personal opinion. 

Diogo Dalot - Right Back, £650k compensation from Porto - Rotation option cover for the right back position is needed, as Billy Jones is the only full timer in that position who is good enough.  Manquillo won't be bought for the 13 odd million that the clause has on him, unless he does something absolutely spectacular, so Dalot seems like an ideal, cheap option. 

Joao Pedro - Defensive Midfielder, £7.25 million from Vit. Gumaraes - Oh dear.. what have I done?  Why have I spent so much on this chap?  Well, he may not look as good as other options out there, but I managed to develop him into a monstrosity in the last version of Football Manager and he looks very much the same, with similar potential.  Taking a huge gamble on this one, but I think I should at least be able to profit on him.

Nuno Valente - Attacking Midielder, £1 million from Arouca - I went into the bargain basement for this guy.  He is very much a pet project, as I want to develop him into a trequartista,  He has superb creative ability and is an exact fit for the squad.

Fabinho - Attacking Midfielder, £1.5 million from Feirense - Another old favourite of mine from last year and he looks just as good.  Added to provide more cover in the creative department.

Janis Ikaunieks - Attacking Midfielder, £1.1 million from Metz -  What's this?  A non-Portuguese player?  Why of course!  I signed Ikaunieks for Reims last year and I liked him a lot.  Very cheap, and a very interesting nationality. 

Alexy Bosetti - Striker, £3.1 million from Nice - Same as Ikaunieks, I signed him last year for Reims and he became a club legend.  For now, he's going to be back up, but I don't plan on keeping Defoe for too long as he's a bit old ( ), and hopefully by then, he will be able to step up as a great rotational option.

I think that's it.. A lot of transfers, especially from Portugal, but I honestly do think I have done a good job with improving the squad without overloading it too much.

 

The tactical side of this team, I have prepared a lot for.  As of right now, I have 57 hours already on this game, most of it not idle time for once..  I have extensively been testing out tactics with other teams, and I think I finally have something that can work for the team. 

Formation - Instructions

I'm very unsure about some of the roles still, (especially the AMC trio) but one thing I have learned so far in this version is that Inverted Wing Backs are AMAZING.  They work so well in this narrow formation and now I have Zeca, who is a right footed left back in the team, he's going to quite possibly be the key player in the team.  I have a false 9 at the moment because the main focus of the attack is the AMC trio.  I might change that to another Trequartista (yes, that means three of them ).

The team instructions are probably going to be changed around a lot, depending on the opposition so they're honestly not too important.  I honestly apologise for the lack of detail at the moment, but I haven't played any league games yet but I will provide a lot more detail in my next post.

 

My next post will highlight the progress I have made in the pre-season and up until after the transfer deadline day.  So, see you there!

[Jordanknox]

Glad to see someone else playing as Sunderland. End of first season you can raise a lot of funds selling players (i got over 150m) so you can really rebuild if you stay up.

[jengaehassim]

Are you going to keep Zeca in the left-back? He is right-footed after all.

[Sabine]

I sure am.  He's perfect for the type of football I've been playing and has been doing very, very well so far.

[Sabine]

So up until the transfer deadline day, a lot has happened at Sunderland. 

I decided to cash in on a £6 million deal for an ageing Billy Jones and in return, brought in 25 year old Keiran Trippier who looks the business for £6.25 million.

and unless I get some serious injury problems in January, these are my final transfer dealings for the season.

I allowed my assistant take care of the pre-season friendlies, and he did a very job.

 

We have started the league extremely well.  Jermaine Defoe being the obvious highlight so far.  I believe he's going to be a massive miss when he starts to decline because he's rather fantastic.  Fabinho has also contributed a lot to the team, looking like he could be great bargain.

This means that we are top of the league.. and if real life statistics come into play, this is the first time we have gone top of the Premier League.  Ever.  Quite the achievement, aye?

We also played Exeter city in the EFL cup and gave the rotation players a good run out, and they didn't disappoint with a very decent 4-1 win.  We have Spurs at home next.

We managed to sweep the monthly awards, Defoe being player of the month, Fabinho being young player of the month and myself being manager of the month.

It's so far so good, but since when does anything good last when it comes to Sunderland?

[Sabine]

On 26/10/2016 at 22:44, Jordanknox said:

Glad to see someone else playing as Sunderland. End of first season you can raise a lot of funds selling players (i got over 150m) so you can really rebuild if you stay up.

I apologise because I didn't see your reply before, but that gives me a lot of hope.  The squad itself is quite alright, but there's a lot of work to be done.

I am pretty much aiming to ship out any players who have high wages but have an overall low average rating at the end of the season.  I won't completely gut the team like I did in 2016 though..  I don't think there was a single player left by the end of the third season.

 

[CityAndColour]

Interesting tactic. I notice you have "look for overlap" selected - who exactly is overlapping?

[Sabine]

The two trequartistas have roaming from positions but I'm pretty sure this is an oversight and not me being a tactical genius. 

[Darius1998]

8 hours ago, CityAndColour said:

Interesting tactic. I notice you have "look for overlap" selected - who exactly is overlapping?

It means that players (especially central players) will wait for the full backs to join the attack instead of putting in an early cross themselves.

[CityAndColour]

5 hours ago, DB08 said:

It means that players (especially central players) will wait for the full backs to join the attack instead of putting in an early cross themselves.

Yeah I just found it interesting given he plays with two inverted full backs!

[Sabine]

Although that sounds like a really good idea and looks like the case in the games I'm watching, it was definitely not intended.

[Sabine]

January 2017 update

League Table|League Results|Cup Results|Squad 

I can't believe what I'm seeing right now.  The team I currently have are quite amazing.  We can't stop winning!  A title race with Arsenal is not what I saw myself getting into in the first season on the job, but it's honestly really exciting.  Some of the players, especially at the back, have been particularly amazing. 

Now comes to the point where I need to start to plan for the future and find replacements for the old guard (O'Shea, Defoe, Pienaar), who, especially O'Shea have performed to a really good standard.

I have highlighted Danny Ings as my replacement for Defoe.  It looks like he could be very expensive, but is English and still has a good few seasons left in him. I have Michael Keane as a potential target and replacement for O'Shea if Burnley get relegated.  He is by far their stand out performer despite being a centre back and conceding a lot of goals, but 4 player of the matches really gives an idea on his ability.   If Burnley don't get relegated, I have Karim Rekik as a cheaper option.  Pienaar's replacement has got to be the brilliant looking Morgan Sanson who is absolutely perfect for the team. This all depends on the board though.  They are very stingy (like in real life) and despite our position, have absolutely no interest in giving me more transfer money or improving the club's facilities.

[Sabine]

 

Well, this is certainly a good way to overturn a deficit. 

[Sabine]

Title Run up Special!

It is now May 1st and this is the current league table:

Pretty amazing, aye?  It basically we means unless we completely screw up in the next three games, then the title is ours after gaining 1 point.   And just to think I was aiming for a top table finish..

Arsenal kept up with us all the way to match day 30 then they just fell apart..

I mean, how on earth can you screw up winning the league against the favourites to get relegated?  Oh wait..

What makes this run-up very special is that WE ARE PLAYING ARSENAL AT HOME NEXT! So my next post is going to be a play by play of that game. 

[Sabine]

Saturday 6th May 2017 - Sunderland vs. Arsenal, the title decider.

So, this is it..  this could possibly be the game that seals it all.  As in my previous post, I mentioned that Arsenal completely and utterly fell apart whilst we have.. stuttered a little bit with a couple of draws but honestly nothing too big of a deal.

These are the line ups:

Bizarrely, despite not having any injury problems in the position, Arsenal are playing Mustafi as a right back..  But else than that, they have an extremely strong side.  I have arguably my strongest side out, apart from Borini who is being rested because his form has dropped a little in the past couple games, but Defoe should be up for the task, especially as captain.

09:06:   Booking!  Aaron Ramsey absolutely clattered Lynden Gooch around 25 yards out the box and has been booked for it.   We wasted the free kick though, playing it short and losing possession.

10:47:  Chance!  I ridiculed Arsenal's decision to play Mustafi as right back but he made use of the space and passed ahead to Chamberlain who made a very nice cross in the box but Welbeck completely scuffed it!  It's out for a throw in for Sunderland!

13:03:  Chance!  Lynden Gooch made a great effort to catch Cech off his line and shot from way outside the box at a tight angle, but Cech caught it!  But it was out of play!  And a corner.. and we wasted that as well..

16:02:  Booking!  Mustafi brought Defoe down on the half way line as we were about to charge forward and gets a booking for it.

Nothing has happened whatsoever, and even with key highlights, all play has been stopped for is offsides and fouls.. 

So it's half time and it's 0-0.  This means we can still win the league if we keep this result up.  I have Fabinho off and replaced him with Ikaunieks and Defoe is coming off for Borini as they haven't been performing at all.

47:14:  Booking!  Mertersacker upends Ikaunieks in a very dangerous position around 20 yards outside the box.  Lynden Gooch is going to take the free kick..

47:42:  GOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!  WHAT A FREE KICK FROM GOOCH!  STRAIGHT INTO THE TOP CORNER AND IT'S 1-0 TO SUNDERLAND!

49:02:  CHANCE!  Cazorla whipped in an incredible corner straight onto the head of Welbeck and he hit the crossbar!  Kone clears it out for another corner and Ozil takes that, straight to Cazorla's head, but it's wide.

61:56:  GOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!  THE SUPER SUB IKAUNIEKS HAS WON THE TITLE FOR SUNDERLAND!  A wonderful play from the goal kick to the finish as a slow build up play rapidly turned into an all out attack ending in a nice one-two with Gooch straight into the path of Ikaunieks!  He may not be the best player in the world, but he's going to be forever in the heart of every Sunderland player! SUNDERLAND 2 ARSENAL 0

69:00:  I have substituted Zeca who seems to have a knock, and on goes van Aanholt. 

69:29:  CHANCE!  Straight from the throw-in, we could have easily made it 3-0 with an amazing chance from Borini from outside the box!  Cech saves it very well and clears it out of danger.  This is almost too good to be true!

 74:00:  Booking!  Joao Pedro slides into Coquelin in a very unnecessary challenge and gets booked.

78:13:  GOAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL......  Lucas Perez takes advantage of a missed header by Kone from an over the top through ball by Ozil to slot it home and give Arsenal hope.  SUNDERLAND 2 ARSENAL 1

91:01:  Booking!  Cazorla brings down Ikaunieks in the dying minutes with a pointless, if maybe out of frustration tackle.  I just noticed that the referee has given 4 minutes of added time!

FULL TIME!  SUNDERLAND HAVE WON THE LEAGUE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 79 YEARS! 

I can't describe how exciting and rather impressed I am with this result.  We played like we truly wanted this and absolutely battered them in the end.  This has thrown my save into a completely new direction and I'm very excited.

To win the league in the first season.. with Sunderland!  I can't believe it.  I think I need a lie down now..

[carlmiles1879]

I just started my Sunderland career and while I cant see myself wining the league I am in November and sitting comfortably in the top 6 and scoring for fun. Something isn't quite right lol, Djilibodji is amazingly consistent, someone wanted Rodwell!, in the semi's of the EFL by knocking out Everton (done them 4-1 in the league and 4-0 in the cup) and Leicester (3-0 league and cup) and somehow it appears that Cattermole and Jones are acting as lightning rods for the team's injuries as they are coming back from injury and getting injured again straight away yet everyone else is staying fit most of the time.

Signings wise I brought in, Tielmans by selling Kirchoff didn't really want to lose Kirchoff but he is injury prone and Southampton bid big plus not a huge user of DM's. Ronaldinho, kind of regret this one he hasn't been great but hes on fairly low wages and he's a good tutor. Didier Drogba, half a mil for what I assumed would be a season (but we are desperate for strikers and wanted a big target man for Defoe/Asoro to play off) he is still a good player he is scoring plenty but he is assisting allot and his hold up play is excellent Anichebe's hold up play is very good to but he rarely scores. However I saw it said he was retiring at the end of the season and just assumed if he joined the premier league he would retire at the end of that season but no he is retiring on the 12/12/2016 tried to persuade him to stay but he declined so while he has been a great player for me he is going shortly. Taylor a LWB from Leeds, not as good as PVA but has potential and we really needed another LWB. Martin Carceres on a free, decent player and free so why not. Kourtney Hause from Wolves, needed more CB's for my tactic hes good and can only get better. Bringing in a RWB in January from Scotland cant remember his name at the minute though.

Tactics wise I have gone with a 5212 WB formation so 3cb's a LWB a RWB 2 CM's one CAM and two forwards and it is working marvelously so far, mostly play a counter attacking style and the WB's are very good they tend to cross from deep towards Drogba/Anichebe who usually win more than they lose and provide through balls/flick ons and if Defoe is up top 99% of the time he is in the perfect position to take advantage or if Asoro is getting a shot he has the pace to break the offside trap. When I am playing a more control version the CAM holds the ball up more allowing my 2 CM's to support him (seriously N'Dong has about 5 goals from outside the box so far but only has 12 I think for long shots) and my WB's to overlap allowing them to whip a ball into the box or cut in. Been playing Adnan (whose last name I cant spell to save my life) as a RWB not his best position but going forward he is brilliant he has a PPM to cut in more which is great for curling shots in or curling a cross towards goal which Drogba seems to love. 

Next season's goals are to find a long term replacement for Defoe (got a few I am watching) find another big target man, find a better keeper (sadly Pickford looks more premier league no2 material and doesn't have the potential to progress to much further) strengthen the squad (seriously squad is very small and allot are old or injury prone) Develop Asoro and any new youth prospects that come through, maybe Krusnell too but trying to retrain him to be a CB he is not really suited to WB and just keep moving up the league and go for cups.

[carlmiles1879]

Good news is Drogba changed his mind the day he was due to retire and is going after the FA cup final now. Out of the EFL cup in the semi's lost to Man Utd well I would say I lost to Rashford managed to keep Zlatan quiet and keep them to just one SoT in 60minutes in first leg I was 1-0 up Rashford came on had 2 shots both on target from outside the box both went in. Second leg he started 3 shots 3 on target 3 goals. I hate him so much.

Doing very well in the league sitting at 8th at the moment hammering teams below me drawing with or beating those around me and getting destroyed by the top 6. (Liverpool are only 6th but they turned me over 5-1 and Pickford got an 8.1! he made about 20 saves. Won first game of FA cup against Grimsby one for Drogba one for Asoro and one for Ronaldihno (first goal for the club he curled in a magnificent free kick which hit the bar and got cleared he turned away and the cleared ball hit him in the back of the head and went in) Asoro has gone out on loan and scored on his debut in league one. I signed Green from Bayern on loan or a free not entirely sure which, he was available on a free but wouldn't talk to me so I tried loaning him and as that went through his agent said they were ready to talk so I offered him a contract he accepted he came in on loan his Bayern contract expires the end of the season but he doesn't have a future transfer lined up and I cant offer him a contract so no idea what is going on there. Sold Larsson for 1mil checked how Rodwell was doing on loan at wolves and between spells of injury he plays for the U23's so don't think they will buy him he is now a 1.5 star rated player and couldn't beat the goal posts in a race.

Oh won 3/3 matches in the league in November or October cant remember which and Mourinho 3/4 got manager of the month Klopp 3/4 second and Pep 3/4 third, yes they played more but I had 100% its fixed I tell you.

[Sabine]

On 09/11/2016 at 16:30, carlmiles1879 said:

I just started my Sunderland career and while I cant see myself wining the league I am in November and sitting comfortably in the top 6 and scoring for fun. Something isn't quite right lol, Djilibodji is amazingly consistent, someone wanted Rodwell!, in the semi's of the EFL by knocking out Everton (done them 4-1 in the league and 4-0 in the cup) and Leicester (3-0 league and cup) and somehow it appears that Cattermole and Jones are acting as lightning rods for the team's injuries as they are coming back from injury and getting injured again straight away yet everyone else is staying fit most of the time.

Signings wise I brought in, Tielmans by selling Kirchoff didn't really want to lose Kirchoff but he is injury prone and Southampton bid big plus not a huge user of DM's. Ronaldinho, kind of regret this one he hasn't been great but hes on fairly low wages and he's a good tutor. Didier Drogba, half a mil for what I assumed would be a season (but we are desperate for strikers and wanted a big target man for Defoe/Asoro to play off) he is still a good player he is scoring plenty but he is assisting allot and his hold up play is excellent Anichebe's hold up play is very good to but he rarely scores. However I saw it said he was retiring at the end of the season and just assumed if he joined the premier league he would retire at the end of that season but no he is retiring on the 12/12/2016 tried to persuade him to stay but he declined so while he has been a great player for me he is going shortly. Taylor a LWB from Leeds, not as good as PVA but has potential and we really needed another LWB. Martin Carceres on a free, decent player and free so why not. Kourtney Hause from Wolves, needed more CB's for my tactic hes good and can only get better. Bringing in a RWB in January from Scotland cant remember his name at the minute though.

Tactics wise I have gone with a 5212 WB formation so 3cb's a LWB a RWB 2 CM's one CAM and two forwards and it is working marvelously so far, mostly play a counter attacking style and the WB's are very good they tend to cross from deep towards Drogba/Anichebe who usually win more than they lose and provide through balls/flick ons and if Defoe is up top 99% of the time he is in the perfect position to take advantage or if Asoro is getting a shot he has the pace to break the offside trap. When I am playing a more control version the CAM holds the ball up more allowing my 2 CM's to support him (seriously N'Dong has about 5 goals from outside the box so far but only has 12 I think for long shots) and my WB's to overlap allowing them to whip a ball into the box or cut in. Been playing Adnan (whose last name I cant spell to save my life) as a RWB not his best position but going forward he is brilliant he has a PPM to cut in more which is great for curling shots in or curling a cross towards goal which Drogba seems to love. 

Next season's goals are to find a long term replacement for Defoe (got a few I am watching) find another big target man, find a better keeper (sadly Pickford looks more premier league no2 material and doesn't have the potential to progress to much further) strengthen the squad (seriously squad is very small and allot are old or injury prone) Develop Asoro and any new youth prospects that come through, maybe Krusnell too but trying to retrain him to be a CB he is not really suited to WB and just keep moving up the league and go for cups.

Before I discovered that I could sell Djilobodji for £20 million straight away, I played half a season in a test save and he was really good for me, but the money was far too good to turn down.  The team needs serious work from the get go.   I was very lucky with squad fitness with only McNair out on long term injuries, but approaching the end of the season, I had a few players out due to "wear and tear".  Drogba retired straight after the MLS season in my save which is expected but I would have loved to have seen what he could do.

I really like the idea of a 5 at the back formation, and I believe every single team I have lost against this season played that formation.  I actually have already set up a possible 5 at the back formation for the champions league, which has a similar vein to my current tactic, but with the extra CB which looks like this:

I'm absolutely loving Inverted Wingbacks in this version.  They seemed to have been fixed and play the way that I envisioned to. 

My goals for the squad next season is to turn the team into a true champions league team.  Out with the old, in with the new, raise a fair bit of funds and bring in quality players.  A few English players wouldn't be too bad either and my main targets include Will Hughes, Michael Keane and Danny Ings. 

Although I do agree with you about Pickford, I'm going to stick with him because he is a very good sweeper keeper and rather vitally, home grown.

I also have this monstrosity coming into the club from Hamilton, who will be my new Under 23s keeper, as I have Lovre Kalinic coming in for a free to provide competition and rotation. 

Another player of note is this wee player who I found in the depths of Africa, with a beautiful Afro and French as a second nationality. 

Anyway, I'm going to type up my seasonal review now.  Thanks for the discussion, carlmiles1879.

[Sabine]

2016/17 season review

League Table|League Results after January|
Cup Results

What a bloody season!  I thoroughly enjoyed that.  We seemed very much invincible at times, with some of our players punching way, way above their weight with their performances, especially Borini who is now being subjected to a few £40 million+ bids from Inter and Monaco. 
I am also happy that we managed to at least win a cup also, but I do wish we could have won the FA Cup, but I risked a full strength side who were very much knackered at that point.

I wish that Arsenal gave us more of a fight in the end but they seemed more interested in the Champions League, which they got knocked out in the semi finals but they fell apart in the end, losing their last four games, but it still wouldn't have been enough to win the league, but at least have gone down to the wire. 

During my next season, I am going to post monthly updates instead of what I have been doing because I honestly don't play enough of the save and it may be a little more interesting.  I guess.  Anyway I will be back soon with the pre-season review with hopefully all of my transfers sorted out.   But before that, I will leave with a picture of my massive shortlist.