FM17 Sunderland AFC - The greatest escapologists

[carlmiles1879]

Sunderland AFC

 

History

 

Sunderland were created in 1879 and were originally formed as Sunderland and District Teachers Association Football Club, in 1880 however the club allowed non-teachers to join and changed the name to Sunderland AFC. The club’s original ground was Blue House Field and they had several short spells at other grounds before settling at Newcastle Road in 1886.

Sunderland moved to Roker Park in 1889 and around this time won the league championship in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1898 and 1902. The club also set the record for its highest every win in 1908 away to fierce rivals Newcastle with a 9-1 victory the club also won another title in 1913.

After WWI there was a barren spell in the 20’s where the club only managed second and third place in the league. In 1933 the club set its record highest attendance in an FA cup replay tie with Derby county with 75,118 in Roker Park for the match. The Club won another league title in 1936 followed the next year with the club’s first ever FA cup win, playing in the team that won the FA Cup was Bobby Gurney who is still Sunderlands record goal scorer with 228.

Post WWII Sunderland struggled in the league before finishing third in 49-50 but eventually Sunderland were relegated for the first time in 1958. Some of the club’s best known players signed for the club in this period such as Charlie Hurley, Len Ashurst and Jimmy Montgomery who holds the league appearance record for the club at 537. Brian Clough played 58 games for Sunderland scoring 53 goals before his career was cut short in 1962. Sunderland were back in the top flight by 1964 and back out again in 1970.

In 1970 Bob Stokoe was given the Sunderland Job and three years later he masterminded the club to its second ever FA cup win by beating perennial champions of England Leeds 1-0 in 1973. In 1976 Stokoe got Sunderland back in the top flight but the club was relegated again shortly after. The 80s were a difficult time for Sunderland they were promoted in 1980 but relegated again in 1985 then relegated again in 1987 in the new playoff system but were quickly promoted back to the second division the following year.

In 1995 Peter Reid was given the task of ensuring the club weren’t relegated again but Reid managed to get Sunderland promoted for their first season in the recently established Premier League, the club was relegated the next season but stuck with Reid. In 1997 the club moved into its new stadium the Stadium of Light and nearly achieved another promotion but a penalty shoot out consigned the team to another season outside the top flight. The following season Sunderland went up as champions with a record 105 points and followed it up with two consecutive 7^th places finishes in the premier league. The club at this time were graced with Kevin Phillips who scored an amazing 30 goal in the premier league wining him the European golden boot and he is the only Englishman to have managed that feat.

In 2003 Reid lost his job as Sunderland were relegated, Mick McCarthy was brought in as his replacement and McCarthy guided the club to the FA cup semi final in 2004 and promotion in 2005. However the club was relegated again the following season and the club was purchased by a consortium headed by club legend Niall Quinn who became caretaker manager but was quickly replaced by Roy Keane in 2006. The somewhat volatile Keane got the team promoted that season and won the championship.

The club was taken over by Ellis Short in 2008 and have since had several managers arrive and depart in quick succession such as, Ricky Sbragia, Steve Bruce, Martin O’Neill, Paolo Di Canio, Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat. The club became known and relegation battlers and avoided it narrowly most season. In 2015 Sam Allardyce was given the task of keeping Sunderland in the league and managed to do so with some good signings in the January transfer window. Allardyce was tipped to be the man to finally get Sunderland out of their relegation struggles. Unfortunately England managed by Roy “I don’t know why I am here” Hodgson were knocked out of the euro’s by minnows Iceland and Roy resigned. A lengthy selection process eventually decided Allardyce would get the job he had his heart set on for years and once more the club was searching for a new manager and quickly appointed David Moyes.

 

 

Reasons to manage Sunderland.

·         Large and dedicated fanbase. Easily gets 40000+ each home league game and usually takes a large away contingent to every game too.

·         Very good facilities, the Academy of Light is widely regarded as an excellent training and youth facility.

·         An excellent challenge, the club has shed its yoyo club reputation but had gained a reputation of surviving by the skin of its teeth and changing managers with incredible frequency, could you finally stabilize the club and begin the climb up the league.

·         Not a huge budget to start with but with the new TV deals and the large fanbase the club has the potential to make allot of money. Which you will need allot of the squad is aging and allot if it needs replacing.

·         Wear-Tees derby in first season and if you both stay up and Newcastle stay up you have the potential for Wear-Tees and Wear-Tyne derby.

 

Club info

 

 

Low budget of £12million in the first season and only £41k in spare wages to go with it, but as with all premier league clubs if you can stay up your in the money

 

[carlmiles1879]

Players.

Goalkeepers

Jordan Pickford.

Starts off as your number one due to injury to Mannone, he is a decent EFL championship player with the potential to become a good Premier league player. Keep him in my opinion he is good enough for the first few seasons and if he develops well a very good mid table player. However if you want a world class keeper eventually Pickford will make a good number 2.

Vito Mannone.

Starts off injured for a few months but would otherwise be your first choice. Unfortunately by the time he comes back he will have deteriorated and Pickford progressed enough that he probably wont be number one anymore and will more than likely not be happy about being second choice. Keep for first season, he is injured anyway so hard to sell and then try to offload to reduce wages and get a long term number one or number two to deputize for Pickford depending on your preference.

Mika.

Third best so good back up for Pickford at the start but not really good enough for the premier league and about as good as he will get.

 

Defenders

Patrick Van Aanholt.

Our only first team ready left back. A good player but better going forward than in defence. Obviously first choice as he is the only choice at 25 he is still young enough to stick around for awhile but won’t improve too much. My recommendation is to keep him first season as finding a ready made better upgrade can be tricky I would try and bring in a youngster with good potential as a long term replacement as well as maybe looking to sell PVA and bring in a direct replacement.

Oscar Krusnel.

A promising young LB/CB has good potential but is a long way off at the start develop as best you can, I prefer molding him into a CB.

Javi Manquillo.

Right back, decent player and our best right back at the start of the game. He is on loan and I would recommend keeping him for the season due to other injury problems which brings me to…

Billy Jones.

A decent player and quite good going forward but he starts off injured and he can be quite injury prone. Not much growth potential and injury problems make him a good candidate for the door.

Papy Djilobodji.

In real life this guy is like Titus Bramble on an off day. He has more than a few mistakes in him (to be fair or defence all round is shocking this year so maybe not his fault entirely but so far he is shocking) Thankfully in game he is actually a surprisingly good player and is one of our best CB’s. Keep for awhile he’s new so hard to sell and he is pretty useful and not too old so good for a couple of seasons.

Lamine Kone.

Our best CB in life and in game, a good strong CB who can do a good job in the team for a few seasons. The game has him down as a RB as well but unless your playing ultra defensively or have no choice I would stick to CB for him.

Jason Denayer.

CB on loan from Man City. Decent player behind Djilobodji and Kone in the pecking order but a good sub or 3rd CB if that’s your style. Loan cant be cancelled so keep and if he does well see what he and city want.

John O’Shea.

Our captain. In his last year of a large contract and is declining quite rapidly. It is unlikely that anyone will buy him but what you can try is persuading him to become a staff member and try to get him to sign a lower wage Player/coach deal. Didn’t work for me he wanted a payrise and another year! Don’t renew contract.

Donald Love.

All you need is love! Sadly not great in game best as a RB but not 1st team quality and not likely to get there. Loan out then sell.

Midfielders

Lee Cattermole.

Our vice captain. A decent enough DM but starts off as another long term injury. He is a good player for the league but not outstanding and is one of our higher earners and approaching 30 best to try and part ways with him for as much as possible.

Sebastien Larsson.

Versatile midfielder who can play pretty much anywhere. A good back up option thanks to his versatility but starts off as a long term injury and is in the last year of his contract and will usually want a pay rise to renew. Probably not worth the payrise if you can find a replacement try to sell him in January before someone gets him on a free, you wont get much but better than 0.

Jack “Sicknote” Rodwell.

As the name implies starts of living in the physio office and once he is fit usually goes straight back. In real life we have never won a game he has started in. He is not a terrible player but he hasn’t lived up to his potential by a long shot and he is very very injury prone. Sell if you can but he gets injured so often trying to find a gap in which to sell him is tricky and he declines startlingly fast in January on my first save he was rated as a good player for league one yet on high wages. Sell him if you can find someone stupid enough if not try and loan him out and prepare for a few seasons of him sitting in the physio room occasionally coming out complaining he doesn’t get enough game time and promptly retreating back for more treatment before eventually going on a free.

Whabi Khazri.

One of the signings of the season last year great attacking player and one of our few players capable of finding the net. Goal scorers at Sunderland are rarer than hens teeth this season so keep him he wont score loads but compared to most of the squad he is Ronaldo.

Didier Ndong.

Good all round midfielder doesn’t excel at anything in particular but he is young and good cover for CM and a decent first team player for a season or two.

Paddy McNair.

Decent all rounder can play CM, DM and CB good all round cover and not a bad player has a bit of potential but not loads could turn out to be a good mid table player.

Steven Pienaar.

Useful back up first season, not outstanding but old and on a one year deal, best to allow him to run it out and give him the occasional run out when one of our injury prone midfield drops again.

Jan Kirchoff.

Very good DM and one of our top players, another excellent Allardyce signing from last season. He is a first team regular if you can keep him fit and he still has some potential for growth however he is injury prone (thankfully not as bad as Rodwell) so playing time can be an issue. If he stays fit he will protect your defence marvellously. However in my game Southampton offered my big money for him in the first transfer window it was a difficult choice he is a great player but in the end it was too tempting I sold him and brought in a more reliable replacement, I felt with my other midfielders all being a bit injury prone or liable to get sent off (Cattermole) it was best to cash in and grab a reliable player.

Adnan Januzaj.

Plays RW, LW, CAM and pretty much anywhere you want except in goal. Very versatile (I have him as a RWB assisting and scoring for fun) and a very good player. On loan from Man Utd and unlikely they will sell next season for anything you can afford, if he has had a good season he may be more open to joining but will probably want a large wage. Get him if you can if not maybe try another loan but will probably have to make do with just a season with him.

Lynden Gooch.

Attacking midfielder starting to break in around the edges of the 1st team IRL, not great in game and potential isn’t quite top class but could possibly be a decent premier league player. Would love to keep him in the team for a long time but probably best just to develop then sell.

Forwards

Jermain Defoe.

Easily our star player and our only prolific striker. He is also our highest earner and is 33 at the start of the game and on a 3 year deal. He will be your main striker in the first season unless you sign someone remarkable on a cheap deal or loan. He doesn’t rely on pace and has the ability to be in the right place at the right time so while he will decline he will more than likely stay among the goals. Needs a long term replacement ASAP and be prepared to see out his contract it is unlikely anyone will take him at his age and wage but if he stays injury free and doesn’t decline dramatically he will more than likely remain a good striker and a good option from the bench once you have a better 1st choice.

Victor Anichebe.

Our only big strong striker, not a great goal scorer but will pop up occasionally. Useful if you want someone to provide flickons or hold up the ball for Defoe but not a great player best used as support or a battering ram if things go wrong not the best passer so he will fluff a few but his strength means he will win plenty of challenges. Starts on a one year deal probably best to replace unless he suits your system.

Fabio Borini.

Like in real life he looks a good player but he doesn’t score too many and as in real life probably more suited to playing on the wing or behind the striker. Not great at either but he wont force Defoe out of the team. If you can find a tactic to suit him he will score a few goals but probably best to ship him out and get a better natural finisher as he is on high wages.

Duncan Watmore.

A very speedy and hard working player but in game he doesn’t have the greatest potential. Can be developed into a decent poacher but not great. A bit like Theo Walcott very very fast but once he’s there tends to run out of ideas. Wish he was better but best to develop then sell.

Joel Asoro.

Very promising young striker, can lack determination and is a long way off 1st team standard but with the right tutoring and development can become an effective poacher. Maybe not first choice top half premier league but his pace can be devastating off the bench against tiring defenders. Develop and keep once he’s developed he becomes very useful but could become a target for other teams in which case I would haggle like Daniel Levy.

Not a team blessed with talent but cursed with injuries, aging players and high wages. Only a couple of promising youth players make Sunderland a real challenge to manage especially if the board keep the give youth a chance philosophy they start with.

[carlmiles1879]

Ok feel free to post chaps, I am open to any suggestions for additions or improvements and hopefully a few people decide to take on the challenge that is SAFC. Good luck.

[Jean-Luc]

Great read. I feel intrigued to try it. Wasn't even aware that Kirchoff is now here. Sounds like a nice challenge as well, with those aging players. Similar to my Darmstadt side in that regard. But with much more money.

[Psycho.]

Great to see this thread. I just finished the first season with Sunderland. Finished 12th and won the FA Cup, so next season we will play EL. I bought some hot prospects and have a pretty decent team now in comparison to the start of the game. Will post some screens later.

Koné is underrated in FM in my opinion. I played mainly with Djilobodji and Denayer. Ndong has been excellent for me as bbm. 

[carlmiles1879]

Cheers guys. I am only into February in my first season at the moment. I decided to go with a 5-2-1-2 WB formation and it has been working magnificently, I am on the verge of qualifying for europa league through league finish if things keep going as they are, I got to the semi's of the EFL cup before being destroyed by Rashford. Kirchoff has spent allot of his time out injured for Southampton so feel like that one was a good call. Sold Larsson in January as his contract was due and didn't want to renew. Somehow persuaded Wolves to take Rodwell on loan with an optional future fee but hes injured most of the time and rubbish the rest so think I am getting him back. 

I have been playing N'dong as a BBM as well and he is awesome much better than his stats imply, he has a long shot of 12 but he has chipped in 8 goals from outside the box so far.  Desperate for another striker though, brought in Drogba for a season and he has been great but he is starting to decline and is retiring at the end of the season. Defoe was scoring pretty much every game but has hit a barren spell and Anichebe has gone about 9 hours without scoring. Brought in Green from Bayern and he has one or two but hardly prolific so far next season could be a worry without another 20odd goals a season striker. Tried to bring in a Venezulan striker in January but he failed his WP when I offered him a contract as a hot prospect, an hour after failing to sign for me he signs for Real Madrid as a hot prospect, definitely  some dodgy dealing there. 

[JR_Junior]

Hi! I'm on my second season with Sunderland and having a good time.

Recapping the first season:

I only won my first game after six games, but still better than Moyes! My team found its way to a impressive 9th after a slow start. We won 7 from the last 11 games including a beautiful 4-1 victory over Chelsea away in Stamford Bridge. Our best players were Defoe, Manquillo, Koné, Horta and Ndong. Januzaj had a decent season too. Khazri had lots of problems until he started to finally play well.

Transfer-wise I don't like to sell fifteen players a season and I like to slowly build stuff, but still made a few moves. First transfer-window I didn't want to mess around much, so I only brought two backup players...De Bock, left-back from Brugge and Dan Gosling, midfielder from Bournemouth. In november I sold Seba Larsson to Al-Wahda as he didn't fit well in my tactics. In january Lee Cattermole asked to leave to try new things and I sold him to Southampton along with Papy Djilobodjil. To replace them I brougth equatorian international from Atletico Mineiro, Frickson Erazo for around £4m and Rômulo from Spartak Moscow for around £800k. I also discovered André Horta unhappy at Benfica and I got him on loan with a fixed price to be our advanced playmaker. I also brought Julian Green from Bayern.

In july with a little more money I signed André Horta and Manquillo in permanent deals. Sold Erazo to the relegated(!) Leicester for £15m - I didn't want to sell him so soon, but the offer was too good - and signed Kolo from Sevilla for £1.9m. Other players that arrived: Junior Stanislas in a good free deal, Marc Albrighton for around £10m after Leicester's relegation, Sergio León, striker from Osasuna, Miiko Albornoz, left-back from Hannover 96 and defender Kenneth Omeruo from Chelsea. I sold van Aanholt to Celta de Vigo, Mannone to Real Betis and Jeremain Lens to Boro.

After 12 games I'm 9th again. I'm having problems setting up the attack and Pickford is not playing very well (testing Mika last few games) but I just beat Manchester City 2-0. Junior Stanislas is playing very well and it's certainly an upgrade over Watmore.

I'm playing with a 4-1-2-3 DM...basically Pickford; Manquillo, Koné, Kolo, Albornoz; Rômulo; Ndong, Horta; Stanislas(Albrighton), Khazri(Borini) and León.

For january I just took a risk and signed Fabian Delph. Rodwell can't stay healthy this season and our team is really lacking leadership. I like to take risks and I hope Delph turns out okay...his physics and mental atributes are awesome. He will have the biggest wages of the team, but I'm only the 18th in the league in wages, so I'm good.

Well...I think it's basically this!

[Jean-Luc]

I started a save with Sunderland at the weekend.

Still in pre season, but really excited to try this. I will post some pictures here soon. Your thread was a very nice help, it normally takes a while to measure up players and get a feeling for the team when you take on a completely new team.

I known Kirchhoff, Djilobodji and Januzaj from their time in the Bundesliga, and I am delighted to see Khazri there, whom I know from his time at Bastia, but most of the other players don't ring any bells.

And just a few weeks in and Southhampton wants to buy Kirchhoff for a €11-17m structured deal. I feel almost tempted, but my scouting knowledge is still so small that I am not sure I can find any replacement. Besides, I don't want to change too many things in this squad. If I take over a team, I want to feel the "real" team at least in the beginning. Maybe add one or two players, but I very rarely sell players.

Let's see... 

[carlmiles1879]

Just won my first silverware at Sunderland! well technically me U23's manager gets the credit for winning the checkatrade trophy but I am stealing a bit of credit considering I dropped Drogba from the first team and made him and Ronaldinho available for the U23's just in time for the final and Drogba scored a brace, plus the thought of Drogba and Ronaldinho lifting the checkatrade trophy made me chuckle.

Edit - on a side note Cattermole keeps asking for a meeting every few months asking to be allowed a transfer as he feels he has achieved all he can at Sunderland, its funny because all I say to him is essentially "no one wants you" and he says fair enough an carries on. Looks like we are going to qualify for the europa league this season so sounds like catts wants a champions league club can't see many wanting him to be honest. Also Southampton are interested in PVA and Djilibodji and Liverpool are interested in Kirchoff. Looks like Liverpool are continuing their policy of buy from Southampton and Southampton are starting a buy from Sunderland policy.

[JR_Junior]

2 hours ago, carlmiles1879 said:

Just won my first silverware at Sunderland! well technically me U23's manager gets the credit for winning the checkatrade trophy but I am stealing a bit of credit considering I dropped Drogba from the first team and made him and Ronaldinho available for the U23's just in time for the final and Drogba scored a brace, plus the thought of Drogba and Ronaldinho lifting the checkatrade trophy made me chuckle.

Edit - on a side note Cattermole keeps asking for a meeting every few months asking to be allowed a transfer as he feels he has achieved all he can at Sunderland, its funny because all I say to him is essentially "no one wants you" and he says fair enough an carries on. Looks like we are going to qualify for the europa league this season so sounds like catts wants a champions league club can't see many wanting him to be honest. Also Southampton are interested in PVA and Djilibodji and Liverpool are interested in Kirchoff. Looks like Liverpool are continuing their policy of buy from Southampton and Southampton are starting a buy from Sunderland policy.

I sold Cattermole to Southampton in january 17 and one year later he was already transfer listed and I amost brought him back, but I contained myself.

[Nozzer]

3 hours ago, Jean-Luc said:

I started a save with Sunderland at the weekend.

Still in pre season, but really excited to try this. I will post some pictures here soon. Your thread was a very nice help, it normally takes a while to measure up players and get a feeling for the team when you take on a completely new team.

I known Kirchhoff, Djilobodji and Januzaj from their time in the Bundesliga, and I am delighted to see Khazri there, whom I know from his time at Bastia, but most of the other players don't ring any bells.

And just a few weeks in and Southhampton wants to buy Kirchhoff for a €11-17m structured deal. I feel almost tempted, but my scouting knowledge is still so small that I am not sure I can find any replacement. Besides, I don't want to change too many things in this squad. If I take over a team, I want to feel the "real" team at least in the beginning. Maybe add one or two players, but I very rarely sell players.

Let's see... 

Kirchoff out for that deal then Javi Castellano (Las Palmas) in for 2m will allow you to improve the rest of the team.  JK is a smashing player but the chances of him getting injured often are too big to turn down that sort of money, also he is only contracted till Jun 2017

[Jean-Luc]

2 minutes ago, Nozzer said:

also he is only contracted till Jun 2017

That is a point I had not checked yet. And a fair point, indeed. My approach is normally, if clubs want a player pre-season, they'll pay even more money in a few months.

Well, to be fair, 2 or 3 million of that money include stuff like Southhampton winning Europa League. Not sure I'll ever see THAT money.

[JR_Junior]

Just finished my second season yesterday and I really like Kirchkoff, I just offered him a new deal. He is more of rotation player, but I like his versatility. I'm also luck with his health as he never had injury problems.

[Jean-Luc]

Yes, thank you for making my decision even more difficult, @JR_Junior 

I have time until tonight or maybe tomorrow, before I can continue and make a decision.

[Nozzer]

10 minutes ago, Jean-Luc said:

Yes, thank you for making my decision even more difficult, @JR_Junior 

I have time until tonight or maybe tomorrow, before I can continue and make a decision.

On my test season as Sunderland JK only had a couple of minor injuries and played 30+ league games but I would imagine his injury prone stat is very high as he is made of glass in real life.  He was mainly excellent for me so it is a tough decision, even more so depending on the system you play

Sunderland start of with quite a few injuries at the start of the game as well which isn't great but if you can pick up points till everyone is fit you may not need to rely on JK as much

I don't like to be Sunderland on FM as I am a season ticket holder in real life and I can't help that affect my in game decisions but I'm always interested to see others manage us

[Jean-Luc]

14 minutes ago, Nozzer said:

Sunderland start of with quite a few injuries at the start of the game as well which isn't great but if you can pick up points till everyone is fit you may not need to rely on JK as much

The injury situation was one of the reasons I found the challenge so appealing. It's an interesting mix from an outsider's perspective: A club with great youth facilities and FM philosophies centered around youth, but with a comparatively old and injured squad who does not fare well in real life at the moment. Plus the long tradition and glory, of course. I like those kind of challenges. In fact, I have never played Premier League before, because I prefer starting with weaker clubs.

14 minutes ago, Nozzer said:

I don't like to be Sunderland on FM as I am a season ticket holder in real life and I can't help that affect my in game decisions but I'm always interested to see others manage us

Totally understand what you say.

Shall we switch? I try Sunderland and you play Darmstadt?

On the other hand, I actually find the "sandbox" kind of mode of FM rather refreshing, because it actually does allow you to get your decisions influenced by real life. If you want to win the Champions League with every save, well I guess you have to try to optimize your game without thinking of reality at all. But I for my side had great fun last season playing more or less with the original Darmstadt squad and escape relegation at the final whistle. And yes, maybe that sometimes means to field players you like, just because you like them. Not because their stats are great. In my experience, FM is versatile enough for that.

And then on top comes, of course, the sudden interest in clubs that were not on your radar at all before. I am sure I will try to watch the Sunderland match on the weekend now, because suddenly, they are "my players".

[JR_Junior]

Just to talk about my second season and I had an incredible one! I'm the worst 3rd place in the league since 1998, but I'm happy with this unexpected Champions League football! I'll keep basically the same 11 and try to improve the squad. I already got Callum Wilson(Premier League's top scorer in first season) and I'm looking to add Pedro Obiang, Rob Holding and Andre Carrillo to the squad to add some depth. I'm thinking about selling Khazri, he just doesn't perform well enough for me. My dream signing would've been Malcom from Bordeaux as he is from my city and is a homegrown player from the team I support, but Bordeaux wanted too much money

This was one of my favorites seasons ever in Football Manager and I can't wait to see my boys playing on Champions League! 

The only that sucks is that my relation with Defoe just went to space after "broken promises" and I had to loan him. I felt bad, but i had to. I also loaned Rodwell and McNair.

[Jean-Luc]

Congratulations, JR_Junior! Nice!

You want to post a picture of your current starting eleven?

And what happened there to ManCity? They must be furious about that 8th place...

[JR_Junior]

2 minutes ago, Jean-Luc said:

Congratulations, JR_Junior! Nice!

You want to post a picture of your current starting eleven?

And what happened there to ManCity? They must be furious about that 8th place...

They were so furious that they decided to hire Rafa Benitez to take over Pep!

http://i.imgur.com/H0rYP7a.png

Sorry but I only have this portuguese screen right now. I feel bad for changing so much from the start of the game...but I hope to keep a few players like Pickford, Mika, Manquillo, Koné, Kirchhoff, Ndong, Borini and maybe Khazri for the next few years. 

[carlmiles1879]

Nice congratulations on the champions league football, I am still in my first season just drawn Newcastle in the FA cup semi final that should be an interesting affair. My form in derby matches this season is a bit weird played Boro twice first game we were awful and trailing 1-0 most of the game till that unlikeliest of hero's Jayson Denayer (only on because Kone got injured) pops up with a ludicrously long range header from a corner (he was outside the box) in the last 30 seconds of stoppage time to save a point. Then in the home tie we thumped them 5-0 with them having 0 shots on target all game. Hopefully we can reproduce the latest result against the barcodes.  Looking at signing Moussa Dembele from Celtic he looks great and he is stupidly cheap they only want about 6mil for him and he was their top scorer. I think I have got Julian Green from bayern on a free but not entirely sure, I offered him a contract he said not interested I tried loaning him and his agent suddenly said he was interested so agreed a contract then he joined on loan and now I cant offer him a contract because he has already agreed one but he has no future move so no idea what I did.

Thinking of selling Djilibodji to Southampton at the end of the season he has been a good player but if I can get big money I will take it and bring in a better youth prospect as CB. Apart from him I want rid of Cattermole (constantly complaining he wants a bigger challenge) Rodwell (spent all season at wolves on loan and has managed a grand total of 4 matches between injuries so doubt anyone will take him) Defoe if I can (currently best player but 34 on massive wages and I have good young strikers) and most of the deadwood that is out on loan in the first season. 

[carlmiles1879]

So played the semi, the first half was as expected a very scrappy affair plenty of fouls and we eventually broke the deadlock with a penalty which Defoe put away nicely, however Newcastle equalized just before half time. Second half despite me getting the players fired up with a spot of the old hairdryer treatment was more of the same we took the lead again before they equalized again. 2-2 full time. First half of extra time yellow cards everywhere but no break through. Second half starts out the same but on 97 minutes a lovely cross into the box by Patterson is nodded into the goal by Newcastle's Grant Hanley, unfortunately for them but great for me it was his own goal. That own goal seemed to destroy Newcastle and spur my lads on as with an incredible 3 goals in the remaining 13 minutes (including the completion of a hat-trick for Defoe we ended up winning 6-2. In the other semi final Arsenal somehow lost 2-1 to Huddersfield so I fancy my chances in the final.

Special mention of my last EPL match before the semi Liverpool at home who stuffed us 6-1 earlier in the season. We had 5 shots only one on target they had 18 and 8 on target and we won 1-0 thanks to a Defoe stoppage time goal. Leaving us at 6th in the league 3 behind Liverpool and 3 ahead of Tottenham who have a game in hand but are 3 behind on goal difference as well. 

[Jean-Luc]

Sooo...

I am three games into the season. Time for my first update.

I must say, since this is my first save that starts with a Premier League team maybe... ever! ... I am quite positively surprised about the transfer budget and equally shocked about the high wages  

I couldn't resist bringing in a player form my favourite Bundesliga team, SC Freiburg. They were reluctantly willing to let him go, but for a price. I introduce... Vincenzo Grifo. He's a winger or an inside forward or even a playmaker in any of the wide or central midfield positions. And, also, he's a wizard in free kicks (18) and corners (17). He can do some real magic, Vincenzo.

My first thought was to let Januzaj go, also because of his high wages, but I kept him on board for the moment, as I need a bit of depth for the team. With Grifo, Januzaj, Khazri and Pienaar, I believe we have some variability in attack.

Next worrying position for me: Van Aanholt, great in attack, but looking very fragile in defense. I was thinking of another Freiburg player, a young guy, Christian Günter, but they called for €38m, so that was that. I finally did find another Bundesliga player, though: Sead Kolasinac from Schalke 04.

Basically, he's everything that Van Aanholt isn't - and a bit vice versa. Which might prove useful, depending on the opposition we'll play. Kolasinac has Man Marking 16, Tackling 16, Aggression 16 and Work Rate 16 and Bravery 18. He also is almost as fast as Van Aanholt, which might become important, because I plan to have at least one formation with a back three, and I need fast wing backs to provide cover.

Well, and then there was that offer from Southhampton for Kirchhoff:

€11m upfront, another €3m after 50 games, and a few other payments if Southhampton wins the FA Cup, etc. I went into overdrive mode to find a replacement for Defensive Midfield and scouted clubs in France, Brazil, England... ultimately, and that was not planned, I ended up in the Bundesliga again. (My favourite target would have been Bakayoko from AS Monaco, but they wanted ... ahem... €103m for him. Which was a biiiit pricey).

There were quite a lot of guys stronger than Kirchhoff or better in defending, but I wanted somebody who matches Kirchhoffs mental attributes, Composure, Concentration and Decisions, as I find those quite vital in Defensive Midfield. So I finally agreed with Eintracht Frankfurt on Pirmin Schwegler. Unfortunately, he's not exactly young, but he was only half the price of what I got for Kirchhoff, and maybe I can get a younger prospect on board later.

So that was that.

We went into our first match against Burnley with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Grifo on the left, Khazri playing central as a Shadow Striker, Januzaj on the right. Schwegler has also more vision and better passing than Kirchhoff, so I can use him as a DLP, adding some creative element from the back. 

We were absolutely dominating the match in the first half. It was a real delight to watch my new team.

Here's the first goal for Sunderland AFC under my management. A nice strike from Whabi Khazri. Well, alright, actually, it's not the goal, it's the celebration afterwards. Still... to give you some atmosphere...

Unfortunately, the squad got overconfident somehow, and we allowed Burnley to come back from 3-0 (two goals from Defoe) to a 3-2 in the last ten minutes...

For the second match against Crystal Palace, I decided to try a different approach and used a 3-1-3-1-2 formation. No full backs, but Grifo and Januzaj on the wings. And a midfield of three, adding to Anichibe and Defoe as two strikers. It's a quite useful setup I think, as we have a lot of strength in midfield, and Crystal Palace plays a 4-2-3-1, which leaves them vulnerable in the space between wingers and full backs AND in central midfield - exactly the spaces we are covering.

I was happy with the way we played, but Crytal Palace got a very early goal. Sunderland was dominating the match in every aspect, but only managed a draw. Still... I guess I can live with that. 4 points after the first two matches. Good start. Gives us confidence. Here's the schedule. Next, we have Swansea and Stoke, and then the first big real test with United.

Oh, and I also got Michael Essien on board, because his agent begged me to take him in, and he was really, really cheap (sometime old star players ask for big wages, but not him). He's actually a very useful backup for the DM position and can probably cover nicely in the last 20 minutes or so. His mental attributes are still impressive.

So that's the full picture of all my transfers then. We did spend quite a bit of money, but that was mainly possible due to the early departure of Jan Kirchhoff. I would have liked to keep him, but the offer was too tempting. And I even believe Schwegler might be better for what I have in mind. (You can click on all pictures to enlarge them, by the way. The new SI forum offers some nice features the old one didn't).

 

So there you are.

Having really fun so far!

 

[carlmiles1879]

First season over and I won the FA cup final against Huddersfield and finished 6th in the league somehow. Tried signing Moussa Dembele from Celtic and Celtic didn't want much for him but Dembele wanted 120k a week and promises that the club is a stepping stone and a minimum fee release clause of only 2mil more than I paid for him, so he is still at Celtic but Stoke bid 3mil less than Celtic wanted from me so we shall see. Ended up getting Julian Green (fans were furious for some reason despite him being one of our best players last season on loan. Also brought in Khouma Babacar, Patrick Roberts on loan (wanted Januzaj back but Man U said no) Wilfried Bony on loan as a back up, James Ward-Prowse for about 18mil and Gollini (GK from Villa) brought Manquillo back in on loan as well as I have Patterson as RWB and my back up is Adam Mathews. Tried to get Denayer back in on loan but he went back to Man City and immediately went back out on loan before I could bid.

Sold Mannone, amazingly Wolves bid for Rodwell but he turned them down as the wages were too low, tried selling Borini but despite a dozen or so clubs wanting him no one actually wants to bid, loaned a few prospects out as well.

[Jean-Luc]

30 minutes ago, carlmiles1879 said:

Ended up getting Julian Green (fans were furious for some reason despite him being one of our best players last season on loan.

Probably due to reputation. Green is a youngster with almost no experience for first team Bayern. Sometimes FM is a bit too much relying on certain stats and numbers in that regard.

30 minutes ago, carlmiles1879 said:

Also brought in Khouma Babacar, Patrick Roberts on loan (wanted Januzaj back but Man U said no) Wilfried Bony on loan as a back up, James Ward-Prowse for about 18mil and Gollini (GK from Villa) brought Manquillo back in on loan as well as I have Patterson as RWB and my back up is Adam Mathews. Tried to get Denayer back in on loan but he went back to Man City and immediately went back out on loan before I could bid.

Sold Mannone, amazingly Wolves bid for Rodwell but he turned them down as the wages were too low, tried selling Borini but despite a dozen or so clubs wanting him no one actually wants to bid, loaned a few prospects out as well.

Sounds like a lot of change.  What's your starting eleven then?

[carlmiles1879]

Starting eleven is Pickford/Gollini in goal depending on who is in form hopefully they push each other. CB's Kone, Caceres, Djilibodji with Hause, McNair and Coates as back up. LWB PVA or Charlie Taylor, RWB Callum Patterson (Manquillo loan didn't go through someone else bought him) with Mathews as cover. CM's Ward-Prowse and Tielemans with Ndong, Catts, McNair and Rodwell (nobody wants him) as back ups. CAM Khazri or Roberts. Upfront will probably be Babacar and Defoe with Green swapping with Defoe often and Anichebe (new one year deal) and Bony as back up to Babacar, if I cant find him a loan I like Asoro will start some cup games and play occasionally off the bench in easier league matches and unless I get rid of Borini he will be here too (many clubs interested no bids, offered him on loan asking for 100% wages and got about 30 bids offering 0% and one offering 100% so hopefully he joins them.).

Just realised I have two long term loans from Man City, didn't know that was allowed thought it was limited to 1.

Edit damn, continued after typing this and got a few loan offers for Rodwell including two 100%s so accepted those two hit continue..... and he's injured again.

[Jean-Luc]

Yeah, Rodwell just injured himself one day before the start of the season as well.

Charlie Taylor is a very nice LWB; I played a season with Leeds on FM2015, and he was outstanding back then.

I tried to get the young DC prodigy Malang Sarr from OGC Nice, but the transfer story got leaked and in the end, Chelsea beat me. Stupid boy. Don't think he will get much playing time at Chelsea...

[carlmiles1879]

Great Roma want PVA and he wants to go but they keep offering non-negotiable offers of 7.5mil and he is a key player worth 9mil so now he is annoyed and wants to go but the only club interested won't bid anything reasonable hopefully this doesn't go to a revolt but the transfer system is always a pain in FM I offer slightly higher than player value to a club and they counter with triple that, a club offers less than value for a key player who isn't transfer listed yet if you try and negotiate to above value they immoderately walk away and the player goes in a huff.

On the plus side Hull have taken the injured Rodwell on loan for the season. Edit - Asoro is off to MK Dons on loan as a key player and Borini is off on loan to Brentford which should stop him complaining at me and give me a bit more wiggle room with the ages.

[carlmiles1879]

Got Marseilles bidding on PVA too now but still bidding less than value and set his asking price to 20mil. Just played the community shield vs Chelsea and I know its not an important competition but we won 3-1 and Babacar was amazing he won everything in the air Gollini started because Pickford hurt his neck and he made  about 6 or 7 saves and Chelsea's goal was one of those 30 yard no keeper in the world dealios so nothing he could have done really. Ward-Prowse was everywhere (B2B role) and he was really impressive, Defoe was a bit lack luster so Green came on and didn't score but he created the 3rd goal and kept Courtois on his toes with a few good chances. 

[JR_Junior]

@Jean-Luc Interesting signing in Essien! I almost got Obi Mikel to be my "cool old star" but it would be hard to put him into the team.

I liked PVA, but he is so bad defending that I didn't feel bad for selling him just for around £6m.

Roma also came here to bother me and I had to sell Kolo to them. It's my third starter centerback that I lose, but at least I got £20m out of them and brought Rob Holding from Arsenal. 

I signed Rob Holding and Mohamed Elneny from Arsenal, Maya Yoshida for free, Andre Carrillo from Benfica and Callum Wilson from Bournemouth for the third season. Pedro Obiang chose our Champions League rivals Swansea over us, but he'll be getting almost £500k a month there, so good luck for him!

I tried to sell Khazri but nobody wanted him, so I'll stick with him. I'm loaning Julian Green to a Bundesliga team. I'll have Albrighton, Carrillo, Stanislas, Borini, Khazri and Watmore looking for minutes at the wings, I hope I find time to everybody. Got new deals for Pickford, Horta and Borini.

[carlmiles1879]

So into August second season and PVA puts in a transfer request I accept because he hasnt stopped complaining and naturally now no one wants him so stuck with him for the moment. Cattermole had another "I want to be allowed to leave to achieve my ambitions" meeting but again as with the other 3-4 times he has asked no body actually wants him the womble. Roma who started the whole PVA saga by offering a pittance for him have since signed another LB so they don't even want him now.

Edit - looked at the social feed thing and saw a poll for the fans "Is PVA right to be unhappy?" Yes 94%! 94% of the Sunderland fans who think PVA is one of our best players agree that he should be allowed to leave because he wants to join a bigger club, not a terribly ambitious bunch we are apparently. Tried again to sign Moussa Dembele from Celtic, Celtic wanted 9.75mil after I offered 7.5 i accepted Dembele wanted 130k and a release clause of 13million I tried negotiating lowest I could get him was 100k but too high and he wanted to treat it as a stepping stone and a whole host of other promises so I cancelled. Naturally a few days later he signs for Stoke for 6.75mil and on a 55k a week contract. FM at its finest.

[Jean-Luc]

Well, what can I say...?

I start to have REALLY fun with this save.

We hammered Swansea. Van Aanholt was incredible. Defoe was incredible. They all were great, well maybe not the defenders so much, but the whole team was more than impressive.

I played Van Aanholt as a winger on the left side, and he was superb. Maybe that's where he belongs even. And Anichibe got his first goal as Defensive Forward (D), before he got injured. It all clicked very nicely though, we took control of the midfield and Swansea simply couldn't handle us. In fact, their goals came mostly from set pieces. My new signing Vincenzo Grifo was a prime creator of chances for us. A handful of very dangeours free kicks, and 4 key passes on top.

[carlmiles1879]

Nice win. Currently 3 games into second season and I beat Man City 6-2 (no idea how) got thumped 4-1 by Arsenal because Djilibodji got himself sent off in the first 10 minutes then beat Bournemouth 4-0. Also set a record for longest unbeaten streak before losing to Arsenal previous was 19 and I got 20 at Man City. Got a few clubs bidding for PVA now but none bidding anywhere near his worth apparently the only player who supports PVA leaving is Charlie Taylor who just so happens to be PVA's competition for a place in the starting 11. 

[Jean-Luc]

I really wonder if it might be useful to retrain Van Aanholt as a winger. He has everything he needs for that, I believe.

[carlmiles1879]

30 minutes ago, Jean-Luc said:

I really wonder if it might be useful to retrain Van Aanholt as a winger. He has everything he needs for that, I believe.

I use wing backs instead of wingers so I have him there for me so don't know for sure but it will more than likely work he is much better going forward than defensively and IRL Moyes has hinted that he is going to use PVA as a winger not a full back so it possible that it could become his preferred position anyway.

[paddypower]

Djilibodji  was insanely good for a few years in my Sunderland save. Made it into the team of the year twice. It's weird because he should be shockingly bad going by his stats imo

[carlmiles1879]

48 minutes ago, paddypower said:

Djilibodji  was insanely good for a few years in my Sunderland save. Made it into the team of the year twice. It's weird because he should be shockingly bad going by his stats imo

Going by his performances this season he should definitely be shockingly bad, he has more than the odd mistake in him and his positioning is just awful he's a headless chicken at times. Chelsea must have had a good chuckle at this one, sign a player for 2.5mil have him play about 30 seconds of football in a cup competition send him out on loan watch him be a bit crap then sell him on for a 5.5mil profit. They saw us coming on that one.

[JR_Junior]

Geez, play Champions League means nothing apparently...Mika got a Everton bid and I refused and he got all mad because he wanted to go play with better players. Sigh...I just don't to see his face again! Brought Hennessey to his place and I'll push Pickford again. Funny that now he only got a offer from a bad turkish team.

Bayern came after Manquillo, had to sell him for £19.25m(possible £28m). Got Corchia transfer listed from Atletico Madrid for around £3.2m and of course he gets injured(2-3 months) before his first game!

To make things worse I started the season with two losses...Swansea and Manchester United both by 0-1.

Frustrating beggining of season!

edit: My Champions League group will be Porto, Leverkusen and Dinamo Kyiv. Not an easy group but I'm happy that we escaped bigger teams.

[carlmiles1879]

I signed Bony on loan at the start of the second season and before the first match he gets injured 8-9 months so I sent him back. A few weeks later on transfer deadline day one of the press questions was a guy congratulating me on getting Bony on loan and asking how big of an impact he would be... I saved then said he would be a massive boost as a joke and my squad loved it! couldn't help but chuckle.

Edit - Just got a loan report that amused me, it was about Asoro who is playing very well in league one. Apprently is team were 1-0 down he came off the bench and scored an injury time equalizer, looked at his stats 1 shot 1 on target 1 goal. The text of the report says he "Had one shot which caused a slight problem for the opposition defence" so him rescuing a point for his team and taking 2 points off the other team is only a slight problem for them lol.

[Jean-Luc]

I am surprised how quick some of you are. I am advancing at a pace of 2-3 matches per evening. Sometimes less.

Quick addition to the transfer window: We ended up being the "Biggest spender" of the Premier League, which... is a bit surprising. And disturbing. I don't see myself as someone who splashes the cash.

Anyhow...

I posted the result of the West Brom match already. Which also already exposed the weaknesses of my team: Defending. In 11 games (all cup and league), we managed only one with a clean sheet. And that was NOT in the cup games against lower league opposition.

After the great win, we had a very disappointing 1-2 defeat against Stoke, where Sunderland dominated the match but didn't take home any points.

We also continue to be ravaged by injuries.

Schwegler was injured for a few weeks. I tried to replace him with Cattermole/Essien, but both don't offer the same impact than Schwegler.

Billy Jones came back... and injured himself again, immediatly.

And then, later, TWO (!) players came home from an international break injured.

Whabi Khazri and Lamine Koné. Both are dearly missed. Especially Koné at the back seems to be one of my most valuable defenders. I am not too happy with O'Shea so far.

After Stoke, there was a very depressing trip to Manchester United, ending in a very, very clear 0-3 defeat, followed by a 2-2 draw at West Brom, and then another very unambigous defeat at Arsenal.

We only turned our luck around recently against Bournemouth. And managed a draw against Everton. Where we were, again, leading by one goal before conceding the draw by Enner Valencia. My team is not exactly good at taking home 3 points after leading in goals.

One reason could be, of course, the 3 defender formation, but we are not exactly more stable with 4 at the back, and, frankly, at least in the first formation, we are really great going forward. So I often use both within one match, depending on the scoreline.

So, all in all... a decent start.

And we are, so far, decently away from the drop zone.

Defoe is obviously our most important striker, scoring 11 goals so far, but I am also pleasently surprised about Anichibe, especially when teamed up with Defoe in the back-three formation. The two together upfront work quite nicely. Anichibe had quite a few goals.

 

[Jean-Luc]

I watched the Sunderland-Hull match yesterday.  Congratulations on the win for all the "real" Sunderland supporters here.

One of the really intriguing and very nice side effects of playing FM is that one suddenly takes interest in new teams. I actually like that aspect of the game. Had really fun to watch the match.

Also took a few mental notes for my FM save. Watmore, Denayer and McNair are all players I haven't used that much so far, and I will check if I can use them a bit more often. Especially Watmore was really convincing yesterday, and he does have some potential. Ndong seemed to play more in a DM role than in the BBM role I am using him.

When (or: if?) all my injured players come back, I'll definitely will have to get rid of a few players, maybe in the winter transfer window. But I am actually thinking of terminating some of the loans. We'll see...

[Jean-Luc]

One more game in, and Jermaine Defoe is dominating the league stats. 13 goals in 10 matches, surpassing Harry Kane and Agüero. I might have to check if I have to pay him extra for winning best goalscorer... Also best rated and most players of the match. Van Aanholt with second most assists (5).

It went so far as that the media is putting pressure on the national manager to call him up.

I just imagine the buzz and the media chatter, discussing if a 34 year old Defoe might be what England needs.

Here he is, scoring two goals in the Tees-Wear-Derby.

We also got to the quarter final of the League cup, beating Reading in the last round.

Things are starting to get serious there. Not sure we can beat Tottenham, but we'll try. Haven't looked too good against big teams...

[carlmiles1879]

Not been on this weekend but did go and watch the match at the weekend Anichebe was unreal, from what I have seen of him in the past he was a bog standard target man but not great at it. This season though he looks like he arm wrestles bears to relax. He was just bullying his way about the pitch and players trying to knock him off the ball were just bouncing off he is a beast and his second goal was a lovely bit of skill. Defoe's goal was a cracker too. Had a good chuckle just after half time when some electric problems caused our floodlights to go off turning the Stadium of Light very dark until pretty much everyone in the stadium put their torches on their phones on it was pretty funny and looked pretty cool. Pickford pulled off some cracking saves as well.

Still think Djilibodji is over rated in this game he looks like a decent player but I think what lets him down is his decision making. 89th minute 3-0 up and a hull player gets past him but the hull lad is now running towards another Sunderland player and heading towards the corner all Djilibodji had to do was keep on him till the other lad could close him down then its 2v1 in the corner with no other attackers in support. Instead all ready on a yellow he decides the best course of action is to go for the tackle from behind and completely miss the ball giving him a second yellow. I honestly think his only problem is he gets into a pressure situation and just freezes for a second then when he recovers he panics and has a flap. Like the Kane goal against us the ball dropped to Djilibodji in the box and all he had to do was lash it away but he seemed to just freeze for a second then by the time he thought to give it a hoof it had bounced too far away and he got nothing but air.

@Jean-Luc I would sell Billy Jones Asap he is another player we have who is very injury prone and at the start of my game once he was finally fit a surprising amount of clubs came in for him. Interestingly enough listening to the radio the other day there were a few people saying Defoe should make the England team he keeps on scoring in a team that don't create many chances and the talk might start to get a bit more serious. Watmore sadly doesn't quite have the potential in game to become a good premier league player and to be fair he has amazing speed and his work rate is second to none but he hasn't done too much yet but if he keeps it up this season he might get a bit of an increase in the Jan patch or next year. I would also look at loaning out McNair he's not great at the start but has potential and loaning him out will either get him ready for your team or someone will want him so win win. Denayer I tried to use often in my first season he is pretty much as good as Kone and Djilibodji but importantly is younger and has more potential. Its unlikely you will be able to get him in the second season and possibly not the third but if he enjoy's his time at Sunderland he might be more open to a move in future. I struggled with clean sheets in first season as well (looks like second is turning out a bit better) which is why I went for 3 at the back and 2 wing backs and adopted a good old fashioned you may score 3 but we will score 4 kind of attitude and with Defoe and Drogba upfront it worked out quite well. Second season I have tightened it up a bit at the back got my defence sitting deeper as they were getting hit by balls over the top a bit and got Gollini playing as a sweeper keeper which is working a treat. Babacar and Green are both scoring regularly and Green has been so good so far he is keeping Defoe out of the team but I tend to bring Defoe on towards the end of a match still as he can still score from no where.

[carlmiles1879]

Played a bit more today and not doing too well Defoe is out of form and Babacar and Green aren't doing too well at the moment either brought in Alberto Cerri in on loan but he has been poor so far Anichebe is his usual run through a brick wall self but not contributing too many goals. Changed it up so 3 at the back 2 wing backs to CM's and 3 strikers (Roberts not playing too well either and neither is Khazri.) The good news is our defence is still doing well and with 3 strikers and 2 marauding full backs (was concerned about space between midfield and strikers but Ward-Prowse as a B2B is everywhere) the WB's are putting the ball perfectly onto Babacar who is either shooting or playing in Defoe or Green and now we are scoring for fun again. Only problem is Defoe is injured and its bad cruciate ligaments 8-9 months he's 35 so he's talking about retiring don't know what will happen if he does he's my highest earner and has 18months on his contract so wage bill will drop but I am losing a great player (potentially losing anyway) unsure who to bring in now Borini is out on long term loan and I don't rate him as a striker anyway Asoro has great potential (just made Sweden squad at 18) but isn't there yet and is out on loan and can't be recalled for another 2 months and unsure weather bringing him back and putting him in the 1st team will boost his growth or hinder it.

Might have to start looking at the transfer market.

[Jean-Luc]

19 hours ago, carlmiles1879 said:

 

@Jean-Luc I would sell Billy Jones Asap he is another player we have who is very injury prone and at the start of my game once he was finally fit a surprising amount of clubs came in for him. Interestingly enough listening to the radio the other day there were a few people saying Defoe should make the England team he keeps on scoring in a team that don't create many chances and the talk might start to get a bit more serious. Watmore sadly doesn't quite have the potential in game to become a good premier league player and to be fair he has amazing speed and his work rate is second to none but he hasn't done too much yet but if he keeps it up this season he might get a bit of an increase in the Jan patch or next year. I would also look at loaning out McNair he's not great at the start but has potential and loaning him out will either get him ready for your team or someone will want him so win win. Denayer I tried to use often in my first season he is pretty much as good as Kone and Djilibodji but importantly is younger and has more potential. Its unlikely you will be able to get him in the second season and possibly not the third but if he enjoy's his time at Sunderland he might be more open to a move in future. I struggled with clean sheets in first season as well (looks like second is turning out a bit better) which is why I went for 3 at the back and 2 wing backs and adopted a good old fashioned you may score 3 but we will score 4 kind of attitude and with Defoe and Drogba upfront it worked out quite well. Second season I have tightened it up a bit at the back got my defence sitting deeper as they were getting hit by balls over the top a bit and got Gollini playing as a sweeper keeper which is working a treat. Babacar and Green are both scoring regularly and Green has been so good so far he is keeping Defoe out of the team but I tend to bring Defoe on towards the end of a match still as he can still score from no where.

To a certain extent all of this was exactly what I thought before I watched the match. I always do appreciate a bit of role playing factor, trying to keep the face of the team.

Billy Jones: I've played him 2-3 times now, and I feel he's more active than Manquillo is. Don't exactly know why, sometimes the mixture of attributes seems to let behave the players in FM more complex than their attributes look at face value. Of course, injury proneness is certainly a risk. But right now I feel I'd like to try developing one of my own players, instead of nurturing the loanee Manquillo.

Defoe: I have a feeling he will be called up in my save, if he continues to play like that. Again, looking at his attributes I wasn't even too much convinced of him at first glance. But now I can see that he is in may ways a very, very complete striker. I would love to use him maybe in a Bundesliga save and see what he can do there, but normally it's simply impossible to get players from England over to Germany, because their wages are simply too high. No mid table club could afford him.

Watmore: I must check again, but I think his PA rating wasn't too bad in my save. Maybe he has a dynamic PA? I normally love working with Youngsters and developing them, and as long as he doesn't blunder on his side, but can bring a certain refreshing element (pace and work rate), that's fine for me, if I still have a strong winger on the other side.

McNair: Yes, he's rather weak at the moment. And I just strengthened the CM role by bringing in Schwegler and Essien, so there's not a lot of room for him. Cattermole came to me and wanted "a new challenge" though, so maybe we get a bit of more space in the DM/CM position. But if I do get a bit of transfer money in the winter window, I will most probably look for a good CM upgrade, someone for hard working but creative role.

Denayer: I liked him in that DM/CM role I saw him against Hull, he was quite active in that position, but it seems that in FM, he does not know how to play that position at all. But he might become my third IV, especially as I have a formation with three at the back. Not too much convinced by O'Shea at the moment, he didn't look very solid. In fact, I am not very supportive of both my captain and my vice-captain, I must admit.

[Jean-Luc]

15 hours ago, carlmiles1879 said:

Played a bit more today and not doing too well Defoe is out of form and Babacar and Green aren't doing too well at the moment either brought in Alberto Cerri in on loan but he has been poor so far Anichebe is his usual run through a brick wall self but not contributing too many goals. Changed it up so 3 at the back 2 wing backs to CM's and 3 strikers (Roberts not playing too well either and neither is Khazri.) The good news is our defence is still doing well and with 3 strikers and 2 marauding full backs (was concerned about space between midfield and strikers but Ward-Prowse as a B2B is everywhere) the WB's are putting the ball perfectly onto Babacar who is either shooting or playing in Defoe or Green and now we are scoring for fun again. Only problem is Defoe is injured and its bad cruciate ligaments 8-9 months he's 35 so he's talking about retiring don't know what will happen if he does he's my highest earner and has 18months on his contract so wage bill will drop but I am losing a great player (potentially losing anyway) unsure who to bring in now Borini is out on long term loan and I don't rate him as a striker anyway Asoro has great potential (just made Sweden squad at 18) but isn't there yet and is out on loan and can't be recalled for another 2 months and unsure weather bringing him back and putting him in the 1st team will boost his growth or hinder it.

Might have to start looking at the transfer market.

If you find the time, you can post some screenshots of your new players. Some I know by name, but I don't know their attributes in FM. Might be interesting to get a picture.

Khazri works nice for me as a Shadow Striker. He has the pace to be in the right places to play the pass to Defoe, or run away from him to stretch the defence.

I tried to play Asoro a few times to give him playing experience, but he is very, very raw indeed. I was even wondering if I should retrain him into a winger with his pace and some other attributes matching that position (his crossing is a bit poor though). I normally find that giving young players the regular 20 minutes is better for them than loaning them out. Of course, you need to be in a position, where you actually can give them 20 minutes. And not desperately needing a goal, and throwing in your best strikers to get that. More often than not; I throw in Anichibe because he's really great in disrupting a tired defence with his physical presence.

If you look for a striker, you could cast a glance at Maximilian Philipp of "my" club SC Freiburg. He's a bit of an AMC/Striker hybrid, basically a False Nine, but a very young and very talented striker, and you could probably lure him away with enough money. Especially because Freiburg is always prone to going down anyway. He's different from the types of Defoe and Anichibe of course, but he might bring something of that Defoe-ness of alyways being in the right place at the right time.

 

[carlmiles1879]

5 minutes ago, Jean-Luc said:

If you find the time, you can post some screenshots of your new players. Some I know by name, but I don't know their attributes in FM. Might be interesting to get a picture.

Khazri works nice for me as a Shadow Striker. He has the pace to be in the right places to play the pass to Defoe, or run away from him to stretch the defence.

I tried to play Asoro a few times to give him playing experience, but he is very, very raw indeed. I was even wondering if I should retrain him into a winger with his pace and some other attributes matching that position (his crossing is a bit poor though). I normally find that giving young players the regular 20 minutes is better for them than loaning them out. Of course, you need to be in a position, where you actually can give them 20 minutes. And not desperately needing a goal, and throwing in your best strikers to get that. More often than not; I throw in Anichibe because he's really great in disrupting a tired defence with his physical presence.

If you look for a striker, you could cast a glance at Maximilian Philipp of "my" club SC Freiburg. He's a bit of an AMC/Striker hybrid, basically a False Nine, but a very young and very talented striker, and you could probably lure him away with enough money. Especially because Freiburg is always prone to going down anyway. He's different from the types of Defoe and Anichibe of course, but he might bring something of that Defoe-ness of alyways being in the right place at the right time.

 

I will have a look at him cheers, I will try and put some screen shots up tonight as well. Cattermole wanted to leave for a new challenge in my save too but nobody wants him even after he requested a transfer over lack of playing time not even slight interest. Khazri worked quite well as a shadow striker for me in the first season but brought in Babacar this season and play him as a complete forward and Khazri seemed to try and get into the same space as Babacar often but Babacar scores more and is allot better at holding up the ball so he tends to play the others in more or knock it out wide to a wingback who then cross it in and Green's pace on one side Bababcar's strength in the middle and Defoe's amazing timing at the other side was producing allot of goals. I am tempted to drop a striker and go back to having a CAM again with losing Defoe but we are playing so well at the moment and Ward-Prowse in CM is fantastic he gets back to help the defence and gets forward quick enough to usually lurk on the edge of the box like Khazri does and he hasn't scored yet because he seems to shoot very rarely but he has a brilliant eye for a pass so he has chipped in more assists than any but my wingbacks so far.

[berniciacraig]

Sunderland aren't half bad in the game. Rodwell is pretty decent. Though with the Africa cup of nations everything falls apart....

Anyone figured out how to use Anchibe in his real position? Playing him as a target man...he just flicks on the ball to nowhere and isn't very good.

Watmore is a running beast.

 

I sold kirchoff early. Southampton offered silly money for him.

In my first run of the game before my saved game corrupted for no reason losing me november-january, Cattermole decided he wanted to leave for no reason. Got a decent amount from Watford for him. Otherwise...ouch. Money shortages. Frantically loaning out u23 players to get some of their wages paid so I could sign a hot prospect for 50k. The game really should cover this sort of thing with asking for chairmen to buy players as one offs.

I cancelled the Januzaj and Denniar loans early. Januzaj is decent but not my a substantial amount enough to cover his wages and the lack of worth in developing him. Deniar isn't good.
Oh, I also managed to sell Mika for more than he is worth.
In my first play I was trying to get rid of Mannone too but in my second a injury crisis with Pickford and my second choice keeper (Jordi Masip) ruined that.

Signings...

Diego Poyet- Hey, he's free and looks good for the future. He has been on loan to the championship and doing well.

F Pogba- Thought he would replace Van Anholt but has been in rotation instead. Useful.

Fredrik Oldrup Jensen- I was only able to get him in January, but he is CHEAP and so far seems first team quality. Very good.

Kuki- Hasn't had much first team action, sent him on loan for the second half of the season. Though developing fast. Next year should break through.

Antonio Di Natlie - Elderly striker. Not worth it.  Not as good as Defoe or Anchibe. But I did sell him for 400,000 in January.

 Tomas Necid- I read this guy was a recommended signing but so far nothing special. Got himself injured in my second play too.

Kevin Constant- Free signing. Very good. Can play anywhere pretty much. 

Ronaldiniho- Free signing.  Not quite first team quality but a good last 15 minutes chance creator. 

Liam Henderson- Celtic midfielder. So far a decent backup, looks set to be starting first team quality soon.

 

[carlmiles1879]

1 hour ago, berniciacraig said:

Sunderland aren't half bad in the game. Rodwell is pretty decent. Though with the Africa cup of nations everything falls apart....

Anyone figured out how to use Anchibe in his real position? Playing him as a target man...he just flicks on the ball to nowhere and isn't very good.

Watmore is a running beast.

 

I sold kirchoff early. Southampton offered silly money for him.

In my first run of the game before my saved game corrupted for no reason losing me november-january, Cattermole decided he wanted to leave for no reason. Got a decent amount from Watford for him. Otherwise...ouch. Money shortages. Frantically loaning out u23 players to get some of their wages paid so I could sign a hot prospect for 50k. The game really should cover this sort of thing with asking for chairmen to buy players as one offs.

I cancelled the Januzaj and Denniar loans early. Januzaj is decent but not my a substantial amount enough to cover his wages and the lack of worth in developing him. Deniar isn't good.
Oh, I also managed to sell Mika for more than he is worth.
In my first play I was trying to get rid of Mannone too but in my second a injury crisis with Pickford and my second choice keeper (Jordi Masip) ruined that.

Signings...

Diego Poyet- Hey, he's free and looks good for the future. He has been on loan to the championship and doing well.

F Pogba- Thought he would replace Van Anholt but has been in rotation instead. Useful.

Fredrik Oldrup Jensen- I was only able to get him in January, but he is CHEAP and so far seems first team quality. Very good.

Kuki- Hasn't had much first team action, sent him on loan for the second half of the season. Though developing fast. Next year should break through.

Antonio Di Natlie - Elderly striker. Not worth it.  Not as good as Defoe or Anchibe. But I did sell him for 400,000 in January.

 Tomas Necid- I read this guy was a recommended signing but so far nothing special. Got himself injured in my second play too.

Kevin Constant- Free signing. Very good. Can play anywhere pretty much. 

Ronaldiniho- Free signing.  Not quite first team quality but a good last 15 minutes chance creator. 

Liam Henderson- Celtic midfielder. So far a decent backup, looks set to be starting first team quality soon.

 

Rodwell does start off decent but if he gets unlucky with injuries which is a high probability he can decline rapidly which he has done in my game (currently struggling to get a game for a championship U23 team on loan)

Are you playing Anichebe on his own or with Defoe? for me playing him as a TM(S) with Defoe next to him as an AF worked quite well Anichebe doesn't score regularly but he was assisting, I was instructing my players to play it into his feet his first touch isnt the best but in flickons your relying on the guy on the receiving end either winning the flickon via a header or running onto it and Defoe doesn't really have the pace or the height to do it regularly he relies on balls to his feet more often and with his strength Anichebe can hold the ball up for Defoe to find the space he needs. Because neither are going to win many sprints as well it also good if you have a few players arriving in support (long ball counter attacks can be effective but if Anichebe wins the ball but Defoe hasn't got the space Anichebe can lose it if no one is in support) so having wingers or wingbacks he can knock it out too or a CAM or similar he can lay it off to can help loads too.

I love Watmore IRL and think he can become a great player but in FM he is all running no end product sadly he will work his socks off for you and can make a massive difference as an impact player off the bench but not going to be your 1st choice in future.

ON the finances front sadly thats about accurate we have struggled with it lately (does make you wonder how we have premier league money, lowish wages for the league and consistently in the top 6 of highest crowds in the league yet each transfer window we get the same rumours of not having much money (hell heard today on the radio that the rumour is Short wont be giving Moyes any money in January)) but the chairman has always seemed reluctant to put his hand in his pocket to any great extent. Finances do get better in the second season if you do well but Short is always going to be a bit stingy with the money, the good news is you probably wont fail FFP but unless you get a tycoon takeover you will have to do with less money that most of your competitors.

Afcon is painful but thats why I kept all the loan players it limits your financial wiggle room but we have a small squad and we can get into trouble with injuries and Afcon.

[JR_Junior]

With his recent form in real life I'm starting to feel bad for not giving Anichebe more chances  

Asoro also scored this awesome goal for the u23 team against Benfica and I'm willing to give him more chances! He's having an average season at Hammarby, but he's getting first team football, so that's good.

Started the season with 1w 1d 3l in the league, victory against Liverpool in the EFL Cup and got a draw with Porto in Portugal. I hope to bounce back in the league, I want no business with relegation!

And Rodwell is already rated only 1,5 star here. 

[carlmiles1879]

10 minutes ago, JR_Junior said:

With his recent form in real life I'm starting to feel bad for not giving Anichebe more chances  

Asoro also scored this awesome goal for the u23 team against Benfica and I'm willing to give him more chances! He's having an average season at Hammarby, but he's getting first team football, so that's good.

Started the season with 1w 1d 3l in the league, victory against Liverpool in the EFL Cup and got a draw with Porto in Portugal. I hope to bounce back in the league, I want no business with relegation!

And Rodwell is already rated only 1,5 star here. 

Think the Rodwell rating is a bit weird first season he was 1,5 stars sent him out on loan to wolves his loan reports said 1.5 stars his loan finished and he came back (and I had strengthened my midfield so he dropped in what choice he would be and his attributes has dropped) and was 2.5 stars then sent him out on loan again and back down to 1.5 .

I wish Moyes would give Asoro a chance this season he gave him a few games in pre-season and he was great and he has been playing well for the U23's but its hard to justify dropping Defoe and he is too different to directly replace Anichebe but bringing him on as a sub in the last 15-20 minutes would be great he's incredibly fast.

My second season I am struggling in the league too, 12th in Novermber I think but going well in Europe and in the cups, got Dnirpro, Napoli and Steua something I struggle to spell in europa league and 4 games in its 4w 12 or so for and 1 against so already qualified for next stage and through to quarters of EFL cup got Brentford I think in the next round.