FM17 : AFC Bournemouth : Cherries on top!

[cezar.sl]

AFC Bournemouth in FM

Players

Goalkeepers

A couple of decent goalkeepers in Artur Boruc and Adam Federici, but they are both old and need replacing soon.
A realistic and solid target is Jefferson from Botafogo, who doubles as an excelent tutor for whatever young goalkeeper you decide to get.

Defenders

Bournemouth has a good first choice back 4, composed of Adam Smith, Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Charlie Daniels.
Behind then, the second choices are Marc Wilson, who starts off injured for 3-4 months, Nathan Ake, who is on loan from Chelsea, Corey Jordan, Tyrone Mings and Brad Smith.

A weakness here is that Francis is both first choice CB and backup RB. A new RB is needed, as Wilson is not that good.
Brad Smith has good potential and should be used as much as possible so he develops well.
Jordan is young and should not be counted on, but Mings can be retrained as CB to provide cover.

Midfielders

In midfield, we have a decent selection of players. Jordon Ibe, Jack Wilshere, on loan from Arsenal, Harry Arter and Max Gradel should be first choice.
Covering for them would be Junior Stanislas, Lewis Cook, Andrew Surman and Marc Pugh.
This leaves Dan Gosling, Emerson Hyndman and Ryan Fraser in and around the team.

Ibe, Cook and Hyndman have good potential and should be kept and developed.

Attackers

We have one very good striker in Callum Wilson. He should be kept at all cost. Goal machine.
To support him we have Benik Afobe, who is a fast and physical presence.
As backup we have Lewis Grabban, Lys Mouset and Joshua King.

Grabban and King are nothing special, but they do have good pace. They need replacing soon.
Mouset has good potential and should be developed.
Gosling can be retrained if needed.
Keep an eye for when Danny Ings becomes available, as you will need him as HG for when we qualify for Europe.

Tactics

The squad is best suited to a modern 4-4-2, with one traditional winger at MR and a "playmaker" at ML.
The ML can also be set to Wide Playmaker, but I prefer a Wide Midfielder with Dribble More and Cut inside.

[cezar.sl]

First Season Review

Competitions

Transfers In

Davide Calabria and David Costas were brought in the summer a cover and didn't feature much. They were sent back in January.
Gino Peruzzi is now first choice RB. Gianluca Lapadula rotates with Afobe, and will replace him. He's also an excellent tutor.
Joel Obi and Thiago Ilori are in as cover, to be sold later. Alan Patrick brings some quality on the wings.

Transfers Out

King was sold without ever playing a game. Stanislas' role in the club was made obsolete by retraining Wilshere and Hyndman to ML.
Surman played a few games, but I needed room to play Cook, who has a lot of potential. Fraser only made one sub appearance.

Squad

[cezar.sl]

Second Season Review

Competitions

Transfers In

Tiago Illori's loan was made permanent. 
Fernando Fonseca and Paul Lopez were brought in as cover, Lopez was bought later for ~9M. Fonseca I was not able to buy permanently.
Free players are a necesity at AFCB, but don't be fooled by the price. Leonardo Capezzi, Federico Ricci, Louis Schaub and Saido Berahino are quality players.
The defense was overhauled, with Maurico Lemos and Edoardo Goldaniga.
Some transfer listed players were bought cheap, Lucas Silva and Marco Van Ginkel, who is a good tutor.
Every club needs a star player, who can win games on his own. Marco Asensio is that player for us.
Jefferson was finally brought in January.
Marlet is a regen with great potential.

Transfers Out

Gradel and Cook were actually sold first season in January, but I negotiated so they stay for the rest of the season.

The rest was a clear-out of not needed players.
Silva was sent on loan as he wasn't performing.

Squad

[cezar.sl]

Player Development 
How players look in January 2019

Callum Wilson

Jordon Ibe
He might be held back by the fact that I retrained him to AMC and ST, which eats into his attributes.

Lewis Cook

Brad Smith

Emerson Hyndman

Lys Mouset

Corey Jordan

[TheJanitor]

Great team guide! The youngsters developed surprisingly well. What instructions did you use for your tactics?

[cezar.sl]

16 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

Great team guide! The youngsters developed surprisingly well. What instructions did you use for your tactics?

High Tempo and Run at Defense.

Depending on game maybe others.

[Lambo95]

I'm into 2022 with Bournemouth. Finished 10th, 10th, 12th, 7th, 4th and 2nd so far. Only Lewis Cook, Jordan Ibe, and Corey Jordan remain from the original squad, but all are important players. In my most recent season I lost in the CL final against Barca after battering them for 90 mins. I got very lucky with Andrija Zivkovic being transfer listed at the start of the 2nd season, he's been nothing short of sensational. I signed Moussa Dembele in the second season and he was excellent, but Swansea offered me £30m which is way more than he was worth. He's been replaced by an incredible regen who seems to be incredibly loyal, despite mega bids from other clubs (I rejected £88m up front for him) 

 

My current team is 

 

Gk: Eduardo(r)/Pickford

 

IWB: Calabria/Goemers(r)

BPD: Jordan/Gibson

CB: Jones/Josue

FB: Amavi/Goemers

 

DM: Tapia/Drinkwater

WM: Ibe/Malcolm

CM: Klaasen/Aouar

CM: Cook/Nicholas(r)

WM: Zivkovic/Jahara(r)

 

CF: Collet(r)/Eggestein

 

(r) denotes regen 

[Bigpapa42]

Finally got a save rolling with Bournemouth, though I honestly don't know how long I will stick with it. Just made it through the first few matches of the season so far. Only signed one first team player - a Brazilian CB from Rio Ave named Marcelo - and a few first day regens. Including a 16 year old English keeper from Blackburn who could be the future number one.

First match of the season was away to Leicester. I have been using a 4-1-4-1 Very Fluid high press system, based on Ozil-to-the-Arsenals work. The mentality and roles change quite a bit. I try to make frequent tweaks, but didn't do so against Leicester. So 5 minutes in, Drinkwater clips a 40 yard pass to an offside Vardy who scores. Ah crap. Late in the half, Gradel hits a free kick just on the edge of the area that takes the biggest deflection I've ever on FM - looked like it was heading for the top of the near corner, deflected off the wall into the top other corner of the goal. Vardy scores a second early in the second half and I finally made some tweaks. We get one back in the last 5 minutes to take a draw. Leicester are pretty potent on FM so not a bad result.

Second match was home to Arsenal. Decided to just use Instant Result because I figured on getting battered. Made some tactical tweaks but randomly decided to throw the 16 year old keeper in. Ended nil-nil. Xhaka got sent off at the half and my guys played quite well, though I guess a home draw against 10 men isn't the most admirable result usually.

I don't expect staying up will be THAT hard, but it would be nice to challenge for Europe in the first season.

[matsnor21]

Decided to start a new game with AFC Bournemouth. Had a fun game with them when FM 17 was realised, so hoping to get a long term save with them this time. Trying something new, and would play a 3-5-2 Formation (3-2-3-2). Wich means I'm going to sell some of the key wingers in the team. Just finished the first season, probably one of my best season on FM for a long time. 

Transfers:

Premier League:

What a season! Bournemouth have a lot of potential in the squad, and i was hoping to make European football, but winning the league was never in my mind. We overachieved and at the same time we were lucky. Some of the big teams had a very poor season. Afobe and Wilson was fantastic, scoring 25 goals each in the league.

EFL Cup:

Also had a fantastic run in the FA Cup, but lost the final 2-0 against Manchester United.

After the season i got the message below. Getting a new stadium and will be playing on Vicarage Road in the meantime. Im not english, but my geography isn't that bad, and Bournemouth is not that close to London.

[aj2k]

@matsnor21Congratulations on the first season title win.

What skin are you using?

[Welshace]

Vicarage road is actually the closest suitable stadium available that isn't a rival or unsuitable for purpose

[matsnor21]

4 hours ago, aj2k said:

@matsnor21Congratulations on the first season title win.

What skin are you using?

CFM Skin

[matsnor21]

4 hours ago, Welshace said:

Vicarage road is actually the closest suitable stadium available that isn't a rival or unsuitable for purpose

Thanks for the info 😊

[Bigpapa42]

Just finished the first season with Bournemouth. Won the title as well but no claims of it being a valid result - I had a rage quit or two, which resulted in me later having a few "retries" for the sake of tactical experimentation. Consistently did well against the bottom half of the table and was able to take down quite a number of bigger clubs so probably would have ended up in the Europa League spots, or every close to it. Ended up 2nd in possession, just behind Man City, despite not really targeting possession with the tactic. Callum Wilson broke the single season scoring mark for the Prem, which was rather ridiculous and unexpected.

Pretty much everyone performed well, but in addition to Wilson, Gradel, Ibe, and Francis were all standouts. I only signed Soler from Valencia and Marcelo from Rio Ave after selling King in the summer, plus a few first-day regens. One of those regens was a 16 year old English keeper from Blackburn who became my #1 after a bit and had a pretty outstanding season for a 17 year old. Lewis Cook really started to come on later in the season and is probably going to be one of my primary MCs as a CM-A in the 2nd season.

Got my 2nd season transfer budget by the end of April - almost 60m Euros, but not a massive wage budget bump. I already been scouting for options - probably more diligently than I normally do. Trying to be selective and find the "right" players, not just players who fit my need. So hard working, technical players with decent or better physicals and good personalities. Didn't hit on every point on every purchase so far, but not bad.  Arsenal was willing to sell Wilshire but wanted too much money for his injury-proneness. Hyndman is returning from Rangers was going to take over the important DLP spot, but I ended up also signing Oğuzhan Özyakup who looks pretty much ideal as a DLP with some all around skill. Hyndman will back him up. The other two notable signings before the window opened were just like @matsnor21  - Will Hughes and Ed Goldaniga. Wanted more depth of quality in midfield and defense, especially with European football. I forgot how grossly congested the Prem can be with fixtures sometimes, especially around the Christmas season, and my squad depth was really tested a times. Hughes is a player I've always wanted to sign and have never managed to. Goldaniga I bought in an earlier Bournemouth save, when Liverpool gave me 40m for Gradel at the start and I splurged. Other options looked too pricey or didn't want to come. My scouts said Palermo wouldn't sell, so I made an enquiry. Won't sell. Made a flat 15m offer. Refused it. A few days later, they say its accepted and allow me to negotiate a contract. Strange. Also brought in two veteran goalkeepers with strong personalities to tutor my young star - Paul Robinson first, then I found the Ottawa Fury keeper a Model Professional personality. I still had a big chunk of money left, but I had to give big new contracts to Gradel, Ibe, and Wilson. So my wages were way over budget and I adjusted so almost nothing left.

I won't go much further with the save. Might start into the new season to see how the side plays with the new additions. But having reloaded, I can't regard it as a long-term serious save. It turns it into a messing around, learning save. Its too bad - the young GK could become England's #1 and I snagged a interesting Swiss striker who is 6''5", great work rate and teamwork, and solid physicals. Not quite technical enough yet, but a Swiss version of Zlatan.

[Bigpapa42]

Also forgot to mention... after the season ended, I cheekily asked for a new stadium. Didn't expect the board to approve but they did. Only 20K, but Bournemouth isn't exactly a big city, so it makes sense. I think its a regular thing with Bournemouth but its the first time I can recall getting a new stadium underway in a save, at least in a long long time. Quite curious on what the name ends up being.

[nextqprmanager]

Bigpapa42, probably will be called `cheap as chips`, being only 20k !

[Welshace]

20k capacity..... that's fairly awful.

[Bigpapa42]

Ah yeah, wasn't clear that I was referring to capacity lol. 20K cost to build would be rather inexpensive. Think it said something like 60m which is still really inexpensive, but maybe that was just the cost for the planning phase.

I was hoping for bigger, Welshace, but its not a big city. The club reputation starts amongst the lowest in the Prem - accurately - but moved up quite a bit thru the season. I'm still only mid-Prem in reputation, but most other clubs at that level have 30K or bigger. So maybe its mostly down to city size. The info said it would be expandable to 30K capacity, which would still be pretty small by Prem standards.

Unfortunately, the tactical experimentation and replays means I don't really have any urge to keep going with the save. I may resign and sim forward a couple of years to see how the new stadiums plays out and whether the signings I made can have an impact, etc.

[Bigpapa42]

Any chance of that save continuing is now gone. I decided to see how things unfolded by simming forward, so I resigned and advanced a couple of years. I thought the auto-save wouldn't save over the original save but it did.

The new stadium is named Fletcher Park after Steve Fletcher. Final capacity is just over 20k. I would consider renaming it to the Cherry Pit if I was still managing them. Bournemouth has been comfortably midtable in the couple of seasons, but that's what the AI usually manages with them regardless. Some of the youngsters I signed are starting to really flourish, with several designated as Wonderkids. The English GK has a couple of senior NT caps and isn't too far from his PA already by the age of 20. The 6'5" Swiss striker has developed and looks like a monster - Zlatan with less flair, so basically not Zlatan lol.

Anyway, it was a fun save even if it only lasted a year. I'm going to be tempted to try again with them after the official data update comes out. Just have to do it more seriously this time so I don't lose interest in continuing.