[FM18] The Dynamics of telling you to shove your transfer request up y- a journeyman career

[noikeee]

11 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Wow, great job Noikee. I'm amazed you are doing all this with the Europa fixtures

Well up until now I was rotating my whole 11 in every Europa fixture. I'm conflicted now because the Europa games are becoming pretty important so I feel compelled to play the starters, but it obviously has its costs in the league where I don't have much margin for error neither.

4 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Derby winning in Europe? So it's not just Jeremy Corbyn taking the UK back to the 1970s then! 

The goal is to take Derby back to the 1970s yes.  

[noikeee]

March 2027

2 wins over Villa and West Ham, 1 away draw with Stoke, and the situation remains exactly the same as before: a 5 points gap over Man Utd and a Chelsea side that still has a game in hand (and on their form you'd expect them to win it). I'm starting to think the decisive matches will be in the 10th of April away to Man City and in the 25th of April away to Tottenham - that's by far the 2 toughest fixtures remaining in our calendar, and they may make the difference between the league title or not. Regardless of how that goes, it's exciting to think we're just 8 matches away from the end of the season and remain clear at the top. This could be a legendary season for Derby.

Another obstacle and/or another potential path to glory is our European distraction. I'm hoping we can get a couple of away goals in Guimarães to be safe for the return leg, because the return leg match is right before the big Tottenham-Derby clash in the league.

 

[noikeee]

 

Damnit, this front is over. Disappointing but Guimarães proved much more dangerous than anticipated - they have a few excellent players. We opened up a lead in both matches but lost it in both. Rotation of players was definitely a factor for us as with the league getting tighter (I will explain this later in the April update) and with some injuries, we were almost forced to do it.

[noikeee]

April 2027

This is it, the toughest month. To make it worse, a injury crisis to keepers means we have to pick third choice Alex Hall, nowhere near good enough for this level, all month long. We would also lose Erwin Spruit for a couple of matches with a injury in the Man City match. So how did we fare? Almost perfect! We ended up beating both Man City and Spurs away, the first in an epic 6-3 win and the latter in a more clinical but no less spectacular 3-2. We even smashed rivals Leeds 4-0 away. The only slip was a 0-0 at home to Leicester. Surely, after all this, we are still comfortably top?

Nope. Not even close. We drop to second place. We drew one match, but Chelsea didn't - they've been winning every single of their matches for a while now - they're on a run of 7 wins in a row, and 11 matches unbeaten (in the league). Worse, they're smashing all of the opposition and constantly improving their goal difference, which is what currently gives them the edge. Also, they were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals just like us, are out of the FA Cup just like us, so don't have fixture congestion to deal with.

This feels unfair, we've been almost perfect but it's still not been enough, and it's out of our control now. 3 matches to go. Can we still do this?

 

[noikeee]

Premier League - Round 36

 

As the Premier League season comes closer to the finale, let's do this on a match-by-match basis. Derby hosting Everton in a bid to try to overtake Chelsea temporarily if just for one day. Derby are favourites, surely? Even with both keepers still injured and 3rd choice Alex Hall still starting. Regular centre-back Costel Albu is out, too.

 

 

A big win, but in reality we'd struggled most match, and only started scoring all those goals that gave us peace of mind in the last few minutes once Everton decided to stop defending and go for it. The good thing is that these 4 goals help our goal difference.

Chelsea play the next day at home to Newcastle. Will they slip?

 

 

Not even close, it's an easy win. Everything remains the same in the Premier League, Chelsea ahead on goal difference (they've got loads more goals scored than us, too) with 2 matches to go.

[noikeee]

Premier League - Round 37 - penultimate day

It's Chelsea turn to play earlier this time, as they go away to Swansea.

 

Well after this there's just no way we're beating them on goal difference. They are just on absolute crazy form at the moment, and our only hope now is that they slip when they host Liverpool in the final day. Even if they do, we have to win our own matches. We play Newcastle away the next day. Can we do our part?

 

 

 

It was difficult but we did it. A dismal 1st half was overturned by an inspired side after the break. We can still be champions, but we're gonna need Chelsea to slip on the final day.

[Borussia Teeth]

Ooh this will be a tense conclusion to the season. Good luck!

[noikeee]

Premier League - Round 38 - final day

Welcome to the coverage of the final day of the 2026/2027 Premier League season. We will be following live the Derby-Swansea match, whilst receiving updates from Chelsea-Liverpool. As things stand, Chelsea are due to win the league on goal difference, but can the plucky Rams still surprise?

 

Derby on absolute maximum strength here. Swansea field our former player Ben Sheaf, it's nice to see him back.

 

 

 

Minute 26: well this is truly weird, all 10 matches in the Premier League at the moment are still 0-0, presumably everybody's tense with everything that's at stake. Derby-Swansea has had a few chances either way, but it's largely been dull to watch so far.

Minute 30: GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL! 0-1! Scenes as Chelsea are dropping the ball in Stamford Bridge! Dutch striker Thomas Buitink is the scorer.

 

 

Minute 38: GOAL FOR CHELSEA! 1-1! Well goddamnit. Liverpool's advantage only lasted 8 minutes. Mexican superstar Santiago Soto is the responsible.

 

Minute 40: GOAL FOR CHELSEA! 2-1! Oh balls. Scored by Rachid Kabbaj.

 

Minute 45: GOAL FOR CHELSEA! 3-1! Kabbaj again. We have no chance....

 

Half-time: With our match still 0-0 and specially with Chelsea looking comfortable, it seems our title chances are doomed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 58: GOAL FOR CHELSEA! 4-1! Another of their stars, English winger, wonderkid, World Cup winner Jason Treleavan. This is over really.

 

 

Minute 67: GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL! 4-2! Buitink again. A tiny glimpse of hope for us, but we're not even winning our game, Swansea are stiffling us perfectly.

 

 

 

Minute 72: GOAL FOR CHELSEA! 5-2! Soto. Nope, it really is over.

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 89: GOAL FOR DERBY! 1-0! Subbed-in forward Alex Ratnage crosses for Erwin Spruit to score, right at the very end of the match. It matters little, but at least we're not losing this championship without the knowledge we've done all we could, by winning our match.

 

 

 

 

Full time: Chelsea are the new Premier League champions. On goal difference.

[noikeee]

 

May 2027

 

 

 

We lose the title on goal difference. Despite winning all of our 3 matches.

This hurts. On one hand, it was a fantastic season, we did much better than I expected at the beginning. With the short squad we have, although we do have some cracking players like Spruit, Fratucello, etc, we shouldn't have been up there so close to the title. On the other hand, to lose it after commanding the league for so long...

But the feeling I get is that we did all we could. Chelsea were just freakish crazy consistent. Here's OUR results in the league, ever since we lost to Chelsea themselves in February:

10 wins and 2 draws in 12 matches. And we still got overtaken by them during this period! That is absolutely insane. Oh well, we'll have better luck next season.

 

 

 

 

[noikeee]

13 minutes ago, Borussia Teeth said:

Ooh this will be a tense conclusion to the season. Good luck!

Thanks but unfortunately I didn't get the conclusion I wanted.  

[Goofan]

Unfortunate end to a great season. Could you perhaps show Chelsea's last 20 games or so? Just for comparison. Otherwise a really good season although it ended in such dramatic way. Will you stay for another year or will you look for another challenge?

[Borussia Teeth]

3 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Thanks but unfortunately I didn't get the conclusion I wanted.  

Gutted

[noikeee]

5 minutes ago, Goofan said:

Unfortunate end to a great season. Could you perhaps show Chelsea's last 20 games or so? Just for comparison. Otherwise a really good season although it ended in such dramatic way. Will you stay for another year or will you look for another challenge?

This is how they turned their season:

 

And this is their crazy attack:

     

 

I'm waiting to see what happens regarding our FFP problem, do we have docked points for next season, but I'm inclined to stay even if we're given docked points.

[Rikulec]

For a moment I thought the same Thomas Buitink who I've just sold from my Wolfsburg side would become a hero on your save. That would be amazing, but still, congratulations on a great season.

[noikeee]

46 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

For a moment I thought the same Thomas Buitink who I've just sold from my Wolfsburg side would become a hero on your save. That would be amazing, but still, congratulations on a great season.

Well, he tried!!

Thanks.

[noikeee]

Derby - 2026/2027 - Season review

Derby come the closest to winning the Premier League since the 1970s - losing the title just on goal difference, after leading the table for a long time. It's also a relatively happy return to Europe, an Europa League run ending in the quarter-finals. The domestic cups were a little underwhelming again though, specially being knocked out of the FA Cup by Reading.

Statistics, best 11, and top 5 players of the season

 

5. Diego Fratucello (MR, AMR, ML) - A less thrilling season than the one before, but the Uruguayan winger was still influential, even if a couple of injuries took him out of the team for certain periods. 12 goals and 11 assists.

4. Warren Jenas (ST, AMR, AML) - The Derby youth product striker had finally his real major breakthrough season, becoming one of 3 forwards to break past the 20 goal mark. He would end up joint top scorer with 23 goals, and also got 8 assists. Most of his goals came in all competitions other than the Premier League though, in which I usually preferred to pick Erwin Spruit.

3. Alex Ratnage (ST, AML) - Back from the dead. After a subdued season last year, in which he dropped in the pecking order even behind Dan Dickinson, the striker we bought from Spurs for 20M€ a couple of seasons ago was hugely influential in our Premier League campaign. 21 goals and 11 assists.

2. Warre Maes (ML, AML) - A great first season for the club for the Belgian winger, who grew in influence as the season went on and won a definite place in the starting 11. A total of 13 goals and 18 assists.

1. Erwin Spruit (ST) - Still our top star, even if he had a very slow start to the season, and morphed into a creator/finisher instead of just a finisher. The stats say it all: 23 goals and equally important, an hugely impressive 24 assists.

Major youth prospects

Daniel Wright (19, ENG) (DM, MC) - Our short squad meant he ended up having quite a few first team matches whenever I started rotating the side. And he did well. He doesn't have much potential and isn't quite at the level I'd want for a side like us, but I feel he's a trustable backup option.

Danny Johnson YP24B (18, ENG) (MC, DM) - Just behind Wright in the pecking order for backups most of the season, but has got considerably more potential, is a much better playmaker, and is starting to become a pretty interesting player in his own right.

Connor Neale YP26A (17, ENG) (ST) - Starting to become a really exciting forward. I didn't give him any playing time yet, there's not been any opportunities recently with important match after important match, but I should give him his debut soon.

Career progress table

Season   League                  Cups                              Continental                    Other
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panserraikos (Greece)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17/18    League - 15th           Kupello Hellas - 1st round                                       Relegated, sacked 1 match to go
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naestved (Denmark)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18/19    2.Div - 3rd G2, 3rd PS  DBU Pokalen - 1st round                                          Lost promotion on goals scored
19/20    2.Div - 4th G2, 1st PS  DBU Pokalen - Quarter-finals                                     Champions, promoted
20/21    1.Division - 1st        DBU Pokalen - Semi-finals                                        Champions, promoted
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amkar (Russia)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21/22    Prem'er Liga - 7th      Kubok Rossii - 6th round
22/23    Prem'er Liga - 5th      Kubok Rossii - winners                                           Won the cup
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Derby (England)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23/24    Championship - 2nd      FA Cup 4th rnd, Lge Cup 3rd rnd                                  Promoted
24/25    Premier League - 9th    FA Cup 5th rnd, Lge Cup 3rd rnd   
25/26    Premier League - 6th    FA Cup 3rd rnd, Lge Cup 4th rnd
26/27    Premier League - 2nd    FA Cup 4th rnd, Lge Cup 4th rnd   EL quarter-finals

[noikeee]

Well, all that worrying and inaction in the transfer market for nothing:

Good news though.

[DazRTaylor]

You will win it next season, I have no doubts.

[noikeee]

Well, looks like we lost to the eventual champions...

Guimarães winning the Europa League, that is batshit crazy. 

[noikeee]

4 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

You will win it next season, I have no doubts.

Hope your crystal ball is correct. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

You've been ridiculously unlucky here. Absolutely robbed.

[noikeee]

European football - 2026/2027

UEFA Champions League

In the most entertaining final in recent years, Man Utd beat rivals Liverpool with 10 men, on extra-time, after both teams had missed penalties, and after overturning a Liverpool 3-1 lead. Mental! The dominance of the Premier League is obvious with 3 English teams on the semi-finals, and that's not including us and Chelsea who were both in the Europa League...

 

England

 

An epic battle between surprising Derby and a resurgent super-Chelsea goes Chelsea's way, thanks to their crazy lineup of forwards, including a Santiago Soto who scores 35 goals, and Ballon d'Or winger Ashley Kane getting 26 assists. The manager is Austrian Ralph Hasenhüttl, who had made his name winning the Bundesliga with Dortmund a couple of years ago. Beyond Derby the top 7 is largely as expected, with Arsenal returning to decent-ish levels at least.

Spain

 

The title swings back to Barça afer 2 years of Real Madrid dominance - it's Massimiliano Allegri's feat, as he joins the club after being sacked from Chelsea. Nothing of interest seems to happen here really, it's either Barça or Real every single year, I'd have expected some variety by now already.

France

 

Ligue 1 continues to emerge, now becoming the 3rd biggest league in reputation. Igor Shalimov's Monaco retain the title, as PSG fail to improve even after picking up Jorge Jesus to replace Guardiola.

Germany

 

A duel between Italian managers in rival teams - Simone Inzaghi's Dortmund beats Roberto Mancini's Schalke to the title. Bayern finish a lowly 5th again. The Bundesliga overtakes the Serie A in importance.

Italy

 

Serie A tanks in reputation, dropping from 3rd to 5th, which makes no sense as Juve were European champions last year. They retain the title in largely dominant fashion.

Portugal

An utterly dominant, undefeated Benfica retains the title, still under Mano Menezes. Shock Europa League winners Guimarães (?!) finish merely a midtable 9th. Feirense make it to Europe.

[kidthekid]

unfortunate ending but great season.

[deltablue]

Tough luck missing out, and going out to Guimaraes in Europe. However as you pointed out they seem to actually be pretty good.

[noikeee]

17 hours ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

You've been ridiculously unlucky here. Absolutely robbed.

 

10 hours ago, kidthekid said:

unfortunate ending but great season.

Thanks guys. I've got this huge target set on Chelsea for next season, I'm determined to get one over them...

 

5 hours ago, deltablue said:

Tough luck missing out, and going out to Guimaraes in Europe. However as you pointed out they seem to actually be pretty good.

They've got this guy, whom I obviously shortlisted. However there's not much else going on in their squad, and they finished 9th in the Portuguese league. I don't get it.

[BoxToBox]

Who's their manager? If he has an attacking style, their presumably lower rep would lead to most teams playing open against them and getting caught cold by that monster. With that fitness and stamina, he'd rarely need resting or substituting either.

[noikeee]

3 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Who's their manager? If he has an attacking style, their presumably lower rep would lead to most teams playing open against them and getting caught cold by that monster. With that fitness and stamina, he'd rarely need resting or substituting either.

Well he just got sacked.  Apparently winning the Europa League wasn't enough to compensate for a 9th place. But it was this guy:

[BoxToBox]

1 minute ago, noikeee said:

Well he just got sacked.  Apparently winning the Europa League wasn't enough to compensate for a 9th place. But it was this guy:

Jesus, in real life Guimares would probably build a statue of him.

[noikeee]

And if you look at his record he was super consistently good with them every season up to now - been there for years and always finishes 4th or 5th. Crazy stuff, the board are morons. 

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2027/2028

 

The main priority this pre-season was absolutely a new right-back, as I felt Demeaco Duhaney was no longer adequate for this level, and I had no real backup. So I sold him and brought in two new guys. Another key area was central midfield, I'm playing the 4-3-3 very often now (sorry, I've been playing it for over a season and still haven't showed it) and this needed at least one more midfielder. So I did what I had done for RB and bought 2 guys whilst selling Yangel Herrera. Finally, there was time to pick up a new exciting Brazilian forward, ditching US international Dan Dickinson who had fallen out of favour; and I hired a new 3rd keeper. In total, 59M€ invested in new players (remarkably all of them were pretty cheap, none even approaching the 20M€ tag), and 36,5M€ profit from sales.

The signings:

The first of the new midfielders, Liverpool was letting him go at a discount, thank you very much.

This Brazilian kid that comes from Milan is expected to be my new starting right-back, I'd have liked slightly better defensive skills, but I think he's an upgrade on Duhaney which is who we had.

The other new right-back, I'm not entirely convinced about him as of right now, but he came cheap and has serious potential to improve, so I think this is ultimately going to pay off.

He wanted to leave Barça and Barça let him go for just under 10M€, I think they're smoking crack, this is a fantastic player and is only going to get even better. I'm intending to pick him as the most defensive of the midfielder duo and train up his defensive skills such as positioning etc, but he can be a mean CB as well.

After the scare last year with keeper injuries in which I had to bring in 3rd keeper Alex Hall who was nowhere near our standards, I decided to invest in a new 3rd goalie. Irish international, pretty convincing, cheap wages, on a free transfer, can't go wrong with this one really.

Our final big transfer, can't go wrong with a Brazilian wonderkid for 15,25M€. I'm hoping he can be an upgrade on Alex Ratnage on the 2nd striker slot, in our 4-4-2 which we still use when playing at home. I'm a bit surprised I got a work permit for him though!

Long shot punt on a free for the future. Would need his speed trained up dramatically, but who knows.

 

Squad

Now this squad finally has the depth I want, it might even be a bit too much with too many players, but it's starting to look like a proper well rounded squad now. I think we'll soon enter a new stage in which any upgrades will have to be for giant fees, everyone's pretty good to some extent now.

We're getting the FFP warning for wages on the Premier League again, but after it came to nothing last year I think I'll ignore it now.

 

Fixtures

Won all the friendlies as usual, doesn't matter.

This seasons sees our debut in the Champions League. With the English sides dominating the CL for years now, and with us capable of fighting at the very top of the Premiership, AND with a squad now finally having some decent depth, there's no reason we can't fight even for the latter stages of the CL. But the focus surely is the league, after losing the title on goal difference I want to go the final mile and clinch that. Anyway I'd be happy with a trophy, ANY trophy, even the cups, we've been terrible in the cups year after year and a turnaround there would also be welcome. I just hope I don't get distracted with all 4 competitions, and end up compromising all of them trying to be in contention for everything.

[noikeee]

Also I hope having both Carlos César and Caio César doesn't get too confusing. 

[noikeee]

Missing team is Besiktas.

Considering the alternatives as every group looked daunting since we were in pot 4, this isn't too bad. We "only" need to overcome Benfica, and even Real whilst strong aren't unbeatable, as shown by the fact they've been struggling to make the CL semi-finals and typically fall in the round of 16 or the quarters to English teams.

[BoxToBox]

51 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Also I hope having both Carlos César and Caio César doesn't get too confusing. 

Have 'em switch positions.

[noikeee]

16 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Have 'em switch positions.

Does anyone actually ever use that option? Serious question.

Maybe to switch the wingers or something?

[BoxToBox]

17 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Does anyone actually ever use that option? Serious question.

Maybe to switch the wingers or something?

I've seen guys try it to cop past tactics, like the Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez trio(though this makes no sense to me, as the three interchanged, not two of them), but outside of that, never hear of anyone using it.

[noikeee]

August 2027
 

It's not a very inspired start. 2 unconvincing wins (but wins nonetheless), and then a defeat against Man Utd in which we looked useless until we woke up a little too late.
 

 

[noikeee]

Guess the score.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1-1, then penalties. Our only goal came not from the 8 clear cut chances and the 9 half chances but from a long shot. 

[noikeee]

September 2027

A bad month. We lost twice in the league, away to West Brom and Arsenal, and also kicked off our first presence in the modern version of the Champions League with a defeat in Madrid, although we didn't disgrace ourselves there. The worst was the Carabao Cup match against Hull, after that ridiculous 120 minutes of missing chance-after-chance, we had to rely on a 93rd minute long shot goal (!) by Ahn Chang-Ho to take us to extra time, and then we only scrapped past on penalties. Embarrassing against a Championship side, we nearly got knocked out by a lower league side on a cup for the 3rd consecutive year.

However we do end September on a good note after we get our first Champions League win, and in style, a 5-1 over Gent.

 

[john1]

Mixed feelings month   Still in a chance to nick 2nd place in your CL group.

[noikeee]

October 2027

A month for recovering in the Premier League saw us win 4 matches out of 4, and climb back up to 2nd. Unfortunately, despite this, we're already 7 points behind a Chelsea side that seems even stronger than last year.

The rest of the competitions isn't going great though. A narrow defeat in Lisbon puts us in a difficult place in the Champions League group, and we were unlucky to have to face Chelsea away this early in the League Cup. With little chance but to rotate players otherwise it'll be impossible to keep people fresh for more important fixtures, we still went one goal up, but Chelsea turned it around and our League Cup run is already over.

 

[noikeee]

21 hours ago, john1 said:

Mixed feelings month   Still in a chance to nick 2nd place in your CL group.

Yes, but it's looking more difficult now.

[noikeee]

9 men Aston Villa.

Their defender gave away a penalty and was sent off, and his team-mate protested and saw a 2nd yellow. 

[noikeee]

November 2027

All wins!! The league comeback continues, as we inflict Chelsea's first defeat of the season. Even then, they continue not to drop points anywhere else, and retain a 4 points advantage. It was also fun to smash 9-men Villa 6-0.

But the real highlight here is the Champions League, where two 3-0 home wins over Benfica and Real ressurrected our chances of going through. We're still 3rd but don't depend on anyone else - if we can beat Gent in Belgium in the final day, we will be through.

 

[Rikulec]

Spectacular month, exactly what was needed now.

[noikeee]

I can't tell whether this is epic or embarrassing (or both). Real was beating Benfica from very early on, so we knew a draw was enough for us against Gent. However soon we found ourselves losing 3-0 in Belgium!!! The match dragged on, and when a comeback seemed impossible, we got goals in minutes 85 and 89 to get the bloody 3-3 draw and qualify for the knockouts....

[noikeee]

17 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Spectacular month, exactly what was needed now.

Now, if only Chelsea lost points...

[noikeee]

Considering we were 2nd seeds, I'm happy with this draw - possibly only Krasnodar would've been "easier". Leverkusen would've been a nightmare a few seasons ago when they were dominating the Bundesliga, but Dortmund and Schalke have overtaken them recently. Also been a while since any German team really made a mark in the CL - we've not seen a German team in the final since 2013!!

They did win a group that had Barcelona, though.

[noikeee]

Oh **** off will you.

Spruit is already pissed off I won't let him go to Man City, and Maes that I won't let him go to Juve. This might be bad since Spruit is a team leader and usually my loyal soldier in convincing all of his team-mates that they're wrong to go against me.

[DavidBeckham]

Perfect November and a decent draw in the Champions League! Fantastic, keep going mate! 

[Borussia Teeth]

18 hours ago, noikeee said:

I can't tell whether this is epic or embarrassing (or both). Real was beating Benfica from very early on, so we knew a draw was enough for us against Gent. However soon we found ourselves losing 3-0 in Belgium!!! The match dragged on, and when a comeback seemed impossible, we got goals in minutes 85 and 89 to get the bloody 3-3 draw and qualify for the knockouts....

Jesus Christ...