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This Saint Gonna Be Easy: Ch. V - Endgame


Fer Fuchs Ake
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3 hours ago, noikeee said:

It's definitely a much stronger season, you've got a big gap over Everton and are effectively on a close fight with the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool. Think you can be pretty happy with that.

Cheers Noikeee.

We're certainly a lot better than last season and we're giving a much better showing of ourselves. I'm happy overall with how this season is going but it's frustrating because I feel we've regressed a bit recently. Still though, as you said:

3 hours ago, noikeee said:

you've got a big gap over Everton and are effectively on a close fight with the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool. Think you can be pretty happy with that.

I should probably look at the bigger picture which would be that we've certainly improved and we are performing well overall

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Guest El Payaso

This is still enjoyable. Really nice to see so called realistic save where you don't win the Premier league with mid-table club in season one or even season two. And this doesn't mean to be any offence towards your skills or anything. :) Nice writing generally and perfectly good length on your reports. 

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33 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

This is still enjoyable. Really nice to see so called realistic save where you don't win the Premier league with mid-table club in season one or even season two. And this doesn't mean to be any offence towards your skills or anything. :) Nice writing generally and perfectly good length on your reports. 

Cheers. These comments are great because I get to know whether or not people are enjoying this, whether I need to change anything etc.

It's certainly enjoyable for me as well as I haven't played as a mid-table side since my first ever save when I played as Swansea on FM16. No offence taken about how realistic this save is. I see what you mean and I agree. It would almost certainly take a new manager a couple of seasons at least to win the league with Southampton and that's probably how long it'll take me. 

As for my skills, well ... let's just say there's a reason I'm portraying Michael King as a slightly incompetent manager. :lol:

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IMG_20171219_221035147.thumb.jpg.c1d3675f880f34949e77019dc8d6c631.jpg

I sacked Matt Hale and hired Huddersfield's Huw Jennings after last year's disappointing intake annnnnnnnnnd...

We apparently have a generational talent. Oh boy.

 

Sorry for the dodgy screenshot. I took a normal screenshot but Gyazo was being a bitch and wouldn't let me share it so I had to take this on my phone and email it to myself.

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1 minute ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

IMG_20171219_221035147.thumb.jpg.c1d3675f880f34949e77019dc8d6c631.jpg

I sacked Matt Hale and hired Huddersfield's Huw Jennings after last year's disappointing intake annnnnnnnnnd...

We apparently have a generational talent. Oh boy.

 

Sorry for the dodgy screenshot. I took a normal screenshot but Gyazo was being a bitch and wouldn't let me share it so I had to take this on my phone and email it to myself.

I normally use Imgur :thup: I thought Matt Hale, looks decent. You could have looked at Birmingham City HOYD ;) 

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2 minutes ago, john1 said:

I do enjoy your writing up and reading it,  Fer Fuchs Ake :thup: Any good youth intakes?

Thanks John. As for the youth intakes, I'll have a report up soon. It's one of the best intakes I've ever had. Possibly the best.

 

 

 

 

 

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Youth Intake 2019:

Holy ****

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Luke Ryan:

He's not listed as the generational talent but Ryan looks like the real star of this intake. Those attributes would be quite good on an 18 or 19 year old but a 16 year old? He looks incredible. 5 star potential as well. The most noticeable attributes are 14 reflexes, 14 handling and 13 positioning. He'll need tutoring to up that determination though. He's the one I'm most excited for as he looks like he'll become one of the best of his generation.

Ryan.thumb.png.7b429936b48b6057d8db90a8fca86204.png

Nikki Fraser:

Fraser looks like a quality player in the making. We don't have any hot prospect strikers so to get a 3.5/4.5 star potential striker was brilliant news. He's only 15 so he's got a lot of room to grow as a player as well. 14 first touch and 14 finishing at his age are very encouraging. His physicals are the main draw with the exception of his strength. And between Vietto, Dolberg and Babacar to tutor him, Fraser can learn from some great players.

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Tom Askey:

The generational talent himself. Tom Askey is a player who my HOYD has very high hopes for and so do I. He'll need tutoring to up that determination but I've sorted that out by getting Goretzka to tutor him. At 15 years old. the fact that he has 13 passing and 14 vision excites me a lot. I am retraining him as an advanced playmaker to make the most out of his high passing and vision. I'm sure that we'll be able to get that first touch up to something fairly good given he's only 15 but we'll need to work on increasing his composure. He's got decent physicals as well. He certainly looks promising.

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Mathis Renuad:

We immediately reap some rewards from an affiliation we set up with FC Sochaux-Montbéliard a few months ago. He looks like a talented defender with his physicals being the main attraction. He'll definitely need tutoring for that determination but we have Wallace sorting that out. His technicals are pretty decent as well albeit not outstanding. He too is 15 and has a lot of room to improve. His 13 acceleration, 11 tackling and 16 bravery are his best attributes. He won't become top class but he looks like he could grow into a solid Premier League defender. 

Renaud.thumb.png.5acaa099210a91728071913e193204e4.png

 

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39 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

Quality intake, Ryan and Askey will be great for you until they inevitably get shipped off to Liverpool...
:rolleyes:

:lol:

Given the amount of players that whine about wanting to join Newcastle, I'd say we'll end up selling to them first.

11 minutes ago, john1 said:

Not bad youth intakes :cool: Luke Ryan, looks decent but shame his determination is 10. :( 

Not bad at all. I've got Pau Lopez (18 determination) tutoring Ryan so hopefully that can be sorted soon. 

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11 hours ago, mark1985 said:

Ryan and Askey look quality! Hope the tutoring pays off as well

They certainly do. Fraser as well, he is now being rated as 5 star potential by Jennings. If the tutoring pays off that would be great because Ryan's determination is literally the only complaint I have about him.

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March Update:

Not great.

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Chelsea (H):

We started off this month with a slightly disappointing albeit expected loss at home to Chelsea. We set out to hit them on the break and ... we failed. They got a fairly easy victory though it wasn't a humiliation so it's not awful. They were in first place going into this one as well. Ngolo scored their first Ngoalo after 37 minutes to sent us into half time a goal down. Alvaro Morata got their second on 54'. We never really got going in this match and ended up creating very little. We went more attacking after going 2 down but they were content to sit back and claim a 2-0 victory. Poor but not terrible.

Swansea (A): G. Dusan Tadic, Kasper Dolberg   A. Luciano Vietto (H)

Simply not good enough. They came into this in mid-table so we should've been able to bury them relatively easily. We took the lead very early when Dusan Tadic struck from close range after a Vietto cross. We also threw it away early when Pau Lopez scored an own goal when he fumbled a header over the line on 8'. Forster wouldn't have done that... We restored the lead on the 25th minute when Dolberg slotted home from a Vietto through ball. We created some more chances after that but couldn't take any of them, squandering multiple opportunities to go out of sight. We threw it away when Charly Musonda restored parity after 81 minutes. Really gutting. We should have been getting three points here.

Arsenal (H): G. Khouma Babacar  A. Cedric

Pretty much the same as the Chelsea match. Poor performance, slightly disappointing loss but one that was to be expected. And we kept it some bit respectable.Arsenal were in third heading into this one and were in good form. Ozil netted their first on 31' before Lacazette made it two barely a minute later on 32'. I feared things would get ugly but we got back into the game a bit more and were fairly even with them up until 81' when Babacar gave us some hope after he poked home from a Cedric cross. Cedric then crushed that hope just 2 minutes later when he scored an OG on 83', tapping a Lacazette cross past Lopez.

Newcastle (A):

Zzzzzzzz. There wasn't even a booking. They've a good squad but they were 17th at the time of this match and I felt certain of a win. Instead, a very even match ended in a fair if not disappointing draw. Hoedt faced his old club. That was probably the most exciting thing in this match.

Key Points:

  • Lopez is a mediocre Forster replacement. He's averaging a 6.8 since taking his spot. He's not done particularly well but nor has he done particularly badly either.
  • We're in pretty poor form. :(
  • We're not defending nearly as well as we were before Christmas. :(:(
  • Babacar ended his goal drought. :)
  • Dolberg is in pretty good form as well which is nice.
  • Overall, we've been poor the past month or two and we need to improve. Fast.
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7 minutes ago, Ellandroadhero said:

Amazing intake! Shame about the current form, but you can turn that around! Losing the first choice keeper is never good! 

It certainly was! I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I saw the attributes of Ryan, Fraser and Askey. Losing the first choice keeper is bad. Losing the first choice keeper which coincides with Tarkowski's drop in form is even worse. Still though, we'll march on and try to make the best of it.

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April Update:

Getting back to form a little bit.

April.thumb.png.d64424be3bdee4d2f8019ecca21b5962.png

Leicester (H): G. Luciano Vietto, Khouma Babacar   A. Khouma Babacar, Dusan Tadic

Leicester were just above us in 7th heading into this one and were in fairly good form so I didn't think we'd get anything out of it given our dodgy form. And for the first half that prediction looked accurate as it took Leicester just 5 minutes to take the lead with Vardy getting the opener. It was shocking defending, he was completely unmarked despite me telling Wallace to man-mark him. Their second goal came on 42' when Vardy knocked one in from a cross yet again, only this time it was Adam Smith's cross (Townsend got the first assist). We looked dead and buried but we came back fighting in the second half. Babacar, playing in place of the injured Kasper Dolberg, played Vietto in on goal and he coolly took his chance on 50'. Just six minutes later we'd equalise when Tadic sent a low cross to assister-turned-goalscorer Khouma Babacar to fire home the equaliser. The rest of the game was controlled by us but we couldn't find a way through. I'll take a draw though.

Man Utd (A): G. Dusan Tadic, Mario Lemina, Khouma Babacar, Mario Lemina, Dusan Tadic, James Ward-Prowse

Well, well, well. I certainly didn't see this one coming. I spent the entire press conference chatting **** about Mourinho because he dissed me in his press conference. It seemed to get to him too as we rode out as unlikely winners. Paul Pogba opened the scoring when he fired home from 20 yards on 24'. It stayed like that for the rest of the first half too. It really kicked off in the second half though. Tadic leveled the scores when he hit one in on 63' from a short pass by Lemina. United wasted no time in regaining the lead when Martial would get his goal on 67'. We fought back though and got our reward on 80' when Lemina scored a beauty from the edge of the box from a Tadic pass from a corner. We then went through on goal on 82' when JWP found himself baring down on De Gea with Babacar beside him. As we so often do in those situations, I expected him to just shoot tamely into the side netting but, to my surprise and delight, he squared it. Babacar tapped it in and we parked the **** out of that bus until full time.

Everton (H): G. Oriol Romeu, Kasper Dolberg, Khouma Babacar   A. Dusan Tadic (2), Kasper Dolberg

Well, this was a very convincing display. We took the lead very early on when Romeu scored from the edge of the box from a Tadic corner. It was a peach of a goal and it got him third in Goal of The Month. Kasper Dolberg then made it 2 after 24 minutes when Tadic slid in a through ball. Everton were looking all at sea at the back and seemed to be out of the game. They got themselves back into the game when Sigurdsson side-footed in an effort from close range on 52'. It made me a bit nervous as we've bottled leads before from that position. Thankfully, we killed the game off on 62' when Babacar slotted home from a Dolberg pass. Very pleasing from us here.

Bournemouth (A): G. James Tarkowski, Jack Stephens   A. Dusan Tadic

There I was thinking that we'd be able to carry our good form into this match against our struggling rivals and avenge that loss we suffered to them at home. How very wrong I was. Maximilian Philipp scored their first after just four minutes from a few yards out. We got a chance to equalise on 10' when Babacar got a penalty and a chance for us to level. Annnnnd the ****er missed it. That was an omen for how both his game (he got a 4.6) and our game overall would go. Benik Afobe made it two on 26'. Jay Rodriguez would go onto hit a brace against his old employers, notching his first on 51' and then another on 62'. We were 4-0 down! We'd had to go more attacking after Afobe's goal and they'd just sat back and hit us hard on the counter. We restored a scrap of dignity on 69' when Tarkowski scored from a poorly cleared free kick. Then, on 90+3', Stephens headed one home form a Tadic corner. So we lost by 2 to our rivals, didn't score from open play and relied on our centre backs for goals. Awful and embarrassing.

 

Key Points:

  • I forgot to screenshot the league table. I'll show it at the end of the season.
  • IIRC we're within 3 points of Man Utd and Leicester, in 6th and 7th respectively.
  • They'll play each other in the next month so we have a decent chance at Europa League.
  • Should we finish 7th and Leicester 8th, we'll be relying on Utd to beat Swansea in the FA Cup final. Should Utd finish 8th, then we've no hope of Europa League unless we finish 6th.
  • Dolberg is in good form.
  • Tadic has been incredible.
  • Babacar is very inconsistent. I suppose he epitomises the club.
  • Vietto got very pissed off about our lack of silverware and now sees me as an adversary. But he hasn't requested a transfer and that's what matters.
  • Ignoring the Bournemouth result, I think we're hitting form at the right time. :)
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25 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

April Update:

Getting back to form a little bit.

April.thumb.png.d64424be3bdee4d2f8019ecca21b5962.png

Leicester (H): G. Luciano Vietto, Khouma Babacar   A. Khouma Babacar, Dusan Tadic

Leicester were just above us in 7th heading into this one and were in fairly good form so I didn't think we'd get anything out of it given our dodgy form. And for the first half that prediction looked accurate as it took Leicester just 5 minutes to take the lead with Vardy getting the opener. It was shocking defending, he was completely unmarked despite me telling Wallace to man-mark him. Their second goal came on 42' when Vardy knocked one in from a cross yet again, only this time it was Adam Smith's cross (Townsend got the first assist). We looked dead and buried but we came back fighting in the second half. Babacar, playing in place of the injured Kasper Dolberg, played Vietto in on goal and he coolly took his chance on 50'. Just six minutes later we'd equalise when Tadic sent a low cross to assister-turned-goalscorer Khouma Babacar to fire home the equaliser. The rest of the game was controlled by us but we couldn't find a way through. I'll take a draw though.

Man Utd (A): G. Dusan Tadic, Mario Lemina, Khouma Babacar, Mario Lemina, Dusan Tadic, James Ward-Prowse

Well, well, well. I certainly didn't see this one coming. I spent the entire press conference chatting **** about Mourinho because he dissed me in his press conference. It seemed to get to him too as we rode out as unlikely winners. Paul Pogba opened the scoring when he fired home from 20 yards on 24'. It stayed like that for the rest of the first half too. It really kicked off in the second half though. Tadic leveled the scores when he hit one in on 63' from a short pass by Lemina. United wasted no time in regaining the lead when Martial would get his goal on 67'. We fought back though and got our reward on 80' when Lemina scored a beauty from the edge of the box from a Tadic pass from a corner. We then went through on goal on 82' when JWP found himself baring down on De Gea with Babacar beside him. As we so often do in those situations, I expected him to just shoot tamely into the side netting but, to my surprise and delight, he squared it. Babacar tapped it in and we parked the **** out of that bus until full time.

Everton (H): G. Oriol Romeu, Kasper Dolberg, Khouma Babacar   A. Dusan Tadic (2), Kasper Dolberg

Well, this was a very convincing display. We took the lead very early on when Romeu scored from the edge of the box from a Tadic corner. It was a peach of a goal and it got him third in Goal of The Month. Kasper Dolberg then made it 2 after 24 minutes when Tadic slid in a through ball. Everton were looking all at sea at the back and seemed to be out of the game. They got themselves back into the game when Sigurdsson side-footed in an effort from close range on 52'. It made me a bit nervous as we've bottled leads before from that position. Thankfully, we killed the game off on 62' when Babacar slotted home from a Dolberg pass. Very pleasing from us here.

Bournemouth (A): G. James Tarkowski, Jack Stephens   A. Dusan Tadic

There I was thinking that we'd be able to carry our good form into this match against our struggling rivals and avenge that loss we suffered to them at home. How very wrong I was. Maximilian Philipp scored their first after just four minutes from a few yards out. We got a chance to equalise on 10' when Babacar got a penalty and a chance for us to level. Annnnnd the ****er missed it. That was an omen for how both his game (he got a 4.6) and our game overall would go. Benik Afobe made it two on 26'. Jay Rodriguez would go onto hit a brace against his old employers, notching his first on 51' and then another on 62'. We were 4-0 down! We'd had to go more attacking after Afobe's goal and they'd just sat back and hit us hard on the counter. We restored a scrap of dignity on 69' when Tarkowski scored from a poorly cleared free kick. Then, on 90+3', Stephens headed one home form a Tadic corner. So we lost by 2 to our rivals, didn't score from open play and relied on our centre backs for goals. Awful and embarrassing.

 

Key Points:

  • I forgot to screenshot the league table. I'll show it at the end of the season.
  • IIRC we're within 3 points of Man Utd and Leicester, in 6th and 7th respectively.
  • They'll play each other in the next month so we have a decent chance at Europa League.
  • Should we finish 7th and Leicester 8th, we'll be relying on Utd to beat Swansea in the FA Cup final. Should Utd finish 8th, then we've no hope of Europa League unless we finish 6th.
  • Dolberg is in good form.
  • Tadic has been incredible.
  • Babacar is very inconsistent. I suppose he epitomises the club.
  • Vietto got very pissed off about our lack of silverware and now sees me as an adversary. But he hasn't requested a transfer and that's what matters.
  • Ignoring the Bournemouth result, I think we're hitting form at the right time. :)

Decent month bar Bournemouth defeat, hopefully you can catch Man Utd/Leicester!

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May Update:

May.thumb.png.bb51f5931ed01601669a998fa912cc62.png

Norwich (H): G. Kasper Dolberg, Khouma Babacar, Mario Lemina   A. Khouma Babacar, Mario Lemina, Khouma Babacar

We were able to bounce back convincingly from the Bournemouth result with a 3-1 victory vs Norwich. It was a performance reminiscent of our form in the early stages of the season. Kasper Dolberg got our first on 19' after a lovely through ball from Goretzka. This didn't change until the second half when Khouma Babacar, who replaced the injured Kasper Dolberg, knocked in a second on 52' when Lemina sent him through on goal. They pulled one back against the run of play on 70' when Steve Mounie nodded home from point-blank. We wrapped up the win on 90+3' when Lemina buried one from about 15 yards after a Babacar pass. Quite a good win here.

Stoke (A): G. Mario Lemina   A. Luciano Vietto

Well, this was gutting. This was a game we needed to win to stand a decent chance of Europa League football and we threw it away. We controlled the early stages and eventually made the pressure tell in the 40th minute. Mario Lemina scored a powerful attempt from just inside the box after a short pass from Vietto. A nice finish and an important goal. We continued to push and push but to no avail. Then, with just a minute to play, Shaqiri burst down the byline and crossed for Bojan to head home from a few yards out on 90+2'. This meant that we went into the game against West Brom needing United to win against Leicester and us to win our match. You can see that worked out...

West Brom (H): G. Jon Flanagan OG   A. None

Well, we sure ****ed this one up. Salamon Rondon dented our hopes after just five minutes when he slotted home from a Juanpi cross. They sat back as soon as they got the goal and we threw the kitchen sink at them. We pressed and pressed and got **** for our efforts. Then, on 88', Jon Flanagan won the ball back from Vietto and passed back to Foster. Routine, right? Wrong. Foster let it run under his foot and we were level. But level wasn't enough and we fail to qualify for Europe. The one consolation was that Leicester and United drew so our result was completely inconsequential.

Key Points (Season):

  • Pau Lopez has proven himself to be a capable replacement for Forster which is encouraging. Forster, by the way, returned for the last match against West Brom.
  • We were way better this season but just couldn't make that final push for Europe.
  • We hit a dodgy patch in January and February which cost us big.
  • Perhaps aiming for Europe within two seasons was a bit optimistic but it's good to aim high.
  • Vietto and Dolberg need to kept as does Goretzka.
  • Goretzka was my signing of the season IMO. He was very consistent and got a decent few assists and goal. He really kept things ticking over for us.
  • Tarkowski was great for the first half of the season and **** for the second. Wallace was rock solid throughout.
  • JWP was poor after returning from injury. Unfortunately for him, his poor form coincided with Lemina's great form and he lost his place since April.
  • Babacar was inconsistent as all hell but he certainly showed promise. He'll most likely be an impact sub unless an injury occurs.
  • Bertrand and Cedric (the latter in particular) got a lot of bookings this season. We'll have to watch out for that next season.
  • We finished two places higher than last season and earned 15 more points. We suffered 6 fewer losses. Encouraging stuff overall. :)

5a3ecf4e1a265_FinalTable.thumb.png.f125164894070c500fcff1e13dc49486.png

 

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Miscellaneous:

Budget:

Budgets.thumb.png.e19aacfd0a11de0c71224aa93d2e91a3.png

Lovely stuff. We don't need any major surgery so I'm not sure what we'll do with it. Hunt some wonderkids perhaps and strengthen one or two areas like CAM. Speaking of that position...

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Yeah, we definitely need to strengthen there.

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Fraser Forster deservedly wins the POTS award with no surprises in the TOTS.  Pau Lopez wins signing of the season, an award I'd have given to Leon Goretzka. To be fair to Pau, he had big boots to fill when Forster was injured and he did a solid job. JWP is YPOTS which I think is an award Dolberg should've won. I like JWP though so it's nice to see him get it.

Meanwhile in France...

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Monaco have had an Invincibles season!

Madrid, Juventus and Bayern won their respective leagues with Madrid losing just once.

Edited by Fer Fuchs Ake
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19 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

CL.thumb.png.3b57e15c8c3368044c929d77f5d43c24.png

Madrid pipped Atletico to the La Liga title and now they've beaten them in the Champions League final. Atletico Madrid seem to epitomise the Nearly Men clubs that @ManUtd1 is trying to redeem.

In 2078, Atletico still hasn't redeemed themselves and was even relegated at one point!

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That's a very solid season, with some encouraging progress made on many fronts. I think next season with that transfer budget you can get the players you need to keep rising up the table. I definitely wasn't wrong in saying Europe was a realistic target before this season, you were so close! If only they still had the fair play spots...

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8 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

That's a very solid season, with some encouraging progress made on many fronts. I think next season with that transfer budget you can get the players you need to keep rising up the table. I definitely wasn't wrong in saying Europe was a realistic target before this season, you were so close! If only they still had the fair play spots...

Cheers mate.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this season as are the board thankfully. Our consistency was very encouraging other than that rough patch we hit in February and March. Turn some of those draws into wins and we'll be set. 

As for the transfer budget, I'm very happy with it. We have good squad depth so I'll probably be able to make two or three big name signings. The main challenge will be to improve on 8th place next season. To have any chance at Europe, you need to finish in the top 7 and, realistically, the top 6 will be made up of the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool. Which leaves just one gap for anyone else. We'll have to be at our best but I have faith.

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Well, it had been a good season. Michael was happy with how it had gone. He had pleased both the board and fans alike. He was a bit disappointed about the fact that they hadn't qualified for Europe. Imagine Bojan and Rondon being the reasons you didn't get into the Europa League. The ignominy! He was currently in his kitchen, at his computer researching what he could do for team bonding activities during the summer. It wouldn't be the cinema, that's for sure. He had tried that earlier in the season and it hadn't gone so well. They had lost a lot of points from winning positions so maybe it would be something that would help to improve their concentration. Maybe he'd get them do a knitting class. It would get some eye rolls but it would help their concentration. And it would be ****ing funny to watch them do it. Michael knew he'd have a busy summer ahead of him. He had a transfer window to deal with. He had to significantly improve the squad which was a challenge for any manager. Even harder again, he had to ward off the vultures surrounding Goretzka and Dolberg and tempting them with promises of high wages. 

But there was a much harder task than all of them that he would have to do all summer. Trying to convince himself that they weren't ready for Europa League and that not qualifying was really a blessing in disguise. It was only three days after the season had ended and he was already failing that task...

__________________________________________

I probably won't get much time to play FM/update the thread over the next few days what with it being Christmas and all. So if there's a lack of posts from me, I haven't lost interest and this thread hasn't died, I'm just probably busy. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

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3 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Wait, Real won 4 consecutive Champions Leagues? What the ... ?

Yup and they were one loss against Valencia away from and Invincibles season this year. Barca are very much playing second fiddle so far in this save. Third fiddle in fact, as Atletico came second.

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Trustfull.thumb.png.63e5fb7576d01b03f63d7ee0b3676925.png

:(

I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen. As for his arrival being welcomed by Crappiadini, that's not gonna happen for long. Gabbiadini became a Hornet in the summer. Rainer Widmayer comes in for free to be our new Ass Man.

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Edited by Fer Fuchs Ake
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Summer Transfer Window Update:

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Outs:

Nothing too surprising in the outs. We sold Yoshida as his average ratings were poor and he was on high enough wages for his role in the squad. We turned down a £60m bid for Dolberg from Monaco as there were no good replacements willing to join. We then gave Dolberg a new contract as well as Dusan Tadic and Mario Lemina. We also turned down a £30m bid for Wallace from Napoli as he's very important to the squad and part of that bid was in installments. Dabo has been sold as well as we'll look to give Yan Valery some game time and help the 20 year old reach that high potential of his.

Current Ins: (I'm specifying 'current' because we made some transfers which won't take effect immediately.)

Maximilian Meyer:

The marquee signing of the summer, Meyer comes in from Schalke as someone who'll probably start ahead of Tadic. It gives us some badly needed depth in that CAM role which is great. He's very close with Goretzka so I'm hoping that that will show on the pitch. By the way, we promised Goretzka that we'd win silverware this year when we signed him. Gulp. He comes in for £22m and is only 23 so he has a lot of years left in him. He's got some great technicals and he is also adept on either foot so he'll be a very tricky player to come up against. His determination and strength are the only complaints I'd have about him.

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Tiémoué Bakayoko:

He was transfer-listed at Chelsea and so Bakayoko joins us for £15.5m which is a little below is market value. He's a jack of all trades but a master of none which is ideal for the box-to-box role he'll be playing for us. I'm looking forward to seeing him partner Goretzka/JWP in central midfield. He's got no particular flaws so I'm hoping that he'll be a very solid midfielder for us. He's young too so we'll get a while out of him.

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Nicolas Nkoulou:

Maya Yoshida's replacement, Nkoulou joins for the low price of just £5.25m. He's nothing outstanding but he'll provide some good squad depth for us. He'll play the two cup competitions mostly. He's quite solid for a backup though so I'm happy to get him in. He's very well-rounded and can play as a ball-playing defender just as competently as a regular defender which is brilliant. We won't get long out of him though.

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Toni Martinez:

Tarashaj got sold so we had to go for someone else. :lol: Martinez comes in purely for squad depth and won't be seeing much first team football. He'll probably play the cup competitions I suppose. He's not great but as I said, he's just here for squad depth. He won't be a player you'll see mentioned much in the monthly updates. Just a poor man's Shani Tarashaj...

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Future Transfers:

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Andres Alzate:

Bought to be sold. He doesn't have a work permit so he'll be loaned out upon arrival. He looks like a very bright talent so hopefully we can turn a decent profit on him when he comes of age. He's got some solid attributes for his age so I'm confident that he'll grow to be a fine player.

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Manuel Dominguez:

We intend to keep this lad and I think he'll grow to be an important player for the club. We paid a pretty penny for sure but I believe that he'll make that look like a bargain in years to come. Like Alzate, he'll need to be loaned out as he didn't secure a work permit. His passing and vision are great for his age as well as his first touch. And then there's that work rate and determination. Incredible. I'm really excited for this lad. Lovely name too.

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Diego Perez:

Like Alzate, we signed him to sell him. We don't use wingers but he looks like he'll become a great one. He comes in for just 400k and I think we'll be able to sell him for much, much more than when he comes of age. He too didn't get a work permit so we'll have to loan him out when we sign him. Not a bad thing really as it allows him to get first team football.

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Moise Kean:

He won't join for a year as we signed him after Juve loaned him to Roma. I can't really believe they let him go so cheaply to be honest. Kean looks incredibly well-rounded and will join on a 3 year deal next season. They're not strapped for cash either as they sold Dybala to Chelsea for £162m this season. Kean is listed as a wonderkid as well which really excites me. He'll get great experience at Roma as well for a season before he join us.

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Cléberson:

He is actually a bit of a Vogel. Sorry for the screenshot by the way, my Gyazo glitched a little bit. You should still be able to make out his attributes though. Cléberson joins us in two years time when he turns 18 after we activated his release clause of 975k. He's an extremely solid defender with attributes that would look good on a 19 year old, never mind a 16 year old. He looks like an incredible player in the making.

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Edited by Fer Fuchs Ake
Added information about new contracts
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13 minutes ago, Fola said:

This a really good read. Hopefully Europe will be on the cards next season. 

Cheers Fola. :thup:

Europe will be a tough ask but I certainly think we're capable. We've a very solid starting XI with some great squad depth to deal with injuries and fatigue along the way.

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Preseason:

Preseason.thumb.png.5e69ba89adc62b80a4acbc8265b0fbd9.png

It looks good on paper but we were against much weaker opposition. Certainly can't complain about 6 straight wins though, no matter who the opposition. The final two were particularly pleasing. I'm hoping to have the August update out by tomorrow.

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I wouldn't be 100% sure about selling those Colombian wingers. If they have as much potential as they look like they do, they could grow their passing/vision nicely and be retrained to play in other positions on the pitch. Alzate could become a good 10, and Perez either a 10, or a really attacking full/wingback(his marking is awful, but tackling and positioning might hit acceptable attacking wingback levels).

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10 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

I wouldn't be 100% sure about selling those Colombian wingers. If they have as much potential as they look like they do, they could grow their passing/vision nicely and be retrained to play in other positions on the pitch. Alzate could become a good 10, and Perez either a 10, or a really attacking full/wingback(his marking is awful, but tackling and positioning might hit acceptable attacking wingback levels).

You make a good point about Alzate. If he can get that passing and vision up, he could become a quality advanced playmaker. I don't think Perez has good enough tackling or positioning to make it as a wingback so I probably will sell him. You've given me food for thought about Alzate though. I'll see how he develops.

4 minutes ago, Adonalsium said:

How did Goretzka's contract run out so soon? He is a great capture. 

Very entertaining save!

He just has a year left on his contract when you start any save so you can snap him up in January. Not sure why none of the big clubs came in for him though. He's definitely been a great capture so far.

Thank you and thanks for reading.

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10 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

More solid transfer business!  Nice to see...although I'm naturally averse to young Brazilians named Kleberson (or any derivation thereof)...  Kean is a steal.

Once the squad gels...

I'm very happy with this transfer window. We've improved the quality and depth of the squad, particularly in midfield. And between the youngsters we've signed in Kean, Dominguez and Cléberson as well as the players we got in through the most recent youth intake, it's fair to say that:

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3 hours ago, noikeee said:

Wow, really preparing the future there, lots of talent coming in and Moise Kean is surely a monster in the making.

 

3 hours ago, john1 said:

Brilliant signings you have made and those who are coming in near future :thup::cool: 

 

2 hours ago, Fola said:

I agree with the rest of the lads, Moises Kean looks like he could become an absolute beast. Lets hope he gets a lot of game time at Roma.

Cheers everyone. 

We're certainly building for the future with these signings with me having spent much of the transfer window looking at youngsters from national teams' Under 21's squads. Moise Kean looks like he'll be a very important player for us next season. He's just so well-rounded, it's incredible. I've no idea why they'd sell him so cheaply but I'm definitely not complaining.

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August Update:

Not great but not terrible. Just mildly disappointing.

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Everton (A): G. Dusan Tadic  A. None

It's not awful to lose away to a solid Everton side but it's certainly not great, especially as they've been a team we've usually gotten wins against (W3,D0,L1 prior to this match). It was a fairly even game which saw neither side score until the 72nd minute when new signing Maxwel Cornet got their first goal, beating Forster from a tight angle. We leveled things up on 79' when Tadic capitalised on some poor Everton defending as they let Dolberg's cross pinball around the place, allowing Tadic to pounce. I thought we were going to come away with a creditable draw but then Jonathan Schmid knocked one in on 89' to consign us to defeat. We really have to stop conceding such late goals.

Chelsea (H):

Not exactly the type of opponent you'd want your first home game of the season.  Willian scored early when the ball fell to his feet at close range. He stroked it home and we were down after 14 minutes. They pummeled our goal for the next 15 minutes and we could barely get out of our own half. Dolberg limped off on 25' to be replaced by Babacar who went on to have a shocker, constantly giving the ball away. He's just so inconsistent but when he's good, he's very good. Unfortunately, as he showed today, the reverse is true too. Blaise Matuidi got sent off on 37' to give us a glimmer of hope. We pushed forward more but Chelsea were content to sit back and defend. Then, on 68', they broke forward on the counter with Dybala crossing to Morata who headed home their second. It's not a bad result given they're defending champions and spent more on one player than our entire net spend for the past three seasons, it's not a bad loss. Given they were down to ten though, I'm a little disappointed.

Southend (H): G. Mario Lemina, James Ward-Prowse   A. Charlie Austin, None

As it was the Carabao Cup, I let my assistant manager handle it. This meant that Rainer Widmayer managed his first Southampton match. We played a much rotated side and we took the lead after 21 minutes when Lemina blasted home after a poor clearance by Keith Keane. Simon Cox managed to equalise with Soouthend's only shot on target on 56'. Despite, how much we controlled the game, we couldn't find a way through until 90+1' when Austin played a short pass to JWP who curled in a beauty from the edge of the box. Not massively convincing but it's a win and one where we were playing a weaker side than normal.

Fulham (A): G. Luciano Vietto (2)  A. Khouma Babacar (2)

We were able to end the month on a high with our first win in the league. It didn't look like that would be the case just four minutes in at Craven Cottage when Cauley Woodrow put Fulham ahead after some very lax defending on our part. We fought back valiantly though and restored parity on 19' when Babacar found Vietto who rifled it in from 20 yards out. The game played out fairly evenly after that with neither side able to establish a foothold in the game. Then, in the 77th minute, Babacar slid a beautiful through ball into Vietto who tucked it away into the bottom corner. We parked the bus, determined to not to lose more points in the last few minutes and we did. Pleasing stuff. As I said earlier, when Babacar's good,he's very good.

Key Points:

  • We need to defend better. We're good at tackling but we're poor at marking sometimes and it costs us.
  • A very mixed month overall.
  • Meyer and Bakayoko have had mediocre starts to their Southampton careers.
  • We need Vietto to be at his best if we're to do well this season. He's unhappy with me though so I have to hope that won't affect his performances too much.
  • Dolberg's out for 6-8 weeks. :(
  • The fact that JWP and Lemina started as part of a rotated squad shows the good depth we have in central mid.
  • I need to try and give Omar Abdel Halim (that regen I signed last January) more game time in the cups. He's a very promising player.
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