[FM18] Around the World in 80 days. Phileas Fogg Plays Football Manager

[Northernpilgrim]

1 minute ago, andychar said:

Only team in the league with "insecure" finances! 

And I'm underneath the wage budget as well

[Northernpilgrim]

September wasn't any better

and a season of struggle lies ahead. It's almost a shame there is no relegation, as there is nothing to focus the players minds on avoiding finishing near the bottom. The board have asked for top half, which I think is partly because of my previous reputation in Europe, and partly because I've done it twice here already, albeit against the odds

[Northernpilgrim]

October wasn't great, though it would have looked a lot better if we hadn't conceded a 97th minute equaliser against Assiouty in a game where 6 minutes was supposed to have been added

leaving us still 12th

[Northernpilgrim]

Only two games in November, a win and a defeat

but we're now up to 11th

[Northernpilgrim]

I forgot to do the December update at the end of the month, so here it is including the first match in January

and we're clinging on to the top half place that's the minimum required this season

[Northernpilgrim]

January was yet another inconsistent month. Here is what happened after the Wadi Degla game

which leaves us 8th, but with 7th achievable if we can improve even slightly

[andychar]

Obviously I hope it doesn't happen but...what happens if you get sacked?

[Northernpilgrim]

2 hours ago, andychar said:

Obviously I hope it doesn't happen but...what happens if you get sacked?

As per the rules in the opening post, a sacking ends the challenge. I don't expect that to happen with Petrojet, but there is always a chance that we go on a losing run that I can't stop. There are a few jobs ahead where expectations will be much higher, particularly the two American jobs and the final two in England. Right now though I just want to find a way to box off Africa. Anyone got any ideas?

[Northernpilgrim]

February was a horrible month, and we're now on a 5 match losing run, with my contract up in the summer

and this is what that's done to the league table

[Northernpilgrim]

Defeat in our next game, then this

[Northernpilgrim]

I've been asked to pick up 8 points from 5 games. Ordinarily that would seem a reasonable total, but I think I will be gone before that run of matches is over.

[Northernpilgrim]

By the end of March, we were two games into the ultimatum, and have picked up 4 points, which should have been 6, as we could only draw against 10-man Assiouty

which leaves the table looking like this as I head off to bed

[Northernpilgrim]

And these are the three games which tomorrow will decide my fate

[andychar]

I may have jinxed things.

[Northernpilgrim]

So, the three decisive games have been played, and with 4 points needed from them to get to the 8 from 5 demanded of me by the board, did we do it?

[Northernpilgrim]

and this is how we did it, despite losing heavily to Al-Ahly

The league table at the end of April looks like this, with two games left

[andychar]

Never in doubt! 

[Northernpilgrim]

26 minutes ago, andychar said:

Never in doubt! 

Just need to hope they give me a contract for next season now. I asked on 1st April and was refused

[Northernpilgrim]

We finished the season with two more wins

ending the season in the highest position we've held all season, 7th

[Northernpilgrim]

[andychar]

Great end to the season. Fingers crossed its onwards and upwards now!

[Northernpilgrim]

26 minutes ago, andychar said:

Great end to the season. Fingers crossed its onwards and upwards now!

We've improved our league position every season I've been there. It's going to be tough to break into the top 6 though

[Northernpilgrim]

Could be interesting times ahead

[Northernpilgrim]

Preseason results varied between patchy and terrible

[Northernpilgrim]

and we made just one signing, a free transfer

leaving the squad looking like this ahead of the season

[raz4la]

What is your gametime now?

[Northernpilgrim]

1 hour ago, raz4la said:

What is your gametime now?

7 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes. I've officially given more than a whole week of my life to this save already, and I'm still in Egypt. Interestingly, in the story itself, it took 7 days to reach Suez, and then 13 more days to reach India. So, to stay on track, I've basically got 6 days real time to crack Egypt/Africa. 

[Northernpilgrim]

[raz4la]

37 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

7 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes. I've officially given more than a whole week of my life to this save already, and I'm still in Egypt. Interestingly, in the story itself, it took 7 days to reach Suez, and then 13 more days to reach India. So, to stay on track, I've basically got 6 days real time to crack Egypt/Africa. 

Interesting. How close are you to the title?

[Northernpilgrim]

Just now, raz4la said:

Interesting. How close are you to the title?

Finished 7th last year, but 51 points behind the leaders. Just about to start the new season now

[raz4la]

2 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Finished 7th last year, but 51 points behind the leaders. Just about to start the new season now

Yeah, just thought if you had improved the team more!

[Northernpilgrim]

We progressed in the cup, but lost to the same opposition in the league following an early red card

and so we're 2nd bottom early on

[Northernpilgrim]

September was not good

and we're second from bottom

[Northernpilgrim]

October was much better

and we're into the top half, just 3 points off a top 4 spot 

[Northernpilgrim]

[Northernpilgrim]

We had a perfect month in November

meaning we're through to the Cup semi final, and we're up to third in the league, behind only Al Ahly and Zamalek

[After]

Good job!

[andychar]

Brilliant turnaround! Fingers crossed this is the start of the end of Egypt.

[Northernpilgrim]

We had a tough run of fixtures in December, and results suffered accordingly, but we managed to finish the month with a well earned win

leaving us 6th in the table, but if we can get back to form, still in the race for a top 4 spot

[Northernpilgrim]

Three games in January, 2 wins and a really disappointing defeat

which, if we had won, would have cut the gap to the top 4 to just a point. As it stands, we're 4 behind. Down, but not yet out.

[Northernpilgrim]

A disappointing February, but we're through to my first cup final in Egypt

and 6th in the league, but losing ground on the top 4

[Northernpilgrim]

A baffling March, in which our only victory was over the leaders Al Ahly

has blown our chances of the top 4, so we have to win the cup to compete in continental football next season

[Northernpilgrim]

Three wins from 5 was a better month in April

and has got us to within 3 points of the top 4

[Northernpilgrim]

May was utterly awful, as we failed to win, lost the cup final...

and missed the top 4 by only 3 points. Gutted

[Northernpilgrim]

and we threw away a 2-0 lead against Ismaily. Need to work on building a stronger defence for next season

 

 

[Northernpilgrim]

We had a decent, but unspectacular preseason

adding 3 players to the squad, and losing two

[Northernpilgrim]

Judging by August's results, I'm not succeeding in tightening up the defence

and that's reflected in the league table

[Northernpilgrim]

A change in formation to 4-1-2-2-1 for September saw us improve

but it could have been much, much more, as we lost to Makasa despite them having NO shots on target

missed a penalty in the draw with Al Gaish

and then against Al Rajaa as well

leaving us 6th in the table, but knowing that we could easily have 5 more points, and certainly should have 3 more. I'm delighted to have only conceded 1 goal this month though

 

[Northernpilgrim]

October pretty much sums up my frustrating time with Petrojet, and also why FM18 is coming in for criticism from some people for producing games that are totally inexplicable far too often (please note the far too often, these games DO happen in real life, just that they are rare, and when they do they get highlighted)

and it was the Tanta game that had me lost for words yet again, as just 4 weeks after losing to an Al Rajaa side we denied any shots on target to, this happened against Tanta

In the interests of seeking constructive feedback, here are the tactics I'm now using (the ones we started using in September)

and here are the team instructions. There are no individual player instructions

I'd love to know what some of the more successful managers such as @Lenzar and @dafuge to name but two I've taken advice from over the years would suggest?

[Timetxu]

A counter mentality has never, but I mean never worked out for me in FM. I'd also try make your fullbacks play more attacking and one of your CM's as well. I tend to try and overthink my weaknesses when playing 4-1-2-2 DM Wide, but it often works best to just be quite offensive because you'll just score more goals than the opponent (concede a lot as well, but ah well).