FM19: The English Football League thread

[warlock]

2 hours ago, kroshot said:

here we go my first save on fm19 with my club Birmingham city

Good luck with the Bluebirds - they've been on my list of potential saves for a couple of years now. This year looks a little harder, purely based on pre-season predictions, but your start suggests the pundits might be wrong!

Some good pre-season business there, too.

[Dong21]

Charlton Athletic - Season 2 - Part 2

September began in the best possible way with a very convincing win over Sheffield United. Washington scored a hat-trick and could even of had a fourth if he had not had a penalty saved. However the majority of the next two months can be considered a difficult period. There are not too many positives to mention here, however Washington can be considered to be a shining light during this time. The small size of my squad and the limited amount of depth (not helped by a series of injuries) meant we did not have the ability to change things up particularly from a losing position, whereas our opponents would bring on quality players. 

Things picked up however as we moved into November and a six game undefeated spell saw us pick up some invaluable points. Interestingly, my first choice goalkeeper Jed Steer broke his collarbone in training after the Bristol City game and was ruled out for 8 weeks. This left me very worried as my only other 'keeper was 35 year old Mark Bunn who my assistant only rated as 2 star. I was pleasantly surprised though as Bunn's introduction to the team coincided with five straight clean sheets - it's a funny old game! To provide cover I signed young 'keeper Phillips on a free transfer, a player that I had released from the club 5 months prior. Lyle Taylor returned from his three month lay-off at the end of November - this presented me with a dilemma as on paper Taylor and Grant are my best forwards, however Washington has performed admirably and is the 3rd highest top goalscorer in the league. This is a question I still have not answered, as I continue to test different combinations. Our form has fallen away once again in the last few games, so I am hoping for a fresh start in the New Year.

So, at the half-way point in the league campaign we sit in 15th place and are closer on points to the Play-Offs than the relegation zone - I would certainly have taken this if offered it earlier in the season!

Edited December 3, 2018 by Dong21

[warlock]

@Dong21 That's not a bad start - most of those defeats are against the better teams in the division. I liked Washington in my Sheff Utd save - he scored a few for me, but he was horribly injury-prone and I think only played a total of about 10 or 12 games that season. Hopefully, he'll keep producing for you.

[warlock]

Sheffield Wednesday: Season 2 - The Premiership

Having just completed pre-season and with the transfer window now closed here's an overview of my preparations for life in the top flight. Outgoings:

Most were u23s who my coaches rated as L2 or below. Most of the rest - Jones, Pudil, Hooper - were too old and crocked after major injuries. I probably missed a few quid with Boyd and Mattias, but they weren't good enough and at the end of contract, and I didn't want to resign on Premiership terms in the hope of selling them for a fee somewhere down the line. Williams had been my first-choice RB but was inconsistent and I would have resigned him as backup but he refused anything less than First Team status, so he went too. Not on this screen but also departed, Sam Winnall went to Preston for £200k.

Incoming:

I tried to find value (which isn't necessarily cheap!), and young players with Premiership potential. Eggestein and Perreira were both out of contract (the former having refused to renew) and I'd have happily paid several million for each of them, so bargain! With Pudil departing and loanee Hector returning to Chelsea we were a man down in central defence so Matthew Pennington, listed by request at Everton, was signed. I also wanted to bring in an understudy in the DM/DLP position; Nedelcu is a bit of a gamble but he has bags of potential and the price was right.

Our biggest need was improvement in the attacking wide slots so that's where the bulk of my spending went, with Javi Ontiveros joining from Malaga, and Francisco Trincao coming in from Braga. Both are pretty good on either wing, which gives us welcome flexibility.

To replace Williams at RB my scouts turned up another player at Romanian outfit FCSB, Romario Benzar. At 27 he brings a bit of experience and my scouts and coaches both rate him at 3.5 stars. He has great crossing ability and I'll be looking to him for a few assists this season.

Finally, with Joshua Onomah going back to Spurs we needed another face in central midfield and I turned to loan favourite Scott McTominay from Man Utd.

Those of you paying close attention will realise I haven't spent all of my £38m transfer budget - I still have around £10m in the kitty, which is a tidy sum but not enough to make a significant difference right now. If someone handy is available in January we'll take a look.

So, as always in August, the question is: Have I done enough, and are we good enough? The bookies don't think so; we're predicted to finish dead last. And we're in for a rough start, I think. Our first five games look like this:

Arsenal (A)

Liverpool (H)

Watford (A)

Chelsea (H)

Man Utd (A)

So by mid-September I expect morale to be in the toilet and if we have more than 2 points on the board I'll consider that a bonus!

Edited December 3, 2018 by warlock

[Gungner]

I'm thinking of starting a save with Southampton, a team I haven't tried since FM15. 

Any suggestions on possible signings and so forth?

[warlock]

3 minutes ago, Gungner said:

I'm thinking of starting a save with Southampton

A bit outside our remit (did you mean to post this up in the Good Player etc sub-forum?) Most of us can only dream of attracting the kind of talent the Saints should be looking at, even if we make it to the PL.

[Gungner]

Yeah, I probably posted in the wrong thread... English Football League to me, also means the Premier League. Just ignore the post  

[steveyisatard]

10 hours ago, kroshot said:

here we go my first save on fm19 with my club Birmingham city (as always)with a new laptop so hopefully no crashes like before.Firstly looking at the squad the first 11 looks ok but we have no strength in depth so we have had to move a couple of players on and sell dimari grays sell on clause which got us around 4m in.Out of the door first was Kuszczak to Torino for 500k with Stockdale and camp being more than enough in goal,then Brock Madsen went back to demark joining Nordsjaelland for 375k and finally Craig Gardner going to Hibs for 675k.nearly forgot ended Bogle loan as well

Now we have 3 new members of staff Phil Cannon,Keith Bertschin and Darren Robinson,with regards to incomings I wanted to try and keep the side young and hungry so in came Brendan Galloway 200k from Everton ,Petter Strand from Molde for 170k(contract expires in 6 months)and my biggest buy Xadas from Braga for 300k with a big sell on.i then looked to the free transfer market picking up Kaylen Hinds,Gianluca Gaudino and Fausto Rossi.Finally looking at the loan market we brought in Sam Gallagher and Ademola Lookman on loan for the season,

The squad now looks a lot more balanced with cover for most postions.Ive just got to the end of August we sit top with 4 wins from 4

will update later

Xadas will be good if you can get the right formation for him - I have him in on loan at the moment

[Chevie]

Oldham Athletic - Season 2 Part 1 - Summer Transfer Window, Pre-Season and Early Season Form

Summer Transfer Window

So to start, I released 17 players from their contracts alongside Andy Taylor who retired after getting quite a bad injury. Most of these players did absolutely nothing in my team last season so they were no loss at all.

So now onto actual transfers. As you can see I managed to bring back last season's top goalscorer Sam Surridge on loan. I also decided to get Callum Lang in for another season after he got 10 goals after mainly playing from the bench. Unfortunately I was not able to get Danny Rowe back from Ipswich as, even though he was transfer listed, they did not want to let him go on loan. My main idea here was to not rely on as many loan players as I did last season. I was very happy to bring in Andrija Novakovich from Reading. Even though his wages are very high, I was impressed with his stats for this level and I'm hoping he can push my club to the next level.

I now have two players able to play in each position across my three tactics, so 24 in total as I have one tactic with two forwards, and I'm hoping we should be able to deal with most injuries that come our way, although as you will see later that idea hasn't worked out perfectly, although I still managed to get the result I wanted.

Pre-Season

Overall this was a successful pre-season. My main goals here were to improve match fitness and hopefully build up a bit of form. Although no results were particularly mind blowing, the consistent performances were pleasing and I'm not going to complain at 6 wins out of 7!

Early Season Form

I am very happy with the start we have made at this level. Sitting 5th with 4 wins already is more than I could have expected so I really hope this continues. I was especially pleased with the opening day 2-0 win against Bristol Rovers as we managed to keep a clean sheet despite having 3 of my 4 first team central defenders out injured. An away point against local rivals Bolton and a win against one of the promotion favourites Rotherham have me dreaming of back to back promotions. I was hoping for a nice little cup run to boost finances but unfortunately came up against far superior opposition in the Premier League side Bournemouth and to be honest were lucky to score zero!

Long may this continue!

[luke4387]

I have several options for teams/games I want to play as.  I like building teams through youth systems but I am struggling to begin one game as I have several teams I want to manage, as follows:

 

Championship

Birmingham - local to me, lots of youth and pace and reliance on building through youth teams.

Blackburn - squad of players I like such as Dack, Nyambe, Armstrong and some good young players to break through and get a return to PL.

Brentford - moneyball tactics like they employ IRL, buying quality from PL academies, lower league gems and develop the team with a view to moving into new stadium.  Just a shame Ryan Woods has moved on!

Norwich - Moritz Leitner pulling the strings, Nelson Oliveira banging in the goals and some good young players to build around in Max Aarons and Ben Godfrey.

Preston - Ben Davies, Josh Earl gives a strong left side of defence at CB/LB respectively, a diamond midfield of Ben Pearson sitting, Ryan Ledson, Daniel Johnson in central areas and Josh Harrop in no10 role behind Callum Robinson.

Reading - a stale team that needs a complete revamp in my view.  Liam Moore is a good defender to build around and get some good talent around him.  I also like the idea to build around the youth available such as Danny Loader, Andy Rinomhota, Omar Richards, Tom Holmes and more.

 

League One

Rochdale - Daniel Adshead mainly, Aaron Morley, Callum Camps.

Walsall - Good width with Zele Ismail and Josh Ginnelly supplying Morgan Ferrier.

 

League Two

Cambridge - Leon Davies, Lee Watkins and lots of other youth to build around.  Seems a big change from the days of Luke Berry, Barry Corr etc.

Crewe - my usual save, lots of young talent to build around, sell on and replace.  I am a big fan of Tom Lowery.

Macclesfield - nothing of interest, only thing being that they are the worst team in EFL.

 

Will be working on these saves initially...

[thisisnotideal]

This seems like the best place to post, has anyone else just been able to get Patrick Roberts as an end of contract signing? In my 3 saves so far (Ajax, St. Pauli, Marseilles) I've always been able to snag him for around 35-40k a week, and I am dreadful at contracts. Man City has fired Pep early on in all of these saves so that might be part of it but it seems awfully easy to get a guy of that quality for no transfer fee. Even if you don't plan on starting him you can still make 10ish mil in transfering him out if you give him even rotation time.

[dothestrand]

1 hour ago, thisisnotideal said:

This seems like the best place to post, has anyone else just been able to get Patrick Roberts as an end of contract signing? In my 3 saves so far (Ajax, St. Pauli, Marseilles) I've always been able to snag him for around 35-40k a week, and I am dreadful at contracts. Man City has fired Pep early on in all of these saves so that might be part of it but it seems awfully easy to get a guy of that quality for no transfer fee. Even if you don't plan on starting him you can still make 10ish mil in transfering him out if you give him even rotation time.

When I managed Brentford (before the file corrupted) and we made it into the EPL, I was able to sign him but for 70k per week!

[Mindtrick_42]

@warlock 😱 that's a thoug start. I wish you all the best! 

Nice to read up on everyone's progress. I like the big difference in all the teams that are being managed here

[Burnley92]

A run of 5 games unbeaten came to an abrupt end for my Luton team with 2 consecutive defeats to 16th placed Rochdale and 23rd placed Wycombe. This saw us drop from 2nd in the league to 6th. Up next was a crucial must-win match against rivals MK Dons in the Checkatrade Trophy.

 

... We demolished them 7-1 with Danny Hylton scoring 4 goals, him having only scored 4 all season prior to this match.

 

This win seemed to bring new found confidence and we have since won 7 in a row in all competitions. We have a home tie against Nottingham Forest coming up in the FA Cup 3rd round. I am confident as Forest are struggling in the championship and have many first team injuries. The only downside being that my top scorer Jorge Grant is on loan from Forest, so is ineligible for the tie.

 

So on the whole, things are looking good. We sit 2nd in the league, 9 points behind runaway leaders Charlton. Luton has been my most enjoyable save for a long time!

[janneff]

I always enjoy reading this thread. I have been trying to complete dafuge challenge since beta but I'm currently taking little break from that. I'm in distant future so most of the players are newgens and sometimes I struggle to find connection with them. Therefore I often play another saves. This year I chose Sunderland because I wanted something opposite to my beloved Kettering. Sunderland definitely fit the bill.

We had decent first season. We finished 2nd in the Sky Bet League One. We were promoted comfortably. However it was Barnsley that dominated the league sinde day one. Our top perfomer was probably Chris Maguire that scored 17 goals mostly from AMC position and had 10 assists. Josh Maja did also well scoring 16 league goals but it was his terrible form towards the end of the season that probably cost us the title. When I took charge I was fairly happy with the squad and I ended up doing very little business despite having decent amount of money to spend. I signed Diego Poyet on free transfer to add midfield depth in summer transfer window and bought promising DC Max Broughton from Bolton in January window. However his terrible positioning and modest jumping reach mean that his position is likely to be something else than central defender in the future. Luke O'Nien was loaned to Luton and Aiden McGeady was sold to Cincinnati in £350k deal.

Second season transfer windows were much busier. Highlight here is definitely Sandro Tonali. Dylan McGeouch was our biggest sale. I tried to find him place in our system but he just didn't fit anywhere. We play 4-2-3-1 and he wasn't defensively good enough to play MC in this system and yet he was not clinical enough to be shadow striker. I kept spending money in January window when it was pretty clear that we would be promoted after season. I was very happy to add two left-footed english players that should do well us in the future.

 

 

So this is were things stand at the moment. It's 17th of May 2020 and we are preparing to our first season back in the Premier League. I'll analyze the squad in the following post and talk little about our future plans.

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by janneff

[janneff]

These are our goalkeepers currently. They both did well. McLaugglin contract is ending and he is currently unhappy. I'd like to keep him around as backup but currently it seems unlikely. I'd love to buy Svilar but Benfica are not interested in selling. David Raya will be joining us from Blackburn in £3,4M deal. He'll be our number one. If McLauglin refuses to sign new deal we still need solid number two. Possible targets are Joe Waldsmith and Joe Lumley.

Our defensive core is fairly strong. Tom Flanagan and Bryan Oviedo won't be here next season but we have already agreed to sign Rob Holding from Arsenal in £8,75M deal. This will be probably our only defensive acquisition.

Sandro Tonali is by far our most gifted midfielder. He has £16 M release clause for clubs in higher divisions. I'm not sure whether that clause is still active. I hope not because most of the top Premier League clubs are interested in him.  Max Power and Tristan Muymba compliments him pretty well, However I think we need to add little bit depth here. Lee Cattermole is not viable started anymore and Richie Towell is better AMC than MC. Diego Poyet still has one more year left in his contract but he's constantly asking better one. I don't see that happening. Bali Mumba has developed quite well but he probably needs one more loan season in the Championship. I'd love to sign Scott McTominay but Man Utd are reluctant to sell at the moment. Kalvin Phillips might be more realistic signing.

These are our attacking midfielders. Duncan Watmore had great season and he's likely to be our starting RW in Premier League. George Honeyman's versatility makes him also very valuable squad player. Jarrod Bowen can play better. All six are contracted at least one more season. I'm looking to bring one or two players in to play these positions. Possible targets are Kasey Palmer and perhaps Jack Grealish if he becomes unhappy after Aston Villa were relegated from Premier League. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is transfer listed and interested but his asking price is £23,5M and I'm not sure I want to spend that much because of his injury proneness.

Jordan Hugill had great season. He won the Championship top scorer award. Josh Maja did very well also considering that he only started 16 games.  I could renew Hugill's loan but I'd rather not rely on loans too much. We have agreed to sign Ben Brereton from Blackburn in £5M deal and Vincent Janssen (free) is currently considering our contract offer. Bereton, Maja and Janssen will probably be our strikers next season. It's up to them to take the number on striker spot.

Edited December 5, 2018 by janneff

[Gungner]

Does anyone have any experience with Aston Villa this year?

Was thinking to do a save with them down the line... 

[Rollin93]

Anyone have any recommendations for what championship team to be?

i want a challenge but also room to build a good young team?

[warlock]

Sheffield Wednesday: Season 2 - midway

Life in the PL has turned out to be just about as tough as expected, and the horrible first five fixtures were, indeed, horrible. Had my first changing room crisis after the Man Utd defeat!

As the season progressed, we picked up a few points against fellow strugglers, but made little headway against superior teams with the exception of a remarkable demolition of West Ham away. If I knew how we did that, we'd be doing better!

On the upside, we currently sit in 15th place, above our predicted finish. However, if - as the media keep reminding me - we need around 40 points to be safe, we're off that target. I can only hope that our relegation rivals continue to underperform. An improvement in our own performances seems unlikely with Bannan - our best player - and Forestieri - our leading scorer - set to miss the next couple of months through injury. Of the new signings, Perreira and Trincao have done well, contributing five goals and five assists between them. The others have been distinctly average.

In the current window, I'm hoping to move on at least a couple of the under-performers (notably Jordan Rhodes who has been awful) and try to bolster the defensive line. I'll also be showing The Outlaw Josey Wales in the dressing room...

Quote

Josey Wales: Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.

 

[Rollin93]

On 29/11/2018 at 19:59, steveyisatard said:

Will be cracking on with my standard Norwich save shortly, anyone played much with them specifically this year yet?

I’m just about to start one with Norwich how’s it started??

[steveyisatard]

4 hours ago, Rollin93 said:

I’m just about to start one with Norwich how’s it started??

Currently in the run up to Christmas 2018 and sitting 2nd.

[Rollin93]

15 hours ago, steveyisatard said:

Currently in the run up to Christmas 2018 and sitting 2nd.

That’s good what formation you playing? I’ve gone a 4141 gengenpress but struggling so going to change it up 

[Dong21]

Lots of good updates from everyone!

@Chevie Good start to the season there. Novakovich, Surridge and Baxter seems like a very strong attacking trio for League 1. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

@warlock That's a really good start to life in the Premier League. You've done really well to pick the team and get some points on the board after what must have been a demoralising start to the season against the top sides. I also like the youthful signings that you have made.

Welcome to the thread @janneff - great work getting successive promotions. Good luck in the Premier League!

Edited December 7, 2018 by Dong21

[Gungner]

On 06/12/2018 at 14:44, warlock said:

Sheffield Wednesday: Season 2 - midway

Life in the PL has turned out to be just about as tough as expected, and the horrible first five fixtures were, indeed, horrible. Had my first changing room crisis after the Man Utd defeat!

As the season progressed, we picked up a few points against fellow strugglers, but made little headway against superior teams with the exception of a remarkable demolition of West Ham away. If I knew how we did that, we'd be doing better!

On the upside, we currently sit in 15th place, above our predicted finish. However, if - as the media keep reminding me - we need around 40 points to be safe, we're off that target. I can only hope that our relegation rivals continue to underperform. An improvement in our own performances seems unlikely with Bannan - our best player - and Forestieri - our leading scorer - set to miss the next couple of months through injury. Of the new signings, Perreira and Trincao have done well, contributing five goals and five assists between them. The others have been distinctly average.

In the current window, I'm hoping to move on at least a couple of the under-performers (notably Jordan Rhodes who has been awful) and try to bolster the defensive line. I'll also be showing The Outlaw Josey Wales in the dressing room...

 

Sounds like a great save, despite the results... Some great signings you made there, especially Pereira and Eggestein on frees. 

[steveyisatard]

8 hours ago, Rollin93 said:

That’s good what formation you playing? I’ve gone a 4141 gengenpress but struggling so going to change it up 

 

[Dong21]

Charlton Athletic - Season 2 - Part 3

You may recall we ended 2019 in bad form and with me hoping that form would pick up in new year. Well form certainly picked up as we enjoyed a six game undefeated spell in January, with Taylor, Aribo and Pearce particularly hitting form.

It had been a distinctly quiet January transfer window, on account of our complete lack of funds. That all changed however on transfer deadline day when Crystal Palace activated the £9m release clause in Karlan Grant's contract, taking the talented young forward away from The Valley. The release fee was a condition I had to accept back in League One, when he was close to entering the final six months of his contract. Although disappointed to lose a home grown and high potential member of my first team, I felt the fee was good and would provide some financial stability and a platform to grow from in future seasons. Grant had delivered 6 goals in the league up to that point, a decent return for a young player, however he trailed Taylor and Washington on this front which left me with confidence for the rest of the season. I considered splashing the cash (the board gave me £3m of the fee to use) however I decided to bank most of it and just bring in pressing forward Mikael Uhre for £325k. During January Cullen, Tchouamani and Forster-Caskey all picked up injuries ranging from 4-8 weeks, so I looked to the loan market and brought in Manu Garcia from Man City to provide cover.

Alongside our travails in the Championship, we had a good run in the FA Cup. I was proud that we were able to defeat league leaders (and eventual Championship winners) Nottm Forest in the 4th Round. We came crashing back to reality with a 5-0 defeat at Anfield however! I thought this could derail our league form, but luckily this was not the case...

After the sale of Grant I had been persevering with my 4-4-2 formation, however against QPR I decided to switch to a 4-1-4-1 DM wide. This saw Taylor play as lone striker, supported by Leko and Fosu on the wings and Forster-Caskey came into the side to sit behind two of my other central midfielders. The players reacted positively to these changes which led to us finishing the season strongly in the final two months.

We finished the season in 13th place, with only goal difference separating us from a top half finish. This may not be a league win or European qualification like some people in this forum have achieved, however I am really pleased with the achievement of a mid-table of finish, with the resources I had available to me.

Lyle Taylor was once again my main match winner, delivering an impressive 20 goals in just 33 games. Stand-in forward Washington deserves great credit though, as he provided 14 goals and 7 assists from only 27 starts. I'm glad that I kept faith with the wingers who served my strikers so ably in League One. Fosu provided 14 assists and Leko contributed a further 12. I was pleased to see West Brom secure promotion as I am hoping that means they will allow me to take Leko on loan for a third season. My personal player of the season however was Aribo who was a driving force in many of best performances. Aribo scored 5 goals and also provided 9 assists.

Defence was the weak point for my team last season and so I recruited the likes of De Laet, Ecuele Manga and Robinson to try and improve upon this. Unfortunately all three were unspectacular and this will be an area I will be looking at once again this summer. Right back was a particular problem area with De Laet and Dijksteel taking it in turns to deliver turgid displays. My assistants rate Pearce as only a League One defender, however I brought him into the team for the underperforming Ecuele Manga and he performed admirably, including 9 important goals when going up for corners. Pearce did so well that I have recently rewarded him with a new 2 year contract.

So another season in the Championship awaits. I am hoping the board allows me to reinvest some of the Grant funds into my squad so I can look to equal or better our league finish.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Dong21

[warlock]

@Dong21 That's certainly not a bad season in the Championship! If you can toughen up that defence you should be able to push on next year.

Do you think you'll settle on the 4141dm or stick with the 442? I've been bouncing between them myself and it's the classic dilemma: two strikers can get you a lot more goals, but playing the DM really secures the defence. After three-and-a-half seasons with three different clubs, I still can't decide!

[Jtomsett11]

 

Having read this thread from the start I decided to start a save with Reading FC, my home town club. I really struggled to sign players, with many of the usual free transfers going to rivals or clubs abroad for much higher wages than I could offer. Therefore, I settled for bringing in some loan signings Alexander Sorloth from Palace, Aaron Lennon from Burnley and Hamza Choudhury from Leicester. This meant I was heavily reliant on loan players throughout the season, often fielding 5 in my starting line up. It did mean I could get rid of some of the dross though and try and keep finances under control!

Early season form was surprisingly good, 3 wins on the trot got me dreaming of promotion to the promised land! However, reality set in and our pre-season prediction of mid-table looked very likely until around December.

I then started reading some of the threads Knap posts and although the tactics didn't really suit all of my players (I tested out a few with an older back up save), I managed to adapt some of them to fit and my form drastically improved. 5 wins on the bounce got us into the play-off places.

Samir Nasri joined around this time on a free transfer (I snapped him up in late November to avoid competition) and he proved a fantastic acquisition, as you can see in the stats below. Chelsea's Ethan Ampadu also arrived on loan in Jan to provide cover in defense and was superb.

Heading into the final weeks of the season, I snuck into 2nd place with two superb wins over Bristol City and Brentford. However, I was then sucker-punched by West Brom with two late goals meaning I faced the last day knowing I needed to win and Brentford had to lose to Preston at home. Everything was on track but Brentford came back to win 2-1 meaning the play-offs for Reading. 

I was surprised by how easily we negotiated the play-offs. Bodvarsson, who had been out of the team most of the season due to the form of Sorloth, had spent the last few weeks scoring some excellent goals, and he continued his form with a fantastic long range effort 14 seconds in to the play off final! Our 4-1 victory meant that we have returned to the Premier League!

The challenge ahead is immense. £37 million and a £600k wage budget for a squad reliant on loans is going to be interesting. I'll post an update after the transfer window ends but I'm scouring the forums for prem bargains at the moment!

Player stats below:

 

[warlock]

27 minutes ago, Jaketomsett said:

The challenge ahead is immense

Welcome, Jake. Congratulations on promotion, and good luck in the Prem!

[warlock]

Sheffield Wednesday: Season 2 - the finale

2020 proceeded in the expected manner as we continued to pick up a few points but unable to put together a sequence of good results. As a consequence we spent most of the spring slipping into the relegation zone and clawing our way back out. Failing to pick up points against fellow relegation strugglers West Brom, and a home defeat to Brighton, were big disappointments. But an unexpected win against West Ham and a miraculous triumph over Man City give me renewed hope for a productive April where we played Palace, Southampton and Villa who were all beneath us in the table. In the event, we managed just four points from a possible nine.

Our last two games of the season were a visit from Spurs, and a trip to already-relegated Burnley. I expected (hoped!) that a win against Burnley would be enough to secure our survival, as Southampton had played fewer games and would almost certainly push us down into 17th place. So Spurs arrived at Hillsborough, outside the European spots but with games in hand and needing a victory. They set up with an aggressive 424 formation.

As expected of a team who beat us 3-0 at their place in December, and 2-0 in the FA Cup, they battered our goal. But my lads defended like Trojans and produced yet another miracle.

And we're safe! That most unexpected victory means that West Brom and Aston Villa can't catch us and the Burnley game is a dead rubber. My nerves are shredded (and Imgur is having a meltdown) so I'll post the final table and season review sometime later.

[dino]

Congratulations on surviving your first season in the Prem! Hopefully you can build on that finish and push on next season.

[warlock]

8 minutes ago, dino said:

Congratulations on surviving your first season in the Prem! Hopefully you can build on that finish and push on next season

Cheers, and here's hoping!

[kozmik]

Congrats @warlock! I love tense relegation battles - when they have a happy ending of course.

@janneff Nice to see another Sunderland manager. Looks like you've had a solid first two seasons, here's hoping you can keep it up!

I finished my fourth season a few days ago. Have been toying with the idea to switch clubs (I was offered the Liverpool job) or start a new save, but in the end decided to play at least one more season with Sunderland. I'm already into the pre-season of season 5, will be an interesting season as the 2022 world cup will be played in Qatar in November and December. So fixture congestion aplenty, not to mention post-world cup fitness issues for players that are going.

Any way, will be posting a full update soon.

[dino]

Having been lurking in this thread for a few weeks, I thought I would join the gang and start a game in the EFL. I took serious consideration in diving into the Championship but decided I wanted to begin my career a little further away from the promised land (I later regretted this after realising that I would have to compete in the Checkatrade Trophy which is one of the most abominal of messes I have seen).

Due to the size of the club, and their admirable run in the Carabao Cup a few years ago, I choose Bradford City.

 

I decided to to go for a back three due to my love of the system. It wasn’t an entirely convenient shape for the players I inherited but I decided to go ahead with it regardless. And at first, it paid off. 

Two draws saw us pick two points from a possible six but then we started to find out scoring boots and begun to batter teams in quite devastating style. We were conceding a lot at the back but whilst we were outscoring sides, I didn’t mind too much. That came back to haunt us however.

Come November, we seemed to be shipping in more than we could score. We received some crushing defeats as we rolled out of the play-off places.

I scraped the three at the back and went for a more solid four instead. Initially, we experienced a slow start but again, started to hit some form and very soon, we were challenging for the automatic promotion spots.

Top, Charlton, seemed like they were going to run away with the title come the end of February but three consecutive draws and we were hot on their trail. When we faced them in April, a victory would put us within two points of the Addicks. Unfortunately, they won and we suffered our first league defeat in 17 games. 

We followed that up with a 2-2 draw against struggling Blackpool and I started to worry that we might have been knocked off our stride. Thankfully, that didn’t prove to be the case and we sealed automatic promotion with two games to go (not that I let them up as we went onto winning those games).

Looking back, that loss in form earlier on the season cost us the chance of the league title but the main thing is we achieved promotion without having to go through the lottery of the play-offs.

Transfers 

I switched off first window transfers so no one joined the club in the summer of 2018. By the time January rolled round, I had eyed up a few loan deals which I was pleased to wrap up. Brendan Galloway came in from Everton to give our backline some depth whilst David Meyler joined and slotted straight into our midfield. Louis Molt joined on the last day after Colin Doyle got injured for six weeks. Unfortunately, his loan wasn’t as successful as the other two.

Next season

It will be Bradford City’s first season back in the Championship since 2003/04 and our aim will be simple: survival. Anything more is a bonus. 

Edited December 8, 2018 by dino

[Gungner]

Anyone with Aston Villa? How easy would it be to retain the loanees for the second season? I know that El Ghazi has an optional fee of £4,5 million and Abraham can most likely be loaned again. 

[kozmik]

So, here goes.

Pretty much more of the same in terms of league performance. Six points more than last season, but same position. This time around though we were more consistent, not quite as brilliant at our best but equally not as poor at our worst, picking up points at a regular pace throughout the season. We were fairly close to City at around 10 games to go, but from that point on they pulled away. A tough run of fixtures near the end of the season saw both United and Liverpool overtake us, but even at that time top 4 wasn't really in doubt. In the champions league was where we most made our mark, topping our tough-ish group of Bayern, Porto and Besiktas with 15 points, only losing away at Bayern. Then in the first knockout round we drew Inter, lost the first leg 1-0 at their place and then this happened:

What a thrashing. In the end thanks to a lucky draw for the quarters (RB Leipzig, we won 5-1 on aggregate) we made it into the semis, losing 4-2 on aggregate to eventual winners Bayern. Even then I was cautiously optimistic after a 2-1 away defeat in the first leg, after all we beat them 3-0 at home in the group stage, but by the 30 minute mark they were 2-0 up and we were never going to come back from that. Great run though and earned us a lot of money too.

FA cup was a struggle, only beating Chesterfield after a replay in the 3rd round before a disappointing home defeat to Arsenal saw us crash out in the next round. In the league cup we made it all the way into the semis, losing 3-1 on aggregate to United.

The summer transfer window was a hectic one, particularly as I decided to sign a whole host of youngsters. A bit of a scattergun approach to signing hot prospects, but beneficial in the sense that a few of them look extremely promising and two will be seeing first team action next season. A few brilliant loan signings as well. A bit too easy, almost.

Henderson's sale was a tough one. In fact I spent the best part of a day thinking about it, but in the end I couldn't justify saying no to almost 30 million for a player signed on a free a year earlier, particularly as I knew I could replace him with Campana on a free transfer. Things took a shocking turn in January though, as United wanted to sign Campana and he was desperate to leave. Managed to negotiate a deal where he only moved at the end of the season, and for a staggering price of 22,5 million, which I then proceeded to spend on Mickael Cuisance. Of course that meant I would have to sign a first choice keeper again next summer, which I've duly done and spent a tremendous amount of money on him, but more of that in the next update...

I have to introduce my favorite signing, regen right back Paul Page from Ipswich. My scouts rated him at 2,5 stars CA 5 stars PA and Ipswich wouldn't accept anything less than his release clause. Has taken the jump from championship to premier league and champions league really well.

Only problem with him is that he seems to pick up a lot of bookings. Will have to teach him the "does not dive into tackles" ppm, will hopefully help a bit. In theory he's been second choice behind Tete, but he'll be first choice next season. Hopefully he will keep on improving.

[Gungner]

Wow, so promotion each year, and first season back in the PL you qualify for Champions League? That's pretty good... 

[kozmik]

1 hour ago, Gungner said:

Wow, so promotion each year, and first season back in the PL you qualify for Champions League? That's pretty good... 

Yes. I blame the ME. To be fair, the first two seasons were pretty much formalities with the squad that I had and the third season... Well, I have no idea how I managed to finish 4th. I'm dreading the moment the 19.2 ME is released as I'm sure that my tactic will stop working at there and then. I basically came up with it as an overreaction to the way a midfield 2 in a 4141dm wide played, endless pot shots instead of passing back to the DLP at dm when there are no other good passing options. I'm fairly certain it's the 'take fewer risks' instruction I use for both cm's that's almost broken the game.

Now that my team is starting to actually look like a top 4 contender in terms of quality and my reputation is highest outside the big six it will be interesting if the tactic will still work. I'll be facing a lot more parked buses than before, I assume.

[warlock]

@dino That's a great first season with Bradford. Congratulations. (And I don't know of anyone who likes the Checkatrade - apart from @Jogo Bonito, of course).

@kozmik Another good season for you, and I think you're far too modest - top four in the PL is always a major achievement! And I've said it before but I'm a big fan of your tactic - one of the most beautifully simple setups I've seen this year. 

[janneff]

Most of the early transfers were already discussed in my previous post. However there are few that were not yet arranged when I wrote last time. I wanted to add few players in AM strata and we did exactly that. We signed 23 yo Austrian international Dominik Prokop on free from Austria Vienna. He was able to cover multible positions but his small size (171 cm/59 kg) was slight disadvantage. We also signed young Danish attacking midfielder with similar skill set from Nordsjaelland.  Then we loaned Scott McTominay from Man Utd. I was delighted that we were able to make this move permanent in January window. We let few players leave when these transfers were arranged. Toughest one was George Honeyman. Burnley made decent offer and I thought this for a while. He was domestic, versatile and fan's favourite. However in the end I decided to sell him because I wasn't sure that he would be good enough to play in the Premier League and because his determination was only 10. At this point I thought that we had done our business. However few weeks later Josh Tymon become available. He's one of the better english left backs so I couldn't resist.  Then my Eastern European scout recommended Dejan Joveljic. He was much better than any of out three strikers so I had to sign him.  I had way too many strikers at this point so I decided to loan Josh Maja to Wigan. He wasn't particularly happy that I loan listed him. He had fairly poor season in the Championship and eventually I decided not to extend his contract.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek asking price came down just before January window opened. We offered him £55k p/w but basically laughed at us. He had received £82k p/w offer from Seattle and that's where he signed. Our consolation prize was Kasey Palmer. He was slightly worse but more versatile. We also loaned Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid. His contract was running out and he was interested in signing but his wage demands were really high and in addition he was fairly inconsistent. We didn't really need him and it was more like a trial. Lamine Kone's contract was running out and when Freiburg offered £3,3M we let him go.

We finished 7th. In addition we managed to win Carabao Cup. We beat Man City 2-0 at Wembley. jack Whatmough was our top performer. He even got few England call-ups but hasn't made his debut yet. Duncan Watmore had another great season. He scored 11 goals in the Premier League from AMR position. His perceived market value is almost £35M. Then there was Dejan Joveljic. 21 goals in 30 games. Only Harry Kane socred more than he. He justified his late arrival and was probably our most important player.

I have just finished our second season in the Premier League. I'll write review tomorrow but I'll leave this spoiler here.

Edited December 9, 2018 by janneff

[kroshot]

right finished my first season and have done something I have never done before,went the whole league season unbeaten winning 41 and drawing 5 games scoring 118 goals and letting in only 30.only 1 transfer in and out in January with maghoma leaving for Lens for 975k with young goalkeeper rossbach coming in for 300k.Juktkiewicz leading the way with 24 goals with Adams,Lookman and Gallagher all scoring over 20 during the season,this was my squad during the season

gk Rossabch/stockdale

rb colin/harding

lb Pedersen/galloway

cb dean/roberts

cb Morrison

cm Jota/gaudino

cm kieftenbled/strand

cm xadas/rossi/davis

rw/cf adams/vassell

cf jutkiewicz/gallagher

lw/cf lookman/hinds

as you can see played a 433 formation sometimes narrow sometimes wide 

will update transfers later

Forgot to say also won the league cup vs Chelsea so European football at st Andrews next seaon

Edited December 9, 2018 by kroshot

[Dong21]

On 07/12/2018 at 22:13, warlock said:

@Dong21 That's certainly not a bad season in the Championship! If you can toughen up that defence you should be able to push on next year.

Do you think you'll settle on the 4141dm or stick with the 442? I've been bouncing between them myself and it's the classic dilemma: two strikers can get you a lot more goals, but playing the DM really secures the defence. After three-and-a-half seasons with three different clubs, I still can't decide!

@warlock I'm thinking that I will most likely stick with the 4-1-4-1 DM wide as it worked well in the final stages of the season. All depends on who I am able to acquire in the transfer window though - if a quality striker is available it might tempt me back to the 4-4-2!

Great work surviving in the Premier League btw - impressive result against Spurs!

[kozmik]

Thanks @warlock, I really appreciate that. It's based on a system I've used for years and spent a lot of time (an insane amount of time if you ask the wife ) developing. I do play different systems on occasion, I love a good old-fashioned 442 with a target man, but this type of setup is the one I come back to time and time again.

[Jogo Bonito]

@Dong21 Well done on that finish, I like it when there is something to really work for and you've definitely had to do that with Charlton. An excellent read and good luck for next season.

@warlock Well done on a great escape (possibly a seasonal thing to say, if they still show that film every Christmas like they used to), best of luck to Sheffield Wednesday for next season.

@Jaketomsett Well done with Reading, that's a bit of a surprise. Now that I can see it's possible to remove Aluko in the first transfer window, I might be tempted to do a youth-focused (and dross removing) effort there myself using the likes of Rinomhota and Loader and kicking most of the underperforming senior players out of the club. Food for thought for me there.

@dino Well done with Bradford. It's a club with great potential but in reality they're along way from achieving it, so you did well to get them promoted in season 1. I feel your pain about the Checkatrade Trophy, I only wish L1 and L2 clubs were given the chance to refuse entry (still hate myself for winning the damn thing with Grimsby).

For anyone else not name checked, sorry but just too many to acknowledge. I've not had a chance to play any games this week, so still have my December 2019 top of the table clash against Reading as my next fixture for Grimsby.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Jogo Bonito

[Burnley92]

Luton Town end of first season review.

 

After beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 in the FA Cup 3rd round, I was eagerly awaiting the draw for the 4th round. And what a draw it was, Liverpool at home! Klopp made just one change to his team who were in 2nd place in the Premier League, in came Mignolet for Alisson.

 

We set up playing our usual 4-1-4-1 DM formation, but I decided to play deeper with a defensive mentality and go route one. Liverpool had 27 shots with 13 on target... We had 1 shot that was off target. Klopp would have been scratching his head as the game finished 0-0. Brilliant result for us!

 

The replay at Anfield was a different story and they beat us comfortably 5-0 

 

We went out of the Checkatrade Trophy to Oxford and I wasn't overly bothered, neither were the board.

 

Back to the league, with 10 games to play we sat in 2nd place, 9 points behind Charlton and 5 points clear of 3rd placed Sunderland. Charlton lost just their 2nd game of the season against Burton, and lost they did! A 4-0 home defeat set them on their way to 1 point in their next 4 games. 

With 2 games to play, we were 1 point ahead of Charlton. The next match?.. Charlton away from home! Lee Bowyer was telling the press that I didn't deserve my manager of the month award before the game. We took the lead in the 6th minute through a penalty. Charlton pegged us back level just before half time. The game reached the 3rd and final minute of injury time. Charlton made their final substitution due to an injury. Inexplicably we were still playing in the 96th minute when a moment of magic happened. Charlton's GK made a short pass to his central defender, who turned and met substitute Kazenga Lua Lua, who simply took the ball off him and passed it into the net. Charlton barely had time to restart the match when the full time whistle went.

 

Bowyer complained about the amount of added time in the press conference, I replied it was more than justified 

 

We finished as champions and went up with Charlton and Barnsley, who won the playoffs.

 

Next season we face the impossible in the Championship, we are predicted to finish 23rd. I can't wait!

[Jogo Bonito]

15 minutes ago, Burnley92 said:

Luton Town end of first season review.

 

After beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 in the FA Cup 3rd round, I was eagerly awaiting the draw for the 4th round. And what a draw it was, Liverpool at home! Klopp made just one change to his team who were in 2nd place in the Premier League, in came Mignolet for Alisson.

 

We set up playing our usual 4-1-4-1 DM formation, but I decided to play deeper with a defensive mentality and go route one. Liverpool had 27 shots with 13 on target... We had 1 shot that was off target. Klopp would have been scratching his head as the game finished 0-0. Brilliant result for us!

 

The replay at Anfield was a different story and they beat us comfortably 5-0 

 

We went out of the Checkatrade Trophy to Oxford and I wasn't overly bothered, neither were the board.

 

Back to the league, with 10 games to play we sat in 2nd place, 9 points behind Charlton and 5 points clear of 3rd placed Sunderland. Charlton lost just their 2nd game of the season against Burton, and lost they did! A 4-0 home defeat set them on their way to 1 point in their next 4 games. 

With 2 games to play, we were 1 point ahead of Charlton. The next match?.. Charlton away from home! Lee Bowyer was telling the press that I didn't deserve my manager of the month award before the game. We took the lead in the 6th minute through a penalty. Charlton pegged us back level just before half time. The game reached the 3rd and final minute of injury time. Charlton made their final substitution due to an injury. Inexplicably we were still playing in the 96th minute when a moment of magic happened. Charlton's GK made a short pass to his central defender, who turned and met substitute Kazenga Lua Lua, who simply took the ball off him and passed it into the net. Charlton barely had time to restart the match when the full time whistle went.

 

Bowyer complained about the amount of added time in the press conference, I replied it was more than justified 

 

We finished as champions and went up with Charlton and Barnsley, who won the playoffs.

 

Next season we face the impossible in the Championship, we are predicted to finish 23rd. I can't wait!

Great stuff with Luton and what an exciting finish. Nice to see some virtual sparring between you and Lee Bowyer too

[DefinitelyTaylor]

I have to admit, I've been playing a couple of saves outside the EFL and really enjoying them recently. However, this thread seems to have a way of pulling me back and making me want to go again.. could I possibly manage another save? I guess we'll have to see. 

[kozmik]

Decisions, decisions...

At least someone's offering some decent money compared to the 15k per week my penny pinching chairman is paying.

[dothestrand]

I always wonder - if you agree to £0pw, do you get the money back into your wage budget?

[Dong21]

3 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

I have to admit, I've been playing a couple of saves outside the EFL and really enjoying them recently. However, this thread seems to have a way of pulling me back and making me want to go again.. could I possibly manage another save? I guess we'll have to see. 

@DefinitelyTaylor I vote you go for it! Can't beat the EFL

 

8 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

I always wonder - if you agree to £0pw, do you get the money back into your wage budget?

You would yes, but you'd also have no job security as they could sack you at basically no cost!