So a new season is about to start and I am currently looking to buy a few players. My first major purchase is one I've been wanting to do for a while. I bought Neymar from Santos for 26,900,000 and he's getting a 51,500 wage. Not too bad.
I also got a loaned young player named Doumbia, who's a striker.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Manager of the season - 2014/2015
It also turns out I was voted manager of the season last season.
2014/2015 Season (55/5/6 - gf166/ga39)
EPL - 1st
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Final
Champions League - Semi Finals
1 MotM award
1 MotY award
2014/2015 Season (55/5/6 - gf166/ga39)
EPL - 1st
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Final
Champions League - Semi Finals
1 MotM award
1 MotY award
2014/2015 Season - Another EPL title
So I've reached the end of the 2014/2015 season and we've met our expectations. The spurs won the English Premier League with 31/4/3. We scored 106 goals and had 15 goals against, quite a remarkable result. Here is how the table looks:
Tottenham - 97
Manchester City - 86
Chelsea - 85
Liverpool - 81
Manchester Utd - 81
Arsenal - 60
Fulham - 60
Aston Villa - 57
West Ham - 54
Everton - 53
Blackburn Rovers - 50
Sunderland - 49
Newcastle Utd - 43
Bolton - 40
Birmingham City - 40
Burnley - 36
Wolverhampton - 29
Stoke City - 22
Nottm Forest - 20
Hull City - 17
Aside from that I also won the Community Shield with a win of 2x1 over Chelsea, as well as the FA Cup with a 3x2 win over Manchester United. I also won the League Cup against Chelsea by 2x1. Tottenham also won the Copa Europe over Marseille on a shootout after a 1x1 tie.
The Champions Cup final was between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with a 2x1 victory by Real Madrid. Tottenham lost to Real Madrid on the semi final unfortunately. On the Euro League, Lyon won the final over Arsenal on shootout after a 0x0 game.
Finally, Alexandre Pato won the Golden Boor after scoring 34 goals this season. Defoe came in second place with 28 goals, followed by Tevez (24), A Johnson (18), van Persie (18), Fernando Torres (18) and Rooney with 16 goals.
Tottenham - 97
Manchester City - 86
Chelsea - 85
Liverpool - 81
Manchester Utd - 81
Arsenal - 60
Fulham - 60
Aston Villa - 57
West Ham - 54
Everton - 53
Blackburn Rovers - 50
Sunderland - 49
Newcastle Utd - 43
Bolton - 40
Birmingham City - 40
Burnley - 36
Wolverhampton - 29
Stoke City - 22
Nottm Forest - 20
Hull City - 17
Aside from that I also won the Community Shield with a win of 2x1 over Chelsea, as well as the FA Cup with a 3x2 win over Manchester United. I also won the League Cup against Chelsea by 2x1. Tottenham also won the Copa Europe over Marseille on a shootout after a 1x1 tie.
The Champions Cup final was between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with a 2x1 victory by Real Madrid. Tottenham lost to Real Madrid on the semi final unfortunately. On the Euro League, Lyon won the final over Arsenal on shootout after a 0x0 game.
Finally, Alexandre Pato won the Golden Boor after scoring 34 goals this season. Defoe came in second place with 28 goals, followed by Tevez (24), A Johnson (18), van Persie (18), Fernando Torres (18) and Rooney with 16 goals.
Pre-season 2 - updates
We just had a fairly successful pre-season. I tried to get as many home games as I could to try to generate some cash as well as give everyone a chance to prove their worth in the team. Perhaps the highlight of our preseason was the victory of our home cup over Nairn County and Bromley.
We also made a few changes to the team, by adding some new coaches. I've been doing some reading on LLM and I believe this is something that was severely lacking in season one, so I hired whatever I could afford just to keep the team better trained.
In terms of players, I only had one new player comming in. I believe he was a real find. He was a Walsall youth dropout that came in for free and I firmly believe will be a significant addition to our squad. In terms of players leaving the team, I felt that we needed to eliminate our extra weight we didn't need so after their end of contract, I let go of Mark Dudley, Jermaine Johnson, Naill Maguire, Ollie Parker and Joe Rogers. I was also able to sell Tom Moss for free to Northwich. Our budget now looks actually quite good, as our salaries are totaling 24,689 p/ month and we're allowed 27,499. Not too bad, I'm hoping to bring that down even more if possible.
We also made a few changes to the team, by adding some new coaches. I've been doing some reading on LLM and I believe this is something that was severely lacking in season one, so I hired whatever I could afford just to keep the team better trained.
In terms of players, I only had one new player comming in. I believe he was a real find. He was a Walsall youth dropout that came in for free and I firmly believe will be a significant addition to our squad. In terms of players leaving the team, I felt that we needed to eliminate our extra weight we didn't need so after their end of contract, I let go of Mark Dudley, Jermaine Johnson, Naill Maguire, Ollie Parker and Joe Rogers. I was also able to sell Tom Moss for free to Northwich. Our budget now looks actually quite good, as our salaries are totaling 24,689 p/ month and we're allowed 27,499. Not too bad, I'm hoping to bring that down even more if possible.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Pre-season meeting
So these are the advices I've been given for the upcoming season.
In terms of season expectations, we've told the board that we believed we can achiever a top half finish this season, and they decided to give us 24k p/ month in wages.
Renew?
I've been renewing contracts and all that, but I'm wondering whether or not renew my coach/assistant manager. He's not really that great but last season it worked quite well for us.
Season 1 concluded - 9th place finish
So we've come to the end of the 2010/2011 season in the Blue Square Bet North and this is how the league table looks like.
The last few months of games looks like this. I'm fairly pleased with our performance in the last 2/3 of the season.
Here is a graph showing how we placed in the league all throughout the season. Considering we were predicted to finish 14th, I'd say we had a good run.
The last few months of games looks like this. I'm fairly pleased with our performance in the last 2/3 of the season.
Here is a graph showing how we placed in the league all throughout the season. Considering we were predicted to finish 14th, I'd say we had a good run.
Almost at the end of the season
The only real concern I have is finances. I was expecting our team would be bringing in more fans to watch our home games. Attendance seems to be going up but not fast enough to increase our budget very significantly. Our transfer budget is still set to zero which is not the end of the world but I would like to have a more significant wage budget. Our squad isn't necessarily large and our salaries are not large either and I can barely manage to renew players contracts.
I have to say this squad is one of the most fun squads I've managed. They were pretty bad at the start of the season but the quality of their game has improved significantly. With a few signings and continued hard work I really believe the team can get promoted from our division next season.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Jan 16, 2011 - halfway into the first season
So here are the stats of the Blue Square Bet North league at this point.
and fixtures...
Things aren't going too badly, the board didn't have the highest expectations and I am reaching my goal of finishing in the top half of the league.
and fixtures...
Things aren't going too badly, the board didn't have the highest expectations and I am reaching my goal of finishing in the top half of the league.
New signings
So after my increase in wage budget, I figured it may be a good opportunity to hire a few free agents to the team. So I picked up Bevan Burey (ST) and Josh Robinson (MC)
They are no messis and Iniestas, but they should help give my squad some more depth.
They are no messis and Iniestas, but they should help give my squad some more depth.
Start from the bottom
Turns out the teams chairman decided we may need some money to function so he lent the team 1M. This was great news, except I'm not entirely sure how we'll be able to pay him back in this lifetime. So I asked the board members for some money to increase our wage budget. After pestering them 3 times they actually gave us a bit more, bringing us up to 23k in wages. We are now able to comfortably pay player's wages and we're even starting to give some of our youth player’s contracts.
Logistics aside, we had an OK preseason run, with a few unfortunate injuries. I have faith in our team and hope to be able to get AC Zoah to finish mid-table this season.
So here are the players I have on the team right now (the %quality scores are based on a series of formulas I came up for different positions and roles players may have, I will probably expand on that a bit later):
Logistics aside, we had an OK preseason run, with a few unfortunate injuries. I have faith in our team and hope to be able to get AC Zoah to finish mid-table this season.
So here are the players I have on the team right now (the %quality scores are based on a series of formulas I came up for different positions and roles players may have, I will probably expand on that a bit later):
| GK | Quality (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) | |
| Lee Evans | 44.2 | 27 | 1.5 | 7.8 | |
| Tom Harrison | 39.4 | 19 | 2.5 | 5.4 | |
| D Jordan | 38.6 | 17 | 4 | 2.16 | |
| DC | Fast DC (0-100%) | Tall DC (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| Jermaine Johnson | 39.4 | 40.7 | 19 | 7.8 | |
| R Johnson | 44.5 | 42.1 | 16 | 5 | 2.16 |
| C McAughtrie | 48.5 | 47.4 | 29 | 7 | 15.6 |
| M Morris | 43.2 | 42.4 | 17 | 3.5 | 2.16 |
| FB | FB-d (0-100%) | FB-a (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| Alex Forde | 38.1 | 35.1 | 19 | 7.8 | |
| J Lomax | 40.4 | 35.2 | 16 | 4.5 | 2.16 |
| Jon Patrick | 39.5 | 34.1 | 19 | 10 | 2.76 |
| M Dudley | 38.7 | 36.3 | 20 | 18 | 15.6 |
| A Francis | 35.7 | 36.3 | 25 | 3 | 3.9 |
| MC | MC-d (0-100%) | MC-a (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| Adam Johnson | 39.3 | 39.3 | 25 | 7 | 2.16 |
| D Wrack | 49.8 | 50.0 | 34 | 15.6 | |
| R Davidson | 42.9 | 42.3 | 20 | 30 | 12 |
| N Maguire | 32.9 | 28.9 | 20 | 0 | 2.76 |
| Charlie Jones | 34.6 | 31.7 | 19 | 0 | 1.56 |
| MR/ML | Winger (0-100%) | MC-a (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| Matthew Hull (L) | 37.1 | 36.1 | 16 | 5 | 2.16 |
| F Kasiama (L) | 38.7 | 37.8 | 19 | 12 | |
| Levi Reid (R) | 39.3 | 38.7 | 26 | 10 | 15.6 |
| AMC | AMCC (0-100%) | R & L (0-100%) | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| R Heywood (L) | 37.0 | 31.5 | 17 | 8 | 2.16 |
| A Wright (A) | 36.0 | 36.3 | 16 | 7 | 2.16 |
| T Clarke (R) | 37.5 | 37.0 | 18 | 12 | |
| FC | FC fast (0-100%) | Target Man | Age | Aq. Fee (K) | Season Wage (K) |
| Ben Mills | 37.2 | 39.7 | 21 | 3.5 | 9.9 |
| C Sterling | 30.3 | 29.1 | 24 | 3.6 | |
| Tom Moss | 32.6 | 36.1 | 19 | 7.8 | |
| N Wellecomme | 39.4 | 43.5 | 26 | 15.6 | |
Ressurecting Zoah FC
After some time without playing much FM, I decided to do something I have never really done before. I decided to pick a lower league team and bring that team up to the EPL (ideally). For that I resurrected AC Zoah. AC Zoah, had just won a cup their FML server when the team had to fold due to some issues with SI's ideas to re roll their servers. I can understand why they had to do it, but I didn't feel it was really a great thing for managers that had given so much to develop their teams just to have it all erased. SI's deserved to suffer from their lack of foresight.
Anyway, all that aside I just picked up FM11, and the AC Zoah franchise purchased the Stafford United team, which was currently struggling in the Blue Square North league. The team was purchased and of course all their problems came with the package.
When I joined to manage the team, the most noticeable problems were, first that my budget was horrible. The team had no money, but it did have debt :). I was given no money for transfers, despite our lack of players and our current team salary of 17.5k was above our allotted amount of 15k for salaries. I'm not sure how I can bring that number down.
Anyway, all that aside I just picked up FM11, and the AC Zoah franchise purchased the Stafford United team, which was currently struggling in the Blue Square North league. The team was purchased and of course all their problems came with the package.
When I joined to manage the team, the most noticeable problems were, first that my budget was horrible. The team had no money, but it did have debt :). I was given no money for transfers, despite our lack of players and our current team salary of 17.5k was above our allotted amount of 15k for salaries. I'm not sure how I can bring that number down.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Jan 2015 - Spurs vs ManCity
Manchester City which is 1st in the EPL is playing me this round.
Machester City (4-2-3-1)
GK- J Hart
RB- G Johnson
RCB- Vermaelen
LCB- Lescott
LB- Kolarov
RDM- G Barry
LDM- N De Jong
RAM- Milner
LAM- Bellamy
CAM- M Johnson
ST- Tevez
Bench: Richards, Given, Balotelli, Wright-Phillips, Adebayor, Radu, Perotti
Tottenham Hotspurs (4-4-1-1)
GK- Gomes
RB- Fabio
RCB- Woodgate
LCB- Skrtel
LB- Assou-Ekotto
RM- A Lennon
RCM- Huddlestone
LCM- Modric
LM- G Bale
ST- Ganso
ST- Defoe
Bench: King, Sandro, Van der Vaart, Kranjcar, Pato, Palacios, Crouch.
The game ended in a 1x1 tie. Defoe scored first at 30' and we thought we had the game, but G. Johnson managed to score a header from a corner kick and level it at 90'. It was a bit of a disappointment. However to offset the disappointment, I got news that we just sold
Jenas for a nice 6M fee to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Jan 2015 - Spurs vs Arsenal
GK- Almunia
RB- Sagna
RCB- Garay
LCB- Naldo
LB- Clichy
RCM- Fabregas
CDM- Song
LCM- Nasri
RW- Walcott
ST- R van Persie
LW- Arshavin
Formation 4-3-3 (2)
They have Chamakh, Squillaci, Bendtner, Rosicky, Szczesny, Cahill and
Banega on the bench.
The game ended Tottenham 3 x 1 Arsenal, with 2 goals by Pato, 1 by Dos
Santos and the sole Arsenal goal by Walcott.
2014/2015 season - The beginning of De Gea's legacy
So now I am in the 2014/2015 season. We've had quite a good run so far, we're in 3rd place in the EPL, but playing some good offensive football. I decided to sell Dzagoev this mid season, he was playing fairly well but as a young player he just wasn't getting enough pitch time to develop the way I would like. I ended up selling him for 14M to Newcastle, Man City made an offer, but since they are the top of the league so I was a bit hesitant in helping them become stronger. I also decided it was time to invest in a new younger goalie before Gomes becomes too old. I was in between two players from Atletico Madrid. Sergio Asenjo who looked like quite a good signing, only 25, and quite a bit of potential as well as De Gea, who was a bit younger.
I decided to go for David de Gea Quintan, he was going to be a bit cheaper to buy since he wasn't a starting 11 player and I liked that he was only 24. So far this goalie has been an amazing addition to the team. I played him early in the season on the Copa Europe game against OM. What an amazing game. The game was tied during the first 90 minutes at 0x0. At the starting of the extra time OM scored and I was behind with only about 20 minutes of game left. It was the last minute of the second ET and De Gea came up for our last corner kick. Guess what, he ended up scoring on that corner taking us to penalty shootouts. He made a save in his first penalty and we ended up winning the shootout 4x2. After that my respect for this goalie went up a lot. He?s slowly becoming my main goalie.
This is my line up at the moment:
13- De Gea (78)
5- Corluka (81)
2- Dawson (81)
12- Skrtel (82)
32- Assou-Ekotto (79)
7- Lennon (83)
6- Huddlestone (81)
14- Modric (84)
3- Garreth Bale (82)
11- Alexandre Pato (86)
18- Defoe (81)
CB- King (80)
CDM- Sandro (76)
CAM- Van der Vaart (80)
CAM- Kranjcar (80)
CAM- Ganso (80)
CM- Palacios (77)
ST- Peter Crouch (74)
Reserves
GK- Gomes (79)
CB- Woodgate (78)
CB- Bassong (78)
RM- Bentley (78)
RW- Giovanni dos Santos (77)
CM- Jenas (76)
DCM- Isla (76)
LWB- Fabio (76)
RB- Hutton (76)
CB- Gallas (75)
CM- O'Hara (75)
GK - Cudicini (71)
I decided to go for David de Gea Quintan, he was going to be a bit cheaper to buy since he wasn't a starting 11 player and I liked that he was only 24. So far this goalie has been an amazing addition to the team. I played him early in the season on the Copa Europe game against OM. What an amazing game. The game was tied during the first 90 minutes at 0x0. At the starting of the extra time OM scored and I was behind with only about 20 minutes of game left. It was the last minute of the second ET and De Gea came up for our last corner kick. Guess what, he ended up scoring on that corner taking us to penalty shootouts. He made a save in his first penalty and we ended up winning the shootout 4x2. After that my respect for this goalie went up a lot. He?s slowly becoming my main goalie.
This is my line up at the moment:
13- De Gea (78)
5- Corluka (81)
2- Dawson (81)
12- Skrtel (82)
32- Assou-Ekotto (79)
7- Lennon (83)
6- Huddlestone (81)
14- Modric (84)
3- Garreth Bale (82)
11- Alexandre Pato (86)
18- Defoe (81)
CB- King (80)
CDM- Sandro (76)
CAM- Van der Vaart (80)
CAM- Kranjcar (80)
CAM- Ganso (80)
CM- Palacios (77)
ST- Peter Crouch (74)
Reserves
GK- Gomes (79)
CB- Woodgate (78)
CB- Bassong (78)
RM- Bentley (78)
RW- Giovanni dos Santos (77)
CM- Jenas (76)
DCM- Isla (76)
LWB- Fabio (76)
RB- Hutton (76)
CB- Gallas (75)
CM- O'Hara (75)
GK - Cudicini (71)
2013/2014 season - no need to spend money
The following season was the year the team really played the best of their game. I didn't buy a single player that season as I felt the team was perfect for the money. I did pick up a free agent that looked fairly interesting however, that was the Brazillian left back Fabio who was only 23 years old and 76 in overall skills. We sold a few players including Walker for 3.2M. Alexandre Pato again was my top scorer and this time he was the top scorer of the EPL, which was great.
2013/2014 season (46/13/4 - gf117/ga26)
EPL - 1st
FA Cup - Round 6 replay
League Cup - Final
Euro League - Finals
1 MotY award
2013/2014 season (46/13/4 - gf117/ga26)
EPL - 1st
FA Cup - Round 6 replay
League Cup - Final
Euro League - Finals
1 MotY award
2012/2013 season - reinforcing the back
The 2012/2013 was another great season, I was finally seeing my team progress a great deal with my signings and improved team chemistry. The past two seasons showed the team was moving in the right direction. At that point I felt I had a solid team but my defense only had 30+ players, which is fine but in time that wasn't going to keep me in the top of the charts. I decided then to purchase a new center back, I saw Martin Skrtel on transfer list and wasted no time, bought him for 20M, he was just what I needed. To offset the balance sheets a bit I sold Pavlyuchenko for 6.9M, which was good for me since he was only playing a few games a season anyway, he was OK but not as good as Crouch in the air and not good enough on his own. I also bought a new young CDM M. Isla from Chile. He and Sandro were comparable defending midfielders and got pitch time quite a few times. This season I also had Alexandre Pato as the top scorer of the team again, I wish I could check back how many goals he ended up with, oh
well. It really was a great season, despite a few upsets in our cup games.
2012/2013 season (40/14/8 - gf116/ga34)
EPL - 3th
FA Cup - Round 5 replay
League Cup - Quarter final
Euro League - Finals
2 MotM awards
1 MotY award
well. It really was a great season, despite a few upsets in our cup games.
EPL - 3th
FA Cup - Round 5 replay
League Cup - Quarter final
Euro League - Finals
2 MotM awards
1 MotY award
2011/2012 season - 2 new CAMs
During the next season, I decided I needed to reinforce my midfield and hopefully purchase some young talents. I found two great players, Ganso from Santos which I paid 35.8M and Dzagoev which I don't really remember how much I paid for, but probably around 30+M. Both players came in around the same age with overall skills of 78. Not too bad for young players. I sold a few more of my reserves and my biggest sale was R.Mason for 1.7M. Mason was young but really wasn't progressing enough to make him worth keeping.
That season Defoe ended up being my top scorer, but still not the top
scorer of the EPL
2011/2012 season (38/14/7 ? gf100/ga23)
EPL - 5th
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Final
Euro League - Round of 32
2 MotM awards
scorer of the EPL
2011/2012 season (38/14/7 ? gf100/ga23)
EPL - 5th
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Final
Euro League - Round of 32
2 MotM awards
FIFA11 - Tottenham Career mode
So this is the first time I play a career mode further than a couple of seasons on FIFA 11, I thought maybe people would be interested in seeing what kinds of trades you end up getting and how the teams start to look after a several seasons.
I chose to play Tottenham Hotspurs for this campaign, I had never play with them before and since they were doing fairly well this year in real life I decided this could be an interesting team to play with in the EPL. Right now I'm on the 2014/2015 season and I'll just give a quick overview of my career so far.
On my first season I did sell quite a few of my players. I found the spurs have A LOT of players in their squad and since I had no intentions of playing half of those reserves I just cashed them in. The biggest transfer fee I ended up receiving was only 1.9M for J. Livermore. On that year I was looking for a good striker. I found my team was fairly balanced overall, but the spurs lacked a bit of attacking power and flair for my taste. Defoe was quite a bit of fun to play with, but Crouch is a very situational type player. I wasn't a huge fan of Pavlyuchenko, and only played him sometimes. Van der Vaart is also a quality player but he was often my choice in substitution for my attacking minded midfielders so I couldn't really rely on him as a striker all the time.
Luckily Milan was selling Alexandre Pato, which happens to be one of my favorite strikers in the world. I was able to buy him for 39.4M, and he scored a fair number of goals right away. I think that season Defoe ended up being my top scorer though.
2010/2011 season (28/12/9 - gf65/ga23)
EPL - 6th
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Round 4
1 MotM award
On my first season I did sell quite a few of my players. I found the spurs have A LOT of players in their squad and since I had no intentions of playing half of those reserves I just cashed them in. The biggest transfer fee I ended up receiving was only 1.9M for J. Livermore. On that year I was looking for a good striker. I found my team was fairly balanced overall, but the spurs lacked a bit of attacking power and flair for my taste. Defoe was quite a bit of fun to play with, but Crouch is a very situational type player. I wasn't a huge fan of Pavlyuchenko, and only played him sometimes. Van der Vaart is also a quality player but he was often my choice in substitution for my attacking minded midfielders so I couldn't really rely on him as a striker all the time.
Luckily Milan was selling Alexandre Pato, which happens to be one of my favorite strikers in the world. I was able to buy him for 39.4M, and he scored a fair number of goals right away. I think that season Defoe ended up being my top scorer though.
2010/2011 season (28/12/9 - gf65/ga23)
EPL - 6th
FA Cup - Final
League Cup - Round 4
1 MotM award
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)