Football Manager 2018

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Dug out the Liepzig save I started. Just reached the end of January, 5 points clear at the top, Bayern lingering in 5th because their form was awful at the start.

Poulsen is the standout so far. Most goals, most assists, most MOTM awards. Jean-Kevin Augustin somehow got World Golden Boy for 2017 despite being third choice for me, although he got a decent stint of games when Werner got injured. Werner doing subpar so far but he's due a good run.

Forsberg has been an arse the first half of the season because I refused to let him join Liverpool, but the whole squad agreed he was being a twat so after dropping him for 2 months he fell back in line. Sabitzer complained I didn't let him join PSG even though they didn't bid for him during the window so he's next on the 'fuck off' list.

To supplement Keita's impending departure, I snagged Jack Wilshere on a pre-contract for the end of the season. Figured it's worth a punt with no cost attached and he can get sold back to England if he's shit. Got a decent youth prospect on a pre-contract too who's name escapes me.

Ralf Rangnick is absolutely determined to sign me more strikers, he bid on 12 in January despite us out-scoring everyone in the league so far. I eventually let him sign one called Lautaro Martinez, who after googling him post-move appears to have just had a big money move to Inter Milan in real life so he must be halfway decent. Looks a very good prospect too, bagged a goal and assist on his debut.

We got royally dicked in the Champions League since we drew Man United and Real Madrid in the group. Besiktas were the third team and they got the Europa spot on virtue of drawing 5 out of 6 group games. We ended with 2 points and I switched focus to the league since the board didn't seem arsed.

Should hang on and win the league pretty easily and we've got a Div 2 team in the cup quarter-finals (we knocked Bayern out in the first round, amazingly!) so that should be a straight forward win. League/Cup double before rebalancing the squad for an improvement in Europe is the current aim.

[FLiam]

Why does everyone else win the league as Leipzig? 

Form has gone to absolute shit. Fuck Spurs.

I don't want to press continue:

Absolute pile of steaming shit. Go 2-0 up, then throw it away and go 3-2 down, then peg it back, tighten up a little and then concede. Wankers. 9 points behind a Europa League spot now as well. 

No wonder they have a cock on their badge. 

[Lineker]

You're just shit at the game mate.

[FLiam]

Upon looking at my fixture list, I realise that my next three games are Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea. All away from home. What sort of fixture list is this FA?

Oh, and then Man City at home. 

[FLiam]

I realised that I have some phenomenal young players coming through the ranks at Spurs. One is brilliantly named Mathias Leblanc whose physical stats for 18 are the best I have seen I think.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Pretty sure I will blend them all into the first-team picture next season as I'm currently projected to have only £2m to spend on transfers. 

 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

9 points clear, 9 games to go. Still have the current 2nd, 3rd and 4th-placed teams to play, as well as the team dead last (Moenchengladbach, who I'm 100% gonna try and sign Ginter from once they go down). Bayern have also just sacked Heynckes after their 7th league loss this season.

It's in my hands, really shouldn't bottle it from here.

EDIT: Sevilla just knocked Bayern out of the Champions League as well, what a shit season they're having 

[FLiam]

I ended up just about getting Europa League football for next season (the minimum the board expected from me). The final table below:

Spoiler

I lost in the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester City 5-2. Arsenal went on to win it. 

This moment was both happy and sad for me:

Doing the double over Arsenal was great for the fans. 

Transfer-wise, I got more than I was expecting, a huge £8m. This was slightly boosted by the sales of Tashan Oakley-Boothe (£6m), Eric Dier (£90m, yes ninety million pounds), Xherdan Shaqiri (£6m), Eddie Nketiah (£5m). Unfortunately the board were only willing to give me 35% of the transfer revenue but managed to get them to up it to 50% after I told Levy how dumb he was being.

Clearly I still have an issue in the squad with homegrown players, so I felt that a replacement for Eric Dier needed to be British or at least trained in England, so I went for Alfie Mawson and had a £17m fee agreed and threw £125,000 a week at him as I was slightly desperate but Liverpool came in and offered him £100,000 a week, so naturally he took that. My second target was recently released Rob Holding from Arsenal. Rob Holding on a free transfer you say? England international Rob Holding? Yes please. So I threw £125,000 at him, and he turned me down for Bordeaux who were willing to pay him a massive £70,000 a week. 

Other than those two, the British market was poor, either players were not good enough or would cost me upwards of £50m, of which I don't have. So I ended up signing Dayot Upamecano for a fee that could reach £38m, which I think it reasonable since he's very, very good. Also incoming was Mohamed Elneny on a free transfer from AC Milan, he is a good rotation option in midfield and can also fill in at centre-back as part of a back three if needed. Which is likely, as I am slightly short on them. Other than that, I have promoted a few of the young talents from the u23 to help fill the squad.

Now just waiting the draw for the Europa League qualifying round before I start the season at home to Arsenal.

Finalised my transfer business:

Players in: Mohamed Elneny (AC Milan, free), Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig, £38m), Hidde ter Avest (Ajax, £7.75m), Christoph Kramer (Dortmund, free).
Players out: Tashan Oakley-Boothe (West Brom, £6m), Eric Dier (Manchester United, £90m), Xherdan Shaqiri (Preston, £6m), Eddie Nketiah (Dinamo Moscow, £5m), Thiago Maia (Real Madrid, £57m).

Really didn't want to lose Thiago Maia, but Real Madrid came knocking, he kicked off so I promised I would accept a bid of £57m (he only signed in the summer I took over from Man City for £25m). They originally offered a structured deal worth about £40m, so I told them where to stick it and said I want £57m up front plus 50% of any future sale and they offered it to me. 

So, I trolley dashed, saw that 32 year-old Christoph Kramer was available on a free transfer, so added him to the ranks on a one-year deal. Between him and Elneny, my big defensive-minded midfielder gap should be plugged allowing Christian Eriksen to continue to do his thing further up the pitch. 

[Franklin_1]

On 22/07/2018 at 12:44, Liam Mk2 said:

I realised that I have some phenomenal young players coming through the ranks at Spurs. One is brilliantly named Mathias Leblanc whose physical stats for 18 are the best I have seen I think.

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Pretty sure I will blend them all into the first-team picture next season as I'm currently projected to have only £2m to spend on transfers. 

 

I got Barnet to the Prem and have spent about £10 million in 2 seasons while stacking cash.  Over a quarter of my 25 man roster is homegrown and under the age of 21.  I think it is more enjoyable going that way, especially if you are a relegation contender.

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm sitting in first place with Oxford in L2 with five games to go. We're up six points, so there's potential for me to bones it up. I've got three decent players that were already on the team, two guys that I brought in that are doing well, and five players on loan from Liverpool. I hooked up with Liverpool after the first half season I spent in Oxford, where we went from 16th (or 18th, I can't quite remember) when I took over to finishing 12th. I asked the board to come back with a senior affiliate and it was either Liverpool or a club literally one league above us. The Liverpool guys have been killing it in L2 though.  No idea if I want to stick around for L1 though. The board offered me a new contract and I asked for the negotiations to be postponed until the end of the season and they agreed. I've tossed my name in to the hat for a few U23 National jobs and have gotten laughed at, though, so I may need to stick in Oxford for at least another year before someone actually wants me.

[Rocky]

Midway through October of the first season, trying to get Nottingham Forest back up to the Premiership. Currently sitting in 6th place (7-2-3) 6pts of the pace. Pretty happy where I am.
Have slightly fallen off the pace a little bit after an early 5 match winning streak was ended by Wolves(1st).
Stand out players so far;
Ashkan Dejagah (MR)
Ben Osborn (ML)
Chris Cohen (MC)
Apostolos Vellios (ST)
Vellios has currently scored 10 goals in 8 League appearances, even when being out for 4 weeks with injury. He is the league top goal scorer atm.

Tried using a few younger players where I can. Ben Brereton (18yr old Striker) is now a starter up front with Vellios and has scored 6 goals for himself.
Matty Cash and Joe Worrall have rotated in whenever the need came about and done well.

Using a tweaked 4-4-2 tactic. The fans seem to be behind it and the team have taken to it quite well. It does leave me with a few Attacking Midfield players unusable (barring a couple, that can double back to MR/L) so I'll probably try send them out. I have a few players complaining about not getting enough first team football. I don't have time for their crap. That's how you get transfer listed. Sit down. Stay Humble.

Enjoying the save though, wish I had more time to sink into it. Will probably update at seasons end.

[FLiam]

Update on my Spurs save circa 2023/24 season. I kind of wish I'd started a blog when I begun at England, but never mind.

I managed to win our two Europa League qualifying ties, first up was Slovan Bratislava whom I beat 4-0 at home before succumbing to a 1-0 loss away, but all was well, safe passage through to the fourth qualifying round. Then it was FC Zurich of Switzerland, in which I had a comfortable 2-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (still annoys the shit out of me), and then bettering the result away from home with a 3-0 win. 

The draw the group stage pits me up against Guingamp, Fenerbache and Mouscron. If I don't qualify from that group, I deserve the chop. My first game went well, beating Fenerbache 2-0 at home.

In terms of the league campaign so far, I opened with a 2-0 win at home to Arsenal which was followed by a miserable 3-2 defeat at Stoke. I knew it would be bad as my two left wing-backs (Davies and Alba) were injured and the only suitable candidate to play there was Calum Chambers. So, I switched my two central midfielders around, playing my more defensive minded on the left side to help out. What happened? In the 91st minute, Calum Chambers was absolutely skinned by Reiss Nelson who then scored the winner.

Following that game, all has been well. I have beaten Southampton, Ipswich and Hull 1-0, 1-0 and 3-0 respectively to leave me sitting in 3rd after 5 games, 1 point behind the two leading Manchester clubs. 

EFL cup campaign is already over, after I lost to Newcastle on penalties following a 1-1 draw. 

I'll probably update at the end of the January transfer window, which knowing me, will be tomorrow.

[The Lusophone]

Season 3 at Red Bull, just started and wish I'd seen this regen before the transfer window closed. £5 million for a 15 year old is fairly ridiculous but it's a 15 year old that's as good as my best regen in his position:

Spoiler

 

[FLiam]

Wow, those mental attributes. 

[Lineker]

5 hours ago, Liam Mk2 said:

at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (still annoys the shit out of me)

@Liam Mk2

 

[FLiam]

2 minutes ago, Lineker said:

@Liam Mk2

 

Ta! 

You get the honours of naming the ground now.

[Lineker]

Pressure! I'll get right back to you (running out of the front door!)

[FLiam]

Just now, Lineker said:

Pressure! I'll get right back to you (running out of the front door!)

You’re a Tottenham fan. You’ll bottle it.

[Lineker]

Possibly.

[Baddar]

The Sol Campbell Stadium.

[Lineker]

2 minutes ago, Baddar said:

The Sol Campbell Stadium.

Cunterdome.