Jogo Bonito Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Yeah, a PO spot would be good. But don't forget, you're the tactical genius! Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 It seems to have abandoned me since the new year! Haha, just like Jose on his Chelsea return me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 Hello folks and welcome to one hell of a massive update. We are now in season 2015/16 and quite a lot has changed since my update some time ago. The last time I posted we were in pre season at the beginning of the season, I had agreed to sign Fraser Forster and was close to signing Adam Lallana. Well the Lallana signing never happened. Last summer we signed Fraser Forster 7m - Celtic - adds quality in goal and some experience as well Jack Robinson - loan from LFC Yet again Ciro Immobile - Juventus - loan - a striker to provide some cover for my main strikers Micah Richards - loan - Tottenham - again to provide competition for places at the back, he can play right back or centre back. Ross Barkey - 7m - Everton. He had hardly played for Everton but I think he is quality. Plus he is about 5 year younger than Lallana is, wanted 30k less wages and seemed to want to join whereas we were Lallana's only choice. Jay Rodriques - 4m - Fulham - will add some quality up front, can hopefully push Martin for a starting place Month by month updates now. August We started the season with a hard earned 1-0 win against a revamped Newcastle who had spent heavily in the summer, Gary Hooper with the winner early in the first half. This was followed by a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham, again Hooper with the goal, however this time we got battered for most of the game. We ended the month with a comfortable 3-1 home win against Stoke. September Following the International break, the first game in September wasn't until the 12. We ended with a 1-1 draw away at QPR, Hooper with a last minute equaliser to keep us unbeaten. Following our good season last year, this year we are in the Europa League. With Fiorentina, Atromotis and Braga in our group. First up was a home game against the Italian giants. In what a dire game, we drew 0-0, a decent but dull start to our European campaign. In the next 2 games our season took a turn for the worse. Firstly a 3-1 defeat at Norwich followed by Hull dumping us out the League Cup in Extra time, the only positive being Chris Martin scoring a brilliant Hatrick as we lost 4-3. The month ended well with a 2-1 home win against Blackburn getting us back on track. October October would see us continue our European adventure and this time with Braga away. I was considering making all sorts of changes, but in the end I decided to go and attack them and hope for the best. Barkey twice, Hooper twice and Gkoraj got us an amazing 5-0 win, 4-0 up at half time. A brilliant result with our next 2 group games against whipping boys Atromotis. We followed up the 5-0 win with a 2-1 home win against Liverpool and then a 1-1 draw at home to Man City. This left us just short of the top 4 places. Atromotis turned up a pride park and left following a 4-1 hammering, Hooper scoring 2 on the night. A 2-0 loss at Chelsea and a 0-0 draw at Sunderland was a disappointing end to a very good month. November We started the month with a 1-0 in Greece, Ross Barkley scoring the only goal, before a 2-0 win at home to Arsenal in the league. A 3-1 loss at Swansea was a worry, but we followed this up with a 3-0 win against Cardiff and a 4-0 win against Hull. The goals were finally flying, as were we up the league. December The first game of December was a real mix. We lost in Italy 1-0, but because of other results had now qualified from the group and would be in the knock out rounds of Europe for the first time in years. A sneaky 1-0 win at Wolves kept our good league form going, before we turned up at Everton and dismantled them 4-0, Hooper scoring all 4!! A 2-1 win against Braga ended our group well, league us with 4 wins from 6 games. We then beat Fulham and drew with Ipswich in the league in what would be a busy Christmas period. A slender 1-0 defeat to Manchester United and a 0-0 draw at Newcastle ended the year, we finished the year 5th in the league, closing in on 4th place Liverpool. January January was upon us and so was the transfer window, early business saw Luke Shaw finally join us from Southampton, someone I had been trying to sign for nearly 2 years. A 6m deal was agreed and he would come in as our long term left back. We started the year with a 2-1 FA Cup 3rd round win against Cardiff, Immobile scoring both in what would be his last game for the club. I cancelled his loan as Shane Long agreed to join for 4m from Arsenal. Some premier league quality up front as our only real goalscoring threat is Hooper, although he is doing a dam good job of keeping the results coming in. A 3-1 home win against Tottenham moved us into 4th place, Hooper scoring two of the 3, before he got a hat trick at Stoke as we won 3-0. Another home win, this time 3-0 against Swansea, Hooper getting another 2, followed by 1-0 wins against both QPR and Norwich. We are in the last week of January, 3rd in the table but with only 10 points between the top 7!! More to come.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Fantastic update PL, and that's really a proper Premiership squad you have assembled now (Shaw, Hooper, Long, Barkley etc). The form is excellent, and you're also doing well in Europe, which is a bonus. How many has Hooper hit now? Looking forward to the next instalment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 Fantastic update PL, and that's really a proper Premiership squad you have assembled now (Shaw, Hooper, Long, Barkley etc). The form is excellent, and you're also doing well in Europe, which is a bonus. How many has Hooper hit now?Looking forward to the next instalment Thought I would fire some stats out as well as a bit of an update. Our main goalscorer has been Gary Hooper who has scored an amazing 28 goals in 31 games (1 from the bench). He is the joint top scorer in the Premier League and is being touted for an England call up. Other than him though we are struggling big time, Martin is next top scorer with 6 and he scored 3 of them in a Carling Cup game against Hull, then a load of players on 4 goals. Hopefully Long can add some firepower for us. Best players rating wise, Barkley is top with 8.06 in 21 games. He has had a few minor knocks which is annoying but when fully fit he is amazing, possibly the best midfielder in the league this season. Will Hughes's form has suffered slightly because of Barkley coming in, but he has still got a 7.69 rating and is progressing very nicely. Scott Wootton has improved the most, playing almost every game, adding a few goals and has a rating of 7.72. We have won 14 of our 24 games, losing just 4 so far. (league form only). Scoring 38 and conceding just 17. We can still improve, I do feel we are still over achieving. There is no way we are a top 4 team but we seem to play badly and win 1-0 and play amazing and hammer teams 3-4 nill. Obviously that's not a bad thing but I do feel we need to add some real top quality. The best thing is we are making a lot of money from our European run etc, so hopefully if we can get more European football for next year (either CL and EL) then we can add some quality players to take us on further. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 February & March Update 2012/2013 February was a short and quiet month with only three games having been knocked out of all cup competitions, it also was another poor month with no victories out the three. Defeats against Brentford and Bournemouth started and ended the month with a draw with MK Dons sandwiched between. On a personal level M'Voto came runner up in the League One Player of the Month award. March started better with a victory over Leyton Orient, but this didn't last with two draws and two defeats seeing us end the month in 6th. Five games to go to cling onto a playoff place.. At the end of March we agree a pre-contract agreement with young Welsh striker Jake Gray from Connah's Quay. He will join the side on the 9th June when his contract ends. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Just started a new save on the latest update with Derby. Looking to build a solid, hard-working team who don't concede many goals and to make Pride Park a very hard place for the opposition to get results. Anyone got any essential tips for playing in the championship? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Plainlayzee is probably the best man to ask but he's on holiday.. Will no doubt help you out when he posts! He's at Direby too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Ok cheers mate. Brought in Dean Moxey at left back for £400k and Nick Proschwitz on loan to bolster the striking options. Probably not going to do any more deals. What I failed to mention is that I want to keep the game as interesting as possible, by this I mean making realistic transfers, giving youth a chance and not making too many signings so it ruins my squad. The board expects me to get top half and that's what I am aiming for, but secretly i'm hoping to sneak in to the play-off spots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 I'm not on holiday anymore.... What do you want to know? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Alright mate, just wondering if you have any 'must do' tips for managing derby in the Championship. I've never managed in the championship before. I'm aiming to be solid defensively and hit teams on the counter and try to be one of the best teams defensively in the league. I want the game to be realistic in terms of signings and how many I make. 1st pre-season game went perfectly to plan, beating Celtic 2-0 at home, restricting the opposition to 3 attempts and hitting them on the break. Long way to go I know, but i'm well up for sticking at this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 April Update 2012/2013 April started with me handing out contract renewals to Paul Gerrard, Dean Bouzanis and Cliff Byrne. Again we started well, a 3-1 victory over Scunny gave us hope of holding onto a playoff place. Successive defeats against Crawley and League One champions Tranmere knocked us back and following a draw with high flying Notts County we fell out of the playoffs with one game to go. We needed to win and hope Preston either drew or lost OR Hartlepool lost.. We won, 1-0 against Walsall thanks to a brilliant Dean Furman volley.. Presto won against 10 men Swindon.. And Hartlepool drew against lowly Bury meaning we ended up in 7th and outside the playoffs by a point. Ultimately it's disappointing but 4 wins since the turn of the year was no promotion chasing form and we paid the price for losing Barnard as goals dried up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Oh dear Gunner, what a let-down and I'm really disappointed you couldn't make the play-offs this time. Hard luck there but I hope you'll give it another bash? If so, may the board be reasonable with you! Welcome smplfc123, and good luck at Direby (nice one Gunner). That sounds like a good approach and I hope it will work out for you. Mr Layzee is definitely the man in the know there (and Jamo as a real life fan, if he pops in). PL - thanks for the details on key players, now I really need Hooper to perform like that for me next season when I get there (I'm still in March at Cov). Shane Long will surely help you out - and for personal reasons I really hope he does - top lad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Alright mate, just wondering if you have any 'must do' tips for managing derby in the Championship. I've never managed in the championship before. I'm aiming to be solid defensively and hit teams on the counter and try to be one of the best teams defensively in the league. I want the game to be realistic in terms of signings and how many I make. 1st pre-season game went perfectly to plan, beating Celtic 2-0 at home, restricting the opposition to 3 attempts and hitting them on the break. Long way to go I know, but i'm well up for sticking at this Good start with the win over Celtic. I would say make sure you build you team around Will Hughes. The man is amazing playing as a Attacking Playmaker. Your GK and defenders are good enough, midfield needs a lot of work and you need to find yourself a 30+ goal striker IMO. Keep the wages down as well as finances are a bit tight at the beginning but if you go up the club can be making a nice healthy profit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 I will be honest, for the first time since starting this forum I am sort of board with my save.....which is annoying. I am getting less and less enthusiastic about my save at the minute. I fired it up 3 times yesterday, sat looking at the screen and then decided to just look at other teams and how they had progressed before closing the game down again. Not too sure why, I am doing really well, but I just CBA at the moment. I think it's because I want to play as Liverpool (supported team) and have tried a few times but kept on failing miserably, so now I have learnt how to play the game a bit better in the lower leagues I might give them a shot, although no doubt it won't last and I will be back as Derby by tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 I'm disappointed however the board are delighted with me, after all we was only expected to stay in the league and we came very close to having a chance of getting out of it. It's time to rebuild over the summer and look to go again! We'll be losing all five loaness taking the player count down to 14. Would very much like to keep Barnard but the others I'm not overly fussed about. Obita hasn't been great and I'm not sure we have a chance of getting him back, however Montano is improving rapidly and so will easily drop in there. We already have Jake Gray joining for a free in June who looks an exciting young player who looks ready for the first team so at least we will have one striker on the books! (Barnard/Iwelumo on loan and Smith may well be released) Will let you all know how I'm going! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 @ PL - sorry to hear that, but I understand what you're saying. Maybe you need to have a bash at Liverpool, keep the Derby one there in reserve and see if you fancy going back to it later? @ Gunner, I agree with you. It wasn't on the cards to get a PO spot, just a shame because you started so well. I'm really surprised that Obita didn't impress you, but good luck with your summer re-build and best wishes for season 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 @PL - I'm also a Liverpool fan and bitterly frustrated at my lack of success with them despite number of attempts so i've dropped down a division. 4 friendlies gone and I haven't conceded a goal so the defensive stability towards my tactics and training are working initially, although we all know anything can happen in the championship :s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 @PL - I'm also a Liverpool fan and bitterly frustrated at my lack of success with them despite number of attempts so i've dropped down a division. 4 friendlies gone and I haven't conceded a goal so the defensive stability towards my tactics and training are working initially, although we all know anything can happen in the championship :s If you can win most of your home games you have a great chance of getting into the play offs, anything away from home is a bonus. @Jogo - going to give a Liverpool game a crack for a bit. Will obviously keep an eye on this forum too as I might be back in a week or so. Keep up the good work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 I hate my chairman.. Will post an update of between the end of the season and start of July hopefully later on tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 What has he done now? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 It sounds like 2nd season 'raise expectations, reduce budgets' syndrome to me. I suffered that at a few L1 clubs, even after a promotion from L2. End of season report at Coventry (2016/2017) April 2017 started with a 2-0 home win over Southampton (Ledley, Mezague) and a 0-0 draw at Cardiff, before we faced Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final. They had been in the PL for two seasons and as usual I made my multiple changes to reward my ‘cup’ team that had got us this far. It started poorly, very poorly, as they roared in to a 2-0 lead before Ivan Santini pulled a goal back on 63 minutes. I then introduced Sebastian Ribas in his place as we sought a way back, and the under-used substitute levelled after 86 minutes to earn extra time, and then added another after 113 minutes to win the tie and book our place in the Final. We returned to league action (and our usual league players) but were beaten 1-0 at Swansea, and lost at home to Man Utd (0-2) before ending the month with a much-improved 0-0 draw at Arsenal. We may not have scored for three league games but still remained comfortably inside the top 10 places. May 2017 saw us return to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to West Brom three days before meeting Huddersfield in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. The Yorkshire side had been relegated from the top flight the year before, so although no pushover, it was fair to say we had a very decent chance of beating them. I reverted to my usual method of rotation, resisting the temptation to use my preferred league stalwarts, but it was still a strong side as Mezague, Christie, Ledley and Antonio remained. The game was a tight affair, but Dejan Mezga – who had recently returned from an injury absence of eight weeks – capitalised on an error by Alex Smithies to guide the ball in to an empty net after 50 minutes. The 1-0 win was probably a fair reflection, and it was a surreal feeling to lift a major trophy having only just been promoted at the start of the season. In fact, I don’t think I had ever reached a QF in this cup at various clubs before, so it was certainly not something that I had even considered could happen. The added bonus of course, would be Europa League football next season, which is certainly a level of competition that was unexpected. Despite our main business being done, we finished the league campaign with a solid and deserved 2-1 win at Everton in the final match, with Atassi and goal-shy Plet putting us two up before the hosts responded with a consolation. Our final league standing of 8th was very satisfying, although we had never even got remotely close to the top six. The final record was: PL38, W14, D14, L10, GF47, GA40, PTS56. I’m going to give myself a few days to decide whether to continue this, as I do not usually do more than 2/3 seasons and this would be starting my 6th campaign. I’m partly tempted to continue because of the arrivals of Hooper and Finnbogason, plus the European excursion on the horizon. On the other hand, familiarity does breed a boredom factor after this long, and also the freaky amount of ‘long-throws and headed goals’ took some gloss off the ‘realism’ of my season. To illustrate the point, my top league scorer was centre-back Danny Batth (12 in 36 games), mostly from the throws of Antonio - the same source created a fair few of our FA Cup goals too. The only other player to hit 10 goals in the league was Glynor Plet (that landmark only being achieved in the final match). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 He's done exactly that! Raise expectations but cut budgets.. Well done a very succesful season! Hopefully you continue as like you said, European football will be a different adventure altogether! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Upto July Update 2013-2014 The Oldham board decided to offer me a new contract a month before the end of my current one. I accepted the offer and agreed a further two years at the club. During the end of season awards M'Voto was selected as a starting centre back in the League One Team of the Year. He averaged 7.62 over 43 appearances and scored 5 goals. I did attempt to resign three of my five loanees but Barnard and Obita shown zero interest in returning for another loan spell and Iwelumo's wage demands were too high. Craddock (Declining) and Butterfield (Injured for 8 months) were allowed to return to their clubs. Matt Smith and Dan Taylor signed new two year deals with the club on the same day. Smith agreed to reduced wages otherwise I would have let him go due to a poor season. The club also announced three new sponsorship deals which improved on previous deals by £57k.. Every little helps! Although they then decided to announce the budgets for next season.. Zero transfer budget and a £6.5k per week drop in the wage budget to £31.5k per week.. Joke! Add to this a measly 5% of transfer revenue made available for transfers! AND the fact the board want a top half finish as a minimum.. Definitely got my work cut out this season it seems! Liam Jacob, a young 18 year old Australian who was a promising goalkeeper in the reserves last season was also denied a work permit meaning he couldn't sign a contract extension with the club, meaning we've lost one of our brightest young talents. Jake Gray finally joined the club from Welsh side Connah's Quay on the 9th June on a free after his contract ended. The 18 year old striker becomes the first signing of the season. He's a player who Im very excited to have, he's 18 but is already capped for the Wales Under 21's with 1 cap and 1 goal to his name. 11th June sees Roland Bergkamp of Brighton agree to join for free at the end of his contract. The Dutch striker will join on the 1st July. Finally just two days before his contract was up we managed to tie down Lee Croft for a further year despite an offer from Colchester United. Croft topped the assists for the team last season, creating 13 goals and scoring 5. Due to the restrictions on wages imposed by the board I unfortunately couldn't afford to renew certain players contracts with Murray, Simpson, Cisak, Hughes and Millard leaving the club. Jacob, the young Australian goalkeepers contract has ended but he's remained at the club, I am trying to get a work permit for him so he can stay with us and play games. So with 15 players on the books (first team) I have a job on my hands to pull together a squad capable of a top half finish.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Wow, that's going to be a serious test of your management skills. I think it's a flaw in the game at L1/L2 level that after a decent season the board do their version of 'the double'. Raising expectations is ok but the budgets should at least match (if not exceed) what you had before. If financial difficulties really dictate cuts, then they should also adjust their expectations. It's NOT realistic to do what they have done, they are either ambitious and want progress, or they need to consolidate before pushing again. At least you will have no choice but to try and use some of your youngsters, and of course maximise the 'free' loans where you don't have to contribute any wages. I know you don't like to rely on them, but you will get more quality than your youngsters can offer, and at no cost to you. Scotland can also give you some extra loanees as you won't have any 'reputation' hurdles to overcome. Good luck for your new season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Cheers Jogo. Very excited to see how my first signing (Jake Gray) gets on. He's only young but he's the manIm having to rely on to replace Barnard. Hoping him and Bergkamp can feed off the creative Croft. It's going to be interesting to see how we do with lots of 'new' and younger faces in the squad.. It's exciting but worrying! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Yeah I can see it's exciting because you can just throw the young guys in. Is this Jake Gray a regen? Maybe a back-up tactic using Smith as a TM if you struggle? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Says he joined Connah's Quay in 2010 so no? It's strange because he never played a game for them? But has played twice for the Welsh Under 21's (scored 1) and has the potential to become a good Premiership striker according to my Assistant. He joined with a value of £5k which has jumped to £20k in less than a month without playing a game. He's got 16 for pace, 17 for acceleration and 12 for finishing so hopefully he can get in behind and finish off the chances! Coventry have just been taken over with the chairman saying he would make £69m available for transfers.. What!? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 OK that's interesting. Excellent stats as you say, hopefully he will come good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nottingham Forest Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Gunner, you fancy uploading that save into the Tycoon Saves Thread please? Wouldn't mind having a crack at that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Just looked and he's only gave them £5.7m? Still want it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nottingham Forest Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Erm, yeah. Because assuming you're not far into the new season and I might be able to say that isn't enough and he could give more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 I'm in July of season two. So not even started the season yet. Give me a minute and I'll put it in the other thread for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nottingham Forest Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Just PM me. Is it a Tycoon takeover? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 £69m at Coventry?!?! Plainlayzee said they had a tycoon takeover in his save too. And here I am, five seasons of slog later, and my takeover was a local businessman who injected no cash and whose first act was to take a new 25-year loan. What have I done to deserve that, etc etc... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 £69m at Coventry?!?! Plainlayzee said they had a tycoon takeover in his save too. And here I am, five seasons of slog later, and my takeover was a local businessman who injected no cash and whose first act was to take a new 25-year loan. What have I done to deserve that, etc etc... The one who took over in mine spent 24 in the championship on new players. They had players on 40k per week!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Well, at least I did it the hard way Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Poor Jogo! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Well that was an interesting first month in charge of Derby! Started the competitive season off with a 5-0 demolition of Northampton in the Capitol One Cup, Russell and Martin grabbing 2 each and Proschwitz getting 1. I then decided that with the first game of the season being at home and to Leeds, that it was a good idea to throw out all of my preparation of being a solid unit and go all out. A stupid and Naive decision led to me being smashed 3-0 at home to open the season. It gave me a good reminder of what i am actually trying to achieve. Because of that result i reverted back to my prepared defensive/cautious plans and I drew 1-1 away to Blackpool, beat Leicester 2-0 at home and beat Bristol City 1-0 away in the cup. So after a big welcoming to the Championship, i've now settled in. Going well in the cup too. I've got QPR away next so i'll take a point quite happily. Need to strengthen the cdm position so looking at possible loan deals or free transfers! Onwards and upwards with the Rams! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Nice recovery after that Leeds loss! Good luck with your transfer targets and for continued 'solid' form with Derby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Nice recovery after that Leeds loss! Good luck with your transfer targets and for continued 'solid' form with Derby. Cheers mate. Like i said my aim is to meet the expectations of top half but sneak in to the play-offs! long way to go yet! Brought in Jose Semedo on loan from Sheff Wed and brought in 19 yr old Gurcan Sari on a free for midfield depth. Is it Coventry you are with mate? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Good luck with that, I agree that building from the back is always a good way to go. And lots of stories on this thread will show that Will Hughes is a gem. Yes I am at Coventry, just completed season 5 (first in PL) so have endured some very tough times. Actually had Semedo on loan quite a few years back as cover, but didn't use him that much. Things have progressed for the better since those days (still no regens or newgens used). Good luck with Sari too, that's an interesting one - presumably found by your scouts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Yep, just fought out a 0-0 draw away to QPR which i'm chuffed with, despite missing a 74th minute penalty to even nick all 3 points! Yeah i've been starting Hughes and Bennett regularly as bringing youth players through is a must for me but it's Jeff Hendrick who has been the stand out player so far! No mate I did about an hours worth of scouting and found him whilst searching through the free transfers, worth a gamble at 19. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Good result against QPR - and solid defence again. Nice to see you using the youngsters, and good to see a new name like Sari too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nottingham Forest Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Cheers Gunner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 It sounds like 2nd season 'raise expectations, reduce budgets' syndrome to me. I suffered that at a few L1 clubs, even after a promotion from L2.End of season report at Coventry (2016/2017) April 2017 started with a 2-0 home win over Southampton (Ledley, Mezague) and a 0-0 draw at Cardiff, before we faced Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final. They had been in the PL for two seasons and as usual I made my multiple changes to reward my ‘cup’ team that had got us this far. It started poorly, very poorly, as they roared in to a 2-0 lead before Ivan Santini pulled a goal back on 63 minutes. I then introduced Sebastian Ribas in his place as we sought a way back, and the under-used substitute levelled after 86 minutes to earn extra time, and then added another after 113 minutes to win the tie and book our place in the Final. We returned to league action (and our usual league players) but were beaten 1-0 at Swansea, and lost at home to Man Utd (0-2) before ending the month with a much-improved 0-0 draw at Arsenal. We may not have scored for three league games but still remained comfortably inside the top 10 places. May 2017 saw us return to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to West Brom three days before meeting Huddersfield in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. The Yorkshire side had been relegated from the top flight the year before, so although no pushover, it was fair to say we had a very decent chance of beating them. I reverted to my usual method of rotation, resisting the temptation to use my preferred league stalwarts, but it was still a strong side as Mezague, Christie, Ledley and Antonio remained. The game was a tight affair, but Dejan Mezga – who had recently returned from an injury absence of eight weeks – capitalised on an error by Alex Smithies to guide the ball in to an empty net after 50 minutes. The 1-0 win was probably a fair reflection, and it was a surreal feeling to lift a major trophy having only just been promoted at the start of the season. In fact, I don’t think I had ever reached a QF in this cup at various clubs before, so it was certainly not something that I had even considered could happen. The added bonus of course, would be Europa League football next season, which is certainly a level of competition that was unexpected. Despite our main business being done, we finished the league campaign with a solid and deserved 2-1 win at Everton in the final match, with Atassi and goal-shy Plet putting us two up before the hosts responded with a consolation. Our final league standing of 8th was very satisfying, although we had never even got remotely close to the top six. The final record was: PL38, W14, D14, L10, GF47, GA40, PTS56. I’m going to give myself a few days to decide whether to continue this, as I do not usually do more than 2/3 seasons and this would be starting my 6th campaign. I’m partly tempted to continue because of the arrivals of Hooper and Finnbogason, plus the European excursion on the horizon. On the other hand, familiarity does breed a boredom factor after this long, and also the freaky amount of ‘long-throws and headed goals’ took some gloss off the ‘realism’ of my season. To illustrate the point, my top league scorer was centre-back Danny Batth (12 in 36 games), mostly from the throws of Antonio - the same source created a fair few of our FA Cup goals too. The only other player to hit 10 goals in the league was Glynor Plet (that landmark only being achieved in the final match). You battling through Jogo and playing on or getting fed up now? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 To be confirmed, but I think I may freshen up the staff a little bit and give it another season. The PL doesn't float my boat but with the Europa League element added, and curiosity to manage Finnbogason for the first time (and Hooper for the first time since his Scunthorpe days), I might have another bash. Also don't want this thread to die! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainlayzee Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 To be confirmed, but I think I may freshen up the staff a little bit and give it another season. The PL doesn't float my boat but with the Europa League element added, and curiosity to manage Finnbogason for the first time (and Hooper for the first time since his Scunthorpe days), I might have another bash. Also don't want this thread to die! haha me neither, I wish I just opened this thread up to anyone who fancies a chat! I like my LFC save but it's not the same when you post in the LFC forum and not one person replies to it.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 101 Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I agree, was thinking about that last night, well done and a pat on the back to you, Jogo, myself and everyone else who has posted and kept this thread not only active, but an inviting and interesting read for people who maybe don#'t post too often and for clubs that often don't get or don't have active team threads (something I have noticed is the amount of lower league clubs without a club thread is increasing massively over the last few seasons!) Think we need to have something available for FM14 similar to this thread.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplfc123 Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Well the interesting posts on here definitely gave me the inspiration to start with Derby and i'm loving it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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