[FMC 15] Leicester City - #Fearless

[safcrhys]

Having been inspired by the incredible rise of Leicester City over the past few years, I've been motivated to have a crack with them on FMC 15 to see if I can copy their real life achievements and perhaps guide them a few more trophies along the way! I'd be very surprised if I'm able to win the league by the end of 2015/16 like the Foxes have managed, but as this provincial midlands club have proved this season: anything is possible in football.

Brief background

The club was founded in 1884 as "Leicester Fosse", they joined the Football Association in 1890 and a year later they moved to Filbert Street which would be their home for the next 111 years. The Foxes were a largely unsuccessful club during the early years of the 20th century and following the end of the First World War Leicester Fosse ceased trading due to financial difficulties of which little is known. The club was reformed as Leicester City Football Club which was particularly apt given that the borough of Leicester had just been granted city status. In 1928/29 Leicester finished as runners up in the top flight, missing out on the title by a single point to Sheffield Wednesday. The 1960's was probably the best period in the club's history as they were a consistently very good First Division side although they never quite had enough quality to win the championship. Incredibly the Foxes made it to three FA Cup finals during the decade (1961, 1963 and 1969) but they suffered defeat in all of them. There was some consolation however in 1964 when the club won the League Cup, the first piece of major silverware in the club's history. In 1969 Leicester were relegated back to the Second Division but they were promoted again in 1971, a year which saw the team also win the Charity Shield for the first and so far only time - unusually due to double winners' Arsenal's European Cup commitments, Second Division champions Leicester were invited to Wembley to play FA Cup runners-up Liverpool whom they beat 1-0. Mediocrity soon set back in though and it wasn't until the appointment of Martin O'Neill in the mid-90's that the club began to seriously trouble the big boys again. The Foxes won the 1995/96 play off final to clinch promotion to the Premier League for the first time and under the guidance of O'Neill they established themselves as a solid top flight side recording four successive top ten finishes. O'Neill ended Leicester's 33 year wait for a major trophy with victory in the League Cup in 1997, they also won the competition for the third time in 2000 as well as being runners-up in 1999. In June 2000 O'Neill left Filbert Street to take over at Celtic. With their talismanic manager having departed, the club were quickly relegated in 2001/02 meaning the newly opened Walkers Stadium (now the King Power) would be a Football League ground in 2002/03. Despite severe financial strife the club won an immediate promotion back to the Premier League ahead of the 2003/04 campaign but they would return to the Championship after only one season. The club were as low as League One by 2008/09 but a meteoric rise under the management of Nigel Pearson and new Thai owners fronted by King Power Group's Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha saw the club promoted back to the Premier League as champions in 2013/14 having won the second tier for the 7th time in their history.

Tactics

I will be playing a counter-attacking 4-1-2-3 formation:

Transfers

I rarely foray into the transfer market in the first summer, trusting the players already at the club to get the job done. However, even if I'd wanted to add one or two new faces to freshen up the squad I probably wouldn't have been able to - a budget of only £2.5m was available. Two key members of the Leicester squad which won the Premier League in real life this year are already on the books in Vardy and Mahrez, both will be key for me in the next few years.

Ambition for 2014/15

I was given the options of attempting to avoid relegation, avoid relegation or finish in mid-table. I took the middle option just to be safe even though with the current squad and tactic I reckon a mid-table finish is most likely. Winning the domestic cup competitions is not a priority at the moment as we look to establish ourselves in the Premier League.

[safcrhys]

August 2014

So we started the season with a home game against Everton and with Jamie Vardy sidelined through injury, Leonardo Ulloa started up front with Riyad Mahrez and Andrej Kramaric on the flanks. We played well but it looked as though the game was destined for a 0-0 draw until I replaced Ulloa with David Nugent. The sub striker fired home the only goal of the game from a corner after 84 minutes. Our first away game of the campaign saw us make the relatively short journey to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom, once again Ulloa started up front but he had another poor game and he was eventually replaced by Nugent again. Gareth McAuley gave the hosts the lead predictably with a powerful header from a corner after 54 minutes but just three minutes later the game turned when Youssouf Mulumbu was sent off for a second bookable offence. David Nugent earned us a point when he fired home from the penalty spot after 70 minutes. Our next game saw us take a break from the league as we headed to Valley Parade to take on Bradford City in the League Cup 2nd round. Unbelievably we couldn't overcome the Bantams over 120 minutes of football even when they were reduced to ten men in the second half - we drew 2-2 and then went out of the competition on penalties. Certain members of the squad certainly didn't cover themselves in glory but at least the players gave a much improved display as we ended the month with a 1-0 win over Stoke City at the King Power Stadium, Dean Hammond's second minute goal being enough to see off the Potters.

September 2014

September began with a drab 0-0 draw at Southampton in a game we probably should have won given the home side played the last 25 minutes with ten men following the dismissal of Toby Alderweireld. We then made it three home wins from three with a 2-1 success over Crystal Palace - Jamie Vardy scoring his first goal of the season in the first minute before Mahrez doubled the lead on the hour, there were some nervous moments late on when Scott Dann reduced the arrears after 74 minutes but we were good enough to hold off the Eagles. September ended with our first loss of the season - an expected defeat at Old Trafford. We never came close to an upset as goals from Wayne Rooney, Radamel Falcao and Wesley Sneijder earned Manchester United an easy 3-0 win.

October 2014

The tough fixtures were coming thick and fast now but we put in probably our best performance of the season so far to beat Arsenal 2-1 at the King Power Stadium at the start of October despite the late sending off of Esteban Cambiasso. Goals from Kramaric and Vardy gave us a 2-0 lead at the break before Aaron Ramsey pulled one back for the Gunners with ten minutes left, thankfully we held a late siege at bay to make it four home wins from four. Next up was a visit to Stamford Bridge and as against United we never threatened an upset - the Blues were 2-0 up at half time thanks to goals from Juan Cuadrado and Oscar but Matty James gave us a smidgeon of hope with a wonderful 46th minute goal only for John Terry to put the home side out of reach with a fine header after 70 minutes. October ended with a visit from struggling Sunderland in a game I was pretty confident of winning, imagine my shock then when we found ourselves 2-1 down at the break despite dominating the game. Kramaric gave us the lead from the penalty spot after 24 minutes but goals from Gomez and Defoe put the Black Cats in the driving seat. Within 8 minutes of the second half however we were back in front thanks to a Vito Mannone own goal and another strike from Kramaric. The game petered out and we held on for the 3-2 victory.

Current league position: 8th

[safcrhys]

November 2014

The month began with a tricky away trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool. We held the Reds in check during the first half but we couldn't hold back the tide in the second half and goals from Sturridge and Coutinho in the 50th and 68th minutes respectively handed the Merseysiders the three points despite the sending off of Jordan Henderson with twenty minutes left. The team responded to that defeat with another fine performance however and a 10 minute hat-trick for Jamie Vardy in the first half against Aston Villa inspired the team to a 3-0 win over our Midlands rivals at the King Power Stadium on November 8th. Vardy was on target again after 38 minutes at Swansea in a game we won 2-0, Kramaric getting the other goal after 57 minutes in one of our better performances of the season. Unfortunately we couldn't make it three wins in a row as the month ended with an unlucky 1-0 loss at Turf Moor - Jason Shackell's goal three minutes before half time was enough for the Clarets to claim all three points.

December 2014

Leicester returned to winning ways on December 2nd with a nervy 1-0 home win over West Ham, Marc Albrighton scored the winner with 22 minutes remaining. We then drew 0-0 at Hull before dismantling the champions Manchester City 4-0 at the King Power Stadium in our best all round performance of the campaign. Matty James, Riyad Mahrez (twice) and a Paul Konchesky penalty wrapping up a healthy victory. Unfortunately the month ended with three successive defeats: Wes Morgan gave away a penalty which was converted by Papiss Cisse after 32 minutes in an unlucky 1-0 loss at Newcastle three days before Christmas. We then self destructed at home to QPR - Kramaric gave us an early lead after 10 minutes before Joey Barton scored with a fine freekick for the away side six minutes later. Cambiasso then gave away a stupid penalty which Taarabt converted on 34 minutes before Wes Morgan was sent off within seconds of the second half kicking off. We huffed and puffed with ten men but Mauro Zarate made the game safe for QPR with a fine solo goal after 87 minutes. 2014 ended with a 3-1 loss to Spurs at White Hart Lane, Ryan Mason gave the Lily-whites the lead after only 5 minutes before Kramaric missed a penalty after 22 minutes. Spurs were 2-0 up through Kyle Walker after 28 minutes and despite Albrighton pulling one back shortly after the interval we never looked like equlalising before Walker made the game safe with 4 minutes left.

[safcrhys]

2014/15 Review

So the objective this season was obviously just to survive. We were predicted by the so called "experts" to finish bottom of the pile but I reckoned that was quite harsh even though certain areas of the squad (especially the defence) drastically need to be improved ASAP.

Transfers

There were no transfers of any kind in or out of the club this season.

Domestic Cups

The cups were not a priority this season but that doesn't mean I was just going to sacrifice them both in first round by playing the kids. We played a fairly strong team in the League Cup 2nd round at Bradford City but a disappointing performance saw us lose on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Our FA Cup travails went slightly better - Gillingham were seen off 3-0 in the 3rd round away from home before we beat Millwall 1-0 at the King Power Stadium in a replay following a 1-1 draw at the New Den. In the fifth round we defeated Brentford 2-1 away from home before succumbing to Everton 3-0 at Goodison in a quarter final replay following a 2-2 draw in Leicester.

Premier League

The season started off very well with a 1-0 win over a good Everton side at the King Power Stadium before we drew 1-1 at West Brom. We then defeated Stoke 1-0 before drawing 0-0 at ten man Southampton. September ended with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace and a 3-0 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford. October began with a 2-1 home victory over Arsenal but we were brought back down to earth by Chelsea who were comfortable in beating us 3-1 at Stamford Bridge. A pattern was forming in which we would generally perform well at home regardless of the quality of the opposition but we struggled to pick up points on our travels. October ended with a 3-2 home win over struggling Sunderland before an expected 2-0 loss at Anfield.

Back to back wins over Aston Villa (3-0) and Swansea (2-0) had us temporarily hanging on the coat tails of the top four but a 1-0 loss at Burnley punctured any optimism that we could stick around at the top of the table on a consistent basis. We then defeated West Ham 1-0 at home, drew 0-0 at Hull before our finest performance of the campaign saw us trounce champions Manchester City 4-0 at the King Power Stadium. Surprisingly we then went ten games without a win, mainly thanks to the loss of players to injury (Drinkwater was ruled out for three months following the game against Man City) and also because of the Africa Cup of Nations which claimed Riyad Mahrez from us for six weeks. The last game of that disastrous run saw us draw 4-4 with Arsenal at the Emirates in a game we actually led 4-2 with only five minutes remaining: Huth was sent off before Mahrez gave away a stupid 93rd minute penalty which allowed the Gunners to snatch an unlikely point.

The bad run was ended by a 2-0 home win over the league leaders Chelsea before bottom of the table Sunderland were seen off 2-1 at the Stadium of Light. We then lost 3-2 to Liverpool at home before humbling Aston Villa 4-0 at Villa Park. Back to back home draws against Swansea and Burnley had me worried but a ding dong encounter against West Ham at Upton Park saw us come out on top in a 4-3 thriller. For some reason we were struggling to score goals at home as we laboured to a 0-0 draw with Hull on April 25th before losing three games in a row to Manchester City, Spurs and QPR. We ended the campaign with a 2-1 home success over Newcastle which guaranteed us a top half finish.

Top Goalscorer: Jamie Vardy (12)

Payer of the Season: Danny Drinkwater (average rating - 7.41)

[safcrhys]

2015/16 Review

After last season's mid-table finish I was hoping for similar this time round as the squad continues to take shape.

Transfers

Domestic Cups

Our Capital One Cup campaign got off to an awkward start as we needed penalties to overcome lowly Barnsley in the 2nd round after a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium. Unfortunately we crashed out in the next round on penalties to Middlesbrough after a goalless draw in the North East. Like last season we fared better in the FA Cup and we progressed through to the fourth round after a 3-1 home victory over Fleetwood Town at home in the 3rd round. We then saw off Sheffield United (2-1) and Shrewsbury (2-0) on our way to a quarter final date with Manchester United at Old Trafford. In that game we chucked away a 3-1 lead late on to draw 3-3 but thankfully we overcame the Red Devils 3-2 in the replay at Leicester. So it was off to Wembley where we met midlands rivals Aston Villa in the semi final and we were comfortably the better side on the day, easily winning 2-0 to progress through to Leicester's fifth FA Cup final. Unfortunately the omens weren't great as the club had lost the previous four:

The wait for success in the FA Cup goes on...

Premier League

The campaign started with an uninspiring 0-0 draw at Villa Park against Aston Villa but the team soon got into their stride as we powered past a good Spurs side 3-0 in our first home game. We were unlucky to lose 3-1 to Everton at Goodison to end August but we soon put a run of wins together to comfortably ensconce ourselves in the upper echelons of the table: Cardiff (3-1), West Ham (1-0), Norwich (1-0), Swansea (1-0), Newcastle (2-0) and QPR (3-1) were all beaten before we finally lost again 3-0 at Manchester United who were already looking unstoppable at the top of the league. The players responded to our second loss of the season with a fantastic 4-0 thrashing of West Brom at the Hawthorns, we then drew 2-2 at home against Arsenal and ended November with a 2-1 home win over Stoke City. December started with a 2-1 loss at Anfield but again we responded with a win: Southampton were defeated 2-1 at St Mary's before we won back to back home games over Watford (4-0) and Crystal Palace (2-1). 2015 ended with a 2-1 loss to Man City, a 3-3 draw against Chelsea and a 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

New signing striker Giovanni Simeone had only managed three goals all season up to this point but he would go on to score another 20 over the second half of the season. However we were dealt a massive blow during those Xmas fixtures when we lost both Matty James and Jorge Enriquez for three months apiece due to injury leaving us desperately short of options in middle of the park. I tried to bring in Sulley Muntari on loan for AC Milan but he couldn't get a work permit whereas the signing of Chris Smalling for just £2.2m from Man Utd was a no brainer.

Our first three league fixtures of 2016 were all drawn against Everton, Spurs and West Ham which allowed Arsenal to close the gap on us (we were fourth) to just a couple of points. January ended with back to back home wins over Cardiff and Swansea as we remained in the hunt for a Champions League place. A 0-0 draw at Norwich didn't help our cause but a late Jamie Vardy strike earned us a much deserved 2-1 victory over Newcastle at St James' Park much to the chagrin I'm sure of Arsene Wenger. A 1-0 away loss at QPR was hard to take but once again the team showed their character by responding to defeat by win our next game - this time we saw off league leaders Man Utd 2-1 at the King Power Stadium. March began with a 5-0 rout of hapless bottom of the table West Brom before we put in probably our performance of the season to beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates.

At that point in the season we looked odds on to secure at least fourth place but back to back draws against Stoke and Liverpool allowed Arsenal to leapfrog us and we were now fighting it out with Man City for the final Champions League place. A 4-1 hammering of Southampton on April 9th seemed to put us in pole position but we then put in probably our worst performance of the campaign to lose 2-0 at Watford. Another 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace in our next game meant we were still in fourth place with a 3 point lead over Man City although the Citizens' were still odds on to pip us to the final Champions League place as they had two games in hand. On 1st May we played our biggest game of the campaign when City came to Leicester in a game both sides were desperate to win. We played fantastically and actually walloped moneybags City 4-1 in front of our jubilant supporters. City won their two games in hand meaning on the last day of the season we were both level on points although we enjoyed a slightly superior goal difference, that is where the good news ends however as we had to go to Stamford Bridge on the final day whereas City took on struggling Crystal Palace at Eastlands. We needed to match Man City's result to secure fourth place and my nerves weren't helped when news came through that Kevin Volland had handed City the lead. Remarkably though we scored first against Chelsea and although they levelled the game early in the 2nd half Marc Albrighton put us 2-1 up before we withstood a late siege to seal a remarkable 2-1 victory and a place in the Champions League for next season.

Top Goalscorer: Giovanni Simeone (23 goals)

Player of the Season: Giovanni Simeone (Average rating: 7.33)

Finances

[safcrhys]

2016/17 Review

Transfers

It was a struggle to get players to join the club during the summer which I found surprising considering we were gearing up for a first ever season of Champions League football. We had bids accepted for Gino Peruzzi and Eder Alvarez Balanta but whilst the former considered our offer before deciding to join Southampton the latter wouldn't even allow me the courtesy of offering him terms. Come January I was desperate for a right back and thats probably why I ended up paying a little over the odds for Inter's Elseid Hysaj, he's certainly proven his worth since he joined the club however.

Domestic Cups

Our Capital One Cup adventure began in the 3rd round with a 2-1 home win over Stoke, however Burnley knocked us out at Turf Moor in round four with a comfortable 2-0 victory. We fared a little better in the FA Cup, overcoming midlands rivals Derby 3-1 at Pride Park in round three before a fine 2-0 success over Southampton on the south coast in round 4. A difficult trip to Sheffield United greeted us in round 5 and our second string XI couldn't defeat the Blades over the 90 minutes as we conceded a last gasp equaliser in a 1-1 draw. A poor performance in the replay at the King Power saw us go 2-0 down before a late fight back culminating in two stoppage time goals saw us win 3-2. We were perhaps unfortunate to draw Liverpool away in the quarter finals and the ruthless Reds ended our cup hopes with an easy 5-1 win.

Europe

As we finished fourth last season we had to get through the best placed play off to secure our position in the group stages of the Champions League. Our opponents were French giants Lyon and the players did the business in the home leg by securing a comfortable 2-0 win. In the away leg were fortunate to only lose 3-1 and thus make it through to the next stage on away goals. Leicester's first ever Champions League group was a difficult one as we were drawn alongside Juventus, Schalke and PSV Eindhoven. The group kicked off with a dour 0-0 draw in Holland against PSV but in the next game we showed our quality to upstage Juventus 6-1 at the King Power Stadium! A 3-0 loss in Gelsenkirchen soured things slightly and there was more disappointment on matchday four when Schalke scored a 93rd minute equaliser to draw 2-2 in Leicester despite playing with only ten men at the time. A 2-1 win over PSV at home gave us hope of making it through to the next stage but I wasn't hopeful to be honest given that we had to play Juventus in Turin. Sure enough we were well beaten 3-0 but somehow still managed to finish in 2nd place with 8 points:

We were drawn against Leverkusen in the last 16, a tie I was confident of winning. A fine performance in the home leg saw us ease into a 4-0 aggregate lead ahead of the trip to Germany which was lost 3-2 but a 6-3 aggregate win was more than comfortable. However when were drawn against Real Madrid in the quarter final I sort of knew our European adventure was coming to an end. Again the first leg was at home and we were the better team but a first half Karim Benzema goal gave Los Merengues a 1-0 win to take to the Bernabeu. We were outclassed in Spain losing 4-0 on the night and 5-0 on aggregate.

Premier League

I wasn't too optimistic about repeating last season's stellar performance after such a poor transfer window in which one could argue I failed to strengthen the squad. A poor 2-0 loss at Stoke on the opening day certainly didn't boost my mood. Our first home win arrived a week later when we took Norwich apart on our way to a 3-0 victory but a disappointing 1-1 away draw at Aston Villa on matchday 3 forced me to take a look at my tactics and change a few things. Suddenly the wins started rolling in but performances still weren't great. Southampton were beaten 1-0, Burnley 3-0 and Cardiff 1-0 before we were thumped 4-0 at Old Trafford. A 2-0 home win over Everton papered over the cracks as we lost 1-0 at Chelsea and 2-0 against Spurs at the King Power. When November began with another 2-0 loss, this time at Swansea I went back to the tactics board again. Already we were well off the pace in the race for a top four spot.

Four league wins in a row helped raise spirits as we saw off Fulham, Newcastle, Watford and Leeds before securing a creditable 0-0 draw at the Etihad. A 3-1 home loss to title chasing Liverpool was perhaps expected but the team responded well to end the year with back to back wins over QPR (2-0 away) and Arsenal (5-1 at home). 2017 began with an easy 2-0 home success over Stoke before an exasperating 1-0 defeat in East Anglia against Norwich. After slaughtering the team in the press I got a reaction from the players and we catapulted ourselves into the top four with six successive league wins: Aston Villa (4-0 at home), Southampton (2-1 away), Cardiff (1-0 away), Manchester United (2-1 at home), Burnley (4-1 at home) and Everton (3-1 away). That Everton game was particularly satisfying as we were comfortably the better team and managed to win easily despite us having a man sent off with the score at 1-1.

February ended with a 4-2 loss at home to Chelsea which was perhaps expected due to us missing both our first choice centre backs through a combination of suspension and injury. Once again however the team used that defeat to spur them on as we then recorded 7 successive league wins to ensure a third place finish in the Premier League with three games to spare. Those 7 wins in a row were against Spurs (2-0 away), Swansea (4-0 at home), Fulham (2-0 away), Watford (3-1 away), Newcastle (2-1 at home), Leeds (3-0 away) and Manchester City (3-2 at home). A spate of injuries struck during that run with the worst being sustained by forward Giovanni Simeone who was ruled out for 5 months with a broken foot. Our three games in May yielded four points as we lost 1-0 at Anfield, beat QPR 1-0 in our final home game before drawing 1-1 at the Emirates in a game we really should have won.

Top Goalscorer: Andrej Kramaric (16 goals)

Player of the Year: Gonzalo Martinez

Finances