[FM16] Leeds, A Lancastrian's adventures in Yorkshire!

[facman]

I've never been one to be flashy or change things about. I've been playing FM since the heady days of CM01/02, and I always seem to manage Everton (apart from one rip-roaring 15-season epic with Blackburn back in the early 2000s). As one of my cousins once said, "There are two great teams from the City of Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere!"

So this time I thought I'd force myself to do something different. But who to manage?

Somewhere sophisticated and exciting, I thought, and my mind turned back to a comment an old friend from Halifax once made... "Don't talk to me about sophistication, I've been to Leeds!"

And so it began, and I found myself in the Championship with a team predicted to finish 16th, and a crazy Chairman!

All went well in the opening few months, I made a few cheap signings and won some matches. But more of that later, because as November drew to a close, this happened:

I'm now working for a man called Dinamite! What could possibly go wrong?

Oh, he want to replace me with Jan Ceulemans. Jan Ceulemans!!

At least he will give me a week or two before he makes up his mind:

I decide to throw caution to the wind in our next game, lady luck smiles on me and we utterly annihilate poor Rotherham:

Jan Ceulemans even show up for our next match, away at QPR:

and the boys rally around the gaffer, and show them what happens if southern softies try to take over the People's Republic of Yorkshire! (Ceulemans is from Belgium, and Belgium is south of Yorkshire, so he's a southerner... right?)

Try sacking me now Mr Dinamite!

Hah! You lose Ceulemans!

but our new training facilities have been cancelled, due to, you know, reasons! Its not like training is important or anything!

 

Next time: an introduction to the team, and a round up of results from August to November. Thanks for reading!

[facman]

Leeds is a team with a proud history, winning both domestic and European silverware in the past. Recent years though have been mired in debt issues. They are now back on an even keel, and I think are ready to challenge for promotion once more.

 

The squad is a mixture of youth and experience. Charlie Taylor, Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt could be stand-out stars for us for the next 10 years if we can keep hold of them, and players such as Dallas, Silvestri, Cooper and Bellusci are good enough for the Premiership.

We have a very limited budget (both transfer and wage) available to us over the summer, and have to content ourselves with just 3 signings. Ferreira looks like he could be a superb centre half, but is very prone to injury. Julio Baptista can give us a much needed goal threat from the AMC position, and Matty Taylor gives us more options as a wide midfielder, one of our weaker areas.

Our start to the season is initially mixed, 2 wins, 4 draws and 1 defeat in our opening 7 Championship games. An unlucky draw in the 2nd round of the Capital One Cup saw us face Everton at Elland Road, and although we neutralised them for the entire match we were hopeless in the subsequent penalty shootout. Four wins on the trot in September and October turned things around for us, although defeats to Fulham and Bolton were disappointing, as they will both be challenging for promotion at the end of the season.

November, was much better, as we threw caution to the wind and went all-out attack at the end of the month to try to convince the new board that they shouldn't sack me!

and by the end of November we had risen to 2nd spot in the table.

Next up, December, January and the transfer window...

[roggiotis]

4 hours ago, facman said:

 

 

 

 

From the 7 players you mentioned above , only Cook has the potential (according to the official database )to become a very good player ,good enough for the Premiership.

Post a screenshot of Baptista if you want.

[facman]

22 minutes ago, roggiotis said:

From the 7 players you mentioned above , only Cook has the potential (according to the official database )to become a very good player ,good enough for the Premiership.

Post a screenshot of Baptista if you want.

I'll be honest, I wouldn't know what the database says as I've never looked at it. All I know is that my Ass Manager thinks they are suited to Premiership football, they play well in my system, and comparing their current stats with other Premiership footballers from mid-table teams they are roughly comparable. That's good enough for me

Here's Julio Baptista at the end of the season... physical stats are deteriorating, but his technical stats are still good.

[roggiotis]

2 hours ago, facman said:

 

end of the season...

So ,what did you do ? position table ?

[facman]

2 minutes ago, roggiotis said:

So ,what did you do ? position table ?

All in good time

At work at the moment, so need to crop the screenshots etc first...

[roggiotis]

2 hours ago, facman said:

 my Ass Manager thinks they are suited to Premiership football, they play well in my system, and comparing their current stats with other Premiership footballers from mid-table teams they are roughly comparable. That's good enough for me

 

If your ass.manager is Paul Raynor , he has ''Judging player ability and potential 11 '' ,is not good ,you must replace him

[BoxToBox]

2 hours ago, roggiotis said:

From the 7 players you mentioned above , only Cook has the potential (according to the official database )to become a very good player ,good enough for the Premiership.

Post a screenshot of Baptista if you want.

I've had Charlie Taylor at many Prem sides and he's always done the business. Mowatt can become good too, if well trained.

[roggiotis]

2 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

I've had Charlie Taylor at many Prem sides and he's always done the business. Mowatt can become good too, if well trained.

It depends what you mean business , which Prem sides ? not top 6

[facman]

5 minutes ago, roggiotis said:

If your ass.manager is Paul Raynor , he has ''Judging player ability and potential 11 '' ,is not good ,you must replace him

My Ass Man is Derek Fazackerley (although he is planning to retire at the end of the season) with JPA 15 and JPP 14.

[BoxToBox]

Just now, roggiotis said:

It depends what you mean business , which Prem sides ? not top 6

I've won the league with him.

[roggiotis]

Which team ?

[roggiotis]

4 minutes ago, facman said:

...with JPA 15 and JPP 14.

Ok then 

[BoxToBox]

1 minute ago, roggiotis said:

Which team ?

Different teams, Bradford and Blackburn, Sassuolo in Italy, a few more I can't think of offhand.

[roggiotis]

You won the league with Bradford and Blackburn ?

[facman]

6 minutes ago, roggiotis said:

You won the league with Bradford and Blackburn ?

I managed to get to the final of the CL in my 3rd season as Everton manager in my other save (lost on penalties to Real Madrid after a very dull 0-0!), and I would like to be pushing for the EPL title with Leeds in season 5 or 6 if things go as planned.

[roggiotis]

Thats good 

Post a screenshot end of the year with squad stats ,(assists ,appearances ,goals etc.)

I wanna see if the Brasilian helped a lot , did you use him for 90 min with so low stamina ?

[facman]

December was not the greatest month I've ever had. From the highs of winning Manager of the Month to 3 wins and 3 defeats!

The Derby game was ridiculous, with 4 own goals!

We are still up there near the top though

However it is still enough to get a contract extension

The new contract seems to have buoyed everybody up as we return to winning ways. 2 good results in the FA Cup are encouraging.

Manager of the Month again!

I've honestly never seen this, in all the years of playing FM. It brought a tear to my eye

And the Championship table is looking very healthy indeed!

Our top goalscorer went down with a torn calf muscle near the end of January, leaving me in a bit of a pickle up front. Giuseppe Bellusci's disciplinary record is a little worrying as well.

I'll do transfer dealings in the next post, as we did quite a bit of wheeling and dealing!

[facman]

Given that our top striker is our for 3 months, we need to do something about it on the transfer market. The first step is to get a wage budget increase from the Board. Next we terminate the loans of Bridcutt and Carayol, freeing up nearly £20k per week additional funds. This is dangerous, as both players were playing well, but I have a plan!

Junior comes in from Everton. Lewis Cook can take over Bridcutt's DM role, and Junior can fill the MC slot adequately enough

and Bendtner returns to England after a spell at Wolfsburg in Germany. Nicklas is a player who has promised so much over the years, but has never quite delivered at the top level. Will this be his moment to shine?

For the longer term, we capture Romao on a free. He will take over the DM role next season, freeing up Cook to return to the centre of midfield where he properly belongs

and finally, another steal from Everton! Charlie Taylor has played in almost every game for us in the first half  of the season and I don't want fatigue to set in. In addition, Matty Taylor is not getting any younger at left midfield. Oviedo can cover at left back and left midfield, and might be able to take over from Matty Taylor next season if Taylor declines (he is 34 after all).

Looking at the division roundup, it would appear that Leeds have been the most active!

Here are the big signings from the Premiership

Next time we head into February and see if our new signings make an impact!

[roggiotis]

Besides the 1st place so far , you have the best offense and the best GD in the league ,and that tells a lot , good job 

[noikeee]

This has been a truly excellent performance for season 1.

[roggiotis]

He is the ''special tactical-genius one " 

[BoxToBox]

Incredible deal getting Oviedo, should do really well.

[roggiotis]

A screenshot of Oviedo ?

[facman]

2 hours ago, roggiotis said:

Besides the 1st place so far , you have the best offense and the best GD in the league ,and that tells a lot , good job 

Thanks, we did manage to score 13 goals in 3 games though, so without those games my attack is a little more pedestrian!

2 hours ago, noikeee said:

This has been a truly excellent performance for season 1.

Thank you very much for the generous comment - I really believe that Leeds has some good players on their books, and I've learned a hell of a lot about getting the best out of non-superstars during my 3 seasons with Everton in my other main save.

2 hours ago, roggiotis said:

He is the ''special tactical-genius one " 

Dunno about that, but I've been studying Cleon, Rashidi, WWFan, the Lines and Diamonds and Pairs and Combinations booklets and I probably know more about football tactics (and more importantly, how to translate it into the game) than I ever have, even after 15 years of playing CM/FM. I've essentially been using 4 formations through the season:

1) a 4-2-2-2 box to dominate the midfield, usually against defensive teams or 4-4-2 when I want to dominate the play

2) a fluid, counterattacking 4-4-2 for away games when I want to keep things tight

3) 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-3 DM wide for when I want to take the game to the opposition

4) A defensive 4-1-4-1 for the final few games of the season to prevent losing!

I'm also fairly free and easy about changing formations, roles, duties etc during a match. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't, but I never concern myself why how fluent my team is with the formation I'm playing. For instance, this season I never managed to get a single tactic past Accomplished, and my 4-1-4-1 was barely Competent.

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

Incredible deal getting Oviedo, should do really well.

Blind luck really. My character has Everton set as favourite team, which means I get regular updates about them. They transfer listed Oviedo on the last day of the January transfer window and at that price I just had to have him. In my Everton save, he was the starting DL for the first half of the season due to Baines being injured, and played so well that I was able to sell him during season 2 for over £5M!

[roggiotis]

Seems that 4-2-3-1 is very popular  in England ,also IRL.

What the other teams play against you ?

[facman]

February was an OK month, beating Fulham was very important, but dropping points against Forest wasn't great. A good win in the FA Cup was a pleasant surprise though. Good to see Bendtner getting on the scoresheet a couple of time.

The table at the end of Feb was healthy

4 wins in the Championship was superb in March, although the FA Cup defeat against Man City was painful to watch as we were totally outclassed. The only good news in that match was that City did send out a full strength team, so at least we didn't get thrashed by their Reserves! 

To be fair, we really struggled in April and May, but then so did everyone else. I resorted to dropping to a 4-1-4-1 to stop conceding goals, and I'm still not sure how we turned around a 2 goal deficit in the last 15 minutes against Preston. The 84th minute equaliser against Reading helped my morale too!

And incredibly, we ran away with the title by 10 points, which is more of an indictment of terrible form from Hull, Forest, Wolves and Fulham than it is of amazing stuff from us. Forest managed only 18 points in their last 12 games (1.5 pts per game) and yet were averaging around 1.75 points per game for the first 3/4 of the season. By contrast, we averaged 1.85 pts per game in the first 3/4 of the season, and 2 pts per game for the final 1/4. So whilst we increased by 0.15 ppg, they dropped by 0.25 ppg!

In the playoffs, Forest and Fulham won close ties against Wolves and Brum, but Fulham ran away with the final fairly easily (I attended the game and watched it on Extended highlights, which was fun)

So the final table looked like this, with Leeds, Hull and Fulham gaining promotion, whilst Blackburn, Huddersfield and Preston made the drop down to League 1.

I'll do a special post on end of season awards etc, but here are Julio Baptista's end of season stats as previously requested. He usually made it to around 65 minutes before looking very tired, depending on the role I played him in. Often I had him as a Shadow Striker in a 4-2-3-1, and he retained his condition far better in this role than when I played him in central midfield as a CM(A). If I didn't have a midweek game I would often let him run himself into the ground, otherwise I would get him off the park at the hour. In that way I was able to start him in 33 competitive games through the season - not bad for an old man!  His goal tally was excellent, and his passing rating of 80% was perfect for what I wanted out of him, as he was able to recycle the ball effectively in the final third, helping us to hold possession in opposition territory.

Man u won the FA Cup in a mirroring of real life, although this time round it was a comfortable win against Arsenal, rather than against Palace as in real life

Man City won the Premiership at a canter. Arsenal and Man U were 2nd and 3rd respectively, and Spurs squeaked past Chelsea on Goal difference to take the 4th CL spot. Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle (...wait, what, Newcastle!!??!!) took the Europa League spots. How the hell did Newcastle do that? Villa, Watford and the Baggies went down.

Arsenal rounded off their season with no silverware, despite being in the FA Cup Final and the CL final, by losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich on a damp evening in Milan.

So, all in all a successful season with Leeds, although my drubbing by Man City in the FA Cup fills me with a certain amount of dread for the coming season. Staying out of the relegation zone is my aim! Next up will be end of season awards, followed by the off season.

[facman]

6 minutes ago, roggiotis said:

Seems that 4-2-3-1 is very popular  in England ,also IRL.

What the other teams play against you ?

A lot of the Championship teams played 4-4-2, whereas my experience with Everton is that more of the Premiership teams will play variants of 4-3-3

[roggiotis]

A very successful season ,congrats 

Not bad for the Brasilian ,will you keep him ?

Do you have a certain plan for the summer transfers about the positions ?

Oviedo looks good , i would play him more in ML or in AML because he has no strength for a defender ,but of course this is only my opinion , do you think is good for the premier league ?

 

edit

how about the youths candidates ?

[facman]

16 hours ago, roggiotis said:

A very successful season ,congrats 

Not bad for the Brasilian ,will you keep him ?

Do you have a certain plan for the summer transfers about the positions ?

Oviedo looks good , i would play him more in ML or in AML because he has no strength for a defender ,but of course this is only my opinion , do you think is good for the premier league ?

edit

how about the youths candidates ?

I'll keep Baptista for another season - his wages aren't excessive and he can still do a job for me. Oviedo can play either in midfield or defence, and I will use him in both roles. I tend to have my DL in an attacking role, so their abilities going forward are more important to me than their defensive abilities. Charlie Taylor will be the 1st choice full back, however, with Oviedo in the ML position, but Oviedo will drop back to give Taylor a rest occasionally and Matty Taylor will deputise at ML for Oviedo.

Youth candidates were awful with the exception of one midfielder.

[facman]

Talking of youth facilities, the Board decide to carry out an upgrade without me even requesting it... nice one!

End of Year team information. Unsurprisingly for Leeds, agression is our number 1 ranked stat!

14 yellows and 2 reds for our Club Captain, and 74 fouls in 29 games for our starting right back - get stuck in lads!

I play with very involved full backs, so it comes as no surprise that Taylor and Berardi are my highest rated players. Nice to see a wide spread of goals from throughout the team

Surprisingly though, not a single starter in the Championship Team of the Year!

Our end of season awards...

Middlesborough took the plaudits for top goalscorer

meanwhile Hull's Elmohamady had a very good season

Charloton's Ade Lookman is clearly one to look out for...

And who is this fine young chap winning Manager of the Year?

Currently I'm playing through the off season and my players are just about to return from their holibobs. Hopefully I'll be reworking my 442 and 4141 today and can get through to the pre-season friendlies tonight

[noikeee]

Congratulations. I was going to say be wary if you've gotten promoted too soon, but after winning the Championship with a 10 points lead I'm not sure you need to worry that much about relegation next year.

[facman]

4 hours ago, noikeee said:

Congratulations. I was going to say be wary if you've gotten promoted too soon, but after winning the Championship with a 10 points lead I'm not sure you need to worry that much about relegation next year.

I'll post the rest of the off season tomorrow - I've managed to secure some interesting signings, which hopefully will make staying up a pretty safe bet... 

[Keano16]

Good read so far. Short and lots of pictures! Looking forward to seeing the transfers. 

[Maw74]

Well done on the promotion, also that is a great name for a chairman. 

 

[facman]

11 hours ago, Keano16 said:

Good read so far. Short and lots of pictures! Looking forward to seeing the transfers. 

Thanks! Also, great avatar photo - one day I hope my beard will rival Roy Keane's!

10 hours ago, Maw74 said:

Well done on the promotion, also that is a great name for a chairman. 

Thanks, and yes, Mr Dinamite is great!

Sadly, our Assistant Manager Derek Fazackerley and Head of Youth Development Paul Hart have decided to call it a day. It would have been nice to work with them in the Premiership, but hey ho, that's the way it goes.

Hang on a minute, they're all retiring! This actually works to our advantage, as we keep them on the books whilst they are still good enough to add to the team, but then they don't hang around for umpteen years getting steadily worse!

We need to make some space in our wage budget for some new signings, and Bamba moaned and groaned his way through last season whilst Diagouraga spent the season on loan at Rangers.

Arsene Wenger has decided to retire! Shock!! Actually, not really, as he did the exact same in my Everton save, and David Moyes got the job!

That's a bit more surprising though!

Next we'll get into the off season proper!

[facman]

Woohoo! Look at all that filthy lucre! Now, in true Leeds style, let’s spend it all!! We are looking for 4 main areas to bolster – Our central defence, right back, defensive midfield and striker…

The board have doubled our wage budget to over £500k and given us £22M in transfer funds. The first of the signings is Zac Clough, Kevin Wimmer and Tosin Kehinde.

Zac Clough should need no introduction. He’s a False-9 for Bolton who in real life turned down a move to Bristol in January, and was rumoured to be moving to Norwich in the summer. He is highly touted in FM16, and scored 20 goals for Bolton last season.

Kevin Wimmer is a young Austrian centre-half who was looking to move away from Spurs to get more playing time. He immediately becomes my best DC and we will look to him to anchor the defence.

Kehinde is one for the future, and comes to us on a free. As well as getting starting players, I also need to bring in some youth talent, just in case we slip back to the Championship. If that happens, the big stars may leave, but the young players (with a year of Premiership development under their belts) may well have what it takes to get us straight back up again!

Bianchi leaves us on a free, and we have now reduced our wage spend by £20k per week from getting rid of some of last years’ players. Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a million quid over the course of the season!

How exciting! I’m tempted for a few seconds as they have a good side, but no, I’ll stay with Leeds!

Our second group of signings arrive in July, and alongside two young free transfers (Garcia and Kaufmann) comes Alaixys Romao, an experienced French DM who we signed on a free transfer back in January. So we’ve now shored up three of the four target areas, and still have around £8M in the bank!

Meanwhile, Arsenal hire Rafa Benitez as their new manager

and Leicester bring in Sam ‘Entrapment’ Allardyce! Watch out for those Daily Telegraph reporters!

Meanwhile, we replenish our staff, and have also added a number of coaches, physios and scouts to the roster

The new season’s fixture list is out, and we start our campaign against Spurs and Everton. Wimmer, Oviedo and Junior will line up against their old clubs in the first two weeks of the season

Ibrahim Ba comes in on a free having been released by PSG. He’s rated quite highly, so PSG’s decision could be thought of as being a little ‘Ba-zarre’… sorry…

But I saved the best for last. A week before our first preseason friendly, I trolled through the transfer listed players and spotted that Fulham had made a bid for Matias Kranevitter. No way, thought I, are Atletico letting him go at that price… so, rather than holding on to my remaining transfer funds for a right back as initially intended, I splashed out on a real steal!

Our central midfield is now looking very strong indeed, with Kranevitter, Romao, Cook and Mowatt all vying for places… good job I quite often use a box formation tactic!

[BoxToBox]

Very nice moves, Kranevitter and Cook could become one of the most dominant midfields in Europe for the next 10+ years.

[facman]

22 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Very nice moves, Kranevitter and Cook could become one of the most dominant midfields in Europe for the next 10+ years.

Here's hoping!

Updates may be slower this weekend as I am unexpectedly in charge of my nephew and niece as well as my own kids! We'll see who survives the chaos!

[facman]

A bit more wheeling and dealing before the pre-season friendlies start...

Our expectations for this coming season are simple... stay up!

At home we will most likely play a box formation, making use of our best assets, our central midfielders.

although a counterattacking 4-1-4-1 will also be used heavily, depending on the opposition 

and finally, a defensive 4-4-2 can be brought in to while away the minutes in those tight matches

[facman]

Spain do it again!

and Roy decides he's had enough...

A couple of weeks later, and Everton are short of a manager...

Gareth Southgate leaves the England U21s... I wasn't even aware that Sunderland needed a manager!

Oh dear, 2000-1... this may be a long season!

However, our pre-season has gone remarkably well, even taking into account the relative stature of the opposition

And that's us totally up to date... next time the season starts with us hosting Spurs

[noikeee]

A box formation is certainly something a little out of the ordinary, specially outside Brazil where it originates from. Be careful not to be overloaded down the flanks, I think that looks risky even at home, now that you're facing all of the Premiership sides. It also asks a lot from your fullbacks. Nevertheless you're clearly doing something right after the dominant Championship title, so it looks a good idea for now to keep on doing what you've been doing.

[facman]

11 hours ago, noikeee said:

A box formation is certainly something a little out of the ordinary, specially outside Brazil where it originates from. Be careful not to be overloaded down the flanks, I think that looks risky even at home, now that you're facing all of the Premiership sides.

I agree completely, and am ready to pull the plug on the box if it proves ineffective. My main concern is that my DR isn't good enough, and I hope to improve in that position before the end of the transfer window.

[facman]

A nice draw in the Capital One Cup, albeit we are away from home...

Alan Pardew goes to Everton! I didn't see that one coming...

This is an annoying injury... as a newly promoted side, injuries to my key players are going to be hard to deal with...

August results are a mixed bag... Spurs hammered us, a rude awakening to life in the Premiership, although they got a dodgy penalty and scored two from set pieces, so we only conceded one from open play, and our goal was the best move of the game! A tight draw with Everton in which they had a goal disallowed got us off the mark points-wise, but our defeat to QPR was very frustrating as we had all the play but no penetration in the final third. The Newcastle game, however, was great! 2-0 up before the half hour, our box formation dominated The Magpies' 4-4-2. We gave up a silly goal just before half-time so I switched to a counter-attacking 4-1-4-1 for the second half and we bored everyone to death to get our first win!

And the table doesn't look half bad at the end of August... just 35 more Premiership matches to go!

 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Some very nice wheeling and dealing on the transfer market there. Good luck.

[facman]

13 hours ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

Some very nice wheeling and dealing on the transfer market there. Good luck.

Thanks very much. We're not quite finished with the transfer market, and on deadline day bring in a wingback from PSV

The summer transfer season has been very active, with Man U and Man City spending the biggest money

Deadline day saw a few interesting deals too

Lewis Cook wins August YPoM award, which is nice

but we are hit with some annoying injuries

September's results are pretty good despite losing some players, and Zac Clough's hat-trick was wonderful

and the table makes interesting reading, with Man City struggling despite spending over £100M in the summer, and Swansea riding high! Our 7th place is great, but belies the fact that we have got some really tough games coming up soon

Clough gets his reward for some good form this month

 

[noikeee]

Excellent start to the Premier League season so far.

[facman]

21 hours ago, noikeee said:

Excellent start to the Premier League season so far.

Thanks, although I don't expect it will last! As we move into October, Arsenal have a good week - not sure I've ever seen the 'Team of the Week' entire midfield and defence come from a single team

Junior is again injured on International duty... he has barely featured for us this season due to injuries... 

A decent set of October results for us. We played well against Norwich and Man City, with City only equalising midway through the second half, but Swansea totally outplayed us. The Arsenal game, however, was a complete fluke. They had all the play; I mean ALL the play. If it had been the other way round I'd have been shouting about goalkeeper bugs and such like, as Silvestri was Man of the Match with an outstanding display. Anyway, an exceedingly valuable 3 points against the Gunners

Consequently, the end of October table looks better then it should, as by rights we should be down in around 16th place! Not that I'm complaining...

Bilic is the first casualty of the season, not really surprising when you look at West Ham's results

 

[facman]

Not another injury!!! 

Offered the West Ham job... that's the second Premiership job I've been offered this season (Leicester was the first)

but I turn them down and they appoint Alex Neil from Norwich

Meanwhile, 'tis the season to be sacked', as Guardiola gets the boot. He spent over £100M in the summer, and Man City are currently in about 15th place...

Klopp has been under fire recently at Liverpool (they have been mid table this season so far) and takes the opportunity to start afresh with Man City... I wonder who Liverpool will hire?

And as we all know, bad things come in threes, and Newcastle round up the hat-trick of sackings by giving McClaren the heave-ho...

we finally complete our long-awaited Youth upgrade, which is fantastic news

At the beginning of the month we abandon the box formation tactic, as our squad just isn't good enough yet to pull it off. I used it a lot in the second half of last season, against Championship sides who were obviously wary of us (we were top of the table!). In the first quarter of this season, however, most teams are attacking us, as we are seen as relegation fodder, and they are overwhelming our flanks (which can be a problem when using the box formation). So, I'm trying out a 4-3-3 wide formation, heavy on the pressing from the forward line, for those games where I think we can take the game to our opponents. Its a Standard/Fluid system, with generic CM(S), CM(D), CM(A) in midfield, modified with a few PIs, IF(S) on the left, W(A) on the right, and a Poacher up front (works best when Clough is playing).

Our November results aren't great, but we do get 3 very valuable points at the Stadium of Light against fellow relegation candidates, Sunderland. To be fair though, we played well against both Liverpool and Chelsea, and only conceded late on against Sunderland in what was one of our most assured performances this season. I used the 4-3-3 shown above for the first hour against Sunderland, and we dominated (albeit we only scored after 58 minutes) despite only having our 4th choice striker on the pitch (Clough was on a plane as the England U19 squad flew out a day early for their game!). After we went 1-0 up I reverted to a counterattacking 4-1-4-1, and we went 2-0 up from a corner in the 71st minute. We then went into our 4-4-2 defensive tactic for the remaining 20 minutes, conceding from a silly own goal with about 8 minutes remaining. All in all, I'm now fairly happy with the 3 tactics I am using.

Those 3 points have helped to keep us in mid-table, and we are now almost halfway to our preseason target of 40 points...

Just take a look at Everton and Swansea! Pardew is doing a great job at Goodison Park, without really having spent much at all on the squad...

[facman]

Six games in December will take us to the halfway point in the season. But before we come to that, lets take a look at the World Team of the Year for 2016

Good news for Bendtner's return to fitness as he gets 3rd place in the Goal of the Month competition

Our December results are a 'game of two halves' if you'll pardon the pun, with a brilliant start to the month and a dreadfull finish. The Hull and West Ham games were unfortunate in that we had as much of the play but just couldn't finish, and Man U scored in the 92nd minute (Fergie time still exists!) to win that one!

However, we are still quite a way clear of the drop zone going into 2017, and I think another 12 points will give us enough to stay up (although I'm aiming for the magic 40 of course!)

Some tough games in January against Spurs, Everton and Newcastle twice (once in the FA Cup)! I'll play those over the weekend. Also, I currently have around 750k in the transfer kitty, I wonder if the Board will give me some extra funds for the squad?