[FM21] Derby County - Why manage the Rams? / How are you getting on?

[Scott_Gooner]

Firstly: I used the editor to make players unavailable and club morale to 1 that @Stuniverse posted on page 1.

Secondly: I play with the first transfer window off.

Now let the fun begin....

I hired some staff to fill the vacancies at the club and signed Paul McGuinness as my Assistant Manager. Then I selected some teams to play preseason games against, I normally pick some local teams for the first few games, so the players can score some easy wins, and then finish preseason with some harder games. We did run up a few cricket scores in the early games, then had some harder games to end preseason.

For these games, I played some guys from the u23's and u19s: A) Lack of available first teamers and B) To see which youngsters might be able to offer us some options in the short term as well as the long term, hopefully! I was impressed with Tyree Wilson, although he is a little raw at present.

So preseason has come to an end and we're starting to get players back and luckily didn't lose any players to injury during preseason!

The scouts at the clubs were sent on general missions in the UK and Scandinavia, to look for players between the ages of 15-23. Whilst I want to primarily use players from the academy, we might on some occasions need to look outside of Moor Farm.

 

Edit: The formations I've been using in preseason have been a 4-3-3DM and a 4-2-3-1. Still haven't decided yet, which one will be the main tactic, but if I don't know what I'm going to play, then the opposition won't have a clue either.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[Stuniverse]

31 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Firstly: I used the editor to make players unavailable and club morale to 1 that @Stuniverse posted on page 1.

Secondly: I play with the first transfer window off.

That will certainly make your Derby save more realistic to what actually happened in real life and also more challenging.

32 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Then I selected some teams to play preseason games against, I normally pick some local teams for the first few games, so the players can score some easy wins, and then finish preseason with some harder games. We did run up a few cricket scores in the early games, then had some harder games to end preseason.

For these games, I played some guys from the u23's and u19s: A) Lack of available first teamers and B) To see which youngsters might be able to offer us some options in the short term as well as the long term, hopefully! I was impressed with Tyree Wilson, although he is a little raw at present.

That’s a lot of friendlies, @Scott_Gooner but also an impressive set of results, particularly against the League One sides, Newcastle and Ajax.

Who’s been scoring all the goals for you?

Derby’s big problem in real-life, and I’m finding on my save, is a shortage of goals due to a lack of natural strikers with senior experience.

36 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

So preseason has come to an end and we're starting to get players back and luckily didn't lose any players to injury during preseason!

36 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Edit: The formations I've been using in preseason have been a 4-3-3DM and a 4-2-3-1. Still haven't decided yet, which one will be the main tactic, but if I don't know what I'm going to play, then the opposition won't have a clue either.

Good luck 🍀 now the competitive action is about to kick-off...

[Scott_Gooner]

35 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

That will certainly make your Derby save more realistic to what actually happened in real life and also more challenging.

That’s a lot of friendlies, @Scott_Gooner but also an impressive set of results, particularly against the League One sides, Newcastle and Ajax.

Who’s been scoring all the goals for you?

Derby’s big problem in real-life, and I’m finding on my save, is a shortage of goals due to a lack of natural strikers with senior experience.

Good luck 🍀 now the competitive action is about to kick-off...

It is a lot of fixtures, but in the first preseason I play a lot of games to get to know the players and the players only play 45 minutes a game and if I have enough fit bodies they don't play back to back games. In the second season I won't play that many friendlies.  

The main source of goals came from Whittaker with 13 , Stretton got 5 (but there were a 2 penalties in that total, I also noticed after he scored a hat-trick it said something along the lines of Stretton has scored the perfect hat-trick, one with his head and one with each foot, which was a nice touch). Hector-Ingram and A.Brown chipped in with a couple and Matt Clarke scored a hat-trick vs Barrowash. But I'll admit that Whittaker's and the others totals were inflated due to goals against the weaker teams, although Whittaker did bag both against Ajax.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[JaytheGreat]

So a little small update because I'm pretty upset. Usually I'd be pretty happy to take a Premier League to the brink but we were by far the better team and their manager Steve Bruce HAD THE AUDACITY to call us an easy win in the pregame press conference and then go on to pat himself on the back after the game.

Steve Bruce and Newcastle better hope I never make it to the Premier League because I will make it my mission to bury him and his poor excuse for a club. 

 

4th round of the FA Cup

Edited December 16, 2020 by JaytheGreat

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, JaytheGreat said:

So a little small update because I'm pretty upset. Usually I'd be pretty happy to take a Premier League to the brink but we were by far the better team and their manager Steve Bruce HAD THE AUDACITY to call us an easy win in the pregame press conference and then go on to pat himself on the back after the game.

Steve Bruce and Newcastle better hope I never make it to the Premier League because I will make it my mission to bury him and his poor excuse for a club. 

 

4th round of the FA Cup

Its just a computer game @JaytheGreat no need to hate on Bruce unless you are an actual Newcastle fan lol.

[karanhsingh]

11 hours ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Firstly: I used the editor to make players unavailable and club morale to 1 that @Stuniverse posted on page 1.

Secondly: I play with the first transfer window off.

Now let the fun begin....

I hired some staff to fill the vacancies at the club and signed Paul McGuinness as my Assistant Manager. Then I selected some teams to play preseason games against, I normally pick some local teams for the first few games, so the players can score some easy wins, and then finish preseason with some harder games. We did run up a few cricket scores in the early games, then had some harder games to end preseason.

For these games, I played some guys from the u23's and u19s: A) Lack of available first teamers and B) To see which youngsters might be able to offer us some options in the short term as well as the long term, hopefully! I was impressed with Tyree Wilson, although he is a little raw at present.

So preseason has come to an end and we're starting to get players back and luckily didn't lose any players to injury during preseason!

The scouts at the clubs were sent on general missions in the UK and Scandinavia, to look for players between the ages of 15-23. Whilst I want to primarily use players from the academy, we might on some occasions need to look outside of Moor Farm.

 

Edit: The formations I've been using in preseason have been a 4-3-3DM and a 4-2-3-1. Still haven't decided yet, which one will be the main tactic, but if I don't know what I'm going to play, then the opposition won't have a clue either.

 

 

 

Those friendlies must have helped with the morale!

2 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

So a little small update because I'm pretty upset. Usually I'd be pretty happy to take a Premier League to the brink but we were by far the better team and their manager Steve Bruce HAD THE AUDACITY to call us an easy win in the pregame press conference and then go on to pat himself on the back after the game.

Steve Bruce and Newcastle better hope I never make it to the Premier League because I will make it my mission to bury him and his poor excuse for a club. 

 

4th round of the FA Cup

I love these little rivalries in the game. They definitely stay on my mind. Had one with Blackburn on this one. Happy when we took Armstrong off them.

[karanhsingh]

Derby 2022 close season update

Final transfer business:

INS

OUTS

So we went easy after those first 3 massive transfers, just bringing back a couple of Englishmen from abroad - Keenan Bennetts & Ronaldo Vieira. Just squad rotation options really. 

Had some good news from the ticket office.

And so far so good on the fixtures front too.

Got a bit lucky at Palace as they had a man sent off in the first half, but then we really put them to the sword. 

[Scott_Gooner]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Those friendlies must have helped with the morale!

 

You’d like to think so and it did look promising when we beat Carlisle 3-0 in the EFL Cup, unfortunately we didn’t take that form into the league as Reading beat us 1-0 in the first league match.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[karanhsingh]

Played some more fixtures. We've had some very impressive early results including the last big home win over Arsenal!

However got completely destroyed at Anfield, they were 5-0 up at HT! We took a more measured approach at Old Trafford and this time lost 2-0. As expected there is a huge gap to the top sides.

Here is the table:

Again, early days but obviously happy so far.

The front 3 of Whittaker, Delap and Armstrong is doing well.

[karanhsingh]

Another quick update, as we break for the 2022 Winter World Cup.

Some more decent results, although we were a bit unfortunate to drop points at Villa & West Ham.

Can't complain about where we are - beginning to dream about Europe already!

So many good performers so far - the front 3 of course - also vice-captain Bird has been great, as well as Matty Clarke at the back.

[Jogo Bonito]

@karanhsingh Really going well, great to see a team of graduates and real players (and without superstar signings) doing more than holding their own.

[karanhsingh]

3 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@karanhsingh Really going well, great to see a team of graduates and real players (and without superstar signings) doing more than holding their own.

Yes thanks! I've been wanting to manage Adam Armstrong as well - seems like he got a bit of a boost in the new database.

[karanhsingh]

Alright then 

[karanhsingh]

Club Improvements:

Facility improvements are complete. I reckon we should now be maxed out pretty much on all counts.

Also the Pride Park expansion has been completed.

We promptly broke the attendance record in the next game.

And apparently have fulfilled the below objective too.

In-take looks okay this year, even though we don't really need another CM.

And finally in a pleasant surprise, Delap won the European Golden Boy award! Big shoes to fill indeed.

[Scott_Gooner]

@karanhsingh are you still waiting for a decent GK to arrive? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Derby are the new Southampton where they will develop so many good to great young players.

I will definitely be doing a youth only save with them at some point and try to do 10 seasons.

[karanhsingh]

37 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

@karanhsingh are you still waiting for a decent GK to arrive? 

I have one who came through but will likely never be more than an able back-up.

[Scott_Gooner]

36 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

I have one who came through but will likely never be more than an able back-up.

Maybe the next youth intake will provide you with the homegrown #1.  Also congrats on your progress 😀

[karanhsingh]

Dec 2022 & Jan 2023 

Some solid results. Games are coming thick and fast now.

I HATE Liverpool (just like IRL). They have put 12 past me in 2 games. Every time there's a highlight its a goal, its ridiculous! The Spurs defeat was also painful, we were much the better team and equalized in the 89th minute, only for Bielik to give away a stupid penalty in the 92nd. We did get some revenge over them in the next cup game though.

I am getting more confident about qualifying for Europe now.

Also we made absolutely no transfers in January. Its got to the stage now where it needs to be a really quality player to improve us, otherwise its just not worth it.

[karanhsingh]

Most of the big clubs are out... we should get a good draw and make our way to Wembley this time.

[Stuniverse]

18 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I am getting more confident about qualifying for Europe now.

5th after 21 games, with a game in hand and only a point behind 4th is very impressive, @karanhsingh.

18 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Also we made absolutely no transfers in January. Its got to the stage now where it needs to be a really quality player to improve us, otherwise its just not worth it.

That’s really good news. I know you’ve signed a couple of players but with your squad predominantly Rams Academy graduates that’s testimony to your willingness to give youth a chance and stick by them. Talking of which, is Max Bird still a Derby player after that big money bid?

13 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Most of the big clubs are out... we should get a good draw and make our way to Wembley this time.

Just Man City up next though if they get past Everton. Good luck 🍀

[Stuniverse]

On 16/12/2020 at 09:03, JaytheGreat said:

So a little small update because I'm pretty upset. Usually I'd be pretty happy to take a Premier League to the brink but we were by far the better team and their manager Steve Bruce HAD THE AUDACITY to call us an easy win in the pregame press conference and then go on to pat himself on the back after the game.

Steve Bruce and Newcastle better hope I never make it to the Premier League because I will make it my mission to bury him and his poor excuse for a club. 

I do enjoy these rivalries with other managers that arise in FM. Good luck in your mission against Steve Bruce, @JaytheGreat.

[Stuniverse]

On 16/12/2020 at 12:44, Scott_Gooner said:

You’d like to think so and it did look promising when we beat Carlisle 3-0 in the EFL Cup, unfortunately we didn’t take that form into the league as Reading beat us 1-0 in the first league match.

I must update this thread with my current Derby save over the weekend. We’re doing the same kind of save, @Scott_Gooner, based on our changes using the pre-game Editor (as discussed on page 1 of this thread) and I’m probably a month on from where you’re at in your last update.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Stuniverse

[Stuniverse]

On 17/12/2020 at 09:57, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Derby are the new Southampton where they will develop so many good to great young players.

I will definitely be doing a youth only save with them at some point and try to do 10 seasons.

Good luck 🍀 @Ronaldo Beckham when you get to do your Derby youth only save.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, Stuniverse said:

Good luck 🍀 @Ronaldo Beckham when you get to do your Derby youth only save.

Yeah it wont be for a while yet. I got a Wolfsborg and Exeter City saves on the go but I will get round to it sooner or later lol.

[Scott_Gooner]

33 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

I must update this thread with my current Derby save over the weekend. We’re doing the same kind of save, @Scott_Gooner, based on our changes using the pre-game Editor (as discussed on page 1 of this thread) and I’m probably a month on from where you’re at in your last update.

I'd say you're probably ahead of me. With great skill and (lack of)attention to detail, I'd somehow managed to set the "bans" to end in 2021.

But I am sold on a long term save with Derby, so I've restarted and this time corrected the "bans" to end at the correct dates in 2020, currently in-game I'm at September 1st, 2020.  It was a pain in the backside, as we'd started alright in the league 3 wins(which included a thunderbolt from #39 to win the Brian Clough Trophy), 3 draws and 2 defeats and made it to the 3rd round of the EFL cup, where we lost 5-2 to Man City, but had meet the boards demand of making the third round, which is all I was bothered about.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[Stuniverse]

34 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

I'd say you're probably ahead of me. With great skill and (lack of)attention to detail, I'd somehow managed to set the "bans" to end in 2021.

Ouch!

34 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

But I am sold on a long term save with Derby, so I've restarted and this time corrected the "bans" to end at the correct dates in 2020, currently in-game I'm at September 1st, 2020.

Good luck 🍀

[Scott_Gooner]

54 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Ouch!

Good luck 🍀

I think the day I'd made the changes in the editor, I spent the day at work, doing a bunch of stuff for 2021 and maybe I was secretly hoping it was 2021, to end this annus horribilis. 

Just lost on pens to Shrewsbury in the 1st round of the EFL cup. Outplayed them, they had 1 chance in normal time and took it, we created a a fair few chances and could only score 1. But I know this is going to be a fun/rewarding/pulling hair out save! 

How's your save coming along?

Edited December 19, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

5th after 21 games, with a game in hand and only a point behind 4th is very impressive, @karanhsingh.

That’s really good news. I know you’ve signed a couple of players but with your squad predominantly Rams Academy graduates that’s testimony to your willingness to give youth a chance and stick by them. Talking of which, is Max Bird still a Derby player after that big money bid?

Just Man City up next though if they get past Everton. Good luck 🍀

Thank you!

No there was eventually no bid for Bird. In any case, I will not sell any of the graduates unless the Board goes over my head and accepts an offer.

Eventually it was Everton who I had to play!

[karanhsingh]

Another update from Pride Park:

Another couple of solid months for us. I really wanted to beat United but Matt Clarke got himself sent off and after that we were just holding on for a point. The win at Stamford Bridge was memorable, it was my first time in a long while that I successfully manage to FM the AI  3 shots against like 20 or something.

Even dreaming of a top 4 finish now, although if Chelsea win their game in hand they are just 5 points behind and still have to play us once more.

The FA cup semis are set and here is the draw for Wembley!

This year's intake sadly not as good as last year - I was hoping for something better with everything maxed out now.

However I thought I had got a son through the intake in this kid, but he doesn't have me listed anywhere as favoured personnel so am a bit confused...

[Stuniverse]

On 03/12/2020 at 23:34, Stuniverse said:

Making a Derby save more difficult / realistic

That means I've used the Pre-game Editor to reflect those mitigating factors which I'll put in a spoiler wrapper so that you don't have to look at them if you don't want to. Before the spoiler, here's a couple of other things I did:

1. When setting-up the save, I disabled the first transfer window.

2. As the Rams are clearly devoid of any confidence right now, I used the pre-game editor to set the football club's morale to 1 (one).

  Reveal hidden contents

My biggest complaint about Derby County this season is that they just weren't ready for the start of the season. With injuries to key players, the Rams started the season with an unbalanced squad that was short of natural strikers and remained short of natural strikers when the window closed. They also signed free agents who weren't fit enough to play and took an inordinate amount of time to get fit.

To replicate this, I used the pre-game editor to set the following bans to make players Derby signed during the transfer window unavailable (personal reasons) until the date they signed in real-life or unavailable (medical reasons) until approximately the date they were fit enough to play.

• David Marshall - personal reasons until 19/08
• Emmanuel Idem - personal reasons until 28/08
• Nathan Byrne - personal reasons until 10/09
• Kamil Jozwiak - personal reasons until 16/09
• Isaac Hutchinson - personal reasons until 02/10
• George Sykes-Kenworthy - personal reasons until 15/10
• Louie Watson - personal reasons until 15/10
• Colin Kazim-Richards - medical reasons until 16/10
• Bobby Duncan - medical reasons until 26/10
• Jordon Ibe - medical reasons until 30/11

 

For my save, I decided to make things more difficult / realistic as I outlined on Page 1 (the key aspects quoted above), which meant that all Derby County's signings during the transfer window didn't arrive at Pride Park on my save until the date they actually signed for the Rams in real-life, with the exception of free agents Colin Kazim-Richards, Jordon Ibe and Bobby Duncan who I 'banned for medical reasons' until about a week before they actually made their first appearance for the first-team and / or U23s in real-life.

I didn't do the same with players Derby County sold / sent out on loan which meant I was without the services of Jayden Bogle, Max Lowe, and Jack Marriott (loan) from the very start of my save - essentially making this even more difficult than the situation Phillip Cocu had to deal with in real-life.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

April 2023

Well that started off so well, but then a torrid end to the month. Everton we deserved to lose. Bournemouth we had 30 shots and an xG of 4.0 (that's as high as I have seen) - my players have forgotten how to score all of a sudden. Even the Chelsea game was fairly even.

We need to find our form again before the FA Cup Final. The updated league table:

[Stuniverse]

5 hours ago, Scott_Gooner said:

How's your save coming along?

Thanks, for the reminder, @Scott_Gooner and apologies everybody that I haven't updated you on my save before now.

For the pre-season friendlies I stuck with the five friendlies that the AI had arranged before I took up my managerial appointment and added two games against local non-league sides Belper Town and Mickleover Sports - the idea of which was to field a 23-player squad in both of those games made-up entirely of U23 / U18 players so that I could get a really good look at them in competitive action. 

I hadn't realised until I came to select a squad for the Legia Warsaw game just how threadbare the senior squad was without the injured players and the players that (as outlined in my post above) I'd made unavailable until they a) signed for the Rams in real-life or b) became fit enough to play for the Rams in real-life after signing as free-agents.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Craig Forsyth, Lee Buchanan, Andre Wisdom, George Evans and Jahmal Hector-Ingram all picked up niggly little injuries during pre-season.

5 hours ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Just lost on pens to Shrewsbury in the 1st round of the EFL cup. Outplayed them, they had 1 chance in normal time and took it, we created a a fair few chances and could only score 1. But I know this is going to be a fun/rewarding/pulling hair out save! 

How spooky is that, @Scott_Gooner? - we also got knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Shrewsbury Town on penalties. In addition to everything else, David Marshall and Jason Knight were unavailable for the Carabao Cup game due to international call-ups. I went with this starting line-up and Morgan Whittaker scored our goal.

The league form so far has pretty much mirrored real-life, defensively we are doing ok and look quite solid but, up front, we are lacking creativity and, most importantly, goals. I did consider recalling Jack Marriott from his loan at Sheffield Wednesday but decided against it as the Rams only loaned him out two days before the transfer window closed in real-life but, as I mentioned previously, this did mean I was without his services from the very start of the save.

Only the one league defeat, but we are yet to record a win in any competition. I played 4-1-2-3 (4-3-3) in every game before switching to 4-2-3-1 for the Norwich game.

Three of our four goal scorers so far are midfielders. I tried Wayne Rooney as the lone striker for the first three Championship games, but he struggled as he was still getting fit from a back injury (he failed a fitness test for the Shrewsbury game) and isn't as mobile or fast as he once was. I am keen to get Rooney fit so I can play him as a deep-lying midfield player where I think he'll be more effective. Morgan Whittaker played up front against Norwich.

So far, I have used 25 players in five games, which has to be some kind of a record.

As we prepare to face Watford (H), Huddersfield Town (a) and Nottingham Forest (a), there are nine players unavailable for selection for one reason or another.

We are currently out of the relegation zone in 18th position. I'll probably update you next when we reach the end of November.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Stuniverse

[Stuniverse]

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Another couple of solid months for us. I really wanted to beat United but Matt Clarke got himself sent off and after that we were just holding on for a point. The win at Stamford Bridge was memorable, it was my first time in a long while that I successfully manage to FM the AI  3 shots against like 20 or something.

 

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Even dreaming of a top 4 finish now, although if Chelsea win their game in hand they are just 5 points behind and still have to play us once more.

Up to third in the EPL and looking very good, @karanhsingh. Take the wins over the big clubs in the Premier League in whatever way you can. Bridging that gap as a newly promoted side from the Championship can be very difficult so take your good fortune when you get it because the only stat that matters is: who scored the most goals?

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

The FA cup semis are set and here is the draw for Wembley!

Congratulations on beating Everton in the QF and good luck in the SF against West Brom who, I assume, must be a Championship side.

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

This year's intake sadly not as good as last year - I was hoping for something better with everything maxed out now.

I don't know how it works but I'd imagine it may take a season or two to start seeing the benefits of everything around the youth academy improvements you've maxed out coming through to fruition.

[karanhsingh]

The final league fixtures - couple of crazy games there.

Final table. Champions League here we come!

Man City sacked Guardiola and Arsenal sacked Thierry Henry 

Max Bird assist machine. I think he's obliterated the assist record for EPL history!

Very disappointed with these budgets. It will be nigh on impossible to hold onto our best players, forget actually bringing in anyone of note.

[Stuniverse]

35 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Well that started off so well, but then a torrid end to the month. Everton we deserved to lose. Bournemouth we had 30 shots and an xG of 4.0 (that's as high as I have seen) - my players have forgotten how to score all of a sudden. Even the Chelsea game was fairly even.

We need to find our form again before the FA Cup Final. The updated league table:

Have your players started dreaming of a Wembley FA Cup Final already, @karanhsingh?

But WOW! Look where Derby County are in the Premier League table! Chelsea have two games in hand but, nevertheless, are the Rams going to qualify for the Champions League?

[Stuniverse]

5 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Final table. Champions League here we come!

Amazing, @karanhsingh. Congratulations on your third place finish!

Good luck against Wolves in the FA Cup Final!

Edited December 19, 2020 by Stuniverse

[Stuniverse]

4 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Very disappointed with these budgets. It will be nigh on impossible to hold onto our best players, forget actually bringing in anyone of note.

Ouch! New owners not living up to expectations...

[JaytheGreat]

@karanhsingh Congrats on making the Champions League and finishing 3rd! But wow that's such a underwhelming budget and looks like the owners are big time penny pinchers. All in all I can't wait to see how next season turns out for you/ 

[Jogo Bonito]

Amazing season @karanhsinghvery satisfying to achieve that with mainly HG talents 

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Stuniverse said:

Ouch! New owners not living up to expectations...

Absolutely not! Even with a few players singing deserved new contracts we will bust that wage budget. The next team after us in the premier league was on a million pounds per week already. 

36 minutes ago, JaytheGreat said:

@karanhsingh Congrats on making the Champions League and finishing 3rd! But wow that's such a underwhelming budget and looks like the owners are big time penny pinchers. All in all I can't wait to see how next season turns out for you/ 

Thank you mate! 

6 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Amazing season @karanhsinghvery satisfying to achieve that with mainly HG talents 

Cheers! Derby really do have a golden generation (in game and I suppose IRL as well). 

[Scott_Gooner]

@Stuniverse What are the odds, we'd get the same team and same result? Whittaker scored for us in normal time and Cummings scored for Shrewsbury, we then lost 4-2 on pens and that was after Roos saved their first penalty.

@karanhsingh Congrats on  the Top 3 Finish. Good luck in the Cup Final.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[karanhsingh]

FA Cup Final time!

The teams: we have 7 academy graduates in the starting line-up.

They have one of the best strikers in the league up front in Fabio Silva. Not going to be an easy game for sure.

We take the lead through an early penalty.

Still one up at HT but its been a nervy first half, Wolves have a few good chances.

However our top scorer Armstrong gets his second soon after to double the lead.

And Liam Delap wraps up the win after slotting home a wonderful through ball from captain Will Hughes.

Derby County - FA Cup winners 2023!

[karanhsingh]

Squad stats ranked by appearances:

So many good performances to note!

Max Bird delivered the highest number of assists I have ever seen on FM in a season - and from DM! Although he was on corners too. What a player! No wonder Real Madrid want him.

The front 3 of Armstrong, Delap and Whittaker was excellent throughout. Armstrong turned out to be a fantastic attacking RW.

Knight, Hughes & Sibley all got plenty of games in midfield and did a commendable job.

Clarke was the rock at the back, chipping in with some goals as well. Ably supported by Woolfenden.

Bogle quickly took over from Laird at RB and has really developed well - on the opposite side Archie Brown has now become first choice over Buchanan.

All in all - what a great season from the boys!

[Stuniverse]

7 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Derby County - FA Cup winners 2023!

 

3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

So many good performances to note!

Max Bird delivered the highest number of assists I have ever seen on FM in a season - and from DM! Although he was on corners too. What a player! No wonder Real Madrid want him.

The front 3 of Armstrong, Delap and Whittaker was excellent throughout. Armstrong turned out to be a fantastic attacking RW.

Knight, Hughes & Sibley all got plenty of games in midfield and did a commendable job.

Clarke was the rock at the back, chipping in with some goals as well. Ably supported by Woolfenden.

Bogle quickly took over from Laird at RB and has really developed well - on the opposite side Archie Brown has now become first choice over Buchanan.

All in all - what a great season from the boys!

🏆 Congratulations, @karanhsingh. What an amazing season!! 🐏

[Scott_Gooner]

Congratulations @karanhsingh .  

[SirAlex13]

I am a big fan of Clough- he is one of my managerial idols, and I want to take one of his sides back to glory. I'm considering a Derby save after reading this thread. I think Wayne might be the deciding factor for me!

Is it possible to play him up front?

[Stuniverse]

33 minutes ago, SirAlex13 said:

I am a big fan of Clough- he is one of my managerial idols, and I want to take one of his sides back to glory. I'm considering a Derby save after reading this thread.

Brian Clough was one of the all-time great managers. Good luck 🍀 if you decide to do a Derby County save - of course, I’m biased, but I think you’d enjoy it 😄🐏

33 minutes ago, SirAlex13 said:

I think Wayne might be the deciding factor for me!

Is it possible to play him up front?

Rooney isn’t as fast or as mobile as he once was and, whilst it’s probably not his best position any more, Rooney can still do a job up front. With the Rams at the start of the save, unless you sign a striker or two, you won’t have too many options up front so you’ll be able to play Rooney as a striker if you want...

Edited December 19, 2020 by Stuniverse

[SirAlex13]

2 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Brian Clough was one of the all-time great managers. Good luck 🍀 if you decide to do a Derby County save - of course, I’m biased, but I think you’d enjoy it 😄🐏

Rooney isn’t as fast or as mobile as he once was and, whilst it’s probably not his best position any more, Rooney can do a job up front. With the Rams at the start of the save, unless you sign a striker or two, you won’t have too many options up front so you’ll be able to play Rooney as a striker if you want...

Absolutely. I will just make a quick save, start a Derby one and update you all at the end of season one, if I am not sacked or my PC doesn't give me issues as it so often has!

[Stuniverse]

3 minutes ago, SirAlex13 said:

Absolutely. I will just make a quick save, start a Derby one and update you all at the end of season one, if I am not sacked or my PC doesn't give me issues as it so often has!

Good luck, @SirAlex13. I hope it goes well and your PC behaves!