[FM21] BackTheBulls - Jersey Bulls: a charge into the football league

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute analysis May 2038

I've changed a number of roles this season, so my attributes now reflect our new formation. That's made some calculations on all-time growth impossible, but I can still track going forward.

Goalkeepers

Adjusting to a sweeper keeper lowers our ratings considerably. De Rosa is our clear number one, but behind him it's close for the next keeper as Quansah's progress has been slow, allowing Hadler to catch up somewhat. I am still looking to bring in a better keeper for next year.

BPD

Again, an adjustment in scores as we switched to ball-playing CBs. Jakovljevic has continued to grow this season, but I am slightly disappointed that neither Vanegas or Mafoso really improved despite game time. Pelling has made good progress and does still have decent potential. Kizito spent a large amount of the season injured, but he's 18 now and really needs to kick on if he's to reach anywhere near his potential.

Full backs

It's funny that Davidson is now our best full back attribute wise despite having a poor season. Ramsay is the young player to have made the most growth, although his potential looks limited. Harte kicked on slightly at RB, but I'm not sure he's going to reach his 5 star potential if I'm honest. He had a great season, so should have used that to push on. There's a lot of dross here now I'm retaining nearly all of the youth intake each year.

BWM

The only role to stay the same all season, Rafael is very well equipped for this role but despite that Robbins outperformed him this season. Johnston still has 5 star potential and incredible mental stats, but his 'unambitious' personality is holding back his development elsewhere. He did well in League Two on loan this season, scoring 7 and assisting 3, so I'm hopeful he can push on and go on loan to League One or the Championship perhaps. He's 19 now and still rated 2 star by my coaches. Ramsay again showing his all-round development here.

DLP

We started using this role again in January instead of a BBM and boy did it make a difference to our defense. Dempsey has improved significantly this season, but so has Villamizar who had a poor start and then a fruitful end to the season. Palmer also made strides in his development which was aided by his game time. We're looking strong here and it's unlikely that both Cook and Clarke will stay this summer. 

Attacking mid

Eventually we settled on an attacking midfielder and again this worked well. Palmer is our long term prospect here, but we also utilised Villamizar and Cook while Ygor had good runs at AMC despite being injured 6 times this season. With Villamizar likely to play in DLP, Cook uninspiring and Palmer very young, I think we need a solid buy in this area to make us more effective next season, especially considering that Ygor was initially bought to play on the wings.

Wingers

A ridiculously bloated area of the squad. Dilrosun and Ygor are our two 80+ rated wingers, but it's Scott who owns the right wing position if we can seal a free transfer for him at the end of 4 years of loans. Palmer is also a good option on the right with very good growth this year in all his attributes. 

Bienvenu probably hasn't done enough to warrant a place in the Premier League squad if we can find a better option. Dowling, Smith, Nuhu and, O'Hara could do with more experience, perhaps on loan. Hare and Hutchinson probably lack potential to make it with us now. 

Advanced forward

Just the one striker role now. Bah's growth was really good last season and I'm glad he finished the season well. Santos looks like he could be excellent given some game time and experience; I'm hoping to give him some in Premier League games if we start reasonable well next year. O'Hara has really come from nowhere; now rated 5 stars potential and growing across the attributes. Very excited about him!

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

May 2038 shopping list

After that analysis, my mind is a little clearer on my priorities in this transfer window.

Out

I'd like to move on:

Cook (not good enough at AMC and surplus at DLP)

Miguel (complaining about role and wanting to leave)

Bienvenu (not good enough backup LW)

Potentially out

Clarke (I'm not sure I have a role for him anymore)

Rafael (great attributes but limited potential and foreign - can we get something better in?)

In

One centreback (an improvement on Miguel)

One AMC (upgrade on Cook)

One LB (we only have one)

One GK (De Rosa may not be good enough for this level)

Scott on a free from United.

Another winger to backup Scott or Dilrosun dependent on signing of Scott.

 

It's quite a transitional summer window ahead, but I have no desire to be relegated again!

[Jtomsett11]

May 2038/June 2038 developments

I've struggled for game time due to work and then illness, but managed to get through a month and a bit at the weekend. Our off the field developments such as our youth category going up to Category 1 and our youth facilities improvement to 'superb' facilities came through and we've also set about improving the staff.

Some areas, such as the Physio department I always find relatively easy to improve, whereas other areas, such as data and performance analysts I often struggle to employ staff with decent stats. I've committed quite large wages to improve some of our performance and recruitment analysts and am in the process of appointing 3 new scouts now that we can have 13 rather than the 10 we were allowed last season. One important area of improvement was our HOYD. I've spent a small fortune, committing £1m a year in wages to this guy.

Now, his formations and tactical style may mean we have to adjust some players e.g. wing backs to full backs or wingers, DMs to CM BWMs, but to be honest the improvement in personality and his key attributes means he is a significant step-up. Let's give him a few years to improve our intakes as the past few have been pretty average.

Transfers

I will do a full update, but we've made some big moves (for us) already.

Scott arrives after 4 years on loan. I'm happy with the wage and his agreed playing time as I would hope to improve on him at some point, however he's been so good this season and got 10 goals last season in the Premier League, so with our improved team and formation he will play a vital role.

We then spent £6 million on a priority position, goalkeeper.

Kubiszyn sounds more Ukrainian than Argentinian to me, but he's a huge step up on De Rosa. We're paying him a huge £5 million a year, but he has a release clause of £54 million and I suspect he'll be with us one year before moving on. This may be one of the most important signings we make.

Our next acquisition isn't the most important, but he's the next to cross the line.

Morais is an upgrade on Rafael technically and his only downsides are his mentals aren't as strong. However, he's got the work rate, positioning and great pace and strength. The fickle personality isn't great, but with some mentoring I believe we can change that. We bought him for £13.5 million and he's instantly worth nearly double. 

Rafael will be sold now.

We are still in the market for an AMC, a new backup LW and a CB. There's quite a lot that could still happen as we move into pre-season, both in terms of sales and incomings. I'm determined to go into this season with a fighting chance of staying up.

 

 

[Sonic Youth]

Straight back up by winning the Championship

I like your planning for next season, with your incomings already making next season's squad stronger. Little bit more work here by the sound of things, both incoming and outgoing.

That's one hell of a HoYD

He's definitely worth those wages to get better personality and types of players in the coming years.

I'm surprised by who some of the players your using are still around. Definitely having a better story than this Vardy person!

I'll leave you with this stat I found while looking up Salah's record in the ECL recently. Check out top spot in the section Most consecutive wins across all competitions 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Space

[Jtomsett11]

On 17/02/2022 at 06:29, Sonic Youth said:

Straight back up by winning the Championship

I like your planning for next season, with your incomings already making next season's squad stronger. Little bit more work here by the sound of things, both incoming and outgoing.

That's one hell of a HoYD

He's definitely worth those wages to get better personality and types of players in the coming years.

I'm surprised by who some of the players your using are still around. Definitely having a better story than this Vardy person!

I'll leave you with this stat I found while looking up Salah's record in the ECL recently. Check out top spot in the section Most consecutive wins across all competitions 

Thanks! A very successful season I feel!

Yes, the incomings are coming along nicely and we're nearly there, another update after this will reveal more! 

The HoYD is pretty insane for a regen! Let's hope he boosts the intakes or we'll start running out of youth players capable of playing at this level  Robbins is definitely my Vardy equivalent, nobody else has played at such as low level and then appeared in our ToTY in the Premier League too.

Yes! That's what drew me to Jersey Bulls in the first place, I read a BBC article about their record winning run and thought 'that would make a great FM career!'

[Jtomsett11]

July 2038 - more incomings

I forgot when I last posted that Moreau, our LB, desperately wants to leave due to a promise I made that he could. I don't want him to leave as he had a superb season last year, but we need backup there anyway.

Herrero joins for £11 million, which is quite steep but honestly I just couldn't find any decent LBs out there. He's not great going forward, but with no preference of foot I know his attributes take a slight knock and he has room to grow while already being pretty solid defensively, including in the air which is a big plus at full back. I like him.

Next up, we fill that AMC position and give ourselves options on the RW with Lopez.

£27 million blows our maximum spend out of the water, but this guy looks really strong in all the right areas with a solid personality to match. He comes in on a high wage but I'm excited about him. 

After routing around for a CB for ages, this guy was made available for loan.

We're paying his wages, but he's instantly our best CB and he can do it all. I'm not sure why he feels the need to knock the ball past opponents, but he's got the ability to do so. 

We're down to needing a backup LW and, another position I forgot about, a backup striker as we really only have Bah up there.

However, during pre-season I've been impressed with Smith, our young South African, so I'm going to give him a go behind Dilrosun on the left as other targets have turned us down. That leaves us with just a striker to bring in. 

We may have sacrificed our home-grown, Jersey-born bias to a large degree, but hopefully it allows us to stay in the Premier League and then increase our academy contingent again. We are still likely to have 4-5 academy prospects in the squad at any one time, with both RBs, our main ST, our second BWM, third choice DLP and Cup keeper all homegrown. 

[Jtomsett11]

July 2038 - pre season over

We've finished all ours ins and outs and now have a squad of 23 players which is exactly how I like it.

Our pre-season has been very solid. Everyone, bar a couple returning from injuries, is match fit and ready to go. We start the season with a few winnable games so we need to hit the ground running.

Transfers

                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                           

The screenshots haven't quite worked as we had a number of players leave. Notable exits for Cook, Mascall, Rafael, Miguel and Bienvenu as I decided none of the 5 were up to the standard we needed. Many younger players go out on loan while a couple go out permanently for small fees as their potential dropped to 2 stars.

The only incoming not discussed already is striker Wych, who is essentially a better version of Mascall and someone who is happy with a squad role, which means Bah can be our first choice striker.

The new additions score quite well on our attribute calculator. Lopez, Kubiszyn and Wych in particular are very impressive in terms of attributes for their desired roles.

Overall, that leaves the first team squad looking like this. We're rather thing on the ground in the U23s as most of them are now 18-20 and need game time so are out on loan. 

Ygor and Palmer could be swapped around to be honest as along with Lopez they can both play on the right wing and as an attacking midfielder. Clarke is still in the squad as a spare midfielder which could allow Dempsey to push further forward if injuries mean we're stretched. 23 players in a squad is very small, but I've always preferred working with a small squad. We have two unhappy players, Moreau (but no bids have come in for him) and Mafoso who I tried to get to sign a squad player new contract. Now he's unhappy I'll move his squad status down and wait for him to reconsider before offering him a contract at the status. 

The fans are ready. Despite our strengthening, the media say we are not!

                

[corinthiano]

Good luck the second time round in the PL, the squad certainly seems a lot better prepared for it this time.

Also liking the South American additions to the squad

 

[Sonic Youth]

Some high numbers there, and I don’t remember seeing that colour before either! 

Incidentally, and not to distract you from the season start, is there many notable original players left in the Premier League?

Looking forward to this season 

[Sonic Youth]

3 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Robbins is definitely my Vardy equivalent, nobody else has played at such as low level and then appeared in our ToTY in the Premier League too.

Here’s hoping he can stick around long enough to play in Europe for you too. Now that would be amazing 

3 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Yes! That's what drew me to Jersey Bulls in the first place, I read a BBC article about their record winning run and thought 'that would make a great FM career!'

Now that you mention this, I’ve got this feeling you said this when you started the this thread. Going to check…

[Edit] Yes. Yes you did 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Face palm

[Punch]

Let’s go Bulls! Good luck second time around!

[Jtomsett11]

August 2038

I said that our start needed to be strong as we had three favourable home games in August. I didn't actually expect us to win all three and draw away against Burnley!

The results from Brighton onwards are version 2 as my son decided to press a button while I showed him some goal highlights of our first-time 3-1 win against Cardiff and the game got stuck on 'generating match report' . Fortunately, we repeated our results and improved on our 1-0 and 3-1 win against Brighton and Villa in the cup respectively. Phew!

Our squad has performed sensationally so far.

Sorted by average rating and showing only those scoring 7+, you can see new boy Lopez has 6 assists and a goal in 5 games, while Bah has scored 5 goals on his return to the Premier League (he got 9 two years ago). Rodrigues is deadly in the air so far!

We're looking good in the league! Obviously much tougher fixtures await, but for now we can be very satisfied in knowing we're 1/4 of our way to 40 points after just 4 games.

Speaking of upcoming games, September doesn't look too bad either.

Harder, but there's points to be won here.

Club developments

Off the pitch, I got this message.

I thought I'd try a stadium expansion request, which was granted, along with a youth facility upgrade. The training ground upgrade was refused unfortunately, but I'll try again soon!

[Punch]

Nice work on the stadium upgrade. My Board are looking into a new stadium but it’s only showing 10k-11k capacity in the search stage, which I am sure is not going to be sufficient.

[Jtomsett11]

47 minutes ago, Punch said:

Nice work on the stadium upgrade. My Board are looking into a new stadium but it’s only showing 10k-11k capacity in the search stage, which I am sure is not going to be sufficient.

Ours was set to be 7K, but was actually 14K when built and this is now our second expansion as it's currently 21K. Not sure how big it can go! We still don't own it, but there's no point trying to buy it until I know how big it can get.

[Jtomsett11]

September 2038

Nearly a perfect month. The Leicester draw was down to a brilliant goalkeeping performance from Kubiszyn. The 2-0 win over Leeds was great, but did come at a cost as Bah would be out for the rest of the month and after his 6 goals in 6 appearances I suspected we might miss him. We didn't in the cup, but did in the league. New signing Wych isn't really doing the business if I'm honest and he's unhappy over a promise I made to sign defenders (which I did do!). The Southampton game showed our lack of cutting edge without Bah, although after a good performance in the cup I also played youngster Palmer as AMC so perhaps that didn't help.

Ultimately, I can't complain at 4 points from 3 games including two away games. It leaves us with 14 points from our first 7 games.

I don't think we'll stick around in the Champions League positions, especially with both City and United to play in October. I think another 4 points from 4 games should be the target here.

The analysts suggest we're performing well defensively and offensively, which I know we can see from the table, however this gives me more faith that our start to the season should be sustained over time. Keeping Bah fit is probably key to our success though.

Financially, we're just about sustainable with our wage expediture, which is now up to £50 million a season.

[Punch]

2 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Ours was set to be 7K, but was actually 14K when built and this is now our second expansion as it's currently 21K. Not sure how big it can go! We still don't own it, but there's no point trying to buy it until I know how big it can get.

If you have the editor, you can see the maximum capacity available for expansion. The Bowl started at 3k, and even though we have expanded it 3-4 times, it's now at 6.8k, but the maximum it can go to is 8k, plus we have the same problem of not owning it, so I was never too worried about the maximum capacity as I knew we would have to leave at some point.

Seeing yours almost doubled leaves me hope that we may end up with a lot more than 10-11k capacity by the time they find a site and get approvals etc.

[Sonic Youth]

That’s a great re-start to life in the Premier League. The stats look good for sustaining your form too.

A stadium expansion is welcome news I bet, and seems pretty cheap for such an increase in size too.

It’s curious that your board doesn’t link improvement to training facilities with youth facilities/improving youngsters by having better training facilities.

It feels so different from your first promotion to the Premier League, with a lighter air to your posts 

[Pompeyboyz]

That stadium expansion will take you to a quarter of the islands population 

[Pompeyboyz]

Is your board employing Dr Who to do the Youth Facilities??

[Sonic Youth]

4 hours ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Is your board employing Dr Who to do the Youth Facilities??

The start date is when you find out the  cost funds mysteriously disappeared back on the completed date!

[Jtomsett11]

On 20/02/2022 at 02:01, Punch said:

If you have the editor, you can see the maximum capacity available for expansion. The Bowl started at 3k, and even though we have expanded it 3-4 times, it's now at 6.8k, but the maximum it can go to is 8k, plus we have the same problem of not owning it, so I was never too worried about the maximum capacity as I knew we would have to leave at some point.

Seeing yours almost doubled leaves me hope that we may end up with a lot more than 10-11k capacity by the time they find a site and get approvals etc.

I don't have the editor unfortunately so it's all a guessing game for me!! 

 

20 hours ago, Pompeyboyz said:

That stadium expansion will take you to a quarter of the islands population 

I thought this . I think the database must not fully recognise that Jersey is an island to be honest and therefore as part of the 'far south east' of the UK we probably have huge potential for attracting fans. 

17 hours ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Is your board employing Dr Who to do the Youth Facilities??

I was waiting to see if anyone noticed this haha. I'm not quite sure what's going on,  we'll just have to see when it's finished!

 

On 20/02/2022 at 05:54, Sonic Youth said:

That’s a great re-start to life in the Premier League. The stats look good for sustaining your form too.

A stadium expansion is welcome news I bet, and seems pretty cheap for such an increase in size too.

It’s curious that your board doesn’t link improvement to training facilities with youth facilities/improving youngsters by having better training facilities.

It feels so different from your first promotion to the Premier League, with a lighter air to your posts 

For some reason the recent upgrades were both denied and then in the 'discussion' youth facilities were approved instantly whereas training were dismissed despite what I thought was agreement with my argument. I suspect some sort of bug but it's hopefully not game breaking and I'll get that final (i think!) upgrade of the training facilities too.

You're absolutely right about this season, I'm enjoying the save again after a very underwhelming period in the Premier league last time.  I think I got caught up on trying to play as many youth players as possible last time and along with the formation problems it led to a rather miserable season. I've now reconsidered my approach to getting the youth back in as a medium to long term project and I'm enjoying signing players who go on to impress, which means I enjoy writing about it too. I didn't start this save as a youth only,  and we still have 3-5 youth prospects starting each game, so my focus on youth remains while being realistic about signing players to progress. 

[Punch]

8 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

I don't have the editor unfortunately so it's all a guessing game for me!! 

That will be fun also. 

 

10 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

I thought this . I think the database must not fully recognise that Jersey is an island to be honest and therefore as part of the 'far south east' of the UK we probably have huge potential for attracting fans

Maybe there’s nothing else to do so people love the chance to get the the ground and watch some football.

I would find it hilarious in my save if I can get a 50k seat stadium in Douglas…a city of 30k people…on an island of 80k 

[Sonic Youth]

5 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

You're absolutely right about this season, I'm enjoying the save again after a very underwhelming period in the Premier league last time.  I think I got caught up on trying to play as many youth players as possible last time and along with the formation problems it led to a rather miserable season. I've now reconsidered my approach to getting the youth back in as a medium to long term project and I'm enjoying signing players who go on to impress, which means I enjoy writing about it too. I didn't start this save as a youth only,  and we still have 3-5 youth prospects starting each game, so my focus on youth remains while being realistic about signing players to progress.

That’s good to hear you’re enjoying this season 

Whenever I hear you talking about your setup, I immediately think of Ajax and their youth setup and how long they can trace back having a youth player in their first team.

[Jtomsett11]

On 21/02/2022 at 12:50, Sonic Youth said:

That’s good to hear you’re enjoying this season 

Whenever I hear you talking about your setup, I immediately think of Ajax and their youth setup and how long they can trace back having a youth player in their first team.

It's a flattering comparison, and one I should take into account as if I can keep a good proportion of my team as youth prospects it's still a major success.

[Jtomsett11]

October 2038

This was another superb month all in all. I didn't expect us to get 7 points from 4 games where we faced United and City, but we did. The Wolves and West Brom results were pretty comprehensive, as was the United loss.

We're in the Champions League places, but we all know the real target is just to get to 40 points and if we do that, then we see where we go from there. Saying that, we are extremely convincing in our wins at the moment.

Next month just sees three games.

3 points would be good, any more than that would be incredible.

After our cup win we're also set to face Arsenal at home in December.

Club developments

Off the pitch, we have our training facility upgrade approved, again with a really dodgy date! I think it's something to do with it starting now instead of at the end of the season.

We've also signed Bah to a new deal, this time without any release clause. He's got 7 in 9 games so he's really important to us.

Finally, we're also up there in terms of player production, with 11 of our current squad produced by us. I'd like to be top of this in a few years.

[Punch]

Cracking start to the season, things are looking good on and off the pitch. 

[Jtomsett11]

November 2038

The month started with an interesting game! Our defence improved in the next couple of games, but unfortunately our offense got worse and so we end the month pointless.

It's not horrendous news, two of these games I'd expect nothing from, but that is 4 losses in a row now.

We're 11th, 12 points clear of the drop zone still so we just need to start picking up points again in December to avoid being dragged into a relegation fight.

The Everton home game and Newcastle home game look the most likely for points. If we can come out with 6 points from 6 games that would be brilliant as we'd have 27 points from 20 games, well above the points:games ratio we need to stay up.

We have started to lose a bit of money each month. It's nothing major to worry about as we've already committed the money to getting state of the art facilities and a stadium upgrade, but we do need to be aware that this wage budget is what we can afford and work within it for the next few years.

[Jtomsett11]

December 2038

A mammoth month with 7 games and plenty of injuries. 

We started with a close loss to Chelsea, which meant we'd lost 5 in a row, albeit 4 of those to top sides.

What I love is that we're 11th in the league but apparently criticism is growing enough for the fans to recall our humiliation from last year's Carabao Cup! 

Fortunately, things improved.

Bah and Scott scored for us to end our losing streak against Everton, and Scott again scored in a close loss to Liverpool. Incredibly, we knocked Arsenal out with a team of reserves as striker Wych scored twice for his first two goals for the club. Our three remaining fixtures saw us create very few chances overall, but Herrero scored a very strange cross-come-shot and Scott got his third of the month to seal an away win and ensure we took 8 points from our 6 games this month.

We've also drawn Man City in the Carabao Cup, which may be the end of our journey. This is the furthest we've gone in the cup though, so that's worth celebrating in itself.

These results leave us 10th after just over half the season gone, on 29 points. I'm delighted by our season so far. We're 16 points clear of the relegation zone, so baring a complete collapse we should be safe, and we can look forward to the second half of the season, planning ahead and giving game time to some of our youth prospects.

Club developments

Our state-of-the-art youth facilities are now ready (in record time!) and although I know they've had no impact on our youth intake, promotion seems to have.

From this I can see a good striker, DM and perhaps a full back. This is a much more positive message than last year so I'm hopeful that we may pick up a future first teamer or two.

Next up I'll take a look at our individual player performances before assessing the January transfer window. I'm not minded to do a lot in the window, but some of our players are unhappy and I'm having the issue of having broken a few promises, players coming to me demanding stuff that I then can't persuade them I'll give, so they ask to leave. Robbins and Jakovljevic being two of those who feels they're not getting enough game time. Wych is happy to stay now, as is Mafoso, but Moreau still won't sign a new deal and Herrero now has four 7+ ratings in his last few games so Moreau may be moved on.

[Punch]

A good finish to the year, things still look much better than your first time around.

Random question, how do you find your players go with fatigue, particularly younger players?

[Sonic Youth]

A tough round of fixtures, with just about all the top 6 teams faced. It seems like that isn’t taken into account, and last year’s Carabao Cup added in? Odd. It’s like Southampton in this season’s Premier League.

A new contract for Bah minus min clause, facilities upgraded, and Procyon the cup is adding to your good season.

I think you’ll be safe the end of January (February at latest), and also finish in the top 10.

Trimming your squad might be useful, especially if it opens a pathway for a youngster into the first team.

And lastly (as so much happened), looking forward to your squad analysis and especially your youth intake.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Youth

[Jtomsett11]

19 hours ago, Punch said:

A good finish to the year, things still look much better than your first time around.

Random question, how do you find your players go with fatigue, particularly younger players?

I have found fatigue a real problem in the past as I leave training on the generic schedule and I think they over-do it at times. Currently I don't really have enough games to noticed much of an impact, but last year I did require quite a bit of squad shuffling to cope. I had a couple of awful seasons with jaded players when we relied on almost an entire under 20 side.

 

17 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

A tough round of fixtures, with just about all the top 6 teams faced. It seems like that isn’t taken into account, and last year’s Carabao Cup added in? Odd. It’s like Southampton in this season’s Premier League.

A new contract for Bah minus min clause, facilities upgraded, and Procyon the cup is adding to your good season.

I think you’ll be safe the end of January (February at latest), and also finish in the top 10.

Trimming your squad might be useful, especially if it opens a pathway for a youngster into the first team.

And lastly (as so much happened), looking forward to your squad analysis and especially your youth intake.

Yeah, not sure why they were complaining so much to be honest! Yes, I think we'll be safe before too long!

Squad analysis incoming!

[Punch]

31 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Currently I don't really have enough games to noticed much of an impact, but last year I did require quite a bit of squad shuffling to cope. I had a couple of awful seasons with jaded players when we relied on almost an entire under 20 side

I noticed this issue last season especially with the deep run in both cups.

Late in the season, Millington for example, one of our best players, and I could only play him every second game or so.

I wonder if that will improve as they get older, stronger and fitter.

[Jtomsett11]

Mid season December 2038 review

It's been a great year so far, but it has been up and down for some of my players.

Goalkeepers

Identical match ratings for these two, with De Rosa picking up two clean sheets in the three league games he's played in. Kubiszyn holds most of his shots and has conceded just 20 goals in 18 games, which for a newly promoted side is very impressive. He's had some really big games, keeping clean sheets when he shouldn't have, so overall I'm very happy with him and De Rosa is a very capable backup until a youngster can come and overtake him.

Centre backs

Rodrigues has been an excellent signing. He's joint 9th for interceptions made in the league, while you can also see he's winning a good number of headers. His tackle ratio is the lowest of our CBs, suggesting he likes to play on the front foot, intercepting passes and therefore making more risky tackles. Vanegas has had a good season with 65 key headers ranking him 9th best in the competition. Jakoljevic's injuries have kept him out of contention most of the time, while his form hasn't been great either. Mafoso hasn't featured much either since his complaints about the contract I offered him. He's only got a year and a half left on his deal and with his ability I'm not sure it isn't better to try and promote from within than give him a lucrative contract.

Full backs

Herrero and Moreau don't appear that different statistically, but the new boy is slightly ahead in interceptions and significantly ahead in terms of winning headers. His last 4 games have seen the goal and assist so he seems to be settling in nicely. Moreau will probably see out his contract with us at this rate. On the right, Harte has been almost ever-present. His tackles won ratio is the best in the league, while he ranks 6th for interceptions. Just the one assist, but he creates the most key passes of our full backs and he lost 2 assists when I lost 3 games in September. His average rating is pretty solid for a full back in a newly promoted team. Davidson hasn't done anything wrong really; in fact he's better in the air and at intercepting per game, but Harte has been part of the winning side enough that I'm giving him the edge for now. Ultimately, I may need to upgrade on one of these to take us to the next level, but for now I'm happy.

Central midfielders

Our ball winning midfielder has primarily been Morais this year and although his tackle ratio is lower than Robbins he still has the 16th best tackles/ 90 minutes in the Premier League. I want to give Robbins a fair amount of game time, I just wish he'd listened when I promised him more time and not got upset. His statistics read superbly across the board and will keep giving him game time going forward if he stays.

Dempsey has been the better deep lying playmaker but neither him nor Villamizar are really creating that much and their average ratings show that. Where Dempsey does better is hill all round performance with more tackles made and won, more interceptions and more crosses put in. Clarke hasn't seen any game time this year.

Wingers and attacking mids

I've lumped these two together, as Ygor and Lopez have both played in both positions and only Palmer of our AMCs hasn't played on any wing yet this season. Lopez has been the standout player with most of his goals and assists coming from the wing. He's lost the ball the most times of any player in the Premier League this season, but he's also number 1 for interceptions, so his work rate is paying off. When he hasn't played, and particularly in December, Scott has stood up and added key goals. Dilrosun has played well in fits and starts but this is his poorest season for a while, perhaps reflecting that Lopez has taken over corner and free kick duties? Ygor has had a disappointing season really, while Palmer plays really well in one game and terribly in the next, but 2 assists from AMC is better than Ygor has managed so I must give him some credit. Smith probably need a bit more game time, but hopefully he'll keep developing as his pace really unlocks teams at times.

No real complaint here although I've yet to match the success of my AMC role from last season.

Advanced forwards

Bah started the season on fire, but he's struggled in our tougher games. Still 8 goals and 4 assists in 17 games is pretty solid. Wych has mainly played in cup games and broke his duck with 2 goals against Arsenal to send us to the semi finals of the League Cup, but otherwise has been unremarkable.

[Jtomsett11]

1 minute ago, Punch said:

I noticed this issue last season especially with the deep run in both cups.

Late in the season, Millington for example, one of our best players, and I could only play him every second game or so.

I wonder if that will improve as they get older, stronger and fitter.

I think they do improve, but also young players playing 35+ games a season can cause them long term problems with injuries and early decline. I'm not sure how I know this (as in I can't prove it), but several other youth only threads have remarked on it and I've noticed it with some of my players in the past.

[Punch]

12 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

I think they do improve, but also young players playing 35+ games a season can cause them long term problems with injuries and early decline. I'm not sure how I know this (as in I can't prove it), but several other youth only threads have remarked on it and I've noticed it with some of my players in the past.

I guess it’s just another one of those areas of the game that need to be managed

[Sonic Youth]

4 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Mid season December 2038 review

It's been a great year so far, but it has been up and down for some of my players.

Goalkeepers

Identical match ratings for these two, with De Rosa picking up two clean sheets in the three league games he's played in. Kubiszyn holds most of his shots and has conceded just 20 goals in 18 games, which for a newly promoted side is very impressive. He's had some really big games, keeping clean sheets when he shouldn't have, so overall I'm very happy with him and De Rosa is a very capable backup until a youngster can come and overtake him.

Centre backs

Rodrigues has been an excellent signing. He's joint 9th for interceptions made in the league, while you can also see he's winning a good number of headers. His tackle ratio is the lowest of our CBs, suggesting he likes to play on the front foot, intercepting passes and therefore making more risky tackles. Vanegas has had a good season with 65 key headers ranking him 9th best in the competition. Jakoljevic's injuries have kept him out of contention most of the time, while his form hasn't been great either. Mafoso hasn't featured much either since his complaints about the contract I offered him. He's only got a year and a half left on his deal and with his ability I'm not sure it isn't better to try and promote from within than give him a lucrative contract.

Full backs

Herrero and Moreau don't appear that different statistically, but the new boy is slightly ahead in interceptions and significantly ahead in terms of winning headers. His last 4 games have seen the goal and assist so he seems to be settling in nicely. Moreau will probably see out his contract with us at this rate. On the right, Harte has been almost ever-present. His tackles won ratio is the best in the league, while he ranks 6th for interceptions. Just the one assist, but he creates the most key passes of our full backs and he lost 2 assists when I lost 3 games in September. His average rating is pretty solid for a full back in a newly promoted team. Davidson hasn't done anything wrong really; in fact he's better in the air and at intercepting per game, but Harte has been part of the winning side enough that I'm giving him the edge for now. Ultimately, I may need to upgrade on one of these to take us to the next level, but for now I'm happy.

Central midfielders

Our ball winning midfielder has primarily been Morais this year and although his tackle ratio is lower than Robbins he still has the 16th best tackles/ 90 minutes in the Premier League. I want to give Robbins a fair amount of game time, I just wish he'd listened when I promised him more time and not got upset. His statistics read superbly across the board and will keep giving him game time going forward if he stays.

Dempsey has been the better deep lying playmaker but neither him nor Villamizar are really creating that much and their average ratings show that. Where Dempsey does better is hill all round performance with more tackles made and won, more interceptions and more crosses put in. Clarke hasn't seen any game time this year.

Wingers and attacking mids

I've lumped these two together, as Ygor and Lopez have both played in both positions and only Palmer of our AMCs hasn't played on any wing yet this season. Lopez has been the standout player with most of his goals and assists coming from the wing. He's lost the ball the most times of any player in the Premier League this season, but he's also number 1 for interceptions, so his work rate is paying off. When he hasn't played, and particularly in December, Scott has stood up and added key goals. Dilrosun has played well in fits and starts but this is his poorest season for a while, perhaps reflecting that Lopez has taken over corner and free kick duties? Ygor has had a disappointing season really, while Palmer plays really well in one game and terribly in the next, but 2 assists from AMC is better than Ygor has managed so I must give him some credit. Smith probably need a bit more game time, but hopefully he'll keep developing as his pace really unlocks teams at times.

No real complaint here although I've yet to match the success of my AMC role from last season.

Advanced forwards

Bah started the season on fire, but he's struggled in our tougher games. Still 8 goals and 4 assists in 17 games is pretty solid. Wych has mainly played in cup games and broke his duck with 2 goals against Arsenal to send us to the semi finals of the League Cup, but otherwise has been unremarkable.

Basically, you’ve got a reasonably solid first team with some positions better than others. Depth is also another thing to work on too, though enough that maintaining a Premier League position looks assured. I’m not sure I see much transfer activity occurring this window, though do see strengthening before  next season. Unless a team or three start coveting your players of course (hope not until end of season if occurring).

[Jtomsett11]

January 2039

A very busy month, with 9 games in total. We've only scored 5 goals this month in the league, but we've taken 11 points from those 5 games which is a superb return and sees us 8 unbeaten in the league. We've only conceded 1 goal in that time .

Bah is scoring again, with 2 this month, while Scott won us the game against Southampton and Dilrosun and Palmer got goals against Leicester. That's Palmer's first Premier League goal after he got his first for us in the cup last year. Good steps from the young attacking midfielder. Even in the 0-0's, we've had good chances, so I'm just enjoying our results at the moment and not reading too much into our goals scored.

The table is looking very promising!

We're pretty much safe (well done @Sonic Youthfor your prediction!) and now can look at those European positions with 13 games to go. Our game in hand is next up and is against Cardiff.

I think 4 points would be okay here, 6 would be impressive and any more than that and we're in contention for Europe.

Club developments

At the start of January, we had some very unhappy players. Fortunately much of this has been resolved this month.

These were definitely postive developments, and I also dropped their squad status to recognise their actual playing time whilst they were unhappy. However, there have also been some negatives.

Moreau will be off at the end of the season, which we expected and can deal with; Herrero won the player of the month in December and continued to play very well in January.

One we're less pleased about is a transfer request (number two of the season!) from Robbins, this time saying he wants a new challenge. I offered him more money, but then agreed to sell him at the end of the season. 

It's a shame, he's 30 and our record appearance holder, and would likely have got up to 50 more appearances over the next couple of years taking him beyond 400, but I also don't want him to stay if he doesn't want to as he's done so much for the club. Incredibly, he's not on our icons, legends or favoured personnel list!

Transfer market

We turned down some reasonably big bids, and let a couple of youngsters go, but nothing much to see this January other than Moreau agreeing his move away.

We end the month with a profit too,

 

[Jtomsett11]

January 2039 loan update

I have quite a few youngsters out on loan including some potential first team players, so thought I'd review their progress.

Holland, Hutchinson, Dowling and Ramsay probably won't get first team football here, when you bear in mind a 3 star player is a Championship quality player for our first team squad. It's a shame as Ramsay is doing really well on his loan as you can see below. We might send him out on loan again with the hope that he continues to grow and can be a useful squad member. Nuhu hasn't kicked on as we hoped he would when we sent him on loan to the Championship. Quansah and Johnston have made decent progress attribute wise this season while Kizito played really well in the first half of the season but has seen his current ability downgraded as the first team squad improves. Santos hasn't played much, but has definitely developed and will see first team football next year. It'll be interesting to analyse their attribute growth at the end of this season to see how much they've developed aside from current ability ratings.

[Jtomsett11]

February 2039

What a month! The two draws were non-events really. We should have beaten Cardiff, should have lost to Wolves. Then the month really took off when we thrashed West Brom.

Lopez got a hat-trick of assists and Wych scored 3 times to take his goals for the month to 4, really taking his chance from us dropping Bah after the Cardiff game where he should have scored. Palmer also scored twice and Dilrosun once as our team hit 6 in one game for the first time since 2036.

We then faced United and incredibly beat them, a repeat of our last home game against them having beaten them two years ago when we were last in the Premier League. It's the same three goalscorers from the last game!

We're now 12 unbeaten.

And we're in the European places.

However, if we pick up any points next month it'll be a miracle.

[Punch]

Going really well 

[Jtomsett11]

March 2039

To take 4 points from this month and from the two away games is unbelievable. 

Dempsey was superb against Arsenal, with 3 assists, but again Wych scored, twice this time, to win us the game. Arsenal are fourth so this is an incredible win.

Unfortunately, the next day Rodrigues got injured and it's a big one.

It'll see him miss a good portion of the rest of the season and it had an instant impact as Spurs scored 4 past us despite a similar xG.

Wych scored again against Tottenham to take his goals to 9 in the last 6 games. He's keeping Bah out of the side and is now joint top-scorer with Bah for the season.

That 4-1 loss has cost us a bit with goal difference and we lose ground on Burnley. City lost one of their games in hand 3-1 at home to Everton, but they could still overtake us. We really need to finish 6th, or 7th with City finishing 6th if we are to get European football.

Our youth intake has just come through and it's very, very disappointing. At least our league form makes up for that!

[Sonic Youth]

That’s excellent results in those last couple of updates. The updates also show that you don’t have the same depth as the teams around and above you who are pushing for European place.

Wych’s form is amazing 

Here’s hoping for a steadying of the ship and good form to finish the season in a European place 

[Jtomsett11]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s excellent results in those last couple of updates. The updates also show that you don’t have the same depth as the teams around and above you who are pushing for European place.

Wych’s form is amazing 

Here’s hoping for a steadying of the ship and good form to finish the season in a European place 

I'm not sure we even have the same first team quality, but we seem to be making a fist of it! 

Very impressed with Wych, it'll be interesting to see if his form continues!

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake March 2039

Well, so much for a 'golden generation'.

Now, this intake hasn't had the impact of our improved youth facilities, nor our improved HOYD, so we need to give it a couple more seasons to see how these impact us, but it's very disappointing nonetheless, especially as it's only just as good as last year which we were told not to expect much from. 

I'll sign most of these up to contracts to see if any have hidden potential not shown at the moment.

Attributes wise, it's not the worst intake, slightly ahead of last year. Obviously our standard has risen so much over the years that 5 years ago many of these would have been 5 star potential. Robbins and Clarke who were 5 star potential at one point are now 3 star players, and Dilrosun who is worth £34 million has just been downgraded to 3 star by my Assman. However, when you consider that quite a few of previous intakes are still rated as 5 star potential it's frustrating not to get any in the last 2 years.

 

[Sonic Youth]

Brown and Harbin are the two who jump out at me just from the personalities, though when you perform the skill total score tells another story.

Can you see any favourite staff in any of the youth intake players?

Hopefully the intakes improve in the next year or two for you.

[Jtomsett11]

7 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Brown and Harbin are the two who jump out at me just from the personalities, though when you perform the skill total score tells another story.

Can you see any favourite staff in any of the youth intake players?

Hopefully the intakes improve in the next year or two for you.

Not really, although I mostly have very good personalities in the youth staff team so I guess the 'driven' personalities may be from them.

I think we need to play a long game with this and see how our increase in reputation impacts things in the next few years as well.

[Jtomsett11]

April 2039

You know you're having a good month when you're really disappointed to lose to Liverpool who are second in the league. We actually should have won that game as well, creating some really good chances. I can't complain too much though, as Bah came in and scored the 4 goals against Chelsea and Everton after a Dilrosun double against Fulham. Bah hits 15 goals in the league for the first time in his career and I'm glad he's been able to displace Wych. What we seem to have is two pretty decent goalscorers who are relatively interchangeable without being consistent enough over a whole season.

That Fulham result saw them relegated. 9 points from 4 games sees us into 6th, crucially with City just behind us, as even if they overtake us we'll be in Europe as they'd take the Europa League spot and we'd take the Conference League spot.

We've got two relatively kind fixtures coming up, while Burnley face Chelsea and Liverpool.

Actually scrap the thought of finishing 7th, I don't think we can qualify for Europe at all. Look at the FA Cup final.

We're going to need to finish 5th for European football. Spurs face Leicester and Leeds. I think we may finish 6th but miss out.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2039 Game 1

Burnley win, while City and Jersey can only draw.

We need to win and hope Spurs don't win. There are a few other permeation's, but I think they're extremely unlikely, so that's the one we'll go for.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2039 Game 2

 How many times during the 19 years of Jersey Bulls has this sort of thing happened on the final day?!

We miss out of European football on goal difference. I'm a bit gutted to be honest, but then I also need to reflect on the fact we've finished 7th on 63 points in our first season in the Premier League since being promoted.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2039 

Well, two draws put paid to our European hopes.

The overall table looks like this.

United win their first League in 7 years, while holders Spurs and previous 5 in a row-winners City are behind us in 8th. FA Cup winners Burnley were incredible at the end of the season and finish fifth.

Our second half of the season form was pretty impressive and this really bodes well for the future.