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

[Jtomsett11]

Club review 2038/39

Season 19 of my tenure and we enter the top half of the Premier League. The 4-2-3-1 formation worked wonders this season and as a result the development of our facilities is all the more important as we try to produce academy prospects capable of playing in the Premier League. 

One interesting development is that it seems our stadium expansion seems to have been cancelled with the board planning a new stadium. This seems a bit strange to me if our stadium could be expanded.

[Sonic Youth]

Now that’s a tight qualification order for Europe next season. Of course Burnley wins their games while Jersey draws. Man City not getting out of 1st gear though was curious.  

Does it mean you get the spot in Europe if Burnley win the FA Cup?

You had a great end to the season, and a fantastic season back in the Premier League. I wonder if this would make your position the highest ever for a promoted side into the Premier League?

Would you have the depth for being in Europe anyway?

[Jtomsett11]

On 26/02/2022 at 23:44, Sonic Youth said:

Now that’s a tight qualification order for Europe next season. Of course Burnley wins their games while Jersey draws. Man City not getting out of 1st gear though was curious.  

Does it mean you get the spot in Europe if Burnley win the FA Cup?

You had a great end to the season, and a fantastic season back in the Premier League. I wonder if this would make your position the highest ever for a promoted side into the Premier League?

Would you have the depth for being in Europe anyway?

Unfortunately Burnley beat Wolves, so either way we'd have lost the place  No Europe for us unfortunately.

Now, we're not far off, but Ipswich finished 5th in 2000-01 on 66 points, 3 points ahead of our 63 points. The second best promoted side ever?!

[Jtomsett11]

Player performances 2038/39 

Overall, our team has been great this season, but there have been standout players.

Goalkeepers

Both keepers played their part this season. New signing Kubiszyn has only conceded 48 in 38 games, although not all in the Prem. He's on £5 million a year remember, so it would be good if one of our youth players could take over his role in a couple of years.

Centre backs

While Rodrigues is the only player who rated above 7 this year, Vanegas is my standout player. The best tackle and heading success ratio, the best pass ratio and a decent number of everything else. Jako is now a decent backup, but Mafoso isn't getting time and really his place in the squad should go to a youth player.

Full backs

Harte and Herrero are our number 1's and their stats for everything are ahead of the backups. Davidson is a decent enough backup, Moreau is off so we need a new LB.

Midfielders

Our ball winning midfielders Robbins and Morais have quite similar stats bar Robbins having a much better header won ratio and slightly better interception rate. I really don't want Robbins to leave to be honest. 

Dempsey did pretty well with his 8 assists. He also gets involved defensively too, with the best interceptions per game from any midfielder. Villamizar got 4 assists, but to be honest he struggled this year and we didn't win many games with him playing. Do we need an upgrade?

Attacking midfielders/ wingers

Again, we've had a few players play in multiple positions, so I've lumped these positions together. On the left wing, Dilrosun had a decent season but for some reason he's had a pretty low average rating. Smith did an okay job as a backup, but I'm not completely convinced by him. Then we have Scott who mainly played on the right and did well aside from a number of injuries. 12 goal contributions is his worst for us, but it coincides with Lopez playing a huge role for us on the right and ending as our Player of the Season with 25 goal contributions in 41 games. He won the Young Player of the Year award for the league too.

Ygor and Palmer were most commonly played at attacking mid and it was Palmer who did a great job, especially towards the end of the season with 7 goal contributions in his debut season in the Premier League.

Forwards

Well look at this, two forwards with +7 average ratings! Wych had a superb spell, but Bah came back with a vengeance in the late part of the season to finish as the second top goal scorer.

Team of the year

Only one Jersey-born player but 3 additional youth prospects. I'm really pleased about Palmer who looks like a real prospect for us at attacking mid.

19 seasons having at least one Jersey-born player in the ToTY and we've managed to finish 7th in the Premier League. I'd like to keep that number up, but it's going to be hard work unless we give some appearances to some of the Jersey-born players who aren't ready.

Next up, but probably not today, I'll take a look at attribute growth of all our squads. I've already released our out-of-contract players who had no potential or chance to feature for the first team, so it should be a little easier than normal!

 

[Sonic Youth]

3 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Unfortunately Burnley beat Wolves, so either way we'd have lost the place  No Europe for us unfortunately.

That’s unfortunate, though can help with consolidating Jersey in the PL.

I guess Jersey also happened to be the best performing promoted side into the PL too. Did you win Manager of the Season?

It looks like you’ve started taking steps, with deciding on which players to keep at the club, as well as can progress from your youth academy. Lopez was a great last season 

Been wondering, have you ever noticed any player come through the youth intake that Jersey potentially poached?

Edited March 4, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Further Thoughts

[Jtomsett11]

20 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s unfortunate, though can help with consolidating Jersey in the PL.

I guess Jersey also happened to be the best performing promoted side into the PL too. Did you win Manager of the Season?

It looks like you’ve started taking steps, with deciding on which players to keep at the club, as well as can progress from your youth academy. Lopez was a great last season 

Been wondering, have you ever noticed any player come through the youth intake that Jersey potentially poached?

Nah, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still at United and won his 4th league title in 19 game years. 

Yes, the attribute analysis will help I feel!

No, we've not had any players that we've poached as I don't think we've a high enough rep. We have had a number poached.

I'm hoping I can pick up Noel Quinlay when he comes through!

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute analysis May 2039

Goalkeepers

Hadley is 4 stars potential and Quansah is 5 stars, so they've got potential to overtake Kubiszyn eventually. I'll keep the same two keepers for next year and offer these two out on loan again.

Centre backs

Vanegas has made good progress this season and still has some improvement to come. Rodrigues will need replacing; Leeds want a small fortune for him and he doesn't like big games anyway. Kizito hasn't really developed on loan this year which is annoying as he's got 5 star potential. Pelling has grown and with 4 star potential he could be another Jersey-born fixture, but he's better suited to the full back positions. Pleguezuelo has a long way to go, but could be an option in a few years. 

Full backs

Nice development from Herrero who I really like at LB now. Ramsay has really improved on loan but isn't really rated by my coaches. He may go out on loan for another season to see how far he can develop. Pelling is the only real prospect here now. 

Ball winning mids

Johnston might be the replacement for Robbins if he pushes through a transfer, which leaves Morais as a clear number 1. Mills may be 38A, but he's not rated by my coaches and has had limited development so far.

Deep lying playmakers

Nice development from Dempsey who is turning into a great midfielder; he's wanted by Man City. Jele looks like a quality midfielder for a League One side as he lacks other than the key attributes. Palmer plays further forward but is clearly a quality player now.

Attacking mids

Ygor didn't really play much this season, but developed nonetheless. Palmer is probably number one in this position which is great! O'Hara is our next prospect across the front line.

Wingers

Loads of options here. Dilrosun declined slightly this year. Dowling has stalled, and Nuhu had a poor season, so it's O'Hara who potentially going to have a role in the squad next season. Lopez is a quality first choice on the right wing.

Advanced forwards

Bah continues to develop which is great as he's a very rounded forward who scores highly in attributes such as strength and jumping which aren't included in his score. Santos is our prospect who we bought in. I'd have given him European game time if we'd qualified but I'm not sure now. O'Hara can do a job here but lacks finishing and composure, so is likely to play on the wing when he comes through.

[Jtomsett11]

Early Summer Planning

One of the things I want to do this summer is ensure I only buy players I need to improve the squad and allow for our youth players to come through. 

I have clinched one player early on.

Parreiral joins for £11 million and is likely to play as a ball winning midfielder who can also pass the ball. I've signed him as my initial scouting suggests I'm going to have a problem finding a decent CB, so there's a chance I may shift Morais back.

Both of these players rate 80+ for their new roles and Morais' pace at the back could be crucial to playing a higher line which we do successfully at home. 

Essentially then, we've replaced our loan CB with this signing while not weakening much in BWM; if anything, apart from pace I prefer Parreiral. 

After that, this is how the squad looks roughly.

GK: Kubiszyn, De Rosa

DR: Harte, Davidson

DL: Herrero SPACE

DC: Morais, Vanegas, Jakoljevic, Mafoso??

BWM: Parreiral, SPACE

DLP: Dempsey, Villamizar

AMC: Palmer, Ygor

AMR: Lopez, Scott

AML: Dilrosun, Smith??

ST: Bah, Wych

So, two squad spaces and a question mark of South African's Smith and Mafoso. I've had a loan offer for Smith and a permanent offer for Mafoso. So let's rule them out for this season.

That leaves a SPACE at CB, BWM, LB and LW.

Now let's take a look at my U23s and U18s. Do they match up to these positions? Are there any other gems out there? Note those on loan are on loan from last season still except for Smith.

Kizito and Johnston immediately stand out at least with their potential. They're raw still, but they're at the age where either game time pays off or I cut them loose in a couple of seasons. Kizito is also Jersey-born which is a bonus. I'm not sure Pelling is ready for a LB. Here they are below.

Kizito is physically reasonable, although his jumping could be 1-2 points higher. Technically he's limited and probably won't ever be brilliant, but otherwise, apart from composure, I'm reasonably confident he can play in the cup games and then after Christmas start in the league if we're safe. His personality isn't brilliant, but could be improved with mentoring.

Johnston almost broke into the squad a couple of years ago and has developed a bit since then. He's pretty solid without being spectacular, but if he got game time and improved he could be really impressive. If we picks up a couple of points on his positioning, concentration and 1 point on some of his physicals and technicals he'd be as good as our other BWMs. His personality isn't great, but we've worked with unambitious players before.

Pelling is the least ready of our high potential home-grown players. I'm going to keep him in the U23s rather than loan him out as he's improved so much this season. He's also Jersey-born.

Finally, there's Quansah, who I'm not considering yet. I would like to loan him to a better club next season to help him develop further. As a goalkeeper he has more time on his hands to develop.

Other viable options

O'Hara - looks a prospect, but could do with another development season on loan - this was his first loan spell

Hadler - a loan spell might work for him

So now, the squad looks like this.

GK: Kubiszyn, De Rosa

DR: Harte, Davidson

DL: Herrero SPACE

DC: Morais, Vanegas, Jakoljevic, Kizito

BWM: Parreiral, Johnston

DLP: Dempsey, Villamizar

AMC: Palmer, Ygor

AMR: Lopez, Scott

AML: Dilrosun, SPACE

ST: Bah, Wych

Top targets are a LB and a LW. We'll keep our eyes open for other targets, but this seems like a reasonable shopping list.

[Jtomsett11]

Stadium plans afoot

We currently have a 21000 seater, so I'm hoping this is quite a bit bigger!

[Punch]

1 hour ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Stadium plans afoot

We currently have a 21000 seater, so I'm hoping this is quite a bit bigger!

Well that didn't seem to take long. Haven't you not long moved into the curent stadium?

[Jtomsett11]

8 hours ago, Punch said:

Well that didn't seem to take long. Haven't you not long moved into the curent stadium?

We can't have been in the previous one long, maybe 4 years? It's strange as I don't think it's fully expanded either! I'm expecting 30000+ with expansion capacity of 40000+ otherwise it seems pointless to build!

[Punch]

2 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

maybe 4 years?

I didn't think it had been long.

Will be awesome to see some monster crowds in a shiny new stadium. Wonder if they will name it after you

[Jtomsett11]

On 09/03/2022 at 08:49, Punch said:

I didn't think it had been long.

Will be awesome to see some monster crowds in a shiny new stadium. Wonder if they will name it after you

Actually, 2036 was the first year of the stadium, so it's only 3 years old! Mental really! There are two other 'legends' ahead of me in the list.

I suspect it may go to one of them as I believe these are in order of how much of a legend you are. We shall see!

[Jtomsett11]

Off-season signings July 2039

Well, I said I wouldn't sign too many extra players, but that's gone out of the window slightly as my scouts came back with reports of some really good potential signings.

The only incoming not included is Parreiral who you've already seen.

Let's start with incomings.

Guyot comes in as our new backup LW, with plenty of potential and already very strong attributes. He has an attribute score of 85.43, making him our second best winger. A very good free transfer and on low wages with a squad status that means he won't be unhappy. We beat a host of clubs to his signature so I'm really pleased with this. I think he's an upgrade on Smith, who goes out on loan to Norwich.

Spoiler

Next up, we've strengthened the defence with 3 signings. Assana is on loan from Arsenal and provides cover at the LB position as Moreau left on a free transfer. He scores 81.21 on the attributes, so is a decent backup and has a long flat throw which could be a useful weapon! Massaccesi is a good right back, and although he can't cross he can defend and is a step up on Davidson, who was home grown, but didn't like big matches, wasn't consistent and didn't like a few members of the squad at various points. He scores 83.94 on the attributes so is a strong player. Morillas is the centre back we couldn't find earlier in the window and looks really good at both RB and CB. He gets 83.03 on the attribute score, so is our best CB by 3 points. 

Spoiler

We've also signed a CB for the future as Marshall was available on a free from United. We're going to need some non-home grown English players going forward so that's my thinking here. He's gone out on loan immediately as I still want to give Kizito game time this year despite the strengthening. He scores 76.62 on the attribute score.

Spoiler

Finally, our biggest transfer is Cortes, who we nearly signed last season for £30 million. I decided that Villamizar isn't quite good enough at the moment, so I loaned him out to develop elsewhere and bought in Cortes. He looks about the same in key attributes, but is a better all-round player and will compete with Dempsey for the DLP slot. He scores 88.24. 

Spoiler

I've sold a host of young players who I don't think will make it, often due to potential or personality. It's left us a little light in the U23s and U18s, so I think an aim this season will be to cherry-pick some youngsters from the lower leagues to add to these age groups. 

We've not really had any interesting bids in, apart from just before the first game of the season.

That's quite a big offer for Johnston, but I want to use him quite a bit this season and see if we can super charge his development, which I feel has stalled slightly due to his unambitious personality. 

That leaves us with a slightly bloated squad (for me anyway).

You'll maybe notice I've promoted O'Hara as backup AMC, which is due to a horrible injury to Palmer.

I hope he can come back from this as his physicals have already dropped quite a bit.

One big transfer out was Robbins. He wanted to leave, but we did manage to give him a testimonial before he went.

An absolute legend for us who really didn't feature regularly at many points in his career until the Championship when he was well into his 20s. Although he only played 11 games last season, he was really consistent and I'm just hoping Johnston can take over from him. 

We've spent quite a bit this summer, but still seem in a reasonable financial state. The projections are positive.

                                                                                               

[Jtomsett11]

Pre-season 2039/40

We've played quite a few games to get everyone fit, and we've got a reasonable start before playing City away. I'd expect 6 points from 3 games really.

We're predicted 15th. I'd be happy with mid-table, although if we can challenge for Europe again that would be fun.

We do have two players in the notable player predictions this year.

Lopez predicted to retain his crown of best young player.

Bah 5th favourite for top scorer. He got 17 league goals last season, I'd be very pleased if he could do similarly again.

 

[Jtomsett11]

August 2039

We wanted 6 points, we get 7. A good start to the season which suggests we'll be finishing in the top 10. Our job has been made a tad more difficult with a big injury, as Bah is out for up to 3 months after 2 goals in the Leicester game. Scott came on for him and scored twice as well in that game, but since then we've not had a striker score. Hopefully this isn't a trend that develops.

We're currently 7th in the league, but obviously it's very early days.

September looks interesting, but we should be picking up 4 points really, potentially more depending how we do against Arsenal at home. 

It's a little too early to pick out players, but I'm pleased that due to an injury to Parreiral, Johnston has played all 4 games at BWM so far. Kizito has also played in the cup and did well. 

We've had a few developments off the pitch with staff signings.

Dempsey returns to us after a poor period as a manager. We've also managed to secure Conte and Simeone as scouts in the heydays of their careers! I couldn't not offer them contracts and they're instantly our best scouts.

 

[Punch]

Great start to the season 

[Jtomsett11]

September 2039

Transfer deadline day went by without too much fuss, although as we didn't buy another midfielder (we did, he just arrived before Massaccesi due to work permits) I've had to let our new RB go on leave to try and settle him in the country. Well, I didn't have to, but he was very upset about the lack of reinforcements and this seemed like an easy win.

We turned down one big bid for Morais.

I'm not interested in selling him at all and he's not interested in leaving which is good.

We got our 4 points, but we should have done better against Burnley. Without Bah we do struggle as Wych has been really poor in his performances. 

Fortunately, Santos managed to score twice against Everton to help seal 3 points which keeps us ticking over. His first goals for us and hopefully he'll be able to get a few next month as Bah isn't ready yet.

These results see us drop one place to 8th. However, we're much further away from the relegation places (7 points) and we're just 2 points off the Champions League places which is very pleasing at this early stage of the season.

Next up, it's a few winnable fixtures.

I only realised that Southampton won the Europa Conference last year when our game got moved to a Sunday, so that means we've got 9 teams in Europe this season! In fact, that doesn't make sense, we shouldn't have 9 qualifiers. Oh! Leeds also won the Europa League. 5 teams in the Champions League, 3 in the Europa and Man City in the Conference League. Incredible really!

[Sonic Youth]

That looked like a lot happened in the preseason. I like the job you’ve done recruiting too. The idea of giving youth prospects a chance goes back to your aim of this save, and to me striving for a solution for this in the Premier League (looks promising).

Simeone and Conte as scouts? 

Good start to the season 

That last table showing how you missed out on European football this season is crazy 

Finally, a new stadium? Have you got an ambitious board? Good for your European jaunts when you make it 

[Jtomsett11]

On 20/03/2022 at 13:17, Sonic Youth said:

That looked like a lot happened in the preseason. I like the job you’ve done recruiting too. The idea of giving youth prospects a chance goes back to your aim of this save, and to me striving for a solution for this in the Premier League (looks promising).

Simeone and Conte as scouts? 

Good start to the season 

That last table showing how you missed out on European football this season is crazy 

Finally, a new stadium? Have you got an ambitious board? Good for your European jaunts when you make it 

It's a really difficult balance when you have 5 star potential youths who are 20/21 and really aren't good enough to play for teams in any decent league and are out of their depth in the Premier League. Johnston is doing a better job than Kizito but he's a year further and did play in the Championship last year. 

I know, not sure what the games doing with those two as scouts!

Only 3 years of the old one though and as you can see below, the new one is only going to be 29000 seats so I'm not really sure what's going on! I'm sure it'll be expandable up to maybe 40K?

I think no European football is probably a good thing for our squad this year to be honest, we're struggling a bit for injuries as it is.

[Jtomsett11]

October 2039

Another really positive month. The return of Bah in the Southampton and Chelsea game makes a huge impact as he bagged 3 goals and 2 assists in the two games to take him to 5 goals from 3 appearances this season. 

His goal against Southampton was a ridiculous, what looked like a back-heel volley while his two assists were sublime through balls.

He thanked me for my backing.

Although he's missed quite a few games, I'm hopeful he can hit 20 league goals this season.

We saved the best for the last game of the month, thrashing third placed Chelsea to leap above them in the table.

I've been really impressed with Guyot. Bought to offer rotation with Dilrosun, he's fast becoming a key player with 3 goals and 3 assists in all competitions. 

That win saw us into the Champions League places on goal difference after the 8 goal swing with Chelsea's goal difference. I don't think we're likely to stay there, but with Bah back we could be in with a shout for European places this season, provided we don't repeat last year!

I spoke earlier about injuries, as we've been hit quite hard. We have a relatively small squad, although our depth is increased from last year. At one point this month we were missing Guyot and Bah so we had no LW, down to one RB and Kubiszyn was also injured so we had no fit goalkeepers (this is De Rosa's second injury of the month). Not sure that we've done anything different this year, but I'll keep monitoring this.

One good bit of news was the return of Massaccesi. He's still unhappy we didn't strengthen midfield (we did), but he no longer feels homesick, so we're on the right path to integrating him fully into the squad.

The next couple of months look harder than October, but we'll just see how we cope. There's at least two very winnable home games and some winnable away games in there, plus the Quarter final of the Carabao Cup. 

[Jtomsett11]

Player development October 2039

This is quite impressive considering it's only our second year in the league. However, when you look at this list you realise all bar one player plays for us, and Bienvenu can't get a game at Blackburn, although he performed very well for them in the Championship. Still, that's a lot of youth players who are featuring in the Premier League and 3 who are Jersey born. Clarke may play a bit-part these days, but he did pick up 2 assists against Southampton so not too shabby for our backup backup.

It'll be interesting to see if these players are still featuring in two years time. I suspect Dilrosun, Harte, Palmer, Johnston and Kizito from the academy will have a role, while Dempsey, Ygor and Santos will still be here from our imported players. O'Hara may or may not make it as he hasn't impressed yet in his 6 appearances this season, while Clarke and De Rosa will likely have been replaced. Vanegas isn't seeing much game time while Jakoljevic hasn't seen any as I prefer to give Kizito the experience where possible.

[Punch]

15 is a pretty impressive number for a little island club to contribute.

Looks like the season is going pretty well so far.

[Sonic Youth]

Continuing the good form, with an nice league position.

Could the unhappiness about not strengthening the midfield be down to the players brought in not getting enough minutes/first team starter (can’t remember who you brought in)?

That’s great the amount of players brought through 

[Jtomsett11]

23 hours ago, Punch said:

15 is a pretty impressive number for a little island club to contribute.

Looks like the season is going pretty well so far.

Yes agreed, and I hope we get some better youth intakes in the next few seasons as we've not had someone come through with highly rated potential for 3 seasons now.

20 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Continuing the good form, with an nice league position.

Could the unhappiness about not strengthening the midfield be down to the players brought in not getting enough minutes/first team starter (can’t remember who you brought in)?

That’s great the amount of players brought through 

I think the unhappiness was due to us signing a midfielder but not before Massaccesi joined due to work permit issues with Cortes. I usually find these things disappear if you keep winning though!

[Jtomsett11]

November 2039

I'm really pleased with this month, even though we've conceded 9 goals in 4 games and only scored 8. I accidentally set our home tactic against United which was quite painful. I've also played Kizito at CB against Wolves and Spurs and Johnston in BWM against Leeds. Here's Kizito below; he isn't a Premier League CB, but at 20 he needs these games to get him up to speed. His statistics in the Carabao Cup games were really solid and in his 2 Premier League games so far he's been okay, which is good enough for me!

Those results see us drop 2 places in the table, but the fact we're keeping up at all is remarkable. At this rate we might be looking at 70 points + for even a Conference League spot so this big teams are doing well and we're in with that group.

As well as getting our Jersey youth players playing, Bah has upped his tally to 7 in 7 Premier League appearances, while Scott has 4 goals in his last 5 appearances (he missed one game) which is great as he barely featured last year. Parreiral has also won 46 tackles from just 9 games with a success rate of 90%, showing he's taken to the BWM role like a fish to water. 

Two other pleasing developments, as I thought would happen.

Really postive for us and the happiness of the squad. We do have a few players on the fringes who may move on or on loan in January, but they're extras rather than players we need upgrades for. 

We face 19th place Blackburn next, so it's another opportunity for Kizito or Johnston; I've decided playing both doesn't help us as they both play on the right side of our central positions (RCM and RCB) which leaves us much weaker and we generally lose when i do this. We've probably got 3 winnable games (Brighton and Newcastle being the other two), but it's not an easy month as Liverpool are very good and Newcastle are above us at the moment. I'm really enjoying this season though, especially the challenge of developing my home-grown players. 

[Punch]

Still hanging in there with the big boys. Going much better than your last attempt at least 

[Sonic Youth]

Looking good still, especially with having youth players in your team. It helps having two of the bottom three having only single digit points. And having good morale 

[Jtomsett11]

December 2039

The last month of the decade was a pretty frustrating one, bar the result in the cup, which was remarkable as we played a completely second string team. After scoring quite a few last month, we've struggled this month and had 2 xG in both of the first games yet won neither. Bah was the culprit in those games, but having signed a new contract he then scored the goals against Brighton and Newcastle to take his tally to 9 in 11 games which is pretty solid. I'm considering upping our line of engagement again to try and put teams under a little more pressure at home, but didn't want to try it against Newcastle who sat second at the time of the game.

Those results leave us 8th, which isn't too bad after 3 points from 4 games in the month. We're 1/2 a point off matching our tally from last season, although it's notable that we had brilliant end of season form last year and we've exceeded our half way points total this time round. We have also fielded Kizito or Johnston in every game again this month, increasing the experience for our young players. European football may only be 3 points off, and Champions league only 7 points off,  but to be honest at this point I'd take 8th if Kizito and Johnston improved over the rest of the season and became genuine squad players for next year rather than me promoting them before they're ready.

Speaking of young players, I've allowed O'Hara out on loan; he's had just 6 games (2 Premier League appearances) this season and with Palmer coming back into contention soon, I think a loan spell makes sense for him.

We've also had our youth intake preview through.

The last one said golden generation yet no players were rated over 3 star potential (and they still aren't). 3 star for us is Championship - just Premier League quality so that really wasn't a golden generation. I'd take one good striker! 

[Jtomsett11]

On 25/03/2022 at 00:19, Punch said:

Still hanging in there with the big boys. Going much better than your last attempt at least 

December was much harder and we're a little adrift now! To be fair, last season was pretty good, but at least we've not got second-season syndrome! 

On 25/03/2022 at 20:57, Sonic Youth said:

Looking good still, especially with having youth players in your team. It helps having two of the bottom three having only single digit points. And having good morale 

Despite not winning in December morale is still strong. It depends whether that was our blip, or if more poor form it to come!

[Jtomsett11]

January 2040 preview

I forgot to do this in my last post. 

That January is looking pretty good apart from Man City and Arsenal. We should be picking up quite a few points this month, although our squad depth may be a problem! We've also got the semi final of the Cup against Burnley. Look at the other side of the draw!

Arsenal will surely walk that?! If not, and we win our semi-final, could we be in for our first Cup win? Remember, we've not won a cup at any level so far!

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-season 2039/40 analysis

Obviously we didn't have the greatest December, but we're still having a great season. Let's take a look at performances.

Goalkeepers

I never have a whole lot to go on with goalkeepers. 21 goals in 20 games for Kubiszyn is pretty good I think, with 71 saves making an average of just over 3 saves per game. De Rosa is still a capable backup.

Centre backs

Well, this is very interesting. Kizito may have only 8 appearances, but his tackle ratios, header won ratios, interceptions and key passes. His pass completion ratio is lower, but really these stats show how well he's doing for a 20 year old who is way below the ability of the other CBs in my squad. The biggest issue I have with my main choices Morillas and Morais is their header win ratios. Morais seems to win more tackles and Morillas makes more interceptions and successful headers. I'm pretty happy here, but I think it's quite clear I'm not using Vanegas and Jakoljevic. 

Full backs

Herrero is a great choice at LB. He's got a great tackle win ratio, header win ratio, interceptions and key passes per game. Harte is doing a pretty decent job at RB to be fair. Assana hasn't really had much of a look in while Massaccesi hasn't really impressed me in his 8 appearances so far, although he has made more tackles per game than anyone. Assana is probably heading back to Arsenal as their boss isn't happy I'm not using him. I'm not sure how I'll cover the LB position, I may need another loan.

Ball winning midfielders

Parreiral is a tackling machine; almost 10 per game with a very impressive success rate. His interceptions may be lower than previous BWM's, but his points per game show his importance to us. Johnston has played a lot, but with nowhere near the impact. 4 tackles per game and only a 70% success rate; he needs to improve if he's to be a long term option. We'll keep giving him time in the second half of the season, taking the hit to help his development. 

Deep lying playmakers

On paper I've not been majorly impressed this season with my playmakers. Key passes are pretty low, although 10 assists between the 3 of them isn't too bad. Dempsey does a better job in the tackle and intercepting, while Cortes's height gives us more security in the air. I need more from them really.

Attacking mids

Well, currently it's mainly Ygor who's played here, with O'Hara doing his bit and Lopez playing the occasional game. Ygor has been better than last season, he's creating some chances and scoring some goals. Where he is very effective is in intercepting and breaking up play which allows us to counter.

Wingers

Lopez leads the away on assists and is our key pass king, but then he takes set pieces. Guyot has done really well on the LW and contributes a lot of key passes and crosses. Dilrosun hasn't had a great season and injuries have hit him quite hard. Scott has had a real impact and despite his goals drying up in December he had one goal every 2 games. 3 of our 5 best performers are in this position.

Advanced forwards

And here's our best performer, Bah. He doesn't always produce in every game, but his 9 goals have been crucial and he has potential to hit 20 goals for the first time. Santos has played his part in his cup and league appearances. He's also contributed more key passes and has a similar number of shots per game to Bah, which bodes well as he develops. Wych seems to not be up to replicating his hot streak from last season.

 

[Jtomsett11]

January 2040

Almost a perfect month, but then we went and lost just our fifth game of the season to Everton. There were some really impressive performances and games in here.

It took extra time and two goals from youth prospects, including Kizito to beat QPR, although we smashed them on xG. We followed that up by demolishing West Ham.

Our next big highlight saw us defeat Man City. They may have finished 8th last year, but they are still spending £100 million + on players so they are just significantly under performing at the moment. Bah got the goal late on, but we nullified City in one of our most impressive victories against a big side. 

We then sealed our place in the Carabao cup final, with Lopez getting all 4 assists with only one from set plays. He's on for a record number of assists for us at this rate. This is our first final since 2020/21 when we lost in the final of the Cherry Red Records Cup!

That game also saw record gate receipts come in.

Transfers and contracts

We did sell one first teamer this January, and that was Jakoljevic. He's served us well, but we need to develop Kizito and therefore he isn't getting minutes.

We also sold two clauses that I thought were worth more than the likely income from the clauses.

We've signed a few players to new deals, but I thought I'd highlight one youth player, who earned a permanent contract.

Harbin came through as a 3 star potential player, but our coaches now say he's between 3.5 and 4 star potential and he's seen some good attribute growth this season. Perhaps he can make it with us.

Table and February

We were 8th, but then City got smashed 4-1 at home against Leicester. That's seen us up to 7th on goal difference.

Next up, February again has some favourable fixtures and a chance to push on for European football, something I wasn't sure we could aim for at the end of December. We also continue our FA Cup campaign home against Luton which should be a chance for rotation. The big game is Arsenal in the League Cup final. Our first final since our first season and a chance to win our first piece of silverware at the top table.

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-February 2040

I'm doing a mid-month update as I'm finding I'm not completing a month of play at a time and then I can't really remember what's happened a few days later when I finish the month.

What a month so far. I said in January we'd sealed a brilliant result against Man City, but to beat Arsenal away is truly excellent. 

Once again we deserved our 3 points, with a fortunate own goal and a superb 20 yard strike from Bah sealing the three points, but an incredibly solid defensive effort giving us the chance to do that in the second half. 

We then beat Luton and Swindon in the cup comfortably. These were pleasing ties, as we gave a debut to Jersey-born Pelling and Palmer got his first two games back from his lengthy injury.

We've also been setting gate receipt records almost every cup game.

Those wins earnt us a much harder tie, but one we should have some confidence going into after our performance in January. Surely we won't be in two cup finals this season having been starved of a cup final for so long?!

Speaking of our records, Lopez got 1 assist against Arsenal to edge him closer to the magic number 21. Toomer hit 19 of those assists in the League, but it was in the Vanarama National so I feel Lopez's potential achievement ranks higher. He's now rated as 'world class' by my coaching team and as his current ability hits 4.5 stars, everyone elses has taken a slight dive as they can't keep up with his growth.

So, ahead of the Burnley game, this is how it looks. If we win that game in hand we're in a really nice position with 11 games to go. Obviously two losses in the next two games would sour the month considerably, but I feel like we're really on the up here.

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

February 2040 Part 2

Another excellent performance continued an excellent month. We thrashed Burnley and a Bah hat-trick and 2 assists and a goal from Lopez sees our two key men continue to contribute. That's 13 league assists and 19 in total for Lopez and 16 goals in 19 games for Bah! Imagine if he'd not missed those games through injury earlier in the season!

Next up, we faced Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final.

We've had an excellent, and at times, slightly fortuitous run. Can we continue it here?

Yes we can! Vanegas, who hasn't played much this season but got the nod for this game, buries a header to equalise for us and then we win 3-2 on penalties in a pretty poor penalty shoot-out! 

Our first ever cup win, 22 years after our formation and 21 years into my reign. And you know what that means:

European football is coming to Jersey! This takes the pressure off in the league now; we can simply enjoy it and see how we do!

Speaking of the league.

A gap opening up between us and City, with a game in hand against Southampton up next. Win that and we're up in the running for the Champions League places! This is turning out to be an excellent season!

Just to rub salt in some wounds.

Up next, oh wait, the Southampton game is in February. I'm getting way ahead of myself. Ahh, it's a leap year, that's why!

With Bah and Lopez out injured plus others unfit, we were never likely to win this I felt, and despite Santos getting a goal which is a real plus, so it proved. Still, we've had a great month and the table is looking good.

And here's the matches up next, two good home games, a tough away one and then a big FA Cup tie!

[Punch]

Congratulations 

Awesome work

 

[Jtomsett11]

March 2040

Okay, we were smashed by Chelsea, but we expected that. That result aside, this is another excellent month! The Sheffield United result was slightly generous as it was 0-0 until 87 minutes when Ygor ran from his own half before lobbing the keeper from just outside the area - a sensational effort. We then sealed the game with 2 even later goals from free kicks. 

Palmer then continued his recovery against Wolves with a superb hat-trick. I'm really pleased for him and hope he can continue to develop as he's not really picked up attribute wise since his injury.

We then took on City and completely destroyed them. 4 different goal scorers as well. That's our second win in a row against them.

We've earned ourselves a shot at another final. I'm not quite sure why it's not at Wembley for the semi final, but vaguely remember that they planned to have the semis at Wembley for a few years to make back the money spent?! Nope, can't find anything. I can't find any previous semi-final stadium data, so I'm not sure if this is something new in the save. We've never got to the Semi-finals before either so I can't check our own fixtures.

I will post the table now, but there's a whole round of fixtures at the end of March except our game which is in April. We're still doing really well, but City are gaining on us now, with the gap potentially just 2 points.

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake March 2040

On the face of it, we have one potentially very good striker (Bah is 3.5 stars and is performing really well and just got an England cap) and perhaps a few squad players. I am disappointed about the overall quality of recent intakes, but any player above 4 star potential is a £40 million + player so if we can one of these every few intakes I'll be happy. No Jersey-born players this year, making my aim of incorporating them harder as we go further along in time.

One thing I've noticed is quite a few good personalities, but quite a few poor ones. I can work with balanced as at worse they have '8' for the important attributes and mentoring can assist with development from there. Low determination, unambitious (coupled with poor determination) and casual personalities are not good. I've taken really good care over employing staff with positive personalities... or so I thought! Having a look through I've found 2 unambitious and one casual staff member in the U18s! How did I let that happen!?

They've now been removed.

I think I must have seen their attributes and gone for their coaching ability. Hopefully they won't influence intakes going forward. There's still far too many 'balanced' staff for my liking, but I'd rather have good physios etc. than ones with good personalities. As our reputation increases perhaps we'll be able to have both.

Attribute analysis

This shows a pretty average intake, about the same as last year. Our best potential player, Coelho is a bit of an all-rounder and a physical beast at this point in his career. His work rate and teamwork leaves a lot to be desired, but he's a perfectionist so his development should be really solid. I'm not sure if I see him as a winger or a striker at this point, but I'll train him as a complete forward to focus on a range of attributes. Bah has been really effective despite being a 'jack of all trades'.

Rezaei has jumped up half a star since coming through, but doesn't quite make a good ball-winning midfielder (positioning and tackling) or a deep lying playmaker. There's less to work on with the latter role though, so he can just be a super aggressive terrible tackling deep lying playmaker?!

Webb and Jimenez also score highly on attributes, although the latter lacks potential. Webb may get forward a lot, but if he can develop he may be a great deep lying playmaker. 

Jimenez is unlikely to ever make it but will probably be quite useful in the youth teams.

Overall, an improvement on the last couple of seasons as we get one high potential player. If he lives up to it he could join Bah in playing up front for us for years to come. 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2040

On the face of it, this was a pretty average to slightly poor month. Yes, we drew against Liverpool and beat Spurs away, but we also conceded 4 to Leeds and drew at home to already relegated Blackburn. However, when you add some context, the results are a little easier to take. 

We lost Kubiszyn to injury in late March so he missed all the games up until the Blackburn game. We conceded the vast majority of goals with De Rosa in goal and watching the goals back he wasn't great, while there were some poor errors in the Leeds and Spurs games from other players. Bah rescued us against Tottenham with a hat-trick that took him to 19 league goals, with his 20th of the season coming against Liverpool. Lopez will also be our record assist-er as he racked up 3 more this month and has 17 in the league and 22 in total. Bah also earnt his first call up for England which his form deserves.

Against United, we were so close to a good result. The win allowed them to clinch the title, so I can't be too upset that we nearly held them and could have beaten them if we were a little more clinical. It was also my 1000th game in charge!

I then had to rest most of the team as they'd played against Brighton in the cup and against United 3 days later. Pelling got his Premier League debut at LB and did well, but we lacked enough creativity up front without Lopez, Guyot and Ygor and couldn't score despite being superior.

I can take that as we're into another cup final, and this time it's the FA Cup, one of the primary aims of the save.

We've got a good recent record against Tottenham, having done the double over them this season for our first wins against them. Can we get another win and end up in the Europa League instead of the Conference League?

We're almost certainly not going to end up higher than 8th now. We're 2 points off our total for last season, so I'd like one more win, but I'll also take the oppportunity to play Johnston and Pelling (Kizito is injured) to maximise their development. While we may have done similarly in the league this time round, our progress in the cups demonstrates our growth.

Monthly analysis

I haven't included the analysis in my posts for a while now, but I think this summarises where we are nicely. Our best attackers win us games, but we lack strength in depth really and I think we may be due an upgrade in the GK position. I have been giving youth experience as well so this has lost us some points this season.

This isn't the first time Bah has won an award this season as his form has been really strong. If he hadn't missed 7 or 8 games injured I think he'd be looking at 25 league goals this season.

Finances

I've also not included finances for a while, as they've been pretty static.

Prize money will take us above £100 million, but I think we've got a big of a job on our hands to reduce some of the contracts we have for some of our now-quite average players. Lopez is worth his £5 million a year contract, but is Kubiszyn? Probably not. I hope we can raise £30 million or so in sales of squad players or those out on loan who aren't going to make it.

Speaking of which:

Smith and Villamizar are two who will be leaving, while Nuhu isn't going to displace Dilrosun as backup AML so will also be sold. Some other here probably don't have a future, so will be sold where they have higher value and don't offer us the right attributes to make an impact. 

Quansah and Marshall have a future due to their home-grown nature and Quansah's potential, although he will go on loan again next year to try and ensure his development continues.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2040

A really good win against Newcastle started off May very well, and then we went down on penalties to Tottenham in the FA Cup final.

We won the Carabao Cup on penalties so we'll be in the Conference League next year which I feel is a real step forward for the club, so overall I can't be too unhappy losing on penalties in the final of the FA Cup.

We then threw away the game against Brighton, but to be fair to them they needed the win to secure safety, so perhaps they were more motivated that us.

So we finish 8th, two places below last season but with one more point, we win a trophy, make both domestic finals and qualify for Europe. 

One thing is for sure, we're now an established Premier League side after 20 seasons in the save. I'm not sure how many more seasons I'll play, but it'll be interesting to see how we grow over the next 5 years or so.

During this month we also secured two of our key players to longer deals.

Bah had a contract extension option so is now tied with us until 2045 when he'll be 26. Guyot also signs a 5 year deal so would be the same age at the end of his contract. Hopefully that'll dissuade other clubs. Lopez is the other major player but he's on a 4 year deal worth £5 million a year so I'm not quite ready to renew his for just 1 extra year.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Jtomsett11

[Punch]

Solid season to consolidate your place in the Premier League, and two cup finals is pretty handy as well.  

[Jtomsett11]

11 hours ago, Punch said:

Solid season to consolidate your place in the Premier League, and two cup finals is pretty handy as well.  

Thanks - I agree, although the 8th place isn't an improvement we definitely were much more competitive for longer periods of time and our progress in the cups shows that on our day we can beat the best.

[Jtomsett11]

Player performance review 2039/40

We're at a really interesting point in terms of this save as we struggle to not simply replace most of our youth products with cheaper and better imports from abroad. Having a balance is important for me in this save.

Goalkeepers

We conceded 3 more goals this season but also scored 3 more, ending on exactly the same goal difference in the league. I do think the time has come for an upgrade on Kubiszyn. I've sent the scouts out to try and find an improvement. De Rosa is fine as a backup but he had to play a 5th of our games this season and he probably cost us in a few. However, he's homegrown and on £800k a year so he's fine for another year while we wait for our younger keepers to develop. Just to show you extra evidence of why I think an upgrade is needed, Kubiszyn is 13th on save % in the league. He's not doing loads wrong of course, but he's on huge wages, is 29 and is thinking about leaving anyway, while he hasn't exactly set the world on fire this year.

Centre backs

Morillas was a really good signing, who is pretty solid across the board, but with a low % headers won ratio. I do wonder if this is due to all the corners being sent at him as when I watch highlights he's not missing many really. Here's an example (see below). Of the 5 headers missed against Brighton, 4 of them were attacking corners. Morais on the other hand lost 3 aerial challenges in the middle of the pitch. 

Looking at the other statistics, I'm once again seriously struggling to understand how Kizito scores such a poor average rating as only his passing lets him down. I'm going to look at his growth in depth when I do my attribute analysis to see if the game time he received has had the impact I wanted it to. Vanegas will be on his way out as I've already looked to sign a stronger aerial presence for next year. 

Full backs

Herrero sets the bar here. His interceptions and ball winning ability are very impressive, although I was pleased that Pelling offered excellent numbers albeit over a much smaller amount of games. Although he has limited potential, he's not far off Harte and could be a good solid backup player in the future. Again, I'll analyse him further in my attribute analysis, but my instinct is that I made the right choice to keep him at the club despite him turning 18 this year (and 19 now) as he just hadn't developed enough for a loan to be useful.

On the right neither player made the role their own, but Massaccesi started to look the part towards the end of the season and bar his interceptions, posts really good numbered. His tackle ratio is very pleasing and we won more games with him playing. Harte is now limited in terms of relative ability, but I still think he makes an impact for us and I'd be reluctant to move him on as he's Jersey-born.

Ball-winning midfielders

Plenty of minutes for Johnston and a much improved second half of the season for him in terms of numbers. 

This was him at the mid-point - he's now winning more tackles, significantly more headers, making slightly more interceptions and winning more games. He can't touch Parreiral on tackle won numbers in the Premier League (see below), but his overall tackles/90 minutes is 4.42, so that's not bad. I'm really pleased with this as I thought that when I looked at the numbers I'd see a far worse player than I'm seeing. 

Deep lying playmakers

I'm suffering from my usual problem of failing to get my DLPs functioning in my tactics. They've both been really poor on average ratings and they're not creating a whole load between them. I'm not sure it's the players, but my use of the role; I don't think they get much time on the ball and therefore can't play many useful passes. In the Brighton game for example, Cortes completed just 70% of his passes and had no key passes. Clarke is the only player I've ever got performing in this role in 20 years, and that was because he took set pieces which boosted his numbers and ratings. I'm going to keep both of these players I think, but I'm open to adapting this role and changing tact going forward if it doesn't improve at all.

Attacking midfielders

I actually feel Ygor had a much better season this year, with a goal contribution every 3 games. Palmer showed his ability on his return, but also had two shocking performances against better clubs that made me doubt his long term future. The thing that worries me is that neither our AMC or DLP role is doing that much creatively. 17 assists and 11 goals from the two roles I suppose isn't terrible, especially as we utilise the wings, but I want more from these areas. I do like Ygor's defensive statistics. His headers won per 90 and interceptions show someone who breaks up play and can then dribble and cause damage. Most of his impressive contributions have come from that, so maybe I need to look at his PPMs and see if I can up his game through them. 

Wingers

The contributions from the LW and RW clearly show how we operate. What was really impressive last season is the number of times Lopez pinged it through for the LW, usually Guyot to score from. 23 assists from Lopez is a new club record and he did it in just 38 appearances. Guyot is the signing of the season for me; 18 goal contributions in 31 games is very impressive and would have been better if he hadn't picked up 7 minor injuries this year. Dilrosun and Scott have both played their part, but it is noticeable how much less cutting we are without Guyot and Lopez. 

Advanced forwards

Bah had another brilliant season and this time didn't really have any poor spells apart from the odd game. 23 goals, of which 20 came in the league from just 27 appearances due to injury keeping him out of the other 11 games. He won his first England cap as well, so a great season for the academy product. Santos had limited game time, but with Conference League football on offer next season he should get more game time. His 5 goals in 13 games wasn't bad really considering his stop-start season. Wych won't be staying as he's blocking Santos and was poor this year by all measures. 

Team of the year

No surprises here really, Harte the only Jersey-born player with Bah the other academy graduate. We are at an all-time low of academy graduates in the best-eleven so we need to monitor that going forward, although I've given over 50 appearances to young not-quite-ready players this year to try and help with that already.

Season analysis

Interesting that we should have finished 5th! We know where we need to improve; defensively. An improvement in GK and potentially moving Morais back to BWM and getting a new CB in might be the priorities to try and address this. 

Top statistics

Lopez breaks not just one, but two records for assists and key passes. We've now had a Jersey-born youth player in our Team of the Year for 20 years, but only just! Next season we may struggle as Harte is vying for his place with the recent performances of Massaccesi. 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Club performance review 2039/40

A step forward this year, if not in terms of league position, then in terms of establishing ourselves as a top 10 Premier League side with cup aspirations. We secured European Conference League football next year through our Carabao Cup win, and our reputation has also increased which can only be positive going forward.

Our finances have taken a huge hit, which is all to do with this development.

We'll have a 8000 increase in capacity, but at least we'll own the stadium which presumably means we'll make more money commercially. I am slightly disappointed it's not at least into the 30ks, but I'm sure we'll have expansion capacity of at least 40000. 

The sponsorship deal secures half the funding but is over 10 years so I think we only saw £3 million of it this year (?) as we had £68 million in the bank before Premier League prize money came in, but we'll have to be savvy in the transfer market as we're only breaking even financially with our current wage expenditure. It'll be a case of selling some of our squad/ loaned out players to bring in the GK, CB and potentially CAM I want.

I expect our income to increase due to European football with extra ties (assuming we get through the play-off), but we probably need to push on for European football every year unless we want to sell big players for big money (Lopez is the main one at the moment but I'm offering him a new contract as we speak). As you can see below, sponsorship went up this year but everything else was similar with the exception of the significant drop in broadcast revenue which I'm not entirely sure about.

 

[Jtomsett11]

May 2040 poached player update

I'm not too concerned about this.

Quinlay came through at Spurs and looks a lot worse than I thought he would on the scout reports, although I like his attributes Perhaps his poor personality is likely to hold him back? I'll keep an eye on him, but that determination is going to take some moving. He was worth £5million on intake day!

[Jtomsett11]

May 2040 Overall best team

I'm going to do a series of competition reviews as I like to see who is winning what every 5 years or so. I thought I'd add our own overall best team.

Still favouring the 4-2-4 we used up until our relegation from the Premier League the first time round, there are a few names still active here. Bah is the most likely to find his way into the front two, perhaps in the next year or two if he continues his form. Dilrosun may find it difficult as he's second choice now, while De Rosa is unlikely to be replaced from number 1 for a few years as Kubiszyn is likely to be replaced this season. Oh and I've just noticed Scott is first choice RW - he will still get game time so is likely to be there for a while, although if Lopez stays and continues his form it won't be long until he's included I wouldn't imagine!

I don't think we'll ever have a striker who gets more than a goal per game like Geddes did for us back in the day!

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2039/40 attribute analysis

This is always an interesting opportunity to assess the progress made by my players and is very useful ahead of clearing out those who are out on contract, especially the youth players on 2 year initial deals as some of them always stall and make no progress despite our excellent facilities.

Goalkeepers

Kubiszyn still our clear number one, but I hope we can improve on his this summer. Hadler and Quansah made almost identical progress away on loan although Quansah dropped in command of area and communication from 11 to 10 which is irritating. He has the better potential, but a terrible personality (unambitious with 6 determination) so we'll keep him out on loan until he's better than De Rosa, our cup keeper as training for 3 years he made the only 8 points of progress. Learoyd is unlikely to make it but he's a keeper for the U18s to have for the season. Hadler has less potential than Quansah but is probably the more useful keeper currently. A loan for him again I think!

Centre backs

Morais made superb progress this season to establish himself as a top quality CB, although I'm concerned about his heading statistics as I wrote about in my last post. Morillas is also a top quality centre back and behind them we have some really good options. The loan has done Marshall good; his jumping is still 13 but other than that he's a good ball-playing centre back and I think we'll have him as an option for the cup and European games next year. Kizito and Pelling I will look at in more detail below as I gave them game time this year. Vanegas will probably be sold to make room for Marshall. 

Other young CBs with potential include Pleguezuelo who started out very weak but has made very good progress. He is now 18, turning 19 in July, so he needs some game time, probably on loan, to continue his development. Hopkins has limited potential, but a half decent personality and he's only 17 so if his growth continues he could surprise us and feature; at the least he should get a contract somewhere else.

Full backs

Harbin is probably the most interesting player here; his 8 points of progress has also seen my coaches rate his potential higher so I'll be interested to see how the 16 year old develops next year. Hopkins also saw decent development at this position so could be an option in the future if he develops.

Ball winning mids

Johnston I will discuss below, but again Morais' development is clear here. Youngster Pleguezuelo could be versatile if his development continues. I'm quite excited by Rezaei from the most recently intake as he's already improved by 2 points in just a few months. He has some significant holes for this role, but that also means he can improve quite quickly. I'm surprised first choice (this season anyway) Perreiral did not improve by more to be honest.

Deep lying playmakers

Cortes had a pretty rubbish debut season but he obviously didn't let that hold back his CA growth. Villamizar will probably be sold this summer, leaving Dempsey as our other clear choice in this area. Rezaei again has holes in this position, but less than the ball winning midfield one. This summer will also see Clarke leave us at the end of his contract, likely for the Championship. He's served us really well, especially at League One and Championship level and deserves more football as he nears his peak years. 241 all time appearances for us in the end for him. 

Attacking midfielders

Lopez doesn't really play here, but surely he's now world class? Wanted by all the big'guns, I'm offering him a huge new contract to try and keep him. He has 17 goals and 38 assists from 79 appearances in all competitions. Ygor seems to have plateaued, while Palmer didn't regress too much this season despite that huge 8 month injury so that's pleasing. Coelho is probably going to play as a striker, but he's the best potential in this position too.

Wingers

Once again a stupid number of wingers in our squad. A few of the 2038 class will leave this summer e.g. Middleton, Yahaya and Wong as they've made almost no progress or actually regressed in their time here. There's also a number we will look to sell: Hutchinson, Smith, O'Hara, Nuhu, Dowling. That should clear the decks slightly! In terms of development, Guyot made some good progress this year, while lower down Hodges improved by 6 points. He's got an ambitious personality and 3 star potential so who knows he may have a future here as he's also only 16 years old. 

Advanced forwards

From an area of plenty to an area we're pretty short in. Bah is probably at his peak but as he's very effective and only just turning 22, that's no bad thing. 80 goals in 182 appearances in all competitions so far, I think that he is our best contender currently to beat Robbins all time appearance record. Santos improved this year and should get more game time next year unless a really good backup becomes available and we send him on loan. Wych is probably on his way as he was poor and he's on over £2 million annually. Coelho is the big prospect in this position, so let's see how he does next year. Culley has 2 star potential and a fickle personality but has developed quite significantly so far.  

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute analysis in focus

These three players I focused on this year, giving Kizito and Johnston significant exposure to Premier League football, and deliberately keeping Pelling at the club as I felt our facilities would boost him more than a loan at Vanarama National Level despite him turning 18, before he then picked up 5 appearances after Christmas.

I feel I've been mostly rewarded for my choices. Light green shows an improvement of '1' point and dark an improvement of '2' while you can also see their starting and end score for the season in the position I play them. Okay, the growth isn't fantastic, but they've all improved and over quite a range of attributes beyond just their priority ones. I need this kind of growth over the next 2-3 seasons if they're to feature in the long term, however. 

Johnston's 87 is misleading really; attributes like 'aggression' and 'teamwork' boost his score, but it's pleasing to see his physical development as well as his mentals. I would like to see a bigger improvement in tackling and marking if I'm honest. 

Pelling has improved across the board and is now a viable choice at LB, whereas he wasn't before. 

Kizito has really improved physically and mentally. Again, I've prefer some more technical development next year. 

The challenge as always is giving these players game time without sacrificing too many results. I could just buy 3 better players, but part of the aim of this save is to incorporate the youth players and Kizito and Pelling are also part of a dying breed, Jersey-born youth players. We've had very few through in each intake recently and none in our most recent. It's 4 in the most recent 4 intakes, and then an anomalous year in 2036 when we had 6, including Kizito. 

[Punch]

Lots of light blue in those attributes, looking really positive 

[Sonic Youth]

It’s going to be interesting to see what playing in Europe does to squad development, as well as how deep your squad is versus perseeved depth.

Your development strategy with Kizito, spelling and Johnston looks to be paying off. Something to incorporate with each season moving forward it looks like