Everton - Going up, not down!

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 15 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS LEEDS UNITED

Brilliant performance!

Dominic Calvert-Lewin keeps up the good form and strikes for a brace in this one - making it 5 goals in his last 4 games. Leading our goalscoring charts so far this season with 11 goals in 15 starts for the club - not far off his total of 14 goals last season and we're only in November!

 

That makes it 5 games unbeaten in the Premier League now, although we have a tough test coming up next where Chelsea come to Goodison Park.

 

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 9.9 & Vitalie Becker: 8.1.

[lukegraham1991]

TRANSFER IN - YANGEL HERRERA

In another free agent move, Man City actually released this guy around the time I brought in Fred after he was released by Manchester United.

Not sure why he was still available but I've nabbed him for free on a 40k p/w contract - he's a decent option but I'm actually hoping to profit on him in the summer.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 16 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS CHELSEA

This one was always going to be a tough test vs a very good team with very good players.

However, the 3 goals in extra time (for both teams) was just insane.

 

For Chelsea to go 2-0 up, Havertz lobbed my keeper from the half way line.

I then get one back - there was only 94 minutes on the board, but Kovacic stood over a free-kick at the 96th minute around 35 yards out and smashed it in the top corner... ridiculous!

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 6.3, Rafael Santos Borre: 6.3 & Amadou Onana: 6.4.

Standout performances: Nathan Patterson: 7.1 & Vitaliy Mykolenko: 7.0.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 17 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

We immediately bounce back from last games defeat to Chelsea.

It wasn't as comfortable as I'd have liked but the best wins come when you aren't playing at your best, I guess!

James Ward-Prowse with his first competitive goal for us sealed the win early on!

 

Notable poor performances: Ernest Nuamah: 6.4 & Amadou Onana: 6.5.

Standout performances: James Ward-Prowse: 8.4.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 18 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS NORWICH CITY

Well, well, well.....

We were struggling to find the back of the net so I subbed the front 3 of Angelo, Nuamah & Calvert-Lewin around the 65th minute for Diomande on the left wing, Santos Borre on the right wing and Zlatan playing as a Target man through the middle. These changes couldn't have gone much better, and Zlatan even came close to getting his hat-trick late on as well.

 

We face a tough run in the next 4 games, where we play Tottenham - 3rd (A), Newcastle - 7th (H), Brighton - 5th (A) & Liverpool - 9th (H).

We are currently in 8th so if we manage to get some good results here, we will break into european places through the league.

 

Notable poor performances: Angelo: 6.5, Ernest Nuamah: 6.5 & Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.5.

Standout performances: Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 8.4.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 19 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Next up, Spurs hosted us at their place and luckily for us, we were keeping things tight.

To be rewarded with a second yellow to Pedro Porro in the 67th minute only perked us up, I made a few changes to try and turn the game in our favour and Zlatan chipped in with a late assist for Ward-Prowse to score again!!!

 

On somewhat of a sore note though, we've lost Dominic Calvert-Lewin for 3/4 weeks due to him twisting his ankle.

This is when I need Zlatan & Santos Borre to step up and perform!

 

Notable poor performances: Valentin Gomez: 6.3 & Angelo: 6.3.

Standout performances: James Ward-Prowse: 7.8, Jordan Pickford: 7.7 & Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 7.6.

Edited March 19, 2023 by lukegraham1991

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 20 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS NEWCASTLE UNITED

We went into this game missing our top scorer - Rafael Santos Borre needed to step in and do some work - but that didn't pan out.

I ended up bringing in Zlatan from half time as he's been in form when he plays but I think given his age, he is more of a 30 minute man at best right now. This is a bit troubling given that we are looking to be without Calvert-Lewin for 4 weeks.

 

However, we defended well and kept hold of a clean sheet, so things could've turned out worse.

 

Notable poor performances: James Tarkowski: 6.4, Ernest Nuamah: 6.4 & Rafael Santos Borre: 6.4.

Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 7.2, James Ward-Prowse: 7.2, Nathan Patterson: 7.1, Angelo: 7.1 & Josip Sutalo: 7.1.

[lukegraham1991]

NEW CONTRACT - LUKE GRAHAM

The board have clearly been happy with the work I am doing at the moment and that's now been rewarded with a new contract.

 

Penning an 82k per week deal until June 30th 2027.

 

This is hopefully just the beginning!

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 21 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS BRIGHTON

To go behind within the first 5 minutes in itself is bad enough, but for someone coming into the squad due to another player being injured, and then that player getting sent off before hand time with a needless challenge around the half way line is always going to make things tough.

 

Santos Borre managed to equalise but it wasn't enough to keep Brighton at bay or build upon ourselves to gain anything from this game.

 

Notable poor performances: Lucien Agoume: 6.3 & Fred: 6.4

Standout performances: James Ward-Prowse: 7.4.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 22 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS LIVERPOOL

WHAT A WIN!!!

 

I challenged them to prove the pundits wrong in the opening team talk before the game, and we gave away an early penalty which Pickford pulled the save out of the bag for to keep things at 0-0.

 

Half time I challenged them again, and it didn't take long for them to deliver, Angelo put us 1-0 up and I switched over to our defensive tactic on 'Balanced' so we could try and hit them on the counter somewhat. To be honest, every highlight seemed to be for us, and what a team performance this was! 

 

This marks the first time we've beaten Liverpool on our save! Many more to come hopefully!!

 

Notable poor performances: James Tarkowski: 6.5 & Ernest Nuamah: 6.5.

Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 8.3, Amadou Onana: 7.8 & Angelo: 7.8.

Edited March 19, 2023 by lukegraham1991

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 23 - FA CUP - AWAY VS HARROGATE

He's only gone and done it again!

I'll be honest, I had every intention of giving Ibrahimovic a lot of game time here off the bench, but I wasn't expecting him to have to come on and save our skin after being behind against Harrogate!

 

A hat-trick from the veteran though and another win under our belts, into the hat for the next round!

 

Notable poor performances: Ashley Young: 6.5 & Rafael Santos Borre: 6.5.

Standout performances: Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 9.4.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 24 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS LEICESTER CITY

Disappointing performance, we lost to a route one ball to Thuram.

Couldn't finish what little chances we were creating and lost the game despite having a better xG than Leicester.

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 6.4, Jeremy Doku: 6.4, Ernest Nuamah: 6.4.

Standout performances: Vitaliy Mykolenko: 7.0.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 25 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS ASTON VILLA

Our second 1-0 defeat to teams in the bottom half of the table at the time of the fixture happening.

Need to get back to scoring goals and quickly!

 

Notable poor performances: Josip Sutalo: 6.4, Idrissa Gueye: 6.4, Nathan Patterson: 6.5, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.5, Ernest Nuamah: 6.5, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.5 & Ashley Young: 6.5.

Standout performances: Jarrad Branthwaite: 7.1.

[lukegraham1991]

TRANSFER OUT - IDRISSA GUEYE

Gueye was going to be getting released at the end of the season due to being out of contract and becoming more of a squad/fringer player.

Now 34 he wasn't performing to the standards we require if we want to continue to improve.

 

He was on over 100k per week and to get a small fee in the final 6 months of his contract made it easy to let him go a little early.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 26 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NEWCASTLE UNITED

Back to winning ways! We've beaten 4th placed Newcastle United - very fortunate with Verissimo getting sent off so early but at least we capitalised on this one as there has been a few times previously where we haven't been able to.

 

Doku with a MOTM performance with the one goal and one assist.

 

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Jeremy Doku: 8.0.

[lukegraham1991]

NEW CONTRACT - DOMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN

Our top scorer had an agreement from last season that if we received a bid of 63M or more, I would let him leave the club.

 

However, he's been playing a lot and playing well. He took an injury which meant he was sidelines for 3/4 weeks recently but he's since returned and as you can see in our most recent game, has already bagged another goal. He finished last season on 14 goals in all competitions, this season so far he has scored 12 and we have a lot of games remaining so hopefully can beat the 14 he achieved last year.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 27 - FA CUP - AWAY VS HUDDERSFIELD

Horror show in stoppage time.

These things happen on FM sometimes! 

 

.....

 

Also, to kick us while we're down, Nathan Patterson came off injured and is out for 2 months with a torn hamstring.

We also play Arsenal next, Manchester United after that & Spurs after that, to finish up the month of February.

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 6.2.

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.9.

Edited March 19, 2023 by lukegraham1991

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 28 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS ARSENAL

We welcomed Arsenal to Goodison Park this week & took a relatively early lead.

A lot of attacking highlights followed throughout, we didn't play particularly well - the draw was probably a fair result in the end.

 

A positive to take from this is that Santos Borre has now scored 2 in his last 2 games.

Calvert-Lewin has taken a small knock so he could be back for Manchester United away but if we need someone to step in then it could be the right time for Santos Borre.

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 6.4 & Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.5.

Standout performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 7.3, Yangel Herrera: 7.2 & James Ward-Prowse: 7.0.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 29 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MANCHESTER UNITED

Not a great performance at all and a moment of magic from Rashford was too much for Filippo Terracciano to keep him out and unfortunately that resulted in a penalty late on to gift them the three points.

 

Notable poor performances: Jeremy Doku: 6.3, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.4, James Ward-Prowse: 6.5, Angelo: 6.5, Amadou Onana: 6.5 & Yangel Herrera: 6.5.

Standout performances: Vitaliy Mykolenko: 7.2 & Lucien Agoume: 7.0.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 30 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

This win marks Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 14th goal of the season, matching his record from last season.

Hopefully he can bag a few more before the season's end.

 

Big win for us, keeping us in contention for European qualification.

Spurs stay in 3rd place and we are now in 8th place, with a game in hand, which if we win, we move into 7th place.

 

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.1.

Edited March 19, 2023 by lukegraham1991

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - PREMIER LEAGUE - TABLE AFTER 27 GAMES

I was planning on doing an update every 10 games for the league table but it's slipped my mind throughout this season so far.

So here we are, 11 games to be played.

 

We're in the top half which was the aim from the start of the season.

These next two games are big for me, then we face a difficult Chelsea team away from home.

The month of April I would like to think we should have some luck in & get some results.

May we should also bring home some points - except maybe away vs Man City which will be a difficult one on paper.

 

We shall see!

 

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 31 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NORWICH CITY

A really flat performance in this one.

While we had majority of possession and created most of the chances, we couldn't find the back of the net.

Thankfully neither could Norwich.

 

Notable poor performances: Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.4, Angelo: 6.5 & Jeremy Doku: 6.5.

Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 7.6, Filippo Terracciano: 7.5, Jarrad Branthwaite: 7.5 & Josip Sutalo: 7.4.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 32 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Our last game before an international break, another game I was hoping to take 3 points from ended somewhat in disappointment due to a really poor first half performance. 

We managed to claw back for the equaliser late on but couldn't do enough throughout the contest to stake a claim for the three points.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin back on the score sheet again means he has broken his season best from last year of 14 and now stands at 15 goals for the campaign.

 

Notable poor performances: Angelo: 6.2, Lucien Agoume: 6.4, Amadou Onana: 6.4 & Jeremy Doku: 6.4.

Standout performances: Mohammed Diomande: 7.9 & Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.6.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 33 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS CRYSTAL PALACE

Really bad start to this game going two goals behind in the opening 10 minutes of play against 19th placed Crystal Palace.

This makes it 3 games on the bounce we've drawn and IMO dropped points against lesser opposition.

Calvert-Lewin once again chipping in with a goal to equalise mid way through the second half but we couldn't do enough to go one further and get the win.

 

Again though, we could have lost the game, especially after that shockingly bad start to proceedings.

From 2-0 down that early in the game we take a point all day.

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 6.5.

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.1.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 34 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MIDDLESBROUGH

Our main man DCL bags in the very first minute of the game, I thought this was a sign of things to come against a relegation battling Middlesbrough.

It didn't quite go that way, but a red card with around 20 minutes to go was a gift for us after only managing draws from the three previous games in the league, this win was definitely needed and getting a clean sheet too is never something to ignore.

Hopefully we can kick on from here now, especially with a game against West Ham up next, who currently take up 8th place in the league, while we sit in 9th.

 

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.8

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 35 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS WEST HAM UNITED

Gianluca Scamacca put us to the sword in this one in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

Disappointing loss at home here especially given the fact that we could've caught West Ham up with a win here.

 

Late consolation goal as we didn't do anything after scoring it despite my best efforts to pile on the pressure late on.

Next up we face Chelsea away from home, I'll be changing our setup for that one because we are on the verge of a beating soon if we carry on doing the same things every game.

 

Notable poor performances: Ernest Nuamah: 6.3, Amadou Onana: 6.3, Jeremy Doku: 6.4 & Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.4.

Standout performances: Josip Sutalo: 7.3 & Rafael Santos Borre: 7.2.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 36 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS CHELSEA

Tired legs got the better of us here, having to sub some boys due to lack of fitness or running themselves into the ground for lesser replacements.

To lose so late again after holding on for a good point for 90 minutes of the game is a big kick in the teeth and that's now two losses on the bounce.

 

Next up we play Leeds United who are 19th and then Watford who are 18th - must win games but these will prove difficult too with both teams playing for their Premier League status in the midst of a relegation battle.

 

Notable poor performances: Ben Godfrey: 6.3, Valentin Gomez: 6.4, Filippo Terracciano: 6.4 & Angelo: 6.4.

Standout performances: Lucien Agoume: 7.1.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 37 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS LEEDS UNITED

We started well at Elland road as we took an early lead through a magnificent individual effort from Angelo, taking the ball past a handful of men after cutting inside and nestling a shot to the far side of the net from the right hand side.

 

Nice to have more than one player with high 7's or 8's ratings!

 

Notable poor performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 6.4 & Demarai Gray: 6.5.

Standout performances: Angelo: 8.3, Lucien Agoume: 8.3 & Jordan Pickford: 7.7.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 37 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS WATFORD

Next up we take on 19th placed Watford who again, are a team battling relegation.

I'm hoping to take the last games efforts into this one, but I know these games against relegation battlers can be tough.

 

We managed our way through another nice win. 

The first half was a slow burner but we kicked into gear in the second half, taking 14 minutes to take the lead after the break and doubling that lead 8 minutes later through the man of the moment - DCL.

 

Next up we face Brentford who are another team nearer the bottom of the table than the top right now.

 

Notable poor performances: Demarai Gray: 6.4, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.5 & Ernest Nuamah: 6.5.

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.5.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 38 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS BRENTFORD

After what was probably our best first half performance of the season, we run out 4-1 winners in the end.

Giving some lads some playing time that haven't seen too much of it too due to tired legs but that makes it even more satisfying to me.

 

3 wins on the bounce, nice to hit some form, especially given we have Man City up next who are currently in 1st with Manchester United right on their heels in 2nd place in the 2 team title race.

 

Notable poor performances: Vitalie Becker: 6.4, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.5 & Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 6.5.

Standout performances: Filippo Terracciano: 7.7, James Garner: 7.7, Angelo: 7.5 & Amadou Onana: 7.5.

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 39 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MAN CITY

What a glass case of emotion!

 

Going behind so early after Haaland netted within 2 minutes was a blow.

But evening things up shortly after while unexpected was very much welcomed. 

DCL then smashed home another to give us a 2-1 lead after 26 minutes. 

Angelo netted just before half time to make it 3-1 and we were in dreamland.

 

As we entered the second half I approached things a bit more conservatively and when Dias scored early in the half  I feared the worst.

Sometimes you try to play more defensively and just invited wave after wave of pressure.

But, we managed to hang on, and when there was a long ball played forward and Laporte nodded it past his goalkeeper, I couldn't believe our luck!

 

What a win!!!!! That's four wins on the bounce now - with 15th placed Bournemouth up next in our final game of the season. Hopefully we can take this form into that game and get another 3 points under our belts to finish as high as possible.

 

Notable poor performances: Josip Sutalo: 6.2, Filippo Terracciano: 6.3 & Valentin Gomez: 6.4

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 9.0 & Amadou Onana: 8.2.

[lukegraham1991]

END OF AN ERA FOR GOODISON PARK

With our final game of the season, comes a 4 game win streak as we enter our final game of the season, and our final game at Goodison Park.

We take on 15th placed Bournemouth who are safe from relegation and we want to leave the stadium with a huge win for the fans!

 

A win could potentially take us into 6th place if other results go our way as well which will mean European football next season.

As long as we win this game I'm happy with the season as we've improved on season one's finish and performances.

 

Stay tuned ...

 

[lukegraham1991]

2023/24 SEASON - GAME DAY 40 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MAN CITY

Well this one didn't go to plan at all.

Ridiculous start, ridiculous mistakes by Jordan Pickford to absolute bury us within 13 minutes of the game.

 

In our last game at Goodison Park this one is really frustrating but it is what it is.

Deserved to lose.

 

 

Notable poor performances: Jordan Pickford: 5.5.

Standout performances: Filippo Terracciano: 7.7, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.3 & Angelo: 7.3.

[lukegraham1991]

SEASON 2 (2023/24) - PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

Last league table update of the season.

We managed to get our aim of top half, disappointing not to finish a place or two higher in all honesty, especially after that loss to Bournemouth.

 

Manchester United taking the league title by a goal difference of 34 compared to Man City's goal difference of 31, very tight finish at the top.

Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal taking the champions league places.

Tottenham, West Ham & Brighton taking the other european competition places (by the look of things).

With Leeds United, Crystal Palace & Watford suffering relegation to the Championship.

Promoted from the Championship is Southampton, Nottingham Forest & one of Sunderland/Sheffield United/Burnley/Fulham.

 

Stay tuned for player stats for the season...

[lukegraham1991]

SEASON 2 (2023/24) - PLAYER STATS

As we close out the season, I wanted to make a note of some of the player stats throughout the season.

 

Goals:

1. Dominic Calvert Lewin - 22 Goals

2. Angelo - 9 Goals

3. Rafael Santos Borre & Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 5 Goals

4. Jeremy Doku - 4 Goals

5. James Ward-Prowse - 3 Goals

 

Assists:

 

1. Amadou Onana - 9 Assists

2. James Ward-Prowse - 7 Assists

3. Angelo - 6 Assists

4. Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 5 Assists

5. Jeremy Doku - 4 Assists

 

Average Rating (Over 7.0):

 

1. Dominic Calvert-Lewin -  7.41 Average Rating

2. James Garner - 7.04 Average Rating

3. Angelo - 7.02 Average Rating

4. James Ward-Prowse & Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 7.01 Average Rating

5. Theo Sander - 7.0 Average Rating

 

Clean sheets:

1. Jordan Pickford - 15 Clean Sheets in 40 games

2. Theo Sander - 1 Clean Sheet in 1 game

 

 

Overall record throughout 2023/24 season:

Wins: 19

Draws: 7

Losses: 15

Goals scored: 60

Goals against: 46

Goal difference: +14

[lukegraham1991]

END OF SEASON REVIEW - 2023/24

 

[lukegraham1991]

OVERALL BEST ELEVEN - END OF 2023/24 SEASON

[lukegraham1991]

TRANSFERS IN - VITOR ROQUE & ROMEO LAVIA

Our first two signings are two deals I have been working on through last season, both very young and raw but labelled as wonderkids!

We've added competition up front which will hopefully push the likes of Calvert-Lewin and also added competition in the ball winning midfield role to provide competition for Fred & Onana (not sure what to do with Herrera just yet).

[lukegraham1991]

TRANSFER IN - JACK BUTLAND

With Rune Jarstein running out of contract and retiring at the end of last season, I wanted to bring in an experienced British goalkeeper.

Jack Butland was extremely interested in moving to us as a backup option and it was a fairly simple deal to finalise from there. 

 

Small fee, meets registration requirements too and hopefully will help in mentoring long term replacement Theo Sander when Pickford will eventually (hopefully no time soon) retires.

[GrayMatter]

I always find it fascinating how others manage Everton, given I do a save with them every year. Livramento might be worth looking at too given that I saw that it said Southampton were relegated when signing Lavia.

[lukegraham1991]

6 minutes ago, ShaunG95 said:

I always find it fascinating how others manage Everton, given I do a save with them every year. Livramento might be worth looking at too given that I saw that it said Southampton were relegated when signing Lavia.

At the moment I have a load of good options at RB unfortunately, I'm still loaning out two quality RB's at the moment too! 

How are you doing in your save? 

[GrayMatter]

1 minute ago, lukegraham1991 said:

At the moment I have a load of good options at RB unfortunately, I'm still loaning out two quality RB's at the moment too! 

How are you doing in your save? 

I'm about to start a new save with the latest update, just planning out who I want to sign in season 1. On my save from the last update I'd had one or two top four finishes and a Carabao Cup win in five years, so I wasn't doing too badly. My eleven was really good though:

GK: Hedl

RB: Livramento/Patterson

LB: Mykolenko/Garcia

CB: Zabarnyi/Ahmedhodzic

CB: Pavlovic/Daniliuc

CM: Berge/Seiwald/Haraldasson

CM: Swedberg/Wanner/Zakharyan

AMR: Brooks/Bardghji

AML: McNeil/Neto

ST: Sesko/Beljo

ST: Broja/Weiper

I just ended up having a Chelsea-esque squad that was bloated though which took away some of the enjoyment as it was becoming difficult to keep all of the squad happy and tight-knit.

[lukegraham1991]

28 minutes ago, ShaunG95 said:

I'm about to start a new save with the latest update, just planning out who I want to sign in season 1. On my save from the last update I'd had one or two top four finishes and a Carabao Cup win in five years, so I wasn't doing too badly. My eleven was really good though:

GK: Hedl

RB: Livramento/Patterson

LB: Mykolenko/Garcia

CB: Zabarnyi/Ahmedhodzic

CB: Pavlovic/Daniliuc

CM: Berge/Seiwald/Haraldasson

CM: Swedberg/Wanner/Zakharyan

AMR: Brooks/Bardghji

AML: McNeil/Neto

ST: Sesko/Beljo

ST: Broja/Weiper

I just ended up having a Chelsea-esque squad that was bloated though which took away some of the enjoyment as it was becoming difficult to keep all of the squad happy and tight-knit.

Nice work man! I'm trying to blood some youth more than anything really, I've got quite a young squad overall and want that to be the way I do things for the time being.

[lukegraham1991]

PRE-SEASON RESULTS - SEASON 2024/25

So, this pre-season we went on a tour of Singapore.

I organised friendlies on Wednesdays and Saturdays to give 'first' and 'second' stringers regular game time - a few injuries and the Olympics scuppered that somewhat so I have to get some swaps in here and there but overall, despite the poor level of the opponents, happy with the clean sheets and goals scored - should be ready to go into the season with high morale, although, Manchester United at Old Trafford first game up is a bit of a bummer...

[lukegraham1991]

TRANSFER IN - KAIO JORGE

I've been on the look out for a new striker for some time, only a decent one to play as backup for the likes of DCL, Santos Borre & new signing Vitor Roque as I've recently loaned out Matheus Nascimento for regular game time.

We had work permit issues with some other potential targets but we're ultimately happy with our man!

 

Jorge has a 3 star potential and was happy to sign with a 'squad player' status which is always a positive.

[lukegraham1991]

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 1 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MANCHESTER UNITED

Well, we knew this one would be difficult, we did manage a 4-1 win over United in the opener of last season but that one was at home, this one was away, and they definitely wouldn't have wanted to open their campaign in that fashion again, never mind against the same opponent! 

In all honesty, we did well to keep it to 1-0, as you can see from the individual player ratings, we didn't have a good game at all unfortunately.

To lose 1-0 from a cross & header isn't the end of the world but we'd like to keep those goals to a minimum as well to be honest.

 

With no-one playing over a 6.8 rating in this one though, and Arsenal (H) up next, we could be in for a tough start to the season.

 

Notable poor performances: Dwight McNeil: 6.3, Jeremy Doku: 6.3, Filippo Terracciano: 6.4.

Standout performances: N/A

[lukegraham1991]

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 2 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS ARSENAL

Another tough test for us in only the second game of the season came in the form of last seasons 4th placed finish Arsenal.

It was a cagey affair, but when we took the lead through Demarai Gray being a fox in the box for an uncontested rebound at the far post, I thought we would get the luck we needed for the win.

 

Unfortunately for us, Jesus levelled things up 7 minutes later. 

Not long after the equaliser, Jarrad Branthwaite took an injury meaning he couldn't continue & had to come off, leaving us with 10 men for the remaining few minutes of the game PLUS the 6 minutes of injury time, but we managed to hang onto a point which is a positive.

 

Notable poor performances: Amadou Onana: 6.3, Ben Godfrey: 6.4, Dwight McNeil: 6.4 & Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.4.

Standout performances: Demarai Gray: 7.1 & Filippo Terracciano: 7.0.

[lukegraham1991]

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 3 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS WEST HAM UNITED

We managed our first win and three points of the season - getting the clean sheet on top of that was just the icing on the cake!

Amadou Onana uncharacteristically sealing the victory for us with a first half brace! Great bounce back from the lad after playing to a 6.3 rating in last weeks draw to Arsenal.

Nice all around team performance though and a few late subs being the lowest rating on the day which I can live with.

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Amadou Onana: 8.7.

[lukegraham1991]

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 4 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MIDDLESBROUGH

An away test against Middlesbrough this week who have beaten Aston Villa and Manchester United before taking a beating against Arsenal so far this season.

DCL back on the scoresheet for us is a huge positive after he's just easing his way back into game time after picking up an injury at the end of pre-season.

This win means 7 points from 4 games so far this season - unbeaten in our last 3 games as well!

Notable poor performances: James Tarkowski: 6.4, Filippo Terracciano: 6.5 & Dwight McNeil: 6.5.

Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 7.3, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 7.3 & Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.3.

[lukegraham1991]

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 5 - CARABAO CUP - HOME VS SWANSEA CITY

Very nice win as we made some changes to get people up to speed, a mix of fit players to continue momentum with some players that needed the extra minutes.

After we went 4-0 up I made some changes to get some more of the lads more game time under their belts too.

Notable poor performances: N/A

Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.9, Jeremy Doku: 8.4 & Vitaliy Mykolenko: 8.1.