lukegraham1991

TRANSFER OUT - MATIAS ZARACHO I was taking a look over players running out of contract this season and stumbled across Zaracho who was out of contract in a few months time. By looking at his ratings, I knew the value I could sign him for right away instead of waiting would be useful so I paid 3m upfront to get him early and we now have another midfield option & his value has immediately rocketed to 24-26m also.

TRANSFER OUT - ANDRES CARO Another youngster we brought in for 800k back in the 2022/23 campaign. 8m transfer fee secured up front and we have moved the player on who wouldn't have gotten into our side any time soon.

TRANSFER OUT - KAREL CAMPOS We brought youngster Karel Campos in back in 2022/23 but loaned him out for the following two seasons to hope he could reach the heights our scouts touted him for. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, but we still made a 5m profit on the player, signing him initially for 2.5m and now selling him at 7.5m to Olympiacos.

TRANSFER IN - PEDRO NETO In what is probably our first signing for the senior team that will be getting used very regularly, we have bolstered the wide options with Pedro Neto coming in from Wolves for a fee of 50m - 10m paid up front and the other 40m being spread over monthly installations. A quick, direct attacking option who is already experienced in the Premier League, Angelo hasn't hit the heights we've expected of him yet so hopefully Neto coming in will give him a kick up the backside as well!

TRANSFER IN - FAUSTINO ANJORIN Another young player with some improvement to make, I will be looking to loan him out immediately to get him the first team football he needs to develop well. Again, if he garners interest from other clubs for a decent fee then I will sell him but we have plenty of time before anything like that will come to fruition.

TRANSFERS IN - FOLARIN BALOGUN & DANIEL ALLEN A couple of youngsters we managed to bring in on free transfers - a little bit of compensation for Allen but hopefully we reap the benefits when he makes the anticipated progress as a player with just being 17 years old at the moment. Balogun may be loaned out to gather value & show what he can do regularly elsewhere - then to be sold for profit, but he didn't play at Arsenal so was very unhappy, he does have good potential so that is something I will be making a decision on during this pre-season.

TRANSFER OUT - YANGEL HERRERA This one was a bit of a slow burner - we brought him in on a free transfer back in the 2023/24 season and he only managed 4 starts and 9 sub appearances during that season. I tried offloading him for a profit at the start of the 2024/25 season but he was just becoming disruptive so I loaned him out to Sevilla with a buy clause. We've now managed to bring in 20m for the player who wasn't fitting into things and wasn't good enough to break into the side. Not really sure about the reaction as you can see from the image below but these things happen sometimes - I'm more than happy with that profit to be honest!

OVERALL BEST ELEVEN - END OF 2024/25 SEASON

END OF SEASON REVIEW - 2023/24

SEASON 3 (2024/25) - 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 - 21 Goals 2. Kaio Jorge - 7 Goals 3. Dwight McNeil - 6 Goals 4. Vitor Roque & James Ward-Prowse - 4 Goals 5. Amadou Onana - 3 Goals Assists: 1. James Ward-Prowse - 12Assists 2. Vitaliy Mykolenko - 5Assists 3. Angelo & Nathan Patterson - 4 Assists 4. Romeo Lavia - 3 Assists 5. Vitor Roque, Lucien Agoume, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Dwight McNeil & Jeremy Doku - 2 Assists Average Rating (Over 7.0): 1. Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 7.18 Average Rating Clean sheets: 1. Jordan Pickford - 16 Clean Sheets in 38 games 2. Jack Butland - 2 Clean Sheets in 6 games Overall record throughout 2023/24 season: Wins: 21 Draws: 8 Losses: 14 Goals scored: 57 Goals against: 44 Goal difference: +13

SEASON 3 (2024/25) - PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Last league table update of the season. While we managed to better last seasons 10th placed finish with 8th and 3 points better off, losing that last game of the season against Newcastle United to be pipped to the 7th placed Europa Conference League spot was a bit of a kick in the teeth. Arsenal taking the league title with a 7 point lead over Man City this season. Man City, Liverpool & Chelsea taking the champions league places. Tottenham, Manchester United & Newcastle United *cry* taking the other european competition places. With Sunderland, Southampton & Nottingham Forest suffering relegation to the Championship. Promoted from the Championship is Crystal Palace, Leeds United & one of West Brom/Blackburn/Fulham/Burnley who have made the playoffs. Stay tuned for player stats for the season...

Tough one to take!!

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 43 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NEWCASTLE UNITED Things were looking hit or miss in part of this game, going behind within 5 minutes, then equalising 10 minutes in, a long period of a massively cagey affair which, given the stakes is understandable. We then took the lead on the 71st minute through substitute Dwight McNeil and things were looking well in our favour. Only for the FM engine to throw not only one, but two spanners in the works - Jordan Pickford finished the game with a 7.1 rating.... the guy passed the ball to Saint-Maximin to tap in on the 86th minute in the 6 yard box. We were still looking okay at this point, one of our guys thought it would be a great idea to take Isak down in the penalty area a minute after the injury time should have run for - gave away a penalty and ultimately lost the game and our european place for next season - madness!! Notable poor performances: Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.5, Angelo: 6.5 & Kaio Jorge: 6.5. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.2.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 42 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS ASTON VILLA Red hot performance from the whole team and DCL bagging a hat-trick for us to put us in pole position to take 7th place. That isn't a given though and FM will throw us some curve balls for sure!!! Let's see how things unfold against Newcastle next away from home in the 7th placed finish decider. Notable poor performances: N/A Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 10.0.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 41 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS WEST HAM UNITED First up in the last 3 games of the season was West Ham United at London Stadium. Anthony Martial slotted home on the 30 minute mark to give the home side the lead, and it seemed like every highlight was coming the way of the Hammers. We managed to keep the score down though which was a positive going into the half so we could give the team a kick up the behind. Not much changed with the likes of Kaio Jorge or Fred so those two and DCL got subbed off around the 60 minute mark to bring Demarai Gray, Lucien Agoume & Vitor Roque into the fold. These subs ended up paying off we went 'Very Attacking' with very direct passing late into the game, and Gray latched onto a rebound to nick an equaliser in the dying minutes. We are currently still in 7th on 61 points but Newcastle are on the same points - we are in front of them by 4 goals. Brighton who are in 9th are on a game less and have 54 points, with Manchester United in front in 6th place on 67 points. 2 games to go! Notable poor performances: Kaio Jorge: 6.2 & Fred: 6.3. Standout performances: Demarai Gray: 7.7.

2024/25 SEASON - APRIL RESULTS & LEAGUE TABLE SO FAR... 35 games in - 18 wins, 6 draws and 11 losses. We improve again since the end of March and now take up the 7th place in the league. With only 3 games now remaining, our european hopes are in our own hands here, continuing the form we've gathered will result in a final push to secure a european spot for next season, if we slump then we could easily give up that chance to Newcastle or even Brighton.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 40 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS MIDDLESBROUGH This win makes it 4 wins on the bounce and 3 wins from 3 games throughout our full fixture list in April. Another solid team performance and the goals to back it up and secure the three points. We move into the final month of the season now where we face West Ham (A) who are 12th, Aston Villa (H) who are 14th and Newcastle United (A) who are in 8th place, the final game of the season could end up deciding whether we make europe or not for the 2025/26 season! Notable poor performances: N/A Standout performances: Fred: 7.7, Jarrad Branthwaite: 7.6, Josip Sutalo: 7.5 & James Ward-Prowse.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 39 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS SOUTHAMPTON Tidy home win here with two first half goals and a clean sheet! DCL took a knock which meant I gave him a bit of a rest with the two goal cushion later in the game. Notable poor performances: N/A Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.9, Nathan Patterson: 7.6 & Kaio Jorge: 7.5.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 38 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NORWICH CITY Our first game in April started with a bang, taking an early lead through top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Again carrying some tired legs, we managed to nurse people through this one, but Norwich did give a little scare when James Rodriguez levelled up the scoring on the 51st minute. This didn't stop us though, with fresh legs and positive encouragement from the sidelines (you're welcome) we managed to nick a second goal and take the 2-1 win to the finish whistle with DCL bagging once more! Notable poor performances: N/A Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.5.

2024/25 SEASON - MARCH RESULTS & LEAGUE TABLE SO FAR... 32 games in - 15 wins, 6 draws and 11 losses. We are currently in a better position than we finished in last season, especially after the win against Brentford to give us a 6 point cushion between ourselves and them who are in 10th. This month we take on 12th placed Norwich(A), 18th placed Southampton (H) & 16th placed Middlesbrough (H)! Hopefully we can gain some momentum in this month now, we have a few decisions to make after this month with a few players underperforming and a couple staking a claim for a starting spot in the team for the season run in, hopefully we can make a push for europe but I just want to mainly focus on finish at least 9th to show improvement once again in our final league standing.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 37 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR Much better performance this time around - although I am worried we have a few players that are getting knackered every time they play lately, I feel like we may need to send some on a week or two's holiday to recoup. Hopefully that isn't the case as we're at the business end of things now and looking good for another improvement in our league finish. Notable poor performances: Vitor Roque: 6.4. Standout performances: Dwight McNeil: 7.9 & Jordan Pickford: 7.8.

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 36 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR Not a great performance. To be honest we were very lucky to still be in the game up to the 79th minute - as you can see, our player ratings were woeful! Next up we only have 3 days off until we play Brentford (H) now. Notable poor performances: Josip Sutalo: 6.1, Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.2, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.3, Kaio Jorge: 6.4 & Dwight McNeil: 6.4. Standout performances: N/A

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 35 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NOTTINGHAM FOREST A little closer than I would have liked but we pushed for the winner late on going a lot more direct and super sub today Dwight McNeil latched onto the end of a long ball into the box to tuck home the 91st minute winner!! This result makes it two wins on the bounce before we travel to The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium mid-week in a game that would be great to get something from! We are now 8th with a game in hand over 7th placed Newcastle and a win from that game in hand would mean we take up a place in the european places through league finish. Notable poor performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.4. Standout performances: Dwight McNeil: 7.8, Josip Sutalo: 7.7, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 7.5, Jordan Pickford: 7.4 & Jarrad Branthwaite: 7.4.

Hi man, yeah so we've been running with a similar shape but a few changes of roles and individuals in said roles. Here is how we are playing right now ...

2024/25 SEASON - GAME DAY 34 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS DCL was on a 3 game goalscoring drought but he was back to his usual ways in this one, scoring a brace to secure our win and 3 points. Would have been a clean sheet as well but Butland had a funny 5 seconds which costed us the clean sheet, I did make a call to pull him off for Pickford too who came on and performed a lot better than he has been recently. We are still in 9th place after this win but we are now level on points with 8th placed Brighton and only 3 points behind 7th placed (european places) Newcastle and we have a game in hand over them! Notable poor performances: Jack Butland: 6.3, Dwight McNeil: 6.3 & Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.4. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.7.