FM Blog Update #4: End of Season Elation

It’s now June 1st, 2014 in my Football Manager game, and my first season is over.

This is how the league ended up:

An excellent result. We only lost 2 games all season. We lost 1-0 to Ipswich away in a 50/50 game where our finishing was piss poor, and immediately upon securing the league we lost 2-0 at home to Burnley, in a match where we had 34 shots with 16 on target. Classic FM.

What was also notable was who got promoted with me. Blackburn got promoted automatically and Leeds won the Playoffs. I edited the game to put my friends Taff and HRHomer in the game – both respectively, at Blackburn and Leeds! Quite exciting for all three of us to go up.

I got one notable player via the Youths:

He is small as fuck but being 15 years old his physical stats are great. I ended up giving him 6 sub appearances during the campaign where he ended up with a 6.70 rating.

During the transfer window I signed Jordan Rhodes for about £10 Million. He went on to score 14 goals in 19 games although that’s a bit misleading as 5 were penalties. He got 7 assists though and I am looking forward to having a quality #9 in my team for the EPL.

I also signed Igor Akinfeev on a bosman, and Ryan Gauld on a big transfer for the end of the season. So both of them will be joining up with me for the new season.

Goalkeeper wise it will be interesting. Reina was injured and missed the last 3 months of the season. I recalled Mignolet from loan who did a solid enough job. Honestly Reina has been a bit of a liability anyway with some really bad kicking. I’ll most likely push Akinfeev as #1 and keep Mignolet as a backup(although let him go on loan).

During the transfer window I sold Ossuama Assaidi for £6.5m(we don’t use wingers enough and I had better inside forwards), Fabio Borini for £6m(He just never impressed me), and Iago Aspas for £6m. He went to Southampton where he played 10 games and did fuckall.

Quick analysis of positions based on the season:

Goalkeepers:

As mentioned above – Reina/Mignolet both did solid if unspectacular. Reina will probably be gone and Akinfeev #1 for sure.

Full Backs:

I’ve been blessed in this position, with Enrique, Johnson, Flanagan and Robinson. Flanagan was the start in that position with 13 games and 6 sub abbs, 4 assists and 2 mans of the match. No need to strengthen here at all.

Centre Backs:

Again, blessed. Obviously, Skrtel and Agger. However I also rotated with Kelly, Sakho and Toure and they all were great. Kelly and Sakho in particular. I may look at selling Toure and getting a young defender in but it’s not a big concern. I also have the 2 guys at Leeds coming back who were the sole reason they got promoted, not Homers shitty tactics.

Central Midfield:

I rotated my 4 midfielders often and the average ratings speak for themselves: Lucas 7.04, Allen 7.03, Henderson 7.03, Gerrard 7.01. Not much between them at all and I was happy with how they played.

Next season in the EPL I plan on 3 CMs. Based on that, I will be purchasing at least one central midfielder. That’s my #1 spot to get some cover. I may even get 2 if I have money left over.

Attacking Midfielders:

Next season I plan on playing with 1-2 AMs with them switching between central and on the flanks.

My initial plan was Suarez in AMC with Sturridge/Rhodes up front however Coutinho had a top second half of the season. It foced me to change things up and have Suarez up front and Coutinho in AMC.

I was impressed with Suarez and Sturridge and Cutinho. Raheem Sterling played a lot in full back postions as well and he was a solid utility player. The only weakness was Luis Alberto who I gave many chances to and nothing. He’s only 21 so he can improve. I’m not going out of my way to sell him but if a team comes in for him I won’t be stopping them.

Strikers:

Rhodes came in and got 14 in 19. Suarez was all over the place position wise but got 20 in 34 and Sturridge got 14 in 31 even though he played on the flanks a lot. Happy with my strikers. 2 of my planned formations next year feature 1 striker, so another striker isn’t a priority. Just have to hope Luis Alberto gets rocking.

I may look for a proven goalscorer though – would be nice to get a good reliable striker to come off the bench.

Summary:

A solid season, and now the hard work really begins: the EPL. My board gave me £16m to spend and I can adjust the budget to get to £22m. I’m not sure their expectations for the season but I am hoping it’s simply avoid relegation or as low as a mid-table finish,as I’d like a pressure-free season tbh.

Transfer wise, I figure one quality midfielder and a decent striker for sure.

Hmmm….what’s this?