FM Blog Update #5: A Returning Star

Well, it was a busy busy Summer. It’s now Saturday August 16th and I am about to take on WBA on my first game of the season. Let’s look back, shall we?

Daniel Agger was surprisingly voted Player of the Year. Always nice when a defender gets it. Hilariously despite his awesome performances, Coutinho didn’t even get in the Best 11 having to settle for a spot in the bench.

I was given the following season expectations:

– Europa League Qualification: £15.5m Transfer, £1.7m Wage.
– Champions League Qualification: £20m Transfer, £1.9 Wage.
– Title Challenge: £22m Transfer, £2m Wage.

We were spending £1.99m on wages as it is. I ended up going with UEFA Europa League which I believe should be possible.

Transfers:

First let’s cover Taff & HRHomers transfers so far during the transfer window:

Blackburn (Taff): Notable signings were Marvin Sordell, Todd Kane, Dale Stephens, Craig Eastmond, Aaron Cresswell, James Vaughan, Patrick van Aanholt and Filip Kiss. Spent £18.35m in total. Also sold Joshua King for £1.45m.

Also even though I was planning on keeping Suso in my team, Blackburn approached me and I had no choice but to let him go on loan.

Leeds (HRHomer): Notable signings were Emile Heskey, Medo, Liam Moore, Gary MacKenzie, Fraser Fyvie and Johan Elmander. Just £4.68m spent.

Both teams are predicted to get relegated BTW.

And now, onto mine.

As I mentioned in the title – there was a returning star.

Yes, Peter Crouch joined us along with youngster Ryan Gauld, and midfielder Valon Behrami. Here is Behrami’s stats:

As you can see he is an absolute beast and I expect him to break quite a few legs during the season.

That was it for me. A quiet transfer window.

Oh yeah one other player…

No big deal.

Then there was transfers out. I had a decision to make that I needed to sleep on:

At the end of the day I just couldn’t do it. If anything it will push me to get into the Champions League so I can afford to renew his contract, and match his ambitions.

Contracts:

Only 2 first team players had their contracts up at the end of the season. Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson. I ended up resigning both. Henderson for a 6k wage increase, Gerrard for a 30k wage decrease. Next season is nerve-wracking though because Agger, Skrtel, Rhodes and Suarez all have their contracts coming up. That’s my defenders AND strike force wiped out in one go.

I’ll have to sit down with them soon.

World Cup:

Argentina won the World Cup. Messi won Golden Ball. England lost to Costa Rica and didn’t get out of the group stages lol. Brazil, Germany & Spain sacked their managers.

Tactics:

Ah, the big one.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading about tactics and understanding more about them. For example with your first tactic – it’s probably best if you go WITHOUT team instructions to begin with, and then adjust accordingly either for the long-term, or the short term for that match. Same with player instructions.

For example – if you find your team is losing possession a lot AND it is costing you then you want to look at choosing retaining possession. But you don’t want to start with that – rather add it to improve your team. If your wingbacks are running out wide and making shite crosses over and over again THEN you might want to get them to cut inside more. Or if they are doing decent out wide get them to run even further out wide etc.

So based on that, I’ve came up with a strategy. 3 similar tactics that I will use until January 1st. I shall improve all 3 slowly and rotate them all as much as I can. Then come January 1st, I’ll look at possibly ditching one and getting a more defensive or attacking tactic implemented, depending on what we need.

So the three tactics, with the initial player roles and ideal first team in each:

Any changes will be small. For example in the above tactic(Behrami should be support btw not sure why it changes him to D) I will analyze every player. If I see Gerrard getting forward, taking a lot of shit shots and not passing or creating as much he’ll be dropped to support role. Suarez if I find he is not attacking enough maybe put him on AP Attack etc. But until Christmas, I plan on the 3 formations staying exactly the same shape wise.

Okay that’s it – off to kick off my season.