Football Manager

[Fappin Raptor]

Set up a link with ManU. Hopefully some of their players want to play for us.

[Lanteri]

Been rolling with Swansea in the Championship using a 4-5-1 disruptive anti-football type tactic. Relying on direct counter attacks for our offense. Swansea's been a solid fit as the tactic really relies on pacy forwards as the tactic is built around winning possession and hoofing it up the pitch to pacy forwards (Dyer with 19 acc/18 pace, Sinclair with 16 acc/18 pace, and Cotterill with 16 acc/15 pace).

Heading into the January window, we've played 26 matches, and are on top of the table by 6 points, with 58 points in the 26 matches, 17 wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses. We're unbeaten at home with 11 wins and 3 draws, with a 35-7 spread in goals. Away from home we've got 6 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses with a 20-10 spread in goals. Pretty happy with having only conceded 17 goals in 26 matches.

Nathan Dyer is thriving thanks to his pace with 11 goals and 6 assists (7.47 rating) thus far. David Cotterill is not far behind with 6 goals and 14 assists (7.37 rating). And finally Scott Sinclair has 8 goals and 7 assists (7.11 rating).

It'll be interesting to see if we can maintain our good form in the second half of the season, and what we can do if we manage to gain promotion. We have good pace in Dyer, Sinclair, and Cotterill, especially at the Championship level, however, I doubt the trio can have anywhere near as much success in the Premiership as their only talents really are pace at this point. We'll cross that bridge once we get it to however.

[Lanteri]

I feel like at some point I said I would 'chise it next time I do a save.

Oops.

[Lanteri]

Well, we did it. Swans win the Championship and are promoted to the Premiership.

I was a little surprised to see QPR get relegated, but such is football.

[Lanteri]

Went pretty Welsh heavy with my signings with the promotion.

In:

GK - Wayne Hennessey from Wolves for £8.75m
ST - James Vaughan from Everton for £4m
FB - Neal Eardley from Blackpool for £1.3m
CB - Steven Caulker on loan from Tottenham
FB - Sam Ricketts from Bolton for £3.2m
CB - Leonardo Rinaudo from Napoli for £725k
CM - David Vaughan from Blackpool for £6.5m
DM - Herold Goulon on loan from Blackburn
AM - Simone Verdi on loan from A.C. Milan

Going to continue with the 4-5-1 tactic.

Starting XI on opening should be:

GK: Wayne Hennessey
LB: Sam Ricketts
CB: Leonardo Rinaudo
CB: Ashley Williams
RB: Neal Eardley
DM: Herold Goulon
CM: Darren Pratley
CM: David Vaughan
AML: Scott Sinclair
AMR: Nathan Dyer
ST: James Vaughan

[calgaryballer]

STarted a fun game with Arsenal. Told Mr Peter Hill Wood that I need Manuel Neuer. He went out and paid £34 million for him! Holy shit. Oh well. Also signed Jack Rodwell.

I think Arsenal's problems just got solved

[Lanteri]

Added Michael Owen to the squad via free transfer as well to get some striker depth, and Shane Lowry on loan from Villa for depth as well.

First 3 games didn't go so well, with a 1-0 loss to Newcastle, 2-0 to Bolton, and 6-0 to Man U.

Got our shit together in the 4th game of the year with a 2-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

[Lanteri]

Lost Darren Pratley to damaged cruciate ligaments for the entire season (8 to 10 months) thanks to a collision in training with Alan Tate. I guess Tate wanted more playing time.

Sucks cause Pratley was one of my highest rated players thus far 14 games in with a 6.96 rating, second highest to Sinclair's 7.06. Going to be looking to either Jazz Richards or Joe Allen to step up in his wake.

We've played a little bit better lately, with 1 win, 3 draws, and 1 loss in our last 5. That being said, we still only have 14 points from 14 games, and are only 5 points clear of the relegation zone. We're serviceable at home with 9 points from 7 matches, and a 9-7 G.D. However, away from home we have just 5 points and a 9-19 G.D.

The other negative is that we won't be able to improve the team via transfer in January as we have no funds, so what we have now is going to have to keep us up. Should be interesting.

[Lanteri]

At the halfway point of the season, 19 games played, we're sitting in 14th in the table with 5 wins, 7 draws, and 7 losses. We're pretty well clear of the relegation zone with an 11 point cushion on Stoke. Stoke has 11 points, Fulham has 10, and Portsmouth has just 3, all draws. We're still getting thrashed away from Liberty Stadium, having conceded 12 in our last 4 away games. However, we did manage a 2-2 draw @ Man City, and a 3-3 draw @ Liverpool, so I've got to be happy with that.

Also on the positive side of things, Eardley returns next match after missing the previous 8 matches with an injury, Owen returns as well after missing the last 3. We'll still be without James Vaughan for another 2-4 weeks with a fractured wrist. He has missed the last 4 games, well 5 considering he played all of 2 minutes in the match that he sustained the wrist fracture in. Luke Moore (*vomits*) has been our striker the last 4 matches.

The rest of December, and January, is our best opportunity to make a run up the table, as we're matched up with Newcastle, Bolton, Fulham, and Portsmouth. The latter two being in the relegation zone, and the former just clear of it. We also have two home matches with Man U and Arsenal. Fortunately, this is our 2nd meeting with both teams and we won't have to see them again. I hope to come out of January with at least 10 points added to our total of those 6 matches.

Back on the negative side of things, our 34 goals conceded are 4th worst in the Premiership. Though, I suspect with a back four of Neil Taylor-Steven Caulker-Leandro Rinaudo-Sam Ricketts, that's to be expected. Williams returned from a lengthy injury last match, and as I said Eardley is returning as well, so hopefully that can help solve some of the leaky defense issues. Taylor has to be the biggest culprit as he really has no business starting on a Premiership side.

[Lanteri]

Atletico Madrid approached me in late January with a 5 year/1.4m p/a contract offer.

Pretty tempting since we completely blew our "easy" stretch, collecting just 3 points.

Probably going to turn it down though.

[Lanteri]

Wasn't pretty, but we escaped relegation, despite a 13 match winless streak in the run out. Portsmouth did not win a single game, that made me lol.



Michael Owen was my leading goal scorer with 7, Vaughan had 6, Sinclair and Cotterrill had 4 each.

I added Simon Church from Reading and Jack Collison from West Ham in the January window as well.

So, for 2012/2013, my main focus is going to be my back four, specifically my centre backs, who are all just absolutely dreadful. I should be good in central midfield with Collison and David Vaughan for now, and James Vaughan/Simon Church are useful enough up front. I do need to upgrade on both wings. Sinclair is useful enough as a rotation player, or a Championship-level player, but he's certainly not a Premiership-quality winger just yet.

[Fappin Raptor]

I've never done an Italian team before so I said fuck it and started one up with AC Milan. Lot of older guys on the squad. Anyways here's what I've done so far. All the players I brought in I paid nothing up front. The Akinfeev deal may be a little much but I wanted a younger goalie who can play right away and improve.




The team I would like to have playing barring any injuries.

[Fappin Raptor]

Holy shit. I didn't realize Milan had that much money to spend. When I've messed around in Italy before we didn't get anything at all to spend when I selected Milan.

They didn't, I think I had maybe 5-10 million plus what I received from sending out players. It's all backloaded and spread out over 48 months.

[Lanteri]

Staying up, obviously, was huge. I was given £32.5m for an avoid relegation season expectation. Still not much in the way of wage budget, but it's all good.

Made a solid number of signings.

In

CB - Craig Cathcart for £4.6 from Blackpool
CB - Bruno Ecuele Manga for £9.5m from Ajax
ST - Kevin Doyle for £5m from Wolves
AMR/L - Juanfran for £8.5 from PSG
AMR - Shaun Wright-Phillips on a free transfer.
FB - Kyle Naughton for £1.9 from Tottenham
CB - Dedryck Boyata in on loan from Man City
FB - Joan Capdevila on a free transfer.
ML - Stephen Hunt for £775k from Wolves
CB - Wes Brown on a free transfer.

Out:

Ashley Williams to Watford for £2.5m
Michael Owen to Bolton for £500k
Nathan Dyer to Bolton for £2.2m
Joe Allen to Stoke for £1.8m
Leandro Rinaudo to Atalanta for £100k
Luke Moore to Sheffield Wednesday for £500k

Here's how the CBs look now that we're in 2012/2013 so you have an idea of their quality.



Going with a starting XI of:

GK - Hennessey
LB - Capdevila
CB - Cathcart
CB - Manga
RB - Wes Brown
LM - Stephen Hunt
CM - David Vaughan
CM - Jack Collison
RM - Shaun Wright-Phillips
ST - Kevin Doyle
ST - Simon Church

Subs: Emilian Dolha, Juanfran, Darren Pratley, Sam Ricketts, Dedryck Boyata, James Vaughan, Scott Sinclair
Unused/Reserves: Neal Eardley, Kyle Naughton, Jazz Richards, David Cotterrill, Alan Tate, Neil Taylor
Captains: David Vaughan and Jack Collison

[Lanteri]

I got sacked after an 8 match winless streak to start the season.

Without warning I might add.

Such horseshit. Got this pathetic side promoted, kept them up, and then shown the door. Awesome.