Hi there!
It’s me again and this time I bring you the first part of the business section of the football season. In between college work, sleeping, eating, the gym, and the various other things I do with my life I have actually managed to play some FM lately so please, sit back, relax, maybe grab a drink or something to eat and let me take you on the wonderful rollercoaster that is Newcastle United Football Club!
So, my babbling aside we entered August after an unbeaten (although relatively easy) pre-season and confidence was high, so you can imagine my delight at discovering we had probably the easiest opening 3 games I could have hoped for and here’s how they went…
August Results
Could only have been made easier if I had played Wigan rather than Blackburn really. Anyway we went into our first game of the season and destroyed Norwich mercilessly, and you may notice that the legend that is Demba Ba scored 4 goals on his debut! As well as Verratti and Obertan also netting debut goals, good start! So after that morale boosting (or soul crushing, if your a Norwich fan) result we moved onto Swansea and Blackburn and we quite frankly played some of the most boring football ever and came out with disappointing 1-0 wins each time.
As you all know I hate boring football and so tweeked my tactics but I’m not going to go into that this season because next season I’m going for a tactical overhaul since I couldn’t decide definitively which way or shape I wanted my team to play.
We moved into September with our new tactic, would it work?
September Results
Okay, we were crushed by Tottenham, but it was more a case of them taking their chances and us not doing the same. We played much better against Aston Villa and then we also won a nervy game against Everton in a surprise early season top of the table clash. Despite the loss to Spurs I think this was a good month for Demba Ba (I mean Newcastle) United Football Club! ;)
October Results
Our second difficult month in a row, on paper anyway. Stoke, Chelsea, and Man Utd had me worried but in the end my team played brilliantly.
Stoke pretty much controlled possession in this match which is worrying at home but we gave a defensive master class and dealt with everything with a Yohan Cabaye pile driver settling the game.
Not much to say about the Bolton game, they were rubbish and lost, but as for Chelsea we were great! They went 1-0 up early on through a John Terry header but Jonas equalised not long after. Things were going well until Chelsea were awarded a penalty through a Jordan Mutch foul. Frank Lampard stepped up and smashed the post, and from the resulting break away Demba Ba slotted home in the 43rd minute, brilliant! The game was done when on 81 minutes Jonas scored a magnificent curling shot past Hilario.
Next however was Manchester United, they’re not loved up in Newcastle so I always like to get a result, or at least a good performance and I got the latter. We played amazingly but Ferdinand, Vidic, and De Gea were unstoppable so despite having more possession and shots we lost a close game 1-0.
So, 10 played, 8 won, and 2 lost. Not bad, much better than I had ever dreamed our season would begin. Now all that was left was to see where that left us in the table…
Our great start has given us a more than great place in the table! Arsenal and Man Utd are right behind us but still! We’re top! Woohoo! Fulham, Wigan, and Swansea have enjoyed good starts too but Man City and Chelsea are having stinkers and both Mancini and Di Matteo are in danger of the axe already.
Now if you’ve been reading the scores in the above screenshots you’ll notice one name comes up quite often, Demba Ba and that is because he’s been amazing!
As you can see, he has the second highest rating thanks to Salomon Kalou playing 1 game and playing really well, so really it’s a false 8.00 that he has. Ba is more deserving…
He has also scored the most goals (unsurprisingly) in the league with Drogba trailing 4 behind…
And because of his consistently brilliant performances boasts 5 man of the match awards already. I don’t really care about them it’s just a good measure of how well a player is doing…
And here’s the man himself…
Anyone who read my last Newcastle story on FMCrowd will remember Milevskyi and Demba Ba is almost exactly like him, only with more pace which can only be a good thing.
Before I forget and continue to talk about Demba Ba forever, we also had a League Cup to compete in, but it didn’t go quite as smoothly as I wanted it too.
League Cup — Up to 4th Round
Always a competition for rotation I still like to play some first team regulars too. The 1-0 win against Crystal Palace was part of our boring football streak and a game in which Cisse scored 1 of his 2 goals so far in.
The Hull game was annoying, I ended up with nearly a full strength team on near the end and we needed a Haris Vuckic header in the 83rd minute to go to extra time. We then needed an excruciatingly long penalty shoot-out to clinch the win…
None of this mattered though since we drew Fulham in the next round and although both teams fielded weakened sides, the moment Fulham were awarded a penalty it was game over. We never looked like winning, it just wrangles a bit that had we won I would have completed that season objective.
I know what you’re thinking, ‘never looked like winning?’ but believe me the shots on target weren’t great and neither was our general play. Plus Jordan Mutch gave away a penalty and then got crocked for 2 months which hopefully won’t affect his development too much.
Anyway, during the first 3 months of the season my other players did manage to get some ratings too believe it or not. In fact some of them have been quite good.
Rather than write another long paragraph explaining everything I’ll just let you come to your own conclusions. What I will say is that those in a red box have been disappointing, yellow is a player that has surprised me this season, and green is for players who have done exceptionally well so far.
Before I finish up I’ve got one more thing to show you guys. You all know that Fierro is already a future transfer for NUFC? Well I’ve arranged another one…
Adryan — Advanced Playmaker
He doesn’t look like much until you see his potential. Not sure if he’s on the Scouting Network, I’ll check after this, I’d love to see how good he actually gets!
Well that’s all for now! My next post will probably be sometime in the next week and will include all the goings on of NUFC during November and December so until then I leave you with this thought…
:D Enough said!
Thanks for reading!
vaibhavc
21 апреля, 2012 at 11:07
Demba Ba! He is playing absolutely fantastic for you at the moment. You are doing well, first place! Keep it up Dan!
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 19:50
Hey vaibhavc,
Ba is doing amazing but now I’m terrified of him getting injured! My other players really need to start chipping in with some more goals.
Tom Barnes
21 апреля, 2012 at 11:34
It’s looking good Dan!
Looking good in the league, bit unfortunate about the League cup, but that can only mean you can concentrate on the league and aiming for a top 4 finish and European football next year :)
I bought Adryan for my Nottingham Forest team and he’s brilliant! Well worth it if you ask me.
Hope you manage to keep hold of Demba Ba, you might get a few big teams looking at him now.
Good luck with the rest of the season!
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 19:53
Thanks Tom,
I don’t really care for the League Cup anyway, finishing in the top 4 would be a much better achievement (unless you ask Kenny Dalglish who seems to see things different to the rest of us). :)
It’s good to know that Adryan is good when he develops, hopefully he’ll grow as well for me as he did for you and as for Demba Ba, any team that wants him will have to stump up BIG money to get him!
TheZiggy
21 апреля, 2012 at 11:41
Great way to start the season. Getting 3 easy matches to start with is always a bonus, but I’m sure somewhere there’s going to be real stinker of a month. I keep finding December gives me a crazy run of fixtures. In two Premier League seasons I’ve had a run of 4 and then 5 matches in a row against the top teams over Christmas. Never a good sight.
It’s funny, I looked at Adryan and was thinking that he looked okay, but then I looked at his age and the potential the scout reckons. He should have good future ahead of him looking at his ability at just 17.
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 19:57
Hey Ziggy,
My bad month normally comes in January or February. I’m not getting too ahead of myself and am still aiming for 7th or above. If I’m still in the mix come March then I’ll start believing.
I thought exactly the same thing when my scout reported on Adryan. I thought «why are you showing me this crap?» and then I looked at his report and my face went from :( to :o
saltwater
21 апреля, 2012 at 12:54
Really impressive start Dan, and the form of Demba Ba is incredible. If you can stay in the thick during the Christmas period than I think you could go on and win it. The toon army can only get better, with you bringing in promising youth (I strongly recommend you to check out Yuri Mamute). It’s a shame Papiss Cisse hasn’t come along as well as his counterpart, but with the form of the others, he’s not needed yet.
Good luck and well done. :)
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 19:58
Hey saltwater,
Ba has been brilliant but maybe the game will be realistic in the fact he will be amazing before Christmas and then Cisse will become amazing in January? Probably not but I can dream! :)
I’ll check out Yuri Mamute too and try to add him to my growing list of young talent.
Johnny Karp
21 апреля, 2012 at 13:03
Not bad at all so far, quite the contrary I might say. 8 wins out of 10 is a great track record so far and if Demba Ba will keep bagging them I think you might push for a top 4 finish. Best of luck!
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:00
Thanks Johnny,
Top 4 would be brilliant but I’m not getting ahead of myself since I don’t want to get disillusioned if I fall short of a Champions League place, Europa League would be good too but 7th place would do me just fine for this season.
Laxeyman
21 апреля, 2012 at 13:04
Great start Dan! Demba Ba is absolutely on fire, if he keeps going then you’ll be right in the title race! Hopefully Cisse can start scoring as well, then you’d be unstoppable :) Good luck!
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:21
Hey Laxeyman,
Cisse is the most frustrating player ever! He gets into good positions constantly and just blazes the ball wide. I even tried to talk to him about it and he agreed he’d been poor but since this post he’s still only scored 1 more goal. It leaves me in a difficult spot.
Darren Smith
21 апреля, 2012 at 14:53
Hey Dan, fantastic effort there mate and to see Ba going so strong is awesome…SI seem to like him for sure. I think you can emulate our RL success at least and maybe even hit the top four with the way things are going.
As for Adryan, I haven’t scouted him, tried but all the future screenshots are poor, that is down to the CPU’s bad management though.
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:03
Hey Darren,
Although Champions League would be amazing I’ll admit that I’m a little afraid to go straight into it (and that goes for real life too)! There are a lot of huge teams in there and I don’t trust Ashley to give me the cash to compete…
I’ve heard both sides of the story about Adryan, some say he gets brilliant, others say he doesn’t develop very well so I guess it’s down to my management skills. :)
P.S. How good a result was that today! 3-0 vs Stoke, amazing! I think Cabaye might be my favourite player. :)
Malhar Bhadbhade
21 апреля, 2012 at 15:28
wow fantastic that you’re in first place! you most definitely seem to have a chance of finishing in the top 4. good work! cheers!
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:05
Thanks Malhar,
I’m feeling a bit of a pessimist amongst everyone saying about the top 4, maybe I should change my personal aims! :)
Sean Curzon
21 апреля, 2012 at 16:05
Are you sure Kalou only played 1 game because he’s got 7 goals ?
Otherwise great start to the seasoon and Demba Ba’s in great form
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:19
Hey Sean,
I’ve just read through his stats, he’s played 7 league games but directly beneath that he has 1 Cup game, I must have looked at the number of appearances in the Cup so it’s a bit of a ‘duh’ moment for me :)
Demba Ba is great though, long may he continue to score goals.
Kevin
21 апреля, 2012 at 18:47
Hi Dan
Great start to the season for you and Demba Ba is just magificent and is just pure quality. I like the look of your new Brazilian youngster too :)
Dan
21 апреля, 2012 at 20:08
Thanks Kevin,
Hopefully Adryan will live up to expectations and Demba Ba will continue to be a total beast! :)
Sears
21 апреля, 2012 at 21:23
Awesome beginning to the season, securing some impressive victorious such as the 3-1 away win at Chelsea. Ba is a quality players, but whats happened to Cissé? :P
Dan
22 апреля, 2012 at 12:49
Hey Sears,
Cisse is terrible he just blasts wide pretty much every time but the 2 goals he has were important ones that turned out to be winners so I guess that’s a really really small plus.
Aaron Rogan
21 апреля, 2012 at 21:55
Well done Dan! By the way, what skin are you using? I like the font.
Dan
22 апреля, 2012 at 12:51
Hey Aaron,
I’m using the Alavanja 12 Pro Skin from FMBase here’s the link if your interested:
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=6414
Thomas Pimenta
21 апреля, 2012 at 22:26
Adryan is really good. I got him and Fierro for my sporting and even though he’s still young with me he gets very solid performances in. Good signing.
Dan
22 апреля, 2012 at 12:53
Hey Thomas,
Good to know he plays well for you but I’ve heard 2 different sides to this story, some people say he gets good, others say he’s not worth buying so I guess it’s up to me to make him a success.
Tegar Triemanudigdo
22 апреля, 2012 at 09:39
Fantastic work there! Oh yeah, Demba Ba is the man! Just wondering how will you cope since he’s going to participate in African Cup? (Assuming this is the first season if I was right here). Anyway, keep up the good work.
Dan
22 апреля, 2012 at 13:00
Hey Tegar,
I may have forgotten about the African Cup of Nations :p so that could become a bit of an issue. Who knows, maybe Leon Best and Lovenkrands will become amazing strikers in his absence?
celticman
22 апреля, 2012 at 10:02
A fantastic start to the season, well done! The league looks good and I wouldn’t be too worried about the League Cup this season. Focus on the league and that will allow you to build upon a very good base for the future.
Now just one question — what happens if Ba gets injured? He is fantastic but is also scoring the vast majority of goals.
When does Fierro come in?
Dan
22 апреля, 2012 at 13:07
Hey Celticman,
I wasn’t too fussed about the League Cup since my league aspirations are much more important. Besides, if I was going to go on a cup run I’d much rather do it in the FA Cup.
Injury for Ba isn’t my concern anymore since I’ve just been reminded about a certain African Cup of Nations! Now I’m guaranteed to lose him and Cisse so Best and Lovenkrands need to step up to the plate.
Fierro comes in at the end of the season, June or something like that.
CsAtlantis
23 апреля, 2012 at 04:13
Hello Dan Demba Ba is absolutely smashing everything in his path, I am a bit worried with his low natural fitness but as long as you give him a rest from time to time he should be okay, what is Papiss Cisse doing though? He’s nowhere near his real life performances
Anyway nice to see you at the top of the league
Dan
23 апреля, 2012 at 13:56
Thanks CsAtlantis,
Cisse is quite plainly awful but I’m willing to give him at least until January next season to prove he can do something. As for my league position I’m top at the moment but the teams around me have so much more quality in depth compared with my squad so staying there might be almost impossible in my first season.
Ana Garcia
26 апреля, 2012 at 20:07
Late post apologies. :)
Your doing so well with Newcastle your team has a good eye for goal and your defense is doing really well also.
Demba Ba (I love his name!) seems to be a very clinical striker that you need so hopefully he can keep his current form up for you this season.
Best of luck!!
Dan
26 апреля, 2012 at 20:11
Thanks Ana,
I’ve just sent my next post off for review today so you’ll have to keep an eye out and make sure you’re not late again! ;)
Ba has been great I just wish I didn’t have to rely on him so much, it would be nice to have more than one player reach double figures for goals.
Bill
5 мая, 2012 at 01:45
Nice season mate.Demba Ba is a beast
wazz123
24 июня, 2012 at 16:24
Hi Dan! Can you post a picture of your teams tactics?
Andric
2 августа, 2012 at 16:32
Work permit cancelled. FMLLLLLL I can’t buy Adryan = =