FA Cup final — Brighton vs Chelsea
Venue: Wembley, London
Attendance: 90,000
Team formations:
Brighton won their first FA Cup last season and find themselves with the opportunity to double up just a year later. I decided to go for it and field my strongest XI. Chelsea seemed to have the same idea opting for the likes of Fernando Torres, Terry, Luiz, Hamsik and Pjanic. We certainly had a match on our hands but to see the goals and what happened watch my match highlights below. Brighton are in the blue kit and Chelsea are in black.
Match highlights: Click here to watch FA Cup final match highlights
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Match stats:
While the scoreline may not look overly one sided I think the match stats show a clearer picture. Brighton held 57% possession and had 15 shots to Chelsea’s 8. The end result seemed fair though as Chelsea defended quite well . All in all the perfect day out and a great way to warm up for my Champions League final.
Champions League final — Barcelona vs Brighton
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona!!!
Attendance: 98,000
Team formations:
Let me start by saying Barcelona have the home advantage!!! Now I didn’t see that coming and it completely threw me off guard. Then I looked at the team sheet and started to feel a little pale. Barcelona’s defence looks solid, then they have the creativity of Iniesta, Paulo Henrique, Messi and David Villa. Not to mention I am missing Alan Patrick, Jack Wilshere and Charlie Adam. I won’t go into any detail and instead will just let you watch the match highlights by clicking below. Brighton are wearing blue while Barcelona are in their traditional home kit.
Match highlights: Click here to watch the Champions League match highlights
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Match stats:
Brighton may have lost but our performance was a pleasant surprise. We took the lead early on and looked rather threatening in parts. In fact we fired off almost double the amount of shots to Barca and hit the target 4 more times. The big difference was Messi though, my inexperienced defence just couldn’t cope as the Argentine twisted his way through on more than three occasions.
Squad stats and finances
That was certainly a succesful season, despite the rocky start my boys proved their worth and a proactive January saw some much needed quality join the club. From my three new signings Wilshere looked dangerous with 6 goals and 3 assists from the right wing, while Neymar managed 7 goals and 5 assists upfront. Verkhovtsov may leave this summer due to age, but he was our best performer with 17 goals and 8 assists from set pieces. While my best two attacking threats were Charlie Adam assisting 27 and scoring 7 followed by Torres scoring 26.
Off the pitch things look pretty damn good also. After winning the domestic treble and making the Champions League final my board decided to make a decent investment and increase the stadiums capacity from 27,000 to 33,500.
The proposed extension will cost a fair chunk of cash but I am still left with £27.5 million in the bank. This is more than 10 times the amount I’ve ever had and I will be interested to see what the board offer in terms of a transfer budget come the summer.
Well that is all for Brighton, thank you for reading and following this story. I have decided to end the story there and my decision will make more sense within the next few days as I make an announcement. Until then please feel free to ask any questions below and I look forward to reading your comments as always.
malhar
4 октября, 2011 at 12:28
Hey Darren,
That was a rather sudden end to your story :( but what a fantastic season…in only 5 years, you won so much..and losing to Barca 2-1 at Camp Nou is a fantastic result in itself. I’m sure you would have been winning everything in next to no time. And looking forward to your announcement…hopefully it’s a positive one :) Though I cant imagine what you’re going to be doing for the next 20 days or so, till FM2012 comes out…anyway, congrats again, and cheers!
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:16
Yeah it was Malhar. I was way ahead in the game and therefore had this post written a while ago but decided to complete the story a few days ago hence the rather weird transition. It was a great save and I’ll be making the announcement very soon.
nielsneutron
4 октября, 2011 at 12:49
Man that was sudden, The second last section you talk about transfer budget and stadium expansion, and then it ends.
Great success with the club. Was Neymar really worth it though? Personally I would keep Verkhovtsov even though it is not in the spirit of the Y2G concept.
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:17
Yeah it was sudden but thats because I made a rather late decision to end the story. Neymar was well worth it because he was basically a straight swap for Bakambu and is one of the best players on FM 2012.
tom
4 октября, 2011 at 13:14
Good story!
Hope to read a FM12 story soon!
Your announcement…Are you testing the new game?
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:18
Thanks Tom, I’m making the announcement soon so you’ll find out imminently.
vaibhavc
4 октября, 2011 at 14:54
Hey Darren
I respect your decision. The announcement is that you are going to stop posting on this website, isn’t it? I just have to hope it isn’t. Congratulations on the titles, losing to Barca was unlucky, Messi was just too strong.
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:20
You’re jumping the gun a little there Vaibhav. I’m making the announcement soon and its a little detailed so you’ll need to read the whole thing.
Laxeyman
4 октября, 2011 at 16:21
Great season Darren, an amazing treble, well done! Unlucky in the CL Final, it seems as though you were the better side, but how do you contain a player like Messi? ;) Hopefully the announcement isn’t what I suspect it to be, but I’m intrigued to find out what it is now :)
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:21
Thanks Laxeyman, it was a great season and as you say Messi is unstoppable. The announcement is coming soon mate.
Sibo
4 октября, 2011 at 16:42
Well done Darren!
Sorry not to have commented in a while, you have been banging out the posts! This has been a fantastic story and I am so pleased you managed to win the domestic treble, it was really stunning!
Of course it was a shame to lose the CL final, but being in the Camp Nou with players like Messi, Pique etc. in their prime the odds were never on your side (no offence) despite the strength of the squad.
I’m looking forward to the announcement, provided it’s a positive one! ;-)
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:22
No problem Sibo, it has been a brill ride and another enjoyable save. We were up against it in the CL but I was happy with our effort.
George Dobson
4 октября, 2011 at 16:43
Well done Darren please dont leave the website if that is your announcment I hope it isnt
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:23
Thanks George and just wait for the announcement…there’s a few layers to it.
Dan
4 октября, 2011 at 16:57
I didn’t expect that, the story ending that is, I completely expected you to win loads of stuff! Well done and as for Barca, they’re Barca, you played better than them and to be honest that’s great in itself. :)
I always get nervous when someone says they have an announcement but I’m really hoping it’s a positive one…
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:24
Yeah it was a sudden end but I made the decision after writing the post. The announcement will be live very soon.
Nicholas Phipps
4 октября, 2011 at 17:16
Well that was a bit of an abrupt ending :(. Great results though and you and your team can be proud of what they achieved in an incredible 5 seasons. Dissapoinitng that you couldn’t continue for another season and win the Champions League but I am eagerly anticipating the ‘announcement’ (so long as it’s positive ;))
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:27
Yeah sorry Nick. Unfortunately I ended the story after writing the post and didn’t check the transition within the post. It was a fantastic save and hopefully I can continue to find these sorts of saves in FM12.
Johnny Karp
4 октября, 2011 at 17:28
Ah, you were sooo close to that quadruple… Nevertheless, it has been an awesome season so I congratulate you on the achievement.
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:28
Yeah and when we took the lead against Barca I thought we could do it. Damn Messi, he’s just soo good!! :)
Kevin
4 октября, 2011 at 17:47
Hi Darren
Hard luck in losing the CL final in what otherwise was a tremendous season. Youv’e really done an excellent job in building a «south coast stronghold!»
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:28
Thanks Kevin, we were unlucky to lose in the CL but I was delighted by the whole save.
Marc Vaughan
4 октября, 2011 at 18:18
Very cool — nice to see Brighton winning so much :D
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:29
Thanks Marc, its been an amazing save for me and a great one to finish FM11 with.
MRDNRA
4 октября, 2011 at 19:32
What?!?! Barca of all teams get a home game for the Champions League final? Well that’s obviously biased!!!!!
Well done on winning the league again, a good way to finish the story.
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 19:45
That was my reaction…very annoyed when I realised Barca had home advantage. :)
MDTM
4 октября, 2011 at 20:10
Hey Darren,
Fantastic end to the season! You were unlucky not win the CL, but Barcelona are a very good team and had the home advantage:( It has been another awesome save, bringing Brighton into the top flight and the European competitions in just a few years. You will be missed around the site and I hope you have success in whatever you pursue:)
Darren Smith
4 октября, 2011 at 21:09
Thanks mate.
Martin - F.M.J.S
4 октября, 2011 at 23:57
Hi Darren
Another great post. Very unlucky not to win the CL but what you have achieved in such a short period of time is an excellent achievement. Im sure that if you continued with your Brighton story you would have won many more trophy for the seagulls.
Darren Smith
5 октября, 2011 at 12:14
Thanks Martin, Brighton could have done a lot more but it was time to finish this story.
Martin
5 октября, 2011 at 09:09
Congrats on a brilliant season, shame it didnt end in champions league success but brilliant all the same. Shame the save has come to an end but its been a great one all the same.
Darren Smith
5 октября, 2011 at 11:58
Thanks Martin, this was one of my most enjoyable saves for sure.
Jay
10 октября, 2011 at 21:52
yo man, sorry i aint posted in a while, i stopped coming on the site when it just stopped loading all together but now its working :)
had to catch up on a few posts but all uptodate — cant really say anything that aint been said mate, ill give it a go though , great stuff on your sucess with Brighton and good luck for the two finals
Jay
Jay
10 октября, 2011 at 21:56
Just finished now so unlucky on the CL — always next year, if u can do it once you can always be back next season — but on a better not FA Cup win is not to shabby eh either? :D
Darren Smith
11 октября, 2011 at 18:19
Thanks mate, it was one hell of a season and the perfect way to end my Brighton story.
Jay
14 октября, 2011 at 15:45
so what you got planned now? heard some people saying your leaving the site? you cant be — your stories are the main thing to keep me on here haha :)
Darren Smith
14 октября, 2011 at 18:38
I am not leaving the site Jay. I’m just not writing my stories anymore because I am too addicted to the game and the stories stop me from playing as fast as I’d like, alongside the fact that I have no time for myself anymore. I’ll still be writing on the site every week or so and in charge of the scouting network so I’m going nowhere. :)
Jay
16 октября, 2011 at 18:27
ahh well end of the day its gota be u who enjoys the game first :) glad to here your not leaving mate
Darren Smith
16 октября, 2011 at 19:32
I guess you’re right mate, I already miss sharing my in game experience so can see myself returning in the future but certainly need an extended break at least.