Darren: FM 2011 Newcastle fall at the final hurdle, Jan-May 2020/21

Hey guys and welcome back to my FM 2011 Newcastle story. During the last post I was shocked to see Newcastle win every single game from August until the end of December. This left us top of the league, through to the League Cup semi-final and also through to the Champions League 1st Knockout round. Not to mention our Euro Super Cup and Club World Championship triumphs, the season was certainly shaping up well but could we maintain this outrageous form? Today I will reveal the end of our EPL season and explain what happened to our winning streak.

Premier League results — January to Febuary

OK, so we entered January in awesome form and I was full of confidence. My boys kept going through the winter months starting with four fantastic results. We beat Bristol City 3-1, Wolves 3-0, Portsmouth 7-0 and Birmingham 5-1, all easy fixtures but Santos made these EPL sides look like amateurs. Our goal scoring dried up a little against Wigan and Tottenham despite victory, but was renewed as the Toon travelled to Anfield. Liverpool were thrashed 4-0 followed by the 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa.

Premier League results — March to May

If you thought we finished February well, just wait for March. We started the month off away to Man City and won 3-0, followed by a 4-0 victory over QPR. Next up Stoke and a fortunate 1-0 win before we beat Arsenal 4-1 and Nottm Forest 3-1. Then the last of our great form came against West Ham with a 4-0 thrashing before it all started to slide. This all began with a substandard performance which was embellished by a 2-0 scoreline against Everton. Birmingham almost derailed us but for three late goals to complete a 3-1 victory, then disaster happened…Manchester United outplayed the Toon during our last match and held us to a 0-0 draw. Noooo, I was so close to winning every single EPL match in one season, Man Utd have come back to haunt me yet again!

Premier League table

OK, I am been a drama queen…I mean come on, we finished the season unbeaten and just two points away from a perfect record. Guess you don’t get many chances to complete such a feat and I was gutted to fall during the final match. :( The main positive for me is conceding just 10 goals all season and scoring an average of 3 per game.

FA Cup results

If my league form is anything to go by these results should be rather predictable. We started the third round with a 2-0 victory over Leeds at Elland Road. The fourth round was also played away and featured another second string XI, we went 2-0 down during the first half but pulled four back to beat Carlisle 4-2. It all seemed much simpler away to Stoke in the fifth round, Adams scored a brace as we won 3-0. As the sixth round draw was announced, I felt aggrieved to see my fourth away draw in a row! The bad feeling was soon forgotten though as a strong starting XI won 5-1 at Saint Andrews. Onto the semi-final and my last big scoring match, Nottm Forest were brushed aside 4-0 thanks to another show from Adams. The final will pit Newcastle against West Ham, but you’ll have to wit until next time for that result.

Champions League results

After qualifying from a good group with maximum points, the first knockout round drew me against Benfica. The Portuguese side had no chance and lost 2-1 at home, then 5-1 at Saint James Park. The latter saw a stunning performance from Marcelo Santos who propelled us into a quarter-final draw against Lyon. The first leg was played in France and after checking Lyon’s team I felt an upset was possible, how wrong I was though. Marcelo Santos shined brighter than the sun grabbing a brace as we won 3-1. The second leg was a formality but wasn’t easy after Lyon took the lead early on, thankfully we weren’t shown up at Saint James Park and finished the match 2-1.

Now it was time for the semi-final draw and I wanted to avoid Manchester United who have a habit of screwing me over when it really counts. So guess who I drew…that’s right, Manchester United! :( The sad face turned into the hair-dryer treatment during our first leg. This was at home and a match I desperately needed to win, after taking the lead through Santos the red devils clawed one back and held out for an away draw. I was gutted and almost resigned to an early exit with memories of our last clash during 2018. However, my lads didn’t hold the same attitude and completely embarrassed the Manchester side at Old Trafford. Dardouri, Kalu and Santos scored before Saint-Louis unleashed an amazing strike (click here to watch the goal.) to make it 4-0!! Through to the final where Palermo await, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for my next post to see that one. :)

League Cup results

After progressing through the early rounds, I drew fierce rivals Manchester United in the semi-final. Newcastle dominated the first leg at Old Trafford and despite many chances could only convert one for a 1-1 draw. The second leg was a similar story but we squeezed through 2-1 thanks to Anconetani, West Ham are to be my opponents and I will be revealing the final result just below.

League Cup final vs West Ham

Venue: Wembley

Attendance: 90,000

This final has become very repetitive in recent years and I didn’t want to overdo the full match videos. So this years League Cup final will just feature the match highlights, although I Marjory regret that decision as the match was a corker. West Ham are still developing some great youngsters and this was evident in their squad, but I still felt overly confident. Below are the pre-match formations followed by the match highlights.

Pre-match formations:

Match highlights:

Like I said, this match was well worth a full match video and probably my most evenly contested final for years despite coming against one of the easiest opponents. When West Ham took the lead I was shocked, but then expected an easy victory after Anconetani  pulled us level. But it was West Ham who provided the next goal before we pulled level late on. A very scrappy goal gifted us victory and the League Cup, but I was delighted with the sides fighting spirit.

Match stats:

The most pleasing aspect of this final was a very important half-time team talk. I told the lads I was disappointed as they looked lacklustre and unfocussed. According to my right back, Garcia, this team talk did the trick and led to our eventual triumph.

I’m sure you’re wondering if the Toon Army have gone 200 games unbeaten yet. Well I can tell you we have, Newcastle have now gone 203 games without defeat…a record that means I have not been beaten for more than 3 years. :)

Squad stats and finances

After the most brilliant season that isn’t even over, its time to look at the squad stats. Santos seems to have filled the void left by Sanogo’s departure scoring 36 goals and assisting 13. But my best player by far was Anconetani who scored 25 goals and assisted 32, I was also pleased to see Adams helping Santos with 23 goals also.

So we maintained our form bar one or two slips but how did we do financially? At the end of December Newcastle held £329 million, a great sum but what did it look like after winning the EPL title in May? Remember this is before the two final’s that are due and therefore will be missing any European revenue, but Newcastle’s latest bank balance reads £337 million.

Well that about does it for today, I hope you enjoyed the read and will be back for the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Both matches will be recorded and presented as full match videos. Until then please feel free to comment and I look forward to your questions.

P.S Just a quick note to Jay, this post is longer than the next one so I’ll include those past winner screenshots you requested next time, apologies mate.