Hey guys and welcome back to another update from the North East. Last time you read on as I enjoyed an active transfer window, following our great success of 2018/19 I wanted to build and secure the next generation of players. I also brought in one or two older players with the view to selling them for a nice profit. With so much movement and change at Saint James Park, how would the squad adjust and react? Well today we find out as I have all the results from August to December.
Euro Super Cup vs Arsenal
OK this may not be the very first game of our competitive season, but I feel its the best way to start the post. After thrashing Barcelona in Europe’s elite, I earned the right to challenge for the Euro. Super Cup and after Arsenal waltzed to the Europa League they will be my opponents. Arsenal played their best eleven, while I decided to experiment using new keeper Delac, my new winger Da Silva and also a few new central midfielders. Below are the match highlights, no full match I’m afraid as these are saved for special occasions. :)
Despite fielding a weaker than usual squad by boys did well. Anconetani and Santos were up to their usual tricks while new signing Da Silva looked dangerous from set pieces (and so he should we a 20 attribute!) The perfect start to my new campaign.
Premier League results — August to October 2019
With the fixture list looking cruel, I was determined to continue my unbeaten run (which is etching nearer 100 games by the way.) The new season opened at home to Manchester Utd, a repeat of our FA Cup triumph would have been nice but it wasn’t meant to be. Just two goals and a narrow 2-1 victory this time followed by a 2-0 win against Everton away from home. Then Hernandez shone at Stamford Bridge as we beat Chelsea 2-1, followed by a sound 2-0 victory at home to Spurs. September was capped off with an unlikely result though, Wolves diminished our lead twice to hold Newcastle 2-2.
Whether that was complacency of a super human effort from the Midlands side I’m not sure, but it was behind us quickly. Sanogo started to fight for his place and did so with three goals in three games. The first against West Ham as we won 2-1, the second during a 4-1 thrashing of Aston Villa and the third against Blackpool as we won 3-0, a great start to the season even if we are without the ruthlessness from last year.
Premier League results — November to December 2019
After a decent start, I needed to be wary of my squad rotation. While it was required to keep players fit, it can also hinder in form and morale. We started November with a trip to the Eastlands and a very exciting match against Man City which finished 5-3. After such a great result I was eager to maintain our form and fielded a similar XI against Liverpool, that match finished 6-0! My only issue though was a torn groin muscle that would keep RW, Ziegler out for 5 weeks. I only had Anconetani left for that role and had to risk him every match.
All seemed fine and dandy until my next problem, during a 3-0 victory over Bolton Anconetani was sent off and somehow suspended for four domestic matches. This left me with no right winger and having to risk Marcelo Santos every game on the wing as opposed to up front. The Spaniard went on to score four goals in four games from his new role as the toon beat QPR and Arsenal, before drawing to Portsmouth and then beating Bristol City. That was problem ‘A’ of many not to mention my left winger, Goetz, missing for three weeks leaving me with just one LW. The same happened at right back, and in my central midfield playmaker role. All these issues but we still kept the form up and finished the first half of the season unbeaten in the EPL.
Premier League table
Despite my poor run of injuries, the toon army held their nerve and showed strength in depth and versatility. We lead the EPL table by three points and hold two games in hand over Manchester City in second.
League Cup results
The one trophy that never eludes me and showed a kind hand in the draw. We opened up with a tough away tie to Spurs, but my weaker XI still thrashed the London club 4-1. Then Bristol City fought well at Saint James Park but our possession play came through 2-0. One step away from the semi-finals and Bolton stood in my way…they’ll regret that as the toon faithful were treated to an 8-0 demolition! My semi opponents are the same as last year, Nottm’ Forest and I fully expect to make the final cut.
Champions League results and table
My group stage opponents are Sevilla, Fenerbahce and Heerenveen. All very beatable and I used the opportunity to field some players that may not get much game time domestically. The first match, against Sevilla was a bore draw and largely frustrating. But after that the players found their feet and won the remaining five fixtures. The highlight coming away from home in the return match to Sevilla as we won 5-0.
We finished top of our group and qualified with ease. The first knockout round opponents will be Dinamo Moscow, a young side will be used as I expect nothing but victory. While a lot of big name clubs are still in the competition, I can’t help but notice no Chelsea, Inter Milan nor Barcelona.
Club World Championship results
We’ll finish the results part of this post with my CWC tournament. A novelty really, but my competitive edge wanted the trophy. My semi-final opponents were Beijing, they’d done well to get so far but would receive a wake up call against Newcastle. With both my right wingers out, Santos had to start and scored two goals…my other ten starters were all youngsters and fringe players but the game finished 5-0.
Moving into the final and Argentine club Lanus awaited. Despite conceding early on we dominated possession and finished our opponents off with four goals. Another easy trophy and the perfect end to December.
Now for some really big news, do you remember me falling short of 100 games unbeaten by just one match? That was a few years ago, but the record has been put right. After beating West Brom 3-0 in the league, we notched up an incredible record of 101 game unbeaten in all competitions. Lets see how far I can push it. :)
Talking of records, I’ve never completed the clean sweep for world and European player awards…until now that is. Anconetani claimed World best player and best midfielder, Santos got the World golden boot and best striker, while Varrialle won best defender and Mainetti won best goalkeeper. I thought you might like to see their profiles, so just click on the names above.
Squad stats and finances
A very good start to the season has seen everybody pitch in. Sanogo seems to be getting even better if that’s physically possible, the striker has scored 17 goals and assisted 8 times from 11 starts. While Varrialle continues to impress at centre back with 6 goals and an average rating of 7.84. The list drags on but my favourite is new signing Da Silva who has scored 7 and assisted 12 times from 16 starts.
With the squad looking fantastic how are my finances? Well the end of pre-season resulted in my bank balance soaring to £280 million. At the end of December we are down to £266 million, meaning a loss of £14 million over six months. Not a major disaster and I may look to offload some bodies sometime soon anyway.
Just realised between first teamers, future prospects and players out on loan, my central midfield list has risen to 14. Guess I saw talent and didn’t want anyone else to have it. The prospects are on low wages but I need to take some time to consider which ones will definitely make it and offload the ones that won’t. I’ve been playing a waiting game for their attributes to develop so I can see if they hold as much potential as first seemed…but I am worried some may be late bloomers. Anyway, that’s for another day.
That about covers it for today, so thanks for dropping by and please come back for the end of my domestic season. I hope you enjoyed the post and please feel free to comment below. I look forward to hearing from you as always.
P.S. As requested, below is my academy star, Fairclough’s coach report. Hope this is what you were after Dave. :)
Sea
27 июля, 2011 at 12:24
Its a crime Anconetanni has no caps for argentina.Anyway well done your team is amazing.
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 18:53
Thanks Sea, and I agree…how Anconetani hasn’t been capped for Argentina is beyond me!
Iain
28 июля, 2011 at 10:42
The world’s best player doesn’t even get into his national team? Who is the Argentina manager? He should be shot.
Maybe you should try for the job when it becomes available and give the poor lad a game!
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 11:47
Yeh that is crazy, Anconetani deserves to be centre of attention in Argentina and he’s already mid twenties!!
Desmo Wenning
27 июля, 2011 at 12:58
Wow, a lot of your players got awards, nice to see :D Awesome results once again and nothing can stop you, as you said :D But Heerenveen in the CL? Last year NEC and now Heerenveen… Dutch league is fckd up in your game ;)
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 18:52
Yeh, like I said thats the first clean sweep for such awards and I reckon we deserved it after last season. Not sure what’s happening with Holland but the clubs aren’t going past the group stages so its not too bad. :)
Jack
27 июля, 2011 at 14:41
This is just incredible Darren, keep it up! 101 games unbeaten, ludicrous!
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 18:49
Thanks Jack, lets hope for some trophy records too :)
Johnny Karp
27 июля, 2011 at 17:22
Unstoppable! Congrats on the 101 games unbeaten record, now can you make it 200? :)
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 18:48
Thanks Johnny, I think we’ll reach 199 lol :)
Jay
27 июля, 2011 at 18:51
101 games unbeaten!!!! Amazing man. What happenend to Eddie Adams ,did he hit injury and lose form? he seems to quiet this season.
Prem, League and CL look safe this season again, and most likely the FA Cup when that starts so yet again another great season :)
p.s whats your overall w-d-l record?
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 19:20
Thanks Jay, Adams is actually my third choice striker believe it or not and doesn’t play an awful lot but the games he has played didn’t involve too many goals. I’m hoping to offer him more chances in the second half of the season. My overall w-d-l record is…534 won, 66 drawn and 39 lost.
Jay
28 июля, 2011 at 11:38
nice record :)
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 11:47
Thanks Jay, lets hope I can set more.
Nicholas Phipps
27 июля, 2011 at 19:53
101 games unbeaten, wow! I’ve got a feeling you can keep this going for a while… Marcelo Santos looks scary and your whole squad looks fantastic!
Darren Smith
27 июля, 2011 at 21:12
Thanks Nick, getting past 100 games unbeaten was great and Santos has become an incredible player. Hopefully he’ll help us win more trophies.
FM Blogger
27 июля, 2011 at 22:07
Hi Darren,
101 games undefeated…wow is that amazing or what?
How have you managed to make such a consistent team, I always try to make this happen but I can’t. I mean ok, I make 30 games without defeat but 101? Marcelo Santos looks like a beast, but I also see that Sanogo is perfect as well (20 Finishing!). I guess that it must be pretty hard for you choose which one to use (since you play with one striker). May I ask you one favour? Could you post one day a screenshot of Lukaku? You are currently in 2019 and I am really curious to see whether he became as good as Drogba, or even better. In my saves he never manages to become that great.
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 11:57
Thanks mate, this is by far the best game I’ve ever played and I reckon my next one will feel like a let down. :) The key to such success is finding the right players for each role and to work as a team alongside depth in quality. I always feel confident even with my second best player in every position. Then you must be good with team talks which are self explanatory but screw one up and the run is over. :)
Here is Lukaku’s profile from 2020, his attributes aren’t crazy but Inter have had him from the start and only played the kid 15 times a season max so you can see why. https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/wp-content/uploads/images/2011/07/lukaku.png I’m honestly tempted to pick him up when the contract expires for a profit buy. :)
Kevin
28 июля, 2011 at 00:49
Hi Darren
Ye anothe milestone achieved in this amazing story. There seems to be no stopping The Toon Army even with injuries and suspensions. Some really amazing results over Bolton, Stoke and Seville. Well done doesn’t seem enough — I’ll have to check out Gordon Ramsay’s list of superlatives :)
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 11:49
Thanks Kevin, I have assembled an awesome squad and my only fear is when they grow too old and if I can keep finding appropriate replacements.
Lye
28 июля, 2011 at 12:46
Hey Darren,
You are keeping the world talents with you. Look at all those awards. That’s the reason why you can go 101 games unbeaten. That’s the reason why you are dominating the football world. Looking at your form, it’s going to be another clean sweep for you this season. Good luck.
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 18:19
Thanks Lye, the awards were great and as you say its hard not to win with so much talent :) Lets hope for another clean sweep.
Sayam Khan
28 июля, 2011 at 15:29
Hi Darren,
Magnificent achievement by going 101 games unbeaten! Only two draws so far, seems like you will do the quadruple again! Good Luck!
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 18:20
Thanks Sayam, we won’t do as well as last season but I’m hoping for a similar trophy haul.
vikingmarius
28 июля, 2011 at 19:16
Doing amazingly as always I see, I think the ultimate testimant to the strength of your squad is that Sanogo is only rated at 3.5 stars, and the fact that fairclough has the potential to be 4 stars must have you salivating :P
Darren Smith
28 июля, 2011 at 20:44
Thanks Viking, the star ratings are appropriate to the general quality within the players position but I still have three or four of the best midfielders in the world so Fairclough’s 4* potential is incredible.
Sears
29 июля, 2011 at 21:30
Whoa ! Your boys are on fire Darren , 101 games unbeaten is just , incredible !! The title is just a formality nowadays , hopefully someone will challenge you for the CL , good luck buddy !
Darren Smith
29 июля, 2011 at 21:55
Thanks Sears, the title does seem like a formality every season. I’m hoping for a cracking end of season though.
Minch
30 июля, 2011 at 17:16
Long Time Reader First time commentor! Think its amazing how well you do season after season! I am in 2021 with Arsenal and I am looking to take heed of your Y2G system. Just wondering if you had any tips for starting it midway through a game?
Darren Smith
30 июля, 2011 at 18:34
Hey Minch, good to hear from a follower and even better to hear someone trying the Y2G system. I actually believe its easier to implement this season the further into a game you are as the squad will already be what you want….meaning you can focus on buying young, cheap players as their future replacements straight away. My biggest tip is to never feel one player is too big to sell and when selling them offer the player out for at least double their valuation during the start of any transfer window.
vaibhavc
31 июля, 2011 at 17:32
Well done Darren 101 games is amazing. You are quite the manager!
Darren Smith
31 июля, 2011 at 20:55
Thanks Vaibhav
Dave Triggs
31 июля, 2011 at 22:39
Thanks very much Darren!
He looks like one for the future, should make a good amount if you decide to sell. I wish players like him would come through my Brighton academy occasionally!
Darren Smith
1 августа, 2011 at 11:48
lol I’m not sure Brighton will produce that sort of talent…although Leeds did produce the best CB on the game in mine sooo you never know :)