Dave — FM2011 Ultimate European Challenge, Start of season 13/14 with Liverpool

Hello one and all!  Welcome back to my Ultimate European Challenge game!  As you may recall from my last post, I ended up winning an amazing treble with Fiorentina which took my 3 seasons to achieve.  I have since been approached by Liverpool and accepted the offer.

I had a quick look through Liverpool’s history when I took over to see what I was letting myself in for!  I could see that they haven’t been that great in cup competitions — They have not made it past the 4th round in the FA cup but have at least came runners up to Man Utd in the League Cup final.  The first 2 seasons they were in the UEFA cup making it past the group stages both times but not much further than that.  They were eliminated in the 2nd knockout round by Aston Villa in the 1st season and by Sevilla in the 1st knockout round the season after.  In season 12/13, they made it to the semi final of the Champions League before going out on away goals to Porto who I of course defeated in the final!

The league is where they have come into their own.  A reasonable 5th place in the first season but still 23 points behind the winners Man Utd.  2nd season was a much improved 2nd place but again missing out to Man Utd.  Last season however, they won the Premiership by 5 points!  Roy Hodgson obviously thought it was a job well done and promptly retired which is why I am now in the job!  I hope to continue his good work in the league first and foremost then see what happens initially in the cups and take it from there.

Pre-season

When I left Fiorentina, 5 members of staff also followed me out of the door.  I am delighted to say that I have managed to sign all 5 up again for Liverpool especially Pierpaolo Bisoli, my assistant manager!  However to acquire Bisoli, it meant I had to relieve Sammy Lee of his duties who I am sure would have been a decent deputy just not mine!

Some pretty decent scouts coming in although I probably don’t utilise them as best as I could!  Was pleased to have Guy Ferrier come aboard.  He is currently the French under 20 manager and is now my youth manager.  When Aron Winter departed the club, it left a space for a replacement youth coach.  I managed to obtain the services of a 33 year old Steve Gerrard who will double up with his first team playing repsonsibilites!  I also persuaded Jamie Carragher that he would make an excellent coach unfortunately, I didn’t realise that his contract expired a week later so he has since left the club and he now hates me according to the list on my profile.  oops.

The rest of the playing staff in’s and out’s are as follows

The Mournier and Olsson deals were done before I joined the club.  I feel a bit sorry for them because they don’t fit into my tactics at all so will be rotting in reserves for at least half a season.  Very happy to have bought Phil Jones, Steven Defour, Fernando Gago and Iker Muniain!  The latter was thanks to the minimum fee release clause in his contract which Spanish clubs seem to love adding!  Segio Asenjo will be a more than capable back up for Pepe Reina and Harry Nash is a 17 year old described as the new Nobby Stiles although I intend to play him more in midfield.  My final squad now looks like this

A pretty useful squad in general but doesn’t entirely fit my tactic.  Because of that, I have a lot of attack minded players re-training as strikers.  If they impress me, then I will think about letting them stay!  I still feel I am weak in the full back areas but what I do have should be enough for now.  The other problem I have (which I forgot about when making signings) is the homegrown players rule.  At some point either in the January transfer window or end of the season, I am going to have to lose a couple of foreigners and bring through some English lads.  Again, I should be alright for now!  After taking all of this into consideration, I press on into the friendlies which weren’t particularly taxing.

I have not fully decided on my first team at this moment in time even after giving everyone a run out in the friendlies so will have to continue tinkering into the season.  I am not expecting miracles straight away whilst players adjust to the new system but have to say that I am cautiously optimistic!  Charity Shield was a breeze which certainly raised my expectations however the real test would be that first game of the season against Chelsea.

August

So into the start of the new season we go.  Only 3 games to play here so hope I can hit the ground running.  It’s really early to say but I think the Chelsea could have a massive bearing on how our entire season will go

I would call that a good start to the season!  Yarmolenko has certainly started off very well which was a surprise to me!  I have never heard of this Ukranian before and he appeared to have a fairly decent season last year with the Reds scoring 7 goals in 19 league games.  Fernando Torres was injured for these games so maybe I have a direct replacement already in the squad?

There is not much I have learnt about my squad from these opening games apart from Steve Gerrard will struggle to last 90 minutes in a game so will have to use him wisely.  As previously mentioned Torres was injured and so was Muniain who would both normally be first choice.  The fact that I still won games shows I have more than capable squad players which makes things tricky for me but it’s a good problem to have and one that I never really experienced at Fiorentina.

September

This month saw my first forray into the Champions League campaign with Liverpool.  I was drawn in group D against Sheriff of Moldova, Napoli and CSKA Moscow.  The last 2 could be massive banana skins so hope the team are professional enough to see them off.  Also, I have 3 league games and a League Cup tie against Championship side Huddersfield.

A good month for us except for the dropped points at Aston Villa.  We absolutely dominated that game so should have come away with more.  The Huddersfield game in the cup was not as easy as the scoreline suggests.  N’Gog scored within 20 seconds and at that point I thought it was going to be a breeze but they scored 5 minutes later to make more of a game of it.  Eventually the fitter legs prevailed and we won comfortably in the end.

What can I say about the Man Utd game?!  Despite all the positive scorelines I have been getting, I still haven’t felt as though we have properly clicked into gear with the 433 formation yet but the game against the Red Devils shown a lot of encouraging signs.  Hernandez was a thorn in our side and deserved his goal but no other United player threatened.

Final thoughts

At this point, I was 2nd in table which I consider a very good start to the season.  I had played the 2 big boys Chelsea and Man Utd and not lost either.  So to do all this with a formation many of the players would be unaccustomed to is very encouraging.  I feel we are coping reasonably well squad wise but are still reliant on Torres and Gerrard (sound familar Liverpool fans?!).  The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed Danny Wilson’s name popping up on the scoresheet!  Could he be my new Dede?!  Skrtel has also shown he is more than handy at set pieces too but the main problem I have there is I only really have Gerrard to take the corners and free kicks.  For now, I can say it has been a happy return to England and dare I say it, this part of challenge completed in my first season?  Now wouldn’t that be something!