Vauxhall Motors Halfway Through the Last FM 2011 Season

Hello friends and welcome to the penultimate episode of the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 season! After the wildest transfer window ever I was quite curios to see the new players in action and also to watch them perform in the new 4-3-3 tactic. I felt no pressure at all at the start of the season to be honest, I have already won everything with the Motormen, but I really don’t like to lose so I was hoping to make this last season a success.

Things started quite brightly as the first match of the season, the Community Shield against Tottenham, was won by a comfortable margin. The lads seemed to be enjoying the new tactic and there was one player in particular who took advantage of the new formation: World Cup hero Lucas Cuello. He bagged a hat-trick while employed as a trequartista and that gave me hope for a few more goals from him throughout the season. The only downside was that the Spurs enjoyed better possession than us, I’m not really used to that :) (click here to watch the highlights)

So, we grabbed our third consecutive Community Shield and fifth overall, I guess this trophy really has our name on it!

Carling Cup

Our League Cup campaign started with an unfortunate draw as we were pitched against Tottenham in the very first round but fortunately we put four goals past them again! Then we dispatched Northampton and Exeter by the same margin and now we can prepare for an epic battle against Man City in the semi finals.

Champions League

The Champions League group stage rarely caused us any problems and this season was not different at all. We went through the group unbeaten even though I rested most of my stars in these games. The first knock-out round will see us taking on Spanish side Sevilla, we should be able to win that tie.

Premier League Results August and September 2023

Our Premier League campaign got off to a good start, we clinched five wins in a row and conceded just two goals in the process. But then we suffered a severe setback, Man City beat us 3-0 and that defeat really hurt. It’s not only the result that was painful but the whole performance, the game was quite even and Man City made the difference through much better finishing. An even game is not what I’m used to though, we always used to dominate our opponents in the past few seasons regardless of the results…

Premier League Results October and November 2023

We failed to get back to winning ways in the next game as Arsenal held us to a draw at home but this time we had an excuse as one of our players got sent off after just 13 minutes of play. Then we bounced back and won the next four games while keeping a clean sheet throughout but then we were held to a couple of shameful draws by Ipswich and Huddersfield. It seemed that my strikers were totally out of confidence, they were missing the net from the very best possible positions…

Premier League Results December 2023

I admit that I was a bit worried at that point but the last month of the year really eased my fears. The lads turned on the style and managed to win all six games while scoring an impressive 22 goals in the process. The sweetest win was against Manchester United as the Red Devils were top of the table at the time, we scored four and they got back with two but only after the three points were already safely in our hands. (click here to watch the highlights)

So, we are top of the table at the end of the year but that is only because Man United have a game in hand. They are really putting up a good fight this season and it seems like we’re going to have a two-horse race for the title.

The new tactics seems to have benefited Lucas Cuello, now he has a place in the starting eleven alongside Zé Carlos and Parana and the Argentine striker is surely making the most of it. My top three strikers bagged 51 goals between them, that’s not so bad, but the most pleasing fact is that almost every player in the 23-man squad got on the score sheet in the first half of the season.

That’s about it for now folks, I guess the first half of the season went fairly well considering that we switched to a new tactic and that we have a few new players that have to blend in. Thanks a lot for reading, see you in the comments box ;)

P.S.: Ciaran Harper kindly asked me for the current save game so I’m putting it up here for anyone to download and enjoy ;) (the file is zipped so you will have to unpack the archive before using it).