The SAF Challenge

December was a really good month all round, my attacking four of Barkley, Delofeu, Lukaku, and Mirallas have been superb this month, Lukaku has scored 7 in the 6 games this month.

I do have a problem though with both Mirallas and Delofeu playing well on the right as a winger but neither of them playing well on the left as my Inside Forward, so i might have to look for someone to play on that side.

Also Brendan Galloway has also been a revelation, replacing the injured Baines, putting in some superb performances even getting a MOM in Swansea game.

This is what the league table looks like after December. I am ecstatic to be up to 6th already, and only 3 points behind 4th, i do not want to get my hopes up to high, as anything can happen in FM, but it is really hard not to.



With January coming up i just hope to continue my form and keep picking up points, although i know with FM the ship can sink at any point in time.

January Fixtures
Southampton (A)
MK Dons (A) FA Cup
Bournemouth (H)
Manchester United (A)

Correction 5 points behind 4th

So my scouts brought me this Left back a while back, and i continued scouting him, but was not going to buy him because we had Baines and the Galloway as a backup. But now Baines has his second long term injury and he is getting on in age. So i am wondering should i buy this Left Back now and hope to rotate him in with Galloway as Baines replacement, and move Baines on to that eventual Tottenham, Arsenal, or Chelsea bid in the summer?

Would like to know, your guys' opinion.

The Left Back

How many times did you sim to end up with Everton? haha

Griffo: Just a few times... haha

January Update

Southampton (A)



This was one of those FM games that just looked like a draw after both goals were scored, was not to happy with our creativity in this game.

Made my first signing as Everton boss.
Found Giorgion De Arrascaeta through my scouts, and he looks like the perfect player to play on the left side of my attacking midfield. He will be out for 5 weeks though after picking up an injury a day before he signed. For only 7 million pounds, felt this was a good signing.



MK Dons (A) FA Cup





This was not our best game, after scoring early it looked like this would be a comfortable win. Then they scored and looked in control, it was only in the last 15 mins when i went looking for the win, when we actually looked dangerous.

Also lost John Stones after the match to injury for the rest of this month.



Bournemouth (H)



This was one of those games where we should have lost, because my team forgot how to play with each other, we were lucky to squeak the draw in the last minute of the game.

MK Dons (H) FA Cup Replay andSheffield Wednesday (H) Fourth Round





Both Comfortable FA cup wins, home games against teams i expect to be beating.

Manchester United (A)



Was really scared coming into this one, our recent form has not been the best. Somehow we managed to hold on despite being totally outplayed, I was really happy with our defense in this one.

After the game received some more bad news...



With Baines out for 2 more months and now Galloway out for 3 months, i felt like i needed a left back and Ludwig was just to good to pass up on for only 3.2 million pounds.

The league table has not changed much over this month, we are still in 6th place now 7 points behind 4th, i am hoping to continue pushing for Europe this season. I know the Champions League is a bit out of reach since we still have to play all the teams above us, most of them away, so im hoping for Europa League for this season.



February Fixtures

West Brom (H)
Tottenham (A)
Chelsea (A)
Middlesbrough (A) FA Cup
Sunderland (H)

Hope to win the home games and the FA Cup, trying to go as far as i can, and the draw has been kind to me so far. Against Tottenham and Chelsea, ill just take what i can get, hoping for more wins against big clubs away from home.

Potentially very difficult trips to Spurs, Chelsea & Boro.... Will be a challenging month, but you've got to overcome the toughest of obstacles to earn the mightiest of glories!

You have really turned the ship around at Goodison Park!

Oh wow, what a turnaround man, obviously as a liverpool fan its a shame but well done nevertheless

ScottT and mgriffin2012 : Yeah it's been a suprising start, did not expect to do this well, i mean i hoped i would.

mgriffin2012 : I am a Man U fan, and beating them at Old Trafford was a bittersweet moment.

Justice : I hope to get a point from one of those two games, but i know i might not, Chelsea are running away with the league and Tottenham are up in second. As for Boro, if i can get a draw and have a home replay, ill be happy with that.

February Update

Lets just say this has not been a good month.

West Brom (H)



Month started out good with a comfortable win against West Brom, could have been more than three. We hit the post/crossbar, four times in this match, and Foster made a few good saves in one on one situations.

Now for the bad..
First off, Tottenham and Chelsea. We were so poor in both these matches, i don't even think we had a highlight in either game. There was a couple of things i learnt from these two matches. John Stones does not like the big games, maybe because of his age. I need to replace Tim Howard, as he made far to many mistakes in these games, and has done in past matches but were not as bad as these two matches because we won those other games. Finally, i need another Centre Back, someone experienced to help John Stones through these big games, with Jagielka retired now after picking up a 7 month injury i really need to replace him.





Next up was Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, after the two losses i would have taken a draw, just so that our team morale did not plummet even further, and that is exactly what we got. After Scoring and taking the lead, i was a bit frustrated to concede a late goal, but i would have accepted the draw before the game, so i was ok with it.



The next game against Sunderland really frustrated me, we had so many good chances, and just could not put them away. We dropped more points after those two losses earlier this month, and i felt we really needed this win, but it was not to be.



After the Sunderland game, i was so mad, that i thought, lets take our frustrations out on Middlesbrough. Well, that did not happen. Another game where we had a few good chances and just could not put them away, happy to go through though, but not the way i would have wanted.



With our goals seeming o be drying up and Lukaku going through a bit of a rough patch, i realised we need some help in the striking department. We have absolutely no quality backup for Lukaku, and we are not getting enough goals from midfield.

Now for some good news

I am happy to announce that John Stones has decided to stay, he accepted a new contract, and i slapped a 55 million pound release clause on him, it was the highest he would accept.



Happy to have him staying, now i can build my team around the impressive young core i have.

The league table looks a bit worse after that month, but still not to far off the European spots. And with Liverpool winning the Capital One Cup and many of the teams above us still in the FA Cup, it might not take a 5th place finish to qualify.



March Fixtures

Norwich (H)
Hull (A) FA Cup QF
Leicester (A)
West Ham(H)

Hoping to win all these matches, need to pick up some results after the results of February. All three league games are against bottom half opposition, so i hope to have 9 points from 9 it those.

Still in a very strong position, the battle for 5th will be tight!

March Update

First up Norwich City (H)



This was another comfortable home win, we actually look really good at home. I was really happy that Lukaku and Barkley got on the scoresheet, needed them to get back to form after last month.

Next up Hull (A) FA Cup



After we took the lead, and looked comfortable till halftime, the second half we were completely terrible. We were actually lucky to be only 2-1 down by the 80th minute, then after a tweak tactically, Cleverly scored a wonderful placed shot to save us in the 90th minute.

Leicester City (A) up next

Another game and another Tim Howard mistake. Thought this was going to just fizz out to a 0-0 draw, and then came the Howard mistake in the 84th minute. Thought we were for sure losing until, new boy Giorgion scored his first goal for the club. It was an absolute ripper, that won him Goal of the Month. What a first goal that was.

John Stones also picked up an injury this game, was hoping it would not be bad, but he is out for 2 months. With Funes Mori our only first team CB i am worried about this coming 2 months, as we have some big fixtures coming up.



Lastly West Ham (H)



Well, we ended the month, the way we stated it. With a comfortable home win. Although, Tim Howard missed controlled a back pass in the 10th minute, and luckily the West Ham striker made a worse mistake by missing the shot at an open goal. This lead to me substituting Howard in the 11th minute, and he will now be second choice behind Robles.