The SAF Challenge

A very good pre season mate, a strong season coming up I think!

So first off, sorry for the late update, and sorry that this wont be as detailed as my previous posts, this will just be an over view of the first half of the season.

Results
Barclays Premier League



Our home form has been really good, picking up 7W-2D-1L. We did have some bad results like the loss to Villa and the draw to Watford, against Tottenham, we led till the 85th minute and conceded, so i was disappointed with that result as well. Away form has not been to bad as well, 3W-2D-4L, i would have liked to pick up more points, but the games we loss was ones i expected to lose, i would have liked to have won the two draws as we were dominate in both matches.

Capital One Cup



We've had a relatively easy run, only against Tottenham did we have a scare, we took an early 2-0 lead but then they scored twice and looked like they would win, but we scored a late winner. I don't expect to make it past City, but who knows what might happen.

Europa League



We made qualification from the group so much harder than it needed to be, the only thing that saved us was the other teams being inconsistent as well. We needed, at least, the two goal win in the last game to qualify on head-to-head with Dnipro, and we managed to just squeak through. Leverkusen is going to be a really tough tie, and if we do make it past them we have Manchester United or CSKA Moscow waiting for us, so i don't expect to make it to far, but i am not to upset, as i can focus on the league.

League Table



I am really happy to be up there fighting for top 4. If we can keep up our home form and just pick up a few more points on the road, we might just qualify for Europe. Most of the teams around us, except Chelsea and Manchester United, keep slipping up, and as long as we slip up less, top 4 could be a real possibility.

New signings and their avg ratings

Timo Horn 6.84
He is a massive upgrade from Howard. He has only conceded 16 goals in 17 games in the BPL and has won us many points over the course of the season. The Away game against Chelsea, they had like 15 shots on target and we only conceded 2, the second coming late on after we equalized with our only shot of the game. Then against City away, they had 10 shots on target only scored once and we won 2-1, he was MOM both times.

Winston Reid 7.10
He has been really good, and has really helped to add experience to our back line, when i play Ludwig over Baines. He has also chipped in with 2 goals so far.

Lisandro Lopez 7.08
Although his average rating is not bad, he has had bad games and really good games. I am putting it down to him becoming acclimated with the BPL and therefore is inconsistent at times.

Zach Clough 6.81
I have used him off the bench for the mos part, but he has scored 4 goals for us, and his movement off the ball is really good. I am just happy to have a quality replacement for Lukaku.

Ludwig 7.48
I know he is not new, but this is his first full season, and he has been superb. I am trying to balance between him and Baines, but he makes it hard for me to play Baines over him. It looks like Baines might be off in January if Arsenal act on their interest in him.

Giorgion De Arrascaeta 7.34
After not so good a start last season, he has come into his own this season. He has 4 goals and 6 assists from the wing and also picked up 4 POM awards. He has really suprised me this season.

Top Goalscorers and Assisters

Romelu Lukaku - 14 goals and 2 assists
Gerard Deulofeu - 5 goals and 9 assists
Ross Barkley - 6 goals and 5 assists
De Arrascaeta - 4 goals and 6 assists

Great start to the season for you, keep it up.

End of Season 2 Update

Barclays Premier League



So the 2nd half of the season started off terrible and we never really picked things back up till April, and by then it was just to little, to late. We had some massive results in there like the wins against City and Chelsea, and the draw at Arsenal but our form against the smaller teams was just woeful. Both my strikers were on goal droughts of 10 games at one point, and the rest of my team were not scoring in the league as well.

Capital One Cup



Did not expect to make it past City, but after winning 1-0 away, i thought we stood a chance. And then we played like total crap in the home fixture and loss on Aggregate. United went on to win the trophy.

FA Cup



Do not know what happened here, this was during that terrible run of league games, but after picking up a lucky draw away at Brighton, i thought for sure we will win at home, but that did not happen, this was most probably the biggest disappointment of the season.

Europa League Knockout Stages



This was the shining light in that abysmal period in the league, we knocked out Leverkusen and United, completely outplaying both teams in the home leg and then just holding on to what we had away from home, but then against Galatasaray, it looked like we might make it to extra time, but they scored late on and knocked us out.

Final League table



In the end our strong finish was just not enough to recover from the poor start to the second half of the season. We do get Europa again next season though, and i did not feel as if we are ready for Champions League just yet, so maybe it is a positive that we did not qualify.

Player Reviews and End of Season Awards



Barkley has been impressive this season, and i think teams might be ready to pay his release clause, although i am going to try and up it over the off season.

Top Scorers

Lukaku - 25
Deulofeu - 8
Barkley - 8
Clough - 7

Top Assisters

Deulofeu - 15
Barkley - 9
Lukaku - 7
De Arrascaeta - 7

I have been impressed with Deulofeu this season, although i do need someone else to score goals besides Lukaku, because i think thats what seperates us from the Champions League teams.

Looking Forward to Season 3

So finally the board has given me a budget that i can play with, and i have already identified what we need.



What we need

1. Someone better to partner Barkley
2. A better Holding midfielder, McCarthy has just been too inconsistent.
3. A goal scoring Inside Forward, De Arrascaeta is a really good player, but he just misses too many good chances and the same can be said for Mirallas.
4. A back up Right Back, we ended up using Stones there, when Coleman got injured for a while.

I have a feeling teams will be back in for Lukaku, Barkley, and Stones. And if they meet their release clauses, there will be nothing i can do. So i might need to replace them sometime in summer, but im hoping i don't have to.

Expectations

With our budget this season, i am hoping to strengthen enough to push for the top 4, and maybe push for a Domestic cup win. I need to win a cup either this season or next to keep up with the challenge.

So stay tuned for season 3!!

Pre-season and Transfers

Let me start by saying that i did not care about these friendlies, they were just about gelling my team together as we have got a lot of new signings, and i was to interested with the transfer business going on to care about these friendlies.



We did do really well in them excluding the game against Wycombe, and my new signings are looking good already.

Now on to Transfer News

Big Name Outs

First player i sold was James McCarthy. As soon as the transfer window opened, Man City made an offer and i managed to get them up to 35 million after add ons. I could not refuse this offer, as i was looking to replace him anyway and he will most probably just end up on their bench with the talent they have got.



Next up was Ludwig Augustinsson. This transfer really p*d me off. I put a 50 million release clause on him but that did not count for s*t. After Arsenal offered me 10 million pounds, i flat out rejected it and he got mad, and i said if they make a better offer I will accept it. Next day they came in with the exact same offer, and i rejected it, and he got even more mad at me, and then he started to bring the whole squad down. After that i decided just to sell him and the most i could get out of Arsenal was 19 500 000 million after add-ons. I would have preferred to sell him abroad but oh well, this sale will come back to bit me in the ass.



Last big sale, and the biggest one of them all, is none other than Romelu Lukaku. Exactly the same story as Ludwig. Bayern and Arsenal came in first, was not going to sell him to Arsenal, then got Bayern up to 50 million, then they withdrew, and he threw an absolute hissy fit. Because he was a key member of my squad, everybody got mad, and i decided he needed to go. Then Schalke came in for him and I got them up to 50 million after add-ons, and it was bye, bye, Romelu.



Stay tuned for Transfer Ins

Transfer Ins

A young Goalkeeper
The first transfer i made, was a young goalkeeper, i have been watching all of last season after the youth intakes since he had 5 star potential ability. I needed a young keeper as backup since Howard will be retiring at the end of this season, and i beat out both Tottenham and Liverpool for him.



Scouting the transfer list
Next, I had my scouts, scout the entire transfer list and i signed everybody who were the right price and position that i needed. And after the whole Lukaku debacle I needed a striker so i had my scouts searching for a U/25 striker under 40 million who had the attributes for a F9, AF and Poacher, because I use the three roles interchangeably.

Power of the Dutch Scout
First up i signed a dutch scout, and he brought me this Czech youngster who plays as an Inside Forward for Ajax, and at the age of 19, scored 4 goals and made 2 assists in 10 appearances, and he also 1 international cap, plus 8 goals in 13 u/21 internationals, so i could not turn it down. He was a bit pricey at 15 million, but i had money to spend with the budget and after Ludwig and McCarthy's sales. So i thought what the heck, he could be a good investment.



Next up I needed to replace James McCarthy, and the same Dutch scout, brought me another dutch youngster who had five star potential and 3 and a half current potential at DM. He had already been capped 6 times, and i felt like he would be a good player to invest in. He cost 22.5 million, but i am hoping he comes good.



Transfer List Signings
After signing Cerny, i felt that he was too young to be a regular starter and i would most probably need someone to back him up, since im looking to move on Mirallas and De Arrascaeta. Then my scouts found this guy just lounging around the transfer list, and his club only wanted 12.5 million for him, when he is valued at almost double that price, so i was happy with this deal.



After Insigne, I felt that i needed some support for Deulofeu on the other side and when Borrusia Dortmund listed this guy, who i wanted to sign last season, but did not have the funds to do it, i thought what the heck, lets just go for it, and at 10.5 million, he was an absolute steal in my opinion.



Next up i felt i needed another CB, just as back up, and then i found this guy, who for Newcastle had played 10 games last season and had an Avg. rating of 7.10, and at 875K he was an absolute bargain as a fourth choice CB.



Now onto that RB i needed. My scouts found this guy on Tottenham's transfer list, and since he had Barclays Premier League experince i thought why not. He was the best, cheapest option as a back RB at 6.5 million.



Next i bought the Midfielder to partner Barkley. I know this guy from a previous FM save i did, and then when he got transfer listed, i snapped him up as soon as possible for a total of 13.5 million.



Lukaku's Replacement
At this point i thought i was done. Then the whole thing with Lukaku happened and i needed to go back in. My scouts found a couple of good young strikers that were my first choice options, but their clubs all wanted more than 70 million pounds for them. Then my brazilian scouts found some South American youngsters, and we all know how good they can be, but because we are not a Champions League club, work permits are a b*ch to sort out. So, i went European with the next best, cheapest option. He cost 27.5 million pounds.



Midfield Reinforcements

After Werner, i just wanted to spend some more money and felt that we could use some midfield reinforcements, if we want to compete on all fronts this season, so i brought in two midfielders. The first one was an FM15 legend for me, and only cost me 6.5 million. The second adds to our strong German contingent, since German clubs seem to not want their players, and he could be good backup for the young Bazoer. And at 3.9 million, he was another steal.




Some other news
Surprisingly Arsenal listed Ozil, and is available at around 19 million, and Manchester have listed Ander Hererra and is available at around 10 million. I was going to sign the two of them but their wage demands were ridiculous.

Also, Manchester City just came in for John Stones, but withdrew when i asked for his minimum release fee. With their buying power they will most probably make the 55 million bid sometime in this window, so i am looking for replacements should Stones leave.

Next Up
Some time over the weekend i will do a half season update again, so stay tuned.

Some absolutely brilliant signings there, looking forward to seeing how Goretzka and Cerny do especially.

Superb signings, hopefully they gel in quickly!

Final Transfers

Why did they buy him



Yeah, i don't know why Madrid bought him, but i was happy to get up to 13 million for a player i was not going to really use after our recent signings.

Zach Clough goes



I wanted to keep Zach, but he has not really done as well as i had expected, and maybe i should have waited, but Brentford offered me an amount that was higher than i paid for him.

Zach Clough replacement



He cost more than i expected at 10 million, but being a Manchester United fan, i just had to, and i kinda had money to waste, after my next sale.

Yet another traitor



He wanted to join a "bigger club", even though they finished lower than us last season, after some negotiations, Man City met my release clause, after add-ons, and well, John Stones left.

Stone's Replacement



After doing some scouting and comparisons, he was the closet player to John's Stones quality, that was a possibility for me to bring in, he cost a pretty hefty fee at 27.5 million, but i really needed him.

End of League season Update

Barclays Premier League
Home Fixtures



I have never had such a good home season before, we have been unbeatable at home and picked up 57 out of a possible 59 points.

Away Fixtures



Yeah, this is where we lost the league title. We were still in the race for the title, until we got thumped by both Manchester United and Liverpool. Also We started off so poorly away from home, and then picked it up in the middle as we moved into contention for the title, and then we just had a bad run at the end, starting with the Derby game.

League Table



Had we picked up like 3 more wins on the road... urrgh, what could have been. Arsenal were top for most of the season, and then lost to Watford second last game of the season. United then went tops with their win against Chelsea. On the final day, United lost Away at Leicester, and Arsenal won at home to Brentford, this meant Arsenal went back tops and won the title by one point.

My review of the league season

I wanted a top four finish, and that is what we got. Although after seeing my home form, I am a little disappointed to not have done so bad away from home, perhaps something to improve upon next season. I am happy that we finished third though, as this means straight qualification into CL group stages.

Now onto the Cups

Capital One Cup



Life in this cup was short lived, as soon as we drew Chelsea(A), i knew we would lose, and lose we did.

Europa League



Group stage was easy, carried our league home form over to this cup, we won every single game at home Lyon, but after our Away win, we didn't really have to. The best tie was the Dortmund(H) game. We went in 1-0 down, and totally outplayed them winning 3-0 on the night. Then against Fenebahce, in the home leg they had 1 shot and away from home we scored 2 early goals to put the tie to rest.

FA Cup



Run to the final has been easy,even though we had 2 replays in there, we dominated both of the first matches, and then conceded late on, in typical FM fashion. Our only real scare was against Liverpool when we were 1-0 up and gave away a penalty, and i thought FM is going to do this crap to me again. But thanks to some Timo Horn heroics and a Ross Barkley extra time goal, we are through to the FA Cup final.

Looking forward to the finals

Really want to win the FA Cup, so I can complete the first part of this challenge, Chelsea ended the season really poorly, so I am hoping that with our momentum we will be able to beat them, although we do have the Europa League final first and if City decide to show up and stuff us, then all that momentum could be wiped away.

Wish me Good Luck

Good luck in the cup finals mate!