The SAF Challenge

Champions League - First Knockout Round - Leg 2
Main goal was just to survive. We held a 2 goal lead, but sometimes in FM that does not really count for much. We took the lead and at that point i thought we could not lose from there. Then Ronaldo scored and i remembered that they did score 3 in 20 minutes last time. But soon after Rashford restored our lead and i knew we were through. Ronaldo scored a late goal for them, but that did not matter at all.



Next up is Bayern Munich, the draws Gods have not been kind to us this season in the UCL and FA Cup. Luckily we have the first leg at home, so a clean sheet win will be preferable.

FA Cup Sixth Round - Arsenal(H)
We took the lead through that man Rashford again, and then Bentancur scored a screamer for them shortly after. I then went full out attack and we stormed to a 4-1 lead, and just saw the game out for the rest of the time.



Next up is Manchester United who we have not beaten in 3 attempts this season, who have already beaten us at Wembley this season, and who are currently on a 17 match unbeaten run, all wins except the draw against us. So it is not going to be easy, but i remain hopeful. Manchester City play Bournemouth in the other Semi-Final.

Champions League - Quarter Final - Leg 1 & 2
A good win at home, got the clean sheet i wanted but would have liked to score more goals. Then went away Bayern took the lead, then we equalized. They scored again early in second half, but we held on for the away goal win.

FA Cup Semi-Final
Man United lost to City the week before, and it severely dented their league title challenge, so it looked like they lacked motivation to play in this came and we ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.

How did this happen

Champions League - Semi-Final - Leg 1&2
Again took a 1-0 win at home, and after Bayern i was quite confident we could do the same to PSG. But no two games in FM are the same.
Like Bayern, PSG scored early in the first half of the second leg, but unlike that game we struggled to create chances. Then in the second half shit hit the fan, and we imploded. They scored 2 more in like 5 minutes and then i had to go all out attack, they scored 2 more and we got a solitary consolation goal.





So disappointing, as i felt this was the winnable tie compared to Barcelona and Manchester United. This also means that the likes of Goretzka, Amartey, and Riedewald might be out the door in the summer as i could not fulfill the promises i made to them.

FA Cup Final

Who Cares about this Cup? After losing the way i did in UCL, i lost all motivation for this season and i did not even really care about this final. We did manage to win in what was a really close game, even though the scoreline might not show that.

The End of the League

We saw out the league before the Semi-final off the UCL with 3 games to spare, so at that point the treble was still on. Even after massive defeats to Liverpool and Bournemouth, we still won the league as United after the City defeat and then defeat to us in the FA Cup Semi's, imploded. Those last three fixtures i could have cared less about, as we were knocked out of the champions league and i had no desire to even care about the rest of the season. The end league table looks closer than it was, because we did drop 7 points in those final 3 games.

Something interesting

We had 5 of the top ten players in the league, yet somehow only 2 of them made the BPL season's 11 and Memphis Depay who was ranked as the 16th best player in the BPL won Player of the Year. Can somebody please tell me how?

Player Reviews and Stats

Top Goalscorers and Assisters
1. Rashford - 30 goals and 13 assists
He benefited from Martial's three injuries this season. He took full advantage of the chances he got and scored some important winners for us over the course of the season.

2. Martial - 21 Goals and 2 assists
If only he had stayed fully fit. Missed from August till November with cruciate ligament damage from last season, and then took him a month to get into match fitness. Then missed about 2 more months with a pulled hamstring and a twisted knee. If only he had stayed fully fit!

3. Vaclav Cerny - 15 goals and 9 assists
Finally he is starting to develop into a first team winger, who both scores and assists. It has been long overdue and i am happy i stuck with him. Won us the FA Cup and scored important goals when i needed.

4. Pione Sisto - 13 goals and 16 assists
Another good season for Pione, might even be his best one yet, should have won BPL player of the year, like Cerny he scored important goals when it mattered and saved us in the Capital One Cup semi-final coming off the bench.

5. Ross Barkley - 11 goals and 13 assists
He won us the first leg against Real Madrid and is now our club captain.

6 Jack Grealish - 10 goals and 8 assists
He is finally starting to pay off my investment in him, but i do find it hard to balance game time between him and sisto.

We have had goals and assists from all over the pictch and it would be hard to include everybody in this list but they were our top attackers and we have so much attacking talent now that i find it hard to balance who gets game time, and who does not, but i am slowly learning.

Top Performers

1. Pione Sisto - 7.94
Again should have won player of the year.

2. Vaclav Cerny - 7.81
His best season yet.

3. Leon Goretzka - 7.76
Our vice-captain. Will be sad to see him go, and i think i am resigned to the fact that i will be losing him.

4. Ross Barkley - 7.62
Not as good as past two seasons, but he still played his part, and with our other players now performing to his level i felt he did not need to shine as much and put on proper captain displays at times.

5. Gino Peruzzi -7.61
After the past three seasons he has had i still cannot believe i got him for 6 million he is a superb RB and definitely a signing you should look to make at the start of a save, with a middle to upper class team.

6. Nuno Santos - 7.63
I know he has better avg. rating than Barkley and Peruzzi, but he has not played has much as them, so he is lower on this list. But for a new signing it was an impressive season.

7. Jack Grealish - 7.67
His best season for us, and after paying over 30 million for him a couple seasons ago, he is finally turning up.

8. Ludwig Augustinsson - 7.50
The returnee. He has been superb and has taken his rightful place as Baines replacement.

9. Marcus Rashford - 7.33
Realized that he should most probably be higher on this list after his Goals and assists but his avg. rating is quite low, and he did have some bad patches in between, whereas the players above him were far more consistent.

10. Christian Flebmann - 7.62
Considering he is only 20 years old, he will definitely be Peruzzi's replacement eventually. His first full season with us and he performed superbly when he did play, even grabbing 8 assists and a goal.

My first ever FM season like this
Player performances have been amazing. Only two players had an avg. ratings under 7.00. The first is Dave Pickwell, who is our 19 year old GK who only made 10 appearances, and has a rating of 6.98. The second is Timo Werner who is our third choice striker and has under performed when he got the chance, so he will most probably be leaving the club in the summer.

Season Review and Looking ahead

Its been another superb domestic campaign, but we just cannot secure that elusive UCL title. I think next season all my efforts and energy will definitely go towards winning that cup as i am beginning to think we will never win it.
We have another big transfer budget at around 80 million, so i will definitely be strengthening and with us most likely losing 1 or 2 key players, they will need replacing.

Our first exciting youth prospect

My youth candidates finally brought me someone good after 6 seasons. He made his debut in the final league match against Swansea and had a 7.80 rating at the age of just 16, so i am definitely excited to bring him through.



Looking forward
I think this might be my last season, whether i win or lose the champions league. Its getting to easy domestically and i am definitely looking for a new challenge.

Very very good season even if you did lose motivation!

Season 7 - Preseason and Transfer Window
Seeing that no one significant left, i did not feel the need to spend this window, so it was a fairly quiet one.

My really good Head of Youth Development did retire, so i needed a new one, and look who we got..
Not as good as our previous one, but he is only starting out, and was the best one out there.



Transfer Outs

Timo Werner - 15.25 million
He fell behind Martial and Rashford, so i thought i will sell him and replace him with someone younger.

Ryan Ledson 8.5 million
An Everton youngster I really wanted to give a chance to, but never really got into the squad. He is 24 now, so i thought i will just let him find joy elsewhere.

Transfer In

Ibrahima Bamba - 14 million
Timo's replacement. He looks even better than Timo and is only 19 years old.

Preseason friendlies



Some more good preseason results, just happy to get my teams morale back on track after the Goretzka saga.

Community Shield
Scored early in this one, and then just hung on for dear life.

Season 7 Halfway

Tranfer Out

Jack Grealish - 45 million
He got mad because of playing time and i had to rotate him with Sisto, because Sisto is one of our best players. So i decided to sell him and i will bring in a young homegrown player to replace him, so we still meet UCL regulatons.