England! Spain! Italy! USA?

I got bored while waiting for my Europe game and its massive database to load up so I started a new save. The concept here is a quick and concise save game that I can power through until FM 2011. No more waiting a few minutes for games to sim. I loaded three countries - England, Spain, Italy, and USA - with a small database. I've also loaded only the top half of the available leagues. I'm thinking that I'll roll through enough seasons quickly and have nothing but regens anyway, so I don't see the need to have a more comprehensive starting database.

I'm also going to go with a more streamlined approach to my entries. To keep with the theme of speed, I'm only going to post season-ending reviews rather than the monthly summaries I was doing with my Welling save.

And one final change is that I'm going to pick my team instead of working my way up the ranks. I started out with Tranmere, got halfway through the season, and realized I don't have the same attachment to the team as I normally do. So if I'm not going to have any built-in attachment to a team because I started from the ground up, I might as well take the team I cheer for - Man City.

Man City, Premier League, 2009-2010

Competitions
League Table



FA Cup

3rd round 6-0 vs Walsall (League 1)
4th round 2-1 vs Arsenal (Premier)
5th round 2-1 vs Aston Villa (Premier)
6th round 2-0 vs Chelsea (Premier)
Semifinals 4-1 vs Middlesbrough (Championship)
Finals 3-0 vs Liverpool (Premier)

League Cup

2nd round 1-0 vs Leeds (League 1)
3rd round 1-0 vs Arsenal (Premier)
4th round 3-1 vs Everton (Premier)
Quarterfinals 2-1 vs Fulham (Premier)
Semifinals 4-3 aggregate vs Wigan (Premier)
Finals 1-0 vs Liverpool (Premier)

Transfers



Starting Eleven



Most Goals - Carlos Tevez, 34
Most Assists - Emmanuel Adebayor, 17
Highest Average Rating - Emmanuel Adebayor, 7.86

Summary

Wow! I forgot how fun it can be to manage City. There are no negatives to point out this season since we completed a treble. If I had to pick one critical piece to our successful season it has to be the addition of Yoann Gourcuff. I began the season playing a basic 442 and our only loss (1-2 to Liverpool) came before Gourcuff's arrival in January.

Once Gourcuff arrived at Eastlands, however, I immediately made the switch to the wide diamond 442 you see in the picture above. With Gourcuff on board as the AMC I was free to move both of my strikers to attacking roles - Adebayor and Santa Cruz played as target men, while Tevez and Obasi played as poachers. Gourcuff and Ireland played as attacking mids and the results are purely devastating.

Even the best of teams had a hard time coping with the constant attacking pressure we put on them. The Big 4 did their best and many of those games went down to the last 10 minutes or so. In every game we played, however, you could watch as opposing defenses would eventually cave in. And if the starters didn't do the job, defenses had to deal with three fresh sets of legs continuing the attack in the final minutes.

We'll be taking our act to the grand stage next season - the Champions League - and we'll see how we manage against the best of the best.

I thought this bit of news is worthy of a midseason update. The England national job became available, so I applied for it. To my surprise, I got it! In all honesty, I don't know that I'm ready to manage at such a high level but the opportunity was too good to let it go by without trying.

Now I have a whole other mess of menus to navigate and tasks to accomplish. Thankfully I don't have any games to plan for until 2011. To keep things simple, I'm planning on running the same tactics as I do with City. A quick glance at the roster revealed that we have adequate talent to run the wide diamond 442. I'll come back and get more specific later.

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. I've been sucked into Stacraft 2 as of late. :clap

Man City, Premier League, 2010-2011

Competitions

Community Shield

4-5 p vs Chelsea

League Table



Champions Cup



1st Knockout Round 4-2 aggregate vs Porto (Liga Sagres)
Quarterfinals 5-2 aggregate vs Fiorentina (Serie A)
Semifinals 3-2 aggregate vs Chelsea (Premier)
Finals 1-2 vs Real Madrid (Liga BBVA)

FA Cup

3rd round 3-0 vs Bolton (Premier)
4th round 4-0 vs Crystal Palace (League 1)
5th round 5-0 vs Ipswich (Championship)
6th round 2-0 vs Chelsea (Premier)
Semifinals 3-1 vs Arsenal (Premier)
Finals 4-2 p vs Tottenham (Premier)

League Cup

3rd round 2-0 vs Newcastle (Championship)
4th round 2-1 vs Liverpool(Premier)
Quarterfinals 2-1 vs Manchester United (Premier)

Transfers



Starting Eleven



Most Goals - Emmanuel Adebayor, 44
Most Assists - Carlos Tevez and Yoann Gourcuff, 16
Highest Average Rating - Emmanuel Adebayor, 7.96

Summary

After last season's unprecedented run of success, this season was a bit of a disappointment. We opened the season with an uninspired loss to Chelsea in the Community Shield. This kind of lackluster performance hit us in waves during the season. We defended the Premier League crown for a second year, yet we didn't seal the deal until there were only two games left in the season. Last year we won the title with a ton of time to spare. We also defended the FA Cup, although we had to rely on penalty shots to put away a Tottenham team that finished 6th in the league.

Our first run in the Champions League was a very successful, albeit heart-breaking one. We stormed through group play with a 4-1-1 mark, losing once to FC Bayern and drawing against Girondins Bordeaux. Again, the game vs Girondins Bordeaux was one that felt like we were lacking motivation. Porto gave us hell on their pitch and we fought for a 1-1 draw. When they came to Eastlands, however, we treated the home crowd to a 3-1 dismantling. We fared similarly in the next round vs Fiorentina. We scraped for a 2-2 draw away, and then smashed them at home 3-0. Against Chelsea in the semis, we staked ourselves to a 2-0 lead going into the second leg and cruised to a 3-1 aggregate victory that set us up against Real Madrid. On the one hand I was happy to face them instead of Barca, but on the other hand, I knew we would be up against it because Real had the strength to make it past Barca. The game got out of hand quickly with Christiano Ronaldo rifling home a long shot only 5 minutes into the game. Then before we could even regain our footing, Ronaldo hit us for a brace on the 14th minute. Adebayor netted one for us in the 83rd minute but it was nothing more than a consolation goal. We were outclassed through and through.

The League Cup was another source of frustration for me. We won the competition last year and I liked our chances this season. We went the distance vs Liverpool in the 4th round; scoring a goal in the 106th minute for the win. The quarters matched us up with Manchester United and I figured I'd have my hands full. I own Alex Ferguson during league play, but the bastard outdid me in the League Cup. The 1-2 loss to our rivals hurt almost as badly as our 1-2 loss to Real Madrid in the finals of the Champions League.

I think my focus going forward is going to be on defense. I splashed for a stud keeper - Igor Akinfeev. The 40m purchase will take over the starting spot ahead of Shay Given. I'm also on the lookout for a class left back so I can slide Salvatore Bocchetti inside to center back and start phasing out Kolo Toure. We have plenty of offensive firepower upcoming as well with the signings of Romelu Lukaku and Neymar.

Added 2 days later:

I wanted to do a quick update since I haven't had much time to play or update my story. We clinched our third straight Premier League crown 34 games into the season and that's music to my ears. This season's international play feels tougher this time around and I'm glad that I can somewhat shift my focus away from league play and concentrate my efforts more on the Champions League.

I don't think the teams are any tougher than last season in the Champions League, where we were grouped with FC Bayern. This season we were grouped with Inter, so it's not like group play was any easier. I think it's more because of the expectations that I have after such a strong first season on the big stage last year.

City's season is almost done so I'll have a proper update hopefully this weekend. After that, I'll figure out how to update my career as the manager of England. I'll tell you this much - my goal is to mirror Barca and the spanish national team. I want to bring in as much english talent to City as possible and have City essentially be an extension of the national team. I've already got a handful of players from the starting eleven and I plan on adding more in the near future.

Nice season and transfers well done mate

Man City, Premier League, 2010-2011

Competitions

Community Shield

3-0 vs Chelsea

League Table



Champions Cup



FA Cup

3rd round 5-3 vs Scunthorpe (Championship)
4th round 4-0 vs Cardiff (Championship)
5th round 7-0 vs Southend (League 1)
6th round 2-0 vs Stoke (Premier)
Semifinals 1-0 vs Tottenham (Premier)
Finals 1-0 vs Manchester United (Premier)

League Cup

3rd round 3-0 vs Preston (Championship)
4th round 4-2 vs Stoke (Premier)
Quarterfinals 1-0 vs Hull (Premier)
Semifinals, Leg 1 5-1 vs Bolton (Premier)
Semifinals, Leg 1 2-0 vs Bolton (Premier)
Finals 1-0 vs Manchester United (Premier)

Transfers



Starting Eleven



Most Goals - Emmanuel Adebayor, 57
Most Assists - Carlos Tevez, 23
Highest Average Rating - Emmanuel Adebayor, 8.34

Summary

Remember last season and how it began with a loss to Chelsea in the Community Shield? This season we started off with a win vs Chelsea in the Community Shield. Then we won the League Cup. Then we clinched the Premier League. Then we won the FA Cup. Then we won the Champions Cup! A clean sweep of epic proportions this season.

The biggest victory in a season full of them was - without a doubt - our Champions Cup win vs Chelsea. The game went all the way to penalties and we won it on our 7th kick. My second favorite accomplishment has to be us beating the hell out of Manchester United all season long. We beat them both times during league play, beat them to win the League Cup, and beat them again to win the FA Cup. Alex Ferguson retired after last season and I'd like to think I helped get his successor, Luis Aragones, fired.

What do we do for an encore next season? Try to defend all four trophies, of course!

maybe time to start a new save? you won everyhing well done btw. even though i don't like city....

# RedArmy20 : maybe time to start a new save? you won everyhing well done btw. even though i don't like city....

My goal now is to basically use City as a training ground for England. I'm getting into the Euro Championships right now and I want to buy up all the top English talent.

Added 5 days later:


England update

My first major hurdle of my international coaching career has been cleared by participating in the 2012 Euro Championship. We were drawn into a group along with Italy, the Czech Republic, and Denmark. We began with an emphatic 2-0 victory over Italy and that confidence carried us through an undefeated run in group play (2-1 victories over both the Czech Republic and Denmark).

The quarterfinals matched us up against Romania and I think we severely underestimated them. We took the lead 19 minutes in on a Gabby Agbonlahor goal, only to have Gigel Bucur equalize 5 minutes later. Then in the 38th minute, Wayne Rooney slotted one home for a 2-1 lead at the break. We played cautiously with the lead and looked like sure bets to win in regulation. Then 2 minutes into extra time, Gigel Bucur grabbed a brace to tie the game. I felt gutted, the team played a half step slow in extra time, and we headed off into penalties. We picked things up, however, banging home all four of our shots while Romania missed their 3rd and 4th attempts.

This win put us into the semis against a much tougher Russian squad; one that is headlined by my City wonderkid at keeper - Igor Akinfeev. Akinfeev reminded me all game long why I splashed the cash to bring him to City. Ashley Young broke open a scoreless game in the 23rd minute and we were fortunate to get that. Akinfeev was on fire and stopped every other shot sent his way. It wasn't until the 72nd minute that another goal was scored - the second by Ashley Young - and that the game was put out of doubt.

The Russia game was an excellent warmup for our opponent in the finals - Italy. I felt good about our opponent because we handed them a 2-0 defeat during group play, but that was group play. This is the finals. Wayne Rooney was on a mission and he banged home the opening goal only 4 minutes into the match! That lead held going into the second half. Italy equalized in the 65th minute, however, on an Alberto Gilardino goal. The hero from the quarterfinals, Gabby Agbonlahor, gave us back the lead with his 74th minute goal. Gilardino was at it again in the 81st minute, however, and we were all square going into the home stretch. As we got into stoppage time it looked like extra time and penalties could be in the works. But in the 91st minute, Gabby Agbonlahor slotted home his second goal of the game and we escaped as champions!