LUFC - Marching on Together to the Top

Well hello and welcome to my new Leeds United FM story. I have chosen Leeds because they are my favourite team and also because they will provide a challenge. The challenge is to get promoted on a shoe string, seeing as how the chairman is tighter that Mr Scrooge, and then establish this club at the top of English football. I don’t know how long it will take, but this time I promise to stick around. Keep an eye on this one because Leeds are going marching on together to the top.

Good luck with that looking forward to this story

#47240 patrick1 : Good luck with that looking forward to this story

Thanks mate. Me too!

TALKING TRANSFERS

After looking at my squad and using the knowledge of Leeds that I already have, I have decided that I should be looking to sign a quality defensive midfielder, a quality left winger and a good right back. This might be tricky as my generous chairman has given me a transfer budget of only 300k! This means I will have to offload some deadwood to fund my transfers, Leigh Bromby and Ramon Nunez are the names that spring to mind…..and I have also brought in an entirely new set of backroom staff to help me run the club.

TALKING TACTICS

Here are the tactics that I will be using.
Home:

GK
Right back, full back, automatic
Centre back, centre back, defend
Centre back, centre back, defend
Left back, full back, automatic

Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder, defend
Central midfielder, ball winning midfielder, support
Central midfielder, advanced playmaker, attack

Right winger, winger, attack
Left winger, winger, attack
Striker, poacher, attack

This will generally be used with an attacking strategy, except perhaps against very strong visitors.
Away:

GK
Right back, full back, automatic
Centre back, centre back, defend
Centre back, centre back, defend
Left back, full back, automatic

Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder, defend
Central midfielder, ball winning midfielder, defend
Central midfielder, ball winning midfielder, support

Right winger, advanced playmaker, support
Left winger, winger, attack
Striker, target man, attack

I will use a counter or defend strategy in these games. In might not be pretty to watch, but in away games our primary focus will be clean sheets because I know that if we can keep it tight then we will pick up draws and tight wins. This means that if we win most of our home games then we will be promoted, which is what the main focus is. I have also set up a solid 442 formation to use if injuries/suspensions man that we cannot use these ones. Sorry for the long post.

PRE-SEASON OVERVIEW

Here are the results from my pre-season friendlies.

Alfreton Town 1-4 Leeds United
Leeds United 0-0 Rangers
Leeds United 2-0 Leeds Reserves
Guiseley 0-6 Leeds United
MK Dons 3-2 Leeds United
Leeds United 2-2 Celtic
Partick Thistle 1-0 Leeds United
Leeds United 6-0 New Mills

Overall I can’t complain too much with how the pre-season went, the high points being drawing against Celtic and Rangers, the low points being losing to MK Dons and Partick Thistle. The last friendly wasn’t even going to happen but after losing that one I quickly arranged one against a very small reputation team so I could raise morale again! My first game of the season is Ipswich at home in the Championship.

TALKING TRANSFERS

IN:

Stuart Parnaby - Free Transfer-
Cedric van der Gun - Free transfer-
Tom Hitchcock – Free Transfer-
Martin Angha – 70k -
Emmanuel Frimpong – Loan -
Diego Arismendi – Loan, 475k fee -

OUT:

Ramon Nunez – 650k
Billy Paynter – 475k

I am pleased with my signings, and I am especially happy that I managed to make a large profit that I might be able to use in January. Tom Hitchcock and Martin Angha are teenagers who will not offer much now but have lots of potential, and we have good youth facilities which will be helpful. Parnaby is miles better than my next right back, Connolly, and we had no defensive midfielders at all so Arismendi and Frimpong will be great. Van der Gun can provide good cover on either wing, I doubt that he’ll set the world alight but he can do a job when called upon. As I do not need attacking midfielders, and Paynter is shocking, I cashed in. I was surprised to get the price I did for them! Anyway, with the signings I have made, and the quality I already have, we should be able to push for promotion to get this club back where they belong.

CHAMPIONSHIP-LEEDS VS IPSWICH

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: Kisnorbo
DC: O’Brien
DL: Pugh

DMC: Arismendi
MC: Howson
MC: Clayton (Frimpong, 75)

AMR: Snodgrass
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 64)
ST: Keogh

Well we were finally underway and I was glad that we had a home game to kick off the season. We played well and inside the first 60 seconds Snodgrass had firmly nodded home the first goal of the game, giving us an early advantage. Five minutes later, Snodgrass was causing more problems for Ipswich as he ran diagonally into the box with the ball and laid it off beautifully for Clayton, but the central midfielder scuffed his shot straight into the grateful arms of the opposition goalkeeper. Even though we were playing well, I knew that Jimmy Bullard’s set pieces could cause problems, and just to prove me right, he whipped a beautiful corner in on 8 minutes for Ipswich striker Daryl Murphy to bundle into the net. We would not be beaten though, and next time it was Ross McCormack who ran into Ipswich’s box but it was local lad and club captain Jonny Howson who swept the ball past the dive of David Stockdale to give us back our lead. We kept the ball well for the rest of the half, switching play and toying with the Ipswich defence, but eventually a nice piece of closing down by Snodgrass led to him tackling a defender and having a go at goal. This time it hit the keeper but Andy Keogh was there to smash in the rebound on his debut just before half-time. The second half was pretty much the same as the first, and eventually substitute van der Gun slid a through ball behind the defence for Keogh to place past the keeper and all but seal the victory. Final Score 4-1 Man of the Match - Snodgrass, 8.9

LEAGUE CUP-SHREWSBURY VS LEEDS

GK: Rachkuba
DR: Connolly
DC: Lees
DC: O'Dea
DL: Parker

DMC: Arismendi
MC: Frimpong (Brown, 58)
MC: Vayrynen

AMR: Sam
AML: White (McCormack, 76)
ST: Forsell

I changed almost my whole team for this one, as the league is my priority. Even so, I knew that this team should have been able to beat Shrewsbury, and although we left it late, we managed it in the end. All game we created decent chances, especially from set pieces, but did not put them away. It took until the 77th minute for debutant Mikael Forsell to power in to the top corner from just inside the penalty area, and five minutes later, McCormack had in the net again, but the goal was unfairly ruled offside. We kept the ball for the last ten minutes, and eventually a last minute counter saw Forsell slipping through McCormack for him to place it to the left of the keeper from a wide position. Final Score 0-2 Man of the Match – Forsell, 8.2

CHAMPIONSHIP - MIDDLESBROUGH VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Pugh

DMC: Frimpong
MC: Brown (Clayton, 59)
MC: Howson

AMR: Snodgrass
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 71)
ST: Keogh

We made a bright start to the match, and Andy Keogh put us ahead in the 9th minute with an accurate finish into the bottom corner. We were playing some lovely triangles and passing it around nicely, but our lead couldn’t last and Middlesbrough equalized from a corner with the ball bouncing around the box before Stephen McManus tapped it in from close range. It then got worse for us, with Jonny Howson being unlucky when he scored an embarrassing own goal just after half time. However, we were still in the match, and our situation got better on 73 minutes when Middlesbrough’s Justin Hoyte got sent off for a professional foul on Keogh when he was about to go through on goal. We continued to send plenty of attacks, and finally made the breakthrough through Cedric van der Gun, who tapped into an empty net when Keogh’s shot was deflected, but we couldn’t grab the 3 points. Still, I know that if we win our home games and draw our away games then we will wind up on 92 points, which will be more than enough for automatic promotion. Final Score 2-2 Man of the Match – Keogh, 8

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS DERBY

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo (Lees, 83)
DL: Pugh

DMC: Arismendi
MC: Howson (Frimpong, 71)
MC: Clayton

AMR: Snodgrass (McCormack, 71)
AML: van der Gun
ST: Keogh

For the first half an hour the match was pretty even, both teams had a couple of decent chances but it wasn’t a brilliant game. Then on 36 minutes Danny Pugh swept a cross over to the far post from the left hand side, a Derby defender called Roberts missed his interception and it fell nicely for star player Snodgrass to fire us into the lead. From that point on there was only one team in it. We controlled play, and the opposition full backs could not cope with our two wingers, especially Snodgrass. It was Snodgrass who, just after half time, made a darting run in behind Gary Roberts, Clayton slipped him through and his rebounded shot played perfectly for Keogh, who greedily snapped up an easy goal. We struck again on 75 minutes, with van der Gun playing an easy pass to Keogh, who turned and from 18 yards rifled in his fifth of the season. And that’s only after three games! Final Score 3-0 Man of the Match – Keogh, 8.8

TALKING TRANSFERS

I have signed a couple of youngsters with high potential and also let one player go who is surplus to requirements.

IN:

Daniel Devine – 70k -
Davide Petrucci – Free transfer -
Charni Ekangamine – 170k -

OUT:

Alex Bruce – 250k

I now have even more profit from this window! Also, I now have some decent youth prospects coming through-before these the best one only had potential to be one and a half stars. Alex Bruce is rubbish and was sucking up a decent wage so when Blackpool came calling, I didn’t even really have to think about it!

CHAMPIONSHIP – READING VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien (Off, 82)
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Pugh

DMC: Frimpong (Lees, 83)
MC: Brown (Arismendi, 63)
MC: Howson

AMR: Snodgrass
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 70)
ST: Keogh

This was going to be my hardest game so far, and I was cautious in my line-up, going quite defensive. In the first half Reading were probably the better team, but they created no real clear cut chances, and we were dangerous on the counter. Unfortunately, just before half-time, Andy O’Brien gave away a unnecessary penalty, and well, Ian Harte was never really going to miss. In the second half, Reading still struggled to create, due to our organized defence, but just in the last 20 minutes as we were in our best spell of the game O’Brien got sent off for a professional foul. We were fighting a losing battle from then on, but overall I do think we probably deserved a draw and were unlucky not to get a point. Final Score 1-0 Man of the Match – Andy Griffin, 8.3 (Reading)

INJURY UPDATE

Ross McCormack out for about 3 months.

Hopefully you ll help drop Leeds back where they belong: League 1!!!

Only joking. This looks interesting. Will be reading.