Fulham To The Top

First of all I'd like to mention I'm new, with this being my very first post/topic, and I'm also kind of new to FM, so go easy on me, I may make bizarre decisions

Secondly, I don't usually manage top tier teams such as Fulham, I usually go for lower teams, such as Fleetwood, York City, I've even managed the likes of Chorley and Sheffield F.C(First football team ever ).

Anyway, let's begin.

Transfers

In

Mohamed Diame - £3.7 million

Out

Stephen Kelly to Southampton for £1.9 million
Kerim Frei - On loan to Leeds, Leeds paying 100% wages

Tactics

Being new to the game it was a struggle at first to me, however I am slowly getting more experienced and, hopefully, better. Due to being a top tier team with many good teams in the EPL I decided to use one of Mr Hough's tactics, it sounds like it works wonders.

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-tactics-training/90781-mr-hough-rolls-back-years-fm12.html

Pre-Season

I would say a pretty successful pre-season, not losing at all in the EURO Cup. Didn't have the opportunity for much friendlies due to the amount of EURO games, I also cancelled one as it was 2 days before my first game at home, to Man Utd, so I wanted the best fitness possible. The results follow:

EURO Cup 1st Qual. Rnd 1 - Fulham 4 - 0 Irtysh Pavlodar
EURO Cup 1st Qual. Rnd 2 - Irtysh Pavlodar (0)0 - 4(8) Fulham
Friendly - Stade Rennais FC 0 - 3 Fulham
EURO Cup 2nd Qual. Rnd 1 - Vaduz 0 - 2 Fulham
EURO Cup 2nd Qual. Rnd 2 - Fulham (5)3 - 0(0) Vaduz
Friendly - Fleetwood Town 1 - 6 Fulham
EURO Cup 3rd Qual. Rnd 1 - Senica 0 - 2 Fulham
EURO Cup 3rd Qual. Rnd 2 - Fulham (5)3 - 0(0) Senica
Friendly - Fulham 1 - 0 Roma

Really happy with those results, especially the Roma one.

P.S - From 1.7.2012 I will have to pay 830k per month until 2030 to rid the debt, anyone know how I could make money as I really don't fancy losing 830k+ per month.

Also, any constructive criticism about the style, layout etc would be appreciated ^-^

just a suggestion .considering your new to the game i would suggest trying your own tactic instead of pre made ones because otherwise your not going to learn the fine arts of tactical management .

well considering your in the Europa League that will bring you in a bit of extra cash

Thanks man, I will try to introduce my own tactic into the team through games that don't really matter or games that I'm certain to win.

August Summary

It has been a great start for us, doing far better than expected. Pavel Pogrebnyak has also had a great start this season, scoring 9 goals in 10 matches.

Transfers
In - Rafael from Man Utd until end of season, 100% wages payed by me, 650k initial fee.

Out - Damien Duff to West Brom until end of season, 100% wages payed by them, 100k initial fee.

I play a 4-1-2-3 so I decided to loan him out to lower the wage bill and there's better options at cm than duff.

Fixtures

Premier Division - Fulham 3 - 0 Man Utd
EURO Cup 4th Qual. Rnd 1 - Legia 1 - 5 Fulham
Premier Division - Sunderland 0 - 1 Fulham
EURO Cup 4th Qual. Rnd 2 - Fulham (8)3 - 0(1) Legia
Premier Division - Fulham 1 - 0 Everton

Overall, I'm happy with those results, especially the Man Utd one, although a goal did come from a pen and
a free-kick from Riise. However, the EURO Cup Group Stage is rather tough. With my group being:

Sevilla
Lokomotiv Moscow
Fulham
Thun

Sevilla and Lokomotiv being the more tough opposition, but I can't underestimate Thun either, they have the current top goal scorer for the EURO Cup, Marco Schnewly, managing 12 goals in 8 games. On the bright side, the League Cup has been more kind, drawing us against Barnsley.

In other news, we didn't win a single award, Wolves' Terry Connor took Manager of the month, despite being second, not too sure how I didn't get this one.

Stay Tuned for September summary - Young Owl.

Good move getting Rafael He'll be awesome if you play him the right way. Definitely better than his twin Fabio. In my fourth season at Man Utd he always puts in good performances.

Arsenal v Fulham

I think I'm going to start posting after every match, just to experiment, I'll see which way I like best.

Anyway, the bad news, Ruiz and Pogrebnyak are injured, they were both on fantastic goalscoring form too.

But, the good, we beat Arsenal! Before the fixture I was hoping to grind out a win to continue our form, and that's exactly what I got, with the assistance of 2 own goals. Arsenal showed inspiration counter-attacking football, however their defenders lets them down, but I still thought we did great to come from behind to win.

Lokomotiv Moscow v Fulham

Today was a game against Lokomotiv, we went in as underdogs and we managed a draw - a result I'm not too disappointed in, especially since it's away and we've lost Pogrebnyak who was in a great form for the EURO Cup. However, I feel Dembele could of done more, missing a few chances which could of won us this game, but atleast we are at home when we next face them!

Barnsley v Fulham

We did nothing more than expected today in the league cup, securing a win against Barnsley. However I can't help but feel we should of done more today, with Dembele unable to find the back of the net, but a win is a win. I also brought up Sa from the reserves for his debut today, and he was the only goalscorer, pretty impressive debut.

Nice story mate enjoying it (y)

Looks good bro, keep going

Stoke v Fulham

Today we faced Stoke, a sometimes tricky opposition, which is what they proved to be, with Cameron Jerome scoring in the 22nd minute. However, my half time team-talk most of set the boys straight as they made an emphatic comeback. One of the main reasons I brought up Orlando Sa was to make Dembele realise he had a challenge for a first team spot, and it worked, with him scoring in 46th minute; Sa scored as well, making that 2 goals in 2 games.



After 5 games in the league, I'm happy with our position, especially with a game in hand and Man Utd only above us on goal difference, but this is only early stages. Surprisingly, Arsenal and Newcastle are in the relegation zone, Arsenal were 20th but grabbed their first win today.

Fulham v Thun

We went into this next game in EURO Cup with high hopes of a win and results going our way. We certainly got the win, Dempsey with a top class performance and earning himself a hat-trick.



However, other results didn't go our way, with Sevilla grabbing a 3-0 win over Lokomotiv which puts them top of our group.

September Summary

Overall, I'm pleased with how this month went, and I'm still to lose with Fulham, although that may come in October, facing the likes of Sevilla, Chelsea and Man City.

Injuries - Bryan Ruiz is slowly making his way back into the squad and should be fine for October, meanwhile, Andy Johnson suffered a gashed leg and is out for a week.

Disappointingly, I still haven't won an award with Fulham, with Kenny Dalgish grabbing Manager of the month, and Berbatov grabbing Player of the month despite my players being frequently listed in the team of the week.

In other news, Dalle Valle has gone on loan to Scunthorpe for 1 month, them paying 70% wages and I signed Martin Montoya from Barcelona for a fee of £4.3 million, he will join us at the start of the January transfer window.

Fulham v Wigan

Went into this game favourites, and for a good reason, coming out of the game with a 3 - 1 victory, Dempsey continuing from last game and scoring another two, also a trademark free-kick from John Arne Riise.

Bolton v Fulham

Hoping to continue our league form we headed to the Reebok Stadium to face a struggling Bolton side. Sa got us off to a good start, scoring in the 18th minute and then Dembele contributing to the scoreline 5 minutes later. Dempsey also scored again, continuing his form.

In good news, Pogrebnyak has resumed full training and should be back into the first team soon.

Sevilla v Fulham

We travelled to Spain to face Sevilla in the EURO Cup, a game we were underdogs us, some tipped us to cause an upset. Sevilla got of to a great start, with Negredo scoring in the second minute, but it wasn't their day with Dempsey scoring in the 5th and 13th minute and Dembele adding to the tally with a goal in the 43rd minute. Sevilla came out stronger in the second half, constantly pressing, which was harder to defend after we lost Riise to injury, all that pressure led to a goal from Navas, but at the end of the day our defence kept them out and we caused an upset, one our whole squad can be proud with.