A push for European glory - Watford

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shasterix

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Not much to say to this..just your average lower prem story. This is my first story ever so please feel free to leave some feedback on what you think would work better, etc.

My goals for this save are:

Avoid relegation 1st season.
Sign and blood some younger players season 2, clear deadwood, push for mid table.
Top half finish, pushing for continental qualification (europa) season 3
Push for Champion's League football season 4, and the title
Title fight
Then a deep run into the Champion's League.
Use my own tactics in every game.

I will have a large focus on youth in this save and developing my facilities, recruitment, coaching and of course the players.

Well..here I am appointed as Watford's new manager.

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Aaaand here is the aging squad I have inherited. I hate having players over 30, so there will be a lot of transfer movements 2-3 seasons in.

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I have identifed 4 players which will be crucial to our success in staying up this season, and who I will look for the team to revolve around early on.

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I will be looking for Nyom to provide physicality down the right using his strength and some pace, while being a main crossing threat.

Behrami will be crucial in shielding the defence when my wingbacks adventure up the field, he will also be very important in shutting down promising attacks from the opposition.

Ighalo will be my main scoring threat, arguably, the striker and left back positions are probably my weakest, it may be something to look into in the January transfer window, provided how good or bad we are performing.

Jurado will be the focal point of all our attacks. A very pinpoint passer and the team will be moving around him, he is getting on though so I'll be looking for a youngster who can fill in for him when he eventually declines.

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Here is my tactic..very attacking. For me, the best form of defence is attack and we can win in we can outscore our opposition. This tactical outlook may prove fatal in some cases but I believe it will be more of a benefit than it is a burden.

I will be posting monthly updates, so next update will be friendlies and the first month of the Premier League season, and any transfer roundup.
 
I'll be giving this a follow. In my first season as Manchester United on FM16, Watford finished 6th. So Europe could be a reality quite soon for you :)
 
Will be following this, really impressed with Watford in real life asewll!
 
Cheers for the replies :) I thought I'd be struggling, but this team is better than I thought it'd be but still early days yet.

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JULY/AUGUST 2015

With the friendlies over and done with, it was time for the Premier League to start.

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A fairly successful pre-season here as you can see, just getting all the players into match fitness and having them adapt to my tactics. A particular highlight was the Leverkusen result, all these games were played by my ***.man though. No significant injuries either..

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I was anticipated 6 out of 12 points for these 4 fixtures, and while I'm pleased we reached our target, it really should have been 9.

Arsenal (Away): They were the better team, but we didn't embarrass ourselves. We fought bravely and we went the first half without conceding, and it took Arsenal 75 minutes to score against us through an Oxlade-Chamberlain 1 on 1. Gomes was very impressive as was the entire defence.

Aston Villa (Home): We dominated them and thoroughly deserved our 2-0 win. We were 2-0 up through a Holebas penalty and Ighalo's powerful strike from close range 20 seconds into the second half. Things tamed down when Capoue got sent off 53 minutes in for persistent fouling. I have noticed so far we are having massive disciplinary issues which if it continues we need to look into it.

Bournemouth (Away): A solid, if uninspiring performance 1-0 by the Hornets. Bournemouth sat back and defended resolutely but never really looked like threatening us, unsurprising since they were missing Gradel, Ritchie and Wilson, arguably their three most important players. Main talking point though is Besic getting sent off 53 minutes into his debut (on loan) for a horror tackle, then being handed a further 2 matches ontop of his 1 match ban.

Leicester (Home): Honestly a surprise any of the players in the dressing room emerged alive! We squandered so many chances that really should have been put away, and our solid defending of the previous 3 games had disappeared into thin air. Jurado missed an absolute sitter which would have put us 1-0 early on in the game, but instead we went into half time 1-0 down thanks to a Kramaric strike from outside the box which was their first shot of the game 28 minutes in. Ruben Garcia nodded home his first of his Watford career from an Ibarbo cross. Come the 64th minute and a defensive collapse saw Vardy score a 1 on 1 with the keeper at which point I just about lobbed the computer off the balcony. However Ighalo restored parity by scoring from our kick off attack immediately after, and when I believed we had gotten into a more clinical stride, a complete f*ck up by Prodl completely missing his header allowed Vardy to stroll through and consign us to defeat. At least we didn't get a red card though.

Here are the Leicester stats..

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We also made two signings, first off Lucas Evangelista from Udinese who won't play an immediate role due to failing a work permit but has been loaned out to Ligue 1 side Reims. The only reason I purchased him was because it was a $0 transfer fee..the only expense was the agent fee. Maybe a bug perhaps? I don't know but I will make a profit off him in the future.

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My other signing which I forgot to screenshot was Muhammed Besic on loan from Everton, provides depth to my scarce midfield and will also challenge for a first team role. Paying $350k per month for him so not too bad.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

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Jose Holebas. The left back has been absolutely vital to the team this first month, and covering every blade of grass up that left side and providing defensive solidity while also providing dangerous crosses and assisting a couple goals, even scoring one himself. THis award could have also gone to Ighalo or Ibarbo.

Upcoming fixtures

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The first international break kicks in, so we have some breathing time. Two difficult games to round off the month though, aiming for 4 points from 9, 1 at Swansea and 3 from Norwich, not expecting any from a tricky Man City away game.

The next update will be a round-up of the biggest transfers from around the leagues when deadline day is done and dusted :)
 
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I don't know for sure but the no transfer fee could be because Watford and Udinese have the same owners. Not sure though
 
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With deadline day done and dusted here are the top 3 biggest deals around the world as the season really starts now..

1. Hakan Calhanoglu - Leverkusen to Chelsea
$54 million

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One of the more exciting players to watch, Calhanoglu completed his move to most like Chelsea's bench for $54 million. I'd say Chelsea got the better end of this deal with Hakan having plenty of room still to develop but his contract status is rotation and I'd expect to see him go for a lot less to another team in a couple seasons time.

2. Gregory van der Wiel - Paris Saint-Germain to Manchester United
$35.5 million

View attachment 214712Will provide Darmian with needed competition, van der Wiel is better going forward and better mentally but is a couple years older than Matteo.

3. Gokhan Tore - Besiktas to Paris Saint-Germain
$33.5 million

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A player I really like a lot on FM..and even though he has quality and would walk into any team I managed, I think he'll find himself warming the bench a lot.. ala the PSG effect. He has to try outplay Cavani who is deployed on the right on FM and Lucas Moura who is a shining talent, and Di Maria is an option for both sides too, aaaand there is Lavezzi. In short I think PSG will have to get ready to embrace their losses when Tore eventually wants out in the not too distant future. I just hope by then we have enough stature in the world that we can entice him to our club!

Other big deals

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Future transfers

There are a lot of these which surprised me and Roma seems to have spent a lot of money on players they can't even have yet..

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Round-up of our transfer business

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As you can see no further ins or outs were made, although I did try to shop off a couple of the people I realised I wouldn't be using so hopefully I can offload them come January time so I have some room to sign better players to help our cause in the Premier League. Sean Murray returns from his loan at Wigan at the beginning of January so that will help keep the midfield fresh and he's also a youngster who seems to be a decent prospect

Next update will be round-up of Septembers games :) Lack of updates is due to exams this week (groan) so expect much more frequent posts when they are over!
 
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SEPTEMBER UPDATE '15
​

A surprisingly good month! We showed we are no pushovers and maybe are contenders for a mid-table finish.

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Stats aren't as even as they suggest, most of Swansea's shots were off target and from distance! Our defensive displays are superb

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We stole a point here, we were completely outclassed. Made a small tweak to stop being overrun in midfield and we we're rewarded with 2 arguably undeserved goals, but take them when you can!

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I am giving some effort to the Capital One Cup as is it silverware I feel we are capable of pushing for, and this result was a good way to gain confidence to do that. We deserved a win or a point and definitely didn't embarrass ourselves, but now we have drawn the red side of North London for the next round unfortunately

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GET IN! Fantastic performance by the lads and whilst a draw would have probably been fair, I think we did ourselves justice in getting this victory. Aguero was woeful and missed 2 absolute howlers so we are lucky but we have shown everyone we mean business


Upcoming fixtures​

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Not the easiest run of fixtures but hey I think 5 points is achievable here, and hopefully we can catch Arsenal off guard in the cup.


PLAYER OF THE MONTH​

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Tommie Hoban​

Been an absolute rock in our defense and has been the main reason we have hardly been conceding. Initialoly I had him in the first team due to Britos being injured but Hoban has made himself star of the show. Ighalo is an honourable mention too.
 
Love your precentation my friend ! Holebas is a very good player (he served us well in Olympiakos)! If only he were a little better in his defensive duties !
 
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OCTOBER '15​

Very good month in all..shame we lost to Arsenal in the cup even though we really should have won. Ibarbo won goal of the month and I got 3rd in manager of the month. Jurado has been awful and will look for a replacement come January.

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Just one of those games..


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We went behind but I made a couple changes and the lads responded magnificently. Our away form is fantastic

Inbetween that game and the next we were hit the news that our main signing Ruben Garcia will be out for a month after injuring himself in training and with a lack of quality left wingers I was worried.

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Lloris played like a man possessed, the scoreline without him would have been 5-1. Ighalo bags a hattrick to continue his impressive vein of form

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Disappointing way to go out, every time we scored they pegged one back within 1 or 2 minutes..and Gomes even saved 3 penalties in the shootout but we still managed to miss just as many, we should have won

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Solid win away from home although I'm beginning to notice a few sloppy goals getting in. Ibarbo has been vital this season so I hope we can afford his future fee that is in his contract

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Our form over the last few games has been nothing short of superb even for a top team, but for a team like Watford it has been sensational. Waiting for that inevitable post Christmas slump..

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

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Odion Ighalo​

The Nigerian striker has been in lethal form and has been on a goalscoring rampage, topping our goalscoring charts and currently top scorer in the BPL. His physicality is what makes him such a threat, as with Ibarbo.

Upcoming fixtures​

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I think 5 points from 9 would be fair here, Southampton are bottom of league and have only won 1 game.
 
kolas79 said:
Love your precentation my friend ! Holebas is a very good player (he served us well in Olympiakos)! If only he were a little better in his defensive duties !
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah he's been fantastic going forward and been a threat on the wings and you're right would be handy if he was a bit better defensively but it hasn't hampered our results
 
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Sealed my foreseeable future at Watford and even got an increased Youth Level and higher youth recruitment out of it :) Hopefully some nice regens start to come now
 
It's early days but is anyone following? Anyone got some tips on presentation, ideas etc
 
Ighalo is a beast of a striker in FM.

Following the story mate, keep it up!
 
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