A Southampton Story - A Saintly Road to Domination.

[Sherkey]

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A Southampton Challenge


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Hello, and welcome to my Southampton save. My previous Manchester United save was not very challenging, since I had a world-class winning team, with brilliant back-ups at every position, and had pretty much won everything, within two years. So, this time, for the first time, I'll be looking to depart from Manchester United, and go with Southampton. Hopefully, the challenges will keep me interested for a while, and make it a long term save.


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As can be seen, not too many silverware lying in the cabinet. Of course, during the course of my tenure at the club, I hope to change that to include a lot more. Which in turn, brings us to overall aims.


Overall Aims
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• 
  [*=center]Win the Capital One Cup.
  [*=center]Win the F.A Cup.
  [*=center]Win the Barclays Premier League.
  [*=center]Win the Europa League.
  [*=center]Win the UEFA Champions League.
  [*=center]Go a season undefeated.
  
  
  The last one seems very unrealistic at present, but who knows, if I can establish my dominance that way, then all for it. Although, I wouldn't like for it to happen irl, since that'd mean English football was no longer challenging >.<
  
  Since I'm a hardcore Manchester United fan, and usually almost always manage them, decided to go something new. While this isn't as challenging as starting from League 1 or 2, for me, it presents a reasonable, achievable challenge.
  ​

 

[Seano]

Southampton are great fun, i'm into my third season with them. Shouldn't take too long to win the FA Cup and Capital One Cup or even the Europa League. I'll be following this to compare haha, best of luck!

 

[White army]

Good luck with them. .u have an amazing save still going strong on fm13 where I am in 2019 and have wo the europa league 3 years in a row tge champions league 2 times ina row as well as the European super cup 4 times I a row fa cup 3 times and Capitol one cup twice only thing I aint won is the premier league so I know it a great challenge

 

[Sherkey]

TEAM DEPTH

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All in all, I feel Soton have a pretty decent team, atleast for the current season. Some pretty good players means we can atleast challenge for a top half finish, if not more. It'd be sweet to cross out atleast one of the aims in the first season itself!


KEY PLAYERS
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These will be my main key players for the upcoming season. Hopefully, they'll perform upto the expectations upon them. There are a couple more players who can cement their spots too, with good performances.


BOARD OBJECTIVES
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This is really problematic, and rather irritating, since I really don't like playing possession soccer. Nor will it be easy to sign high-profile players on a small budget, unless they're very, very old. But I wasn't able to get the **** board to let me off the hook, so I really hope the first season goes well, in order for me to re-negotiate my contract from a dominant position.


BUDGET
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So, I decided to opt for a top half finish for this season. I feel this should atleast be easily achievable with the current squad, and it adds a slight boost to my low transfer budget. [Low, because I'm used to dealing with 50-100 Millions, generally]


TRANSFERS:
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A decent enough transfer window, although I do wish I had a teeny bit more funds, to strengthen more positions[I particularly wanted to bring in Didier Drogba to the club (would also help High Profile clause)], but that was not to be. Benayoun and Sissoko's experience should serve us greatly, and they were on a free, which makes it a beautiful deal! Strandberg was very cheap, for what is a rather good cover option for DC. Ince, I'm hoping, will turn out to be a very good player for us. Macheda, was just on a whim, since he was banging in goals after I'd sold him, on another of my saves. I didn't let anyone go, mainly because I decided to err on the side of caution.
​

 

[Sherkey]

Southampton are great fun, i'm into my third season with them. Shouldn't take too long to win the FA Cup and Capital One Cup or even the Europa League. I'll be following this to compare haha, best of luck!

Yeah man, I really hope it goes well too ^_^

Good luck with them. .u have an amazing save still going strong on fm13 where I am in 2019 and have wo the europa league 3 years in a row tge champions league 2 times ina row as well as the European super cup 4 times I a row fa cup 3 times and Capitol one cup twice only thing I aint won is the premier league so I know it a great challenge

That's a heck of a save mate, hopefully, mine'll go on for a while too xD

 

[White army]

Yeah I am still addicted to it lol more than fm14 which I just cant get into at all yet

 

[Sherkey]

MATCHES

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Decent enough schedule, as it is. If we can maintain momentum in the middle, there should be a good chance for us to try for a top table finish. The main stumbling blocks will be against the big 4, so hopefully, if we can perform well at home against them, and decently away against other teams, we should be ok.



PRE-SEASON

Friendly
Elgin City 0 - 6 Southampton
Victor Wanyama (9), Gaston Ramirez (25), Pablo Oswaldo (30, 87, 89), Yossi Benayoun (50)
MoTM : Pablo Oswaldo

A brilliant start to our campaign, although it isn't a very stern test. But a 6-0 win is sure to improve morale in the squad. Also, Benayoun makes an instant impact.


Friendly
B-Tel Aviv/Ramla 0 - 1 Southampton
Alon Lazmi o.g (34)
MoTM : Artur Boruc
A disappointing outing against a weak side. If it wasn't for the own goal, this would have been even worse, if that was even possible. Boruc made some top-class saves, thus ensuring us the victory.


Friendly
H. Ako 0 - 3 Southampton
Guly do Prado (25, 45+1), Rickie Lambert (28)
MoTM: Guly do Prado
Lambert contributed again, but this time, it was experienced Guly do Prado who stole the show. Admittedly a vast difference in performance compared to the previous match, but still squandered a lot of chances.


Friendly
Irony Bat-Yam 0 - 6 Southampton
Luke Shaw (8), Rickie Lambert(14, 22, 40, 64), Yossi Benayoun (45+1)
MotM: Rickie Lambert
Another outstanding performance, and Lambert stole the show, and showed why he would be the main striker in the upcoming season.


Friendly
Southampton 1 - 1 Anderlecht
Rickie Lambert (48) | Matias Suarez (72)
MotM: Jos Hooieveld
We should frankly, have gotten the win, the defence was decent, but wasn't meant to be, Suarez got a dead range goal. Hooieveld was the surprise of the match, picking up MotM, and proving he can be solid at the back too.


Friendly
Southampton 1 - 1 Granada
Rickie Lambert (3, 35 pen) | Darwin Marchis (51), Odion Ighalo (66)
MotM: Rickie Lambert
Another frustrating match, where we should have been clear, run-away winners, but lapses of concentration in the second-half saw the match foolishly slip away from our grasp.


Friendly
Southampton 0 - 1 Galatasaray
Emre Colak (14)
MotM: Luke Shaw
Our first encounter with a UEFA Champions League regular, and we were defeated at home. Although, to hold out to only a single goal defeat means there are some positives that we can take back.



​

 

[Sherkey]

AUGUST

Premier League
Southampton 3 - 0 Aston Villa
Yossi Benayoun (34), Antonio Luna o.g (66), Rickie Lambert (74)
MotM: Yossi Benayoun
I'm reasonably happy with this result, since it is a home-game. Aston Villa are a lot stronger than us, but they're marred by injuries to 6 different players, which we took full advantage of and hence it was bound to be us all the way.

Premier League
Manchester United 3 - 0 Southampton
Robin van Persie (pen 8), Rooney (41, 42)
MotM: Wayne Rooney
A horrible first half, especially the later stages. United weren't at the top of their game, which is understandable, considering they only got in Arda Turan in the transfer window. There was still hope, and some good movement was being created, but we were caught napping, and sunk by Rooney with quick, twin strikes.


Capital One Cup
Southampton 4 - 2 Leyton Orient
Macheda (22), Lallana (29), Rickie Lambert (71, 88) | Lisbie (pen 17), Mooney (19)
MotM: Rickie Lambert
This one is a misxed bag. While it was good to get the win to progress, we leaked goals to a squad who shouldn't haven been able to get a single goal at all, especially at Soton. 2 quickfire strikes gave them a 2-0 lead, but thankfully, their defence was worse, paving the way for super-sub Lambert to get us the victory in the 2nd half.


Premier League
Southampton 2 - 0 Liverpool
Lambert (70), Benayoun (82)
MotM: Yossi Benayoun
An outstanding result, especially considering who we were facing. The defence finally seems to have settled down, Fonte especially was a rock at the back. Liverpool didn't play Suarez, instead opting for Iago Aspas, which we also utilized to the full extent. I'm very, very happy with this result, and hope it'll lead to greater things.



Player of the Month

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Yossi Benayoun

A closely contested fight with Lambert, who got more goals, but Benayoun got crucial goals, as well as excellent assists as a winger, thus pipping Lambert to it.


League Table
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Oh and, this was a bit of a blow,
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A minor annoyance, but I'm not using Rodriguez much either ways. Won't be the last injury either, hopefully we can avoid long term injuries to my key players.



In other news, Benayoun made it to the Goal of The Month at 2nd spot.
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And finally, the transfer window roundup. Nothing much from my side - I only got Michael Keane on loan from United, and am pursuing dos Santos as a backup BWM.

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ManU only bought Arda Turn, and paid an exorbitant amount for him. Not sure I agree with that, but Moyes' trait is "Spends transfer budget on 1 player". *Sniffles* Whai Moyes, whai?



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Heartbreak upon reading this. Had I known Arbeloa was available for so less, I'd have leaped at the opportunity to get him T_T Especially since my RBs seem to be struggling (both Clyne and Chambers)

​

 

[TheBallBoy]

Great stuff! I'm thinking of starting a Southampton save tonight. What tactic(s) are you using?

 

[Sherkey]

Great stuff! I'm thinking of starting a Southampton save tonight. What tactic(s) are you using?

I tend to use my own tactics mate;; Made it to suit the current squad I'm using;; Made 3, out of which 2 are working wonders for me, atm;;

 

[TodayForTomorrow]

looking good mate, really well written; i've got a southampton story going on, link's in my sig

 

[Sherkey]

looking good mate, really well written; i've got a southampton story going on, link's in my sig

Thanks a lot, man! ^_^ Any suggestions for improvements or anything of the sort, are always welcome! ^_^

Following your story, btw, it's pretty awesome that you got Neymar into the club =P

 

[TodayForTomorrow]

Thanks a lot, man! ^_^ Any suggestions for improvements or anything of the sort, are always welcome! ^_^

Following your story, btw, it's pretty awesome that you got Neymar into the club =P

Can't think of anything for now....yeah, it was a big shock tbh, but i was browsing, and spotted a relase clause in his contract and just went for it, cause id just sold a ton of players haha

 

[Sherkey]

SEPTEMBER

Lol, it seems like a foreboding month. The first major event which happened was this..
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I just dearly, dearly hope this is an sampler of the rest of the month. My squad is ok enough as it is, without annoying injuries coming into play. Tsk!


Premier League
Cardiff City 0 - 2 Southampton
Macheda (21), Jack Cork (47) | Craig Bellamy (24)
MotM : Pablo Oswaldo
An ok match, actually. I hadn't considered Cardiff too strong, so I fielded some rotation players. Bellamy almost made me regret my decision, but thankfully, Cork was there to save the day.

However, that victory over Cardiff came with a price..
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It's like I feared, that first injury was an omen. Now an even more important player (and our MotM for the previous match) is sidelined for a couple of weeks.


And.. Osvaldo wasn't our only player injured.
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Another first teamer, Morgan Schneiderlein is also out for around 10 days. This is definitely not good.. But thankfully, the duration is less, so he'll be back very soon!



Also, they weren't to be the only ones.. Yes, you guessed it. Another injury, just a couple of days after the previous 2. Do I get my conspiracy theory books out now? Whai is this happening to me?!
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Thankfully, it's Davis, who I almost never use, so it's some sort of "consolation". Still.. *sniffles*. Inspite of focussing on Fitness training earlier, I'm going to now switch to it again.



However, someone somewhere decided enough was enough, and gave me my first good news in a while!

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Capital One Cup
Cardiff 2 - 5 Southampton
Tom Ince (17), Benayoun (39), Steven Davies (43, 83), Wanyama (67) | Cornelius (24, 76)
MotM: Steven Davies
A match where the midfield ruled all the way for me. A grude rematch, one might say, considering my previous match was also against Cardiff. Steven Davies was in inspiring form, thus guiding us to the win.


Premier League
Southampton 5 - 2 Crystal Palace
Frederico Macheda (25, 71, 80), Lovren (45+1), Ward-Prowse (74) | Chamakh (19), Aluko (48)
MotM: Frederico Macheda
And I'm finally vindicated in my decision to buy Macheda. He's been performing reasonably consistently, is young, and this performance is icing on the cake. Our first hat-tricmk in a competetive match, it was a beautiful performance. We were simply brilliant in the 2nd half, with it producing 3 goals!

That performance was enough for Macheda to get the top spot in 'Goal of The Month', a fantastic achievement.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH

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Has to be Frederico Macheda. 4 Goals in 2 games, plus a key assist make this a no-brainer. My Assistant Manager keeps telling me his status should be 'Not Needed by Club'. Yeah, right.



Also, the Board seem happy with me. I'm winning them matches, so even without the possession soccer or the 'High Profile signings', they seem to be ok.
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LEAGUE TABLE

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We're in a pretty **** good position in the table, and have a game in hand, which can potentially leapfrog us to 3rd. Hopefully, we'll build on it. I rather hope the Board'll give me funds in January, although that is looking more and more unlikely.
​

 

[White army]

Amazing lol just hope you be ok with all them Injuries

 

[Sherkey]

OCTOBER

Premier League
Southampton 1 - 0 Arsenal
Jack Cork (69)
MotM : Artur Boruc
An excellent result, which leaves me well satisfied. Arsenal did have a rather strong team, but Boruc was instrumental in keeping them out. A couple of brilliant saves, and with both my CB excellent ingame, meant that I took home the win.

And with that, the fans seem to be a lot pleased with me..
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Premier League
Southampton 0 - 1 Chelsea
Demba Ba (8)
MotM: Danny Fox
And we lose at home to Chelsea. They're ruling at the top of the table, but actually, we should have been able to draw this game, but our players played a bit poorly, thus diminishing our chances. Other than Danny Fox, our defence was pretty bad too, and it was a wonder Chelsea didn't get more goals on us. But true to our credit, we didn't give up, and fought to the very end, but it just wasn't meant to be. We had a couple of clear cut chances, but they hit the woodwork.

Mourinho had this to say about us, after the match
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Given that he overtly critical of us before the match, I guess this was a good response. I had dearly wanted to beat Chelsea, but they were a bit strong for us.

And then ofcourse, continuing in line with my luck, came this..
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Of course, I don't use him much, but it still isn't nice to see them injured. Of course, Davis was just recuperating from his previous injury. This means that I'll be looking to offload him after the season.


Premier League
Sunderland 0 - 3 Southampton
Schneiderlein (8), Osvaldo (pen 41, pen 67)
MotM: Morgan Schneiderlein
A weird result, to say the least. Obviously, the two penalties helped, and I'm glad to get the win, but I do wish we'd got more goals from normal play. But all the players performed very well, so I guess it's ok.


Capital One Cup
Blackburn 1 - 3 Southampton
Tom Ince (63), Guly do Prado (96), Jay Rodriguez (110) | Luke Chambers (90+1)
MotM: Danny Fox
Frankly speaking, we were once again poor in this game, getting in only 1 goal against a mid-table team in the Championship. However, some words during extra time spurred them on, and Jay Rodriguez performed the role of a super-sub, as he got a goal in the 15 minutes that he was on the pitch.

And over the course of the week, this came up
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4 players made it, which wasn't at all bad, far as I'm concerned.


And then, the board confidence..
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Clyne hasn't exactly been shining, but so hasn't his substitute - Chambers. Looks like RB is my weakness.


PLAYER OF THE MONTH

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Danny Fox. As such, he's been a revelation to me, and has been a rock at the Defence this month. Hopefully, his excellent performances continue.


LEAGUE TABLE

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We're sitting in a pretty position, with a game at hand. If we maintain the consistency with our current level of performances, I see no reason why we can't challenge for European honors in our second season (which would be a fantastic achievement, for a team expected to finish just respectably in the League.
​

 

[Sherkey]

A couple more opinions would be really nice regarding the structure;; Too long? Too boring? Too many pictures inbetween? Suggestions would be appreciated, since I'm still pretty new to stories.

 

[TodayForTomorrow]

I'm loving this, watching Danny Fox, i'm wishing i'd used him more...how're you lining your defence up?

 

[Sherkey]

I'm loving this, watching Danny Fox, i'm wishing i'd used him more...how're you lining your defence up?

Thanks ^_^

Traditional 4-man defence;;
Fox/Shaw --- Strandberg/Hoiveld/Yoshida/Lovren/Fonte --- Clyne/Chambers

 

[Sherkey]

NOVEMBER

Premier League
West Brom 1 - 3 Southampton
Sissoko (63), Lambert (81), Schneiderlein (90+2) | Toivonen (8)
MotM: Mohamed Sissoko
To be frank, I underestimated West Brom. Thinking they were a weak team, I decided to give reserve players more of a chance. However, I paid for that mistake, when Toivonen scored a beauty against me. So, by half-time, I decided to go for the jugular and brought on 3 substitues.. Yes - the 3 goal scores. All 3 played the part of super-subs for me, and Sissoko in particular was very impressive..

And of course, in continuance with my tryst with player injuries, here was another blow.
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My MotM from last time.. *sniffles* However, it's only for a short while, so he'll back up in no time..


Premier League
Southampton 2 - 1 Man City
Lambert (10), Jose Fonte (90+1) | Jovetic (50)
MotM: Victor Wanyama
This was a truly outstanding result. I was hoping for Jovetic to not be fit in time, but he was anyway. Manchester City fielded mostly a watered down squad, dunno why, but it still was a nail-biting game. After thoroughly celebrating Lambert's goal, I set my team on a defensive route, with only countering. However, Jovetic hit me on the break, and after that, it looked like it was destined to be a draw. However, in the very last minutes, Fonte delivers!! I was ecstatic, that was a beautiful performance to win against City. Even more sweeter since I'm a United fan.!!

Also, I'm guessing probably because of our heartening performances this season, we got this little, sweet, beautiful piece of information ^_^
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My first income in terms of television viewing this season, so I'm ecstatic. Hopefully, we can continue, and along with it, so can our television money.


But then again, of course, Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so said the apple-head great scientist Newton. Can my save be any different? He said, "Hells No!"
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My premier player this season, and he's out for 3 weeks. This was a huge blow, and top it all off, it wasn't even during his stay at the club. **** you, injuries, how much are you gonna take off me?


Premier League
Everton 1 -1 Southampton
Yoshida (61) | Deulofeu (38)
MotM: Jack Cork
This was a tough match, Everton were pretty good actually, and it should easily have been their win, but for a beautiful Yoshida header. Hm.. Maybe I should give him more chances.. But after the header, I decided not to risk too much, since we were playing away, and went defensive, thus preserving the draw. Overall, I'm pretty happy with a 1-1 draw against Everton.

And of course, with our current line of form, what else should happen but that Southampton should propose a contract-renewal. It's still only November, and I'm ecstatic that they've already proposed contract talks.
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However, I had to turn them down, since they weren't willing to back down 'Possession soccer'. We'll see where that goes.



Premier League
Stoke City 0 - 1 Southampton
Pablo Oswaldo (10)
MotM : Robert Huth
A poor match actually, and although we capitalised on an early mistake from Stoke, we couldn't much in the whole game. I'm disappointed to come out of this with only 1 goal.

We got this, after that match,
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Had forgotten we were on an unbeaten run. Yay! Must be doing something right.. xD


And we weren't satisfied with just that..
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With so many excellent youngsters in the Premier League, for Ince to have come 3rd is pretty special.


I got this accolade also//
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Pretty awesome that I came 2nd, wasn't actually expecting that xD


And then of course, the board decided to give their opinion on how I'd been doing..
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The RB has been a problematic position. I rarely get them to complete a game, usually swapping them, because they've been pretty bad. Not just Clyne, but Chambers as well. Need to do something about that.


Oh and, while my board was pretty confident with me, another Board wasn't as satisfied with their manager, and hence we come to the first major sacking in the Premier League
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Well, I'm a United fan, so things like this are ok with me, but still, Liverpool just can't seem to get a foothold in this game.



PLAYER OF THE MONTH

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Victor Wanyama. A couple of key assists, and a MotM made him my player of the month. Hope he continues to be upto the task.

LEAGUE TABLE

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We're in third, with a game in hand. This is a fantastic place for us to be at. Also, this means that we're in contention for European qualification, at present.


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