A Southampton Story - A Saintly Road to Domination.

[Sherkey]

DECEMBER

Premier League
Southampton 1 -1 West Ham
Macheda (21) | Ledley (84)
MotM: Guly do Prado
That was actually pretty crushing. Although we dominated most of the match, we still couldn't find anything beyond that 1 goal. Still, we should have won that match, if not for that last gasp strike by Ledley, which consigned us to a draw at home.. T_T

Then came this little tidbit..
View attachment 443712

Guess the media likes my tinkering with tactics. I try to change my tactics with respect to the opposition, and their schedule and players. However, I have no doubt that they'll criticize me to kingdom come, if I mess up.

And of course, just hours before my next match, I got this..
View attachment 443710

Jones has been a regular first teamer for me this season, and it's not a good sign. However, it's a virus, so he'll be back relatively soon, hopefully with no deteriorating attributes.


Premier League
Hull 1 - 1 Southampton
Schneiderlin (06) | Chambers (o.g 36)
MotM: Danny Fox
Another poor match, this time away. Again, we could have won that match, if Chambers hadn't foolishly put the ball into his own net. Shame though, because our defence was pretty decent, with another outstanding performance from Danny Fox.

Then came this tidbit of news..
View attachment 443702

Well, Wanyama has been fantastic, so this shouldn't be a surprise. Another player on my shortlist is also tipped to win - Yannick N'Djeng, but he is unlikely to get a work permit, so can't bring him here, although he would be dirt-cheap and pretty good.


Premier League
Southampton 2 - 0 Norwich
Macheda (48), do Prado (90+2)
MotM: Guly do Prado
A very good match, where do Prado excelled yet again. We were good defensively, and our attack was excellent, so overall, I'm happy with the result.


Premier League
Man United 1 -2 Southampton
Lambert (52, 70) | Hernandez (28)
MotM: Ricky Lambert
A fantastic result for us! Even more sweeter considering the fact that last time we played United, they'd trashed us. They played a watered down team consisting of Lindegard, Fabio, Cleverley, Hernandez, Young. Yup - no Kagawa, Rooney, van Persie, Vidic.. of which we took full and complete advantage to run out winners!

View attachment 443701
Heh, so I'm doing something right in those team talks.

And of course, any run of good results won't be complete without an injury update.. T_T
View attachment 443700

Why Ben-chan? Whai you eat weird stuff? T_T


Premier League
Southampton 1 -2 Newcastle
Davis (26) | Zaha (29), Ameobi (pen 55)
MotM: Yanga Mbiwa
And we lost at home. Clyne massively underperformed, which didn't help. And my forwards were ineffective against their back four. Thankfully, we atleast got a goal on board.

That match was not a happy one for us, by any stretch of imagination. We also got this..
View attachment 443698

Oh well, again, short period of time, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.


However, if you thought that was all, then you couldn't be more mistaken..
View attachment 443696

A broken hand is a potentially more serious injury, and although he'll be back relatively quickly, I'm still thinking about attribute reduction..

And the usual news report after a loss.
View attachment 443695
However, it's rather heartening that, inspite of the loss at home, we are still supported and not criticized. Must be due to the 'lofty league position'.

And of course..
View attachment 443694
I'd criticised the awarding of the penalty kick, mainly because I hadn't done it before, and was very curious to see what would happen..


Premier League
Tottemham 2 - 2 Southampton
Wanyama (40), Ince (75) | Dawson (15), Soldado (38)
MotM: Victor Wanyama
A very good result considering we're playing away against Tottenham. The players did fantastically well coming back after being 2 goals down, I'm very proud of this performance. Wanyama was outstanding in the match.


Premier League
Fulham 0 - 1 Southampton
Macheda (pen 35)
MotM: Nathaniel Clyne
A good match, and although we were solid at the back, we weren't very effective upfront, with our only goal coming through a penalty. Still, a win is a win, and I'll take that every time..! Clyne was also pretty good, he bounced back after a string of bad performances.Oh and, after rejecting it last time, I accepted it this time around.View attachment 443693

I managed to get the 'Play Possession soccer' removed, so it worked out well in the end, I suppose. If they're trying to restrict my budget to too low stuff at the start of the new season, I guess I've an option to threaten leaving.

However, this weird whammy came to us.
View attachment 443692

I'd never heard of a work permit being denied for contract extension. Such a shame! I wanted to extend do Prado's contract for a couple more years, since it runs out in June, but due this piece of news, that is no longer possible.. T_T


And yes, Wanyama won, so that's a piece of good news.
View attachment 443691

Here's hoping it spurs him on to even better performances.


PLAYER OF THE MONTH

View attachment 443688

Guly do Prado. He has been fantastic this month, and a key player in the team. He edged out Victor Wanyama to take the credit this month.


And of course, the board confidence.
View attachment 443690

It's remained pretty much the same. Now however, it's Callum Chambers' turn, taking over from Clyne. Man, RB is not a good position for me, huh?


LEAGUE TABLE

View attachment 443689

I forgot to take a screenshot of the Stages tab, so this'll have to do for this month.
​

 

[MoyesIsTheOne]

Impressive league performance so far, playing with Southampton myself. Finishing 7th first season, 9th second season but won league cup and lost semi in both fa and euro cup.

Their board expectations is a bit anoying, I dont like to do big name signings. And have bought a few Italians, but it seems to be not good enough for them.

 

[Sherkey]

Impressive league performance so far, playing with Southampton myself. Finishing 7th first season, 9th second season but won league cup and lost semi in both fa and euro cup.

Their board expectations is a bit anoying, I dont like to do big name signings. And have bought a few Italians, but it seems to be not good enough for them.

Thanks man ^_^ Macheda has been a revelation for me, playing outstandingly.

As for big name signings, each time they offer you contract extensions, just negotiate to get those removed. They are amenable to your demands, if you've brought about some measure of success to the club. I got them to remove Possession soccer that way..

 

[Sherkey]

JANUARY


Premier League
Aston Villa 1 -1 Southampton
Frederico Macheda (pen 59) | Ciaran Clark (4)
MotM: Danny Fox
A poor performance, honestly. If not for that penalty decision, we'd have lost it. Guess my players were too hung-over to play well on New Year's Day? As usual, Danny Fox was fantastic.

Some piece of heartening news. Our New Years spirit is back!
View attachment 442615


FA Cup
Southampton 3 - 0 Luton
Osvaldo (3, 41), Rodriguez (34)
MotM: Pablo Osvaldo
An excellent 1st half. Osvaldo was simply unstoppable. A 3-0 score meant that I could give a chance to some of my youngsters in the team, in the 2nd half.


Capital One Cup
Southampton 3 -2 West Brom
Cork (49), Lambert (69, 89) | Dorrans (1), Dawson (63)
MotM: Rickie Lambert
Lambert played the part of the super sub, and was instrumental in us getting the victory. 2 brilliant goals. Dawson missed the penalty, but scored on the rebound T_T Still, I'm happy to come out of this with a win, meaning we progress in the Cup.


Premier League
Liverpool 0 - 0 Southampton
Motm: Jose Fonte
Liverpool would probably still be wondering how they couldn't win this match. I still feel a draw was a pretty good result, inspite of Liverpool's fall from grace in the Premier League. Fonte was instrumental in keeping them out, with 2 key tackles, and a couple of good interceptions.


Premier League
Swansea 1 -1 Southampton
Macheda (45+1) | Dyer (34)
MotM: Danny Fox
A 'decent' enough match. Micheal Keane was rather bad, and was substituted half-way through. But otherwise, okayish. Macheda got the all important goal, which still keeps us in running for a top four finish.


And of course, any month for me cannot seem to go by without injuries.
View attachment 442598
Well, no small blow. Ward Prowse was instrumental in our matches so far. But luckily, again, a small duration of time, so he should be back in no time.


Premier League
Southampton 2 - 0 Man United
Fonte (14), Benayoun (87)
MotM: Jose Fonte
Sweet, sweet revenge! Although it is against my favourite team. But hells yeah! We beat them at home, and once again, Jose Fonte was instrumental in maintaining our clean sheet. Excellent work from him, his performances are making me take more than a passing look at him.


Capital One Cup
West Brom 1 - 1 Southampton (Ovr : 3-4)
Jordan Jones (77) | Dorrans (72)
MotM: Graham Dorrans
Poor poor match, even though it was an away one. It was a tense few minutes at the end. If Jones hadn't got that goal for us, we'd be out of the competition, based on the away goals rule. Phew! But he did, and we move on to the finals! Yeah! A win will probably get me decent money set-up in the 2nd year, in order to try for more trophies.


F A Cup
Southampton 2 -1 Swansea
Lambert (68, 90) | Bony (59)
MotM: Ricky Lambert
Another fantastic performance from Ricky Lambert, getting 2 goals in the process, and spurring us on to victory. We come back from behind, to score, yet again!


Premier League
Southampton 3 -2 Cardiff
Macheda (38, 63), Cork (90+1) | Walters (75), Cornelius (90+2)
MotM: Frederico Macheda
Lol, my TM seem to be getting around 2 goals per match consistently. Not that I mind at all, though xD Although, I had no idea Macheda would prove this lethal in front of goal, when I bought him xD Still, a mediocre performance at home, players got complacent in the end, allowing in that extra goal to Cornelius.

That ends the month, and what a heck of a month?! 9 matches, and we aren't even in Europe. Crazy stuff, I tell you. We've been extremely fortunate to come out of that month without a loss.


PLAYER OF THE MONTH

View attachment 442574

There was very, very close competition from both Jose Fonte, as well as Danny Fox. However, Lambert's goals in key matches helped us out of troublesome situations, and such, he gets preference. It was a very, very close call though..


LEAGUE TABLE

View attachment 442573
We're in an excellent position in the League, and I'm rather optimistic for Europe the next season. That would be really, really sweet. Should also enhance the club's reputation, as well as bring more money in.



Board seems to be pretty happy with me too..
View attachment 442575



But since it's January, that mostly means
TRANSFERS!

Well, with my limited budget, it wasn't like I could do anything, but I did manage to buy Jesse Lingard for 180k. His value was 1 Million, but he was sold at a throwaway price. I figured I could eventually manage to sell him at a profit later.
Here's my overall transfer window for this year.

View attachment 442586

I'm pretty happy with the deals I made, and best of all they were cheap. And quality players. And the best part is, all of them have been vital to how we've been doing so far this season.


And now, lets look at the overview of transfers through some of the leagues.
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View attachment 442580


View attachment 442579

I'm still wondering why I didn't get any info on the Bundesliga, but oh well..



​

 

[TheWriter]

Fantastic run of results there and looking good in the Capital One Cup for a good run! Going along very nicely, fantastic work so far! Good luck and keep it up!

 

[Sherkey]

FEBRUARY


Premier League
Crystal Palace 0 - 2 Southampton
Lallana (34), Osvaldo (90)
MotM: Victor Wanyama
A good match overall, and 2 goals see us through against a good Crystal Palace side. Always good to win away matches! xD And yes, as usual, my BWM bossed it up, getting himself the MotM.


Heh, as a mark of how well we've been doing recently..
View attachment 442119
More than half the team is from Soton! Yes! May these performances continue for a while!



And if there;s one thing that seems to be happening every month, it's this..
View attachment 442117
Oh well, it's only a short while, so he'll be back pretty soon into the squad.



Premier League
Arsenal 3 -2 Southampton
Jordan Jones (42), Strandberg (65) | Giroud (9, 44), Ayew (14)
MotM: Andre Ayew
I can't really fault the players after that. We were decent enough to come back with a gal in the 2nd half. Was my mistake, since I'd forgotten to mark Giroud. T_T


Premier League
Southampton 1 -0 Swansea
Macheda (88)
MotM: Dejan Lovren
Lovren finally puts in a classy performance. He has massively under fulfilled his potential for us, and it's good to see a good match of his, once a while.


Then was this piece of news.

View attachment 442111
Interesting actually, this is the earliest I've seen him in a precarious position regarding his job ingame.



F A CUP
Southampton 2 - 0 Everton
Ramirez (5), Wanyama (45)
MotM: Victor Wanyama
Yay, a win against Everton. Their manager was making smart-alecky comments before the match, and a bunch of sour grapes comments after. And again, Wanyama was phenomenal in the match, even getting 2 goals for me.


And of course, I got intensely curious. I went and declared interest, but remained short of outright declaration.
View attachment 442089

Of course, I won't move to Arsenal. I hate shifting clubs, because it makes all the hard work done at the previous club almost useless. But I was curious to see responses from my Board and theirs.


So, my Board likes me, and wants to keep me. That's a nice thought.
View attachment 442088

And surprisingly, Arsenal didn't outright reject my declaration, even though I'm a pretty new manager.. Not bad xD

View attachment 442087



And then came the 2nd casualty of the Premier League, in terms of managers.
View attachment 442084

I dunno why, but Manchester City in dire straits, always tends to make me slightly more cheerful! xD



Premier League
Southampton 2 - 0 Sunderland
Macheda (59, 87)
MotM: Frederico Macheda
An outstanding performance from Macheda, and he inspired us to victory with 2 fantastic goals. I'm definitely vindicated in my decision to buy him, even though my Assistant Manager kept on stating he wanted Macheda to be transfer listed as he wasn't of sufficient caliber to merit the team. Hah! Take that!



Premier League
Southampton 2 - 0 West Brom
Lambert (15), Ramirez (73)
MotM: Paulo Gazzaniga
Gazzaniga was instrumental in keeping out quite a number of shots, and although his handling is a bit poor, still a pretty impressive performance today to bag the MotM.


And then, this piece of info came through..
View attachment 442079

I made it 2nd place. Not at all bad! xD That's a pretty sweet place to be in. Goes to show you how tough it's been. I didn't lose a single match in January, I think, yet didn't make the top 3.. >_>



PLAYER OF THE MONTH

View attachment 442072

Victor Wanyama. Macheda actually was also a contendor, but this beast's consistent performances, along with a goal, and 2 MotM pretty much sealed the deal in his favor.


LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 442071
An excellent position, around 4 spots ahead of what was predicted initially. There's only goal difference separating us from Newcastle, who're 3rd. And lol, certainly didn't expect to see Liverpool, Arsenal and City where they are, atm..


Up next month, Capital One Cup final, and our fresh batch of regens. Here's hoping that we get some good ones! xD
​

 

[White army]

Nice one...hope u win Capitol one cup abd qualify for the champions league

 

[Sherkey]

MARCH

March! Yes, probably our most exciting month of the campaign. We play our Capital One Cup final, and we get to see our fresh meat xD Muhahahaha! Considering Soton's proneness to produce great youngsters, I'm hoping for a great bunch.

First of all//
View attachment 441820
Yes, were in the final! If that goes our way, atleast some moolah will come to the club, which will help with my transfers next season. Plus, it'll be my first club in my first year! xD


Capital One Cup
Southampton 1 - 0 Arsenal
Rickie Lambert (pen 50)
MotM: Paolo Gazzaniga
Yes! We get our first cup! It was fantastic. We were pretty good defensively, and Gazzaniga kept out some key shots. It was a foul from Mertesacker that gave us the lead. We could've gone 2-0 up, as there was another penalty awarded, but unfortunately, Lambert missed it.


View attachment 441819

Who would've thought we'd be winners;; I'm pretty happy with our performances this season! xD

And with that victory, this followed..
View attachment 441818

That's pretty awesome, Europe in the 2nd season is guaranteed. Now, I'm aiming for a top 3 finish, so we qualify for Champions League in our 2nd season itself. That should be pretty awesome!! xD


Premier League
Southampton 2 - 1 Norwich
Ince (39), Macheda (49) | Husbauer (8)
MotM: Josef Husbauer
A poor match, and although we won, we were gasping to victory. They had a lot of chances, but due to some decent defending, most of them were long range shots.


Premier League
Manchester City 1 -2 Southampton
Lambert (19), Yoshida (67) | Aguero (pen 20)
MotM: Luke Shaw
A fantastic results over Manchester City. Sicne I'm a United fan, it makes it all the more sweeter! Hail Hail! Players were actually pretty good all around, and if it wasn't for the foolish penalty, there would have been no issue at all.. But anyhow, city are warming up near the bottom of the top half of the table, so it's not all that surprising..



Premier League
Southampton 1 -1 Everton
Macheda (39) | Jelavic (19)
MotM: Danny Fox
A pretty poor match, considering we were playing Everton at home. But, they are a pretty good side, so I guess I should be happy to come out of it with a draw..

Which led to this little tidbit..
View attachment 441803
Impressive. Noone in their wildest dreams would've imagined we'd have some sort of unbeaten streak in the Premier League. Yay!

Btw..
View attachment 441802

Not bad, Feyenoord won the Eredivisie.


Premier League
Chelsea 1 - 1 Southampton
Ramirez (52) | Ba (55)
MotM: Gaston Ramirez
An excellent result away to Chelsea, who're above us in the table, and doing really good in the Premier League. One foolish mistake due to complacency after the goal, cost us victory. But oh well, I'll take a draw happily too..



Premier League
West Ham 1 - 1 Southampton
Macheda (10) | Downing (65)
MotM: Stewart Downing
Another poor match frankly. This draw was totally below expectations, and we should have won that match. I'm going to be having a few choice words after the match.


PLAYER OF THE MONTH

View attachment 441800

I'll once again go with Frederico Macheda. He got more goals in crucial moments for us this month.


LEAGUE TABLE

View attachment 441799
We're still in a pretty good spot up at 4th, however, we could've been much more comfortable in third, if not for all those draws.


And comes our Board Confidence..
View attachment 441801

As expected, they seem pretty pleased with me regarding the Capital One Cup. So atleast, no matter what happens otherwise, my job is secure for the moment.
​

 

[Sherkey]

REGENS

And now, a peek at the regens who can be usable for the team in the future.

View attachment 441790
My best regen. And on the first season. He can probably be a regaular first-teamer in just a couple of years. Have great expectations from him.


View attachment 441794
He has some really good stats already for an attacking winger/IF. Definitely one for the future team


View attachment 441795
To be fair, I'm keeping him trusting the decision of my scouts, who report he has a pretty good potential. His stats are low atm, but hopefully he improves.


View attachment 441793
Rated rather low, but already has some brilliant stats for AM (Winger/IF). Probably a future first teamer.



View attachment 441798
I know his shown potential is low, but he has some pretty decent stats already for an IF.


View attachment 441797
Already has some decent F9 stats. Although I don't use F9 in my tactics, I can probably sell him off at a decent price once he develops more.


Here are my remaining regens obtained.





View attachment 441789View attachment 441788View attachment 441787View attachment 441786View attachment 441785View attachment 441784View attachment 441783View attachment 441782View attachment 441781View attachment 441796
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