Basically, this is just a simple story/diary of my results and happenings on Football Manager 2012. I've been playing all the Football Managers since F.A. Premier League Manager 2001 and ever since they get better and better. Not going to lie, I'm so proud of the team at the moment, especially after today's 'deserved' 1-1 draw with Utd at Utd
haha, but I want to at least win the club something in my reign.Yes, I am a Newcastle fan!
Season Expectations
Thought I'd not get too ahead of myself and settled with a mid - table finish. I mainly chose this as I don't think I'd need too much money as the squad is pretty epic how it is (biased opinion, I know I know!) yet I think I could finish in the top 7 with a bit of luck. Anyway, this option gave me about £8,000,000.
Tactic
After failing to create a successful tactic myself on other saves, I have resigned to using Zero Sea's Wonderland V5 tactic, which worked wonders on my recent Arsenal save.
Team
My team at the moment is pretty good for the amount of injuries and lack of money compared to other clubs. I managed to secure a CB in James Tomkins from West Ham for £3,400,000 before realising Steven Taylor is better than I thought, but then he got injured for like 6 months so looks like Tomkins will start anyway. The tactic also required an AMC which I currently do not have an effective one as Ben Arfa is injured yet I managed to get Sturridge(!) on loan, and I'm going to place him in AML and replace Obertan at AMC until Ben Arfa returns. So at the moment, my team resembles this:
Pre Season
Pre Season went average, I guess. Some postives, some negatives, but ah well, Ba especially looking sharp.
SEASON
GAME 1
The first game of the season was vs Villa. Before the game I realised Sturridge was suspended due to I think him getting sent off in the last game of last season so I replaced him with Marveaux.
Needless to say, it was a good start to the season. 2 Coloccini headers from corners were perfect. From the highlights seen we played good football, had numerous chances and the only negative was seeing Ba go off due to an injury, but with Sturridge returning soon it may not be all too bad. This win took me to 6th in the league.
GAME 2
After the hard fought win over Villa, my second game was vs Blackburn, who were currently 2nd in the league! Admittedly their first game was vs QPR and they won 2-0, this would still be a tough test for me. I kept the same team from the win against Villa, including Ba who had recovered in time.
This game could have been 6-6, or more. Awful finishing by both teams, yet a 'dodgy' penalty and two good pieces of skill by Obertan and Marveaux rescued me thankfully. Due to my GD only being + 3 I moved up one place to 5th in the table.
GAME 3 (CARLING CUP)
My next opposition was Colchester in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup. I decided to make a few changes only to my team as i was playing Spurs the following Monday night and this game was on Tuesday. My team was:
Well, that could have gone better. The scoreline did not reflect what happened. Lovenkrands took a knock in the 4th minute so I decided to take him off for the marvellous Marveaux. Considering Colchester had 2 offside goals, which looked rather onside to me, me and the team were extremely lucky today, but that's football I guess. In the draw I got Wigan at home, which personally I think is a winnable game but after this display I will have to play a better team!
GAME 4
My 4th game of the campaign was against Spurs, at SJP (or Sports Direct Arena for some of you). For this game I restored the team which won at Blackburn but replaced Marveaux with Sturridge as he had returned from his suspension.
What the actual ****. 2 penalties, both given away by Santon, as well as the presense as Adebayor just destroyed me. As you can see we had some chances, but we did not take them and pretty much deserved to lose. So although we didn't go over 10 games unbeaten, it wasn't too bad. Although I did slip to 9th in the league.
GAME 5
The next game was vs Chelsea, leaders of the Prem and at Stamford Bridge. This was going to be tough, so I decided to swap Tomkins with Steven Taylor due to slighty better stats and experience. Marveaux replaced Sturridge due to his inability to play against his parent club.
Wow. Was not expecting 4-4. Bit cheesed off we conceded in the 88th minute but a draw away to Chelsea is good in my books. We got lucky with the red card for Terry but we played some good football! And had a lot of chances so my congratulations to the team! This game gave me a much needed point and set me in 8th position.
GAME 6
Hoping for an easier game after the Chelsea game, it turned out my next opposition was Liverpool at home. They were 10th in the league, below me and after the Chelsea game maybe with a bit of luck I could scrape a win. Sturridge was back in the team in the place of Marveaux (I will continue rotating) and also Tomkins replaces STaylor due to fatigue.
It's sort of ironic isn't it? That Carroll had to score the winner against me. Again, cheesed off how we didn't win and my players felt that anger admittedly but 10th in the League is acceptable at the moment and the next game against Wigan in the League Cup hopefully will be a morale booster. Also, Santon got injured for 2-3 months, leaving Kadar to step up.
GAME 7 (CARLING CUP)
Vs Wigan at home should be an easy game, even with a weakened team as I was playing Man City on the weekend and want at least a draw there.
Again, quite ironic that the player I say that has to step up scores and own goal to set Wigan on their way to drawing. Thankfully I managed to win the shootout thanks to Krul's heroics but still, I am sensing bad form but hopefully it will pass soon!
GAME 8
Man City were the team I feared the most - their monster of an attack vs my frail back 4! The fact it was at the Etihad didn't help me too much either. However apart from Santon I had a full strength team to tackle them so anything could happen.
Smashed, destroyed, annihilated ... use whichever word. Just totally outclassed.
GAME 9
This week I had WBA at home. A winnable fixture and with a full strength team I am confident our poor streak will end.
Finally, a good performance capped with a great emphatic scoreline. All positives here, morale through the roof and all the players are buzzing for the match vs Stoke on the following Monday. Also, Ben Arfa has resumed training which is a great piece of news for me and the squad!
GAME 10
Stoke were only 2 points behind me yet they had only lost 2 games during the season so far and their last game they beat QPR 5-0 so this would be a tough test. Ben Arfa was back and was starting so hopefully he could influence a big win here.
Good to see Ben Arfa scoring on his return from injury, however I gained 2 more injuries which is really starting to be a problem now. In January hopefully you will see some new signings.
GAME 11
This game was the biggest of the season. Vs Sunderland, who were bottom of the PL. I had to win this for the fans, for my own good! I HAD TO WIN.
YES.
GAME 12 (CARLING CUP)
Arsenal in the cup were next. Their last game was a 7-0 win at Norwich ...
Well, some positives to take, and at least we can now focus on the league. Ah well!
GAME 13
Well I'm still 8th in the league, and Wigan are next. They are 11th but my squad is strong in my opinion so hopefully we can sneak it!
F*ck yeah.
GAME 14
After the last game, I have decided to change my tactic to a 4-1-2-2-1 with Ba as the lone striker and Ben Arfa and Sturridge on the wings. Hopefully this new found formation can give me a win vs Bolton. Also before the game I sold Best to Derby for 250k. I also managed to sign Rivaldo on a 1 year deal!
As you can see, the players accuracy was beyond horrific today. A poor show by a good team.
GAME 15
The next game I hoped, once again, to bounce back and this time it was against Arsenal. I also resorted to change my tactic back after it being questioned in the media ...
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