Oh When The Saints Go Marching In - A Southampton Story

[Sam91]

Birch Replaces Adkins

Southampton have today replaced Nigel Adkins with youth coach Sam Birch. Adkins is said to have stepped down due to personal reasons and is believed to have personally recommended Birch for the role.

Adkins had led Southampton from the depths of the nPower League 1 to the Premier League in back-to-back promotions. Before that he was in charge of Scunthorpe. Birch has been a youth coach at Southampton since 2010 in which time he has led the development of youngsters such as James Ward-Prowse, Luke Shaw and Callum Chambers. Birch had this to say

''I'm very happy to be named as Southampton Manager. It's a shame that Nigel has left but its an honor for him to have even recommended me for the role of his successor. I will be promoting Luke and Callum to the first team, also a few players will be leaving and some coming in. I'm looking at Adryan and Wellington Nem, and also right winger Nicusor Stanciu to strengthen the side.''

Business will want to be done soon as The Saints soon depart on a tour of America before kicking off their campaign.​

 

[likeabaws]

#TheMessiahHasReturned
Good luck mate!

 

[CantGetEnoughOfJelavic]

Nice start, good way to start too. Eager to see how you get on, bud!


Good luck

 

[PafcLad]

Good luck

 

[Ashleigh1984]

Look out Big Sam's about.... Not Allardyce

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Yeah! Great to see this, Feels so natuaral its comforting! Hope we'll see a repeat of the success from your FM12 story

 

[BilbaoFaithful]

​Very excited for this.

 

[millebraun9sex]

Will be following!

 

[Patko]

good luck! and dont forget to sign ademilson he is a goal machine at my save with ajax 20/20 D

 

[White army]

good luck! and dont forget to sign ademilson he is a goal machine at my save with ajax 20/20 D

yeah i can vouch for him too..i have a Newcastle game at the mo..Cisse and Ba are on African cup of nations duty and he has scored a lot of goals in their place and will keep them out the side

 

[Sam91]

Cheers lads!! Nearly finished August so update soon Had Ademilson on my Blackpool save I know he's a beast But Lambert and Jay Rod should be enough for now I think.

Update in a couple of hours, feels natural being back there

 

[AJ0207]

Loved your FM12 one and I reckon this will be even better! Good luck

 

[Sam91]

Pre-Season and August

Mixed start to campaign
Make some good deals in the window
In abundance of of quality attacking midfielders


Transfers

View attachment 284070 View attachment 284072

So I done some pretty good deals in the window. Offloaded a lot of deadwood, and signed quality players. Wellington Nem has to be the biggest bargain as his value is £8.5m!! Activated his release clause and kerching bagged a very decent player. Adryan is also a good youngster who's release clause was taken advantage of. Then I needed a good AMR and checked the transfer list and BAM saw Sidney Sam, checked his stats and looked very decent for £5.5m.

View attachment 284078 View attachment 284079 View attachment 284080


In other transfer news Chelsea went a bit mad selling David Luiz and signing Bonucci :S Alaba to Arsenal was also a very interesting transfer.



Squad and Tactic

View attachment 284073

Here's my tactic and players, a lot of them will rotate like Shaw and Fox, Wellington Nem/Sam/Ramirez will all share the RW and AM role. Jay Rod and Lambert will compete for the striker role, also the CM roles will be all up for grabs with Adryan, James Ward-Prowse, Cork and Schneiderlin all competing.




Results

League

Southampton 1 - 1 Chelsea

Lambert

View attachment 284087


Everton 2 - 0 Southampton



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Capital One Cup

Southampton 3 - 0 Chesterfield

Rodriguez(3)




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Monthly Review


So not a great start in the league, a great draw to Chelsea in which we were miles the better side but Torres(Somehow) scored a stunning goal after Lambert opened the scoring. Then we had Everton and it was a complete and utter disgrace, they dominated us completely and we were lucky not to concede more.

Up next we had Chesterfield in the League Cup and Jay Rod staked his claim for a starting spot smashing in an impressive hat-trick.


Player of the Month

Jay Rodriguez

Purely for his hat-trick



Table

View attachment 284093

​

 

[CantGetEnoughOfJelavic]

Some class signings, Wellington Nem is just incredible. Massive result v Chelsea and keep it up!

 

[pompey forever99]

i'll follow but im not appy

 

[likeabaws]

not bad start, Everton away is one of the toughest fixtures in the calendar I've found on FM13 so don't be too down-heartened. I'm so excited for this story! KIU mate

 

[Sam91]

not bad start, Everton away is one of the toughest fixtures in the calendar I've found on FM13 so don't be too down-heartened. I'm so excited for this story! KIU mate

Cheers pal, nearly done september so expect an update tonight.

i'll follow but im not appy

Haha I'll do a Pompey one after this just for you

 

[pompey forever99]

Cheers pal, nearly done september so expect an update tonight.


Haha I'll do a Pompey one after this just for you

yeah! thank you

 

[Sam91]

September

Good month as we finally start looking like we might survive
Lambert and Jay Rod smashing in the goals
Solid results against Spurs and City


Results

League


Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester City

Wellington Nem, Clichy(og)

View attachment 284248



Tottenham 0 - 0 Southampton





Southampton 3 - 1 Aston Villa

Lambert(3)




Stoke 1 - 3 Southampton

Rodriguez(2), Lambert

View attachment 284249


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Capital One Cup


Blackpool 2 - 4 Southampton

Rodriguez(3), Yoshida



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Monthly Review


A really really impressive month, Wellington Nem has wrestled that Attacking Midfield spot from Ramirez(who's been shocking) and hes been immense. Jay Rod and Lambert smashing them in made me switch to a 4-2-4 which the media called me crafty for I feel like Jose Mourinho .

The City game was amazing, they battered us but we somehow managed to get 2-1 up until Tevez broke our hearts with a late equaliser. Spurs have been immense this year but we managed to get a real bore draw there. Then we smashed out 3 great wins over Villa, Blackpool and Stoke thanks to Lambert and Jay Rod who are looking like a real deadly duo. If anyone followed my story with Southampton last year they'll know that I really struggled to get Jay Rod scoring but this year he seems a lot better.


Player of the Month

Jay Rodriguez

Goals, goals, goals



Table

View attachment 284254

Looking much better, those 2 wins have pushed us up the league and away from the bottom 3. Lallana has made a great start, he was great for me last year if people remember he even got a nomination for the Ballon d'Or before breaking his leg

​

 

[Sam91]

October

Mixed month of results
Progress in COC
Thrilling game against Norwich



Results

League


Southampton 2 - 0 QPR

Lallana, Fonte




Norwich 4 - 4 Southampton

Lambert, Hooiveld, Rodriguez, Lallana

View attachment 284340


Fulham 2 - 1 Southampton

Davis




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Capital One Cup


Colchester 0 - 3 Southampton

Ramirez, Rodriguez(2)



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Monthly Review


So a mixed month. A shocking collapse against Norwich but results like that are just a part of FM13 I've found. Glad to see my strikers still scoring as its something I've struggled with in past saves in FM13. Good progress in the Capital One Cup, Jay Rod has notched up 8 goals in that competition so far.



Player of the Month

Adam Lallana

Brilliant so far this season



Table

View attachment 284341

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