One Final Story: Saving The Eagles

[iHoward]

The strength in depth you've gained over such a short space of time is ridiculous, well done. If these gel quickly a top 4 finish is a posibility

 

[seanhrfc]

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Breaking News: De Bruyne signs for 15m
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An amazing signing for the club and one of my favourite players on FM after I brought him back to Genk on a previous save. He will bring creativity to either wing position and has the potential to become a real world class player. Now deemed surplus to requirements after Kevin's arrival, Barry Bannan was sold to Fulham for 5.25m

Pre-Season
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An unbeaten pre-season sets us up nicely for a new campaign

August 2013 Update

Liverpool 1-3 Palace (Comm. Shield)
Rhodes, Vossen (2)
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A first glance of our new boys in competitive action and we looked good, beating the Champions at Wembley to add more silverware to our trophy cabinet

Tottenham 3-3 Palace (Premier)
Rhodes (2) Strandberg
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We kicked off in the Premier League in a positive way, grabbing a draw away to a strong Spurs side in an enthralling encounter. Rhodes picked up a 3 week injury which is a blow considering how well he has started. Time for Sturridge to step up.

Palace 5-0 Watford (Premier)
Strandberg (3), Zaha, Vossen
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The home crowd were in for a treat in our first game at Selhurst Park this season. We showed newly promoted Watford the harsh realities of the Premier League just as we were shown at the beginning of last season. It's not everyday your centre back bags a hat-trick as well

Blackburn 2-1 Palace (Premier)
Sturridge
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It all came crashing back down to Earth at Ewood Park. Our performance was inconsistent and lacked cohesion, showing signs that this side is still a long way from fully gelling. Though I can't really expect the side to click straight away

Player of the Month

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Stefan Strandberg

Stefan is always a reliable figure at the back but surprisingly come the end of August he is our top scorer with 4 goals. Also a special mention to Jelle Vossen, who has atarted his Palace career very well scoring 3 goals and 3 assists in 4 appearances

​

 

[seanhrfc]

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September 2013 Update

Stoke 1-1 Palace (Premier)
Rhodes
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Another average performance against a Stoke side that were sitting bottom of the league

Palace 4-1 St Etienne (Europa League)
Rhodes, Tiote, Hughes, Vossen
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We started off well in Europe with a big win, Hughes scoring on his debut. The other two teams in our group are Hamburg and CSKA Moscow, a pretty tough group in Europa League terms

Palace 0-1 Southampton (Premier)
None
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Our worst performance of the season so far. We didn't create enough chances and an error from Luke Shaw gave Rodriguez an easy tap in. We need to improve

Sunderland 0-2 Palace (Capital One Cup)
Zaha (2)
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A solid performance and an improving Zaha looks like more of a goal threat this season than last. Promising keeper Karl Buckle made his debut and kept a clean sheet. He's been developing nicely and we could have a future England No. 1 on our hands

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Palace 4-1 West Ham (Premier)
Zaha (2), De Bruyne, Vossen
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A top notch performance complete with another brace from Zaha and De Bruynes first goal for the Eagles. A clean sheet would have topped it off nicely but a rare error from Strandberg enabled West Ham to score in injury time. Speaking of injuries, De Bruyne picked up a hip problem and is out for 2-3 months which is a massive blow

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Player of the Month
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Wilfried Zaha

5 goals in 4 games for the tricky wing-man, more goals than he got the whole of last season

League Table
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An average start to the season with plenty of room for improvement

​

 

[seanhrfc]

I've currently played on to December, would it be better to do a whole 3 month update or would you prefer the same monthy updates?

 

[kitchin75]

i like what you are doing but its your story mate so its up to you what ever is easy for you

 

[seanhrfc]

I'm going to do a 3 month update then see what people prefer I think

 

[seanhrfc]

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October 2013 Update

Hamburg 1-3 Palace (EL)
Vossen (2), Rhodes
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Fulham 0-3 Palace (LG)
Vossen (2), Hangeland o.g.
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Liverpool 1-1 Palace (LG)
Strandberg
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CSKA Moscow 2-2 Palace (EL)
Strandberg, Vossen
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Palace 3-1 Man City (LG)
Vossen 2, Jedinak
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Man City 0-3 Palace (C1)
Hughes, Green, Schrijvers
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This was set to be a very tough month of fixtures, however we were going to fight for it. 5 away matches and only 1 at Selhurst Park meant the team would be doing a lot of travelling. Great away wins at Hamburg and Fulham were followed by respectable away draws to champions Liverpool and tricky CSKA Moscow. The best result of the month was the Premier League game against Man City. We made them look very ordinary with our superior finishing. This was followed by City in the cup, where both teams fielded teams full of fringe players and youngsters. Our youth proved more promising, with 3 teenagers scoring to thump them out of the Capital One Cup.

Player of the Month

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Jelle Vossen, 7 goals in 5 games

League Table

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​

 

[seanhrfc]

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November 2013 Update

Palace 1-0 Villa (LG)
Rhodes
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Palace 5-1 CSKA Moscow (LG)
Strandberg, Rhodes (2), Vossen, Ward
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Arsenal 1-1 Palace (LG)
Sturridge
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Palace 3-1 Swansea (LG)
Rhodes (2), Kara
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Palace 3-2 Cardiff (LG)
Sturridge (2), Martins
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QPR - Palace (LG)
None
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We followed on from Octobers unbeaten month with yet another unbeaten month. As the old saying goes, win your home games and draw your away games and that's exactly what we did this month. Although I was a bit disappointed to draw with a poor QPR side. The 5-1 thrashing of CSKA Moscow puts us through to the next round of the Europa League already so we can give youngsters an opportunity in the last two games.

Player of the Month
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Jordan Rhodes, 5 goals in 5 games


League Table
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​

 

[seanhrfc]

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December Update

Palace 3-1 AET Southampton (C1 QF)
Green, Nunn, Shelley
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St. Etienne 1-1 Palace (EL)
Zaha
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Palace 1-1 Norwich (LG)
Vossen
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Palace 3-2 Hamburg (EL)
Schrijvers, Sturridge, Shelley
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Palace 3-0 Man Utd (LG)
Rosicky, Rhodes, De Gea
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Everton 1-1 Palace (LG)
Rhodes
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Palace 3-1 West Brom (LG)
Schrijvers, Rhodes, Sturridge
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Palace 3-0 Tottenham (LG)
Rhodes, Zaha, De Bruyne
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Oh yes, we made it three unbeaten months in a row, 22 games in total and we only lost two games in the whole calendar year - I was not expecting that! Highlights of the month are the two 3-0 beatings against Spurs and United, that's now 4 wins in 4 games against the Red Devils. Only real disappointment was out inability to slay Norwich at home. It was very important this month to use rotation to our advantage and keep our key players fit for the big games. This meant lots of youngsters got given opportunities and I've been very impressed with their contribution. Schrijvers has been a class act and his attributes are developing very quickly, so he will feature in the first team a lot more 2nd half of the season despite only being 17 still.

Players of the Month

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Stefan Strandberg - Consistently Colossal
Jordan Rhodes - 4 goals in consecutive games

League Table

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At the half way point we are sitting very nicely in 4th place. European football qualification is looking very likely and Champions League is a possibility if we keep up our fine form.

Player Stats

Goalkeepers
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Defenders
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Midfielders
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Strikers
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Overall player performances have been top quality. I have included all the players from my youth squad as well to show that we've got some players with real potential and they've even been performing when called up to the first team. I expect January to be a quiet window unless a world class player becomes available and wants to join the revolution. We've been given ?42million to spend, which is insane as we only have half that in the bank! I will continue to look for 16/17 year olds to add depth to our youth squad, particularly defenders. Obafemi Martins has been poor when called upon this season, so he may find himself sold as he's a high earner and worth 11m, so it could be a nice earner if a club comes in with the right offer

​

 

[seanhrfc]

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January Transfer Update

In
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I wasn't planning on making any signings but both Jones and Milner were transfer listed, Jones by request due to lack of first team football. I think they are magnificent captures for the club firstly because they are English, secondly they fit the personality profile perfectly and they're both extremely versatile. They also bring top quality to the side along with perfect attributes to play my Sacchi high pressing style of play. The only downside at the moment is that for some reason Milner refused to tutor Jon Williams :S. The rest of the signings were for the youth team and they're all brimming with potential - a new back line, defensive mid and a winger. I was thinking of doing a feature on my youth team if people are interested. Youth development is my favourite part of the game.

Out

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With the big transfers in, we needed to cash in on a few to balance the books and the squad size. Martins had already been sold to Sporting early on in the transfer window, selling him for about double what we paid. With Jones coming in, Steven Taylor's place was going down the pecking order added to the fact that he fell out with Andre Wisdom who he was meant to tutor. Another player we got double what we paid for and its a deal that suits all as it gives Watford a quality centre back, us a load of cash and Taylor the key player role he craves. Now when I look at Janmaat's deal I have to say 'this is how you do business'. He came on a free and was never going to feature in my first team plans so I shipped him out on loan to Fulham, where they paid his full wages and gave us 200k a month for the privilege. He was having a successful time at Fulham and raised his value so I brought him back and offered him out to clubs. A host of clubs came in with bids and he chose the highest profile team after him - Juventus. Good luck to him, I can't see him getting in their team but we made a huge sale on him with no expense.

January Results

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Our unbeaten run came to an end this month at the hands of the unlikely Watford. Some massive wins in the cups, including two 5-0 thrashings in the FA Cup, but we were a tad disappointing in the league. I can't knock the away draw to Chelsea, but losing to Watford and drawing against Southampton is not good enough if we want to be a Champions League side. All of our losses this season have been against weaker opposition and I need to get to the bottom of this. We now face Man Utd in the FA Cup 5th round at home, which will be a tough one but we do have a 100% record against them in all comps. We are also through to the League Cup final for the second season running where we will face Norwich. I had not expected this considering bar the away leg of the semi-final we have fielded teams full of fringe players and teenagers so I'm happy with this achievement. Next month sees us in European action again where we have a difficult tie against Bilbao in the first knock out round. If we win, one of Sevilla or Genk await us

January Matchday Screenshots

Spoiler

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Player of the Month

Siebe Schrijvers - 7 goals!

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League Table

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We take a small slip down to 5th, but we're still well in contention for Champions League places. We need to stop losing or drawing against weaker teams however, if we were able to do that we'd be top! City and Chelsea, despite being poor last season in the league, are starting to pull away from the chasing pack but there's still a big title race on

​

 

[seanhrfc]

I got a bit carried way and played the rest of the season! I will do updates similar to what I did for January.

Are people interested in me doing a feature on my youth team?

 

[aaronmorrsi]

I got a bit carried way and played the rest of the season! I will do updates similar to what I did for January.

Are people interested in me doing a feature on my youth team?

Yeha that would be great
you are doing great with them well done

 

[seanhrfc]

Yeha that would be great
you are doing great with them well done

Cheers. I will be putting up updates over the course of the afternoon. I have to say this is probably one of the most impressive youth teams I have ever built, and its only season 2.

 

[seanhrfc]

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February - May 2014 Update

February Results
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A very strange month of results here. Disappointing results versus Stoke and West Ham and being knocked out of the FA Cup were masked by our success in our other games. Firstly, an incredible 10-0 win over struggling Fulham, with Jelle Vossen putting in the best performance i've ever seen on FM banging in 7 goals in a game that broke all sorts of club and Premier League records. We also lifted the Capital One Cup for the second season running and went through comfortably in the Europa League against a very good Bilbao side. Phil Jones also suffered a serious injury which is a big blow to his start at Palace

Spoiler

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March Results
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Excellent results against Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa as well as scraping through on away goals against Sevilla. However the month was marred with a poor performance and a loss against Swansea

Spoiler

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​

 

[seanhrfc]

April Results
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An outstanding month for us and by far our best month of the season. Two thrashings of QPR and Norwich and very good wins against City and Chelsea puts us in a very strong position in the league now. Also we have looked good in Europe, going through to the Semis to get a draw away to Bayern after comfortably knocking out Galatasaray.

Spoiler

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May Results
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A very unlucky result against Bayern. We took a 2 goal lead early on but an 83rd minute goal drew them level to go through on away goals. Man City await them in the final. United seemed to have sussed us out now with their second win against us in the row however we finished the season solidly with two wins. Where would that leave us in the table?

Spoiler

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Final League Table
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An excellent finish to our season as we climb to 2nd place ahead of the chasing pack in a tight Champions League qualification fight. We have now achieved Palace's best finish in the club's history! Unlike last year, we finished several points behind Chelsea.

Season Summary
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2013-14 Best 11
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Stefan Strandberg
Supporters Player of the Year

​

 

[TicTactition]

Stefan Strandberg :$, I'm looking forward to him in the Prem with me after two years experience under his belt!

 

[seanhrfc]

Yes Stefan is a legend!

Btw this story is still going, just a mini 'holiday' while I do my season on the Sociedad Pass the Parcel story.

 

[jukilo]

Great story Sean. Possibly a good guide on how to run a team, youth development and do a good story. Looking forward to your CL challenge.

 

[seanhrfc]

Great story Sean. Possibly a good guide on how to run a team, youth development and do a good story. Looking forward to your CL challenge.

Cheers, I've just gone back to this save now so updates to be coming soon!

 

[seanhrfc]

FFS just spent ages putting together a feature for my youth team, went to post it then my internet went. Will re-do it, but won't be as detailed more just posting their SS up.