Masoaoki

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The title makes this seem really unimpressive and boring...

Anyways, as you can see I've chosen to play as PSG! Why you may ask, that's too easy surely? Ah but there is a twist! By the start of my 4th season (quite a while away :p) I must have a maximum of 5 players who are not French in my first team squad. I also chose PSG because I like their kit more than Lyon or Marseille....

My plan is to do Bimonthly updates but we'll see how that goes as I'll probably forget to do it after a while as I tend to get quite into my games and just forget about the world around me and my responsibilities, it;s a bad habit heh..

So yea onto the story I guess, this update is to the end of August so will obviously include all my summer business and that kinda stuff.

View attachment 325610
Never got why it looks like there's a pram there in the logo, I'm guessing it isn't a pram but who knows!?

In terms of tactics I'm a big believer in the 4-2-3-1 on this game as it has brought me nothing but success everytime I used it, it won me 4 Champions Leagues in a row with St Etienne on last year's edition so can't be too bad :D. I have 2 different types of 4-2-3-1 for this save but I'll mostly just be using one of them because well, we're expected to win almost every game we play.. Here are my tactics!
View attachment 325612View attachment 325613
The one on the left is my main tactic and the one on the right is for big away games in Europe/against Lyon and Marseille (probably won't need it against anyone else). Normally I wouldn't use a Complete Forward but it's Ibrahimovic's best role so I thought meh why not, if he wants that then I'll do it for the season or 2 that I'm actually going to keep him before I get rid of him.

Unsuprisingly in the summer I signed only French players! I made 5 signings which were as follows:
Etienne Capoue (£13m): Signed from Toulouse for £13m (his release clause) for the first team which is where he will go instantly, the plan is for him and Beckham to rotate for the Deep-Lying Playmaker role in the team but he can also play as a Ball-Winning Midfielder so he gets top points from me for versatility
Samuel Umtiti (£26m): In my opinion, the best defender since the 13.3 update (which I'm using) when you manage him properly, he's not better than Thiago Silva though currently so he'll either have to settle for a place on the bench or play as left back. Being a left back is highly likely because well, I don't like Maxwell. Some may say I overpaid but I love this guy so worth every penny for me, Lyon wouldn't go any cheaper no matter what I tried too.
Kurt Zouma (£16m): The beast himself!! Last year's best defender by a country mile, he almost single handedly made my defence the best in Europe with St Etienne on FM12, I haven't actually owned him yet on this game so I'm hoping for big things. Like Umtiti he'll probably have to settle for a place on the bench at the moment though because Sakho's just better currently..
Yassine Benzia (£7.5m): With Lucas and Ongenda, I consider this lad to be the future of my attacking plans. A real prospect and good enough to be back up for Ibra at the moment. I'm currently training him to be a Trequarista but I might actually change that to a Poacher as I normally prefer Poacher's in my formation.
Lenny Nangis (£6m): The only one of the signings who won't get much game time this season, he's going to take the AML position eventually but he is nowhere near ready for it yet, his technical skills need some serious training but I have great hopes for him after seeing how good he became for my friend on his Arsenal save.

Outgoing were Thiago Motta, Zoumana Camara and Alex on permanent deals. Motta and Alex aren't French and have very high wages and neither is even that good to be honest.. Camara had to go too as the introduction of Umtiti and Zouma to the squad meant he was just dead weight really. On loan went Kevin Gameiro (who I actually tried to get rid of permanently, and failed) and a lot of youngsters. Except Gameiro all of the loan departures have gone out to help with their development, Gameiro only went out on loan because noone would take him permanently and Arsenal came in with an offer which included the possibility of buying him later in the season, so I jumped at it.

I was considering going after Corchia instead of Capoue but really the right back position is sorted as we have club captain Jallet and van der Wiel who play there whereas I only really ahve Beckham who can play as a Deep-lying Playmaker (and is good at it) so I decided Capoue would be a better signing for now

My Ideal team would be:
Ibra
Pastore - Lavezzi/Verratti (When I've trained Verratti to play as a AMC) - Lucas
Matuidi - Capoue
Maxwell/Umtiti - Thiago Silva - Sakho - Jallet/van der Wiel
Sirigu

However we all know how injuries are on this game and Lucas almost immediately got injured for between 6 weeks and 2 months in my 2nd friendly...

Results

San Jose 1 - 1 PSG
Ibrahimovic
Not the best of starts, we dominated the game but we just couldn't score for some reason..

Cruz Azul 3 - 3 PSG
Benzia, Menez, Lucas

This was just worrying but oh well, only a friendly I guess and atleast we scored 3 goals

Reading 4 - 1 PSG
Pastore

Lol... I don't understand how this happened as we destroyed them and they scored with 4 out of the 6 shots they had but that is football for you I guess

Wolfsburg 0 - 1 PSG
Ibrahimovic

Much better, we were solid at the back and restricted them to 2 shots all game, a fine achievement against a top division club even if Wolfsburg aren't exactly Champions League favourites

Estrela Amadora 0 - 2 PSG
Menez, Lavezzi

Does anyone remember Roberto Carlos' "Impossible goal" for Real? Yea Lavezzi did exactly the same in the 92nd minute here. That's pretty much all there is to say, just a routine victory to be honest.

Crystal Palace 1 - 0 PSG

They had 1 shot all game. ONE SHOT ALL GAME. We had 67% possession and over 15 shots on target, screw this game.

PSG 1 - 0 FC Lorient
Benzia

We cannot score for some reason.. We've dominated our last 4 games and should have had 4 goals in each, yet we have 4 in total. Benzia came off the bench and saved me from an embarrassing draw in my first competitive game but it should have been so much more comfortable.

AC Ajaccio 2 - 0 PSG

We were absymal, enough said.

PSG 3 - 0 Bordeaux
Thiago Silva, Ibrahimovic, Benzia

That's better! A complete destruction of Bordeaux by us and Ibra was sensational as was Verratti on his debut. A good way to end the month

Player of the month (August only as July had no competitive fixtures)
Thiago Silva (avg rating 7.70)

Got a goal in the final match of the month and on average rating was our best player although I personally was very impressed with how Benzia has played having coming in just a few weeks prior and not even being a starter in a single game!

And to finish I bring you great news from the boardroom, they're absolutely delighted with all the high-profile signings I've been making:
View attachment 325618

Actually this is the final thing, haha fooled you! The Champions league group stage draw, I got drawn with:
Arsenal
Ajax
Gladbach

I would've liked an easier group but that's what I get for being seeded in the 3rd group.. We should still win this group with Arsenal being the only real threat although away games at Ajax and Gladbach will both be tough, considering there was teams like Cluj, Partizan and Slovan Liberec in the 4th seeds I think we were really unlucky to get Gladbach who seem the strongest of the 4th seeds except maybe Malaga.

Until Next time! (Probably later tonight)​
 
September and October

Hey guys, I've had an idea to keep the story fresh and more than just a normal boring football manager story. Every half season I'm going to do a mini review for an album I've been listening to recently. The reason for this is that I'm really into folk music and reggae music and I just like to spread the love so to speak as a lot of the artists I listen to aren't really well known or are 'forgotten' artists from the past. Just something to make this more than a standard story
:)

In other news, I have decided who 4 of my 5 foreign players will be (I've actually decided all 5 but the last is secret for now). They will be:
Marco Verratti
Thiago Silva
Javier Pastore
Lucas Moura

The reason I chose these 4 is that with the exception of Thiago Silva, they're all young and great prospects for the future who I had planned to fully integrate into my team anyways so it'd be a bit stupid to get rid of them. Thiago Silva isn't definite either, it depends on the progress of Zouma/Umtiti/Sakho and whether a good regen comes through the academy at Centre Back.

Now onto the results:

LOSC Lille 1 - 2 PSG
Ibrahimovic, Pastore

A good counter attacking victory. We only had 5 shots all game and 3 on target but we made them count. Happy with this one.

PSG 0 - 1 Toulouse

Not happy with this one. We had over 30 shots here but our finishing let us down for what wouldn't be the last time..

Gladbach 0 - 0 PSG
Ibrahimovic sent off

Ibrahimovic got sent off just before half time after we had bossed the first half and left us in a dogfight for the entire second half. A draw is a good result considering the Swede's idiocy.

SC Bastia 2 - 3 PSG
Ibrahimovic, Pastore, Sakho

We tried our best to throw away a comfortable 3 goal lead but just failed, damnit! Really wanted to draw this one as well :S. Sarcasm aside, I was annoyed that we almost threw away such a comfortable lead.

PSG 2 - 1 Sochaux
Lucas x2

Lucas saved me big time here. We just didn't show up in the first half but I put him on at half time and he tore them to pieces. He didn't even need assisting as he set them up himself!

PSG 1 - 1 Ajax
Lucas

For the second game running Lucas saves me! Again he came off the bench (he wasn't fully fit yet after injury) and he could so easily have had another after he hit the post.

Marseille 0 - 0 PSG

Ibrahimovic injured for a few weeks here :/ A draw was a good result in the end as Marseille were in really good form coming into the game (they had won 4 on the bounce in all comps) and it's always difficult away to them anyways.

PSG 2 - 2 Stade de Reims
Menez, Matuidi

They scored very early and it was all uphill from there, we just didn't get going all game and were very lucky to get away with a draw in my opinion after falling behind again almost instantly after we made it 1-1. Matuidi scored a 40 yard screamer to save us

Arsenal 2 - 1 PSG
Lavezzi

I take full blame here. At 1-0 up I had the choice to either push for a second or sit back and I chose to sit back when really we were destroying them at the time. They promptly scored 2 in the last 10 minutes to beat us, disappointing but a lesson learnt.

AS Nancy Lorraine 2 - 1 PSG
Lavezzi. Lucas sent off.

We were horrendous. Truly horrendous. Lucas got sent off within 10 minutes for diving...twice. So needless to say I wasn't too happy with him for that!

PSG 1 - 0 St Etienne (Coupe de la Ligue)
Sakho

Should have been 4 or 5. We were so much better it's unreal. I'm still in disbelief that it was only 1.

So after all this and that terrible run towards the end, my job is 'very insecure' so hopefully I can get on a run or my dream of an all French PSG dominating world football may be over :(.

Player of September and October
Mamadou Sakho

Our best player by a country mile. All the big money signings are taking too long to settle in together and despite being one of the best defenders in the game, Thiago Silva has been poor. It's been mostly up to Sakho and Umtiti to hold fort for me. Another positive has been Pastore who is already turning out to be my best offensive player.

So here's the league table:
View attachment 325650

In Europe our table is:
1st Arsenal 5pts
2nd Ajax 5pts
3rd PSG 2pts
4th Gladbach 2pts

So it's tight both domestically and in Europe and a winning run of 10 or so could see me really push ahead of everyone else. The way we've been playing though I can't see that happening and I'm just hoping that we can continue to plod along and hopefully change the draws into wins and the defeats into draws for now before the winter break. That's it for now cheers guys!

 
It's strange how hard PSG save actually is, especially the first 1/2 season. I did one, however in February you will start to win every game and demolish the league. Like the idea of French only but 4th season seems a little easy;). I'd have said 2 or 3 would have made it more of a challenge. Good luck and hope the pram keeps your team safe;)
 
How did you get Zouma so cheaply? Great bit of business there.
 
It's strange how hard PSG save actually is, especially the first 1/2 season. I did one, however in February you will start to win every game and demolish the league. Like the idea of French only but 4th season seems a little easy;). I'd have said 2 or 3 would have made it more of a challenge. Good luck and hope the pram keeps your team safe;)

I only put 4th because I didn't think it'd be possible to get rid of enough by the second or third. I've already done this with Bayern before and it's suprisingly difficult to get rid of a lot of the players because they're on such insanely high wages! I'll try to do it as quickly as possible though. I can probably get it down to 7 or 8 for next season but I'm really undecided on whether to keep Thiago Silva or not, he's been blowing hot and cold so much (he got 3.8 rating one game...). Haha! I hope the pram keeps me safe from all the rainy weather ;)

How did you get Zouma so cheaply? Great bit of business there.

I actually thought that was quite expensive for him, I've seen him bought for around £10m. Zouma's a weird one because it seems sometimes St Etienne just refuse to sell him for anything less than the Earth. Guess I just got lucky :D
 
SIRIGU is ITALIAN

....I know. I plan on selling him very soon anyway as I don't like him at all.

November and December

To start with I'd like to annonce 2 bits of news for PSG's future:
View attachment 325784
View attachment 325785
As you can see, we've tied up Beckham for an extra year, which will probably be his last. I did this because I didn't want to put too much pressure on young Verratti to start every game and Beckham's the other good Deep-Lying Playmaker in the team and he's also great for tutoring Verratti (which he's doing now).
As you can also see I've snapped up Kiyotake from Nurnberg! I know he's not French but the team needed a good Advanced Playmaker as neither Lavezzi or Pastore has particularly impressed when put in the role. This signing also paves the way for me to get rid of Lavezzi at the end of the season as he'll be no longer needed with Menez, Benzia, Lucas, Pastore and Kiyotake all able to play his position. I actually have found I prefer Menez on the right over Lavezzi anyways.

So then onto the results, which have been much improved to say the least!

PSG 2 - 1 AS St Etienne
Lucas, Menez

We fell behind which seems to be a recurring theme for me but just like the previous game against them we were much much better in every position and should have had a lot more goals than we did but hey, a win's a win.

PSG 2 - 1 Arsenal (CL)
Ibrahimovic x2

Guess what? We fell behind again! This time it only took us 2 minutes to concede but after that Ibrahimovic was absolutely incredible. He single handedly won me this game and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Montpellier 2 - 2 PSG
Ibrahimovic, Nangis

Was forced to start Nangis due to injuries and suspensions and he really paid off, scoring one and setting up the other. We were 2-0 up in this game so to draw is a disappointment but if asked before the game I probably would have took it so I guess I can't be too disappointed

PSG 2 - 0 Stade Rennais FC
Umtiti, Sakho

2 corners, 2 goals. That about sums up this match, incredibly dull game.

PSG 2 - 1 Gladbach (CL)
Ibrahimovic x2, Sakho sent off

Don't know what it is about Gladbach but my players seem to love getting sent off against them. I'm still not really sure why Sakho was sent off after studying the incident several times and they scored from a penalty which I don't really get why that was given either... A good win though nonetheless considering we were down to 10 men for over 70 minutes! However what followed was terrible news:

View attachment 325787
Disaster, especially when you see what's coming up for me in Europe.

PSG 3 - 0 ESTAC Troyes
Capoue, Pastore, OG

Looks a lot more comfortable than it was. Capoue scored our first in the 67th minute and from there we destroyed them but until that point it was very even with them being arguably the better team.

RC Lens 0 - 3 PSG (Coupe de la Ligue)
Chantoime, Ibrahimovic x2

Chantoime ran the show, he scored 1 and assisted the 2 others, winning the penalty for Ibra's first and then playing an exquisite pass for Ibra to finish the match off. In the semis we've been drawn at home against Marseille so we got the best team left in the competition but we should easily win this trophy now.

OGC Nice 0 - 0 PSG

Just one of those games. We hit the woodwork a couple of times here and were really unlucky not to win but that's football for you.

Ajax 0 - 2 PSG (CL)
Nangis, Thiago Silva

Ibra missed a penalty in the 4th minute here and I just thought it'd be a repeat of the Nice game but no, Nangis came good for me again as he scored one and assisted the other. Despite his stats being incredibly poor compared to my other Inside Forwards, Nangis has probably been the most impressive except Pastore. Really happy with him so far.

PSG 2 - 1 Evian
Chantoime, Nangis

Thank god for Nangis, AGAIN. We were horrendous for 70 minutes and were deservedly behind until Nangis and Chantoime both came on and made a real difference as you can see. Our winner came in the 92nd minute when there was only supposed to be 1 minute of stoppage time so guess I got a bit lucky with this one!

Valenciennes FC 2 - 0 PSG

Our luck ran out.. After a run of 2 goals conceded in 7 games we were due a horrow show at the back and it came in full force here. Sirigu was atrocious but so was Thiago Silva (this is the game of the 3.8 rating he got). Neither of them have impressed me so I'll likely move them both on in summer I think.

PSG 5 - 1 Lyon
Ibrahimovic x2, Pastore, Thiago Silva, Nangis

OH YEAAAAAAAAAA. This is more like it! Finally everything came together, although it only did in the last 30 minutes where we scored 3 and hit the woodwork 3 times, complete and utter destruction by us in the end. Great to see Nangis get yet another goal, turning out to be my best purchase despite having the worst stats!

Stade Brestois 2 - 3 PSG
Pastore, Benzia, Thiago Silva (pen)

Sirigu was very poor yet again, I really can't see why he's so poor though as his stats are quite good except for command of area and aerial ability which are both average, maybe that's it.. Benzia finally scored! After a seriously long time without scoring it's great for him to finally get a goal again and hopefully he can start bagging a few more for me now so I can (hopefully) sell Ibra in the summer

Player of November + December
Zlatan Ibrahimovic

I was considering giving it to Nangis but Ibra has saved me in a lot of matches already and really has been class. It'll be hard to let him go but I think I'll do it in the summer and promote Benzia/Lucas to starting striker role.

So to finish things off we have the Champions league table:
1st Arsenal 11pts
2nd PSG 11pts
3rd Ajax 5pts
4th Gladbach 5pts

We didnt win the group on goals scored. Goals. Scored. Because of this we have got the worst possible draw for the next round and without Sakho to hold the fort in central defence we may be in for trouble as we were drawn against:
View attachment 325791
Yep that's right, we got Barca! Hopefully we can do better than PSG will likely do tonight against them in real life :p. With the first leg at home it is imperative that we score at least 2 and concede none in my opinion as anything else and we won't stand a chance at the Nou Camp against Messi, Iniesta and co. I do however believe we can get through against Barca as our team is full of talent and they're really starting to gel together now so I think we could suprise a few people here.

The league table's looking like this:
View attachment 325792
If it wasn't for suprise package Nancy then we'd have a comfortable lead over the rest of the league. Still though, I get the feeling that Nancy will get a bad run at some point and I feel like we've already had ours earlier in the season so the league looks good to me.

In one final bit of (football manager) news, Pastore has been named Ligue 1 foreign player of the year and I have to say it's thoroughly deserved! 5 goals and 6 assists in 17 appearances is not bad at all considering for a lot of the time he was carrying the team with Ibra and Lucas both injured.

Mason's Mini Album Review

Well half a season's gone so I thought I'd do my first mini review of the story. The review this time is for:
View attachment 325796
Blackheart Man by Bunny Wailer.

Bunny Wailer's first solo album after leaving The Wailers along with Pete Tosh (leaving Bob Marley to run the show as we all know!) is a brilliant album, it starts off with the superb title song 'Blackheart Man' which is one of my all time favourite Reggae songs. Every song on the album is strong but for me 'Blackheart Man', 'Amagideon (Armagedon)' and 'This Train' stand out as the best and I would say they're some of the all-time best Reggae songs. For me, except for a few of the obvious Bob Marley ones like Burnin' and Exodus, this is the essential reggae album and it's highly recommended. I can't give it a 10 though as the tracks between Blackheart Man and Amagideon (2 to 7) aren't amazing. The album is still a great album though and I'd recommend it to everyone, reggae fan or not as a nice piece of music to listen to while playing Football Manager or just relaxing in general

Mason Rating: 9/10
 
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