ocollins21314
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Every year I attempt a save with a high mid-table standard Premier League team in an attempt to eventually take them to the pinnacle of world football and establish them as the dominant force throughout the footballing world. Usually I attempt to do so with Everton, although this season I've chosen Southampton; I prefer their squad and perhaps more importantly they have a decent transfer kitty to play with.
I'm actually already in to my third season with the club, but have made regular saves and so I'll look back and try to best describe how life with the Saints has been going so far, and then of course I'll move on to describing what happens as I go along. This is my first FM Base stories thread to please feel free to leave any comments about how it could be improved or whatever might be good about it and bear in mind I won't catch up to where I presently am in the game for a few days as it actually takes a lot longer to recall and write about what happens then I imagined it would! I hope you enjoy the story!
Every year I attempt a save with a high mid-table standard Premier League team in an attempt to eventually take them to the pinnacle of world football and establish them as the dominant force throughout the footballing world. Usually I attempt to do so with Everton, although this season I've chosen Southampton; I prefer their squad and perhaps more importantly they have a decent transfer kitty to play with.
I'm actually already in to my third season with the club, but have made regular saves and so I'll look back and try to best describe how life with the Saints has been going so far, and then of course I'll move on to describing what happens as I go along. This is my first FM Base stories thread to please feel free to leave any comments about how it could be improved or whatever might be good about it and bear in mind I won't catch up to where I presently am in the game for a few days as it actually takes a lot longer to recall and write about what happens then I imagined it would! I hope you enjoy the story!
Season 2014/15:
Predicted Finish: 9th
Transfer Budget: £19.32m
Wage Budget: £1.06m p/w
Transfers:
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Jesus Vellejo: I think my head of youth actually put in an offer for him but having looked at him he has good defensive attributes at such a young age and whilst lacking something physically he can hopefully become more rounded over time. He's one for the future and as such I've loaned him out to Fulham.
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Eder Alvarez Balanta: He's someone that I'm sure most FM players are aware of by now; a rock in defence with fantastic potential. Handily he can also play LB if needed. I feel I got him for a good price and he adds some much needed steel to the back line.
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Lucas Romero: Much like Balanta he'll be well known by most and he is simply fantastic for his age with the only thing he really misses being height. I'm confident he'll be a mainstay throughout this save.
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Saido Berahino: Perhaps I took a little bit of a gamble signing him for the amount I did but he does have very good attacking and pace attributes for his age and he'll help boost our home-grown quota.
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Paulo Dybala: Another player I've embraced on previous saves, although having a preference for playing up front I can see him playing no.10 with the attributes he has. I sold Jack Cork rather reluctantly to get hold of him so I'm hoping he can deliver the goods.
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One thing that was slightly annoying, but understandable, about this transfer window was that all of my purchases except Vallejo inserted release clauses in their contracts. I managed to barter them up to around £45m in each which I suppose if they did get taken for I couldn't really complain with but the sooner I get those release clauses removed the better.
Tactics:
I'm very much a fan of playing an attacking 4-2-3-1 and that's what I'll be implementing here. I've got a good range of players to make it work and hopefully it won't leave us too vulnerable defensively.
My strongest line-up as I see it is:
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I'd be happy to rotate my bench players, Wanyama is a beast and Dybala, Ward-Prowse and Berahino are all excellent younger players.
Jay Rodriguez begins the season injured.
Mid-Season
By January we had been doing well, 5th in the Premiership with some memorable results under our belt including a 2-1 victory over Chelsea and a 6-1 demolition of Sunderland in the FA Cup. Embarrassingly we did get knocked out of the Capital One Cup in only the second round by Brentford on penalties! We were still going strong in the FA Cup however with a 5th Round tie against QPR unlikely to prove too testing.
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Transfers:
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Pablo Sarabia: He'd played very well for Getafe so far that season with an average rating of 7.40 from 19 games. A product of Real Madrid he has excellent technical ability coupled with wonderful vision; I hoped he could spark some creativity in the side with us lacking somewhat in the goal department.
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Zakaria Bakkali: Agreed to sign another well-known youngster on a free in the summer. He appears to of had his stats watered down somewhat in comparison to previous FMs but hopefully he can still prove a valuable signing.
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Jay Rodriguez: Whilst being described as a key player for us at the start of the season his injury issues meant I didn't start him once, and when Sociedad came in with a decent offer for him I was happy to accept; we got some good money for him and when comparing him to our other attacking players I don't think he'll be missed.
Individual Performances:
Florin Gardos: A real life new addition this summer, I admittedly didn't know who he was when I first started the save. He has been on fire. Our top performer thus far with an average rating of 7.45 from 21 games including 5 goals, 3 assists and 3 MoM awards; not bad offensive stats for a CB! Furthermore his discipline is good, only picking up 4 yellow cards as yet and making a monster 5.85 tackles on average per game.
Steven Davis: I was actually really suprised to see Steven Davis do so well, when I started I thought he would most likely be a bit part player, possibly sold in January or the next summer. However he has done excellently with 5 goals, 8 assists, 1 MoM and an average rating of 7.32 in 18 games.
Saido Berahino: Whilst being rather hit and miss Berahino was our top scorer at this point and as such deserves a mention. 25 games, 11 goals, 3 assists, 3 MoM and an average rating of 7.02.
Injuries:
We were fortunate to not pick up any major injuries amongst the first team but unfortunately, particularly given his young age, Jesus Vallejo damaged his achilles tendon on loan at Fulham and is out for 2 months.
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