Stoke City - Modern Anti-Football

[shawnest]

STOKE CITY

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Hey guys, I started a game with Stoke City because I like their playing style in RL. I'm big fan of physical football and I pretty much believe that football in 20-30 years will be much more about top class athletic performances than pinpoint passing and shooting.



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First of all I had a few rules in my mind. I didnt want to build a team that can pass the ball around the wall with ease but cant score a goal in 90 minutes with 80% possession (like Arsenal in previous seasons). I wanted a team with excellent psysical stats and mental stats to be able to weather 90 minutes attacking without possession and be able to score goals from 1 or 2 opportunity.

So my team is built around height, strenght, work rate, stamina and a few mental stats (aggression, anticipitation, determination, decisions etc...)

First seasons transfers in:
Simone Pepe (loan, 52k/m) Winger - insane WR,TW, aggression, high stamina, a bit short (only 178cm)
Javad Nekounam (275k) Central Midfielder - high WR,TW, very good mental stats, decent technical, high stamina, 186 cm, experience
Ishak Belfodil (loan, 170k/m) Striker - good allround physical stats, very good in the air, 192cm, can play on the left wing
Roy Carrol (loan, 2,1k/m) Goalkeeper - backup keeper after Butland loaned out
Ibrahim Affelay ( loan, 29k/m) Attacking Midfielder - came in the winter window, technically very gifted but i was a bit disappointed with him. 2 assist,2 goal - after all, I'd him if he's around 1M

Out:
Jermain Pennant (2M) Winger - weak physichal stats, low WR,TW + good price for a 30 years old
Wilson Palacios (3M) Central Midfielder - low stamina, low nat fitness, determination 1?!, low concentration
Matthew Etherington (700K) Winger - weak physichal stats, old
Marc Wilson (775K) Def Midfielder - he wanted to leave, he was a very good backup

Finished the season in the 6th place, qualified for european football, I'm very delighted with the overall result.
Final table: ( We took over Tottenham in the last match to qualify for Europe League )


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I'm very proud that we have only 3 defeats in the Brittania, two of them hurts very much because we conceded goals in the 88th and the 93rd minute. One of them was against Sunderland where they got a penalty from a cross in the 88th minute, I couldn't believe that the referee gave them a penalty in the 88th minute away from home.

Overall Begovic made 15 clean sheets, I think he was one of the best players in the team, he always made astonishing saves when really needed, and rarely made any costly mistakes.

Favourite games of the season
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Shawcross was injured, Cameron came in to the centre of defense and scored the winning goals against the defending champion. First game I knew we could beat anybody at home.









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Went two goal up after 30 minutes, they pulled back two, Whelan scored a screamer in the 77th, I pretty much acknowledged a win when Lovren equalised in the 85th. One of the most exciting matches but one of the worst defensive performances from us, Soton scored all the goals from corners.








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Chelsea gave us a nightmare night, but we earned our 1 point in a very aggressive game (39 fouls).










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We beat Norwich away from home with 1 shot on target and an own goal. Pretty much shows what kind of team I want










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Looks like Arsenal doesn't really like playing against 10 men defenses.
























Goals for the next season (2014/2015)

• Keep 6th place
• Remain undefeated at home
• Improving away display ( 6-7 win, conceding less than 30 )
• Improving home defence ( conceding less than 10 )

Players likely leaving

• Peter Crouch ( top performer but aging, feels like not dynamic enough for one man forward )
• Maurice Edu ( can't give him enough playing time, wants to leave)
• Brek Shea ( too average in everywhere for me )

Top transfer targets ( 20M transfer kitty )

• Didier Drogba -free- ( experience, insane mental stats, born leader, still decent physichal stats despite his age)
• Sylvain Distin -free- ( experience, very good physichal stats, very good backup CD )
• Gareth Barry -free- ( experience, concerned about his wage and physichal level )
• Christian Fuchs -10-15M- ( 18 crossing, high WR, 186 cm )
• Abou Diaby -if he's under 2M- ( 192 cm , big fan in RL )
• Cheikh Tiot? -15-20M- ( beast in the midfield, never stops )
• Lacina Traor? -25-30M- ( could be a legend in a club like mine )
• Rickie Lambert -if he's under 500K- ( want to make him a central midfielder )
• Koo Ja Cheol -5-6M- ( good long shots, can play everywhere up front )

 

[Aannddyy]

Will be a massive loss if you sell Brek Shea.. He can cover several positions, doesn't demand much in wages and won't fetch a great price when transfer listed. He's a very similar player to Walters.

A few players you should consider signing [yours are a bit optimistic] - Jordan Rhodes, Callum Paterson, John Guidetti, van Ginkel, Lucas Ocampos, Micah Richards - All players who fit Stoke's style, yet are vast improvements on the current squad and are usually available on loan or for less than ?10m

What tactics do you use? Would be interested to see just how much your side actually line-up like Stoke.

 

[Athe~]

Try to get Rescaldani in if he hasn't been snapped up already. He will suit your physical style and if he's not signed by anyone should be available on a free.

I've played "the Stoke way" in my latest save and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, albeit playing a 4-4-2 formation like Pulis used to. I'm still missing someone like Delap, but I'll find one eventually

 

[gengle]

I'd be interested in the tactic as well, i've always struggled to implement physical football on FM, especially this one.

 

[shawnest]

STOKE CITY
2014/2015 Pre-Season, Season Preview​

Hey guys, Stoke City is back. We've been through a hard preseason with my team, there's 7 new players in the squad. Let me introduce you my signings.

TRANSFERS IN:
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Didier Drogba - free - 120K/w until end of season - he was one of the best player in the world - 3 times PL winner - CL winner. Hope it's gonna be an easy task finishing top 6 with him.







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Michael Essien - 5.5M structured deal - 97K/w until 2017 - partnering him with Drogba gives an instant boost for the whole team. The Bison could be the catalyst in the midfield, a bit short with his 177cm but everybody knows that no one can beat him in running, tackling and working off his ***.





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Abou Diaby - 1M upfront, 500K after 50 app, 60K/app for the next 30 app - 55K/w - Tried to sign him with appearance clauses to protect against his frequent injuries. I think he still can give some extra. I'm big fan of him in RL, I think he would be even better than Vieira if he stayed injury free.






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Ricardo Quaresma - free - 25K/w - Chelsea featured Essien, Drogba and Quaresma aswell in the 08/09 season, so we could be the small Chelsea right now. Doesn't expect too much from him, pretty much no defensive work but I hope he could give me some glimpse of brilliance and scoring some match winners when we're inferior to the opposition.





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Santiago Vergini - free - 24K/w - Decent stats for a backup defender, wanted to sign Distin but he stayed in Everton (they pay him 70K/w , ridicioulus). 191 cm, free, we couldn't really signed anybody of his caliber with better conditions.






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Alejandro Faurlin - free - 30K/w - Decent overall stats, hope he give a bit competition to N'Zonzi for the deep-lying playmaker role.








+ Omar - on loan - backup winger, pretty much similar to Quaresma.

TRANSFERS OUT:

• Michael Knightly - 3M to Hull - small, no WR - not really my type
• Dale Eve - 205K to MCity - he's got 2* potential, dont really understand why City wanted him
• Cameron Jerome - 2.4M to Crystal Palace - could be a good striker for plan B but needed money and space for Drogba
• Kenwyne Jones - on loan at Montpellier - Crouch or Jones, I choosed Crouch because he performed better last year

New team looks like this
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Begovic - obvious
Shotton - average player but we scored 8 or 9 goals from his long throws
Shawcross - Huth - obvious
Pieters - pretty much my weakest links are my full backs but havent been able to find good ones with reasonable price
N'Zonzi
Nekounam - performed well last year but have to except a lot of competition
Essien - starts but have to perform well to keep his place
Arnautovic - performed well last year
Quaresma - no better option ATM
Drogba - my main man up front, bring me at least 20 goals please

Goals for the season (2014/2015)

• Keep 6th place ( hope with the new signing's experience it will be no problem )
• Remain undefeated at home ( hope that we're going to be the most feared team )
• Improving away display ( 6-7 win, conceding less than 30 ) ( didn't really improved the defense so it's gonna be a hard one )
• Improving home defence ( conceding less than 10 ) ( same as above )

Stay tuned until winter transfer window

 

[shawnest]

These guys run a lot without the ball, I had 4 players in top ten at running distance stats in PL last year. We make a lot of fouls in the games but the given cards are not outstanding, I reckon it to the good tackling stats. We're conceding a lot of free kicks and corners in the games so after a while I use defending set pieces before every game and it works well in most of the time. Shotton takes long throws, defenders go up, but its almost always Shawcross who gets the ball, I don't know why because he's just instructed to go forward as anyone else. So that's why I call it physical football because we're running a **** lot, tackling but we're not brutal, I dont know how could I make my team brutal but its ok .

 

[AidyMurf97]

This story is brilliant!! Trying to do the same for Celtic in FM. Won League first season with QF of League Cup , SF of Scottish Cup , L16 of CL. 2nd season I am 13 points clear and played 14 won 12 drawing 2 and unbeaten so far. Top of CL group so far after 4 games and still in the Cups. Basically I set my teams up in the 4-3-3 formation which is insanely hard to break down and I fill my team with players full of work rate and team work. I like my wingers to have that creative and dribbling element with pace and work rate and my striker to be a target man.All in all I feel it's a great way to play the game and is definitely nearly ''perfection'' when you build the right team if giving massive money which I'll hopefully do when I leave Celtic as I want to travel through the leagues like Mourinho in that save!