Sunderland 2nd season - spent bid on 2 players, only small amount remaining

[cordenadam]

Hi guys,

Generally I tend to have a small squad of around 19 or 20 players enough to fill the 1st 11 & the bench with one or two spare.

Although after my disaster last season which saw me have 4 players suspended at once and 4 or 5 long term injuries and this cost me my semi-final FA cup match against............Barnsley.

This season i need to boulster with a few cheapies, i did have a fair transfer budget however I believe I wasted 28 on neymar for the sake of it.

This is my team so far....

....................Craig Gorden

Serge aurier......... K Popodopolus ...........Onoucha ...........Bardsley


.................Cattermole

Paulo Henrique .........Cristian Riveros


Neymar.......... Lukaku ............Vdlac

This is what i intend to have as my first team when fit on the bench i have:

Subs:

Carlos Vela (Loan
Gyan
Dembele (mali international)
Malbranque
Jordan Henderson
Jack Colback
Keiron Richardson
Marcos Angeleri
Titus Bramble
Michael Turner
Simon Mingolet

Going to try and sell Kieran Richardson. Titus Bramble is out for another 3 months so that effectively leaves me with 9 other team members.

Probably got an excess of strikers although feel I have alot of quality upfront, perhaps too much.

The weakness in my team I see being my defence. I think with the midfield and strikers I have I could potentially challenge for champions league. Let me take you through my views on my defence.

RB: Serge aurier- 18, just paid £13 million for him and he seems fit to take the right back crown, will improve in the next few year I believe I have this place sorted for many years to come.

CB: Kriakos Popodopolas - 18, played on loan for half the season last year and did well although got send off twice ? Decided to get him on loan for the season as a 'cheap' option. Believe he is the best I have, although if i could get a cheap better option I would look into it.

CB: Onoucha - 24 Got top physical stats- but other than that he seems a similar player to my other CB just more experienced, did well for me last year on loan so brought him for a snip at 2.5 million.

LB - Phil Bardsley - 25. Sent off Twice last season, really got on my nerves for costing me games, had Alex Sandro (santos) on loan last season who was my starter, this season they were unwilling to renew the loan and asked for £12 million. Reluctantly having to have Bardsley at LB.

DMC: Lee Catermole - 23- What can I say about him, send off once last season and recieved 17 yellow cars. Good stats, gets good ratings, but is unreliable with bookings.

This being my main Defence I believe I need another LB as i have no cover for when Bardsley gets injuried or more likely sent off. Got back up RB with Bardsley and
Marcos Angeleri.

Some people might ask why I'm not starting Michael Turner, he cocked up alot last season, gave away a few pens and generally got bad ratings. I lost faith.

Now down to business, I have about 5 or 6 million to spend. Think I need to boulster my defence where do you guys think the money should be spent. I have 2 long term loaners so can have one more ?

Thanks in advance guys, sorry for rambling, im just getting my thoughts onto the computer. Playing this game in a system link and cant afford to slack. Got beat 4-1 against the other player and cant have that happening.

---------- Post added at 10:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------

One thing I can do is get 30 year old Kolo Toure from man City for £3million. He wants £100,000k a week though, My squad is young and he would be the experience and most probably captain. Could be a good tutor, would taking my transfer down to £3 and smashing the wages on him be worth it ???

 

[KidSparxx]

Neymar is a class player but i would of prioritised and used the money to better the whole team, instead of a single position. I would say you need to strengthen across the whole back four.

Aurier is fairly young and probably not very good yet since its only the second season. Try and get Daniel Schwaab if you can, he only cost me £2m right at the start of the second season. Try and bid before his loan ends. If not take a look at the transfer list or send scouts out.

The central defence is ok but a pllayer thats already at the top of his game would be better. Toure would be a good option maybe try and get him on loan? Then you'll only have to pay have his wages. Add a future fee on incase you want to buy him.

And finally left back. Bardsley for me is a back up player at best. Take a look at Gibbs for this position maybe. Hes normally on the transfer list. Also sometimes Balzaretti is available on the cheap.

And for Cattermole maybe tell hm to stop diving into tackles or arguing with the referee if he does that.

 

[cordenadam]

Appreciate the help.

I thought the stats for the new RB where fairly good, it was a toss up between him and Renan, renans stats were there but wern't upto the standards of what i needed at the moment. Serge aurier didnt look too bad.

Going to look into Gibbs try to get him on loan first.

CB - Toure If i pay him all he wants, i think I will then need to adjust the transfer budget and will probably leave me with 1 or 2 million.

Perhaps Toure & 2 loans.

Hmmmm the possibilities.

Have also put in an offer for Sandro DMC / MC of tottenham, although dont think they will allow me to loan them as they dont loan to people that rival them.

Getting a little worried about my network partners team at the moment, his strikeforce looks as deadly as mine. He Has Benitez upfront and has just signed Klose on a free & brought Luis Fabiano add that to Zamora and Dembele. Plus he has another 25 million to spend and strengthen his Defence.

 

[KidSparxx]

Sandro's gonna be pricey. Take a look at Kara or Guilio Migliaccio.

 

[Iamahuman]

Cheick M'bengue is class. 4th season in with Sunderland and is still first choice with big clubs interested in him.
Cost me 5 mill

or you could go for bassong, cost me a mere 3.9 mill in second season jan window because he wanted first team action. Two seasons later he is playing for inter (first team starter) as his release clause was 10 mill

In my game Cornel Rapa is a decent and cheap 3 star RB. Bought for 1.6 million.

 

[cordenadam]

Thanks for the help although I seem to have completly gone against anyones adivce.
For some reason i cant help but buy youngsters :S

Got Nicolas N'Koulou as my replacement / backup defender on loan for the season and brought Lucas Biliga from Anderlecht as my new MC and DMC when Cattermole gets banned.

Also brought a new LB who is 20 but just a tad slow, his name i cannot remember.

All in all got a good SQUAD and if i cant keep it together this season and buy the loan youngster players like Nicolas N'Koulou and Kryiakos Popodoplopos (sp?) next season I shouldn't be too far away from the big time after they mature a little bit. Maybe add a more experienced CB next season.

Times are looking up, just need to sort my disaplinary out, had 2 sent off in 1 friendly and another sent off against my reserves ???????? (A)

 

[Chicarito92]

I've also just started my 2nd season with sunderland (like you i also bought neymar, 33 million!). In your negotiations though are you paying fees all upfront or using monthly installments? Because monthly installments mean the transfer doesn't come out straight away, meaning you can buy more players.

For left back i managed to sign Joe Mattock for 3 million. He's young with potential and he's better than bardsley! For a centre back when you next get funds look for either Phil Jones or Varane, both are fantastic for me and are now my first choice pairing!

 

[TJD07]

Wasted a lot on neymar IMO, anything over 15mil is too much.

Best thing to do is get your ***.man to rule out unrealistic targets and look for people with a short time left on their contracts. Easiest way to find decent cheap players that teams will either be forced to cash in on or lose on a free, I've picked up a fair amount of decent youngsters doing this every so often.
Also with 3-4mil you can pick up one or two future world class players if you look around a little, check the big main clubs most usually have reserves full of decent players that aren't ready for the first team yet.

 

[cordenadam]

Yer 33 Million pound wasted is about right.

Played one game and ran the show with a goal and 2 assists then goes on international and gets a broken ankle and is out for 3-4 months.

I was preped this season with strikers had 6 who were all pretty good and so far 7 or 8 games in im back down to the bare bones.

Neymar - 3-4 months
Vela - 3-4 Months
Lukaku - 4 weeks

Thats my main 3 gone.

Now I have to rely on Dembele who is utter ****
Vdlac who is only young and just come back from injury
Gyan who has just come back from injury.

Yup been prety unlucky.

I really thought I had a decent team this season and would be up in top 6 or 7 altough atm its a bit up and down.

Nicolas N'Koulou though has forced himself into my 1st team and is absolutely class.