So this will be divided into three parts. The first, Southampton; the second, Sweden; and the third, Sochaux. Who? The team predicted to finish 20th in Ligue 1 following their promotion last season, I decided to take on a challenge and add a second manager, to play simultaneously. I felt like something more challenging but at the same time, I’ve become quite attached to my squad, and therefore I decided I’d just manage two teams. I’ve considered resigning from Sweden and may yet do that, but right now I want to see how we can go against France and Holland.
So Southampton. Let’s look at the transfers, including a couple of January additions from last season. It’s worth noting that not much has changed in my first team squad. Every one of those signings has gone into one of my youth teams, or out on loan, with the exception of Cumher Yücel, who is a backup member of the squad with the potential to be something more.
There have been three further changes to the first team, as Brazilians Gustavo, Luiz and Joāo Pedro have returned from loan and taken the places of Daniel Burtic, Niclas Larsson and Tobias Andersson in the squad. The two Swedes, along with compatriot Linus Persson, all departed for big money in the off-season. Burtic, on the other hand, has spent two years as Dragowski’s understudy, so I want him to get a year of regular football this season. I expect Luiz to really push for Gasperoni’s place in my Starting XI.
Other big sales include the 40m departure of extremely talented Frenchman Mehdi Bouchet, along with his compatriot Bertin and Mexican International Flores, neither of whom were likely to make the grade. Bouchet I would have liked to keep around, but there was no space in the squad for him, particularly after my only significant signing of the window arrived in the shape of Gautier Fontaine. Fontaine is spending the season at Hoffenheim, despite his monstrous fee, and completed 116 passes in his last game for them. Woodman, Hennen, Corominas and the two Swedes have joined the Under 18’s squad, whilst van der Laan has gone out on loan.
As for results, we’ve started the season like a house on fire. A 90th minute goal from Moritz Gitschier saw us lift the Community Shield, before we dropped the UEFA Super Cup just 3 days later to a handy Inter outfit. So no chance of a perfect 7 this season. Other than that, we’ve steamrolled just about everyone we’ve played. Our only other blip was a 3-3 draw with Chelsea, in a match where we found ourselves 3-0 up at half time, but fell asleep in the second half to hand the Blues a potentially vital point. Fortunately since then we’ve dished out thrashing after thrashing. Liverpool were handed a 5-1 pounding at Anfield, with Marco Asensio picking up the first of back-to-back hat tricks (12 goals in 10 games). We followed that up by pounding our Champions League Group rivals Atletico 4-0, before Gitschier produced a 4 goal masterclass to wipe Norwich off the park.
I also only realised halfway through the Liverpool game that Asensio, having left the club and rejoined, would no longer be listed as my number one set piece taker. I changed it during the match, and he promptly scored a free kick that very game, and followed it up with another one against Atletico. So things are looking rosy on the South coast of England, though not so much for Liverpool, who have struggled so far.
On to Sweden, and we’ve split our first two games. We produced a hugely impressive performance to see off France in our opening game, picking up a narrow win at home, which was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Unfortunately we followed that up by being picked off by Holland, and the Oranje showed no mercy in piling on 3 goals, to leave us in a tricky spot. Hopefully we can beat them in the return match - we’ve beaten them before, an epic 4-3 come-from-behind earlier this year - and hold France on the road, that should be enough to ensure our survival in the Group of Death. We’ve lost one of our key players, fullback Linus Wahlqvist, to a 4 month injury, so it won’t be easy.
Finally, the new challenge, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. A club I’ve liked ever since in FM13, my first ever game, when they came runner-up in my first season to my own PSG side despite being predicted to struggle. As I’ve mentioned, their media prediction for this season was to finish 20th, and it was easy to see why. Results so far have been mixed, but certainly much better than expected. After conceding 7 goals without reply across our first two competitive matches, I truly feared the worst. However, a couple more signings and some tactical tweaks, and we’ve done pretty well since.
The highlight was undoubtedly a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win over Marseille, where the only goal of the game was scored by 19 year old striker Francisco Martinez. The Spanish talent had joined us only a couple of days previously on loan from Marseille themselves. He may not be the most popular man in town when he returns to his parent club, but he was a hero in Montbéliard that day! The outstanding player so far has been Alexis Zapata, who leads the Sochaux charts for both goals and assists, playing from the right wing.
There have been two arrivals from Southampton, though both of them joined Sochaux before I created the new manager. Brice Arnaud I was happy to give away for free with just a year left on his contract and no less than 5 keepers ahead of him in the long-term pecking order. Brazilian playmaker Canindé has joined on loan for the year. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t tempt any other Saints, such as Alexandru Deac and Aldo van der Laan, to France to join the fight. If we do well enough this year then perhaps there will be more interest in future, and I’d like to see a relationship develop between the two clubs, even unofficially.
As for the other transfers, the majority of the budget had been swallowed up by the previous manager before I decided to join. I was only able to bring in two players for fees, one of whom cost just 40k, though the loan of Schuster includes a monthly fee, as well as a 500k option to buy, which I hope to activate at some point. I raised a little cash with player sales though, and definitely feel the squad is strong enough to survive. Results so far would suggest we have enough, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. Our results against Monaco (5-0) and PSG (3-0) suggest it could take a while!
If you guys would prefer I just stick to updating Southampton and Sweden, please just say so!
are the best on this site. I guess everyone waiting for another story 8-| Greetings Patrick!