[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq6fzDN-dFU"]YouTube - Uefa Europa League Official Theme Song[/ame]
Listen to this song while you're reading ha
Manchester City Season Review
Well! I finally finished it, and it's probably one of the best games I've ever played on FM.. Absolutely incredible and with the best finale ever in the history of FM ever!
I only saved the game once, right at the very beginning - and I'm just about to save it after this screenshot!
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The screenshot says I saved it 6 times, but actually that was because I had rolling auto-save on, and only realised in October so I took it off.
To the actual football:
1) Trophy Cabinet
So after an incredible, breathtaking and nerve-racking season, I managed to get 3 trophies! We had some luck along the way, especially in the Premier League, but some of the performances were nothing short of exceptional:
I am very proud to have won all three, as I've never done it before in my history on FM.
2) Season Review
We played some brilliant football after the first few months of gelling, and the players brought in were superb. I'll cover the Premier League story first.
a) The Premier League
For long stretches of the season, we were not altogether in the title race. We started brilliantly but then started dropping points all over the shop, and Liverpool took a great lead into the business end of the season. The turning point for us was an incredible 5-1 win at home to Anfield:
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We were a goal down and the title looked like it would be heading to Anfield but we fought back amazingly and won convincingly.
The title was far from ours though, and we had to face Arsenal in the penultimate game, and they were a point behind us having drawn. We went behind twice, but Phillippe Mexes put in an incredible shift to bring us back from the death.
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Which took us down to the final game of the season. If we beat Fulham at home we would win, if we drew then it would hand the initiative over to Arsenal...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXTo6vezmns"]YouTube - Man City 5 - 5 Fulham - Match Highlights[/ame]
As it happened we drew, but my nerves were shot. We went 1-0 up, then they equalised, then we went 2-1 up, then they equalised, then we capitulated and at half time it was 4-2. We came out second half and played like Champions, and
Carlos Tevez was exceptional, bagging 4 goals that were out of this world.
If Arsenal could have held on to a 2-0 lead that they had against Birmingham they would have won the league, but they dropped in the second half to send the title to Mancehster City.
An unbelievable show of character that defined our Premier League season..
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b) The FA Cup
An altogether different story. We started well with a 5-0 demolition of Bradford, with a number of youth players starting. We were exceptional.
The same could not be said of the 4th Round against Peterborough United...
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Absolutely hammered, truly devestating, but the only real scar on the season.
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c) The Carling Cup
Coming in at the third round, we took this competition by storm.
We started with a 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland, with Adebayor and Agbonlahor too hot for the Mackems to handle.
Up next was a trip to Burnley, where we 2-1 victors thanks to a brilliant Jack Rodwell goal.
Despite having
35shots!!! against Birmingham, we were taken into extra time, thanks to a lucky Matt Derbyshire goal right on half time. The game looked to be going to penalties when James Milner found space to slam home, despite us going down to ten men: a truly exceptional performance..
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The semi-finals, up against Tottenham, it was nerve-wracking to say the least..
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We were exceptional at Eastlands; Edin Dzeko, signed for 23m from Wolfsburg in January, scored two great goals to give us a comfortable lead for the second leg...
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And we were through to the final. We came from behind twice to shut out Tottenham and seal our place at Wembley.
Reading were to be the unfortunate team that would face us and we were in great form, winning 5 of the 6 games leading into the final.
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An unbelievable performance, every shot seemed to go in; it was like we had the Midas Touch. And there it was, our first of three trophies.
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d) The Europa League
This was the centrepiece of my treble, because of the amount of games that you have to play, in such confined spaces of time, and it really showed our true qualities.
Qualifiers: We played Maritimo in the final qualifier, winning 3-0 at home, and drawing 2-2 away, sending us into the Group Stages
Group H: We shared the group with Lokomotiv Moscow, Sporting Lisbon and Aris Selonika. We beat Sporting home and away, but drew to Aris and Lokomotiv away from home, seeing us top the Group comfortably, with Sporting in second.
1st Round: The press said we had it lucky with a draw against Salzburg. We proved that right with some great football, winning the first leg 3-1, and the second leg 4-1 - crusing into the second round.
2nd Round: Portuguese side Braga were up next, but they were no much as we brushed them aside, 3-1 in the first leg, 5-1 in the second. Goals were no problem for us.
Quarter-Final: We played FC Porto in the quarters, and went down 2-1 in the first leg thanks to an incredible performance from Brazilian Hulk. But the away goal was a killer for them..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V90yRCt3aOQ"]YouTube - Man City 2 - 0 Porto - Match Highlights[/ame]
And on to the semis.
Semi-Final: Lille were up next, and they held us to a dogged draw, before we smashed them at home, completely outplaying them and scoring two decent goals:
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The Final
It was built up and it didn't dissapoint. We took the lead, before they had a man sent off for a horrible lunge on Adam Johnson. From there on we were in control and slammed two more past them, one an incredible dribble and finish from the magnificent Edin Dzeko:
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Job done, and it was a truly superb campaign; we were the best team around.
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Here is the final fixture, list and I'll put it into parts as it's so freaking long:
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3) Personal Awards
a) The Top Goalscorers
We had some fine attacking talents on display this season and that is show in the individual goal tally. We equalled a Premier League record of
103 goals in a season!
In all competitions:
1) Carlos Tevez - 28 goals
2) Emmanuel Adebayor - 28 goals
3) Gabby Agbonlahor - 24 goals
4) Edin Dzeko - 15 goals
5) Phillippe Mexes - 14 goals
6) Adam Johnson - 11 goals
7) Mario Balotelli - 9 goals
8) David Silva - 6 goals
9) James Milner - 5 goals
10) Jack Rodwell - 3 goals
Some incredible individual goal tallies, including Dzeko's 15 since joining in the January transfer window. They should be truly congratulated.
The Top 5 assist makers in all competitions were:
1) David Silva - 22 assists
2) Adam Johnson - 21 assists
3) Emmanuel Adebayor - 21 assists
4) Gabby Agbonlahor - 10 assists
5) Edin Dzeko - 9 assists
b) International Awards:
David Silva and Emmanuel Adebayor both made the World Team of the Year at the end of December.
c) Domestic Awards:
Agbonlahor won the Players' Young Player of the Year Award
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I won the Manager of the Year Award
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David Silva, Phillippe Mexes and Emmanuel Adebayor made the Team of the Year, while Tevez and Agbonlahor both made the bench.
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d) Transfers:
Phillippe Mexes from Roma for 6,000,000
Huge bargain - the best value for money centre back in the world, with his contract running out. We snapped him up and he became a main-stay at the back.
Renato Augusto from Bayer Leverkusen for 7,500,000
Not a legend, but did a solid job and covered a number of positions - a real squad player. Injured himself in March for 4 months.
Gabby Agbonlahor from Aston Villa for 15,000,000
I identified the need for a poacher straight away and Agbonlahor fitted the bill. Scored tons of goals, made plenty of assists and got named Young player of the Year. An all round success story.
Jack Rodwell from Everton for 19,000,000
A steep price, but a wonderful player. Only 20 and has years ahead of him, great backup and scored some vital goals.
Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg for 23,000,000
A lot of money, but we needed him in January. Proved critical in our push on 3 fronts - without him I don't think we would have won anything, he was that vital.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Sensational season. Sensational Player.
FINALLY, THE POINTS TOTAL
I'm so sorry if I've bored you all but I felt it neccessary to go in this much detail as I've never had such a good season ever and I wanted to share it, but here is what I make my points total...
Won the Premiership - 100 points
Won the Carling Cup - 50 points
Won the Europa League - 95 points
82 points in the League - 82 points
3 Players in the Team of the Year - 15 points
1 Win over Manchester United - 5 points
OVERALL POINTS TOTAL: 347 points
Blue mooonnnn...
got held annoyingly in the first leg and then punished them in the second leg, play sampdoria in the final. 2 games left, top of the league by 1 point, got to play arsenal next who are second! it's well tense.
). Only came in 2nd place, but I think I was unlucky not to win the league with an impressive 90 points.