The Mighty Saints!

[FootballManagerLad]

I have really struggled to get myself into FM this year but hoping this story can turn things around for me! I will be playing as...
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My my aims for the story will be;
1)to firstly cement Southampton with a regular European spot, first season has to be at least a Europa league finish.
2)I will sell players for big money and hopefully from a big profit, Southampton have great talent already that will sell for big money. I will aim to keep the players but big money bids can't always be turned.
3)I want to make Southampton one of the best English sides present and of all time by regularly competing for the league title. I hope to be challenging for the league title after about 3 seasons.
4)my last aim is for a long career, tired of starting games then I'm fed up by Christmas (FM time) I'm hoping this can be a long lasting challenge.

i won't bore you with my evaluation of the squad or the clubs history etc as most of you already know everything! My tactics will be a 4-3-3 formation as I look for a sort of pep guardiola Barcelona style. Anyway with pre season friendlies skipped, here's how the season has started.

Southampton vs Everton
Barclays Premier League

Cant complain ain't with a winning start, it was a close game but we edge it with two debut goals. A pleasing start to my career.

Sunderland vs Southampton
Barclays Premier League

We're delighted with another win! We were slightly better but couldn't take advantage then the red card seemed to help guide us to the win.

Southampton vs Brentford
Capital One Cup Third Round

Our first cup competition starts with a home win, massive amount of pleasure seeing one of our young stars score and set up the other two here. Another good performance gets us another good win!

Southampton vs Leicester City
Barclays Premier League

Our first defeat! It's hard to take after we bossed it, but if you don't score you don't win. Our late pressure leaves us open and Leicester pinch the three points to move them off bottom.

End of August League table

Cant complain with two wins and a defeat from our first three league games. Bit frustrated we don't have maximum points at the end of the month though. An all round good start for us though.

 

[craigsmith1995]

unfortunately my screen shots didn't seem to work for last update but from now on they should be ok as my updates will be on my laptop not ipad!

So...onwards with our next month of Premier League action!

Barclays Premier League
Crystal Palace vs Southampton
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A tight game away to Palace but we delightfully get the win and bounce back to a disappointing end to last month, Schneiderlin sent off for a two footed tackle but we stay strong to get the 3 points.

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Southampton vs Stoke City
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It was another tight game, we had more opportunities and probably deserved to win but when we finally took the lead Stoke pegged us back pretty quickly with a great goal by Diouf. A bit of a frustrating one for us here as we have to be more clinical in front of goal.

Capital One Cup 4th Round
West Brom vs Southampton
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We bow out of the cup early one which is disappointing. We defended really poor second half to allow West Brom back in this game! A late goal leaves us crushed but it isn't an important competition so we'll focus ourselves elsewhere.

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Manchester United vs Southampton
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Our first real test against one of the greats in the league! We didn't begin to play well and United walk over us. Needs to improve for the next time we come up against one of the big boys.

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The end of the month see's us 9th! Not the worst start but certainly not where we see ourselves come the end of the season. I am currently content with our start and really fancy us to kick on once we hit form and really get used to this tactic. Defense looks brilliant at the moment.

OCTOBER MONTH BEGINS!

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Southampton vs Chelsea
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Another big test for us and we only lose by one goal, Chelsea were deserving of their win but we had our chances. Eden Hazard is the typical man to seperate the sides but generally a pleasing performance by us.

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Tottenham vs Southampton
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WHAT A RESULT! Must say I didn't fancy us to pull of a win at White Hart Lane against a Spurs side who have started the season well but it's a steal by us! A great opening half hour gets us the win despite Spurs giving us a scare towards the end.

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Southampton vs Aston Villa
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Strugglers Villa arrived at St Mary's and I fancied us to wipe the floor with them. Was clear to see early on they were here for one thing and that was a draw. Carlos Sanchez's red card in the first half left me thinking surely we'd win it! But somehow we don't even score! A boring 0-0 for us is a huge let down and it seems to me that we may be missing a striker to score us goals, as the strikers are currently lacking at the moment.

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Here's how the table shapes up at the end of October and we're one place further up the table than last month. A huge win over Spurs was the highlight of a fairly average month. My evaluation so far is that we aren't converting all the chances we're creating and clearly lacking a goal scorer. Long and Pelle have both been poor and I may have to dip into the winter window.
Hopefully a more consistent performance from my team next month as we need a run of results!

 

[FootballManagerLad]

my last update was on my old login which my laptop was automatically signed into, hence why the 2nd post was a different username!

...Anyway on with the story.

NOVEMBER!
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Liverpool vs Southampton
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Another great win away to one of the bigger stature teams! One of England's most historic clubs and we pick up a win. I'm absolutely delighted! Great to even see a future England star get himself a goal.

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Southampton vs Newcastle United
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We came into this on the same amount of points as Newcastle so it was an important one. Unfortunately an even game ends all square! We peg Newcastle right back after they took the lead but it's not the worse result we've had.

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Swansea City vs Southampton
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Another close encounter luckily for us we nick it! 1-0 down but Schneiderlin's first two goals of the season win it for us second half! Another great win in a good month for us.

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7 points from 9 at the end of a short month is quite pleasing especially when it was away to two good sides and at home to Newcastle who are flying this season! Quite happy with our position at the moment as we want the European places. Hoping for another big month next month during the busiest spell of the season.

DECEMBER!

Barclays Premier League
Southampton vs West Ham
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It is clear what West Ham are after as they start with FIVE at the back, YES FIVE! We eventually score through loan signing Djurcic and West Ham didn't seem to try to peg us back so a relatively easy three points for us.

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Burnley vs Southampton
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We get thumped by Burnley! Our poorest performance by far! Really disappointed to get brutally battered by a newly promoted club. Burnley look good for avoiding the drop comfortably!

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Southampton vs Manchester City
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Once again we turn on the style to beat the big boys! For some reason we can perform against the bigger teams but seem to lack urgency against smaller teams! Manuel Pellegrini's side have had an awful start and surely he's in big trouble as City boss unless results change.

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Hull City vs Southampton
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We're unable to follow up a great win over City as we crumble away to Hull! A fairly even game chances wise tells me we need a striker in urgent! That's got to be the aim for January.

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West Brom vs Southampton
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They put us out of the League Cup earlier in the season here and they dominated us in this match! A rare Shane Long goal puts us infront against his former club but we can't hold on and once again West Brom score late against us!

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Southampton vs Arsenal
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Arsenal were far better and we get walked over here. cheap goals and game was finished after just half an hour.

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Queens Park Rangers vs Southampton
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The end to the year is pretty dull as we draw away to a newly promoted club. That's now all 3 promoted clubs we've played and picked up 1 point from 9, really shows how slack we are against weaker opponents. Pelle scores but I'm still not confident with my strikers who've not even netted 10 between them in the first half of the season, someone has to be brought in during the January window.

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We End the year in 8th which is not where we aim to finish, top 6 is hugely important for European football but unless we get consistency it won't happen! I will be aiming to bring in a striker next month who can hopefully add goals to a strong team defence wise. Solomon Rondon was the main target but unfortunately picked up a four month injury as we were close to signing him, finding a new key target will be difficult but I'm confident if I get the right man then my team will be in Europe next season and we will be more consistent!