Danny - Not so shit at this piece of shit - Derby County

[RandoEFC+]

17 minutes ago, Dan said:

The thing that's made me come good on this was picking a side where there were no expectations.

The catch is that team is Barnsley and you've already been them

I often do better abroad than in England. Seriously, do a save with someone who isn't quite at the top (so you can at least feel some kind of achievement if you do it) but is quite good as well. I'm looking at someone like Genk, Heerenveen or Sporting Lisbon.

Agree with this. I've done as well or better with sides who are mid table or sleeping giants than with sides that expect to win every match, more fun too. 

[Dan+]

I turned Sparta Rotterdam into a better side than what I turned PSG into. Clubs without pressure generally do it for me. Sparta was my ideal save in so many ways - a youth emphasis, started in the second tier and gradually built a really good side that won consecutive Eredivisie's and even made the last 16 of the Champions League.

I think England's tough. I find the Premier League very tricky on this.

[Danny]

Ironic that I started this topic with Derby what is about a year ago now as I have got into another season with the Rams and it's going...quite well. I made some changes in the Summer that I don't normally make.

I sacked a load of my coaches and hired new ones, bringing my general coaching level to one of the best in the league. Also hired some physics who are actually good physios.

I've been going with a variation of a 4-3-2-1 all season, between that, a 4-3-1-2 and a 5-3-2. My team are high pressing which is something I've never used before, work ball into the box, high tempo. I had about £4m to spend but only bought Stephen Quinn from Reading for a milllion, highly determined and a jack of all trades and Kwesi Appiah for £500k. Other than one fairly sticky patch where I played 6, lost 3 and drew 3 (thought that was going to be the end of this game) I've generally had runs of form that go win 2 lose/draw 1, or win 4 lose one.

Currently sixth, 3 points off 3rd and 4-5 point off 2nd. Just gone past January and I've loaned in Rob Holding and Lewis Cook.

[Stan]

Derby usually collapse in the 2nd half of seasons in real life so we'll see how realistic this game really is... 

[Danny]

Well I finished the season third in the league and lost to Fulham on penalties in a play-off semi final...not bad considering I was at a point I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up with the play offs. I somehow had a row with Jacob Butterfield that cauased the entire team to take his side and still managed to win when they refused to be motivated by me and their morale stayed around "okay". I did manage to go into the automatics towards the end of the season but the midweek games killed it for me.

[Stan]

second season is always the hardest, there'll be a collapse then  

[Dan+]

I had Stephen Quinn at Barnsley. He was a very tidy player to be fair.

[Danny]

16 hours ago, Stan said:

second season is always the hardest, there'll be a collapse then  

I've just signed Rob Holding, Lucas Piazon, Sam Johnstone and Harry Winks on loan. Not too shabby. There's been a board take over and they put an embargo on me and then have me no funds so I had to sell to create wages. Meant I lost out on Lewis Cool and Adam Armstrong cos I couldn't afford the wage percentage. Bastards.

2 hours ago, Dan said:

I had Stephen Quinn at Barnsley. He was a very tidy player to be fair.

He's tidy, plays left wing back, left mid, left wing, centre mid, attacking mid, fairly decent stats and 19 determination. Good squad player.

[Stan]

I remember getting Harry Winks as well. Think I built the team around him. Far too good for the Championship. 

[Dan+]

I had Winks at Nantes. Was very good for me aged 20 in Ligue 1. Never gone on to be loads better than that though.

[Danny]

So I've just gone into January in my second season and am currently top of the table. There's about three points in it between the top 3 but there's 17 points between me and 7th place so doing much better than last season.

Lucas Piazon broke his leg or something silly and so terminated his loan which is annoying, but I saw that Prince Oniangue was transfer listed by Wolves for £325K so snapped him up. When I done my Wolves file he was class in the Championship and good in the Prem. 14 passing, 14 off the ball, creative, decent tackling, 16 heading and physical stats mostly at 15-16 except pace which is a 12 but he's a deep lying playmaker so all good.

My Derby team is just destroying the division and I think I'll eventually run away with the league. Just beat promoted Aston Villa in the FA Cup 3rd round 2-0.

[Danny]

Thought I'd throw some pictures up:

Team instructions, formation and players:

 

Transfers:

 

League table and fixtures:

[Danny]

@Stan I was moments away from losing promotion....I lost 6 of my last 9 games, drew 1 of them.....I was flying top of the table, finished second 6 points behind fucking Norwich. It's great I'm promoted but it very nearly became a proper Derby moment.

Fortunately I went 4 months of the season only losing 1 game (20p, 5 draws, 14 wins). Even though I had such a dismal end of season I still finished 7 points ahead of 3rd.

Should have won the league though. Did make the FA Cup semi final mind, beating a promoted Aston Villa, Forest, Liverpool and United, narrowly losing to Arsenal in the semis. Think it was the FA Cup that fucked my form up.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Danny said:

@Stan I was moments away from losing promotion....I lost 6 of my last 9 games, drew 1 of them.....I was flying top of the table, finished second 6 points behind fucking Norwich. It's great I'm promoted but it very nearly became a proper Derby moment.

Fortunately I went 4 months of the season only losing 1 game (20p, 5 draws, 14 wins). Even though I had such a dismal end of season I still finished 7 points ahead of 3rd.

Should have won the league though. Did make the FA Cup semi final mind, beating a promoted Aston Villa, Forest, Liverpool and United, narrowly losing to Arsenal in the semis. Think it was the FA Cup that fucked my form up.

congratulations in order!

Next challenge is to beat the 11 points from 10 years ago that Derby set in real life...

[Danny]

It's been a while, but the last month or so I've picked this save up again.

I've completed my first season in the Prem, I came up with a pretty heavy Championship level side. Out of the team that got me promotion, I lost Cyrus Christie (demanded to leave), Harry Winks (loan), Lucas Piazon (broke leg, loan) and Rob Holding (loan). All three could quite easily slot into a Prem side. So in my first transfer window in the Prem, I was given a whopping £10m to spend. Baring in mind I had a thin squad, lost key players to loans and had the likes of Ikechi Anya (11s and below) filling my squad up.

I sold Matej Vyrda and Cyrus Christie for a combined £10m and then signed James Tarkowski (£3m) and Ben Mee (£12.75m) from Burnley and they formed my new centre back partnership. Signed Mathieu Valbuena and Jason Puncheon for about £500k each, brought Mavidi on a free and then loaned Patrick Roberts and Sheyi Ojo. 

I started the season off by being thumped 5-0 by Man Utd away, with the very little investment from the board and a team of a few Prem midtable players but mostly Championship level I thought it was going to be a long old season. However I followed that game with a home game the weekend after beating Watford a massive 7-1...obvious holes in my defence from the United game but this gave me hope that there was enough in the team to do more than fight relegation. I've posted my fixtures and table below, but look at my results against the traditional top 6. Played 12, lost 6, drew 1, won 5. Not the worst results for a newly promoted side.

By the end of the season I finished 7th, qualified for Europe and my main man Kwesi Appiah scored 19 league goals.

[Stan]

Holy shit that's really good by your standards!

[Danny]

On 10/02/2019 at 11:57, Stan said:

Holy shit that's really good by your standards!

It was very good by my standards Stanley, and things are going well still!

I managed to finish the following season in a respectable 9th place, whilst getting to the semi final of the Europa League before getting knocked out by eventual winners Bayern Leverkusen. I finished the season 11 points worse off the season before, but the Europa League fixture congestion took its toll on the squad.

My biggest problem was that I had essentially an ageing Championship level squad and I wasn't sure how long they'd all last, second season syndrome and all of that. So I signed Nathaniel Chalobah, Ryan Woods, Ronaldo Vieira, Martin Montoya, Leonardo Da Silva-Lopes...and then added Theo Walcott on a free and Axel Tuanzebe on a loan. I didn't get to strengthen the first eleven in key areas (up front or defence), but I did build up a squad that could play Thursday-Sunday, Premier League ready and fairly young. The season was really a building season for a new squad.

I've now just started my 5th season in charge of Derby County, having signed Matt Phillips (surprisingly good on this), Bernard (of Everton in real life), Rob Holding who I once had on loan as my cover for defenders was really low and have a couple of decent goalkeepers.

My star striker, now 30 years old, Kwesi Appiah, scored over 29 goals last season. 16 in the league, and scored 22 in the league the season before (both in the Prem). I signed Appiah for £500k from Crystal Palace when I first started the game and he has been my top goal scorer every year. Not sure how long he'll last now he's 30, hoping a couple more seasons. He's scored 3 out of his first 3 games this season so still going strong.

[Danny]

After 5 full seasons in charge of Derby I'm deleting this game. Two seasons in the Champ, one a failed play off attempt, the other automatic promotion. First season in the Prem, finished 7th (I think), qualified for Europa League. Following season, midtable, good Europa League run. Season after, finished 14th, went on an 11 game winless streak (4 draws, 6 losses), before going on another similar shit run. Season after, have lose 3 of my opening 5 games, drawing 1.

The last full season, and the current one has just been constantly getting slapped around by whoever I play, team constantly has low morale. Whatever I do, praise training, individual performances, team performances. Tactics no longer work, different formations don't, if it wasn't for Kwesi Appiah I'd probably be relegated by now. Was hoping to take Derby into the top 4, signed some good players too (Mariano, Denis Suarez, Reiss Nelson, Rob Holding, Ronaldo Vieira, Bernard)....can't even get top half of the table. Players constantly get tackled, completely turn over against bigger opposition (losing by 4-5 goals).

New game needed!

[Dan+]

Huddersfield go down in 2018/19 with 14 points. Freaky.

[...Dan]

On 12/03/2019 at 13:51, Danny said:

After 5 full seasons in charge of Derby I'm deleting this game. Two seasons in the Champ, one a failed play off attempt, the other automatic promotion. First season in the Prem, finished 7th (I think), qualified for Europa League. Following season, midtable, good Europa League run. Season after, finished 14th, went on an 11 game winless streak (4 draws, 6 losses), before going on another similar shit run. Season after, have lose 3 of my opening 5 games, drawing 1.

The last full season, and the current one has just been constantly getting slapped around by whoever I play, team constantly has low morale. Whatever I do, praise training, individual performances, team performances. Tactics no longer work, different formations don't, if it wasn't for Kwesi Appiah I'd probably be relegated by now. Was hoping to take Derby into the top 4, signed some good players too (Mariano, Denis Suarez, Reiss Nelson, Rob Holding, Ronaldo Vieira, Bernard)....can't even get top half of the table. Players constantly get tackled, completely turn over against bigger opposition (losing by 4-5 goals).

New game needed!

Why not continue and look for a new job?