Stan - Sydney > Crewe > Ipswich > Leicester > Lyon

[Stan 10,289]

As promised, have kicked off a career in the land down under. Will update this properly tonight when I get properly stuck in to it (players, budgets, transfer etc)

Shrimp on the barbie and beers all round if this save is a success  

[Guest Cannabis]

WE ARE SYDNEY!

WE WEAR THONGS!

[Guest]

Will follow. Massive fan of AFC saves.

[Stan 10,289]

 

Nearly a month in to my pre-season and I've formed my squad. Heavily under-estimated how difficult it can be with a salary cap of only £30k/w. You're allowed 2 Designated Players and only allowed a maximum of 23 players; within this, you're only allowed a maximum of 20 players over the age of 20. Additionally, only a maximum of 5 foreign players. Transfer budget is drastically low. Of course the wage budget is equally low. Having said that, Sydney FC have the basis of a strong squad and I'd say they have a few Championship-level players as a barometer for comparison

Current Squad
Goalkeepers - Andrew Redmayne, Alex Cisak

Defenders - Alex Wilkinson, Sebastian Ryall, Ruon Tongyik, Brendan Hamill, Luke Wiltshire, Jordy Buijs, Michael Zullo, William Mutch

Midfielders - Brandon O'Neill, Billy Celeski, Josh Brillante, Christopher Zuvula, Chris Arditti, Alex Brosque, Adrian Mierzejewski, Milos Ninkovic, Nikola Mileusnic, Scott McTominay (loan)

Strikers - Charles Lokolingoy, Bobo

Out of the above, I'd say Alex Wilkinson, Miloz Ninkovic, Josh Brillante and possibly Bobo are Championship-level standard (not high-end, but capable in that division). 

Got an aging squad though and part of the team report is that the leaders are all over 30 so when they leave/retire, they'll be sorely missed.

Transfers In:
Ruon Tongyik - Melbourne City (£68k)
Brendan Hamill - Western Sydney Wanderers (£9.5k)
Nikola Mileusnic - Adelaide United (£3k)
Scott McTominay - Man Utd (loan)

DYNAMICS
The new part of the game. Helpful for forming bonds and relationships and it goes in to some details in social groups for each category/player. I was going to do screenshots but this is how they come out  

So that's the end of that one!

Formation/Tactics
Settled on a 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree styled formation. 

Andrew Redmayne is the number 1 choice in goal.

Standard-set full backs and centre backs.

One 'Carrilero' central midfielder (support), one ball-winning central midfielder (defend), and a deep-lying playmaker central midfielder (support)

One attacking midfielder (support) and one advanced playmaker (support). My lone striker is a Target Man.

Regarding the midfielders, still getting to grips on what attributes are best but that tactic has worked well so far in pre-season.

Competitions
Hyundai A-League - expectation from the board is to win this. One of the favourites for the league along with Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City. 

FFA Cup - board aren't interested in this but I want to win it. Any silverware is welcome.

Staff
Managed to bring in extra staff, especially scouts as there weren't any! Replaced my Assistant Manager as the one I had held poor qualities for it. 

 

 

[R-D 34]

Good luck with your save, hopefully you man yourself a Del Piero of your own!

I think the carrilero will be perfect for these narrow formations so I’m interested to see how that role performs for you. A little lacking in attack duties in your tactic at first glance, may not be an issue pending mentality and team shape, but another thing to keep an eye on will be the support in the box you’ll be getting, especially with a generally static target man.

[Stan 10,289]

2 minutes ago, R-D said:

Good luck with your save, hopefully you man yourself a Del Piero of your own!

I think the carrilero will be perfect for these narrow formations so I’m interested to see how that role performs for you. A little lacking in attack duties in your tactic at first glance, may not be an issue pending mentality and team shape, but another thing to keep an eye on will be the support in the box you’ll be getting, especially with a generally static target man.

cheers for feedback!

I've got Control mentality and structured shape. Instructions include high tempo and more pressing, look for underlap. The advantage being if I'm in a position where I need to pump it in to the box or go route one, that options is there to push players forward. 

I might change attacking duties though. See how that fares.

So far struggling with squad size. I'm used to having less budgeting restrictions and no salary cap, and there's no international break so if I have any internationals, the squad personnel is heavily reduced even if it is 1 or 2 players - those 1 or 2 are designated players so are vital to the team. And the youth squad is greyed out and the board always seem 'unable to renew' their contracts or sign them on professional ones.

[Stan 10,289]

well this has all gone to shit. 

In to March and I've gone on a horrid run of 6 games lost in a row. Including 2 in the Champions League. Squad depth is terrible thanks to the squad restrictions. This is turning out tougher than expected! 

Had to sell one of my star players Adrian Mierzejewski as well to China for a paltry £1m. I thought it would help fund players to come in but the wage cap was tight enough and now I've had to get in youth players instead as their on youth contracts - scouts are saying some of them are ready for first team of exciting young talents.

Tried a change of formation as well to no avail. I'm losing the dressing room too. 

As a sidenote, goal-keepers are fucking hard to beat. 

[Stan 10,289]

Koeman has gone to Stoke 

Shakespeare has gone to Palace (Hodgson got sacked in January).

Football Manager never fails to deliver  

[Stan 10,289]

got fucked over with both my strikers out long-term as well as my main goal-keeper, Andy Redmayne. Dropped out of the play-offs for the first time a couple of games before the end of the season and the board got rid of me. Cunts. 

[Spike 2,686]

The whole city of Sydney can line up and kiss my ass cheek. Two at a time, cunce.

[The Palace Fan 1,814]

Didn't realise Cisak and Wiltshire were still knocking about. Looking forward to updates.

[Guest]

Who are you now?

On 30/10/2017 at 2:56 PM, The Palace Fan said:

Didn't realise Cisak and Wiltshire were still knocking about. Looking forward to updates.

A tad late there mate.

[Stan 10,289]

2 minutes ago, Blue said:

Who are you now?

Crewe. 

[Guest]

I'll be following but its a bit hard if you don't have a clue what's going on 

[Stan 10,289]

7 minutes ago, Blue said:

I'll be following but its a bit hard if you don't have a clue what's going on 

I've put more updates in the General Chat thread tbf

[Guest Cannabis]

Wait the thread title says Australia but you're managing Crewe? This is so confusing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stan 10,289]

1 minute ago, Cannabis said:

Wait the thread title says Australia but you're managing Crewe? This is so confusing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i'm stll angry at them cunts down under but maybe it's time to change.

[Guest Cannabis]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

i'm stll angry at them cunts down under but maybe it's time to change.

Just move Crewe's ground to Brisbane.

[Stan 10,289]

so first season I got promoted to League One via play-offs with Crewe.

League One has started formidably, I'd say! Unbeaten in the league and played out a 4-4 thriller with Stoke in the 2nd round of the League Cup. Was 2-0 up in that game as well as 4-3 down with a few minutes of extra-time left to play before the equaliser. Sadly lost on penalties but can't fault the team.

Chose Liverpool as a senior affiliate which is paying off massively right now. Nabbed players like Glen McAuley (ST), Herbie Kane (DM) & Liam Coyle (DM). They've got some very talented youngsters and making the use of that in a division like League One.

There's also Kelechi Nwakali from Arsenal who is highly-rated. Some of you may have heard of him anyway.

Those players may not look like much stats-wise but in this division they're very handy. 

The formation and instructions below. Pacy wingers, creative midfielders, aggressive/good tackling defensive mids. Strikers with good finishing and composure stats. Working very well right now. 

One thing I have noted that also works well as most of my strikers can also play as Target Man, is if I'm losing or need to chase/win a game, going Route One and 'Pump Ball Into Box' is effective as expected. Get enough players in to the box and you start to create more. 

[Stan 10,289]

Managed to get to October unbeaten in the league. Whilst I'm out on top, the gap from 6th to 18th only 3 points  

 

[The Palace Fan 1,814]

Are your team effective in retaining possession with little ground in the middle?

[Stan 10,289]

2 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

Are your team effective in retaining possession with little ground in the middle?

occasionally. My team are quite good at winning the ball back and we play fairly directly and quick passing out to the flanks who do a lot of the running and see a lot of the ball.

 

[The Palace Fan 1,814]

On 06/11/2017 at 4:47 PM, Blue said:

 

A tad late there mate.

Must have missed this. Fuck off Brian.

[Stan 10,289]

i've gone for it. the time has come (hopefully)...

[Bluebird Hewitt 700]

14 minutes ago, Stan said:

i've gone for it. the time has come (hopefully)...

Hope you don't get it and you lose your job at Crewe as a result. 

[Stan 10,289]

Just now, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Hope you don't get it and you lose your job at Crewe as a result. 

didn't get it. 

still with Crewe. 

Fuck you. 

[Bluebird Hewitt 700]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

didn't get it. 

still with Crewe. 

Fuck you. 

1/2 (for now) isn't too bad. Don't worry as the mobile version is out tomorrow so everyone can have a laugh at my many sackings.

[Stan 10,289]

7 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

1/2 (for now) isn't too bad. Don't worry as the mobile version is out tomorrow so everyone can have a laugh at my many sackings.

i'm sure you won't be as bad as @Danny

[Danny 1,162]

2 hours ago, Stan said:

i'm sure you won't be as bad as @Danny

Ya dun know

[Stan 10,289]

I think this is possibly one of my greatest ever Football Manager achievements. I'm actually so chuffed . Champions with four games to spare. On one of the lowest budgets (my transfer budget never exceeded £50k throughout the season). Wage budget is tiny so had to utilise loan signings as you all know (Burkart the main one).

I'll start off with the league table in all its glory!

How it happened...

Personally, my favourite win was on 2nd November beating Wimbledon 3-0 away. Went down to 10-men as well. They were 1st and I was 2nd. Beating them sent me to the top. After the 4th game-week, I was never outside the top 3. Since 7th January, never been outside the top 2.

What is just off the bottom is the win that sealed the inevitable - a 7-2 thumping of Plymouth away from home after going 2-0 down and being 2-1 down at half-time!

And my star player - Nishan Burkart. Will definitely be going in for him again in summer and throughout the season he's expressed his gratitude for the support the Crewe fans, and players as well as myself, have given to him.

On top of those 36 goals are 16 assists. Still 4 games to play and he's now Crewe's record holder for number of goals in a season.

The Records Keep on Tumbling...