Career The Winding Road To 1k

[samhardy]

5 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

125 in 2 seasons is very good. And his attr. look like that of a matured player already. Very promising beginning. 

Promising yet an underwhelming last season considering it was quite a kind theme. But the attributes have grown much better than expected!

4 hours ago, Ashez said:

Al things considered I think that's a fantastic total! Obvious upping it would be better and I'm sure better CL runs would help with that but you're well on track. 

1000-125=875/60=14.5 seasons

If he ups his goals or with ITN that'll easy start to get lower and lower  

Yep, misses out on 5 games in the CL in season 2. Hoping Southgate screws up at the WC 2018

[Ashez]

1 hour ago, samhardy said:

Promising yet an underwhelming last season considering it was quite a kind theme. But the attributes have grown much better than expected!

Yep, misses out on 5 games in the CL in season 2. Hoping Southgate screws up at the WC 2018

You on latest update?

[samhardy]

16 minutes ago, Ashez said:

You on latest update?

I believe so

[Ashez]

2 hours ago, samhardy said:

I believe so

Nice, hopefully getting an ITN job is easier than as IIRC it was a tad hard previously? Swear I've seen that somewhere haha. 

[veerus]

Wait, how is your loyalty 13 after you turned your squad upside down in your first year?? lol

[samhardy]

11 hours ago, veerus said:

Wait, how is your loyalty 13 after you turned your squad upside down in your first year?? lol

No idea, it's even increased at the start of season 3!

[Scratch]

Yep, I agree with the others, that's a great total!

[samhardy]

Season Three

Into season three now and after a slightly underwhelming second season considering the theme was fairly kind, it was time to keep going and select the next theme. There were a few options I had in mind but in the end, the choice was made and it was @scratch99's idea of British players only. Price wise this turned out to be a mistake

The Squad - British players only

Spoiler

Arguably the weakest squad assembled so far but it cost almost £500M! The main target was obviously Gareth Bale but after having a £116M bid accepted he rejected us leaving us in the lurch. Not going to lie I was incredibly unhappy with this squad but it's not about what it looks like on paper!

The season

A fantastic season which just shows how overrated English players in particular are in the game. The league was an absolute stroll and the unbeaten record is under threat as we didn't lose a league game since November. We rode our luck along the way in Europe but in the final we dismantled Sevilla - the game decided I wasn't winning that one in 120 minutes though so we had to rely on penalties and thankfully Fraser Forster came to the rescue. The FA Cup was the only real disappointment as our defence only lasted one round.

Spoiler

Unbeaten Streak - 28 league games and counting

The Main Event - Marcus Rashford

Pretty similar stats to last season, don't think he'll improve much more than what he is currently but his rise in value this season was incredible, it's tripled in the last 12 game months!

A lot of individual awards coming his way, hopefully these are backed up by a lot of goals.

Still not playing the maximum amount of games possible but a brilliant total! Third time lucky as we eventually hit the magical 70 goal mark. The improved performance cup wise will have been a massive help as well as another (slight knocks aside) injury free season helped contribute to this total. Hopefully he can keep it up. For the last few league games we tried a new tactical system and he bagged a brace in the last 3 league games so something to think about for next season.

The Supporting Cast

Spoiler

Not the initial first choice but a 9 month injury to Jack Butland just days after his arrival paved the way for Forster who was a reliable figure in goal. To be honest domestically he rarely had much to do as the defence was solid.

Hated using Shaw as he was constantly injured and making mistakes but Wisdom was the star of the back line. Putting his defensive duties first and not getting a single assist is what I like to see from a full back Not their job to get the assists!

Cahill, Dier and Gomez were battling it out all season long to partner the exceptional Holding but it was probably Gomez who was the best candidate. Did his defensive duties well and chipped in with 3 important goals during the course of the season including a goal in a cup final.

When fit Alli was excellent, if he played the whole season I feel like Rashford would have scored even more goals. The two just behind him also performed well but for the price tags I would've expected a bit more.

Both scored too many goals for the challenge's liking but did also provide a lot of assists so I can't really complain. Oxlade-Chamberlain was another player who enjoyed a considerable amount of time on the sidelines.

The Records

Spoiler

• Most consecutive title wins - Manchester United (3)
• Biggest title winning margin - Manchester City 18/19 (23)
• Most Wins in a season - Manchester City 18/19 (32)
• Most consecutive wins - Arsenal 2002 (14)
• Longest unbeaten run - Arsenal 03/04 (49)
• Most goals in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (103)
• Fewest goals conceded in a season - Chelsea 03/04 (15)
• Best goal difference in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (+71)
• Most points in a season - Manchester City 18/19 (100)
• Biggest Win - Manchester United v Ipswich 1995 (9-0)

3 records out of the way, I'm hopeful we can get a few more next season, we're currently 28 league games unbeaten and have 7 league wins in a row.

Additional Screenshots (inc. England job developments)

Spoiler

England fail to qualify from their World Cup group but unfortunately Southgate keeps his job. His job status in currently insecure though!

Another unlockable received...

Pay close attention to those transfer figures

 Quick hattricks!

Total goals - 195

As normal thank you for reading and keep sending in those theme ideas along with the comments

[BatiGoal]

Great season! 70 goals that's where you need to be. Looking great so far and really fun idea working with those themes every season.

[Ashez]

Excellent season that, well on your way! 

You were robbed paying that much for those  

[veerus]

Loyalty went up again! Lol. I think you should have a theme of re-using the players you sold after the 1 year. In a few years obviously. Curious to see how much they'll want to come back for another round. 

[Scratch]

Great season! And really interesting to see how it went with British only players. I was expecting it to be harder!

[Sousa_XI]

Impressive career mate 

[samhardy]

Cheers @BatiGoal @Sousa_XI

13 hours ago, Ashez said:

Excellent season that, well on your way! 

You were robbed paying that much for those  

I thought so too but they seem to be incredibly overrated in game

13 hours ago, veerus said:

Loyalty went up again! Lol. I think you should have a theme of re-using the players you sold after the 1 year. In a few years obviously. Curious to see how much they'll want to come back for another round. 

Yeah the stats make no sense. That's one I plan to use after 10 or so seasons only using players that have been at the club before.

12 hours ago, scratch99 said:

Great season! And really interesting to see how it went with British only players. I was expecting it to be harder!

Same! Worst squad so far yet best results

[Taff]

Another Fantastic season dude well done

Can I suggest maybe a golden oldie team with nobody under 30 allowed (I know it's not that old but still)

 

[samhardy]

7 minutes ago, Taff said:

Another Fantastic season dude well done

Can I suggest maybe a golden oldie team with nobody under 30 allowed (I know it's not that old but still)

 

That was the first season

[Ashez]

12 minutes ago, samhardy said:

That was the first season

Damn! I thought you'd updated then! 

Anyway may I suggest a theme's done spoiler at the end of each update. The deeper in you get the harder it'll be to remember haha, we don't want you repeating themes now  

[Taff]

18 minutes ago, samhardy said:

That was the first season

D'OH OK how about......No I got nothing 

Maybe an ALPHABET team I.E. Keepers names with A, Defenders, B, C, D, and E, ect

First or last names just to make it fair

[Cockers2505]

Hi @samhardy well done so far, it must be hard to think of the next theme, getting ideas is what will get you through this i guess, maybe not so easy but how about playing a whole team that are yellow in their positions only, I guess the GK would be the exception, whatever your next venture is good luck.

[Mr.Manager]

Great work so far! How about a team of left footed players only?

[samhardy]

@Ashez I've added a list of themes with links to completed seasons to the OP.

6 hours ago, Cockers2505 said:

Hi @samhardy well done so far, it must be hard to think of the next theme, getting ideas is what will get you through this i guess, maybe not so easy but how about playing a whole team that are yellow in their positions only, I guess the GK would be the exception, whatever your next venture is good luck.

9 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

Great work so far! How about a team of left footed players only?

Thanks both for the suggestions. Already halfway through the 4th season but I'll take them into account for seasons after

[samhardy]

Season Four

Season four started as always with the decision of what theme to use, and there was pressure on the squad for this year after last season's Champions League winners. There's a few ideas I have lined up and some good ones in this thread but for this season the theme will be players nobody else wants, that's right season four will be buying transfer listed players only. After spending nearly £1B in the first three seasons a fairly cheap season was required and no member of this squad cost more than £34M.

The squad of rejects

Spoiler

I was delighted with this squad, especially the defence and the terrifying front four of Gray - Lopes - Dembele - Rashford. I will admit I expected this to be a tougher squad to build but we ended up getting a cheap world class squad. Not that I'm complaining

This season also saw me take advantage of the no transfer windows unlockable received last season to make a quick profit on a couple of players who I made a U-turn on and decided they just weren't good enough for the squad.

Although it has to be said a big hand goes to Everton as without them my budget for this season wouldn't have been anywhere near as high... A successful preseason for them in which they showed a little interest in my players and got themselves bankrupt.

The season

A very weird season which saw us land 5 trophies including a brilliant unbeaten league campaign. I tried a different system this season to make the most of the front 4, thought it had broke the game at one point but then we crashed out of the FA Cup and the Champions League defence ended at the hands of Barcelona. Otherwise though I enjoyed the season and the new tactic but definitely room for improvement. I also wasn't impressed with the amount of goals we scored and conceded in the league.

Spoiler

The Main Event - Marcus Rashford

Think he's reached his peak now as the attributes have stayed around the same for a while. Not far away from the complete striker!

All the awards for this season hardly even make it onto one screenshot. His most profitable season to date which included beating Dani Carvajal to the WPOTY award.

He suffered his first proper injury this season which was a setback as we were looking at 80+ at one point. Thankfully we played well over 60 games this season so there were plenty of games to score in even though he missed just over a month through injury. The new tactic suited him more I think as the three behind him were able to help him with a crazy amount of assists, and the holding midfielders also chipped in creating chances too. The key thing is though that he's managed to string two 70+ seasons in a row together.

The Supporting Cast

Spoiler

We conceded too many goals this season but that was due to going much more offensive tactically. He still did a good job between the sticks though and I certainly wasn't let down.

The most consistent pair of fullbacks so far and both were absolute bargains due to being transfer listed. Can't recall ever seeing a game where one of these two dipped below a 7 rating!

Both were very reliable during the course of the season although Reyes was prone to a mistake or two. These weren't to blame for the rise in goals conceded and completed the back 4 that I very much enjoyed using.

The moment I saw these two's stats I knew I had to have them. Both loved a yellow card but chipped in with a goal when needed and created a lot of chances. Merino in particular I can't recommend enough if you're looking for a cheap DLP early on in the game.

My favourite wingers of this save so far, goals and especially assists galore as they flourished in this year's tactic and for £34M between them the best bit of business I've done on this year's game so far. However, these assists are nothing compared to the performance of APM Rony Lopes...

Absolutely nothing to say except what a season  Without him Rashford wouldn't have scored anywhere near 72 goals this season.

The Records

Spoiler

• Most consecutive title wins - Manchester City (4) *
• Biggest title winning margin - Manchester City 18/19 (23)
• Most Wins in a season - Manchester City 18/19, 19/20 (32)
• Most consecutive wins - Manchester City 2019 (15)
• Longest unbeaten run - Manchester City 2018-2020 (66) *
• Most goals in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (103)
• Fewest goals conceded in a season - Chelsea 03/04 (15)
• Best goal difference in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (+71)
• Most points in a season - Manchester City 19/20 (102)
• Biggest Win - Manchester United v Ipswich 1995 (9-0)

* - Ongoing

A brilliant season for the records as three more become ours, we haven't lost a league game in 66 matches and narrowly beat Arsenal's consecutive wins record. The only one I'm not convinced by is the biggest win as we've got nowhere near 9-0 league wise.

Additional Screenshots

Spoiler

Such an odd manager profile...

Huge FA Cup win.

Chelsea dismantled in the second leg!

Total goals - 267

Thanks for viewing and remember to leave your suggested themes along with the comments This year's one turned out quite easy but there's a lot of tough ones in this thread and in my mind that are being considered for season 5!

Edited February 20, 2017 by samhardy

[BatiGoal]

Very good theme and again top work from Rashford. Still very much on schedule. KIU!

Will try to come up with a few themes as well.

[Ashez]

A great looking squad, I usually only sign transfer listed players after the first season so I know how strong it can be. As for that Everton bug I find it hilarious, I've seen clubs by a few players before but nothing like that before. 

Nothing wrong with 72 goals, just keep ticking away mate! 

[Taff]

Another great season dude, and a very good theme (even if you did luck out with some of those players)

 

[danovic78]

Making this look easy, even with so many squad changes.

Rashford's stats are impressive now.

[Scratch]

Good stuff. 72 goals and he was out injured for a while? You'll do this no worries!

[samhardy]

22 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Very good theme and again top work from Rashford. Still very much on schedule. KIU!

Will try to come up with a few themes as well.

19 hours ago, Eogtuc0910 said:

I like this challenge Rashford is playing great and I'll try and come up with a theme if I have time.

Thanks to both of you.

15 hours ago, Ashez said:

A great looking squad, I usually only sign transfer listed players after the first season so I know how strong it can be. As for that Everton bug I find it hilarious, I've seen clubs by a few players before but nothing like that before. 

Nothing wrong with 72 goals, just keep ticking away mate! 

Yep Everton single handedly funded that squad

6 hours ago, Taff said:

Another great season dude, and a very good theme (even if you did luck out with some of those players)

 

I agree. Another season the likes of Lopes, Gray, Dembele wouldn't have been available so cheap.

4 hours ago, danovic78 said:

Making this look easy, even with so many squad changes.

Rashford's stats are impressive now.

Indeed they are, not far off the complete striker!

1 hour ago, scratch99 said:

Good stuff. 72 goals and he was out injured for a while? You'll do this no worries!

Yeah injured for about a month. Thankfully all the games the team played in the season made up for it.

[samhardy]

Season Five

After a very successful fourth season for Rashford and the club it was important to keep the momentum going into this season. I have a shortlist of about 5 themes at the moment and the one selected for this season was the 23 and under squad suggested by @Taff however it's one I've had in mind since the start. Other things to keep an eye on this season were the unbeaten league streak carried over and England at Euro 2020.

The squad

Spoiler

A very nice squad on paper with a terrifying front 6 which would strike fear into any defence: Sanches, Locatelli, Pulisic, Odegaard, Mastour and Rashford. Sadly two of these were constantly injured which ensured I couldn't get the maximum out of the squad. I was a bit worried about the defence but the deal for Shovkovskyi who is a Russian regen made it a lot stronger. Bentley, Mangala and Mirante were the other regens whereas Valverde and Villalba were eligible to stay in the squad from last season.

The season

Another fantastic season club wise but that perfect season eluded us again. The league was actually quite close for the first 30 games before we ran away towards the end, would have expected a lot more goals from the attack we had at our disposal. Overall though not much to complain about apart from our poor run in the FA Cup continues, only won it once so far I believe. The key thing about this season was regaining the Champions League meaning more games and more goals for Rashford next season.

Spoiler

The Main Event - Marcus Rashford

Not much change now.

Another season full of awards! His trophy cabinet must be busting now with all of these trophies he's picking up. He beat Ter-Stegen to WPOTY this year and won a domestic POTY dominated by our club.

Disappointing overall in comparison to the last couple of seasons. What has annoyed me the most in 3 of the last 4 seasons are the constant little one week niggles that keep him out of easy games, he misses about 10 games a season of this sort and potentially misses out on 10-15 goals a season. Thankfully no major injury yet though but I'm hoping for his appearances to rise soon with the impressive stamina he has. Can't complain too much about the season though, just unfortunately missed out on the magical 70 mark. Thanks to Legia though for counting 7 goals towards this season's total

The Supporting Cast

A lot of injuries this season so there's more than just the best starting XI in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Sadly we haven't got a good Donnarumma in this save, coach report only gives him a 4* potential Didn't particularly enjoy using him and won't be too bothered to sell next season.

I feel like I keep repeating myself in the defensive section but in short the back four were a lot more solid than what I expected. Shovkovskyi was the best of the four although the fullbacks as usual were very reliable in my tactical system.

Locatelli was constantly injured meaning Mangala got a good chance and performed well in the Italian's absence. Sanches was a success although for the price tag I expected a bit more. Looking forward to seeing how much he sells for next season with a current value around £85M!

 

Enjoyed using all of these when they were fit which was extremely rarely in Mastour's case. Pulisic and Odegaard were the stars of the team though with Azzaoui and Hernandez proving admirable backups, even if the latter did score way too many for this challenge.

The Records

Spoiler

• Most consecutive title wins - Manchester City (5) *
• Biggest title winning margin - Manchester City 18/19 (23)
• Most Wins in a season - Manchester City 18/19, 19/20 (32)
• Most consecutive wins - Manchester City 2019 (15)
• Longest unbeaten run - Manchester City 2018-2020 (75)
• Most goals in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (103)
• Fewest goals conceded in a season - Chelsea 03/04 (15)
• Best goal difference in a season - Chelsea 09/10 (+71)
• Most points in a season - Manchester City 19/20 (102)
• Biggest Win - Manchester United v Ipswich 1995 (9-0)

* - Ongoing

No new records this season but I'm going to start going a lot more attacking next season in the hope of knocking two more off. We managed to add 9 more games to the unbeaten streak before undeservedly losing 2-1 to Everton.

Additional Screenshots inc. England job developments

Spoiler

Another shocking major tournament performance leaves Southgate's job very insecure bit somehow he holds onto it again. Frustrating!

Take another look at the transfer figures

Big thanks to the charitable Legia for donating 7 goals towards Rashford's total

Total goals - 331

As always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Remember to keep leaving those theme suggestions along with the comments

[BatiGoal]

31 screenshots. Is this the winding road to posting 1K screenshots? 

Going super, mate!

Edited February 27, 2017 by BatiGoal