The Problem is identified
I actually knew that I was going to be in trouble as soon as the new season started.
From the very first game, my vaunted Liverpool side, with strikers valued at over GBP60million, had trouble scoring. For some unknown reason, and for the first time in decades, my strikers couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
At first, it didn't prove too big a problem as despite my lack of goal scoring, my defence was doing a marvelous job. No matter what the opposition threw at us, my defence somehow always managed to prevent a goal. Fantastic one on one saves? Check. Last ditch tackle from a defender catching up from behind? Check. Last ditch foul on attacker by the last defender? Check as well, unfortunately - still, we stopped the opposition from scoring and would still manage to either hold on for a draw or a win despite being down to 10 men.
The Problem rears its ugly head
Unfortunately, my defence couldn't keep it up.
To be fair, I knew this would happen sooner or later anyway. In the past, both Van Dijk and Orlando have had patches of bad form during the season. I knew that sooner or later, one or both of them would start playing badly and my Liverpool team would start to leak goals. My only hope was that my strikers would recover their form in time to gloss over any loss in form of my defence.
And so this was the position as we entered late March 2031. Sure enough, my defence started to leak goals. Unfortunately, my strikers didn't up their game. And so for a period of around a month, my Liverpool side became punching bags for every Tom, Dick and Harry who wanted a piece of the "Champions". As they reeled drunkenly from match to match, I desperately tried different ways of motivating my team, all to no avail.
In the end, we got knocked out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League at the quarter final stage (the shame!!!). That's right, my streak of winning consecutive Champions League Cups has finally been broken.
Naturally, it was at this point, after it was too late, that they finally started to play like champions again.
>:(
The Premiership
Anyway, despite my poor showing in the Champions League, I managed to walk away with the Premiership largely thanks to the efforts of my defence. You can see the final league table here:
As you can see from the table, although I walked the Premiership, this was largely due to me not having any real competition. Bolton came second but they only managed to pick up 67 points which is pretty pathetic for second place. Also, no idea what happened to Aston Villa who only got 56 points this year.
As you can see, I only managed 89 goals this year which is pretty poor when you consider that I normally get over 100 (or come very close to getting 100). Just to give you an idea of how bad my strikers were doing initially, 29 of those goals came in the last nine games after I had been knocked out of Europe. Incidentally, I let in six goals over the same period.
This really gives you a measure of how well my defence had been playing. Over the first 29 games of the season, they only let in 10 goals which is a pretty incredible stat.
The Squad
As per usual, you can find the details of my squad below.
As you can see, Massimo Orlando has done a great job this year and really challenged Van Dijk for the GK position. In fact, by the end of the year, they were playing equal amounts of games as I rotated them equally. Van Dijk really didn't like being relegated to a squad player (he was previously a first team player) and grumbled about this which led me to try and offer him and some cash in exchange for Silva (my current Brazil GK who is also a world class shot stopper). Unfortunately, Silva wasn't available for sale. Anyway, Orlando's jump in value is a direct result of his impressive performances.
Fernandez picked up a pretty bad injury this year. This is why Stuart Baines got so much playing time. Baines really stepped up to the plate while Fernandez was injured. This wasn't that big a surprise though, as when he was a kid, he was rated as a hot prospect and he has always tended to play well in the past. Unfortunately, despite playing brilliantly most of the time, he tends to fold a little in the big matches. Incidentally, this is also why he has never been my first choice DC.
John Farrell and Andy Rogers is a funny case. You may recall that I initially signed Andy Rogers as a hot prospect and John Farrell as a forth string CM. Unfortunately, during the preseason, John Farrell picked up an injury which meant that Andy Rogers got a chance to play a lot earlier then I initially planned. Luckily for me, Rogers stepped into my team like a duck to water. In fact, he played so well that Farrell remained in the reserves even after he recovered from his injury. In fact, if it hadn't been for Marcio picking up an injury during the year (and hence not being available as I was getting knocked out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League), Farrell would have gotten a lot less playing time.
My patience with Danielle Galli has also run out. Galli is an annoying player in that he can play brilliantly at times. Unfortunately, most of the time, he is either average (rating of 7) or non-existent (rating of 6). Anyway, I've decided to cash in on his value and sell him while I can still get some good moolah for him.
The biggest disappointment this year has been Sanchez. Although he did manage to score 19 goals (can you believe NONE of my strikers got past the 20 goal mark?), this just isn't good enough considering that I pay him over GBP80,000 per week. Again, I have decided to try and sell him to cash in while he still has some value.
On the plus side, I'm very happy with Ross Mills. Although he only managed an average rating of 7.13, he did manage to score 18 goals. Pretty impressive considering he was only 19 years old by the end of the season.
I'm also very happy with the contribution from Ian Carter. He is 21 now and managed to get a few games during the year. He really impressed during these games (he managed an average rating of 7.47). Granted, a lot of the games he played in were against lesser opposition but considering how well he has done, I think its time to give him a bigger role in the team.
So that's the position with Liverpool as we wrap up season 2030/31. Its going to be a massive off season for us as I try to bring in some new players to galvanise the team and make sure I start winning the Champions League again.
2 comments:
Must say, I like your FM updates. Can't believe you've played to 2030!
Do you typically have much luck selling your players? i.e. do you get anywhere near their valuation?
Actually, its 2031. :P
I think it helps that I play a lot of other games as well. This stops me from burning out on FM. Plus, I have never (ever) played all 40 years of a career before which is what I'm trying to do now.
Re selling players - I fricking hate the transfer system in this game. In most cases, I never get anywhere close to their valuation. Admittedly, in some rare cases, I get offers close to their valuation but this is rare.
The only time I get offers in excess of their valuation is when its for a young player who has amazing potential. In other words, in situations where there is no way in hell I would sell.
What particularly grates is that I always have to pay huge premiums if I want to lure any player to my club. Fricking annoying.
I also want to add that I understand how Fergie must feel knowing that everyone in the World knows that he got a ridiculous wad of cash from selling Ronaldo...
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