Hi to all. I play ML on superstar difficulty, don't handle the finances and negotiate directly.
My first attempt was with Everton. I played through two and a half seasons but unfortunately got sacked. I instantly dropped the Chairman's trust level to single digits at the end of the first transfer period as the team was forced to offload 3 players in order to remain in budget. So I think I should highlight that
if you need to release players do it yourself, don't wait for it to be done automatically. . But anyway if you are a daredevil and like the challenge of the sack threat
I should mention that the first players released were the ones that were on my transfer list.
I finished 8th in both 1st and 2nd season but qualified for Europa both times. I don't know how that happened to be honest!
In the third season I had a quite strong squad but the Chairman issued an ultimatum before a 0-4 thrashing by Man Utd.....
It was a chronicle of a death foretold as I never managed to exceed trust level of say 15%...
I can't say I was very successful on the field. Too many wandered points and only a couple of wins against better sides. My highlight was a 4-2 win against the team I am now playing with, Aston Villa.
With Aston Villa I have been doing quite well, and I think I should mention that the ups and downs in psychology from previous versions have come back to me! I really enjoy it. All the doubts I have had about the game are more or less gone, and despite the fact the bugs do not go unmentioned, at least now the joy is much more frequent than the frustration of the first weeks.
I have left the tactics intact and tried to build my squad to fit it. 4-2-1-3 with both side attackers playing as WFs.
In my 1st season, I signed Neymar, Ganso, Baloy and Nolan. I placed Baloy alongside Dunne in defense, Nolan next to Jenas at midfield,Ganso as an AMF and Neymar was the first substitution as I decided to leave the front trio intact.
I was 7th in the final standings, and was thrown out of the FA Cup in the first round by QPR. Darren Bent certainly was my MVP.
Something that I had noticed in my second season with Everton also happened with Aston Villa. As the season progressed, team play and cohesion improved and also individual mistakes were reduced. I believe that this has to do with the progress of the teamwork as I played more and more games.
Misplaced passes were less frequent, defenders wondering away from the ball more or less stopped and in general I felt that I approached a better level of play and that I was rewarded for playing my team to its strengths. I would really like to hear if anyone else has noticed this.
For the second season, I had already agreed to bring in Giroud for CF, Joey Barton for CMF and Danilo and Jucilei as replacements for RB and DMF/CMF. I then signed Westermann as a replacement CB in the summer and sold Nolan and Heskey. Except for Barton, all the other purchases were not starters through the season.
Despite starting with a 0-4 defeat against Lyon in the EL, I finished the group second and qualified easily as I beat Schalke 3-0 both home and away. The fourth team of the group was Rio Ave and was also beaten twice.
In the League I was doing ok. The Chairman had asked for a CL berth but that was simply not going to happen. I was around 6-8 for the biggest part of the season. In the Cup I was through to the QF. I really got to believe in my team after two draws, both away. Against Newcastle i came back from 3-1 and equalised in th last minute. Against Tottenham I was losing 2-0 until the 70th and also managed to get a draw.
In the winter transfer period I signed Candreva (AMF but had a rating of 87 for CMF) and Vadis, a Belgian DMF. I also decided to sell Baloy as he was constantly on bad form and his loyalty had deminished. I don't really know why. For his replacement I found a 16 year old who already had a rating of 83 and belonged to one of the "other" clubs. His name is Jaidi. Well I know that this is unrealistic and one of the "cheesy" aspects of ML but I have got used to it and I could say it has become a part of the experience through the years.
Just before the transfer period I lost 4-3 at Old Trafford despite going 1-3 ahead before HT... Then after the break I lost 2-0 against Man Utd for the FA Cup QF. Arrgh. keep this in mind as there is more to come about them....
After the transfers I got to notice that at least initially Candreva was not playing as well as Barton in midfield. In my opinion it was either because he was not a natural CMF or because he had not gelled with the rest of the team yet. This may sound crazy but it is something that I "felt" and I would really like to know if anyone else has noticed related things in the game.
As the season carried on, I subsequently went through Panathinaikos and Hoffenheim in the EL, both relatively easily. In the QFs I was drawn against Benfica and I started thinking that maybe I had a chance at this competition.
The first match was in Lisbon and before even getting anxious I was 2 goals ahead, both scored by Darren Bent whom I trusted disregarding his blue arrow!!!! I got to win 1-2. In the replay I drew 2-2 and I also went 2 goals up.
The semifinal was one of my greatest experiences of all time in the ML. I was playing against Valencia. First match at Home. They were really pressuring me but I got to score on a counter attack just before the HT whistle. in the second half, despite the fact that I tried to keep possesion their pressure was so overwhelming that at the 70th minute I was losing 1-2. I did not make too many chances, but in the last five minutes my replacement striker scored with a header that seemed highly unlikely for him to get! 2-2 after they lost a last minute one on one!
The away game started with a cheap goal scored for them, Aduriz brought one on one by a mistake from Jenas. Anyway the team managed to strike back and after equalising in the last minute of the 1st half I got ahead with a simple tip of the ball by Agbonlahor in the far post after a cross with the right foot from N' Zogbia. I was trying to keep possession as much as possible, but in the 89th minute they won a corner. The ball was headed away and Piatti volleyed it to the top corner.........
The extra time went on relatively harmlessly and in the 119th minute a long ball by Jenas found Giroud in front of goal, he went past the goalkeeper who fell in the feet of his defender and scored! Believe it or not they managed to come back just after the kick off but the time was up! The final would be played against Lazio.
In the league I was 7th, 4 points clear of Tottenham with two games remaining, Chelsea and Man Utd both away. The final was in between. Against Chelsea, I went ahead in the first half, lost a couple of good chances and then got equalised in the 80th minute. Just before the 90th minute Agbonlahor outran his defender (I think Malouda) got into the bo passed perfectly to Ganso who shot, the ball was touched by Cech and lost most of its speed. As it was going past the line it was kicked away by Terry. In the counter I conceded.... Tottenham won and were 1 point behind me now. But I had the final in mind and didn' really bother.
In the 7th minute of the final happened one of those things that make you want to put Seabass's picture on a dartboard! After a melee in the box, the ball went to its top corner. Mauri shot. At the time the keepers vision was hindered by the presence of a defender between him and the ball. As Mauri shot, the keeper decided to dive towards his post, and the ball went to the middle of the goal. 1-0 down. I have to admit that I was overall outplayed and lost 2-1 finally, but that shot will haunt me! To top that, Man Utd easily thrashed me 4-0, Tottenham won and I now was silverless and out of Europe!
I will come back with an update soon. Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.
