@ .Lee.
I remember that in all previous versions of the game, whenever I started with the ML default players, during my first couple of seasons I played with almost no long kicks from set pieces. And that was not a choice of style but a necessity as I lost most headers. Also, it was the part of the experience where I mostly used slow passing game in order to make up for the lack of flair and speed and avoid counter attacks.
I assume this is the case this year as well, maybe even more so, since the difference of quality and physical attributes between teams is much more apparent in my opinion.
Back to my quest for glory with the claret and blue! After the disappointment of the ending of the second year, I still had some enthusiasm to carry on. This was due to the fact that I had already arranged the transfers of Diego, Taarabt, Drame and Miguel Veloso. The budget given to me had increased slightly and after the sales of Barton, Delph and Bannan I ended up with cash in the bank.
Candreva and Giroud were now regulars and with them Drame and Diego from the new signings. I also decided to replace Given. I was angry at him because after I asked him to reduce his wage demands for a renewal from 5 mil to 4 he came to speak to me and say that he thought he deserved what he was asking. He accepted for 4.5 mil but elephants never forget! Luckily enough Frey was transfer listed by his club at the time!
The season started with an away game at Anfield Road. Just after 15 minutes, Westermann was sent off for a tackle from behind in the midfield after the cpu "helped" me with player switching. I was certain that I would lose. But anyway I managed to score a goal with a cross from Agbonlahor and a header from Giroud in the first half. In the second half I managed to avoid 4-5 certain goals (kind of like my team PAOK against the Spurs on Wednesday!!) and in the 85th I scored a second with a shot by Nzogbia. 0-2!!! It really was a statement of what there was to come!!
After a couple of cheap draws against medium level teams, the team started a tremendous series of wins (interrupted only be yet another defeat to Man Utd 3-1), the highlights of which were a 3-4 away win at Tottenham and a 0-3 win at Chelsea! I then lost to Arsenal and beat City (Aguero was a sub!!) 1-0. City were also probably going to be my opponents at the SFs of the FA Cup. Bolton were along me the surprise of the season topping the league with Chelsea for the bigger part of the first round, only to lose their place after a 5-0 defeat at my home in the last game of the first round.
I should mention that from the start of the season I had noticed that Neymar and Giroud, whose contracts both were to end had a "frosty relationship with the club". I tried to give them much more time, even though Neymar never was a regular. I increased the affection bar by one "brick" but they both refused to enter renewal talks. The disappointment with this was huge as I was in a situation were I would probably lose them for free and also play them, at least Giroud, ahead of players whom I would keep for the future, risking the latters' affection status as well.... To make up for their possible loss I decided to splash the cash and agreed with Lennon (7mil wage!!), Marko Marin, and Michel (Brazilian striker playing for Portuguese club Pacos Ferreira) and also decided to snap Insua who was on the transfer list.
I beat QPR with 5 goals from Giroud in the QF and spared two points against Liverpool at home as they came back from 2-0 to get a draw. The team's form kept steadily increasing. Just 7 games before the end of the season I was 4 points clear of Chelsea, almost certain to progress to the CL and had games against Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and City to give. I was also through to the final beating City 1-0 again! My opponent would be Everton.
Against Man Utd I finally managed to at least get a goalless draw! Chelsea also wandered 2 points and we were now 75 to 71. The next game was against them at home. They scored fast with Kalou and I instantly came back. Just after the 80th minute Kalou went past 3 or 4 of my defenders I was late to react and he passed to Pirlo who scored just in front of the line.....
With one point ahead I was playing Arsenal, another team that I have found really hard to beat. Despite going ahead twice, I never managed to contain them and lost 3-2.... Chelsea won and were now ahead. They did not lose even one point till the end of the season. I lost two more points at City and was now third behind Liverpool. In the last game they were playing away at Tottenham and lost. I beat Bolton and at least came second.
Despite the obvious disappointment, I was happy to notice that even though the level of my players had increased immensely, this did not mean that I needed to put less effort in my game, which is something that happened in the previous versions. Does anyone else share this opinion?
In the Cup final my team shone and beat Everton 2-1. It was a great boost for me as I assumed that my league position and the first title would make the Board decide to support my project.
Neymar signed for Man Utd and Giroud decided to replace Michel at Pacos Ferreira! This "swap" had also happened a couple of times in my previous ML with Everton. Has anyone else noticed it? Giroud was probably my favourite player till now. I signed him at the age of 25 for free and his overall rating was 79. When his second season at the club ended he had a rating of 86 and had scored 36 goals.
I am now in October of the 4th season. I will share the update in a new post starting from the summer proceedings.
