Woodrow, Gray and Onomah making the most of their chances and somewhat changing my views of them in the process. The young players had plenty of opportunity to get minutes in this group phase. Having qualified with 4 wins out of 4 a reserve team was sent to Basel. A club in it’s first ever CL season could not wish for a more friendly group. While the FM gods may have decided they hate me in the League Cup they must love me in the Champions League. The first 2-0 at Swansea (who had been crushed 7-0 at home) and 2-1 at QPR (who took 4 points from us in the league, drawing 0-0). Jay Rodriguez goal drought really caused issues there. The defence was improved on the previous season, conceding 8 fewer, while the attack scored 2 fewer, despite at one stage looking a certainty to smash past the 100 goal mark. If I add that Guardiola is actually in charge at Chelsea, Benitez at Arsenal and Bielsa at Liverpool, an even clearer picture starts to form. Back to back FA Cup wins for the Saints and major trophy number one bagged.īoth Manchester clubs having surprising managers might be an indication as to how the season played out. Managed by Paco Jemez, whose work at Rayo Vallecano somehow was enough to impress the Old Trafford decision makers.Ĭomprehensive. Mourinho’s real life team awaited in the final. Football Manager really knows how to do irony, Mourinho in charge at City and Keita knocking Liverpool out of the cup. The semi final with Liverpool was back and forth in extra time but the only goal came from Naby Keita, with his first for the club. In the replay with Chelsea we snatched the game from them late on to take it into extra time. The FA Cup was a strange mix of demolitions and tough battles. Also a rare occasion where an opposing team undoubtedly deserved the victory (and actually got it). An opportunity to put right the defeat by Manchester City (now managed by Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola sacked after just a few months with City sitting in 16th). The final would be a rematch of the previous season. I rested players in the second leg and was very comfortable with the 2-1 loss. A major marker or a nice pot?Īnother relatively easy run through the rounds, only Tottenham representing a real challenge. Barely a shot was fired by Barcelona in the extra 30 minutes. Barcelona.Īn epic clash in which the heat was really turned up during extra time. Yet managerless (I had been linked with the role, no interview was forthcoming, but I would have said no anyway). If the opponents for the Community Shield were strong, the European Super Cup opposition was herculean. The most notable thing was how dominant we were against such strong opposition. The Community Shield offered a cruise to 2-0 victory. The two games could not have been more different. In the end it cost us nothing as the season delivered more silver. Rodriguez started brilliantly, but my attachment to the romantic notion of his glorious come back could have cost the team. Of those 19 league goals, 17 were scored before Christmas, 10 before the end of September. The numbers look solid but what they don’t show you is the huge 20 hour goal drought he suffered at the back end of the season. This season was good but also managed to be a huge disappointment. In the previous season he had a brilliant campaign, scoring 34 goals in all competitions. He understands the predicament of Reece Oxford better than anyone. Last season featured the resurrection of Jay Rodriguez. How will Oxford recover? Will he recover? Another layer added into the story. Just days after arriving, the game decided to destroy him. Especially as I was unable to resist adding Reece Oxford and Trent Alexander-Arnold to the squad. In the next season that list will have to be long again. A number had to go out on loan, as was always going to the case. Three players from that huge raft of 2017 players have moved on. A third, Jacob Maddox, left for Watford for £250k plus add ons. On FM 2016 Alfie clearly had limited potential. Alfie Mawson left in the summer window, going to Wigan for less than a million. One of the England youth successes of the 2017 summer was gone. Iorfa had played 9 games at that stage, he may have gone on to play over 20 but he wanted to go and I didn’t see him becoming a first choice. I then sold Dominic Iorfa to Bayern Munich in January for £8.5 million. At the beginning of the season I sold Virgil van Dijk for £24million, plus many millions of add ons, replacing him with Eric Dier (. In a “normal” save being unable to sign players might be a problem. Off it, there was an ongoing takeover bid that ultimately fell apart. On the pitch it was a second season of unexpected success. The second season at New England Saints has been completed.
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