Friday 24 July 2009

Southampton story: 1st season: Improving!

Hello everyone, hope you are all well. When I left you, Southampton was in deep trouble, 16th in the league table. After this, we went from bad to worse, a few games later being 20th in the table. But then, form picked up, and after I got two loanees in, things began to stabilise. Take a look:



The games follow a similar pattern, win or draw our home games, and lose or draw our away games. We actually won our first away game of the season against Norwich, but they are 23rd in the league, so I’m not over the moon at it. What is interesting is that we got to the League Cup quarter final, after beating West Brom on penalties. Subsequently, we crashed out to Chelsea, but I am still very proud of our performance, and only wonder why we cannot replicate this form in the league. Speaking of the league, here is the table:



12th place, not too bad. Still extremely inconsistent, as you can see by our win/draw/loss ratio. 8 wins, 8 draws and 9 losses, you just don’t know which Southampton will turn up! Apart from us, the stunning stat is that Football Manager has accurately predicted 2 out of 3 clubs who finished in the relegation places in real life to be in the relegation battle at this time; Norwich and Charlton. I have a feeling if it was not for my heroics, we would have been there too haha. This run of good form has mainly been down to my midfield, with my two loanees, James Tomkins and Rhys Murphy, playing a little part in it as well. Tomkins is a young central defender from West Ham, who allowed me to terminate the loan of the awful Zoltan Liptak. As for Murphy, he is a young, prospective striker from Arsenal, and was brought in because our strikers are absolutely terrible at the moment. He has not been much different unfortunately, so I might have to send him back and get another loanee in January. If I scrape enough money together, I may also be able to buy a decent right winger, as Jake Thomson is really not good enough for Championship level. He will be kept as back up though. Anyway, let’s move on to player ratings:


Again, our best performer is Morgan Schneiderlin, running away with it on 7.31. Next best is Stephen Appiah on 7.13, and third is Gerard on 7.07. Top scorer is Appiah on 7 in 26 starts, with Schneiderlin and Gerard completing the top 3 with 6 in 25 and 5 in 19 respectively. Top assister is Rudi Skacel, with 9 in 23 starts. Second is Schneiderlin with 8, and Appiah is third with 6. Top passer is Rhys Murphy, with 80% success rate. Second is Schneiderlin with 77% alongside Marek Saganowski, also on 77%. Third is Gerard, 75% of his passes have reached their mark. Anyway, some of you wanted my tactics, so I shall give you a screenshot of them. They have changed since I commented last, to accommodate Adam Lallana, who apparently is good for any Premier League club in the AMC position:


When he is injured, or if there is a particularly tough team facing us, I will move the AMC to DMC, and then put forward arrows on both the MC’s. They have been quite effective over the past few games, so I am quite happy with them.
Among other news, we have been taken over by a lifelong Southampton fan, yay! Unfortunately, he has not pumped any money into the club, to relieve the debts or otherwise. So apparently I am going to have to do more wheeling and dealing. Sheikh Mansour of Man City, please give us a few million!
That’s it for today, new post coming soon!

5 comments:

  1. Swansea? Third? *dances*

    Are you able to terminate the loan of Dyer? Because, if you can, you'll be able to get a AMR in for free - although it may hinder the Swans...

    Well done on improving - 12th is VERY respectable!

    I'm a tad unsure of your formation - I've seen it work, but, I've never been fond of a lone striker.

    It sucks that you've been taken over by a fan - they never give you loads of cash; they rarely leave!!

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  2. Yeah Liam, they are third and Cardiff have dropped down to second! No, unfortunately I cannot call back Dyer, but it's alright, McGoldrick is doing very well there, so Jake Thompson is frozen out! :D

    Thank you, yes I was very happy with 12th, but a little preview of my next post: I have done better than that!

    Yeah, my formation worked for a few games, but then after one special January signing, I changed it back to the 4-5-1 I mentioned before. Screenie will come in the next post.

    Yeah, and we are so very close to going into administration, which means Schneiderlin/Appiah/Gerard/Lallana/the new signing might have to be sold to balance the books. I have got everyone on lower paid contracts and adjusted the budgets to give me a lot of leeway in the wage budget, but it just won't clear all our debts by itself. Mr Cohen (new chairman), get your wallet out!

    Mike

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  3. I just hope we finish higher than Scumdiff.

    Better than 12th? Was it a momentary thing - or has it lasted?

    Special? Ooh, shiny...
    How special is this signing, and what position?

    Well, in my 3rd season, Sheff Utd (who were in the Champ.) went into Admin, and only got 10 points deducted - it looks like you can withstand that! Well, 20th isn't very desireable, but, you'll stay up!

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  4. Oh, and Mr.Cohen?

    Lol. He was my Biology teacher last year. He was a Gooner, though!

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  5. Mike Good formation mate, that's the formation that got me 3rd in my 1st season & the domestic triple the next with Spurs.

    I've also just been selected to also blog on the new FM site (Y)

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