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Career Failed! One Season Only: Mitrovic Shooting For 80 Goals


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36 minutes ago, lm10 said:

KIU u can even reach 100 goals at this rate;);)

Thanks! But not after the September update (which I have to write up). 80 might just be possible, but looking less likely...

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6 hours ago, scratch99 said:

Now I remember this is what it's been like each time I start a career in FMM 2017. Seems to take me a couple of seasons to improve the team before I get any sort of consistency. Still not out of it, but way behind where I need to be to complete this. 

You hit the nail on the head. I love you, mate, but I think scoring 80 in your first season is impossible unless you play a team with top level seasoned players who can produce the goods instantly like Barca or Madrid, where squad building is no requirement. But you're setting the bar really high for yourself and these are exactly the sort of challenges that can make you grow as a manager. Whether you get 80 or not it's a learning experience but I'd love to see you prove me wrong. ;)

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2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

You hit the nail on the head. I love you, mate, but I think scoring 80 in your first season is impossible unless you play a team with top level seasoned players who can produce the goods instantly like Barca or Madrid, where squad building is no requirement. But you're setting the bar really high for yourself and these are exactly the sort of challenges that can make you grow as a manager. Whether you get 80 or not it's a learning experience but I'd love to see you prove me wrong. ;)

Yeah, I always knew it was going to be a stretch... I thought 60 would be realistic, but there's not much fun in that, for either reader or myself - as you say I want to test myself and grow from it.

Anyway, I will keep on and see how it goes (he's 12 from 12 which isn't a disaster, but needs to start scoring faster). If I fail, I'll probably try again with PSG and a better stike (I want to try them out sometime and they have $$$). I might also try with Newcastle but a more seasoned striker to see how much they beat Mitrovic by.

But I'm getting a head of myself... He might still get back in this.

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12 hours ago, veerus said:

Armstrong was behind the curve too at one point...

True! And I haven't given up - just recognised that it may not be realistic. Thanks for the support! :)

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September Update
 
So Mitrovic got off to a great start in August, with 8 goals in 6 games. Can he keep the pace up in September?
 
If you've read the comments above you'll know the answer is No, but let's take a look at what happened.
 
 
Disharmony & Discord
 
September started with an international break. While he was away representing Serbia, Mitrovic made some unwise comments to a newspaper:
mitrovic-preseason-30.png.ff3bf66760d6a5d2b86e4beb722a050c.png
 
It seemed to be just that and no more. He didn't ask for a transfer or become unhappy, it was just a throwaway comment to a newspaper while he was away. Well, we've all done that haven't we? 
 
Unfortunately, some of his teammates took issue with it.
mitrovic-september-03.png.2f1d156fa19557c7bdfd2445b9ba827d.png
 
Cabral (one of our midfield signings), Diame, Haidara and Sels all have a strained relationship with Mitrovic now. I know from experience that there's no way to fix that, other than selling the players involved. :(
 
 
Disaster!
 
It wasn't a convincing month for Newcastle, but we managed to win 4 and lose 2, which is slightly better than we performed. There were several 'come from behind and beat the team that had more shots' results in there. However... One of the games we lost was this one:
mitrovic-september-04.png.f7b654a7ccca89d8ab3392d6e1a50b4e.png
 
Yes, we are out of the League Cup in only the third round, which means we just lost 5 or 6 games that we could have had. I don't care about the cup, but obviously that's 5 or 6 games where Mitrovic can't get any goals... 
 
 
Development
 
No changes in attributes this month. I'll add this section in next time it changes, but otherwise I'll leave it out. Same with injuries.
 
 
Goals
 
September got off to a slow start and Mitrovic found goals hard to come by. Hopefully the brace he got in the last game will kick start things again, and give him some momentum going into October.
mitrovic-september-08.png.97366e8e67f3e0b1e7ab17eb654fa664.png
 
mitrovic-september-10.png.edd151e5b8badcabbcaf344f3707c9cf.png
 
That takes him to 12 goals in 12 games. Great by most standards, but not enough to make it to 80 goals, especially with those lost League Cup games, unless he really picks up the pace. 
mitrovic-september-09.png.ad121553ed2611420baec97af710113d.png
 
 
The Future
 
It's too early to write Mitrovic off yet, but he needs to get 68 goals in about 40 games, so he better get cracking!
Edited by scratch99
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On 3/9/2017 at 20:36, Ashez said:

You love saves that go down to the wire that's for sure! 

 

On 3/10/2017 at 05:31, Taff said:

You are turning in to the master of the suspenseful save dude

Thanks guys, but I don't think this one will go down to the wire. He's going to need a miraculous couple of months to get us back on track... BTW sorry for the slow response, not much time at the moment.

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October Update
 
September was sluggish and Mitrovic really needs to pick up the pace as we head into October. Anything other than a stellar month will threaten Mitrovic's chances of making 80 goals.
 
 
Disharmony & Discord
 
No new dramas this month, but 4 players still hate our star man and there's not much I can do about it. As a result, team harmony is stuck permanently in the yellow - I always try to keep it in the green as I find the team plays better.
mitrovic-october-07.png.7cedcf7bcd59964e2272fd8117319d6a.png
 
 
Development
 
Only minimal changes in attributes this month: Teamwork and Technique rebounded 1 point (they previously had lost 1 point) and unfortunately Shooting dropped from 16 to 15 for some reason. :( 
 
 
Goals
 
October was a middle of the road month. A goal in every game - you can't say that's a bad performance, but at the same time, it's not enough.
mitrovic-october-06.png.2b184894fd813467f701b693f91ffff4.png
 
There were some games where he should have scored more, but he's squandered chances and had quiet performances before popping up with a goal near the end. I think this is because he's playing too much - it's been a struggle to get him back to 100% at times and he's showing as Slightly Tired.
mitrovic-october-03.png.6041fe127dbc202813d45594cbc258de.png
 
When that happened to Armstrong, I'd rest him a few games and he'd come back stronger. With only a limited amount of games for this challenge though, I'm struggling to rest Mitrovic. I keep playing him despite this. The other thing is Armstrong would recover during international breaks because Southgate wouldn't pick him for England. Mitrovic is playing in every international so doesn't get any break.
 
Anyway, Mitrovic is now at 17 goals in 17 games.
mitrovic-october-04.png.86ede8e3953de24c3718964a831aa6d5.png
 
 
Snapshot
 
I figured I should include this screenshot as it shows how Newcastle is doing in the various competitions, who has the most assists, etc.
mitrovic-october-01.png.f8dcdca3a63527a290af4577056b7310.png
 
 
The Future
 
We've probably got 35 games or so to go, and Mitrovic still needs 63 goals. It's getting to the point where it's not very likely this will end in a positive outcome, but as they say - the show must go on...
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We all almost gave up on your 1kc but you somehow pulled it out the bag! This looks very doubtful but for now you have my faith! Come on mate! 

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I can see some really tough dilemma's during this 1 season career. Tweak to improve or risk more of the same? Rest for better next performance or risk running out of games for goals? 

Hope Scratch makes the right decisions :) hang in there!

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9 hours ago, Ashez said:

We all almost gave up on your 1kc but you somehow pulled it out the bag! This looks very doubtful but for now you have my faith! Come on mate! 

I'll keep going, but best put your faith elsewhere! I do have another club and player in mind for a similar challenge and will give that a go next... That will be more likely. Too many things not quite right with the current scenario. But thanks for your support!

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9 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

I can see some really tough dilemma's during this 1 season career. Tweak to improve or risk more of the same? Rest for better next performance or risk running out of games for goals? 

Hope Scratch makes the right decisions :) hang in there!

Yeah, it really presents a different challenge than what I've been used to. Enjoying it and think I can hit the 80 mark in the future, but probably not with this career... Thanks for the support.

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November Update
 
Mitrovic has been ticking along nicely at roughly a goal a game. Fantastic performance, but nowhere near enough to score 80 goals in a season. Will November be the month he restores our faith?
 
 
Disharmony & Discord
 
There are a few players who are not happy about playing time now. Add them to the anti-Mitrovic camp and the atmosphere has turned nasty - enough so that the board have noticed it. I'll need to ship some players out in January.
mitrovic-november-04.png.6efec68cce379baf6ce4829723f4c399.png
 
 
Development
 
No changes this month.
 
 
Goals
 
It turned out that we only had 3 games on our fixture list for November. There was an international break and I guess we lost a game or two from being out of the League Cup. Anyway, Mitrovic scored a brace, followed by two single goal efforts.
mitrovic-november-01.png.8994ff3298b20c964edeebee4c83401e.png
 
That takes him to 21 goals in 20 games.
mitrovic-november-02.png.0f35d284ea7c4af22740d342c187d0b9.png
 
 
The Future
 
We've got 32 games or so to go and Mitrovic still needs 59 goals. We're almost at the 2 goals a match needed mark and that will be virtually impossible. Still, we'll be back next month to see whether Mitrovic can accelerate the rate or not.
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December Update
 
No break between updates - straight into December! Mitrovic is still at roughly a goal a game but needs to get almost 2 goals a game from here on in.
 
 
Disharmony & Discord
 
The team is still unhappy and it's getting worse. It hasn't stopped us from winning most matches, but I'm sure it impacts our performance. Thankfully, the transfer window opens at the end of the month and then I can clear some unhappy players out.
 
 
Development
 
No changes this month.
 
 
Goals
 
December started of with a couple of goal-less games, but then Mitrovic got back on track with his one goal a game routine.
mitrovic-december-03.png.632483a95276abd4708cd60c1735766f.png
 
I had to bench Pavon for a few games as he stopped making assists and started scoring goals! He scored 3 or 4 goals in a row with no assists in sight. I've had that before with other players and they seem to go through phases. He'll be back shortly I'm sure. 
 
Anyway, Mitrovic is up to 25 goals in 26 games.
mitrovic-december-02.png.e3d8c9c715ad20d8cd7678a7271c3012.png
 
 
The Future
 
We've got 26 games or so to go and Mitrovic needs 55 goals. Not going to happen, but we'll keep going. Hopefully we can shake up he squad a little in the transfer window, but I can't see that any changes will be enough.
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2 hours ago, scratch99 said:
The team is still unhappy and it's getting worse. It hasn't stopped us from winning most matches, but I'm sure it impacts our performance.

It does yeah and in my careers I decided to sell the "older" ones and keep the youngsters with an eye on the future. Your case is entirely different tho.

2 hours ago, scratch99 said:
I had to bench Pavon for a few games as he stopped making assists and started scoring goals! He scored 3 or 4 goals in a row..

I bet that went down well with the fans :laugh:

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29 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

It does yeah and in my careers I decided to sell the "older" ones and keep the youngsters with an eye on the future. Your case is entirely different tho.

When I had Celtic as one of the best clubs in the world and playing in Europe, players were happy to sit on the bench, but with Newcastle in the Championship, players want to be playing. So it's a different challenge and one I forgot how to deal with while playing with the one club for so long. I guess this is a good reminder... :) 

I do generally prefer to have one (occasionally two) established player for each position, backed up by youngsters, but this squad is far from my ideal makeup, due to limited time (and resources) to throw them together. A work in progress.

41 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

I bet that went down well with the fans :laugh:

Nah, the fans are happy. We're clear at the top of the Championship and looking good for promotion. They do like Pavon, but really things are better right now than they've been for a long time, so they're not complaining. 

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I like you Scratch, but no way this is happening.

You wait here, I'll go get some popcorn and watch you fall into an epic misery :D

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Is it naughty to suggest that in the transfer window you sign all the best goalkeepers from the teams you face in the final 26 games?

It is?

Oh, not sure you're going to make this one then! Still, I look forward to the ride. :)

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38 minutes ago, Jack.Holt said:

Is it naughty to suggest that in the transfer window you sign all the best goalkeepers from the teams you face in the final 26 games?

It is?

Oh, not sure you're going to make this one then! Still, I look forward to the ride. :)

That is a brilliant suggestion!

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4 hours ago, Jens said:

I like you Scratch, but no way this is happening.

You wait here, I'll go get some popcorn and watch you fall into an epic misery :D

Hehe, at least I know it's it coming. Save some popcorn for me! :)

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2 hours ago, Jack.Holt said:

Is it naughty to suggest that in the transfer window you sign all the best goalkeepers from the teams you face in the final 26 games?

It is?

Oh, not sure you're going to make this one then! Still, I look forward to the ride. :)

Hmm, the transfer window is still open....  樂

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January Update
 
The challenge is looking like it's doomed to failure, but as every fan knows, the opening of the transfer window brings renewed hope, even in impossible situations! Could we put together a team that will help Mitrovic score 2 goals a game? Time will tell.
 
 
Transfers
 
It was certainly a very busy transfer period.
 
First, I had to fight off several bids for Mitrovic and the player himself seemed to be thinking about making a move. In the end we hung on to him without too much trouble.
mitrovic-january-00.png.1d7275b6a3918b7846443b9b83b20c9f.png
 
mitrovic-january-02.png.347372eec1fb4f84956bc39af6036e0b.png
 
mitrovic-january-05.png.e83f9eeb367d7d2e65999b7f682212f3.png
 
Next, we cleared out most of those who either a) didn't like Mitrovic; or b) weren't getting game time.
mitrovic-january-13.png.8d248f42665d50f843cde97943f09df7.png
 
Thauvin had his moments and looks promising in theory, but just didn't do enough. Colback is a brave man, going back to Sunderland after deserting them for their hated rivals (us!). The rest really weren't in contention for a position, including Mattioni and Montillo who both joined us in August. The greyed out ones were from the August transfer window. 
 
Then, we spent every single last cent that we had available. Most of the new recruits are good and should do the job at this level, but I was hoping for more.
mitrovic-january-15.png.721b3029a51b8fc34b986e0bc5c6103d.png
 
We brought in a couple of central midfielders (Wanyama and Walace) to strengthen that area of the pitch. Both are very good players, but both are BWMs and I would have preferred some class DLPs (but couldn't get them). I know some readers have a thing for Wanyama, so I'm interested to see how he goes. Dudu looks like a decent player out wide. Jesus is still far from the finished article, so we'll have to see if develops in time to help this challenge - he wasn't my first choice, but I didn't want to leave money on the table. Rajkovic came in as backup keeper as we were trying to sell Sels, but couldn't. 
 
Here's all of the new recruits (except for Fosu-Mensah who I don't have a screenshot for handy):
Spoiler

 

mitrovic-january-19.png.41a046fb9d5e265374ca6f0ce47f4c2c.png
 
mitrovic-january-17.png.95c59f02728f1e12b081e58a07bac68a.png
 
mitrovic-january-20.png.613679f7ce8810fdd9b024561d55b870.png
 
mitrovic-january-18.png.680220c19080090a594b44b725c8aed4.png
 
mitrovic-january-21.png.0bfe170afea3d964a1e027a4a3eb5c16.png
 
mitrovic-january-22.png.32e5248c48c5d4aa57f21b3cf4eb163c.png

 

 
As for Wanyama, it wasn't easy to get him, but I was persistent! First I got an offer accepted and then offered him what he wanted, bigger club clause and all. Then while he was pondering that, Beijing came in for him and turned his head.
mitrovic-january-01.png.8dc39b61cc588318b1748b11226a9dde.png
 
Gazumped! But as the transfer window developed and I couldn't get the players I wanted, Wanyama still looked like a good option, so I went back to Beijing and bought him off them. Cost me £1.5M extra, but I got him in the end.
mitrovic-january-06.png.460f643201d3002701fb8abdf7659ffb.png
 
 
Disharmony & Discord
 
With many of the unhappy players shipped out, there was a noticeable improvement to team morale. There are still a couple of Mitrovic haters on the team, so we'll have to see whether we can maintain that high level.
mitrovic-january-07.png.f7cefcdede4c1da8db295d47901fd866.png
 
 
Development
 
Mitrovic got a minor power up this month. Shooting went back up to 16 (from 15). Decisions increased by 2. Movement, Dribbling, Creativity and Technique all went up by one. He now looks like this:
mitrovic-january-09.png.69ffbd7f1a7ee742fe96ff009243c3f6.png
 
 
Goals
 
So how did Mitrovic perform with all of those changes going on and new people joining the team each game? Pretty well actually! 8 goals in 6 games.
mitrovic-january-30.png.8c6babbaa94225dc1dc738e377c6a6e3.png
 
That takes him to 33 goals in 32 games.
mitrovic-january-11.png.d7245d563faa67ebec7ddbe799a9e844.png
 
 
The Future
 
Only 47 goals to go and we still have approximately 20 games to go. Maybe his new teammates will kick start the run of hat-tricks that are surely just around the corner! 
 
Note: January is clearly glass half full month!
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12 hours ago, Taff said:

great going dude, the improvements seem to have worked just hope you can give Mitrovic the kick up the arse he needs

Hehe, Mitrovic needs more than a kick at this point! :) 

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12 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Trying to make the impossible possible may I suggest playing a 1-1-4-4 formation :laugh:

Hehe, that could work. But given how desperate things are, I was thinking about this formation:

Screenshot_20170316-115912.png.727f5cde9ca77cb96fcefa77a3ebc74b.png

:)

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February to May Update
 
We went into February with high hopes of a miracle, but it turned out to be a nightmare: only 2 goals in 6 games.
mitrovic-febtomay-05.png.32eeba4c582b6a625efcab9acead01b6.png
 
At that point, with virtually no chance of completing this successfully, I decided to forget about monthly updates and push on to the end of the season. 
 
 
Development
 
Mitrovic didn't improve much further and finished the season looking like this:
mitrovic-febtomay-33.png.93b151c860c956a497626da97ac5db1d.png
 
 
Goals
 
Mitrovic's run to the end of the season looked like this:
mitrovic-febtomay-38.png.637431cf6992605bd5eb1abeb845225e.png
 
Throughout the February dry spell, Mitrovic had been showing as Slightly Tired (even when 100%). I resisted the urge to rest him, which was probably a mistake, but I couldn't win either way. He needed to get almost 3 goals a game to reach the target and leaving him out would just increase the rate he needed to score at.
 
However, playing him when he was Slightly Tired wasn't paying off either, so I eventually decided to give him a couple of games off. It took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things, but he finished with 12 goals in 8 games. If only he could have held that average over the course of the season...
 
Interestingly, we won 4-0 and 5-1 in the two games Mitrovic took off. Most of our other results were much closer than that. Maybe he was holding us back!
 
Anyway, Mitrovic finished with 47 goals from 49 games. 
mitrovic-febtomay-35.png.74682ae8ee35f262fae9045460b73e99.png
 
Enough to comfortably top the Championship and to be Player of the Year.
mitrovic-febtomay-29.png.97a8cee0faddf94c338bebef23687463.png
 
mitrovic-febtomay-39.png.b8b4a9940d25808b933d555890f92ae4.png
 
But nowhere near our ambitious target of 80. And nowhere near the 60 that I thought might actually be achievable. And it wasn't any better than Armstrong in his first year at Celtic (53 goals in 55 games), despite me having a tactic I though would work and more experience with getting players to score.
 
So it ends as a miserable failure.
 
 
Results
 
Just quickly: 
mitrovic-febtomay-27.png.77670dadba79e3068b21ac8bb41ce0b9.png
 
We got knocked out of the FA Cup at the 5th round, in a 1-0 loss to Liverpool, despite having twice as many shots as them. And we won the Championship quite easily:
mitrovic-febtomay-28.png.b3a79bf3cc536038825aaa49b4fb7ed6.png
 
 
Teammates
 
Of the January signings, only Dudu and Fosu-Mensah did well. Wanyama was decent, but nothing special and I'd think twice about buying him again.
mitrovic-febtomay-31.png.ba7c9be96bd6a7076d4679470e32e307.png
 
As for who provided the goals, Pavon and Cabral (both August signings) were important. On the flip side, Jonjo Shelvey was quite disappointing.
mitrovic-febtomay-32.png.6cbd4ed68f97a978fcaeb3d82460739b.png
 
 
Debrief
 
So why did this fail so badly? 
 
  1. Squad: We needed more time to settle down the team and build it into a side that can dominate the opposition. Although Newcastle won the season comfortably, most of the games were tight and there weren't nearly enough opportunities to give Mitrovic a fighting chance. To score 80 goals in the first season, you'd need to have a club with better personnel and a bigger budget. You really need world class players surrounding the striker.
     
  2. Tactic/ player's skills: Although the tactic worked for Armstrong at his peak, it didn't work as well for Mitrovic. He's only slightly slower than Armstrong, but there were a lot less counter attacking goals. Armstrong would score a lot from distance, but Mitrovic was poor at shooting from distance. And the part Armstrong was poor at (not winning headers), Mitrovic did better at, but it didn't seem to lead to extra goals. 
     
  3. Choice of striker: Leaving aside how Mitrovic fit the tactic, I got the feeling that he was just not as much of a natural goal scorer as Armstrong. Mitrovic only scored 2 hat-tricks all season. Armstrong seemed be more ruthless, even scoring 5 on one occasion in his first season. Armstrong was a poacher and Mitrovic a target man, so maybe that has something to do with it. To make 80 in the first season, you'd probably want to have a ruthless goal scorer and one who is more experienced than either Mitrovic or Armtstrong at the start of the game.
     
  4. Choice of club / league: Although Newcastle was stronger than most Championship teams, the degree of difference wasn't that high. Most Championship teams were good enough to frustrate us and prevent domination. Ideally you'd want a team that had a greater superiority over their competition. 
 
On the plus side, Mitrovic didn't get any injuries over the course of the season. He got a few knocks in games and had to be subbed early, but no real injuries. 
 
 
The Future
 
Well Mitrovic is going to report for pre-season training and continue his journey towards becoming a Toon legend. As for me, I hear new challenges calling. I think you'll see me again shortly, doing another One Season Only 80 goal challenge, but this time with team / striker that might have a better chance.
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Just a quick comment as I'm running out of time.. love the detail you put into it and I'm sure it's been a useful experience, failed attempts usually are. Looking forward to your next adventure.

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