Career Les Parisiens and The Rooster - Season 3

[FuddledFox]

With FMM18 a month away I decided I wanted to do one final FMM17 save. I haven’t been getting much love or luck from FMM17 the last couple of months but I’m determined to go out on some kind of high with this year’s game. This is something I have always had with all versions of FM. I will go through times when I can do no wrong but also times when it feels I can do nothing right. I decided I wanted to keep it simple and fun for this save and this is what I went with.

Les Parisiens

The French league has never been one I have got on with on FM. Over the last couple of years I have tried saves with various French teams but never had any success. I last tried a save with PSG the year Zlatan first signed for the club and limped in 3^rd at the end of the season got bored and started a new save. It’s time to right that wrong and give PSG and Ligue 1 another go but with some added interest as PSG shouldn’t be a huge challenge with the 16/17 squad (I don’t update DB as I like to wait for the new game.)

 

So the fun part is playing with the riches that PSG have to offer. I start with £107m to spend and I intend to spend every penny I can over the seasons this save lasts. The Paris club also have a couple of wonderkids who I haven’t used before namely Goncalo Guedes and Giovani Lo Celso. These are two players who I have seen develop into beasts in other saves I have played so I am looking forward to using them myself.

 

I will be looking to win everything in France in my first season with hopefully a good run in Europe before looking to dominate the Champions League as well. With the money I have these aims seem realistic although in the early days it will test the strength of my squad to compete in multiple competitions even with the money I will spent in the 1^st transfer window.

The Rooster

The second part of the challenge and the part which hopefully will keep it interesting is the rooster. I want to buy a striker and smash the clubs goal scoring record. I don’t want to use a player already at the club like Cavani as I want all the goals to be scored during my time as boss. The current record is 156 goals in all competitions and was set unsurprisingly by Zlatan Ibrahimović during his 4 seasons and 180 appearances at the club. It goes without saying that I would like my chosen player to do it quicker than Zlatan so I would need 52 goals a season if he is to do it in 3 seasons.

So who is my chosen man? Well the title is a clue as I have decided on Andrea Belotti a player nicknamed Il Gallo or the rooster in Italy. I had a few players in mind but decided I wanted someone who didn’t move club in real life this summer and who I haven’t bought before. It surprises me that I have never used Belotti before as he has been an FM wonderkid for a few versions now but I haven’t so he was perfect for me.

 

 He also has many of the qualities I was looking for in the player I wanted to use. He is only 22 and has a very good range of mental stats with movement and decisions standing out to me. I am worried by his high teamwork after the problem I had with Tammy Abraham during my failed 1KC attempt but I’m just going to have to live with that.

He has an excellent shooting stat at 18 with also dribbling at 14 which will hopefully improve along with his aerial ability. If he can improve these he will become the complete forward the game says he is and will be a real goal scoring threat from all types of balls into the box as well as long shots.

He isn’t the quickest at only 14 pace but that could improve. I like his high stamina so he can play lots of games and he is strong as an ox which is also a massive plus.

The Qatari owners had a look behind the cushions on one of their many, many sofas and found the £32.5m I needed to prise him away from Torino.

 He now has to convince me that he deserves to be my number 1 choice ahead of the awesome Cavani. I don’t plan to play this save in a ‘goal scoring challenge’ style. This means Belotti will have to earn his place in the side like everyone else and the team won’t be completely focused on him. I want goal scorers throughout the team as well as providers so that we are a well-balanced attacking team. I believe Belotti has more than enough quality to smash the record even if I don’t focus everything on him.

I have no season limit on this save beyond the fact that I want to beat the record in less time/games than Zlatan and that FMM18 is out on the 10^th November. I don't play that quickly but hopefully I can get through 4 seasons before FMM18.

Sorry if this is isn’t the most challenging of saves that I could be doing but I simply want to have fun. A big part of that fun is sharing it with everyone here on Vibe so I hope you will follow me and the Rooster on our Paris adventure.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

[MerlionMaple96]

Nice intro mate. Looking forward to this.

Lo Celso and Guedes develop into world beaters. You may have forgotten Adrien Rabiot as a wunderkid too, he becomes pure class.

 

[DIRECTFX]

Looks interesting as I've never done a save in France .. It's all about you having fun first so it's good to do what interests you.. Good Luck trying to beat Z Gods record with Belotti he was cheap in my Villarreal save but never produced like he should but every save n tactics are different so might be better for you

[Taff]

Cracking intro dude, and I'm looking forward to this

Belotti seemed to get a lot of interest this summer but would love to see what he can do, but filling Zlat's shoes is no easy feat

Good Luck

[FuddledFox]

10 hours ago, MerlionMaple96 said:

Nice intro mate. Looking forward to this.

Lo Celso and Guedes develop into world beaters. You may have forgotten Adrien Rabiot as a wunderkid too, he becomes pure class.

 

I did forget Rabiot to be honest but he is becoming an important player in my set up so I will add him to my wonderkids updates.

1 hour ago, DIRECTFX said:

Looks interesting as I've never done a save in France .. It's all about you having fun first so it's good to do what interests you.. Good Luck trying to beat Z Gods record with Belotti he was cheap in my Villarreal save but never produced like he should but every save n tactics are different so might be better for you

I hope Belotti can smash zlats record. Need around a goal a game for about 3 seasons and he should get their. As I said in intro he does have competition for his place so it's all up in the air at the moment.

[FuddledFox]

11 minutes ago, Taff said:

Cracking intro dude, and I'm looking forward to this

Belotti seemed to get a lot of interest this summer but would love to see what he can do, but filling Zlat's shoes is no easy feat

Good Luck

Thanks mate. I was surprised he stayed at Torino in real life as well. Zlatan has some big boots to fill but I'm sure the Rooster is capable of doing it.

[Scratch]

Interesting challenge! Can't wait to see how it pans out. Good luck!

[Ashez]

Great opening post mate, it really got it's hooks into me! I'm looking forward to following all the twists and turns as they unfold! 

[FuddledFox]

2 hours ago, scratch99 said:

Interesting challenge! Can't wait to see how it pans out. Good luck!

Thanks mate.

1 hour ago, Ashez said:

Great opening post mate, it really got it's hooks into me! I'm looking forward to following all the twists and turns as they unfold! 

I'm glad I got you hooked? the save lots its self has hooked me in so i hope I can bring that across in the updates

[FuddledFox]

Welcome to season one. Let’s get straight into what happened.

 

Transfers

So just the cool £92 million spent over the summer on 3 players with only 2 leaving.

Outs: We didn’t  have a huge squad when I took over so I didn’t want to let many players go. I choose to sell Maxwell and Ben Arfa in the January window as they were never going to feature for the first team. Palermo have the option to buy Ben Arfa for £6.5m and I hope they choose to take up that option.

The biggest decision was not to sell Cavani. I did consider letting him go but felt he would be able to put pressure on Belotti for the striker position and as I mentioned in the intro this save isn’t all about Belotti. I also didn’t want to strengthen any possible Champions League opponents by selling them one of the world’s best marksmen.

In’s: I gave my reasons for buying Belloti in the intro.

 I decided to bring in Bernardo Silva from Monaco for a few reasons.

·        He is bloody good (kinda obvious that one)

·        I wanted to weaken the team that I guessed would be my biggest opposition for the league title. Yes they had £48m in the bank but I hoped the AI would spend it unwisely. In the end they only bought Pato for £22m but you will have to read on to see if I weakened their squad enough.

·        Every major club in Europe wanted him. This led to a bidding war as I went up against Real, Barca, Arsenal and Chelsea. In the end our oil money won the day.

In the end he had a very good season winning Ligue 1 young player of the year. He scored 10 goals, got 12 assists with an AvR of 7.65 from 43 games.

I wanted a versatile player who could fill in a number of positions. Jairo Riedewald fitted the bill perfectly as he can play CB, LB, DMC and CM also being left footed was a bonus as well. He played in every one of those positions during the season but was most used as a CM believe it or not. This was more because of fitness issues with other CMs and the fact that Jairo developed well during the season as Thiago Motta declined. He played 37 times scoring 1 goal, creating 6 and had a 7.13 AvR.

 

Wonderkids Watch

I mentioned in the intro that I was excited about the wonderkids PSG had. I forgot to mention Adrien Rabiot so I will include his in this section as well.

Rabiot: This lad soon established a strong partnership with Veratti in the centre of the park. That partnership was cut short by a 1 month injury in January which is when Jairo stepped into the midfield as cover.

Despite this you can see he is developing into a decent player by the end of the season. I would like to see his technique, creativity, decisions and teamwork grow over the next season.

He didn’t contribute very much in terms of goals or assists during the season but he played the CM role so was much more of a jack of all trades in the centre of the pitch. Mostly he would win the ball back and then play simple passes to the more creative players.

 

  Giovani Lo Celso: Unfortunately Giovani only played a bit part this season and had a number of players ahead of him for selection. He doesn’t look bad and has developed but just found better players in his way. My signing of Silva didn’t help he selection chances.

 

He played ok when he did come in and it’s hard to expect much from a player who is in and out of the team.

 

Goncalo Guedes: I saved the best for last. Goncalo played a vital part throughout the season. He is comfortable on both wings but was used most on the right as a winger. His stats are starting to look very tasty although only having 13 creativity isn’t ideal.

He had an productive season and I hope he will be even better next year.

 

Tactics

So how did I utilise all the talent I had available to me. I used to tactics during the season but the roles and TI did change based on circumstances. The below tactics are my most common set ups (this isn’t my best 11 just who played my final game of the season).

Domestic and early Champions League stages: The left winger was used as either an IF or a winger depending on who played their EG. Cavani played IF but Di Maria who is left footed played as a winger.

Latter stages of Champions League or seeing out a match: I wanted a tactic that could be a little more solid so I plugged the gap between the CBs and CMs by moving the AM back there. Again the left wing role depended on who was playing there. If I had a winger on the left then I changed the left back to a FB role.

 

TI: Kept it really simple with the TI’s at the start of each match. If I was losing or drawing then I went attacking and direct. This did get me back into games on anumber of occasions.

 

Competitions

So how did the season pan out?

Champions Trophy: We played the cup winners Lyon and ran out 3.1 winners thanks to debut goals from Silva and Belotti.

League Cup: I wanted to win every competition so went with as strong a team as I could in every game. We had to play our league rivals Monaco in the semi finals. This was the game that Rabiot strained his groin.

That set up a final versus Bordeaux. We dominated the game but had to wait until extra time to get the goals.

 

French Cup: Could we make it a domestic cup double? We took on rivals Monaco in the final following a straight forward route to the final. We made most of the running but it was an OG right on the stroke of half time that gave us the win.

 

Ligue 1: So with all our dominace in the cups could we win the league? As I expected Monaco where our biggest rivals and we where both miles a head of the rest of the division. In the end only 2 points sepated us.

In the end depite us buying Bernardo Silva Monaco lifted the title just as they did in real life. It was so tight all year with both of us only losing 2 matches but it was one of those loses that cost us. We lost 1.0 at home to Monaco early in the season our other lose was a 3.0 defeat which gave Monaco the title. In truth Monaco would have won the league even if we had beat them as they had by far the better GD. They boasted the best defence and attack and where deserved Champions (said through grited teeth). We will have to simply improve and come back stronger next season. We did beat them in both cups and also at their place in the league so we had the better head to head record during the season.

Champions League: I didn’t expect us to win the Champions League this year but did hope for Quarters or Semi finals.

We cruised through a simple group only dropping points away to Sporting.

 

We took on Monchengladbach in the first knockout round in what proved to be a very tight tie. I was very pleased to get an away goal in the 1^st leg.

That away goal was canceled out in the 34^th minute of the 2^nd leg. We where really pushing for an equalizer when Cavani popped up and scored. I decided to keep attacking and we got the reward in injury time as Lo Celso score a vital and his only goal of the season.

In the Quarters we drew Barcelona. We traveled to the Nou Camp first where we gave a very good account of ourselves but I would have liked an away goal. This was the first game I played the 4-1-2-2-1 and I would stick with it for the rest of the Champions League.

 

A penalty from Belloti settled our nerves in the 2^nd leg and by 31 minutes we where cruising 3.0 up. The Messi goal was only a consolation and we fully deserved to go through.

 

The draw wasn’t any less kind to us as we had to take on Real Madrid in the Semis.

Things weren’t looking great as we lost 2.1 at home in the first leg. Conceding 2 away goals meant we needed to win by 2 at the Bernabeu.

That’s just what we did! When that 89^th minute OG went in I nearly gave my wife a heart attack as I jumped up. We went all out attack for the last 15 minutes of this game and got the reward.

 

That set up PSG’s first ever Champions League final. We took on Sevilla at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.

A straight forward win depite conceding in the last minute. Winning the Champions League wasn’t expected in the first season but it really took the edge off the disappointment of not winng the league.

The Rooster

So how did Belotti do in the first season of his quest to out score Zlatan? Well he hit 37 goals but it could really have been more an injury and a lose of form in the new year meant it was a slightly below par total. To put it into context he scored 30 goals in 34 matches then after the injury only 7 in 17 matches. Next season I will want him to break the 40 goal mark if not more.

A massive positive is the improvement of his stats that he got over the season. Wish his aerial was better but doubt it will improve now.

 

So he will need another 122 goals in 128 games to beat Zlatans record.

 

 

 

Final stats

Here are some more stats from the season.

A note on Cavani. He scored a lot of goals but many of them came as a sub. He now has 75 goals for PSG so I plan to sell him this summer to remove his compition to Belotti in the goal scoring record. He proved very useful in the first season both as a backup/supersub striker and as an IF on the left but its time for him to move on for the benefit of Belotti.

 

Conclusion

A successful season for the club with a first Champions League win the highlight but next season we really need to wrestle that league title from Monaco.

In the transfer market I will be looking to buy a left footed winger as Di Maria now only has 12 pace and is better suited to a midfield playmaker role. I also need a left WB to provide cover and also a back up striker to replace Cavani.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

[jakebanno]

Love the format, good stuff. 

[Taff]

Cracking read and a very good first season for you and the team

love the in depth analysis of every detail

kiu

[FuddledFox]

14 hours ago, jakebanno said:

Love the format, good stuff. 

 

6 hours ago, Taff said:

Cracking read and a very good first season for you and the team

love the in depth analysis of every detail

kiu

Thanks guys. I'm glad you enjoyed it

[Ashez]

Very in depth mate, more of a guide than a career.......:p. Private joke lads  

That league was so unlucky but everything else went swimmingly, nice work mate! 

[danovic78]

Love the Zlatometer! 

[PriZe]

Zlatometer FTW! Nice write up as well, enjoyed it!

[FuddledFox]

6 hours ago, Ashez said:

Very in depth mate, more of a guide than a career.......:p. Private joke lads  

That league was so unlucky but everything else went swimmingly, nice work mate! 

No its definitely a career ?

 

5 hours ago, danovic78 said:

Love the Zlatometer! 

 

3 hours ago, PriZe said:

Zlatometer FTW! Nice write up as well, enjoyed it!

Thanks guys. Yeah I quite like the Zlatometer although I prefer the Isakograpth I made for @PriZemore

[FuddledFox]

 

 

Last season we picked up four trophies including the Champions League whilst Belotti made a decent start to life in Paris with 37 goals. We did miss out on the Ligue 1 title though so all wasn’t perfect.

Transfer

Outs

As I said at the end of season 1 I had decided to let Cavani move on as he had the chance to beat Belotti to the goalscoring record. I would have loved to have got more for him. Bayern came in with an £8 million bid and £15 million was the most I could push them up to. Have to admit the Germans got the better deal their I think even if he is 30 their was plenty of life left in him but I had made my decision and he had to go.

Di Maria and Draxler both went in January and I was happy to let them both go because they werent getting enough game time. I managed to get Dortmund and Man Utd in a bidding war for Di Maria with the English club pulling ot the running at £75 million. I think they had the last laugh though as they then came in and bought the younger and equally as good Draxler for nearly half that amount. They had no competition for him so I wasn’t able to push them to stupid amounts.

In’s

In the summer window I had identified the need to bring in a LB, LW and ST. I was able to fill all these positions.

I bought in the versitile Guerreiro from Dortmund for £37m.

Money well spent I think as he had most of what I look for in a full back plus the ability to play further forward as well. He can cross as well as dribble and tackle and has good mental stats with his decisions and teamwork standing out for me. Physically I wish he was stronger but he has some pace and stamina which are important as he played the WB role for most of the season. He was first choice all season and played 46 games scoring one goal and only one assist with a rating of 7.32. I have only just noticed the one assist and would have expected more if I’m honest.

Salah came in from Roma for £40m. I wanted a left footed winger and he turned out to be my best option.

Lightning quick with dribbling to go with it and an end product with his crossing and shooting. A little lacking with his creativity and teamwork but exteremely difficult to mark due to his 20 movement. He had a productive season despite some injuries and played 48 games with 10 goals, 15 assists and an AvR of 7.37.

 I choose Niang to replace Cavani as he shared some similar caractaristics including being able to play wide as well as up front. It was also nice to add a young french player into the team.

He really settled into the team well and was able to use his pace, dribbling and movement to full effect. He also has decent crossing so I had no worries playing him wide right. He scored an impressive 27 goals in 50 games with 7 assists and an AvR of 7.52.

In January I used the money brought in form the sale of Di Maria and Draxler to improve the squad further.

Eriksen came in to replace the two who left.

I wanted a player who was comfortable in the AM position and the CM position so I had options with my formation. Christian is very creative, works hard for the team and can play a few positions so was a good replacement for the guys who left. The price tag was a little high but he played 23 times, scored 6 goals and created 4 with an AvR of 7.30.

Speaking of high price tags! Bradley came in from Southampton for an eye watering £32.5m when you consider he is 30.

I needed a player with his abilties as we are a little heavy with playmakers. That said he has good passing and creativity but it was his tackling and aggresion that really interested me. He is a very well rounded midfielder who complements what we already have avilable to us. He played 23 times but couldn’t score a goal. He did set up 2 goals and had an AvR of 7.04. This doesn’t look impressive but he sat in the midfield protecting the back 4 and playing simple passes. I think his low rating is a little deceptive and we felt more solid after he signed.

Lloris came in to improve my GK options.

A really top keeper who can do almost everything he played 25 games only conceding 13 goals with an AvR of 7.20.

Tactics

Kept with much the same tactics as last season although I did flirt with an attacking 4-4-2 sometimes. Not much I can say about tactics for this season that I didn’t cover last year.

Wonderkid Watch

This was a tough year for Lo Celso with so many good options in CM and AM he needed to take his chances when he got them. The trouble I had was that he really didn’t perform when he did come into the team and I didn’t trust him enough to want to play him. This is double edged as perhaps with a consistent run in the team he may have found his form but that’s not a luxery I can afford when I need to be winning trophies to keep my job. In the end he played 10 times with and AvR of 6.70. His best game came against a 2^nd division side in the cup where he got his only goal and assist of the season. It may be that he will leave during the summer although I’m not 100% decided on that yet.

Rabiot had another good season although it was hampered by missing 11 weeks due to a couple of injury's. You can see this caused a decline in his stats although they are on the way back up now.

Before the first injury he was an almost ever present and had the highest rating of any of my midfielders but he struggled to regain his place after and only played 25 games in the end. He scored 6 goals and created 6 with an AvR of 7.60.

As with last season Guedes was a vital part of my team playing mostly on the right wing. He already looks very good and my coaches tell me he can still improve from a 4.5 star rating to a 5. I think a new contract might be required over the summer to get his wages in line with other key players in the squad. He manged 10 goals and an awesome 19 assists in 53 games with an AvR of 7.43.

The Rooster

Lets take a look at how Belotti did in his quest to beat Zlatans record.

More goals than last year but a slight drop in AvR which may be because he had less assists which is fine by me.

So how does that all add up.

Andrea is one goal over half way to the total but has played more games (105) than Zlatan did at this stage (92). After 2 seasons Zlatan had scored 76 goals so Belotti is slightly ahead on goals but not games.

I think that at 24 he is probably as good as he will get and the coaches agree. As with last season Belotti tired towards the end of the season and I think I need to get better at managing his game time.

Competitions

 

Champions Trophy: We started the season with the Champions Trophy where we took on League Champions Monaco. It was an exciting and even game and we had to rely on penalties to win the trophy.

 

European Super Cup: Belotti Vs Zlatan. Their was only one winner as experience outshone youth to get a 90^th minute winner for Man Utd.

 

Club World Cup: This is a competion which has eluded me on this years game despite always going in as favourites. I have always lost in the final so could this time be different.

We left it late but got the goals in the end to get us into the final.

 

We played Boca Juniors in the final. It proved to be an exciting game and we needed Salah to score 4 minutes from the end of extra time to take it to penalties. The curse struck again though as Silva and Krychowiak both missed their spot kicks and the Argentinians where victorious.

League Cup: We came into this as defending champions and had a tough route to the final. We had to beat Lyon, Nice and Monaco, clubs who where challenging at the top of the table all year, to set up a final Vs Lille.

We where the better team in the final with Belotti getting an early goal for us. We didn’t manage to seal the game untill 5 minutes from the end when Guedes scored.

 

French FA Cup: We had a much simpler route to the final in this cup and took on our best frenemys Monaco. We dominated this game but it wasn’t until the 70^th minute that Belotti broke the deadlock and scored the winner for us.

 

Ligue 1: Despite only losing 2 games last year we could only finish 2^nd to Monaco in the League. Nothing but the title would be acceptable this year.

We did it! Look a little closer though and you will see it wasn’t plane sailing. We lost 9 games through the course of the season which isn’t acceptable. Six of those loses came after Christmas as teams seemed to suss out that we lack aerial ability at the back. We conceded to many goals from headers especially from corners and this is the area of the team I will be looking to address in the summer. We scored more and conceded less than anyone else so I can’t complain to much but it was a worrying trend in the 2^nd half of the season which must be addressed.

The sweetest result came against Monaco in the game which sealed the league title.

 

Champions League: We surprised Europe last season with the clubs first win in this compeition but I felt this year would be harder. We crusied through the group satge only losing our final game to Liverpool at Anfield as I rested some players.

We took on Inter in the 1^st knockout round with the home leg first. A very poor game where we couldn’t take the 2 CCC we had. I was pleased not to concede an away goal though and Inter wounld need to attack more at home which should suit us.

 

Belotti got us an important away goal 3 minutes into the 2^nd leg and we never looked like losing from then on. Belotti added a second just after the hour to put us into the Quarter Finals.

 

It would be Belotti vs Zlatan round 2 as we played Man Utd. We had the home tie first and things looked good when Eriksen scored in the 53^rd minute but we couldn’t hang on for the result. Martial found space and fired home a vital away goal in the 89^th minute to set up a tricky 2^nd leg where we would need to score to stand any chance of going through.

A 0-0 would be enough for Man Utd and so it would be. A Mourinho master class kept us at arms length all game depite throwing everyone forward in the last 15 minutes.

 

 

Player Stats

 

Conclusion

A strange season really. We won the domestic treble but even in the league we weren’t convincing. In Europe we have gone backwards so we have some work do. In the summer I plan to strengthen the defence as I have ignored that part of the team over the last 2 seasons and I am worried that will come back to bite me next year. We may also have a tactical change for next season although I’m not 100% on that.

Thank you for reading

 

 

 

[MerlionMaple96]

You say that you need to strengthen the defence. Who are your current first choice centre backs? 

All in all a good season. Can't be successful on every front (Unless you're  @samhardy)

Good to see Guedes already performing for you.

Won't be long till Lo Celso improves to a level where he simply too good to leave on the bench!

I enjoy reading this can't wait for next season

[FuddledFox]

7 minutes ago, MerlionMaple96 said:

You say that you need to strengthen the defence. Who are your current first choice centre backs? 

All in all a good season. Can't be successful on every front (Unless you're  @samhardy)

Good to see Guedes already performing for you.

Won't be long till Lo Celso improves to a level where he simply too good to leave on the bench!

I enjoy reading this can't wait for next season

Marquinhos, Kimpembe with Silva as back up. They are decent but only have 14 heading and we have started conceding mainly from headers so that's why I want to improve that area.

I'm glad you are enjoying this. 

[MerlionMaple96]

 

12 minutes ago, FuddledFox said:

Marquinhos, Kimpembe with Silva as back up. They are decent but only have 14 heading and we have started conceding mainly from headers so that's why I want to improve that area.

I'm glad you are enjoying this. 

Yeah Silva will soon be a little too old to be a starting centre back for a team of that calibre, Marquinhos has never really convinced me and Kimpembe is pretty awful tbh XD

Definitely sounds like you need to invest in a couple of new centre backs.

[FuddledFox]

6 minutes ago, MerlionMaple96 said:

 

Yeah Silva will soon be a little too old to be a starting centre back for a team of that calibre, Marquinhos has never really convinced me and Kimpembe is pretty awful tbh XD

Definitely sounds like you need to invest in a couple of new centre backs.

Yeah gonna throw some money at the defence for season 3. Kinda ignored it for 2 years but that can't continue

[MerlionMaple96]

Just now, FuddledFox said:

Yeah gonna throw some money at the defence for season 3. Kinda ignored it for 2 years but that can't continue

Luckily defenders are the easiest players to buy in the game imo. You can get quality ones for peanuts.

Not that PSG has a financial problem.

[FuddledFox]

8 minutes ago, MerlionMaple96 said:

Luckily defenders are the easiest players to buy in the game imo. You can get quality ones for peanuts.

Not that PSG has a financial problem.

Doubt I will spend peanuts?

[PriZe]

Wow great read again mate! Great stuff  good luck next season

[Taff]

Cracking 2nd season but I’m sure you can invest in your defence and you’ll be laughing next season (in a good way and not in a your team falling apart way)

[FuddledFox]

Going into season 3 their was a lot of questions to answer. Could we win our second title, could we regain our Champions League crown and will Belotti keep scoring his way towards the record. Lets answer the Belotti question first.

The Rooster

Andrea found life very tough at the strat of the season with goals hard to come by. I don’t know if this was a hangover from the World Cup or the fact that I changed to a 433 with a flat midfield and 2 wingers for the first few games of the season. I have found that Belotti plays better with an AM just behind him of course this means the AM will steal some goals from him but he seems to simply play better. The change of tactic was an attempt to try and give Belotti more goalscoring chances without a player on his shoulder stealing goals this didn’t work and really didn’t suit the team so I reverted back to my tried and tested 4231. He recovered from only scoring 4 goals in his first 10 games to knock in 36 in 49 games but did get his best AvR so far.

 

After three season Zlatan had 106 goals so Belotti is ahead at the moment. Zlatan’s best season at PSG was his final one though when he scored 50 goals so Andrea needs to score at least 39 goals next season to become top scorer and beat Zlatans record. This is well within Belotti’s capabillities if he can get a better start to the season.

 

Transfers

Lets start with the departures.

This was simply a case of clearing out squad players who wheren’t happy with the amount of football they where getting and the usual out of contract youngsters.

I said in the season 2 update that I wanted to improve the central defence for season 3. Lets take a look at who I bought.

Only the 3 players join this year and yes 2 new CBs although Paulista didn’t join until January.

I wanted a box to box midfielder as we are a little playmaker heavy and I wanted a different option in the midfield. Leon fitted the bill perfectly in almost all senses. He isn’t the best defensively but I have other players who can tackle. What he does have is pace, dribbling, passing and shooting as well as some great mental stats.

He had a solid if unspectacler season. I have to admit I expect a few more goals from him. He did have some injurys as well which made it a stop start type of season.

The first of my new CBs was Niklas Sule who joined from Napoli for an eye watering £52m in the summer window. He wasn’t my first choice if I’m being honest but he does have some good stats. Aerial ability was a big one I was looking for because it was what we lacked in the defenders we already had. He then is maxed out for tackling, leadership and positioning which is perfect and then decisions and his strength and pace are also very good. What worried me was his low aggression and teamwork.

As you can see he had a very good season with an AvR of 7.61 but you will have to read on to see what impact he had on the team.

As I mentioned before Gabriel came in the winter window to add to the number we had and when you look at how much I spent on Sule he looks a steal at £11.25m. My 2 first choice CBs at the time he signed where Marquinhos and Sule with Kimpembe as back up. I need a 4^th and didn’t have huge money to spend so I went with Paulista. A similar player to Sule in that he is an all out defender without any great ability on the ball but decent numbers for the important stats.

He didn’t go straight into the team but did play 18 games with an AvR of 7.27.

 

Wonderkid Watch

All three of my wonderkids played important parts this season.

Guedes is probably the best player on the team now. He plays mostly on the right wing as a winger. I think if I had him on the left as an IF he would bang the goals in and get higher ratings but Belotti would suffer as a result. He had some injuries this season which accounts for the smaller number of games he played. His goal scoring stayed about same as before but he was less creative this year.

 Rabiot played more games than last year but had a lower rating which I put down to him playing as my more defensive CM for most of the season. This meant less goals and lower ratings from him. I still think he does a good job for the team and he is very consistent.

Last season Lo Celso hardly featured in the team but this year he was an important part of the squad and didn’t let me down. He often played a the BBM when Leon was injured or being rested. He isn’t ideal for this role but the tactic was working well and he was very consistent when he played.

 

Competitions

We started the season with our usual comfortable win in the Champions Trophy.

We have won the League Cup in the previous two seasons but couldn’t make it a hat trick of wins as our penalty shoot out luck finally ran out against St Etienne in the 4^th round.

We have won the French FA Cup for the last two seasons as well and made it a hat trick this year by beating Lyon in the final.

 

We lost 2 of our first 10 Ligue 1 games this season as we tried out a new tactic but that was as bad as it would get as we ran away with the league title. Those 2 early loses the only league games we lost all season as we hit the magic 100 points mark.

You can see the impact that Sule had on the defence as we only conceded 8 goals in the league season and 2 of them came after we won the title. In fact we only conceded 11 goals all season in League and domestic cup matches.

I really wanted to win back the Champions League this year after last seasons Quarter Final exit at the hands of Manchester United.

We walked our group with just 2 dropped points in a 0-0 draw with Spurs. No goals conceded in the group stage either.

The draw for the first knockout round wasn’t kind as we where drawn with Bayern.

Our good defensive record went out the window in an end to end game in the Allianz Arena but 4 away goals set us up nicely for the home leg.

Despite going behind after 2 minutes we fought back to go through 6-4 on aggregate.

In the Quarter Final we took on the blue half of Manchester. We had the away leg first and despite being 2-1 up at HT we manged to lose 3-2. At least we had those away goals though.

They would prove crucial as Leon got us a 90^th winner. We had everyone pushing forward looking for that crucial goal and when we got it I’m not shy to admit that I may have danced around the living room! This game seems to always find a way of getting me out of my seat even after all these years playing.

It would be Barcelona in the Semi Finals. We knocked the Catalans out 2 years before when we won the tournament. So could we repeat the trick. We played the first leg at home and I was disappointed to concede an away goal as we had seen how crucial they can be in the previous round.

It all came undone in the Nou Camp as we concede 4 although Messi’s goal came against the run of play as we pushed for a 3^rd goal that would have seen us through on away goals.

So no Champions League title again this season. Our good defensive record desearted us in the knockout rounds as we conceded 10 goals in the 6 matches we played.

Conclusion

A good season domestically as we dominated the league although losing our League Cup Trophy stung a bit. We are still not scoring a huge number of goals and I need to find away of improving that without losing to much of our defensive strength. Although I spent most of my budget this year on defenders I didn’t try to play defensively its simply that we where so strong in that area of the pitch. Of course we where found wanting in the Champions League and I think I need to find a way to play against these bigger sides that can get us results in these crucial games. Next year will be the final season of this save so hopefully we can win the lot and Belotti can get the goals he needs.

 

Thank you for reading

[Taff]

Cracking season dude and only conceding 11 goals domestically is huge

shane about the CL but next season it’s yours and I’m sure the rooster will net the goals he needs

[FuddledFox]

1 minute ago, Taff said:

Cracking season dude and only conceding 11 goals domestically is huge

shane about the CL but next season it’s yours and I’m sure the rooster will net the goals he needs 

Thanks mate. Not sure I have ever had such a good defensive record tbf. I seem to have improved the team league wise but not in Europe where we have gone backwards.

[Taff]

I often find that the same domestic tactic doesn't work in Europe so maybe try something else when playing European games might work