Career Nucleus attempts the Augusta National Golf Club Challenge

[Taff]

Going great dude kiu

[Nucleus]

Hole 3 - Flowering Peach (Par 4)

Spoiler

Another fairly kind hole early on, however looks can be deceiving. Tread carefully here or risk dropping a few shots, however it's one you should be fine on given you have the whole season to do it.

Challenge - Have as many different players score a hat-trick in one season as possible. All competitions.

Birdie - 4+ players

Par - 3 players

Bogey - 2 players

Double Bogey - 1 player

 Triple Bogey - 0 players

A relatively easy hole when you look at it. By now I’m used to the goalscoring side of things on the EME so I’d like to think I knew what I was doing with this hole. I’ve already stocked up on a few strikers who would be attempting this challenge, but some ‘other’ players certainly surprised me.

Transfers

Pérez and Roger both left in January, the others all left at the beginning of the season.

Some decent players coming in. Cutrone was transfer listed and could be used for this challenge so it was a no brainer, if I can make some nice profit on him later on then brilliant. Merino is someone I like on this game with decent all around attributes. Carter-Vickers comes in to hopefully be of some use at a later date. 

Now let’s have a look at the hat-tricks we Scored this season

Roger

Spoiler

The hero of hole 2, he nets our first hatrick of the season in the opening league game. I knew that once I got the first out of the way the rest would soon follow.

Patrick Cutrone

Spoiler

Hat-trick number two in September! Walking this hole!

Guido Carrillo

Spoiler

Par was secured in November. Birdie incoming!

Boschilia

Spoiler

One of the surprise entries on the list. Just so happens I was trying to get Keita Balde to get a hat-trick but Boschilia had other ideas from the left wing. Birdie secured.

Donny Van De Beek

Spoiler

Another surprise entry. Huge bonus that Balde gets one in the same game. Smashed it

Keita Balde

Spoiler

6 hat-tricks throughout the season from Keita Balde alone! What a player he’s turned out to be

So there we have it. No less than 6 different players with hat-tricks for us this season, and the birdie was secured in December I believe! 

Squad Listed by Goals

Spoiler

Manager Profile & Season History 

Won everything apart from the Champions League where we lost to Madrid in the final. Otherwise it was a solid season, conceding just 13 goals in the league was a kick in the teeth as I could have done with that in hole one!

Hole Total: -1

Running Total: -3

There we go, three holes in and I find myself three under par. A nice little half season challenge awaits me next up in hole 4...

Spoiler

Hole 4 - Flowering Crab Apple (Par 3)

The first Par 3 on the course meaning the first half season challenge for you managers. This is a hole that requires precision and accuracy, and one that is a lot more challenging than originally meets the eye.

Challenge - In half a season (19 league games) you must get as close to the GD of +40, as possible.

Birdie - Within 5

 Par - Within 10

Bogey - Within 15

Double Bogey - More then 15 away

Thanks for reading

Edited May 28, 2018 by NucleusNT

[FuddledFox]

Never doubt you with that hole.

Next hole I'm not sure as its a tricky total to get but then you have started to build a tasty squad so I'm predicting another birdie here.

[Nucleus]

1 minute ago, Foxy said:

Never doubt you with that hole.

Next hole I'm not sure as its a tricky total to get but then you have started to build a tasty squad so I'm predicting another birdie here.

I’ve kept track of my GD at the half way stage from the start of the challenge and it’s never been less than 35. So going on that I ‘should’ birdie the next one too

[FuddledFox]

Just now, NucleusNT said:

I ‘should’ birdie the next one too

Famous last words😉

[Nucleus]

4 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Famous last words😉

Exactly 😂

[BatiGoal]

Still wondering what inspired @samhardy to come up with a 'man in pink' challenge. Maybe a recent trip to Amsterdam? A naughty dream? Or possibly experimenting in his girlfriend's wardrobe? Let's hope we never find out Sam's real nature. 

Ticking along sweetly 👍 

[Titjes]

Doing great work so far mate, but it will only get harder  

[Nucleus]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Still wondering what inspired @samhardy to come up with a 'man in pink' challenge. Maybe a recent trip to Amsterdam? A naughty dream? Or possibly experimenting in his girlfriend's wardrobe? Let's hope we never find out Sam's real nature. 

Ticking along sweetly 👍 

I wouldn’t like to find out! Thanks mate

2 hours ago, Titjes said:

Doing great work so far mate, but it will only get harder  

Cheers mate, it’s going to get a hell of a lot harder

[Harish]

Following this with utmost interest,you've been doing a brilliant job so far,and looking at the difficulty of some of the upcoming holes,being underpar atm is a good thing,you never know what's gonna come crashing down....

Good luck and KIU mate.

 

[Nucleus]

Hole 4 -  Flowering Crab Apple (Par 3)

Spoiler

The first Par 3 on the course meaning the first half season challenge for you managers. This is a hole that requires precision and accuracy, and one that is a lot more challenging than originally meets the eye.

Challenge - In half a season (19 league games) you must get as close to the GD of +40, as possible.

Birdie - Within 5

Par - Within 10

Bogey - Within 15

Double Bogey - More then 15 away

The first par 3 I’ve encountered on this mammoth challenge, a half season challenge that is probably on paper the easiest hole on the course.

Transfers

Managed to get £52million for Forlan’s regen which I gladly accepted.

Decent signings all round, strengthening key positions, most notably central defensive midfield with the signing of Diawara from Napoli and getting Heung-Min Son for a cool £35m was a real deal in my eyes as he’s a versatile player who can play anywhere on the top line.

Manager Profile & Season History

A solid season once again, winning the treble for a second time and managing over a 100+ goals and points in the league whilst losing just the once. But how did the league table look after 19 games?

Spoiler

Birdie again! +43 goal difference was pushing it a little closer than I would have liked but a birdie is a birdie, and that puts me 4 under par for the challenge through 4 holes.

Hole Total: -1

Running Total: -4

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you’ll join me for Hole 5 where this beaut of a challenge awaits me..

Spoiler

Hole 5 - Magnolia (Par 4)

This picturesque hole is covered in the flower of Magnolia, native to the United States. A birdie on this hole is definitely possible but might be hard to get.

Challenge - Buy two American wing backs. They must get as many combined assists as possible in one season. All competitions.

Birdie - 40+ assists

Par - 30 assists

Bogey - 20 assists

Double Bogey - Less than 20 assists

Diving into unknown territory for me, never really relied on wingbacks for assists so I would be happy with Par for this next hole. The nightmare would be double bogey, and as I stupidly didn’t load up USA at the start , I’m very limited on American options to go with for this one.

 

[Titjes]

Well done mate, another hole cleared  Keep it up  

[BatiGoal]

Steady going so far. I expect the next hole to wipe that smile off your face 😂 

[Nucleus]

2 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Steady going so far. I expect the next hole to wipe that smile off your face 😂 

First game in, Yedlin has 98 assists. What you sayin?

[BatiGoal]

1 minute ago, NucleusNT said:

First game in, Yedlin has 98 assists. What you sayin?

Not under your management 😝 

[Nucleus]

9 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Not under your management 😝 

To be honest this is one of the holes I’ve been secretly dreading. This and Hole 10! 😖 if I can get anywhere near your total I’d be happy

Spoiler

I won’t stop until I crush your puny -13 record! 😂

 

[BatiGoal]

Tbf -13 is very beatable. Biggest challenge is actually just completing it. 

[Nucleus]

12 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Tbf -13 is very beatable. Biggest challenge is actually just completing it. 

Agreed!

[Nucleus]

Hole 5 - Magnolia (Par 4)

This picturesque hole is covered in the flower of Magnolia, native to the United States. A birdie on this hole is definitely possible but might be hard to get.

 Challenge - Buy two American wing backs. They must get as many combined assists as possible in one season. All competitions.

Birdie - 40+ assists

Par - 30 assists

Bogey - 20 assists

Double Bogey - Less than 20 assists

Sounds simple enough, but numpty over here forgot to load up USA before embarking on this challenge! Therefore I was very limited on options for this challenge, so much so that I had to buy two right-wingbacks because there simply wasn’t a viable option at left-wingback! Birdie is still the target...

The Players:

This is all I could muster, Yedlin doesn’t look half bad and even @BatiGoal made him look amazing so there’s hope. Fossey will have to be played on the left flank as he’s more accustomed to it than Yedlin is, although I’ve had no luck by playing players out of position in the past. Nothing special with tactics, just simply setting instructions to get these two on the ball as often as possible.

Transfers:

Nothing huge to note on the outgoings this season, just moving along the deadwood.

Just the three Incoming, our two American wingbacks and Krovinovic from Fulham who is an absolute tank this year.

Manager Profile & Season History:

Missing out on the Coupe de la Ligue for a clean sweep of trophies! Damn you PSG! Manager Profile is looking pretty sweet too, although with the limitations on this challenge it will be hard to get a perfect board.

Notable Performances:

Hatrick of Assists for Yedlin against Lyon, he really is a beast! Only a 5 rating for Fossey though. Could he make up for it?

Yes he could, 2 assists for Fossey and another hatrick for Yedlin! Five assists in one match. The question is, how did they perform over the course of the whole season?

Attributes-wise they’ve both improved significantly with decent wingback attributes in key areas. How many assists did they rack up?

18 from Fossey! Nearly half of the target from an unnatural position. I reckon around 80% of these came from corners, if not more. 18/40

Nailed it!! 32 assists for the season from Yedlin, and that my friends is a Birdie... 50/40

Hole Total: -1

Running Total: -5

I am in a really good position now. 5 under par after 5 holes with still a few of the holes on the easier side of things. There are some difficult challenges around the corner for me. Most notably Hole 10.. but next up is Hole 6 and this is what awaits me there..

Spoiler

Hole 6 - Juniper (Par 3)

So you're through 5 holes on the course and will have completed 6 seasons in total. If everything is going to plan you'll be under par and cruising at this point. However this short, snappy half season challenge can be a bit of a brute without the right preparation. Juniper has tripped up many world class golfers in the past.

Challenge - Team needs to score 2 or more goals every single game for half a season (up until Jan.15) in all competitions. Failing to do so:

Birdie - 4 or less times

Par - 5 times

Bogey - 6 times

 Double Bogey - 7 or more times

As I’m playing in the French league goals are pretty easy to come by, it’s Europe that I may struggle in and I just hope the fixture list is kind to me. Thanks for reading

[Titjes]

Another hole well done mate if you keep this up, you wil get top score for sure

[Nucleus]

10 minutes ago, Titjes said:

Another hole well done mate if you keep this up, you wil get top score for sure

That’s the thing about this challenge, you can’t really ‘keep it up’. Just have to take each hole as they come. It has helped that I’ve done my homework on each hole in advance

[samhardy]

Enjoying this battle between you and BG. Still some toughies to go and I would say keep it up but evidently you aren’t a fan of that so please don’t keep this up.

[FuddledFox]

12 hours ago, NucleusNT said:

can’t really ‘keep it up’

Shame you deleted those posts yesterday @samhardy as they may have helped him😛

Flying at the moment @NucleusNT long may it continue. 

[Nucleus]

55 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Shame you deleted those posts yesterday @samhardy as they may have helped him😛

Flying at the moment @NucleusNT long may it continue. 

Was he back again? 😂 must have missed him! Damn!

[Nucleus]

Hole 6 - Juniper (Par 3)

So you're through 5 holes on the course and will have completed 6 seasons in total. If everything is going to plan you'll be under par and cruising at this point. However this short, snappy half season challenge can be a bit of a brute without the right preparation. Juniper has tripped up many world class golfers in the past.

 Challenge - Team needs to score 2 or more goals every single game for half a season (up until Jan.15) in all competitions. Failing to do so:

 Birdie - 4 or less times

Par - 5 times

Bogey - 6 times

Double Bogey - 7 or more times

So our second half a season challenge of the career, and one I was fairly confident of hitting another birdie on. As it’s a half season challenge I’ll only post up to the end of the challenge, so no end of season trophies etc just yet. Although I may post the end of the season in a separate update.

Transfers

Off went the heroes of last year, Yedlin and Fossey. I didn’t plan on using them again even though they did the job last year. This year I would revert to my favoured tactic this year as I know it gets goals and results. We lost Fabinho to City on a Bosman which was a bit of a bummer, but I’m sure we could replace him.

As a result of constantly using Yedlin and Fossey last year, Henrichs had become unsettled and as a result an ‘outcast’. That made me go out and buy a new RWB in the form of Trent Alexander Arnold. I didn’t actively try and sell Henrichs but when an offer does come in I will be looking to sell. Gnoukouri would be tasked with filling the hole left by Fabinho’s departure.

August

The first month and the first slip up. A 1-1 draw away to PSG isn’t a bad result overall but it’s still one of only four fails we can have in this challenge. Other than that it was a flawless month scoring 11 goals in the other games whilst conceding none.

September

Perfect month in September with some big scorelines in there including a 5-0 win and a 5-1 win.

October

October brought along our second slip up in the form of a stalemate at the Etihad against City, I could live with that though.

November 

Perfect month again, and my confidence was growing after going through November unscathed, even if it did take an injury time second goal agains AS Saint Etienne...

Close one!

December

A busy month but again we come through it unscathed! The 3-3 draw at Toulouse is an eyesore amongst the greens but it’s still over the two goal requirement. A 5-1 victory over City was one of our best performances to date.

January

And there we have it. Another birdie in the bank. I didn’t have to play the PSG game either but I did anyway just for kicks.

Overall this again is one of the easier holes I’ve faced; I’m just glad I can hit the birdies on these holes as it will obviously help in the more difficult holes where I have no doubt there will be a couple if not a few bogeys!

Hole Total: -1

Running Total: -6

Manager Profile & Season History (Halfway Stage)

Thanks for reading and I hope you join me at the tee-off for hole 7, where we will be experimenting with an Argentine winger.....

Spoiler

Hole 7 - Pampas (Par 4)

With a medium level of difficulty, this hole has an air of Argentina about it, with it being distinctive for the Pampas grass growing on it. With it being native to Argentina, I'm sure you can guess where the challenge for season 8 will be going.

Challenge - Buy an Argentine winger. Get as many goals and assists combined in all competitions as possible.

 Eagle - 50+ goals + assists

Birdie - 40 goals and assists

Par - 30 goals and assists

Bogey - 20 goals and assists

 Double Bogey - 19 goals and assists or less

 

Edited June 2, 2018 by NucleusNT

[Nucleus]

Hole 6 - End of Season

Transfers

No transfers outgoing or incoming through the January window.

Manager Profile & Season History

Our best season to date, unbeaten in the league whilst dropping only 6 points and a clean sweep of trophies for the first but hopefully not the last time in this career.

Fixtures- January-June

Unbeaten in all competitions this season. With just the three draws in the league and a perfect champions league record, this season will be tough to top when it matters.

 Thanks for reading

Edited June 2, 2018 by NucleusNT

[Rob]

Finally just got around to reading all of this thread. Love the challenge - really interesting. As per usual you’re smashing it.

[samhardy]

Another good hole, hopefully keeps going on the next one as it's definitely achievable injuries aside

[Nucleus]

16 minutes ago, samhardy said:

Another good hole, hopefully keeps going on the next one as it's definitely achievable injuries aside

It’s definitely achievable, I looked at Lemar’s stats from the previous season from the inside forward position and he had 50+ goals and assists, that’s without being on corners, free kicks or pens. So it’s most definitely achievable. @BatiGoal you listening? 😅

[Nucleus]

Be nice if someone updated the live leaderboard for this challenge @samhardy 🤔

Thanks! 😅

Edited June 2, 2018 by NucleusNT