Career 1759 - Shane Long (Completed)

[Ian]

Hello Vibe,

I wasn’t going to play the game until the last update comes out but then I had a change of heart and thought I’d try something that wasn’t too ‘long’.😀

Anyway @Foxy posted a challenge a couple of weeks ago and it’s rather simple to grasp as you just have to get Shane Long to score more league goals than he has during his whole career and at that time it was 49. You have to use Southampton as your team and can make as many transfers as you want so it’s a nice little challenge.

Here’s the challenge below and credit to @Foxy for the great idea.

 

Here is the player in question. He’s very hard working with great attributes in Pace, Stamina and Teamwork. His shooting is a worry though at only 12 and as he’s 31 years old that won’t be increasing.

 

Next up is to decide how I’m going to approach this tactically. I was testing a system a few weeks back that is based on a strong complete centre forward and no disprespect to Shane but he’s anything but that. I fear that if I go with that and Long fails to produce then I’m struggling to see where the goals will come from and I could be in big trouble.

I had an idea of trying a two up top system with Long next to a target man type but the potential problem there could be the other striker scoring too many goals.

Anyway to cut a ‘long’ story short I’m going to use one of my usual tactics that is rather effective if you have pace up top and we have that in Long and Redmond. The system uses two inside forwards and a front man and generally the majority of the goals come from the striker but whether it’ll be enough goals remains to be seen.

I’m not the best at goal scoring challenges and this is in England where I’ve never really had much joy so I’m just going to target trying to get him his 50 goals in under a rather modest 60 games.

I’ll be back later with my first half season update.

Thank you for reading.😀

Edited April 11, 2019 by 1759

[FuddledFox]

Sounds like you have put some real thought into this and I hope it pays off for you.

Good luck mate 👍🏻

[Ian]

32 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Sounds like you have put some real thought into this and I hope it pays off for you.

Good luck mate 👍🏻

Thank you, I wanted to do something fairly short and this struck me as a great one to try.😀

Funnily enough I was playing this before the match on Friday and I suddenly thought to myself ‘I bet Shane Long scores tonight’ and so he did.😂

[Ian]

Season 1 - First Half

Here I am as promised with an update of the first half of the season.

I’ll start with the transfers.

 

Transfers

I enjoyed this very much as there were quite a lot of good players coming up in my searches. My last career was in Scotland and even after enjoying a great deal of success I found it frustrating trying to find peak aged players that wanted to play for us.

We did a great deal of business in the first window and I’ll go through all the incomings:

• Josuha Guilavogui - He’s a great ball winner that could easily also play as box to box midfielder and I’m confident he’ll really improve the team.
• Fabian Johnson - A decent winger who can play either side and at left wing back. He’s really hard working and hopefully that’ll aid the teams results.
• Christian Clements - Can play on both inside forward positions and hopefully he’ll make the left position his own.
• Florian Lejeune - Bought from Newcastle to start as our ball playing defender.
• Nico Schulz - A rather nice left wing back bought from Hoffenheim.
• Jens Toornstra - He’s often came up in my searches and I’ve never bought him before so I’m giving him a go now.
• Alex Mula - Another inside forward who I’m hoping will improve our options in the final third.
• Henrik Dalsgaard - Decent looking right wing back.
• Scott McKenna - I’m sure many of you have used this gem. A great centre back who doesn’t cost and arm and a leg.
• Stephen O’Donnell - A back up option at right wing back.

I’ll not go through the outgoings but here is a list of all the transfers below for those interested.

Spoiler

Here are some screenshots of the key signings.

Spoiler

 

League

We are well positioned going into the New Year sitting in fourth place on 35 points. We haven’t been too prolific though so hopefully we can improve that in the second half of the season.

 

League Cup

We went out against Man City in the third round. We played well and it was our second string team so can’t complain.

 

Fixtures

We had a horrible set of fixtures at end of August and all through September where we played nearly all of the big boys. We battled through it and came out ok and plodded on and look to be in a decent position going into the New Year.

Spoiler

 

Shane Long

How did Shane do?

Not great with only 13 goals in 18 league games but I’ve not given up hope as he did ok most of the time but just hit a bit of a poor spell where he went game after game without scoring.

His attributes look like they are going to decline but hopefully my squad members will be improving which should aid him going forward.

 

Future Fixtures

We’ve got a horrible run of fixtures after New Year but if we can come out of those ok we could have a great chance of finishing in the top four.

 

Conclusion

Decent half season for the team but I’d like more from Shane so hopefully he can step it up in the second half of the season. I’ve got a new signing coming in during the January window who I’m hoping will improve us going forward.

I’ll be back with the second half of the season tomorrow.

Thank you for reading.😀

[Woody]

You have plenty of time to get those remaining goals. Its a problem with ageing players and the dips in form.

Best of luck for the 2nd half.

[Ian]

2 hours ago, Woody said:

You have plenty of time to get those remaining goals. Its a problem with ageing players and the dips in form.

Best of luck for the 2nd half.

Cheers, yeah I’m hoping that he’ll get to 25-30 goals at the end of the season.

Hopefully he’ll do better next year and get the rest after I improve the squad in the summer.

[Ian]

Season 1 - Second Half

Here I am with the second half of the first season and the team is positioned in a rather nice fourth place in the league but Long has only managed to grab himself 13 League goals so hopefully we can improve that during the second half of the season.

I said at the end of the last update that I had a new signing coming in at the start of the January window and here he is.

Guido Pizarro

A nice looking ball winning midfielder signed from Tigers in Mexico for £22m. Hopefully he’ll add a bit of bite to the midfield.

 

FA Cup

We were drawn against Arsenal in the sixth round and I wasn’t too confident as they’d beat us twice already in the league. I wasn’t wrong as we couldn’t get it going at all and were hammered. I had a decent team out too as we had plenty of rest days before and after but we just couldn’t get out of our own half.

 

League

We ended up in second place and can be extremely happy with that. Man Utd won it rather comfortably and it was tight from second down to fifth so we are proud of our runners up position.

 

Fixtures

Here are the full fixtures for the season. We got through that difficult run of fixtures in January and had a fantastic run in to grab that runners up spot.

Spoiler

 

Shane Long

Long had a better second half and ended up with 30 goals in 36. Hopefully we can improve the squad in the summer and he can go out next season and grab the rest.

His attributes aren’t declining much yet and hopefully they’ll hold on until we get him his goals.

This Chelsea game below was a game where we held them off until half time and I was looking at the condition of their players and they were all wrecked so I was confident we could beat them up in the second half and so we did. There was an FA Cup game three days before this so I’m assuming they didn’t rotate.

 

Manager

 

Challenge Total

30 goals in 36 games.

 

Conclusion

I’n happy we got 30 goals out of him as he only had 13 at the turn of the year.

We need to improve the squad for next season which will hopefully aid Long and he can get the rest inside my 60 games target.

 

Thank you for reading.

[Ian]

Season 2 - First Half

I’m back with an update of my Shane Long last horaah challenge. We go into season two now and Long has got 30 of his required 50 goals and the plan is to get the rest this season.

I’ll start below with the transfers.

 

Transfers

I was hoping to improve the squad so went big on a few £20m plus players whilst also recouping a large amount of money from outgoings. I’ll quickly go through the incomings:

• Denis Zakaria - Brought in to improve the midfield which I thought was needed with us being in Europe this season.
• Garry Rodrigues - A nice player who can play on either inside forward position.
• Florin Andone - A pacey forward who will play all the cup games when I rest Long.
• Danny Ings - His full transfer from Liverpool was finalised but I’m not sure he’ll play too much as he doesn’t suit my system.
• Nicolas Isimat-Mirin - A good centre back who will probably be first choice.
• Adrien Thomasson - Another midfield option.
• Orlando Berrio - A bit of a wild card but he had good attributes so he should be a good option for us at both inside forward positions. 

Again I’ll not go through all the outgoings but I’ve noticed a bug already as Sam McQueen appears to have gone to both Leicester and West Ham United in the same window. Also Jens Toornstra who I said last time I was taking a risk on, well it didn’t work out and I just couldn’t get away with him so he went.

Spoiler

Here are some of the screenshots of the key signings at the turn of the year.

Spoiler

 

League Cup

We are still in the league cup. We beat Huddersfield 0-1 to progress into the semi final which will be played in January.

 

Champions League

We were drawn into a horrible group with Atlético Madrid, PSG and Milan but we fought our way through to qualify in second place. We were probably unlucky not to go through in top position but we’ll take this anyway.

Here are the matches below.

Spoiler

 

League

A steady campaign and we find ourselves in second place going into the new year. We have a slight chance of winning the league and I’ll continue on until the end of the season regardless of how Long gets on with his goals.

 

Fixtures

A decent run of fixtures. Had a few poor spells particularly in October and November but we are well positioned in all competitions. 

Spoiler

 

Shane Long

How did Shane get on?

Not too bad with a goal a game ratio which is better than last season. He got 18 goals so only needs a couple more to get to his target.

He is declining now with his pace being the main attribute to go south which was to be expected.

 

Conclusion

An enjoyable play through and Long is well poised to get to his target. I’ll continue this on ‘til the end of the season if he gets his goals early in the second half of the season but I’ll stick to the challenge and still play Long in as many league games as possible afterwards.

Hopefully we can win some silverware.

 

Thank you for reading.

[FuddledFox]

Some how I missed season 1 but that was a good effort as is season 2 so far. Hopefully you get those 2 goals nice and quick and then go on and win the league.

Remember that your score is the number of games it took him to get 50 goals so make sure you get a history screenshot when he hits that number.

[Ian]

47 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Some how I missed season 1 but that was a good effort as is season 2 so far. Hopefully you get those 2 goals nice and quick and then go on and win the league.

Remember that your score is the number of games it took him to get 50 goals so make sure you get a history screenshot when he hits that number.

Thanks, yeah I’ll get the shot as soon as he gets them. Hopefully we can get the league with Long as the central figure out of respect of the challenge. 

[Rob]

I’ve somehow missed this - my apologies - but what a fun little career. Good fun to read too.

[Ian]

4 hours ago, Rob said:

I’ve somehow missed this - my apologies - but what a fun little career. Good fun to read too.

Cheers Rob, it’s a nice little challenge that plays really well on the new update.😀

Edited April 10, 2019 by 1759

[smoggy90]

Done great with Long here mate, congrats!

[Ian]

2 hours ago, smoggy90 said:

Done great with Long here mate, congrats!

Cheers Smoggy, Nice little challenge this is.😀

[Ashez]

Cracking going that Ian mate, I'd be pretty pleased with that progress :). 

[Ian]

33 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Cracking going that Ian mate, I'd be pretty pleased with that progress :). 

Cheers Ash, good challenge for me this with it being in England with a not so well rounded striker.

Just finished the second half of the season now so will put that up tomorrow.

[Woody]

So close now dude...

Hope he knocks those last 2 off in his next game 😆 fingers crossed.

[Ian]

Thank you Woody, I hope he does too! 😀

[Ian]

54 minutes ago, Woody said:

So close now dude...

Hope he knocks those last 2 off in his next game 😆 fingers crossed.

Sorry Woody forgot to quote you before. I was on the tablet and things were a little different and I messed up. 😂

Yes I’m hoping he’ll blast them out quickly.😀

[LenTheWelsh]

I tried an unofficial go at this a week or so back just to check out Southampton and see what their strengths and weaknesses were. I took the save to December and Long had managed 3 league goals 😂😂🤦🏼‍♂️

 

So yeah thats impressive stuff mate 👍

Edited April 10, 2019 by LenTheWelsh

[Ian]

45 minutes ago, LenTheWelsh said:

I tried an unofficial go at this a week or so back just to check out Southampton and see what their strengths and weaknesses were. I took the save to December and Long had managed 3 league goals 😂😂🤦🏼‍♂️

 

So yeah thats impressive stuff mate 👍

Thank you, yeah I’m happy with it as I had no idea how he’d get on tbh. I think my system with two IF’s and him as an AF kind of suits him.😀

[Ian]

Season 2 - Second Half

We start the second half of the season with Shane Long just needing two more goals to get to our target of 50 league goals under my command.

His first chance came against Aston Villa. Can he get them?

Nope nothing doing here.

Next up is Tottenham!

Yes!, he leaves it late but gets one. Just one to go now.

We played Crystal Palace next and was this to be his day?

It certainly was as he bags himself a brace to get his 50th and 51st league goal since I took over.

Here are his stats after that game. It took him 57 league games to get to his total.

Now I said I’d continue on until the end of the season with Long as the main man in the league games. 

First we had a tricky League Cup Semi Final against Manchester United. Lets see how we got on.

 

League Cup

Semi Final First Leg

We had a poor day in front of goal and suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat. Still all the play for though.

Semi Final Second Leg

We looked like we were going out as we were locked at 0-0 going into the last ten minutes but Thomasson stepped up to score that all inportant equaliser. 

No more goal would follow so penalties it was and with our home support behind us we got the job done.

Final

We played Chelsea in the Final and we played brilliantly with Fabian Johnson getting the winning goal.

 

FA Cup

We battled through to the Final where Manchester United awaited us. We were outclassed and didn’t deserve anything at all from the game but as you all know that’s not how football works.

At 0-1 down with ten minutes to go we threw caution to the wind and got our reward with a quick brace from Florin Andone. Wild scenes ensued as we celebrate another cup win.

 

Champions League

We played really well in the Champions League all season and beat Inter, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the knockout stages to find ourselves in an unexpected Final against Barcelona.

Unfortunately it was a step too far and we were soundly beaten 5-3 but we can hold our heads up high after a fantastic campaign.

 

League

We were well in contention to win the league but a poor last month ruined our chances. Long scored a brace in the first game of April and then failed to find the net again. In hindsight I should’ve took him out of the team but I wanted to keep him in out of respect of the challenge.

Still can be proud of our efforts in finishing second again with more points than last year.

Even after suffering an end of season goal drought Long still finished the leagues top goal scorer with 30 goals.

 

Fixtures

A poor result against Chelsea at the end of March was highly detrimental to our titles hopes. A few other poor league results followed in April and May and that was that.

Spoiler

 

Appearances

 

Manager

 

Shane Long

Just like last season he ended up scoring 30 league goals. Shame he couldn’t score a couple more to help us win the league but can’t complain as he’s been fantastic.

It’s just really his pace that has declined significantly but isn’t bad at 14 if I’m honest. He’s a tough cookie too as he hasn’t had a single injury in two seasons, in terms of this challenge it wouldn’t have mattered as it’s based on number of games played but still impressive none the less.

 

Challenge Total

51 goals

League Games First Season: 36

League Games Second Season: 21

Total Games: 57

 

Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed the challenge and for me it’s a decent score. Shame we couldn’t get the league title but getting to every final and winning two of them is fantastic so no complaints.

 

Thanks to all those who followed, it’s appreciated.

Now onto something else.

Edited April 19, 2019 by 1759

[Rob]

Well done. Anyone who gets results with Long is a genius in my mind. What’s next on your slate?

[FuddledFox]

Shame you couldn’t get that elusive league title but you did great guns with Long so well done mate.

First name on the leaderboard 😀

[Ian]

23 minutes ago, Rob said:

Well done. Anyone who gets results with Long is a genius in my mind. What’s next on your slate?

Thank you Rob, I’m not sure what’s next but I’ll think of something.😀

16 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Shame you couldn’t get that elusive league title but you did great guns with Long so well done mate.

First name on the leaderboard 😀

Thank you Foxy, year I really wanted to win it and it looked like we were going to but just fell away at the finish.😀