Career The Augusta Challenge: Ian Vs Foxy - 18th Hole Results

[Kanegan]

Brilliant work mate. This again looks a tough hole but you just breezed through it.

[Woody]

Well done mate that was a superb birdie and puts the pressure on too. 

Looking forward to Ian's effort. 

[smoggy90]

Great job there Foxy, good luck up next Ian!

[Ian]

@Gunners Rishi, @Kanegan, @Woody and @smoggy90

Thanks for the comments, my results will be up shortly.

added 0 minutes later

After I took the the lead a couple of holes ago @Foxy fought back, took the last hole to level things up and also made his intentions clear as he played a birdie on this hole to heap the pressure right onto my shoulders. He certainly means business and it’s up to me to show my grit and hopefully fight back as the fox certainly doesn’t scare me.

Anyway, let’s see how I got on.

Ian’s Attempt

I performed well on Hole 4 where we had to produce a high goal difference in the league over half a season so you’d think that that would put me in a good position for this hole but I had my doubts as on that hole I more or less binned off the cup games to make sure I had my best team out for the league games. This time we had to produce in all competitions and my experience with the system I used for hole 4 told me that we’d more than likely suffer the odd low scoring game so I went a different way with three up top, two inside forwards, two midfielders, three centre backs and no wing backs in a bid to just score more goals.

Once we’d scored two goals I’d often change things up or at least sub on my unused wing backs even if it meant putting them upfront as I wanted to try and keep them happy.

June/ July

We started well and were never in any danger of slipping up during these early games. Just like my opponent we had trouble in the CWC as Bayern nearly knocked us out in the quarter final and if I’m honest I kind of hoped they would at the time.

August

We had no real problems in August either and even our defence was good which was pleasing considering the system we were using. I’ll have to explore three at the back systems more in the future as it certainly seems to provide a good solid base.

September

We suffered our first slip up in September against Kiev and that was me kind of conceding the birdie and even wondering if we could actually make par.

October

We fought back though and ploughed through October with relative comfort. Again I was actually hoping to lose the shootout against Chelsea in the League Cup to reduce our games but our boys didn’t follow the script.

November

Again November was a fairly comfortable month so my birdie hopes had returned at this stage as we still had one slip up left in the bank.

December

We had a lot of games in December which was always going to be tricky but we sailed through the early part of the month although we still had to navigate through the post Christmas, two games in two days period. After scoring a last minute winner against Everton to avoid disaster there we did indeed slip up in our next game away to West Ham where we could only win by a solitary goal.

January

So we went into January with no margin for error and two tricky away games against Chelsea and Man Utd. We did the business though to take home the birdie and I was chuffed as I really didn’t fancy this hole. I had read that the challenge was up until January 15th and when my opponent mentioned it being until the 19th yesterday I was slightly concerned but having checked the challenge, it was the 15th so no need for me to worry about the 1-0 result I had against Leeds on the 17th as I changed system in preparation for next season.

Rest of the Season

Spoiler

Score

Preview of Hole 7

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 from him in all competitions as possible.

Birdie - 60+ goals + assists

Par - 45 goals and assists

Bogey - 30 goals and assists

Double Bogey - 29 goals and assists or less

So with my birdie we are still level pegging but I’m sure we’ll see a shake up at some point.

Thanks for reading and most comments are appreciated.

[BatiGoal]

Well played, Ian, great match up this has been so far 👍 

[Kanegan]

Well played again mate. This is turning out to be one hell of a duel.

[Woody]

Nicely done Ian... 👍

[Gunners Rishi]

GG this is a clash of the titans

 

[broodje kip]

Nice work Ian really thigh H2H here I could see many gamblers got tons of losses 

[samhardy]

I can see this being A/S after 18, and won on the 6th play-off hole.

[FuddledFox]

Nicely done @Ian.

[BatiGoal]

14 hours ago, samhardy said:

I can see this being A/S after 18, and won on the 6th play-off hole.

Can you also see Black Cat Betting becoming a laundry service if I decide to cash in? 

[samhardy]

So @BatiGoal “won” a 3rd successive bet on hole 6 but unfortunately for him he didn’t read the small print. So small in fact you can’t even read it.

Any bets placed at odds of 1/2 or shorter are prohibited and all winnings from past bets are required to be returned to Black Cat Betting by law.

Onto hole 7 we go. No change to the overall odds since we last looked with Foxy still a narrow favourite.

@Foxy - 8/13

@Ian - 11/10

Hole 7 is an interesting one which is trickier than it looks as any injury could set you on the bogey trail. This one is anybody’s guess.

@Ian - 5/2

Hole Halved - 10/11

@Foxy - 19/10

[BatiGoal]

5 hours ago, samhardy said:

Any bets placed at odds of 1/2 or shorter are prohibited and all winnings from past bets are required to be returned to Black Cat Betting by law.

😲 😲 😢 

[FuddledFox]

1 hour ago, BatiGoal said:

😲 😲 😢 

FoxyBet always pay out, just ask @Ian.

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, Foxy said:

FoxyBet always pay out, just ask @Ian.

Is that how this H2H came about? Let's add some drama to this battle and spice things up 😂 

[Ian]

1 hour ago, Foxy said:

FoxyBet always pay out, just ask @Ian.

Unfortunately, I’ve learnt that the bookie always wins!

[Ian]

For this hole we had to buy an Argentine winger and try to get him as many goals and assists as possible in one season. We’d need 60+ combined to get a Birdie, 45 for a Par, 30 for a Bogey and anything less than 30 would earn us the dreaded Double Bogey.

Player - Cristian Pavón

I actually wanted to go with Almada and put my offer in to Napoli and was just flat out refused a discussion. I waited a day or so and went in again with a higher offer only to suffer the same fate so I decided just to go with Pavón who I knew wouldn’t cost anywhere near as much and is also a tidy player. His shooting isn’t so great but unless things have changed with him on this year's game then he’d be almost guaranteed a load of assists from corners plus his high stamina should allow him plenty of game time so I was more than happy to snap him up for £26m.

After 10 League Games

Pavón started well with nine goals and 15 assists in his first 16 games but some of our team results were less than satisfactory as we’d suffered no less than four 1-1 draws. I’d used the second half of last season to test a few things out with Chiesa as my winger as an inside forward with the passing focus down his side and as good as Pavón is, he is nowhere near the level of Chiesa at this stage of my save so I feel at times putting the focus down Pavón’s side was hindering the team. No real problem though at this stage as Pavón is generally doing well.

After 19 League Games

Pavón had a combined 44 goals and assists in 28 games at this stage so things were looking good on that front but again the team were at times a bit off. We were second albeit with a game in hand and had now suffered six dreaded 1-1 draws which was rather annoying. We’d also drawn 1-1 in the quarter final of the League Cup against Man City and lost the subsequent penalty shootout to end our clean sweep hopes but Pavón was doing fine so could’ve been a whole lot worse.

17th February 2027

Pavón got himself over the Birdie line with a goal against Dortmund in the Champions League. It was all very comfortable and it looks like the only real thing that could’ve stopped him would be injuries.

He continued to do well for the rest of the season and ended up on 36 goals and 40 assists in all competitions even though he missed the last month through injury. It looks like I’ve got him just in time as there are signs of decline in his attributes now so I’ll probably try and offload him in the summer.

Other Business

Spoiler

We won everything except for the League Cup as mentioned above.

We also made a few transfers.

Stadium

I forgot to mention on my last update that the board decided we needed a new stadium so if my opponent @Foxy could please add it to the new stadium challenge I’d be very grateful.

Spoiler

Score

So with that Birdie I move temporarily ahead and we’ll find out later whether @Foxy can level things up.

Thanks for reading

[broodje kip]

Impressive work @Ian.

[FuddledFox]

Very well played @Ian, a very impressive total.

[Kanegan]

Great work Ian. 

[Kun Aguero]

Incredible results from Pavon, let's see how Foxy do.

[Titjes]

What a round @Ian, great return from pavon 

[Ian]

@Lord Danish, @Foxy, @Kanegan, @Kun Aguero & @Titjes

Thank you for the fine compliments. Pavon is a great player and the inside forwards role seems really powerful this year. I found it was last year until post winter update where something was tweaked and the role was a bit off I thought but now it’s very much back.

Just need see how @Foxy got on now before we both embark on the next hole which looks truly horrible. 

[FuddledFox]

I went with Pavon the same as @Ian did as he is a safe pair of hands and very much tried and tested as an assister. 

 

My slight worry was that he is 30 now and would need to play a lot of games to get the goals and assists I need but I also have an abundance of good wingers in the squad that I want to not upset which is easier said than done this year.

With that and the target of exactly 60 goals and assists in mind I decided that I would rotate Pavon with Dilrosun, Mbappe and Davies both on the left and the right in an attempt to keep everyone happy but also get that essential birdie. This basically means that if Pavon got a goal or assist early on in a game he would come off at HT for one of the others and I would try and keep everyone playing plenty.

Obviously Mbappe is also a striker but I played with two TM this season so that from crosses and corners Pavon had players who could finish those types of chances.

At the turn of the year he was well on course for the 60 total with 40 combined goal contributions in 29 games. Strangely though it was goals and not assists that Pavon was getting more of.

 
 

Another good reason why Pavon was a good option is highlighted in this screenshot.

In my experience both this season and in the last couple of editions of FMM he is very rarely injured and I guess as he wasn’t being ground down by playing a lot of minutes as well he went the whole season unscathed.

In the end it was goals that got him over the line and I guess he liked playing off of the two TM as they created space for him to come off the wing and score. I was surprised he only managed 23 assists but he got the job done in 52 games.

It was pretty tight in the end though as although he only needed 20 goal contributions in the 2nd half of the season he actually only got the job done with 5 games to spare.

Once he had got the job done I no longer played him as I have no intention of keeping him next season.

His physical attributes have held up well but I don’t see him being much use next season with the quality I already have.

As for my other wingers the plan worked and they all remained happy at the club except Ferran Torres but he has wanted out for about 2 seasons and no one want him.

Spoiler

Yet again then it remains all square in this H2H as I posted a birdie to go -6 under for my round.

 

Any Other Business 

The Champions League and League Cup both eluded me this season.

Spoiler

Player Stats

Hole 8 Preview

This is a hole that course designer @samhardy will hope to see bite us both in the arse as I can’t imagine he has enjoyed seeing at least one of us birdie every hole so far.

This hole saw @BatiGoal post a bogey on his attempt and even course record holder @Nucleus could only post a par and both needed to score less goals than we do this year so this could well be two seasons of pain and frustration for us.

Hole 8 - Yellow Jasmine (Par 5)

A very long and drawn out hole, Yellow Jasmine is ideal for people looking to make up a couple of shots if they are falling down with their score. This two season challenge makes an eagle or a birdie the prime target for this hole.

Challenge - Buy a goalkeeper from a club that wears yellow (away strips count but  not 3rd kits). He must be played up front, and score as many goals in all competitions in two seasons as possible.

Eagle - 70 goals

Birdie - 50 goals

Par - 35 goals

Bogey - 25 goals

Double Bogey - 24 goals or less

Thanks for reading and most comments are appreciated.

[Woody]

Well done you 2. You have to admit that Pavon is still an absolute god. 

[broodje kip]

Great work Foxy.

The next hole seems impossible though

[Ian]

Nice hole @Foxy, it looks like my Pavon was a good deal better in terms of attributes at the beginning but your version still got the job done! 

[Kanegan]

Great work Foxy. Pavon is certainly a class player. 

[samhardy]

Just because @BatiGoal posted a bogey doesn’t make it a hard hole. Terrible manager.