Career Late Bloomer Carroll & 5 Season Hero Pavon at LA Galaxy DONE

[Scratch]

I've never played in the US before, so when I was looking for somewhere different for my next career, I thought I'd give it a try. It's been a league I've always resisted, as I thought I wouldn't like it. However, a couple of months in, I've gotta say:

Spoiler

For younger readers: That's from the 80's movie Coming To America.

You know Eddie Murphy right? The guy who played Donkey in Shrek.

What you're too young to have seen Shrek? Then you'll have to trust me - he's funny!

It's an interesting league, which has a Chinese league feel to it, though not as extreme. By that I mean there are some very good players (mostly not local), surrounded by a lot of pretty mediocre players. I found I needed to sell my whole squad because they really were pretty average! I kept a couple of youngsters and the main star, but then sold the star when someone was willing to pay £60M for him... You can sign some pretty good players, so I'm expecting that we'll walk the league and score a bunch of goals.

Anyway, I'm giving @Foxy's Late Bloomer Challenge a try and my choice of Striker will probably appreciate the easier league. I won't reveal who it is yet, but it's given away in my comments on the challenge post, so it's not really a secret.

I'm probably going to combine that with the Five Season Hero Challenge - not so much for the striker as he won't score enough to make the goals leaderboard, but for a certain winger who can probably make the assists leaderboard without too much trouble. I also have a backup striker who might give the goals tally a go, IF he gets enough playing time, but we'll have to wait and see (that could be unlikely).

As for the winger, it's someone I used to use a lot in past, but haven't been able to use this year as he is on a season long loan and can't be purchased until the year is up. If you work out the winger, then you work out the club...

Anyway, gotta leave it there for now. Will be back sometime soon with some more details. Feel free to spoil it by guess correctly below! 🙂

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Scratch

[broodje kip]

Good luck Scratch. MLS surely is a fun league to manage. LA Galaxy, Pavon and Caroll would be your choice right?

[smoggy90]

Looking forward to seeing this guy smash America mate! Good luck!

Spoiler

 

[AdamNufc]

@Scratch If it is Carroll you sign it will defo be a good read BUT can you manage to keep Constant Crock fit enough to complete enough games in a season 😂

USA is somewhere ive never managed , knowing it is similar to the Chinese League has always put me off as managing over in China was a chore and bore with having 2 decent players and the rest at conference standard and all the foreign player rules etc ( yes I know FMM hasn't implemented the foreign player rules etc BUT they really should! ) 

Good Luck Mate 

[Scratch]

So.. 

The club is LA Galaxy. Not the club I'd normally choose, but on loan they have...

The winger, Pavon, who used to be an automatic choice for my 1KCs and who will provide a load of crosses to...

The striker, Andy Carroll, who is always injured, fairly unprofessional, but who will be able to head home more than a few goals...

49 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Good luck Scratch. MLS surely is a fun league to manage. LA Galaxy, Pavon and Caroll would be your choice right?

Gee, I make these too easy don't I? 😄 Full marks to you!

[Scratch]

57 minutes ago, smoggy90 said:

Looking forward to seeing this guy smash America mate! Good luck!

  Hide contents

 

That's the one! Though I prefer the black and white version rather than the red one. 😄

I was actually surprised he's only got 71 career goals in total. I would have guessed low 100s. He needs 101 goals to qualify for the late bloomer leaderboard. I'd be worried about scoring that in England, but I'm pretty confident about do it in the US.

[Scratch]

41 minutes ago, AdamNufc said:

@Scratch If it is Carroll you sign it will defo be a good read BUT can you manage to keep Constant Crock fit enough to complete enough games in a season 😂

USA is somewhere ive never managed , knowing it is similar to the Chinese League has always put me off as managing over in China was a chore and bore with having 2 decent players and the rest at conference standard and all the foreign player rules etc ( yes I know FMM hasn't implemented the foreign player rules etc BUT they really should! ) 

Good Luck Mate 

Thanks mate. No surprises here 🤣

And he's been injured twice already, but both minor thankfully. 

Yeah, I agree they should implement the foreign player rules.

I liked playing in China for a year or two, but it was too much hard work. So far the US hasn't been as bad and the difference between good players and the rest doesn't seem quite as much (but still there to my eyes). I generally find these leagues (and Australia, even though that's where I'm from) have less appeal because they lack the... magic? tradition? of European football. 

[AdamNufc]

Just now, Scratch said:

Thanks mate. No surprises here 🤣

And he's been injured twice already, but both minor thankfully. 

Yeah, I agree they should implement the foreign player rules.

I liked playing in China for a year or two, but it was too much hard work. So far the US hasn't been as bad and the difference between good players and the rest doesn't seem quite as much (but still there to my eyes). I generally find these leagues (and Australia, even though that's where I'm from) have less appeal because they lack the... magic? tradition? of European football. 

Yeah they aren't as exciting to manage in really , neither have football as their main sport so the quality of leagues has never really improved , yes world class players often play in USA but they are well past their peak ( except ibra who looks like he could play well into his 40s ) 

Nice to see another Newcastle Fan here mate @Scratch 

[broodje kip]

36 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Thanks mate. No surprises here 🤣

And he's been injured twice already, but both minor thankfully. 

Yeah, I agree they should implement the foreign player rules.

I liked playing in China for a year or two, but it was too much hard work. So far the US hasn't been as bad and the difference between good players and the rest doesn't seem quite as much (but still there to my eyes). I generally find these leagues (and Australia, even though that's where I'm from) have less appeal because they lack the... magic? tradition? of European football. 

Lol a bit too realistic on Andy there

[Scratch]

33 minutes ago, AdamNufc said:

Yeah they aren't as exciting to manage in really , neither have football as their main sport so the quality of leagues has never really improved , yes world class players often play in USA but they are well past their peak ( except ibra who looks like he could play well into his 40s ) 

Nice to see another Newcastle Fan here mate @Scratch 

Ibra will still be playing in his 50s at this rate! 

There is soon going to be a world class team there! Almada. Ajer. Stengs. McKenna. Livakovic. Verschaeren. And a bunch of other decent signings. Not to mention Pavon and Carroll. I'm revolutionising the US league. 😄

Likewise, the more Newcastle Fans on here the better. 👍

[Scratch]

6 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Lol a bit too realistic on Andy there

Yeah, he's a challenging player to have. I had him in some test career a year or so ago and he was super unprofessional too, causing problems at training etc. I think I know how to fix that now though! 

Three times so far. The lad is going to finish his career as a super professional player...

I only discovered this recently, but I now warn players whenever they get a rating of 6 or below. I didn't know you could do it for 6, I thought it had to be 5 or less. They often ignore it, but it works quite a lot. When they start accepting they should perform better but don't have something to improve, they get a morale drop instead and it's time to stop for that player.

I don't normally fine them as they can get upset and feel like you treated them unfairly, but for some players (including Carroll) warnings never ever work, but fines do. So I've risked it so far. Maybe I will go back to warnings and see if they work now he's a bit more professional. It's all guess work, and I don't want to upset him...

[Kanegan]

Oh dear. You went for Carroll? That's a gluttony for punishment. 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Kanegan said:

Oh dear. You went for Carroll? That's a gluttony for punishment. 

Haha, I've been planning a Carroll career for several years now, but been putting it off - it seems like a nice idea, but when actually faced with it, it always seem too much hassle. I originally wanted to take him back to Newcastle (when he was at West Ham) and score 500 goals or something like that.

Anyway, the time has finally come, but I feel like he's a better fit in the US now. Also I like the idea of LA people going "Zlatan who?" after a couple of years of Carroll banging them in! If he stays fit that is!

[Rob]

Andy Carroll? That’s the FMM equivalent to poking yourself in the eye with a fork and wondering why it hurts.

[Scratch]

12 minutes ago, Rob said:

Andy Carroll? That’s the FMM equivalent to poking yourself in the eye with a fork and wondering why it hurts.

Well, for most it would be... But I think I can get the best out of him. And his best ain't bad. He just needs the right manager... 🙂

[Scratch]

Predictions

I don't have time for a full preseason write up tonight, but I'll show you the transfers in and the main players and see if any of you have any predictions.

 

Transfers

Like I said above, I pretty much sold every player! The players I got in are mostly very good (or will be by the end of the season):

Spoiler

 

 

I expect it will take some time to hit our stride as the players level up, but we'll be too good for anyone in this league by the end of the season.

 

Striker 

Very injury prone, Unprofessional and Past His Prime and damn slow... Still a good header of the ball and that's where Pavon will be putting right on his head.

 

Winger

Has a couple of upgrades in him, but not as many as he used to have in previous versions. Still, he's already good enough for this league.

 

Backup Striker

I don't have a screenshot to hand right now, but the man is 19 year old Fraser Hornby, a Scottish striker in the Everton Reserves.

Not widely known, and doesn't look like much to start, but he develops into a pretty good player most of the time. Got him to 1K by the age of 28 in FMM19 (in The Super Secret Scottish 1KC). The right shape for my tactic (Aerial 20 no worries). A bit young for a 5 Season Heroes attempt and probably won't get much pitch time (unless Carroll is injured), but he's my go to backup.

 

Tactics

Of course, I'm using my famous(?) Defensive tactic that seems to get goals for the striker and assists aplenty for the right winger.

 

Predictions

So... Tell me what you think for the following for season 1:

• How many goals will Carroll get?
• How many assists will Pavon provide?
• How many injuries will Carroll get?

If you leave a prediction below, I will award points to the closest for each. Not that you win anything apart from bragging rights, but hey, what's more important than that! 😄

Big thanks to @Kanegan for this concept - I think it's brilliant and adds another level of fun. 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by Scratch

[Titjes]

Good luck mate 😉

• How many goals will Carroll get? 35
• How many assists will Pavon provide? 27
• How many injuries will Carroll get? 4

[Ian]

Good luck in America.

1. 2

2. 34

3. 1 (11 month damaged spine after the first game) 😂

[Kanegan]

• How many goals will Carroll get? 37
• How many assists will Pavon provide? 30
• How many injuries will Carroll get? 3

 

Thanks @Scratch for the shootout. Predictions always looks fun.

[FuddledFox]

• 64
• 42
• 0

Good luck mate.

[AdamNufc]

7 hours ago, Rob said:

Andy Carroll? That’s the FMM equivalent to poking yourself in the eye with a fork and wondering why it hurts.

After having him back at Newcastle this season In real life I  can agree with this 😂 spent most of time in the physio room or being the guest at the opening of a new north east night club 😂

Edited July 13, 2020 by AdamNufc

[broodje kip]

Some pretty nice transfers made there. Good luck with this

1) 35 goals

2) 20 assists

3) 5 injuries surely he’s going to get a 2 month injury before the first game

[Woody]

13 hours ago, AdamNufc said:

After having him back at Newcastle this season In real life I  can agree with this 😂 spent most of time in the physio room or being the guest at the opening of a new north east night club 😂

Apparently he said in an interview last week he is the fittest he has been for 6 years. Having been in lockdown has given his body chance to repair.

Obviously he has lost his pace(not that he had loads) buti still think he could do a decent job with some good service and a partner to play with.

@Scratchi have faith you willsmash a nice total with Carroll especially having a quality winger inPavon to supply the crosses. 😉

[AdamNufc]

8 minutes ago, Woody said:

Apparently he said in an interview last week he is the fittest he has been for 6 years. Having been in lockdown has given his body chance to repair.

Obviously he has lost his pace(not that he had loads) buti still think he could do a decent job with some good service and a partner to play with.

@Scratchi have faith you willsmash a nice total with Carroll especially having a quality winger inPavon to supply the crosses. 😉

I think us giving him a new deal was crazy BUT Joelintons no better and he cost 40m aha 

Yeah @Scratch I do think Carroll will have a blast in America , just keep him as far away from Vegas as possible 😂

[Scratch]

Thanks everyone who left predictions. Writing up Season 1 so the results will be out soon!

18 hours ago, Ian said:

1 (11 month damaged spine after the first game) 😂

Oh, you are going to feel so bad if that comes true!

added 0 minutes later

16 hours ago, Kanegan said:

Thanks @Scratch for the shootout. Predictions always looks fun.

Thanks for having the idea mate, loads of fun!

Edited July 14, 2020 by Scratch

[Scratch]

16 hours ago, Foxy said:

• 64
• 42
• 0

Good luck mate.

Nice numbers there. I can only hope that you win all the categories. Not sure I can live up to them though!

added 0 minutes later

20 hours ago, Titjes said:

Good luck mate 😉

• How many goals will Carroll get? 35
• How many assists will Pavon provide? 27
• How many injuries will Carroll get? 4

Thanks mate! 🙂

[Scratch]

10 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Some pretty nice transfers made there. Good luck with this

1) 35 goals

2) 20 assists

3) 5 injuries surely he’s going to get a 2 month injury before the first game

Thanks, was fun putting the team together, had better options than I expected. 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Woody said:

Apparently he said in an interview last week he is the fittest he has been for 6 years. Having been in lockdown has given his body chance to repair.

Obviously he has lost his pace(not that he had loads) buti still think he could do a decent job with some good service and a partner to play with.

@Scratchi have faith you willsmash a nice total with Carroll especially having a quality winger inPavon to supply the crosses. 😉

Thanks mate. I still like him in real life, but probably he'll never match my expectations! In the game though, he's alright for the US, but the only question is how long he'll last...

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, AdamNufc said:

I think us giving him a new deal was crazy BUT Joelintons no better and he cost 40m aha 

Yeah @Scratch I do think Carroll will have a blast in America , just keep him as far away from Vegas as possible 😂

Yeah, I thought that was odd too, especially with the ownership uncertainty. I guess if it goes through they can afford to pay him to sit on sidelines...

Lucky, we're not in Vegas. But LA has it's own clubs. I hear he sneaks off to The Viper Room from time to time (used to be owned by Johhny Depp and where River Phoenix OD'd).

[Scratch]

@Foxy Oh, by the way, so sad about the U's... 😭