Career (Complete) Aaron Attempts The Fabled No. 10.

[Aaron Thornton]

 

I had this challenge on my to-do list for a while and I finally got around to trying it, created by @Ian. It's a very interesting challenge and the jist of the challenge (if you dont already know) is to buy a new No. 10 (attacking midfielder) every season for seven seasons, manage Juventus (I will never refer to them as Zebre) and get said player to score and assist as many goals as possible each season.

 

Season 1: (Ireland) 

The first season requires an Irish player and after loading the Irish leagues (to bolster my choices) and Italy of course, I looked at the options and quite frankly they're all terrible, so I ended up going with the boring option of Jeff Hendrick. With that said here's how he done:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

A rebuild of sorts in Season 1, some experienced signings mixed with a blend of youth. VVD is the marquee signing, Depay, Origi and McBurnie add depth to the front two, with the former also capable of rotating with Hendrick, Kondogbia and Gibbs-White give me some more midfield options with the latter being a player for the future, Morgan Rogers also a player for the future, but can do a job now if required. Gaya, Grimaldo and Vrsaljko sure up the WM spots in the team. 

Competitions:

Spoiler

• We win the league, 8 points clear of Inter, scoring 107 goals
• We win the CL, beating B. Dortmund 4-0 in the final with Hendrick scoring a hat trick
• We win the Supercoppa, 2-1 vs Lazio with Hendrick netting a penalty
• We lost to Atalanta on away goals in the TIM Cup

A decent trophy haul in year 1, with the CL final being my personal favourite game, shutting down an exciting Dortmund attack. 

Jeff Hendrick:

Spoiler

A great year for Hendrick with 47 goals and 33 assists, giving him a total score of 80, a nice start to the challenge. I never expected such an average player to perform so well but he surprised me big time. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Total: 80

 

Thanks for reading. 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Aaron Thornton

[Rich]

Awesome start mate, Hendrick played a blinder for you! I haven’t used attacking midfielders at all on this years really, so it’s mad for me seeing you and others get these sort of numbers, well done 😁

[Rob]

Great start. Well done.

[Ian]

Nice start from Jeff, I honestly think he’s a bit underrated.

Good luck with the future seasons.

[Dandypass]

Very nice start from Jeff. 47 goals and 33 assists on the first season is nothing short of amazing.

[Aaron Thornton]

17 hours ago, RichD said:

Awesome start mate, Hendrick played a blinder for you! I haven’t used attacking midfielders at all on this years really, so it’s mad for me seeing you and others get these sort of numbers, well done 😁

Thanks mate, yeah I havent used them much either especially not built a team around one but that's the beauty of this challenge, completely changes how you think about your tactic

16 hours ago, Rob said:

Great start. Well done.

Cheers Rob

11 hours ago, Ian said:

Nice start from Jeff, I honestly think he’s a bit underrated.

Good luck with the future seasons.

Thanks mate and I'd have to agree with you mate, we all bang on about how attributes are vital, but Hendrick who's only got the green of the Irish flag to his name goes and plays a season like that, I need to have a look at his traits etc. Cause maybe they hold the key to how good he performs. 

4 hours ago, Dandypass said:

Very nice start from Jeff. 47 goals and 33 assists on the first season is nothing short of amazing.

Cheers Dandy he was a joy. 

[JamesVilla]

Thats a cracking start, can imagine those numbers are only going to go up and up with the quality of players you can add for the following nations. 

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 2: (France) 

After a good start with Hendrick, my expectations in Season 2 were much higher considering the calibre of players we had to choose from, for this season I've chosen Paul Pogba, there probably isn't a more divisive player out there IRL but in FMM terms he is top drawer, here's how we done:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

 

Paul Pogba:

Spoiler

50 goals and 33 assists in 44 games, gives us 83 points for the season, an increase on last year by 3 points, I don't know if this shows Pogba underperformed or is Jeff Hendrick really that good 🤷‍♂️ still taking the season at face value, Pogba done really well. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

 

Total: 163

 

Thanks for reading, any comments are welcome. 

[Rich]

Class mate and you’re right Pogba is unreal on FM stats wise. Great season and massive score again, I think Hendrick played out his skin, they probably gave him an extra boost behind the scenes as he’s Witt Newcastle now 🤣

[Aaron Thornton]

14 minutes ago, RichD said:

Class mate and you’re right Pogba is unreal on FM stats wise. Great season and massive score again, I think Hendrick played out his skin, they probably gave him an extra boost behind the scenes as he’s Witt Newcastle now 🤣

Cheers mate, but I thought they downgrade players when they go to yous 😉

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 3: (Italy) 

 

I've chosen Nicolo Zaniolo for this season, one of the best wonder kids on the game and extremely versatile, for us though there's only one position he plays. Here's how he done:

Transfers:

In:

Out:

Competitions:

Spoiler

 

Nicolo Zaniolo:

Spoiler

45 goals and 19 assists give Zaniolo a score of 64. A big dip compared to last year, I tampered with the tactic and as you can see it didn't go to plan, still a decent total put up by Nicolo. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

Nicolo Zaniolo: 45/19/43=64

 

Total: 227.

 

Thanks for reading and till next time, 👋

 

[Rich]

I’ve had Zaniolo a few times and he’s been so hit and miss for me, so I’m not surprised he didn’t get to the heights of great Hendrick, still a good score though and I’m sure it’s more his fault 👊🏻

[Aaron Thornton]

Whoever is blame, let's do a Mourinho and blame the player 😂

But in all seriousness I think he would have done a lot better without the tampering, but we'll never know

[Scratch]

Doing a great job there Mr Me... Hope you don't mind, but I've sent a link to this to Mr Bruce, suggesting he might want to consider how he's using Hendrick. He might contact you for some pointers...

The other two did alright as well, but it was that first season that captivated me! 😄

 

[Aaron Thornton]

7 hours ago, Scratch said:

Doing a great job there Mr Me... Hope you don't mind, but I've sent a link to this to Mr Bruce, suggesting he might want to consider how he's using Hendrick. He might contact you for some pointers...

The other two did alright as well, but it was that first season that captivated me! 😄

 

Thanks mate. 

I dont mind, send them my CV too if you want 😂

All Brucey needs to do is sign Ronaldo, should be pretty easy

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 4: (Italy) 

 

To replicate the great Del Piero I have brought Bernardeschi back to the club after selling him in Season one, I done this in the hope he'd have some unfinished business this season and shine brightest in a star studded side, here's how we done:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

Barcelona seemingly had money to burn this year, spending a combined £278 million on Zaniolo and Bruno Fernandes. 

Filling Brunos considerable shoes was Milinkovic-Savic, Dest and Diaby sure up the flanks. Harry Kane arrives, bringing a great work ethic and work rate to hopefully provide and score more, Harper and Murillo are signed as industrious backup CM's. 

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

• We win the league, 7 points clear of Napoli
• We beat PSV, 4-1 in the UEFA SC with Bernardeschi bagging a hatful
• We win the CL final after a 1-1 draw, we finally won it 11-10 on penalties
• We tear apart Napoli in the TIM Cup final, 4-0
• We beat arch rivals Torino in the Supercoppa, 3-0

 

Federico Bernardeschi:

Spoiler

43 goals and 28 assists in 38 games gives us a score of 71, an improvement on last year and a delight to manage, he really did have unfinished business on his return, injuries and the Qatar World Cup made this season a struggle but Federico done me and himself proud when everything was stacked against him. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

Nicolo Zaniolo: 45/19/43=64

Federico Bernardeschi: 43/28/38=71

 

Total: 298.

 

Thanks for reading and all comments are welcome. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Aaron Thornton

[Rich]

One of my favourite players on this years game as he’s done excellent as a winger for me in this years version. Haven’t used him as No 10 though and you seem to get a hell of a lot out of him, good score again mate, keep it up 👍

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 5: (Argentina) 

For this year, the nominated Argentine is Ezequiel Barco, who has the angriest player picture on FMM, not a surprise then that he has the 'unprofessional' trait, a player with bags of talent though and if I can find a way to man manage him, then his boots should do the talking:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

Sell and replace your main AP seems to be in fashion in this career as Milinkovic-Savic jets off to the Etihad and Aouar arrives. Vanja departs the team at the same time, heading to Hertha, a very capable replacement comes in Andre Onana for just £20 million. Paulinho replaces Grimaldo, Joe Rodon replaces De Ligt who got a 10 month injury last year and his attributes took a beating. Werner adds more star quality up front and of course Barco arrives from PSG. 

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

• A comfortable unbeaten Serie A campaign, 20 point ls clear of Napoli
• We lost the UEFA SC, 4-1 vs Liverpool, 19 shots to 6 in our favour, but our finishing was dire
• We lost in the CL Semi Final, 2-1 on aggregate v Atleti
• An entertaining TIM Cup final with 8 goals scored, we win it 5-3, Barco grabbing 3 of them.
• We beat Napoli, 3-2 in the Supercoppa TIM.

Ezequiel Barco:

Spoiler

32 and 33 assists for Barco this year, gives us a total of 65 for Season 5. He done OK this year, but I'm not going to rush to use him ever again, very inconsistent player in comparison to those I've used before, his Av R, was the lowest of every No. 10 by far. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

Nicolo Zaniolo: 45/19/43=64

Federico Bernardeschi: 43/28/38=71

Ezequiel Barco: 32/33/48=65

 

Total: 363.

 

Thanks for reading. 😊

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 6: (France) 

 

To emulate the divisive Paul Pogba, I've chosen a player who I am very accustomed with, one of the best BBM's in the game from the get go, but I've never played him further forward so I'm intrigued to see how he perdroms there, it's Corentin Tolisso:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

Just 3 signings this year as Vinicius Junior, Tolisso and regen Matthew Smith arrive for a combined £213 million. Barco exits, as well as Bernardeschi who rotted in the reserves for a year before I received offers for him, age caught up with Kondogbia who fell down the pecking order and Oli McBurnie was a joy to use, but like Kondogbia he slowly lost his place at the club over the years. 

 

Competitions:

(I forgot to screenshot CL) 🤦‍♂️

Spoiler

• We win Serie A comfortably again, 21 points clear of Inter
• Lazio were no match for us in the TIM Cup, we easily win it 4-1
• The Supercoppa TIM was also extremely on sided, we win 3-0 with Inter Milan not having a single attempt on goal
• We won the CL but as I forgot to screenshot it I can't even remember the result, sorry
• The CWC will be finished next season

 

A humorous side note:

I got this request from Harry Kane, he wants to retrain as a Centre Back... 

Not with 9 tackling and 10 positioning! 🤦‍♂️ Also he still plays alongside Werner as my first choice strikers so to get this request was very strange. 

 

Corentin Tolisso:

Spoiler

54 goals and 31 assists! A massive season from Tolisso and exactly what we needed after the Barco debacle, so one of the best BBM's is also fantastic further forward, who knew!

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

Nicolo Zaniolo: 45/19/43=64

Federico Bernardeschi: 43/28/38=71

Ezequiel Barco: 32/33/48=65

Corentin Tolisso: 54/31/52=85

 

Total: 448.

 

So Tolisso becomes our chart topper, setting up the final season beautifully, the last season requires an Argentine (not Barco thankfully) but till then bye bye and thanks for reading. 

 

 

[Aaron Thornton]

Season 7: (Argentina) 

The final season beckons, our Argentine maestro for this last year is a man who comes from a long line of ex footballers, with family originating in Fife, Scotland as well as Ireland. Introducing Alexis Mac Allister(the least South American sounding second name out there) Anyway in real life this guy has started to nail down his place in Graham Potter's exciting Brighton outfit alongside Pascal Gross and Yves Bissouma, that's the player, here's the performance:

 

Transfers:

In:

Out:

You may be thinking I signed Tonali twice in this career and you'd be correct, I messed up last year when I forgot to renew his contract and I only realised my error when he had agreed terms with Villarreal🤦‍♂️ annoyed at myself I angrily offered them £55 million and he was once again a Juve player. 

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

• We win Serie A, 7 out of 7, this season being our best points total
• We beat Napoli 3-1 in the TIM cup final
• We beat Spurs, 5-0 in the UEFA Super Cup, Alexis bagging 3 in the process
• P$G were tricky customers in the CL as they knocked us out at the QF stage, 4-3 on aggregate
• Lazio were the next domestic whipping boys in the Supercoppa TIM, we win 4-0
• The CWC was as expected a cake walk, we beat the Mexican outfit Chivas, 6-0 in the final

 

Final Manager Stats:

 

Alexis Mac Allister:

Spoiler

A strong showing from the Argentine/Scotsman/Irish lad, with 41 goals and 30 assists in 44 matches, unlike the first Argentine we used (Barco) Alexis was a joy, if he can keep up his standard IRL then The Seagulls have themselves a star in the making. 

 

(Goals/Assists/Games) 

 

Jeff Hendrick: 47/33/44=80

Paul Pogba: 50/33/44=83

Nicolo Zaniolo: 45/19/43=64

Federico Bernardeschi: 43/28/38=71

Ezequiel Barco: 32/33/48=65

Corentin Tolisso: 54/31/52=85

Alexis Mac Allister: 41/30/44=71

 

Final Score: 519

 

A really fun challenge created by @Ian could you add this to the leader board please mate, and to anyone read along the way, I thank you and I highly recommend giving this one a go, it's different from most if not all challenges out there. 

[Rich]

Great final season to finish it off mate, you’ve had cracking few years with Juve, Great scores, all hail Jeff Hendrick ❤️

[Aaron Thornton]

7 minutes ago, RichD said:

Great final season to finish it off mate, you’ve had cracking few years with Juve, Great scores, all hail Jeff Hendrick ❤️

Thanks very much mate, really had a blast with this one and you might be surprised to hear that I actually finished this challenge all the way back at that weekend where you couldn't play our head to head as you were busy 😂.

Hendrick is the GOAT 😂 never thought I'd say that but he was the most enjoyable player I used, cause my expectations of him were so low, he smashed it out of the park and gave me a great start, then Zaniolo and Barco done their best to ruin it for me 😠, regardless has great fun with it. 

[Rob]

Great attempt.

[Ian]

A very nice career and final total. I also like really like Jazzy Jeff.

Well done.

[Dandypass]

Wow, Congrat mate. You did great with this challenge. Very nice career overall

[Scratch]

Great stuff mate, did really welland interesting to follow along. I think Hedrick wins biggest surprise (obviously) and maybe Zaniolo for biggest disappointment (only used him once, but he seems highly regarded here). Anyway, looking forward to the next challenge!

[smoggy90]

Excellent career mate, this is one challenge on my ‘to do’ list for the next version. Great work!