Career The My Way TT at Newcastle [Season 7]

[Scratch]

44 minutes ago, geordiekrispy said:

True, you never know though, it might all change if a takeover happens...

We can all hope! 

[Scratch]

A lot of people saying their tactic stops working in January, but I've got one of those backwards tactic that comes good then instead... 

 

[hhooo]

3 minutes ago, Scratch said:

A lot of people saying their tactic stops working in January, but I've got one of those backwards tactic that comes good then instead... 

 

That looks to be synonymous with "beat the small teams and get beaten by the big teams"

[Rich]

7 minutes ago, Scratch said:

A lot of people saying their tactic stops working in January, but I've got one of those backwards tactic that comes good then instead... 

 

Plenty of goals, I love it mate! This is making me want to start a new game again though 😂

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, hhooo said:

That looks to be synonymous with "beat the small teams and get beaten by the big teams"

Haha, says the Spurs supporter! Though I'm not getting involved in that debate! 😄

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, RichD said:

Plenty of goals, I love it mate! This is making me want to start a new game again though 😂

Thanks mate. Why not start a new one? You've only got 11 on the go at the moment, so why not make it an even dozen? 😄 

[Scratch]

Wait, why was I getting so cocky again? Probably a mistake...

The board is starting to get unsettled...

[geordiekrispy]

2 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Wait, why was I getting so cocky again? Probably a mistake...

The board is starting to get unsettled...

It'll be the loss to Wolves that'll do it.

[JamesVilla]

15 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Wait, why was I getting so cocky again? Probably a mistake...

The board is starting to get unsettled...

Thats some going to score 10 goals in 4 games, and not pick up a single point 😂

 

[Scratch]

23 minutes ago, Jsavfc said:

Thats some going to score 10 goals in 4 games, and not pick up a single point 😂

 

We aim to entertain...

[billy2shots]

Takes me back to the Les Ferdinand days when the tactic was get it out side and cross it in. 

[Ian]

A nice spell followed by a poor one. The goals are generally flowing though so if you can get to the end of the first season then things will be looking good. You must be about mid table looking at it so you should be ok as the fans are always calling out for entertaining football and they’ve certainly got that. 

Edited February 2, 2021 by Ian

[Woody]

If there ever was an up and down season then that would be it. 😂

[Scratch]

12 hours ago, billy2shots said:

Takes me back to the Les Ferdinand days when the tactic was get it out side and cross it in. 

Spoiler

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Scratch

[Scratch]

8 hours ago, Woody said:

If there ever was an up and down season then that would be it. 😂

For sure mate, it was runs of losses, then runs of wins, all over the place. Enough to make you dizzy! Did pretty well in the end though.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Scratch

[Scratch]

9 hours ago, Ian said:

A nice spell followed by a poor one. The goals are generally flowing though so if you can get to the end of the first season then things will be looking good. You must be about mid table looking at it so you should be ok as the fans are always calling out for entertaining football and they’ve certainly got that. 

Thanks mate. There weren't many games after that, but results were good:

We ended up not only making it into the Euro Cup places, if we'd won that last one and Leicester had lost theirs (neither of which happened), we'd have been CL bound. Not bad for a season with 14 losses! 

[Kanegan]

Well, quite a dramatic season that one. Well done in staying up.

[geordiekrispy]

Congrats on staying in the Premiership, in true Ashley mandate fashion!
 

Looking forward to any strengthening you'll do and you smashing it next season.

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Kanegan said:

Well, quite a dramatic season that one. Well done in staying up.

Thanks mate, yeah, sure was topsy turvey! But a lot of fun too.

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, geordiekrispy said:

Congrats on staying in the Premiership, in true Ashley mandate fashion!
 

Looking forward to any strengthening you'll do and you smashing it next season.

Nah mate, Ashley's actually pissed at me because we made it into the Euro Cup. Got in big trouble for overachieving...

I've tried buying a few more established players but not much luck. I can agree fees for people, but they mostly don't want to come...

[Scratch]

Season 1

Anyone who's seen some of the screenshots above knows it was a topsy-turvey season, full of losing streaks, followed by winning streaks, with the vast majority of games having a bucket load of goals.

In the end we had 14 losses in the league, but we also had 20 wins. Drawing wasn't really in our game plan... Although we were near the relegation zone at one point, we ended up with a Euro Cup spot:

As I mentioned above, if we'd won the last game and Leicester had lost theirs (neither of which happened), we'd have pinched a Champions League spot! We scored 108 goals which is okay for the first season, but we also conceded 97 goals! In total there were 5.4 goals per match, so it was never boring.

Interestingly, 3 of my defenders were rewarded for our sterling defensive efforts, with selection in the EPL Team of the Year:

Spoiler

For the record, we got knocked out of the two cups like this (going down all guns blazing):

Spoiler

An up and down season that ended with a better outcome than I was expecting given our team was made up mostly of youngsters who need some time to level up.

 

Transfers

When I walked in the door, even I, a hardened fan, was surprised by how bad things were, especially with the squad. There are some players I like a lot in real life, but up close it was a different story. This lot just weren't going to cut it, especially considering the tactic I wanted to play. So I got rid of just about everyone:

Spoiler

Some of them it hurt to sell, but they had to go to make room for the players I need to rebuild the club. I'll make special mention of Dubravka, who I actually kept and played in rotation with Livakovic - he conceded 48 goals in 12 games, which was about double Livakovic's ratio, so I promptly sold him in January.

Coming in were a bunch of players, most of whom will need a couple of seasons to reach their potential:

Spoiler

As well as the 3 strikers, I brought in Salcedo to be our 4th striker. I've used him as backup at Inter and think he can be a top notch striker this year. I'll get him as many goals as I can, but it's not likely to be much once the main 3 start playing more.

Apart from that it was mostly the usual suspects...

 

The Lads

I never introduced the lads properly, so let's do it now. Here they are at the start of the save, followed by the end of the season:

Very nice improvements all round, especially when it comes to Aerial, with all three already at 18 or 19.

When I looked back at the end of season 1 in my Beijing 3x1KC, Pellegri was at 19, but Esposito was only 16 (basically only the Carrillo updates). When I looked back at a test save, with the pair at Celtic, they were on 17 and 16. So to have all three at 18 or above is pretty good.

I'm not sure why it's better this time around - maybe because players ramp up quicker in better leagues? I did notice that all three had an update where they had a 2 to 3 point increase and in each case they were set to target Pace, not Aerial. Probably doesn't mean anything though.

Also this happened in early November:

Spoiler

But luckily a quick chat sorted things out:

Spoiler

 

Injuries

The only injury of note was Sargent missing for 3 weeks. Esposito got injured for a month soon after the season ended, but shouldn't miss any games.

Spoiler

 

Score

Here's the overview (19 in 36 for Pellegri, 25 in 33 for Esposito and 15 in 31 for Sargent):

And the history screens:

Spoiler

Which gives us:

Season	Pellegri	Esposito	Sargent	Total
01	19	25	15	59
Total	19	25	15	59

A slow start - but roughly in line with my Beijing 3x1KC save given the relative strengths of the leagues (59 here vs 81 there). The second season there saw a jump from 81 to 173 (slightly more than double). So I'll be hoping for 120 goals next seasons!

We'll have to wait and see if we can actually get that (I'd be happy with 100 to be honest), but we'll certainly be going all out attack!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Raven9]

Great season, mate. Love the goal difference. Not many boring 0-0 or 1-0's I guess. 

And 3 defenders on Team of the Year. Crazy.

[Dai_]

This is brilliant! Scores can only go up from here too. The Toon, back in Europe. What a sight. 😍🤣

[Rich]

Awesome scratch. That is a great season mate, really enjoyable read. You are the king of transfers, that’s some brilliant business. I’m sure next season will be very good 😁

LETS MAKE NEWCASTLE GREAT AGAIN

[billy2shots]

I think a few real clubs need to make you their Director of Football. Some of those signings are at bargain basement levels. 

Any decent signing I try and make on this year's game comes back at pretty much £80m -£90m. 

 

 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Raven9 said:

Great season, mate. Love the goal difference. Not many boring 0-0 or 1-0's I guess. 

And 3 defenders on Team of the Year. Crazy.

Thanks mate. Only problem with it is it takes longer to get through games. A 1-0 plays out much faster than 7-5, even with Hightlights off! But it's more fun, so I don't mind. 😄

As for the Team of the Year, I keep wondering how many defender we would have got in it if we'd let 200 goals in instead of 97. Maybe 6 instead of 3? Is that how maths works? 🤣

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Dai_ said:

This is brilliant! Scores can only go up from here too. The Toon, back in Europe. What a sight. 😍🤣

Thanks mate! It's real good at this point, because I actually feel the excitement of getting some European nights. I know in a few seasons it will just be another game (because winning the CL will be regular then). So I guess this season will be the most exciting with all the ups and downs and the late chase for Europe, followed by next season when we're actually in Europe and pushing to win something. Maybe I should stop after 3 seasons! 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, RichD said:

Awesome scratch. That is a great season mate, really enjoyable read. You are the king of transfers, that’s some brilliant business. I’m sure next season will be very good 😁

LETS MAKE NEWCASTLE GREAT AGAIN

Thanks mate. I think I'm out of luck with the transfers now. First season you can only get really good young players (ie no Barellas or Goretzkas etc). Season 2, it's hard to get anyone better than them and the Barellas and Goretzkas still won't come.

Actually I've been turned down by Tierney, Bellingham, Tonali etc. Bellingham actually agrees terms to my face, but then goes away and comes back with a message that he'd turning us down...

I did pick up a 15 year old Togo striker with 17 pace and 13 Aerial (almost certainly Adebayor's regen), but he won't be useful for 3 or 4 years... Oh and I finally sold old mate Joelinton... A bit sad really...

[geordiekrispy]

Nice season, fingers crossed you'll get some stability in defence/midfield and start to concede a few less and score a few more.

 

Also, how in the world did you get 4.6m for Krafth and 1.5m for Carroll? Nevermind the 2m for Saviet, 1m for Lazaar! But only 8.5m for Schar?

You are a master of the transfer market!

 

[Scratch]

11 hours ago, billy2shots said:

I think a few real clubs need to make you their Director of Football. Some of those signings are at bargain basement levels. 

Any decent signing I try and make on this year's game comes back at pretty much £80m -£90m. 

 

 

Haha, I doubt my FMM tricks would work in real life. That said, I'm open to offers if any club chairman are reading this! 😄

Basically they all have a 50% sell on clause, so you can get the players at 67% of the absolute minimum. I used to not add sell on clauses for long term saves as I'll sell all of these players at some point, but then I realised I'll get a better squad by doing it and by the time I sell them I'll probably have plenty of money anyway.

So, what I do (slightly changed since last time I mentioned it) is this:

1. Put in a low offer with 50% sell on clause, BUT I close the negotiation screen and reopen it before adding the sell on fee. So for eg, if the player value is 24M, I'll change the offer to 16M, close that screen, choose Make Offer again, add on 50% sell on and suggest the deal.
    
2. Whatever they come back with is the lowest they will actually sell for. Using the above eg, maybe they come back with 30M. If you just make a normal offer of say 16M, they'll likely counter with a much higher request (eg maybe 40M or 45M in the eg above).
    
3. Then I work out two thirds (or slightly over) of their absolute minimum. So if they came back with 30M, then I will change it to 20M (sometimes it might need to be 20.5M). Then I rest the sell on clause to 0, close the negotiation screen, reopen it and add the 50% sell on clause again and make the offer and it will normally be accepted.

There are always a few edge cases where this doesn't work and of course it won't work if it triggers an auction thing, but it works most of the time. I'm not 100% sure if you always need to close the negotiation screen or not - sometimes I seem to get the same results without doing it, but other times I can't get the same price. I should test it further, but I do the open / close screen thing automatically at this point, so I just stick to that...

Edited February 4, 2021 by Scratch