Career Scratch Tries the Borussia Babes [Attempt 2 Complete]

[Dai_]

Great first season, pal. I'm always interested in your transfer dealings. You always seem to stock up on players early. Good ones too. 

I  personally wouldn't worry about your lack of injuries. I'm noticing that I'm getting away with very few this year compared to normal. I'm not doing anything different either so it's befuddling, slightly. Won't complain. I'll likely get hit at some point and moan like mad. 😂

Hopefully you get that CL in the second season otherwise it all counts for nothing. 😳😂

[Scratch]

2 hours ago, Dai_ said:

Great first season, pal. I'm always interested in your transfer dealings. You always seem to stock up on players early. Good ones too. 

I  personally wouldn't worry about your lack of injuries. I'm noticing that I'm getting away with very few this year compared to normal. I'm not doing anything different either so it's befuddling, slightly. Won't complain. I'll likely get hit at some point and moan like mad. 😂

Hopefully you get that CL in the second season otherwise it all counts for nothing. 😳😂

Haha, I always tend to use the same players though. Need to get me some new ones from time to time...

I'm glad I'm not the only one not getting that many injuries - I've seen others get quite a few. I know SI have tweaked the level of injuries a few times this year, so maybe it's just the version I'm on is a little more forgiving. Or maybe I'm about to head into a horror stretch! 😄

Yeah that's the danger with this challenge, all this could be for nothing. That said, I'm gonna probably change the tactic to something more conservative for the UCL games and micro manage them (I normally just let them play out), to try to get the wins. 🤞

[Scratch]

Well the player I was planning on using for season 2 ended up being bought by Sevilla for £87M in season 1 and was on 140K wages, so I wasn't sure I was gonna get him - but I did in the end!

Give me a B! 

Spoiler

Give me a O!

Spoiler

Give me a A!

Spoiler

You know where this is going, don't you?

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian]

I didn’t get many injuries at all on the first season of my second attempt and much more the first time so just how it goes for me. Like you I try not to play them when they get slightly tired but with youngsters I find I end up doing so a lot more than I’d like and perhaps was more cautious the second time around. I’m also starting to perhaps notice I’m getting more injuries with certain systems, could just be a coincidence at this stage but I’m keeping it in mind.

Nice season though with great totals all round. Just that Champions League final to take care of in the second season and you’ll be there with a great total. 

[Scratch]

7 hours ago, Ian said:

I didn’t get many injuries at all on the first season of my second attempt and much more the first time so just how it goes for me. Like you I try not to play them when they get slightly tired but with youngsters I find I end up doing so a lot more than I’d like and perhaps was more cautious the second time around. I’m also starting to perhaps notice I’m getting more injuries with certain systems, could just be a coincidence at this stage but I’m keeping it in mind.

Nice season though with great totals all round. Just that Champions League final to take care of in the second season and you’ll be there with a great total. 

Yeah, this season has been tough because they all get tired all the time. It's one thing when it's 2 or 3 in a DT or a TT, but 5 of them (now 6) and it's annoying. But I try to give them a break, otherwise it just gets worse...

Interesting that it might have to do with the system. I'll keep an eye out for that too (ie to see if the injuries I do get are coming more for players in certain positions). 

Yeah... The CL... That's what's worrying me! 

[Rich]

Soooo......any clues on the new player? 😝

[Scratch]

29 minutes ago, Rich said:

Soooo......any clues on the new player? 😝

It's about 4 posts above! I guess I hid it too well... 🤣

 

[Rich]

3 minutes ago, Scratch said:

It's about 4 posts above! I guess I hid it too well... 🤣

 

Ohhh Jesus, when I did post that I looked on the last page but didn’t look on the current one 😂

Nice, I’ve never used him before even though he looks decent, wonder how good he actually goes.

[George Traistă]

4 minutes ago, Scratch said:

It's about 4 posts above! I guess I hid it too well... 🤣

 

You distracted his attention with your cheerleader skills 🤣 And also because Rich has a very short attention span

[Dai_]

4 minutes ago, Scratch said:

It's about 4 posts above! I guess I hid it too well... 🤣

 

Our Rich's mind moves at a million mph. He'd easily miss some things. 😂 I caught it. 😉 Being Eagle eyed, and all that. 

[Rich]

At least we’re all in agreement that I have the worst attention span and my mind goes million miles an hour 😂😂 

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

Ohhh Jesus, when I did post that I looked on the last page but didn’t look on the current one 😂

Nice, I’ve never used him before even though he looks decent, wonder how good he actually goes.

I've used him a couple of times last year, and he was great, but of course not 100% how good he is this year or whether he starts the game too developed (a bit like Havertz was great up until this year, but now his base is higher, but that means not as much development, so not as good). But I expect Boadu will do the job. And I like that he can play in the AM line with a bit of retraining, which gives me some flexibility to getting them all on the pitch when I want to.

[Scratch]

4 minutes ago, George Traistă said:

You distracted his attention with your cheerleader skills 🤣 And also because Rich has a very short attention span

That's because everything he does is while he's also playing the game! That's the only way I can see him playing that much! 😄 

[Scratch]

5 minutes ago, Dai_ said:

Our Rich's mind moves at a million mph. He'd easily miss some things. 😂 I caught it. 😉 Being Eagle eyed, and all that. 

Yeah, that's why I restorted to the cheerleader thing, thought that might catch his attention for a few seconds, but not even that works anymore. We're losing him to the game. Soon he will burn out brightly, only to be reborn as a different user, supporting a different team, but still posting many high scoring careers! 😄

[Rich]

3 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Yeah, that's why I restorted to the cheerleader thing, thought that might catch his attention for a few seconds, but not even that works anymore. We're losing him to the game. Soon he will burn out brightly, only to be reborn as a different user, supporting a different team, but still posting many high scoring careers! 😄

You know the worst thing is, I wasn’t playing the game, I haven’t been the same player the last few weeks and getting through a season a day, it’s a season every 2/3 now, I’m sure I’ll find the love again though, just so my concentration comes back 😂

[George Traistă]

3 minutes ago, Scratch said:

That's because everything he does is while he's also playing the game! That's the only way I can see him playing that much! 😄 

or because he stopped doing everything else so he can play the game all the time.

 

2 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Yeah, that's why I restorted to the cheerleader thing, thought that might catch his attention for a few seconds, but not even that works anymore. We're losing him to the game. Soon he will burn out brightly, only to be reborn as a different user, supporting a different team, but still posting many high scoring careers! 😄

He did that many times, first he was Nucleus, then RichDavies32, RichD and now Rich... 

[Scratch]

3 minutes ago, Rich said:

You know the worst thing is, I wasn’t playing the game, I haven’t been the same player the last few weeks and getting through a season a day, it’s a season every 2/3 now, I’m sure I’ll find the love again though, just so my concentration comes back 😂

LOL, A season every 2 or 3 days is my best, no way I can do a season a day... Not sure how you do it! 😄

But yeah, don't burn out... I do that every so often and have to have a break from the game - used to be every year, but I've gone a couple playing solid now. I guess I'm overdue for a burnout..

[Dai_]

Just now, Scratch said:

LOL, A season every 2 or 3 days is my best, no way I can do a season a day... Not sure how you do it! 😄

But yeah, don't burn out... I do that every so often and have to have a break from the game - used to be every year, but I've gone a couple playing solid now. I guess I'm overdue for a burnout..

A season a day is easy. Just ignore everyone and everything around you. Oh, and sacrifice sleep. Easy. 👌😂

[Scratch]

5 minutes ago, George Traistă said:

or because he stopped doing everything else so he can play the game all the time.

 

He did that many times, first he was Nucleus, then RichDavies32, RichD and now Rich... 

LOL, I don't know if I really believe that theory, but it's a good meme now whether it's true or not.

I still think he's actually Steve Bruce and when he set up the Nucleus account he said he supported the club he captained, then when he reset to RichD he said he supported his boyhood club that he was actually managing... But he needs to play less and concentrate on his day job a little more!

[George Traistă]

1 minute ago, Dai_ said:

A season a day is easy. Just ignore everyone and everything around you. Oh, and sacrifice sleep. Easy. 👌😂

A season a day is easy, just play the Augusta challenge.

I used to have a season every 2 or 3 days but after Augusta I'm still on speedy Gonzalez mode 🤣

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, Dai_ said:

A season a day is easy. Just ignore everyone and everything around you. Oh, and sacrifice sleep. Easy. 👌😂

I guess I could have done it back in the day, but not now - too many other things like family and job etc... I probably spend too much time playing! Not that that's possible of course...

[Scratch]

Just now, George Traistă said:

A season a day is easy, just play the Augusta challenge.

I used to have a season every 2 or 3 days but after Augusta I'm still on speedy Gonzalez mode 🤣

Actually I did get faster last year when my tactic was truly plug and play, but this year I find I need to watch the opposition and tweak things more, so that slows me down. Never played Augusta to be fair, maybe I should give it a go (although I have too many careers on the go already!)

[George Traistă]

1 minute ago, Scratch said:

Actually I did get faster last year when my tactic was truly plug and play, but this year I find I need to watch the opposition and tweak things more, so that slows me down. Never played Augusta to be fair, maybe I should give it a go (although I have too many careers on the go already!)

Noooo, don't kill your brain!!! Augusta is the best and worst of challenges. You will never be the same after that.

[Scratch]

Just now, George Traistă said:

Noooo, don't kill your brain!!! Augusta is the best and worst of challenges. You will never be the same after that.

Haha, okay, consider me talked out of it. I just remembered I haven't even tried the Rooney badge one, let alone succeed the CR7 one or this one and then I have two TTs on the go. So yeah, I'll skip it for now! 😄

[Scratch]

Season 2

We had a decent first season, but can we back it up in season 2? And can we make the UCL final so that we qualify for the leaderboard?

 

Player 6

As mentioned above, I brought in Boadu to be player 6:

Unfortunately he wasn't as good as I remembered from last year. He made a reasonable number of contributions, but he had a message that he was an inconsistent player, he couldn't even get motivated for UCL games so must have a low professionalism score, was stifled by club culture so probably has a low work rate value (or maybe that's professionalism too). And his personality was Moody...

 

Transfers

Spoiler

Not too many changes for season 2. We sold Waldschmidt who'd been disappointing off the bench. We bought Fabian in to take Can's place (he left on exchange) and we bought in Gomez so we had a second strong CD (I'd been playing Demiral most games and resting him with youngsters).

 

Injuries

Last season I had hardly any injuries and complained about it, so the FMM gods did their work on me:

Spoiler

• Haaland had two injuries: 1 month; and 3 weeks (missing most of the UCL knockout games)
• Bellingham missed 2 weeks
• Boadu missed 2 weeks
• Sancho missed 10 days

Definitely could have been worse, but I didn't get a free ride this time around.

 

The League

Decent season, faded a bit near the end. 88 points plus 80 goal difference gives us 168 points.

 

The Lads

There's so many screenshots that I've just dumped them and the history shots in here:

Spoiler

 Not much improvement from Boadu, but then he was decent to start with. Bellingham came on strong after his year of almost no updates... Not much else to say.

 

Contributions

The lads were busy:

• Haaland: 46 goals +15 assists = 61 contributions
• Vlahovic: 38 goals + 13 assists = 51 contributions
• Sancho: 22 goals + 7 assists = 29 contributions
• Boadu: 16 goals + 7 assists = 23 contributions
• Bellingham: 14 goals + 17 assists = 31 contributions
• Reyna: 9 goals + 33 assists = 42 contributions

Total contributions: 237 points

Reyne ended up with about the same number of contributions, but many more assists, because he played mostly as RW this time around.

As you can see none of the lads played many games (only Vlahovic made it to 40) as I kept resting them any time they were slightly tired or not 100%. Maybe they would have contributed more if I'd kept them on the park longer, but I feel like they did better because they were fresher. 

 

Score

Season 1 (combined): 351 points
Season 2 (league): 168 points
Season 2 (players): 237 points

Total: 756 points

That's a very nice score, which would put us second on the leaderboard... IF we made it to the Champions League Final...

And for that, you will have to wait for a separate update...

 

[Rich]

You tease Scratch😂

The boys done great for you, they all look pretty good as well. Some nice improvements. I hope you got to the champions league final at least 🤞🏻

[Scratch]

29 minutes ago, Rich said:

You tease Scratch😂

The boys done great for you, they all look pretty good as well. Some nice improvements. I hope you got to the champions league final at least 🤞🏻

Thanks mate, the lads did really well No complaints there. But we'll have to see whether it was all for nothing or not...

[broodje kip]

Impressive Scratch. Well done

[Scratch]

46 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Impressive Scratch. Well done

Thanks mate. Better hope I made the UCL final, or you know what's coming... This all over again, only with Esposito!! 😄

[Scratch]

So as mentioned above in the Season 2 update above, we ended up getting a very good score: 756 points.

However, it will be meaningless if we failed to meet the final benchmark: qualifying for the Champions League Final!

Let's see how it panned out.

 

The Group Stage

In season 1, we got smashed in Europe, going out in the Group Stage. This time around we conquered the group pretty easily:

It was a strong group, but we only lost 1 game and we ended up with a decent GD as well. 

I'd originally planned to use a different tactic in Europe, but I stuck with the TT Blaster for the start of the group stage. Results were positive, so I kept on using it, right to very end of our campaign. I was sensible though - if we were 4-3 up and they were pushing us, I'd move some players back and go Defensive or Counter, etc.

 

The First Knockout Stage

Nice easy game first up: Real Madrid...

We got off to a shaky start, going down 1-0 away from home in the first leg:

We dominated the second leg, but it was a close thing, with Real Madrid leading on away goals right up until the winner from Vlahovic went in in the 82nd minute:

If their disallowed goal in 78th minute had stood, we would have lost on away goals anyway. But we did win and we went through to the Quarter Finals.

 

Quarter Finals

Next up was Juve...

We dominated the first leg at home, but allowed a few soft goals, winning 5-3 in the end. Could have been a bit tighter, but was reasonably happy as that's a decent platform to take into the second leg.

So... what happened in that second leg?

Well we dominated in terms of possession and shots, but we were incredibly inaccurate, scoring only one goal. I was a little slow to go more defensive and Ronny snuck in and scored a couple of quick goals. We locked down tight after that and were riding towards victory... until Douglas Costa scored in the 75th minute, putting them in front on away goals..,. and that's were it stayed despite a last minute scramble.

So...

We failed to meet the benchmark and we don't qualify for the leaderboard... 

Sigh... Who thought this ridiculous benchmark up?

Now I need to start this all over again... Spoiler alert, I started this afternoon and have picked my season 1 striker for my next attempt. Now I need to build a team around them. So see you back here at some point!

Thanks for reading. 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Scratch