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Career 1k Challenge - The Importance of Being Ernest - Completed


MikeF
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Well after my accidentally deleted previous attempt I thought I’d have another crack at a 1k after my recent double trouble success. I didn’t want to repeat team or player (I want to come back to Moukoko for a 2k challenge later) I thought I’d mix it up. 
 

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Heading to the Netherlands and home of many a successful challenge, Ajax were the chosen team. Big team. Small league. Great youth set up. I’m hoping this sets me up for goals galore. 
 

Now, the big question - who is the lucky youngster they gets to spend his career scoring goals for fun? I always rank very low for domestic player bias and seeing as Ajax like their homegrown talent I wanted a Dutch lad. After extensive scouting I settled on this little guy. 
 

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Ernest Poku. 
 

Signed from our fierce local rivals AZ, my scouts thought he was decent and he’s down as a promising striker so I’ll trust the back room and see how he does. He was also cheap which is a bonus 😂 
 

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Looking raw but stats in the right places, selfish and both footed. Also 16 so plenty of years in him. 
 

Season 1

So how did he get on?

Err ok but we have some issues 😂. He’s stopped growing already with 12 aerial and his fitness needs serious work as he can’t play more than one game a week but he’s young  3077D709-9E11-417D-A9A2-408ABC7812E3.thumb.png.026fc96017f11f0a58309ecb36afcf55.png

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20 goals from 35 games. Not bad for a 16/17 year old but we want more. He’s developing alright apart from the height thing. Pace at 15 and good stats for an AF or Poacher. I just need to stop his teamwork increasing anymore!

 

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We won the league as expected with a solid defence and losing only one match. Won the cup but got knocked out in the semis of the CL. Still, not bad considering we had a 16yr old up front. 
 

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My main man Pavin doing what he does best although with a short front man I may need to change how I usually play him  

Pretty happy with my activity in the first window with a couple of player exchanges to get key players for my system (CMs and wingbacks). I’ve also tried to sign Dutch where I can but I’m sure they won’t last.

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Flogged some of the deadwood or players thet don’t fit my system. 
 

All in all a good season to get the team set up and the young lad heading in the right direction. 
 

Goals: 20

Edited by MikeF
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Season 2

Slightly better from the little fella averaging over a goal a game. He just can’t manage that many games! I’ve got 3 fitness coaches now to help those physical stats. 

His other have come on reasonably ok he’s just definitely done growing 😂 

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Took the league easily but not scoring too many goals but I expect this to pick up. Still a very tight defence despite selling Onana for 57m and replacing him with Butland for 550k. 

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Pretty solid all round from the team.

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I had a few offers come in for players who were replaceable so we had some money to play with. It’s annoying with Ajax in that you don’t get your transfer budget until the end of July.

Gravenbach is class but I’m training him for a CM role so I needed a good AP. Zaniolo seemed the good pick but he came a hefty price. He also came with a bad attitude and eye for goal which isn’t ideal but I’m hoping he’ll settle down soon when Poku gets more deadly in front of goal.

Weirdly I didn’t sign De Paul but he’s showing here as if I did due to a bug.

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Onto the next season, this should be a big one for him as he starts to mature and he’s still developing fast each game so I’m hopeful for the big numbers to start rolling in. 
 

Goals: 58

Edited by MikeF
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Season 3

16 from his first 6 games and then he settled off a bit. A couple injuries and fitness issues meant he only managed 31 games but he did score 46 in those. A great return for a young lad. We just need that fitness up!

Some small bit key changes in his stats but I think consistency and other hidden stats are up also as he was having fun this season. 

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we were unbeaten in all comps until he picked up an injury towards the end of the season and my back up striker isn’t great so we then crashed out of the CL, lost in the cup final and drew a league match all in 4 games 😂. I need more depth!

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The team settled down more too with my wingers working well.

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Zaniolo was a problem scoring too many goals and being disruptive and then Chelsea came an offered £115m for him! Thanks you. Looks like he was a tw@t there too 😂. 7 days after signing…

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I replaced him with someone more suited to my system (as I couldn’t get Odegaard) and brought in Upamecano for some pace in the defence although fans don’t like him as he needs to improve after being benched by Bayern for a while.

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All in all I’m happy with the goals per game. We just need to get his games up. That will come. 
 

Oh and at the end of the season this happened: 

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No chance! 
 

Goals: 104

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Season 4

He’s still improving and his physical stats were up a bit meaning I managed to squeeze a lot more games out of him. Despite playing 15 more games he only managed one more goal but things are moving in the right direction. He does seem inconsistent but he’s young so no doubt this’ll improve with experience and when the team around him gets better too. 

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Won the CL which will help with recruitment and took all the domestic trophies as expected. 
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I didn’t hide my loan players when I took the team stats ss so they’re skewed but Pavon did what he does best and Neres did ok too on the left. Neres is a bit of a drama Queen so I’ll be looking to replace him if I can at some stage. 
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Nothing of note in terms of transfers. Some youngsters in. Some fringe players out. 
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Goals: 151

 

He’s still averaging over a goal a game which is good at this stage but we’ll need to start hitting bigger numbers soon. Saying that he’s a few years off prime still so plenty of time. 

Edited by MikeF
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That’s a great start Mike, you’ll only get stronger from here, love seeing players I haven’t heard of being used, look fiestas to seeing how you get on.

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Season 5

Good from the boy again with just over a goal a game. Quite inconsistent and often goes a couple of games without a goal but I’m hoping when we matures that gets better. 56 from 49 was this years tally.

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Crashed out the CL and came 3rd in world club championship but only conceded 3 in the league all season winning all but two games.

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Spent some money this season bringing in Donnarumma and Romero. Neres wanted to go so Saka came in as a short term fix  

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Team:

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Goals: 207

 

Oh and very nearly got FMM’d severely 😂 

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Edited by MikeF
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Season 6

Better in terms of goals but not goals per game. His aerial stats are hurting as he loses a lot of headers and wastes a fair few chances. He also misses more penalties than he scores. He does like to blast a free kick in the top bin though. 
He may not be world class yet but his value rocketed this season and the offers keep pouring in. I just wish he was a little taller!

I’m not 100% happy with my system as it doesn’t suit him with lots of crosses coming in so I’ll look to try something new next season most likely. 
 

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Won everything this year so no complaints there.

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One of my side goals on this challenge was to buy local so good to see my domestic bias up. I just need to start fining people it seems!


Another big signing for my key CM position and the next hope of curing my troublesome left wing. Picked up Hakimi on a bosman which was a bonus as Dumfries did well for me but wasn’t up to the standard of the rest of the team.

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Team:

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Pavon the wonder winger never fails me. Gravenberch gets a few assists but wherever I play him he always scores too many. He’s an Ajax legend but I don’t think his future here looks bright unfortunately. 
 

Goals: 268


We’re now 6 seasons in and only just over 25% through. I really need him to start picking up but his consistency is an issue. He’s still very young though and coming into his peak years. 

Edited by MikeF
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Season 7

Trying a new formation. Managed to squeeze a few more goals out the lad with him scoring 68 from 49 which is a solid return. 
 

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Won it all

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I had to let Gravenberch go as he wanted to move on so managed to get Odegaard as part of the deal in the Jan window. He looks to fit my new system better but did score too many. Always the problem with APs so I’ll tweak that role maybe. He set up a good few goals too so maybe I’ll just let him settle. 
 

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Backup striker went as we were offered a lot for him so I bought in a new youngster to play understudy. Apart from that and Odegaard there wasn’t much activity. 
 

Goals: 336

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Season 8

Another solid season again scoring 68 from 49. Maybe that’s his max return. He does get a good 10-15 goals disallowed each season so it would be good if his consistency picked up but a few more season like this will get us in our way nicely. 
 

His shooting went up to 19 too so hoping that will help too. 

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Won everything apart from Euro Super Cup

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New system is working well but Odegaard certainly has an eye for goal. Camavinga isn’t doing particularly great so I’m hoping to get a nice offer for him at some point to shift him. I’ve also got some good youngsters from the academy who are ready for the first team. A GK who could be become a global superstar, an AM (Daal) who could be world class and a CM who looks special too and has the great name of Passage, I hear he plays penetrating football…

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Massive coup getting de Ligt to come back to Ajax at only 28 so couldn’t resist that. Outgoings we’re just unhappy players not getting enough game time. 

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Goals: 404

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1 hour ago, Rich said:

Well done mate, not far off half way now, hopefully with the shooting going up, he’ll take more chances 😁

His decision making is high as is his movement but he’s still offside quite a bit and misses chances. But guess that’s because he has so many being my main goal route so expected I guess. I also think the missed chances are due to poor heading as when a high ball comes in he’s not connecting with it well and it’s going wide. I’ve never had a lone striker with such low aerial before and you can deffo feel it. Still, he’s in a grove now and he’s clearly got bags of potential. 

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Season 9

Absolutely massive season from the boy here getting to 101 goals from 57 games. Huge. 

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Won it all again losing only 1 game all season. Won the CWC even though it says semi below as we were still playing in it when the season ticked over.

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Team:

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New formation is working well with goals coming from all over but as Poku scored 101 goals I’ll let the rest of the team off. Assists coming from all over too which is nice. Not too reliant on any one player. 
 

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Re-signed Loser as he became a beast since selling him and the other signings are just good Dutch youngsters.

Had a massive offer for Camavinga which i accepted but forgot i had 50% going to PSG (saved money on original deal) so 86m went straight away meaning it wasn’t a great deal after all but he didn’t fit in my new system so he went and I learned my lesson about making stupid deals lol

 

Goals: 505

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I have been tempted to use Poku this year but the few times I signed him his attitude was always awful. Its such a big deal for me when choosing which player I will use for challenges. Glad to see you're getting huge numbers out of him.

Well done and I'm in no doubt you'll hit the 1k in no time.

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8 hours ago, Dai_ said:

I have been tempted to use Poku this year but the few times I signed him his attitude was always awful. Its such a big deal for me when choosing which player I will use for challenges. Glad to see you're getting huge numbers out of him.

Well done and I'm in no doubt you'll hit the 1k in no time.

Coach report says he’s inconsistent and i agree with that (apart from last season). Other than thet he’s never injured and never moans tbh. he is bad at penalties although scored more than he missed last year. And can blast a free kick in. But if it wasn’t a 1k challenge he wouldn’t be taking them.

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I’d be interested to see how he develops if you trained him as IF as he might be more suited there being short and fast. For £4m he’s an absolute bargain if he always has this potential. If someone has the editor I’d be interested to see his actual potential once the challenge is over. 

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1 hour ago, MikeF said:

Coach report says he’s inconsistent and i agree with that (apart from last season). Other than thet he’s never injured and never moans tbh. he is bad at penalties although scored more than he missed last year. And can blast a free kick in. But if it wasn’t a 1k challenge he wouldn’t be taking them.

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I’d be interested to see how he develops if you trained him as IF as he might be more suited there being short and fast. For £4m he’s an absolute bargain if he always has this potential. If someone has the editor I’d be interested to see his actual potential once the challenge is over. 

It's remarkable getting 100 goals in a season with him considering those negatives. They are all massive red flags for me. Fair play 👏.

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Just caught up with this and he's kicked into gear now. He's looking really good and you just have to find a tactic that unlocks him - which it seems you've done now. Should be pretty straight forward from here on in...

I was going to say that the best business was selling Loser to Inter for £63M, but then you went and bought him back! Just joking on his name of course. 😄

Anyway, doing great, keep it up.

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You have done fantastic mate so far.

It was a slow burner but burst into flames spectacularly and it looks like the big numbers are here to stay with that new tactic. 

The lad looks awesone despite his "issues"

Keep it up 👍

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Season 10

Not quite as good as last season but still great. We had the luxury of the CWC last year too which got 6 easy goals but no complaints with 88 goals to his name this year.

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Fewer goals but higher average rating. Coaches still call him inconsistent but I can't really complain at this...

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Didn't lose a game all season in any comp.

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New formation is working well too with a new tweak i introduced towards the end of the season which he seemed to enjoy. Assists coming from the wingers and the APs. Even though my two APs get a lot of goals, they're setting up a lot too so i'm ok with this. Well, kinda...

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I won't bore you with the transfers now as they're pretty much all regens.

 

Goals: 593 

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