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Career How bad can Man Utd get? (‘austerity’ + ‘asset stripping’!)


How will Man Utd perform - after 3 seasons of ‘austerity’ + ‘asset stripping’?  

36 members have voted

  1. 1. How will Man Utd perform - after 3 years of ‘austerity’ + ‘asset stripping’?

    • League Winners (in Season 3)
      7
    • Top 4 / ECL Qualification
      2
    • Top 7 / Euro Cup Qualification
      0
    • Mid-Table Mediocrity
      10
    • Lower Table / Avoids Relegation
      9
    • Relegated from the Premier League
      7
    • No idea / don’t understand / other
      1


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How bad can Man Utd get? 

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Season 1:
The Vibe Record Store

Our 1st entry into @Rich’s record store! BUT it is for something unfortunate / not good 😞 

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The summary? Even with Ronaldo up front, and Sancho / Shaw out wide vs 10 men - we can’t score from crosses!

Details in the spoiler:

Spoiler

🏆 Most Team Crosses
without scoring from them!

After Newcastle had a man sent off + moved to a 41220 narrow formation, I sent everything down the flanks …

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41 attempted crosses (only 7 corners!), with Ronaldo as my Target Man. Yet only 4 crosses were completed + my only goal came from a penalty (from open play).

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Couldn’t break the opposition down without Bruno nor Pogba 😞 

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Here’s my player stats breakdown, look at how many players didn’t make a successful cross?! They’re not even reaching our ST!
 

 
My key lesson for this career:
don’t try to create down the flanks. 

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

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Season 1:
The Worst Day of Our Season?

Jan 1st. We press “continue”. This is what happens …

Spoiler

Transfer offers for fullbacks Shaw + Dalot!

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 Under my rules for this career, I must accept them 😞 And both players want to leave this ‘sinking ship’!

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Note - image above is missing the £75m sale of Bruno Fernandes - don’t know why.  
 


Our Board
They still hate me. They’ll probably fire me if I complain one more time! Their threat that they are “shortlisting replacements” has disappeared though👍 

Spoiler

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Thankfully they’re pleased with our form…

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… but are unhappy with our ‘squad harmony’ - yes dear Board, that’s your fault for transfer listing most of them! 
 

 
More Transfer Listed?!
With the window open, the Board transfer list Varane, Sancho + Martial. Ouch.

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Fans are disgusted with me.

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Plus - after slowly rebuilding morale, now the (smaller!) squad is back to being thoroughly demoralized🔻

Spoiler

Look at all those red icons …

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Next
How bad can it get - surely it can’t get worse?! …

… oh.

Spoiler

Not wonderkid Sancho? Noooo!

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And not to rivals Liverpool?!?!

Edited by DanEnglish
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5 hours ago, FuddledFox said:

This was an interesting read and good fun. With everything going against you to be 3rd and into the CL Ko’s is a good achievement so far.

Thanks 👍 

Actually I’m disappointed. Normally would (edit: win) the league 1st season with Man Utd. Why not this time … Losing Bruno? Poor morale? Or not adapting quickly enough to opposition back threes? Hmmm …

Anyway - it’s only going to get worse. We have to survive this transfer window 🥵 spoiler - it’s not good! 

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

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Season 1:
The January Transfer Window

OH NO …

It has got MUCH worse. As @Meow predicted, there would be an inevitable crisis in this transfer window. But I didn’t realise it would be this bad so soon… 
 

Three Full Backs
We already lost Shaw + Dalot on Jan 1st. Now we’ve also lost Wan-Bissaka as well. There’s only one solution…

Spoiler

Lots of interest in our worst performing full-back …

CCEC3858-76BF-4D9C-9BD7-EA683DD41601.thumb.jpeg.cf6210a965fd0c26bf03a75bbbdf2e85.jpeg

… who ended up leaving for just £18m …

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So we recalled these three FBs from out on loan. Laird, Williams and youth left back Fernandez.

91692EC9-B03D-4A8E-8234-2432CFE20064.thumb.jpeg.d5f7d760a13e14e22ccd6f12e04f6c62.jpeg 
 

  
More Listed Players
Three more rounds of transfer listing players. That’s now 9 or 10 rounds total. The only one who isn’t listed is Cristiano Ronaldo!?!

Spoiler

They’ve listed 3 midfielders who I recalled from loan back in September…

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… and listed two of the Full Backs who I’ve just recalled back …

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… and listed my only youth / reserve players who i could find a loan club for 😞 

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How long will these guys stay for?! 
 

 
DISASTER ⚠️
Terrible news. We received offers on FOUR players - Sancho (!!!), VaraneVan De Beek + youth star Hannibal

Spoiler

This is unsustainable - we won’t have any players left by season 3 !?! So I negotiated all four transfers for the end-season 😮

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£34m for Varane. £22m for Van de Beek. Less than £12m for Hannibal. Bargains.

… but what about Sancho … ?! 
 


Sancho
Unlike the other 3 (Varane, Van De Beek, Hannibal) - for some reason, Sancho’s £75m transfer went through IMMEDIATELY, not for the end-season 😵

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Next
Almost all the squad are transfer listed. They’re demotivated. We’ve lost FOUR players this window, with another three agreed for end-season. Yet we have somehow kept the aging Ronaldo.

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We are screwed 😞 Any suggestions?!  
 

Edited by DanEnglish
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On 08/06/2022 at 09:51, Meow said:

At the rate of only selling and no incoming transfers, you'll probably run out of players to play let alone loan out.

I think your earlier quote here is like a prophecy, as it’s certainly coming true 😞 

We are running out of full backs + within 6-12 months maybe central midfielders + strikers as well 🥵

Really wish I’d have loaned out (not sold) Bailly + Lindelof - so could recall them back now that I have spare wage budget.

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One interesting aspect of turning on these two ‘narratives’ is that you can’t “rage transfer list” players when they anger you - because they are already transfer listed!

<sarcasm alert> Thanks Fred for the unnecessary red card :red: for violent conduct in a European knockout tie. If we lose the 2nd leg then I’m blaming you!

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Edited by DanEnglish
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Season 1:
Sliding Down the Table…

Hmmm … this is not going well.

After selling so many players (and buying no-one), we are starting to slide down the league table …

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4th placed - after 30/31 games. The other teams have games in hand. It is looking “not good”

We have been lucky to not drop further. After selling THREE full backs, we’ve been conceding more goals, and have needed some luck when chasing games

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And some of our players are under fire in the media for continued poor performances - including our vice captain!

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Next
Will give a May 1st update. Am not looking forward to it 😞

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How bad can Man Utd get? 

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Season 1:
Second Half of the Season

It’s May 1st. Three league games left. How are we doing ?

Spoiler

3rd! But Spurs are only three points behind with TWO games in hand. We will either finish 3rd or (more likely) 4th.

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Our final three league games are tough - against Man City, Liverpool + Chelsea. Ouch.

Plus we have to overturn a 1-0 first leg loss vs Barcelona in the ECL semi-finals. Doable?

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The Squad
How are morale + injuries affecting our team ?! And how is our top scorer Ronaldo performing … ?!

Spoiler

The good news is that morale is recovering - as the Board haven’t transfer listed anyone new since end-Jan 👍 

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However injuries are making a difference. On the 1st of May, our main playmaker is ruled out for the rest of this season 😮

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We are not scoring enough goals. Ronaldo has 13 in the league, while our rivals for 3rd place have Kane’s 35 (!) so far. Wow.

D084F4FE-18D4-4544-842D-B27AC24BB165.thumb.jpeg.efbf01c00d58549568633c6b244fb4bf.jpeg

Really want to change tactics (to a 3142 or 3412), but don’t have enough squad depth in DCs.

What a strategic error in selling Bailly + Lindelof at the start of season 1, instead of loaning them out with a recall option. *sigh*


The Board
Still unhappy with me. But I’m not fired … yet!

Spoiler

Still “aggravated” by me. 

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3 greens + 2 yellows. Don’t think we are mounting a “serious challenge for the title” though! 

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Next
Need to play the this season’s final month. Fingers crossed!

Question - will I get fired for finishing 3rd or (more likely) 4th in the league?! 
 

Edited by DanEnglish
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0919A877-74D5-4C8B-BCD8-5B5F5D7242A4.thumb.jpeg.bd996bcb2b6934c5b8ffe87734ddda3b.jpeg

“Ok lads. This is it. Barcelona …”

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“… this will save our season. You all are just 90 minutes away from our Champions League final. You just need to score one goal + then we’re equal…”

  • “Ronaldo, Martial … er … yes you also Elanga … we are relying on you to score … “
     
  • “Perriera, Lingard … um … Chong … you need to be creating the chances … “

“There is no way we can fail. We have hope. HOPE !!!”

Spoiler

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Urgh. 

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

66C48B72-6EB4-46F5-A26B-1654AAB3E374.jpeg.af5ab575d0478fe36b04008366b6b2c8.jpeg

Season 1:
A Disappointing Finish

June 1st. You know we were knocked out of Europe by Barcelona in the semi-finals. Well … it got worse in the league as well

Spoiler

Five points from our tough final three league games … 

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… leaves us in 4th - disappointing.

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Look how few goals we scored!

  • After a few injuries, Ronaldo isn’t quick enough not good enough in the air.
  • We also really missed Bruno 😞 
  • Plus my tactics need a rework - we just don’t have enough DCs to play a 3142/3412 often 😡 
     

 
Player Performances
Losing four stars was hard (Bruno, Pogba, Rashford’s + Sancho). Losing three full backs in January really weakened our defense also. 

So of those who remain - who did well?!

Spoiler

Ronaldo was in the league’s top 10 scorers, but only 14 goals is not good enough for  “title challengers” main ST - look at Kane’s 40 league goals !!!

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Bizarrely, B2B midfielder Perriera is in the top 10 for assists - many as he took a lot of set pieces.

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Then - for those that care - here are our player’s stats for the season. Half of them have <7 average ratings 😞 

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*sigh* no replacements incoming 😞 

 
Squad Dynamics
Our super-professional squad is no more. How did is get worse?! And should McTominay be a surprise choice for Captain or Vice-Captain?!

Spoiler

Only a “C” for professionalism? Before it was an “A”!

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It seems wing-back Telles is bringing down the team dynamics …

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… and somehow Telles is more influential than Captain Ronaldo + Vice-Captain Maquire!

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Hmmm … I need to change my captaincy choices… perhaps McTominay? 

 
Season Summary

4th in the league. Reached the semi-finals in Europe. Huh. Not bad in the real world, but very disappointing in FMM.

Now we have another transfer window 🥵 allowing our Board to rip apart the squad further - everyone in the first team is already transfer listed (except Ronaldo). So what more can they do … ? Sell all our GKs? Sell our youth facilities?! Sell Old Trafford?!?!

Surely season 2 can’t get much worse … can it?! 
 

Edited by DanEnglish
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Who would have thought you'd do better than the real Man U amidst the chaos of asset stripping? HAHAHAHAHA

The key thing to look for would be how many 16 year olds come through the youth academy. It's probably pretty bizarre, but you'd almost want quantity over quality here. If both intakes in the 3 seasons you intend to play are small, there will be a tipping point where you just don't have enough players.

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2 hours ago, Meow said:

The key thing to look for would be how many 16 year olds come through the youth academy. It's probably pretty bizarre, but you'd almost want quantity over quality here. If both intakes in the 3 seasons you intend to play are small, there will be a tipping point where you just don't have enough players.

That’s intriguing 🤔 I like it 👍 

Based on your thinking, I’ll accept ALL the youth intake. Every player matters.

To help ensure I still have enough (+15?) players for the end of season 3, I’m thinking of strategically keeping those players out on loan throughout season 2. Seems if a player is loaned out, then the Board don’t transfer list them! 🤞 

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How bad can Man Utd get? 

247E78CD-445A-46BA-BD78-BF95EAB46EE0.jpeg.cc8a7eed68b44878d1c88e68f6dac070.jpeg

How Could YOU Do Better?

You are reading these posts + laughing. “Only 4th?” you say. You KNOW you could do better. Much better. How …

 
TRANSFERS
Even with both ‘austerity measures’ and ‘asset stripping’ narratives turned ON - we could have sold less players

Spoiler
  • Refuse Bids - the Board will allow you to refuse bids for 1 or 2 players, so I should have refused the Bruno bid.
  • Don’t Offer Out - most transfer listed players won’t receive bids, unless you offer them out repeatedly like my rule requires. 
  • Loan Instead - instead of selling Bailly, Lindelof + Cavani to reduce wages, I should have loaned them out, so they can be recalled later. A big mistake.

 
SQUAD
Both narratives hit morale + selling the training ground limits player development. How can YOU counteract this?!

Spoiler
  • Talk to Players - morale drops so much, that praising + criticizing players regularly should be a big help. I didn’t do it once.
  • Mentoring - if you either keep your best stars (Bruno!) or recall your loaned out oldies (Cavani!), you’ll have much better mentors. Mine were sold 😞 

 
TACTICS

I tried to ‘speed through’ the season. You could do better if you spent more time improving tactics

Spoiler
  • Advanced Highlights - I played most matches on only ‘text commentary’. You’d have much better results by watching the game + tweaking accordingly.
  • Better Tactics - I went for a basic 4231 with single instructions, and lacked DCs yo switch often to a 3142/3412. A better tactic would perform … er … better. 

 
Any other suggestions / observations you have?  
What would YOU have done differently?!? 
 

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

2960B65D-C896-4088-B709-66D6D2D8F5AD.jpeg.a0f1e1b8579934bd1b1688d40049ec13.jpeg

More Transfers Out?!

Our asset stripping owners continue to … er … do their job. 

As a reminder - we already sold 4 stars, 3 full backs, 2 center-backs + some oldies last season. Sounds like a Christmas song 🎵 but there is more … 
 

Pending Transfers  
These FOUR are on their way out the door…

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Varane was our only DC who had any pace, van de Beek was our main AP / AMC in an attempt to replace Bruno, Elanga was our 4th highest scorer (stop laughing!) + Hannibal … well … Hannibal made up the numbers.

 
More Transfers?!
You’ve guessed what’s coming. BUT to me it was a surprise

Spoiler

Vice-Captain Maquire ?! 
He’s the 4th DC we’ve sold now - along with Varane, Bailly, Lindelof 😞 Ouch.

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Plus youth wing-back Fernandez?! 
Just £3m. I’d have preferred to have kept him. He’s the 4th FB we’ve sold now 😞 oh dear.

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All Transfers
So we’ve now sold 1 GK, 4 DCs, 4 FBs, 4 Midfielders + 4 Attackers. Ouch. That’s an entire (small) squad!

Spoiler
  • 1 GK = Grant
  • 4x DCs = Maquire, Varane, Bailly, Lindelof
  • 4x FBs = Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Dalot, Fernandez
  • 4x MF = Bruno, Pogba, van de Beek, Hannibal
  • 4x ATT = Cavani, Rashford, Sancho, Elanga.

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For some reason, Bruno is missing from the +£300m list above - but it’s ok because we can see his record sale here …

EE96C2CD-2726-44B3-8985-B950C1915902.thumb.jpeg.7e856129b07c0044a07d1740ae546390.jpeg 
 

  
Next
So who do we have left … ?! 

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

62CF5A8A-EDE8-4F64-BC2B-A818A328EE98.thumb.jpeg.b667da9b05ac8ec2a400646046b3bc72.jpeg

Season 2:
Phil Jones: Last Man Standing?

After selling 17 players in season one, which mighty reds are we relying on for season two? It doesn’t look good.

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Keepers: 
Great news - this is the only position where we have haven’t lost a first team player, with only elderly GK Grant sold a year ago…

Spoiler

De Gea is 100% our first choice. Pity his contract ends in a years time (end of season 2) + he doesn’t want to extend! 

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So who do we have behind him?

  •  Henderson has poor attributes, but is the best of a limited bunch. We’ll send him out on loan before the Board try to sell him! 
  • Elderly Heaton is decent, but no-one else will pay him £60k/wk, so he’ll be our backup for the season ahead.
  • Kovar is also decent, but his contract also expires next summer + he doesn’t want to negotiate new terms. Hmm…
  • 🔻Bishop is rubbish. Genuinely terrible *shudders*

GK Rating = Good 👍 

 
Center Backs: 
I’d love to play a back three, but stupidly sold Bailly + Lindelof to cut wages, before first team choices Varane + Maquire were stolen from me. Who is left … ?!

Spoiler

Phil Jones?

Our situation is so bad that I’ve retrained McTominay to be our best DC. 

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  • 🔻 Phil Jones + Matic (whose really a midfielder) are my DC backups. Urgh.
  •  Will probably promote three-star Tuanzebe to the first team, I like him, so hopefully the Board don’t sell him!
  • Will send backups Mengi + Bernard out on loan this season, so we have someone available for season 3 … hopefully.

DC Rating = Worrying ⁉️ will lack depth if +2 DCs are sold in the next 18 months 

 
Full Backs: 

We’ve already sold 4 of them. This is a worry …

Spoiler

Team leader Telles is the best of the bunch, even though he brings down our team dynamics.

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  •  Williams and Laird performed well in the 2nd half of last season after being recalled from loan. Williams in particular is developing well

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  • 🔻 The other three youths are … hmm … young … they’d be good in the Championship or League 1. They’ll go out on loan to  develop into backups for season three … hopefully.

FB Rating = Very Worrying 😵⚠️ right now we have enough to play with FBs, but a few more sales and we may be forced into changing formations!
 

 
Midfield: 

No Bruno. No Pogba. No van de Beek. No … er … Hannibal Lecter. Being Man United, surely we still have some talent + depth here though - right?!

Spoiler

Pereira, Fred + wonderkid Shoretire. Does that sound like a title-challenging midfield to you? 

No? Me neither.

Fred was particularly poor last season with a 6.44 average rating. 😮 I’d threaten to sell him, but he’s been transfer listed for ages with no interest.

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  • ⁉️ laughably old-man Mata gets a two year contract extension. He can’t run, but he can still pass, so he’s an extra player to fill the bench.
  •  Garner + Levitt are decent midfielders with +15 passing. Good for lower-table EPL or too-half Championship teams. 
  • Perhaps Galbraith can also be an ok squad / bench player … maybe.
  • 🔻 the others are young + need time away to develop. But they’ll never be world-beaters

MF Rating = Decent / Mixedthe first teamers are mid-EPL standard, but the rest are Championship standard at best. 

 
Attackers: 
We said bye-bye to Cavani, Rashford, Sancho + speedster Elanga. Who are we now relying on to score the goals?!

Spoiler

Huh. It’s not ideal … but Martial + Lingard become first team starters as an AF + Inverted Winger respectively. Solid, but not spectacular.

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The excitement comes from promoting wonderkid Diallo  as an IF from out wide. He needs to develop more (only 13 for shooting?!) but he’s professional, determined + can speak basic English 

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  •  Bizarrely, we’ll wheel out elderly Cristiano Ronaldo out as an impact sub / 2nd team player. He is deteriorating + only scored 14 in the league last season as our #1 striker.
  • Chong played well last season as a right-sided IW + Pellestri can join him on the other flank as decent 2nd team players.
  • The remaining FOUR youth team players all have :star::star::star: potential - so one day will be good, so they’ll go out on loan. 

ST Rating = Good 👍 probably enough to qualify for Europe, but while we have the quantity, a few more sales of attackers would leave us lacking in quality. 
 

  
It doesn’t look great, does it? 😞 
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Question:
Where do you think we should finish in season 2 ?! 

Edited by DanEnglish
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You're doing a great job here Dan, the board and fans might not appreciate that but we do!

I think you may slide a couple of positions unfortunately, 5th-7th but that is still incredible

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5 hours ago, StuartM said:

You're doing a great job here Dan, the board and fans might not appreciate that but we do!

I think you may slide a couple of positions unfortunately, 5th-7th but that is still incredible

I love your optimistic thinking @StuartM. I’m pretty sure the Board, fans, media and this humble manager all think the only good job going on here is …

Spoiler

… making posts look relatively pretty + colourful 👍 

It’s like the kindergarten art class of FMM careers. It’s like ‘you can put lipstick on a pig’ but Maquire doesn’t like it very much.

We are succeeding - only if you remove the criteria of actually being good at football.

On a positive note, I’d bite your hand off to finish the 2nd season winning the ‘Everton Cup’ 🏆 (I.e. finishing 7th) + qualifying for Europe. BUT it could get a LOT worse 😞 

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On 26/06/2022 at 14:11, Meow said:

The key thing to look for would be how many 16 year olds come through the youth academy. It's probably pretty bizarre, but you'd almost want quantity over quality here.

What happens @Meow if you get neither quality nor quantity 😵

Spoiler

5 youth players - only 1 has greater than one star potential.

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“Underwhelmed” Mike? Yes, I agree.

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17 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

if you get neither quality nor quantity

Not the worst in terms of quantity, I've seen 3.

Quality well... at least they won't attract as many bids 😂

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17 hours ago, Meow said:

Not the worst in terms of quantity, I've seen 3.

Quality well... at least they won't attract as many bids 😂

I get zero half the time. 😬

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22 hours ago, Meow said:

Quality well... at least they won't attract as many bids 😂

Hahahaha

4 hours ago, Chelseaplchamps2022 said:

I get zero half the time. 😬

Ouch. That’s problematic.

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How bad can Man Utd get? 

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Season 2:
The Poll + YOUR Expectations

Huh. The poll at the top of this thread has given some interesting results…

  • Optimists = ~25% of you think we’ll win the league / top 4 at the end of season three. Considering we were 4th in season one + this will only get worse, that looks … overly optimistic.

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  • Pessimists = another ~20% of you think we’ll get relegated by end-season three. Unfortunately, this is very very possible 😞 

However the majority are in the middle:

  • Realists? = +50% of you think we’ll be around mid-lower table in the EPL at end season three. This does look the most likely right now.  
     

Overall
Season one = Top 4 ... Season two = I would accept Top 7 (Euro qualification) … Season three? Urgh - let’s see.

Who will be proved correct - the optimists, the realists, or (please no) the pessimists?! Which ever way it goes, it’s going to be painful for me (and amusing for you).

At least the Board are reasonable for season two:

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Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

18EE6C8F-AD62-487A-A94D-2FD210C4BBA6.thumb.jpeg.44a14e905d82919176ab62a928299604.jpeg

Season 2:
The Start of a New Season

We are back! After a week’s holiday (in real life), we have had time to tinker with our (limited) squad, review (+ discard) those scout reports, and generally get back into the mood for a new season …

 
Narratives:
While ‘asset stripper’ has stayed on (!) for the 2nd season, we need to manually switch on the ‘austerity measures’ narrative. Watch that wage budget go down - urgh!

Spoiler

Both narratives are now “on” …

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… the wage budget falls further. While it’s easy to achieve that ~£130k reduction, the wage budget was +£4m/week when we started! How the mighty have fallen.

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Aaaaand back to being insolvent.

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Squad:
After losing 17 of our best players last season - surely those who remain are stronger, more able to deal with the pressure. Right? … oh … 

Spoiler

First a resignation from the Board (due to switching ‘austerity measures’ back on) - 8 players demotivated 😡

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… then we are selling more players, including … WHAT?! No! Please no …

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… our only ray of sunshine, our only hope. Wonderkid Diallo is amongst those transfer listed. Not good.

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Apparently I’m a stooge. Or maybe I’m just very very scared of being fired. Either way - unsurprisingly, squad morale has hit rock bottom … again.

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McTominay remains “ok” as he was made club captain, while perhaps Diallo is thinking of his future in sunny Spain (aaaarrrggh!)
 

 
Fixtures:

The good news. Surely we’ll have a nice easy start to the season - beating up those promote teams, to rebuild morale and to … huh … are you joking?!

Spoiler

Apparently it’s a difficult start …

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… these are our four opponents before the transfer window closes at end-August. 

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I guess there’s no chance of rebuilding morale then 😞 
 

 
Next
Absolute failure in trying out a new strikerless tactic in preseason + more players sold.  

The only question is - will it be the stars or the youth who get sold first?! <nervous> Though I think we can be sure that it will not be any of these five!

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Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

 

Season 2:
It Gets Worse: in THREE Ways

The first bad news - in the final stages of preseason, another FOUR players are sold 😞 I wish we could recall Bailly + Lindelof, but no, I stupidly sold them.

Spoiler

Seems I couldn’t loan out these guys quick enough - Bye bye to Laird, wonderkid Shoretire, speedy Garnacho + 3rd top scorer last season McNeill. All for ~£30m total.

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Of these, Laird is the biggest loss, as I’m running dangerously low on Wing Backs in the squad ⚠️
 

 
Transfer List
Plus pretty much every player is now transfer listed, unless I’ve quickly loaned them out first. The only one who isn’t? 37 year old Ronaldo. The fans reaction is … interesting …

Spoiler

Thanks Board …

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118CFA96-1D3E-4149-B831-66D227ABA199.thumb.jpeg.a538296e6bfb0a81d2fd2406e6bb68b8.jpeg

… fans are NOT happy …

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Apparently now I’m a figure of “hatred and ridicule”. Ouch. 
 


Preseason Tactic
The third bad news. Due to my struggles against opposition back 3’s, I’ve been testing a strikerless tactic during preseason. It should be more attacking…

… but let’s just say … er … while we don’t create any chances, neither does our opposition !

Spoiler

Our new (super attacking) strikerless formation!

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… which doesn’t create ANY clear cut chances …

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… hmmm … and that only goal was from an opposition defender’s poor back pass, which gave our Diallo an open goal. So that doesn’t count.
 


Next
We’ll start the league season + hopefully we won’t sell any more players (?!). 

The good news - at least we can go back to using our tried + tested 4231 tactic for our final friendly 🙂 

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Really?! … oh dear.
 

Edited by DanEnglish
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53 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

Due to my struggles against opposition back 3’s, I’ve been testing a strikerless tactic during preseason.

Actually back 3s are better for marking these sorts of withdrawn forward, false nine or strikerless (whatever you call it) formations.

It allows for defenders to be able to step up and mark the one playing deeper, while still having enough people to prevent a 1-on-1 chance on the throughball.

This is all in theory, of course. Advice like this is only good when there isn't an absolute demolition of the club as a combo with tactical struggles 🤣

Edited by Meow
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1 hour ago, Meow said:

Actually back 3s are better for marking these sorts of withdrawn forward, false nine or strikerless (whatever you call it) formations.

It seems you are right.

Before, I thought it would work, as in my testing vs opposition back three formations, it seemed the strikerless tactic was creating better chances than my 4231

Examples / Highlights:

Spoiler

Example A:   
the opposition central DC steps up to close down our MC / B2B - leaving space for a through ball to our AP, who has a 1-on-1 with the keeper (clear cut chance)!

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Example B: 
two screenshots here - again the opposition central DC moves out of position to double-mark our left-sides IF (Martial) - leaving space for a through ball to him (Martial) for another 1-on-1 with their keeper. Spoiler - he scored.

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Example C 
our right-sided IF (Diallo) has pulled their DLC wide - creating space for a small through ball to our other IF (Martial) behind their defenders. Another 1-on-1 with the keeper, but our attacker misses the target.

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However you turned out to be correct. As did this work in our preseason? Nope. We created NOTHING! 😡

7C0D7D95-28B8-4B8F-9CC7-20E7DFB0C227.jpeg

Edited by DanEnglish
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How bad can Man Utd get? 

48B2EF1D-5D7D-4BD3-B6A2-1296E76DF0D9.jpeg.d90c84a003aee07d998c34044f4f9e3b.jpeg

Season 2:
New Owners? Are We SAVED?!

When I was at university, someone once offered me the question + model answers to an upcoming exam. It was fantastic news, during a stressful time of many exams.

What would you do - would you accept the exam answers, to make your life easier and happier … or would you say ‘no’ and do the exam the hard way … ?

 
Bye bye Administrators!  
We are SAVED! We finally have new owners!

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Spoiler

The fans are happy, the players are happy, even the Board are finally happy…

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Decisions Decisions … 🤔 
What should we do? Should we accept the exam answers - by accepting the new owners with open arms, using this as a lifeline to rebuild this great club …

… or should we say ‘no’ - and continue this three year experiment of ‘austerity’ and ‘asset stripping’.

There’s only one answer for me …

Spoiler

Turn ‘ON’ the two narratives (again)

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… bye bye local businessman …

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… and back to being insolvent + broke.

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Next
The “fun” continues. But a question for you: 
did we make the right decision?! 😵

Edited by DanEnglish
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