Career Time to shine - "Cook-ing Italian" (S3)✔️

[Dai_]

Hello.

I've taken time out from my latest long-winded career to attempt another one of @Scratch brilliant challenges.

You can find it here.

 

The Team:

As the title suggests, I'm heading to Italy. Its a League I've not managed in all that often so it'll be a nice change.

I've chosen Roma because they play in the Euro Cup II which will add more games to the season whilst not being top level opposition. Hopefully meaning more contributions from Cook.

 

The Player:

As his attributes suggest, it could prove difficult to get all that much out of him at such a high level. Plus, as ive found early on he's useless at both penalties and FK's.

 

 

SEASON 1:

Transfers:

I was hoping for a complete squad revamp but it wasn't to be. I couldn't ship out some players i wanted to so decided to crack on with what i had for the most part.

One player i should mention is Talisca. He's awesome! If you manage a team at a good level then he should always be a consideration, early into a save anyway. SO CHEAP!

Spoiler

I love Poulsen. He's so reliable and has been on every version of FMM I've played. Typical that he would suffer something like this. 🤦‍♂️

 

 

Tactic:

As always, i wont be sharing this. It'll save us both time if you don't ask. 😉🤣

All i will say is that i'm using a tactic I've used for my 50/50 1kc splits and peak year challenges on the last few versions. Cook will play as a T. Both SS and AP don't give me what I want and through rigorous testing the T will always be my role of choice.

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

Atalanta seem to play a way that causes us real problems. Going to have to tweak things against them in future.

 

Playing in the EURO Cup II meant i could use my first team in the League for the most part and we ended up comfortable winners.

 

A favourable run to the final. Avoided all bigger teams until the final. Feyenoord being the only other opposition of note along the way.

 

 

Cook:

Managed to keep him fit for the most part. Only picked up one minor injury during the season.

Spoiler

 

Significant improvements in key areas. I'm only alternating training between crossing and shooting, however. That's all I care about. 🤣

 

MASSIVE!

The Euro Cup II really boosted what was already very good returns. I just wish he could score from dead ball situations. I stopped counting once his penalty misses went over 15. 15!!!! Bonkers!

I totally forgot that achievements counted towards the score (🙈) in this challenge so I didn't get a screenshot. That will come in next seasons update. 👍 

 

Top Performers:

 

Manager Profile:

 

An amazing start to this challenge. If i do say so myself. 🤣 

Thanks for reading. 👍

Edited June 26, 2022 by Dai_

[Rob]

Great start Sir

[Dai_]

1 minute ago, Rob said:

Great start Sir

Thank you, Sir. 😊

[Titjes]

Fantastic start @Dai_, kiu 😉

[Dai_]

5 minutes ago, Titjes said:

Fantastic start @Dai_, kiu 😉

Cheers, bud! 👌

[Scratch]

Oh wow, that is an amazing start for Cook! (Less so for Poulson, the poor chap). 

I'm nowhere near that. I'm 6 months in - actually in two separate saves. First was Inter, but at 31 Dec he only had 8 goals and 10 assists from 24 games. I wasn't feeling it, so I started a new attempt at Celtic and he's doing much better there (as to be expected) - at 31 Dec he has 25 goals and 17 assists from 34 games. A lot more games in first half of the season in Scotland, but that's still slower than you are managing in Italy which is much harder. So, well done mate!

[Dai_]

13 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Oh wow, that is an amazing start for Cook! (Less so for Poulson, the poor chap). 

I'm nowhere near that. I'm 6 months in - actually in two separate saves. First was Inter, but at 31 Dec he only had 8 goals and 10 assists from 24 games. I wasn't feeling it, so I started a new attempt at Celtic and he's doing much better there (as to be expected) - at 31 Dec he has 25 goals and 17 assists from 34 games. A lot more games in first half of the season in Scotland, but that's still slower than you are managing in Italy which is much harder. So, well done mate!

Thank you!

Are you using a version of the TT blaster? That always gets you results? I'm only asking because the tactic is vital for this, I feel.  They way I set up, Cook or whoever plays at T always ends up on the end of through balls or crosses. Not having too many players in his way helps too, which is why I don't overload the top end of the pitch.

[Scratch]

Just now, Dai_ said:

Thank you!

Are you using a version of the TT blaster? That always gets you results? I'm only asking because the tactic is vital for this, I feel.  They way I set up, Cook or whoever plays at T always ends up on the end of through balls or crosses. Not having too many players in his way helps too, which is why I don't overload the top end of the pitch.

I'm trying out striker-less... Using this at the moment:

Sometimes use him as a T. Have tried IFs too and may come back to them. Might even try Ws or APs. Actually will probably keep playing with everything... 😆

[Dai_]

4 minutes ago, Scratch said:

I'm trying out striker-less... Using this at the moment:

Sometimes use him as a T. Have tried IFs too and may come back to them. Might even try Ws or APs. Actually will probably keep playing with everything... 😆

You and your crazy formations. 🤣 My system for these challenges isn't that crazy but it's crazier than anything else I use.

Personally, I don't think strikerless is how to get the best out of Cook. He definitely wouldn't suit my strikerless setup. I do use a SS for that too though. I'm sure with all your tinkering you'll come up with something effective. You usually do.

[FuddledFox]

Superb numbers and that elusive mix of goals and assists as well 👏🏻

Cookie just couldn’t hit a barn door for me in season 1 unfortunately.

[Scratch]

12 minutes ago, Dai_ said:

You and your crazy formations. 🤣 My system for these challenges isn't that crazy but it's crazier than anything else I use.

Personally, I don't think strikerless is how to get the best out of Cook. He definitely wouldn't suit my strikerless setup. I do use a SS for that too though. I'm sure with all your tinkering you'll come up with something effective. You usually do.

I think I'll probably have a second pass with him as a T with some players in front of him, but gonna persist in striker-less for now. He scores most of our goals, so as the other lads level up too, and there are more goals, well hopefully his numbers will go up too. 🤞

[Dai_]

10 minutes ago, FuddledFox said:

Superb numbers and that elusive mix of goals and assists as well 👏🏻

Cookie just couldn’t hit a barn door for me in season 1 unfortunately.

Thank you, Mr Fox.

[Dai_]

SEASON 2

 

Transfers:

My beloved Wijndal joins the quest. I just can't help signing him. Sorry not sorry. Some decent Transfers otherwise. I couldn't get some of the players I had initially targeted so ended up signing the best I could for the roles I needed.

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

Cooky doing his bit against our nemesis.

 

Spoiler

It took penalties but as you can see in the spoiler, we probably deserved it.

 

European Champions!

 

I forgot the screenshot of the League Table. 🤦‍♂️

 

 

Cook:

He missed a few games at the start of the season due to injury. He does have the "very rarely injured" and its proving to be the case, so far anyway.

Spoiler

 

He looks good. 

Similar results to last season. Mainly due to not strengthening the squad as much as i would of liked. After winning the Champions Cup i should be able to change that and add more quality around him.

 

Goals: 97

Assists: 79

TOTAL: 176

I will add the achievements to the score at the end.

@Scratch are all achievements counted? As in, minor ones?

 

Top Performers:

 

Manager Profile:

 

In other news:

Wales won the World Cup 😳. I know I won it with Wales on last years game but I've never seen them win it before. Or even come close, tbh. Hopefully a sign of things to come later this year. 🙏🤣

 

Thanks for reading! 👍

Edited June 22, 2022 by Dai_

[Rob]

Great season.

Wales winning something though? Definitely shows the game is broken.

[Dai_]

59 minutes ago, Rob said:

Great season.

Wales winning something though? Definitely shows the game is broken.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's broken somewhat. They beat Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Germany & even England along the way.

[StuartM]

Spectacular Dai, great total so far... this is going to be tough to beat. It will be about 3 times my total 😂

[Dai_]

4 minutes ago, StuartM said:

Spectacular Dai, great total so far... this is going to be tough to beat. It will be about 3 times my total 😂

Cheers man.

Yeah, it's going well. The tactic is everything.

[FuddledFox]

Another great season! You and Cookie are going to set an excellent total in this challenge.

[Dai_]

Season 3

Transfers:

I love how loaning players out for a few years seriously increases their value to the point where you can make serious money. Zalewski & Bove were never going to play for me so to make that sort of money is crazy!

I have added serious quality this season. Zabarnyi, Tonali, Nunes & Haaland strengthen the core of the team immensely. 

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

Some seriously impressive scorelines. The addition of Haaland increased the goals massively, all over really. As you would expect.

 

Cook:

A full season out of him. Whilst there were a number of injuries to important players around him, he stayed fully fit throughout. 

He looks decent. Finally got a few caps for England in the recent Internationals in March too.

Having two quality strikers really helped with assists. 

 

OVERALL:  Goals- 147    Assists: 136

TOTAL:  283

Total Achievements: 53 (if those 3 minor ones are counted?)

 

OVERALL SCORE: 336 (or 333? 🤣)

 

Top Performers:

 

Manager Profile:

 

A very enjoyable challenge. I didn’t think I could get as much out of him as I did.

Could you add me to the leaderboard please, @Scratch?

Thanks for reading! 👍 

[StuartM]

Well and truly smashed it, great numbers!

[Dai_]

1 minute ago, StuartM said:

Well and truly smashed it, great numbers!

Cheers, pal.

[FuddledFox]

Superb numbers Dai well played. Cookie probably scored more points from goals than I will get in total 

[Dai_]

1 hour ago, FuddledFox said:

Superb numbers Dai well played. Cookie probably scored more points from goals than I will get in total 

As I've said before, I spent AGES working on this tactic and it's pretty fool proof now. I'm sure if you had put the same amount of hours into this game as me you would have created something even better.

Thank you. 

[Scratch]

On 22/06/2022 at 18:57, Dai_ said:

@Scratch are all achievements counted? As in, minor ones?

Yeah, just the total number listed on the Achievements screen. 

[Scratch]

Great stuff mate! Truly impressive score. Will add you to the leaderboard with 336!

[Dai_]

1 minute ago, Scratch said:

Great stuff mate! Truly impressive score. Will add you to the leaderboard with 336!

Thank you, Sir!

I'm under no illusion that one of your funky tactics can do better though.

[Scratch]

Just now, Dai_ said:

Thank you, Sir!

I'm under no illusion that one of your funky tactics can do better though.

Haven't cracked it yet though!

[Rob]

Wonderful score Mr @Dai_

[Dai_]

12 minutes ago, Rob said:

Wonderful score Mr @Dai_

Thank you, my friend. 😊

I'm eagerly awaiting your attempt. 😉